Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

Our Grandchildren: 

Dear Family and Friends,

     What a great time of year the Christmas season brings.  We have so many blessings that we can hardly contain them all. This has been a wonderful year for the Pecks.

     After serving two years in the Arizona Phoenix Mission office, we were released on Marnie’s birthday, May 19^th.  As with all missions, we did experience some challenges, but, we really loved working with the missionaries and the sweet Spirit that accompanies the Lord’s work.  Bill was the Vehicle Coordinator, and often said it was like being a father to 70 sets of teenagers with their first car- his cell phone was his constant companion and every time it rang he knew he had to be prepared for everything from a lost key to a serious accident.  He also was the ‘go to’ guy for all things computers in the office.  He was fondly nicknamed the ‘Steely-Eyed Rocket Man’ (name that movie) because he always managed to get things working again.  His favorite contribution to the mission was composing the lyrics for a new AZ Phoenix Mission Song as well as adding a verse to ‘Called to Serve’ uniquely appropriate to the Mission.

     Marnie, as the Referral Secretary, was blessed to be able to implement the Church’s new referral program.  We went from sending out letters to text messaging, dramatically cutting down the time it takes to get a referral from a member or request for information etc. into the hands of the missionaries.  It was very exciting to be in on the beginning of this wonderful new program.

Oxcart in Old Nauvoo

      We were released just a bit early so that we could travel to our niece’s wedding in the Nauvoo Temple.  We embarked on a 6000 mile drive through the beautiful USA, enjoying many stops along the way visiting family and friends. In fact, before the month was up, we had managed to visit all our children from Texas to California. On our way to Nauvoo we took the opportunity to visit some church history sites at Liberty Mo, Far West Mo and Adam Ondi Ahman. What a memorable trip!

           Since our release, we’ve managed to keep plenty busy.  Bill spends a lot of time doing Family History indexing (digitizing old micro films for the church’s web site) and building wooden toys for needy children.  He was involved in the Stake’s presentation of  Handel’s Messiah this month in which he was one of the soloists- fulfilling a long time desire to sing “The trumpet shall Sound”.  Marnie enjoys crocheting for grandchildren and humanitarian services, surfing food and craft blogs, reading, crafting and playing with her laptop.  Her current projects include putting together a family cookbook and learning how to restore old photographs with her new Photoshop program.

     As it occasionally works out in the family world, all the planets aligned this year so that the entire family, except our oldest grandson Samuel, was at our home in Surprise AZ for Thanksgiving.  Love it when that happens!

     Rob and Jolyn  drove 18 hours from Plano TX where they call home.  They’ve been living and loving there for a long time now. They have 5 children, the oldest of which is Samuel who is currently serving an LDS Mission in Nevada, Las Vegas Spanish Speaking.  The four still at home are Amanda, 16, Thomas, 13, David, 11 and Nicholas, 5.  Rob works for Trane, in Dallas, keeping their computers healthy and connected.  Jolyn keeps the home front running while home-schooling the children.

      Wayne and Yvette joined us from Sandy UT with all 5 of theirs.  Wayne works at ProPay and is currently pursuing an MBA degree at U of U. Yvette runs a home school as well and cooperates with other families to give their children a well rounded education. Their children are Spencer, 15, Brigham, 13, Emily, 11, Anna. 6 and Abigail. 5.

     Nathan and Maria were here from Farmington UT where Nate works for Hospital Corporation of America (HCA), training doctors and practitioners on special software. Maximilian Omer, now 4 provided much of our entertainment. Along with being a great mom to Max, and keeping up on her nursing career by doing a shift periodically, Maria takes the time to train for and run marathons.  She ran two halves  and one full this year. Nate lost a bunch of weight and ran one of the halves with her.

     Kelli and Christopher live in Mesa so we see them more frequently. They have a 2-month-old,    Evelyn Jeanette, who is our youngest grandchild.  Chris works for FedEx as a networking guru while pursuing his bachelors degree online. Kelli is a busy mommy but still keeps her speech therapy career sharp by doing private therapy part time.

     Christina and Chuck shared their time here with Chuck’s family who live in the North Phoenix area.  Christi is a busy wife and homemaker keeping up with their active young family.  Chuck is a District Manager with FedEx and is pursuing his bachelors degree online. They have Charlie 8, Sophia, almost 4, Lillian, 2, and another due in April.

     As you can see our life these days is basically about family and Church service— yep, life is good in Surprise, AZ. We send a sincere hope that all is well with you and yours (How we cherish our memories and times together).  We love hearing from you!  May this coming year bring you every good thing, may we always remember our Savior, the Greatest Gift ever given and as Tiny Tim would say...  may “God bless us, Everyone!” 

Much love,  Bill & Marnie