2013 NEWSLETTER

Welcome to the 2013 Newsletter
for A. B. Barthle family!

Front cover

From Margie:

MERRY CHRISTMAS

AND

HAPPY NEW YEAR

TO ALL OF THE

A. B. BARTHLE FAMILY

In looking over the past newsletters, I would have to say that everything with me is the same. Same House, Same Address, Same Good Health, etc.

At this time I send my love to each and all.

Margie

From Steve and family:

Greetings To Everyone!

We hope everyone had a wonderful year and the new one will be even better!

Not a lot of changes this past year--

Steve is still active with the Boy Scouts even though the troop is getting smaller and smaller. He is still very active in our Church-he does his elder duties and his Stephen Ministry work--in fact-he is planning on becoming a Stephens Minister teacher, he will go to Orlando for a week long class and become a leader so he can teach other parish members to also be Stephen Ministers--I am very proud of him!! He has also filled in for our pastor when he goes out of town--pastor writes the sermon and consecrates the sacrament before he goes--so Steve does the church services on Saturday night and 2 on Sunday--(it is very difficult to get retired pastors to fill in) but our pastor has faith and confidence in Steve and the congregation loves him-he feels very honored--he does a GREAT job!! (I actually think pastor is going to take more vacations this year!) lol--again--so proud!

Mae has a new position in the church also. When someone loses a loved one, she sends out grief books 4 times in the year following their death. Each one helps them deal with the different phases they may be going thru--pain, anger, loneliness, depression etc. Then on the anniversary of their death she sends a special card-so they know they are remembered-it's very comforting.

She also stays busy with Ella--going to the doctors with her--she is doing very well--she is a Floridian now (which she loves) for 15 months and alcohol free for 17 months!! We are so very proud of her!! By the time you read this newsletter she should have had her gallbladder surgery (12/17). She also has to see a spine specialist for possible surgery on her neck and lower spine due to stenosis-we are asking for you to keep her in your prayers--again--we are very proud of her--it has not been easy! She has her own car and works as a volunteer at Bayonet Point Hosp and is also active in our church.

Lori and Dan got married in July. It was a very nice, simple, quiet wedding at Dans parents house. Everything was beautiful-they are very happy! Lori has been accepted into nursing school which starts in January (she is working 2 jobs right now but I think that will change! right Jess?) We are very excited for her. She also got newer car-well deserved! They are living in Odessa but will be looking for a place in Tampa.

Chris still works at Busch Gardens and has put in a lot of hours over the holidays (as you can imagine). He has a part time job-setting up sound and lighting for different shows around Tampa Bay-he loves it! He will be graduating from USF in may and was inducted into Phi Sigma Theta.

What is he going to do with all that "extra" time? lol.

Spencer is doing good also. He got his Captains boating license this year--we are very proud of him! Over the summer he had a job in the Keys-he taught the Boy Scouts who were at camp there-sailing skills and what you needed to know about sailing. He loves it--in fact he is working there as I am writing this letter and will not be back until after Christmas. He is working towards getting his own sail boat and doing charter tours--he also bought a new car--very exciting--we wish him and all of our family the very best!

Have a very Merry Christmas and a very Blessed New Year!

Love to all,

Steve and Mae

From Renee and family:

Hope this year has found all of you well!!Nothing has changed with us this past year. We made our annual vacation trips and have had a great year. We both have been talking about retirement even though definite plans have not been made it is surely is in our thoughts.

We hope this past year has found all of you happy and healthy and we wish the best for all of you! Sending you all Lots of Love!!

May God Bless all of you with Love, Happiness, Peace and Good Health!!

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!!

Clark & Renee

From the Gaskin Family:

First we want to say, we hope everyone has had a wonderful year!

Emma started Kindergarten this year and she is exceeding our expectations! She is receiving a wonderful report from her teacher. She is excellent in Math and Reading. She started 4-H this year with Progressive 4-H Club. She has volunteered with many of the activities…like delivering pumpkins to the elderly at a local nursing home, and to the police station and fire station in Dade City. She is still in gymnastics and enjoys going every week.

Allen is still at Zephyrhills Post Office as a supervisor. He has been hunting a lot this year and it paid off. He shot a 10 point in North Florida. He is ecstatic!! We received so much meat! I have finished nursing school and am working at Pasco Regional Medical Center, now called Bayfront - Dade City. There have been many changes to the staff and I see a bright future for this small town facility. I just recently was asked to teach the staff about policies and procedures. Although I was very nervous, I was honored to be asked. It has been quite the change, me returning back to work after being off for some time, but I am excited to go to work every day to help in the patient’s recovery. I am going to start training for the Charge Nurse position at the beginning of the year, so I am very optimistic about that!

I hope everyone has had a wonderful year and I look forward to reading everyone’s letter!!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Clark & Renee

From Mary Beth

Greetings All!

What a great year we have had! Elise is a beautiful HS Sophomore, taking challenging classes, while still cheer-leading on an extremely competitive team. She has a steady babysitting job and funds most of her own social like. Thank you Elise! She will be able to drive on her own in May, but I’m not sure If I’m excited about that or not.
Eli is in the 4th grade, participates in Boy-scouts, is an blue striped belt in Karate and is quite the baseball champion! Did I mention he is also quite handsome and keeps us on our toes?
Laser Affair, my Laser Hair Removal business continues to be successful, knock on wood! Between that and being a Mama I stay quite busy. Gene lives in Ponte Vedra, Florida and continues to travel with his occupation. He sees the kids and stays involved as much as possible.
As a family we get-a-way here and there, but our main vacation is our annual Lake Weir trip in June. As a rule the entire Jim Denney clan makes it there if not for the entire week at least for a visit. I think that ritual is about 40 years strong now. We look forward to it as much now as ever.
I am very proud and blessed not only with my kids but with all my family. We pray that God will continue to Bless all of us, on Earth and in Heaven.

Merry Christmas,
Mary Beth Lambert

From Lisa and family:

Happy Holidays to Everyone!

There have been some changes with American Airlines, although not much has affected Alan yet. AA went into bankruptcy 2 years ago and after some resistance from the Justice Department it looks like American Airlines will soon merge with US Airways. The anticipated date for finalizing the merge is December 9th. We are hoping that the merger will mean that we can fly out of Manchester, NH (10 minutes from our house) instead of always driving down to Boston (over an hour). That would be really nice!

