clan Domini  

Dec.2006 

Dominis Family  

Merry Christmas Family and Friends!

I am still in denial about Christmas coming but I know I will succumb to the spirit of it before too much longer so I figure I might as well get started even if I’m dragging my feet. Great intro, aye?  It is always a strange process summing up a year. So here goes.

     Paul! Paul spent 5 months of this year restructuring our roof and covering it. We started with church friends, and a couple of people from work, helping us strip 4 layers of shingles.  That was very hard work but made fun by having friends helping. Then Paul got out piles of library books and figured out how to tie in new peaked roofs with the older roof.  That took some time.  Then he plodded on for months with friends and his brother, Greg, coming and going to add an extra hand and moral boost here and there. We made it by the end of October. It was actually a real break from the hotel. It was more rewarding and interesting.  The Lord made it such that he wasn’t desperately needed at work all summer which has never happened in the last 20 years. He also gutted our family room because of termites which had invaded everything but the ceiling (I hope). He did that a couple of months before the roof job started but never made much headway.  There are only studs (which he has to replace) and tar paper so that makes that side of the house very cold. He is just beginning to face that job these days.

     On the spiritual level and relationally, it has been a great year.  Our church is very good for and to us.  We are close to our pastor, Larry, and his wife, Becky, and they are so happy to have us come alongside them and help in whatever way we can. That can vary from being responsible for the garden and irrigation system to preaching and teaching, with lots of prayer in between.  We prayed around our plaza every day for a year.  We are calling out to God to move mightily in this valley as He moves in this nation.  It is an exciting time.  There is lots of expectation for miracles and healings, and many, many coming into God’s kingdom. We are both reading voraciously.  God’s Word is becoming so critical to know as we go after His promises in prayer.  His promises are mind boggling.  He really means that He is going ‘to show us great and mighty things that we know not.’

     Janet! All of the above I have been immersed in as well.  I took a new job last January looking after a close friend’s parents and his uncle.  His mom died in March and so now I am caring for Frank and Mario for 2-3 hours a day.  It is just enough to bring in a little money and keep me structured, yet free to give in many other ways.  At Easter, I created an Easter celebration with dances and worship.  That took a lot of time but it was a great channel to express my creativity.  I realize how important that is to me to feel fulfilled.  I also made two large banners for church and I am in the process of painting some more. Paul and I are both involved in a number of prayer groups and this is our main focus in life these days. It is exciting to be in God’s presence and hear His voice and pray His heart over people’s lives. I am visiting a young, former gang member in jail.  He is hungry to walk with God and that makes it such fun to visit him. One other highlight was driving with Sarah cross-country to Baltimore.  I love to see new places, and it was so good to spend time with her.  

Sarah!  Sarah was working for an AIDS program based in Seattle.  In January, they sent her to Ethiopia for 4 months. She moved home for a little while with all her belongings, of which there are a lot.  Then she started a new job based in Baltimore.  She stuffed her car and she and I drove across the country.  It took us 5 days. Upon arrival we were stoned by a kid  and had a bottle thrown at the car.  That was a hard wake up call to inner city Baltimore.  It shook us up and changed Sarah’s plans from buying a row house inside the city, to a house on the outskirts.  That was a good decision.  So, in October, just as she turned 25, she bought a 3 bedroom brick house.  Soon afterwards, she was sent to Kenya and Tanzania.  In her new job, she oversees her organizations AIDS work in three countries of East Africa. It’s a lot of responsibility. She returned home just before Thanksgiving and now she is ‘nesting’.  She has brought a number of other people, including her sister, Fionah, into the work of transforming her home.  They all seem to enjoy Sarah’s style of making you feel at home as you eat and work together.

Annah-Ruth! Annah is still working for the law office.  She took a LSAT test and did very well but she has come to realize that a lawyer’s job does not appeal to her enough  to go into the huge debt it requires for schooling.  She plays on a women’s and a men’s rugby team.  That keeps her busy all year.  She seems to be quite good at not getting hurt in any major way.  She also has a boyfriend and he plays on the men’s rugby team.  She has taken up sewing but I don’t know what she is sewing.

Fionah! Fionah just put in her resignation at work yesterday.  She had a year and a half commitment at the Inn that ends in 3 weeks.  She has been a manager- in -training in the housekeeping department.  She has done an amazing job.  Her two bosses were both gone for a couple of weeks and Fionah kept the department on an even keel.  She has applied to the Peace Corps and has an interview this week.  That could take time to come into reality but she is just going to watch and see for now.  She visited Sarah this last week- end and that was a good time for the two of them.

John! John was living with Annah up until July when he turned 18.  At that point Annah moved to San Francisco and two of John’s friends moved into the apartment.  John is working for a Peet’s coffee shop in Oakland.  He loves his job.

Some of our family went to LA in August to see Paul’s dad, John, get his name engraved on the surfer’s boardwalk.  He was one of the original surfers there.  For Christmas, all but John are going to Ferndale.  Paul’s precious aunt Virginia is dying of cancer and so all the family is going to celebrate together up there.  That is going to be a difficult but sweet time.

So, in summary, our family is blessed.  It has had trials and misunderstandings and a need to forgive one another, but we have grown and grown up some more and shall continue to do so.  As a parent who is struggling to know how to parent young adults, I have made many mistakes but I am so thankful that I can trust God for my kids (that is more important than I could ever express), and I am thankful for my kids forgiveness.

I am thankful for a husband that just keeps getting more wonderful.  And I am so thankful that God keeps drawing me closer and closer to Him. There is no sweeter place.

Needed room to say, I love you and thanks for tuning in.  To God be the glory.  Janet