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Thank you from Maryland
To my dear family:
Thank you all so much for your kind words, thoughts and
prayers over this past year. We are all home safe and
sound and happily adjusting to our new family life.
Baby Marshall is doing very well and we are enjoying him to
pieces. We are so very blessed and thrilled to add another
member to our great big family!
Much love to you all!!!
Jenny
- Wednesday, June 19, 2002 at 14:54:44 (PDT)
Author: barleysgirl@aol.comBETH
I hear you callin'!!!
That reminds me of a song I heard somewhere...
Oh well. There is a GLARING oversight on this here circle
letter. No one wished Cuz (daughter, sister)Beth a HAPPY
BIRTHDAY on JUNE SEVENTEENTH!!!! :) :) :)
Hey Beth, I hope you had a wunnerful day and the card is on
it's way in the mail...
Oops, I almost forgot! It wouldn't be a family circle
letter-entry from Lisa Stevenson Kight without:
"Above all, love each other deeply,because love covers over
a multitude of sins." - I Peter 4:8
that one's for you, Beth.
Love,
Lisa Kight
- Wednesday, June 19, 2002 at 13:48:55 (PDT)
Author: Cowgrl23@netzero.netHappy birthday to Paul today!!
Hey there Paul... Happy 16th Birthday!!! Hope your day is
blessed and remember to go smooth with your new Driver'd
License!!! Love you, Aunt Mary, Uncle John and Sarah Jane
- Tuesday, June 18, 2002 at 15:30:36 (PDT)
Author: jamg1971@aol.comHappy Birthday Bob and Bill
June 22 Happy Birthday Brother Bob
June 25 Happy Birthday Brother Bill
And to all the other beautiful Stevenson family members I
have missed this month.....HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU ALL!!!!!
All my Love, Gerry
- Tuesday, June 18, 2002 at 12:40:42 (PDT)
Author: gerryandkelly2@aol.comAnd the circle continues!!!
Congrats to Jenny, Chris and Little baby Marshall!!! Can't
wait to add HIS name to the next FAMILY REUNIONT-shirts!!!
We hear tell Aunt Sal is already on it for getting it
organized... and won't you Marylanders be having a ball
with the newest Christmas baby come December!!!! Can't wait
to see that little guy in person!!!! We love you and God
Bless you all! Love, Aunt Mary, Uncle John and Sarah Jane
- Sunday, June 16, 2002 at 11:12:58 (PDT)
Author: jamg1971@aol.comBrother James
Your pretty frast yourself! And comepletely cool at the
same time....with tremendous love!!!
Broyher John
- Saturday, June 15, 2002 at 06:01:08 (PDT)
Author: jjandk@corrcomm.netGERRY ARE YOU FAST(OR WHAT)
Gerry,
We get the latest family news from you fraster
than anybody! Man you are on it!
Loveyaaa...brother James [:-)>
- Friday, June 14, 2002 at 21:46:44 (PDT)
Author: jis@sonic.netHAPPY BIRTHDAY MARSHALL
Happy Birthday Marshall and welcome to our family circle.
Congratulation Jenny and Chris on the birth of your first child.
I spoke with your dad Jenny and got the good news about the
birth of "Mr M.T.P
Loveyaaa...Uncle James [:-)
- Friday, June 14, 2002 at 21:38:52 (PDT)
Author: jis@sonic.netProud New Aunts and Uncles
Mary, Doug, Tommy, Jeanne, Mike, Debbie, Kathy, Mike,
Danny, Jill and cousins Melissa, Mike, Mitch, Sophie,
Carly, Dillon, Emilie, Julia, Jessica, Mike, Katie,Molly
and Jack are very proud to announce the birth of our newest
Nephew and cousin - Marshall Thomas Palmer.
Born June 14th 2002 at 7:41 pm.
His is 7 lbs 8 oz and 21 inches tall.
Jenny, Chris and Marshall (as well as assistant birthing
coach Kathy)are thrilled beyond any imaginable words!
They are all doing great. Proud Grandparents said he is
just BEAUTIFUL and very alert.
Fun fact for this Child born on the 14th -
he is my Mom and Dad's 14 grandchild and he is the 14th
member of the Palmer family.
Thank you all for you support and prayers over the year for
Jenny and Chris - they have been answered beyond words.
Thank you Lord for yet another beautiful gift of life for
our family.
May God Bless the "new" Palmer family.
Congratulations Jenny and Chris - we love you so much
- Friday, June 14, 2002 at 19:58:45 (PDT)
Author: tomstevenson@peoplepc.comWelcome Marshall Thomas Palmer
Happy Flag Day Family and We want to be the first to
welcome Marshall Thomas Palmer (Son of Jenny and Chris
Palmer). May Saint Grandma Eunice watch over your new angel
and keep him safe, healthy and happy. We Love You all and
pray everything is okay with Jenny and baby. Allo our Love,
Uncle gerry and Aunt Kelly
- Friday, June 14, 2002 at 18:38:16 (PDT)
Author: gerryandkelly2@aol.comHAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR SALLY
HAVE A GREAT CELEBRATION YOU GREAT GAL!
WISH WE WERE THERE TO SPANK YOU.
LOVE FROM THE WEST COAST STEVENSONS AND ROACHES
- Friday, June 07, 2002 at 15:28:03 (PDT)
Author: SUNSHINE@SONIC.NETHappy Birthday Sally Lucca
Happy Birthday Sally!! We hope it is great!
Love, the Stevenson's of Plymouth
- Friday, June 07, 2002 at 13:07:10 (PDT)
Author: tomstevenson@peoplepc.com4th of July Party
Hi everyone,
This letter is for all of us in Michigan, anyone visiting
Michigan and anyone who wishes they were in Michigan. Tony
and I are having our 7th annual 4th of July party Saturday
July 6th at 6:00. The fireworks are at dusk. Bring the
usual stuff you'll need for fun, like your kids, suits,
towels, blanket, a sweatshirt if needed (sometimes it gets
colder here on the lake once the sun goes down) a dessert
or appitezer, your voice, your charm, your beverage of
choice, your flag (o.k. so I'm going a bit crazy here)
anyway, keep this date open if you don't already have a
millon other summer things to do (we all lead such boring
lives)!! Call if you need any info. I love you all and
wish you a safe and happy summer. Oh yea, I'm getting the
ball rolling for a 2004 reunion (Same Place????) Take care.
Love Sal xoxoxo
P.S. Hey Jen, how ya doing girl?
- Tuesday, June 04, 2002 at 05:08:38 (PDT)
Author: sallyjlucca@aol.com
WAY TO GO, RED WINGS
CONGRATULATIONS GO TO THE FABULOUS DETROIT RED WINGS WHO
JUST BEAT THE COLORADO AVALANCHE 7-0. WHAT A GAME!
NOW, IT'S ON TO THE STANLEY CUP FINALS BETWEEN THE RED
WINGS AND CAROLINA.
FIRST GAME HERE AT HOME ON TUESDAY NIGHT.
LOVE TO EVERYONE,
NANCY
- Friday, May 31, 2002 at 18:56:09 (PDT)
Author: BRINANR1@AOL.COMHAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY JAMES
Happy 63rd birthday my dear sweetheart. I am so grateful
your brain surgeries were successful and we can celebrate. I
never thought I would be with a 63 year old. Thirty-five long
and short years together. I love you Mr. Handsome.
- Wednesday, May 22, 2002 at 10:04:11 (PDT)
Author: sunshine@sonic.netHAPPY BIRHTDAY JAMES!!!!!!!
HAPPY BIRHTDAY TO YOU!!!!!!
HAPPY BIRHTDAY TO YOU!!!!!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR JAMES.....
HAPPY BIRHTDAY TO YOU!!!
MAY THE DEAR LORD BLESS YOU!!!!
MAY THE DEAR LORD BLESS YOU!!!!
MAY THE DEAR LORD BLESS JAMES....
MAY THE DEAR LORD BLESS.....YOU!!!!
(forgive me for getting the order mixed up :( hope this
is YOUR greatest birthday yet!!!)With Love,from your
MIchigander connection
- Wednesday, May 22, 2002 at 05:10:45 (PDT)
Author: JAMG1971@AOL.COMOOPS!!! We must be gettin' old
Got my dates confused!!!
READ ON....
- Wednesday, May 22, 2002 at 05:05:21 (PDT)
Author: Jamg1971@aol.comHappy Birthday Tommy!!!!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!!!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!!!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR TOMMY!!!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU....
MAY THE DEAR LORD BLESS YOU!!!
MAY THE DEAR LORD BLESS YOU!!!
MAY THE DEAR LORD BLESS TOMMY!!!!
MAY THE DEAR LORD BLESS...YOU!!!!
We love you so much and hope this is your greatest birthday
of ALL time!!! Have a wonderful day! With Love from all of
us Michiganders
- Wednesday, May 22, 2002 at 05:03:09 (PDT)
Author: jamg1971@aol.comHonestly For Everyone!
How proud was I when my cousin's song came over the sound
system at Petco (a national pet supply store)! I found
myself singing alone to this cool song at Petco and
realized it was Tony's song "Honestly For You". The check-
out girl said it was part of a MP3 (digital) music
collection that it being play at all the Petco stores
accross America and abroad! Thank-you to all of you who are
helping Jennifer raise donations for the fight against
leukemia and lymphoma. Her training is going fantastic, she
recently ran another 22 miles in the hills around Lake
Tahoe! She is busy in school cutting on animals and we now
have a dog that she recently performed surgery on...
(sucker) The dog is a mutt, and is a cross between a Husky
and a greyhound or whippet. Anyway, we have got abandon
kittens to bottle feed, poop and pee so I must log off for
now.
Love Star and Jennifer
- Tuesday, May 21, 2002 at 21:00:25 (PDT)
Author: starstevenson@hotmail.comNEXT FAMILY REUNION!!!!
Hi Everyone!!! My son Andrew asked me when the next BIG
family reunion was....I guess it's never too early to start
planning...What do you think? How about summer of 2004???
Love, John
- Monday, May 20, 2002 at 09:28:48 (PDT)
Author: jjandk@corrcomm.netAmen to that!
Great letter Tom... How blessed we were, indeed! She was
too marvelous for words!!! Love you all, Mary P.S. hope
your Mother's Day was wonderful!!!
- Sunday, May 12, 2002 at 19:23:50 (PDT)
Author: jamg1971@a0l.comMother's Day
My Dear Family:
Today is a very special day in the Stevenson Family. It
seems like only yesterday that Mom was here for all of us
to celebrate and spend time with on this special day.
For those of us who remember . . . weren't we the lucky
ones to have had her for so long!!!
Now for the Grand and Great grandchildren, listen to what
your Mom and Dad have to say about Grandma. She was
everything they say she was and much much more. She loved
her God, and loved her family . . . that was her life. If
any of you every need someone special to talk to, close
your eyes and talk to her to your heart content. Grandma
is a great listener. And by the way . . . I believe she
has some good connections where she is.
Happy Mother's Day to all the Mothers in the Stevenson
family and all the Mothers to be.
Love,
Brother Tom
- Sunday, May 12, 2002 at 15:45:15 (PDT)
Author: tomnesther@aol.comPRAISE THE LORD
SO HAPPY THAT YOU RECEIVED A GOOD REPORT FROM YOUR DOCTORS,
JAMES. ALSO YOU ARE TO BE COMMENDED FOR VOLUNTEERING TO BE
A PIONEER IN THIS TYPE OF SURGERY. YOU ALWAYS WERE
ADVENTURESOME. I'M SURE YOU'RE VERY RELIEVED TO HEAR THIS
NEWS. I KNOW I AM. YOU HAVE A GREAT BRAIN AND IT NEEDS TO
STAY THAT WAY SO YOU CAN CHALLENGE BRIAN IN A GAME OF
TRIVIAL PURSUIT.
IT'S HARD TO BELIEVE THAT YOU WERE ONLY 23 YEARS OLD WHEN
JAMES CHRISTOPHER WAS BORN. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JAMES
CHRISTOPHER....NOW YOUR LIFE CAN BEGIN.
LOVE TO EVERYONE.
NANCY
- Monday, May 06, 2002 at 09:47:12 (PDT)
Author: BRINANR1@AOL.COMCyberknife surgery seem successful
Hello Everybody,
I've received good news today. The Cyberknife surgery
seem to have been successful. The brain tumor (Its benign)
has remained stable over the last six months and six months
before that had shrunk a little from the last surgery.
The doctors are quite happy with the results.
James Christopher will be 40 years old on Tuesday (May
7th).
Well, I have been up all night reinstalling my OS 9.2
operating system on my iMac/SE and am exhausted. So I will
close for now. Its great reading all your letters.
Love you Guys
James [:-)>
- Saturday, May 04, 2002 at 05:24:16 (PDT)
Author: jis@sonic.netOUR NEW GRANDCHILD!!!!
Just wanted to drop a note to let everyone know that Steven
and Pamela had their baby this morning. Lillian Renee Hull
entered this world at 4:26 A.M. weighing in at 6 lbs 7 oz
and was 19 inches long. Mom and Dad are exhausted but happy.
Our new baby girl had black hair and looks so much like her
Daddy, it's incredible!! Becoming a dad for the first time
at age 35 is so overwelming for Steven, but it was plain to
see that she planted herself in his heart immediately.
One more wonderful miracle into this great family!!!
Love you all!!! Janie and Jim
- Sunday, April 28, 2002 at 06:42:15 (PDT)
Author: jnjnichols32@aol.comGrandma Eunice
"Her children arise and call her blessed;” – Proverbs 31:28
I wanted to chime in with Suzanne’s wonderful
comments on Grandma “Eun”. This is for those of you who are
new to the Stevenson clan and may not have heard this one.
This particular story spoke volumes to my husband Alan as
to how Grandma felt about children. It is one of my very
favorites also. This is taken from the article “More Great
Moms” from the May 5th, 1988 Detroit Free Press:
Jane Hull of Highland writes about her mom, “I
remember when my son was born, she stood at the nursery
with tears in her eyes, clapping her hands. The nurses
asked me later if he was her first grandchild, to which I
replied, “No, he’s her 28th, and she acts the same way with
every one of them.”
Alan was stationed on board a sub with a young man
who was married with two small children. (He had a 3 year
old and a 1 year old) His shipmate found he was gonna be a
daddy once again. Alan was quite agitated that they were
going to have another mouth to feed on this man's meager
income. I asked him “So, how does (shipmate) feel about
another one on the way?” Alan replied “Oh, he feels about
kids the way your Grandma Eunice does. He’s thrilled about
it.”
Love,
Lisa Kight
- Tuesday, April 23, 2002 at 13:08:00 (PDT)
Author: Cowgrl23@netzero.netTHANK YOU SO MUCH ANNA
Dear Anna,
Thank you so much for sharing this writing about your
Grandma. When we are little sometimes we can exspress what is
so hard to find words for when we are adults. Grandma set
such a high example for all of us of beauty, selflessness,
and most of all love of everything and everyone. She had so
much love for each and everyone of us. I remember how each
new baby that came in the family was to her like the first
and so beautiful and special. We are all so blessed to have
known her.
Love, Suzanne
- Monday, April 22, 2002 at 17:15:47 (PDT)
Author: sunshine@sonic.netstory about grandma stevenson
When I was a little I didn’t understand death. I
grew up close to you grandma growing wise with you. I
remember trying to think where would you go, what would I
do?
I grew closer to you grandma, and those last few
nights I knew death like it was my best friend. Somehow I
knew you were at ease because I could see you talking to
god.
It was painful for me, just looking at you.
Cherishing your face before natures death occurred. That
night death came to your window. I know we both felt it,
because of the rooms silent shock.
It broke my heart when you slipped away, and now it wont be
re-fixed until I can feel your warmth through my soul. The
day you left my life I knew you didn’t want me to worry
about you.
When I got to see you one last time. I didn’t know
what to say, because I have never dealt with this hurt. So
when I saw you one last time I wished that you could still
be mine. And that I could still be four.
Since you cant be here anymore ill just have you in memory
and through God…
I was going through my notes in a box that I’ve had
since grandma Stevenson had past away. As I was reading
them I picked up 4 pieces of paper folded together. It was
a story I wrote in 4th gr. about how I felt about grandma
but it was like I was writing to her.
But anyways I was reading Uncle Gerry’s letter
about grandma and grandpa. So I decided to put my story on
the web site. I hope this touches you as it did and still
does to me. I love you all so much!!
Love always,
Anna Stevenson
- Monday, April 22, 2002 at 12:49:07 (PDT)
Author: dont knowAndy's Last Patrol in PNG
It was probably my most memorable patrol.
We were to go and visit two of PHF's more remote sawmill
projects.
The two projects had been having problems with management
and productivity. The more remote project, Mu village, was
one of our more successful projects. They had a sawmill, a
tractor, radiophone, and had managed to buy back an old
plantation on their land and start rehabilitating it.
Unfortunately, they had been having on-going disputes about
their management and consequently the sawmill had not
worked for almost a year. They had come to us for help in
settling their dispute. PHF told them to wait until one of
the new lawyers started working and that the lawyer would
go out to the village and help settle the dispute in the
villages rather than at the PHF office, which is
inaccessible to most of the villagers.
Marunga, the other village project site we were to visit,
had not been heard from in a long time. We knew that
something was up, because they were not responding to our
requests to come to the office and talk to us, and they
were not delivering any timber to us nor making any
payments on their loan. Due to the difficulty in
communication and remoteness of the village we were just
going to show up and hope for the best.
There were three of us that went, Martin, Patricia, and
myself. Martin is the PNG forester that I worked closely
with at PHF, and Patricia is one of the new lawyers working
at PHF. All three of us were going to help settle dispute
matters and get the projects back on track. Martin and I
were also going to give forestry training to the project
managers and sawmill workers. This included talking about
conservation principles and the importance of mapping
cutting areas and documenting trees marked in order to
establish a rotation system. Patricia was also going to
give talks to the villagers about women's issues and family
law in PNG.
The two villages are located in the Wide Bay area along the
south east coast of New Britain Island. The projects are
only accessible by boat. We hired one of the project
managers and his boat to transport us to the two villages.
Starting in Kokopo the main town near our offices, it took
us nearly six hours by banana boat to get to the village.
Because of the time of year the calmness of the waters
along the coast wasn't great, but not terrible. Normally
the boat would just go full throttle and it would just be a
rough four-hour boat ride. We couldn't go full throttle
because Patricia brought her four-month-old baby along. So
the boat had to slow down a bit. It took us nearly six
hour to get to the village, which is fine, however it
resulted in a bit of water torture for Martin and I.
Patricia, baby and babysitter sat at the back of the boat
where the ride is smother, cargo in the middle, and the
guys were at the front where it was a bit more bouncy. At
full throttle the spray caused by the boat is pushed off to
the side and the passengers stay dry for the most part. At
the reduced speeds the boat didn't quite go fast enough to
push all the spray off to the side and much of it came into
the front of the boat... right on top of Martin and me.
So (splash) for about five (splash) tortuous hours we were
(splash) subjugated to what was (splash) tantamount to
Chinese (splash) water torture. And since we (splash) were
in an open boat, (splash) the wind was constantly (splash)
drying the salt water on us. (Splash!) At the end of the
ride we were a bit crusty. We could have filled up a couple
of saltshakers with all the salt that was dried on our
skin, hair, and clothes. Yuck!
Now we had to work on solving the problem of the Mu village
sawmill project. It is unbelievable how complicated things
were in this village. I will attempt to give you a brief
rundown of the dispute. Mu is a small village about 200
people and seven clans. These clans own about 20,000
acres, with two clans owning the majority of the land.
Most of the land is pristine rainforest. These people may
not have a lot of money, but they certainly are rich. As
it turns out the two clans used to live up in the mountains
and the other five clans have always been on the coast and
own the land along the coast. Twenty-five years ago the
village started a shareholding company to help bring
development to the village. Members of all seven clans
bought shares of this company. Ten years ago PHF loaned
the company a sawmill to cut timber and sell it back to the
plantation where PHF is located. After some initial
success and some financial assistance, the company was able
to buy back an old plantation for the village and to
acquire a tractor. When PHF helped the company to do all of
these things, we told them that it would benefit the whole
village. Unfortunately, some of them got it in their heads
that benefits meant money in their hands without too much
work. Well, some of them stopped the sawmill from working
and came to PHF with this 'dispute'. Basically, we had to
go in there and explain how a share holding company works.
How a loan works. And to explain where all the money is
going. To pay off the loan for the sawmill and tractor and
also to explain that royalties from the timber go only to
the landowners and not to the community as a whole. That
other benefits include work opportunities for all members
of the community on the plantation and with the sawmill.
Basically it was three solid days of us explaining business
and economics, but it was quite a bit more complicated than
that. What was so frustrating was that the leaders of the
dispute owned stock in the company. Having stopped the
sawmill, they were hurting themselves too. A large part of
it boiled down to lack of education on the part of the
villagers and lack of awareness carried out by PHF when
this project was first set up. It was an interesting
learning experience for me. It shows that the learning
curve and road to development is a long and difficult one
for these people.
One thing that saddened me was that of the two clans that
own the land in the mountains, only two or three of the
younger men knew their way around the mountains and knew
where the traditional land boundaries are and where to find
animals and different plants for traditional medicines.
Many of the younger men grow cash crops along the shore and
don't venture very far out of the village except when they
go to town to sell their crops. If they are not careful
there is a wealth of knowledge that could be lost.
I had one day free at Mu village so I hired one of the men
to take me out bird watching. I saw plenty of hornbills,
several large white cockatoos, a pair of fantails, large
colorful fruit doves, several different kinds of parrots,
and two kinds of kingfishers. It was a good day.
After one week at Mu we went across the bay to the other
village, Marunga. We showed up unannounced. This might
seem rude in western society, but it is quite the norm in
areas where there are no phones. Our timing was both good
and bad. We showed up in the middle of their annual fire
dance which was great for me because I had never seen a
fire dance and had really wanted to. Bad because it meant
that everyone was too busy to work with us and we would
have to wait until the festivities were over before
starting work, which meant we would have much less time to
get what we needed done.
The fire dance was awesome. It is the initiation ceremony
for boys into manhood. It also coincided with the bishop’s
visit and the confirmation of boys and girls into the
Catholic Church. The fire dance is also performed to
ensure a good taro harvest. It is the biggest event of the
year for this village. Taro is a root crop and is a staple
of the villagers’ diet.
The men and boys would start making all of their costumes
and props for the dance three months in advance. During the
three months, the men are not allowed to have sex. One week
before the dance they have to go off into the forest for
their secret rituals and all the while they cannot eat.
Then after one week, the villagers set up the dancing area
and gather firewood for an all night bonfire. The
villagers have to sing special songs and beat on bamboo
drums to entice the spirits of the forest to come out and
bless the taro. This starts during the day before a fire is
set. The spirits that come out dance a slower pace and are
much more ritualized. These sprits have huge masks on that
stand up as high as 15 feet. The women would come up to
these sprits and pass taro around various appendages of the
spirits to bless the taro.
