John

“For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.” —Romans 15:4

• I know that by the time you get to my part of the letter, you probably are out of energy, so why don’t you stretch and walk around before you read my letter.
• Last Christmas I was proud to be Charles Dickens in A Christmas Carol.
• In December, all of the family + Kyle Schmidt went to Georgia to visit Elizabeth and Josh. Kyle taught the family how to play Bang, the Bullet!
• This spring I bought a drone, and I have been taking cool high photos. One time Dad was testing the buttons on the controller. He pressed and held the speed button for a few seconds. He learned that that button was the kill switch, aka the button that makes the propellers stop. The drone plummeted, and luckily one of the landing pads fell off rather than snapping off after the impact. Today the drone does not have one of its landing pads, and the bottom of the camera has some scratches from the fall on the concrete.
• This summer I was glad to be a lead munchkin in Choose Your Own Oz. I am thankful that we could have the show after the lockdown and didn’t have to use microphones because the theater had good acoustics.
• This year I have enjoyed reading Man Of The Family by Ralph Moody. The book is about an 11- or 12-year-old boy who lives in Littleton, Colorado. His dad died, leaving him with his mother and younger siblings. I am writing this with my gerbil on me. He just climbed in my plaid shirt!
• Ruth, my sister, married Zach Elliott. I was honored to be a groomsman in their wedding.
• In the late summer my neighbor and I built a small hut that is waterproof because we have a roofing tarp. We built it by putting four pegs in the ground, and over the pegs we placed pallets vertically to form two walls. We put on a roof by laying boards across the two pallets and covering them with newspaper and a tarp. We can extend the tarp by using sticks to add a room.
• One time my gerbil chewed a whole cardboard roll while he was in my hand.
• In August all of my family went to the Grand Canyon. We spent part of three days at Zion National Park. We saw spectacular views, and the hikes were fabulous. One thing I liked about the West is the dry heat, unlike Indiana’s high humidity.
• This year Dad, Mom, and I learned to play pickleball with three players. We had to learn to play with three instead of four players because Ben normally was busy with school or working on his electric bike. (You can see his section for more information about his bike.) How it is played is seen below. Two people are on one side of the net, and the other person is on the other side of the net. The team two players have to hit to only the quadrant where the single player starts, but the solo player may hit the ball to both quadrants of the opposite side.
• Inspired by my sister, I decided to create my own YouTube channel.
• What did the little dog get for his birthday? A new collaring book.
• What’s the difference between a puppy and a flea? A puppy can have fleas, but a flea can’t have puppies.
• What song do little dogs like to sing? “Pup Goes The Weasel.”