2009: the second half

The second half of 2009 was a bit more rocky.... but first the GOOD news!
Our niece, Corrie, (and Chris) gave birth to Owen Thomas on 6.1.09. He was 8 lbs 14 oz. Such a BIG boy... since she's nursing him, he's still a big boy (at six months); we call him the BFB (big fat baby)!!!

We got to meet him for the first time on Father's Day at Mom & Dad's. Such a nice surprise!















On the 25th Ej took Dad (& Mom) to the VA hospital for an overdue checkup as dad's leg had been swollen and very sore. They admitted him. That day started a roller coaster ride of doctors and diagnosis, hospitals, and care centers that would not end for two months.

That was also the day that we heard of Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcet's deaths. so sad.

The following Saturday we bought a stairlift from 'Jeff' in Kettering. A God-send!
Chris helped Jim install it in Mom's basement stairs the next week.

In July my "library career" came to an end when i was one of the 30% let go due to the State Funding Cuts. My last day was the 25th... the summer reading Carnival. It's been bitter-sweet. I've enjoyed my time off -- especially the weekends, but i do miss the people.

My Aunts (finally!) organized another Jarvie family reunion, so we were on our way north to da U.P. the weekend August 1st. We met at cousin Annette's (& Roger) beach house.

Even though it was a rainy day, we had a great time visiting and God even provided some afternoon sunshine for a walk on the beach.















I was just re-reading my journal. From June to August Dad Gene was in and out of various medical facilities 5 times. After the pancreatic cancer diagnosis August 4th he was moved to Hospice of Dayton. Many family and friends visited him there and we cannot say enough about the caring staff... they were great! Gene went 'walking with Jesus' on the evening of August 16th (2 days before his 89th birthday) while the family was getting some supper in the cafeteria. He chose that private quiet moment to leave us.
Gene taught us much about the value of hard work and how to have a good laugh! We miss him a lot but know he's in a much better place now.

*Gene served in the Coast Guard during WWII in the Pacific*

*A proud employee of NCR for many years*

*There's that famous grin! ('07)*

The day after the funeral (Friday 8.21) Jim and i were on our way to Athens Ohio to prepare for Leah and Julian's 'marriage celebration.' Talk about an emotional week!

We stayed with Tom and Anne Walker who are second parents to Julian since he stayed with them all through his college career at OU. They are excellent hosts!

Friday and Saturday were a whirlwind of activity as is typical for any wedding. Leah and Julian had a lovely bilingual church ceremony at OU's Galbreath Chapel to celebrate their marriage. They each wrote personal vows which they spoke in both Spanish and English. Julian said it was much harder in Spanish!

*the Happy Couple!*

*Dancing to 'Sway With Me'*

*Reception Hug*

September brought another bouncing baby into the Overholt family as our niece Melanie (& Ben) gave birth to their first child, Avery Elizabeth, on the 18th. We got to meet her at Christmas when the Virginia Overholt's traveled to dayton for a visit!


Three days after the 'wedding' Jim and Bryan left for a back-
pack trip to the Grand Tetons with friends from Sidney.
It was rugged terrain, but they had a great time enjoying
God's creation, as usual. It was God's perfect timing for healing and reflection on the trail.




I took part of the week they were gone for a visit to Michigan with Benny!
Here we are at the Ludington State Park at my favorite stop on the Island Trail.  In October, Jim and I celebrated our 29th wedding anniversary with a long weekend trip to Gatlinburg TN. It was my first time to the area! We stayed at a small cabin up a winding road and enjoyed the shopping and trails in the area.  The first part of our 2 mile mountain trail was a slow grade up and beside a beautiful stream! As the grade steepened and grew rougher, i kept shedding layers!

The last part was slow, but i made it to the cave destination!  Jim went ahead of me the last little bit... The end of the year was full of family gatherings... Thanksgiving was at our house this year; 15 people enjoyed lots of food and good fun! We had all four kids home for Christmas... first Leah & Julian for Christmas Eve service at Grace

Then Bryan & Laney for Christmas day at home and with the extended family in Dayton. Leah & Julian woke us up Christmas morning at our door, wondering why we weren't out of bed yet...  it was because the power had been out since 6:30am and we saw no reason to get up yet!  BUT up we got, and jim got the propane heater & 'stove' from our camping supplies;  then about 15 minutes later the power was back on at 8:30, just in time for B & Laney's arrival!   L&J made us a traditional Colombian breakfast of Bun~elos and hot chocolate with cinnamon!  Yum- we were stuffed!

All four stayed the night at home, then B&Ln had to get back to Columbus for work.  Leah & Julian were able to stay a couple more days until Tues. 

The Virginia Overholts traveled to Dayton for a visit on Sunday, so we all met in Mom's church basement for a party Monday night.  Good times... a nice way to end the year!

First cousins with partners & kids!

(missing Terry, Bryan & Nick)

2009: the first half

Wow - it's been almost a year since i posted here... where did 2009 go??? i'll try to condense it a bit!

In April we traveled to Baltimore (on my birthday), rented a car and drove to the Stiegler's house in Anapolis. Wow! It was an awesome (rented) house! Very historic Brown Stone with 3 stories of deliciousness! We enjoyed meeting some of their friends that evening and i was even serenaded by a young man (Jeff) on his dulcimer with "happy birthday!"
The next day Doug showed us around the Capital building, had lunch and were on our way to see Leah and Julian in Anandale that afternoon. We stopped at a Target on our way over; it had it's own parking garage with an escalator up to the store... on the way down, we put our shopping cart in the middle of the up/down escalators & it traveled down with us on it's own 'step' ... pretty cool!



