1534 McKercher Drive, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, CANADA, S7H 5E1, 306/373-5165, rogerstr@shaw.ca
Christmas Letter 2006
Each year Christ’s birthday reminds us in a special way of the peace, love, and happiness we can attain by living in his way. Of course we are well aware that we are far from living in his way, but if in addition to the good and tough times we have, we try to reflect on our shortcomings and continually strive we hope to at least avoid some pitfalls and move in the right direction. We are grateful for much peace love and happiness in our family this year and we hope the same is true for you.
Our year has been eventful. Aren’t they all! We started out by deciding to complete upgrades and remodelling to our home. In 2001 we added a high efficiency furnace and water heater. In 2005 we replaced the shingles and all the carpeting. This year we remodelled the kitchen dining area and made use of the no-longer-necessary chimney space. Then we added triple glazed windows throughout, removed the cedar siding and added 2 inches of Styrofoam insulation, house wrap, vinyl siding, soffits, eaves, eaves troughs, and replaced the front door, garden door and garage door. As grandson Mark said, Grandma, I don’t know where you live any more. We feel very special in our ‘new’ home.
In August we held an open house celebration of Tom’s 60th birthday with 91 people attending. Our children arranged a surprise family photo shoot for our whole family and each child’s family at the magnificent UofS Agriculture building (Photo enclosed). Life has its ups and downs for all of us, but this one left Tom beaming. Thank you to all our family and relatives for their help, and to our other relatives, friends and work colleagues for attending.
Our children and their families are all doing well. Shawna continues her Personal Trainer career, John continues at Cameco with new promotions and responsbililty, and their growing children Jonathon 13, Breann 8, and Mark 6 keep parents out of trouble. Jane left Walmart for stewardess work with Transwest Air and a second part time job while Carter continues as the main hand for a local pork producer and son Lane 16months is walking; John Rogers is now Rig Manager for Nabors Drilling and partner Jolene Tarasoff continues studying law and working for her father’s paving company. Vern continues in the armed forces after a 9 month paternity leave and Teresa remains at home in Vermillion Alberta sending us many photos and hooking up by WEBcam. Luke 2 and Matthew 1 are very active and are all over Zeus, their Rottweiler. We continue to enjoy many birthday parties and family dinners both here and, more often these days, at our children’s homes too. Oh ya, we found a 10 foot oak table and chairs to accommodate the growing family.
We had some fun travels, visiting Vern and Teresa at their Slave Lake, Alberta campsite in July, and renting a lakeside cottage on Katepwa lake in the Qu’Appelle valley in August. In September we attended Rose’s niece, Jennifer Wengrowich’s marriage to Roland Mark, in an incredibly beautiful park in Vancouver. We also had wonderful visits with many cousins, family, and friends of both of us throughout the lower mainland, on Vancouver Island, and in Kelowna, Penticton, and Canmore.
October 31 Tom had his inside left knee replaced (a unicompartimental knee replacement), and is still working on getting back to normal. Too bad because Saskatoon had more snow in November than in the past 60 years. Tom ached to be out on his cross country skiis, but did manage a few snow blower sessions. He remains off work, since November 2005, and has decided to officially retire on February 9, 2007.
Rose has been there for everyone including a few friends and her volunteer activities for the whole year. She just finished 2 weeks babysitting for a friend, and a week’s babysitting for John and Shawna while they had a business/vacation trip to Las Vegas. And of course we also get to babysit and see lots of Lane, Luke and Matthew. Now comes Rose’s delight of preparing for and taking part in Christmas activities. Whew!
Loving life together and our ‘new’ home, we offer you also our love and wishes for peace and happiness for the year to come.
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