News From Debbie

Hi Everyone,

I finally figured out how to get on the new blogger so here I am.

I am enjoying our 2nd snow day of the week today, we also had Monday off. We have made up for the lack of snow we had earlier. Now we have sooooooooo much.

Mom and Dad are enjoying the chocolates that you sent them Paul and Emily. Mom is doing well after her procedure.

Dad fell the other day and cut his cheek and his ear. He is ok though. He can be stubborn and thinks that he can do everything he used to do. He keeps us all hopping. Thank goodness Bob can be there for them.

Addy and Faith have been sick but are getting better now. Faith is so cute and crawling around.

Lindsey is on Spring Break but it doesn't seem to spring like here.

Winter is doing well and we enjoy her Sunday visits.

Pete is working 12 hr. shifts so I don't see too much of him. He will be glad when the major is over.

Hope everyone is doing well! Love from Debbie

Happy Birthday Aunt Carol!

I hope it was a wonderful day!! Full of fun, family, and celebration.May God watch over you another year - keep you safe - and bless you tremendously.. I am thankful that God made you who you are and that He calls you His own!

Love, Tracy

#53 Marvin's Marvelous Mechanical Museum

Hi All - Last night I headed out with friends to Marvin's Marvelous Mechanical Museum. It is #53 on the 100 things every Detroiter must do and see! We have been slowly going to each of the places (not in order). We had a great time. It's like going to an arcade and circus and the same time. I know that Isaac and Adam would have a blast!!

I better run - we had an ice storm last night and it is going to take me a while to get to church! Have a wonderful day. Tracy

Grandma is a CHAMP!

Hello All - Isn't Grandma a Champ! I couldn't believe it when I called her house the day of the surgery and she answered the phone. She was very chipper and was able to tell me all about her day. Grandma - you are still in my prayers for a continued speedy recovery.
Love, Tracy

Happy Weekend

Hello Family - I hope you are all well. I've been thinking of Grandma as she gets ready for her upcoming surgery. I am so glad that there is something the doctors can do to help her with the pains she has in her legs.

This weekend Mom and Dad are visiting Pete in Chicago. When I called them earlier they were on their way to IKEA. I wonder if they found anything!

Last night and this morning I went to a Beth Moore Conference. It was a great message on our friendships with man and with God. Beth is a very honest and humble speaker who gives it everything she's got. I got a lot out of the conference. I would encourage everyone to go see her if you have the chance. The worship leader for the weekend was Travis Cottrell. My two favorite songs his team lead were "Lord, You are Holy" and "Revelation Song". You can visit his website and click on the music tab to listen to the songs. Most of his music isn't necessarily my style - but I really do love the words to his songs.

I hope you are all enjoying family, friends, and rest this weekend.

I love you. Tracy

Adding Labels

Hi Everyone - Did you know that when you write your posts that you can add a label. A label is just a way to categorize our posts and keep them organized. I have already started adding labels to old posts. You can choose a label that already exists or create a new one. All you have to do is type in the label just below the compose box. If you want to see the list of labels that already exists click on show all in the bottom right hand corner. You can select more than one label. I am going to label this blog as "using blogger". Give it a try the next time you write a post. Please let me know if you have any questions.
Tracy

Snow Day!

I can't believe it - another day off of school. I spent and hour shoveling last night and 2 hours this morning. I think that might count as some activity points for weight watchers!

Tracy

Happy Valentine's Day!

Hello everyone!
The boys are very excited about their Valentine's Day celebrations at school today. Candy, treats and cards from friends -- and their favorite girls : ). Isaac had a fever last night and was worried he wouldn't be able to go to school today, but woke up feeling fine and couldn't wait to go. Ryan had a gift bag full of goodies for me set out this morning. The best thing was season 1 DVDs of the show Boston Legal. He's watched it from the start but I just started watching it this season and love it! I'm not one to sit and watch dramas or sitcoms but each week we enjoy watching this together and look forward to it each week. The funniest part was last night when we sat down to watch it and the theme song started I said in a very goofy mood "This music just brings joy to me heart!" and I danced along with it, not knowing I'd get a whole season's worth today! Ryan and I had a good long laugh about that this morning -- the boys thought we were nuts.
I hope everyone has a wonderful day full of love from friends and family! We love all of you!
Joy and the Carlson men

It's Snowing

Hello Family - I hope you are well. It is starting to snow in the metro Detroit area tonight. We will probably get just around 6 inches (that might be a bit hopeful). Last Monday and Tuesday we didn't have school because it was so incredibly cold. So I doubt that the district will budge on another day off of school tomorrow. We cancelled Bible study tonight since the roads are so slippery. I'm just about to head outside to shovel with the snow scoop. I love that old snow scoop - Dad told me that Grandpa made it. People don't have scoops around here - they just shovel or use the snow blower. I prefer the scoop - it's good exercise and it doesn't hurt my back.

Over the past few weeks 3 of my students have been selling red AIDS ribbons at school to help with my upcoming trip to South Africa. They've sold almost $150 ribbons. I was really touched that they put the event together. Now, even the teachers are selling them. It's been really fun to see people wearing them around school. I am going to bring my camera to school and get some pictures of folks wearing them. We are going to create a "Thank You" video that airs during the announcements. It will really be great.

Did everyone get a chance to watch Tim conducting the other day. I thought it was fantastic. I watched Tim's performance and then listened to the rest of the concert online. Tim says that they will eventually make it available to download on to our computers. Isn't technology something else?

All-righty! - I hope you are all doing FANTASTIC!

Grandma - I have been praying for you and your upcoming surgery - that the surgeons can fix the arteries easily and that you have an extraordinarily fast and painless recovery! I love you. Tracy

Happy Birthday Uncle Ken

I hope it is a wonderful day!! Full of fun, family, and celebration.
May God watch over you another year - keep you safe - and bless you tremendously.

Brrrr!

Hello!
I hope everyone is staying warm! Where did January go??? Hopefully the rest of the winter will go as fast! We spent a wonderfully relaxing weekend with some friends in Madison. The hotel had a great little waterpark so we all spent lots of time swimming and playing. We only get a chance to see these friends about once a year and it was great to catch up! Ryan is watching the Super Bowl and I keep thinking of Peter down in Chicago wondering if he's become a Bear's fan. We haven't been able to muster up any goodwill for Da Bears so it's been a fun game to watch. Adam kept asking when "the king" was going to sing -- referring to Prince's halfime show. He keeps us laughing! We have a new nephew! My younger brother Jon and his wife have a new addition -- Joshua, who was born a week ago and joins his 4 year old brother Luke. We hope we can get down to Nashville to see them sometime soon!
Stay warm everyone! We miss you all!
Love, Joy

A Fabulous Frigid February

Hi All,
It's so cold outside that my garage door won't open again this morning. I don't blame it - why let the cold air in?

Hope you are all staying warm.
Miss you - Tracy

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