December 2022 Update

Christmastime is always busy, and that was definitely true this year for me and our family.

 

I mentioned a few months ago about a show our church was hosting, Pilgrim, based on Pilgrim’s Progress.  Well, it was everything as advertised and more.  It was very well done, engaging, convicting, and encouraging.  Again, I’d encourage you to check it out and see if it’s going to be anywhere near you:  Arise Collective Theatre | Pilgrim, a Full-Length Musical Based on The Pilgrim's Progress.

 

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving!  On Thursday, the Mickles joined us for our big dinner and to watch the Bills win.  Then the next day, all of the local families got together to keep eating the delicious food and to play games and to enjoy each other.

 

My barbershop chorus is very active this time of year too.  We took part in Webster White Christmas (Webster is the town where we rehearse) where they have a vendor fair, a parade, and lots of holiday activities.  Our chorus went to various venues and sang Christmas songs, and the Mickles and Shaws came and heard us and looked through all the different things for sale.  I’m pretty sure they were able to get some nice gifts!

The Shaws and Mickles at Webster White Christmas

Then the following Tuesday, we did a Christmas concert at the Webster library, and the following week at a local mall.

 

This year I was told that because I am the Program Vice President of our chorus, that I was supposed to be the Master of Ceremonies at our annual Christmas dinner.  I had never attended the dinner, and I hadn’t been told before that that was part of my responsibilities.  I suspected an ulterior motive in their suddenly remembering that part of my duties, but I went and MC’d anyway.  The dinner nice, the food was really good, and the program went well.  One of the events at the program is the announcement of the Barbershopper of the Year for our chorus, and I was the one so honored.  Now I understand why they had to be sure I was there!  The chorus president admitted it at the end of the night, but I really didn’t mind attending, and I am very honored.

 

The final holiday event we attended recently was the dance recitals for Hannah and Kevin’s daughters, Ansa and Alma.  They both did a fabulous job, and it was really fun to see them enjoying their fancy costumes and dance steps.

 

I wish you all a Merry Christmas, and I hope you have a personal relationship with the greatest gift ever given when God sent Jesus to be born, live, die, and rise again to pay for my and your sins.

November 2022 Update

Here’s the update on my family’s activities since I wrote last.

 

The highlight of the month for sure was the trip Krista, Jem, and I made to Louisville to meet Cai and Amy’s new daughter, Dorothy.  It was great to see them all (Cai, Amy, Dorothy, and Zach), and to hold sweet Dorothy.  While we were there, we took a fun walk over a pedestrian bridge over the Ohio River.  Part of the motivation for the walk was the ice cream shop on the Indiana side.  Also, Krista and I toured a mansion that belonged to a family who made their fortune in steamboats on the Ohio River.  All in all, it was a wonderful, if too short, trip.

Dorothy and Krista

She found her thumb!

I love ice cream!

Walking back to Kentucky

Ice cream calories don't count if you walk while you're eating it

Howard Steamboat Mansion/Museum in Jeffersonville, Indiana

We came home on Halloween, and Levi had this pumpkin all carved!

Our other family news is that Amelia decided to move to Louisville for a few months.  UPS, where Cai and Zach work, as you probably know or could guess, gets very busy at this time of year, and they assured her she could get a job there, at least for this peak season.  She and I drove to Medina, Ohio, which is about halfway between our house and Louisville, and Zach met us there.  We ate lunch together at a Culver’s (of course, we got cheese curds), and then they went on to Louisville, and I returned home.  We all thank God for safe travel, and we’d appreciate prayers as she gets used to this new chapter in her life.

At Culver's

Throwing in bonus web content: Ansa's staticky hair made me smile 😁

So, only two things to write about, but they were pretty big things, so the depth of the events makes up for the lack of length in this update.  I hope.

 

October 2022 Update

This was a fun month, with lots of unique happenings.  Which being interpreted is, this update might actually be interesting, and there are pictures!

 

On September 24, I had two big events, both really fun, and one very rewarding.  In the morning, our barbershop chorus competed in our annual convention.  It was a lot of fun, but we didn’t do well at all, since a lot of our chorus forgot the words to one of our songs.  It came out very muddled because of that, and our scores reflected it.  So, it was fun, but not rewarding.

