Christmas, 2019

Merry Christmas!!

Time for the annual updates....

January 2019 involved a 12-hour drive to and from South Carolina for Laura and Katherine to spend two weeks at the hospital with where my mother slowly emerged from a diabetic crisis, and from which she went (in February) to a nursing facility.

February saw Jason and me celebrating my 50th birthday aboard the Carnival Triumph with our friends Ken and Emily, with stops in Cozumel and Progresso, Mexico. 

In March, we went to Milwaukee, WI, for a Yellow Ribbon workshop for Sailors who had been deployed to process the impacts the deployment had on themselves and their relationships.

April saw Katherine and me on the road again, spending 3 weeks in the Boston area awaiting the birth of our first grandchild.  Charles Judah finally arrived on April 25th.  During that time all of the rest of the family was able to come for a week with Frances and Nick.

May was relatively uneventful for most of the family, though Justin was able to spend some time in New Orleans with his friend Jayden, celebrating Jayden's high school graduation.

June included my mother's death after 6 months of battling for her life, and a trip to South Carolina for her memorial service.  In addition, Katherine and Leah went to Cincinnati, OH, for our church's annual trip to work in an inner-city neighborhood.

July was a lot of working, and enjoying the summer days, a trip to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the Indi 500 and preparing for a family trip in August. Also, Leah became a "Certified Barrista" at Starbucks, and Justin started working there, as well.

August saw almost the whole family gathered in South Carolina for a few restful days of family, friends, swimming, and pictures.  While we were gone to SC, Heather moved out to her new apartment in Carbondale, IL, where she is managing a Journey shoe store.

September was busy, with Jason having surgery on September 11....

...and a trip to Virginia Beach for me to attend our nephew's wedding...

...with a huge plus of seeing a whole lot of friends AND our son!!

We were also able to make another trip to Indianapolis for the Indy 400, and to spend some time with Jason's cousins.

October was our 27th wedding anniversary and the 28th anniversary of our dating, with a date to one of our favorites.










November was also very full....

At the beginning of the month, Jason and I were in Great Lakes and Chicago for a Navy Retirement workshop for a week.

While there, we were able to see some friends...

...Justin was in the local production of the musical "All Shook Up", loosely based on Elvis Pressley's music.

Heather and her boyfriend Darien were able to come to visit for part of the day for Thanksgiving.

In December, Leah and Justin finished their school semesters (both did very well), and Leah is now officially finished with her high school work and will be moving into her first semester of being an official college student.  I got a job (FINALLY!) working in a private practice as a counselor, and we again had a full table for Christmas lunch today, with Kyah, Heather, and Darien, as well as Jason and I, Justin, Leah, and Katherine.



Here's praying that 2020 will be less eventful, but also full of great memories!! 
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!