Family News
Page is in reverse chronological order.
(Most recent entry at top)
Mandy's birthday
This year, for my birthday, Eric invited me to join he, his co-workers and some clients on a property tour. Eric left early on Saturday morning to fly to Orlando to meet with the clients and start the tour, but Eric's boss and I were picked up around noon and flew in a small, private plane to Marathon Key where we ate lunch at one of their restaurants, overlooking the Gulf. Then Eric and the rest of the group flew down to the Keys and met us at the airport where we all got on a limo-bus to tour the properties on Marathon Key. www.tranquilitybay.com This is a website to my favorite property we saw in the Keys. After that, we all got on a plane to fly up to Clearwater, FL where we checked into their property to spend the night www.cayclubs.com/resorts/clearwater and went out to dinner at Sam Seltzer's Steakhouse. It was awesome to see these beautiful properties, stay the night in one and see Eric in action! He's great at what he does, and I am so proud of him. :) Thank you, babes, for a fun birthday!
Cameron (Mandy's brother) is married
On March 17, 2007, Mandy's "little brother" got married in our parent's backyard. It was a small, lovely ceremony, and Cameron's new wife, Bridget and step-son, Jack are very sweet. Cameron and Bridget are expecting a baby of their own in late August, too. Congrats to the newlyweds! We love you and are praying for you.
Deacon Ordination
On November 1, 2006, Eric was ordained as a deacon. It was an awesome experience for both of us, especially during the part when all the ordained men came and laid hands on Eric and prayed for him. We are both excited to be able to serve in this new capacity and are extremely honored that Eric has been given this title. We praise God for His anointing on our lives and household, and our prayer continues to be that we will please Him, raise our boys to be Godly men, and serve Him faithfully for the rest of our days.
Pageant 2006
The pageant this year should be wonderful! Eric is going to be John the apostle this year, and Mandy will be Mary for half the performances. The pageant runs on December 8, 9, 10, 15, 16, & 17. (The dates that are bold are the ones in which Mandy will be playing Mary.) For tickets or more information, please visit www.mcgregor.net. We hope to see you there!
Eric's New Job
After working for Foster & Foster, Inc. for 5 1/2 years, Eric felt that he was out of the Lord's will for his life and needed to pursue some other type of career. After working for Olan Mills for about 4 months, we realized that something drastic needed to happen fast for us to be able to stay in Ft. Myers. The cost of living down here is just ridiculous, and I was either going to have to go back to work or Eric needed a better paying job. Within a week of us praying, our prayers were answered! A wonderful Christian man and friend offered Eric a job in his new company! Eric is enjoying it very much and there are plenty of opportunities for him to move up in this company in the future. We are still praying for financial stability, but that's hard for anyone who has one income and kids at our age. We praise God for supplying all our needs!
A New Calling
In March of 2006, Eric and I came to hear the call from the Lord to begin composing new music and possibly even record a CD. We are excited to see this come to fruition and would love your support and prayers for us as we try to do our best to follow God's leading.
TJ and Sarah Move Away
As many of you know, our dear friends, TJ and Sarah have moved to South Carolina. We are very excited for their new life up there and the opportunities that come with that, but we are also very sad to see them go. They have been such a huge part of our lives since we moved here 4 1/2 years ago, and we truly will miss them more than words can say. But, we know we'll still see them periodically, so that gives us something to look forward to. :) We love you guys and miss you so much!
2005 Christmas Pageant
This year, Eric will be playing a lead character in the pageant - a Roman centurian who becomes a believer. It will be a wonderful angle to the old, old story, and Eric will do wonderfully, as always. He will be singing three solos, one being a duet with Jesus. Mandy will be singing "The Prayer" in some of the performances, too. We are very excited to be a part of the pageant again this year, and count it a blessing to sing about our Lord.
Eric passed his exam!