Last year I told you about our Wisteria memorial tree that had 34 huge blossoms hanging from bare branches. Well this past year it leafed out like crazy but we didn’t get a single blossom. I was a little bummed because the blossoms are just so glorious to behold. But we know that we are still on a learning curve with this little vine tree, trying to figure out how to prune, when to prune and how to best care for it. It is so cute and different, even the neighbors talk about what an interesting tree it is.

Becca is in her 4th year of teaching and in her 2nd year of teaching with a contract. She was thrilled to not have to look for a job over the summer. She teaches 6 grade band at Parkside Middle School and is the Assistant Director at West High School. She wrote 2 of the 4 drills for the high school marching band half time show this year. She really loves the football/marching season. She also continues to enjoy trivia night out each week with her friends.

Katie is a junior this year in high school and is on the cheer team once again. She needed traction for a couple of months at the beginning of the year to overcome a back injury that developed over time late last year. This past November we were thrilled to go to the state competition and watch Bedford High School perform an almost flawless routine. You almost never see that when you want it the most. The icing on the cake was when they announced that Katie’s team had won the competition and had become the State Champions once again. (They were State Champs in Katie’s freshman year.) We found out a couple of weeks later at the athletic award’s ceremony that Katie had been named one of the captains for next year’s Spirit team.

We are obviously very proud of both our girls!

May you all have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy and Blessed New Year as well!

Love always.

Lisa, Alan, Becca & Katie

From Teresa and family:

Season's Greetings everyone,
This year went along pretty much the same as last up until the last three months. For a while now I've been looking around for another place to live due to mold in my present house. I finally found one suitable nearby - about ten minutes away, and will hopefully be moved in by the new year - hence the new address. Jess is still in the same place, and as busy as ever with her part-time job and her cleaning business. She recently acquired a tiny puppy, and is enjoying his antics. She has a large dog that she got as a puppy a couple years ago. This new one was the litter runt and was failing so she had to save it. The two dogs get along swimmingly, but are at polar ends of the size scale so they make the cutest pictures you've ever seen. Caleb is now in Lafayette, Louisiana with his cell tower position. Hopefully he'll be there for a while. I don't like the roust-about aspect of his job. His company has put in a bid for a job in the gulf - yikes. Caleb thinks it would be great. (So we don't see eye-to-eye on everything.) Hopefully he'll make it home during the holidays. We wish you all a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
Love,
Teresa, Jessica and Caleb

From Mike and family:

HELLO EVERYONE!

FINALLY, I GOT A PART TIME JOB. I STARTED WORKING AT JAMES STEPHENS ELEMENTARY SCHOOL LAST AUGUST.

ON NOVEMBER 9TH, JIMMY AND I WENT TO ST. AUGUSTINE TO VISIT THE FLORIDA SCHOOL FOR THE DEAF FOR THEIR 100 YEAR HOMECOMING. THEY WON THEIR THIRD NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP IN 100 YEARS. WHEN I WAS A JUNIOR IN HIGH SCHOOL THEY WON THEIR SECOND NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP. IT WAS WORTH IT TO SEE OLD FRIENDS AND TO MEET NEW FRIENDS TOO.

MY WIFE SANDRA WORKS MORNING SHIFT. HER JOB HAS CHANGED A LOT LATELY. SEVERAL OF HER CO WORKERS WENT TO ORLANDO, TAMPA, AND MANASOTA. SHE IS LUCKY TO STAY IN LAKELAND, BUT SHE DOESN'T LIKE TO WORK OUTSIDE FOR 3 TO 4 HRS EVERYDAY MOWING THE LAWN, CUTTING BRANCHES, AND PULLING THE WEEDS, ETC. OH WELL WE ARE LUCKY TO HAVE A JOB. ;-)

JENNIFER IS IN 10TH GRADE AND SHE PLAYS JV BASKETBALL AT GEORGE JENKINS HIGH SCHOOL AND DOES ROTC AS WELL. LILY IS IN 6TH GRADE NOW AND SHE PLAYS JV BASKETBALL AT LAKELAND HIGHLAND MIDDLE SCHOOL. WHEN SHE FINISHED PLAYING FOR HER SCHOOL, SHE PLAYED FOR HER CHURCH. LILY IS ALMOST TALLER THAN JENNIFER. WOW, KIDS DO GROW UP FAST. BOTH OUR KIDS ARE DOING WELL IN SCHOOL.

WE HOPE YOU ALL HAVE A GOOD CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

FROM: MIKE, SANDRA, JENNIFER, AND LILY. :-)

From Melinda and family:

Hello to you all -

Last May I had three birthday parties and three birthday cakes. 1st - Last May 4th Jimmy took me to the clubhouse for our friends who provided us deafies with Mexican foods. But he fooled me because it was a big 50th birthday party for me. I was so surprised and said to Jimmy "you did good job". There were about 50 people there and even my best friend Krista came here from Atlanta. It was wonderful time. Thanks to my sweet husband Jimmy. 2nd - Last May 18th - my family had a party for me at Mom's place. It was great time. I told mom I could remember when we had a surprise party for her when she was 50 years old, and that I couldn't believe that it was now my turn. It was good time with family. 3rd - On May 21st - I had cake and balloons from work. I already knew that they were giving me a little party. It was nice party. Whew….I’m glad it is over.

Jimmy had to transfer from St. Petersburg to Sarasota last September with his Post Office job. The St. Pete station has closed except for the window service. All the machines moved to Tampa and Sarasota. Most people transferred to Tampa and several to Sarasota. Jimmy got injured while working at the PO Center last Oct. 26. The door caught his foot and he fell down on his knee. He is waiting for the go ahead with therapy.

Warren moved out to Ohio on Feb 28th for a job. We missed him so much. We kept in touch with him and he kept asking about his dog Lucy. He is planning to move back home on Dec 4th. We are very excited to have him here. We will teach Lucy more new sign language signs.

Last November 9th Mike and Jimmy went to St Augustine for the FLORIDA SCHOOL FOR DEAF 100th anniversary football game. (1913 - 2013) It turned out to be the National Deaf Football Championship. Our football team won the National Championship for the third time since 1975.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Love,

Melinda, Jimmy and Warren

From Bonnie and family:

Hello everyone, there's been a lot of changes. The Postal service closed the Lakeland Processing plant and relocated 100 employees to either Tampa or Orlando, a 50 mile commute either way. Mike found a local office with a position that he took which was just 17 miles away, thank God for that opportunity. Closing that plant and moving all the mail to another plant 3 hours away has seriously affected the mail service time sensitivity. That in turn has caused my job to start later and finish later. The farm had 4 calves and Mike is expanding the bee hive operation to about 75 hives now. He still does the Farrier business after work. His dad and he just did the first cane syrup boil this year on Thanksgiving weekend which produced 6 gallons of syrup.

