Dear Friends and Family,

 This has been a very eventful year for everyone.  The events of September 11th have touched us all, and will be a permanent part of our lives.  Ron was in Washington, DC during the attack.  Fortunately, he was at a building across town and not at the Pentagon.  Operation Enduring Freedom, the war in Afghanistan, has also impacted our family.  Ron's retirement from the US Air Force has been suspended.  We had been planning for him to start his new career just after the first of the year.  Now, we don't really know when he will be retiring.  We do anticipate he will retire sometime next year.

 Life had other surprises for us this year.  Some good.  Some bad.  Another sad event was the loss of Debi's cat, Chata.  She died suddenly, apparently of a heart attack.  Debi got up to go to work on Saturday and found Chata dead in the bathroom.  You can never replace a beloved pet, but a few months later Sable came into our lives.  She is a 6-month old Siamese kitten and full of energy.  She loves to play and chases Candi's cat, Jasmine, around the house.  We keep Sable in our room at night to keep things peaceful.

 Debi has been very busy this year working as many as three jobs at one time.  She took another retail merchandising job with Crossmark, which was similar to the work she did for Bonne Bell cosmetics.  She has now dropped both of those jobs because she was promoted to supervisor at Hancock Fabrics and is spending more time there.  The merchandising jobs paid well, but there was a lot of driving.

 We added a new room to the house in part of the unfinished upstairs area.  That room is now Ron's office.  He did all the work himself, including a built-in computer desk.  The room looks very nice, but he still has a lot of trim work to do.  Once Ron moved out of Debi's sewing room, we refinished it with new paint and border paper.  Debi got a new computer controlled sewing machine that also does embroidery.  With the need to put her computer with the sewing machine, Ron went back to the woodshop and built a custom sewing center.  It's an L shaped work surface with the computer in the corner, the sewing machine of the right sidearm, and the serger on the left sidearm.  We still have a bit more work to do on her sewing room, but Debi has lots of plans for how to use all the additional workspace.

 Be careful if you are driving in south central Tennessee.  There's a new driver on the road.  Candi turned 15 in August and got her learner's permit the next day.  She does a pretty good job, except in reverse.  We have a very long and wide driveway.  Somehow, she manages to use all of it and still backs through the two small gardens on either side of the entry.  She's really likes Debi's new car, a bright red Pontiac Grand Am.  Candi really wants an old red truck, but she wouldn't hesitate to take Debi's car.  She put a car on her Christmas list, but she knows she'll have to wait at least a year.

 Candi is very active in the church and at school.  She is taking all honors courses and made the honor roll.  Candi participates in a lot of school activities and is proud to be a Pumpkinhead Princess.  She also has a boyfriend named Travis.  Travis is a year older and just got a new Ford Mustang.  He seems to be a very responsible young man and works at a local grocery store.  We see a lot of Travis, and he usually dines with us on Thursday nights.  That's his night off from the grocery store.  Candi has been selected to represent Fayetteville at the Miss Teen Tennessee competition to select a state representative to the Miss Teen America Pageant.

 Aaron came to visit us briefly this summer.  He is still living with his Grandparents in San Antonio and is working as a plumber's assistant.  Aaron brought his 'significant other' out to meet the family.  Her name is Christina, and she is a very charming and lovely young lady.  They have been going together for just over one year and recently celebrated by attending a concert of Mozart's Requiem.  Looks like Christina is bringing a little culture into Aaron's life.

 Ron is still working on his family genealogy project.  His database currently contains over 4000 names.  Ron posted his information on the Internet hoping to find other family members who had additional information and corrections.  He was soon rewarded with an email from Kathy Henson, a third cousin once removed.  Kathy provided a lot of information.  I had an opportunity to have dinner with Kathy and her husband Jim on one of my trips to Atlanta.  We had a lovely evening together.  I really enjoyed my time with them.  Kathy also introduced me to Jack Parnelle, who was doing some research on the Black family of South Carolina.  Although we haven't met Jack in person, he did provide a lot more information for Ron's database.  Jack also put Ron in contact with Erline Williams, another distant relation.  Ron and Erline are related through Ron's 4th Great Grandfather, John Alexander Black.  Erline still lives in Blackville, named for John Alexander.  We got a chance to visit with her during our vacation this year.  Erline has been collecting information on the Black family for many years and has given Ron a lot more data to add.

 While we were on vacation in South Carolina, we stopped by Dillon, which is named for Ron's 3rd Great Grand Uncle, James W. Dillon.  The highlight of the stop was the Dillon House that has been preserved by the local historical society.  In addition to touring the house, Ron collected a lot of data on his family.  Ron repaid their kindness by providing a report on James sister, Martha, who married John Proctor, Ron's 3rd Great Grandfather.

 This year we will be spending Christmas with Ron's parents in Florida.  It's been 16 years since Ron has celebrated Christmas in Florida.  Debi's parents came to spend Thanksgiving with us in Tennessee.  We enjoyed their visit and even treated them to a tornado.  The storm cell that killed three people in Mississippi and tore up northern Alabama passed just south of the Lincoln County Airport.  Of course, our house is only about three miles southeast of the airport!  We didn't have any significant damage here.  Ron's new flag got a little frayed on one corner, but the new flagpole withstood the weather just fine.

 Well, that's our update for another year.  Hope all is well with you.  If you ever find yourself in south central Tennessee, be sure to look us up.  We'd love to have you stop by for a visit.  We wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!