I made an 'origami' scrap book of wedding pics for L&J's first anniversary. They were quite surprised to get it!

We had a lovely few days touring the area and enjoying some of the still remaining Cherry Blossoms around the Capital.

Friday we went to Georgetown for lunch and enjoyed a picnic by the river as the rowing teams went past!


Later, we went to a Good Friday Service at Ebenezer's which was very moving. Then on to the Capital to enjoy the tulips and people watching!














On Saturday we drove up to the Stiegler's (now back at the farm) for an informal lunch. It was lovely as always!



Easter Sunday we attended the Theatre Church at the mall, had a quick lunch at home and were on our way to the airport to fly back to Columbus.
















Jim turned 50 in May and we decided to take the "little critter" to Hocking Hills for a camping/hiking weekend. Stayed at a local KOA and had a nice time.
When we got home on Memorial day (jim's b-day) we changed clothes, & cars, and drove west past Versailles to meet Glenna, the foster mom of our new dog. His name was Eddie, but we changed it to Benny! He's a 2 year old Jack Russell terrier with a wire coat! Jim is very pleased!

Winter '08-'09

We had one heavy snow this winter... 12-14 inches... it was beautiful! I even got out Dad's snowshoes to get to the compost pile.



Ta Da! look at my cool trick!

Taz even tried the snowshow one day!

We had BIG icicles...



I measured this icicle at 4 feet in length!

Then we had an ice dam that caused our Bay Window to leak! Jim used his hatchet to cut away some of the ice and i scraped off as much snow as i could reach with the broom!





I'm thinking we may be heading south one of these winters in the not too distant future!!

Wild Winter Wind!

Later the same week of the Feb. thaw (2.11), we had a wild wind come thru at night... gusting up to 65 mph. Many of our roof shingles flew away and our canoe which was to the west of our house beside the garage ended up around 50 feet away down the hill by the apple tree!







our beautiful 'new' red canoe got blown down the hill in the high winds!

February Thaw!

On February 8th we had 50 degree weather in Sidney! a heat wave! It was a Sunday afternoon so jim and i went for a walk in the local Tawawa Park. The creek was swollen and filled with ice floats!

Oct. DC Trip

On October 9th we flew (AirTran) from Dayton to DC to visit Leah and Julian. The flight was at 7am, so we only got half a night's sleep with travel and early check-in! We hadn't seen them in half a year, so it was a nice reunion. We had beautiful weather, and had fun seeing some new sights.

Leah picked us up at the Wash/Balto airport - which was about an hour from their place - on Thursday morning. Since we got there early, we waited for about an hour in the Observation Gallery upstairs. It was very comfy and quieter than the other areas.

We met Julian for lunch and dined near his office at a Thai Restaurant that was one of their favorites.

We stayed at a Marriot Hotel one mile from their apartment.... very convenient! Leah and i shopped for groceries and she and Julian cooked supper for us at the motel kitchenette. They made all their favorites: Plantains, Guacamole with chips, and some round bread cheese things.... i threw in the broccoli! We were stuffed.

*Leah and Julian rest on the sofa in our Hotel room*

Our Hotel had a wonderful full breakfast. Leah joined us on Friday morning before Jim took the metro into DC to enjoy some museums. Later, leah and i drove about 15 mins. south to David's Bridal where she chose a beautiful dress - on clearance! I won't give it away, but it fits her perfectly and was the first one she tried on!

We were done with the dress search by 12:30, and stopped for frozen yogurt to celebrate! We drove back north to Tyson's Corner Mall for a look around. It was way too pricey for me so we went to Marshall's where leah found a pair of jeans for $10! I bought a night shirt tee. We were at the end of our time limit to pick up Julian from work, so leah left me to check out while she picked up Jim and Julian, then came back for me and supper at a Kabob place nearby.

Back at the Hotel, we played a game of Canasta.... teaching Julian along the way. It was a fun evening!

On Saturday, we drove to the city, and found a place to park near a construction site. The guy working there said it was OK to park in the "Non" spot, so we did, and it turned out to be OK! We walked past the Washington Memorial to the World War II Memorial. Took lots of pics. It was so pretty with the bright blue sky as a backdrop.

*the people on the "movers" were on a tour!*

We then walked back to the Natural History Museum to see a live butterfly exhibit. The enclosed area was very warm and moist for the tropical insects. It was very nice and we took lots of pics. I was the first one out due to the heat.


*Natural History Museum Rotunda*

After a short snack break in the shade, we decided to walk back to the Tidal Basin.... it was farther than i realized!

* This mounted policeman was having a hard time controlling his horse near the tour bus*

By the time we got there we only had a moment before we had to go back to get to the car and drive to Union Station where their church is -- in the basement of a coffee shop. After church we walked the 1/2 block to eat some supper at the Union Station food court and take some pics. It was a long day, but very nice!



*Leaving the city at night*

Leah and Julian met us at the Hotel on Sunday morning and since they were busy with breakfast in the car, Jim drove to the airport! Our flight was on time, and we had an easy trip back.