 

But then, in the afternoon, my family and I got to have an early supper with my Uncle Erle and cousin Wayne.  They live in western Washington state, and I hadn’t seen them in several years.  My uncle was here for a reunion at Roberts Wesleyan, and he very kindly made sure that we could get together.  My dad’s cousin, Priscilla, lives in the area, and she got a hold of me, and we made all the arrangements to get together at a local restaurant.  I also met a good friend of my cousin’s, Wendell.  He and Wayne had met doing a men’s ministry together, so it was cool to make a new friend.  So that was fun AND rewarding!

Wayne and Greg

An old picture Wayne gave me of my dad (seated) with his sisters, Grace (Wayne's mom), Bev, and Sharon

Our group at our table. We also used the table to the right for the rest of my local kids and their families who were there

Uncle Erle and Greg

Uncle Erle, Greg, and my dad's cousin, Priscilla

As I’m sure you all remember (I need a sarcasm font), I mentioned back in May that we had three grandchildren on the way.  The third of those three, our 15th grandchild, arrived on September 26:  Dorothy Louise Matthews was born to Cai and Amy.  Krista, Jem, and I are going to Louisville, Kentucky, where they live, next week to meet her and visit with Cai, Amy, and Zach.  I’m really looking forward to that!

 

Levi’s soccer season is over now.  They made it to the championship game again this year against the same team that beat them 7-0 last year.  This year they unfortunately lost again, but this time it was 2-1, so they were much improved.  Levi played really well all year and was recognized by his team by them electing him as a captain.  I really enjoyed watching as many games as I could get to!

 

Finally, our local family has made it a tradition these last few years to go to a local farm in October to enjoy fall activities and get our pumpkins.  We did that again this year, and we all enjoyed the hayride, pumpkin patch, corn cannon, barrel train, bouncy pillow, and corn maze.

Pumpkin patch

Hayride

Our pumpkins on our front porch

Oh, and GO BILLS! 

September 2022 Update

This past month has been pretty busy as fall activities start up.  My grandkids have started Awana at church, some of my kids (Hannah, Ella, Cody, Jem) are helping as leaders in Awana, Levi has started soccer, the Bills looked really good in their first game, and my family started playing Fantasy Football.

 

Also, Caitlin discovered a way to play Fantasy Survivor with the TV show, so we’re doing that too.  It gives us an excuse to watch a favorite show and interact with our family in a fun competition.

 

Our biggest news in this past month was the birth of our 14th grandchild, Maya Kristine Shaw, born to our daughter Abigail, and her husband, Bernie.  Maya was born on September 7, over a week late, but both mom and baby are healthy, and we praise God for His goodness to us.

Meeting Maya in the hospital

Right after that, Zach came home from Kentucky for a weekend visit.  I think I mentioned before that he has orthodontist appointments every several weeks, so we get to see him fairly regularly, which is very nice.  He got to meet his new niece, visit with family, and visit Lake Ontario while he was here.

Zach and Cody in Lake Ontario

We missed a couple of years because of COVID, but you may remember that my chorus used to participate in a 9/11 ceremony, and we were able to do that again this year.  We sang “Battle Hymn of the Republic” and “When There’s Love at Home.”  It was a rainy day, but they gave us an awning to stand under, and I think it went well.  The “crowd” was definitely down because of the weather—there were more performers than audience—but we never want to forget what happened that day, so I’m always glad to participate in this ceremony.

 

Finally, I want to tell you all about a program my church is hosting in November.  It’s a musical theater production called “Pilgrim” based on the classic “Pilgrim’s Progress.”  There’s more information about it here:  Pilgrim – The Musical – First Bible Baptist Church (fbbc.info)  If you’re in our area, we’d love for you to come and experience this.  If you are not in our area, I’d encourage you to look at the performers’ website Arise Collective Theatre | Pilgrim, a Full-Length Musical Based on The Pilgrim's Progress to see if it’s coming anywhere near you, or you can contact them to see if your church or community can get them to come to you.

 

Thanks for reading!