After hours of singing and after the sun has gone down the
equally exotic night sprits come out and dance around the
fire. This goes on all night. Many of these spirits take
on animal forms and have very large round eyes which is the
first thing you see when they are coming out of the depths
of the jungle. There must have been more than fifty
different sprits that came out of darkness of the night.
Some were of shapes and sizes that were so bizarre and
fantastic that I felt that I was in some kind of surreal
dream. Trippy is a good adjective. It was very powerful
when the villagers started singing in their haunting
melodic voices along with the rhythmic pounding on the
bamboo drums and the sprits, many of them with big freaky
eyes, come out of the jungle and start dancing around the
fire. The music increasing in pace and the rhythm becoming
more and more incessant, sprits twirling faster and faster
and jumping in and out of the fire, all of this building up
into a wonderful amazing high pitch of music, singing,
dancing, then slowly winding down with the spirits
disappearing one by one off into the jungle. The singing
slows down but never stops and continues until the sprits
come back. Sometimes different ones would come out,
sometimes the same ones come out and they dance again.
This went on for the whole night.
As you can surmise this is all a pretty grand production.
It lasts a whole week. So I guess if a village teen can go
three months without sex, then one week
without food, and then let the sprits possess his body and
dance all night, he then becomes a man.
After the big fire dance, the village took two days to
recuperate before we could sit down with them and discuss
the sawmill. As it turned out, the reason their sawmill
had not been working was because they did not have their
chainsaw. Where is your chainsaw we asked? 'Eight months
ago we brought it in to the PHF mechanic to get it fixed,
we had hoped you'd had brought it with you.' Ohh,
jeez.... our own mechanics had the chainsaw and had not
even told any of us. We were pissed. I was going to a
chew out a couple of mechanics when I got back from the
patrol.
Unfortunately, this is when I got sick for the one and only
time on any of my patrols. The house where we were staying
had a water catchment system and so I assumed that the
water I was drinking was from the tank, which is something
I normally don't have a problem with. Unbeknownst to me
they were giving me water from the river. My plumbing
system wasn't too happy about that. Fortunately I was only
mildly and not violently ill. After one day of lying
around, not eating, and being very strict about treating my
water, I was up and about teaching forestry to the locals.
The patrol was very tiring and stressful. We represented
PHF and all the baggage and history that went along with
the organization. Day after day it seemed that the
villagers had some problem or dispute and expected us to
magically make it all better and to have all the answers.
Sometimes people did not cooperate very much with us
because this was the first time we had come to these
villages. Sometimes people wouldn't talk to me because I
was white, particularly with regards to cultural matters;
cultural matters that are important for me to know about
when dealing with these people. So I would have to rely on
my coworkers to explain things to me. Sometimes they
didn't fully trust an explanation about business or
economic matters when explained by my coworkers, so it
wasn't until I explained it that they would
finally/suddenly 'understand' the issue. It was
fascinating how my coworkers and myself interacted with the
villagers and how the villagers discriminated in their
interactions with us. One thing that I was particularly
pleased about was that it seemed that many of the village
elders were respectful and listened to Patricia, a young
woman my age. If I hadn't found all this social and
cultural interactions fascinating, I would have gone crazy
with it all. Martin and I made a joke and started calling
ourselves the DSA, Dispute Settlement Authority.
After two rather long weeks we were ready to head home.
Only to find out that someone had stolen some of our
boatman's fuel from a storage shed. We found out it was
the priest that stole it! Apparently earlier in the week
someone had stolen some of the priest’s fuel containers
from the shed. In frustration, the priest had taken our
boatman's fuel containers and took off with out bothering
to tell anyone. Luckily we had enough money to buy some
more fuel so that we could get home. On the way home, the
water gods were good to us for the water was fairly smooth
and we could go a decent speed and forgo the Chinese water
torture. So, instead, about half way back to town the
motor breaks down. I look at the boatman and he gives me a
weak smile and shrugs. He explains that he probably should
have replaced the failed water pump seal the last time he
was in town. We are about five hundred yards off the
shore. There is only one paddle in the boat. No problem.
There are several bamboo poles in the boat that are used
for rolling the boat up out of the water. We split several
of those in half and use them as makeshift paddles and
paddle ashore. We manage to find a gap in the rocky
underwater coral that the waves are crashing on and get up
to the short rocky beach where the trees are growing right
out and over the water. There wasn't any good place to get
the boat ashore and above the tide line. So after
unloading the boat, we wrestle the boat up into the tree
braches hanging above the beach (about three feet high).
Amazingly the area where we beached was right near an empty
and unlocked house that belongs to a man from Mu village.
So we stayed at the house. Also just down from this house
is the house of the priest that stole our fuel. And the
priest is the only person within twenty miles that has a
vehicle! So after spending a night at the house the priest
gave all of us and our stuff and the boat motor a ride into
town.
PNG truly is the land of the unexpected, but never fear, in
the end it all works out. It is just a matter of adopting
the right attitude, which is basically: Go with the flow;
recognizing that whatever will be, will be; and accepting
the fact that as a whitey I will never fully know what is
going on (a variation on the ignorance is bliss theme,
because trying to find out is more trouble than it is
worth).
So with this attitude I was able to achieve most of the
things that I set out to do. As for the motor breaking
down, 'hey cool, another adventure.'
- Saturday, April 20, 2002 at 19:53:42 (PDT)
Author: mattstevenson.geo@yahoo.com"Hello Everyone"
Hi...everyone It's Gary Hull just bought a computer, so now
I can be connected. Trying to catch up with all these
letters, so so many....so my e-mail address is
Garstu02@aol.com.
Talk to you all soon...Love you all!!!!
Lots of love
Gary Hull...:}
- Monday, April 15, 2002 at 12:36:55 (PDT)
Author: Garstu02@aol.comNO RESULTS YET
Hello Everybody
I've had no results back on my MRI, but I'll let you know a soon a I get them.
I think the circle letter is amazing. It has never been so alive. To read every precious
letter. To know your deepest thought spelled out here. Its great. Please let your souls shine
for each of us. The light feels good.
I Love you all, but I especially...
love YOU !
James [:-)>
- Saturday, April 13, 2002 at 21:57:19 (PDT)
Author: jis@sonic.netThoughts of Mom and Dad
Hi Everyone!
As of this writing I find it so hard to believe that Mom
has been gone over 4 years and Dad over 15 years. I think
about them almost daily and I see so much of them in all of
us. I can only imagine what they sacrificed in life to
teach us and give us the best that they could. I have been
asked by a friend of mine at work to start writing memoirs
down in the hope of writing a book someday on the legacy of
Jim and Eunice Stevenson. We have gone in so many
different directions with our lives but I truly know and
believe that Mom and Dad are looking down on us and
continuing to help us share God's Love to as many as
possible. I too am Catholic and I know that I am born again
because I do believe that when Mom and Dad had each of us
baptized we were born again in Christ as we were then
dedicated to God and we were raised to Love and obey God. I
do believe that God has his children in every possible
nation and religion and I pray that we do remember that it
was HE that created us and even if you don't attend a
church, please seek HIS guidance and you will find peace. I
often find myself struggling as to why God would put Kelly
through so much despite her Love for Him but then I look at
what HE did for us. I remember that Mom and Dad struggled
with the idea of others in the family leaving the church or
leaving the Catholic church for some other church but they
too came to realize that yes it was possible to serve and
Love the Lord just as much as Catholics do. I believe we
have an anointing upon our family. Yes,we all have gone in
so many different directions but I know Mom and Dad would
want us all on the same road to join them one day when we
pass from this life. I so look forward to having our 12
sibling reunion on the cruise ship in September. I claim
this as a gift from Mom and Dad that this can happen. I
truly Love you all and pray that you will all live life in
harmony and ask God to have you be the best person you can
be. With all my Love, Gerry
- Friday, April 12, 2002 at 15:01:07 (PDT)
Author: gerryandkelly2@aol.comHEY JAMES!
Just wondering.
How did your MRI test come out?
- Friday, April 12, 2002 at 14:50:43 (PDT)
Author: gorecop@aol.comThe Rookie
Go see the movie, The Rookie, or Rookie.
This movie had my eyes watering the whole time.
Awesome!!
I do love you all!!
Love Jim Boudreau
- Friday, April 12, 2002 at 13:45:34 (PDT)
Author: Boudreau@aol.com--
Cool Story John... it wasn't a crammed feeling or judgemental!
A cool story
A long time ago there was this fellow named Doug Anderson
(some of you may know him) All Doug wanted to do was talk
about the Lord, and the story of salvation, and being born
again. I thought that Doug was a pain in the neck...If I
found out that he was going to be at a family function, I
would try to either not go, or at least stay as far away
from him as I could, so I wouldn't have to hear him
preach..I was completely unhappy where I was spiritually,
but I sure didn't need him to tell me about
salvation...About that same time, I worked at Pine Lumber a
women named Bev was the cashier (she reminded me of Maude)
she also wanted to tell me that I could be saved and know
for sure that I was going to heaven...I would tell there
was no way to know that until you died, and only then if
you were good enough you might have a chance....In my early
20's my unhappines grew stronger, then I met Joy...BIG
improvement in my happiness, but there was still an
emptiness inside I couldn't shake...I went to a seminar one
time where they asked us to write our own tombstone and I
put "Here lies John Stevenson a man who never got what he
wanted" I had a lot of stuff at that time, house, car,
boat,
great woman and yet something was still missing...After Joy
and I moved to Alabama, I was still troubled by my
emptiness and we went to different churches...untill one
night we were in a Bible class at a local church...I had
asked God to come into my heart before but had never
experienced any change.....anyways this night we were
reading about how no one was without sin and no one was
worthy of heaven, even with their best efforts...but that
trusting in Jesus to be your Savior you would be completely
worthy because of what Jesus did.....Joy was sitting next
to me so I picked up a pencil and wrote to her in my book,
I'm beginning to understand...I know that from that moment
on I was different..the emptiness was gone, the void
filled, and I knew I would never be the same again....SO
I've said all that to say this...If I am your Doug Anderson
I'm sorry...If I have offended any of you I'm sorry....But
I am most greatful to Doug Anderson and Bev for helping me
along the way...I'm also greatful to Mom and Dad for their
support, for without them I might not yet know about
salvation...I believe that explaining the only way of
salvation (that the Bible teaches) is exactly what Jesus
asked, no, commanded us to do, and that's my only
motive...I know that I cannot convert anybody, that's not
my job...My job is only to tell the story and I pray that
I've done it in a way that will at least make everyone
think about it....
No matter what some of you may think,
I love you all!!!
John
- Thursday, April 11, 2002 at 08:24:32 (PDT)
Author: jjandk@corrcomm.netYeah! Right on Mike!
Way to go!
- Thursday, April 11, 2002 at 06:41:54 (PDT)
Author: mgstevenson@comcast.netRight on Mike!!!
RIGHT ON LISA!!!!
I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!!!
hey its anna stevenson (terry stevenson's daughter.)I just
wanted to say hi to everyone because I LOVE YOU!!even if i
dont know you ...(and thats very possible but thats all ok.)
Also happy early birthday to john william stevenson ( my
brother)hes gonna b 20 and matilyn margret sakalian ( my
aunt sally lucca's grandchild.)she'll b 1 and both of thier
birthdays are april 24th. any ways i just wanted to say i
love you all. and sorry about my grammer love ya bye
- Wednesday, April 10, 2002 at 18:14:23 (PDT)
Author: tstevenson@home.comJAMES IS HAVING MRI TODAY
James is having his MRI today to find the results of the
last three brain tumors operations. We hope all evidence of
it will be gone.
Star's wife Jenifer's grandfather on her father's side
died last week of heart attack. He and his wife were at the
wedding.
We are so looking forward to the cruise.
Love, Suzanne
- Tuesday, April 09, 2002 at 14:31:50 (PDT)
Author: sunshine@sonic.netRIGHT ON MARY
THE BEST NEWS!!!!!!
JIM RETIRES IN 21 DAYS :)
And now for something completely different…
Hi All,
As some of you know, I have been researching
Stevenson genealogy on and off for about the past ten
years. After Aunt Mary sent me some information about the
family a few years ago I was able to track down the census
information for Ira and Ada Stevenson from 1900 (Ira was
the first Stevenson born in the United States, but more
about him later).
As some of you may *not* know, Saturday was National Tartan
Day in the U.S., which got me thinking about the European
origins of our family. I have had a hunch for the past few
years—ever since visiting Scotland—that our family came to
the States from Scotland via Ireland (my reasoning for this
assertion is detailed on my homepage), but I had not been
able to find any evidence. Until yesterday!
One of the documents Aunt Mary sent me is a short
autobiographical sketch written by Ira Stevenson in which
he lists the names of all his brothers and sisters. One of
his brothers had a very unusual first name, "Girvin." I did
several searches on the LDS Family Search website over the
weekend and discovered that someone had submitted an entry
on a Girvin Stevenson from Michigan, born in 1860—one year
before Ira. What clinched it was the name of Girvin’s
father (and therefore Ira’s father), listed as James Henry.
Ira says that his youngest brother’s name was James Henry!
Clearly, this Girvin Stevenson was Ira’s brother. The
contact info listed a woman named Diane Knuckey from
Minnesota as the submitter. I contacted her and we have
exchanged several emails.
To cut to the chase, here’s how our patrilineal history
shakes out, based upon Diane’s research. I’m going to start
with Ira and work backwards, so just to bring everyone up
to speed: Ira was the father of James Ira (born 1890) who
was the father of James Willis (born 1915) who was the
father of the lovin’ dozen.
Ira was the first Stevenson of our line born in the United
States. He was born in Michigan in 1861. He was a shipping
clerk and a baker. His parents were James Henry Stevenson
and Minnie Larkins.
James Henry was born in Ireland, probably in Tyrone County
(not sure when) and died in Michigan in 1878 (very
interesting story behind his premature death in Ira’s
autobio). He was a tavern keeper and a contractor. His
parents were Isaiah Stevenson and Mary Jane Gervan/Girvin.
Isaiah Stevenson was born in Ireland in 1801, and he died
in Michigan in 1871. He was a weaver. His parents were Earl
Stevenson and Jane (Jennie) English.
Earl Stevenson was born in SCOTLAND, in 1773/75. He was a
soldier, and died (or was killed) in the East Indies in
1806.
Tyrone County Ireland is in Ulster, commonly referred to as
Northern Ireland. This means our family is Scotch-Irish,
and our ancestors are comprised of Scots who were either
forcibly or voluntarily relocated to Ireland. They were
almost certainly originally Protestant. (I’m really NOT
trying to get that conversation started again, honest!!!)
Interesting eh?
Diane was very, very excited to discover living relatives
from/in Michigan. Here is a direct quote from one of her
messages: "When I was a child our grandfather would talk
about relatives in Michigan. We always took it with a grain
of salt because our grandfather was full of IT. A man with
a great sense of humor who liked to spin tales. He had the
coloring of an Irish man but the build of a Swede. We never
knew if we should believe him or not."
Hmm...does the description of her grandfather sound
familiar to anyone? :)
She is related to us in the following way: James Henry and
her great-grandfather John were brothers. (What does that
make her, like a 9th cousin or something?) She is really
interested in adding information about the descendents of
James Henry to her research, and I have wanted to flesh out
our family’s genealogy anyway, but there is a lot I just
don’t know. If anyone has information about Ira and/or
James Ira, please send it my way, including dates, places,
names, and especially photographs.
All this will eventually go up on my site, but I’ll keep
you posted as I get more info.
Cheers,
Matt
P.S.--New letters on the way from Andy, too!
- Monday, April 08, 2002 at 20:08:06 (PDT)
Author: mattstevenson.geo@yahoo.comPeace on Earth
Peace On Earth
Dear Family,
I do hope that this current discussion ends very soon as
it
is beginning to look, to me, like a holy war in the
family.
Brother Dan I would have LOVED to step up to the plate
much
sooner, and would have, except that my computer has been
giving us serious problems. First the computer was sick,
so
we called out Mr. Computer Man...and then we found that we
had serious AOL problems. I hope that I will be able to
finish this letter before another problem starts !
I have composed wonderful letters in my head since all
this
started, but now so much has been said that I probably
won't be able to express myself as eloquently as I would
have liked.
Hence, a few random thoughts.....
...it has been said that NO ONE is judging any one
else...but on looking back over the previous letters, I
have found that....
.....some of us are going to Hell.
.....some of us are ignorant
.....some of us are fools
.....some of us don't have peace in our hearts, etc. etc.
I find it hard to understand how some of those statements
are not judgmental.
Please let's be careful in our usage of words; they can be
hurtful to some people; and they can, and I fear they are,
causing divisions within
our own family.
... also... it has been said in the circle “I think I can
speak for everyone on this.”
I ask you, please do not speak for me. I would not presume
to think that I know how
“everyone” feels on a given subject and I wouldn’t want
smeone else speaking for me. If
you want to know how I feel about anything please feel free
to ask me.
I am a Catholic, always have been; always will be. That
doesn't make me any more right or wrong than anyone else.
It just works for me.
We have many different religions in our family, that's
fine
with me. Let's just all live our lives and raise our
families the very best way we can. Let's be kind to the
people who live in our own houses; be kind to the rest of
our families and be kind to everyone we meet. Who could
ask
for more than that? If we all do that, then people around
us would be so impressed that they would want to be just
like us ! Wouldn't that be swell !!!
What would someone outside of our family think if they saw
some of these letters???? I think that the "I LOVE YOU'S"
at the end of them may not mean a lot when just above
that,
someone has been told they are wrong in their thinking.
A very wise man once told me :
"ANY ROAD THAT LEADS TO GOD IS GOOD
AND IT'S GOOD TO BE GOING THERE TOGETHER”
I said once before in a circle letter, that a family is
like a patchwork quilt; many pieces, sizes, colors, etc.
that make it up.
I love all of those pieces of this family. My God, I love
it so much that I am going on a CRUISE....in a BIG
BOAT . . . in the MIDDLE OF
AN OCEAN!!!!!...which absolutely terrifies me.....but I am
going . . .
because I don't want to miss out on anything with the
family.
Let's please be kind to one another; and love and cherish
all of the pieces of our
family quilt, and not be worried about whose patch is
better, or prettier, or in a different place than someone
else’s.
Last Christmas one of my favorite cross stitch designers
came up with a pattern after September 11th. She donated
all of the profits from the sale of her pattern to the
families of the victims of that horrible day. I stitched
the chart for all of my kids for Christmas. It said......
LET THERE BE PEACE ON EARTH
AND LET IT BEGIN WITH ME!
AMEN!
Love,
Esther
- Monday, April 08, 2002 at 16:25:09 (PDT)
Author: tomnesther@aol.comRight on Mary !!
Right On Mary !!!
If I had a MILLION dollars!
Jenny... you are right when you said you can't tell
people's tones of voice through typed letters...but I
certainly would think that we ALL know what a loving family
this is and I believe if you check out how EACH of those
letters ended they all said "I love you all.etc.." NO ONE
was judging ANYONE!!!
TO put things in a SECULAR light: If I came across a
WEBSITE that said go to www.money.com and follow the
prompts to receive a MILLION dollars and I did it and lo
and behold I received a MILLION dollar check in my mail a
few days later...I would FLIP out and man I would be on the
phone so fast calling ALL my family and friends to tell
them about this AMAZING website because I wouldn't want to
keep that website a secret for myself... I would want them
ALL to enjoy the benefits of the site and get a MILLION
dollars too!!! BECAUSE I LOVE THEM!!! that is why...
And that is THE ONLY REASON ANY OF OUR FAMILY MEMBERS WANT
TO SHARE THE GOOD NEWS OF THE GOSPEL AND WHAT IT SAYS...
BECAUSE WE BELEIVE IT IS TRUE...WE'VE EXPERIENCED ITS JOY
IN OUR LIFE... AND WE WANT OUR FAMILY TO FEEL THAT SAME
JOY!! I wouldn't consider it cramming down a throat...but
more like Nancy said, sharing some great news and if you
don't want to go to the website or buy that new dress on
sale...NO ONE would stop loving you or judge you for doing
it or not doing, only wanting to share the news...THAT'S
ALL!!! All you previous letter writes would you agree????
There's too much earthly love for this family to be angry
at each other and we have so much fun together... it is
just when the subject of eternity comes up...who wouldn't
want us all to be there together? It seems serious because
it IS serious but THAT is why GOd gave us a FREE WILL...to
coose or not to choose...but HE DID give us the info. we
just have to find the "WEBSITE" to get it! We who claim to
be Christians believe that website is the Bible. Again, I
love you more than you'll EVER know...all of you! Mary
- Sunday, April 07, 2002 at 16:12:10 (PDT)
Author: jamg1971@aol.comWOW WOW WOW !!!
Man I love this!! It does sound like some of you want to
tell others off and some of you don't want to hurt
anyones' "feelings". This is good. No one loved God more
than mom (grandma), NO ONE !! No one taught us more about
love, and the love of God then this wonderful woman
either. That's why our family has been soooo blessed in
everway; With talent, beauty, love, laughter, common
sence, joy, closeness and yes our love for Jesus, our
father. It took me along time to understand the "STORY"
but as long as we're here on earth it's never too late. I
thought everyone felt that "OUR WAY" was the way.
Matt thank you for the history lesson on Spring, Lisa thank
you for your boldness and knowledge of the WORD (I only
wish I knew an ounce of what you know)and thanks to
everyone else for their love of God and this family too.
I, like Johnny think...it can't hurt God Bless us all !!!
All my love, xoxoxox Sally
- Sunday, April 07, 2002 at 10:41:32 (PDT)
Author: sallyjlucca@aol.comWoW! is right...
Wow!
I know that I am not one to EVER get involved in these
things, but I just feel the need to comment.....Sorry
What just happened the last few days in this letter is just
a SMALL example of what is going on in our world. Until
those with differing opinions can accept others AS THEY
ARE, without having an alterior motive to change, save or
otherwise educate, this bickering (both here and abroad)
will go on forever.
We all know that what is happening in the Middle East is
ridiculous. People get SO "into" their cause, they are
willing to do anything, even blow themselves up and kill
innocents, to change others opinions. Is it working? NO!
I am not an expert on the religion topic by any means, and
I am not saying it shouldn't be discussed. But (BIG BUT,)
most people don't like things crammed down their throats. I
know many of you will say "that's not what we're doing" but
to many of us, it is. It is one thing to wish someone a
happy Easter/Spring. It is completely another to use it to
put a plug in for your cause.
God gave us all a brain to do with as we like. Hopefully we
will use it to better the world, or at least our small part
in it. When you judge another for what they believe (BY
SAYING YOUR WAY IS THE RIGHT WAY) you are causing problems-
not fostering PEACE to our world.
Remember, Stevenson's- little picture, World- Big picture.
And we wonder why the world is in the state it's in. Let's
agree to disagree.
Love,
Debbie
- Friday, April 05, 2002 at 20:13:25 (PST)
Author: debstevenson@comcast.netno offense - please!!!
