Van and Loretta Carpenter

Ben

Nate

Josh

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Van and Loretta – July 30

Van – February 9

Loretta – April 16

Ben – June 5

Nate – October 25

Josh – September 10

 

 

Spring/Summer 2007

 

Happy 4^th of July!  Now, everyone knows I was one of the late ones, oh well =)

 

The Carpenters are all doing well and enjoying summer.  We just got back from vacation and I am still catching up.  We went to northern Iowa and spent a few days with Van’s side of the family there.  The guys helped out on the Carpenter Farm a couple of days and we spent time with Van’s grandfather who lives in a nursing home there.  As I am sure Mom has filled you in on, we then went to Ohio for a short but fun reunion of the Paul and Sharon family.  We did a lot of driving, but we survived.   I found out it is hard work to be Aunt Retta to three little girls and one little boy, but loved every minute of it.  We would have taken longer, but we have moved into the next stage of life, working teenagers. 

 

Ben is working at Northland camp this summer and was only allowed one week off.  The camp is run on the same campus as the college, making use of the grounds and buildings year round.  Ben is working Campus Services, or custodial work.  While he wouldn’t say he loves the work, he is enjoying working this summer and all the activities camp brings.  He is gone from about 7 am until 10 or 11 pm at night, so they are long days, but it keeps him out of trouble.  He is saving all his pay with the hopes of buying a double French horn at the end of the summer. 

 

Nate is in a huge growing spurt the last year; he has grown 6 inches.  He was having migraines until we started feeding him protein every couple of hours, he is close to my height now and I am sure he will pass me up soon.  Ben and Nate each went to fine arts competition this spring and did very well obtaining superior ratings.  Ben has continued to refine his wood working skills.  Dad built me an entertainment center and Ben stained and sealed it for me.  It was quite the project for both of them, but exactly what I wanted. 

 

Joshua successfully completed 1^st grade and loves to practice reading now.  His cats had 10 kittens this spring so he was ecstatic!  Anyone want a kitten? 

 

The last few months we have seen many visitors such as Mom and Dad, Van’s sister and family as well as college kids and their families.  If you are in the area, we would love to have you too!  We decided to liven up our winter this year and the boys and I threw Van a HUGE 40^th birthday party, he thought we were giving him the traditional black balloon party, but instead we made it a kid party with the Lone Ranger as the theme.  No, they do not make party goods for this anymore, we had to do it on our own, but it came out great.  We invited tons of students and had lots of friends and coworkers here.  A couple times that evening we could not walk through the house, there were so many people here, it was a fun evening for all.  The boys did a great job with all the decorating, sign making and planning, but we decided no more parties until Ben graduates. 

 

We spent part of our spring break in Chicago this year.  Van did research at the University of Chicago and the boys and I went to museums, swimming and various activities.  It was great to catch up with some friends too.  May found us out in Minneapolis once again so that Van could finish up classes he started in January.  Once again, he was “working” while we played; it is quite the life!  If he is going to keep going to school, we are going along and enjoying the hotels.  Van is thoroughly enjoying his studies though and has incorporated much of it into his classes already. 

 

As I write this, Nate is on his way back to Texas again this summer with some family friends for camp.  Van, Nate and Josh have a small garden going this summer and we have already enjoyed radishes and onions from it.  When they are done weeding, they are on campus using the new camp water slide as much as possible.  Joshua practiced a lot of swimming at the hotel pools this spring so he could pass the swim test this summer!  The life-guards were quite surprised because most of the 8 and 9 year olds don’t even pass it.  Joshua is very determined to keep up with his brothers. 

 

I am looking forward to reading everyone’s updates, have a great rest of the summer!

