Hello Everyone!
Well, things have moved
rather quickly since the last edition. In the last letter, we were THINKING
about moving closer to my work. We put our Shady Brook house on the market on a
Friday and it sold by Monday!! Good news but it meant having to scramble to
find a place to live and to get the new house started.
We're currently living in
Nicholasville, KY. I now only have a 20 minute drive to work. Nice change from
the 60 minute drive. Our new house is being built in Danville, KY and will be a
mere 5 minutes from work. We'd originally hoped to get into the new house by
July, but they had quite a few weather delays so far. Things have gotten under
way, but we probably won't get in until at least September. They hope to get the
roof finished this week and the electrician starts next.
For Spring Break, we had a
quick visit from Sharon and Paul. It had been a long time since I'd seen them
and Bob hadn't met them yet - so it was great to get caught up. Then, we took a
trip to Asheville, NC and toured the Biltmore Estate. Now, that's a house!!
School is rapidly winding
down. Our last official day is May 21st, but these last few weeks are pretty
laid back. We're doing our state-wide testing in the morning, but in the
afternoon they have special activities for the kids. So, the routine is pretty
messed up.
This summer our plans are
pretty much up in the air. We need to stay pretty close by and
"babysit" the contractor. (We came home from the trip to North
Carolina and discovered that they'd framed the kitchen wrong, forgotten a
closet, and framed a window where a door should be.) But, we hope to get out to
Iowa and visit with mom for a couple of days.
Our current address is:
400 Ridge View Drive
Nicholasville, KY 40356
859-887-9835
Hope everyone has a great
summer!!
Love, Deb and Bob
What is new with the
Carpenters?
It is green and not white
here – we had a lot of snow this winter. We enjoyed playing in it, but when we
saw snow in April yet, we were ready for it to end.
We finished another
semester, now we are into summer school, both here at the college and Van in
the pursuit of his degree. Van is teaching his second week of summer school and
I am working the front desk at the library. The semester had some rough spots,
mainly two current students died in a car accident, a first for NBBC.
Ben and Nate should be done
with their school work by the time you read this – we all always look forward
to that day! Nate had his first cello recital and did very well! It was a
recital with college students also, so he received some great inspiration. They
are both taking piano lessons again, this time they have a male teacher and
they love him.
Joshua is just busy being a four year old – he is glad summer is
here so he can ride his bike. He loves the activities of camp – especially the
play room. Joshua is working on mastering the science of non-thumb sucking. We
have tried many ways (even Wesley has tried) now we have thumb guards. The
older boys join in camp activities as well, but are especially anxious to spend
a lot of time fishing. Ben took hunters safety this spring and is ready to hunt
this fall.
Van is taking over the
pastorate of a small church two hours away from us. We travel there on Saturday
and sleep in the church basement. The pastor is an elderly man and is not
physically able to do everything. Van takes care of the services and we are
slowly taking over the many other details a pastor does. I play the piano and
am teaching a Sunday School class as well as Junior Church during the summer.
The boys think it is an adventure and they are a great help.
We traded in our pick-up
truck this spring for a mini-van. While we will miss the truck when we have to
haul things, the van is so much better on gas and the boys like the extra room.
I hope this finds all of you
doing well – enjoy the summer and we look forward to reading
all about each of you!
Loretta
Greetings from wet, soggy
Northeast Ohio! We've had plenty of April showers and cool Spring weather this
year. Now it is May and the showers are still coming. It's hard to get the lawn
mowed between showers; but so far, Paul has been able to do it.
Since our last letter we've
been on the road quite a bit. We traveled up to Northern Wisconsin to spend
Christmas with the Carpenters and the Skinners. It was actually quite mild
while we were there and we had no trouble traveling up or back down. One of the
fun things we did while there was go tubing down a big hill over on the college
campus. We even took pictures to prove we did it!
Since the first of the year,
we have spent our weekends traveling either for Northern Ohio AWANA events or
for Paul to fill a pulpit somewhere. Most of those Sundays, we went together
and enjoyed meeting other people and fellowshipping with them in their churches.
