Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas 2008!
The comfy chair in the living room is empty and we imagine you there so we can informally catch you up a little on our year. We welcome post-holiday notes or e mails that let us know how YOU are doing, too.
We have had many more ups than downs this year, and we are all in good health and enjoying the Christmas season. The highlight of 2008 for us was the birth of our new grandson, Tyler Charles Crockett on May 18. 7 pounds even, 20 ½ inches. He is a happy, sweet baby and loves to chew on everything.
We are becoming a little more internet savvy, and we get a lot of help from Becky and Kenny. Linda has a website for her artwork, foxartonline.com. We have a site about Charlie’s transplant experience at charliesheart.org, and Jerry has a new website gospelverseaday.com It’s a free email service that provides a scripture verse every day as email, or just on the website. He spent a couple of years compiling a list of his 1600 favorite scriptures to share and is excited to finally have things up and running. Becky is still busy with her online design business at podcastdesigns.com and has a cute site for her family at kenandbecky.blogspot.com.
Jerry hasn’t taught college courses this calendar year. A couple of last year’s classes were for Spanish-speaking students that mysteriously disappeared when the state started requiring proof of citizenship. Now Jerry is working four ten-hour days per week and has used the extra time for promoting barbershop and vocal music education – and for lunches with Linda and/or the kids.
Jerry’s good friend, Jeff Matson, passed away in February from heart problems. Jerry went to Kansas City for the funeral and finally got a chance to meet Jeff’s wife and children and get to know them better. Jeff was one of his favorite missionary companions. They were in the Montana Billings Mission together around 1980.
Jerry combined a return trip to K. C. MO area in July to study at the Barbershop Harmony Society “Harmony University” (music theory, quartet coaching and composing) for a week and spending some time with Jeff’s family. Jerry will be president of his local barbershop chorus next year. He’s been doing a lot of marketing for the chorus lately and hopes that being president will be less work.(?) He will also be assistant director. He was in a terrific quartet, Bright Side, but 80 mile commutes for practice and the marriage of the baritone made them give it up. Jerry found lots of opportunity to enjoy the Season with music this year with two Messiah performances and six holiday barbershop chorus shows and one big patriotic show in November.
We lost a few of our animals this year. A goat, a duck, three chickens and three chicks. The neighbors’ dogs are among the “natural causes.” Jerry says they went to that “great petting zoo in the sky.” We still have a duck, chicken, and a dog in the yard and black mollys in the fish tank.
We did fewer trips this year. Linda’s Grandma Clara visited for a few weeks, and then we drove her back to Ogden and had a fun time at the annual family reunion. We got a nice picture with Clara, Grandma Pat, Linda, Becky and her boys-5 generations!
Linda has been busy teaching art classes for the City of Chandler. She won a scholarship at Scottsdale Artist’s School to attend a week-long portrait workshop with David Kassan in March. Then she painted like crazy for a while, building up a body of work so she would have enough paintings to fill the entire gallery in Douglas, AZ for her first one-person show lasting all the month of December. It was a challenge getting all 45 pieces of the artwork down south. We spent Thanksgiving with Linda’s parents and then hung the show in the gallery the next day. They had a very nice opening reception and everyone was very impressed with Linda’s work. douglasartgallery.wordpress.com/
The gallery also had a craft show where Rosie sold some of the hats and scarves that she had knitted, and Grandpa Jim also got some orders to build frames after making some for Linda’s paintings.
Linda was awarded a grant from the state to help her attend the annual Portrait Society conference in Washington D.C. in April 2009. She will learn from some of the best portrait artists in the country.
Charlie (13) started junior high school this year and loves it! He is active in scouts and loves to play basketball with the boys. He feeds the animals and still loves dinosaurs, safety signs and “zigzags.” He likes to go swimming, and play basketball and racquetball at the gym with Jerry and Rosie. He had a great time at a couple of Diamondbacks baseball games with the family. NO illnesses or rejection to report.
Rosie will be turning 11 soon. She recently discovered the “Knifty Knitter” and has made dozens of hats and scarves. She made a set for all her present and former teachers – Kindergarten through 5th grade – for Christmas. They loved them. She plays the flute in school band. She loves the Guardians of Ga’Hoole books about fictitious owls, with lots of owl facts. She still loves birds and wants to be an ornithologist/artist.
Bradley and PJ are still doing online college courses on the computer. They also do respite and habilitation for Charlie. Bradley is nearly finished with his computer certificate, while PJ is just getting started working toward being a programmer. PJ is proving to be an excellent babysitter for Becky.
Becky, Kenny, Sam and Tyler are all doing great. The boys are fun and challenging for them. They are in the same apartments but now downstairs. No more climbing stairs with babies, groceries, and toddlers. Kenny is “indispensible to his department,” and his CEO insists that GoDaddy is recession-proof. Sam is three now. He is SO cute and funny and is a great big brother to Tyler.
We have been doing some family history research during the year. Familysearch.com makes it so easy for us to organize information and link up with what information we can find online. We also received information from family members and others. We hope to continue to find new names and stories this year.
Well, God has been good to us again this year. We are very blessed. Hope all is well with you and yours!
Merry Christmas! Happy holidays! Happy 2009 to come!
Love, The Fox family- Jerry, Linda, Bradley, PJ, Charlie, and Rosie.
http://gospelverseaday.com…………………………………….. http://foxartonline.com
