You will have to do some catching up.
Here is the Family Christmas letter from 1998, with the 1997 letter just below it. Depending on how far behind you are on Bromhal Family news, this should get you up to speed.

Dear Friends,

Another year complete. Another opportunity for us to share the highlights of our lives over the past dozen months or so. Kick back for a few minutes and let our family into your life, as we share with you our happiness and sorrows.

The kids are growing sooooo fast. Tooooo fast it seems. Erin is two and a half already and bosses everyone around as though she were in charge of the household. That is not an easy thing to correct in a little girl who seems to know that she is the baby of the family and the only daughter. She is, none the less, a delight. Why, just the other day I overheard her as she was lying on the floor coloring, singing "I love Andrew. I love Philip. I love Timmy. I love B and Mommy and Daddy. I love gra-ma and my other one Daddy" (grandad McMahon, that is). She has this sinister way, though, of endearing herself to you, and then getting you to do things you wouldn't ordinarily do. I'm just not too sure about this sugar and spice and everything nice idea.

Philip finished a wonderful year of kindergarten and started full days of school in 1st grade this fall. He still loves learning and came home with a perfect report card last marking period, straight Os (O is for outstanding, y'know). He now has two more seasons of soccer under his belt, along with a collection of trophies. At Myrtle Beach he learned how to dive to the bottom of an 8 foot deep pool (I've got a picture) and how to ride the waves at the beach on a boogie board. He's just growing up toooo fast tooooo.

Timmy got to try his hearts desire this spring and loved it. He played his first season of lacrosse. For anyone who doesn't know what lacrosse is, all you need to know is that it is a game that was invented by the Native Americans. Timmy says he likes it because it's pretty rough (it's one of those games where you here parents on the sideline screaming "Hit him... com'on HIT HIM."). Now he has decided that he will go to John Hopkins University, one of the best lacrosse schools in the country, on a full scholarship of course. We remind him regularly that to get a scholarship to JHU he will need to have good grades in school. Sometimes it even helps. He took up the drum in band this year. Now my head is pounding at the most unexpected times. I feel like one of the guys on Mars in Kurt Vonnegut's novel "The Sirens of Titan." Rat-a-tat-tat. Rat-a-tat-tat. Rat-a-tat-rat-a-tat-tat.

Andrew nearly killed his mother this spring when he talked us into letting him play baseball and soccer at the same time. Between his baseball practices and games, and soccer practices and games, and Timmy's lacrosse practices and games, and Phil's soccer practices and games, and cub scouts, and... well, let's just say the spring seemed interminable, but now in December Sue hardly ever has to wear the straight jacket anymore and has given up her purple crayons completely. He continues to improve in all his sports (especially soccer and basketball). He's still blowing the old horn, too. Since the teenage years aren't far away now, we are really beginning to wonder how life will change for this family once we have a pubescent in the house. I guess if Sue and I will have to deal with that issue with someone, we are thankful that it will be Andrew. He's turning into such a young man.

Sue really hasn't had enough to keep her mind occupied this year, so we have again begun talking about the possibility of her going back to school. In addition to her taxi service, her classroom volunteering, her cub pack duties, her involvement in WELCA (Women of the ELCA) and Mt. Zion Ladies Aid, her Sunday school teaching, her Mom's In Touch leading, and her aerobics classes she hardly has any time to keep me and my schedule straight. But those little wheels in her head don't seem to be wearing down a bit. Were will God lead her next? That's the big question.

I had a very difficult beginning to the past year. With the death of a dear parishioner on Christmas day of 97, I went on to officiate at seven funerals within the six weeks after Christmas. Everyone was either a member of the parish or related to a member. Contrary to Addie's Father from Faulkner's As I Lay Dying, who said "the reason for living is to get ready to stay dead for a long time," I continue to thank God daily for the life that we have to share with one another and for the promise that death is not the end of life, but, as Bonhoeffer said, the beginning. Still, the sense of loss in the parish was pervasive. I struggled through a severe sinus infection during this time as well. So, I don't have many joyful memories of the earliest part of the year.

Otherwise, however, ministry here in Feagaville was moving right along. Then I got a call from the Seminary in Gettysburg asking if I would be willing to become an internship supervisor. I talked this over with my councils and the congregations agreed that this was a ministry we would try. Our Intern, Renata, began her work in the parish at the beginning of July and has been a wonderful addition to the staff (otherwise consisting of me and my part-time secretary). She, her husband and daughter have all become a part of the family here. What a blessing for everyone involved.

We all are looking forward to a big year in 1999. Sue and I will celebrate 15 years of marriage in January, Timmy will make the leap to a double digit age (he will be 10 in May), Andrew will make the leap to middle school... will the changes never end? We hope not. Through all of the excitement of life the one constant is the unconditional love of our awesome God. Our prayer is that at this time of year and the whole year through, you will be assured of God's loving presence with you and that you will be able to find rest in God's mighty and merciful care.