 

Loretta

 

 

Fall/Winter 2006

 

Seems hard to believe it is time to write you all again, time sure does fly.  The highlight of our last six months is definitely our time in China.  It was unbelievable to meet Chinese people, see and learn the culture and history there.  Our travels went well and we thoroughly enjoyed teaching English.  Van and I team-taught and we had a classroom of college age on up to a 35 year-old man.  Our students spoke English very well, compared to most students.  WE were able to have great discussions with them, and have them practice speaking English rather than studying it.  They taught us a lot about their country and culture, and we did the same.  We had the opportunity to eat some pretty weird food, but for the most part we stayed to what we knew and thankfully neither one of us got sick.  We came back with 1,000 pictures, so Uncle Bill; we can rival your slide shows.

 

The boys had a great time at Grandpa and Grandma's (well, duh).  Grandpa let them work on all kinds of projects, as well as fun activities many days.  Benjamin grew so much during the almost three weeks I was gone, that he outgrew his shoes, he is 6 foot tall now!  He has started ninth grade this year, we are officially in high school now.  Ben has also had the opportunity to join the college orchestra this fall, a great privilege for him.  He had his first concert a few weeks ago and let me tell you, that French horn section has never sounded better!  (of course, I could have a slightly bias opinion.)  Nate is in sixth grade this year and is starting his growth spurt now - I can't keep up with them. He just turned 12 and will be out deer hunting next week, his first time.  He has gotten a rifle this fall and is practicing.  Nate really enjoys science, so he is more interested in the deer after it is shot rather than the sport of hunting.  Joshua is a first grader this year; he also just had a birthday and is now 7.  He is enjoying his classes, although he has now realized he has school much longer in the day, like his brothers.  He started losing teeth this fall and as his adult teeth come in, it becomes more and more obvious that my family is getting older.

 

I keep up with the usual, the boys, the house, helping out at the library and all the activities of life.  Van had the opportunity to start PhD classes this summer and will continue them in January.  This semester he has been learning German to pass the exam by next summer.   He continues to teach on the undergrad and grad level each semester, along with the library, so he has plenty to do.

 

Happy Thanksgiving and Merry Christmas to all!  We look forward to hearing from everyone.

 

Loretta

 

 

Spring/Summer 2006

 

Once again, it is time to catch you up on the happenings in our house.  It is summer, college is done, summer school is done, the boys are done with school, but we still seem to keep quite busy.  We enjoyed the holidays here at home, except for a brief get away to Chicago.  We stayed in a hotel with Mom and Dad and Lynda and Phil stopped by on their way home from Iowa.  We just had to see Danielle.  This winter the guys enjoyed the snowmobile as much as they could, I even went on a few rides and drove it a couple times myself.  Joshua was very sad for the snow to melt until he remembered his bike and now swimming.  Now they are working on an old wooden sailboat someone gave us.  They hope to get it in the water yet this summer.  In March I had another surgery, this time here in Green Bay.  The surgery out in D.C. was not as successful as they had hoped and I was still in a lot of pain.  This time they put a shunt in my spine to drain extra spinal pressure.  It did work and I am finally feeling better and returning to normal life.  Also in March, we became an Aunt and Uncle on Van's side of the family for the first time. Van's middle sister had her first baby.  We have thoroughly enjoyed having them still here on campus, but they will be moving on to a ministry later this summer.

 

By the time you read this Van and I will be in China, I leave the 4th of July with part of our students and Van leaves with the rest of them the 5th of July.  We are flying out on different days because the doctor would not allow me to travel when the tickets were bought for Van and most of the team.   We will be in a city called Chengdu teaching English in the Schools and Universities there.  We are very excited for this opportunity, and are busy getting ready.  We have 47 students from Northland going, so Van and I will be overseeing also.  I will return to the states the 24th, while Van will stay on another week and half and finish teaching.  The boys are even more excited for us to leave; they are spending all this time at Grandpa and Grandma's!  I am coming back earlier because I think Grandpa and Grandma can only take so much of their "wonderful" grandsons.

 

Have a wonderful summer, as always, we look forward to hearing from everyone.

 

Loretta

 

 

Fall/Winter 2005

 

 

Hi Everyone,

 

We have already had our first snow storm up here, a week before Thanksgiving.  The kids are thrilled with it, Van had the snowmobile out already, but I could have waited a few more weeks for snow.