Rachael moved back home in August and plans to start school in January 2014, her career choice is undecided. She is spending all her money on going to beach, movies, and eating out. Rachael changed jobs within her company from financial services to credit review. On Dec 9 she will be taking her first commercial flight to New Hampshire to visit her BFF Katie Louise (Berger). Her car will be paid off on Dec 15.

Samson finally finished turbine generator maintenance school on Oct 27, and the part time job with Foot Locker ended Oct 30. He came home for two days and then went to Redding California for his first job with a turbine generator company on Nov 4th for 17 days. He was shocked when he got his first paycheck at all the taxes taken out of his check for the government and the state of California. He lost almost 40% of his pay to taxes. We were expecting him home and then he texted that the company was sending him to Phoenix Arizona for 2 months. Working life for him seems to be a touring excursion. On his visit home he asked us to watch his dog, and with Rachael bringing her dog home we’re back to 4 dogs; that’s a quarter of the way to a dog sled team. We hope you all have a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

God bless you all-ways the Webbs

II Thessalonians 2:13 But we are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth;

From Bernie and family:

2013 was the normal blend of triumphs and trials, but as we near the end of the year, our life is full of blessings, and we are so very grateful.

Bernie was named Lead Pilot at the Griffin Base of Air Methods in the spring. It has been beyond words great to have him home weekly. Of course, sometimes it’s late when he gets home but we’ll take that in a heartbeat!

Jennifer is now the Marketing Director for Wilson Parker Homes. As the housing market has seen an uptick many of those have found great opportunities and this one has been a perfect fit for her.

Matt is half-way through his junior year at Georgia State University and doing really well academically. He also continues his music production path on the side.

Nate continues to close in on high school graduation. As with most new drivers, he is always eager to run to the store and take care of errands, and we take full advantage of that. By spring, we will probably be officially a 4 -car family. You know the insurance guy has to love us!

May God bless each and every one of our family. Wishing you all the very Merriest of Christmas and the Happiest of all New Years!

Love,

Jennifer, Bernie, Matt and Nate

From Susie and family:

What an amazing and exciting year for the Hobby-Davidson clan. Collectively we traveled the world and together we celebrated our good blessings. Travel for Susie was to Bahrain, Jordan, Egypt, Hawaii, Texas, Kentucky, Alabama and California…for Redding it was Europe. For Jenn it was Germany and Chicago and for Mikie it was home from Hawaii…Mikie and Jenn went to NYC with Matthew to spend a couple action packed days with Caroline and I have heard that although that trip happened in July, the city is still in recovery. Redding and I decided to buy a boat for the summer, we have wanted it for a while, just didn’t have a place to use it… so we found a fantastic used boat, a 2000 Mariah (we call it “The Wind”, you’d have to see the movie!) which was in its day a very fancy ski boat. While at the store to purchase it we were intrigued by another boat, a Craig Cat. These nifty boats are made in Orlando and used at Mt Dora for historical tours, and are also used by divers as platforms. Youtube has some great videos. However, to purchase the one we wanted, we had to have it made special and drive to FL to pick it up. We left on Thursday night, got to Orlando just before 1700, picked up the boat, drove to Ashburn GA, to take its first journey on the lake where Redding learned to ski in high school and were back home in time for work on Monday. In May we went to Huntsville, AL to help Rebecca (Redding’s oldest) prepare to celebrate Matthew’s 1st birthday, both he and Kathryn (Katie Lane) are just precious. Later in the year we went to West Point a couple times together, as well as taking a fantastic baseball tour to include 4 minor league parks, the major league parks in NYC and even got to attend the Hall of Fame induction ceremony… talk about a trip of a lifetime!! We also went to Florida to visit Jennifer for her 21st birthday where her first legal purchase of alcohol was for me, (I figured she owed me that much) and then for Thanksgiving we rode the Auto Train back for another visit… another fantastic adventure. On 17 November, after lots of prayers Rachel (Redding’s youngest) had a healthy baby girl (Charlotte or Charlee). Of course our summer was fantastic with two week in NC with the family at the Petters’ reunion. If you want the definition of fun, just watch everyone during these events, more love than you can imagine, and such a great opportunity to reconnect with each other. Thanks so much to Mike and Nancy for coordinating and hosting the event! Jennifer, not only turned 21 this year, but also got engaged! She is planning the wedding for 20 Dec 2014 in Joliet IL (just outside of Chicago). I got to go with her to try on wedding dresses for the first time, and I can assure you she will be a BEAUTIFUL bride! She will finish at Ave in May and then her real adventures begin. Mikie is still in Hawaii, working and going to school. He is truly becoming a great young man, lots of personal responsibilities and making all the right choices. It will be great to see him over Christmas. Redding is still working in Virginia, and has started making plans to retire in the late Spring or early Summer. And I am still here in PA working in a great job and enjoying the wonderful seasons. I will move somewhere next year, and the adventure continues. We have tons of stories to tell, but I’m out of time and space, so give us a call or come on by and we’ll listen to your stories if you’ll listen to ours! We truly are blessed and know that one of our largest blessings is this fantastic family of which we are a part! We wish all of you the very best blessed season, may all your dreams come true!! Merry Christmas!! Mele Kalikimaka!! We love you ALL!

From Dean and family:

Merry Christmas from the Petters family in North-east Ohio! Our year was a busy and exciting year. In July we trekked down to North Carolina for a wonderful week on Lake Gaston with the extended Petters family. A few weeks after we came back, Anne's parents' celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary! Then school started back and our days filled with band, football games, basketball games and synchronized swimming practice.

Carrie has had her typical busy year! She is active in band and was invited to participate in the summer and winter honor bands. She also continues her synchronized swimming and basketball. Tony is enjoying being a sophomore at St. Ignatius High School, and is busy with band, participating in the marching band, basketball pep band, symphonic band and pit orchestra for this year's musical, The Wizard of Oz. He also still plays CYO basketball in his spare time (what little he has)!

As all parents know, there are moments in our childrens' lives that fill us with almost unimaginable levels of joy. Anne and I enjoyed two such "proud parents" moments this year. At the St. Ignatius spring concert, Tony won the "Most Improved" band member! This award is voted on by the students, which makes it even more special. The second moment came a few weeks later when at age 11, Carrie cantored for the 8 AM Sunday mass. Later in the summer, she cantored for Anne's parents' 50th anniversary mass, in front of a full church! These two events, while special, are only two of the many proud moments our children have blessed Anne & I with this year.

