This is the Stevenson Family Circle Letter on the Web.
Please add to it by clicking:
Letter 1 Archive
Letter 2 Archive
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
(If you don't see your addition try clicking here , or reload this page!)
This version of the letter displays
new additions to the letter at the top of the page. If you'd prefer
to see previous additions from the top click here.
?????
Hello,
our letters keep getting cut off so,
long story short
1.)very excited
2.)love you all
3.)talk to you soon
Dan and Jill
- Tuesday, September 12, 2000 at 22:34:23 (PDT)
Author: Dannbailey@aol.comWedding news cont.
Hello again,
Our last letter got cut off somehow so this
is the dramatic conclusion...
We also also need to know how many of you
plan on coming out for Thanksgiving so we
can plan dinner accordingly. If we get a
large number of people (not a problem),
we might do like we did at Mesquite Creek that one year,
at the restaurant I am working at now.
The other option is dinner at my Mom's house.
Either way the Lions game will be included!
Unfortunately, because of the large number
of people invited to the wedding and the
limited space of Green Hill there has to be
a cut-off age of 16. However there will be
alot of events throughout the weekend that
evrybody will be able to be involved in.
Durning the reception however, there will
be babysitters available for all the youngins.
We are trying to get a job booked for
Callin Marvin on Friday night and
for all you golfers I would like to set up
a round Saturday morning before the wedding.
We are very excited and can't
- Tuesday, September 12, 2000 at 22:28:12 (PDT)
Author: Dannbailey@aol.comWedding News
Hello Family,
First and most importantly we are glad to hear that Uncle James is doing O.K.
(God certainly does smile on this family!)
So the count down has begun for our BIG day
November 25th (73 days away)
and we wanted to give everybody an update.
We have a block of rooms reserved at the Hampton Inn in
Salisbury.
They are $49.00 a night and are being held from Wednesday thru Sunday.
When you want to book them call the Hampton
(410) 334-3080 and tell them you are with the Coppock-Stevenson wedding.
We have also updated our website at
www.weddingchannel.com with more specifics,
maps, and other fun litte tid bits.
We also need alot of peoples addresses
some of the ones we have might be old,
so if you can please send your address to us at Dannbailey@aol.com or call me at (410) 543-0504
it would be helpful to us.
(you dont want to miss another great Stevenson party do you?)
We also also need to know how many of you
plan on coming out for Thanksgiving so we
can plan d
- Tuesday, September 12, 2000 at 22:15:04 (PDT)
Author: Dannbailey@AOL.comCAN YOU FEEL THE EXCITEMENT???
Some exciting developments regarding the 2001 STEVENSON
FAMILY REUNION are in the works...STAY TUNED for MORE
INFORMATION coming soon....OH YAH!!!!
- Tuesday, August 29, 2000 at 20:04:21 (PDT)
Author: JAMG1971@AOL.COMFloridian Update!
This is to update you on what is going on in our neck of
the woods. First of all, I am so glad Uncle James' surgery
was a success, (Praise Him!)& a very happy b-day to
Suzanne today!
Alan is presently re-siding the house. We are
approximately half-way done. It is slow going due to the
weather, and his work schedule.
Charlene has begun first grade. She is doing great so
far. I helped her the last week and a half before the
school year with refresher 'homework'. She retained
everything that she learned. I cut her hair back in June,
short but all one length. It is quite a noticable
difference but I am glad I did it. It is SO much easier to
keep up and care for.
Roxanne is learning lots of new words, and how to
pronounce them! She is quite a mimic, and it is funny to
watch. We think she is going to be a leftie. Time will
tell. She likes watching Elmo on Sesame Street. She just
turned 18 mos. and has 12 teeth. (Lovin' dozen)
I had a nice time visiting with Erin, she came out
15 May and my mom ("Ma" :) ) when she visited on 18 July
for ten days. I have been able to ride my bike a few times
this summer. I have been walking Charlene to school. We
take Roxanne along in the stroller. In October or so I will
be able to pick her up from school walking too but for now
it's just too dog-gone HOT!
With this I will close until my next update...
Love
Lisa Kight
- Friday, August 25, 2000 at 16:34:35 (PDT)
Author: lisa.rednex@netzero.netA little Lottery Poem
Hello Everybody!!!
It's the end of August I'm here at home
to write you all a silly poem
to make things fun ... reminding you
that time flies by when there's lots to do!!!
So take a minute to slow things down
and think of next June when WE'RE ALL IN TOWN
for the family reunion I'm speaking of
at the Lucca Point YOU WILL FEEL THE LOVE
of sisters and brothers and couzins too
and aunts and uncles (WHICH ONE ARE YOU???)
you get the idea...the FUN we'll share
just seeing everbody there...
that's what we want...no missing face
among the crowd at the Lucca's place
This STEVENSON FAMILY's a loving bunch
and down inside I have this HUNCH...
that if we all participate...
In Sally's Lotto...it'll turn out GREAT!!!
Cuz there'll be plenty of CASH on hand
to make the reunion SIMPLY GRAND!!!
Grand as the PIANO that grandpa played
we just might even have a PARADE!!!
The endless POSSIBILITIES
swim through my head...so hear MY PLEAS
and get involved and send your dough
to SALLY'S house so she will know
that everyone will make this HAPPEN
and voices will sing and toes will be tappin"
SO ON THAT NOTE I'll close this letter
I couldn't LOVE YOU ANY BETTER...
so SEND YOUR ENVELOPES filled with checks
WHO KNOWS.... MAYBE YOU'LL BE NEXT
at winning the AUGUST Lottery prize
REMEMBER WHAT I SAID....TIME SURE FLIES!!!
I LOVE YOU MADLY!!!
Mary
- Thursday, August 24, 2000 at 04:33:26 (PDT)
Author: jamg1971@aol.comWOODWARD DREAM CRUISE
Hi Family!!!
Just a short note to tell you that the Woodward Dream
Cruise is being held on Saturday August 19th. For those of
you who don't know what it is..It is the Country's largest
one day "HOT ROD SHOW"
I just found out that General Motors is having a Dream
Cruise webcast on Saturday, and if you log on to
WWW.GM.COM, you will be able to see first hand what Jim and
I love to do. Who knows, you may even see us!!!
Anyway, it also may bring back memories to those of you who
did their own cruizin on Woodward in days past.
I love you all!! Janie
- Wednesday, August 16, 2000 at 12:43:28 (PDT)
Author: CRUIZIN32@AOL.COMLetter #17 from PNG
Letter # 17
Hey Everybody!
We have just arrived in Madang, which is on the north coast
of PNG. We are here for a Peace Corps conference. This is
the first one our group will have, now that we are three
months into our service. We will have another half way
through our service and then again three months before we
are finished. It will be nice to get together with the
other people in our group and see how they are doing. We
will also stay in Madang after the conference to meet deaf
people and do sign language research. Then we will go to
Wewak for two weeks to do the same. All together this will
be a four week trip for us.
One really cool thing that happened recently in Goroka was
the Woman's Cultural Show. This was probably the first time
an all-woman cultural show of this kind has been held in
PNG. It was great, women dressed up in all kinds of bilas
(traditional costumes) and dancing. In all there were about
50 different groups there. It ranged from the bizarre to
cute, and strange to scary. There were women dressed up in
bilas that traditionally only men wore as well as doing
dancing with bows and arrows, and spears. We took lots of
pictures, and will send some to the states when we get back
from this trip.
In other news, Mt. Sion just opened up a brand new two-room
classroom building for the elementary school, and Mt. Sion
now receives piped town water (but not out where we live).
So, there was a big opening ceremony. The Governor, the
Bishop, and Deputy High Commissioners of Australia and New
Zealand, the Big Man, and various other big wigs were there.
Australia and New Zealand gave most of the money for the
buildings and water. The buildings themselves were bilased
too! They were decorated by hanging fruit and palm leaves
off the edge of the roof and standing up banana trees with
ripe bananas outside the building and pinning up lots of
flowers. It was all very neat. Lots of parents showed up.
A group of the children dressed up in bilas and all the
classes sang songs. We too were very excited because this
means that one of the classes will move out of a room too
small for them and the room will become our office! So far,
we have been like homeless people at the school, always
camping out in different places and then moving when the
owner of the office needed it. It will be great to have our
own office space finally.
Bye for now!
Peace, Love and a COLD shower,
Andy and Lynna
- Monday, August 14, 2000 at 14:25:44 (PDT)
Author: mrs@nr.usu.eduTO MY SWEET FAMILY AND FRIENDS
It is Saturday, August 12, 2000 at 10:00 am and I am feeling
much better today thanks to Suzanne and a Zillion prayers from all
you sweet people. This brain surgery was ruff. However I get to see
my grandbabys Jatomis and Joseph today and that makes me happy.
I cannot begin to tell you how much your phone calls and
E-mail have cheered me up. I will speak to you soon by telephone to
thank you personally for your concern.
Without your prayers I might not have been able to write this letter.
Thank you sweetheart people once again...
YOUR GUYS ARE THE GREATEST, I LOVE YOU ALL MADLY!!
James [:-)>
- Saturday, August 12, 2000 at 11:37:24 (PDT)
Author: sunshine@sonic.netWelcome Back James!!
Dear Brother James, Suzanne, and all our Loving family
members with or concerned about James. First and foremost
I want to thank God for allowing yet another successful
operation. You will be continued in our prayers through
your full and speedy recovery. I tried to call Suzanne at
the hospital at 5:30p.m. E.S.T. and was I shocked when
James answered the phone!! He said that the family had just
left to go back to the hotel. He said the operation went
well and he feels like he is coming out of it. He sounded
very tired but still the same he knew who I was and that it
was over!! Thank you Jesus!!! Al Sarkozy also underwent
major surgery today August 9th to have his foot realigned
to hopefully help him walk better! He is at St. Joseph
Hospital in Pontiac, Mi. Room 203. Kelly's Mom came home
from the hospital today after a 20 day stay. Her days are
few but hopefully she will pass quickly and in her sleep.
Please keep Kelly lifted up too as this has really been a
trying time for her too. We Love everyone and are so
grateful for the Love that pours forth from everyone. See
you all in Michigan in 2001 or maybe at Danny and Jill's
wedding at Thanksgiving in Maryland. All our Love Gerry and
Kelly
- Wednesday, August 09, 2000 at 18:05:37 (PDT)
Author: GerryandKelly@aol.comPRAISE THE LORD!!!
Thanks Cindy for the update on James' condition!! I can't
wait to talk to him on the phone...Keep up the prayers
everybody and remember to THANK the Lord for prayers
answered. Suzanne,we've also got you and all of the
extended family in our hearts too...hopefully now you can
all breathe a little easier!! Scott and Bobby...your
letters to James were precious...I'm sure we ALL got teary-
eyed over them...Remember to hug each other a little
tighter and NEVER FORGET how much the Lord has blessed our
WONDERFUL family...He is TRULY AWESOME!!! MAN...I can't
wait to all be together again....it will simply be THE
BEST!!! JAMES...WE ARE SO HAPPY FOR YOU!!!! HOPEFULLY NOW
YOU CAN REST EASY...keep us posted...
I love you all....xoxox Mary
- Wednesday, August 09, 2000 at 04:35:39 (PDT)
Author: jamg1971@aol.comJames is doing fine!
Dear Family,
While I have precious few details to share, I did want to
let you all know that James has come through his surgery
okay. Jerry, Star, Jennifer, Zip and Suzanne are all with
him today. Jerry called me from the hospital this afternoon
just to let me know that the surgery went well and that
James' sight does not appear to have been impared by the
procedure.
The family was let in to visit with him after the surgery
and he was able to SEE them and say a few words. If I
remember correctly, I think he said he was feeling pretty
awful (to be expected)!
That's all I have for now. Jerry is on his way home and I
will see him around 9PM. If he has more information for us I
will send another update.
Love to all,
Cindy
- Tuesday, August 08, 2000 at 17:43:10 (PDT)
Author: roachotl@pacbell.netOurPrayers
Dear James,
I believ that Scott summed it up very well. The only
problem is that if the whole family showed up I'm sure
there would be problems.
I know I speak for the whole family when I say how much we
too love you James. We will all be praying for you for
complete victory and a speedy recovery.
I am also sure that you will be hearing from each and
everyone of us so please let us know if we are overwhelming
you with our love.
For the whole family!!!! WE LOVE YOU
- Tuesday, August 08, 2000 at 05:36:33 (PDT)
Author: bodikel@san.rr.comI LOVE YOU DAD!
I talked to you yesterday and to me you sounded good and
ready for the operation. It scares me to think that there
is a chance (however small) that that was our last word
(I've got tears in my eyes now). I hope all goes well and I
want you to know that I have you in the forefront of my
thoughts and feelings while I'm here in France during this
trying time for you. And even though you told me not to
worry(too much)now more than ever I want to be there
with you! I'm sure it's the same for
everyone else in the family wherever they may be.
I look forward to talking to you in the next day or so.....
MAY THIS OPERATION BE A COMPLETE SUCCESS and the same for
the next!
With so much Love,
-Scott
- Tuesday, August 08, 2000 at 02:33:24 (PDT)
Author: hotscott@sonic.netJAMES BRAIN SURGERY TUES. 8:30 A.M.
Aloha Family,
To make sure everyone knows what is going on concerning James [oldest of 12].
James checks in to Kaiser Hospital, Redwood City 1 (650) 299 2277 Dr. Mervin Krill on tuesday August 8th
at 6:30 a.m. and has surgery on his brain tumor beginning at 8:30 a.m. If all goes well he will be released
thursday morning and we will head home slowly to Santa Rosa stopping along the way.
We will be at the Motel 6 in Belmont Mon. eve. The number there is 1-650-591-1471 if you want to call him
that evening. I will be there the following evening with Jerry if you want to call to see how James is doing.
Wednesday I will be at Good Nite Inn in Redwood City 1 (650) 591-1471 if you want to call. Hopefully he
will have a phone in his room when he is able to use. We are supposed to have a cell phone by then and the
number should be 707 529-2939.
Star and Jen will be there and Zip, cell phone (213) 247-8509.
I'm sure you will all want to know how James is doing and I could use some more support too.
We appreciate all the prayers, cards, calls, things and help for James in this stressful time and we feel
confident it will be a successful operation.
Everything else good here with the whole family except Judy (Jenifers mother) who probably had a small
stroke but seems to be recovering.
Star takes the BIG TEST on the 14th for his master's degree in Physical Therapy so he is studying every
spare and unspare moment.
