December 2020
Joy to the World, the Lord is Come!!
What a magnificent time of year, when we can celebrate the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ with family and friends! Tony and I pray you’ve had a good year of health and prosperity. (Disclaimer: I’m not going to discuss the China virus or the stolen election; this is going to be an upbeat letter.)
Our family continues to be healthy and happy, and this year it has grown by 2 new members. A sweet 6-year-old Pug named Miss Puggie was given to Erika, Josh, Leo, and Etta, and she has been a joy for the whole family. She’s the best trained dog we’ve ever been around, and we all adore her.
Some of you know I’ve been wanting a dog for quite some time, but Tony has not been exactly on board. Raising a dog in a condo isn’t the easiest task, especially if that dog is a puppy. But I just couldn’t accept the fact that our days of living with and loving a dog were over. So my dear friend from childhood, Terry Rodman Brearley, searched the internet for the perfect puppy for me to adopt. In October her diligence paid off; through her contacts with East Mississippi Animal Rescue, she found the most darling puppy, aptly named Boo because she was found close to Halloween. The only problem was that EMAR doesn’t transport west of the Mississippi; if we wanted Boo, we had to get her ourselves. So….the day after the election (I worked the polls during both early voting and on election day) Tony and I drove to Meridian, MS to pick up Boo. The next day we drove back, and Boo was precious, cuddly, and sweet in the car the entire way. She’s been a real joy despite the seemingly endless “piranha teeth” teething phase, and she’s doing great with housebreaking. We decided to continue calling her Boo because she was already used to it, but her full name is Bartsi Boo: BA-Barnabas (“son of encouragement” and the name of the dog in my beloved Mitford book series), R-Rush Limbaugh (a great American patriot), T-Trump (another one), S-Slava (“glory” in Russian), I-“Independence” (added by granddaughter Maggie), Boo-in honor of the wonderful folks at EMAR. I’m in the process of getting her DNA tested so we can figure out her breed mix. The vet estimates her birthday to be August 26th.
This past July was supposed to be a fantastic trip to Hawaii with my sister Lisa, her husband Bob, our cousin Pat Warski, and her husband Jeff. Obviously that didn’t materialize. But dear, precious Aunt Olga Warski orchestrated a way for the 6 of us to be together and enjoy each other’s company despite missing our vacation. At nearly 94 years of age, Aunt Olga went to heaven in September to be reunited with Uncle John, and we were blessed to be able to celebrate her life in our hometown in New York State. It was a sweet time of family, fellowship, tears, tons of photos, and cherished memories. That was so like Aunt Olga, always caring for others with never a concern for herself. She is missed and remembered with the lifetime of love she gave to her family.
The kids are all doing well. All 6 are back to in-school learning and are very happy after several weeks of at-home learning which none of them enjoyed. The 3 oldest-Zoey, Leo, and Ruby-are in orchestra, with Zoey and Ruby playing the violin and Leo playing cello. Sports have been greatly curtailed this year, but limited volleyball, flag football, and gymnastics are being enjoyed nonetheless. Our adult kids are coping with all the challenges presented this year and are handling them admirably. God’s grace and perfect plan are evident in their lives.
This year I, like most of my high school friends, turned 70. Celebrating during this most challenging of years was different, but my family made it so very special. Here is a glimpse of what took place at our condo on April 8th.
Header photo, back
row: Dave Cribbs, Jenni Leo Cribbs, me holding Boo, Tony, Josh Wiese holding
Puggie, Erika Leo Wiese. Front row: Zoey
(almost 14), Ruby (11½), Maggie (almost 10), and Sam (8) Cribbs; Etta (almost
10) and Leo (12) Wiese.
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