Anne continues working for the city as the auxiliary clerk for Our Lady of the Lake school. She has become the 'go-to' source for all questions and recently passed a state audit with flying colors! After two years, she was able to donate 10 inches of hair to "Locks of Love", making wigs for cancer patients. Most amazing though is how she continues to care for all of us.

I am now entering my 15th year at NASA. It's hard to believe it's been so long. For the past several years I've been working on the Orion service module, but as 2013 closes, I'll be moving off to the space electric propulsion arena. While I've enjoyed the last 8 years, I'm excited about the opportunities ahead!

It is our fervent hope that everyone had a wonderful 2013 and that you have a blessed 2014!

Anne, Dean, Tony & Carrie

From Brian and family:

It was a busy year in the “Capitol of Dreams” for the Montgomery branch of the Petters family. Brian continues his job as Business Manager at our church, St Bede. He has also taken over leadership of a men’s Bible study every Tuesday morning that keeps him hopping at the beginning of every week. He still enjoys playing in the city band, the “Capital Sounds” and being the Scoutmaster for the church’s Troop. This year, they took 16 boys to summer camp, where he had to deal with the normal homesickness and watching boys grow up a lot in that week. Vicki is teaching at Catholic Middle School for her fourth year. Henry is among her favorite students – aw, who are we kidding? He IS her favorite student. Time improves her perspective on teaching, so it is getting more enjoyable. In addition to teaching Physical Science, she is teaching a quarterly Forensic Science elective, introducing her students to episodes of Monk. She is trying to get more playing time on the organ, so she’s playing for the Saturday vigil Mass at another church. She has read through many of the Erle Stanley Gardner “Perry Mason” books this year, and looks forward to reading many more.
John continues his studies at the University of Montevallo, where he is a senior. How the time flies! He serves as the president of the Math Club, and holds down a job. This fall he was honored as a Montevallo “Senior Elite”, which means he is the top senior Math student at the University. It was quite an honor. He will graduate in May, and then turn right around to start his Master’s in Education.
Ben is now a junior at Auburn, where he continues his studies in Mechanical Engineering. He was selected for induction in Tau Beta Pi, which is the Engineering Honor Society, showing just how well he is doing. Additionally, he is marching in the Auburn University Marching Band, so he can obviously say that he was present for the two most exciting games in Auburn history, and will attend this year’s BCS National Championship Game. Early next year, he continues his CO-OP job, meaning he will be home working in Montgomery for a semester, then attend school in the summer, and then work again in the fall before returning to Auburn to finish his studies.
Leo has been very busy this year. Fortunately, he got his driver’s license so he can drive himself to many of his activities. He started the year attending the March for Life in Washington. Soon after, he won two medals at State Science Olympiad. He attended three summer camps back-to-back, then finished the summer on the local Scouting National Youth Leader Training (NYLT) course staff. His hard work as Head Quartermaster led him to be selected as the top staff member of the camp, and the staff has chosen him to be the Senior Patrol Leader for next year’s course. He was the lead engineer on the school’s robotics team this fall and was just confirmed in November, taking the name of St. Matthias.
Henry attended NYLT as a student this year, and was selected by his patrol as Assistant Patrol Leader. His excellence in piano and percussion led to his selection to play the xylophone in the sideline pit for the Montgomery Catholic Marching Knights. That happened at the same time he took up playing bassoon. I don’t know how you get from drums to bassoon, but as with everything he does, he excelled at it such that he was selected as the first chair bassoon at the South East U. S. Honor Band’s top ensemble after only playing it for 6 months. He recently took the American Math Competition (AMC) 8th grade test, and scored in the top 1% in the nation. Of course, we all enjoyed getting together at Mike’s lake house again this year. Lots of advancement in skiing ability was showcased as Ben, Leo and Henry were all able to get up on one ski. That happened the last day, when Henry not only got up on one ski, but actually took the slalom outside the wake. When Mike asked him why he fell instead of signaling for a planned stop, Henry responded “I only brought two gloves to throw down”. Well, that was incentive enough for Leo to get up on one ski, which he did soon after. What a wonderful end to a wonderful week, and we really enjoyed seeing Ralph & Paula and Ben & Cinda as well.
That’s a pretty good year. I hope you all have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

From Connie and Thom:

Greetings from Connie & Thom.

Happy Holidays to all of you. The year started out like most years at our house. Wow what a difference a year makes.

We celebrated Easter as usual, breakfast for 19 people, there about. We haven’t had egg hunts in years as the grandkids are older, and the Great Grandkids were too young.

During the month of May, I decided it was time to sell my house in Land O Lakes, FL. It was time to start downsizing, we had lived in the house 35 years. It was time for another young family to have children grow up in it.

Time to look for a new place to live, we decided on apartment living. We found a nice 2 Bed / 2 baths, in Wesley Chapel, FL. This is only 8.2 Mile east of where we have been living. We had so many boxes to pack up and move. We moved in on Oct. 18th.

We sold the house to an associate Professor of communication at USF, and his wife, she also works with children with speech problems, they have two girls, ages 3 and 1. They were looking for a home in a good School district. They fell in love with the house despite the electric going out for about an hour when they were looking at the house the first time. (Tremendous rain storm happened; the electricity did come back on while they were still there.)

We are now located near the Wiregrass Shopping Center and the New Florida Hospital on Bruce B Downs, on the west side of Bruce B Downs before you get to the SR 56 intersection, due north of Sam’s Club. In a gated community called Windsor Club of Seven Oaks.

Our address is 2340 Wells Ferry St. Apt. 106, Wesley Chapel, FL 33544-8826. My phone # is 813-310-7850. Thom’s Phone # is 813-245-6427. We don’t have a home phone we use our cell phones.

We got everything out of the storage unit last weekend (Nov. 30, 2013). Now I have to get the things sorted out, going through the boxes is much like Christmas all over.

I am no longer working with Lanny, he has decided to retire. I had worked with him for about 20 years.

Now my time is my own for my projects, weather it is reading, sewing or whatever, I want to do that day. I am still picking up Sierra from school for Kathy while she is still in school or working.

Thom is still with Busch Gardens (SeaWorld Entertainment). He is working in the Traffic division, taking tolls, driving the shuttle, or the tram, and sometimes he spends time in the Pet Kennel, sometimes he spiels on the tram.

