March 2025 Update

In the last month, we reached a milestone:  Our 20th grandchild was born!  On March 3, Atlas Wayaki Wilkinson was born to our daughter, Carissa, and her husband Matt.  He joins big sister, Ruby, and big brother, Milo.  We have many more granddaughters than grandsons (14 to 6), so we are delighted to add to the male grandchildren!  As a matter of fact, this is the first of our kids’ families with more than one boy!  Atlas’s middle name is sort of an homage to his father’s upbringing as a missionary kid in Papua New Guinea.  Wayaki is the last name of Matt’s best friend from there.  We’re planning a trip early in April to meet Atlas.

The only other thing I can think of from this past month is something many of you may have experienced too, and that is the lunar eclipse we had overnight on March 13th to the 14th.  I woke up about when it was at peak (just before 3AM our time), and so I went outside to take a look.  I took a picture with my phone, but it isn’t that great.

I think I might have zoomed too much, and it made it fuzzy

Here's a professional picture I found online.  Much clearer!

 

And we’ll talk again in April!

 

February 2025 Update

As I look back at the previous month, I don’t see a lot that happened, but I may be forgetting something.  I’m sure if that’s true that someone will tell me, “Hey!  Why didn’t you include… “, and I’ll say, “Oops.  I’m old, and I forgot”, and then I’ll update here, so you may want to check back in a week or so if you care.

 

The one big event I do remember is my son, Levi’s, official graduation as a Monroe County Jail Deputy.  Krista and I attended the ceremony on January 29, and we were very proud to see him graduate.

This week we had a pretty good snowstorm covering several days.  It started really getting challenging this past Saturday night.  Our church canceled the 8:30AM service we usually attend so that their plow guys could get things cleaned up for the 10:30AM service.  We got more snow throughout Sunday and overnight into Monday so that I’d say it was over a foot all told.

 

My boss told me to work from home yesterday because it was so bad, but I did make it into the office today.  The roads weren’t too bad this morning, but there were some times when white-outs made it difficult to see very far.

 

And that’s really all I can come up with for this update, so we’ll talk again in March!

 

January 2025 Update

She finally came!  As I mentioned last month, we have been eagerly awaiting the arrival of our 19th grandchild, and she finally came!  Faye Ariel White arrived to my daughter, Amelia, and her husband, Ben, on December 20, and everyone is doing great.

 

We had a wonderful Christmas and New Year’s, starting with a Christmas Eve service at our church, followed by a party at Hannah’s, and then a quiet evening at our house with just Krista, Jem, Zach, and me.  Christmas Day was a lot of fun with brunch at our house and visits from most of the local families sometime during the day. 

 

Since some people couldn’t make it here on Christmas, we had a whole local family get-together on December 28 to exchange gifts, eat good food, and enjoy each other’s company.

 

On New Year’s Eve, Ella hosted a party and the adventurous stayed up there to welcome the New Year.  Krista and I went home around 9pm.  I made it to midnight (barely) at home but I was by myself.  It was all great, however, and a fun time celebrating.

 

Our biggest event of the past month was the wedding of our son, Zach, and his bride, Brandi on January 11.  Everyone made it home for that, and it was a beautiful wedding and a fun reception.  My grandson, Alex, said, “I never knew a wedding could form into that kind of party!”  And my granddaughter, Josie, asked Kayla, “Can you and Levi get married tomorrow so our whole family can just stay?”  The only picture I have is me holding Faye at the reception, but you can contact Zach or Brandi if you want to see wedding pictures.

 

The day after the wedding, everyone (including the bride and groom!) came to our house for a brunch and to spend time together since we’d all been too busy having a wedding to really get to talk.  It was a crazy, chaotic, loud, and fantastic time with all 42 of us crowded into our not very big house!  And we got to watch the Bills crush the Broncos (sorry to any of you Broncos fans getting this)!  By God’s grace, everyone made it here and home again safely, and we are so glad to have had this time together.

 

Happy New Year to you all!

