Dear Family and Friends:

Greetings from beautiful Colorado Springs!

We want to wish each one of you God’s best in the coming New Year.  We are grateful for this opportunity to write and update you on how our family is doing.

SANDI  We continue to thank the Lord for people’s prayers and Sandi’s good health after she was diagnosed with a very rare and life threatening form of breast cancer 2 years ago that was followed by 10 months of medical treatments (chemotherapy, surgery and radiation).  The doctors will continue to run tests on Sandi every 4 months to make sure the cancer does not return.  Besides keeping up with 3 very active kids, Sandi sings in the choir at church, heads up the music for the women’s missionary monthly meeting, goes on some visitation calls with Brian, and teaches Spanish one morning a week at the Colorado Springs Christian School for K through 5 grade.  Sandi also participates in weekly Mom’s In Touch prayer group for our children’s grade school.

BRIAN  Brian enjoys being the senior pastor of a wonderful church (First Evangelical Free Church of Colorado Springs).  He has the pleasure of working with a great team of staff and leaders to serve a growing congregation of over 500 people.  He also has a public teaching ministry on generosity that serves pastors and churches through website materials (www.kluth.org), free email newsletters, leadership training seminars, and guest commentaries on the "Money Matters" nationwide Christian radio program.  His weekly sermons are listened to by people across the country and around the world through the church’s internet site. This past year, Brian completed a 3 year leadership training program through Asbury Seminary and he has now started taking graduate level courses through Trinity Theological Seminary.  He's also enjoyed wonderful times with the family for vacations, outings, and attending the kids sports and musical events.

FAMILY  Inspired by our favorite TV show, “Extreme Home Makeover”, we did an affordable-Kluth-version of a makeover on our house.  Each of our children now have their own theme room – Josh went with a “military camouflage” room, Bethany has a “horse” theme, and Jeremy has a “jungle” theme room.  Sandi went for “repainting the kitchen cabinets/walls” and redoing our bathrooms and master bedroom, and Brian did some of the work and found lots of creative ways to make our house makeover an affordable undertaking.  We had two long road trips this year.  One 3500 mile summer trip to Milwaukee, Minneapolis, central Minnesota, and Fort Wilderness camp in northern Wisconsin.  This same trip was repeated for the Christmas holidays.  We especially appreciated the time with Brian’s mother in Milwaukee because her health has been failing in recent months. 

JOSH  (12 years old and in 6^th grade) had a great year attending Fort Wilderness Camp, playing drums, doing sleepovers with friends, and spending time with Grandma at the family lake cottage.  He is now attending a private Christian school and he enjoyed being a defensive back on the middle school’s tackle football squad that went undefeated with a 6 and 0 record.  He also completed his hunter safety class and went pheasant hunting with dad and some close friends.

BETHANY (9 ½ years old and in 3^rd grade) has been enjoying wonderful friendships with other girls her age, her school teacher, summer camp, horseback riding, Awana Bible club, learning to play piano, and participating in a special art class for gifted students.  Bethany enjoys animals of all kinds, especially horses, our cat (Snickers), and our golden retriever (Mariah).

JEREMY (8 years old and in 2^nd grade) enjoyed day camp this past summer and can hardly wait for his first overnight camp week this summer.   He has a wonderful 2^nd grade teacher.  He has become an excellent swimmer and enjoys going to the neighborhood pool we joined a few years ago.  He’s also looking forward to joining his first basketball league this winter.

OUR "COLOMBIAN" FAMILY – Leana (26) has now lived with us for 6 of the last 7 years.  She is in the process of finishing up her bachelor’s degree in Graphic Design and Media communications.  She recently left for France to complete her final semester of college.  She has been working as a graphic designer at HCJB World Radio the past 3 ½ years and looks forward to how God will lead her when she graduates this May.  Elena (18), came to live with us from Colombia last January.  She is delightful to have in our family and she is going to college and working.  Lisa (who lived with us for 2 ½ years) is now married to Ian from Malaysia.  They live close to us in Colorado Springs, and are expecting their first child (a boy) in May.  Lisa is on staff at HCJB World Radio and Ian is involved in international trips and ministry with Compassion.  The girls' father, Enrique, is now living with Ian and Lisa and looking for permanent work in Colorado Springs.  When he finds long term employment, his wife Lil and son, Danny (16), will move from Bogota, Colombia to Colorado Springs.

We trust this brings you up-to-date on some of the happenings in the Kluth home.  We pray that the Lord will richly bless you in 2005!

Brian, Sandi, Josh, Bethany & Jeremy

Brian: bk@kluth.org  Cell: 719-930-4000  Sandi: sandi@kluth.org  719-930-5000 Josh: josh@kluth.org

5201 Pinon Valley – Colorado Springs, CO – 80919 – Home: 719-594-0240