MERRY CHRISTMAS 2012 Y'ALL!

MERRY CHRISTMAS & LET THE JINGLE BELLS ROCK!

Our family thinks of each of you throughout the year and we wish you God’s choicest blessings this Christmas season and throughout 2013.

Our 2012 Christmas Letter

Our year was long, short, eventful, and uneventful.  Much like each of yours, I’m sure!

EMILY (11)


Our last little ‘chick’ at home!  Where has time gone to!?  Emily is now in 5th grade and continues to be homeschooled.  She loves swimming still, but this year discovered ice skating and loved it so much that she had an ice skating party for her 11th birthday!

Emily set a goal two years ago when she joined Future Generation Chorus (a ‘training’ and ‘feeder’ chorus to Younger Generation Chorus of Plano [YG]).   That goal was to pass auditions to get into YG, and she did!  She is quite happy to be with “the big kids”.  Now she gets to wear their formal and informal costume and she got to perform this fall and did great. 

Younger & Future Generation Choruses - Winter Concert December 2012
Jonathan is tallest in center back - Emily is directly in front of him

Emily continues with piano lessons, and her greatest love continues being art.  We are happy to have found a classical art teacher near our home that seems really good, and Emily is thrilled to begin classes come January. Below are some of her art samples. 

One of Emily's joys is designing "fashions" as you can see above, where she designed the outfit and drew it on the doll. She adds great details to her drawings. The flower drawing below was done on an iPad Art Applicaton.

She even tried her hand at folding towels into animals like on Cruise Ships - here you have a Sea Turtle

We are blessed to have Emily in our family. She brings light and joy into our home and a whole lot of thoughtfulness, service, love, and positive attitude. There is innocence in her soul.


JONATHAN (18)
This year was a full one for Jonathan! He started out by graduating from Homeschool High School on January 7th, and a week later began classes at Collin College. He has enjoyed being in College and has found out that he really likes Economics and English! Go figure!  During class breaks, he and his buddy, Daniel, would take their guitars and just start playing and singing songs.  Eventually people would gather around, compliment them, and at one time a guy even threw them a dollar bill into their guitar case! Haha!  Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing“ was always a big hit! So far so good on college success!

Early Graduation from high school in January

Best friends - Jessica K. and Jonathan, pre-prom photos by Bob

Spring of this year was Jonathan’s last prom as well as his last time in Rising Generation, the high school choir for YG.  Jonathan had another solo (Song of the Mira) and a quartet (Gloria, from Mozart’s Coronation Mass) for the final Spring Concert. He was amazing and you can listen to the videos by clicking on the linked titles.

Rising Generation Chorus of Plano

RG Quartet singing Gloria!, from Mozart's Coronation Mass

Mama hen and her two big chicks - Jessica (left), Jonathan, and me at the end of Spring Concert

At the end of the year, YG and RG had their annual tour, and this year it was to Washington D.C. Where they performed on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, at historic St Paul’s Church, and at Knollwood Military Retirement Center for veterans.  They also got to do quite a bit of sight-seeing to include places like the Capitol, Ford Theater, Vietnam and Jefferson Memorials. The highlight for him was being honored to be part of four youth that were chosen to represent RG and YG at a special wreath-laying ceremony at The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.  Wow. Amazing.

Right after having placed the wreath at the Tomb

On the steps of the Lincoln Memorial - Jonathan is center back, tallest

About a week after tour Jonathan flew to New York to spend a few days with dear and special friends on the shores of Keuka Lake (one of the finger lakes).  He had the time of his life as he went water tubing, driving the boat, visiting a quaint village, having bonfires, swimming in the lake, and just hanging out doing nothing but having fun!  A time he will never forget!

"Driving" Mrs. K.'s boat on Keuka Lake - see the smile!?

On Keuka Lake just chillaxin' - Jonathan has the sunglasses on

He came home from NY just in time to wash his dirty laundry and then escape to High Adventure down by Corpus Christi, on the beaches of Mustang Island with the whole Scouting Crew.  Aside from all the burping, farting, and other “boy stuff” that always takes place during events like this, the highlight was the real Roasted Pig Luau they had right there on the beach!  The best pork he’s ever tasted, if not the ugliest!

