Welcome to the newest Bergman, Macy Irelyn Curtis!
This
year was filled with time on the lake, family time and a couple of
vacations here and there. Justin and I are both still with the
same companies and we both really enjoy our jobs still. We added a
new member to our family this year. He is a 5 month-old Boxer and
we named him Blu! He is too cute for words. His big brother Buddy
did not know what to think at first and stayed away from him for
quite a while, but now they are inseperable! He has been a really
good pup, we owe all of the credit to Buddy for showing him the ropes.
We
were on the lake again most of this summer. The beginning of the
summer we were riding with all of our friends though. Our boat had
an issue and it had to have the engine rebuilt. Instead of
rebuilding it to stock, Justin decided it was the perfect time to
upgrade. We did not get it back until July 28th and from that
weekend on we were on it every weekend trying to soak it up before
the season was over!
Last
January we went on a 5 day cruise to the Cayman Islands and
Calica, Mexico and had a great time! We actually met another couple
the first day of the cruise, and realized we had all met before on
the lake. It was very odd! We basically ended up all hanging out
together for the entire cruise. We have also seen them a couple of
times since the cruise, and they are making their way here for the
Michigan/Ohio State game. The best part of the cruise for Justin
and I was swimming with the StingRays in the Cayman Islands, it was
an experience! We also went to Florida for a long weekend in October
with Justin’s family. It was a nice getaway. While we were there we
drove over to Mobile to check out the USS Alabama. The rest of
time time we just hung out on the beach!Hello to all.......................wanted to let everyone know that mom is back in the hospital. She went in last Wednesday, Oct. 10th because she had infection in the blood. Her right leg was also bright red with an odor. As of right now the infection in the blood is gone.....but she is going to lose her leg. Surgery is tomorrow....Wednesday, Oct. 17th as of right now (things could change). The heart doctor came in and told mom that her heart might not be strong enough to go through the surgery but if she did not have it the infection would kill her. The source of the infection is the leg and they need to get rid of the source. They cannot take her off the antibotics because the infection would get back in the blood.
As you can guess no one is handling this news very well. Mom is really scared and so is dad. Please keep them both in your prayers. Everything will be in god's hands and whatever will be will be.October 18
Hello everyone!!! Mom is doing as well as can be excepted. She was so happy to see Dad and all of us after the surgery. She hugged dad and would not let go. She was sure she was not going to make it!!! Her right leg is gone and she is coming to terms with it. It will be hard and the road is a long one.....but the infection was spreading fast and it had to be done! She is in ICU for the next couple of days........usually the risk of a heart attack is high the day after surgery. Her blood flow looked good yesterday and hopefully will stay that way. They will watch closely for infection.
Thank all of you for your prayers.......God still wants her with us!!!October 25
Hello to everyone! Mom is doing pretty good considering everything she has been through. She was losing alot of blood over the weekend....but they have gotten that under control. Her lungs are getting a little congested so they are giving her extra dialaysis treatments...so hopefully that will help. She is very very confusted....we are sure it is the medication. She has been moved out of ICU and into a regular room. We were told she will be there at least another week....then we are not sure where she will go.
Thank you so much everyone for your thoughts and prayers!!! My mom is strong.....must be that German Bergman blood!!!!November 2
Hello everyone!
Mom is doing pretty good! She has her bad days and her good days. On Monday they had to drain her right lung. They got 1100cc of fluid out of her lung. On Tuesday she was really out of it. She was hard to get arouse and what she was saying did not make sense. The doctors have taken her off some of her medicines...they think she might have been over medicated. Wednesday she was very alert, eating, and breathing much better. Her leg is still bleeding just a little....but they don't seem to be too concerned.
We don't know anything about coming home or going to a rehab place. They talked about it last week but nothing this week. I will let everyone know as soon as we know something. Dad takes all the cards out to her.....she loves them and thanks everyone.
Nathan
is a senior this year. With a heavy class schedule, 4 AP classes
and 2 college credit classes, he is getting ready for college.
Nathan went to a nuclear engineering summer camp at the University
of Missouri in Rolla. He loved it. He turned in a application and
got accepted. He has wanted to go to UMR since 9th grade and his
goal is getting closer. The report cards just came out and both
kids are doing great. Nathan was accepted into the National Honor
Society. Nathan is also in his high school Orchestra, probably his
most fun class. They are planning a trip to the University of
Illinois in Champaign Illinois for a festival and then on to
Chicago for some site seeing. It is hard to believe he has been
playing violin since 3rd grade. He is still active as a scout, but
now as an adult. He and Sarah are in a venture crew and they both
were voted in as district officers. Nathan as vice pres and Sarah vice
pres of communication for the St Louis New Horizons District.