Bye for now, light a candle, say a prayer and thank-you.
Love, Suzanne
- Sunday, August 06, 2000 at 15:39:04 (PDT)
Author: sunshine@sonic.netNew address/phone number
Letter #16 from PNG
7/20/00
Letter #16
Hey Wantoks,
Well, we got some great news! The Papua New Guinea Sign
Language Research Committee has received funding! We got
about 7,000 Kina ($2,800) from Christoffel Blinden Mission
(CBM). CBM is a German organization that gives a lot to
blind charities as well as others. They provide most of the
funding for Mt. Sion itself as well. Also one of our
committee members Tom, an American, is a deaf educator and
is employed by CBM. So without Tom we might not have gotten
funding. I have included our mission statement and goals in
the letter.
In August we will be going to Madang, on the north coast,
for our group's early service conference which happens three
months into our service. We will stay in Madang for an extra
week to meet deaf people and then take a boat to Wewak and
spend another week or two there to meet more deaf people. We
are very excited about this. It will be an adventure because
we have no idea what we will find (will we even find deaf
people?!?) We and the other members of the committee will be
taking various trips around the country to meet deaf people
and video-tape their signs. We have gotten several leads on
various groups of deaf, and now we have to follow up and
find them.
Aside from our work with the Sign Language Committee we
finished up our orientation with various Mt. Sion staff. One
area that we observed to have need for help was the
Community Based Rehabilitation (CBR) program. Dr. Moses and
his assistant Richard just seem to go around and visit a few
clients. Unfortunately the clients that take up most of
their time are the worst cases that won't improve no matter
how much they work with them. It is very depressing to work
with these cases. The clients are basically vegetables, yet
they visit them every week. While this is admirable and all,
I don't think that it is the best use of their time. I think
that they should teach the parents of the vegetables how to
take care of them and visit only once in a great while. I
hate to say this, but as for the vegetables, they would
probably be better off dead. If the parents are motivated to
take care of the child, fine, if they aren't and the child
dies, I don't blame them.
I think our time would be much better spent working with
children who have lesser disabilities and who will improve
with our help. I hope to convince Dr. Moses of this.
We were asked to house sit another volunteer's house while
she went on holiday. Her house is in town, which is nice for
getting around. It worked out well because the day we left
to go to her house, our tank ran out of water. Fortunately
it rained a whole bunch while we were house sitting. So now
we have a modest amount of water and we got a leaky pipe
fixed.
The schools have just had a two week break and this week is
a new term. The only thing is that most of the teachers in
the Highlands went on strike this Monday. The teachers at
Mt. Sion did not strike. Because it is illegal for teachers
to strike, they actually have to resign. The teachers have
not gotten a cost of living raise in the past five years,
and because of the Asian financial crisis a few years back
inflation has been really bad. Go Teachers!!!
Just out of curiosity-did you guys know that there was a
civilian coup with the Prime Minister being held hostage for
8 weeks in Fiji that just ended a week ago? And right now
there is a coup happening in the Solomon Islands, which is
PNG's neighbor, and is heading towards civil war? I just
wonder how much the news from Pacific Oceania registers in
the U.S.
As for the domestic life, things are going well. Our row of
corn that was partially eaten by a cow has made a partial
recovery and it looks like in a few weeks we will have some
corn. The green onions are looking good and will be ready in
a few weeks. I planted some green beans, but all of a sudden
they are now dying. :( I will try planting some other kinds
of beans. I finally cleaned up all the weeds and flowers
around the house and discovered that we have a volunteer
tomato plant as well as a rose bush. So we planted some more
tomatoes, new flower bulbs, and are trying to start up an
herb garden as well. We (mostly Lynna) bake about once a
week, bread, cookies, brownies, quiche. I have made two
batches of beer and am about to start a third. Each batch
produces about 20 liters or 40 1/2 liter plastic soda
bottles. Both have turned out great! :) Cheaper and better
than the expensive crappy beer they have here. All of my
co-workers and friends are very impressed and happy because
I share the beer with them. We are trying a new
experiment…condom wine! One liter of fruit juice, one cup of
sugar, one teaspoon of regular yeast: Mix up in a bottle.
Place a clean condom on the bottle. The yeast will create
gas and the condom will inflate. When the yeast loses
potency and the condom goes limp, the wine is ready! As of
this writing we are creating an apple wine and our condom is
still in full salute. We'll let you know how it turns out.
Peace, Love, and a Hot Bath!
Andy & Lynna
PNG Sign Language Research Committee Mission Statement
It is our mission to research indigenous Papua New Guinean
Sign Language, for the purpose of creating instructional
videos and a dictionary to be used towards enhancing the
language acquisition of Deaf individuals and their teachers
throughout the country.
Our aim is to promote the development of talents and
abilities that will lead to the academic, vocational,
spiritual, and social literacy of Deaf Papua New Guineans.
We the staff and Deaf Advocates of Mt. Sion value the
special contributions of each Deaf child and adult, and are
committed to promoting their diversity and uniqueness.
- Tuesday, August 01, 2000 at 09:36:43 (PDT)
Author: mrs@nr.usu.eduMoving to Canada + Photos from PNG
Hi All,
Amy and I are moving to Montreal! Amy was accepted to a
master's program at the MacDonald campus of McGill
University. She will be a student in the Faculty of
Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. Her advisor is a
research scientist with the Canadian Wildlife Service, and
her project will be to examine the effects of different
sources of lead pollution on wild birds (this type of work
is typically called "ecotoxicology"). The MacDonald campus
is actually about 30 km southwest of Montreal in a little
village called Ste-Anne de-Bellevue, at the extreme western
tip of the Ille-de-Montreal. (Scott, there is a very good
chance that Amy and I will be able to converse with you in
French at the family reunion! If you can handle the
Quebecois accent, that is...) Amy and I will be driving
cross-country some time in late August, and her classes
begin the first week of September. I will return to Utah for
the month of September to finish my project at Utah State,
and I will be in Quebec for good after October 1. I am not
yet certain what I will be doing for work, but I am
entertaining several possibilities. As of September 1, our
new address and phone number will be:
Matt & Amy Stevenson
8A Perrault #5
Ste-Anne de-Bellevue, QC
H9X-2C7
CANADA
(514) 457-4324
Pictures from PNG
You've read the letters, now see the pictures!!! That's
right, you can now SEE some of the experiences described in
Andy and Lynna's letters. Andy sent several rolls worth of
negatives to our Mom, she had reprints made, and I scanned
them and put them on my web page. There are forty-two
photographs organized into six categories: Andy & Lynna,
Papua New Guineans, Buildings, Scenery, Food, and Wildlife
(sounds kind of like Jeopardy, eh?). Anyway, they did an
excellent job capturing the people and places they've
written about, and I encourage all of you to take a look.
Here is the URL:
http://www.geocities.com/Yosemite/Geyser/3287/PNG/PNG.html
When you get to this page, click on the giant flashing link
that says "NEW ADDITION! PHOTOS! Click here." Also, I know
that several people have expressed an interest in printing
the letters, so I have archived them on this page as well.
Enjoy!
Lastly, I just wanted to wish Uncle James well and say that
I hope his convalescence is quick and complete.
Cheers,
Matt
- Friday, July 28, 2000 at 10:28:58 (PDT)
Author: mrs@nr.usu.edujust sayin hi
hey family,
its me anna stevenson that u never hear from on the family
letters cause i forgot the address 2 the family letters but
im @ aunt sally`s house but hears the scope on our little
familymy moms just the same old nice woman but now she has
2 worrie about 4 teenagers & us goin on dates ill get 2
that when it comes to the kids. then my dad is still a good
man of the house keepin things in control and still singin
strong. john has a very pretty girlfriend shes very nice &
he has a good job & hes makein mula and bein his normal
self.leah shes hooked on her boyfriend JD & she has a job 2
she in poms(dance)and other things. now paul hes somethin
else he has his own business doin lawns getin mula 2and
alot of girls callin him & goin 2 the movies w/ girls or
friends . then me holy cow iv become a tennager and goin 2
the movies w/ a surtin boy logan smith hes SOOOO
HHHOOOTTT!!!!! but any way i have a job and im workin w/
horses its cool!!! ilove it & horses & i have an other job
2 i cant remember but im still singin strong every 1 is
still singin strong well exept paul hes still not showin
his talent i no he does cause i heard him when he didnt
know hes really good well i think i better go so luv ya
lots bye take care & god bless
- Tuesday, July 25, 2000 at 18:33:12 (PDT)
Author: sallylucca@aolA GENTLE REMINDER!!!
Howdy everyone!!!
I spoke with Sally over the weekend and she told me that it
seems like it's the same people who are joining in in the
Reunion Lottery Fun!!!! Let's ALL get in on this!!! We
have 11 months and we could REALLY generate some Bucks for
this thing PLUS earn some for ourselves to boot!!! SO...
COME ON....Send in your 5's 10's etc... You never know...
YOU could be the next BIG Jackpot WINNER!!!!! Support
Sally's efforts to get this thing off the ground!!!!
Remember: this reminder is sent "with love!". I love you
all and I can't wait to be ALL together! LOve, Mary
- Monday, July 24, 2000 at 05:20:56 (PDT)
Author: jamg1971@aol.comMore reunion stuff
If it makes anyone feel better about not having the reunion
in Alabama (besides me) today is the 15th or 16th day of 100
degrees well OK maybe 98 or 99 as well as 98 or 99% humidity
I promise, it is no fun..Anyways, when I asked to change the
reunion to someplace else, I probably had Michigan on my
mind, but at that time, it was wide open. I remember Janie
saying that Bob might make a bid for it..What I am trying to
say, and by now I am getting redundant...Kathy, I loved your
letter about having it in Maryland, and I loved Esthers even
stronger bid for Maryland..Why would you think about
apoligizing for something that was open to anybody...
I know that we will be going to Maryland someday, but if we
are still voting, we in Alabama vote for Michigan for all of
the afore mentioned reasons,and a few more. But if the
reunion ends up someplace else, we will be there. I love you
ALL very much, and can"t wait to see you again. I look
forward to seeing James with no beard!!!
I look forward to seeing Terrys new house
I look forward to having lunch at Janie and
Jims house (I just invited ourselves)
I look forward to how much fun our kids will
have being with all those other kids...
I look forward to seeing that awsome view at
Sally and Tony"s
I look forward to skiing on Maceday lake it
has only been about 22 years
I look forward to it ALL!!!!!!
can"t wait
with much love
John Joy and kids
- Saturday, July 22, 2000 at 15:34:07 (PDT)
Author: jjandk@corrcomm.netLOVE MEANS NEVER HAVING TO SAY YOU'RE SORRY!!!
DITTOS to Janie's letter!!!! As I was reading your letter
Kathy, I was thinking " WHAT IN THE WORLD DOES SHE HAVE TO
FEEL SORRY FOR? it NEVER had a place except Alabama before
Johnny decided it would be way too hot next June...and I
agree with Janie also...the fact that Danny's wedding is in
November, that would make the Family reunion only 7 months
later so HEY... it will be like TWO TWO TWO reunions in ONE
( year, that is!) SO double the pleasure...double the
fun!!! Those who can't make it to Maryland will have the
chance to see everyone in Michigan...does that make any
sense? I hope so... But PLEASE Kathy...no apologies
necessary... (In fact it was me who wished Danny could've
gotten married in the summer so the ocean boardwalk would
be alot more fun!!!) But maybe it won't be any colder than
it was on May 1st at Jenny's wedding...Just being together
will be GREAT!!!
All is well on the Garlak homefront...Sarah Jane is now a
LEGAL driver!!!! She's loving it and I do have to say she
is very responsible and even her instructor said she felt
very comfortable with Sarah so that made me feel good! Cole
moved out about 4 months ago and is loving it! He and 3
other guys have a house with a big basement where his band
rehearses and MAN I wish you could hear his most recent
songs!!! They're AWESOME!!!! ( no predjudices here!) He and
Amy are still going strong but no wedding plans yet...maybe
in a few years... Sarah and Nick have been dating for 13
months. He just graduated and will go to Oakland
University to study mechanical engineering!!! WE REALLY
LIKE HIM ALOT and he is SO GREAT to Sarah!!! John and I are
doing FINE and both working our days away and grateful for
every day... Still playing music at the little church by
our house...at least until January. BE happy and try to
love each other with all your might...We are keeping James
in prayers at our church too...you all do the same... WE
LOVE YOU VERY MUCH and can't wait to see you again!!! so
long for now...Mary
- Thursday, July 20, 2000 at 17:34:13 (PDT)
Author: jamg1971@aol.comREUNION 2001
Hi My Family,
I first want to start out by telling Kathy that she has
NOTHING to be sorry for. All she did was make a great
suggestion and if it wasn't for the fact that most of us
are going to Maryland this year, it would have been
exciting!
The facts remain that it would be nice for the in-laws to
see their families and enjoy our family all at the same
time!
Sally and Tony's house is so much fun in the summer, and if
we collect enough money, we can get everyone here and still
do this reunion up right so that no-one has to do anything
but have a great time!
I agree with Bob that we have to get the date set in stone.
I talked to Terry and Chris and she said that Terry was
going to lock in the weekend of June 15th. I guess that we
need everyone to give some input to this date and the
majority will win.
Sharon, I am so glad that you are enjoying your grandkids!
I can't imagine what it would be like not to have my
grandkids within shouting distance.
Well, I am going to sign off for now..I love all of you and
keep the letters coming!!!
Jane Marie
- Thursday, July 20, 2000 at 13:18:35 (PDT)
Author: CRUIZIN32@AOL.COMReunion 2001
Hello to everyone-
I feel as though I have created a mess that should never
have been. For that I am very sorry. When this whole
thing started I had NO idea that there was talk of the
reunion being in Michigan, I was under the impression that
it might be cancelled and I didn't want that to happen.
That is the reason that I brought up the idea of Maryland.
It was never my intention to have a vote or contest to take
it away from Michigan.
I think that Sally & Tony's is the perfect place for the
reunion. And I will be very willing to help in any way as I
am sure it is going to be alot of work!!!!!
I am very sorry for any misunderstanding!
Love-
Kathy
- Thursday, July 20, 2000 at 10:58:06 (PDT)
Author: Kathysmarshall@aol.comThe first 2nd Cousin has graduated.
Hi everybody. My son Jordan Paul Boudreau has graduated
from Milford High School. Jordan is the first born 2nd
cousin or Gramma's(Eunice Stevenson)first great grandchild!
