Greetings from the Schmidt household!   It's that time of year again to update our friends & relatives on the "state of the family."  We hope this finds you all in good health.
     Our growing season was unbelievable the first half of the summer.  Crops and gardens looked like the Garden of Eden, & the wild black raspberry crop was wonderful.  Then the rain ceased & soybean aphids moved in.  The result was a better-than-expected corn crop & a lowered soybean yield.  However, harvest was completed without major breakdowns, & our freezers are full of fruits & vegetables.
     Our children all have the same jobs, but we have some news to share:
     Wanda & John are still doing custom contracting, building & remodeling everything from decks to pole barns to churches.  John Austin, 12, 7^th grade, carries a 4.0 GPA & was named the Lakeview Jr. High "Student of the Month" for the month of November.  With Knowledge Bowl, band, catechism, etc., he is busy almost every evening & many mornings before school.  Dustin, 10, 5^th grade, started the flute this year & really likes it.  He & John played Christmas music while we prepared our Christmas dinner yesterday.  Tristan, almost 22 months, is cutting teeth & beginning to talk.  Since fall he has spent 3-4 days/week at Grandma & Grandpa Schmidt's while Mom & Dad are working.
     Reba will soon have to curtail her nursing duties, as she & Shad are expecting their third child in February.  Matthew, 4, has preschool 4 mornings per week.  He wants a new brother, since he doesn't like girls.  Tyler, 2 ½, promises to help take care of the baby.  Shad is pleased with our snowy winter, since he sells/repairs snowmobiles & cleans snow from the driveways of Ivanhoe's residents as part of his business.
     Austin & family moved to a home on ten acres located on the west edge of Hutchinson.  He & Leia have been busy doing some remodeling of the 1930's farmhouse, plus trimming brush & removing trees, not to mention all the mowing!  Leia has almost finished her second year of college.  Noah, 2, is tall for his age & talks a lot, so people think he is older.  Last week he asked for the hammer, so Austin went to investigate.  Noah had found a nail sticking out, & he was determined to pound it back in place.  He also helped with the "mudding" of the wallboard during their remodeling last summer.
     Roberta continues her job as editor at Capstone Press in Mankato, but last winter she moved south of town into the country.  She will be moving again around Memorial Day, as she will marry Dustin Basel, son of Pastor Daniel & Lisa, on May 29.  They knew each other as students at Bethany, then became reacquainted last summer.  They will live in LaCrosse, where Dustin is attending classes for a degree in health care.
     The 2003 state legislature cut funding to the Minnesota Historical Society even more than anticipated, but they mandated that MHS hold local meetings in an effort to keep historical sites open.  All of the 7 sites scheduled to close found funding to remain open, on a limited basis, through the fiscal year.  The Lower Sioux Community provided enough funding to keep the site open Friday, Saturday & Sunday last July & August, then Memorial Day through June 30, 2004.  What happens after that, no one knows.  I worked a heavy schedule last May, with many school groups, but that won't happen in 2004.  This way I will have time to sew bridesmaid gowns, make wedding cakes, etc…J  I will also be busy learning the job of Township Clerk, since the lady who holds the position is terminally ill.

     Gary remains busy w/ shop work in addition to farming.  He has gone from ridge till to working the ground, so that takes more time.  He was elected supervisor for Vesta Township last March, which means monthly meetings, training, & building/maintaining local roads & bridges.  That includes checking the roads to see which ones need to be plowed before calling the company that does the local snow removal.  He was also elected church elder, so he spends longer hours at church, doing church "business."
     We "inherited" 2 geese & 8 ducks this past fall, so we will have duck for the Kittleson Christmas on December 27 & the Schmidt Christmas on December 28.  We celebrated our Christmas here on December 21, since Austin works December 24-28.  The weather was balmy--in the 30's with no wind, so we didn't have to worry about people traveling on nasty roads.