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December 22, 2008
The Kids
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Stephen, now 21, has just finished his 5th semester at University of Texas-Dallas. He finished with a 3.5 GPA, and is very happy about it. Tired of public transportation, Stephen bought a bike in July so he could quickly get to school. The 6 miles from home to UTD takes him about 30 minutes each way. Stephen has also picked up fencing again after an 18 month hiatus, and is now teaching epee at UTD, as well as doing duties as the club’s armourer. He also participated in school intramurals this past semester, flag football and indoor volleyball. Stephen has found a new sport to follow and play: rugby and he’s learned the game quickly and he’s fast improving. Next spring, Stephen will have a full plate again, with 18 hours worth of classes, the university’s presentation of Euripides’ Lysistrata (a play), fencing, rugby, and intramurals.
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Anne Marie graduated from Bishop Lynch High School, one of the top ten of her class. She worked for her third summer at Hawaiian Falls Waterpark in Garland as a lifeguard supervisor. She has just completed her first semester at the University of Texas at Arlington with a 4.0 GPA. She is living on campus and loves the atmosphere the school offers. She is studying Music Education in hopes of becoming a high school choir director She also hopes to complete a minor in Spanish and teacher certification so that she can teach both music and Spanish. Anne Marie has also pledged to a woman’s professional music fraternity, Sigma Alpha Iota, and will be initiated on February 7th. Next semester, she will also be working as a Teaching Assistant for the chair of the Political Science department at UTA, a significant job opportunity for a freshman.
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Elizabeth is currently in the Bishop Lynch Band playing Tenor Saxophone and Bass Clarinet. She is a senior in high school and likes to play many video games. Usually, she bakes double chocolate cookies for her many friends in band, and the "Boeding Cookies" are well known school-wide. As it is her senior year, Beth has been busy filling out applications for many colleges such as Belmont University, in Tennessee, University of North Texas, University of Texas in Dallas, and other local colleges. Her first choice for a major is Music Performance, and she would someday like to play Bass Clarinet in an orchestra.
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Rachel has now focused her attention on music, though still keeping up with her schoolwork. She is currently a sophomore at Bishop Lynch High School. Her favorite activity is Choir. She sings alto in the A Capella or Advanced Choir and Second Soprano in the Women’s Select Choir, which is an after-school group that requires an audition to be accepted. Her favorite subject at the moment is Mexican History, where she learns all about Texas’ southern neighbors. She is no longer playing volleyball, but wants to help Dad with his club volleyball team.
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Christopher Hard to believe that Christopher is in the seventh grade. He played well in his December basketball tournament and is looking forward to the regular season. The 7th St. Monica Co-ed volleyball team, which he played on, was successful in a sense that the boys hadn’t played organized volleyball (except for Chris). Meanwhile, his academic contest achievements are piling up. Last February, he participated in the MathCounts competition. He had a good time especially since they served pizza for the competitors. Then in March, he won 1st in Math and 1st in Mental Math at the Academic Fair and then 2nd in PSIA District. He went on to PSIA State and won 6th. Right now, he is enjoying Christmas break after a nice semester at St. Monica Catholic School. |
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The Rest of the Family
Nancy is in her 5th year teaching 4th grade at St. Monica's Catholic School in Dallas. She and Chris still get lots of quality time
in the car together, early mornings and late afternoons after meetings and practices. Nancy didn’t get to travel alone this year,
but did enjoy the time in Kentucky in the summer. She has taken on an extra teaching job on Monday nights, with the Faith
Formation department at Good Shepherd. She has a class of First Year RCIA students (ranging in age from 6 to 15), and their
parents. This makes for some interesting lesson plans and discussions, but it is very rewarding to see families interacting in their
faith. Nancy continues to be a source of transportation for the non-drivers, but will definitely miss Beth’s help when she goes off
to school next year.
Steve is doing volleyball pretty much year round. This past fall, he refereed three nights a week, drawing some top big schools and twice officiating the Texas 4A champions from Highland Park. He coached Chris’s Co-Ed team at St. Monica and has his club team getting ready for the Spring season. Still at Blue Cross Blue Shield, his full time job has him doing some Java projects along with the old mainframe computer programming that has kept the family in groceries over the last few decades. A good part of this past summer found Steve in the front yard re-sodding and doing landscape improvements.
Other Happenings
The family still calls Garland, Texas home; that won’t be changing any time soon. With five drivers in the family, our insurance rates have been high but with only one ticket among us and no wrecks (knock on wood), it has been a better transportation year than last year was. We still call Good Shepherd Catholic Church our parish but with activities all around the Dallas area, individual family members have gone to Mass all over the Metroplex. If our Christmas letter seems to change tone and tense randomly, everyone got to contribute their own paragraph this year because the usual author is such a procrastinator.Our Travels
Anne Marie and Rachel were performing with the school choir in New York in March. Beth accompanied the school band to St. Louis in April. In June, Chris and his parents drove up to Kansas City for cousin Tina’s wedding. Anne Marie went on her second mission trip to Honduras in early summer. With the two oldest children working summer jobs, it was only Nancy and the three youngest that traveled to Kentucky in the summer for a week or so. Rachel spent an extra week in Kentucky attending a horse camp and Stephen also spent a week travelling around Lexington.
Christmas
Our Christmas letter barely gets postmarked before Christmas anymore, this year being no exception. Christmas decorations were late going
up too, but the family probably couldn’t get used to less than a frenzied pace. We are fortunate to be able to spend another Christmas with the
whole family together. Everyone will be piling into the van later this week and embarking on that long journey East to spend time with our
extended family in Kentucky. We won’t be able to visit all of our friends and relatives but we will always want to share our lives with them,
even if it's just a letter at Christmas or a casual greeting as we scurry past each other on our always busy days. As we looked through our
Christmas mailing list, we are saddened for the names that won't be receiving mail anymore but are in greater need of our prayers now. So,
as you remember this Christmas, we are thinking of you in our wish that you will have a wonderful and blessed Christmas.