God bless us, everyone.



Dear Friends,

Once again the task is upon me of putting into writing the significant events of our lives over the past year. This job always sneaks up on me, so I have decided that shortly after the new year I am going to try and get this task accomplished for 98. That way I will not come to another Christmas and have to find time to write in the midst of all the other hustle and bustle. Also, I figure there will be a lot less to write since by mid January not much will have happened in our lives in 1998 and maybe I will be able to use a typeface that everyone will be able to read.

The year began ordinarily enough. I was still getting used to everything in Parish life, trying to get to know my Parishioners and experiencing congregational traditions for the first time. Not until August did I celebrate my first anniversary in the parish and begin to feel like some things were familiar. I'm well into my second year in the Parish now, and still things seem quite new. I m in no hurry for anything to become routine, however, so I am relishing these moments.

Our family life began to change this past spring when the newest Bromhal under our roof began showing signs of her precociousness. Erin was pulling herself up around the 8 month mark, trying to take steps on her own around the 8 1/2 month mark, and was actually walking on her own by 9 months. She has always been kind of on the small side for her age, so you can imagine she turned some heads. People would double take and say, "Look at that little baby walking!?!" It was fun for a while... But walking at 9 mos. means "pulling chairs over to the counter in the kitchen and getting things that she is not supposed to have" by a year. She turned 1 on July 3. She is always finding new things that she can get into and new ways to pester her brothers. They absolutely adore her, though.

Philip started soccer this past spring. That season we had three boys playing on three different teams that practiced at three different fields at three different times and played their games on three different schedules. So, their parents, all three of us (I guess me, myself, and I doesn't work for a couple) were frequently pulled in at least three different directions. Phil was a little shy to start, but by the end of the fall season he was one of the strongest players on his team. Practicing in the back yard with his older brothers helped him learn some of the positioning things that are often very difficult for the under 6 kids to learn. He also moved up to kindergarten this fall which means riding the bus with the big kids. He loves school and was so thrilled the first time he came home and was able to say "I have homework." He has a man teacher who is just fantastic with the children.

Tim continues to dream of the day when he can move out in the woods and live in a log cabin, and hunt and drive his dog sled around, and canoe, and trap, and... He describes his future home so vividly sometimes. Even to the point of telling of the hammocks that he and his wife and kids will sleep in, although I am not sure where he will find a wife who will want to sleep in a hammock, or where the kids will come from since he and his wife will be in separate hammocks. He is doing well with soccer too, but now thinks he wants to try lacrosse since "it is such a rough game and was invented by the Native Americans." He earned his God and Me award through Cub Scouts this year. He also has most of the girls in his school swooning over him the stud.

Andrew never runs out of things to get involved in. He played a season of indoor soccer early in the year, then outdoor soccer in the spring and fall, now he is playing basketball for the first time (thinks he's a regular Pistol Pete too, he does). He's also 1st year Weblos, sings in his school choir, has taken up the Trombone (like his old man), and went double digits with his age this year (10). He is doing well in school, seems to prefer Charles Dickens in his reading (like his old man), and is still fixated on the Dallas Cowboys (not anything like his old man).

Sue keeps working at her girlish figure by hoppin' around the community hall with a bunch of women. They call it aerobics. Three times a week works pretty well. I got into a routine of riding my bike up and down the hills of Frederick County. Sue and I both got new bikes for our birthdays. We even took the Parish youth group on a 25 mile hike from just north of BWI to the Naval Academy in Annapolis.

We (Sue and I) got a new perspective on life this past August when we finally decided that I should get "fixed." I told Sue that now she could change that bumper sticker from "I My Husband" to read "I My Husband." Then Sue explained that spading is for females but I didn't think "I My Husband" sounded too good so I've given up on the whole thing. ANYWAY, when I went in for the exam the doctor detected and diagnosed Testicular Cancer (TC). Thus, the rest of the year has been kind of whacked out. Following surgery, I underwent radiation treatments five days a week for a total of 20 treatments through October. It wasn't too discomforting but it really sapped my energy. I have been only regaining my strength gradually. I am through with treatments now and the doctor tells me that the only thing to do is CT Scans every 6 mos. for the first two years. No problem.

Through this whole ordeal the people of my congregations have been absolutely wonderful. There was a tremendous outpouring of concern with the first announcement. I have never been on so many prayer lists before. The sense of God's Spirit was literally tangible. Then, in October they did this Pastor Appreciation thing which was such a surprise and a blessing. We all, including the kids, have felt loved, accepted, cared for by the people of Feagaville. God is working not only in my life, as is manifest in my clean bill of health, but in the lives of the members of the Parish. Of the seven baptisms I have done this year only two were infants. We continue to thank Jesus for his graciousness towards us and to expect more great things from him in the years ahead.

Our family hopes that this Christmas season will be a time of blessing for you as well. May the love of God fill your days with peace and joy.