Hope you all have a Merry Christmas and a Safe New Year.

Love to all,

Connie and Thom

From Mary and family:

Well here we go another year already gone by and we are doing this again. Time just fly's by way too fast. We want to thank Uncle Dan for doing this every year, this is such a blessing and if we did not get it we would not know how our family's are doing,( the ones we don't see and hear from that often or live near, and some of them I don't see. shame on me.) But I Love you All

Hope Everyone had a Great Christmas and I Hope you have a Blessed New Year.

It has been a blessed year watching a little man grow, it is hard to know my little grand baby is now 1 yr old, goodness does that mean I am getting old, Because I sure don't feel like it.

This year we also had Mom sell her house, that was a happy and sad thing, happy she don't have so much to maintain and sad so many memory's, ( And as some say Dad's ghost. And there are some story's we can tell about that.)

Well other wise not to much other has changed Joe is still with Publix, Chris is still working with Lowe's and I am working at Ross part-time, love it, Tiffany moved out, and her and Lews are doing fine. And he is growing like a weed. Just going everywhere and trying to get into everything a little climber, Chris walked in and got him when he was trying to climbing out of playpen, and then one day I was cooking in kitchen he thought he would try to climb up the stove to see what Grandma was doing, Silly little boy, So Tiffany has her hands full now.

We got a new A\C unit (yeh) and just waiting to get roof man here to get it fixed so no more leaks, should have done before Christmas.(praying)

Other then that not to much happening around here. Hope everyone is doing great.

Love You all

Mary, Joe, Chris,

Tiffany, Lews

From Amy and family:

Happy Holidays!

Well another year has come and gone! We had an exciting addition to our family in 2013.

Nichole gave birth to my first granddaughter Kendyl Grace on March 13th. Nichole is still working at McDonalds and being a mommy (which all of us mommy’s know is a fulltime job in itself).

Baylee is a Sophomore this year. She made the girls soccer team once again. She also plays Tarsa soccer and will be playing on a competitive team in 2014.

Amy and John are enjoying married life with their Beagle Mac. They both still work for McDonald’s as well.

As for me I am still working for the same company going on 26 years now. We opened a new McDonald’s in Wesley Chapel in October. We will be closing and rebuilding the McDonalds that is on Hwy 54 in Wesley Chapel at the first of the year. So my work is never done!

We hope that everyone has safe and happy holiday!

Amy, Nichole, Kendyl, Baylee, Amy and John

From Kathy and family:

From the Himes – This year has gone by too quickly. Hunter graduated from high school in June and is now going to college full time as well as working full time at McDonalds. He is a shift manager in the Wesley Chapel McDonalds. I am so proud of him. Sierra is a freshman in high school. She is almost as tall as I am. She got her first deer in January while hunting in Alabama with her dad. She has also been fishing a lot and has caught tons of grouper and red fish. The kids are both doing very well in school. I just celebrated 10 years in the operating room at St. Josephs Hosp in Tampa. We are all healthy and happy. I am thankful for that.
Wishing you all a happy and healthy 2014. Sending all our love, Kathy, Hunter and Sierra

From Dan and Barbara:

The year 2013 has been a great year for Dan and I with various travels and activities. We started out in January with going on a cruise to Cozumel for 4 days with great friends and their spouses who have become near and dear to us. Dan grew up and went to school with Ron Valentine and Billy Latson. We have been in contact with them over the years but only got to visit with them once in a great while. I’ve only met Ron’s wife Pat and Billy’s wife Wanda last year and we all became instant “Friends Forever”. We had so much fun together that we get together at least every other month since then. We all went up to Dillard, GA to enjoy the fall colors this October but were too early for leaves to turn. It just wasn’t cold enough yet. We did make the best of it site seeing and of course eating our fill of some delicious foods. The Goats on a roof were a real kick!

In the middle of February our son Danny came stateside for some classes. One of his classes was in Atlanta so Dan and I headed to Atlanta to stay with Cinda and Ben. They not only hosted us but we had a little mini reunion while we were there. Nick flew in from Ft. Hood and Laurie was scheduled to come but her flight was cancelled at the last minute due to a blizzard. Evan was unable to come as he had drill weekend with the National Guard. All in all we did have a wonderful visit. A big “Thank You again to Ben and Cinda for sharing their home with all of us.

For the next few months we made trips to Lakeland to have lunch with Ralph and Paula. Thank you for meeting us halfway. We love you guys and enjoy our visits so much!!! We try and visit with Margie, Connie, Monica and Melda whenever we can too. We love all of you and are thankful for our short get togethers.

After our annual Dentist and Doctor visits we headed North with stops in Georgia, South Carolina and Pennsylvania. Our final destination was Rock Tavern, NY to spend most of the summer with Laurie and family. We had a fun time with the youngsters as always. Nick served his time in the Army and was finally settled at home so we got to spend a lot of time with him too. Dan helped him work on a computer desk and shelving unit for his room. He did all the work himself and it turned out beautifully!! We are very proud of Nick and of Evan too. We are so blessed with such loving Grandchildren. Wish we were closer so we could visit with Evan, Briana and Halli more. It’s so hard with living so far apart!!

In August Laurie, the girls and I went to Hartford, CT to attend the Men’s and Women’s Gymnastics Championships. These are the world cup gymnasts that we should see in the next Olympics! Wow, they are doing some amazing routines and you wonder how they ever do it all! We were so in awe of watching all of it. We had great seats 3 rows up in center gym with the vaulting horse right in front of us, “AWESOME”!!! We were on TV many times but I am sure we went unnoticed by viewers!!! We got to see past Olympic champions along with Bella Karoli (spelling is probably not right) the famed Olympic Coach. Gymnastics has come such a long way since Laurie was competing and now she is coaching!!!! She attended some teaching seminars during the mornings until early afternoon while the girls and I went shopping and sightseeing in Hartford before all the competitions began. I can’t say that we were very impressed with this capitol city!

We pointed the RV south in September and stopped over in Hershey, PA for couple of weeks where we were able to catch up with Susie for lunch. We were so lucky to visit with her when we did as she went TAD to Hawaii the next day. Thank You Susie for taking time out of your busy schedule to meet us for lunch. We are so proud of you and all your accomplishments!!

We stayed in South Carolina for a few weeks and Ben and Cinda met us halfway for some lunch visits before we headed to Georgia to meet up with the Cruise Bunch in Dillard, GA. After we left Dillard and headed back to Florida we met Cinda and Becky for lunch near Jonesboro. It was a real treat seeing Becky after many years.

