Dear Friends and Family,
2009 has been quite a year for Janice and Ross. In case you hadn’t heard (or heard but weren’t sure you heard correctly) the Hansens moved to Waunakee, Wisconsin. How we ended up here is a long story that really begins in the last quarter of 2008. We will try to avoid all the detail and just give a few highlights.
In September, 2008 Hurricane Ike hit the Texas Gulf Coast around Galveston. Sugar Land where we lived was far enough inland that we were safe from the storm surge and we missed most of the rains but we did get 100 mile an hour winds and all the damage that they bring. As the storm approached the Hansen’s recently empty nest was filled with six to eight missionaries who were evacuated from the gulf coast. Our house only lost power for about four hours (the neighbors across the street had no power for 10 days). That meant we had air conditioning, each missionary had a bed and Janice was trying to spoil all the missionaries as if they were her own sons.
The same weekend that the hurricane hit was also the start of an onslaught of bad news about AIG, the parent company of the insurer that employed Ross. Eventually we learned that AIG could no longer calculate the potential losses in its investment products division and needed to be bailed out by the federal government because it was “too big to fail”. Obviously we were disappointed to see the precipitous drop in the stock price and the loss of value from the options and restricted stock units that were going to provide a comfortable retirement but of much more immediate concern was how long Ross’ job would continue. As the country’s economic situation continued to deteriorate it became clear that no one could afford to buy AIG’s domestic companies and the prospect of losing a job and receiving little or no severance became much more of a concern. In October, 2008 Ross received a call from a former business associate asking him if he would be interested in a new position. In December he went on his first trip to Madison, Wisconsin to interview with CUNA Mutual. By January the decision was made to move to Wisconsin.
When Ross jumped ship and left for Madison he left Janice behind to fix the house up and prepare for the move. Janice said she knew what needed to be done to get a house sold in a poor economic environment and that was you needed to have the nicest house in the area in that price range. When she was done fixing her house to be just the way she always wanted it she put it on the market and sold it in a week.
Over the course of just a few months we survived a hurricane, sent our youngest son to college, remodeled our house so it was just perfect, started a new job and moved from Sugar Land, Texas our home for 14 years to Waunakee Wisconsin (where the dairy cows may actually outnumber people).
Our Sugar Land house sold quickly and in June, Janice came to Wisconsin (as a newly licensed Wisconsin real estate agent. She, bringing her dog and cat, moved into Ross’ one bedroom apartment while she looked for a house. The homes in Wisconsin are different than those in Houston and none of them seemed to match what we had given up in Houston. Eventually we selected a home in Waunakee, a small community just outside Madison, and closed on the house July 24, 2009.
Although the move to Wisconsin was traumatic and the events leading up to the move were equally disturbing, life here in Madison has been great so far. We think that Madison is a wonderful area. It is a beautiful area with rolling hills, lakes and lots of state parks. The outlying areas are still dominated by picturesque dairy farms and acres and acres of corn fields, alfalfa and soybeans. The hills that are too steep to plant are heavily wooded and full of deer and wild turkeys. The countryside has lots of well maintained roads with little or no traffic making it a cyclist’s paradise. Ross participated in the Dairyland Dare, the toughest cycling challenge in the Midwest and the topic of much debate among those in certain groups who are trying to decide whether or not it is tougher than LOTOJA. Janice has a house with a beautiful screened porch next to the kitchen. On summer mornings, we get up and open the sliding doors to the porch and let the cool air rush into our kitchen. Janice says it feels like she is on vacation because having all the doors open and feeling the cool air in the summer is just not something you did in Houston.
The fall was beautiful and especially mild for Wisconsin. I will admit there are some negatives. I am writing this letter on December 9 while I sit at home unable to get to work today (is that a negative?) after we had 14 inches of snowfall last night. Temperatures are dropping down to near 0 degrees tonight and the winds are blowing more than 20 miles an hour. It took two hours to clear the walk and driveway this morning, but it was a great aerobic workout and when it was done I went to my exercise area in the basement and rode my bike for another hour. If I had cross country skis I would have been out skiing in the neighborhood, a situation I will resolve as soon as I can get out of the neighborhood in my car.
Our children are doing well as the family continues to grow. Brooke and her husband, Aaron, are in Aliso Viejo, CA. Aaron recently returned to public accounting and they have a two year old son, Zachary, and another boy expected in February. Clint and Kelli are in Salt Lake where he is a second year associate at a law firm. They have twin girls, Summer and Ali, and another girl on the way. Jenny and Chris are in Salt Lake waiting for Jenny to finish her Masters Degree at the U of U in Speech Pathology then they will go to some unknown destination as Chris hopes to do Teach For America for a couple of years. Bret is nearing his one year mark in the Mexico Cuernavaca Mission. He’s enjoyed being in the same mission as his cousin, Trevor Wiggins, who will be coming home this month. We’re pleased that he has learned to eat all kinds of foods, see the photo for a tasty sample.
We hope you and your family are doing well. If you ever have a desire to see Wisconsin, please come visit. We have spare bedrooms and the dog is mellowing out just a little.
Love,
Ross and Janice
(addresses & phone numbers taken out for the web, email us if you want this info)
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