Happy Thanksgiving in Florida

Can you believe Thanksgiving came and went so fast? I can't. I flew down to Florida on Wednesday Night and arrive Thursday morning just after midnight! I had a nice time visiting with the family. We missed Tim, of course, who was conducting the Rochester Band at America's Thanksgiving Parade in Detroit. The parade was syndicated - so we were able to see Tim on TV! Better than not at all! Pete made a FANTASTIC TURKEY - you might even say it was one for the record books. We ate a lot of lovely meals, spent time together, and even managed to squeeze in one board game of Sorry! Mom won, Pete came in second, Dad third, and I proudly took last place. It actually was a pretty good battle.

I am thankful this year for many many many people, events, and new adventures. What are you thankful for?

Tracy

(ps. just a note of interest - this is the 100th post!)

Mom's New Blog

Hey Everyone - come visit Emily at her new blog. She'll keep posting here too - but you'll get to see her latest and greatest creations at her new site. Click HERE to link on over.
Tracy

A little behind on my posts!

Hi Everyone - I am a little behind on posting! Here are a few things you have to look forward to . . .

1. Update on Live From Detroit
2. November Birthdays
3. Thanksgiving
4. Wedding Bells

Love you all - Tracy

Peter and Emily are getting married

Hello Family

Peter and Emily have set a date so please mark your calendars for January 26, 2008. They will be married in Emily’s hometown, Carmel Indiana. We will be sending out hotel information with the invitations. We hope you all will be able to attend.

Tim will be Peter’s best man and Tracy will be a bridesmaid. We are all looking forward to the big event. Paul and I will host the rehearsal/out-of-town guests dinner the Friday evening before.

We will keep everyone up to date on the information many of the plans are just being finished. We are thrilled to add Emily to our family and really look forward to all of you meeting her too. Hope you all will consider coming on down.

Peter and Emily have been dating for ten months. Peter brought her home for us to meet this summer and we had a great time getting to know her. Emily graduated from Purdue and this May received her masters in Speech Language Pathology from Rush University in Illinois. She is currently working at Special Education Department of Lake County near Chicago. She is working with Autistic children right now.

We are all looking forward to seeing everyone for Christmas. So take care and we will see you soon.

Love

Emily

Live From Detroit - A success!

The Live recording of our new worship songs was a big success in many ways. All of the preparation brought our team closer together. We had the chance to collaborate and develop new friendships as well as working partnerships. We rehearsed Thursday night from 6:30 pm until 2 am Friday morning. We each had a couple of good takes that night just in case there were problems on Friday. On Friday evening we gathered together for dinner and then the event began. Around 150 people came which we thought was pretty good for the 1st event - especially being a Friday night! The music was very well received and we pray that it was a sweet offering to God.

Our production company is mixing and mastering the cd right now - I hope to have copies by Christmas!

Happy Birthday Winter

I hope and pray that God fills you with many blessings this year.

Live In Detroit . . . a worship cd

I just wanted to let you all know that I will be taking part in a live recording called "Live in Detroit". The event is taking place on November 16th at Grace Church in Detroit. The worship leaders from Genesis , including myself, have been writing worship music for the event. We are all really excited at the chance to record it live! I can't wait to share the cd with you.

Love, Tracy

http://www.genesisthechurch.org/

Yes a Yurt

(yoort') –noun
a tentlike dwelling of the Mongol and Turkic peoples of central Asia, consisting of a cylindrical wall of poles in a lattice arrangement with a conical roof of poles, both covered by felt or skins.

My small group took an adventure up and over to the Pinery in Ontario, Canada for 3 days and two nights. It was a chilly weekend with brisk winds. We enjoyed hiking the Nipissing and Pine Trails. We watched the sunset over Lake Huron and even got our feet wet. We cooked on the fire and the camp stove until we were pleasantly full! We ate s'mores and laughed a whole lot. And most excitedly - we slept in a heated yurt. It had a vinyl outer covering and had a 'charmin-like' inner fabric. We were able to nestle in each night under its protection from the wind and cold. I can't wait to go again!