I think i can speak for all of us...
none of these letters were judgemental!!!
i think its more like... hey i got this "awsome dress on
sale" kinda sharing - ya' know what i mean?
when you have or know something to be so good you want to
share and not to say anyone doesn't already have this or
not to say that your a 'bad' person because you don't want
it - simple sharing to one another - and if by chance there
is an unbeliever, lost or whatever reading this and they
are touched by OUR letters (that's the intention) - then
Awsome!
Believe me I am not a person to be judging ANYONE - good,
bad or indifferent - that's between you and 'your' GOD,
(hopefully it's the same GOD as mine :o)
it is hard to tell if your serious to the bone or tongue
and cheeking it in these letters, as Jenny stated, - but
one thing i do know is that we all
have stevenson blood in our veins (some have it by proxy)
and stevenson's never intend to be offensive, judgemental
or hurtful etc....!!!
i am sorry if i offended anyone, i was smiling the entire
time i wrote it, as i am right now!
love ya' all, (no matter what you believe!)
lil nancy
- Friday, April 05, 2002 at 15:13:51 (PST)
Author: lyons10@msn.comGood News!!
Hi!!!
My message didn't talk about fire and brimestone. Mine said
that I heard the Greatest story I've ever heard!!! I have
heard alot of great stories in my life, but the story of
Jesus is the greatest. I wish people spent more time on
the great message of Jesus' story.
Loving eachother is Jesus' strongest message. I dont know
why people get so bothered by the story of Jesus. It is
such a good story.
Gramma talked to me about Jesus more than any other person
and what made listening to her so good is that she lived
what she talked about.
I haven't talked about it much because my life hasn't been
a good example and I am sorry for this. I am working on
walking the walk of the talk.
I do love this family so much.
Love Jimmy Boudreau
- Friday, April 05, 2002 at 13:39:52 (PST)
Author: Boudreau@aol.comjudgement day
Wow. Lots of very serious discussions here. I was always
under the impression that in our great family religion and
politics were topics to be close and personal to each
individual, but not to be judged by our own members.
Personally I don't need to know anyone elses beliefs to
know that I think we are all very good people and I hope
somehow we will all end up in the same place - where I
believe Grandma and Grandpa will be waiting at the piano
for us. (Grandpa preferably wearing one of those silly
Christmas bows on his adorable bald head.)
In my own immediate family we share very different
political and religious beliefs, yet I have never for one
minute felt less of a person, doubted or judged by any of
them for this. While I agree this website is a great place
for discussions, I think it is very difficult to interpret
someone's tone through print, therefore leaving some to
feel angered, hurt, or just plain sad. I think with as
great of alife as we have all been given, and truly, we are
exceptionally fortunate people no matter how you look at
it, let's get back to remembering that and loving each
other unconditionally no matter who believes what!
Chris and I are experiencing the most wonderful gift of
life with our new baby on the way, and the happiness we
feel is overwhelming. I wish that same feeling for all of
you.
Lots of love,
Jenny
- Friday, April 05, 2002 at 04:25:15 (PST)
Author: barleysgirl@aol.comWHY STOP NOW
Why would we want to stop talking about something that
is so important as eternal life!!! I say it's about time
that we started talking in the first place... Ok, so
everybody doesn't think like I do, that's OK, but here's
the deal...if we disappear into nothingness when we die,
all of us believers have had a great life of peace....if
the Bible is true, when we die, all of us believers are
going to heaven, and everyone else who doesn't have Jesus
in their heart is going to hell...now don't you realize how
important this is for us believers to want you to become
believers!!!!! I want ALL of the Stevenson's to be in
heaven, but unless we talk about it some more, I'm afraid
there are some who won't make it...I have no intentions of
stopping talking about the biggest decision some of you
have to make ... JESUS yes or no
I love you all, John
- Thursday, April 04, 2002 at 14:58:32 (PST)
Author: jjandk@corrcomm.netENOUGH ALREADY!
I really do know better than to walk into a mine
field, but I don't see anyone stepping up to the
plate (baseball season has started) to defend
freedom of thought or the right to have a
sense of humour.
There has been a lot of Bible quoting and warnings of
fire and brimstone going on based on an innocent,
tongue-in-cheek comment on the pagan origin of a
now-religious holiday.
While we are throwing out quotes from the Bible, remember
this one: "Judge not, lest Ye be judged"
Some of the holiest and most spiritual people I have ever
met have never seen the inside of a church. On the other
hand, some of the biggest hypocrites I know go to church
all the time.
No one should be so self-righteous as to presume
to know what is in another person's heart. To berate
and condemn someone because they may not hold to your
particular religious belief system is wrong,
arrogant and hurtful.
How about if we stop it right now?
I love you all - heathens, not-too-sures and
Christians alike!
Dan
- Thursday, April 04, 2002 at 09:26:40 (PST)
Author: gorecop@aol.comGood Easter Discussions
Wow! Good discussions here. Yes, Easter is the highlight
of the Church. Many think that Christmas is the highpoint,
as the saying goes... Jesus is the reason for the season,
(true), but Jesus is truly the reason for the season for
Easter. Easter is not just a day, but truly a season in
the Church. I've been praying for a long time for our
family to come back to Jesus and the church. I know many
have fallen away from faith and God. You can come back
anytime. Easter is a great time to take another look.
Many of you already know how much I love the church and
Jesus. I have such a hunger and love to learn more and
more. And yes it sure is nice to have a forum where you
can talk and not be written off as a "Jesus freak, bible
thumper". Remember talking about Jesus does not make you a
freak, so sad our society as a whole thinks so.
I love the sacraments, especially the Eucharist. Being able
to receive Jesus - weekly, even daily, "body, blood ,soul
and divinity" is so incredible to me. This teaching is a
hard one for many I realize, even the original twelve had
initital trouble with this. Read John 6, it is great.
Especially versus 51-71. I was glad to read several
positive references to the Catholic Church. If you ever
want to explore our Catholic roots or have questions on
things that may bother you about the Church, here is a good
site, http://cmonback.com/thingshappen.htm. Or call or
write me I'd love to talk, I won't have all the answers I'm
sure but I'll sure do my best to try and answer any issue.
Also check out the early Church Fathers writings. Grandma
would be so pleased.
I'm so glad to know that there are so many who do believe,
and that for those who do not I'm glad we can keep open
constructive dialog going.
The way I see it, we are here to get There! So let's keep
trying to please God. The new evangilazation is for us all.
This is what He wants us to be doing. He is the reason I'm
so proudly pro-life! When you love someone so much, you
never want to see them hurt.
Let's keep it up, Talk the talk and walk the walk!
Love ya, Tommy
- Thursday, April 04, 2002 at 07:42:59 (PST)
Author: tomstevenson@peoplepc.comlet me ask you this...
who wouldn't want peace, i mean a peace that lives inside
you and stays with you EVEN when your life is falling apart
at every turn!! a FOOL, i tell you.
That peace can only be found in GOD. Having a personal
relationship with Jesus FILLS that empty spot in everyones
heart - that same empty spot that people try to fill with
drugs, sex, LOVE, money... those people are never HAPPY -
Peace and joy can be found only in GOD - just knowing how
much he loves me gets me through EVERYTHING and MORE!!!!
I KNOW that in my life everything will be fine, when
perhaps everything doesn't look like it will and that's an
awsome feeling.
you don't have to be a 'bible thumping' 'jesus freak' to
have a personal relationship with GOD -
in this case what you don't know can hurt you! and that's
a sad thing - i have to agree with my mom or was is mary -
thanks scott for making this a place for us to share as a
family without being interrupted!
Life is Wonderful - check it out!!! what do you have to
lose?
love
nancy
thank you for listening!
- Wednesday, April 03, 2002 at 17:21:19 (PST)
Author: lyons10@msn.comlet me ask you this...
who wouldn't want peace, i mean a peace that lives inside
you and stays with you EVEN when your life is falling apart
at every turn!! a FOOL, i tell you.
That peace can only be found in GOD. Having a personal
relationship with Jesus FILLS that empty spot in everyones
heart - that same empty spot that people try to fill with
drugs, sex, LOVE, money... those people are never HAPPY -
Peace and joy can be found only in GOD - just knowing how
much he loves me gets me through EVERYTHING and MORE!!!!
you don't have to be a 'bible thumping' 'jesus freak' to
have a personal relationship with GOD - in this case what
you don't know can hurt you! and that's a sad thing -
i have to agree with my mom or was is mary - thanks scott
for making this a place for us to share as a family without
being interrupted!
I'm thinking that the only readers, reading this are
christians and i feel bad that i think that.
Life is Wonderful - check it out!!!
love
nancy
thank you for listening!
- Wednesday, April 03, 2002 at 17:19:22 (PST)
Author: lyons10@msn.comA letter from Nancy
April 3, 2002
Hi Family:
Thanks, Lisa, for the timeless Easter message "I am the
Resurrection and the Life; he that believes in Me, though
he were dead, yet shall he live" John 11:25.
I see this stirred a few additions to the family letter, so
here's mine. Matt's letter resulted in my looking up
EASTER in the Webster's Encyclopedia Dictionary to satisfy
my own curiosity, and it said: EASTER 1. n. the chief
Christian feast, which celebrates the Resurrection of
Christ, on the first Sunday after the first full moon that
coincides with, or comes after, the spring equinox (taken
as March 21) 2. adj. coming at or near Easter (O.E. eastre
perhaps from Eostre, goddess of dawn, whose festival was
celebrated at the spring equinox).
I believe that in America and many other nations, Easter
means the day that celebrates the Resurrection of Jesus
Christ. It is a time of rebirth...Spring; newness of
life...everything resurrection is supposed to be. It
brings to mind our own resurrection from the "dead" when we
at last became born again. And it reminds us of our rising
again to spend eternity with our Father just as Jesus did.
That is why when we were raised in the Catholic Church it
was always proclaimed as the greatest feast in the church
calendar. It was really semething to celebrate if only we
could comprehend it. Faith is a gift that comes from
hearing the word of God.
My prayer is that the Father will draw each one of you who
has not made a decision to be a follower of Jesus as your
only savior, because the bible also says in John 6:44..."No
one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him".
Love to all of you.
Nancy
P.S. Enjoy spring as everything becomes reborn....maybe
even you.
- Wednesday, April 03, 2002 at 10:34:11 (PST)
Author: brinanr1@aol.comS.O.S.
When you see these letters what usually comes to mind? Save
our ship? right? I'm not really sure if that is what that
ACTUALLY stands for or not and if it was the 32,000.00
question on WHO WANTS TO BE A MILLIONAIRE I would have to
phone a friend to be certain... but the fact of the matter
is:
I have heard Christians use S.O.S. as Save our Souls ( A
good one!) but the Non Christian could come back with
SOUNDS OUTRAGIOUSLY SILLY and they would have a good laugh
perhaps...
but the real truth to this whole matter is this:
Jesus said "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one
comes to the Father except through me." I didn't MAKE THIS
UP... it is in RED letter in the book of John chapter 14
verse 6. And until I checked the book out, I only believed
because I was raised Catholic and heard about this Jesus
man that died on the cross on Good Friday and rose on
Easter Sunday, and we got easter candy in a basket!
As adult Christians I am sure that we all know that the
HOLY days ,if you will, began as Pagan holidays but the
christians wanted to turn things around for the good of
Christianity so one by one they took the PAGAN holidays
and changed them to be celebrated for the Christian cause.
Isn't it amazing that this JESUS story is still spreading
around the WORLD all these centuries later and building
EVER STRONG in these current times? I doubt if N'Sync will
have that kind of loyalty ... Jimmy and Johnny are right
and I would challenge ANY of you out there to TRULY check
it out FOR YOURSELVES ( not because your parents made you
or didn't make you) and HONESTLY ask yourselves if you
could know you were going to DIE today would you know where
you would be going in the afterlife..would you be able to
say with certainty that you were going to HEAVEN?? ( and I
think we all would like to end up there) Well.. check it
out...YOU CAN KNOW... just read ROMANS10:9-10 in any bible
and you'll see for yourself..It is an INCREDIBLE feeling to
KNOW you are going to heaven , not by what you do or don't
do GOOD enough but just because of what Jesus Christ has
done for us ALL.
Thanks Scott, for giving such a great PLATFORM from which
to speak our thoughts as a family. I love each and
everyone of you... HAPPY SPRING! Love,Mary
- Wednesday, April 03, 2002 at 06:21:47 (PST)
Author: jamg1971@aol.com2002
What does 2002 mean?
It takes more faith not to believe in Jesus, God, and the
Bible, than to believe. To not believe in Jesus, is to
reject the very life that is within you. To not know is
one thing, but to say it isn't so, is so ignorant. You see
knowing Jesus doesn't mean that I am perfect or that I
think I am better than anyone. It means I heard about
Jesus, I explored it, it sounded real good, so I asked God
to reveal the truth to me because I wanted this story to be
true. The Holy Spirit came into my soul and I know the
difference. (The before and after) Jesus is the son of God.
God created all of us for His great pleasure. If you dont
believe this, it is because you haven't checked it out!!
God will not let anyone down. People will!!!
If you read the New Testimate all the way, you will believe
and accept or believe and not accept. But you will believe.
Jim Boudreau
- Tuesday, April 02, 2002 at 19:45:45 (PST)
Author: boudreau@aol.comTHIS ISN'T A TEST
This isn't a test! I just haven't contributed in a long
time. : )
- Tuesday, April 02, 2002 at 19:27:33 (PST)
Author: gorecop@aol.com
this is a test
- Tuesday, April 02, 2002 at 18:55:58 (PST)
Author: jamg1971@aol.comhello
this is a test
- Tuesday, April 02, 2002 at 18:55:52 (PST)
Author: brinanr1@aol.comTHE ONLY PERSPECTIVE
Dear Family,
It grieves my heart so much when I think of how many
non-believers are out there. How the devil has blinded
their eyes, and how they will end up in hell and torment
forever!!! Aurora, Ostara or Astorte may be the
personification of spring to somebody, but for us
believers, Easter is ALL about Jesus and what He did for
us...providing the only means of salvation... If your
saved, you know it...if your not saved, you know that too!!!
Saved people go to heaven...unsaved people go to hell..You
can rationalize and homoginize and pasturize religion all
you want,
but the truth is the truth and deep down inside you know
it!! I love you all, especially the pagans and I pray that
God will put someone in their way to bring them to the
truth
before it's too late!!!
John
- Monday, April 01, 2002 at 14:12:32 (PST)
Author: jjandk@corrcomm.netThe Pagan Perspective
Happy Astarte, all!
Known by the Romans as Aurora and by Germanic peoples as
Ostara, Anglo-Saxon tribes worshiped the goddess Eostra, or
Astarte, as the personification of Spring. So I guess you
could say that Easter isn't really about Jesus either, but
rather an ancient celebration of the timeless natural
cycles of the Earth.
Cheers,
Matt
- Sunday, March 31, 2002 at 10:32:20 (PST)
Author: mattstevenson.geo@yahoo.comBlessed Easter, Everyone!
"I am the resurrection, and the life; he that believeth in
Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live;" - Jesus
Christ - John 11:25, KJV
Can I put in a plug for Jesus?
Wishing you all a healthy, happy Easter and
let's not forget the true reason for THIS season. As a wise
man told me just yesterday, "It's not about da Bunny!"
Love,
Lisa
- Sunday, March 31, 2002 at 08:40:38 (PST)
Author: Cowgrl23@netzero.netCD RELEASE PARTY
FIRST AND FOREMOST I WOULD LIKE TO THANK EVERYONE OF YOU
FOR YOUR THOUGHTFULNESS AND CONCERN FOR OUR FAMILY DURING
THE PAST TWO WEEKS...YOU ARE ALL WONDERFUL!!!!
Since it has been SO CRAZY in our lives and thrown our
"EVERYDAY" situations off kilter..I did not get to send
out the invites to COLE"S CD RELEASE PARTY/JOHN'S 55TH
SURPRISE BIRTHDAY PARTY...
Some of you who are on Cole's CALLING MARVIN mailing list
already would be aware of the date etc.... but HERE IS ONE
LAST REMINDER OF WHERE, WHEN, WHAT ETC....
THE CALLING MARVIN CD RELEASE PARTY IS THIS SUNDAY, MARCH
24TH,AT MEMPHIS SMOKE IN DOWNTOWN ROYAL OAK (at the corner
of 11 mile and Main St.) THE BAND WILL BE STARTING AT 8:30
P.M. BUT IF YOU ARE WANTING TO BE THERE FOR THE SURPRISE
THEN I AM ASKING PEOPLE TO GET THERE BY 7:30. I know John
will want to get there early so I am thinking we will be
arriving between 7:45 and 8:00p.m.
You may want to get there earlier no matter what to get a
good seat...THIS IS A VERY EXCITING NIGHT for COLE and the
new CD IS INCREDIBLE!!!! (SOMETHING FOR EVERY TYPE MUSIC
LOVER)
PLEASE don't feel guilty if you cannot make it because WE
REALIZE after all it is on a SUNDAY NIGHT and people DO
have to get up early the next day...SOOOO if we see you
there GREAT ...IF NOT...WE'LL BE THINKIN' OF YOU AND
WISHIN' YOU COULD BE THERE!!
I love you all!Mary
- Friday, March 22, 2002 at 04:19:42 (PST)
Author: jamg1971@aol.comThanks for the prayers
I am sure by now most of the family has been notified
aboutJohn's brother's death but I just want to say thanks
to all of you for your prayers and support.
He was a great guy. Thanks and I love you all! Mary
- Sunday, March 17, 2002 at 14:27:22 (PST)
Author: jamg1971@aol.comCruise Update Update
So everyone already knew we were cruising on the Star
Princess....that's OK (I'm always so 5 minutes ago) If I
come up with more information that everyone already knows
I'll try to post it right away!! love John
- Friday, March 15, 2002 at 07:48:20 (PST)
Author: jjandk@corrcomm.netCruise Update
Hi Everyone, I just wanted to let all the cruisers know
that I have done some investigating. Heres the bad
news...We are not sailing on the Grand Princess.... Here's
the good news...We are sailing on the Star Princess...the
Star Princess is a brand new version of the Grand..It's
being commissioned this month (March 2002) From what I've
read, this ship is the same size or maybe a little bigger,
and has all the same cool stuff the Grand has.. I'll keep
you posted... One thing I know about this
ship is that if you could float it at the bottom of Niagra
Falls, the top deck would be 20 ft. over the top of the
falls!! cool huh!!! I love you all dearly...John
- Thursday, March 14, 2002 at 13:02:31 (PST)
Author: jjandk@corrcomm.netPrayers Needed!!
Hello everyone...
I am writing to ask all of you for prayers for John's
brother (only brother) Todd...
He had a 13 hour emergency open heart surgery beginning at
2:30 a.m.this morning (3/11) and is in VERY CRITICAL
condition... after running many tests and finally through a
cat scan they discovered that his aorta valve split all the
way down to the stomach and the valve to his brain was also
leaking profusely...
the surgeon had to cool his body temp to 15 degrees and
totally drain his body of all blood for 59 minutes...
replacing all the area with plastic valves ...the surgeon
said 95% of those who have this happen don't survive ...so
at this point we feel blessed that he survived the surgery
but he is also in a drug induced coma so that they can
monitor if there is any further leaking ... in a perfect
scenario
he is looking at 3 months minimum off work... the doctors
are also concerned about possible brain damage- so these
next few days are EXTREMELY critical and these next few
months will be very trying for his family... So I will
thank you ALL in advance for your prayers and we will keep
you posted as to his condition in the coming days...I love
you all...Mary
p.s. all this started at about 5:30 yesterday
afternoon...it was Todd's (47th)birthday :(
PLEASE PASS THIS ON TO ANYONE THAT MAY WANT TO PRAY BUT
DOES NOT HAVE ACCESS TO OUR FAMILY WEB SIGHT...thanks again!
- Monday, March 11, 2002 at 19:13:52 (PST)
Author: jamg1971@aol.comNew email address
Hello family!
We just wanted to inform you all that we have joined the
world of high speed internet (at the recommendation of our
dear Uncle Bob.) Our new email addresses are:
Mike- mgstevenson@comcast.net
Deb- debstevenson@comcast.net
Everything here in Canton, MI is going well. Our little
Julia lost her first tooth on Monday (for Deb's birthday.)
Very excititng for all 5 of us! My new business is going
well, and other than the craziness of daily life, we are
pretty laid back right now. We hope to hear from you all
soon!
Mike
- Friday, March 01, 2002 at 18:56:49 (PST)
Author: mgstevenson@comcast.netWe have a Winner!!!!
ALRIGHT JANIE & JIM!!!
THEY WERE THE FIRST PRIZE WINNERS!! winning 2 of the 4
tickets -
the other lucky winner was a friend of Gerry's - (which
made me happy, to think gerry would do anything dishonest
as to sell raffles for an unworthy cause - or what ever the
scuttle butt was... I'm sure the guys at work will be happy
for Gerry's friend!)
Friends of Nancy & Brian (Mom & brian to me) won the $100
Mesquite gift certificate.
Friends of the family at the last minute sweetened the
winning pot by donating Free car washes - 2 packs worth
$30 - Louie Won one of those and the other went to John
Kroft, friends of nancy & brian...
so congratulations to all -
we had fun last night - bang up job at singing all of you -
WOW!
well that's it for now - have fun on the cruise!! because
when you guys come back, us cousins who aren't going are
going to need you to watch our little ones so we can go!!!
love
nancy
- Tuesday, February 19, 2002 at 07:06:57 (PST)
Author: lyons10@msn.comHappy February B'days
As we all have birthdays on the mind these days, I'd like
to wish all the "Februarians" a very Happy Birthday!
Coty Hussey Feb 4 Happy 12th
Andy Stevenson Feb 9 Happy 27th
Al Sarkozy Feb 13 The Big 70!
Nick Roach Feb 13 Happy 15th
Emily Hussey Feb 15 The Big 5!
Leah Stevenson Feb 20 18? is this possible?
Don't forget to vote!
Roxanne Kight Feb 23 Happy 3rd
Debbie Stevenson, Erin Boudreau, and Anthony Gonzales
all on Feb 25 Happy 33rd, 15th and 12th
Mom (Esther) Feb 27 Happy 62nd!
A very Happy Birthday to all!
Love The Stevenson's of Plymouth
- Tuesday, February 19, 2002 at 05:35:49 (PST)
Author: tomstevenson@peoplepc.comYES I AM LOSING IT!
James came downstairs and said mistakenly "Colin is
forty." I had it in my head and thought I was really getting
old but I feel that way all the time when someone tells me
there 6 year old is actually 14 now. So I wasn't completely
surprised time had passed so quicly.
I'm so sorry Rory and Colin. I have to make it up to you
both somehow.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY RORY and Colin I already got you covered.
Love, Aunt Suzanne
- Monday, February 18, 2002 at 15:44:47 (PST)
Author: sunshine@sonic.netseptember cruise
not to start any controversy... but just curious
is this cruise JUST for the 12 kids and spouses or open to
all family members -
speaking for myself - i would need a miracle to go, but
i'm just curious - i've heard it just a 12 kids reunion
cruise and a family cruise...
i'm sure i'm not the only one confused -
that's all!
see ya' monday
love
nancy
- Friday, February 15, 2002 at 13:48:16 (PST)
Author: lyons10@msn.comSibling Family Fundraiser Feb. 18th
Hi Everyone,
Great Memory stories from Jeff Wise. Thanks for the
memories Jeff how great they are!!!!!!
