A Special Weekend for Ne-Ne

Lee & Tara are away in Gatlinburg celebrating their 1st Anniversary. Actually it was a week ago Friday they actually wed. However with their work schedules this is the first they could manage a little get-away. Sydney is with her dad, and Ne-Ne picked up Trinity from after school care on Friday. So let the fun begin!

Friday evening Trinity and Ne-Ne went to the Cheese Shop (a Mennonite shop) and got some snacks for Trinity (which consisted of raspberry gummies and a box of cheese straws). Then on to the Blockbuster to try and find "Pollyanna" to watch. Trinity read the book and it just happens to be one of Ne-Ne's favorite movies. Alas, they didn't have the movie. (Never fear, Ne-Ne found it on ebay and ordered it! We will watch it another time.) Next on to the grocery store to get some non junk food and then home to fix dinner. Pa-Paw, Ne-Ne and Trinity ate dinner then headed down to the family room and watched television for awhile. Then it was time to read and go to bed in the red hat room.

Saturday, we had a leisure morning. Pa-Paw went to a lady's house to start installing a boiler. Trinity and Ne-Ne went to find some jeans to fit Trinity better! Mission accomplished! However they also managed to find a few other things too! Then a trip to the "dollar tree" to get a few necessities to put in the new purse Trinity got! Like an new hairbrush, and some antibacterial hand gel, which is always a good thing to keep in a young ladies hand bag according to Trinity. After a quick trip to Ci-Ci's (one of Trinity's favorite lunch spots)Ne-Ne was ready to head home. The rest of the afternoon and evening was spent shortening the pants they bought for Trinity and relaxing. Soon it was bathtime and reading time again.

Pa-Paw finally came home and headed down to watch the "Bud Shootout", the start of the NASCAR racing on tv. Ne-Ne decided it was time to stretch out and relax and Trinity bathed and decided to read more before going to sleep so she was rested for church in the morning.

Tomorrow will be church and United Methodist Women, and then who knows what we will find to do! Then Monday Ne-Ne will take Trinity to school and after school Trinity will go to Creative Wonders (child care) where Tara's parents will pick her up and keep her over night and on Tuesday dad and Mama Tara will be back from their trip.

Their anniversary get-away is our "joy"! While they are having some much needed one on one time together! We are enjoying some wonderful time with our sweet granddaughter! It is such a blessing to get one on one time with our grandchildren.

Hopefully soon we will get to spend time with each of our other grandchildren when school is out this summer. It is fun having them all together but individual time gives each time to feel special and time for us to get to know them as individuals. What a blessing to have this "special" time with them. Time they will each remember and we hold dear in our hearts!

Update on PROMISES, PROMISES

The weather has come & is on its way out. We ended up with some ice. The best part of all of it was we got a day off from work. Today, we are getting ready to head out to work. Roger is driving Sue to work so she doesn't have to risk slipping on the roads. She doesn't have to go in until later today but rather than risk an auto accident Roger is taking her. Ok, she is a bit of a "chicken" about ice. In all actuality she is more afraid of slipping "herself" on the ice and falling.

The city is asking residents to stay off the roads. The schools are observing the city's recommendations..yea right. They have delayed opening by two hours. Most all other school systems are closed. Since the church observes the city school closing policy as its operating schedule, Sue will head on in when Roger heads out.

Roger says he is going in today so Sue will leave when he does. (Which is about regular time for her.) Sue has lots to do anyway and will stay until his day is over.

Yesterday was so enjoyable, sitting in the family room with both a fire in the fireplace and the "new wall mounted propane heater" Roger installed. Talk about toasty warm. Whew... about toasted us out of there! We watched television and relaxed.

Hope everyone is staying in and enjoying the beauty of God's winter.
Luv and hugs!

PROMISES, PROMISES

The weather forecasters are predicting snow once again. Yea right! How many times have we heard that this winter? We can't count them all. We haven't had any yet! The grocery stores are so busy. Yes, Sue had to make a run to the store because she was called at work by a lady from the church she works at who has been home bound for a good while following surgery asking if she could possibly run her to the pharmacy to get some medications. She wanted to go to Walmart to get them. Sue picked her up and the poor woman had to wait in line forever to get them due to the number of people getting medication "in case of the snow."

Since she was out the lady decided to pick up a few things. Sue did also. People were stocking up "just in case" this time the weather forecast happens to be right. I guess only time will tell.

Roger is busy installing a wall mount heater in the family room which is going to be connected to as Sue calls it the "submarine" in the back yard. Yes, Roger finally finished installing the new heating system in the house. We now have our electric heat pump system with a propane back up for very cold temperatures. (thus the submarine - propane tank - in the back yard) We no longer use heating oil. Now it is just electric and propane for back up.