Bonus web content:  We were at a local restaurant with some family, and Josie, Ella's daughter, was sitting with Krista and me.  She wanted us to take a video of her eating, so being the doting grandfather that I am, I obliged.  I thought she would just eat her food, but instead she decided to inhale it:

August 2022 Update

When we were at Barker Lighthouse camp with all of our extended family, we went over to the lighthouse in the Golden Hill campground, which is called Thirty Mile Point Lighthouse, because it is 30 miles east of the mouth of the Niagara River.  Anyway, that inspired Krista and I to try to visit each of the nine lighthouses on Lake Ontario that are in New York state.  We’ve been to a few of them already, but we want to go and “officially” document our visit to each one.

 

Our first step in accomplishing this was to go to the Oak Orchard Lighthouse in Kent, NY.  

In the lighthouse

Oak Orchard Lighthouse Selfie!

The big event this month was the birth of our lucky 13th grandchild, Truman Ezekiel Sommer, to my daughter, Ella, and her husband, Cody.  Truman joined his three sisters, Hazel, Ivy, and Josie on August 3, and weighed in at 9lb 2 oz.  They are all loving him, and we are too!  Krista and I got to visit in the hospital, and we’ve enjoyed holding him several times since then.

In the hospital with Truman

One of our favorite things to do in the summer is to be at the shore of Lake Ontario when the sun sets.  Krista, Jem, and I did so on Monday night this week, and then Krista and I went back again the next night after celebrating her birthday at a dinner out.

Lake Ontario Sunset

The beauty of our Father's Creation never stops amazing me

I’ll end with this:  Last night I made a fool of myself.  That in itself isn’t too unusual, but our church had a talent night, and so I did so in front of a rather large audience.  Some of you have seen my (what’s a good word to describe it?  Silly?  Weird?  Bizarre?) rendition of “Theme and Variations on Little Cabin.”  Well, I pulled that out of mothballs and did it again last night.  I had fun, and it seemed to be well received.

 

I guess that’s all for this month, so we’ll visit again in September.

 

July 2022 Update

This seems to have been a more eventful month, so that will make more content for this update, but no guarantees about whether or not it interests you.  I write these because my Mom asked me to years ago, and even though she's in heaven, I still keep it up.  Who knows if anyone reads them, but maybe they will interest my descendants years from now.

Anyway, here goes for this past month.

 

My chorus did a performance at a local nursing home on June 28.  The audience seemed to appreciate it, although there were a couple of the songs we sang where we got out of tune, and I was not sure which key I was hearing.  Others noticed it too, and so we’ve been working on that in rehearsals.  There’s always room for improvement, and in our case, lots of room.

 

When Covid kept campgrounds closed, our family decided to camp in the Mickles’ (my daughter, Hannah’s family) back yard.  We had so much fun then, that we did it again this year over the July 4 weekend.  We ate good camping food, did fun activities like tie-dye and fireworks, went on outings to local playgrounds and an ice cream stand, and generally enjoyed each other.

 

The next week some of the grandkids went to a real live camp, and since both Hazel and Ivy (Ella’s daughters) went, we had her youngest daughter, Josie, over to our house for a couple of days of “Grandma camp.”  Krista’s mom used to have some of our kids to her house for grandma camp when their older siblings were at camp at AMOC, so we sort of continued the tradition.  She slept in Jem’s room for two nights, and spent the days doing special things with her Mommom.

I mentioned last month that Zach had moved to Louisville, Kentucky.  He had to come home for an orthodontist appointment, so he made a weekend of it that following weekend, July 8 – 11.  It was great to spend some time with him again, and we had a little party Sunday afternoon at our house with homemade garbage plates.  I think I’ve talked about those before, but in case you’ve forgotten, they are a Rochester area specialty where you can get your year’s supply of cholesterol all in one meal!  You make a base of some kind of fried potatoes (we used tater tots, but air fried them to be a little less obnoxious) and mac salad, top that with a meat, like burgers, hot dogs, chicken fingers (we used burgers or dogs), and then smother all that with your choice of toppings, like ketchup, mustard, onions, or spicy meat sauce.  It really is delicious, but definitely not something you should eat every day.