Setting up "camp" as they arrive on Mustang Island - Jonathan is center, with sunglasses and a white windbreaker on

Chillin' on the beach

That would have been a great ending to a trip-filled, fun-filled summer if it weren’t for the prepping, texturizing, and painting of the master bathroom that we had him do in place of “room and board” for the summer.  He did a great job and our bathroom has now gone from an ugly wallpaper to a great Spanish Texture and painted with a “golden sand” color.  Love it!  All the cabinets were repainted and the popcorn on the ceiling was replaced with new texture as well.  Good job Jonathan!  (Oh, and he also helped Bob and a family friend put in our new Spanish tile in the back half of the house, including our kitchen!)

Love my tile!

Jonathan's love of music led him this fall to join Plano Men of Note Barbershop Chorus, making his ex-barbershopper father and his barbershopper mother very happy!  He had learned so much during his two years in RG that when it came time to audition for Men of Note he passed with flying colors, impressing the director quite a bit!  After only once-a-week rehearsals for about 3 ½ months, he sang in a quartet within the chorus for their Christmas Show!  It was such a fun and funny show and Jonathan did great carrying his Baritone part!  The barbershop men are quite impressed with Jonathan’s (voice) range - he can sing all four parts perfectly - Bass, Baritone, Lead, or Tenor.  He loves being in Men of Note!

Plano Men of Note - Jonathan is in the back, first from right

By far the most special part of his year was his having prepared himself for and been found worthy to be ordained to the office of an Elder in the Melchizedek Priesthood this fall!  No greater honor or blessing could come to us as parents, and we are so thankful for and proud of Jonathan.  It was a very special and sacred event.  Add to that the exciting news that he is preparing to serve a two year mission for the LDS Church this coming year, and there is a lot of spiritual maturity going on in this young man’s life!  Currently he serves as the Young Single Adult Representative (ages 18-29) for our Ward (Congregation).

Jonathan keeps us all in stitches with his humor and when he’s not busy at school, working (at a restaurant called Artin’s, pronounced Ar-TEENS) or hanging out with friends, you will find him playing his guitar, writing music, watching movies, or playing his guitar more. This young man sure does yank on our heart strings!

JESSICA (22)
Jessica and Nathaniel (“Nate”) Ribakoff (pronounced RIB-uh-cough) were married in our home on March 3rd this year.  They live in North Dallas and we get to see them periodically.  Sadly, on March 12th Jessica had a miscarriage.  She and Nate continue to work at McDonald’s and we just found out a couple of weeks ago that they are expecting again.  She is due around June 24th.  Keeping our fingers crossed all goes well!

Bob, Nate, Jessica, Teri, Emily, and Jonathan right after the wedding was performed

The Newlyweds! At our family Wedding Lunch at The Cheesecake Factory - it was very bright that day!

BOB (by Bob)
This was a year filled with camping, singing, more camping, and more singing.  It seems that comprises the bulk of my life outside of my work.  As you all know, I am the Scout Master in our Ward at Church. As part of that, I go camping every month, rain or shine, hot or cold, along with summer camp, meetings, trainings, etc.  New in my scouting career this year is that I got to plan and carry out the Summer Camp in June.  It’s a lot of work to get those boys to Summer Camp safely, but it’s worth it!  The next big thing in scouting was that I staffed a Wood Badge Course. For those of you who don’t know what that is, it is an advanced Scout Leadership training course.  I had attended in previous years, and this year I was invited to attend as a Staff Member.  It involved many sleepless nights of hard work. The net benefit of all this effort is that we trained 50 leaders who will in turn each touch the lives of hundreds of young men for good, instilling in them principles and ethics, and empowering them to change the world. 

This is Wood Badge Training Camp where Bob had an awesome time

East Fork of the Trinity River where Bob takes the Scouts Canoeing a couple times a year - beautiful!

Our computer geek, aka: Daddy or Computer Whisperer!

Something else that is new this year is my involvement in my daughter’s choir, Younger Generation Chorus of Plano.  I was voted in as President in June to start their new season.  Many volunteer organizations are staffed by parents and different people volunteer with different amounts of time and levels of involvement. I chose to invest many hours (night and day!) to help this choir be successful. I am able to use my business knowledge and organizational skills in this position, and have learned new skills like live-event audio engineering and new leadership and communication skills that are different than those in the “office” environment.

