It is with a grateful heart (and some reluctance) that I have decided to retire from AHUMC Weekday School at the end of this school year. After 35 years of enjoying these precious children, it is with some regret, mixed emotions yet anticipation, that I am choosing to leave this sweet school. I do look forward to enjoying time traveling, volunteering and just “being!”

Hello and welcome to 2021. As I write this the sun is shining through the garden window - a blessing on this chilly morning. The 2021 Board of Stewards met on Saturday the 23rd for our annual orientation retreat and again for our first regular BOS meeting of the year on Thursday the 28th. We welcomed Dan St. Romain, Scott Boynton and David Kinder to the Board.

As we finish out this unbelievable year, I reflect on the fact that even though this year was filled with monumentally difficult challenges, it was also filled with great blessings. Personally, Chip and I are blessed that our youngest daughter, Shelby, has graduated college, and our oldest daughter, CJ, is having a baby in January.

The Live Nativity, a 70 year tradition at AHUMC, was held Sunday, December 6. We are so grateful to God for all who made this special event possible in this unusual and challenging year. The beautiful story of our Lord Jesus Christ’s birth offers us peace, hope, joy, and love anew. It is a deep privilege to share this wonderful story with one another and invite Christ to be born anew in each of us. Nearly 200 people gathered throughout the evening to view the four performances and many others saw it as they drove by on Basse Road. A highlight of the evening was having Rev. Harold & Patricia Burkhardt attend as Harold started the Nativity Scene in 1950 at the old church location on Broadway! Since 1980, Rev. Donna Strieb (along with Rev. Clyde Byrd until his death in 1997) has continued the tradition as staff coordinator.