 

This past Saturday, the ladies got together for a baby shower for Abigail and her baby, who is due in late August.  The venue Hannah found for this was in Canandaigua, which is about an hour’s drive southeast from our home.  While they did that, I spent the morning with Hannah’s son, Alex, because Kevin had worked overnight the night before and needed to sleep.  Alex and I had a really fun grandson/grandpa time exploring Canandaigua’s playgrounds and eating lunch at McDonald’s.

Playground at Kershaw Park on Canandaigua Lake

Pirate ship themed playground

Lunch at McDonald's

In case we weren’t exhausted enough after our Canandaigua trip in the morning, Krista and I went an hour’s drive the other way (north and west) to the Lighthouse Christian Camp in Barker, NY, that many of you are familiar with.  Her father’s family has a reunion there every year, but we didn’t plan to go this year because of the morning trip.  Then Krista’s brother, Dick, and his wife Debbie, let us know they had come all the way from Kansas to be at this reunion, and we couldn’t miss the opportunity to see them, so we drove out there that afternoon/evening.  I have to say, I had to settle for seeing one of my most faithful readers of this update, Aunt Marion, on video because they couldn’t make that reunion, but we had a good time talking with everyone, especially Dick and Debbie.

 

My son Levi has had some exciting times lately.  He will be going to Genesee Community College this fall for their ACE program where you can complete your senior year of high school and freshmen year of college at the same time, and we have been working on the testing and registration for that.  We’ve also been looking for a car for him to get him there and back.  Then his latest adventure was having oral surgery this past Thursday.  He’s already tired of eating just soft foods, and can’t wait to get a cheeseburger and fries again as soon as he can.

 

Well, there you have it.  That’s our latest month, and we’ll talk again in August!

 

June 2022 Update

Well, our nest is a little smaller now, but still not quite empty.  The weekend after we returned from Outer Banks, Zach moved to Louisville, Kentucky.  He rented a moving van, and I drove his car, and we drove there on Friday, May 20.  Louisville wasn’t picked at random—that’s where Cai and Amy live, and he got an apartment in the same building where they live.  Cai had let him know he could probably do that, and that he could help him get a job where he works at UPS, and Zach was ready for a different adventure in life.

Those of you who read this web version get bonus content that I forgot to put in the email!  I know, you're so excited.  We got there Friday night and unloaded the truck so Zach could return it.  Then Saturday we helped Zach a bit with setting things up, but mostly we just spent time together.  We went for a walk at a nearby park, and got Chicago style deep dish pizza.

Sunday I went to church with them, where Amy recruited me to sing in her choir, and we enjoyed worship together.  Then I was supposed to fly back home that afternoon, but my flight got canceled due to bad weather.  So I ended up staying an extra night, and flew out Monday morning.

Lunch at Panda Express on the way there

We made it!  Greeted by Cai and Amy

Amy had supper ready for us.  Yummy!

Going for a walk at a nearby park

There was a deep dish Chicago style pizza place nearby!

I slept in the baby's room--it's all ready for her!

I went to church with them before returning home

So now we have a little, perfect family of four:  parents, one girl and one boy, just like normal people.  Personally, I think “normal” is overrated.

 

In contrast to that, besides the 32 of us getting together earlier in May, our local family got together for Memorial Day at Ella and Cody’s.  We did our usual good food, yard games, and lots of just enjoying each other, especially enjoying watching the kids play together in the pool, on the swings, and just all over in the yard.  The weather was perfect here that day, and that’s always a treat.

 

Other than that, I guess I don’t really have anything to report from our corner of the world.  I hope all is going well with you, and you are enjoying your summer weather, as we are.

 

May 2022 Update

As I reviewed my calendar for the last month since I wrote, it looks like there’s only one newsworthy event, but I think it will still take up about the usual amount of space.  Plus there are pictures!

 

Every couple of years, my whole family tries to get together for a big vacation.  Last time we did an Outer Banks vacation that got canceled by a hurricane and turned into a Hamlin vacation.  Last week, we had a large house rented in Outer Banks again for a wonderful week together with our whole family:  20 adults and 12 children.  The weather wasn’t very good—in fact our weather at home was better than what we got in OBX—but we know how to have fun even in lousy weather!