To all the family and friends who see this today is Feb.
12, 2002 and this is just a reminder for all of you to
spread the word about the raffle taking place at Mesquite
Creek on Feb. 18th for the Cruise planned in September for
the 12 kids and our spouses. If you have not heard about
it, please send me a n E-Mail at GerryandKelly2@aol.com and
I will contact you as soon as I can or you can call me at 1-
248-683-6387. Thanks everyone and I Love you all!!!!!GERRY
- Tuesday, February 12, 2002 at 16:19:09 (PST)
Author: GerryandKelly2@aol.comSibling Family Fundraiser Feb. 18th
Hi Everyone,
Great Memory stories from Jeff Wise. Thanks for the
memories Jeff how great they are!!!!!!
To all the family and friends who see this today is Feb.
12, 2002 and this is just a reminder for all of you to
spread the word about the raffle taking place at Mesquite
Creek on Feb. 18th for the Cruise planned in September for
the 12 kids and our spouses. If you have not heard about
it, please send me a n E-Mail at GerryandKelly2@aol.com and
I will contact you as soon as I can or you can call me at 1-
248-683-6387. Thanks everyone and I Love you all!!!!!GERRY
- Tuesday, February 12, 2002 at 16:17:38 (PST)
Author: GerryandKelly2@aol.comAnna Turns 40 ???
Don't you just love sensational headlines!!! love John
- Tuesday, February 12, 2002 at 09:26:03 (PST)
Author: jjandk@corrcomm.net
Just passing thru the neighboorhood, "actully I never
left". Anyways I just wanted to throw a few questions for
the original 12, and maybe a few memories as well. I talked
to Terry today and he informed me of his son John, and TJ'S
good fortune in the music business, good for them. Nice to
see you moved back to Waterford Gerry, you picked a great
condo complex, say hi to Kelly. Sally, London was great,
loved the Jack the Ripper walk, ended up at the Ten Bells
pub. Janie nice car, do you think Jim will let us take it
for a ride up Suicide Hill ? Mary and John, remember when
we tried to get that piano out of my mom's basement, stick
around I have a great story about that piano. Well here
goes, does anyone remember playing ball at the pillars,
corner of Maceday Lk. Rd. and Maiden? How about Kandahar,
the old ski resort off Maceday Lk. Rd. Just a side note,I
talked to a lady a couple of weeks ago whose family had
actully owned that land before the Depression. She told me
that her family sold it to a gentleman from Detroit, he
turned it into the ski resort and named it Kandahar. Don't
know why it went out of business, but he sold it to a guy
who was going to turn it into a horse farm, did'nt work out
and the State ended up with it. How about the old pumphouse
off Maceday Lk. Rd. by the gravel pit. Did anyone ever get
to bale hay at Nelsey's farm, made $1.00 a day and all the
cucumbers you could eat. Another note, Mrs. Nelsey is still
alive and doing well, trying to get a few old pictures of
the farm from her. She lives at the corner of Nelsey and
Andersonville. Speaking of old pictures, does anyone have
any of the old tobaggon run, or how about the ball field in
the back yard of the cottage ? Well here's a few tibits
about the old neighboorhood. Mike Mountain was actully
named after Mike Morgan, lived at the corner of Nelsey and
Bridge in the log cabin. Who remembers when they shot
fireworks off at the beach ? Does anyone remember the old
clubhouse on Maceday Lk. Rd. ? How about Eagle Rock, its
gone, well at least most of it. Someone mentioned
Richardson's farm dairy, the building is a patio furniture
store. When you go in the back room you can still see where
the stalls were for the cows. They had great fish frys.
Anyways I'll finish with a great story about that piano. I
think it was around 1962 or 1963, my Mom and Dad were
looking for a piano to put in the basement of there house
they were building. Your Dad found one from somewhere and I
will never forget my Dad driving a pickup truck around the
neighboorhood with Uncle Duke singing in the back of the
pickup and Uncle Jimmy playing the piano. True story, still
have the piano in Mom's basement, little out of tune. To
finish the story I remember when John and Mary came back
from California and we tried to get it out of the basement,
problem was they lowered the piano into the basement before
the rest of the house was built. With the builtin oven, we
could'nt fit it between the basement door opening and the
oven cabinets, guess it's there for the duration. Just as
well. Well thanks for letting me share some good
memories with you. P.S. Don't forget to ck. your smoke
detectors, they do work. Jeff
- Monday, February 11, 2002 at 20:20:10 (PST)
Author: jw1954_@hotmail>comOH NO IS RIGHT...COLE is NOT 40!!!
WOW! When I saw the headline ...I thought oh no... NOT Cole
but RORY!!! Cole being 40 would make me 8 when I had him!!!
ButI can see how the mistake was made...Cole and Rory do
seem like brothers..they walk exactly alike and they both
have red hair and they have similar looks... but Cole
turned 27 in December.... So... no wonder you were freaked
out at how much time had gone by...That's 13 years too
soon!!!! Ha Ha Ha.... Love you! Mary
- Monday, February 11, 2002 at 16:05:01 (PST)
Author: jamg1971@aol.comCOLIN FORTY? OH, NO!
When James told me you were 40 I could hardly believe
it. I still remember when you and T.J. were teeny and played
and sang Johnny Be Good at Dad's birthday party in the
clubhouse. It doens't seem possible so much time has passed
already.
Happy Birthday and I hope the next ten years brings you
even more sucess and the love of your life. Suzanne
- Monday, February 11, 2002 at 13:04:43 (PST)
Author: sunshine@sonic.netCOLIN FORTY? OH, NO!
When James told me you were 40 I could hardly believe
it. I still remember when you and T.J. were teeny and played
and sang Johnny Be Good at Dad's birthday party in the
clubhouse. It doens't seem possible so much time has passed
already.
Happy Birthday and I hope the next ten years brings you
even more sucess and the love of your life. Suzanne
- Monday, February 11, 2002 at 13:03:48 (PST)
Author: sunshine@sonic.netPainting of Jane and Jim
Hello Everybody,
Below is a URL (Web Address) to a picture of Jane and Jim.
http://www.windgifts.net/family/Painting_of_Jane_and_Jim.JPG
Hope you like it.
Loveyaa,
James [:-)>
- Monday, February 11, 2002 at 11:45:51 (PST)
Author: jis@sonic.netTooting our own horn (no pun intended)
Dear Family..
A local newspaper did a story on our car because we are
putting it in Autorama this year for the 50th Anniversary.
If you go to www.observerandeccentric.com and click on
local and then click on Waterford Eccentric you will be
able to see the article and our picture. It's kind of neat.
Wish us luck!!! Jim and Janie
- Sunday, February 10, 2002 at 15:17:14 (PST)
Author: jnjnichols32@aol.comRORY TURNS 40!!!!!
Just wanted to say HAPPY 40TH BIRTHDAY to you Rory... we
love you and hope you have an incredible day and an
incredible YEAR!!!!love,Uncle
John, Aunt Mary, Cole and Sarah
- Sunday, January 27, 2002 at 12:37:58 (PST)
Author: JAMG1971@AOL.COMThankyou from Deidre
Hi Stevenson family,
I wanted to write a letter to express my gratitude for all
the love, support, prayers and financial help. Thankyou so
much Uncle Bob for providing the plane tickets for the
raffle. What a blessing!! I wanted to say to all of you
how much I loved being a part of your family, for all the
love you showed me over the years and how much I felt a
part of you guys. This past month since the boys accident
I have felt so much love from people in my life and I am so
grateful. The accident was a horrible situation, but God
performed a huge miracle and took something so bad and made
good out of it. Jordan and Josh have always been good boys
to raise, but they have both learned so much from this and
it has transformed their lives forever. Don't forget to hug
and kiss and tell your kids how much you love them over and
over again, because life takes weird turns, we have a
second chance now, and I will never forger what God did for
my kids.
Thankyou once again for everything, I love you and miss you
all sooooo much!!
Deidre
- Sunday, January 20, 2002 at 12:03:33 (PST)
Author: deidrebou62@aol.comMariah Ann made it with Flying Colors!!
Courtney had Mariah yesterday...January 19th at 9:25 pm
SHe came out crying and kicking and looked great!!!
the doctors were absolutely amazed at how well she was for
being 7 weeks early. She weighed 3.14 and 17inches long,
she's breathing on her own - and already sucking on a
pacifier!!! they can't get over it, and neither can we!!!
She looks great, not like a little bird or frog like some
preemies can look (although i may be a bit bias) she has an
irish head... chubby cheeks, she has dark hair, tiny nose
and great big feet!!!
thanks for your prayers AGAIN--- they worked.
Courtney did great - 3 pushes and out she came. I was able
to stay with Courtney and help - W..O..W... i needed a
coach for awhile... jk it was a bit overwhelming (in an
awsome sense) - I was always too busy to see my children
being born - We get to hold her already... so that is where
i'm off today -
signing off for now
Gramma lil Nancy :o)
(YIKES!!!) that's going to be so weird..
- Sunday, January 20, 2002 at 09:45:26 (PST)
Author: lyons10@msn.comCourtney Lyons info... & prayers!
as most of you know... courtney is pregnant and is due in
March. Sunday morning her water broke...9 weeks EARLY
but there is good news, they've run lots of tests and her
and the Baby (possibly named Moriah (which means, God will
Provide) are doing great.
Yesterday they did a test and estimated the babies weight
at 3 1/2 pounds... which they were very pleased. THe baby
is replenishing the water, so is doing good - and finally
no sign of infection, which is great (Courtney's white
blood cell count Good!)
the doctors say that if the baby holds on past today,
Tuesday, that the baby could hold off for couple of more
weeks. At this stage the babies lungs are under-developed,
and the longer she holds off being born the better. They
are giving Steriod shots to Courtney, to increase the
growth of the lungs.
Prayers are still ALWAYS wanted - cuz you never know...
Thank You and I'll keep you posted!!!
love, nancy
p.s. Jordan and Josh are doing great - Josh is in
good spirits and physically doing great, Jordan is doing
awsome (that's what he'll say if you ask him too!) He told
me yesterday that the proposed theropy he had to go through
has been cut down to just a little amount, like
only one theropy for one month instead of THREE physical
theropist for 9 months - amazing huh? Can't thank all of
you enough for the prayers!!! they are walking miracles!
- Tuesday, January 15, 2002 at 05:19:13 (PST)
Author: lyons10@msn.comI wish you all the happiest NEW YEAR ever!
Hello everybody,
Its been a very long time since my last letter and I'm not sure why it
takes me so long to write. Hope all is well with you, especially Jordan
and Josh. The latest word is that they are both doing much better.
I wish you all the happiest NEW YEAR ever!
Beginning with this letter on you may come to the Windgifts.net web
site and see a whole lot of family related photographs.
The web address: (URL) is:
http://windgifts.net/family
I've had a digital camera since mid September. What a great tool.
Went to Paris France on December 3, 2001 to spend some time with
Scott and had a great time. I just love Paris.
(see photo @ windgifts.net/family)
While in France we went to a small town in southern France called
Perpignan, to visit with a person (Savi) who worked with me over the
summer. Its about 30 miles from the Mediterranean. Thinking that we
would kick back on the beach and take in a little sun, I could hardly
wait. All the way south (on the train) we saw snow. By the time
we reached Perpignan it had started to snow and within three hours
there was 5 inches of snow on the ground.
Not good weather for laying on the beach.
While in southern France we decided to go see Salvador Dali
(B 5/11/1904/D 1/23/1989) art work at the Salvador Dali Theater
Museum in Figueras, Spain (see photo @ windgifts.net/family) also
(http://www.dali-estate.org/eng/fcollec.htm). What an amazing artist.
After talking with Suzanne on the phone that evening she suggested
we go to Barcelona Spain to look at the architecture of of Antoni Gaudí
one of the greatest architect of Catalonia.
(B 6/25/1852/D 6/10/1926).
(see photo @ windgifts.net/family) and,
(http://www.op.net/~jmeltzer/gaudi.html)
He has created some of the most amazing buildings you can
imagine.
I must close for now.
I love you all!
James [:-)>
- Wednesday, December 26, 2001 at 18:54:14 (PST)
Author: jis@sonicBoudreau Boys fundraiser
Hello Wonderful family,
I just wanted to give a little update on the Boudreau boys.
Josh is home from the hospital and back in school. Jordon
is still in the hospital but will hopefully be coming home
soon. I don't know all the bills that will need to be paid
but I know that there is a definite financial need after
the accident. We are going to have a fundraiser and we are
hoping to make $2,500.oo to help with these bills. we are
raffling off 100 tickets at $25.00 each and the prize is 2
airline tickets anywhere in the U.S., Mexico, or Canada
that United airlines flies (except alaska or Hawaii). We
will start the raffle this coming Sunday December 23 at the
family Christmas party. Dinner is being catered and it will
cost $6.00 for adults. Everyone is encouraged to bring
desserts and beverages. For those of you who have already
sent me money I will enter your name on a ticket for every
$25.00 you have sent. Thanks to all of you who have so
generously given to this worthwhile cause. Much Love to you
all. Brother and Uncle Gerry
- Monday, December 17, 2001 at 18:08:22 (PST)
Author: GerryandKelly2@aol.comNEW E-MAIL ADDRESS
Hi Family...
Just wnted to drop a short note to give you my new e-mail
address. sallyjlucca@aol.com It is pretty close to my old
one, but it has my middle initial in it now. Please update
your records.
Love Sally
- Monday, December 17, 2001 at 08:58:34 (PST)
Author: sallyjlucca@aol.comjordan & josh update #2
hello everyone
i'm writing this for Jim & Dee...
they wanted to thank all of you for your well wishes,
prayers and visitations.
but the hospital is requesting NO VISITORS!!!
they are not getting the rest that they need. THey feel
the boys are over stimulated and wanting to 'entertain'
there visitors. They are really sorry to have to say that.
thank you.
now for the update...
the boys are pretty much the same.
JOrdan has been moved to the same hospital as Josh - which
is just great!
Jordan has been able to visit his brother.
Your prayers have been awsome and are still welcome!
to be more specific...
JOrdan's memory is still slow in returning. He doesn't
remember anything that just happened, since the accident.
like, He'll ask the same questions over and over. and He is
still unable to move his left toes and foot -
Josh's tube has been removed (draining tube from the heart)
which is great, but he's still in a lot of pain. His face
will need some plastic surgery and the doctors are still
checking out pain he's having in his pelvic bone.
THe outlook is still very positive and the progress that
they have made is such a blessing.
thanks again for your prayers!
- Thursday, November 29, 2001 at 11:35:09 (PST)
Author: lyons10@msn.comjordan & josh update
Well... it's been a long couple of days
first off I must give all the glory to God for bringing
these boys this far - Truly lucky boys... i mean blessed.
Jordan had suffered a brain contusion and lung contusion,
bruised on the brain and lungs, his recovering is coming
along really well. He's still in and out, but knows all
his facts and knows everybody and stuff like that - The
doctors will continue to watch his progress -- so far so
good!!! He looks good too you would never know he was in
such a serious ancident - He says the funniest things,
which is quite typical with head injuries. He asked about
how he looked and we said good and he replied "So I just
look like a kid laying in a bed?" real serious - guess you
had to be there, any way - he's in Pontiac Ostepathic
Hospital.
Joshua... well God answered many prayers here as well and I
can speak for Jim and Deidre when I say THANK YOU - the
power of prayer is mighty and awsome, especially when you
see them answered in front of you!
THe doctors are truly amazed at his recovering - and how
good his doing!!! JOsh was worse
off then JOrdan and he's in St. Joe's in Yspsilanti, he
suffered Heart damage - at first the doctors thought he
tore his a-orta (no idea how to spell) and would have to go
under open heart surgery, he had fluid around the heart and
had to have 4 transfusions - but after thorough testing
(and our praying) they found it wasn't that, he had a few
broken blood vessels, which caused the fluid - the best
outcome for what could have been a bad thing. He also
suffered a severe laserations to the face and a broken
pelvis bone, which will heal while he's in the hospital. I
personally have not seen josh yet, but he's totally
coherent and spirits are up!
The bad thing is the 2 hospitals are an hour and 10 minutes
away making it hard on Jim and Dee. Your continued prayers
are greatly appreciated.
THanks again,
love
Nancy
p.s. you teens out there SLOW DOWN... you haven't driven
long enough to handle EVERYTHING!!!! us adults can slow
down tOO!!!
- Monday, November 26, 2001 at 09:25:56 (PST)
Author: lyons10@msn.comJosh and Jordan need your prayers
For all of you who have not heard yet, the following is from
erry regarding Jordan and Joshua Boudreau
Dear Family: Today is saturday November 24, 2001 and it is
about 11:15 a.m. e.s.t. I received a phone call from Jeff
working at Mesquite Creek and he informed me that Jordon and
Joshua were in a very serious car accident this morning and
one of the boys had to be airlifted to University of
Michigan hospital and the other was rushed to Pontiac
Osteopathic Hospital. Apparently they hit a tree and both
sustained closed head injuries. Don't know many more details
but I am asking the entire family to keep them in your
prayers. Love Uncle Gerry
This is still all we know. Please pray for them as well as
Jimmy and Diedre, for the strength they will need. Pleae
call on any and all of your prayer chains. this is very
serious and we need as much help as we can. God be
merciful!!
Love, and hug your kids, then call your families and let
them know how much you love them. Nothing should ever be
taken for granted!
I'm sure blessed to have you all, and don't want to have
another day go by with out appreciating the gift of family.
All my love, Tommy and he rest of the Plymouth gang
- Saturday, November 24, 2001 at 21:52:22 (PST)
Author: tomstevenson@peoplepc.comWhat a Birthday!!!
To my wonderful family (in whom I am well pleased)...Thank
you so much for the best birthday I ever had. The surprise
took my breath away, as most of you could see. And although
the temperature was 20 degrees below normal, the warmth of
family was completely cozy!!! For those of you who missed
it, we didn't have any fun at all. Again let me thank you
all so much for being "the best" I love you dearly!! and
from Joy and the kids, God bless us everyone!!! John
- Monday, November 19, 2001 at 15:01:58 (PST)
Author: jjandk@corrcomm.netBLESSED THANKSGIVING
Dearest Family...
I wanted to drop a short note to wish all of you a very
Happy Thanksgiving. It is this time of year, when I wish
that somehow we could all be together to give thanks for
this incredible family. I know that in our hearts we are
all together and we all share in the love that Mom and Dad
had for each other all those many years. So let me just say
that I pray for a safe and happy Holiday for each member of
this wonderful family. May your memories of this Holiday
season be warm ones.
We Love You all!! Jim and Janie
- Monday, November 19, 2001 at 05:50:22 (PST)
Author: JNJNICHOLS32@AOL.COMLetter #29 from PNG
Letter #29
November 6, 2001
A Wedding and a Funeral
I suppose one can learn a lot or be confused a lot by
observing a society’s weddings and funerals. I attended a
wedding for one of our staff member’s sons three months
ago. Then last week one of Peace Corps PNG’s most beloved
national staff members died. I attended the funeral, which
was held last Sunday here in East New Britain.
But first I will talk about the wedding. The invitation
that I received indicated that there would be a double
wedding for two sons of one of our staff members, a big
lady who we all call ‘Mums.’ While I had never met either
of her sons I figured that this would be the only
opportunity to attend a PNG wedding. After confirming
that the other white guy in our office, Peter, was going as
well I told Mums that I would come.
Now why would I care if another white guy were going as
well? You may remember in previous letters my talking
about receiving “kid glove treatment” or special
treatment/attention, etc. While this ‘special treatment’
has its advantages at times, sometimes it can be quite
awkward because it draws what I believe to be unnecessary
attention to me because of my skin color. For example at a
social function or celebration, such as a wedding, where I
am not the guest of honor or directly involved, I am often
offered a chair to sit on when the others are sitting on
the ground (when I too was perfectly happy to be sitting on
the ground) or I am asked to be the first to serve myself
the food. Now, of course I realize they see me as a
special guest no matter why I am there, and they wish to
give me ‘special treatment.’ Despite my desire to be
treated the same as everyone else, I smile and accept
the ‘special treatment’ when it is offered, because to
refuse might insult the person offering or cause them to
lose face. When it gets to be too much there are
strategies for getting the host to reduce the ‘special
treatments.’ Having said this, I was leery of being at a
wedding where I would only know a few people, and because I
am white, getting ‘special treatment’ on top of that.
However, if there is another white person along it makes it
easier to accept. Additionally, I wanted to see if Peter
felt just as uncomfortable as me when faced with ‘special
treatment’ And you know what? He was just as
uncomfortable, despite having lived here for four years and
having married a local woman.
Anyway, back to the wedding story… I figured I should get
a gift for the two couples. After asking around and hearing
almost the same suggestions for certain house wares, I
decided to give something that would be much more useful--
like money. Which was a good thing because no one bothered
to tell me until the morning of the wedding that only one
of the sons was getting married, not two. Apparently one
of the brides couldn’t get time off from work!?! I guess
this just goes to show that jobs are scarce in PNG and it
is more important to hang on to them and suffer to change
your wedding date. Or who knows, maybe the gal really
didn’t like the groom? Having elected to give money
instead of cargo I was spared the dilemma of what to do
with the other gift.
When we arrived at the church the guests and the groom were
gathered outside the church waiting for the bride and her
entourage to arrive. Normally I would think that we should
all be waiting inside, but when in Rome….
Then the bride and entourage arrived. Hmm, well it was
impressive but a little disappointing. The bride was
dressed in a nice shiny white satin gown with lots of
embroidery and poofy bulges all over the place and a two-
meter train. In other words, a typical over-done western
style wedding dress. I must admit I had been hoping for
something a little more traditional or PNGish. As it so
happened this woman was from North Solomon Province where
the people’s skin is one of the darkest in the world. The
woman’s skin was near jet black. And for her to be wearing
this pure white western style wedding dress, I felt it to
be quite silly. Imagine if you would, a white woman
dressing up in a feather headdress, grass skirt, shell
necklaces, body paint, and nothing else for her wedding to
her white husband in America. Wouldn’t you think it a
little strange?
Oh yes, and the poor groom, he was a little wisp of a young
man wearing a tuxedo about 3 sizes to large for him. His
pant cuffs were rolled up and his hands were nearly hidden
in his sleeves. The expression he carried looked as if he
was going before a judge to receive a life sentence. (Maybe
that isn’t too far off the mark) The bride didn’t look
that much more excited either. She probably knew how
ridiculous she looked in that fancy western wedding dress.
