May 2021 Update

Starting off with our lead story:  Jem’s surgery went well.  She is slowly but surely recovering at home now after a week in the hospital.  Many of you have been following her progress on her Facebook and many more of you have been faithfully praying for all of us, and that means more than I can adequately express.  She still has a ways to go, so please keep praying!

 

In sports, the Mariners have been great!  And awful!  So, pretty typical for them.  But the Sounders look good!

 

In weather, we’ve had a lot of rain, but this week it’s finally warming up again.  Although, we did have another spring snow late in April after I wrote last.  It was sort of pretty to see the snow on the spring flowers.

 

A robin has disabled our back door by building a nest over it.  We don’t like to use it because she flies from her nest and gives us dirty looks whenever we do.  Hopefully her babies will hatch and fly away soon so we can have our door back.

 

Now that I’m fully vaccinated, I started just last week going back to my live chorus rehearsals.  We have a new director now, so I have to re-learn how he does our songs differently from our old director, but it’s really fun to be able to sing again.  My quartet is going to start practicing again this week after too long away, and hopefully we can get some performances in again soon.

 

Until June!

 

April 2021 Update

These are the times that try men’s nasal passages.  It was the coldest of times; it was the warmest of times.

 

It’s amazing how one can adapt famous book quotes to the weather.

 

We’ve had almost 80 degrees, flowers and trees budding, and then snow again.  Krista says all of our flowers are early, which is nice to see, but then they’ll be gone too soon.  Today is sunny and should get up to the 60s, but we could have snow again within a couple of days.

 

This was two days after a day that was almost 80

On one of the warmer days about a month ago, Krista and I went to the Iroquois National Wildlife Refuge, which is about an hour’s drive away from us, and took some really nice walks there.  It was too early to see much wildlife or plant life, and we definitely want to go back when things are blooming and critters are more active.  We saw a wild turkey as we drove in, but other than a few birds, that was about it.  It all looked pretty brown still from winter, so we’re hoping if we go again soon it will be more alive.

 

We met last month with the surgeon who is going to do Jem’s septal myectomy next week.  We all really liked him, and he comes highly recommended, but there, of course, is still a bit of anxiety going into major surgery.  She goes in on Tuesday, April 27, for an angiogram, then spends the night in the hospital before her surgery on Wednesday, April 28.  Please pray for Dr. Park and the rest of the medical team, and for Jem and all of us, her family.

 

Jem has received both of her COVID vaccine shots now—she was eligible early because of her heart condition—and Krista and I just got our first shot yesterday.  So far, I haven’t noticed any strange results from the shlj1nk alji109  asf98b7  aeoijfai.  Just kidding.  I just have a little soreness like someone punched me in the arm.

 

Again, thanks for supporting us in prayer as we go to this surgery next week!  Lord willing, we’ll have good results and recovery to report next month!

 

March 2021 Update

We had a fantastic time in Philadelphia with the Wilkinsons and Updegroves.  We held Milo, celebrated Caitlin’s birthday, played with Ruby, and held Milo and played with Ruby some more.  Also, really special, my brother, David, told me after last month’s update, that his daughter, Nina, was in Philly now and put us in contact with each other.  She and her boyfriend, Asher, came over, and we had a nice chat with them.  It was very cool to get to connect with a niece I haven’t seen for many years.  Carissa, Caitlin, and Nina are hoping once Covid craziness calms down, they can get together sometime.

 

Here are some pictures and one video of our time in Philly.  There’s a good portion of Ruby craziness here, but if you like 3-year-old humor (which is surprisingly, or not surprisingly, a lot like old man humor), you might enjoy them.

 

Ruby playing

Grandpa and Ruby craziness

Caitlin, Ben, me, Carissa, Asher, Nina

Same with me and Matt swapped

Caitlin's birthday party. She made a delicious cake!

Milo and Grandpa

More Grandpa and Ruby craziness

Our weather has warmed up enough that all the snow has melted and some spring flowers are starting to pop.  Thankfully, spring allergies haven’t started yet, but by next month, I’m sure I’ll be sneezy and wheezy again.

 

I guess that’s all for March, so until next time!

 

February 2021 Update

We’ve had a pretty quiet winter up until recently, but February decided to try to make up for lost time.  We have over a foot on the ground right now from a couple of storms.  Here are two snow pictures, if you want to see the beauty of God’s handiwork.

 

We’re pretty used to adapting to storms.  The biggest impact of the one earlier this week was that Zach and Amelia, who had been in Minnesota visiting Kortney and her family, couldn’t get back home.  They made it to Chicago, but their final flight from there to home was canceled because of weather.  They ended up spending the night in a hotel in Chicago and flew home to Buffalo instead of Rochester the next day.  They, and we, were very thankful for Kevin, who helped them find the hotel, and Cody, who drove all the way to Buffalo to pick them up and get them home.

 

Even with that, they had a great time visiting Kortney, Mat, Daisy, Bea, and Gus, and came home with lots of fun stories of their time there.

 

I guess other than the weather, there really hasn’t been much going on this past month.  We’ve had our usual birthday get-togethers here, and we’ve all just been surviving/enjoying the western New York winter.

