The Yarnell's 2006 Christmas Newsletter
Dear Friends,
Our first trip was to visit our 1st grandchild! Connor John Shifflett, was born on June 8 to Jeanie and Jan in Anchorage, AK. We were able to visit the whole family in early July - when Connor was one month old! Naturally, Jane and her mother think he is just an adorable baby (which he really is!!).
Jimmy and Melissa are expecting there first child, a boy, in February in Santa Cruz, CA. (Jane is sure he will be exceptionally handsome too!!) (The big question is how to visit both in just one plane trip!?!)
Jane’s last day of work was Oct. 3rd – her project ended and they don’t have anything available right now. She is currently collecting unemployment (sort of nice). But, because of the need for medical insurance, if a job is offered she will probably take it (if they pay her enough!?!).
We took a Viking River Cruise in Russia in October. The boat took us North from Moscow on the Moscow Canal, Volga River and several Lakes to St. Petersburg (Photos). We were glad we had brought warm clothing as it was the last cruise for the season and getting cold.
On Halloween, we traveled to visited Meg and Rob in Clarksville, TN and attended Rob’s Change of Command ceremony (Photos) at Fort Campbell, KY. Captain Rob will be commanding about 90 men and Meg will have the duty/opportunity of looking after the families of the men. Meg continues to teach a Special Ed class at a local Middle School.
We drove from the ceremony in Clarksville on to Sun City Center, FL to visit Jane’s mother Marge who will be 92 in Jan. 2007 – fortunately she is in excellent health for her age! Then back to NJ.
We next drove to Napoleon Ohio and spent Thanksgiving visiting with Fred’s mother Marie. Two of Fred’s brothers and families, two of his sisters, brother-in-law and his nephews, Scot, Paul and Dan Yarnell – and their families, were all there for a real family style Thanksgiving dinner.
Jeff has changed jobs and he now works for Merrill Lynch in Hopewell, NJ. He continues to reside locally in Hillsborough, NJ. He has been joining us in the Church choir (much to the choir director’s delight) and will be singing with us in the Christmas Concert.
Fred continues as a part time School bus driver for our township. He is in a Wednesday night tennis group in the winter and was in the MetLife tennis League this summer. He is a season ticket holder for Rutgers basketball and football. This year the football team had their best season in a long time. He ran the annual Labor Day trip to the US Open tennis tournament in New York. Fred is also enjoying being the director for the occasional mini-dramas given during out church service. Fred organized season subscriptions to the Villagers Theater (amateur) at the church and coordinates dinner before the show.
Jane is trying to adjust to staying home with Fred! (I still get to the gym every morning for water aerobics but hate having to come home and do housework! It was much simpler to just go on to work and get paid?!)
We still enjoy the theatre and are season subscribers to both the McCarter Theater (Professional) in Princeton and the Villagers (amateur group), and support productions at our local college. We are members of the Gardeners of Somerset Valley and Fred is in charge of the Web site (http://wegarden.org/) and still enjoy singing in the church choir (actually our choir is so small that when we aren’t there they have to adjust what they sing or they try to get Jeff to sing a solo.!)
We still have our “talking/nagging” cat Zeni and three birds (finches) that we inherited when our neighbors moved. Zeni really “likes” them – I’m not so sure they appreciate his attentions.
We hope this past year has been blessed for you and that 2007 will hold nothing but joy.
May you each find LOVE, HOPE and HAPPINESS in the coming year.
This has been a busy year for us travel wise!
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from Jane and Fred Yarnell!