Enjoy the photos - if you are lookin' for me - I'm not pictured in these!

Family Sweet Family

I was just thinking back to a couple of weekends ago when Mom and Dad came to visit. My dear Mom is such a blessing - she helped me with laundry (she is now officially called the laundry fairy) and with getting my house back in order. It was a real blessing to me since this semester has been especially hectic. The new contract at school has given me an extra class, half of my prep time, and 180 students. It is a bit overwhelming - so Mom's help is just so appreciated.

Dad rearranged his worldwide travel just to be with us. He brings so much laughter to my home - it is precious to me. He and Tim fixed the railing to the bungalow (which had never apprently been screwed into the studs - duh!). I had been fretting over it for weeks and they fixed it in just a couple of hours. How amazing!

On the Friday evening we went to Tim's homecoming game where he was conducting the band. He is a master at what he does - coordinating hundreds of kids, cheerleaders, and activities all at once. You can see how much he enjoys the whole process - his smile is always ear-to-ear when they are "making music" and he is waving that wand!

Here are a few photos from our time together.

Fall has arrived!

Yesterday morning when I went to the Royal Oak Farmer's Market to pick up veggies, fruits, eggs, and organic meats I realize that Fall has arrived. I love it - no more scorching hot days - wearing jackets - eating cake doughtnuts and swishing them down with Apple Cider - brisk winds - Autumn leaves - and the beckoning of winter.

Primetime Seats at the Tigers Game

Wow - What an awesome time I had at the Tiger's Game this past Saturday. My friend Deedee had us sitting a just a couple dozens back behind homeplate. They were perfect primtime seats. We enjoyed the game (they lost - boo hoo) and the fireworks afterward. We each had a hot dog (ball park of course) and peanuts to get the full experience. What fun!!

And More Photos from a truly fantastic trip!

A shocking jelly fish. Dad and I went a picked up coffee from Starbucks and the golf cart. And a farewell photo! Love you Mom and Dad!

More Photos from a truly fantastic trip!

Mom and Deedee at the Coca Cola Factory - I love the colors. This bottle of Coke was manufactured in Marquette, Michigan. A vibrant school of fish - and Carrie's FAVORITE sea creature: the Weedy Dragon cost's $65,000 to maintain a year because of it's diet of Australian Shrimp!

A truly fantastic trip!

We had a truly fantastic trip - better than I could have imagined! We laughed - and had so much fun. The first day I tried getting some close-up pictures of the deer. I love the one I captured below. Deedee, Mom, and I took a rest stop at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial and a nice gentleman took our photo. Doesn't Mom look just soooo beautiful in this black and white photo - beautiful inside and out! And Carrie took on that Segway like a pro - she smiled the entire time! I am so thankful for the time that Mom and Dad provided for us girls in Atlanta. We can't wait to come again. Love, Tracy

September Harvest

It's been a wonderful September Tomato Harvest. We have been making sauce like crazy!

Tracy and Friends come to visit!

Tracy on the Segway. Her first try!

Hello Everyone

This has been a very busy last two weeks. Tracy, Carrie, and Deedee came to visit for four days and we had a lot of fun! We went on the Segway tour of Atlanta and really enjoyed the city. We then went to the World of Coke Cola. It poured buckets of rain on the walk back to the car but we had a wonderful day and did not mind. The tasting was wonderful and the girls had a blast. The next day we went to Georgia Aquarium, Harry's market (where Alton Brown shops for food) and the Patagonia store in Buckhead. A full day but really good. We got home and the girls cooked dinner from all the goodies we got there. You should visit the Aquarium site because they have live web cams of several of the large fishes.

Here we are in front of the World of Coke. What fun!

Carrie and Deedee Love Love Love their Coke!

The other good news is that I passed my Social Work test. I have not wanted to take it for fear of not passing but with God's help and a lot of family and friends praying and a really lot of studying I passed with a 76% just what I asked God for. So I am now an official Social Work and can look for a part time job. I would like to work in at the Hospice here in Peachtree City. Then I could use my cart to visit homes in the area. That would be ideal! But I will wait to see what God has in mind for me.