It is unbelievable that my son is 18 years old. Jordan will
be attending Western Michigan University this fall, With
Ben Stevenson and Jake Lyons.
Remember: Brothers and sisters share the same parents.
1st cousins share the same grand parents.
2nd cousins share the same great grand parents.
3rd cousins share the same great great ext ext
Uncle Terry's son John is my first cousin.
Uncle Terry's son John is my son Jordan's 1st cousin-one
removed.
Unlce Tom's son Mike is my first cousin.
Unlce Tom's son Mike's children are my son Jordan's 2nd
cousins. (They are my 1st cousins-one removed)
The once famous baseball player Lou Boudreau from the 1948
World Champion Cleveland Indians supposedly is my Grampa
Boudreau's first cousin. Which makes him my 1st cousin-2
removed, which basically means he doesn't have a clue who I
am!!
If you made it this far, I love you and hope to see you at
the reunion next year.
Love brother, nephew, cousin, 1st,2nd, 3rd, and grand child
Jim Boudreau, born in 1963.
- Thursday, July 20, 2000 at 06:33:07 (PDT)
Author: Boudreau@aol.com2001 Family Reunion
Well,
The time has come to really lock in the site for the family
reunion for next year.
I'm going to have to go with Michigan as much as I would
love to visit Maryland it just makes sense to hold it at a
place where most of the relatives live.
The economics make the most sense as far as not having to
rent hotel rooms and rental cars. Also, flying into Detroit
is by far cheaper then most other airports.
I promise, Esther, that we will come and see your new
house, maybe even sooner then next June or July.
NOW: Do we need to set up committees? Entertainment, Games,
Food, Transportation, (Gambling downtown????).
I will be more then happy to be involved in any event that
needs some help.
Everything is fine in California. We all need to be saying
some extra prayers for James. You may or may not know that
James will be operated on again for the tumor in his brain.
This surgery will take place on August 8th. at Kaiser in
Northern California. Let's all let him know how much we
love him.
Let's get the LOTTORY really moving so that in 2002 we
could hold a "HUGE" family houseboat trip. This lottery
makes it a lot easier to pull something off like this.
You will be hearing more about this from me.
I love you all - Bob
- Thursday, July 20, 2000 at 06:27:14 (PDT)
Author: bodikel@san.rr.comGrandchildren
I am here in Florida enjoying the cutest, smartest,lovable,
etc, etc. grandchildren in the world. I only wish I could
have them living closer to us, we try to see them twice or
more times in a year. They truly are a gift from God.
Charlene is six and little Roxanne is 15 mo.I'll be here
for another week.
I really want to talk about thereunion.Michigan is the
ideal place as far as ALL of our
family is concerned.I"ll be able to see my Dad{who is 89
yrs. young} all my sisters and my brother. Lisa and Alan
also think it is the ideal place because they will be able
to visit a lot of relatives they haven't seen in years.It
is better for all of us because the location is perfect.
I'm sure it will be a lot less expensive because they're
alot of relatives to stay with. I really feel strongly
about this and had to put the votes in from Vegas and
Florida.
Bill is doing great at the Stardust. He and Bob
are getting rave reviews and doing standing room only
business. They deserve it.
Sharon A. Stevenson
- Wednesday, July 19, 2000 at 18:48:16 (PDT)
Author: lisa.rednex@netzero.netNEW E-MAIL ADDRESS
Hi everyone,
Well either nobody is doing letters these days or maybe no
one has our new e-mail address.
Here it is "bodikel@san.rr.com
I have received a few letters but I think a few are still
trying to use our old address.
Hope this works.
Bob
- Monday, July 10, 2000 at 15:28:59 (PDT)
Author: bodikel@san.rr.comLetter #15 from PNG
6-26-00
Letter #15
Dear Wantoks! (Family and friends, literally "one-talk")
THE SAGA CONTINUES!
The week of June 4th we spent with the blind kids and staff
at Mt. Sion...Ho Hum. A deaf man teaching blind children? I
don't think so. The deaf and blind just don't mix very well.
Yet deaf and blind children, it seems, are always put in the
same school. (?!?) One of the reasons Mt. Sion wants to set
up a separate hostel for the deaf kids is because the deaf
kids are always taking advantage of the blind kids.
These past two weeks (weeks of the 11th and 18th of June) we
have been involved with a workshop on disabilities and
Community Based Rehabilitation (CBR). The participants are
mostly teachers, health, and church workers. None of them
are paid to work with disabled people, but it is hoped that
they will spread awareness about disabilities and start
working on their own with the disabled.
Also since the last letter, Lynna and I along with 3
co-workers have set up the PNG Sign Language Research
Committee! Our mission is basically to go out and find
groups of deaf people and record the signs they use on
video. We think that it is unlikely that we will discover a
completely developed sign language. (However, PNG is the
land of the unexpected). What we expect, and hope to find is
a partially developed signing system. We would like to
record those signs, make videos and a dictionary and start
getting the deaf PNGians and their teachers to start using
those signs instead of Australasian Signed English
(Australia's version of Signed Exact English).
We have just met with representatives from Christian Blind
Mission (CBM) which fund a good portion of Mt. Sion and the
ear and eye clinic in town. The CBM representatives said
that they are supportive of the Sign Language Committee and
would like to see a budget request.
One unfortunate thing about the culture here in PNG
highlands is the male oppression of women. It is not
uncommon to see a woman carrying a big load of firewood or
kau-kau and right next to her, the husband will be carrying
nothing! Domestic violence is widespread and common as Lynna
and I have unfortunately observed. One Saturday night we
were just hanging out in the house. This was a payday
weekend so plenty of people had been drinking. We heard
yelling and screaming right next to the house. So we opened
the back door and right there in the yard was our neighbor
and co-worker chasing a woman (not his wife!) around
slapping her and throwing her to the ground. From our porch
we started yelling at him to stop it. He was too drunk and
busy to know we were yelling at him, but I think we shamed
his wantoks with our yelling, and they restrained him and
the woman ran off. I must say it was very upsetting for us.
We are still trying to figure out what we should do, if
anything.
Well, we don't want to leave you all off on a negative note,
so here is Lynna with a story about our various "pets."
Cheers,
Andy
6-21-00
Did you know that geckos chirp? They do! Rather loudly, too.
I always thought of reptiles as being quiet...
We have lots of geckos that hang out on our window screens
at night eating the bugs that are drawn to our lights. Last
week one came inside and was running around on the walls
before he decided to hang out above our bedroom door. Next
morning he (she?) was still there--cool. That afternoon,
still there. Hmmm. We named it Stimpy and left it alone.
We've been using poison for the cockroaches and we thought
maybe Stimpy had eaten a toxic bug. He was still breathing
and did move his head, but nothing else, and his color
didn't look good. Don't ask me how I knew--it just didn't!
Anyway after about 3 days a friend was over and we were
telling him about it, how it hadn't moved from the spot. I
suddenly found myself suggesting that he was stuck to the
wall and remembered that the walls DO have sticky places
from posters that were glued up before we moved in. Sure
enough! There was a big spot sticky enough to trap a gecko
just over the bedroom door! So, Andy poured vegetable oil on
the poor thing and gently scraped him off the wall. Now we
have a baby gecko inside. We'll have to keep an eye on it
and if it doesn't move...
6-26-00
Gecko update: Stimpy is still running around on the screens
keeping the bugs down. :) Guess Andy avoided giving him
serious internal injuries--yeah! Btw, we were given a small
snake last week. It spent all of it's time trying to escape
and didn't eat. We finally felt sorry for it and let it go.
We're going to say that it escaped and is loose in the house
to deter rascals from wanting to break in (many people here
are phobic about snakes.)
Lookim yu!
Lynna
- Monday, July 10, 2000 at 09:19:54 (PDT)
Author: mrs@nr.usu.eduJunes Lotto Winners
Hi Everyone,
July's letter just went out but I wanted to let as many
of you know who won! Congratulations to Jane and Jim and to
Suzanne. Watch your mailboxes. I love you all.
Sally
- Friday, July 07, 2000 at 05:36:32 (PDT)
Author: Sallylucca@aol.comI Would LOVE a Maryland Reunion !!!
Hello family !
Just to set the record straight.....
All of us Marylanders would be DELIGHTED to have the
Stevenson Family Reunion of 2001 held here in our fair
state !
The idea first came up via James....we have heard it
mentioned a few times and want you all to know that we are
more than willing!
Also, since Scott is such a nice boy, I do think that that
is the least that we can do for him...because, as he said,
having it here would make his trip so MUCH shorter ! So
let's make it one for the Scottster !
Yes, we would LOVE, LOVE, LOVE to have you all here...and
if you have proper ID that identifies you as a family
member...we won't even charge you the usual quarter to tour
our house that we love so much ! Aren't we so loving ?!?
Plus, having resided in both Michigan and Maryland....we
certainly believe that Maryland has much more to offer you
with fun things to do in your spare time......about how
long does it take to get to the ocean from Michigan !!!???
I will make you chocolate chip cookies or whatever it takes
to get you here !!!!!!!!!!!!!
...in all fairness, I suppose there are a few of you who
would prefer Michigan...but we just wanted you to know that
Maryland is definitely one (and certainly the better one!)
of your options.
So Tony and Sally have a silly little lake...big deal ! We
have an OCEAN !
Either way, Tom and Esther will be there, wherever the
reunion is held. We love that family get together kind of
stuff !
Love to all !
Esther
- Tuesday, July 04, 2000 at 14:52:16 (PDT)
Author: tomnesther@aol.comHappy 4th!, News in CA, Liking the Maryland Idea.
Greetings from Paris!
Hope everyone is doing well out there in Stevenson land!
Happy Fourth of July! It's a bit odd being here in Paris on
such a day as the fourth. It would be nice to go to a bar-b-
que and watch some fireworks.....I'll just have to wait 10
days though. July 14th, Bastille day..... a day to
commemorate France's revolution. It's roughly equivalent to
the fourth in it's fanfare (or so I've heard). This will be
my first July 14th here so it will be interesting to see
how it is. I've already seen preparations under way for
some sort of observation event to be held on the Champs
Elysee. I'll probably go...if I do I'll give a report on
how it was.
News in CA:
As some of you may have heard, the non-cancerous tumor in
my father's (James Stevenson) head has started to grow
again. As a result he has to go in for treatment on it.
He's already seen the doctors and found out what his
options are and they gave give a really good option (we
hope!) that he had to qualify for because it is somewhat
experimental. He's already met with doctors in Standford
medical center and they have qualified him for the
procedure. The procedure utilizes a high powered radition
device that is in essence a kind of knife that will radiate
the tumor in his head in such a way as to only affect it
and not the surrounding tissue (his brain). What it will do
is burn the tumor and leave what remains in place to form
scar tissue. He'll have a series of three treatments with
the first commencing on the 10th of this month. Although
the procedure isn't considered life threatening it is a bit
scary because there's an outside chance that he will be
rendered permanently blind from the operation.
On a lighter note (and almost more incredible to me) is
that he has had to shave his beard completely OFF! It's
necessary because the doctors need to have a high degree of
precision with respect to the position of his head for the
operation. He hasn't been beardless for somewhere in the
neighborhood of 30 years! I told him that to see him
without a beard was almost worth flying back to CA from
Paris to see. He told me it was a bit odd after he shaved.
He said that when he looked at himself in the mirror it was
as if it was himself 30 years ago, but only older now. As
though he had instantaneously aged 30 years from back when
he last had no beard. We were comparing his being beardless
to Grandpa having no moustache. I wondered if he'd like the
look and keep himself beardless after the operation.....he
said, "are you kidding.....never!" *smiles* I wondered that
because it was the case when he cut his hair (back in '86)
that afteward he decided to keep his hair trim. Anyways
give him a call (707-887-8777 or 707-579-0500) or write him
some e-mail (sunshine@sonic.net) or post a letter here and
give him some support!
The Maryland idea:
To the Stevenson/Marshall/Palmer/etc. crew in
Maryland.....that would be so cool to have the reunion
there. That way we could all enjoy that beautiful coast,
see the new house, and have some food at the Red Roost
*smiles*, plus it would be closer for me to fly to from
France (I imagine I'll still be here when the time rolls
around). It was such a pleasure to be there for Jenny's
wedding and I'm sure it would be perfect for the reunion.
I'm real curious to see this house that they've all been
working on so diligently.
Ok, time to finish up.
Just out of curiosity who else besides myself, my parents,
and Zip is connected to the internet via a high speed cable
or DSL connection?
Love you guys,
See ya,
-Scott Stevenson
- Tuesday, July 04, 2000 at 08:29:08 (PDT)
Author: hotscott@sonic.netReunion 2001...Maryland???
Hello from the eastern shore of Maryland!!
I spoke to Uncle James on Saturday,
he called to wish Jack a happy birthday,
Jack of course didn't know who he was but said " you talk
like my grandpa!!" , Jack turned 4 (my how
time flies) Molly is almost 6 & Katie is 8, ouch!!!
Anyway, he said that the 2001 reunion may not
be in Alabama afterall,
I of course jumped at the chance to maybe move it to
Maryland!!! I haven't heard anything about
this possible change, but would be interested in any and
all feedback!!!! Seacrets anyone?????? Fagers sunsets????
Red Roost crabhouse???
Let me know-
Kathy
- Monday, June 26, 2000 at 14:15:35 (PDT)
Author: kathysmarshall@aol.comThank you to all & New e-mail
I would just like to thank everyone for your wonderful cards (and coins and dollars!). I got more cards this year than ever before!I'd also like to point out my new e-mail address: Bill1941@webtv.netThanks again!Love,Brother & Uncle Billy (and Grampatha:)
- Sunday, June 25, 2000 at 14:11:24 (PDT)
Author: Bill1941@webtv.netHAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!
Don't forget our father's birthday Lisa! Happy 59th Dad! Love, Erin
- Sunday, June 25, 2000 at 13:20:29 (PDT)
Author: Erin475@webtv.netBill & Sharon - Forty Years!
When my parents got married on my dad's birthday
25June1960, their friends gave them six months.
(To stay married)
My mom gave me some advice before my nuptials:
You have to work at it (Marriage) and also
Don't try to change your spouse
Which I consider words to live by!
Two people who have been married 40 years
and still in love with each other! What a concept!!
Happy Anniversary Mom & Dad!
May you have many happy years together!
