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| Favorite pic of 2022 |
For months Diane has been re-cluttering and feeling guilty about it, but now she breathes a sigh of relief. Her favorite re-clutter item is a metal tabletop abstract tree on which to hang her (grandmother-Hazel-made) 55-year-old felt Christmas ornaments and throughout the year switch out with varied seasonal ornaments. Maybe over the holidays you will discover treasured, meaningful items to re-clutter many of your homes and bring joy.
A local weekday TV talk show from which Diane receives daily gossip plus city and world news is Good Day Philly. Jeff's workplace, American Bible Society (ABS), is located directly across the street from the studio (see him through the window of the set?) Jeff continues to enjoy the challenge of full-time work and is grateful to receive a recent promotion. Riding the train to downtown Philly 3 days a week is a part of the challenge because trains do not wait! and the trips create 11-hour workdays (dawn to dusk winter days). So happily, in 2023, the number of days working in Philly will be reduced to just 2 days a week; he will work from home the other 3 days.
Recreational visits to Philly continue, and we will post more photos than our Facebook friends probably prefer. The city's energy, historic feel, and delicious fat-filled Miller's Amish ice cream draw us again and again. Sometimes friends, neighbors, and "Joe on the Go" are found (or phound) in our Philly photos.
Birthday visits with our children and grands are highlights of the year. Our bonus-daughter (our son’s wife) is a Cubs fan. To give respect and provide our grands and all 9 of us a professional baseball watching experience, in late-June we held tickets for a 9-inning Cubs game played at Wrigley Field to celebrate middle grand's 9th birthday. Some traveled in the family van, and adventurous ones dared to ride a Chicago L-train crowded with energized Cubbies fans. Random pop quizzes for the grands between a few innings and two Cubby homeruns with a win combined for exciting birthday memories. And the next day, it was great to have Diane's city and suburbs siblings gather for convos, picture-taking, snacking, and playing a sisters-3 +1 card game at our pseudo-reunion.
Playing the trumpet and the flute; participating in basketball, cross-country and tumbling and swimming; and pierced ears. We'll let you guess which activities pertain to which grand. Zoom calls, Vimeo, and Facetime help us to be a part of recitals and other grand activities from states away. And then there are the spontaneous Marco Polo videos. Our son received a recent promotion at AAA and his wife is working on her master's degree. Our daughter is busy managing her family and juggling a part-time job; her husband continues to work for the AMA.
Diane has written short stories for our grands, with tales of their vacations and each of their births. Fun times chronicled are meaningful memories, (more for the writer than anyone else!)... even better than pictures. She wonders if the writing process can be seen as re-cluttering, because she prints some of the writings to "download" hardcopies to a binder. That is organized re-cluttering, right?
Research and writing. Too many hours were spent learning family history. It is a different type of research that involved re-organizing and documenting early memories to help declutter and organize her childhood and also the mind. It is history that has been unearthed and is happily being laid to rest.
Most intriguing has been learning and writing about the 8 key Jewish holidays in Leviticus 23. At year end, Diane has now officially blogged her tiny grasp of each holiday, including the integral part detective Jeff played in our neighbor's recent 2-week-long drama. Her wedding ring diamond was lost during the fall Jewish holidays, and it helped to inspire a "God wink" story that weaves in brief mentions of the 4 fall holidays, including a fun full moon twist, titled: Timing is Everything
We are grateful for health that allows us to continue lengthy and interesting walks with visiting friends and trips to the beach as well. Tiger Woods and Diane are kindred spirits. Not in age or the love of golf, but they both have the foot condition Plantar Fasciitis. Diane's therapy includes wearing foot sleeves, sometimes shorter walks, and no Mount Everest hikes. We still enjoy watching reality TV and anticipate the next season of Survivor, and we travel vicariously through watching The Amazing Race. Dream Horse is a favorite movie of the year.
Best of all, and most of all, we worship our Savior. Our church services continue to be joined on-line and the same venue is used for leading our small group. This Christmas time of year is most meaningful, with lights everywhere to remind us that He is the saving, redeeming, restoring light in a crazy world. He brings meaning, purpose, and hope.
We miss our long-distance phamily and phriends, but we keep updated with Phacebook and Phacebook Messenger video calls. We can't all be under the same roof, but phortunately, at least we're all under the same moon! Much LOVE and a Merry Meaningful Christmas to you all and Happy New Year.
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| Memorable neighbor times |
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| Fun friend times |
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| Joseph from the Bible's New Testament a/k/a Joe on the Go photo'd December 2022 with American Bible Society's Hanukkiah display Joe joins us on trips to Philly, etc. |
