Bode Christmas Letter 2017

December 23, 2017

I’m breaking with tradition this year and writing our Christmas letter before Christmas. You can take a minute to collect yourself before continuing…I realize you’re probably in a mild state of shock.

Our theme this year would most likely be journeys. At Christmas time, of course we remember the journey that Joseph and Mary took to Bethlehem; it’s the reason we have a Christmas celebration. For the Bode family, our journeys were not as momentous, but important to us nevertheless. A journey to California was a highlight of the year, Noel has undertaken a journey abroad, Lane will be journeying to Mexico again next week, and our journey through life towards our heavenly home seems to accelerate its pace (at least for Joan and me) more with each passing year.

Here’s what’s happening with our family:

Joan’s journeying this year included trips to St. Paul Lutheran Church in Eldora Iowa, for whom she designed and sewed a beautiful set of green paraments. She’s working on a design for a white set for them right now, and has also completed projects for St. John’s Church in Biscay, MN (blue paraments and banner); Mayer Lutheran High School (Reformation auditorium banners); Trinity Lutheran Waconia (baptism and funeral banners); and our church – St. John’s Lutheran in Chaska (Reformation banner). She also keeps busy with house projects, and Bible study, volunteering and Mary Martha Guild at our church.

I (Tim) continue in my job as director of operations at Northland Counseling Services in Chanhassen. I directed the Mayer CAST summer production again this year – Bye Bye Birdie. It’s one of my favorite shows, and God provided the actors we needed to fill all the roles. It was a great production, and we received many wonderful compliments about it. No decision yet about the summer of 2018…you’ll have to check the Mayer CAST web site (mayercast.org) for news about that. I’m also directing the One Act Play again this year at MLHS. Our show this year is a comedy called A Play With Words, written by Peter Bloedel, a theater professor at Bethany Lutheran College in Mankato. I continue my duties as the MLHS Online Media Manager. All in all, enough to keep me busy.

Lane is a junior at Mayer Lutheran High School. He’s still working as a cashier at Mackenthun’s Supermarket in Waconia. He continues his involvement in drama; as Hugo Peabody in Bye Bye Birdie for Mayer CAST this past summer, on the tech crew for the MLHS spring play (Charlotte’s Web), and fall musical (Sound of Music), and in the cast of the One Act Play at MLHS again this year. He will journey next week on his second trip to El Paso, Texas/Anapra, Mexico on the annual MLHS mission trip through Ysleta Lutheran Mission. He’s been part of a select vocal group at school called Una Voce Deo, and is a member of the Crusader Council and the Quiz Bowl Knowledge Bowl team this year.

Noel broke his big news to us while spending a few days at home in the spring. He had been laid off from his job at JLG Architects, and announced that he was going to be attending graduate school in Milan, Italy to work on a master’s degree in Urban Planning and Policy Design. This decision was just the beginning of an interesting journey, which included the complicated and convoluted process of getting a student visa, arriving in Italy without luggage (which was delivered to him once he had found an apartment), finding said apartment with 3 roommates from 3 different countries, and adjusting to life and studies at Politecnico di Milano. He hopes to visit other parts of Europe while he’s there, and so far has made trips to Lake Como, Zurich, and Venice.

Reid, who journeyed to California 10 years ago, is still a resident of Los Angeles, working as a Lighting Designer/Audio Engineer at Fuller Seminary and continuing to do free-lance work as an audio/visual/lighting technician, DJ, and Production Assistant. He was blessed again this summer with the opportunity to journey to Portland, Oregon to design and run lights for the annual Canvas Conference. He lives in a house not too far from USC with several roommates (not sure the current number…perhaps three), and it was fun to meet them and run into other friends of his when we visited him this summer.

That trip to visit Reid was certainly a highlight of the summer for our family. Once we heard the news about Noel going to study in Italy for 2 years, we decided we should get everyone together before Noel left. Our original plan to drive changed when I was fortunate enough to win a vacation trip for two at work from Coordinated Business Systems, the company that supplies our copier equipment. One of the options was a trip to Los Angeles and a two-room suite at the Kimpton Los Angeles. The suite included a sleep sofa that would work for Noel and Lane. So essentially all we had to do was add plane tickets for the two of them.

Reid had a full agenda planned for us – a couple of trips to a couple of beaches, the Getty Center, Griffith Observatory, and a viewing of  the movie “Raiders of the Lost Ark” with a live orchestra at the Hollywood Bowl among the highlights. While the three boys were doing some exploring together, Joan and I enjoyed checking out the campus of Fuller Seminary, where Reid works, and some of downtown Pasadena. Our time with Reid concluded with a family photo session with a photographer friend of his, Kelsey Heng. Kelsey’s photos grace this Christmas letter.

We extended our stay a few days so we could drive up to Pleasant Hill, California to visit our friends, the Wilsons. Their daughter, Anna, was Noel’s classmate at St. John’s and MLHS, and she’s living at home right now, so it was nice for those two to connect. Their son Luke is a friend of Lane’s from St. John’s, so those two enjoyed seeing each other again as well. We took a trip in to San Francisco with them on the BART, and it was so nice to spend a couple of days with these dear friends again.

Our house projects in 2017 included the final touches in Lane’s bedroom and landscaping work out back. We added three white pines, three aspen trees and various shrubs, and created a boulder retaining wall in back of our house. We purchased some pavers for creating a patio, although they’re stacked out back right now, awaiting good weather again. We also created a parking spot behind the garage where we can put the truck this winter, or our utility trailer next summer. Our winter project is working on the family room (also home to the “Bode Basement Cinema”) in the basement.

As I close, I think about how crazy the world seems right now. I’m not going to comment on political or cultural events, but it’s evident that our world needs Jesus and the peace that only he can bring, now as much as at any time I can recall. As Joseph and Mary journeyed to Bethlehem for the census decreed by Caesar Augustus, I imagine they had some fears and uncertainty about the future. When I’m feeling uncertain about the future, it would be easy to give in to fear, but I try to remember the truth that the God who created and sustains the universe has promised to never leave us or forsake us, and as the apostle Paul reminds us, nothing can separate us from His love.

Although social media can be a negative influence if we let it, we do enjoy connecting with friends and family online when we can (so keep posting those updates!) and in person when that option presents itself.

May God grant you His grace and peace in all your journeys in the coming year!  TJB