 

The Carpenters went into a little farming this summer.  The boys raised 27 chicks from two days old.  They have had a lot of fun watching them grow and caring for them.  Not one of them died, which speaks highly of their work.  They butchered 14 of chickens a few weeks ago and kept the hens and one rooster.  Now they are looking forward to brown eggs.  Next spring they may try their hand at incubating their own eggs and raising some more chicks.  We have had kittens around throughout the summer and into the fall, but I believe we are down to just two cats right now and of course, the dog.

 

I have done some traveling since we last wrote, but it wasn't for pleasure.  I saw a doctor out in Washington D.C. in August and returned in September for back surgery.  He removed the cysts that were on my spine, because the cysts that were on the nerves to my legs last year had come back.  They believe that the ones on my spine were feeding those, so it is hoped that this will take care of everything.  Van was with me for the surgery and the first couple of days, but had to fly back to teach and run the library, I had surgery the second week into the semester.  I was in the hospital for eight days and then stayed in the area another four days before flying home.  Thankfully, Mom was here with boys for six days and they survived quite well on their own the rest of time.  I was impressed to come home to a house that was neat and clean.  The boys and Van have done a great job taking over my duties the last few months, I am

just now starting to pick up my normal activities.  The only thing I have accomplished this fall is working with them on their school work, you can do a lot of that from the couch or bed.  The boys are on schedule with school and have earned the week of Thanksgiving off.  Benjamin is in eight grade this year and his favorite subject this year is Pre-Algebra!  Nate is fifth grade, but is not enjoying his math, it is long division right now.  Joshua is flying through his work and almost teaching himself.  He wants more worksheets so he can be big like his brothers.  I know this will not last.

 

This summer we enjoyed some time away so Van could finish up his degree.  He had to be near a University library which meant a hotel stay for the rest of us.  We ended this summer in Minneapolis, watching him graduate with a Masters in Library and Information Science.  He is glad to be done with the degree, and almost wonders what to do with some of his extra late night hours!  The guys went on a back packing camping trip nearby us, and thoroughly enjoyed the outdoors.  Ben took up golf this summer, so of course, Van had to get his clubs back out.  Ben spent most of his summer hitting golf balls across our front yard and got quite good at golf.  They went out to the course a few times and he was able to hold his own with men who have been playing for years.  Benjamin also worked a couple different fund raising golf tournaments sponsored by the school in August and enjoyed just being out on the golf course.  Nate rode his bike all over this summer, any time he could go somewhere on it, he did, unless he was swimming.  Joshua kept himself busy with his animals, he even taught one of the cats to kiss him!

 

We are looking forward to spending the holidays at home, I am not supposed to travel long distances yet.  Van will be going to China next summer for a month with a group of college students.  They will be teaching English in the schools over there.  I hope to travel with him for at least part of the time also; we will see how my health is at that point.  We will send Kyle our new family pictures so he can post them on the web page.

 

Merry Christmas to all!

 

Loretta

 

 

Spring/Summer 2005

 

Hello everyone,

We are looking forward to graduation in a week and then we are on to
summer school and camp for the summer. While Van will be busy finishing
up his degree, we plan to go camping a couple of times and just catch up
on things here at home. Van should be done with this degree by the next
newsletter – something we will all celebrate, but I am sure he will find
something else to do.

The first week of January we traveled to Mom and Dad’s so we could see
them and Timothy. We were on our way to Tennessee where two former
students were getting married. The bride was Van’s secretary for two
years and they had asked Van to take part in the ceremony. Van and I
also made a trip to Texas in March; he had to go take a class at
University of North Texas. We were able to drive past our old houses
etc. and I visited old friends from our years there. It was a great
weekend, but went too quickly. The boys stayed with Van’s aunt in Iowa
and had fun with them. She put them to work, but paid them so they
really liked that!

