It is always a pleasure to read the many Christmas letters we receive this time of year. How quickly the years fly by! Twenty years ago, Ken and I got married on a beautiful Fall day in Omaha with the trees a brilliant infusion of yellows and oranges. Seventeen years ago Peter was born. Next year at this time we will be misty –eyed at the anticipation of our firstborn’s upcoming high school graduation. Today--- I have a long list of things-to-do. Such is life!
Ken is at work in his Nanakuli clinic, a satellite of the WCCHC which celebrated its 30th anniversary a week ago with a big luau and entertainment. The Center now employs over 350 employees with major plans for future expansion. Ken enjoys his work there. He also leads a Bible study in our home every other week. Both of us help out with the junior high group at AWANAS every Friday which is hi-energy and great fun.
I also work at the Center, “call-in”, in their Emergency Room. This is the only “free-standing ER” in Hawaii—meaning it is not connected with a hospital. It can get quite busy in our little unit especially when ambulance transport is frequently delayed. (A recent call to a transport rig reminding them the patient with a 2 hour anticipated wait was “Priority One” came the reassurance, “OK, we’ll be there 30 seconds sooner!” Keeping a sense of humor is imperative!) We do have a helicopter pad when patients need to go by Medivac. I love our little ER and enjoy the variety and pace.
In addition to the ER, I work “call-in” at Kaiser Hospital’s maternity unit. Like the ER, the Labor/Delivery unit can be fast-paced and is always unpredictable. Birth is amazing—and then to get paid to be there—can’t beat that! Between my two jobs I work an average of 12-20 hours a week (in the evenings or when Ken is home).
I no longer teach childbirth classes but, as of yesterday, learned that I passed the Lamaze Certification Exam and am now an official LCCE (Lamaze Certified Childbirth Educator).
Peter is a junior at Kamehameha High School and President of the Computer Club which won Club of the Year. Last month Peter was sent to Dallas along with 2 teachers and a librarian, all-expenses paid, to receive a national award for excellence in web site design! He was away for 6 days and greatly enjoyed the computer technology conference and exhibits. Besides all the food he got to eat on his $50/day food allowance from the school which if not spent had to be returned, he accumulated a hefty array of freebies and software worth around $800. (Ken and I chose the wrong professions!) We are very proud of Peter’s accomplishments and God-given talents he is developing. He helps our church with PowerPoint at a conference they conduct and is a junior leader at AWANAs.
John, now 15, is a freshman at the Thourson Home School where he can pursue multiple hands-on interests in addition to academics. John has numerous electronic projects and his Christmas wish-list of motor parts and electrical components is fully in Ken’s department. Besides selling honey from his bee hives, John has sold a number of beautiful stained glass boxes which he has made. He continues to amaze and impress us by all of his abilities and patience in carrying his many ideas to completion. He is currently working on a watering system for my parents while continually upgrading his own garden. In addition to AWANA’s Varsity with Peter, John is in Boy Scouts through our church and faithfully helps in the tape ministry.

Leilani, age 9, is our budding ballerina. A thrill for her is being in the Nutcracker production by Ballet Hawaii at the Blaisdell Concert Hall with the Honolulu Symphony. She is brand new and missed auditions but the kind director, seeing Leilani’s focus, asked her to be one of two beggar children in the opening scene. Leilani is priviledged to be part of this wonderful production that includes an international cast of guest artists.
Leilani, also home schooled, is currently mothering a baby goat several days old. She is very adept at milking the mother whose udders hang down too low for her kid. The kid is thriving under Leilani’s watchful eye and meticulous care. At Leilani’s ballet class many students arrive with their violin cases and tennis rackets. If these city girls only knew that Leilani went home from dance lesson not to practice her music lesson but to milk her goat!
Along with her brothers she attends AWANAs and is blessed by a great memory which facilitates the effort to memorize the Bible verses. This year we are part of a home school co-op of 8 families which meets every other week to study our state history and culture. We have been inspired and blessed by the creativity of projects and learning activities presented. Our group is living up to our motto, “School’s not supposed to be this much fun!”
A highlight this year was a trip to the mainland to visit Ken’s parents. Since it is so far from Hawaii to Ohio anyway, we went the “long way”. We started in LA with a whirlwind trip to Disneyland for a day and headed off to Colorado the next.
In beautiful Colorado we visited our dear friends, the Taniguchi Family, who used to live just up the road from us in Makaha. We also had a nice visit over a delicious blueberry pancake breakfast with Dr. Frank and Sally Dennis who we know from Taitung, Taiwan. Then it was off to a Christian family camp (very cheap!) where we learned of scientific evidence for creation while enjoying a host of activities at the same time (horseback riding, canoeing, fishing, hiking, etc)
From Colorado we drove a total of 2000 miles until we reached our final destination, Ohio, where Ken’s parents live. Along the way we stopped in Omaha and visited many dear friends including Ken’s best man at our wedding, John Roccaforte, and his wife Debbie and kids. We also saw the Rehms in Iowa as well as Marge Moore, who was a missionary in Taiwan while we were there. In Chicago we visited Ken’s sister Marie and husband Rich. A final stop at Cedarpoint Amusement in Ohio was a definite thrill—especially the ride on the world’s #1 rollercoaster, The Millellium, which involves a heart stopping 320 foot plunge at an 80 degree angle at 93 mph!
We had a nice visit with Ken’s parents, sister Donna, and cousins David, Steven, and Leah before returning home and back to our hectic routines. After a brief respite, we were ‘back in the saddle’ full swing. That is one nice thing about going away to the mainland for vacation when you live in Hawaii – you are really away: no beeper, no phone calls, and no urgent responsibility to tend to!
Now back to reality and a mile-long to-do list. The house is frequently a mess, correspondence is delayed, and projects lay “in-progress”. Our Bible study every 2 weeks insures that, at least on that evening, the house will be miraculously transformed into one of order and neatness. (This phenomenon of the house deteriorating in orderliness illustrates the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics and is proof positive that evolution could not be true! They did not teach that to us at camp, by the way, it is my own personal observation.)
Our family would like to wish yours a very merry Christmas and a blessed holiday celebrating Jesus, the Giver of life and the One who gives meaning even in the midst of our hectic schedules. May you have a wonderful 2003.

The Thoursons