2005 Family Christmas Letter

Here is a copy of our 2005 Sansone Family Christmas Letter. Merry Christmas to all of those who do me the honor of reading "A Thinking Man's Thoughts."

Dear Family and Friends,

Christmas is a special time of year. We look forward to this time as a time to build special memories with the children and to make contact with families and friends that we sometimes lose contact with during the busyness of the year. We especially look forward to this season for the reminder that it brings us of the coming of the Messiah, Jesus Christ, to the earth to live a sinless life and die a cruel death on the cross of Calvary to take away our sins. As Christina is fond of saying, "The thing I like best about Christmas is that it is Jesus' birthday."

This has been an eventful year in our lives. Starting last December 5, Frank began serving as Pastor of Messiah Baptist Fellowship in Salisbury, Maryland. We are excited to be down here in Salisbury and are excited to see what God is doing in our lives and in the lives of our church, but as in big move, there are a number of transitions that are difficult - not the least of which was leaving so many good friends back in New Jersey.

For the first couple months of 2005 we lived a little bit of a nomadic existence. We were still living in New Jersey and the kids were still enrolled in school up there, yet we were serving the church down here in Salisbury. That made for a lot of traveling as we waited to close on our house - Frank traveled down in the middle of the week for our Wednesday night prayer meeting and we traveled down as a family for the weekend. We appreciate the Insley family hosting Frank on Wednesday and the Berglind family for hosting the whole family on the weekends.

On February 28, we were finally able to close on our new house in Salisbury. We love the new house that God has provided. We have a nice big backyard with an above ground swimming pool (it got a lot of use this summer!) and the house is a three-bedroom house with a nice sunk-in living room. Lord willing and finances willing, one day we hope to convert the garage into a play room and a guest room.

Josiah (now age 9) began school at Faith Baptist School here in Salisbury as soon as we got down here and really liked school. He received an award at the end of the school year for the way in which he came and just "fit right in" with his class. Christina (now age 6) stayed out for the rest of the year and then began this year fresh in 1st grade. She is doing well in school, as well. Rebekah (now 22 months) has grown by leaps and bounds this year. She walks all over the place and gets into everything. We are thankful to the Lord for the children that He gave to us.

It has been neat to see the Lord working in our little church. We currently meet in two rented suites next to the Red Door Sub Shop in Salisbury. This location has limited us in our visibility, in our ability to have Sunday School and children's ministries, and in providing a sense that our church is here to stay, among other things. Despite that, however, God has been bringing new families out to the church and we are pleased with the progress. We are especially pleased that as of December 9, we have an agreement to purchase a church building that is not too far from where we currently meet. Lord willing, we will be closing on the purchase of our new church building at 1308 Robins Avenue in Salisbury.

One of the new attractions for us this year, has been visiting Assateague Island, about 45 minutes from our house. The island has a herd of wild horses that go throughout the island. While you are not allowed to touch the horses, they come up to you so that you easily could touch them if you were allowed. The island also has a nice beach area and other wild animals.

We are thankful to God for our family and friends and you are often in our thoughts, even if we do not communicate as much as we would like. We would love to hear from you and even have some of you come by for a visit. Drop us an e-mail or a letter some time, if you get the opportunity. We miss you and love you all.

In Christ,


Frank. Missy, Josiah, Christina, and Rebekah

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