Benjamin went to competition in April with a French horn solo. I was his
accompanist and also one of the sponsors for the school. He came back
with a blue ribbon, so we are very proud of him. He played the solo for
the school’s spring concert last week along with singing with his choir
and playing with the band. He is done with choir now for the year; band
continues to practice as they play for graduation. He loves all the
music; I don’t have to tell him to practice any more. He has focused on
piano a lot this semester and has improved greatly. Ben will be 13 next
month, ready or not, we will be the parents of a teenager.

 

Nate has become a book worm this winter, always in a hurry to do his duties of the day so he can get back to his book. Only the warmer weather is pulling him from his books. He has a cello recital in a couple of weeks
and also is doing well with piano. He has a close friend who he likes to
spend as much time with us as possible; the boy would rather live at our
house since he is nine years younger than his next sibling. Sterling
will be moving away this summer, so Nate is already not looking forward
to that day.

Joshua just finished his first Awana Sparks book and was very excited to
get a ribbon. He and the cats and dog spend a lot of time together, he
knows everything about them. Our cats, which are really still kittens,
had their own kittens this spring, but they died. Joshua went out in the
woods, dug the holes and buried the kittens for the cats. He can’t
understand some of his friends who are afraid of his animals when they
come over.

Looking forward to hearing from each of you…

Loretta

 

 

Fall/Winter 2004

 

Since our last newsletter all three boys have had birthdays they are now 12, 10 and 5. Ben is in 7th grade this year and still deciding if he likes the harder work and the way kids pick on each other at this age. He does his academic subjects at home yet, but everyday travels to the local Christian school for band or choir. He is enjoying the music practice and is finding out it isn't so bad to sing, although I still don't expect him to sing a solo anytime soon! This is his first fall of deer hunting and he is very excited for that. Nate is a fourth grader this year, and he continues to play cello as well as the piano. He caught a snake this summer and kept him for a few weeks along with another one the college science teacher loaned him. He can't get enough of all that stuff girls scream at. He and Ben did a lot of bug collecting at the end of the summer and learned how to mount them. Grandpa and I even had to make them bug nets this fall. Joshua is starting some kindergarten work although he is a young kindergartner yet. He has taken over care of the two kittens we have and those cats let him do anything to them. He continues to be fun loving and a pest, what a great combination.

Our summer flew by just like everyone's summer does. We did a VBS at our church and we were able to get much more involved with the church people there. We spent a long weekend camping north of Duluth as well as a few days in Door County, WI. Once again we had a garden this summer and some of the produce did well, the boys grew pumpkins which was a first for them. The boys and I took a trip to Ohio in September and nursed Mom through the first week after her surgery. I believe we left Grandpa in worse shape though, as he didn't have to cook or clean, but spent as much time as he could with the boys. Mom was even able to enjoy their instrument practice some of those days. I have been taking a freshman speech class this fall at the college, something I never took; and my sister-in-law and I thought it would be fun to take a "misery" class together. This is Van's youngest sister, she is a freshman here this year. It has been interesting going into the classroom as a student, especially on the days I had to act as a substitute and tape speeches while the teacher was out. I am writing this the night before I go for surgery. I have multiple cysts on nerves to my legs and lower back which have to be surgically removed through the abdomen area. This causes me great pain in my legs and I haven't been able to place weight on my right leg for three weeks due to this. It has certainly slowed my life down and will continue to do so over the next few weeks. The boys have been learning to do laundry and cooking.

Van is trying to keep up with his school work, the library and teaching through all this as well as preaching etc. on Sundays. It has been a busy semester but he has found a couple afternoons to go out and bow hunt. The kids were shocked that see him the whole camping trip without his laptop, we all think it is permanently attached to him.

Well, this catches you up on the Carpenters, we look forward to hearing from everyone. Early Merry Christmas to you all!

Loretta

P.S. Aunt Sharon sent us an update and Loretta came through the surgery fine. The doctor felt he got all the cysts and sealed off the spots, so they shouldn't appear again. When Aunt Sharon talked to her that night, she seemed to be doing well for right after surgery.

 

Spring/Summer 2004

 

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