There again we had good weather for traveling.
Over Spring break, we
decided to use a gift certificate for a Bed & Breakfast before it expired
and go South sightseeing. We traveled down into Kentucky and found where Bob
and Deb live and had a good evening with them. From there we went down into
Tennessee where we stopped to see the Sword of the Lord offices and the Bill
Rice Ranch. As we swung back up North, we stopped at an Appalachian Museum
which was very interesting. We could have spent a lot more time there then we
did. We finished off that week heading up to Michigan to enjoy some time with
Phil, Lynda and Hannah.
We praise the Lord for His
goodness to and watchcare over us these past months, giving us good health and
the strength to do what we have done. We trust you are grateful for His
blessings, also.
We're looking forward to
hearing from all of you again thanks to Autumn's willingness to put this
newsletter together for us.
Love, Paul and Sharon
From Pennsylvania
Well, there hasn't been too
much change since the last newsletter. Judy is busy, busy, busy at work and
spending her spare time relaxing and doing arts and crafts around the house.
Rob is almost finished school, he will be officially done in June, so he is
very excited to start a new career. Melissa is about six months away from
completing her Master's program, and she is excited as well.
So everyone in PA is hard at
work and looking forward to some rest, relaxation, and nice summer weather. We
hope everyone is doing well and we look forward to reading the next newsletter.
Judy, Melissa, and Rob
Does not really seem like
much has happened since the last update. The biggest change has been Kyle
called up to active duty and deployed to Kuwait. I am thinking he will send an
update, so I'll let him fill you in, but he is supposed to stay stationed in
Kuwait and we are thankful for that. He is usually bored, but works the night
shift and sleeps during the long hot days. The son of some friends of ours was
deployed to Iraq about the same time as Kyle. He was active army, first
stationed in Germany and then over to Baghdad. Unfortunately, he was killed by
a roadside bomb just a couple of weeks ago. Kind of brought the reality of the
war very close to home. The funeral was sad of course, but also a great
testimony to the community and was covered by all the media. He had been
married only four months before deploying.
Stacey is still working for
the same attorney, and taking an on-line class on running a day-care. She would
eventually like to do something like that. She has a boyfriend, Dan, and spends
a lot of time with him. He is a very nice young man. He is studying computer
programming and is about 2/3 of the way complete with his college education.
Not much has changed for Bec
and I. Same jobs as we have had for a while. Mine is trying to come to terms
with a disappointing winter and that means disappointing results for the
stockholders. When stockholders ain't happy, ain't nobody happy. I had the fun
task just today of laying off one of my guys, as the company is shifting more
and more towards part-time help instead of full-time. The company is also
moving towards having more locations under a single manager, so we'll see what
is in store for my position in the weeks or months to come.
Planning to leave this week
to go out to Iowa for a week. It will be good to see Mom, Cyndi, Doug, and the
kids. We did not get together in Chicago after Christmas like we usually do, so
it has been a while since we have spent time together.
I did finally finish the
room on the back of the house, just a couple of weeks ago. In the last letter I
said I hoped to have it done by New Years. Did not make that time line, but we
were not going to use it in the winter anyway. We are enjoying it a lot now,
even though the weather has been cool, that room heats up pretty well due to
all the glass, so we can spend some quiet afternoons out there. What an
exciting life when I look forward to quiet afternoons on the porch!
Thanks Autumn, we all
appreciate your hard work.
Steve, Becky, and Stacey
I am writing via email from
Kuwait. I was deployed here with the Army Reserves at the beginning of March. I
am at the largest port in Kuwait where we load equipment on the ships and
unload it from the ships. I drive everything from Humvees to semi-trucks to
tanks. And then tanks are a lot of fun. We are scheduled to be here until about
next March which will make year in country. As far as I know we will be here
the whole time but things change every day. It got up to 106 today and it is
only the 7th of March. I can hardly wait for the middle of August. We are
living in a tent with about 50 guys but we have showers and a gym so life is
not too bad. It is amazing how much we can live without and still get by fine.
