.....and it came to pass....

Dear friends & family.... well, Christmas Day has come to pass and the Harpers are feeling bad that they have not updated you with this year's news.  We've loved hearing from you but somehow the end of this year has caught us time short!  We trust you understand.  It's been an interesting year with some real highs but, true to life, there have been some low points as well.

The biggest high was Mark & Natalie's wedding on March 20.  It was a very happy family occasion.  The weather was fine and balmy, the setting lovely and the wedding party looked gorgeous.  We're not half biased!!  It was a thrill also to have my brother conduct the ceremony and our good friend and pastor Ray perform the formal legalities.  As a family we were blessed to have my cousin Margaret and her husband Norm, travel from Canada for the wedding.  This was their first trip to NZ and they were able to spend 6 weeks here.  Their son Aaron (on his second visit) was in the wedding party.  
The married couple spent their honeymoon in Hawaii.

It's great to have both of our boys (& girls!) living just a few minutes away from us.  However this may change in the middle of 2011 as Mark & Tilly are applying for a travel/work visa for Canada.  Mark has now qualified as a builder and would hope to use those skills there.  Of course, what a wonderful travel opportunity that would be for us!  I'd just love to be able to spend time in Kamloops with my aunty and two of my cousins and their families. 

Jared & Michelle do not have any plans to move away, but they have been blessed with a trip to Hong Kong & Japan with Michelle's family in Feb.  They will be skiing in the northernmost island of Japan.  While up in that part of the world they are going to take a side trip to Vietnam and spend 10 days travelling there.  Jared is still developing his music teaching and it has been great to see his client base build in the latter 6 months of this year.