Love,
Lisa
- Sunday, June 25, 2000 at 12:15:16 (PDT)
Author: lisa.rednex@netzero.netNews from FLA
Hi everyone,
Just a quick note to let you know that I got a phone call
from David Lynn. He wanted to let us know about Diane
Schenden. I guess she is real bad and they almost lost her
on Monday ( June 20 ). I know alot of you don't know her
but you might still keep her in your prayers. Thanks.
She's had MS for years but it's taken it's toll. Their
phone # is 561- 483 7287. I'll keep you updated. I love
you. Happy birthday to all those "Junites" out there.
Sally xxoo
- Tuesday, June 20, 2000 at 18:02:23 (PDT)
Author: sallylucca.comLetter #14 from PNG
Letter #14
June 5 2000
Hey Everybody!
Well we ended up going on that one week screening trip out
in the bush. There were four of us that went. One guy did
all the eye screening and we helped out the other guy, Don,
doing ear screenings. We went to a Health Clinic out in the
Unggai area, which is about an hour and a half drive from
Garoka up into the mountains on a rough dirt road. The roads
are so rough and steep that it is easier on your back to
stand up holding onto the roll bar in the back of the
pick-up truck. It also makes it easier to enjoy the killer
views of the mountains and countryside.
The house we stayed in was empty except for table, chairs,
and a wood-burning stove. So we had to bring all of our own
food and camping gear. The first day we went to the local
primary school. Lynna used the otoscope to check the ear
canals and Don ran the portable audiometer. I did all the
paper work and...cleaned ear wax off the plastic tips used
to cover the otoscope when placed in the ear canal! (Lucky
me!!!) The tips are designed to be disposable, but here we
can't afford that luxury, thus I was able to play a vital
role in the screening!
The next day we went out to a remote aid post, another 1 1/2
hour drive from the Health Clinic, close to the border with
Simbu Province. Since this aid post is fairly remote the
locals were pretty excited to have us come there, especially
a white mon na meri! (Sorry Grandpa, no penis gourds to be
seen out there). This time Lynna ran the audiometer and Don
worked the otoscope while had the same glamorous job! We
worked all morning inside, then we took a lunch break. I
went outside to take a picture of the village because it was
situated very high up on a ridge coming off a large
mountain. To my surprise there were 30 to 40 children
hanging outside whom had just gotten out of school. They had
come over to the aid post to see the "white people." They
started to gather around me...hmm...yes, I realized I was
not an everyday occurrence in the village, but it still felt
strange. They were all looking at me as if I should do
something, like break out in to a song and dance. How could
I resist! I took two quick steps towards the children,
raised my hands like claws and roared like a lion!
(RRAAAAAAAAGGGGGGHHHHH!!!) The children screamed and ran
away. The villagers that were there and saw it started
laughing hysterically. The children, realizing I played a
joke on them, started laughing and came back. I don't know
what possessed me to do that, but it sure was funny.
That afternoon thunder clouds rolled up and started raining
on the clay road over the mountain pass, making the road
very muddy and slippery. Our truck started slipping and
sliding all over the place, and there are steep drop-offs on
both sides! At one point it was bad enough that Don had the
local ambulance driver drive the truck while we walked down
the worst parts. The next day we went out to another aid
post and we decided it would be safer to go in the
ambulance. The ambulance? This ambulance is a big ol' decked
out, jacked up, 4 x 4, diesel powered Toyota land cruiser
with an extra large cab on the back (truly an SUV on
steroids!). Even still, it was a white knuckle ride. Well
worth it because this aid post was next to a small river
that had a water-fall and swimming hole. Can you possibly
guess what we did that afternoon?
Over all the screening program went very well. The most
common problems were too much wax in the ears, perforated
ear drums, and foreign bodies (bugs, stones, grass seeds,
etc.) in the ear canal. We came across about a dozen people
that were deaf or had a significant hearing gloss. About
half were children. None of the deaf were using any sign
more advanced than homesign.
The week after that we spent going around with Richard
visiting his clients, mostly children with severe cerebral
palsy. It was an uncomfortable week for us. Our hearts go
out to these children, but we just don't have the special
kind of compassionate personality it takes to work with
these kind of children. Often times these children had been
neglected for years before the parents learned how to
properly care for them. It is very difficult to tell if
these children are truly mentally retarded or have delayed
mental development because their parents ignored them except
to feed and clean up after them. It is not that the parents
don't love the child, they just didn't know what to do. So,
most of the time, they did nothing.
In other news--the beer I made has turned out really well.
It is a little strange to be making beer in plastic coke
bottles, but hey...whatever works. Next we will have to try
making condom wine! (No joke, will tell you all more when we
do it).
One of my neighbors, Father Bogden, has a gym in his house
and I have started working out with him. Father Bogden is
from Poland, he has long hair and a long beard that goes
down to the middle of his belly, which he keeps in two neat
little braids, and he is quite buff! Nice guy, very humble.
So far here in PNG I have met 8 brothers, 5 priests, 4
sisters, and 2 bishops.
Once again thanks to everyone who has written to us.
Love,
Andy & Lynna
- Tuesday, June 20, 2000 at 17:29:01 (PDT)
Author: mrs@nr.usu.eduNew E-Mail Address
To all of my dear family,
We now have a new e-mail addressand I would like everyyone
to change their records.
bodikel@san.rr.com
Thanks,
Brother Bob, Uncle Bob, Cousin Bob, Dad Bob
- Monday, June 12, 2000 at 11:44:09 (PDT)
Author: bodikel@san.rr.comMoving Day Soon !!!!
Good morning family,
I am just a little behind in my letter writing...so here's
a quick note to update you on Tom and Esther....
our new house is ALMOST finished and we are hoping to move
in on June 16th....just 9 days away. We are soooooo excited
about it.
With the help of all of our kids, it has been coming along
beautifully. Our builder has taken the house to the
drywall stage and all of the finishing after that has been
done by Tom and his troops. Tommy and Michael came out for
a long weekend a few weeks ago and helped put in the
kitchen cupboards. Kathy, Jenny, Danny, Jill, Chris Palmer
and Mike Marshall were all around and everyone worked
together and accomplished
miracles. They installed all of our doors, put in
baseboards, installed window trim, painted two bedrooms,
and more that I can't even remember. When our electrician
was here a few days later he was amazed at how much we
completed. He told Tom "you guys really work fast !" Kathy
is a champ with Tom's power nailer...she puts in
baseboards...you would be impressed ! She loves her Daddy's
power tools.
Even Kathy's kids have been busy painting moldings in their
garage for their Grandpa.
It was so much fun being together and seeing everybody into
the spirit...these kids feel that no matter how much they
do, they wish they could do even more for their Dad. We
had the best time working together; eating together,
laughing, telling stories, etc. There were nights when the
kids were still working long after Tom and I had gone to
bed. It was a definite affirmation on the joys of having a
large family.
In order for us to move into the house all we need now is
for the plumbing (fixtures and water) to be hooked
up...which will be done tomorrow (Thursday)...and then the
carpeting, which will be delivered on Friday...
I highly recommend that everyone build a house right next
door...it has been so much fun watching every stage on a
daily basis.
And the actual moving is absolutely delightful !!!!
I just keep putting things by the side door and every time
we walk over to the new house we take a handful of
trinkets, canned soup, lamps, dishes or whatever. My moving
van is our little red wagon and my garden cart.
When I see our kitchen, I love it so much that it
absolutely overwhelms me. The first time I see it every
day, it takes my breath away;... I feel like laughing and
crying at the same time. I would sure love to fix dinner
for all of you in this wonderful kitchen !!!!! When will
you be here??????...and what would you like for dinner ????
After dinner we can sit on the porch in our rocking chairs
and sip lemonade.
Think of us next weekend, what fun we will be having !!!
I will update you after we move in.
Love to all, Esther
- Wednesday, June 07, 2000 at 05:01:18 (PDT)
Author: tomnesther@aol.com
REUNION 2001 JUNE 16 & 17
REMEMBER
JUNE 16 AND 17, 2001 THE REUNION
MAKE PLANS BUY TICKETS
SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL FAMILY.
Suzanne
- Monday, June 05, 2000 at 09:02:58 (PDT)
Author: sunshine@sonic.netSUZANNE @ CHEZ SCOTT'S
PARIS, FRANCE MONDAY JUNE 5, 2000
BOY, that has a certain ring to it doesn't it? I feel
like an international reporter on the local scene. This is a
dream come true for me to be in PARIS which for many years
was the art capital of the world.
Plus to have our son as a guide and host is beyond my
wildest dreams. Scott speaks fluent french and I was amazed
he conversed and joked with the cab driver all the way from
the airport to CHEZ SCOTT. I've learned a few words and
thank-you very much and where is the toilet? But I first
think of the Spanish version of every foreign word I know so
I am confused and very thankful to have Scott.
I am having a great time going to the Effiel tower where
we had chocalate crepes with hot chocalate on the first level
after we had been to the top.We saw the most beautiful city
all around the tower and I took photos of Scott wearing his
black TONY LUCCA tee shirt. How cool is that! We have also
been listening to his c.d. here in Paris. Tony you would find
alot to write songs about here.
Sally bring two pairs of walking shoes when you come as
Scott will walk your socks off.
We have been to the LOURVE which has the largest art
collection in the world and the contraversial glass pyramid
in the center of the courtyard. We saw the Mona Lisa and the
crowd ten deep at least getting a picture. I can't see what
is the big deal when there are hundreds of more impressive
works in the musuem.
Welcome Jenifer to the family website. It's always so
nice when a new member signs in for the first time.
Congradulations Zip and Liz on winning the very first
lottery! You certainly deserve it as you are always so very
generous.
Thank-you Matt for posting Andy and Leena's letters as
our whole family enjoys them so much.
Welcome Lisa to the website. I used to enjoy your
letters so much when you were a yougster.
Star, thanks for the geneology info. I put in the info
Thomas LeDuc married Angelique Cuillerier
June 10, 1772 @ I'le Perrot, Quebec, Canada
and it came right up.
Virginia has alot of LeDuc history if any one wants to
do more researh. There has been alot of Leducs here in France
and even a very famous Violet LeDuc here in Paris.
Scott's girlfriend, Geraldine's, parents live in a small
town 2 hours east of Paris called Bar-Le-Duc so maybe Scott
is a reincarnation the way he loves Paris so much.
I see why though because the cultural here is so rich.
Yesterday after going to the Picasso Musuem where they have
the largest collection of his work anywhere we went to a park
to rest my feet and watch the children and pigeons. By the
park in an medival arcade {overhang like a long porch not the
kind with video games} there were 10 violinsts, 3 celloists,
and one string bassist playing classical music for donations
and to sell their two C.D.s. The music made cry thinking
Scott might always live so far from home.
I'm going to sign off now as I wrote a long letter
yesterday and lost it so I want to send this before I do
something stupid again.
Love, Suzanne
- Monday, June 05, 2000 at 08:48:36 (PDT)
Author: sunshine@sonic.netTHE LOTTERY WINNERS !!
Hi everyone,
The winners of the "Stevenson Family Reunion" are Zip and
Liz, 1st prize, Louie and Leeny, 2nd. How fun.
CONGRATULATION !!
Junes' letter will hold all sorts of information, how we
pick the winners..their winning amounts, suggestions, and
alot more. By the way... the dates are June 16th-the 17th.
You can come in on Friday and leave on Monday but the main
dates of the get togethers will be the 16th and 17th.
I Love you all. Take care and be kind. xxoo
- Saturday, June 03, 2000 at 15:17:18 (PDT)
Author: sallyluccaLetter #13 from PNG
Letter #13
5-18-00
Halo Olgeta! (Hello everyone!)
It has been too long since I have last written. As many of
you know we are at our site (Mt. Sion Centre for the Blind)
and busy adjusting to a new environment (as opposed to the
training environment).
Right now we are bouncing around and spending two weeks with
each resource section at Mt. Sion. This is so that we get a
better idea of what all Mt. Sion does and how they do it. It
will also give us the opportunity to asses where and how we
can help out.
The first two weeks we spent with the deaf unit class at a
nearby elementary school. There are eight students in the
class. Five of these students live at Mt. Sion in the blind
dorm. Their ages range from 7 to 14. The youngest, Rebecca,
is the one I talked about in an earlier letter with her
father slipping out the door. The first term Rebecca was
there she was very quiet and a bit disoriented, if not a bit
sad. One thing you must understand is that she had
absolutely no language, just basic simple gestures. Now in
the second term she is a much more lively and happy girl. I
would say that now she has a vocabulary of 20 - 30 signs of
concrete meaning. She also mimics or "babytalks" many other
signs without knowing what they mean. The oldest, Buka--a
boy--is about 14. He can read at a 1 - 2 grad level and can
do basic addition and subtraction. It seems that he is not
yet able to understand abstract concepts or express them,
such as time or feelings. There are a number of factors
contributing to his low education and communication
abilities. One, the deaf unit class is new, it is only in
its second term. Before that the deaf students were in a
regular classroom with a teacher that knew some signs. Two,
there are no native signers in PNG (at least there are none
that we know of). All of the teachers and staff here,
including the deaf unit teacher, all try to teach and sign
Australian Signed English to the kids. None of them have
been to Australia to learn Australian Signed English or
Auslan (the Australian equivalent to American Sign
Language). So most of their signs are learned from books
(YIKES!). It is painful to watch these kids try to sign with
signs taught to them by hearing people who learned them from
books, very awkward looking.
Of course this brings up the questions, "Why are they
teaching Australian Sign Language to deaf children in PNG?
Doesn't PNG have a native sign language?" Nobody seems to
know. It appears that nobody has ever gone out and looked
for deaf people in PNG and learned about PNG sign language.
This sounds like a project for me and Lynna to work on!
The second two weeks we have been with the deaf/blind
specialist. At the moment he only has four clients, all
children that have various levels of deafness and blindness.
He visits with each client once a week for
rehabilitation/therapy and education. It has been very
interesting being with him however I don't think he will be
needing us to help him very much.
We will be spending two weeks with the blind program and
another two weeks with community based rehabilitation
program. We may also end up spending a week at a remote
community health clinic outpost to do a screening program.
My Grandfather (Reiss) wrote asking "What do people in PNG
wear? They aren't all naked and wearing penis gourds in the
towns, are they? It seems like every book about PNG has
pictures of tribal people half naked and wearing bush
clothes." To answer your question, I have seen lots of naked
children. . .but no naked adults, nor any penis gourds. (If
ya don't know what a penis gourd is, go find a book on PNG
that has a picture of it. I'm not going to explain it. My
words won't do justice to describe a penis gourd).
