In an effort to "keep in touch" better and let friends and family know what we are up to, we have decided to start sending monthly newsletters. We are having a tough time coming up with a fun name for the newsletter (Kati thinks it should be a "w" word, to go with Wharton), so send us your suggestions! Hopefully we will be able to keep doing this monthly! Later (if we get a scanner), we may be able to include pictures. Since this is the first one, we will tell you about January, February and March of 2000.
January
Kati had a Creative Memories class on January 8th, but only a few people came. The ones who did enjoyed themselves anyway, and we each got a few scrapbook pages done.
North Carolina had more snow in January this year than EVER BEFORE! There was a record snowfall in Raleigh of 18" and the airport was closed for days! During this time, we took a trip to Hershey PA (Kati went to Harrisburg for work). We ended up leaving a day late due to the snow, and then we got stuck in PA for an extra day due to another storm that came through! But while we were there, we had a wonderful time. We stayed at the Hotel Hershey (see their website at http://www.800hershey.com/accommodations/hotel/hotel_frame.html) and ate more chocolate than anyone needs in a few days! We went to Chocolate World (http://www.hersheys.com/chocworld/main.html) where we learned how chocolate is made and Kati had a chocolate coke at the Chocolate Town Cafe. John and Missy (John's son and daughter-in-law) brought John-John (the grandson) to Hershey for the day on Saturday and we all enjoyed ourselves at the Hershey Museum and Chocolate World. John-John liked the hotel game room the best though!
February
Since the January Creative Memories class was so small, Kati decided to have another one in February - this one was very successful (a bunch of people came!) and all who attended had fun. Kati now has more scrapbooking supplies than she can use for a while!
Kati took a trip to Florida for a team meeting, since her new boss is in West Palm Beach. She stayed at a hotel right on the beach on Singer Island (http://www.canopypalmsresort.com/ ). Unfortunately, she only got about 1 hour of actual beach time! But she did get an upgrade on the rental car to a 2000 Chrysler Sebring Convertible, so at least she could enjoy the sunshine while driving to the meeting!
We finally put a kitchen floor down! Those of you who have seen our house and know that we have had a wood sub floor for a LONG time will be impressed! Anyway, we did a checkerboard design (black with white flecks, white with black flecks) and it looks fabulous. We put about 1/3 of it down ourselves.
March
We took a trip to Black Mountain NC (to a conference center called Ridgecrest - ( http://www.bssb.com/ridgcrst.htm) for a conference called "Restoration Celebration: 2000 Years of Christianity". The focus of the conference was on restoring the Jewish roots of the Christian faith. We really enjoyed it, learned a lot, and G-d touched us both during the weekend. Kati bought a banner to use during worship, and John spent much of the rest of the month making more just like it. The kids at church have really enjoyed using them!
Kati decided to get braces and went to an orthodontist to get x-rays, etc. Can you imagine? Metal mouth for 2 years! We will definitely have to send a picture of that!
Missy and John-John came to visit for a few days with Missy's friend Lenee and her daughter Peyton. It was fun but tiring having two active 3 year olds in the house! John-John and Peyton both loved the banners and had a blast playing with them in the yard (the weather was much better by then - no more snow!)
Kati is considering getting an MBA from Wake Forest University, so we went to an information session to learn more about the program. Now, all she has to do is pass the GMAT (and fill out all the application paperwork, and get recommendation letters, and...) We will keep you posted as this develops.
John built a computer desk so we finally moved the computer out of the living room! Kati got a laptop and has been able to work from home a couple of days a week, so the desk is really great! And working from home is habit forming....
Finally, Kati got a promotion and a raise and is now a "Project Analyst" with AT&T Wireless. She is really excited about this new opportunity with the national Project Management team.
This newsletter comes to you along with our hopes that G-d will bless you as richly as He continues to bless us. Numbers 6:24-26
