Christmas 2010

Dear Family and Friends,

I enjoy seeing you at church when visiting SLO. It’s just so weird to be a visitor. And I wish family were closer so we could see you more often, especially my East Coast family. I can’t believe how long it’s been since we’ve been out your way. If you ever come to Los Angeles, let us know so we can get together. 

Family faces are magic mirrors looking at people who belong to us, we see the past, present,
and future. -- Gail Lumet Buckley 

You don't choose your family. They are God's gift to you, as you are to them.
-- Desmond Tutu

It has been almost two years since we left SLO…moving from my hometown, moving from my stomping grounds, from my friends, family and from everything I cherish in that town...where my kids grew up, too. I figured we’d live there forever. God had other plans. Dan decided to transfer to LAX after American Eagle closed their maintenance hub in SLO, partly to move closer to our daughter. It has taken time, but I am thankful for our new place, our new church, new friends and especially, being nearer to Liz and her husband. Of course, God knows what He’s doing and I’m thankful for that.

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11

Since we’ve been here, there have been a few changes, one having to do with my health. I decided, after three years, we needed to establish doctors for ourselves. I made an appointment for a physical. Wow! The letter I received said I had Type 2 Diabetes, fatty liver, high blood pressure and high cholesterol. I am now on meds for those problems and am eating much better and losing weight. I still have a ways to go, but it’s getting a little easier. My weakness is exercise, or lack of exercise.

Hear me, LORD, and I will be healed; save me and I will be saved, for you are the one I praise. Jeremiah 17:14

I enjoy my job at Raytheon as an admin assistant with JLENS (Go to YouTube and type in JLENS—that’s all I can say about my job). I love that we work with the military, which is close to my heart. 

But the Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen you and protect you from the evil one. 2 Thessalonians 3:3

Dan is doing fine. He still has a job, which is a blessing. He’s able to ride his bike to work; when he comes home, he can ride along the beach. Pretty cool. His schedule will change in January and he will begin working swings. I don’t think I’m going to like that, but we’ll have weekends off together after all this time (Fridays, after I get off at noon through Sunday at 2pm when he begins his week). That will be nice.

Let the wife make the husband glad to come home, and let him make her sorry to see him leave. -- Martin Luther

The girls are doing well. Liz is hopefully finishing school this year…Master’s in Speech/Language Pathology. What a welcome day that will be. It’s been tough, but she’s been hanging in there & getting it done. Gregg works as an architect as much as he can. His field has taken a hit in the economy, so it’s been difficult to have steady work, but he’s been fortunate to have some jobs somewhat consistently.
 

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  Philippians 4:6

Lily, Danielle and Steven

And Danielle is working like crazy, still in OR, at Starbuck’s. She graduated from the University of OR – GO DUCKS!!! She and Steven will be getting married next year in OR. It’s hard to plan with me being in CA, but things will get done somehow. I’ll be an instant grandma, too. Steven has a daughter, Lily, who gets along really well with Danielle. She’s a very nice 7-yr. old. Gotta find a dress! Yay!

We love you all and pray you have a MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

God bless you all,  

Dan and Robbin

Pictures:

Father's Day: Amber, Liz, Gregg, Danielle, me and Dan

The aerostats that help keep our military safe

Liz and Gregg at cousin Laura's wedding

Lily, Danielle and Steven

 

Some Decorating

We left a lot of our decorations in storage in SLO. I thought we brought it all down, but couldn't find it. So I just did a tiny bit of decorating. Thought I'd share since so many friends have shared their beautiful decorating skills. Kind of see a theme?

 And I wish I were more creative, but I bought this jar from Summer and decided to use it as a seasonal/holiday decoration. So, this is what I came up with, using what few things I had.

Photo Challenge #30

I feel like I'm copying Kate. She marked the same occasions I was thinking about...the times I was happy. And I'm also glad that I got through 30 days of photos. I have pictures stored away that I thought about and would have loved to use for this challenge. Oh, well, maybe another time. It was fun trying to find pics with what I had. Thanks, Jenny, for this challenge. Now for my next challenge: keeping up with blogging. :)

 

The day I was married: January 27, 1979

 The days my girls were born: Elizabeth, April 27, 1983 and Danielle, February 22, 1985

 And the day my daughter married Gregg Oelker: December 23, 2004

Photo Challenge #29

Someone I find attractive...well...one actress I really like and think is attractive is Catherine Zeta-Jones. I used to try to style my hair like hers in hopes that I would be as beautiful as she is. Silly, huh? Actually, I like Michelle Pfeiffer, too. Both these ladies look beautiful all the time, even covered in dirt. :) Well, it asks for A picture, but I have a few...and of both ladies.

Photo Challenge #28

Well, nothing exciting today. What I ate today was poached eggs on toast, coffee and my meds. Told you.

Photo Challenge #27

A photo of last summer...A favorite time last summer was going to the wedding of a gal I mentored through her high school years. I was getting ready for a Mexico trip with the youth group, and one of the requirements was to find someone to mentor you (for the students). Well, I thought about seeking out a student to see about mentoring, but decided to let God take over. I figured if I was to be a mentor, God would have to show me who to mentor. Kayla and I were walking down the stairs to the youth room and she asked if I would mentor her. After the Mexico trip, I decided to ask if she wanted to continue getting together and she said yes. Kayla is a very beautiful, smart young lady and it was such a pleasure getting together with her every week to just talk about God and pray. We were joined by Anna for a little while and that was a fun time with the two of them. But Kayla got married last year, and I was so blessed to be able to come back to SLO to be a part of her and Andrew's wedding and reception. I love this couple and miss them. It's nice to see them when we go to SLO to visit, though it's too short of a time.

Photo Challenge #26

Well, I kind of said this in my last post about a night I loved. It's combined with my favorite weekend...our anniversary weekend in Morro Bay. We stayed in a cute hotel and drove up the coast. We just had such a relaxing time together and capped it off with McLintock's.

 

 We were supposed to go Whale Watching, but the water was too rough to go out on the boat. We went a few months later. We saw whales and porpoises. You can see video of the porpoise here. And a short video of the whales here.

 Where Dan bought my glass necklace...in Harmony.

Photo Challenge #25

Any night (or anytime) I can go to McLintocks is a night I love. Our 30th anniversary was pretty special. After spending the weekend in Morro Bay, we decided to cap it off with dinner and head to my favorite place of all. It was so fun and, as always, the food was yummers!

 

Photo Challenge #24

 The first picture was taken after I had my hair cut. I hadn't had it that short in ages. I may go short again, but not too soon. I like my long hair. The other picture with my curly hair is okay. I kind of like my curly hair. Most of the time I'll let my hair dry by itself and let it stay curly. Then after laying on it a couple of times, I'll straighten it. Just can't make up my mind sometimes.

Photo Challenge #23

Okay. I didn't think I had anything for #23, but my mother-in-law is cleaning house. She gave us a box of pictures to go through and guess what? I have baby pics of my best friend - my husband. I'm SO GLAD he doesn't have a blog or facebook. He'd kill me if he knew I put these online. My brother-in-law might kill me, too. Isn't Dan cute? Love his beach outfit.

 

 

Photo Challenge #22

This is where I live now...Redondo Beach. We took a walk along the pier one day and here are a couple of those pictures.

We live in North Redondo, so straight West from us about 2 miles is actually Manhattan Beach...