the first FIVE & back to South Africa

Hello Family,
I hope you are all well. (I'd love to hear about it on the blog - hint-hint).

Today was my third weigh-in at Weight Watchers - I have lost 5.2# so far. It's just a start - but it is definitely a start in the right direction. I am still in the running for the biggest loser - although - the guys are really beating the girls right now by a long shot. This week I am going to try to drink more water and increase my exercise. Please be praying that I have the strength to stick-to-it!!

The plans for South Africa are starting to come along. My friend Sarah and I are the trip leaders along with the Dr. Sharon Tice our medical director. We can't wait to get back. We are still looking for 3 more medical practitioners. Our team will be finalized on February 19th. We have people from many different churches which I think is very exciting. We update our prayer requests each month on the blog called live from south africa - check it out!

It finally snowed enough this past week - big beautiful snowflakes. Just enough to do a couple round with the shovel. Do you all have snow right now?

Can't wait to hear from you all.
Much Love, Tracy

See and hear Tim in action!

Mark your calendar:
Tuesday, February 6, 2007 - 7:30pm est
Michigan State University Wind Symphony
Timothy Nadeau, guest conductor

You are all invited to watch the *live* webcast of the concert at:
banddirector.com
Click on the link that says, "MSU Bands - February 6, 2007"

I open the concert conducting Frank Ticheli's Pacific Fanfare.
(see here for information about the piece: program notes, setup, etc)

This will be a great opportunity for you to see me in action. Wish me luck.

Tim
nadeauti at msu dot edu

Plymouth Ice Show

Howdy Family,
How are you all doing! Today I went to the ice show in Plymouth - it was pretty neat. The college competition was going on while I was there. They all did some really creative ice sculptures: a skeleton of a Brontosaurus, a frog surrounded by fish jumping out of a still pool of water (splashing water included), Charlotte's web and many more!

Hope to hear from you all soon.
Love, Tracy

hello from florida

Hello Everyone
We have been having a wonderful time in florida. The Pawlicks are great friends. We have been walking the beach and enjoying each others company. It has been very windy and the waves are high and have rip tides. But they bring wonderful shells to the beach.

We go home tomorrow but tonight we had dinner at home and Yvonne and Dick joined us. We had homemade turkey ravoli and whole baked red snapper. We encrusted it with salt to cook. It was great but we had to use a hammer to brake the crust off to serve. Everyone had a geat time together. Take care and hope to hear how you are doing

Emily

Quick Hello!

Just a quick hello!

• My Dad was in town this week for the North American Auto Show. We were able to spend some time visiting together last night - I really enjoy our time together! Dad said that there are some really cool new cars!
• Pete is still in the process of buying his new condominium on Canal Street in Chicago. He is really excited.
• Tim is hopefully going to come into Royal Oak this weekend and spend some time visiting.
• Mom is in Florida - when I called her today she was visiting with her sister (Aunt Yvonne). She is getting ready for our friends the Pawlicks to come on down and visit. Dad is flying out of Detroit tonight into Ft. Lauderdale. I know that mom and dad can't wait to see each other!!
• I'm busy with school - final exams are just around the corner. I have been doing pretty well of weight watchers this week. I eagerly anticipate my first weigh in. I'll let you all know how it goes.

I am hoping that you are all well. Can't wait to see what is happening on your side of life!

Up at 4:30

Hello everyone!
This morning I woke up at 4:30 so now I'm up and trying to be productive. I think I'm worried about my 3 guys. All of them are sick with colds. Adam and Isaac are over the worst of it, but Ryan is still feeling lousy. This weekend was his company Christmas party and unfortunately he was too sick to go. The boys spent the weekend with Grandma Carol and had a wonderful time. We met Ken and Carol in Green Bay Friday night for dinner and the kids went home with them and played, played and played. Carol, you were right -- that was some dirty laundry! :)The weather has been so mild the boys were able to spend lots of time outside. I used the quiet time to take down the Christmas decorations and get a bulletin board ready for school. Hope everyone else is healthy! Miss you all!
Love, Joy

Winning at Losing!

Hello Family - It's January again - time to begin the Battle of the Bulge. When I returned home from the U.P. I received an interesting e-mail from my friend Shannon. She asked if I would be interested in participating in a "Biggest Loser" contest - just like the show on T.V. Twelve people joined up and now are battling to lose weight. Every couple of weeks our % weight loss will be tabulated and the person with the smallest percent will be eliminated. Sometime in June, when there are two contestants remaining, the person with the greatest % weight loss of the eliminated contestant will return to battle against the two remaining contestants. In the end, the person with the greatest loss will receive 75% of the entrance fees we all paid, the second place winner will receive 15%, and the third place winner will receive 10%. Pretty cool - even if I don't win I will at least have lost some weight! So I rejoined Weight Watchers today and even at the end of the day of being "back on the program" I am feeling pretty optimistic. I wonder how many points one of Grandma's 7-layer bars are?!!!

On a side note I went and say "Freedom Writers" at the movie theater and I would recommend that everyone see it - it is a great 'true' story.

I hope you are all doing well. I look forward to reading your posts.
Love, Tracy

the weather is beautiful here

Hello Everyone
Paul and I are doing great in GA. The weather has been just beautiful. It was in the low 70's today. We had dinner with the doors to the screen room open. While we were eating. Five deer came to eat our corn. That is the most deer at one time I have seen in our back yard. They sure do love that corn. They love it as much as Ruby loves Romaine lettuce I think.

I have been busy taking down Christmas. I really only have two rooms left to take care of tomorrow. It feels good to put it all up and it feels really good to take it all down!

Paul leaves for Detroit tomorrow. He will be there for the Car Show until Thursday and then he will fly to Florida for the weekend with me. I will drive down on Thursday after my bible study to meet him. Our friends from Michigan Karen and Bill Pawlick are flying down to be with us. This will be the first time they will visit us in Florida. I am looking forward to it. I am also looking forward to seeing Yvonne and Dick as I have not seem them since Thanksgiving. Sure did miss them at Christmas.

Well take care y'all, I will check in again soon. I look forward to hear about all of you!

Love
EM