(No picture . . . because he's always behind the scenes doing stuff!) ;-)

There have been big changes at work this year.  My company was purchased by Humana and we have had organizational changes within my department.  Several people that I have known for many years have left, but the Lord continues to bless me and I continue to feel a sense of fulfillment in this position, so I plan to stay for a while. In addition to technical support management, I also get to learn new skills like digital X-ray product management, and training video production. I enjoy the creative outlet that the video production offers.  HERE is the most recent sample, done for a Christmas Origami competition (which, of course, Emily entered!) That's my voice you'll hear.  I don’t know that I'd want to do that full time, but I’m glad that I do get to do it a bit.

On the home-front this year I learned how to install ceramic tile in our kitchen and back area of our home along with a good friend and my good son.  I have also volunteered my time and skills as photographer and have taken photos of weddings, Jonathan’s prom, missionary photos, Santa photos (like this one of my little girl), and more.  I enjoy that creative outlet as well. Photography has always been an interest of mine.

She's at "that stage" - she asked Santa for a lump of coal! (??)

Mainly my greatest joy comes from just being involved in my kids’ lives and being there as they go through their learning and growing experiences in their young lives. It is fun to laugh, be silly, work, talk, and do things together. Merry Christmas! Ho Ho Ho!

Silly, Silly Boys! The make us laugh . . . . a lot!

Had to brag about my husband - he had these flowers planted in our back yard
so I could have something pretty to look at when walking out to the car after
realizing that I never got to see the pretty flowers in the front yard, since I rarely
go out that way! He loves me! :)

ME (Teri)
What can I say? I keep the family running and functioning (with their help!)  I already miss having all three of our kids under one roof, especially with Jonathan leaving for a mission before long, but I am also excited for this time to spend “girl time” with just Emily, our last little bird in the nest. I am a Visiting Teaching Supervisor at church, and the Communications Chairman for YG (webmaster, You Tube, Facebook [go "Like" it!], Twitter [follow us!], some emails, etc). I also did something out of my comfort zone this year and stretched into an area that has always frightened me - I took on a piano student!!  Ack! (a 1st grade son of dear, sweet neighbors/friends from Church).  I hope I don’t disappoint his parents!  It started out as a trial thing, but has been fun and exciting so we continued.  This little boy (6 yrs old) is a joy to have! He will pause between practicing songs to cuddle with me while sucking his thumb.  TOO CUTE!  It’s hard to not just squeeze him and keep focus on the lesson. I might be brave enough to eventually take on more students.

Between those four things I have more than enough to do!  My sciatica, sacroiliac joint pain, and L4/L5 bulging disc continue to keep me from running wild and free, but I count my blessings as I am grateful I don’t suffer from anything that is much more serious or painful.  The biggest inconvenience is having to live on a day-to-day basis, not ever knowing how my “back” is going to do that day. Atmospheric pressure certainly affects the stiffness I found out, but Advil  and great Essential Oils are my little “helpers” from time to time. Could be a lot worse! (And I’m grateful it’s not!)

I am slowly building up my oil painting supplies so that I can start painting again, and I continue to love music, watching my kids learn and experience new things and succeed at others, and being politically active and trying to reach out and help others learn true American Government and History (as opposed to the revised stuff we all got in schools and colleges!) I also have just signed up this year to help do “Indexing” for the genealogical records of the LDS Church (ANYONE can volunteer throughout the world! Join in, it's easy!), and I hope to get back to doing more active genealogical researching for my family lines this coming year. Life is full and busy, but we are definitely blessed more than we deserve!  And to think it all began 24 years ago this coming February with these two kids below!!

Over the years, you have each touched our lives, and we are thankful for that and count it among our blessings.  We look forward to hearing from each of you each Christmas and LOVE getting your news, photos, and more.  We hope you are healthy and happy in your little corner of the world!

Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas!

(Click on link above:  Dec 2011, Rising Generation Chorus, Jonathan Nine soloist)
and may
The Lord Bless You And Keep You
YG's "Signature Song" at the end of every performance

and our wish for you!