My dear friend Richard

Thank you so much for your email and Christmas greeting. We were aware that you have been going through an extremely tough time but we did not know that this involved medical trauma as well. It is great to hear from you. Sorry that we seem to have lost the connection somewhere along the road. We moved house about 16 months ago and my work has gone through many changes as has my family situation. However, our kind of friendship does not change, we just pick up where we left off last time we were in touch. You will always be our friend and as such you will always have an open invitation for hospitality anytime you visit England.

Attached is a picture of Helen & I before we left to fly home from Santa Marta in Colombia. We were privileged to be able to spend some time with a childrens charity called Colombia Child Care in October this year.

We have only just begun to consider Christmas this evening in the Button household but we both send you our love and best wishes at this time of year. We pray that 2005 will be a year of new beginnings, new hopes and new discoveries.

Mike & Helen