Riggins Family Christmas 2016

Our new home, Still Waters

(Click on the image and it should appear in an enlarged format)

We have all aged a year since our last Christmas letter reached you. For some it has seemed longer. My mom has suffered more setbacks and has only just started to recover. She has had a cruddy decade. Yet her determination and style have made her my hero. Please join me in praying that Dotti Riggins might receive the quality of life she so richly deserves.

Linda's parents, Betty and Jerry Smith, also face the changes time brings. But they keep moving. They move about the landscape, visiting family in New York and New England and coming here to help us christen the new place (more on that below). Also, they literally moved into a condo. Hard to believe we have known each other for forty years. Of course, Linda has known them much longer.

Following one of Laura's performances

Laura and Sam remain in Carmel, she teaching and he working as a financial advisor. Laura trod the boards again as Tzeitel, the eldest daughter in an Indianapolis Civic Theater production of Fiddler on the Roof. It was a joy to see her joy at returning to something she loves. Dan has entered the third year of medical school in the Bronx. He has completed most of his rotations, those immersions in the various areas of medicine. In anticipation of this demanding year he once again loaned us his beloved, beautiful Brianna, whom we had already hosted during his first year.

Run!  Hide!  The pit bulls are coming!

This made us fall in love again with dogs. So we adopted one of our own, another fierce, frightening, fanged pit bull type named Keela. The two of them have become sisters, hanging out and having the occasional spat. Cats Lindele and Oreo II complete the menagerie, and of late all six of us have gotten along splendidly. I usually awaken with one dog sleeping against my legs and the other licking my face. I know she loves me but more to the point, she wants breakfast.

This year we finally fulfilled the blessing of moving into our new home on the lake. We could never have done this without the generosity of family—on both sides. One of the New Testament words translated “blessed” actually means “happy”. We feel blessed/happy/surprised to live here. After searching the Bible for an appropriate name we have decided to call it Still Waters.

A. Pat Riggins bought this family canoe in the mid-70's

You are most welcome at Still Waters. (But please call us a couple of hours before arrival so we can pretend not to be home.) Seriously, we would love to host any of our friends from any of the years of our lives. God has been good to us far beyond anything we may have earned. We want to share our blessings, our happiness with you.

May God grant you and yours a blessed Christmas!