2001 Christmas letter from the Peck family
December 25, 2001

Greetings!

Julia’s father, Jim Kim, broke his hip in early February and had a steady downhill course until he died on May 19, 2000. This followed a brave 6-7 year fight with prostate cancer. Jim was beautifully honored by many family, friends, and military service men during his funeral service at Arlington Cemetery on June 19. Jim spent the last few months of his life at home with hospice care, being visited numerous times by all his children and grandchildren. Julia was fortunate to be with her father when he drew his last breath and died in peace.

After the trying events of the first half of the year with her father, Julia began to spread her wings and explore many opportunities she had postponed while our children were small. This included lots of traveling (California, Colorado, New York, Massachusetts, etc) and new friends. Her physical workouts picked up once again. In early 2001, Julia worked part-time as a ski instructor at Massanutten, a local resort and plans to return to that this coming winter. Julia continues to refine her graphic design (Photoshop) skills. She taught a few martial arts courses to children in the summer. In the Fall, she began working part-time at Café Fairfax, an upscale local coffee restaurant.

Caren made a decision to accept Jesus as her savior on September 23. She is 16 and has been driving her own car by herself for half a year. She continues to do well academically as a junior in high school and just took her SAT’s. She played soccer in the Spring, making the first team all-district team in her first season as a varsity player. This whole year she worked out regularly with strength and endurance training. In the Fall, Caren played tennis for the varsity high school team and made the first team all-district in that. Caren played soccer at the same time for a travel team, which had a good comeback in the second half of the season. Caren recently qualified for the newly formed high school pom-pom squad. She joined the FCA (Fellowship of Christian Athletes) in September.

Caren officially received the bronze Congressional Award in June and plans to work for the silver medal in 2002. She was inducted into the National Honor Society in October. Caren is quite social now. She enjoys hanging out with friends, going to school events, and chatting on AIM (AOL Instant Messenger) when she has spare time.

Robbie is 14, in ninth grade, his last year at the Middle School. He’s doing well academically. He played basketball in the winter. While he didn’t score a lot of points, his Dad was proud of his excellent defense. He played travel soccer in the Spring, but decided to play soccer on a house league team in the Fall to cut down on weekend traveling. Robbie enjoys hanging out with his friends. His favorite activity is playing Everquest on the Internet. He asks a lot of intelligent questions about Christianity and comforts his Dad frequently.

Ginger, our golden retriever, is now seven. We were more attentive to her exercise needs this year and began taking her on more regular walks. She’s lost her ambition to be an Olympic long distance runner, but is still willing to train puppies.

Some highlights of 2001 included a family vacation in Vail, Colorado in February, a June vacation in France for Caren and Julia with the French class. We did not go on a family beach vacation this year for the first time in more than a decade. It’s more difficult to take vacations with the whole family with two teenagers.

Love,

Randy, Julia, Caren, & Robbie Peck

Randy's Note for 2001

May the peace, joy, and love of Jesus Christ be with you and your family during this Christmas season!

This has been the most difficult Christmas letter ever for me to write. In fact, for a short while, I even considered not sending custom Christmas cards and letters this year. I didn’t want to offend people with faith discussions, but God encouraged me through both prayer and friends. I was reminded that the reason I prepare custom Christmas cards and letters each year is to show family and friends I love them and how grateful I am for the love they have shown me.

This year my focus has been spiritual growth. On January 6, 2001, I committed my life to Jesus Christ while I was attending the Epiphany Sunday service at Precious Blood Catholic Church. (“Epiphany” actually means spiritual revelation.) While there was no formal “altar call”, God had strung together an incredible sequence of events over the previous half year to lead me to that decision. I developed a thirst for the Word of God and came to appreciate the truth in it. I surrendered my life to God and have put my trust in Him, resulting in a peace never before experienced. I still have many ups and downs from a worldly standpoint, but they bother me much less. I exchanged the security of my past for many opportunities, risks, and blessings of God.

Christianity to me has become a relationship (with Jesus Christ) instead of a religion as in the past. I finally understand that “religion” is man reaching out to God, whereas Christianity is God reaching out to man through a personal savior, Jesus Christ. My life has become centered around relationships instead of around material things. In fact, I believe I made more close friends this year than I did during my entire lifetime prior.

I’ve been accused by some family and friends of thinking of God all the time. That’s true. I’m not ashamed of the gospel or of Jesus. I can honestly say now that I love the LORD my God with all my mind, with all my heart, with all my soul, and with all my strength. However, I am working hard to learn to think Biblically yet speak secularly in non-Christian forums. I’ve been a member of the Culpeper Ministerial Association all year.

Career-wise, my initial goal for 2001 was to do about 12 weeks of anesthesia. Through July 2001, I had done 8 weeks, putting me ahead of schedule, but then I let other Godly matters be a higher priority. In 2002, I plan to do about 12 weeks of anesthesia. My web development business is slowly growing. I have started doing a lot of presentations and intend to start private coaching of executives.

A few of the special events for me this year included a Worldview Conference in Richmond in April, a national Christian Super Conference in October, a private Christian tour of the U.S. Capitol with pastors from all over the country in October, visiting Aunt Jean, Uncle Ozzie, & Sharon in Atlanta in early November, serving as the godfather for Jennifer Grace Peck (Kevin & Karen’s new daughter) on Nov 25, and visiting with relatives at Aunt Midge & Uncle Casper’s 50th anniversary and family reunion in early December in Wisconsin.

For recreation, I still like to bike and run. Surprisingly, I exercised more this year than any year in the past 6-10 years. I spend a lot of time reading. I set a goal of reading the Bible completing this year, but will fall slightly short of that. I spend more time with the kids than I used to, including cooking. My ultimate thanks goes out to Julia and the kids for tolerating a “new creation” (stranger) in their home. My love for my family has soared. 

I conclude by sharing that I believe that the most important and fundamental question that one can ask himself is “If I die today, where am I going and why?” The September 11 tragedies reminded us that none of us know if we’ll be around tomorrow. I invite you to make the national motto, “In God we trust”, the theme of your life as I have.

Love,

Randy

Jesus loves you! He invites each person to surrender his life to Him.