There are dozens of second hand stores in Goroka. Everyone
wears second hand clothes or they make their own. Many women
make their own meri blouses and lap-laps including Lynna. In
a town like Goroka most professionals (anyone who has a job)
wear shoes. Half the people walking around Goroka are
barefoot. In the rural villages I would say about 80% of
people are barefoot and everyone is fully clothed. I believe
in the more remote areas of the highlands you will find
people that still wear bush materials for clothes (or in Tok
Pisin, "as gras" (ass grass)). As for penis gourds I believe
they are still commonly worn in public in Irian Jaya
(Indonesia, on the other side of the New Guinea island). The
tribes in Irian Jaya have been persecuted quite heavily by
the Muslim dominated Indonesian government and have rebelled
by clinging very tightly to their traditional way of life
and proudly wear their penis gourds in public. Whereas the
Irian Jayain highlanders are still rebellious against the
authoritarian Muslims, the PNGuineain highlanders were
confronted with persuasive Christian missionaries who have
been very successful, if not a little too successful in my
opinion. Hmm...I may have to expand upon what I mean here in
a future letter.
One thing about PNG that is interesting yet frustrating at
times, is the attitude and treatment of Nationals towards
us. Obviously we are white, therefore not from PNG, thus we
have money. It also means we are educated. Because of this
we are treated with respect. Everyone says hello and wants
to shake our hands, shop merchants are always nice and
helpful, and the security guards at the stores don't look
into our bilums and pat us down when we leave the store like
they do to everyone else. Being white in PNG is tantamount
to putting a sign on us saying "I'm rich and vulnerable!" so
we are also a target. One volunteer aptly described this
attitude as the "kid-glove" treatment. What is the
"kid-glove treatment?" It means that we can't walk from our
house to Mt. Sion or the river unaccompanied. If we are
walking down the road we will always be offered a ride if a
National that knows us drives by, or sometimes complete
strangers will offer us a ride. It also means that we get
offers of help for people to do our cooking, laundry,
gardening, etc...When we get in a car to go for a ride
somewhere the best seat is immediately vacated and given to
us. Some of this treatment we accept and some we don't. It
is a weird dynamic that we have yet to figure out. Is it
that they don't think we are as physically tough as they are
or do they think that we will reward them somehow later on?
I don't know what it is, but it is obvious they put us on
some kind of pedestal.
We have been keeping ourselves busy. We are learning to bake
all of the things that we take for granted in the U.S., like
pizzas, tortillas, and banana bread. Next, I will have to
try baking jalopena cheese bread! We have brewed up a batch
of beer (English Bitter), it will be ready in a few weeks.
We have also started a garden. We are growing green and
yellow onions, pineapple, garlic, corn, green beans,
tomatoes, lettuce, basil, thyme, marjoram, and chilis!
That's all for now folks!
Love,
Andy & Lynna
- Saturday, June 03, 2000 at 09:57:30 (PDT)
Author: mrs@nr.usu.eduI stand corrected...
Once again...hello everyone!
I spoke with Johnny tonite and I also spoke to Marilyn
Whitman.Marilyn corrected me ( at 76 yearsold!!!) and told
me she is NOT the oldest living Stevenson relative but her
brother GEORGE at 84 is!!!!! I thought her brother
died...how EMBARRASSING!!! so I have his # and will give
him a call to ask some questions regarding the history of
the Stevensons...Marilyn said he might not be all together
but he did get married about 3 years ago to his childhood
sweetheart!!! ISN'T THAT AMAZING?? Her name is Helen and
she was his very 1st girlfriend. She didn't think her
family would come to a reunion that far away and that
worked out for the best because I know now that JOHNNY
was probably losing sleep over how BIG this list of people
could possibly grow to... so we'll keep it to a "simple"
150 immediate family members ok? Actually that IS the
amount if every single member did come...but even if only
1/2 come...that's still gonna be ALOT!! Hopefully down the
line there'll be some sort of idea how many will be
coming... OH BY THE WAY... THE DATES ARE: June 16th and 17th
2001 but some people might come in on Friday the 15th and
stay till Monday the 18th... but Saturday and Sunday will
be the MAIN EVENT days...Ok... so if you have any questions
Johnny said CHRIS STEVENSON will be the contact person in
MICHIGAN... till next time...I love you all!!! Mary
- Thursday, June 01, 2000 at 18:56:46 (PDT)
Author: jamg1971@aol.comMORE FAMILY WEBSITE INFORMATION
This idea of having more INTERACTIVE information about the
history of our family has been on my mind lately. So I was
surprised this morning while watching the Donnie and Marie
Osmond show (Further evidence that I am continuing to look
for a position as a physical therapist) that they did a
special about a website where families could send pictures
and special stories about their family and the website
producers would continue to build an interactive archive of
the family. The web site is WWW.ONEGREATFAMILY.COM. The
website will support AUDIO files and PICTURE files! It is
really sad, but I couldn't even tell you the name of my
great grandfather (James not "Jimmy" I assume) or great
great grandmother. Nor could I tell you the name of Eunice
Stevenson's (grandma to me) parents and grandparents
names.
I feel like, if it is difficult for me to keep track, what
about the youngest and newest members of our family.
Anyway, since it is difficult to make our history
tangible...in a way we almost need a titanic sized pictoral
guide like some coffee table book of the Stevensons, a
pedigree with pictures and cute stories.
Pehaps, each of us could take responsibility for taking
pictures of our own family members and when we take our
film in to be developed we could ask to have the photos
placed in disc or CD format. That way we can each have the
opportunity to provide pictures of our own families in the
near future...In the mean time, if anyone has digital
pictures or paintings of PAST generations of Stevensons
before Eunice and James Stevenson, could we figure out how
to get them in digital format and send them to me as an
attachment file with a e-mail letter to
jennstar@calweb.com. A person could take a picture of a
painting or have someone "scan" in pictures or
paintings and send them to jennstar@calweb.com
Love Star & Jennifer
- Thursday, June 01, 2000 at 09:53:25 (PDT)
Author: jennstar@calweb.com20001 Family Reunion
Hi Gang,
This is the Road Warrior, back in Phoenix for a few days
to....well, that's none of your business. Anyhow, I was
catching up on some of the letters and was curious about
the date of the Reunion. If one has been decided on, I seem
to have missed it. Nancy and I and hopefully, Matt & Amy,
would like to visit Andy & Lynna in Papua New Guinea next
summer as well, so it would be nice to know the date as
soon as possible so we can coordinate our trips.
I was not aware that John Stevenson (Uncle Bob's son) had
died. It's very sad that, as you said Mary, he had this
great big extended family and never made contact with us.
If you are going to track down the Rands, don't forget
Helen Rand and her kids and Bill Rand's kids (Bill Rand was
about Dad's age and they looked very much alike as I
remember). I think the last time I saw any of them was at
Bill Rand's funeral in the early sixties. Helen Rand and
her kids came to Dad's funeral but I don't remember seeing
them at Mom's.
In regards to the Road Warrior comment (for those of you
who have forgotten already, see first paragraph above), my
new company, PoliceOne.com, has started a five month tour
of the country to promote our website and sign up police
officers. If you go to our website, then click on the
Hummer Tour, then click on the Hummer Crew, you'll see my
handsome mug there. We started the 11th of May in Florida
and will work our way around the U.S. until we end up back
in Florida at the end of October. I'll give you a brief
synopsis of what we have done so far in another letter.
On another note, Scott has done a great job of keeping this
letter in fine working order, but there are a whole lot of
people who have entered the .com world since he first
launched our fabulous family into cyberspace. Why not help
Scott update the e-mail list. Check the listings to see
that your e-mail address is current and if members of your
families (and you know who they are)are now online and
their web addresses are not listed, let Scott know so he
can make the list current.
Congratulations to all the birthday people (and you know
who you are) and especially to all the graduates (and you
know who YOU are). Birthdays come every year whether you
want them to or not, but you have to work at graduating!
Star & Jennifer - I'm sure my son Matt will add his
nickel's worth (inflation - up from 2 cents) but he has
used the services of the Mormon Church to research our
family geneology quite a bit already. I'm sure he would be
willing to share some of his experiences [Dont'cha just
love it when I volunteer your time Matt? : )]
Well, I see a lot of eyes drooping out there and dribble
forming at the corners of mouths, so I guess I'll sign off
for now.
Make sure to watch for the Hummer 2000 Road Tour...coming
soon to a city near you!
X's & O's
Dan
PS Dave signed on as a relief driver for the Hum-Vee. He
says Hi and he'll see everybody at the Reunion.
- Monday, May 29, 2000 at 23:15:29 (PDT)
Author: gorecop@aol.comFAMILY HISTORY WEBSITES
I was thinking how wonderful it would be if we had a page
on the family web site that had both a descripitve and
pictoral guide to our family history. This would be one
lengthy project and would take up a lot of cyber space on
our web site, but what an incredible resource for future
Stevensons. I realize that many of us have family trees of
some sort, but how cool to have one geneology record for
everyone to see and track and perhaps even make "virtual"
corrections to? With that in mind, I stumbled accross the
Mormon website www.familysearch.org which now gives on-
line access to it's family archives...perhaps some of our
family have already used the archives which were
traditionally only accessed by making the trip to Utah. I
understand that the Latter Day Saints have made an effort
to document families of any kind and not just Mormon
families. Here is the on-line "press release" for their
web site at www.familysearch.org.
************************************************************
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is
sponsoring a new Internet site designed to help people find
and share family history information
The FamilySearch™ Internet Genealogy Service gives you
access to extensive genealogical resources gathered by The
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This new
service is now available on the World Wide Web at
www.familysearch.org
Information Available
The FamilySearch Internet Genealogy Service searches the
following sources for family history information:
Ancestral File. One of the world's largest collections of
pedigrees and family group records with over 35 million
records.
International Genealogical Index. The world's largest
collection of birth, christening, and marriage information
with over 300 million records.
Pedigree Resource File. A searchable repository of
pedigrees compiled from patron submissions to the
FamilySearch Internet Genealogy Service, from printed
family histories, and from other sources, including
government archives.
Family History Library Catalog. Descriptions of the items
in the Family History Library's international record
collection. Many of the microfilmed records can be ordered
through more than 3,200 Family History Centers worldwide.
Family History SourceGuide. An automated collection of more
than 150 publications from the Family History Library.
Experienced researchers give information about the most
useful kinds of original records for ancestral information.
Gives information specific to a country or area.
Web Sites. A guide to web sites with useful family history
information. Volunteers from The Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints evaluate and categorize these sites to
help you quickly find the most relevant information from
the thousands of Internet sites available.
Features
Search for Ancestors. Type information about an ancestor,
and this function searches for matching information in
Internet sites, resource files, and donated files.
Browse Categories. Look for information about a family
history topic or a specific person.
Collaborate with Others. Share your family history
information or genealogy-related subjects you are searching
with others via e-mail.
Preserve Genealogy. Submit GEDCOM files of ancestral
information to the Church for preservation. Names and key
information will be added to an index available on the
FamilySearch Internet Genealogy Service.
Add a Site. Recommend a web site (yours or someone else's)
to be included in the FamilySearch Internet Genealogy
Service.
Other Family History Resources. See a list of the family
history resources (publications, software, and compact
discs) produced by the Church, and purchase any items you
might want.
************************************************************
I have never done any family tree research myself, but
something like this has to help someone who has.
Love Star & Jennifer
PS. Thank-you for all the wonderful congratulations
regarding graduation from graduate school, they meant a lot
to me.
- Monday, May 29, 2000 at 11:47:56 (PDT)
Author: jennstar@calweb.comFOR THE FIRST TIME...INDEED!!
Hello Everyone and again… Happy Memorial day to you all!!!
I was just trying to write a letter on the website and got
knocked off so I’m trying again… Every time I go to the
STEVENSON website and the circle letter I get very excited
when I see a new letter not just because of the new
Letter itself but because I KNOW that we as a family ARE
staying in touch With each other and it renews my faith in
our CLOSENESS!!! All of my friends think I am so fortunate
to have such a close family And I thank God everyday for
the LOVE that this family shares. In planning for the
2001 STEVENSON reunion my mind has got me thinking...
LOOKING BACK TO Great Grandpa and Grandma Ira & Ada
Stevenson. From their union were created James Ira and
Cora Stevenson. Cora later married and had Marilyn and Matt
(of which Marilyn and her Family are still living) and of
course James Ira is our grandpa who married
Mattie which created James, Bobby,Betty,Gerry, and Danny.
Sadly…all of THESE Are gone but the kids from THEIR
unions are US and CINDY,SUZIE,JULIE (uncle Dan’s
daughters) JOHNNY & CANDY ( from uncle Bob’s 1st marriage)
and PERRY & ROBIN ( from Uncle Bob’s 2nd marriage) and … we
recently learned that Johnny passed away about 2 months ago
and I don’t believe ANY of us has ever Met CANDY I think
she lives in TEXAS….isn’t it sad to think she has
This HUGE extended family and NONE of us have ever met her?
Well…uncle Bob’s children with Aunt Sally ( his 2nd
marriage) are Perry and Robin and I believe most of us 12
have met them at least once in our life But I’m sure it’s
been a VERY LONG TIME since we’ve seen them…After
Aunt Sally died…. Robin & Perry sorta fell through the
cracks and no one knew what happened to them…until LAST
CHRISTMAS!!! Robin (now ROBERT) contacted Bill & Sharon
and Bob & Diane and it has been GREAT getting to know him
and his family again and since Bobby gave ROBERT’S e-mail
address to us on the Circle letter…some of us have
contacted him again too!!! They are even planning to come
to the 2001 REUNION !! This is just INCREDIBLE to think
that there are STEVENSONS out there from our family that
some of us will meet for the first Time!!! HOW COOL!!!!!
But it got me thinking…remember when we went to the METTER
family reunion on Mom’s side about 40 years ago…that was
the one and only reunion on Gramma Laduc’s side I ever
remember…but NOW we COULD do the same thing with OUR FAMILY
for the 2001 reunion…we could try to contact ANY LIVING
STEVENSON from the union of IRA & ADA STEVENSON and have
them come ALSO!!! That would be Marilyn Wheeker and her
family ( whom we haven’t seen her kids for YEARS!!!!) and
also CINDY,SUZIE,JULIE and all their families and ALSO
CANDY and her family and PERRY & ROBIN and their families…
I know it would take some legwork to find some of these
people but HEY…THEY ARE FAMILY And it would be WONDERFUL to
get back in touch with them all to get in on this BIG OL’
FAMILY of ours….WHAT DO YOU THINK??? I am going to make a
list of every living relative in our whole family going
back to the oldest living relative we have.