Christmas has been put away (weeks ago) and now we are fully set for the cold winter. Roger is still very busy getting everyone else warm. He made a trip this weekend to work on Kristy's heat, and has another boiler to install for a friend at the church Sue works at. Sue say the man never knows when to slow down!

We hope everyone is keeping warm and staying well. We will let you know if this storm that is promised actually happens or not...we are not holding our breath! We would not be disappointed if it passes us by!!! As many of you know we are warm weather people...

Christmas 2008

What a wonderful Christmas we had! Our day started by going to Lee & Tara's and watching Sydney and Trinity open the gifts we brought to them. They were so sweet. They has such a nice morning spending their first Christmas as a family with Mama Tara and Daddy Lee. We enjoyed our time with them & had a very nice visit with them.

Next we got in our car and drove to Locust Grove, Virginia to spend time with Kristy & Vic and our other grandchildren, Christopher, Ginger and Sarah. We enjoyed watching them open their gifts also. We had a lovely meal with them and spent several hours visiting with them.

We got back in the car and drove back to Staunton. After we got home we got back in the car went over to Sandy and Fred's to exchanged gifts. We visited for awhile and had a nice visit. It was such a nice day and we were so happy the grandchildren were able to spend the morning in their own homes and not have to travel. We are so blessed to have such sweet grandchildren and wonderful children!

Let us back up a bit and tell you a bit about our Christmas eve. Ever since we moved to Staunton, in 1985 we have been going to Mary "Tootie" McLear's for dinner. She invited us to have dinner way back then as we had no family here and it was so nice to be included. She has included us in her family gathering ever since. There were over 32 people there this year. It was a wonderful evening. We left from her home and went to our church for our Christmas Eve service at 7PM which was very moving. Following the service we stopped as we do every year at our friends Bonnie & Larry Spoon's home. Their son Ross and his new wife Jungmeen were there and daughter Corrie. We had a great visit. Then we came home, but by that time it was getting late and we prepared for the morning and went to bed.

Christmas morning we got up, had coffee and a leisurely opened our gifts. We were overwhelmed by the wonderful gifts we received from our family and friends! Everyone put so much thought into them. We thank everyone for their generosity and thoughts they put into their gifts.

We feel so blessed to have had such a wonderful day! This Christmas was such a blessing to us. We enjoyed our family, the opportunity to worship and fellowship with friends and family and enjoy time with each other. We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and we wish everyone the the Happiest of New Years.

Love and hugs!

Roger and Sue

It is December! Where has the time gone?

It is the middle of December & we can't believe that Christmas if approaching so fast. We love this time of year. Right now Stephanie from Massachusetts is visiting, the weather has been playing havoc, and we are preparing to travel to the D.C. area for our niece's wedding. We are very excited to see our other nieces & their families who will be in for their sister's wedding. We will finally see Anna, our newest great niece, born in England! Plus we will see our great nephews now living in Michigan. All this and the honor of witnessing the beginning of a new life as husband and wife for this wonderful couple!


When we get back it will be the 20Th of December. Christmas will be very close. Our plans this year are our usual Christmas eve events. Both Roger and Sue will be working on Christmas Eve day. The evening will find them attending our dear friend Mary McLear's family gathering, then attending church at 7PM. After worship we go by our friends the Spoons for a few hours. We will attend candle light 11PM service and come home. On Christmas morning we will go to Lee and Tara's and watch Sydney and Trinity open their gifts and spend some time with them.

We then will drive to Locust Grove, VA and spend time with Kristy, Vic and the Christopher, Ginger and Sarah. We decided that this year we would do the running and let the children and grandchildren stay put. It is so hard to have them all run from family to family. It is easier for us to do the traveling. It is more important for children to be "at home" on Christmas. This will be such a change for us, to have an "empty" home. We are looking forward to the change with mixed feelings. But new traditions will begin and we are adapting well.

We wish all a Merry Christmas and the blessings of the New Year. Love and Hugs! Roger and Sue

"Knowles Thanksgiving Celebration"

We were delighted again to host the "Knowles Thanksgiving Celebration". Sue as her brother has labeled her is the Knowles Matriarch. Marquis Memorial UM Church, where Sue works is gracious enough to let us hold the Celebration there as we are such a large family to seat this many at a table in our house would be impossible. This year there were 33 present. Each year there is a different group of people here because each year, some are able to come and others are not. This is due to the circumstances in their lives, such as where they are living. For example, this year we find our niece Denise & her husband Jimmy & children Jackson & Luke living in Michigan where her husband has accepted the position as Assistant District Attorney. Denise's sister Kim and husband Drew who not long ago had a sweet baby girl Anna moved to England. We missed them. They were all in our thoughts and prayers and included in our prayer before our meal as well as Sue's brother Larry & wife Janet and all our other relatives not with us. Maybe in 2010 when we have our next "Knowles Thanksgiving Celebration" these family members will be with us. We will see you then!!!