Yay! We found out on July 12, 2005 that Eric passed the first exam on the road to becoming a certified actuary!!! Praise Jesus! Thank you to all of you who have been praying for this, as we have. This is certainly a HUGE answer to prayer! Keep praying, though... he still has 5 more exams to go!
Ewan Gabriel Foster is here!
Ewan was born, as scheduled, on May 19, 2005 at 7:54am! He was 6 pounds, 11.4 ounces and was twenty inches long. We are so thrilled to have him here! Pictures can be viewed here.
The Cesarean is Scheduled!!!
April 6, 2005
Yes, the big day has been determined! Ewan Gabriel Foster will be delivered by cesarean on May 19, 2005 at 7:30am in Healthpark Hospital where his big brother was born. We are so excited to have the day set up and are so thrilled to be meeting our precious son in a few short weeks! Both Ewan and Mommy are doing just perfectly so we are praying for a safe, uncomplicated delivery and recovery. We are so blessed!
Mandy and Sarah at the Casting Crowns Concert
On March 17, 2005, Mandy and her friend, Sarah, got to go to the Steven Curtis Chapman, Casting Crowns and Chris Tomlin concert at Germain Arena. Mandy's old friend, Melodee, who is part of Casting Crowns was nice enough to call us in backstage passes at the last minute, so we got to meet and chat with the band members before the concert. It was great to get to see some of my old friends and acquaintances again, and the concert was a lot of fun, too!
Us with Casting Crowns
Us with Chris Tomlin Sarah and Mark Hall
Ewan _____ Foster
We have decided that our second little boy's name will be Ewan! It means "warrior." We're still deciding on a middle name. :)
Mandy has begun her third trimester of pregnancy, and the fatigue has become pretty overwhelming. Add to that the frequent heartburn, sciatic nerve pain and back/headaches, she's just loving being pregnant. :P But, it is all worth it, thank goodness! We're just glad this seems to be going by pretty quickly!
27 weeks pregnant
Beginning of the third trimester!
And yes, she is standing in the new nursery! :)
IT'S A BOY!!!
On January 18, 2005, at 21 weeks pregnant, we found out this second baby is a boy! We are excited and curious to see what life will be like with two boys! The little guy looks just perfect and everything is working properly, according to the ultrasound. Our biggest challenge now is finding the perfect name for this baby boy. :) We are so blessed!
Eric and Mandy sing with Josh Groban
On January 18, 2005, Eric and Mandy had the wonderful privilege of getting to sing in the backup Gospel Choir at Josh Groban's concert at Germain Arena. We were asked, along with 22 other choir members from McGregor Baptist, to be part of the 24 person ensemble that sang with him during the last song of the concert, "You Raise Me Up". In addition to getting to meet, practice with and perform with Josh, we also got to attend the concert, which sold out on the day tickets went up for sale over a year ago, for free! It truly was an experience we will never forget, and we are so glad we got to experience this together.
Baby #2 is on the way!
Yes, it's true! On September 21st, 2004, we found out we are indeed pregnant again! The due date is May 29, 2005! We are very excited and although, yet again, were caught off-guard, we are trusting that this is the Lord's will and that he'll provide the means to have this child, just as he did for Will's birth. God is so good to us, and we are beyond blessed just to have Will, but now, we will receive yet another precious gift! Thank you, Lord!
Of course, we'll be starting a new page of baby pictures as soon as we get some! :)
14 weeks pregnant
The beginning of the 2nd trimester!
Southwest Florida Christmas Pageant 2004
On September 19, 2004, auditions were held for our church's upcoming Christmas Pageant, and we just got the results back. Eric will be playing the roll of Satan and Mandy will be playing the part of Mary! We are both very excited to have been given this opportunity and are looking forward to serving the Lord again this year in the pageant. It is a very busy time of year and is a lot of hard work, but this is something we wouldn't miss for the world. We pray that many people will be able to come and witness the amazing story of Jesus' life here on earth and that lost people will be drawn to accept Him as Savior. We are humbled that God would choose us to help portray such an important story.
Eric in his Satan costume... man, he's scary!