That is MARILYN WHEEKER (Aunt Cora’s only living child) I
do know how to contact her and she can tell me all of HER
kids names and addresses and if her deceased brother,Matt
had any children which I’m pretty sure he does… and I think
Sally knows how to contact Uncle Dan’s Girls and get all
their addresses and now that we have ROBERT’S (Robin)
address we can contact him!!! I think Billy knows how to
contact CANDY and all we have to do is try to find PERRY
and the COMPLETE STEVENSON FAMILY CIRCLE will be
accomplished!!!! This is not to say that they will all
WANT to get back in touch with us….but at least we will
have tried!!!!
I will contact you all again as soon as I have all the
information that I need….Till then please contact me and
let me know what you think. I love you all!!!! Sorry this
was so long but I’m just excited about the possibilities
and YES SALLY This would be a great FEEL GOOD story for the
papers!!!
Bye for now.xoxox, Mary
P.S.
I just talked to Sally and she said she did send out
notices to Uncle Dan's daughters and also to Bill Schended
who is actually on the RAND SIDE ...which would be cool to
contact all of them too.... any other ideas? Let's hear
from you all!
- Monday, May 29, 2000 at 10:14:20 (PDT)
Author: Jamg1971@aol.comReunion Lotto
Hi everyone. Happy Memorial Day !!
I just want to tell you all how the family lottory is
doing. The funds are really starting to come in. I want
to thank everyone who's participating and let all those
others know that if you hurry, there's still time to send
yours out. Again, June 3rd is the drawing.
Look for Junes' updating letter and envelope. Thanks
for all those photos too. I'm making an album to show at
the reunion. This is going to be wonderful. I'm pushing
for news coverage. Now that would be a "feel good" story!!
Hope all is well. I love everyone, you're all in my
prayers. Take care and be kind. Till we meet again (or for
the first time, for some of you) !!
Peace xxxooo Sally
- Monday, May 29, 2000 at 04:49:10 (PDT)
Author: Sallylucca@aol.comAll These May Birthdays!!!
May 1st saw a 34
a 6 came on May second
a 38 on May the 7th
Happy days... I reckon...
2 fell on the 9th of May
36 and 25
I bet they both can scarce believe
that long they've been alive!!!
the 12th day saw a 7th year
the 13th... 62
the 15th had a 53
all happy days ... it's true
The 16th brought a 24
the 17th ... a twelve
the 19th day...a 31
With lots of cards for shelves
the 22nd..that's TODAY
a Milestone...BIG 6-0
tomorrow there's a 61
How can the years just go???
another milestone that same day
the big 4-0 for him
the 29th a Big 14
with fun filled to the brim
and last there comes a 26
on this month's 30th day
and that is every single one
who celebrates in May!!!
Now you all know just who you are
so happy days to you
Belated or those soon to come
May all your dreams come true!!!!
Happy, Happy Birthday to all those celebrating a birthday
in May.....Love, Mary
- Monday, May 22, 2000 at 18:29:17 (PDT)
Author: jamg1971@aol.comWelcome back to the 60's!
Welcome back to the 60's Dad!
Yes tomorrow my Dad (Tom) will join the 60's crowd!!
Happy Birthday Dad! I Love you, Tommy
P.S. this past weekend Mike and I went to Maryland to help
with my parents house construction. My Parents, Me, Mike
Kathy, Jenny, Danny and Chris trimmed, put up doors, framed
in windows, painted and put up cabinets to our hearts
content!!
We had a BLAST together! We worked sun up to sun down (OK
well past sun down). The tentative move in date is June 14
- Flag Day! The house is beautiful! We're real excited for
them. Hopefully many of you will get to see it.
We finished off (well Mike is still there so finished is
only a figurative term)by celebrating Katie's First
Communion. She was so excited and looked so pretty.
Congratulations Katie.
Also Happy Birthday to those who share May 23 with my Dad
- Jerry Roach Happy 4-0
- David Burton Happy 36 - my cousin on my Mom's side
(He is married to Colleen)
And a very happy 61st today to Uncle James!!!!!
- Monday, May 22, 2000 at 05:59:00 (PDT)
Author: tstevens@visteon.comAnother Congratulations! and Happy Birthdays!
Star,
You're the best, after 10 years of schooling you've finally recieved the recognition you so much
deserve, a MASTERS degree in Physical Therapy! Wow, that is so admirable.
May your completion of your educational goal see you to great success as a physical therapist!
It was such a pleasure to share your special day and ceremony with you and I'm so glad
I came home from Paris to be with you for that special occasion. Maybe you'll come to Paris in
celebration? :-)
Happy 61st to you Dad(James Stevenson) and Happy 40th to you brother Jerry Roach!
Ok, Back to Paris with mom tommorrow, time to get some sleep.
Love you all,
-Scott Stevenson
P.S. Good to see you on this letter Jennifer!
- Sunday, May 21, 2000 at 22:05:00 (PDT)
Author: hotscott@sonic.netCongratulations Star!!!
Happy Graduation Day Star! A Masters of Science in Physical
Therapy... we're so proud of you!!
-Jennifer
- Sunday, May 21, 2000 at 20:22:39 (PDT)
Author: jennstar@calweb.comFamily Lotto Payments made SUPER-EASY
I have recently discovered through EBAY about a free
auto-payment service though a on-line company ( PAYPAL.com)
which will make it abundantly easier for us to make and
recieve payments to the family lotto. All that will be
needed is a bank account with a visa/mc ATM card by
each of us and bank account with a visa/mc ATM card
for the Lotto funds. For more info about this service
please cut and paste the following link to your browser:
https://secure.paypal.com/refer/pal=zip%40denimdoctors.com
For every family member that signs up I will donate my $5
refferal fee.
Love Zip, Liz and Sophie too!!
PS: Tomarrow, Star graduates from his Masters Program in
Physical Therapy @ the University of the Pacific (UOP)
CONGRATSULATIONS!!!!!!!
- Saturday, May 20, 2000 at 10:36:41 (PDT)
Author: zip@denimdoctors.comCasey & other stuff !
Note from Nancy (lil Nancy)
Well the family updates are GREAT fun to read. Uncle Dan
your boys have been well educated! THe writing/grammer in
the letters have been very impressive, besides the content
which reads like a diary - pretty cool, i've enjoyed
reading the adventures of ANDY & LYNNA.
Great poem Mary! thanks for smearing my mascara
I think all of you already know, (Thanks Lou) about my
little baby's arrival (i mean Toddler)
He was a whopping 10.5 and 21 inches long - and hasn't
slowed down yet. He has a complete full head of hair -
which makes him look even older - he's beautiful (of course
I would say that) but he has great skin, teenie little
nose, and I believe he will be my first blue/green eyed
baby (the other 3 have brown eyes) that's exciting for me.
He looks the most like Jake, definately nothing like Luke
or me!
The kids all love him to pieces, LUke is really cute with
him - letting me know when he cries (even while I'm holding
him) and he lets me know that now I have 2 little boys -
hard to explain, but take my word it's cute!
speaking of cute... Casey is crying so I must go for now
I do have other kids to write about, just no time...
oh one more thing...
I sent an email out to most of you, but thought I really
should have added it here.
It's not much, but here is an incentive for all of you
I have a created a Stevenson Family Calendar which has all
our birthdays and how old we will be on that birthday -
so the first 10 people to send in there money for the
lottery will recieve one of these calendars... :o)
by now you should all have recieved sally's letter so noe
there is no excuse!
well Gotta go Love ya' all
& Happy Mothers Day!
Nancy (aka lil nancy)
P.s. anyone want to come over for a memorial day cook out
on Sunday 28th - no big deal let me know! :o)
- Saturday, May 13, 2000 at 10:27:26 (PDT)
Author: lyons10@msn.comWHAT A FAMILY!!
I FINALLY HAD TO PRINT A COPY OF THIS CIRCLE LETTER OF OURS
SO THAT I CAN READ IT ANYTIME AND NOT HAVE TO BE SITTING AT
THE COMPUTER. THIS IS MY FIRST ATTEMPT, SO YOU ARE ALL GOING
TO HAVE TO BEAR WITH ME. I THINK THAT THIS LETTER ALONE WAS
WORTH THE EXPENSE OF OUR COMPUTER. IT IS SUCH FUN TO SIGN
ON AND SEE ADDITIONS TO IT. SO WITH THAT, I WILL TELL YOU
WHAT WE HAVE BEEN UP TO.
WE JUST RETURNED FROM THE FIRST HOT ROD RUN OF THE YEAR
WHICH WAS HELD IN KNOXVILLE, TENN. YOU CAN'T IMAGINE HOW
MUCH FUN IT IS TRAVELING DOWN EXPRESSWAYS WITH ABOUT 7 OR 8
HOT RODS AND WATCH ALL THE PEOPLE GO NUTS OVER THE CARS.
THERE WERE A TOTAL OF 20 HOT RODS IN OUR GROUP AND THE
PEOPLE RANG IN AGE FROM 43 TO 78. NEXT MONTH, WE ARE GOING
TO INDIANAPOLIS FOR THE GOODGUYS HOT ROD HAPPENING. SUCH
FUN!
SALLY JUST PURCHACED HER VERY FIRST HOME LAST WEEK, SHE IS
SO HAPPY TO FINALLY HAVE SOME PLACE THAT IS HERS. SHE
BOUGHT A SMALL DOUBLE WIDE MANUFACTURED HOME AND IT IS
PERFECT FOR HER AND THE KIDS. SHE IS ONLY ABOUT 15 MINUTES
AWAY FROM US AND THAT IS GOOD. I CAN STILL HELP HER OUT
WITH THE KIDS. SHE TURNS THE BIG 30 IN JUNE...MY HOW TIME
FLIES.
NOT MUCH NEWS ABOUT MY "CLONE" SONS..IT IS AMAZING HOW MUCH
THOSE TWO LOOK AND ACT ALIKE (GOTTA BE A HULL THING)
ANTHONY AND MARISSA ARE STILL THE JOY IN MY LIFE. ANTHONY
IS 10 NOW AND MARISSA IS 5 GOING ON 17. WHAT A TRIP!!
I CAN'T IMAGINE THE JOY THAT MOM AND DAD GOT OUT OF ALL
THEIR MANY GRANDCHILDREN! GOD SURE BLESSED THEM REAL GOOD!
BOB..I THINK THAT THE LOTTERY IS A GREAT IDEA AND I HOPE
THAT WE CAN GET IT GOING REAL SOON! 2001 REUNION WILL BE
HERE BEFORE WE KNOW IT.
MARY..LOVED THE POEM! I THINK WE ALL MISS MOM SO VERY MUCH
BUT BEAUTIFUL WORDS FROM YOU SOMEHOW ALWAYS KEEP THEM BOTH
ALIVE.
BETTER GO...GETTIN TOO MUSHY LOVE ALL OF YOU!!
JIM AND JANIE
- Thursday, May 11, 2000 at 16:42:12 (PDT)
Author: CRUIZIN32@AOL.COMLetter #12 from PNG
Dear Family and Friends,
By my count, this should be letter #11. Andy has labeled
this as "Letter 12 (I think!)" indicating that it probably
is in fact letter #11, but there is a remote possibility
that this letter passed its predecessor in the mail. We
shall see. In the meantime, enjoy!
Also, Andy was able to send out a very brief email message
on Friday. He indicated that he is getting letters from many
of you, and appreciates every one tremendously.
Cheers,
Matt
----------------------------------------
4-27-00
Letter #12 I think!
Halo Olgeta!
Well...we have finally started to feel somewhat settled in
to our new house and have some time to write.
First I would like to write about the town we live near and
did our training in, Goroka. Goroka is the Provincial
capital of the Eastern Highlands Province. It has a
population of about 20,000, which makes it the largest town
in a province of about 320,000. Like many towns in PNG it is
clustered around the airstrip. I think that it is quite a
pretty little town. There are lots of open spaces with big
shady trees and grassy lawns underneath. The streets are
landscaped with flowers, bushes and trees. On any given day
hundreds of people are lounging in these public open spaces.
Most of those people are rural villagers that have come into
town to sell their wares at the market, stock up, and obtain
various services. The town has a hospital, high school,
banks, several modern stores where you can buy most
anything, and various other civic, governmental, and
religious institutions. Then there is the Market!
The Market is the hallmark and cornerstone of any good Third
World Country (that and crappy roads). The Goroka market is
big, noisy, odorous, colorful, and at first, intimidating.
When I first went I felt like I wanted someone to hold my
hand. Now it is not so bad, and really it can be fun and
interesting because you never know what to expect (I have
yet to see any body parts for sale). :) The Market is mostly
foods of all kinds, cooked and fresh, tobacco, some dry
goods, meri blouses, laplaps, and used clothing. Fortunately
there is no meat and or buai/betel nut (the stuff that makes
people spit nasty red stuff). All the meat is sold in stores
with refrigeration and there is a separate market especially
for buai. There is also a third market called the tambuna
(traditional) market where the meris sell their colorful
bilums (handbags) which they take many hours to make by
hand, and the old men make and sell cultural/ceremonial
things such as boars tusk necklaces, headdresses made from
the plumage of Birds of Paradise, bows and arrows, and stone
axes. Most of the vendors are not aggressive or obnoxious.
Prices are set fairly as bargaining is not practiced much
here. There is one really nice hotel in town called the Bird
of Paradise Hotel. This is where they serve decent pizza,
french fries, milkshakes and various other local and western
foods. It is also a safe place for us to go and hang out and
have a beer or two.
Now our house is about a twenty minute drive from town or a
10-15 minute bus ride to Mt. Sion Centre and then a half
hour walk to where we live. When the training was over and
the day came to go to our site we were all loaded up in the
PC car and when we showed up at the Centre, brother Pat, the
director of Mt. Sion, came out and told us there was a
problem and that we couldn't move into the house yet. The
house was being rented out to several people who understood
that they must move out if Mt. Sion staff needed the house.
Well apparently they had not yet fully moved out and were
rather angry. As it turns out, because our site had been
created so quickly and at the last minute, these folks had
only been given a two week notice to move out!
