Merry Christmas to all! December 18, 2011

I hope this card and letter find you and your family happy and well this Christmas season. It’s hard to believe that another full year has passed. Where does the time go? I want to catch up with it!

Well, this year has brought a few changes to our family. Both kids have started in new schools this fall. Jonathan is now in MIDDLE SCHOOL! He remains in a classroom for students with autism with some interactions with the general education population. I LOVE his teacher this year. We have great communication, and she is really teaching them things that his Gen Ed peers are learning. For instance, they were working on plant life and the parts of a plant and how it grows. For his class room, it is very simplified vs. the Gen Ed class. But his teacher works with two Gen Ed teachers (science and social studies), and they do their units at the same time, so the students from Gen Ed can come together with the kids in Jon’s class for some joint studies. Jon’s pre-test on plants was less than 50% correct. His final test was 100%!!! Same with his test on the water cycle. Although his pre-test was about 17% for that one! I am very pleased and impressed with his progress this year! Let’s keep it up, Jon! Another year and a half and he’s in high school!!!

Speaking of high school, Rebecca is a freshman at Divine Child High School this year. GO FALCONS!!! She had straight A’s for the first quarter with two Honors courses (English and Biology). Biology is proving to be a challenge this quarter, but I’m sure she will be fine. She decided that she didn’t want to play volleyball this fall like she had the last 4 years. Instead, she wanted to get her ‘feet wet’ first then go out for basketball. She made the basketball team and although they’ve only played a few games, she is doing well. She has a tournament in Grand Rapids over Christmas break. That should be fun! She is also on the Chess team and the newly started Quiz Bowl team. She really enjoys them both, especially Quiz Bowl. Finals are the week after she gets back from Christmas break, so we know what she is doing after Christmas!

Rebecca also had some other ‘big’ events this past spring as she was finishing her time at St. Genevieve Catholic School. She received the sacrament of Confirmation in May. It was really nice having the family together for it and what made it special was having both of her Godparents there; her Uncle Larry, who was also her Confirmation Sponsor, and family friend and her Godmother, Jodi Jordan. It was so nice having Jodi visiting from Georgia. Jodi had been living in California until a year ago when her husband, Jeff, took the Call to be Pastor at a church in Sandy Springs, GA. Wonderful having the Jordan’s on THIS side of the Mississippi! The weekend following Confirmation was the CYO Sports banquet. Each year, St. Genevieve holds a banquet to honor all their sports teams for a great season. They also honor an 8th grade boy and an 8th grade girl with an award recognizing their all-round excellence in academics, sports, community service, etc. We are very proud to say that Rebecca was the recipient of the 2011 Scholar Athlete Award. It was an action-packed week, that’s for sure!

Jonathan also had his own introduction to sports this year. In February, I signed him up for Special Olympics for swimming. I’ve always said he was my little fishy, so it seemed it would be a natural fit. Of course the over-shadowing momma in me was very nervous – would he listen to the high school students who were assigned to him? Would he be too unfocused to learn? My initial goal was to get him exposed to it. One of his classmates and his younger brother are involved, so I thought it was worth a try. After about 6-8 weeks of the weekly lessons, the coach approached Dan and told him that he wanted Jon to compete at the Special Olympics. I was under the impression that he probably wouldn’t compete his first year. Well, the day came, and we were all there – mom, dad, Grandma, and Rebecca… yes, I took Rebecca out of school so she could attend. After all the games that Jon was ‘dragged’ to, I felt it was important that she was there to support Jon. And he did AWESOME! Once they changed their clothes, the swimmers went into the pool area and sat on the deck. They had bleachers up above where the spectators sat. I watched him – waiting for him to get up and run around or something. But he just sat there. It was about 40 minutes before it was his turn to swim. When it was his turn, all he had to do was go one length of the pool and then get out. I thought to myself, as much as he loves the water, he’s not going to get out. He made it to the other end and then stopped. I think he was a little confused at first. But when he was instructed to get out, he did! Then he went back and sat down on the deck like before. He sat there another 30 min or so until his friend was done

with his lap. Then we decided to leave and get lunch before taking Jon back to school. We were so proud of him! I am really looking forward to signing him up again this winter.

Dan continues to do well and enjoys working for a local independent pharmacy. They are such great people and a real joy to work with. You really feel like one of the family there. He also remains active with the MPA and WCPA (state and local pharmacist associations) as well as Parish Council Secretary for St. Dunstan’s.

After 25 years of working with Mrs. Newman at Frank W. Kerr Co., (the last 14 have been part-time), we have parted company. Mrs. Newman and I sat down the end of June and had a talk. She really needed someone who was full time (10-6 or so) and I just couldn’t do that. Between Rebecca needing rides to and from school and practices and having to be home with Jon when he gets home from school, I couldn’t work those kids of hours. Although I miss Mrs. Newman and the people at Kerr, I think it was the right thing in the end. I had hoped she would consider having me do some personal work on the side, it was not to be. So now I am a full-time stay at home mom. Now if I could just discipline myself to get things done around the house while everyone is gone! New Year’s Resolution, I guess!

We didn’t have time for a ‘full-blown’ vacation this summer. But just before school started we took a quick “Michigan” vacation. Grand Rapids to visit the Gerald Ford Museum, Holland to visit the Ottawa State Park on Lake Michigan, and the Air Zoo in Battle Creek. Also, Rebecca and her friend Cheryl had a once in a lifetime experience – they were “Ball Girls” at a Detroit Pistons game, thanks to Mrs. Newman working her magic. The girls had a blast!

I’m including a few pictures here to show what we did this year. Hope you enjoy them.

St. Mary’s Cancer Walk ’11 Jon, Becca and Dan in Lk Mich. Becca with Coach Setlock with her award

Jonathan at his first swim meet Jonathan after he finished his lap The scoreboard!

Rebecca and Larry at Becca and Grandma at Becca and Cheryl as ‘ball girls’ at a Confirmation 8th Grade Graduation Detroit Pistons game

We wish you a very Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and all the best of health to each and every one of you. With much love from the Lobb family of Westland – Dan, Cindy, Rebecca and Jonathan