2005 began with us delivering 1,200 pounds of books and Bibles in Ethiopia with Annette's family and will end with a New Year's Eve celebration at my parents' home in Georgia. In between we got to teach youth leaders in Chile, Mexico, Guatemala, and Argentina, finished editing a 400-page foundations of youth ministry textbook and its accompanying 20 interactive and animated classes, had approximately 2 million youth workers use our website, ate lots of great Mexican food, helped take care of 7-week old triplets, did a few errands, and in our free time, wrote a somewhat fictitious, serialized, *children's story about our dog.

* If you have children, our Christmas gift to them is SPiKE: the accidental adventurer, which you can find in all its multimedia glory at here. Make sure you read the "Tips for Readers" and the "Back Story" which you can find on the links bar on the right of the page.

A couple of months ago we told you that we've finished our goals here in Mexico and will be leaving. Our organization suggested that we take a year of furlough, so during '06 we will be working out of Orlando, Florida (where we lived before moving to Mexico). We will still be running the youth ministry website and already have four or five events in Latin America in which we'll be involved.

The rental contract of our beloved 580-square-foot house runs out February 15 so that seemed like a good departure date. We'll pile the earthly goods that have made the cut (and fit) into our '97 Ford Explorer and will, for the first time in our lives, drive across the Mexican-U.S. border and into the next chapter of our lives.

Whether you like it or not :-) we'll be keeping you up-to-date on what's going on in our lives through these monthly letters as well as on our blog.
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Hope your year has also been full of adventure, beauty, good friendships, and significance.

Wishing you a....________________

Annette & Tim Gulick