The bride, groom and entourage all entered the church. I
was waiting for the general crowd of guests to start
entering the church but nobody moved or indicated that we
should go in. I figured that there was to be some little
private ceremony first before the guests go into the
church?!? But, then it looked and sounded as if the
wedding was starting. So I asked a few people if we should
be going into the church, they said they thought so but
weren’t sure. After a few more minutes it became obvious
to Peter and me that the wedding was starting so the two of
us went in and prodded the group to follow us. Eventually
the rest of the various guest came into the church. But
even then there were quite a number of people that never
came into the church during the wedding ceremony. I think
I know why. It was a boring ceremony that felt more like a
mass than a celebration, rather dry and impersonal.
Afterwards was the reception outside. Inevitably a wooden
bench was dragged out there for Peter and I to sit on, but
at least it was a long bench and we could compel other
nationals to sit on the bench with us as well. Then the
reception line was set up. Mats were laid out on the
ground where people would put their gifts and then shake
hands with the new couple and the best men and women with
them. Thankfully Peter and I were not asked to be the first
ones to present our gifts and shake hands. As the gifts
piled up and hands were shook, I never saw the couple smile
or look up at the people whom were shaking their hands. It
was all a little too solemn for me. (I guess I am used to
those big Stevenson weddings). So, I decided to do
something about it. I went up and presented my gift and
then when I shook hands with everyone I would hold their
hands until they looked at me or I would say ‘hey’ and when
they looked at me I would give them my toothiest grin if
they didn’t smile at that I would say ‘Smile!’ which got
them every time. It worked for a little while. At least
they didn’t look so darned depressed for the next ten
minutes. Then it was time for the big feast (with Peter and
I leading the chow line of course). Rather than being
bored to tears Peter and I took off to a local lodge to
have a beer because the wedding was dry. When we got back
a group of women were traditionally dressed and doing a
song and dance. Nothing spectacular, and then we left.
Overall it was a bit disappointing. It was a poor
imitation of a western style wedding and it was just too
damn solemn for me. While the dancing and singing group
was a nice touch it didn’t make up for the rest of the
wedding. I suspect that perhaps not as much energy is put
into the wedding but into other cultural events leading up
to the wedding such as the bride price exchange.
Then unfortunately a Peace Corps staff member, Mary, who
was loved dearly by everyone died unexpectedly last week.
She had known she was sick but had not told any of us and
so her death came as a shock to us. As it turns out, her
village was near the plantation where I live. The family
had wanted to bury her right away, but after learning that
several people from other cities wanted to come to the
funeral they postponed it a few days. Five of them came
and stayed at my house and we all went to the funeral
together. We joined in the funeral procession from the
morgue to the church. No hearse, they put the coffin in the
back of a pick-up and the deceased’s sisters’ rode with the
body sobbing and crying the whole way.
When we arrived at the church, they put us in the very
front pew. Was this ‘special treatment’? I think not. I
think it was recognition of the fact that Mary’s coworkers
and friends were just as close if not closer to her than
her family. The church was full inside, and people were
standing outside looking in the windows. The church was
noisy with the sounds of crying, sobbing, wailing, and
moaning. They started off with the viewing of the body.
For me this was only the second funeral that I have ever
attended and the first time that I have ever seen a body
displayed. I didn’t feel very comfortable and I didn’t like
it. But it sure does make your heart leap up into your
throat and wrench your gut. Mary’s friends and co-workers
were overcome with intense grief. It was an intensity that
I could not share for I had not been that personally close
to Mary. However the whole atmosphere of intense grief and
cry spills over onto others who grieve and cry even more
and it just builds up and up until it reaches a climax and
then slowly subsides after the viewing of the body is
over.
After that was over her brother got up and read a short
history of her life. I felt it was too short, cryptic and
dry. Then Mary’s former boss was asked to give a short
talk which she did, and explained about how Mary worked for
Peace Corps for many years and trained many Peace Corps
Volunteers to work in PNG and of the wonderful and positive
effects that she has had on many people. Another of Mary’s
close friends got up and talked about his friendship with
Mary. And then they moved on to the mass. I was a little
disappointed that no one else got up and spoke and that
there wasn’t any time given for people to talk about Mary
or to tell their stories. I think I would have gotten up
and said a little story as well, but being unfamiliar with
PNG funerals I didn’t want to do anything inappropriate.
Why is it that two white people were asked to stand up and
say something but none of her family did? I was later told
that different churches have different ways of doing their
funerals.
After the mass, the body was carried out to the cemetery.
Every one followed out to the cemetery and the priest said
a few last words and the body was put in the ground. The
grieving, crying, and wailing started up again and as they
filled in the grave it grew and grew reaching a climax as
the grave was filled. Once the grave was filled everyone
placed flowers upon the grave. Slowly, everyone drifted
away.
Then we all went back to the village to eat. We had
brought several 10-kilo bags of rice for the family. The
mood was surprisingly light. We were able to talk about
politics and joke and share a laugh. I think that the
intense grieving and wailing is good because it gets all of
your emotions out there and also exhausts the person
emotionally. It also makes it easier to go on the next
day. Perhaps it is better to just let it all out and bawl
like a baby than to hold it in and be the quiet, strong,
dignified type. It’s like when you feel like you have to
throw-up but you keep holding it in and feeling sick.
Although you may feel terrible while doing it, if you just
go ahead and throw-up, you are letting out whatever it is
that is making you feel ill, and afterwards you feel much
better. So those strong dignified types are holding their
grief in and gagging on it at the same time. You’ll not
find puritan stoicism here in PNG, and that is a good
thing. I hope they don’t try to emulate that aspect of
American culture as they have with their wedding dresses.
After the end of the feast and talking, Mary’s family
presented us with baskets of food. In the basket they had
put in strings of traditional shell money. Some of the
strings came from Mary’s collection. It was a way for the
family to give us a piece of Mary to remember her by.
I understand that different cultures have different ways of
carrying out their marriages and funerals and place
different values and emphasis on the ceremonies. However,
I can’t help but feel that here in PNG they are giving up
too much of their traditional ways and adopting too much of
the Western/Christian model. It is unfortunate that
earlier and current missionaries have plagued this culture
with an inferiority complex and make the locals feel they
must adopt another culture’s ceremonies. I think now days
the churches are more sensitive to this charge, but still
for many the damage has already been done and in some cases
is still occurring. What works for us won’t necessarily
work for them.
A window into two slices of life in PNG….
-Andy
- Tuesday, November 06, 2001 at 06:42:25 (PST)
Author: mattstevenson.geo@yahoo.comLooking for sponsors
Hello everyone,
I can't believe it has already been 5 months since our
WONDERFUL family reunion!!! It was so much fun and I hope
we do it next summer!!
I would like to tell you all that I entered the Miss Junior
Michigan contest and was chosen from 400 girls to be "Miss
Junior Greater Highland" City Queen for an entire year.
That means I can participate in local parades, fairs, and
special events to represent Junior America in my region.
This is not a beauty pageant, but rather a cash scholarship
and recognition event.
I was accepted into Oakland University for the fall of 2002
and so you see, I am tyring to find ways to earn money
towards my tuition. I thought this contest might be a good
way. I would like to try for the Miss Jr. America State
finals but I need to find 20 sponsors who will donate 20.00
towards my entry into this level...
If you think you would like to help me reach this goal,
would you please E-mail me by Friday November 9th? I would
be very grateful to any of you who would be willing to
help. Thanks so much (in advance) and I'll look for your e-
mails in the next few days. Thanks so much. I love you all.
Sarah Jane
- Monday, November 05, 2001 at 21:32:23 (PST)
Author: firecheer02@aol.comHEARTWARMING FLIGHT STORY
This wonderful story was sent to us by our friend Julian Blair and it is good to read
something heartwarming from this awful tradgety. It was written by a stewardess
and I thought of all of our family who travel often and how it could have been one
of them easily.
Love, Suzanne
Newfoundland is one of our Provinces, but is
classed as a little out of date e.g. like
Arkansas and Maine. It joined Canada in 1949.
The people are very generous and kind. Often
jokes are told around here about
Newfounlanders, but all in fun. Though you would
enjoy this article that I received from a
friend in California. This touching story
came from Terry in Bend, Oregon. His two
friends, Lowell and Candy are close friends of
Nazim who wrote this letter. Nazim works for
Delta Airlines. We were about 5 hours out of
Frankfurt flying over the North Atlantic and
I was in my crew rest seat taking my scheduled
rest break. All of a sudden the curtains parted
violently and I was told to go to the cockpit,
right now, to see the captain. As soon as I got
there I noticed that the crew had one of
those "All Business" looks on their faces. The
captain handed me a printed message. I quickly
read the message and realized the importance of
it. The message was from Atlanta, addressed
to our flight, and simply said, "All airways over
the Continental US are closed. Land ASAP
at the nearest airport, advise your destination."
Now, when a dispatcher tells you to land
immediately without suggesting which airport, one
can assume that the dispatcher has reluctantly
given up control of the flight to the captain.
We knew it was a serious situation and we needed
to find terra firma quickly. It was quickly
decided that the nearest airport was 400 miles
away, behind our right shoulder, in Gander, on
the island of New Foundland. A quick request was
made to the Canadian traffic controller and a
right turn, directly to Gander, was approved
immediately. We found out later why there was
no hesitation by the Canadian controller
approving our request. We, the in-flight crew,
were told to get the airplane ready for an
immediate landing. While this was going on
another message arrived from Atlanta telling us
about some terrorist activity in the New York
area. We briefed the in-flight crew about going
to Gander and we went about our business
'closing down' the airplane for a landing. A
few minutes later I went back to the cockpit
to find out that some airplanes had been
hijacked and were being flown into buildings
all over the US. We decided to make an
announcement and LIE to the passengers for the
time being. We told them that an instrument
problem had arisen on the airplane and that
we needed to land at Gander, to have it
checked. We promised to give more information
after landing in Gander. There were many unhappy
passengers but that is par for the course.
We landed in Gander about 40 minutes after the
start of this episode. There were already about
20 other airplanes on the ground from all over
the world. After we parked on the ramp the
captain made the following announcement.
"Ladies and gentlemen, you must be wondering if
all these airplanes around us have the same
instrument problem as we have. But the reality is
that we are here for a good reason." Then he
went on to explain the little bit we knew about
the situation in the US. There were loud gasps
and stares of disbelief. Local time at Gander was
12:30 pm. (11:00 AM EST) Gander control told
us to stay put. No one was allowed to get off
the aircraft. No one on the ground was allowed
to come near the aircraft. Only a car from the
airport police would come around once in a
while, look us over and go on to the next
airplane. In the next hour or so all the
airways over the North Atlantic were vacated
and Gander alone ended up with 53 airplanes from
all over the world, out of which 27 were
flying US flags. We were told that each and
every plane was to be offloaded, one at a
time, with the foreign carriers given the
priority. We were No.14 in the US category.
We were further told that we would be given a
tentative time to deplane at 6 pm. Meanwhile bits
of news started to come in over the aircraft
radio and for the first time we learned that
airplanes were flown into the World Trade Center
in New York and into the Pentagon in DC. People
were trying to use their cell phones but were
unable to connect due to a different cell
system in Canada. Some did get through but were
only able to get to the Canadian operator
who would tell them that the lines to the US
were either blocked or jammed and to try
again. Some time late in the evening the news
filtered to us that the World Trade Center
buildings had collapsed and that a fourth
hijacking had resulted in a crash. Now the
passengers were totally bewildered and
emotionally exhausted but stayed calm as we kept
reminding them to look around to see that we
were not the only ones in this predicament. There
were 52 other planes with people on them in
the same situation. We also told them that the
Canadian Government was in charge and we were
at their mercy. True to their word, at 6 PM,
Gander airport told us that our turn to
deplane would come at 11 AM, the next morning.
That took the last wind out of the passengers
and they simply resigned and accepted this
news without much noise and really started to
get into a mode of spending the night on the
airplane. Gander had promised us any and all
medical attention if needed; medicine, water,
and lavatory servicing. And they were true to
their word. Fortunately we had no medical
situation during the night. We did have a
young lady who was 33 weeks into her pregnancy.
We took REALLY good care of her. The night
passed without any further complications on our
airplane despite the uncomfortable sleeping
arrangements. About 10:30 on the morning of the
12th we were told to get ready to leave the
aircraft. A convoy of school buses showed up at
the side of the airplane, the stairway
was hooked up and the passengers were taken to
the terminal for "processing". We, the crew,
were taken to the same terminal but were told to
go to a different section, where we were
processed through Immigration and customs and
then had to register with the Red Cross. After
that we were isolated from our passengers
and were taken in a caravan of vans to a very
small hotel in the town of Gander. We had no
idea where our passengers were going. The
town of Gander has a population of 10,400
people. Red Cross told us that they were going
to process about 10,500 passengers from all the
airplanes that were forced into Gander. We
were told to just relax at the hotel and wait for
a call to go back to the airport, but not to
expect that call for a while. We found out the
total scope of the terror back home only
after getting to our hotel and turning on the TV,
24 hours after it all started. Meanwhile we
enjoyed ourselves going around town
discovering things and enjoying the hospitality.
The people were so friendly and they just knew
that we were the "Plane people". We all had a
great time until we got that call, 2 days later,
on the 14th at 7AM. We made it to the
airport by 8:30AM and left for Atlanta at 12:30
PM arriving in Atlanta at about 4:30PM.
(Gander is 1 hour and 30 minutes ahead of EST,
yes!, 1 hour and 30 minutes.) But that's not
what I wanted to tell you. What passengers told
us was so uplifting and incredible and the
timing couldn't have been better. We found
out that Gander and the surrounding small
communities, within a 75 Kilometer radius, had
closed all the high schools, meeting halls,
lodges, and any other large gathering places.
They converted all these facilities to a mass
lodging area. Some had cots set up, some had
mats with sleeping bags and pillows set up.
ALL the high school students HAD to volunteer
taking care of the "GUESTS". Our 218 passengers
ended up in a town called Lewisporte, about 45
Kilometers from Gander. There they were put in
a high school. If any women wanted to be in a
women only facility, that was arranged.
Families were kept together. All the elderly
passengers were given no choice and were taken
to private homes. Remember that young pregnant
lady, she was put up in a private home right
across the street from a 24 hour Urgent Care
type facility. There were DDS on call and they
had both male and female nurses available
and stayed with the crowd for the duration. Phone
calls and emails to US and Europe were
available for every one once a day. During the
days the passengers were given a choice of
"Excursion" trips. Some people went on boat
cruises of the lakes and harbors. Some went to
see the local forests. Local bakeries stayed
open to make fresh bread for the guests. Food
was prepared by all the residents and brought
to the school for those who elected to stay
put. Others were driven to the eatery of their
choice and fed. They were given tokens to go
to the local Laundromat to wash their clothes,
since their luggage was still on the aircraft.
In other words every single need was met for
those unfortunate travelers. Passengers
were crying while telling us these stories. After
all that, they were delivered to the airport
right on time and without a single one missing or
late. All because the local Red Cross had
all the information about the goings on back at
Gander and knew which group needed to leave
for the airport at what time. Absolutely
incredible. When passengers came on board, it
was like they had been on a cruise.
Everybody knew everybody else by their name. They
were swapping stories of their stay,
impressing each other with who had the better
time. It was mind boggling. Our flight back to
Atlanta looked like a party flight. We simply
stayed out of their way. The passengers had
totally bonded and they were calling each
other by their first names, exchanging phone
numbers, addresses, and email addresses. And
then a strange thing happened. One of our
business class passengers approached me and
asked if he could speak over the PA to his
fellow passengers. We never, never, allow
that. But something told me to get out of
his way. I said "of course". The gentleman picked
up the PA and reminded everyone about what
they had just gone through in the last few days.
He reminded them of the hospitality they had
received at the hands of total strangers. He
further stated that he would like to do something
in return for the good folks of the town of
Lewisporte. He said he was going to set up a
Trust Fund under the name of DELTA 15 (our
flight number). The purpose of the trust fund
is to provide a scholarship for high school
student(s) of Lewisporte to help them go to
college. He asked for donations of any amount
from his fellow travelers. When the paper with
donations got back to us with the amounts,
names, phone numbers and addresses, it totaled
to $14.5K or about $20K Canadian. The gentleman
who started all this turned out to be an MD
from Virginia. He promised to match the donations
and to start the administrative work on the
scholarship. He also said that he would
forward this proposal to Delta Corporate and
ask them to donate as well. Why, all of
this? Just because some people in far away
places were kind to some strangers, who
happened to literally drop in among them?
WHY NOT? Nazim
__________________________________________________
- Saturday, October 13, 2001 at 19:05:04 (PDT)
Author: SUNSHINE@SONIC.NETHello from Kelly and Gerry
Oct 13, 2001
Hello Dear Family of ours!! It was good to hear that Our
dear Lord once again blessed our entire family in these
vicious attacks against our country. How could man do such
a thing? Not how could God allow this to happen. Free will
can be a supreme blessing or curse in how it is applied. I
don't feel that any GOD would condone what was done. It is
wonderful to see people reaching to God for help and
guidance but why did it take something like this to get
people to seek God. Our country was based on Christian
principles and we have swerved so far away from these
principles in taking God out of everything and wanting a
separation of Church and State. Let's see what happens.
Life here is good. It has been a trying year for Kelly's
health and the strain of losing her Mom but her faith
remains strong and her beautiful smile never falters. How
blessed I am to have such an angel for a wife. Jeff is now
an assistant camp director for the YMCA and lives in
Fenton, Michigan. Ben is in his 2nd year at Western
Michigan and he is studying to be a teacher. Kelly is still
tutoring about 15 kids a week. I am still at Lear and I
will start my 25th year with General Motors on November 7.
It doesn't seem possible that I will be able to retire in 6
years! I pray everyone is well and I Love you all. Gerry
P.S. We are praying for you Jenny and Chris that Saint
Eunice and Saint Gerard will bless your pregnancy!!!!
- Saturday, October 13, 2001 at 13:15:43 (PDT)
Author: GerryandKelly2@aol.comThanks!
NO GO BETH
Dearest Beth...
Just wanted you to know that I e-mailed you a long letter
this morning and it did not work!!!!
Love you...Aunt Janie
- Tuesday, October 02, 2001 at 05:17:46 (PDT)
Author: JNJNICHOLS32@AOL.COMCongratulations!!!!
Hey there!!! Congratulations to you Jenny and Chris .... We
here in Michigan are SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO happy for you both!
We will keep you in our prayers for a safe and healthy
pregnancy... THAT IS JUST SUPER!!! We love you! Aunt Mary,
Uncle John,Cole and Sarah Jane
- Monday, October 01, 2001 at 19:20:49 (PDT)
Author: jamg1971@aol.comDITTO!!!
HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY SCOTT... YOU'RE 30 YEARS OLD TODAY!
SO WE HOPE TO WISH YOU HAPPINESS IN THIS VERY SPECIAL WAY
ON THIS WEBSITE THAT YOU BUILT FOR US... FOR OUR BIG OLD
FAMILY
AND WE HONOR YOU IN A SPECIAL WAY AND WE HOPE THAT YOU WILL
SEE
THAT THE FOLKS HERE IN THE STATES BACK HOME WISH YOU HEALTH
AND HAPPINESS... HAVE A HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY SCOTT...
YOU'RE A CUT ABOVE THE REST!!!
WE LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!!!!! Uncle John, Aunt Mary, Cole &
Sarah
- Monday, October 01, 2001 at 19:16:31 (PDT)
Author: jamg1971@aol.comSCOTT IS 30!!!!!
Everyone join me in wishing our "web-Master" Scott a VERY
HAPPY 30th Birthday!!
Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday
Dear Scott, Happy Birthday to you...
May the Dear Lord Bless you, May the Dear Lord Bless you,
May the Dear Lord Bless Scott, May the Dear Lord Bless
you...
...and many more...
Can't you just hear that great Stevenson Harmony....
I even think I heard Grandpa's voice on the "and many more"
section
Happy Birthday Scott,
Love,
Tommy and the rest of the Stevenson Clan from Plymouth
- Monday, October 01, 2001 at 14:00:23 (PDT)
Author: tomstevenson@peoplepc.comYeah!!!!
We here in Canton are so excited for the Palmers!!!
YEAH!
Love,
Mike & Deb & the 3 fun kids!
- Monday, October 01, 2001 at 11:58:27 (PDT)
Author: threefunkids@msn.comWant some good news?
Who wants some good news!???
...
OK, (as Mike would say "I doo!)
We just got word that Jenny and Chris are PREGNANT!!!!!!
It's very early on, but as Jenny said she wants to enjoy
every minute of this. So we wanted everyone to know now.
She is due in early summer.
She is having a craving for a double cheesburger, so she
Kathy and my Mom are on the way to McDonalds.
Please celebrate this joy! And please keep them in your
prayers everyday.
Love to you all, Tommy
- Monday, October 01, 2001 at 09:21:14 (PDT)
Author: tomstevenson@peoplepc.comI Love You All, and I'm trying this again
My Dear Family,
How are all of you doing today Oct.1st 2001. Boy, this
month has been a long one. (September, that is.)
It has been quite awhile since I got on the family web page.
I found it very compforting to look back and read all the
beautiful thoughts since Sept.11. How are all of you doing
now....since the intensity of it all has slightly settled?
There has been such incredible generosity that has come from
this. I've been feeling that I not only want to help the
victims of the 9/11 tragidy, but other areas of need in our
country as well.
Any ways, I had such a great time with all of you at the
reunion, so did my friend Michelle. Aunt Esther, Thank you
for the photo album. I loved it! That was so thoughtful of
you.
I believe my e-mail address works now. Last time no one was
able to get through to me. This time it should work. I
would love to hear from any of you. It would be great to
get a little message when I get to work. I'll write you
back.
(I sound like a little kid)
I love you all. God Bless You.
Beth Stevenson
e-mail: bs07bps@birmingham.k12.mi.us
(Make sure you include all that in my address or it wont go
through)
- Monday, October 01, 2001 at 08:56:44 (PDT)
Author: bs07bps@birmingham.k12.mi.usLetter #28 from PNG
Letter #28
September 24, 2001
Hello again from PNG,
In August I went on a two-week patrol to New Ireland. I
went with Martin, a new forester here at PHF whom I am
training, and Vasiti, a lawyer who has just started working
with us. We went to Djaul Island for the first week.
Djaul Island is a medium-sized island near New Ireland.
This is the only project where I have been involved from
the very start. This project was one of the main reasons I
stayed behind after the Peace Corps pulled out, because I
wanted to ensure that this project got up and running. This
project will be PHF’s first in about 3 years.
For the most part we were able to accomplish everything
that we wanted to. However, unexpectedly there were a lot
of village politics going on in the background that
hampered our work. This was quite a surprise to me. I
would have thought that on a small south Pacific island all
the laid back natives would be one big happy family. Not
in this case. On the face of things, the people get along,
but because there was not a dominant single leader in the
community, there seemed to be a lot of jockeying for power
and status. Whoever is involved or works with the sawmill
will have increased status in the village. So
unfortunately it sometimes made it hard to work with the
whole community.