About a year ago, April 22,
I was at the recruiter's office signing up for the Army reserves. I enlisted as
a Private (E-1) and wasn't really sure where my service would take me. They
told me I could drive a truck and serve my country so that sounded good to me.
Now a year later I have been to two drill weekends, a Christmas party, and been
on active duty for almost 9 months. It's not what I planned on really but I
wouldn't ask for anything different. I love being here and being able to serve
and have meet some wonderful people. I'm not saying this as a commercial for
the Army. No one in the Army really understands the slogan "An Army of
One" except for the advertising company that got paid millions to come up
with it. But all too often I think the whiners are the ones who get the most
publicity. The fact is we all volunteered for this. Some did it for family,
some did it for country, and some did it at a judge’s suggestion but we all
signed the line. It's all about attitude and I choose to enjoy my time serving.
Be proud to be an American,
Kyle
P.S. My address here is:
SPC Shipp
251 TC, 1st PLT
Camp Spearhead
APO AE 09305
Hi Everyone,
It must be Spring as the
tulips are in bloom, the trees are leafing out, the grass is a lush green,
gardens are being planted, more and more homes are being built, seniors are
graduating, and this area has had its first tornado warning. These are the
signs of Spring here in Ankeny.
In the last Fowler
Newsletter, I mentioned that I wasn't "out of the woods" yet as a
result of a hospital stay, etc. That was followed by a series of dizzy spells
(a couple were very scary), but they are under control now. Then as a result of
my annual physical I had to have a biopsy, but thankfully the result was
benign! All of this took many, many weeks and several visits to various
doctors. Needless to say, I met some new doctors/ specialists and made many
trips to their respective offices. As of this writing, I feel OK and praise the
Lord for His care of me. I am also thankful for Cyndi's company and for her
wise counsel which comes from working in a doctor's office.
Earlier this month (April) I
went to Terrace Elementary for Grandparents Day and spent time in Jarrod's and
Katie's classes, going back and forth all morning, then brought them home for
lunch. Our church offices are now out of the trailer and back in the church and
they are very nice! Our new auditorium is beautiful and PTL it is all paid for
by the sacrificial giving of the congregation. No loans were taken out. Phase
II will be a new and much larger kitchen and fellowship hall and more Sunday
School rooms.
Once again, this year I've
been invited to attend the Board Dinner at the college. This is an annual
affair during the week of commencement. All the Board members and their wives
will be in attendance as well. I'll be going with a couple of friends whose
husbands were connected with the college, but have since died.
By the time you read this,
Steve and family will have been here for a week's visit. Of course, when Steve
is here he is on the go making sure the things on my "to do list" are
completed. I appreciate so much his wanting to do this.
This is it from my home in
Ankeny. THANK YOU, Autumn, for keeping us all connected.
You do such a great job!
Love to all of you,
Norma
The Skinner News.
I have been asked many
times, "Is she walking, yet?" No Hannah is not walking yet, but as
Mom remembered (by my baby book) she is following after her mother in this
case. Hannah is growing so quickly and changing so much that we are glad for
pictures to keep as memories. She is getting into what she wants by rolling or
doing an army crawl. I have heard numerous times that the first one is not
anxious to get up and go because they get what they want one way or another
(Mom's carrying service). She will be eleven months on the 26 of May so her
first birthday is just around the corner, it is hard to believe that a year has
passed. Hannah loves to be outside, if she gets fussy in the evening we just
have to take her outside and she is happy. We are so glad for a happy baby, I
know I am bragging, but I think it is my turn to do it.
I am now working full-time
again, back to the scheduling that I was doing before Hannah was born. It is a
little bit different going back to work to take care of four children instead
of two. Good thing it started part-time and then went to full-time just during
the day to what I am doing now. Hannah goes along with me if Phil cannot be
home with her. We do all get out, with some planning and extra time. I get some
comment, as you can image, seeing one adult with four children, two being
babies. With the warmer weather, I am hoping to get out to some parks in the
area. All the children love to be outside and it does make for a good way to
get long naps.