 

December 2024 Update

We’ve had a few adventures in the past month!

 

My son, Levi, has a pretty serious girlfriend named Kayla.  We’ve been really enjoying getting to know her, and I had an opportunity this past month with them both.  Kayla works as a phlebotomist (the people that draw blood) and they move her around a lot to whatever lab needs her that week.  Tangent:  I actually went to my lab here in Brockport late in October in preparation for a follow-up with my Urologist, and she was working there that week and drew my blood!  She did a great job, getting it on the first poke!  I’ve had some take up to 5 pokes (that was awful), so I was impressed!  Anyway, returning from that tangent, a few weeks ago, she was assigned to a lab in Webster near where I work, so we arranged to meet (Levi, Kayla, and I) at a restaurant for lunch.  We went really fancy and chose Wendy’s.  Actually, as Wendy’s restaurants go, this one is pretty fancy with a gas fireplace and nice dine-in area.  It was fun to get to talk with them and enjoy lunch together.

 

As I mentioned last month, Krista and I went to Kentucky to meet Cai and Amy’s new daughter, Ava, and spend some time with them and big sister Dorothy.  We also got to see Amelia and Ben while we were there, so it was a great trip.  Dorothy loves having company and didn’t even have to warm up to us—she just loved us immediately.

Cai, Amy, Dorothy, and Ava

Dorothy and her Mommom

The expectant parents, Ben and Amelia, and their dog Regulus

 

For Thanksgiving, all the local families got together at our house, so that was a loud and exciting time with 12 adults and 9 children.  As usual, everyone contributed lots of excellent food, which we were still eating a week later, but that’s 100% OK with me!

 

I mentioned that Amelia was expecting too and her baby was due on December 7.  However, that one is just too comfortable inside her mother, and we are still waiting.  I keep thinking of the song “Come Thou Long Expected Jesus” and applying it to this baby, but not out loud because I’m afraid it might be sacrilegious.  Anyway, Krista flew down to Kentucky again to be with them for a week from 12/7 – 14, hoping she would be there for the baby’s birth, but God had other plans.  We know He knows best, so we’re continuing to trust Him and are just praying the baby comes soon.  Mom and baby are still healthy so that’s good, and the midwife has started Amelia on some herbal treatments that may help move things along.  Thanks for praying with us!  I’ve been holding off on making and sending our Christmas card to include this baby, so if any of you were wondering where our card is, it will be there!

 

This past Saturday, we went to Ansa and Alma’s Christmas Dance recital.  They both did really well and were the cutest kids up there (in my totally unbiased opinion).  It was fun to see the results of their hard work.

 

Finally, we had a special visit yesterday with two of Krista’s siblings.  Her brother Jonathan and his wife, Kathy, are home from Papua New Guinea (where they are missionaries with Wycliffe) for a few weeks to see some family, and they arranged to meet here at our house.  Krista’s sister, Conny, and her husband, Brian, came too, and we had a fantastic time sharing a meal and talking with them for a few hours.  We forgot to take pictures before Conny and Brian left so you’ll have to just trust me that they were here too, but I do have a picture with Jonathan, Kathy, Krista, and myself.

I hope you enjoy times these days with friends and family, and, more importantly, I hope you know the baby whose birth we’re celebrating as your own Savior.

 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

 

November 2024 Update

Happy November!

 

There’s not a lot that I can think of to talk about from this past month, but one item especially is worth an update!

 

Krista and I attended a Marriage Conference our church held on October 18-19 that was lead by a couple named Dave and Ann Wilson.  Krista’s father’s name was David Wilson, so that made it sort of interesting for us.  Anyway, the conference was really great, and even though our marriage is pretty amazing, it’s always good to evaluate and see where it can be improved.  We’re actually implementing one idea we got from there of just doing a quick prayer together each morning as we leave for work, and I think that is helping us focus on God each day as a couple.  Dave and Ann have several fun videos online if you want to check them out.