What we were trying to do was to make a family tree of all
the clans, and to make some land use maps so that they
could form an Incorporated Landowner Group. Many people
felt that they weren’t going to be involved in management
or decision making of the sawmill so they wouldn’t show up
at the meetings or wouldn’t give us the information we
needed. It was a real challenge to get these people to
realize that this is a community sawmill and that we need
everyone’s participation. By the end of the week we were
tired but we managed to get most everything done, including
forestry training for the managers and sawmill workers.
For the second week we went to Tandis Village on the east
coast of New Ireland Island. This is a community that I had
already visited earlier in the year. Tandis is a
hodgepodge of different clans from the area and it would be
a nightmare to work with the whole community. Fortunately,
we are working with only one clan. This clan has a
powerful ‘big man’. He looks like a black Santa Clause, he
has long pure white hair and a big white bushy beard, and
his eyes are gray. People often refer to him as Father
Christmas. This is the same man I mentioned in an earlier
letter that had had kicked some loggers off the clans land
in the 70’s. Because of him the clan’s land is still
intact. What I mean by this is that the land is still
contiguous and owned by all members of the clan. The other
neighboring clans have sub-divided much of their land into
smaller blocks and allocated them to individual family
units. Because Father Christmas has kept the clan and
their land together, it is possible for the clan to buy a
sawmill and practice sustainable logging on their land and
for the benefits to go to all members of the community. We
were there to help the clan to form an Incorporated
Landowner Group. This is a way for the law to recognize
that the clan owns some ground and to legally recognize all
who are members of the clan. This in turn makes it easier
for Government agencies and Banks to work with the clan.
This will help them to raise the money to put a deposit on
a sawmill.
While in Tandis we were joined by another female staff
officer. The two women slept in one house, Martin and I
slept in the ‘haus boi’ (house boy) where the single men
and male visitors sleep. Unfortunately some pervert from
another clan tried to climb in to the house where the two
women were staying. He ran away when one of them woke up.
Then again the next night, the pervert had the audacity to
try again and this time he got into the house, but again,
he ran away when the women woke up. The women were quite
frightened by this. So the next night Martin and I slept
in the house, with Martin by the door and myself by the
window. Father Christmas was pissed, and gave the whole
community a verbal thrashing.
All of us were supposed to have gone on to Tabar Island to
look at another potential project site. Unfortunately this
did not happen. The other woman had not brought with her a
baking oven that was to be given to the Island, and they
claimed that they heard on the radio of a typhoon warning.
While it was a little windy, I certainly didn’t see any
typhoon coming. I was all for going. If the others
couldn’t organize themselves, it is unfortunate, but it
should not have stopped us from going. However, with out
consulting me the women bought us all ferry tickets back to
East New Britain and called the office to tell them we were
coming back. Argh… While frustrating, yes, I really don’t
blame them too much. I suppose they were quite stressed out
about the whole stalker thing.
One of the adventures that Lynna and I had here was living
in a house that had a sago palm leaf roof. However when we
moved in the sago palm leaf was old and needed to be
replaced. So they tore out the roof and put up some
plastic tarps. They had promised that they would replace
the roof as soon as they could. At first they started with
replacing a portion of the roof but then after that things
got stalled and the main part of the roof was still covered
by plastic tarps. Several months went by and nothing
happened. Then the tarps started to leak and Lynna was
quite unhappy about this. They put up some more plastic
tarps to stop those leaks, however we wanted to get the new
roof on. So we started bugging the plantation and PHF
about it and tried to get the ball rolling again on getting
our roof replaced.
Finally, now that Peace Corps and Lynna have left PNG, they
have started putting the new sago palm leaf roof up. They
put the first half up while I was away on patrol. Now half
of the house is much cooler and it also looks nicer than
those plastic tarps. The following week they started
putting up the other half. In the process of putting up
the new roof they have to take down the tarps and then tie
them back up at the end of the day. In the middle of this,
I woke up one morning when I felt water dripping on me in
bed! When the workmen had tied the tarps over the
unfinished parts of the house, they had used the oldest and
leakiest tarps and with a light rain in the morning it was
leaking all over half of the house. So I leaped out of bed
and transferred anything that could be damaged by the
leaks. I wasn’t too worried about it. The workmen were
close to finishing the roof and so it would only be for a
few days.
That night it started raining again. As is common when it
rains the power went out (so therefore the power goes out a
lot) so I lit up some candles. Then the wind started to
kick up and because the workmen had done a sloppy job of
tying up the tarp it was flapping around and making a
racket. So as I was making my dinner all the sudden the
candles were blown out. Hmmm, well that has never happened
before inside the house. So I looked up at the tarp and
saw the wind had torn it in half, horizontally. Yikes! Now
a torrent of rain was coming into the house. So now I
yanked off my hearing aid and started scrambling to get
everything on the other side of the house. So in the dark,
pouring rain, on the wet and slippery floor, like a wet
monkey I scrambled to rescue all my possessions from the
rain. Having accomplished that, like the wet monkey I felt
and was thinking like, I climbed up into the rafters of the
house in an attempt so see if I could secure that tarp
down. So here I am in my boxers climbing up into the
rafters with the wind and rain pummeling me and the
lighting silhouetting me against the backdrop of the night.
I wasn’t sure if I should have screeched like a wild
monkey, give out a Tarzan yell…mostly I just let out long
strings of profanity. Unfortunately the tarp would not
budge and could not be secured in any meaningful way. The
fates decided that it was going to rain in my house that
night. Oh to be in PNG, where the adventure always
continues.
Ok, about a month later… While they have put a bunch more
sago palm leaf on the roof, they miscalculated how much
leaf they needed so there is still a thin strip at the apex
of my roof that still covered by that damn leaky tarp. Of
course one day in a moderate wind the tarp gets blown out
of place. Three times I asked the workmen to straighten
it out and three times it got blown out of place in three
days. After three strikes, I decided to tie the tarp in
place by myself. After several weeks it has only blown out
of place once. Of course when the tarp gets blown out of
place it necessitates that I climb up into the rafters, but
as you already know, I have a bit of experience doing
that. :)
Two weeks ago, myself, Martin (my counterpart), Benedict
and Barnabas (mechanics) went to the village of Reit which
has had a community owned sawmill for about six years now.
They have been having problems with the management of the
sawmill. Martin and I were to go and try to straighten out
the problems. At the heart of the management problem was a
greedy, selfish manager. He had taken over the sawmill as
if it were his own and was pocketing all the money. The
other clan members disliked this man so much that in their
desire to prevent him from making any money from the
sawmill, they were selling the land where the sawmill was
working. Some clan members even burned up areas of the
forest. This was a real mess. What this had done was to
perpetuate a cycle of greed and laziness. Instead of
earning a living off of the land they would just sell a
piece whenever they wanted some money. As a result most of
the prime valley bottomland is gone. When the new
landowners come in, they invariably cut down the forest and
plant coconuts and cocoa trees.
Unfortunately, there was also a big land dispute going on.
It seems that individual clan members are selling clan
owned land with out consulting the rest of the clan. This
is a big problem. So there are a lot of people mad at each
other. It’s a stupid tit for tat kind of dispute, and the
thinking behind it goes something like this: “you sold that
ground without telling me and pocketed the money, OK! I am
going to sell this ground and not tell you and pocket the
money for myself.” It is basically the villagers that are
the losers, especially their children. At this rate these
people are going to sell the rest of their valley
bottomland in 5 years.
It was evident to us the sawmill was being mismanaged and
that it was not a problem that could be straightened out in
one week. We decided that PHF should re-posses the sawmill
and take it back to the PHF office. We would then
straighten out the land dispute, and then set up a new
management for the sawmill at a later date. The village
also still owes PHF money on the loan for the sawmill, so
PHF has the right to take the sawmill back, because another
problem was they had not made any payments in a long time.
So we went to take the sawmill back. Understandably, the
manager was upset, but he agreed that we could take the
sawmill. The sawmill was up on the side of a hill. None
of the villagers made a move to help us carry the sawmill
down. Ok, fine we will do it ourselves. We started taking
the sawmill apart to carry it down. Then one or two people
in the bush started slinging fist size stones at us, so we
left the sawmill and hurried back down off the hill. The
manager and his son saw and knew what was happening, but
neither one of them claimed to know who was throwing the
stones, nor did they try to stop them. This really pissed
me off, because it showed that they have no regard for the
safety of PHF officers, from an organization that has been
helping this village for a long time.
We also had a hard time hiring a car to transport the
sawmill back. None of the local drivers would talk to us.
Then we found an outside driver who agreed to come back and
pick up the sawmill. I think some of the locals told the
driver what was happening, because that driver never showed
up. So it is just as well that we didn't bring the sawmill
down from the hillside.
Also, after the stone throwing incident, the manager hinted
that if we took the sawmill there would be a big fight that
night and blood would be shed. So, I agreed that we would
leave the sawmill, so long as he promised not to run the
sawmill, and that he would not fight. I am afraid the
manager is a bit unstable and that he might try and destroy
the sawmill (“If I can't have it, no one can” kind of
mentality). So we planned to get the police to escort us
when we go to take back the sawmill.
I found out about the terrorist attacks while I was out in
the bush. I had a hard time believing it, and did not
fully believe it until I got back from the patrol.
The next week, we arranged with the police to send an
officer with us to get the sawmill. We hired a plantation
truck to take us out there and bring it back. Before we
left we stopped by the side of the road near the plantation
to talk to a bunch of guys that the mechanic knows. We told
them what we were planning to do and asked if they wanted
to come along for the ride. All ten of them climbed on
(no, they don’t have anything better to do). Normally I
don’t like the car I am in to pick up too many people
because it slows down the trip and creates hassles that
impede our work. But in this case, I was more than happy to
have ten extra guys come along. Not that I expected a
fight or anything, just to show that we mean business.
Then we went on our way to get the policeman. When we
arrived, we were told that the policeman had left and gone
to town, but they would send someone else in his place.
This someone else was a cadet doing his practical. When he
came out with us, he was wearing a t-shirt, shorts, no
shoes, and was smoking a coarse tobacco cigar he had rolled
himself. No uniform, no gun, no badge, nothing… :)
Fortunately, however, this man used to work for PHF and
knew about us and knew many of the villagers. No, I wasn’t
worried, neither were the others, and the police cadet was
a model of equanimity. When we arrived at the sawmill site,
there were only a man and two kids there. The sawmill
manager and his gang were not there. I figured they knew
that we were coming at some point and they were no longer
willing to resist us. So we brought the sawmill down from
the mountain with no hassles.
Ok, time to go back. Whoops, the truck over heated going
up the mountain. Stop and let it cool down. What? The
starter doesn’t work!… Ya mean a push start? Well, those
ten extra men came in real handy… On the road again.
Whoops again, a flat tire. What? No, spare! No problem,
just take off one of the double tires from the back axle.
Got out my book and had myself a little read. Tire is
fixed and we are on our way and home just before dark. PNG
style traveling, don’tcha love it!
All is well as can be.
Love ya’ll
Andy
- Tuesday, September 25, 2001 at 08:25:19 (PDT)
Author: mattstevenson.geo@yahoo.comwe love you all
Hello wonderful sweet family of mine!!!
All is well here in good old Waterford. I love seeing all
the flags and feeling the love that seems to be coming from
everywhere. A samll boy on our street had a lemon aid stand
to raise money for the red cross (so cute). We're still
glued to our T.V.s and I'm sure we will be for some time to
come but I really do feel a difference in our world
already. Teege happen to be home with us when all this took
place and seem to give me great comfort too (he's playing
in NYC on the 29th and 30 (we think) ). Ami, Matt and our
beautiful grand babies are all well too. Praise God for
this family. Remember, Be Kind. We love you all.
Hey Bob, House boat in 2002? xoxoxoxox Sally
- Saturday, September 15, 2001 at 17:55:16 (PDT)
Author: sallylucca@aol.comCANDLELIGHTÊVIGIL
This was sent to me and seems a good idea. I had heard of it on the radio too so I think it will be
big and will help us all. Suzanne
> I hope you and your families and friends are all safe. This isn't much
> but it's something.
>
> Friday Night at 7:00 p.m. step out your door, stop your car, or step out
> of your establishment and light a candle. We will show the world that
> Americans are strong and united together against terrorism. Please pass
> this to everyone on your e-mail list. We need to reach everyone across
> the United States quickly.
>
> The message: WE STAND UNITED - WE WILL NOT TOLERATE TERRORISM.
> We need press to cover this-- we need the world to see.
- Friday, September 14, 2001 at 12:17:57 (PDT)
Author: sunshine@sonic.netTHANKÊYOUÊFORÊTHISÊFAMILY
Hello from Suzanne,
It was so good to be able to read your letters and know all of this very large wonderful family
is safe. We too were concerned about our flying brothers and Cindy too who sometimes flys for her
company.
I missed all of you and your warnth and love so much I went to the photo section and looked
at all of your smiling faces and realized how very lucky we are to have each other.
The photos of mom and dad reminded me of the love and careing they touched all of us with
during their life and the inspiration they left us all with now.
Thank-you once again Tom and Esther, Scott, and all of you who contribute to the Circle
Letter to unite this family and keep it united when we can't be physically together like the great
Summer of 2001 reunion.
Peace
- Friday, September 14, 2001 at 11:18:51 (PDT)
Author: sunshine@sonic.netAmen! Amen! and AMEN!!!
love,
lil' nancy
- Friday, September 14, 2001 at 07:45:55 (PDT)
Author: lyons10@msn.comNATIONAL DAY OF PRAYER
Dear Family and Friends:
On this National Day of Prayer I thought I would share one
with you. What a time of intense emotion and
bewilderment. What a blessing to see the country uniting
as we always do in a crisis and now today we as a country
and as individuals are uniting in prayer. The tremendous
acts of heroism and love are such as I have never seen.
Tragedy somehow brings out the best in people. It seems to
expose unselfishness everywhere showing the character and
strength of the American people. These are the
heartwrenching stories that somehow comfort us and in some
mysterious way allow us to know that God almighty always
prevails, that love is stronger than death and that
selflessness is the only answer, the only truth.
O God, touch each and every heart of those who have lost
loved ones and comfort them as only You can do. I ask for
healing for the injured. Thank you that so many people are
coming to the forefront to help in this devastating
catastrophe....and in the weeks and months and years ahead,
help us to do whatever we need to do for the widows,
widowers, orphans, relatives and friends. Give them
strength, Lord, and even in their darkest hour show them a
glimmer of Your light and Your peace. Be with President
Bush and his cabinet. Thank You that he is a Godly man.
Give him wisdom and courage and allow him to be aware of
Your very presence at all times during this tremendous time
of crisis. God bless us all.
I fully realized yesterday the meaning of the scripture
"Love is stronger than death" when I heard of a man whose
friend was in a wheelchair on one of the top floors of the
tower. He stayed by his friend's side before the building
collapsed.
I love you all so very much.
Nancy
- Friday, September 14, 2001 at 07:31:17 (PDT)
Author: BHNHR1@AOL.COMSo much love...so much thankfulness!!
This is my third attempt at writing on this circle letter
and each time I got "kicked" off before I was finished so I
will be quick...I love you all and am so grateful to come
from such a loving family!!! I thank God for ALL of you and
I am praying for everyone of you!! Kiss and hug each other
a little harder tonight and every night...we never know
when it may be our last... I am SO HAPPY that EVERYONE is
SAFE and SOUND!!! God bless us all!! Love, Mary
- Thursday, September 13, 2001 at 13:16:09 (PDT)
Author: jamg1971@aol.comWith a thankful Heart
Ok, I'll try this again, my first note didn't see to take.
As I read the comments from everyone I too echo the
thankfulness for the safety of our family members who do fly
often. I'm grateful that Alan Kight is also safe and pray
for him and Lisa in the coming weeks as the military begins
their next steps. I'm thankful that Chris (who was in DC
that morning and was evacuated) made it home to Jenny
safely. We are so blessed as a family that it it sometimes
scary. The time to be thankful is now and I see that we all
are.
One thought I keep thinking about is Uncle Bob's comment as
to Why would God allow this to happen? The one gift God has
given to us is the gift of free will. Unfortunately these
evil souls sought to us this in very evil and sinful ways.
We all have the power to do evil and the power to do good.
Fortunately many more do good. I can't help but think that
somehow God did intervene with that fourth plane, to give
those pasengers the strenght to take it over and stop it's
intend to kill even more. To see our freewill being
used in Godly ways look to how New Yorkers (normaly a
"faceless hustle bustle" culture) are pulling together and
helping each other. I sure gives us hope.
When Jerry Lewis is no longer to show the world true love,
we will prevail. Just look at the true love Uncle Bob
shows, maybe he is not on national television, but each
person he touches has a ripple effect this can and does
impact on the world, it is just not as publicly visable, but
it is there. We all have this gift. In the days to come I
pray we will all try our best to let our love (and boy does
this family have that)prevail and our anger take a back
seat.
And as Uncle Bob said if we ever had to pray and ask God for
guidence the time is now.
Love to everyone. Tommy
- Thursday, September 13, 2001 at 08:43:38 (PDT)
Author: tomstevenson@peoplepc.comThank You
I had tried several times to call Tom and Esther but I
could not get through. I was too dumb to even think about
the cell phones.
I had no idea that our Maryland family had this much
activity on the day of this dispicable crime. I am very
relieved to hear that things appear to be good. May God
continue to make this family safe.
Uncle Bob
- Thursday, September 13, 2001 at 08:39:43 (PDT)
Author: bodikel@san.rr.comLove from Maryland again
Hello dear family:
Thank you for your concerns regarding Chris. Fortunately
he was home from DC about 5 hours after the attack. All
our family in Maryland is safe and accounted for. Tom &
Esther are in Kansas City, and they will now remain there
for 1 more week. Mike Marshall rented a car and drove home
from Kentucky as his travel plans for New York were
appropriately cancelled. Jill (Danny's wife) is from New
Jersey right outside of Manhattan. Her family is all
accounted for safely, however they are waiting to here from
family members anf friends. Please keep them strongly in
your prayers. They need them from our string group.
Love to you all,
Jenny
- Thursday, September 13, 2001 at 08:27:50 (PDT)
Author: barleysgirl@aol.comLove from Maryland
As I read the comments from everyone I too echo the
thankfulness and safety for our family members who do fly
often. I'm grateful that Alan Kight is also safe and pray
for him and Lisa in the coming weeks as the military begins
their next steps. I'm thankful that Chris (who was in DC
that morning and was evacuated made it home to Jenny safely.
We are so blseesed as a family that it it sometimes scary.
The time to be thankful is now and I see that we all are.
One thought I keep thinking about is Uncle Bob's comment as
to Why would God allow this to happen? The one gift God has
give to us is the gift of free will. Unfortunately
these evil souls sought to us this in very evil and sinful
ways. We all have the power to do evil and the power to do
good. Fortunately many more do good. To see our freewill
being used in Godly wasy look to how New Yorkers (noramly a
"faceless" culture is pulling togeher and helping each
other. I sure gives us hope.
When Jerry Lewis is no longer to show the world true love,
we will pervail. Just look at the true love Uncle Bob
shows, maybe he is not on national television, but each
person he toughes has a ripple effect on the world, it is
just not as publicly visable, but it is there. We all have
this gift. In the days to come I pray we will all try our
best to let our love (and boy does this family have
that)prevail and our anger take a back seat.
And as Uncle Bob said if we ever had to pray and ask God for
guidence the time is now.
Love to everyone. Tommy
- Thursday, September 13, 2001 at 07:38:10 (PDT)
Author: tomstevenson@peoplepc.comThankful for Safety
I just want to echo Aunt Janie's sentiments. I was feeling
pretty stressed because one of my first thoughts was of my
Uncle Bob's safety. As you'll remember, he was just four
miles away from the Oklahoma blast in '95. When he put a
follow-up post to my Circle Letter letter, I knew my
prayers were answered. I want to stress that I don't want
to hear of danger coming to ANY of my Stevenson relatives.
I am grateful and thankful that my phone hasn't been
ringing so everyone must be alive and alright. I would have
heard from my Mom in Vegas if anything catastophic had
happened to one of the family. I give thanks and praise to
God for safety this day. I am also joining in prayer with
the rest of the country for the families of these that were
not as fortunate.
Love,
Lisa
- Thursday, September 13, 2001 at 06:44:16 (PDT)
Author: Cowgrl23@netzero.netMy Family
I know that each and everyone of us are feeling the same
way right now. I remember as I was watching this horror
unfold, all I wanted to do was make sure that Bob and Dan
were safely on the ground somewhere. I can't imagine the
pain of knowing that someone that you love has met with
such a horrific end. I just want each and everyone of you
to know how very much I love you and I thank God everyday
of my life for blessing me with all of you. As I know you
will, pray for all of these families who are grieving. They
have to get strength from the rest of the Country. Take
care and God Bless each and every one of us!!!
- Thursday, September 13, 2001 at 04:20:29 (PDT)
Author: jnjnichols32@aol.comTodays World
Thank you Lisa for your comments and as always your
thoughtfulness.
As I pondered the cowardly acts of yesterday I could not
help but ask myself "Why would God allow something like
this to happen"
Innocent people, hardworking people, brave people, all
caught up in this tragedy and probably asking themselves
the exact same thing.
I know they are hurting, we are all hurting. Then I look
back upon the Labor Day weekend when Jerry Lewis, obviously
sick, spent 26 hours on television trying to help people
all over the world and once again I thought boy what is God
going to give us when Jerry Lewis is no longer aable to
show all of the world what "TRUE LOVE" is.
I know that I am not as spritual as a lot of my loving
family but I can tell you that if we ever had to pray and
ask God for guidence the time is now.
Hug your family members just a little bit harder today and
make sure you tell them just how much you love them and
thank God for giving them to you. There are a lot of people
who will not be able to do this anymore after yesterday and
for that I am sorry.
Love,
Bob
- Wednesday, September 12, 2001 at 06:14:59 (PDT)
Author: bodikel@san.rr.comTerrorist Attack on NYC, D.C.
"Can a woman forget her nursing child,
And have no compassion on the son of her womb?
Even these may forget, but I will not forget you.
Behold, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands;"
Isaiah 49:15-16
In view of the recent tragedies, I am calling on all
Stevensons far and wide to remember and pray for the
families and loved ones of the victims in yesterdays
events. Pray also for America in the coming weeks and
months ahead. Thank you.
Love,
Lisa Stevenson Kight
- Wednesday, September 12, 2001 at 05:46:49 (PDT)
Author: Cowgrl23@netzero.nethello everyone!
Well...it has been one month since anyone has put a letter
on this webpage...seems before the reunion we were seeing a
letter or two each week... the site is probably lonely...
So hello to one and all and I hope you are all fine...keep
Kelly (and Gerry,Jeff & Ben) in your prayers and drop them
an e-mail or
letter... I am sure they will need all our support with the
loss of Kelly's Mom ( remember Kelly, you're in ALL our
prayers!!!)We love you!! Mary
- Wednesday, August 22, 2001 at 14:31:44 (PDT)
Author: jamg1971@aol.comLetter #27 from PNG
Letter #27
July 24, 2001
Oh! to be in Papua New Guinea...