 

Ella and Amelia had come up with a plan for who would drive what so someone could pick up Kortney’s family at the Norfolk, VA, airport.  Krista and I drove Ella’s minivan, Ella and Cody drove Amelia’s SUV, and Amelia, Zach, Jem, and Levi drove Ella and Cody’s Tesla, so it became known as the “party car.” 😁

 

Krista and I left Friday morning, May 6, and drove to a hotel near Washington, DC.  We had a nice little mini-vacation alone time as a couple, even with the difficult traffic in places.  I guess that’s to be expected traveling on a work day and being near big cities during rush hour.  I don’t know why people are so inconsiderate as to be on the roads I want to drive on.

 

Saturday, May 7, we had plenty of time to get from our hotel to Norfolk to pick up Kortney’s family, so we found an outlet mall right near that airport, and did a little shopping but mostly just looked around.  We found a candy shop that we of course had to try, and it was really good.  Then we picked up the Rhodes, and all of us went to another hotel near the airport for that night because we couldn’t get in to the OBX house until Sunday.

Happy couple at the Outlet Mall

Sunday, May 8, was (I hope you all remembered!) Mothers’ Day, and when we stopped at a Wendy’s for lunch on our way to OBX, they had pink tablecloths on all of their tables.  We thought it was a nice touch.

With the Rhodes at Wendy's on Mothers' Day (Daisy is hiding behind Krista)

Finally everyone got to the big house in OBX, and the fun began!  Each family took turns making a big supper for everyone, Krista made pancakes for breakfast two of the days, and she and I made a hot dog picnic for one of the lunches with Rochester’s finest, Zweigles hot dogs.  Needless to say, we ate well all week, and not just at the regular meals, because our four youngest kids got together and provided snacks and special drinks for everyone for the week.  I don’t know about the rest of the family, but I have about 10 pounds to work off.

 

The big announcement of the week was Cai and Amy telling everyone about their first child being due in September!  And, if you know them you know that they wouldn’t just tell us.  Cai had run a Survivor game for our family a while ago, and he said he had one more challenge left over from that for us to do.  It was a word search, and once you’d found all the words, the remaining unused letters would spell a special message that announced their baby.  Then they had us all guess the gender before telling us it would be a girl.  So we have Ella due in late July, Abigail due in late August, and Amy due in late September.  That will make 15 grandchildren for us, 11 girls and 4 boys! 😮

 

As I said, we didn’t have the best weather while we were there.  I ran into a fellow Bills fan who worked at a convenience store (I was wearing a Bills hoodie), and he asked me if I lived in OBX now.  I told him, no, we just came for your great weather, and he apologized. 😂 However, it did get better as the week went on, and we were able to spend some time once or twice at the beach enjoying the ocean.

The view from our bedroom on a rainy day with a stormy ocean

Playing at the beach!

Levi and I took the Rhodes back to the airport on Saturday, May 11, then we all left the big house on Sunday.  Krista and I went to the ocean one last time before heading out.  The Sommers and we traded cars so they had their own van for the ride home, and we drove Amelia’s SUV.  We again ran into some bad traffic on the way home.  We had planned to drive all the way home on Sunday since I had to work on Monday, and the rest of the families made it, but Krista and I decided to stop in northern Pennsylvania.  The mountains north of Williamsport were very foggy, rainy, and dark, and it was just too stressful driving.  We don’t need more stress in our lives, but if any of you do, I recommend driving on Route 15 in northern PA at night in the fog.  We just missed a deer by a few feet.  She was just standing on the side of the road looking like she wanted to cross, but God gracefully kept her where she was as we drove by.  I didn’t see her until we were right next to her, and it really got my heart going.

Saying goodbye to the ocean

We woke up early Monday morning and got home by about 7:30AM.  My nice boss had agreed to let me work from home on Monday, so that made that day a little easier.

 

Now we’re back into the regular routine.  Krista mowed our long lawn on Monday and Tuesday, so that’s looking normal again, although it was a bigger job than usual.

 

I am very thankful to God for allowing us all to be together again and for giving all of us safe travels to and from OBX.

 

Talk to you in June!