 

Saturday night, October 19, which also happened to be my 65th birthday—I’m officially old now since I can and have registered for Medicare 😊—my son Zach hosted a Halloween Movie Night at his apartment.  I don’t think I mentioned here that God led him to a great apartment through a family at our church, so he is now ready to start a home with his fiancée Brandi after they marry in January.  Anyway, we got together there and had a fun snack and not very scary movie night.

 

The big news this month is the birth of our 18th grandchild, Ava Grace, on November 3, to parents Cai and Amy Matthews and sister Dorothy.  We are very excited to visit them this coming weekend to meet her and see Cai, Amy, Dorothy, and Amelia and Ben who live nearby.

Ava with her big sister Dorothy

That’s it for November, but with this Kentucky trip, Thanksgiving, and another grandchild coming soon, December’s update should be full! 

October 2024 Update

October greetings!  I mentioned last month that I discovered I had inguinal hernias.  I saw the surgeon, and he recommended I get them repaired.  So, I had a third surgery in just two years on October 2 to get that done.  Afterward, he said it was a good decision because the left side was a large double hernia and the right side was an even larger hernia.  I now have two new scars, but the recovery is going well thanks to a lot of ice packs, and, of course, to God’s grace to me.  Thank you to all who prayed!

 

We rejoiced this past month on September 22 with my future daughter-in-law, Brandi, as she publicly declared her faith in Jesus and was baptized.  You can go to her church’s YouTube channel at Sunday Morning Service 09/22/2024 and listen to her testimony (starting at about 39:30).

 

The final event to report on this month was my barbershop chorus’s participation in our district’s annual Contest on September 28.  We didn’t do really well, but we had fun, and I’m glad I got to be a part of it.  We sang an upbeat song called It’s a Brand New Day, and then the slower song Georgia On My Mind, which I’m sure a lot of you have heard before.  Ray Charles did a famous version of it.  Here’s the big question about Georgia that we debated in our chorus:  Was it written about the state of Georgia or a woman named Georgia?  If you look up that question online, you’ll find both answers coming from the author of the lyrics and the composer of the music, so who really knows.  We just know that it wasn’t written about the country of Georgia in Eastern Europe.

 

I guess that’s it for October, so we’ll talk again, Lord willing, in November.

 

September 2024 Update

This month I have four things to tell you about.

 

First, my daughter, Hannah, was really good at planning fun summer activities for her family, especially because she was off work for the summer.  She invited us along on several of them, and the one this month was a canal cruise on the Erie Canal starting in Lockport.  It was very interesting and fun to ride on the canal through the locks in Lockport and to hear the funny stories the boat captain entertained us with.

Abigail and her daughter, Maya

Krista and Emmett

Alma and Abigail

The Mickles (Hannah, Kevin, Ansa, Alex--Alma was in the last picture)

Second, my son, Levi, completed his training and graduated as a deputy jailer for Monroe County.  We’re proud of his hard work and think he looks really sharp in his uniform.  Sorry, ladies, he has a girlfriend.  Here are some pictures from the graduation ceremony.

He said he was laughing because his cohort had a really hard time with his pin

Levi is fifth from right (in the back row)

Third, we heard about this a while ago, but I never announced it here:  we have another grandbaby on the way!  My daughter, Carissa, is expecting her third child, so that’s grandchild #20 on the way!  We are super excited for her, Matt, and big siblings, Ruby and Milo.

 

Finally, some not so happy news in the form of another physical issue for me.  I discovered last month that I have inguinal hernias.  After doing some research, we found that this is a common complication of having a prostatectomy.  It’s not super painful, but it is uncomfortable, and I am scheduled to see a general surgeon this Friday to determine the best path forward.  Thanks for praying for me, and I’ll let you know the plan in October’s update.

Online bonus!  Another example of Hannah's great party planning was this past Sunday.  We had a final summer picnic at her house.  I was holding Emmett, but Ansa wanted to have a turn with him, and since they were so cute, I took their picture.  And Truman had a cute photobomb to make the picture even better!