The Leichty Letter -- Advent 1996

Christmas greetings from our house in Fort Wayne to all of our friends and family! We wish you God’s richest blessings in this joyous season of hope! May God’s peace be yours as you celebrate the birth of the Savior and look forward to 1997!

Here is a glimpse of our lives this past year. On the back you’ll find some family highlights.

Paul - As the year winds down, First Mennonite Church is considering some changes which could reallocate Paul’s time. Coupled with that are some exciting prospects for a Christian community development project in Fort Wayne. It’s too soon to give any details, so stay tuned! Paul continues to lead the Mission Commission for Indiana-Michigan Mennonite Conference and attended the Urban Congress in April in Chicago.

Nancy is working full-time for Lifelines Rehabilitation Services as a Rehab Aide. After working initially at two or three locations, she now devotes most of her time to a nursing home that’s only about a mile from home. She enjoys assisting physical, occupational and speech therapists in their tasks. Occasionally, Nancy still works a shift at Lindenview, the psychiatric unit of Parkview Memorial Hospital. She also serves on the Advisory Council of Mennonite Disabilities Services.

Nathan is in his senior year at Snider High School in Fort Wayne. He spends his morning there and his afternoons in the Career and Life Skills Program at the Anthis Career Center downtown. A fall project for his class has been learning some cleaning, painting, and renovation skills on a house. After that, he will work in several job placements in anticipation of work that will be ongoing after he graduates in June. He still enjoys TV game shows and computer games.

Renita - Sophomore at North Side High School. Volunteer worker at the library and the hospital. President of church youth group. Renita writes: My year in a paragraph: January-February: winter. March: Invitational meets for Academic Team. 29th: my 15th birthday. April: English Academic Team qualifies for State competitions. 27th: State Academic Team competitions. We placed seventh. (Out of seven.) May: school winds down. June: 8th: School's out! Spent rest of the month reading, watching TV, sleeping, and being hot. July: Driver's Ed. Learned how to drive. (You hope so, right?) Got mono. (NOT NOT NOT NOT NOT from kissing anyone!! Okay!?!?!) Took about 3 weeks to get over it. August: while recovering from mono, took off for Oregon and California. Spent two and a half weeks relative hopping. Did Disney. Got spiffy pencil as proof. Planet Hollywood was pretty kewl (that's cool, for you non-with it people) too. August 26th: started 10th grade at North Side High School. September-Present: I am News Co-Editor on my school's weekly newspaper, an active member of Student Council, and involved with English Academic Team. I am plenty busy, thank you very much, and am trying to convince my parents (mom) I don't need another activity. I write to four pen pals on a regular basis via "snail-mail" and have several others via E-mail. I love getting mail!! I am looking forward to Christmas break and I hope everyone has a "Happy Christmas and a Merry New Year!" (That's the way to say it at North Side!)

Indeed, all of us wish all of you a joyous Christmas and a wonderful 1997!

Certainly, the family highlight of the year was a summer trip to the West Coast. We flew to San Francisco, drove up along the coast, then cut inland to the Leichty family farm near Albany, Oregon. Nathan and Renita got to spend some time with second cousins and their families while Nancy and Paul attended the Fifth International Fragile X Conference in Portland. The conference was an amazing gathering of professionals and family members all focused on helping persons affected with Fragile X Syndrome. After spending a day at the Oregon coast, the whole family traveled south again, visiting relatives along the way, culminating with a day at Disneyland jointly with the Fresno Leichty clan (Paul’s brother and family). Even Nathan enjoyed seeing the Electric Light Parade and Uncle Bruce found Planet Hollywood for Renita where we enjoyed a meal together. After another relaxing day in Fresno and some sight-seeing in San Francisco, we flew back home to Indiana!

Our family helped to start a Fragile X Support Group in Fort Wayne this year. Four families form the core group, and through a variety of resources, including the summer conference, a computer discussion group, and various papers and periodicals, we are learning more all the time about the effects of this genetic condition. The highlight among our monthly meetings was a talk by a developmental pediatrician who has done special medical studies in this area. Over 30 people took advantage of this initial effort at community education to learn more about how to work with children who have this most common inherited cause of mental retardation.

All of God’s creatures have their place, but we don’t think some of them should be in our home! After sporadic encounters with mice and spending the better part of a week removing a bat from the house, we discovered this fall that the termites were migrating in our neighborhood. After laborious effort to clean and prepare the basement for extermination, our “reward” was a hole drilled in the water pipe under the floor which along with the chemical odor sent us packing to a motel for the night. 48 hours later, we finally had water again, just in time to be reminded at Thanksgiving time that we have many things to be grateful for.
Electronic communication brings both enlightenment and consternation to our household.

While Paul toys with turning his hobby into a supplementary source of income, Renita explores her own interests through newsgroups and on a local Christian bulletin board. She won a short story contest to become a sub-operator on one of the discussion groups of this board. She delights in corresponding via any means (electronic or good old pen and ink). Meanwhile, both Paul and Renita have made rudimentary efforts at posting more information, pictures, and links to areas of interest on the World Wide Web. If you look hard enough, you’ll find numerous ways to find out more about us or communicate with us by any means you choose. Of course, the best way is to come and see us, which we would greatly welcome!

The Leichty Letter is an annual publication of Paul, Nancy, Nathan, and Renita Leichty for the purpose of sending Christmas greetings and keeping in touch with family and friends. Return greetings are very much welcomed and may be addressed to us at PDLeichty@cresources.org.

Visit Paul’s Home Page on the World Wide Web at http://www.cresources.org/PDLeichty/