Understandably they were a little upset. We ended up
spending the night in an empty bunk house and then moved in
the next day. Due to the circumstances the house had not
been cleaned up. Over the next week we alternated between
cleaning the house, buying things for the house with a
settling-in allowance PC gave us, and unpacking. We got to
help pick out our stove and refrigerator. Our stove is a two
burner propane stove atop a small oven that can hold a one
loaf breadpan. The refrigerator is a midget, somewhere
between a dorm fridge and a full size one. Nonetheless we
are hamamas (happy) with our set up. The house is shaping up
to be a nice cozy 3 bedroom house with plenty of room should
any of you like to come and visit. We just found out the
roof catchment water system tank for our house is really
low, so everyday we go and swim and wash in a good size
river that is a five minute walk from our house. We may soon
have to start hauling water from there.
As I mentioned we have a half hour walk to Mt. Sion. This
walk I suspect will become one of the highlights of our day
(that and our daily swim in the river). There are several
trails that lead from our village to the Centre. One goes
over rolling grassy hills past gardens and several house
clusters, another one goes by a pond, through a coffee
plantation and under a beautiful mambu (bamboo) stand, and
then also we can walk out on the road itself. The timing of
our moving in was good because school had just gone on a one
week holiday for Easter and not much of the staff was around
anyway. Thus we didn't do too much actual work. In the next
letter I hope to talk a little bit more about what we will
be doing.
Em tasol! (that's all for now!)
Love,
Andy & Lynna
- Thursday, May 11, 2000 at 09:09:22 (PDT)
Author: mrs@nr.usu.eduWhy Mary is beautiful
Dear Mary,
You always seem to do something that makes me cry and today
was no exception. I read your poem and of course I cried,
but most of all I was in awe as to how correct it was.
I am sure that I speak for every single person that is
involved with this large family as to how happy, those of
us who cannot put down on paper the true feelings we have,
that we have Mary in our lives.
I love you very much.
On another note I have only heard from Sally after I posted
my last memo regarding the family lottery. Now I know it
wont be as big as the last Powerball Lottery but it will be
more fun for the winners and even the loosers. Let's talk
this up and get it started.
Tommy and Jeanie I am sure you knew that you were in our
hearts as well. We love you.
Lisa you need to get your mom and dad going on this letter.
Well I have got to go so I will look forward to hearing
from each and everyone of you who will be participating in
this huge lottery.
Love to you all,
Bob
- Thursday, May 11, 2000 at 06:28:29 (PDT)
Author: bodikel@pacbell.netLoving Grandma
Mom and Mary I couldn't agree more!
Gramdma was so special to ALL of us. To those of you who
didn't get the chance to know her like some of us she was
WONDERFUL. A piece of her LIVES in each one of her kids and
us grandkids. If you want to get to know her just ask your
parents or older cousins and we can tell you fun stories of
her and grandpas's love. I know she helped shape me into the
person I am today. I have a picture of her(looking at Dillon
only a few weeks before she died) on my desk at work. Though
she could no longer speak, the smile she shared with him is
priceless to me. I've told a friend about this picture and
the smile and how much I love Dillon's smile - and her
comment was "It sounds like she gave Dillon her smile" - I
literally think she did!
(as I smile big just thinking about this)
So this Mother's day - let's all take time to honor our
Wives and our Mothers and give special thanks to our Moms
and Grandma for the best gift ever given us - EACH OTHER!!!!
Happy Mothers Day Mom and all the Mom's out there -
Happy Mother's Day Grandma - may we all share your memory
with a smile on our hearts and wonderful stories to share
about you with our children!! I always love you! Tommy
- Thursday, May 11, 2000 at 06:28:18 (PDT)
Author: tstevens@visteon.comHappy Mother's Day
Dear Jimmy, Tommy, Billy, Nancy, Bobby, Danny, Janie,
Johnny, Mary, Sally, Terry and Gerry,
I love Mary's poem. soooo sweet.
Tom and I were talking just the other day about Mother's
Day and your Mom.
I told him how lucky he was to have had such a sweet Mom,
not everyone gets one of those. You were all blessed.
Your Mom was like a surrogate Mom for me, I learned a lot
from her.
Hope your Mother's Day memories are filled with lots of
smiles and only a few sweet tears.
Happy Mother's Day, mothers !
Love, Esther
- Thursday, May 11, 2000 at 04:42:20 (PDT)
Author: tomnesther@aol.comRemembering Eunice
There once was a mother...a lady named EUNICE
her lifelong examples were kindness and trueness
her love was abundant
though never redundant
but EVERFRESH...bursting with NEWNESS!
She RARELY complained...it just wasn't in her
she gladly would share every last bite of dinner
she'd hand you a plate
and not hesitate
made everyone feel like a winner!
Her voice was like HEAVEN to hear at each dawning
she'd be making our lunches while we were still yawning!
she'd drive us through rain
and NEVER complain
"MOM'S TAXI" emblazed on her awning!
And all through our childhood...this lady, our mother
would show us a love like I've seen in NO OTHER
t'was equally shared
and NEVER was spared
from the 12 of us sisters and brothers.
But now she is gone...I MISS her so DEARLY
sometimes in my mind I can see her so clearly!!!
though she's gone away
I'm SO GLAD there's a day
to HONOR her sweet memory YEARLY!
remembering mama...HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!!
I love you all! xoxoxox @----->--- Mary
- Thursday, May 11, 2000 at 04:06:57 (PDT)
Author: jamg1971@aol.comGreetings from North Florida!
"This is the day the LORD has made, let us rejoice and be
glad in it". Psalm 118:24, NIV
Hello Family!
This is Lisa, getting ready to join the web-fray! Mucho
thank you to Web-master Scott for this piece of art! Also a
thank you goes out to Esther for getting the "paper one"
started!
It has taken me about 5 weeks to get my act together
and finally put a letter on this site. We have been on-line
since early April and I have been keeping up with the
circle letter the whole time.
I have entered my sixth year as domestic engineer, and
what benefits there are! (The joys far out-weigh the
hassles!) :) God has richly blessed our lives, our marriage
and our nest! He has given us 2 beautiful girls.
Charlene, 6, is about to complete kindergarden. She
loves to draw and is doing very well in school. This summer
she will be going to camp for six weeks.
Roxanne, 14 mos., has been walking a couple weeks now.
She is a happy baby, all smiles. She loves to eat!
Alan has been going to a Naval school for 7 months
now. He graduates in Oct. and will go to a Nuclear
Submarine for 3 years. I don't know which one or where it
will be home-ported. We find out in the summer. Will let
you know then.
I walk Charlene to school and just got a 6 speed bike
for my birthday so am riding that too. I do my bit to keep
in shape.
We have been going to the same church, Westside Family
Worship Center (Assemblies of God) for about 9 years now
almost. The church folk have been like family to us. With
the Pastor's name Jimmy, and his wife's Esther, they even
SOUND like family, at least to me. Alan and I have been
experiencing first-hand the blessings that come to you when
you put the LORD first in your life. (Of course, a fabulous
church doesn't hurt either!)
I am sending this out, in hopes that it doesn't get
lost in cyber-land.
Love,
Lisa Stevenson Kight
- Wednesday, May 10, 2000 at 13:30:20 (PDT)
Author: lisa.rednex@netzero.netUpdates from T & J
Hi family! Tommy here. It's been a while since I've
written. First of all I'd like to thatnk all of you for
your love and support you gave us during our miscarriage.
It really helped knowing all of you were there for our
family. It has been very sad but we are all doing pretty
well. Time does help heal a broken heart.
In other news we are making good headway toward starting our
house adition project. We are working now to finalize the
drawings and get the loan. If all goes well I hope we start
in June/July. We are very excited about this.
We also just found out that the girls just got into the
Catholic school that we were hoping for. That was a long
road, but persistance sure paid off. Sophie spend a day at
the school last Friday and came home so happy. She was so
excited she almost knocked me over when I came in the door
to tell me that she was going to go there in the fall. I'm
really happy about this. The schools are small and very
friendly family based (about 90 kids in the school). I asked
her how her day was and she told me it was really fun. As
an "observer" the teacher was surprised that she was
comfortable enough to answer questions and in that one day
she quickly made friends with the other girls in the class.
The teacher and principal also commented on this as they
observed her at recess and lunch. We're very happy about
this.
And Lastly we are now in the process of "raising" two baby
squirrels that I found in our garage. They are about 5-6
weeks old and have bonded to us. They are very cute and the
kids love to baby them. In aobut a week or two we hope to
let them go. they sleep in a box in the garage and we let
them in the yard each day and when they want to sleep they
always come back to their box. They follow us around
(outside) like puppies. When we come near them they run at
us and thy to climb up us. They love to be held and
cuddled. It's so fun to watch the kids with them. We also
have a nest of bunnies in the yard that we are watching,
they are only about 2-3 weeks old and don't have their eyes
open yet. They kids are very excited for them to get a bit
bigger so they can watch them play and mybe sneak in a
cuddle or two. We had them last year too and the kids loved
it. Mother rabbits do not have a problem with humans. So
we've had some really fun opportunities to teach our kids
and the neighbor kids about wildlife and respect for their
babies. (p.s. if you find "abandoned" bunnies and don't see
the mother around, don't worry they are probably not really
abandoned. the mothers only nures them once a day usually
around dusk and then stay away. (this was not the case with
the squirrels - form what I read and learned from a wildlife
re-habber the mother should come back w/in 24-48 hours and
that was not the case with our two. It's been 4 days now.
I'm still hopeful though that perhaps she will come around,
in the meantime we'll help with the mother role.
Well time to start working. talk to you soon.
Matt love reading the PNG letters - thanks for posting!
- Wednesday, May 10, 2000 at 05:54:56 (PDT)
Author: tstevens@visteon.comA vacation in California (HA!)
Greetings everyone!
It's good to hear from folks. It seems that most everyone is
doing well and generally happy.
So, I'm coming up on my three month anniversary here in
France. Because I have a tourist visa it's obligatory that I
leave the European Community every three months.
It turns out that Star is graduating from the Master Program
for Physical Therapy he currently is in, on the 21st of this
month and he wanted me to come and be at the graduation
ceremony so because both my necessity to leave the E.C. and
Star's desire for me to see him graduate, I will go back to
California.
I take a flight Thursday morning first to London then on to
San Francisco. I'm going to be in the U.S. until the 22nd.
It's a bit odd for me thinking about going back to
California. It kind of feels like I will be visiting a
foreign country. I'm surprised at how strongly I feel that
where I am now in Paris is 'Home'. Of course we always have a
hometown but it feels funny to think that I won't be going to
my 'home' when I go to California.
If it wasn't for Star I wouldn't be going back. I had
intended to stay out of the U.S. for at least a year before I
came back.
On my return flight to Paris my mom Suzanne will be joining
me. She's going to stay at my place until June the 9th.
I'm happy to be able to invite people here. I have others
coming on the 26th of the month (My brother Zip and his
uncle-in-law Jimmy Spencer). It appears as though it's going
to be a full house here with myself, my mom, Zip , and Jimmy
here at the same time. Fortunately Zip and Jimmy will be
staying for just a week, so it shouldn't be too bad to spend
a week with so many people.
I look forward to being a tour guide and showing them around.
I got a post card from aunt Sally who looks keen to come
soon. I can't wait to see you here aunt Sal!!
When I get back to California I'll be able to process some of
the video I took here and hopefully put it up on the web to
share with other folks. Unfortunately video files tend to be
very big so for those who don't have a high speed internet
connection, you'll have to be patient to see the videos.
Life has been good for me here in Paris. I meeting more and
more people. My French seems to be improving by leaps and
bounds and now when French people respond to me in English,
I'm beginning to demand that they speak in French. It's funny
to see people's reaction to it, most of the time they smile,
apologize and start talking French.
I've just heard from Esther about one of her Nieces so it
looks like I'll be having more visitors.
I'm thinking that for the next time that I have to clear my
tourist visa I might go down to PNG to visit Andy and Lynna.
There's a friend of a friend who lives in New Caledonia which
is a neighboring island and I'm thinking to go to New
Caledonia and then take a short flight (or boat trip) to
Papua New Guinea...that would be something else....we'll see.
The wheather has finally turned for the better here in Paris.
Up until last week it had been rainy or overcast. It's
actually getting hot here.
Well, that's my update for now.
Ok, I look forward to reading some more letters!
Love you all,
-Scott Stevenson
P.S. It looks like we'll be able to have a chat area for our
web page here. I've been doing some research and I think I
have a resource that we can use for free to set up a Java-
Chat room here. I've got more work to do (like updating the
links page with www.callingmarvin.com, etc. and making some
other changes).
- Wednesday, May 10, 2000 at 05:14:22 (PDT)
Author: hotscott@sonic.netLetter #10 from PNG
Letter #10
4-9-00
Hey Everybody!
Great news! We are now official Peace Corps Volunteers. We
"graduated" from training on April 7. It was a big affair.
Most of the Port Moresby staff was there and the ambassador
too. The women dressed up in traditional meri blouse and the
men in traditional western collared shirts and pants. All of
the homestay families as well as most of the supervisors of
the sites where the volunteers will be working. To start off
we all sang the national anthem of PNG and the USA. Several
people got up and gave short speeches. Then we all sang
another patriotic PNG song. To liven things up I got up and
did a little juggling act. The first thing I did was to get
the audience to yell "yes" every time I threw a ball way up
high and to yell "nogat" (no) when I dropped a ball. So
while I was juggling I would ask the audience silly
questions and depending upon the answer I wanted I would
drop or throw up a ball. To end my performance I led the
group in singing the "hamma" (hammer) song which is a silly
childrens song that we learned the first day we were in
Goroka. Basically you sing I've got 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 hammers
and dance around like you're a hammer! (A little humility
every now and then can be fun :))
Of course after my wonderful performance the ceremony was
rather uninspiring. The ambassador got up and gave a short
speech and then led us through the PC oath "I swear to
uphold and defend the constitution against evil
villains...and be a good Peace Corps Volunteer" or something
like that. Then we were given certificates and I shook hands
with the ambassador (photo op!). To conclude things and make
everybody happy there was a mumu with a pig for a big feast.
That night after all the homestay families and supervisors
left we had a big party and the PC ordered out for pizza!
(Yes, we have pizza in PNG! Here in Goroka only at the Bird
of Paradise International Hotel). The alcohol flowed freely,
and we ended up dancing late into the night. Even the
country director for the PNG-PC was spotted on the floor
busting a move. Lynna was a dancing maniac that night she
was dragging everybody out onto the dance floor including
the nationals and would accept no protest! (Just like a
Stevenson, eh?)