Phil's job at ILT ended last
month with them closing the doors. He was able to secure another job before it
completely ended. Before he lost the job and after he secured the other, he was
working 18 hours a day at least three days a week doing both jobs. We did not
see him much especially with my schedule. With this new job he is working the
night shift. That means he is home during the day when Hannah is awake. He does
take her some times while I am at work so that they can have their special time
together. With me back to working crazy hours and him with the night job we are
very selective on how we spend our time together.
Well, that will do it on our
end. I look forward to all of your letters to catch up.
Love, Lynda
Greetings to all from
Florida,
We seem to be keeping busy
as usual. Keeps us young I guess!! In addition to our usual volunteer things
that we do we keep busy with choirs (Sanctuary, Men's, Women's & Bells),
etc. The Easter season was a busy one. Our Bell choir played for the Easter
service with a "Peel" (chain ringing) outside on the church steps
before the service and then a special anthem and accompanying the choir in
introits, etc. and the hymns. Bill keeps busy with the Town Council and all of
the extra meetings that includes.
Our new Commons building was
dedicated on Feb. 27th and our bell choir played as the people took a tour
through it afterwards. It's beautiful and has been used a lot already. Another
couple and we decided that we would take some days off and go and see some of
the sights near us. So in February we took a day trip to Silver Springs and in
March we went to Marjorie Rawling's place in Cross Creek. Her most famous book
is "The Yearling". The first weekend in June (Friday & Saturday)
we're going to Orlando to see "The Holy Land Experience". We'll stay
overnight Friday at Clermont where our long time friend, Lillian Davis, lives.
We're looking forward to that. We'll be leaving here about the middle of June
and making our usual stops on our way to our trailer in Iowa.
Hope this finds everyone
doing well. We are eager to hear all of the news.
Love, Romayne & Bill
Dear Family,
Everyone's heard of this
global warming stuff, right? Well, we're here to tell you it is for real. Over
the last 2 weeks we've had to endure record breaking heat. The highest here in
Long Beach (which is on the ocean, we're 6 blocks from it and usually enjoy the
cool breezes coming in off the ocean) has been 109 degrees! That is not a typo
I said 109 sweltering, drenched in sweat, to hot to be outside degrees. So the
next time those of you in the colder climates start crying about how cold it is
think about poor old us burning up out here! (Thought it time I rubbed in our
lovely weather again, sorry, but I couldn't resist.)
Not much to report from the
west coast. Sandy is hard at work with the Signal Hill Chamber of Commerce and
Friday Study Ministries/Blessed Hands. How she manages to keep going 16 hours a
day is beyond me. For the Chamber she is beginning to get things going for the
second golf outing, last years was a success, and so should this years. As for
me, I'm still at the same old job, nothing new or exciting to report on that
topic. We hope all of you are doing well and happy.
Randy & Sandy
Hey Everyone ~
Well, it’s already too hot
here in North Carolina so I would have to say summer has arrived. I’m a spring
and winter gal myself, so I just “endure” summer.
Dad is still at Courtland
Terrace but in a whole new room. They are going through a major remodeling
process there at the nursing home and redoing the rooms from top to bottom so
he’s in room 1B now and the color scheme is a yellowish green and the rooms
have wood flooring now and all the furniture is new and matches and his room is
even more spacious than before. He really likes his new surroundings and it
just seems more cheerful. The old rooms were fine but that “pepto bismo pink”
was wearing on us !! =) He still has good and bad days. There are so many
things he has to deal with on a daily basis so there are just so many things
that can go wrong. He still has major kidney problems but we can’t seem to get
him well enough to go back in there and do anything more about it nor do we
want to put him through anymore when he is well, as long as his kidneys are
functioning okay … one is half full of kidney stones and we still have a few in
the other kidney to get out of there. They had a resident choir for a while
that practiced and performed for the volunteers that come in throughout the
year and Dad was a part of that and had fun doing it. They took a break from
practices but started rehearsing again this past week. All in all he’s in good
spirits and has won the hearts of all the staff that know him there. =)
Fred is still with US
Airways and lives in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania for part of the week and at
home for the rest of the week. The situation with the company is on shaky
ground to say the least and the next couple of months will probably tell us how
the story will end. For now he hangs in there with them but may very soon be
looking for a new job and at his age that’s not something he anticipated doing.