We did hear some very sad news that Ken's Father had died. We are so sadden to hear this and want Ken to know we love him and hope he will have a calm journey through his grieving time. Love you Ken and Carol.

Well that is about all from the Nadeau's house in GA. The weather is wonderful we are in the low 80 or middle 70s in the day and at night it is in the low 70s high 60 just perfect! I hope you think about visiting this is the nice time of the year. take care of each other

Emily

Walking with the Dinosaurs

Hello

Well I rented my friend’s grandson and went to see “Walking with the Dinosaurs”! It was great. The puppets and Robots are so real looking and the program was educational, fun and sometimes scary. Cameron (who is five years old) was a lot of fun to take and his grandma Allison is always great to be with. We had a great time making sure that God got into the creation story being told. We ate at “The Varsity” which is the oldest and most famous drive thru restaurant in Atlanta. They have a lot of fried food and malts. I thought I was back in Happy Days TV show. I had hot wings, orange malt drink and what they call fry pies peach. I think it is a once in a life time experience. Not because you can’t go back but because you want it to be! I hope you enjoy the pictures. I took them with my phone but I think they came out really good.

Joy you should take the boys if you get a chance to see this. THEY WILL LOVE IT. The average age was about 10 but I think the parent enjoyed it as much if not more.

Take care
Love
Emily

Long Over Due

Oh just a couple of long over due events that I wanted to tell you about.



In August I went to Family Camp with my church. I lead the worship services - we had a lot of fun. There were tons of kids around and I really enjoyed spending time with them!








This past weekend Tim, Carrie, Kathy, and I went to the Arts, Eats, and Beats Festival in Pontiac. Our friend, Olivia, from church, gave us a ton of tickets and we were really thankful. We were even able to bring home left overs for lunch this week. This was a huge blessing to us since it is the first week of school and we all feel as if we have been run over by a train or two.








School started on the fourth - I have been exhausted and so are the rest of the teachers living at my house. We are just pooped!

'Twas the Night Before School

Oh yes - it has come again - I have tried to resist - stomp my feet - cry - look the other way - and flat out refuse to recognize that my last day of freedom has passed me by. I must officially report tomorrow! Sure, I have have been to school many days preparing in advance - but that was on my terms - now I have no choice - the youngsters await!

Wishing everyone a great start to the new year.

Love, Tracy

Moving Tim's Stuff

What an adventure we had moving Tim's stuff yesterday from Lansing to Royal Oak!

Background: Tim needed to move his stuff out of his storage facility before the end of August.

Problems:

1. No truck,

2. no time,

3. no money,

4. no where to put the stuff,

5. Wrong size trailer hitch and a rusted-shut pin!

6. Torrential Rain

7. 90 degree plus weather

Solutions:
1. Genesis the Church lent us their crazy Dodge Ram (I think it actually had been rammed a few times)

2. We made time

3. UHaul trailers cost a lot less than their moving vans - sweat equity is cheap!

4. Our friend Alli has an empty basement

5. Leverage is beautiful - we managed to bypass the lock and actually remove the wrong size ball and replace it with the right size using various instruments/bars/hammer/wrenches from tracysbluehouse garage!

6. We got wet - very wet

7. We were hot - very hot

Tim: "Hmm - rain was not in my plan"

"Two girls and a boy are going to move all of this stuff in this truck and a uhaul - in the rain?"

"I wish my sister would stop looking back and saying 'good news the trailer is still attached' and 'Tim - I think I heard a noise' and 'Tim - don't the tires look like they are about to explode'"

"All the furniture in the back of the truck"

"Ta-da - we're hot and hungry - but the stuff is all in the truck"

Tracy: "Hey Tim - doesn't that tire look like it's bulging?"

A few hours later . . . we drove from Lansing to Royal Oak (55 mph!) to Alli's house!

There are exactly 10 stairs from the first floor to the basement. We didn't trip once!

But alas - the stuff has found it's home - at least temporarily!