 

Krista, Jem, and I leave tomorrow morning to meet our newest grandson, Milo, and enjoy time with Carissa, Matt, and Ruby, and Caitlin and Ben in Philadelphia, so I’ll tell you about that next month, Lord willing.

January 2021 Update

Welcome to 2021, and along with everyone else in Western New York, I have to say GO BILLS!

 

If you aren’t a football fan, you may not have known that the Buffalo Bills are in the AFC Championship for the first time since 1993, and all of us fans are very excited!

 

We had a very nice Christmas celebration with our local families and Caitlin and Ben who made the trip from Philadelphia.  We missed the rest of our family, but we had a virtual Christmas Extravaganza (annual family talent show) with them all, so we got to see their talents virtually and enjoy them that way.  We also remembered my son-in-law, Matt’s, birthday on Christmas Day.

 

For New Year’s Eve, we had a pretty low key party with a early countdown so little kids could get home to bed, and snacks, and decorations for a simple family party.  Most of us that live here managed to stay up to see in 2021!

 

The biggest news of this past month was the birth of Milo David Wilkinson to Carissa and Matt on January 5.  He is our 11th grandchild, and all of us, especially Carissa, Matt, and his sister Ruby, are so happy to welcome him!

 

I guess that’s all for now, so until next month!

 

December 2020 Update

We had a great Thanksgiving with our local families.  It was more than the 10 people our government recommended, but they were all people that we see all the time anyway, so we decided it would be safe.  As usual, there was tons of good food and fun football and great times together.

 

It was even yummier than it looks!

We also celebrated Zach’s birthday (11/23), Amelia’s birthday (12/3), and granddaughter Josie’s 3rd birthday (12/5).

 

I guess other than getting ready for Christmas, it wasn’t a very busy month, because that’s all I can think of from this past month.

Merry Christmas!

If you can't read the fine print on the card, it says:  "Since COVID kept us from getting together in 2020, this is 2019's group picture. Two new additions: Gus born to Kortney and Mat, and Abigail's engagement to Bernie! The Greg Matthews Family"

Next update in 2021!

 

November 2020 Update

Our weather has been weird here lately.  Last week we had record highs—around 80—and yesterday we had the first noticeable snow, but just a dusting.  Today is still cold, 20s and 30s, but tomorrow and Friday it’s supposed to be back near 60 again.  No wonder my sinuses are confused!

 

In sports, the Bills had an amazing drive down the field to get a go-ahead touchdown with less than a minute to go in the game, only to be foiled by a more amazing Hail Mary pass that made them lose.  And the Seahawks forgot to show up against the Rams.  Russell Wilson is fading as an MVP candidate, I’m afraid.

 

In the news, my chorus started doing rehearsals again, but we changed the format for COVID safety to a drive-in.  Our tech guy has an FM transmitter, so he gives us all mics in our cars, we tune to an unused FM station, and rehearse in an empty parking lot.  It’s pretty cool.  Next week, we’re going to make a video of two songs from our cars, one Christmas and one other, for a district virtual Christmas concert.  We’re doing “Hark the Herald” and a song called “The Chordbuster’s March.”  My quartet is also going to submit a video.  Since we’re (obviously) a smaller group, we’ll meet in a room, distanced, and record two songs.  We’re going to do “Do You Hear What I Hear?” and “Happy Together.”  If I have access to the video(s) when they’re done, I’ll share them.

The Chorus of the Genesee doing a drive-in rehearsal

Here are links to the two recordings that my quartet submitted.  Happy Together https://youtu.be/73T3RlNX-dg .  Do You Hear What I Hear https://youtu.be/MFn7hVCqhlU .

Have any of you watched “The Chosen?”  Krista and I watched it a while ago, and really liked it.  It’s a series based on the gospels.  We’re watching it again as a family, and I think the kids like it too.  So far, there’s one season out that only takes the story to the woman at the well.  They are making season two now.  To watch it, you have to download the app on your smart phone, but then you can send the video to your TV if you have the tech to do so.  Anyway, I highly recommend it!

 

My granddaughter, Daisy, turned 4 on October 28, my son, Levi, turned 16 on November 14, and my daughter, Carissa, and her husband, Matt, celebrated their 5th anniversary also on November 14.  Since Halloween was pretty much COVID-killed this year, the local grandkids just came over in costume to get candy from us, but we didn’t have anyone else come, so we suffered through eating the candy we had bought by ourselves.  You do what you have to…

 

Since Levi turned 16, he’s starting all kinds of new adventures.  We went for his driver’s permit test this past Monday, and he passed with flying colors.  Now we just have to figure out when I can take him driving.  We’re also working on getting him his working papers so he can carry on the tradition of getting his first real job at our local Burger King.  He has his application ready and a promise to be hired once everything is in.  All 11 of my kids will have worked there!

 

Question:  Is there anything about 2020 that is normal?  Answer:  No.  It’s a presidential election year, but even that is weird.  We think we know how it turned out, but I can’t say we’re 100% sure even now two weeks later.  One thing I am sure of:  Jesus is still the King!  I rest in that unchanging truth!

 

Talk to you in December!