2006 Paulson Christmas Letter

Merry Christmas to You and Yours!

Here's a quick look at a special year for the Paulson family! Sean and Nicole finalized their adoption, and the boys celebrated their new start by taking on new names, Micah Dale Paulson is now 6 and Jeremiah Michael Paulson will be five on December 30th. Micah has started kindergarten, and both boys are growing so fast and loving their new home.

Sean and Nicole now live in Murphys, CA, but they have been called to a new opportunity just miles from their home. Sean is the new senior minister at Copper Canyon Baptist Church in Copperopolis, CA. The church is a Southern Baptist mission church in a fast growing community (http://www.coppercanyonchurch.org). He has over 50 attending on Sundays and Nicole already has a Praise band going. As we have always said, there is nothing better than to see our son used by God in such a strong way. We're just glad that they didn't move farther away; we have grandkids to love and spoil! God is good!

The joys were matched by some losses and my father's health challenges. We lost two wonderful women to heaven, my Aunt Arlene and Judy's mom, Dottie. My father, Homer, had a scare. What started as a dangerous infection in one of dad's artificial knees, turned into knee surgery and an aggressive antibiotic treatment to deal with a sepsis infection that kept him in the hospital for weeks. He's home and doing better every day. We are blessed by great medical treatment, Doug and Judy being so close to the folks, and God's grace in keeping dad with us. After nearly 14 years, we lost our beloved Dalmatian, Sunshine, pictured here in the Tahoe meadow she loved to run.

Travel was another blessing again in 2006! In June, I was able to speak on a Baltic Cruise that visiting ports in Scandinavia and Russia. Of course, Lorie joined me for the cruise! In Stockholm, we were able to see our Paulson relatives, Anna, Maria, Anders and Carina Molin. We had time to see the Old Town, visit the palace, and take in a wonderful meal and boat trip. We also found a way to get past the visa requirements in St. Petersburg to see Ludmila and her daughter Olga. Ludmila had been our tour guide when we visited the former Soviet Union in 1988. She had visited our home in Agoura, and we had not seen her in nearly 17 years. What a joy to see them all, and to have Anna decide to visit us again over Thanksgiving. At 26 years of age, Anna is one of our honorary "daughters," and we loved hosting her for a special holiday and getting caught up again with her life.   
   
Lorie and I have continued to shepherd our Alpha Course at Westlake Lutheran. I'm on the church council, work with the new youth minister and sing in the choir. Lorie is active in two women's Bible studies! I continue to speak professionally on leadership, change and optimism. I finished a new book, Leadership Truths One Story at a Time, and still love making a difference for the audiences I serve. Lorie helps with our business accounting. I continue to enjoy writing two columns a month for the opinion page of the Scripps Howard Ventura County Star.

I hope you have taken advantage of my 12 Days of Christmas daily e-mail inspiration series; See samples and sign up at http://terrypaulson.com/christmas.shtml/. We are blessed by having a great family, wonderful friends, faith blessings and good health. But for now, we again in anticipation await the celebration of Christ's birth. We wish you a very Merry Christmas and a very joyous and very meaningful New Year!