Well Y2K brought a lot of changes to our lives. No major computer crashes or anything like that, but change none the less. I don’t even know where to start.

In February, Bryan left the relative stability of the Banta In-plant position that he had held for over six year to become a regional technical representative for Sun Chemical. Unfortunately, this meant the he would be "on the road" every week. It was a new challenge for all of us to adapt to Bryan being home only on weekends. He worked for Sun Chemical until mid-August.

Everything was reasonably quiet until August, then a whirlwind of change! On August 17 we welcomed Anna Elisabeth Layton into our lives. She was born a little after midnight and our lives will never be the same. Todd really has been a great help and he is crazy about his little sister. She is a real sweetie most of the time, although right now she is squealing for some attention! She is now almost four months old and doing what babies do best…growing like a weed.

Shortly after Anna was born, Bryan left his job to start out in a new direction. He is attending T.C. Williams School of Law in Richmond. As an 1 L he has been immersed into a whole new world and I began hearing all about foreign concepts like "adverse possession". If you really want to know about that just call Bryan he’ll talk for hours.

Todd also started at a new school this August. The county closed the school where he attended Kindergarten (and I attended grades 1-6) and open a new much larger school. This still has not convinced me that bigger is better in an elementary school. None the less, he has a great teacher and is really enjoying the 1^st grade. He is learning to read and enjoys that, but his real interest and talent lies in Math.

I am staying busy with the computer business. I came off a self imposed maternity leave toward the end of September and have been so busy that I entirely missed October and November, maybe somebody tell me what happened. This is where all of you get an apology from me, I have been lousy at correspondence, well actually communication of any kind for some time now. (And I never really been good!)

We are also staying busy with things at church. I am the Children’s Sunday School Dept. superintendent (Bryan says I am the SSD Commandant) and that is a lot of responsibility. We are currently getting the kids ready to give a Christmas program called "Come to the Manger". Todd is in it and even has a few speaking lines.

I am afraid that only touches the tip of the iceberg of our year. We have had some sorrows and some adjustments, but mostly 2000 has been a year of joy. We wish for you the same for the Holidays and throughout 2001!

Happy Holidays,

Love,

Bryan, Brenda, Todd, & Anna