We are now in Clermont, FL and Dan and I are preparing for our trip to New York for Christmas. This will be the first Christmas Nick will be home after the Army.

Our Grandson Evan who is currently in the Army Reserves in Colorado has just signed his contract for Active Duty Army Special Forces. He will leave for Fort Benning, GA for his initial training before starting some grueling training including jump school. They have to do it all! He has a long hard road ahead of him and we are so proud of him. “Go Army”!!!

With much love Dan and I wish all of you a “Very Merry Christmas” and a “Blessed New Years”. Even though we don’t get to see many of you we want you to know you are always in our hearts!

From Laurie and Family:

Would like to wish everyone a safe and Happy New Year!
JR, Laurie, Nicholas, Rhapsody & Samantha

From Cinda and Ben:

Merry Christmas, Everyone!

Ben and I have had a very nice year. We continue to be blessed with good health, wonderful family and friends, and a loving Lord.

Mid-February brought us some special visitors. Danny Barthle, who lives on the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands (in the South Pacific), got scheduled for a week-long training class in Atlanta, so we were happy to host a little reunion. Dan and Barbara came up from Florida. Nick came over from Ft. Hood. Laurie had intended to surprise Danny with a visit as well, but ol’ man winter had other plans...flights from the NE were canceled due to blizzard conditions. Laurie, we missed you, but we’re glad you stayed safe.

In April, we had a nice luncheon reunion with Ben’s family. Betsy (Ben’s sister) and her husband, Bob, came from Chattanooga. Tom (Ben’s brother) and his wife, Mary, came up from Florida. Their home had sold there, and they were moving the following week to Texas (San Antonio area).

Ben’s daughter, Rebecca, completed her degree in Web Design and Programming in May, and her husband, Jacade, completed his training at the Rockdale County, GA fire department. Alexa, Chris, and Ryan surprised Rebecca at her graduation with their visit from North Carolina. So, we all celebrated with family and friends at their home in Griffin, GA.

In August, Ben and I traveled to South Dakota (our first time there!) to visit with my Aunt Hilda, who is also my godmother, to honor her in her 100th year. Aunt Hilda is so beautiful, and her spirit is so bright that she inspires all who know her. Aunt Hilda’s daughter, DeLetta, and her husband, Don, did a wonderful job hosting and coordinating each moment of our visit. They even treated us to a nice tour of Yankton, and cooked a wonderful family dinner. Aunt Hilda’s two other children and their spouses, Jack and Peggy, and Sue and Jack) drove from Nebraska and Minnesota, respectively, to welcome us and to celebrate this time together. We even played a hilarious card game, called Nasty Neighbor! Thank you so much, Aunt Hilda and dear cousins, for the wonderful memories!

In September, we were blessed to have Vicki and Leo Petters visit overnight (from Montgomery, AL) while Leo attended a Scout event at a local college. We always love to have visitors!

Later that month, Ben and I became the visitors at our Cousin Sara’s beautiful home in Edmond, OK. What a wonderful time we had getting reacquainted with her “in person” and meeting her adorable little dog, Jiggs. Every moment was special. Thank you, Sara, so much.

We enjoyed a little time on two occasions in Sep-Oct with Dan and Barbara while traveling from New York to Florida. It’s so great to catch-up and to get these lunch-hugs!!

October was our month for a little home flooring renovation work. Then in November, we got to host the North Carolina contingent: Alexa, Chris and Ryan, along with their friends, Rob, Kate, Sara, and Drew during Georgia Tech Homecoming weekend. What a fun time!

We celebrated a wonderful family Thanksgiving in North Carolina, and are looking forward to the Christmas get-togethers there and here as well.

May God bless and keep each of you throughout the holiday season and in 2014.

Love to all, Cinda and Ben

From Alexa and family:

Merry Christmas Everyone! Hope it has been a wonderful year for all of you!

This was a busy year for us. Of course, the whole year was filled with sports for Ryan - soccer, lacrosse, and swimming. We spent spring break on a snowboarding trip to Colorado. Our spring break was so late that there were times we were hot out there! May had a quick trip to Atlanta for Rebecca's graduation. We are so proud of our 4.0 graduate!! Summertime meant our annual trip to NY to visit Chris' extended family. We also carved out some time in Washington, DC on our drive up there. A highlight was a visit to Ford's Theatre, where Lincoln was shot - a fascinating presentation by the park ranger! We were excited to make another trip to NY at Thanksgiving after a wonderful early Thanksgiving celebration with Ben, Cinda, Rebecca & Millie in Charlotte. The Macy's parade was fun but freezing cold!

August meant big changes for Chris. After 20 years at Bosch, he left to start a new position at a small company that makes crystals used in lasers. Within the same week, he also started an MBA program! He's busy, but we love the fact that he is not traveling as much!

We are looking forward to seeing Ben & Cinda again very soon for Christmas! Warm wishes to all of you for a year of peace & joy!

Chris, Alexa & Ryan Lupfer

From Rebecca and family:

Greetings Everyone!
Year after year, we always say it’s been a busy one, and 2013 has been no different. Jacade applied to the Rockdale County Fire Department in December of 2012 and was picked out of 400 applicants for the job interview process. He made it down to the end and was one of the 14 recruits for the fire department. He completed his 14 weeks of intense training and is now working full-time.
The month of May was a busy one for all of us. I graduated from Southern Crescent Technical College with a dual degree of Internet Specialist – Web Site Design and Internet Specialist – Web Application Development as an Honor Graduate with Distinction (4.0 GPA). My sister even surprised me by showing up, even though I thought she wouldn’t be able to attend. Then Jacade graduated from his recruit school and Millie graduated from Kindergarten.
Millie is now in the first grade and is excelling. She loves anything related to books: to read, to be read to, and to listen to audio books. She even has a penpal, who is her best friend that moved away during the summer that she writes to on a regular basis. It’s good practice on many levels.
As a graduation present, I was given a sewing machine and lots of scrap fabric from my Dad and Cinda. Wow! I really love to sew! So far, I have made placemats and a table runner (both from my own design and just using scrap fabrics), an adorable Christmas stocking for Millie, and some napkins for my sister. I have so many ideas in my head to make more things but there is only so much time. I’m also in the process of looking for a job. I know God has something grand in store for me though. In His timing, always.
Hope you all have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Cheers to 2014!!!
Rebecca, Jacade and Millie

From Melda and Jack:

It is that time of year-- we’ve given thanks, eaten turkey and received Dan’s e-mail which means it is time to highlight the year!