As part of my job, I have to go out on Patrol on a regular
basis. A patrol is basically when we go out to a project
site in a forest community. We do mostly training and
monitoring. Several weeks ago I was asked to go on a two
week patrol with a co-worker to do some chainsaw training.
Great! So on the scheduled day I show up with my backpack
and gear for the patrol, only to find out that my co-worker
had not prepared his training materials. He would need at
least another day to get everything ready. Disappointing,
yes, surprising, no. Unfortunately people here seem spoiled
by the office. They like hanging out in the air conditioned
office, push papers around their desk, chat with their co-
workers and friends, chew buai.....
Anyway, now we only had one week, which is not enough to do
the chainsaw training. Instead I suggested that we should
go anyway and I would do some forestry training and teach
the villagers about land use mapping. Unfortunately for two
days before we left it had been raining fairly steadily. We
were hoping the rivers we had to cross would not be that
bad.
On the appointed day, we were supposed to leave at noon,
but got out about two. Myself, two co-workers and the
driver got in the car. Then three other guys climbed into
the car. I asked them why they were in the car--where did
they want to go? “Oh, nowhere, we just want to come along
for the ride." was their reply. Since no one else seemed to
mind...”sure, whatever, fine”...It seems that in every
place in Papua New Guinea there are young men hanging
around. If there is an opportunity to get a free ride in a
car and go somewhere and come back, they will just jump on.
Even for the four hour round trip that our car was going to
make, they didn't bring anything except for a little woven
coconut frond basket to carry their betel nut in. In a way
it reminds me of little kids wanting to go for a ride in
the car just for the heck of it.
And so we headed out. The first two rivers we crossed were
at a fairly normal level. Unfortunately the third river was
in flood. It was flowing swiftly and there were medium
sized trees floating down it. So we had to turn back.
Shortly there after the driver was feeling tired and asked
one of the co-workers to drive.
The new driver was a young guy, and he set off at a rather
brisk pace. As is common near populated areas there were
lots of people walking around on the roads. There was a man
standing in the middle of the road, and as we approached he
moved to the side. The driver slowed down but not enough
and the car went through a puddle and splashed the man. The
man yelled out something. The young driver turned his head
to look at the man. Unfortunately at that very moment the
road started to curve, and since our young driver looked
back for a moment to long, he failed to follow the curve of
the road. Alas, we ran into a coconut tree.
I was sitting in the front passenger seat and I too was
looking back at the man that we had just splashed. I was
thinking that we should go back and apologize. At the very
last moment I turned my head forward and realized that the
car was going off the road. Shortly thereafter the right
side of the car made intimate contact with a coconut tree,
and immediately after that my face made intimate contact
with the windshield.
I was quite surprised when I felt my ass leave the seat and
saw that my head was moving towards the windshield and
gaining velocity by the nano-second. My train of thought
went something like this: "f**k! we hit a tree; s**t! I am
not wearing my seat belt; damn! I'm going to hit the
windshield, oh man.. I hope I don't get knocked out
senseless and that my face doesn't turn into hamburger
meat." After which point there was a horrific crunch as my
face attempted to see what was really on the other side of
the windshield. Fortunately I did not succeed in going
through the windshield and plopped back down on my seat.
Some more thoughts: "Wow, I can't believe that just
happened... Hey! I am still coherent and don't feel too
bad… Ok, the accident is over, lets get out of the car and
have a look at my face."
Fortunately my face was in a lot better shape than the
windshield. I escaped with several shallow cuts on my
forehead and nose. There was no whiplash or headache. I
think I was so relieved that I escaped with so little
injury that the cuts didn't even hurt. It was amazing--my
injuries did not seem to reflect the amount of damage to
the windshield. There was a pie pan sized bulge in the
glass with lots and lots of cracks snaking away from ground
zero.
One disconcerting thing was that there were a lot of glass
shards, chips, and dust sticking to my face. Luckily, my
eyes were closed at the time of impact and none of the
glass got into my eyes. It took me a good hour to clean all
the glass from my face. It was slow going until I
remembered a trick for removing slivers from your skin by
applying tape and removing.
As for the rest of the people in the car, there were a few
bumps and bruises, but nothing serious.
As for the car, it is one of those tough British
Landrovers. The right fender and wheel were all bent out of
shape. After changing the tire, the car was able to limp
back to a local logging camp. The guys at the logging camp
were very nice and put us up for the night and gave us a
ride back to our office. While I may not like what the evil
Malaysian loggers do for a living, they were hospitable and
friendly.
Now, a day and a half after the accident, I feel fine and
my cuts are healing up nicely. The people at the office and
plantation were very sorry for what happened, but now they
are saying that I am a "hard head" and or a "big head." So
I can joke with them that if I am not happy with them I
will hit them with my head.
Isn't it wonderful to have a hard head? Thanks Mom and Dad!
The adventure continues,
Andy
- Tuesday, July 24, 2001 at 19:12:28 (PDT)
Author: mattstevenson.geo@yahoo.comHello Everyone
What's this site about, I have no idea - I just know I am a
Stevenson from Scotland, so I thought I'd drop a line from
across the pond and say Hi!
Bye for now folks!
Fiona xx
- Sunday, July 22, 2001 at 05:38:35 (PDT)
Author: boosh2@hotmail.com
Emilie Margaret Stevenson
Life with Emilie is WONDERFUL! She is such a beautiful
baby. Now for the details...
Emilie Margaret was born July 6, 2001 at 10:35am
8 lbs 8 oz, 20 1/2 inches.
Once her head was out the doctor looked at Jeanne and I and
said ok Jeanne I'll have you sit up a bit and you and Tom
can deliver her. Wow was that cool! Sophie, Carly and
Dillon were the first ones to see her (Sophie was quite
persistant that NO ONE saw her before they did, of course we
gladly respected this wish. They were able to see and hold
her when she was about one hour old. The excitement in them
was electrifying. Jeanne is feeling great (greatly due to
the fact that Emilie was our "little" baby - she weighed 2
punds less than Dillon did and is 2 1/4 inches shorter).
The labor was long but the delivery was smooth.
We are absolutely overjoyed with her. She is a very happy
baby and a good nurser. She smiles quite often. The kids
love holding her, singing to her, pushing her in the
stroller and just being with her.
Emilie is named after her 86 year old Great-Grandma Emilie
Adams(Jeanne's Dad's mother). We did not tell Jeanne's
Grandma the babys name until she was at the hospital holding
her namesake. After holding the baby and oogling for
several minutes she said "hey, what are you going to name
her, no one will tell me?" When we told her she was
speechless! Then as happy and giddy as a little girl. I have
never seen her so happy!! It was awesome - thank heaven for
video cameras. She said this is HER baby.
I was off from work the week after she was born. I'm in
baby withdrawl now. Can't wait to get home to hold her
again.
Love to all, Tommy and the rest of the Stevenson 6!
- Thursday, July 19, 2001 at 06:51:46 (PDT)
Author: tomstevenson@peoplepc.comStaying in Touch with Andy and Lynna
Hi Folks,
As detailed in their previous letter, many changes have
occured for Andy and Lynna. This has been a tough
transition for both of them and it would mean a lot to them
if you took the time to write. They absolutely love to
receive letters! To ensure that you can continue to stay in
touch, please save these addresses:
For Andy:
Andy Stevenson
c/o Pacific Heritage Foundation
P. O. Box 546
Rabaul
East New Britain
Papua New Guinea
(South Pacific)
For Lynna:
Lynna Holland
U.S. Peace Corps
1A Holborn Road
Kingston 10
Jamaica
West Indies
The PNG web page that I set up for them can be found at the
following URL:
http://www.geocities.com/Yosemite/Geyser/3287/PNG/PNG.html
This is where all of their letters and photos have been
(and will continue to be) archived.
Take care,
Matt
- Wednesday, July 18, 2001 at 11:59:47 (PDT)
Author: mattstevenson.geo@yahoo.comLetter #26 from PNG
Letter #26
July 17, 2001
Hello friends and family-
Wow, lots has happened.
As I explained in the last letter, Peace Corps is leaving
Papua New Guinea. Lynna and I and the rest of the
volunteers met up in Madang for our close of service and
transition conference. Three people from Peace Corps
Washington office came out to help us with leaving the
country and to help us figure out what we will be doing.
Some people have decided to go home, some have decided to
transfer to a new country, and some people decided to stay
in PNG on their own. Everybody was very sad to be leaving,
but everyone was happy for each other’s friendship and
support throughout and we all expect to keep contact for a
long time to come.
Several months ago, even before we knew the program was
going to be suspended, Lynna and I had some serious
discussions about what we wanted to do after the Peace
Corps or if the program was suspended. We decided that
after the Peace Corps (or if the program was suspended)
that we would go our separate ways. Lynna and I have had a
wonderful relationship over the past three years. We are
both very happy that we joined the Peace Corps and were
able to have this wonderful experience together and to be
able to share it with you all as well. We are parting on
very good terms and we hope to maintain a very close
friendship in the years to come.
So what are we doing then?
As it turns out I am going to be staying here in PNG for
several more months. After I learned of the suspension I
was not sure what I wanted to do. I had several options: I
could travel and then go home, I could opt for a new Peace
Corps assignment, or I could stay and work here at PHF for
a few more months.
When I thought about it, it made sense for me to stay and
work here for a few more months. I really do like the work
here. It is interesting, technical, and challenging. I felt
that I could do more productive work that would be much
more gratifying by staying here, as opposed to transferring
to another country for one year and learning a new
language, customs, and work. And what is the chance that I
would have work as wonderful and meaningful as what I am
doing now?
PHF is happy to have me stay and finish some work on the
projects that I have been involved in and to train a new
forester that has just been hired. PHF will pay me a living
allowance and I will stay in the same house. At the moment
the plan is that I will stay here at PHF until December.
After that, I plan to do some traveling and then I will be
going back to my work with the Forest Service.
Lynna was content with her work here at PHF and would have
been happy to stay as long as Peace Corps was still in
Papua New Guinea. However, after the suspension, Lynna knew
that she would not feel comfortable staying in PNG with out
the support of Peace Corps. Lynna put in for a new
assignment with Peace Corps only if the new site was doing
exactly what she wanted, which was working with the deaf,
but not as a teacher. At the transition conference, an
ideal site that met her requirement was offered to her. And
she accepted.
Lynna will be going to Jamaica! She will be working with
the Jamaican Association for the Deaf. She will be working
with support programs for Deaf adults and children. She
will also be working on interpreting issues, advocacy,
awareness, and documenting Jamaican Sign Language. I must
say that I am very happy for her.
Lynna left PNG last week to the States to spend a few days
with her Grandmother and will be in training in Jamaica by
the time you read this letter. It is a two-year assignment
including another homestay & training, so she will not be
done until 2003! I encourage all of you to write to Lynna.
I can’t tell you how great it is to get letters from family
and friends, especially when you are alone and over seas. I
expect that Lynna will be in touch with many of you via e-
mail or snail mail.
One thing Lynna and I had done was to combine our e-mail
list when we were sending out letters. We will each
continue sending out our letters to our own list of friends
and families, and we will both post our letters to the
website [The URL is
http://www.geocities.com/Yosemite/Geyser/3287/PNG/PNG.html -
-MRS] if you are on one list and not the other and you want
to find out what is happening with the other. Many of you
are on both of our lists but, if you are not sure and you
want to be on both, reply and let us know.
All our love-
Andy and Lynna
PS from Lynna, Andy e-mailed this to me to see if I had
anything to add. As usual Andy did a great job with the
writing and left me with very little that was not said ;)
I do now have the address for Peace Corps Jamaica, so if
anyone wants to write me a snail mail I promise to respond
the same way eventually (for all you who like to get mail
with foreign stamps).
Also, now that I no longer have Andy to do it we'll see if
I can be better about writing for the e-mail list on a
regular basis. My plan was to send out to everyone on both
lists the first time and ask those that wish to be removed
from the list to reply with something like "Please remove
me" in the subject heading, that way if I have a slow
connection I don't have to open the message, I can just go
straight to delete. I will be using my personal e-mail
account when I do this so you can just hit reply.
Address during training:
Lynna Holland
U.S. Peace Corps
1A Holborn Road
Kingston 10
Jamaica
West Indies
lynnaholland@hotmail.com
all for now,
lynna
- Wednesday, July 18, 2001 at 11:56:02 (PDT)
Author: mattstevenson.geo@yahoo.comI mean...whose girl is it???
Who's girl is it????
It's a girl!
We wanted to let everyone know that Jeanne & Tom had a baby
girl today! Emily Margaret Stevenson was born at 10:35 this
morning. She weighed in at 8lbs 8oz (the smallest for
Jeanne) and is 20 1/2 in. Both parents and baby are doing
well. Congrats!!!
Love, Mike & Debbie
- Friday, July 06, 2001 at 19:59:50 (PDT)
Author: debbienmike@mindspring.comIt's a girl!
Third Set of PNG Photos
Hi All,
There are 43 new photos taken by Andy and Lynna in PNG up
on my home page. See them here:
www.geocities.com/Yosemite/Geyser/3287/PNG/photos.html
Cheers,
Matt
- Thursday, July 05, 2001 at 10:50:43 (PDT)
Author: mattstevenson.geo@yahoo.comWhat a reunion!!!
Hello Dear Family:
I know I'm late in getting this out but I wanted to
say what a wonderful time we had at the reunion. Our only
sadness was that Ben got pink eye and missed half of the
reunion. He is fine now and finished with his Spring term
at college and is currently planning on working his butt
off at Mesquite Creek before heading back to Western
Michigan at the end of August. Jeff will be 21 on the
fourth of July. Where does the time go? Life for us is
good. Kelly got a good report from her therapists in that
they feel she is getting stronger with her therapy. At
first she didn't like the idea of bringing her scooter to
the reunion but
when it became the biggest hit with the little precious
Stevenson's it made her weekend. Sorry to John Garlak for
almost backing into you! Sorry! Diane, Kelly and I still
play 10,000 almost everyday at home. Can't wait till we can
all play again! It was good to see Uncle
Dan's kids and grandkid's. Wish we could have seen Cindi. I
wished that we could have had another night where the 12 of
us could have gotten together like we did at Nan and
Brian's 10 years ago. Hopefully at our annual brother
sister reunion it will happen. In LasVegas in 2002? When?
We will need to plan it out. Perhaps around October as this
is when our whole family started anyway. Perhaps it
wouldn't be so hot there then? We have lots of candid
pictures and we hope to get them into a book before the
LaDuc reunion on July 8th. Love you all!! Brother Ger
(Unlce Ger to many!!)
- Tuesday, July 03, 2001 at 15:35:47 (PDT)
Author: GerryandKelly2@aol.comAndy and Lynna Leaving PNG
Oh Boy...
Well the show is over folks. The fat lady has rudely barged
on to the stage in the middle of Act 2 and sung, and now the
curtain is dropping...
The main Peace Corps office in Washington DC has decided to
suspend the Peace Corps program in Papua New
Guinea indefinitely. The reason is because of worsening
safety and security risks in PNG. PC-Washington and PC-PNG
have been conducting an on going assessment and monitoring
of the safety and security situation here in PNG for the
last 16 months. Finally they decided it was not worth the
risk. Having made that decision they want us to all be out
of the country sooner rather than later. So, by July 13th
we will all be gone. The office in Port Moresby will close
and national staff who have worked there for ages will be
looking for new jobs.
Lynna and I will be leaving the Pacific Heritage Foundation
on July 4th. We will be going to a 'transition and close of
service' conference. We will be offered the opportunity to
transfer to another country or to leave the Peace Corps. We
must either be out of the country, or be officially finished
with the Peace Corps by July 13th.
We don't know what we will be doing. We are both keeping
our options as open as possible. We might accept a transfer
to another country for a minimum of one year. We also have
the option of signing up for another two year term of
service. Or we can accept an "early close of service",
which means that we can leave Peace Corps early without any
penalty and with the same benefits that are accorded
volunteers who complete a full two year term of service. We
are waiting to see what the transfer options are before
making a commitment one way or the other. We'll write again
once we know what we are doing.
Lynna and I are disappointed to have to leave PNG before our
term of service is finished. We had been here at our new
site for about 7 months and felt like we were just getting
up to full stride. I was looking forward to setting up two
new small scale sawmill projects. Lynna had just started
organizing an environmental awareness puppet show for school
children. Now we are once again having to explain why we
are leaving early, apologizing and saying good bye and
hurrying up and getting packed.
Hold your applause, there might be an encore yet.
You'll hear from us again soon.
Andy and Lynna
- Thursday, June 28, 2001 at 12:16:44 (PDT)
Author: mattstevenson.geo@yahoo.comJIM BOU SR. DOING WELL
Hello everyone,
Thank you for your thoughts and prayers regarding my dad.
God answered our prayers once again! My dad is recovering
really well and ahead of schedule, the doc said he
should live a long and happy life. Praise the lord! I wore
my Stevenson reunion t-shirt to the surgery and all of my
aunts just loved it (a little envious of how great a
reunion we had; hopefully that side of my family can do
something close to how great our time was).
Thanks again and love to all,
Louie
p.s. note my new e-mail address
- Wednesday, June 27, 2001 at 09:23:26 (PDT)
Author: LOUBOUDREAU@COVAD.NETWhat more can be said!?
What more can be said than another THANK YOU!!! to all of
you who spent so much of your time putting on the greatest
event of the new millennium for the Stevenson family. What
a great time. I think this family grew even closer. I (as
well as the rest of my family) had a fantastic time. I'm
still smiling. The best part was just being together - even
doing nothing - just being! Spending the entire weekend just
being together was my favorite thing. Every where you
walked or looked it was all family. What a great gift we
have been given in each other. Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa
for getting it going, to all of us for keeping it going and
to God for putting them together!
And thank you all for making it soooo comfortable for
Jeanne. She had a great time. Colin, she said hearing you
sing My Way, made it all worthwhile! Wow, was that amazing.
I can't wait to hear more. How about a "classics" CD?
Again thanks to everyone for putting this together, and a
HUGE thanks to everyone for coming from near and far.
Love, Tommy
- Monday, June 25, 2001 at 06:11:13 (PDT)
Author: tomstevenson@peoplepc.comjames boudreau sr. update
okay... well i was wrong with some terms in my last note...
he did not have an angio-whachamacallit... he had a
catherization and they found some MAJOR problems. He is
going to be having his surgery on Tuesday morning. But he
remains in the hospital until then. He'll be having
triple/quadrouple by-pass.
So now you have longer to say some prayers!!!
and in a lighter note - the reunion was awsome!
and the boudreau's want to copy what we did after I told
a few of my aunts about it :o)
well I have to go pick up my 8 rolls of film... aunt esther
you mega photo chick!! so excited
if I took a photo of you, you'll be getting a copy in the
mail someday -
type to you all later
xo
nancy
p.s. We left out thanking some people, and I feel bad...
Thanks to all the SPOUSES, who had to endure our backs at
the computer or the empty chair in the living room because
we were out running around!THANK YOU!!!
- Saturday, June 23, 2001 at 15:05:41 (PDT)
Author: lyons10@msn.comFAMILY REUNION
Dearest Family...
I have thought over the last few days about all the work
that we put in to make this family reunion special, but it
all boils down to the fact that we all are part of the love
that James and Eunice had for each other and instilled in
all of us. The weekend was part of their plan to keep that
love ignited in all of us and like Esther said, to pass on
to our children. Even the major thunderstorm could not
prevent this family from having fun! It even gave us an
activity that wasn't planned!!! We love all of you and I
hope that everyone will have many wonderful and lasting
memories.
Let us all keep Jim Boudreau in our prayers for a speedy
recovery. (You all know how our prayers work!!!)
One more thing..as we were wrapping up the weekend, I found
a doll and a rabbit in a Hallmark bag. I have no idea who
it belongs to and if you would like to claim it..give me a
call..if not, I will keep this doll because I have a
feeling that it was one of my Mom's.
Once again..thanks for the memories. EVEN THE REGULATOR HAD
A GREAT TIME!!!!
Love Jim and Janie
- Saturday, June 23, 2001 at 06:13:52 (PDT)
Author: jnjnichols32@aol.comEsther's Suggestions for Future Reunions
Dear Planning Committee for the Stevenson Reunion of 2001,
Tom and I just got home from the Stevenson Reunion of
2001....(Tom had to work in Grand Rapids, Mi. from
Tuesday to Friday.)
In the spirit of being constructive and always
improving....I thought that while the weekend was still
fresh in my mind...I would make note of somethings about
the weekend that were wrong....or maybe just not quite
right.....or could simply be improved upon a little so our
next reunion could be even better !
Below is my list of suggestions......
.
.
.
.
.
....I'm thinking.....I'm thinking....
.....give me a little more time........
.
.
.
.
.....sorry, I'm of no help.....I could not think of one
single thing that could have made our reunion weekend even
one tiny bit better than it was !!!!!!
It was WONDERFUL!!!! PERFECT !!!!
My thanks to all who were a part of the planning. I will
treasure every memory. My next step is to get my pictures
developed....all 15 rolls of them !!!! Can't wait !
Note: to anyone who took videos, if you send me a copy of
your video, I will love you even more than I already do!
It was such fun to walk around the campground and
everywhere I looked; there was FAMILY...all doing different
and fun things. People getting to know different family
members more than they did before; and enjoying the
company of those they already knew well.
None of us is perfect; we all have some warts and flaws,
but My God, we are all FAMILY....and we were (almost) all
there!) All of our little families, parts of the patchwork
that makes up this big, huge family.
Let's ALWAYS celebrate family.....this huge one....and
MOST IMPORTANT...the little one in each of our homes.
NOTHING that any of us accomplish in this life is more
important than your own family.
Celebrate it, feed it, build it, cherish it, thank God for
it, and watch it grow. Not only in number, but in quality.
Make your own family the one that your children want to
copy.
How many people on their death beds have said "I wish that
I had spent more time at the office" ? ( My guess is not
very many.) Let's be sure that none of us on our death
beds ever feels the need to say "I wish that I had spent
more time with my family."
My love to all,
Esther
...come and see us on the Eastern Shore ... anytime,
we'll keep the light on for you !
- Friday, June 22, 2001 at 20:04:16 (PDT)
Author: tomnesther@aol.comCalling all Prayer Warriors!
My dad, Jim Boudreau Sr. has to have emergency heart
surgery - he was experiencing pain over the past 2 weeks
and today went in to get an angio-plaste (sp?) any way the
doctors found 3 clogged arteries, one of them 100% clogged
and another or that one, not sure, damaged -
this information came to me second hand I'm going to the
bostford hospital right now to get more info -
Please Pray for him - the power of prayer DOES WORK!!!
thanks!!!
love
nancy
- Friday, June 22, 2001 at 11:09:29 (PDT)
Author: lyons10@msn.comWHAT A WEEKEND!!!
INCREDIBLE...What more can I possibly say?
The whole weekend could not have been more AMAZING!! I'm
still in AWE of it...I have NO words to describe how I'm
feeling...just sheer AWE! I love you all and THANKS FOR
"MORE MEMORIES"!!!!!! Love, Mary
- Sunday, June 17, 2001 at 20:49:29 (PDT)
Author: jamg1971@aol.comTHIS IS IT!!!!!
