Merry Christmas 2013

Greetings friends and family!

May our Lord Jesus Christ bless you in this wonderful holiday season with peace, joy and contentment!  In this year, we are so blessed to have a loving extended family, caring friends and kids that we are so proud of! As we were enjoying the Christmas Pageant this weekend, I marveled at the gift to all mankind we were given in the form a little boy in a manger two millennia ago.

It has been far too long since we sent our last Christmas letter.  So much has happened between now and the last update we did in 2010... Here’s the one sentence synopsis: I completed my deployment to Afghanistan, retired from the Air Force, we moved back to San Antonio, found a job with AT&T, enrolled the kids in public school here, and while Vivian’s been very active in supporting the local troops, she was hired for a teaching position at a private school. Each of the kids had their own paragraph to share.

Matthew: Well, being almost out of high school is frightening and exhilarating at the same time. I’m glad to be back here in texas, although I’m going to miss Europe, perhaps more than I realise. Although my academic career was a rough road to traverse, I’m seeing the end of these brambles and thorns. For the future, I see myself either following my Dad’s footsteps, and possibly go into the Air Force, either that, or go into game development. Have a great holiday season!

Daniel: I would like to say that at the moment that I am writing this it has been one crazy year so far. I started going to John Jay Science and Engineering Academy, this fall and have just finished my science fair project that is required to be completed once a year for the fair. I am also involved in the robotics team. Soon, being January 4th we will have the kick off for the First Robotics Competition where we will compete with other teams from around the country. Also as my farewell, Happy Christmas!  (as our Brit friends would say!)

Ethan: I am twelve years old in 7th grade. I like the ocean and would like to have a future job as an oceanographer or as a marine biologist. I am also interested in the medical field. I now play the viola in my school orchestra, one of the best ones of the district. I like animals, mostly cats but I am not a really big people person. Texas is a good place, a little hot, but nice. Texas seemed odd to me at first but I think it as nice now after the warm welcome.

Victoria: I like to draw things, mostly fruit.  I also like to color, talk, read, climb on things, and write. I am 10 years of age and I’m in 5th grade. I like the ocean and the things in it. I like San Antonio, but I think I would like to back to Hawai’i someday, but who wouldn’t! Next year, in 6th grade, I would like to be in drama. I also like to sing and dance. And I hope you have a wonderful time, wherever you are!

Here are a few photo sets and searches.  Just follow the links for more of each.

Favorite shots from 2013	Favorite Shots from 2012
Favorite shots from 2011	Neal and Vivian
Neal	Vivian
Matthew	Daniel
Ethan	Victoria
All Kids	Family Group Shots

God Bless, and we hope to hear from you this year!

Neal, Vivian, Matthew, Daniel, Ethan, and Victoria Schneider

Merry Christmas from Afghanistan!

Though in this blessed holiday season I’m homesick for families both in Texas and England, I am so very grateful for the family that I love, for the country I serve and Lord that I live for!

Speaking of the family that I love, it's wonderful to see how all the kids are growing. Sometimes bittersweet as I'd like for them to stay like they are, but it's often thought provoking seeing life through new eyes growing in a different world. Fortunately Vivian's cracked the code on taking and sharing photos, so I'm looking forward to each new batch!

Matthew has been making a go of it in the DoD School at Lakenheath. He loves working with and learning about computers, be has been developing a growing interest in history (Perhaps mom and dad dragging him all over Europe had a factor there!)

Daniel's thoughtfulness continues to impress us. He loves helping out anywhere, from scouts to Awana. He's our inventor too, interested in how things work, taking apart anything we'll let him. Sometimes he even fixes them! And trains? Oh can he tell you about trains!

Ethan is our voracious bookwoorm. He was so excited when he got his hands on the 6th book in the How to Train a Dragon Series, but then could detect a bit of disappointment in his voice when he was done with it 3 days later. He's got such a quick, sharp dry wit that we just wonder where he got it from!

