2008 Family Newsletter

Merry Christmas to all my readers, friends and family! I'm putting our family newsletter here for your perusal. :-) I've taken out our last name for sake of privacy. :-)

Hope you have a wonderful Christmas and a great New Year!!

~Amanda~

2008 Family Newsletter

-Amanda & Sarah

Season’s Greetings from our family! It has been quite a year for our family, but we shall strive to keep this under two pages. :-) In May, we took a family vacation/Josh's senior trip to Pennsylvania. We visited Gettysburg, Lancaster, and also Hershey for a brief time (long enough to take a tour and complain about expensive candy :-) ). Gettysburg was historically enlightening (in a good way), and we had a personalized tour of the Amish area in Lancaster by a Mennonite tour guide who rode with us in the van. It was a bit strange at first, but we learned many more interesting tidbits that way. The highlight of the trip, however, was seeing a production of “Daniel and the Lions’ Den” in the Sight and Sound Theatre in Lancaster. We all had a good time together, but it was our first time leaving our dog Penny for a week, and the kennel had to keep calling us because she wouldn't eat! However, she was ecstatic to be home with us afterwards and ate her fill then. :-)

Also, Amanda and Josh attended a New Attitude conference in May with some youth from church. They enjoyed hearing from speakers such as Josh Harris, John Piper, Al Mohler, and C.J. Mahaney. Josh even got John Piper's autograph (Amanda, on the other hand, had no desire to stand in long lines :-))! In August, Amanda and Sarah also had a great time visiting their friend Susannah in North Carolina for about two weeks. While down there, all three of them went to the State Museum and saw an exhibit of the Dead Sea Scrolls, which was very well done. This friend, whom some of you know, just had her first baby (a girl named Katherine) on December 10th. Hopefully some (or all) of us can see this new addition sometime in 2009 (once her high-pitched scream thing dies down a bit :-)).

Dad & Mom—celebrated 24 years of marriage in September and are hoping to do something special next year (such as a trip somewhere) to celebrate their 25th anniversary. Dad celebrated 26 years at the firehouse in August and anticipates retirement in a few years. He also studied for his last Lieutenant’s exam of his career. His hobbies include chess and tennis, and he is still serving as an Elder at church as well as teaching a Sunday School class on Grudem’s Systematic Theology. Mom enjoys reading and has been involved in the ladies’ ministry at church. She is also happy to retire the 24-year-old artificial Christmas tree, for we now have a new one (it still isn’t her ideal one, but at least it isn’t…old! :-)).

Amanda—turned 23 in September. She had her college graduation ceremony in June and had a pleasant surprise by being one of the marshals and receiving a special award. Her job in Fairfield ended in April, and she is looking for full-time employment in the administrative field. In the meantime, she started a part-time seasonal job at Michael's and is enjoying it—but finding that she has much less free time (thus the later-than-usual newsletter). :-) However, when time permits, she still enjoys reading, selling stuff online, crafts, playing the piano, and her newest hobby—blogging! If you enjoy book reviews, you can find her blog at: http://christian-bibliophile-reviewsandmore.blogspot.com/

Sarah—turned 21 in August. She is a senior at NKU and enjoys upper-division Spanish and Latin American classes. She had a good but intense semester and is looking forward to some time off. She tutored Spanish (and Astronomy for one day. Bad idea. :-)) on campus for the past two semesters but will be ending that to give her more time to look into other forms of employment in the future. She had a wonderful experience studying abroad in Morelia, Mexico in June and will be graduating in May 2009. She loves spending time with pets, promoting correct grammar, playing the piano, and being involved with a campus Bible study.

Josh—will be 19 in January. He graduated from high school in May and also got his driver's license this year. In August, he stopped taking piano lessons so he could have more time to concentrate on school and work (and no, he really doesn’t play on his own :-)). He is a freshman Chemistry major at Raymond Walters College and works part-time at Sam’s Club (electronics department). He also experienced the joy of getting his wisdom teeth out this past week. :-) Josh likes video games, playing with Penny, playing tennis with Dad and Andrew, and explaining weird science stuff to people. :-)

Andrew—will be 17 in March and is in 11th grade. He is busy with school and at times feels like an “only child” when his siblings are off on their various escapades. He is officially now the only homeschooler, non-driver, and non-voter in the family. Of course, all that will change in a little over a year! He enjoys reading, playing tennis, activities at church, getting out of school, video games, biff-bopping Penny (swatting her “gently” with gloved hands. She loves it.), and doing things with Dad and Josh.

The Menagerie

Shortly after Sarah got back from Mexico, it became apparent that Meeko the cat had to be put to sleep because of a tumor around her heart (there was much sniffling by the females that weekend!). Meeko was about 13 years old, and we were glad that Sarah was able to be home. However, our pet dynamics in the family have changed somewhat, and Meeko is still missed—especially by Mom.
Penny continues to be the only dog in the house, and yes, she is quite spoiled (except by Amanda :-)). Her favorite people are Dad and Sarah, and she still enjoys chasing and terrorizing Jonah. Cocoa, our fat cat, has taken over some of Meeko’s old habits—such as sleeping in Penny’s cage. She is very affectionate and loves to try to sneak outside and eat grass (which usually results in disgusting consequences. Enough said. :-)). Jonah, our skinny cat, strangely enough, has been coming downstairs a lot more since Meeko has been gone. His latest hobby is drinking any leftover water from the bathtub, and he still takes demented pleasure in scaring Patches. Patches, our indoor/outdoor cat (depending on her mood and the weather), loves to curl up on Andrew’s bed when it’s cold and has been stealing Mom’s seat on the couch as well. Snorkel, our “stray” cat, is still here and enjoys a good relationship with Penny. She likes to eat and look cute. :-) We get occasional visits from P.C. the cat (short for Peaches and Cream), but those never last long with Penny around! Another year has passed without adding any more pets (P.C. doesn’t really count :-)), and several of us are wishing for a kitten; however, Dad claims that another cat has to die before this happens. But if one shows up at our doorstep… :-)