Season’s Greetings!
We can sum up this past year in two words… “OH BABY!” We added three new babies to our family in 2009:
• Timothy Michael was born May 13th to Debbie’s niece, Jasmine.
• Owen Nicholas became Debbie’s newest cousin – born to Natalie, Darrell and Olivia Norton on June 23rd.
• Kelsey Lynn Robus became the newest addition to Greg’s side of the house on November 23rd… she was born to Greg’s nephew, John, and Leslie Robus in St. Louis.
All three babies are healthy and well and pure delights.
Jasmine is attending college at ASU-Heber Springs and working as a Certified Nurse’s Aide (CNA) at one of our nursing homes. So while she is attending classes and working, we help with Timothy! He is at our house at least two afternoons a week, and sometimes overnight. We never dreamed that at this stage of our lives we would have all of the baby trappings – crib, high chair, car seat, playpen, stroller, and more… but we are having so much fun! We don’t see as much of Owen, because his family is so busy, and of course, we have yet to meet Kelsey Lynn in person – but we hope to meet her very soon!
Other than that, the weather was probably the big story of the year. We had two major ice storms in January and February. Then in the spring - and again in the fall, we had flooding. We were fortunate that we made it through all weather phenomena unscathed, but other family members and friends were not so lucky.
We celebrated our 35th wedding anniversary in August. It seems like those years just flew by, and we are quite sure we have not changed since 1974… well, almost! Debbie’s grandmother, Polly, celebrated her 97th birthday in November and continues to live alone in her own home, for which we are thankful.
Greg’s mother, Elaine, traveled to Iowa in July to celebrate the 100th birthday of her Aunt Vivian Setterberg. About a month later, Aunt Vivian passed away. Shortly after that, Elaine’s brother, Donnie, succumbed to leukemia. So it has been a year of loss for her. However, she is doing well, and she has taken on a new “avocation” – dog sitting. She has about six families for whom she dog-sits when they travel, and she really enjoys her four-legged charges.
Greg still delivers meals on wheels, and Debbie is still writing daily devotionals, maintaining blogs, and writing for a website called Helium.com. We still go to auctions and garage sales and sell a few things on Etsy and eBay. We are grateful for good health and this “transition” time in our lives that enables us to help with the babies and the senior citizens!
As always, we are grateful for the gift of Jesus Christ, because without Him, nothing else would matter. In this season of remembrance, focus on Jesus. Make Him the star of your Christmas, and everything else will fall into place. We pray that each of you will be healthy and well this holiday and in the coming year!
Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!
Greg & Debbie
Timothy Michael
Owen Nicholas
Kelsey Lynn