(He loved this a little too much, I think.) ;)
You can purchase a DVD or VHS recording of the pageant at www.mcgregor.net.
Still shots of us from the pageant can be viewed here.
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My "New" Brother
written by Mandy
Back in October of 2003, while I was talking on the phone to Dad, he received another call. He quickly dismissed that call, thinking it was a telemarketer and returned to finish the conversation with me. After he had hung up, that same person called him again, and this time, made sure he asked for Ron Wing, and then said, "Umm, I think you might be my father..." Cameron had been listening in, having answered the phone at the same time, but quickly hung up and went to tell Mom what he had heard. Dad spent the next hour or so speaking with his firstborn son from his previous marriage.
Now, to clear a few things up, Cameron and I did know that Dad was married before, but had only known for a few years. I found out shortly after Grandmother Wing passed away in August of 1997, three days after I left for college. Mom and I were going through some papers she had kept, and I came across a newspaper article about a young man named Paul Pence. Not recognizing him or his name, I wondered why she would have kept such an article. So, I asked Mom, and she revealed to me that he is Dad's son, and that Dad had been married before. Soon after he married, Dad left to go serve in the Navy, and upon his return home, their marriage fell apart. They got divorced, and his ex-wife asked if she and her new husband could adopt Paul. Dad made the decision to let his son go out of his life in the hopes he could start a new life with a fresh start. After I heard this, I didn't give the issue much thought. It was so far removed from the reality I knew my entire life that it was more like a story I heard or read about somebody else. No longer is it a fact I rarely think about!
The first time Dad got to see his son since he was a baby was shortly after that first conversation. Mom accompanied Dad when he went to meet Paul a few days later at a common place from all their pasts - Mainland High School. They spoke for quite a while about all their similarities, from both playing trumpet to their common love of surfing. Mom said it was so neat to see and hear how much they are alike.
She said that when she took this picture, she did not ask them to stand like this, but that they both automatically put their hands on their hips and grinned! As it turns out, Paul, like Dad (and Mom) is also a teacher! He teaches first and second grade (they are on a loop system). Paul lives in California, near San Diego. He has an eight-year-old daughter named Hannah. I'm an aunt! Who knew?! He was recently married last July to a beautiful woman named Tami. The whole reason he even called Dad was because he found out his birth name was not Paul Pence when he went to get his birth certificate for marriage! He said he tracked down an old babysitter whom he remembered saying something about his past being different than what he knew. He found out that his given name at birth was Ronald Paul Wing, and thus began his search to find his real Dad. Luckily, he wasn't too hard to find. :)
Since their first meeting, Paul had returned to California where the forest fires were threatening their area. He kept in contact with my parents and planned to come see them again after Christmas. Fortunately, he would be there at the same time Eric, Will and I would be visiting, so Cameron and I got to meet him on the same day. I must say, I had butterflies all day, and they really didn't go away until the next time I saw him. I don't know why I was so nervous, but I guess it was probably the excitement of getting to meet someone who tied all the loose strings of my family's past together.
Paul is such a nice person, and I, like my parents, was immediately convicted to pray about his salvation. Fortunately, the day after Eric, Will and I returned home, Paul prayed with my parents out in their boat to receive the Lord! Most likely, it was a prayer to confirm his salvation, but nonetheless, it was such an answer to prayer! I will see my brother in heaven! We continue to pray that Paul will grow in his love and faith in the Lord. He is so wonderful, and deserves a life that is abundant in Jesus! What a wonderful Christmas present!
I don't know when we'll get to see Paul again, but I'm sure we will soon, perhaps next year. I am so thankful that the Lord chose to have him enter our lives. I only regret that I missed getting to grow up with him. But, Cameron and I are also grateful that Dad chose to give us as "normal" a life as possible. (Whatever that is!) We certainly didn't know that we had such a story connected to our past, and I think it worked out wonderfully that we found out when we were adults. What a blessing to have a "new" brother!