Dear Friends and Family,
It's mid-February, so I guess the New Year's greeting is a bit overdue. In recent years, I haven't written so much, but will make a short exception this year.
2007 was a difficult year. As many of you are no doubt aware, Matt's father passed away on September 1. We accept, of course, that death eventually claims us all, and that there are infinite ways to be philosophical about it. None of that, of course, makes its actuality any easier. For those of you so inclined, there are many pictures scattered through previous New Year's greetings, as well as blog entries from September. Thanks to everyone who has written, called or visited over the past several months.
The children continue to seek and find wisdom in many ways. One evening, Elianna opined that her grandfather was the world's best driver, because that's what dad said at the funeral. No matter that dad hadn't meant it precisely literally; Elianna had. Aaron, meanwhile, reminded Elianna that if grandfather were young again, then Aaron and Elianna wouldn't be born yet.
Aaron is in 5th grade now, and Elianna is in 1st grade. Most of the pictures in the accompanying pages document their year, so I'll stop the written kvelling here. We hope you'll enjoy the pictures; click on "Page 1" to start, or if you are viewing this letter in a web browser, just wait a little while and it'll start automatically.
Before viewing the slideshow, though, I just want to point you to two ongoing charity efforts, and ask your participation:
Every year, Aaron and I ride in the local Tour de Cure for the American Diabetes Association. Last year, Aaron was the 6th leading fundraiser in the ride in Brighton, and together we raised over $4000. The sign-up period for the 2008 ride, to be held on June 8, is just starting now. Especially now, when the economy is down (locally, in particular), every donation helps. Please go to http://tinyurl.com/3ygh2k to sponsor Aaron in this year's ride.
Please go to http://tinyurl.com/yp6hax to sponsor Matt in this year's ride.
Since 2005, I have been involved in the amazon associates program. Whenever someone buys products from amazon using my links (usually off my website), I "earn" a commission. For the past two years, my commissions, coupled with a personal match, have gone to a variety of charities. To date, we have raised $1100 via the amazon links, as detailed on my donations page. If you are an amazon shopper, participating won't cost you anything beyond whatever amount you're already spending at amazon. All you have to do is use one of my links to get there. To make it easy, simply click on the amazon logo at the beginning of this paragraph, or click on this amazon.com link. You can also bookmark the link.
If you use Internet Explorer v7, you may also add my amazon associates details to your search bar very easily. Just open this letter by clicking here and then click ADD AMAZON SEARCH once you are viewing in the browser. Once you have done this, you may use amazon search at any time from your IE 7 toolbar (see the picture below), and if you buy anything I'll get the commission for charity. Pretty nifty, eh?
We wish you a happy and healthy 2008!
We'd love to hear from you; if you'd like to leave a publicly viewable comment, please go to http://matt.orel.ws/blog/2008/02/new-years-greetings.html
Matt, Lori, Aaron and Elianna Orel