Well that is the big joyous news that I wanted to share with
you all. Of course we have been doing lots of other stuff
this past week. One thing we did was to spend a morning at a
district health clinic outside of Goroka. The nationals
aren't really big on privacy (at least not medical) so we
observed everything in the clinic from the initial
consultation, examination and treatment. One man that came
in had two of his fingers shot off from tribal fighting.
Lots of sick children. Another man accidentally cut himself
very badly with a bush knife (machete) while cutting down
coffee trees. Since this clinic has no doctors the more
serious cases are sent to the main hospital in town. Some
other things we did was visit an adult literacy program for
teaching women to read, attended an AIDS education workshop
in a local village, and Lynna also went to a baby clinic.
Before our graduation we had a language test, we both scored
intermediate high which is very good. As a whole group we
had the best scores as a result of us being the first group
to have a homestay whereby we stayed in the village all day
everyday. The group would get together only once a week.
Another evaluation was made of our cultural adaptability and
emotional maturity. They were impressed with Lynna learning
how to make a traditional bilum and meri blouse. They were
pleased with the way we handled the drunken homestay Papa
incidents. Thus, we were pronounced fit to be Peace Corps
Volunteers as were all the other couples too. There was only
one couple that went back to the US for medical reasons.
Now everybody's supervisor is in town for an orientation
conference and then we will all be leaving for our sites in
three or four days. Lynna and I are very excited to start
working, moving into our new house and becoming part of the
community.
We are now receiving lots of letters from many of you. We
love every one of the letters and please keep them coming.
We try to write back to everyone personally.
Love,
Andy and Lynna
- Wednesday, May 03, 2000 at 08:38:17 (PDT)
Author: mrs@nr.usu.eduLynna's Letter #1 from PNG
Hi All!
Well, Andy has been doing such a great job of letter writing
for the list that I've been hard put to come up with any
thing new to say--but here goes. :) After 2 months of no
mail I finally got a bunch and boy was I hamamas (happy).
You know who you are and thank you bunches, I promise to
respond personally very soon!
As you know by now from Andy's last letter, we now know our
site! When Andy and I first applied to PC we asked the
recruiter to look into sites working with deaf children or
adults. Only one site was known to exist (Kenya) and there
were no openings. So, we figured we would just do what we
could as a secondary project if there were any deaf people
in our area. This site was proposed and set up after we
arrived in Goroka for training. Almost everyone else is
going to the coast or the islands and I REALLY wanted an
island site, but this site at Mt. Sion is just too good of
an opportunity to pass up! The kids in the deaf class were
so great and I'm/we're really looking forward to learning
Aussy sign language and researching a PNG sign language. The
job description actually says "develop a PNG sign language"
and I'm waiting to see what they mean by that before I worry
too much about it. I'm looking forward to meeting deaf
adults at the recently established deaf club, more on that
later.
Now, I think Andy has mentioned this, but I just wanted to
talk more about life here as a female. I really do have to
wear below the knee skirts (or shorts or pants that are so
baggy and flowing that they look like skirts) ALL the time,
and long loose shirts with sleeves! If I were a tourist I
could get away with more and I've seen white women in short
shorts. But as a PC volunteer working with nationals and
living in the community I must conform to their norms of
dress. Also in this culture the erogenous zone is the inner
thighs. Americans are thought to be "loose" and rape is not
a crime. So, pants are out (sigh). The plus side is baggy
clothes are comfortable and I'll be less likely to attract
unwanted attention. Though, I've hear that rape of ex-pats
is less of a problem. Well, enough of that except to say
it's going to feel pretty weird the first time I can go out
in a bikini again, and I'll have a farmer tan. :( Another
cultural thing is that the women do most of the work while
the men sit and story. Recently this was explained to me
[indecipherable]...Here in PNG food is very important and
relationships are very important. In PNG most people raise
their own food which takes time. Also in PNG building good
relationships takes time spent together. So the women take
the time to raise the food while the men take the time to
build good relationships with people. It sounds too simple
now, but the relationships are very complex and you have
different obligations to people depending on your
relationship to them.
Okay, I promised this man that I would include his request
for a pen pal. :) I warned him that many American girls
didn't go for doing all the work while the guy chats with
his friends all day...He seemed like a nice guy though, so
here's what he put on the paper if anyone would like a PNG
pen pal besides us. :)
Jack Kepa
P.O. Box 1186
Goroka EHP
Papua New Guinea
(South Pacific)
Age: 27
Hobbies: Watching TV, reading books, and meeting people.
Profession: Community school teaches, grades 1-6/ages 7-15
I'll write again after we've moved into our luxury house
Andy told you about...they're small bedrooms, but save your
money because you are all invited to stay if you come visit.
Love,
Lynna
- Wednesday, May 03, 2000 at 08:36:51 (PDT)
Author: mrs@nr.usu.eduHOORAY FOR NANCY
Hooray Nancy,
What a great letter. I knew you could do it. You will make this whole Circle letter
WAYBETTER forsure!! I must get back to work. I'll try to write more this Friday. All
these letters are are Soooo cool!
Loveya
James [:-)>
- Monday, May 01, 2000 at 17:05:17 (PDT)
Author: sunshine @ sonic.netFamily Lotto
Hi everyone!!
Happy May. I love you all. We went to see Teege for
Easter and had a great time. Stevenson was a real
trouper. He handled all the traveling better then any of
us. It was great to all be together. Life is good.
I'm sending out self addressed envelopes for
the "Stevenson Family Reunion Fund 2000 for everyone. As
Bob explained this can work. Joy and John will have no $
ploblems with such a large undertaking, someone can win a
little money, have fun and we can all be together again.
It's such a joy for me and I hope for all of you to know
that we're determined to share time toghter. We can do
this. Watch your mail boxes.
Bob, I'm also glad you got in touch with Robert. I'll
e-mail him, send him photos and even call him as soon as I
can. I'm thrilled. Take care, God bless you all.
Love, Sal xxxooo
- Monday, May 01, 2000 at 14:18:22 (PDT)
Author: sallylucca@aol.comLong Lost Relatives
Dear Family of Mine.
It has been quite some time since I have contributed to the
Circle Letter but I have a couple of items that I believe
are very important.
First of all Diane and I were in Vegas a couple of weeks
ago and we went to Bill and Sharon's. They had invited
Robin Stevenson and his wife Terri and their 2 girls, Emily
and Elizabeth. I got to tell you I thought Robin (ROBERT)
was dead. Well he's not. He looks great, has been married
for 9 years and has felt guilty to contact anyone in the
family because of the things he did after Aunt Sally died.
Well Robert is into computers and Terri is an accountant,
working for the city of Las Vegas. Their girls are 5 years
and I think 10 months. I want them to get involved with the
rest of the family as this is one of the things that Robert
thought about a lot after Sally died. They can be reached:
Robert & Terri Stevenson
e-mail address: WE-3@prodigy.net
3920 San Andrews Ave.
Las Vegas, NV 89121
702-436-0363
LET'S WELCOME THEM BACK!!!!!!!!!!!!
The next thing I want to talk about is the family LOTTORY.
I know that Sally and Nancy Lions work hard to get this
started but nothing is happenning. I feel this is a great
opportunity to help several people who either are throwing
an event or to some of you that want to attend the next big
event.
Here is how it works: tickets are $5.00 each and you can
buy as many as you want per month. At the end of the month
there will be a drawing and 40/50% of the proceeds will be
handed out in the form of vouchers, "ie" 1st. prize and
2nd. prize. The balance will go into a general fund "MARKED"
Stevenson event.
This is not limited to the brothers and sisters. Everyone
is encouraged to play, cousins, second cousins, their
families and anyone who wants a shot at attending the next
big event or just wants a shot at making a few bucks. The
money will be giving out, to the winners, about 45 days
before, lets say, the next family reunion in Alambama. This
way they will not spend the money and they may have enough
to pay their way to this event. Then the money in the
general kitty will pay for the party or help pay the cost
of the party.
Let's give this a shot, it may be fun and I do not think
anyone will get hurt. You buy what you can afford. I would
like to hear from anyone who has an idea or thought as to
how this could work better. I know there are a lot of smart
people in my family and I promise I will not be hurt if you
give me your thoughts, good or bad.
By the way everyone in my family is fine. Kids are growing
tooooooo fast.
I LOOK FORWARD TO HEARING FROM YOU>
Love ya,
Bob, Diane, Mimi, Gregg, Brad, Kelly, Jake, Mathew, Dan and
last but not least Madison
- Sunday, April 30, 2000 at 17:27:12 (PDT)
Author: bodikel@pacbell.net
Dear James:
I finally did it.
I love you.
Nancy
- Monday, April 24, 2000 at 11:48:32 (PDT)
Author: bhnhr1@aol.com
Dear Family:
I am new at this but here goes. It's Easter Monday, April
24, 2000 (Johnny's 18th birthday) and I hope you all had a
very blessed and happy Easter. We sure did. The Creek had
its first and last Easter Brunch Buffet which was fabulous
if I do say so myself, but so much work that it won't be
repeated. We had a great Easter service at our Church and
later in the day we went to Tom and Esther's surprise 60th
birthday party at Mike and Debbie's. It was so much fun.
They're doing so good. Their new house looks like it's
going to be fantastic. The newest member of the Stevenson
family at large, Casey William Lyons, was in attendance at
the party for
all to see. He's so beautiful...I wish all of you could
see him. That makes 22 grandchildren for Brian and me.
Eight of mine, six of his and eight stepgrandchildren that
are now a part of the family.
I have been reading Andy's letters and I've been enjoying
them so much. What an experience of a lifetime. We're
looking forward to Danny's wedding and also to the
Stevenson family reunion in 2001. Has there been a date
set yet? Will it be in June, July, or August? It's not
too soon to make plans.
Well, this is at long last my first contribution to the
Stevenson Circle Letter and I'm not sure how to send it but
I'm going to try. I'm also going to get a little more
involved with this AOL stuff, I think. We'll see. I love
you, relatives of mine, and I pray that all is well
with you wherever you may be.
Love and blessings,
Nancy
- Monday, April 24, 2000 at 11:14:43 (PDT)
Author: bhnhr1@aol.comSTEVENSON CHAT ROOM??? YES!!!
Well I'll be the first to respond to Johnny's idea of a
chat room and say ALRIGHT!!!! That would be a blast!!!
We could all figure out a time and pass the word on to as
many family members with internet access as we know!!!GO
SCOTT GO!!!
Just to let anyone know who knew about the DETROIT MUSIC
AWARDS...Cole didn't win but as they say in HOLLYWOOD...
It was a privelage just to be nominated!!!!! It was a very
interesting to say the least...Many STRANGE and Colorful
charactors!!! Sally and Anna went with us and Anna was
thrilled to meet THE CONTOURS who received a lifetime
achievement award that night...THE STATE THEATRE is right
across the street from the new COMERICA PARK ( replacing
the old TIGER stadium) and next door to the FOX theatre so
it was very cool to see so much activity and HUSTLE-BUSTLE
downtown...every now and again THE CITY can be a neat
experience! Well...I love you all...have a wonderful and
BLESSED Easter!!!xoxoxoxoxox,Mary
- Thursday, April 20, 2000 at 04:19:26 (PDT)
Author: jamg1971@aol.comStevenson Chat Room
Hi Everyone! I have heard about a closed chat room that
we could have, that only we could access. Has anyone else
ever heard of it? I E-mailed Scott in Paris (how cool) and
asked if he would head it up. I thought it would be great
if we could all get together once in a while for a nice
long chat!!! love, John ps. has anyone else had 80 degree
weather yet? HMMMMM?
- Monday, April 17, 2000 at 19:22:51 (PDT)
Author: jjandk@corrcomm.netPrevious Letter Archived and E-mail corrected
Note:
If you're looking for the previous letters just click on
the link up above: Letter 2 Archive .
Also, I have John and Joy's Correct address now (thanks Aunt
Esther)....I went ahead and corrected it on the previous
letter.
Their address is:
jjandk@corrcomm.net
Ok, start filling up this new letter!!!
Love,
-Scott
- Sunday, April 16, 2000 at 08:03:26 (PDT)
Author: hotscott@sonic.netCongrats, and A Big Welcome!!! E-mail correction needed
Well, I finally got connected via cable modem over here in
Paris. Ahhhhhh!!! It's Great! I've been re-falling in love
with the net....to anyone in the family out there who can
have a high speed connection via cable or DSL, I highly
recommend it....it might be a little expensive but once you
try it I think you'll agree...it's worth it!
A big Warm Welcome to Janie & Jim!!!
A big Warm Welcome to Lisa 'Stevenson' and Alan Kight!
A big Warm Welcome to John and Joy Stevenson and Family!
Congratulations to Nancy and Matt on the birth
of your new boy Casey!
Does any one have John and Joy's correct e-mail address?
The one that was posted on their letter is not correct!
It's great to see more family joining the web-fray!
I will be working on the site some more in the next month or
so.
Life has been pretty good for me here in Paris.
I'm making more and more friends.
I re-connected with a friend who I hadn't seen since 1994.
I called up the phone number I had for him from back then and
got ahold of his parents who put me in contact with him.
It was soooo great to re-connect. He was amazed that I kept
his info for so long. The last time I had communicated with
him was in 1996. I ended up going out with him and his
girlfriend the last two nights to dinner and also last night
to see some Jazz with some other friends. It was great fun!!
I'm really beginning to notice my improvement in French. I
can hold an intelligble conversation now and I'm learning
more and more each day.
The weather has been pretty sucky here the last week or so
but it should warm up soon. I'm beginning to miss family and
friends and a good cup of steaming hot Mocha!!! Mocha is
something not very French and so one must search out the
cafes that serve it. Fortunately I have managed to find a
couple of resources but they are expensive.
I bought a web-cam for my computer the other day and I have
been experimenting with it. It looks like I'll be able to
make some videos and put them on the web with it.
I actually bought a digital video camera before I left. I was
hoping to use it with a computer here but when I went to buy
a computer with a video connection (before I left the U.S.)
there wasn't a laptop available like I wanted to so I had to
settle for an iBook with no video in. But with the web-cam I
can do some video, so we'll see.
Ok, hope everyone is doing well!
C-ya,
Love,
Scott Stevenson
- Sunday, April 16, 2000 at 06:29:41 (PDT)
Author: hotscott@sonic.net