We had many highlights from attending Grandparent’s Day at Corpus Christi Catholic School for Laney and Landon and at Holy Family Catholic School for Leah, sharing birthday celebrations of our grands, Lauren’s Baptism and attending a very special 100th birthday celebration for Aunt Hilda, in South Dakota. Jack and I took a very short “long” weekend and traveled to Yankton the second weekend in October. We had a wonderful time being with Aunt Hilda and her family, catching up with our cousins Jack, DeLetta, Sue, their families and Carmen. Aunt Hilda is truly remarkable and beautiful—she is much younger than her chronological age would lead you to believe. Truly wish we had an opportunity to spend more time with our family in South Dakota. For a bit of family history, our grandfather, Abe Carlson, was born in Sweden 150 years ago on October 25, 1863.

While in South Dakota, we saw miles and miles of golden corn fields, dark green alfalfa fields and other crops (would make a wonderful color pallet for another quilt!!). Harvesting the corn had just begun and pheasant season was off to a good start with lots of excited hunters coming and going. We visited the Falls in Sioux Falls, not something that I recall Mom talking about, but certainly something worth seeing.

Rebecca &Travis and Rob & Casey continue to make us proud by juggling family, work and civic involvement—we admire them. There is a lot of team-work that goes on in their households to make it all work. Jack and I hosted the grands for a “Weekend at Melda and Jack’s”, a few weeks ago. It was fun watching the cousins play together and seeing the sleeping bags lined up on the floor filled with tired cousins at the end of the day! They are all growing up so-o-o fast.

Last Spring, Rob invited us to the Third Annual “Sneaker Soiree” event hosted by the Tampa Bay Sports Commission – what a fun evening watching him “work”, as his organization recognized the leaders in sports in the Tampa Bay Area with the likes of Brooke Bennett, Evan Longoria, Joe Madden, and Ronde Barber. It was a fun and memorable evening. Rob was also recognized in the Tampa Tribune in June with a great article “Tampa’s big game hunter”, recapping his young and fascinating career.

Not to be out-done by Rob, the November-December issue of the Orange Appeal magazine gave us a little insight into the Central Florida Women’s League of which Rebecca is president this year—their 25th anniversary year. Somehow, in addition to being a wife, mom and running her own company, she also found time to write a chapter in the recently published book Organization Survival – Profitable Strategies for a Sustainable Future, which was co-authored by one of Jack’s cousin’s husband, Greg Balestrero.

Lake Shore Villas, Jack’s mother’s residence for the past 12 years, closed in July. She was moved to another facility in Tampa for several weeks before transferring to a wonderful private home in the Orlando area which is more convenient for Jack’s brother and sister to visit her. The couple managing her care are truly a blessing to all of us.

Jack and I continue to be busy with work. Spicola & Larkin shut its doors at the end of February after more than 40 years. I accepted a paralegal position in the Legal Department of the City of Tampa. While neither Jack nor I have immediate retirement plans, we hope to one day!

We wish all a very Merry Christmas and many blessing throughout 2014.

With love and hugs,

Melda and Jack

From Rebecca and Family:

Hope this note finds everyone well. I can't imagine where the year has gone -- time is definitely speeding up! A few highlights from the True family this year:

Leah (age 6) is now in 1st grade and is doing well with her studies and reading. She enjoys riding her bike (without training wheels), kicking the soccer ball around the backyard, snow skiing, and lots of art projects -- in particular making large quantities of Rainbow Loom bracelets. She could open her own store with all the manufacturing she's done over the past 6 months! Lauren (age 4) is a Pre-K3 redshirt (October birthday means she misses the Kindergarten cutoff!) and although she's our social butterfly, she's also asking her teacher for extra homework each night so that she can work on her studies while Leah does the same. Lauren is really enjoying her ballet and dance classes, and dressing up in costume and pretending to be a princess in her spare time. It's so amazing to watch how they grow and see how their interests develop.

We took a few family trips this year -- the first to visit friends in Park City during January's Sundance Film Festival. Lauren took her first snow skiing lessons while we were there, and Leah is now quite possibly a better skier than her mother. We all enjoyed a really nice time playing in the snow and we got to catch a few movies, too. It was such a neat experience to be in the area on the lookout for a Robert Redford sighting! In July, we went to Marco Island for some beach time which was a nice getaway, too. Rebecca had a variety of business trips throughout the year per usual -- Washington DC, Vegas, Miami, NYC, and LA just to name a few.

2013 was the year of career changes for Travis as he ended his 11 year run with Citibank. Travis spent the first 11 months of the year implementing some operations and technology projects within Rebecca's firm, True Capital, and is finishing the year embarking on a technology consulting project with Office Depot in Boca Raton. With him commuting back and forth, it looks like we'll get to spend some time at the beach on the weekends over the next few months when he tires of the drive!

In addition to our family and business endeavors, I've had some fun "extra-curricular" opportunities this year that I'm pretty proud of. In May, I was elected President of the Central Florida Women's League. CFWL is a group of 150 local volunteer women and our foundation is committed to charitable granting and service in support of local charities, and providing college scholarships to local students. We're celebrating our 25th anniversary year, so it's a big honor to represent the organization particularly at this milestone year where we've given away just over $2 million in support of those that need it most in our local community. This month, along with several of my board members, I was featured on the cover of Orange Appeal magazine! Also, I spent some time writing a financial chapter in a business book on sustainability that was just published by McGraw-Hill, "Organizational Survival: Profitable Strategies for a Sustainable Future".

As we swing into what's always the exponentially fastest part of each year, we wish you all a wonderful Christmas and New Year! Love, Rebecca, Travis, Leah, & Lauren

From Monica and Herman:

Merry Christmas to all!!

Last year was exciting, but this year has been a year for growing!

For the first time in many years, we had a small garden this year. Tomatoes, yellow crookneck squash, yellow straight neck squash, zucchini, and ocra. I found some black berries at Lowes and planted a few of them as well. I was really happy to have a garden! We harvested and ate a really nice lot of tomatoes. I ended up totally neglecting the rest of the garden, but I hope to try again next year.

Herman continues to fight to save the groves, and many days it’s hard to tell whether he is winning. There are still some really good looking groves around, but they are becoming scarcer. Several former citrus farmers are now growing other crops. A few are growing blueberries, but a few more are growing peaches. Florida peaches are smaller than Georgia peaches, but are quite tasty. I hope they all find success in their new crops. I love having locally grown fruit.