Our son's wife Tara was able to bring her grandmother and aunt. This was so special. Her grandmother told Sue that since 1949 this was the very first year she didn't prepare Thanksgiving dinner. Sue felt so honored that she came and spent Thanksgiving with us. Imagine how it was for her not to fix Thanksgiving for the first time in 59 years. That must have been bittersweet. We can't imagine how she felt, but Sue was so honored to have her and Tara's Aunt with us.



Eric and Holly also joined in with the children. Entertaining them with their talents too. They showed them how to give "piggy back rides" and even gave them rides. Then they showed them how they give each other rides! They were great with the children. The adults got a big kick out of watching them. Aunt Sue almost had a heart attack when Eric showed Sue how Holly dismounted.


There were 6 children somewhat close to the same age that had a ball playing together and renewing there friendship. It was fun to see them playing together and looking forward to seeing each other again. They toured the church, played hide and seek and just enjoyed being together.



This year we had our niece Stephanie and her very soon to be husband, Cliff. Also Cliff's mother, father, sister and brother from Arizona! It was great getting to know them. Sue was able to chat with them while eating. They were very nice and so gracious. Such a wonderful family! And Cliff, wow, what a wonderful husband he is going to be! He jumped right in with Stephanie and they joined Donna, Eric, and Holly and kicked Sue out of the kitchen after the meal. They dove right in and did the entire clean up! That was a trememdous job and they did it all! What a crew! They did a super job! We can't thank them enough. This was Stephanie's first time coming to the Knowles Thanksgivng Celebration and she just dove right in and helped. You are all such a blessing!



Bob and Robin also brought Robin's son Jose. It was great to get to know him better. Ben another of Robin's sons was also there. We were so sorry we didn't get the opportunity to visit with him one on one. I hope he will forgive us. We were so happy he did get to be with us and hope he will come again and give us to opportunity to get to know him more.

Rick and Donna, came with Eric and Holly. It was wonderful to have them all here this year. They are always such a help with clean up and it is so great to see them. We need to get together more often. Let's try. We don't see each other near enought! We miss being with you. Let's make more of an effort.


The people that came as visitors are now family and are expected to come again to our Knowles Family Thanksgiving Celebrations. We hope to see you next time!

We can not tell you how delighted we are to host these Celebrations. The Social Hall is empty, the dishes are all packed away, the crock pots are all stored and linens are tucked away. As we reflect on all the fun and fellowship, the work that went into getting ready was nothing but joy in preparation for our every other year "Knowles Thankgiving Celebration". See you all in November 2010"

Autumn

We have enjoyed so much the wonderful colors of this fall. I can't remember a fall when the leaves have stayed on the trees so long. We have had several opportunities to take drives not just for pleasure but out of necessity but the plus side was the wonderful scenery we were able to witness. God's beauty was all around us. It was such a blessing. Each time we remarked how much it made the journey more enjoyable.

As we prepare for family to come for our Thanksgiving Day dinner we are again reminded how blessed we are to be a part of such a loving family. Even the family that find themselves distanced this year and not able to be here are blessed. They are in these areas with new and exciting jobs, and have exciting new homes. One is in England, how exciting is that? Experiencing an new country with a new baby. One lives in Michigan and her husband is Assistant District Attorney.

At the same time we have "new family" coming. One of our nieces is preparing for marriage. We are excited that she and her soon to be husband will be coming and his family is going to be joining in the Thanksgiving celebration. Now that is an added blessing! We will miss those that find themselves away this year, but they will be close in our hearts. They are being blessed everyday, and will continue to be blessed we know! We will also be blessed with meeting children of our brother's wife we have never met. We are looking forward to meeting her son's she is so proud of.

Then we will get to see our brother and sister and their chilren that live in SC that we don't get to see near as often as we use to. I don't think we have seen them in a year. Wow that is awful!

There is a brother in FL that has never been able to come either with his wife. One day we are hoping that his circumstances will change and he will be able to join in our day. We will also keep them in our prayers this day!

God is so good! We know that there are many people who are not as fortunate as we are, and we pray a miracle for them. We for one will be giving to our local food pantry in hopes of helping that we can reach out to a few during this Thanksgiving and Christmas. Sue sees the increasing numbers every day in need of help at her work, it is so difficult to witness the struggles and not be able to help each one.

She also realizes the only way she can help them all is through prayer, asks that we all keep the hungry, cold and homeless in your prayers. God bless all of our family and friends this Thanksgiving season.