His advice to everyone would probably be … if you are thinking about getting
into the aviation business, DON’T. =) It’s proven to be quite a roller coaster
ride and been hard on him mentally, physically, and emotionally.
Justin is home this summer
working at the credit union that he worked at last summer and over the
Christmas break. They really wanted him to come back and since it pays such
good money, he was more than willing to oblige them. He’s more than likely
going to go back to UNCG for another year to get rid of more general education
core courses and take maybe some more art and design related subjects and then
either reapply at the design school in Rhode Island that he really wants to go
to or apply elsewhere. He was accepted for this fall at the school in Rhode
Island on the basis of his portfolio and drawings but wasn’t able to get the
kind of scholarship money he had hoped for and they encouraged him (because
they don’t like to see their students get in such educational debt while there)
to reapply next year while getting some other courses out of the way. They also
gave him some tips on how to improve his portfolio and hopefully he’ll be able
to get some substantial scholarship money for the following fall since design
schools are so expensive. He’s decided to take that route. It was quite an
accomplishment to get accepted there to begin with because they take very few
transfer students. This year 75 applied and only 30 were accepted and he was
one of those so he has a lot to be proud of in that alone.
Samantha has a busy summer
schedule. Right now she is assistant teaching in VBS in music and I’m
downstairs in crafts. Then she goes off to Centrifuge next week (our church
youth camp for a week) and Fred and I are going as chaperones this year. Then
she starts Driver’s Education after Centrifuge for 2 weeks … YES … she’s going
to be learning how to drive … I’m NOT READY for this !!!! Then over the 4th of July she’ll be in Kentucky with our church on a
mission trip. She went last year and had so much fun and can’t wait to go back.
Then she’ll have a few weeks free of nothing and school begins early in August
and she’ll be a sophomore in high school. She’s growing up way too fast!
As for me … there’s really
nothing new to tell except it’s the PITS getting older. Everything started
falling apart on me after I turned 40 and it’s been a gradual decline since
then … =) And I know a lot of you can relate to this !!! =) The doctors are
still trying to get my medication right for the osteo arthritis. I’ve been on
so many different medications and nothing seems to be doing much good and I may
have to go back to the specialist to see if he can come up with anything
better. I know a hip replacement is in the future because they’ve already told
me that but also told me to put it off as long as I can so I’m trying to do
that. I stay so busy between Fred’s crazy work schedule and all that Samantha
is involved with that seems like I’m always on the go so I just really don’t
have time to have hip and arthritis troubles (my last ditch effort to convince
my body of this !!! .. ha ha) so I just keep going through the pain and keep
hoping we get a solution soon. Samantha and I still scrapbook and stamp
together and have a great time doing that and we love popping in on Dad and
spending time with him. So there you have it .. the latest with the Ruckmans …
and the latest news for the Fowler family. Hope you all have a wonderful summer
and get to get some time away with your family. Look to be hearing from me
around October for the next edition of the Fowler Family Newsletter.
Love you all !!!
Fred, Autumn, Justin,
Samantha and Erwyn
P.S. In an effort to try and
save a bit on printing and postage on the next newsletter, how would you feel
about receiving the final copy through email as an attachment??? There are some
servers that don’t like attachments so I’m testing the waters on your end to
find out if you can receive attachments okay? All you need on your computer to
read the document will be Adobe Reader and it’s something that you can download
from the internet for free and I can even help supply that for you if you like.
If you don’t have an internet connection at home and still want, I can also
print out the newsletter and continue to mail it to you. Just have been mulling
ideas over in my head and wondering if you all would like to give this a try.
So be thinking about that idea and let me know what you think????