Merry Christmas from the Bonds

2008 Bond Family Christmas Letter

This year has been exciting and challenging to say the least.

In January due to the foreseeable housing market decline and other issues, Chad decided to make a change in careers. He went to school to become an over the road driver. This meant leaving mid-January to attend school in Memphis, TN. The school was seven days a week (for three weeks) and very intense...however Chad came out graduating at the top of the class. Once he returned to KS he would then enter his mentorship program with another driver (Jim) for six weeks. During this six week period, he was not able to come home so about half way through the kids and I went up to see him in Effingham, IL (after a brief stop to see Sherri in Belleville). When he again returned to KS he got his own truck and began the unknown over the road driving (OTR). He ended up in about every state east of the Mississippi in that two month period. Luckily (and with a lot of prayer) he was able to secure a dedicated Wal-Mart route driving out of Harrisonville. This started in June and has worked out great so far. In November Chad became a mentor himself and now has his first student in the truck with him.

It's not been an easy year, but our motto is to just take "one day at a time." Looking back to January, there were times when I did not think we could hold all this together, but we did. I am so thankful for my family everyday, from the way Chad spends every home moment playing with his kids to the way Jordan has stepped up and taken over those household chores that Chad used to do (even emptying the diaper champ on trash day - although he tells me all the time that it is my turn).

I even had to do some jobs around the house this year that I don't particularly like such as fixing the sump pump valve when it got stuck open this summer when we had those downpour rains. Chad told me over the phone as I was doing this duty "you can wash your hands when you are done, just reach down in there and grab that valve." I survived, and even managed not to drop the cell phone in the hole.

This year has been tough, we had our share of family loss this year. The day before Christmas last year, we lost Chad's Grandpa Foster after his battle with cancer. In March my Grandma Lucille passed away after a long battle with Alzheimers disease. In June we lost my Uncle Eddy at only 49 years of age. Eddy fought a long tough battle with cancer for the last two years of his life. He was a remarkable Christian man and we will miss him tremendously. In July my Aunt Cuca passed away (dad's brother's wife) she will be missed by her family especially uncle Rudy and her boys. In August, Chad's Cousin Ryan passed away unexpectedly; this might be the toughest one of all as Ryan was only 33 years old. He left family, friends and a son who is about 2 years old. We think about these loved ones often, they will be missed.

The kids are doing great in-spite of all that we have gone through. Jordan is in 4th grade and Isabel is in pre-school three days per week and learning all kinds of things such as her ABC's and numbers up to 10 in Spanish.

I continue to work full-time at Lockton as a wellness coordinator for one of our clients working on-site at their location to serve the employees and help in the Benefits office. Two good (or great) things this year was that my brother Robbie made it safely home from serving a six-month tour in Iraq. We are thankful that he is now back home in IL. The other is that my mom got married in October to a wonderful Christian man. His name is Darrell and they are very happy together.

Well that's probably enough about us...I hope everyone reading this has a wonderful holiday season spending every moment with family and friends. I've learned this year that without family and friends, life would sure be tough. I've leaned on them so much this year and I very much appreciate everything that everyone has done for us.

Merry Christmas, and God Bless...

Love,

The Bond Family
Chad.Jackie.Jordan.Isabel