Well my dear family... We are FINALLY here... the GREATEST
event of the year!!! For any of those who will read this
before heading out to Mesquite Creek tonight or before
arriving in MICHIGAN... I just want you all to know how
much I love you and how EXCITING this weekend is going to
be and how we ALL should SAVOR EVERY MOMENT because
something like this doesn't happen very often in one's
lifetime... SOOOOOOOO I pray LORD JESUS that You bless EACH
and EVERY family as they arrive and bless this whole
INCREDIBLE weekend...In Jesus name I pray!!! AMEN
HERE WE GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO....love, Mary
- Thursday, June 14, 2001 at 04:50:09 (PDT)
Author: JAMG1971@AOL.COMZip Mentioned in June Vogue
The West Coast and Paris members are eagarly looking forward to the Great Camp Out Reunion
2001 as I am sure every one is too.
Zip and his new business Hollywood Trading Co. are mentioned in the index 411 TOP OF THE
CLASS: DAZZLING DEBUTS THAT MAKE THE GRADE bright young things page 256 of the June issue
of Vogue magazine or www.vogue.com His belt business is doing great.
Love, Suzanne
- Tuesday, June 12, 2001 at 14:03:14 (PDT)
Author: sunshine@sonic.netEmail address & Phone Numbers
I've sent emails out, but in case this is faster and
reaches more of you... I'm going to be redundant...
hi everyone - i'm helping Gerry create the Family Directory,
unfortunately any info that was forwarded to Gerry has been
lost in the transition to me. Sooooo If I could trouble
you all to take a minute and jot down your address, (i
really have addresses) phone number, and emails... if you
want throw in you Wedding Anniversary's... please :o)
i also request that this be done ASAP!!!
thank you all in advance for your full cooperation -
if you know that someone doesn't get email, but you know
there phone number jotting that down for me would be great
appreciated! Thanks!
love
nancy
- Thursday, June 07, 2001 at 15:54:20 (PDT)
Author: lyons10@msn.comANY EARLY BIRDS?
Jennifer and I (Star Stevenson) can't wait for this family
reunion! Let's hope we get the good weather in time!!
Jennifer and I are arriving at Detroit Metro at 7:05 AM on
Friday the 15th (the morning of the first day of camp) My
father James (Jimmy) has offered to pick Jennifer and I up
at the Airport and Scott (of France fame) could possibly
pick us up as well BUT...perhaps other people are arriving
at Detroit Metro on that Friday morning that we could just
carpool with? We are basically counting the days until we
arrive in Michigan!! Looking forward to the experience.
P.S The "things to bring list is great...thanks" Love Star
- Wednesday, June 06, 2001 at 22:36:06 (PDT)
Author: starstevenson@aol.comReunion Letter
June 1, 2001
Dear Family!
The time has finally come!!! Only two more weeks!!! So
this letter comes to you with valuable information, I’m
sure you are all anxious to receive.
Working closely with the Camp we came up with the following
agenda*;
Thursday Night
Jam session at Mesquite Creek in Clarkston!!
Friday
4:00 check in at Camp – pick up room
assignments & welcoming packs at office
6:00 Pizza & Pop at camp, with a ‘quick’ camp
orientation (all must attend)
7:30 Free time / Bonfire / Singing etc…
Saturday - t-shirt day!!
8:30 Breakfast
9:30 -12:00 Open Lakefront, lake
activities; at this time we will have one big picture taken
fun & games: babies, kids,
young adults, and geezer games, bring your videos!
12:30 Lunch
1:30 – 5:30 Open Pool, ropes course, free
time, horseshoe, volleyball
6:00 Dinner
8:00 Variety Night with Karaoke and
dancing (still time to sign up your talent, skit, special
song etc)
Sunday
8:30 Breakfast
10:00 Father’s day celebration
1:00 Lunch
2:30 free time & Family photo sessions**
5:00 check out
~~ There is a general store (pop, candy, ice cream) that
will be available to us 8:00 – 10:00 pm on Friday night and
2:00 – 4:00 pm on Saturday.
IMPORTANT INFO…
There is absolutely no alcohol or drugs allowed on the park
premises – this will be strictly enforced by the camp – one
bad apple can ruin it for the bunch – don’t even take a
chance by ‘sneaking’ it in – please! THANK YOU!
EVEN MORE INFO!!!!…
Although this is the ‘Cadillac of Camps’ this is still a
camp so bear that in mind. Listed here are a few things
you need to know and bring:
v The camp provides, pillows, pillowcases and a light
thermal blanket so you will need to bring sheets and/or
sleeping bags - the beds are twin in size, unless you are
told otherwise, via e-mail.
v Bring your own Towels, wash clothes and/or beach
towels
v Money for general store items
v Money for High Ropes Course, cost is $8.00 per
person
Other ideas and suggestions
v Sunscreen, sun glasses
v Flash lights
v Laundry bag for your dirty, wet clothes
v Clothes pins and rope (for drying those wet clothes
at night)
v Band-Aids / first aid kit
v Zip lock bags (for all sorts of stuff)
v Pack your lotions and shampoos in zip locks –
incase of leakage, your clothes won’t be spoiled!
v Playing cards, dice (in case of rain activities)
The following items are intended for the Michigan people to
bring, but out of towners can to!
v Guitars
v Lawn chairs
v Sports equipment for beach fun, football, Frisbee,
etc.
v Mosquito repellant
v Radio / boom box
DAY VISITORS - THIS INFO IS FOR YOU!
v Breakfast is $4.00, Lunch is $5.00 and dinner is
$6.00. Which is to be paid to Sally Lucca, upon your
arrival, so we can let the kitchen know, we have guests! J
v You can buy a Reunion t-shirt for $10.00, but
there are only very few available
Well I hope this info is helpful, if you have any questions
you can contact any one of us (nancy hussey, sally Lucca,
mary garlak, Janie Nichols, nancy lyons & chris Stevenson)
Until then Can’t wait!!
XO
Your SFR Committee
*Because we are the only ‘campers’ at the camp we had to
make the weekend agenda in align with the available staff –
In other words, the pool won’t be open at any other time
then what we said, because they won’t have staff available.
** There will be individual family photo sessions, each
family will be given a 15 minute time slot, this means the
photographers (nancy, john & maybe Jeanne) will only have
to give up a little amount of time, so please come a little
before your appointed time and be ready
- Monday, June 04, 2001 at 16:49:37 (PDT)
Author: lyons10@msn.comhello ya'll from Alabama
Hey from Alabama,I finally decided to put a letter on here.
I've seen it done so many times I just had to try it.We just
came back from a great trip to the beach and kicked of the
summer with a graduation party.I thought the ya'll from
Alabama was a nice touch.It's wierd that I don't know what
to say because usually I can't stop talking,I don't know
maybe this is awkward or something.Our family is doing
great,James is just growing up so fast and so have I.Our
house is really getting close to being finished and when it
is it will be great,I still hope to have the family reunion
at our house sometime.Hey,that's all I have to say for now
see ya later,bye.
Andrew
Ps.Email me at blueboy162@hotmail
maybe I'll talk then.
- Sunday, June 03, 2001 at 19:27:22 (PDT)
Author: blueboy162@hotmail.comPower of Prayer
Hi everyone!!!
I'm sure everyone is really gearing up for this great
upcoming event!! I know we sure are and we're so happy to
see it all come together after 13 months of planning. I'm
writing to everyone about something that no one has
mentioned yet. I'm asking all of you to begin to pray for
some good weather. It has been raining everyday for 2
weeks!! The grass and trees couldn't be greener so
everything is really beautiful but soon, real soon we are
going to need some serious SUN!! We also need some
storming the heavens with some powerful prayers!! I'm not
asking you to get down on your hands and knees (however, I
bet God would REALLY listen to you if you did that!!) just
few small requests throughout your day. Thanks!!
There have been black and white "STEVENSON 2001" posters
made for you to follow the closer you get to the camp. If
anyone has any questions, please e-mail, call me 248-623-
1788 or use my cell, 248-627-4031. Oh yea, there is one
more letter on it's way. Let The Games Begin !!!
I love you all, Sally
- Saturday, June 02, 2001 at 03:47:36 (PDT)
Author: sallylucca@aol.comHi Every One, I'm back on.
Dear Family,
Hi. How is everyone. I'm looking foward to the reunion. I
can't wait to see all of you. Now that I'm back on the web,
Please drop me a line. I'd love to hear from you.
Hi Daddy and Suzanne, I miss you and I can't wait to see you
on the 13th of June. I'll be there with bells on to pick
you up.
I love you all.
Beth S.
- Friday, June 01, 2001 at 12:34:23 (PDT)
Author: es03@bps.birmingham.k-12.mi.usPick of the Litter!!
Well... the PICK OF THE LITTER is now 61...
So we're sending our wishes with hopes you have fun!
Dear Tommy, you know you're LOVED by us all...
Each family member... the BIG and the SMALL!!!
You're always so nice and you do things for many
You'd give us your shirt or your very last penny!!
You're kind and considerate... caring and fun
So now that you're turning the age 61
We wanted to write on this HUGE family letter-
You're not getting OLDER, Tom...you're getting BETTER!
So have a GREAT day with your family and friends
And though this poem stops...well... our LOVE never ends!!
Happy Happy Day! Love, From "The Michiganders"
P.S. If Mom had named James "Nun" instead of "James"...
you'd be second to Nun!!! ( oh Brother!?@#*!!)
- Wednesday, May 23, 2001 at 05:31:18 (PDT)
Author: jamg1971@aol.comTONY'S MUSIC SAVES A LIFE
May 2001 19:20:08 EDT
From:
Tomnesther@aol.com
To:
dfrench2@ford.com, TomStevenson@peoplepc.com, tstevens@visteon.com,
debbienmike@mindspring.com, kathysmarshall@aol.com, Barleysgirl@aol.com,
Dannbailey@aol.com, Jillagin16@aol.com, JAMG1971@aol.com, BHNHR1@aol.com,
SallyLucca@aol.com, lyons10@msn.com, Jnjnichols32@aol.com, Bill1941@webtv.net,
bodikel@san.rr.com,
Subject:
Fwd: Giving Thanks [Yahoo! Clubs: LUCCAMUSIC Fan Club]
Date:
Fri, 18 May 2001 14:53:14 EDT
From:
Jillagin16@aol.com
To:
Tomnesther@aol.com, Dannbailey@aol.com
My friend (Jill Z.) sent me this letter she found on TJ's fan club website.
She was touched, as I think you will be. Could you pass this on to the fam
(I'm on the computer at work and don't have addresses with me.) Thanks!
Subject:
Fwd: Giving Thanks [Yahoo! Clubs: LUCCAMUSIC Fan Club]
Date:
Tue, 15 May 2001 16:38:09
From:
"Jill Zizzo" <zizzoj@hotmail.com>
To:
jillagin16@aol.com
I thought I would share this with you, so you could pass it along.
>From: lil_loca95 <clubs-mail@yahoo-inc.com>
>Reply-To: clubs-mail@yahoo-inc.com
>To: zizzoj@hotmail.com
>Subject: Giving Thanks [Yahoo! Clubs: LUCCAMUSIC Fan Club]
>Date: Tue, 15 May 2001 09:27:59 PDT
>
>I usually don't do this but I figure when one has nothing to lose then it's
>ok to try. I know some people connected to Tony are in this club and trust
>I'm not the stalker in love with Tony deal. Tony's music saved my life. I
>know you probably get that a lot but from the bottom of my heart it's true.
>I was in "love" with a guy who for all his wonderful qualities presented
>one of his worst and that was pointing out that I was never enough. Growing
>up I was always kind of chunky and typically was the funny friend. I was
>never first choice and so when I met my last guy I was thrilled to be
>first. I wanted to be perfect and as he would poke my sides and make
>comments towards beautiful women that walked by it started getting to me.
>I started on a dangerous ride of both anorexia and bulimia. I hid it well
>and soon my comptitive nature took over. I had the mind set of just a
>little more and I would be okay. I went into rehab cause my throat lining
>was being ripped out but still I had the mindset nothing was wrong with me.
>That people were jelous cause I had discipline and they didn't.
>I was walking down the hallway when I heard a beautiful male voice singing
>from a room. I instantly knew it was Tony Lucca. I remember hearing his
>sing on free preview on the Diseny Channel. No one can forget a voice like
>that. That's when I met Michia. Like me she was fighting the same fight I
>was and we became tight friends. I heard "Honestly for you" for the first
>time and it brought tears to my eyes. For so long I wanted... no needed to
>hear that "make up only makes up for what's lacking on the inside and you
>ain't lacking babe".
>This became my personal mantra and whenever things were tough and I felt
>like I couldn't handle it Tony's sweet voice reminded me that I don't have
>to prove myself to anyone other then me. Michia on the other hand heard the
>words but it didn't reach her in time. She went into ICU and she gave up
>her fight with the person she saw in the mirror everyday. She died a few
>days before my 20th birthday.
>When her mom was packing her stuff she had a note for me along with her
>Tony Lucca CDS. In her note she told me to never give up like she had.
>Cause whether I truly saw it or not I had the strength and if I ever lost
>hope that Tony would be there to remind how much of a difference I made in
>her life.
>I'm not supermodel material and now I can honestly say I'm okay with it. I
>know I wouldn't have made it this far without someone watching my back. I
>believe in angels and I know sometimes God puts them on Earth to walk with
>us. I've been blessed to have known Michia and when her job was done. She
>sent me a reminder of just how special I really am in the voice of Tony
>Lucca. I know life's journey will give you trials and tribulations and for
>what it's worth... "There ain't no statement you could make that could say
>much more than you already say."
>Thank you for being my angel when I needed one.
>Spirit blessings,
>Maria Angela
Passing this on. Suzanne
>
>---------------------------------------------
>DO NOT REPLY TO THIS MESSAGE BY EMAIL!
>---------------------------------------------
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>
>Reply to this message:
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______________________________________
- Tuesday, May 22, 2001 at 17:42:49 (PDT)
Author: sunshine@sonic.netOk, plug for the men too!
Ok all the men too. My Mom got the prod out there for the
women, but the men shoudl also be getting their annual
pyhsicals too! At 35 you should be getting your annual
"poke n prod" (as part of your overall annual physical), yes
not a real pleasant thing, but colon cancer or testicular
cancer is a lot worse.
I want to see ALL of you at our reunions, holidays, etc.,
not simply just remember you!
Please don't put it off. These too are cancers that are
curable if caught early.
Love and good health, Tommy
- Tuesday, May 22, 2001 at 09:38:16 (PDT)
Author: tomstevenson@peoplepc.comHappy Birthday to James!!
Today is James' birthday and in case you didn't know
he is 62!! Am I shocking you?? Cuz you see...it doesn't show
So we'll wish him well in this "show and tell"
and we'll send him all our love
Even Mom and dad will be feeling GLAD
from their heavenly home above
So here's THREE cheers that we send HIS way
How we WISH we could be there...
We would sing some songs and clang some gongs
and HE wouldn't have a care!!!
So we'll send them now... HE'S THE BEST..AND HOW!
Happy birthday we do say-
now with one accord, "BLESS our JAMES, dear LORD"
shouting all...HIP HIP HOORAY
HIP HIP HOORAY...HIP HIP HOORAY!!!!!
Happy Birthday,James...We love you!
Love, From the "Michiganders"
- Tuesday, May 22, 2001 at 05:50:59 (PDT)
Author: jamg1971@aol.comCamp Address
Hello Everyone...
We will have maps for the reunion at the Jam session on
Thursday night, but for those who would like to get an idea
of where it is and make their own map on the internet, here
is the address.
Echo Grove
1101 Camp Road
Leonard, Michigan 48367
Only 24 more days to go!!!!!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY JAMES...WE LOVE YOU!!!!
Jim and Janie
- Tuesday, May 22, 2001 at 04:42:50 (PDT)
Author: jimnjanie32@aol.com....from Esther
A PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT FROM ESTHER
TO ALL THE WOMEN IN THE FAMILY AND THE MEN WHO LOVE THEM !
Let me tell you my little story....
but first let me tell you that it has a happy ending.
In November of 2000, I went for my annual physical.
Among the routine procedures was a Pap test, which tests
for cervical cancer.
Surprisingly, it came back questionable. It was no big
deal, it just meant that I should have another one in four
months instead of waiting one year.
The first of March 2001, I dutifully went back for the next
one.
It too, came back questionable.
So I was to go to the doctor's office for a procedure
called a Colposcopy.
If through this exam, the doctor would see any white spots
on my cervix, he would then do a biopsy...(I don't like
that word !)
He did see some white spots and did a biopsy.
The biopsy came back "inadequate".
This meant that I had to go into the hospital for another
more extensive biopsy..(out patient).
That was scheduled for April 23rd.
Then, while I was taking care of all this health business,
I realized that it was also time for my annual mammogram.
So just to make it even more fun, Kathy said that she had
never had one and it was time for her to start, so she and
I went together....Mother and Daughter mammograms. Isn't
that sweet ???!!!
I went home after that, and within two hours, I got a phone
call that they saw a spot on my left breast, and I was to
come back for another mammogram.
So, the next day, again, dutifully, I went back and had
another mammogram done, and yes, they found the same spot.
So just to be more thorough, they did an ultrasound. And,
yes, the spot was still there.
So, let's do a biospy on that, too !
They tried to do a stereotactic needle biopsy on me, but
weren't able to get to the spot because it was in very deep.
So this now required hospital surgery.
At this point, the doctors did some fancy shuffling of
their schedules, since I already had a surgery date for the
hospital.They arranged it so I could have both biopsies
while under the same general anesthesia; instead of going
in two different times. ( I am not fond of anesthesia;
afraid I'll be the statistic that doesn't come out of it !)
During the time all this was going on it was a little nerve
wracking in our family. I will admit it to anyone that I
was scared, as was my family. I know that either of these
things happen to women very often, but they hadn't happened
to me. And because I had two female areas questionable at
the same time, I had visions of two cancers running rampant
in my body and running into each other !!!
What really concerned me was that when I went for
my "yearly" mammogram, I found out that I hadn't been there
in TWO years. Now this frightened me. The beauty of having
these tests done yearly, is that even if they should find
something very wrong, it could only have been there for a
year. But now with me, there was a question of a lump in my
breast, and I had to think how DUMB it was of me not to be
there for so long. There was no reason, I just didn't think
that much time had passed. Makes a girl feel very guilty !
Believe me, from now on I will make my next year's
appointment before I leave the office.
I had my biopsies on April 23rd.
On April 26th, my gynecologist called to say that the
cervical biopsy was benign; thank you very much !
On April 30th, I saw the surgeon and he said that the
breast biopsy was also benign; thank you, too !
I go back to be retested for both in 4 months, and am sure
that I will get the all clear.
Life is good.
God's in His Heaven and all's right in my world.
I am writing this to all of you to encourage you to please
be faithful in getting your yearly Pap tests and
mammograms. Make it a priority in your life. These cancers
can be cured if caught early. Don't wait an extra year and
feel as guilty as I did !
Do whatever it takes to get you there.
May is Breast Cancer Awareness month,...go in May.
Some women time all of this doctor stuff with the month of
their birthday, try that.
Or use the buddy system, I think Kathy and I will go
together from now on, and go out to lunch, etc..make an
event of it. When Jenny is old enough for a mammogram, she
can come with us. Something to look forward to !
Do it any way you can.....JUST DO IT !!!
I may be asking questions at the reunion, can you face me
with a proud, responsible and clear consciience ???
Love,
Esther
- Saturday, May 19, 2001 at 16:34:45 (PDT)
Author: tomnesther@aol.comHitchin' A Ride?!
"Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and
forever." - Hebrews 13:8
That'll preach!!!
Hello Circle Letter type, PC users, electronic mail family
members!!! Greetings to ya'll in Cyber-land!
I need a favor and I am not too proud to ask for it here.
I was going to fly in on 15June and try to coincide my
arrival with that of my parents. Due to circumstances
beyond my control, I am only able to arrive two hours
earlier than them. We were all going to rent some vehicles
@ the airport and then drive to the Echo Grove place.
Therefore, I need someone (preferably a Michiganer) to pick
myself and my 2 girls up. Can someone give us a ride from
the airport to the campground? Thanks so much. Just e-mail
me.
I will give my arrival time and flight number to the first
serious
bidder. (I mean volunteer!)
Appreciate It.
Love,
Lisa
- Tuesday, May 15, 2001 at 08:04:29 (PDT)
Author: Fla23LisaK@aol.commy birthday is coming soon!!
hi everyone,!!
it has been so long since i wrote on this web page,
i just wanted to say hi and how much i love all of you guys
and how blessed i am to have a BIG! family who is full of
love, i love you all.
i cant wait until the family reunion, i hope my
caste is off by then ( i fractured my elbow), anyways my
birthday is MaY**17**88!! HECK YEAH!!! im gonna be 13 ( its
very hard on my mom) lol j/k (laugh. out. loud. and
just/kiddin). well i cant think of any thing to say exept
that my family is doing great! love you all.bye!
love,
anna stevenson
- Friday, May 11, 2001 at 14:42:47 (PDT)
Author: christinea@ameritech.netANOTHER NEW E-MAIL ADDRESS!
Unfortunately, our internet provider sold our account to
earthlink/mindspring.com. So Jennifer and I have a new e-
mail address.
starstevenson@hotmail.com
Please update your address books with this new address.
For those of you using Outlook Express, click on "tools"
then click "add" and follow directions to create a "new
contact"...good luck! Hey Scott could you change my family
update email address.
MEMORIES: I remember grandpa (Jimmy Stevenson, husband to
Eunice Stevenson) teaching Zip, Scott and I how to cut a
styrofoam cup in such a manner that you could attach it to
a kite string and it would fly up the a kite in the air and
then fall off! We did this in the late 1970's at Jenner
Beach on the Pacific Ocean near San Franciso:) Not to
mention the card games in the camper on the way out to the
beach from Santa Rosa. Love Star
- Sunday, May 06, 2001 at 10:46:35 (PDT)
Author: starstevenson@hotmail.comKUDO'S
Well,
Now this is a milestone, but if you think you are now
finished with the Stevenson "LOTTO" maybe we ought to
reconsider.
First of all I and, I truly believe, everyone else in this
wonderful family want to thank "all of the people" who are
making this the "EVENT of The Year. Without you it would be
impossible to stage.
I know that this list is very long and there have been tons
of meetings, site visits, house meetings and a million
phone calls. I just wish I could have been there for all of
them.
Sally, thanks for taking care of the LOTTO. Nancy Lyons
thanks for all the blisters you must have for all your work.
Janie, thanks for keeping everyone in line. Mary, thanks
for all your "special work". And once again thanks to
everyone else who's names I did not mention. I don't have
enough time!!!!!!!
Now (food for thought). HOUSE BOAT REUNION 2002 - Lake Mead.
Love ya,
Bob
- Saturday, May 05, 2001 at 08:22:06 (PDT)
Author: bodikel@san.rr.com