General News and Info, 2002

We have many blessings to thank God for this past year. Raising seven wonderful children, having a wonderful family (and extended families), and working with a great church/school make our lives complete. Thanks for spending a little time with us in Cyberspace.

First and foremost in our little household that it's a little less little. Barb gave birth EARLY to a SMALL baby - Natalie Elizabeth Tesch was born to us on September 23 (see her personal page for details). Also, Adam was confirmed in his faith this year, Chip got a new job after 17 years at his old one, and Liesl is driving a car. Erica is playing club volleyball, Sonya is playing the flute, Rachel is on her first school basketball team, and Caleb is in school full time.

Barb by default leads the charge in health news this year. She went to the hospital and had a baby. Natalie was there too. Chip partially tore a calf muscle playing volleyball (don't buy the "saving babies from a burning building" story). If that's the worst that happened, it's a good year (except he whines so). Some bones we thought were broken (Erica of course, but Sonya too!), but turned out not to be. No other major health issues, thank the Lord. Little people have teeth falling out, big people counter with hair. Liesl's kind of a running physical wreck, keeping up with all those varsity sports past the shin splints, minor bruises and sprains, and an ankle that she likes to roll up on to make things more competitive. The little ones are fine, or maybe just haven't learned to complain about that sort of thing yet.

We all took a trip this summer too. Haven't done that in way too long. We went to the Indiana/Kentucky state border, so we could make two trips out of it. We went to Santa Claus, Indiana, where we visited the Holiday World Theme Park, and Splashin Safari Water Park. We spent lots of time on some very large water slides, and a little on The Raven, ranked the number one wooden roller coaster in the world (by someone anyway). We spent the second part of the trip horsing around in Lexington, Kentucky. We saw and petted horses of all shapes and sizes, and those of us not pregnant even got to ride them a little bit. Lots of fun hotel room time together too. Oh, and rigging up a TV/VCR in the van for the long car rides is highly worth the time and effort spent to get it working. "Notting Hill" and "The Emperor's New Groove" are far superior to another round of "Are We There Yet".

Lots of the rest is in individual pages, and we hope you enjoy reading about us. We're on the Web, so email us every once in a while. Lots to be thankful for at Christmas time, and all of the time. It is our hope and prayer that this letter finds you and all of our loved ones safe and secure in the love and protection of our Lord and Savior, given to us on a Christmas day long ago. We look forward to God's continued blessings in 2003, and, God willing, beyond. May God bless you as well.