Merry Christmas From the Sampson Family

Dear family and friends,

What a year 2006 has been, full of new challenges and changes. At the beginning of 2006 we were beginning our third year in Vancouver Washington. As 2006 comes to an end we find ourselves in more familiar surroundings and back home in Shoreline Washington. Here is a brief year in review from our family.

The first part of the year brought Melissa home from college after being away from home and our family for her senior year of high school and her first semester of college. We missed her very much and love having her home with us again. On the flip side was the challenge of Steve’s Fathers failing health, and his ultimate passing away in early February. Although it was a sad time, it was also a time of strength and a faith building experience for our family. We find it so very comforting that Blaine and Eleanor are back together again and back in the presence of our Heavenly Father.

Melissa has taken part of the year off from school to reevaluate her plans while working fulltime. She’s taking marketing classes at Shoreline Community College while she decides what she wants to do. While in Vancouver Melissa worked for the GI Joe’s Sporting Goods Flag ship store in Portland as department lead. Before moving back to Shoreline, Melissa secured a job with the Husky Headquarters in the U-district where she was the store manager. We said was because Melissa has just been promoted to Merchandising Manager for all six stores. This is a position of considerable responsibility for a 19-year-old kid. We’re so proud of her! She has so much going for her and she’ll be a great success in anything she undertakes.

Kyle is in his junior year of high school at his mom and dad’s old high school rival, Shorewood, where he has been able to reconnect with many of his childhood friends he’s grown up with. Kyle left behind some very good friends in Vancouver that he continues to keep in touch with. Kyle is enjoying his junior year of high school where his favorite classes are social psychology and photography. This year is also a milestone for Kyle. He turned 16 and completed drivers ed! He’ll be getting his drivers license as soon as his waiting period is up in a few months. That will certainly increase his independence and open up a whole new world of adventure for both Kyle and his parents.

Alex continues to be an incredible kid. It is truly amazing to see how well he is doing considering all he has over come in his short life. Alex is in the third grade back at Echo Lake where he went to Kindergarten. Last year for Christmas Alex received a pocket bike (mini motor cycle) from Santa that he enjoys getting out and riding as often as possible. He picked up on riding very fast and shows quite a knack for it; much to his dad’s pleasure…looks like we have another potential racer in the family. Alex also enjoys playing on the computer and video games, which he usually masters in one or two days.

It’s been a big year for Skyler. He started first grade this year and loves school and loves his teacher, Mrs. Nichols. Skyler is a fireball of energy. Never slowing down, he even moves in his sleep. Skyler favorite past times are playing with our cat, dog and rat, and playing on the computer, video games and riding his bike. Oh, and keeping his older brothers on their toes. He always has to be in the thick of things. If we only had all his energy!! Skyler is showing a very competitive nature giving both of his brothers a run for the money.

The beginning of this year found Lisa speaking with State Legislators regarding WASL issues in addition to protesting at the state capital along with other locations around the state. Lisa still sits on the board of directors for Parent Empowerment Network where she fights for the rights of children in our education system. Lisa has been published in numerous newspapers around the state and continues to speak publicly on educational issues and counsel parents helping them to navigate the educational system. A month before moving back to Shoreline Lisa accepted the store manager position for the Alderwood Romy Boutique. Romy is a European style fashion boutique for women. Lisa loves her job and the team she works with and hopes to move up quickly in this new company. In addition Lisa is back in the scouting program as bear den mother for Alex’s Cub Scout Bear den, adding to Lisa’s all ready busy schedule.

The first half of he year saw continued growth and profitability for Steve’s company, ES&A in Portland, OR. It also saw continues efforts by one of their Portland competitors to recruit Steve to run that company’s Seattle division. When Steve started his position with ES&A in December 2003 it was with the understanding that this company would be re-establishing their Seattle offices and move us back to Seattle within two to three years. However, after over two years it became apparent that it would likely be much longer before his company would be able to move back into the Seattle Market. While we enjoyed living in the Portland – Vancouver area, it was always our plan to ultimately return home to Seattle, sooner rather than later.

In April Steve began to seriously consider accepting a position with Heath Northwest in Seattle. After several meetings with the owners and a visit to their Seattle offices, we decided to accept their generous offer and move our family back home to Seattle. This was a very difficult decision for Steve as he was seeing some great successes at ES&A and felt loyal to them. But the lure of moving back home and working for great company, offering a better a compensation package really made this decision a no brainer for us. They even paid for professional movers to move us, so we didn’t even have to contend with the always-tedious ordeal of moving ourselves. We simply packed boxes and directed the movers where to put everything. Steve started his position as Vice President of Sales for Heath Northwest the first week of August. Although he has his work cut out for him, he has a great staff and the full support of their parent company backing him. He has already seen some great success and has landed some great accounts, and the coming New Year is looking to be a promising one for his business.

We feel blessed to have such a wonderful family and fortunate for all the blessings we have received, as well as for the challenges we have endured and overcome this past year. We wish all of our family and friends a very merry Christmas and a joyous, healthy and prosperous New Year.

All our love,

Steve, Lisa, Melissa, Kyle, Alex and Skyler Sampson