December 8, 2005

Dear Family and Friends,

It's been a good year for all of us, if you take away the days we spent preparing for storms, putting things back to normal after storms and storm cleanup! Despite being involved in 2 tropical storms and 2 hurricanes we suffered no real damage. The high waters from Hurricane Katrina lapped at our back steps (so the girls tell us) but didn't come in. Jeff and I were escorting Jacob to college in New York City so we missed the actual storm. By the time we got home power had been restored. The floodwaters raised some posts on our walkway but we were able to get it leveled out pretty well a few weeks later. Hurricane Dennis actually helped us out. Jeff had been worrying about a pine tree in the lot next to us. Dennis blew it down in the opposite direction from our house. During Dennis, we evacuated to Atlanta, as it seemed that it was going to make a path right up Mobile Bay, which would have been devastating to our area. In the last few hours it moved considerably farther east, putting us on the good side of the storm and all we had was tree debris to deal with when we got home. Katrina was far enough away that it was safe for everyone else to stay home. While Hattiesburg remained without power, our niece Sarah and her boyfriend Brandon came and spent several days with us.

The kids continued along in most of the same activities they've done for years. Gymnastics ended in November, possibly just temporarily, due to scheduling problems.

Virginia is now in 7th grade. Rather than instrumental music, she has chosen to take voice. This is her second year and she is also singing in the local children's choir, Jubilee Children's Chorus. She told us just this week that she's reconsidering joining band next school year when the current band director retires. She's also done well with grades so far this year.

Cecily is a junior and continues to do very well in school. She's having a bit tougher time this semester with physics, AP English and Algebra 3. Not tough enough to study on a daily basis, but she does have to bring some material home now! Marching band has been very busy this year. Right after Christmas, they're going to the Fiesta Bowl to participate in a marching tournament and the parade. They'll see the Grand Canyon and a couple of other tourist spots while there. Between this event and the football team getting into the playoffs for the first time in a long time, the marching band continues to practice, when they would have normally been done a month ago.

Cecily is in the Mobile Symphony Youth Orchestra again after a 1 year absence. Last year she made 2nd oboe in All State band and alternate (3rd) in All State Orchestra. She did well enough at the district piano audition last spring that she went on to the state audition (each of the kids made it this far at least once in the last 3 years). On top of all this, she's working part time at Lambert's Cafe. This summer, she worked full time when she was not out of town. Since school resumed, she's only working 1 or 2 shifts most weeks.Jacob graduated in May and is now at New York University majoring in physics. He was in the top 5 of his class (there were 5 with 4.0 GPAs, but the valedictorian and salutatorian had higher grades on a 100 point scale), was a National Merit Finalist, a Presidential Scholar semifinalist (one of 9 in AL) and an AP National Scholar (he took 8 AP tests!). He was first chair bassoon in All State Band, All State Orchestra and at Honors Chamber Winds (at FSU). The award he seemed most proud of, however, was being the MVP in Scholar's Bowl for 4 years in a row.

Choosing a college was difficult. He really wanted to go to Columbia University, but they don't offer any scholarships, only financial aid, which he doesn't qualify for. We were not willing to pay what it would cost. He was admitted to every school he applied to (Alabama, Cal Tech, Columbia, Duke, and NYU), except for getting wait-listed at MIT. Alabama offered him an everything-included scholarship, but he just couldn't get excited about going there. In April he learned that he was awarded the biggest academic scholarship that NYU offers which covers over half the total cost and that helped him make a decision to attend there. Although he's majoring in physics, he's playing in the orchestra, the wind ensemble and a quintet, not to mention an experimental opera this month. Even at a school with 40,000 students, they need good bassoonists! He seems to be enjoying the total experience very much. They had their first snow this past weekend.

Like the kids, Jeff and I have continued the same activities we've been involved in since shortly after moving here. We do water monitoring for Wolf Bay Water Watch, we both play in the Baldwin Pops Band, Jeff plays regularly in 2 different jazz bands plus we're being hired more often for church and dance jobs. We have numerous responsibilities both at church and with the high school band boosters.

We took a family ski vacation to Park City, UT in late March and had ideal skiing conditions. This might have been our last family ski trip since it's not likely we'll all have time off together from now on. We're not planning a ski trip this year. Instead, we have a BVI sailing cruise planned for June. Our family will be traveling along with Jeff's twin brother Tim's family. One of our outdoor cats, Midnight, died after a short illness (congestive heart failure and collapsed lung) in July. She spent the last week of her life indoors getting lots of attention which see really seemed to enjoy.

Mama (Dolores) asked me to pass along her greetings to all family members. She's not planning to mail out cards this year. Her health is fine and she got her first ever brand new car in April - a Toyota Camry. She got a major shock when her younger brother John died of a sudden heart attack in August. We attended his funeral in Hattiesburg. It's hard to not smile when thinking about him. To his nieces and nephews, at least, he was a funny man.

Lawrence's family visited here for Thanksgiving although we all went to Mobile for dinner. We were all thankful for the wonderful weather as it allowed about half of the 28 people to eat out on the patio. I'm not sure what we'd have done if it had been bad weather! We're staying home for Christmas and aren't aware of any company coming. Jacob will be home for 9 days, during which time Cecily will be gone on her band trip for 5 days. The day after Jacob returns to New York, he leaves again for a week in Florence, Italy as part of his scholarship program.