I started writing our family Christmas letter as a blog post in 2006, and have probably missed doing it 5 times in the last 20 years.
Last year was one of those: my dad, Lewis Aase, finished his earthly race on Dec. 7, so with all we had going on, writing a Christmas post dropped down my list of to-dos.
That’s why I’m making it a priority during this long Christmas weekend to reflect on the many blessings Lisa and I have experienced.
Dad was amazing in all of his roles, as husband, father, grandfather, great-grandfather, teacher, principal, church and community volunteer and friend. My brother Mark and I couldn’t have had a better example of love and faithfulness.
Over the last several months we recognized that Mom needed more care than what she was getting in assisted living, so Mark and his wife April invited her to live with them. We’re grateful for this, and that we each have RN daughters who are helping navigate Mom’s care needs.
Mom got to celebrate her 90th birthday in her new environment:
Lisa and I welcomed two new grandchildren in 2025: Annie LaVonne Gatzemeyer (named after my paternal grandmother and my mom), and Lewis Noel Aase (named after Dad and his maternal grandfather.)
We had the whole family together for a couple of days in June, which is a rare occasion since our daughter Ruthie and her husband Trevin live in Sofia, Bulgaria where they are missionaries. This gave us a chance to update our family picture with all six kids and their spouses and 19 grandchildren (Lewis was still on the inside for this one!)
After that family gathering, the work commenced on Lisa’s long-awaited kitchen remodeling. She had postponed this for a few years while we were getting HELPcare Clinic started. I told her last December on our 40th anniversary getaway that 2025 was the year to do it.
I had pressed Lisa into service as our first receptionist at HELPcare Clinic, and she worked in that role for just over three years. Her “retirement” in February was a great blessing as it enabled her to focus on things she enjoys, like garage sales and overseeing the kitchen remodeling.
HELPcare 2025 highlights included:
- Successful onboarding of Mower County employees and their dependents as members through their employee health plan.
- Identifying clinic space and recruiting practitioners to start HELPcare Clinic Albert Lea, which will open Jan. 5, 2026.
- Several additional employers, including the City of Austin, making HELPcare Clinic membership part of their employee health plan for 2026, which will bring our membership to more than 2,500.
My daughter Rachel, who works with me remotely from Kansas, produced this song about HELPcare as a gift to me.
She wrote the words, and used AI to transform it into a finished piece, adding the pictures to show all of the people who have been part of our team bringing this vision to life, in “The Work of our Hands”
Our oldest granddaughter Evelyn, Rachel’s daughter, did something similar in honor of Lisa, recalling her fond memories of “My Grandma’s House” (which I turned into this music video):
Here’s wishing you all many blessings for 2026 and beyond!