Victoria, is still very much our little princess. It still amazes us how she can be such an uneroding island of femininity in our raging seas of testosterone! Crafts, dolls, high tea, dresses, princesses, sugar, spice... She's and all that, and more!

By the way, the links on the kid's names above take you to their most "interesting" photos, and clicking sort on "recent" will let you see the most current ones.

As I flip through the photos I brought with me from the past year, I realize that it’s been a great year! Here's a quick travelogue of our journey this year...

Jan: Men’s ski trip bonding with Matthew and Daniel at Lenk, Switzerland

Feb: The boys got to attend an ivy league college of engineering on a weekend Hovercraft building event. After that we returned again to visit the city and to see Cambridge's US veteran's cemetery. And the boys got to participate in Scout Sunday at the Chapel.

Mar: I got to take an incentive flight on one of the KC-135s to refuel a pair of F-15s on the way to the states, and the boys got to see Neil Armstrong and other aerospace legends at a USO sponsored Astronaut Visit, and we all got closer at a Chapel conference "Family.God."

Apr: Had a wonderful Easter, followed by a long weekend seeing the sights in Kent and Dover. The location at Dover castle has been a strategic location since prehistoric ages and you can spend days there experiencing the history (though the kids are a bit less enthused). The base had a greatTake your Kids To Work day where they got to tour the tower and one of the tankers! Probably the favorite event in the year for the boys was getting to see the birthplace of the global scouting movement at the Gilwell Camporee near London!

May: We visited an Anglo Saxon Village. We were pleased to see that all the kids got something at the end of year AWANA awards. And the boys got to proudly show their BSA colors at a Memorial weekend service, and visited an exceptional cathedral in the nearby Ely village.

Jun: We took a whole week to head out east where we saw one of the Queen's residential palaces, the Windsor Castle, and saw some wonderful roman ruins at Bath, and then stepped even further back into time by seeing Stonehenge and Avesbury. Throughout the trip, we stayed a wonderfulresort village and then returned by way of Oxford.

Jul: Texas! It was so wonderful to get to see both Vivian's and Neal's family, As well as the great friends that we have there!

Aug: The youth group got a high energy kick-off to the year with "The RACE!" The boys absolutely loved it, and fortunately none of them were hurt too bad. We took a tour of theAudley End Houseand Gardens, the best 19th century manor house we've seen. Did other fun things like VBS, Golfing, and Grimes Graves flintstone mines.

Sep: Got lost in the Maize Maze, took the boys to the Mayflower District Camporee, and they participated in the POW-MIA observance on Veteran’s Day. Vivian and I enjoyed getting dressed up for the AF Ball.

Oct: Helped out with the Beltloop Bonanza for Ethan. Got to see the beginning of the Norman invasion of the English Isles at the reenactment of the historic battle of Hastings. When we discovered that Neal had orders to report to Afghanistan.

Nov: I went through Combat Airman Skills Training (CAST) at Ft. Dix, learning a lot of things that I hope I won't need while here in Afghanistan, like shooting an M-16 at moving targets, detecting and reacting to roadside bombs, and urban warfare tactics. From there, straight on to Afghanistan. Was at the transit station at Manas Air Base, Kyrgyzstan for Thanksgiving, and arrived in Kabul the next day.

Dec: Settling into a routine in Kabul, but get to see Robin Williams, Lance Armstrong the week before Christmas.

I think of you daily as we struggle here against the forces that hate freedom and our way of life.Though we are far from perfect and would never claim to be the savior of mankind ourselves, we are doing what we can to help the people of a war-torn land rise above those that would enslave them. Please pray for the return of Afghanistan to the people, not the corruptors.

Don't worry about me... this is about the safest place one can be in Afghanistan. The worst part is the effective isolation in this 300 meter long compound, and separation from family and friends back home, but thankfully there's such easy and quick communication. Feel free to send notes! I love seeing what everyone's up to. :)

God bless you all! We miss you all!

Neal and Vivian, Matthew, Daniel, Ethan, and Victoria Schneider