Christmas 2003

Dearest Family & Friends,

Preparing our Christmas cards is the way we like to begin the
holiday season. Each year we look forward to reading through the
letters that you send to us and we put all of your holiday pictures in
our scrapbook. We value the many years that we have shared our lives
with each other.

As this year comes to a close, each member of the Metten family
feels incredibly grateful for the many blessings we have received. Our
greatest family blessing was the birth of our second grandchild, Kylah
Renae Metten. Matt and Brooke brought this beautiful, happy baby girl
into the world on April 21st. She is petite, adorable and loves to
smile. We treasure every minute that we have with her. With Kylah, we
now have two precious grandchildren. Micah, Jen and Benoni’s baby, will
be almost 22 months old by Christmas. He continues to be a tremendous
joy in our life.

Although Jennifer reminded me that every year we begin our Christmas
letter talking about the many transitions the Metten family has
experienced throughout the year, this year will sound very similar.
Greg spent from August 2002 until April of this year studying for the
National Veterinary Board Examination and the California State
Veterinary Board Examination. It was the best news we could have heard
when in May he received verification that he had passed both of them.
He immediately began practicing small animal medicine in the West LA
area and has regained the confidence that he enjoyed when he owned his
own practice in San Diego in the 80’s.

Shelley had returned to the faculty at UCLA Medical School in August
of 2001 and has, since that time, been fully immersed in developing and
now implementing an entirely new curriculum for the first two years of
medical school. Although it is an incredibly busy time, it has been
exciting to be a part of this historic moment in the medical school’s
history.

Greg and Shelley were living in faculty housing on the UCLA campus
when in May it became obvious some changes were going to have to be
made. Benoni made the decision to return to the university and seek a
Master’s Degree in Education. We decided to live together so that we
could help them financially while Benoni was in school and Jen could
stay home to take care of Micah and Shelley’s mom, Barbara. Everything
came together a few weeks later when Greg was able to start practicing
again. We searched for a house to rent and realized we could buy one
for about the same amount of monthly expense. We had not owned a home
since 1986 so this was a huge step toward stability for the Mettens!
Within a few weeks we found the ideal home and the Mettens and Pantojas
moved on July 15th. Since that time we have added one more member,
Coco, our new puppy, to the family home.

Matt and Brooke, in addition to becoming new parents, have also made
a major professional move. Matt began working for Harmonic Design,
Inc., a company that it makes motors to automate blinds and shades. He
is the installation manager, the tech support guy and the webmaster.
You can see his creativity at www.sensorshade.com. We are very excited
about this great opportunity for Matt. Brooke is cultivating an
interest in photography and has some great plans for the new year.

Jen is planning to begin preparation for her Ph.D. in Near Eastern
Languages and Cultures. She must begin by taking courses in Biblical
Hebrew and Aramaic to refresh her language skills. We are hopeful that
Benoni will become a Bruin and be part of the UCLA Master’s in
Education Program. They will probably end up in college together!

Although we are very grateful that we have been able to live in
different parts of the world and to build friendships in many
countries, it is certainly a great feeling to know that we are going to
be settled in our own home for a very, very long time. (It is now safe
to enter our address in the permanent part of your address book!)

We look forward to hearing from you. Happy Holidays and may God bless you and your family.