December 2016 Update

Greetings from the frozen tundra of western New York State!  This past week has been very snowy here with close to two feet falling over that week.  Thursday’s commute for me was awful, taking over twice as long as usual.  Thankfully, I made it to and from work with no mishaps.

This was taken out my front door during our blizzard Thursday 12/15

Birthdays we celebrated since I wrote you last were Zach’s on 11/23 and Amelia’s on 12/3.  Of course, we also celebrated Thanksgiving with all of our local family.  Unfortunately, our family in Philadelphia and Minneapolis couldn’t join us, but we had delicious food and a wonderful time together at Ella and Cody's house.

Happy Birthday Zach!

Happy Birthday Amelia!

A small part of our Thanksgiving feast

Our downstairs project is going very well.  We decided to hire someone to do the drywall mudding for us to save time (although not money), and he did a very good job in a very short time.  Now we are painting it, and we hope to have that done by tomorrow.  By “we” I mean Abigail’s boyfriend, Seth, who has done all the painting so far, and probably will end up doing it all.  We are very thankful for his skill and availability!  I have neglected to mention all the people who have been helping us with this.  My son-in-law, Cody’s, father, Matt, has been the most tremendous help.  He has lots of construction experience and has been invaluable in saving us from mistakes and saving us money in getting the project done.  Matt and his wife, Cathy, go to our church, so we’ve known them for a long time.  Another guy from church, Steve Morse, has done all the electrical work downstairs for us.  Also, Cody, Seth, my son-in-law, Kevin, and my kids have all helped with hanging drywall, clean-up, demolition, cabling, etc.  We bought the flooring we wanted last week, so we’re excited to think it may actually be usable for Christmas when everybody is here!

On Sunday 12/11, we went to the Bills game against the Steelers with Ella and Cody.  Cody had gotten suite (and sweet) tickets through his work, so even though it was a cold day, we stayed nice and warm.  We even got to go on the field before the game with the passes he had, so we were within a few feet of the Bills as they warmed up.  It was a lot of fun, even though the Bills didn’t win.  I guess they didn’t warm up enough.  In my life I’ve been to three Bills games and they are 0-3 when I go.  Maybe someday I’ll go when they win.  But I was proud to watch the Seahawks game on TV when they clinched the NFC West.  Now we just need them to keep on winning while Detroit and Dallas lose!

This was our view.  Hannah, Kevin, Abigail, and Seth, and some of Hannah's friends are in this picture (somewhere).  It was full by the time the game started!

Bills selfie! (with Cody, Ella, Ivy, and Krista)

Cai came home from college for the Christmas break this past Friday.  It actually turned into Saturday because his train was delayed in Albany.  He was supposed to arrive just before midnight Friday, but it turned out to be closer to 3AM Saturday morning.  But he made it safely, and we’re very glad to have him home for almost three weeks.

Last night at church was our kids’ Christmas program.  Only Jem and Levi are still in these things, although Zach helped with sound, and Abigail helped direct the program.  They did a great job presenting the gospel through the Christmas story in a fun and interesting way.

Levi and Jem (on the right) in the play

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all!

Ivy (left), everybody at Caitlin's wedding (middle), Daisy (right)