Greetings from Denver! From the Glusenkamp family to yours, we wish you all a magical winter season. The year 2010 was an eventful year for the Glusenkamps.
We began the year with a trip to England to celebrate Nathan’s graduation from the University of Sussex with a MA in International Relations. The five of us traveled over the pond with beloved aunt and sister, Trina and Nate’s girlfriend, Kate. We enjoyed days in London, Brighton and Canterbury visiting many museums, churches, pubs, and theatre performances. We are all proud of Nathan and his incredible accomplishments. We felt blessed to start 2010 together since the rest of the year we spend living in different time zones, and we cover all four North American zones!
Nathan continues his work as Program Lead for the PINNACLE Registry at the American College of Cardiology, in Washington, D.C. The PINNACLE Registry is a national ambulatory quality improvement registry that measures adherence to cardiovascular medicine performance measures. It has been a challenging, but ultimately rewarding, year for Nate in this role. In addition to his work at the ACC, he had the opportunity for travel. Destinations included St. Louis for a late season Cardinals game, Minneapolis for Thanksgiving with Hannah, and Northern California with a visit to Uncle Tim and Tim’s alpacas! Nate remains a devoted baseball fan and frequently attends games at Nationals Park in DC. He also developed an affection for English Premier League soccer during his time abroad. He reports that the EPL “footie” (as he insists on calling it) now helps see him through the long months between the end of the World Series and spring training. In the coming year, Nate hopes to have a manuscript he wrote published in a peer-reviewed journal and to travel to at least one new country.
From January to May, Noah continued his work with Organizing for America in Denver before taking a new position as Data Coordinator for a Senatorial campaign in Washington State. Noah and his girlfriend, Caroline, moved to Seattle in June and have been enjoying their return to the West Coast. Caroline is studying to receive both her MA and teaching certificate in Special Education. After Noah’s work with the campaign wrapped up, he departed on Thanksgiving Day, for 3 months of study with Thich Nhat Hanh at Plum Village, outside of Bordeaux, France, http://www.plumvillage.org/.
We are eager to hear of Noah’s experiences upon his return to the USA in February.
During the first half of 2010, Hannah Grace continued her work as shift supervisor in the deli department of the Seward Community Grocery and Deli Co-op in Minneapolis, MN. In July she made an exciting transition as she began work as a full-time Youth Outreach Educator with Lutheran Social Service of MN’s Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program. She now spends her days teaching middle school students in Minneapolis Public Schools. In addition to her work with LSS, she continues to teach at a teen-friendly health clinic, and has begun teaching an after-school leadership class for middle school students through Minneapolis Community Education. She enjoys spending time outside, exercising, studying holistic health and healing, and building community with friends. She has been very happy to have visits from Ron, Sue Ann and Nathan this year!
Sue Ann continues her clinical work as a float RN at Porter Adventist Hospital in Denver. She feels blessed to be able to teach nursing students as affiliate faculty for two local nursing programs and has started her graduate studies at Regis University, http://www.regis.edu/. Sue Ann continues to run with her running buddies and stay active at Bethany in the chancel choir, Health Cabinet, and women’s Deborah Circle. Sue Ann remains committed to travel and enjoyed domestic trips to DC, Seattle, Minneapolis, Fort Wayne, Wichita, the Lou x2 and Camp Arcadia.
Ron continues as Senior Pastor at Bethany Lutheran Church http://bethany-denver.org. This year the congregation collected more than 7,000 pairs of shoes for Soles4Souls and over 10 tons of hunger relief food for 10.10.10, http://hrd101010.blogspot.com. Ron and Sue Ann enjoyed time at Camp Arcadia this summer when Ron co-taught with friend and musician Peter Mayer. Ron continues to enjoy writing his H2o devos, check them out at http://h2odevos.blogspot.com. When Ron isn’t in the pulpit or on the interweb, he is busy walking. This year he participated with other Faithful Soles in the Salt Lake City and Denver Marathons. Plans for this next year include the COUNTRY MUSIC Marathon in Nashville. ROCK ON!! http://nashville.competitor.com/
All five of us, along with Caroline, were able to make it to Branson, Missouri this June to gather with many Friederichs/Fritz clan members for an Ozarks reunion! Hee, Haw!
We celebrated the wedding of our niece and cousin, Sarah, along with a milestone birthday of Tio Tim. The gift of family reuniting is truly a blessing.
As we make our ways around the country and the world, we continue to hold all of you and our times together in our hearts. We are grateful for the Christ Child born in Bethlehem who brings Joy to the World. We hope and pray that you are healthy and happy and filled with love, laughter, light, and maybe even a little holiday nog or glug!
Happy New Year, 2011! Let us know if you visit one of our time zones!
Peace & love,
Ron, Sue Ann, Nathan, Noah and Hannah Grace
Thank you so much for including our cause in your letter! We're grateful for the people of Bethany Lutheran for changing over 7,000 lives!
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