I told my supervisor in February that I was considering retirement at the end of this year or the first of next year. I have learned that there are lots of retirement issues I am ignorant of, but I’m learning! I’m really looking forward to retirement.

Shelley has a new job this year (I’ll let her tell you about it), and I am very happy for her and the people she spends the day with! Hugs Shelley!

Natalie continues to take good care of lots of people at her job (I hear from lots of my friends what a big help she is to them). Thank you Natalie!

Mandi still works for the same company she’s been with for many years, but in a different position. She excels at the many aspects of her job, even the hardest one, calming down nervous clients. Excellent job Mandi!

Joe spends a good bit of time teaching his co-workers, growing a new generation of specialists! We took a quick trip to see Joe and Anne, and as usual, we ate well, learned lots, and spent as much time as possible talking, laughing, hugging and catching up! They are very gracious to us and we love every minute with them! Thank you Joe!

Bill continues as a Cross Fit physical trainer. He is a gifted trainer and has some faithful clients. He has big news this year and I’ll let him tell you about it! Hugs Bill!

May God bless all of you in this Christmas Season and in the coming New Year!

Love all of you,
Herman and Monica

From Shelley and family:

Good morning from a cold Florida. No worries by tomorrow it will be blazing hot again. This year has been full of trials and triumphs. Darrell went back to work at Air Centers of Florida in January. I got laid off in February. In July, the Lord blessed me with an AWESOME preschool teaching position at Sacred Heart Early Childhood Center, working with the young two's. We still live in Ridge Manor. We got a new puppy early in the year. Camo is a chocolate long hair dapple doxie and jack Russell mix. He is a lovely red hot mess. In June, Hunter was awarded at D.S. Parrot Middle School, for making honor roll for the entire year, most improved 6th grade student, and 6th grade citizen of the year (the only one in his class). All this while in a leg brace for months due to a possible torn ACL. Luckily it resolved without any surgery needed. This year he is at Pasco Middle with his cousins, which he has enjoyed. He continues playing trumpet and just marched in his first Dade City Christmas Parade. Oh and he is back in the pig business as a member of the Blanton Valley 4H. Blue Bell and Rosie are coming along nicely due to his and Luke's attention. Sarah is still singing up a storm. She completed Kindergarten at Eastside Elementary with Ms. King, whom she adored! This year she has been blessed with an amazing teacher at San Antonio Elementary. Ms. Gregory loves Sarah and Sarah loves her. She was nominated as Student of the Month in November for being the most outstanding girl citizen in the first grade. Ms. G said she would gladly take 20 of her... Maybe 30. LOL! We are very proud of the young lady she is becoming. The bad news is that last Friday, Darrell's mom's husband Rick Rutter unexpectedly passed away. The kids are very sad about losing their Papa Smurf. Also, at the grand old age of 92, my dad's mother, Bertha Zeranski's health is quickly failing and hospice has been called in to help keep her comfortable. She is a Grand Lady and I am already missing her spunky spirit. I know I am forgetting something major but I have no clue what it is, so I will sign off for now.
I wish each of you a Merry Christ filled Christmas and a heart full of love. Shelley & Company!

Ohhhh I didn't forget Luke I was just doing his last... <3. Hi, my name is Sarah Elizabeth Denney and I am in love with Luke Ryan Oliver. Ok thats what she would say if she was typing this. Sarah D as we lovingly call her and a new truck are the only things that have changed this year for Luke. Both, have made his life so much better. He is still living in his little river house and collecting "stuff" for all of his projects. Sarah D is a full time collage student at PHCC and waitress extraordinaire at the Black Eye Pea. Luke is still going a hundred miles per hour between working for Team Tire and side work. They adopted a hound puppy named Turbo to add to the pack of Harley and Hazel, Lordy those dogs are a mess. Luke and Sarah D spend a lot of time out at Sarah's mom's ranch (Betsy Kirkland) running the tractors, fixing stuff, and hunting. It is Gorgeous and I don't blame them one bit. Luke did have some minor surgery his year but he is much better now. He also broke his right hand, wait maybe that was last year, it has all been a blur. All in all it has been a pretty good year for them. Ok now I think we are done... Blessings to all and to all a good night... Oh it's 7:29am... Well fine no napping now. <3

From Natalie and family:

Greetings all!

At the Parsons/Helms house, not much has changed this year. It’s been quite busy, just to be clear. Jayden’s still dancing and pointing her toes, performing with Little Stars putting on shows. Four hours a week she spends with Mrs. Sally. Between dance, school and her hog, there’s no time to dilly dally. She’s still a girly girl, Mommy’s little twin. Constantly singing and always with a grin. Dylan’s in 8th grade, and keeping me on my toes. Playing with the Band, you know how that goes. He’s getting so tall, never thought we would see, him sprout up so fast, he’s almost taller than me. Tyler turned 18, and he’s a Senior this year. Bought his cap and gown, and invitations soon will be here. His last year in high school, oh my…hang on I need tissues, I think I might cry. Super proud of the man he has turning out to be. What the future has in store, I’m excited to see. Jon’s still running service calls, chasing kids and huntin deer. Keeping up with me and stuff around here. A doe and three hogs made it to the freezer for us. Jon cooks it all, so I don’t fuss. I’m still at Dr. McBath’s, as his right hand girl. Hard to believe it’s been two years overseeing all the referrals. It’s demanding, crazy and hectic 99% of my day. When all is said and done, I wouldn’t have it any other way. I’m not going to talk about the surgeries and downfalls I’ve been through this year, but because of you and your prayers I am still here. Merry Christmas to each and every one. May your New Year be filled with Love, good health, prosperity and fun!

Love,

Natalie, Jon, Ty, Dylan and Jayden

From Ralph and Paula:

We hope everyone is well. All here is busy, which is a good thing!

The highlight of the summer was attending Sarah and Dan's wedding on June 22nd. at the Petter's Lake House in North Carolina. It was a beautiful ceremony, (the rain didn't matter), in a beautiful setting. We felt a strong sense of honor just being there. About two weeks after that, we headed back to North Carolina for the Petter's Family Reunion. That's another fun event.

A not so fun event happened on August 22nd. We received more than eight inches of rain in about an hour and ten minutes, and the dike at the pond behind our house was destroyed. So we decided not to rebuild the pond, but rather just make it a road across the creek. More simple, less trouble! We have a contractor (Bobby Gude) set to do the work, and he expects to finish the job by the end of December. It will be good when it's done.

That's the highlights for 2013.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Love to all.
Paula and Ralph

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