In
the spring Sarah entered one of her art pictures in a contest. The
contest was for the Junior Duck Hunting Stamp she won 3rd in state
for her age group. The winner gets their picture made into the
hunting stamp. She got a nice big ribbon and her picture has been
touring the state. This fall Sarah was working for the Girl Scouts
at one of their camps as a wrangler. That is someone who works with
the horses. She worked about 6 weekends getting the horses ready
for trail rides. She just loved it. Especially that first pay check.
She will work again in the spring and maybe all summer. Sarah is a
sophomore this year and has started to tackle those AP classes.
Sarah is also helping with the stage crew at school. They are
putting on High School Musical in November. Both kids are active in
others activities, Student Council, Renaissance and Tri-M.
I
have been busy volunteering. I just passed out tuxedos for
Orchestra and finished up one of their fundraisers. Nathan’s
Orchestra had a concert last Saturday. They played with a local
group called Fiddleback.
Fiddleback came to school and worked with the students and gave them
some pointers. They put on a great dinner/concert/auction with
good food and music and lots of fun. I helped with the decorations.
When he is not doing that he joins Chuck at races, taking
care of his race equipment.
Chuck loves to Swim-Bike-Run.
He does everything: Half marathons, Du-athalons, Tri-athalons, 5K,
10K...the list goes on! Chuck did turn the Big 50 last month so
he's now enjoying being the youngest in that 50 - 55 age group. Ha
Ha Frederick just got his first race bike, so I think the two will
be doing races together. GO DADDY GO!
Kitti is enjoying her second year of working as a librarian
at Covington Elementary School. You'd think she was famous, after
running into little kids yelling her name everywhere we go! The
rest of the family finds this really entertaining, especially when
she responds with even more enthusiasm to the kids! GO MOMMA! She
is very active in supporting the rest of the family activities. In
the marching band, cross country season her Saturdays normally
consisted of waking up at the break of dawn, to go to the cross country
meet that morning, running over the entire course to cheer the team
on (which is a work out on its own!), followed by going straight
to marching band competitions (ALWAYS at least a 2 hour drive)
where she cheers with her signature Homestead High School pom-poms!
I (Katrina) decided to write this buddy up for my mom after
reading what she wrote about all us! Have a good one!
This
has been another year of exciting travel for us. In September
of 2006 we celebrated our retirements by taking a fifteen-day
guided tour of China. We traveled to Beijing, Xian, Shanghai, Suzhou,
Guilin, and Hong Kong. These were thoroughly enjoyable cities
many of which were full of smog!! An amazing amount of
construction was seen in every city as well. We visited
Tian’anmen Square and the Forbidden City; had a rickshaw ride
through the Hutong area of Beijing; climbed The Great Wall of
China; saw and enjoyed the Terra Cotta Soldiers; took a
four-hour river cruise down the beautiful Li River; ballroom danced
with the morning exercise groups of Chinese people at several
cities; enjoyed the wonderful French Concession area of
Shanghai (where our group of traveling American friends had
dinner in a German restaurant listening to a Chinese singer
doing County/Western songs!!); went up to the observation deck
of the 1560 foot tall famous Oriental Pearl Tower; saw the great
harbor of Hong Kong where Rusty went up the tram to Victoria Peak ;
Rusty had a sampan ride in Hong Kong harbor (I got sick in Hong
Kong and missed both); saw many wonderful gardens and
fantastic new and ancient Chinese Architecture; and ate way too
much Chinese Food! I am currently working on creation of an
hour-long digital movie of this truly memorable trip! 
A
week after returning from China, Rusty and I drove to Colorado
to visit Bryan and Leigh in Boulder. We used their condo at
Silverthorne as a “home base” to also drive to visit our scenic
national parks including Colorado National Monument; then off to Utah
to see Arches and Canyonlands. We now have our National Parks
Senior Passes that are a great bargain since they only cost
$10.00 and are good for the rest of our lives! Bryan and I
played golf at Fossil Trace, which is a new and exciting course
in Boulder. We also had a surprise snowfall 5 inches deep on
October 17th! As usual, Bryan and Leigh are wonderful hosts who
created another memorable visit!
Our
spring cruise this year is a 7-day cruise to the Southern
Caribbean, visiting Aruba; Curacao; St. Maarten; and St. Thomas that
sails in and out of San Juan, Puerto Rico and leaves on February
25. Two new ports of call creating new excitement for us!
On
March 6, I will be have hip replacement surgery for my old right
hip, which has been badly visited by Mr. Arthur Itis, once again!!
Last
fall we also took a trip to the Canadian Rockies to see the fall
colors. It was breathtaking taking in Lake Louise (pictured here),
Lake Moraine, Banff, etc… the colors were hard to describe surrounded
by the sharp peaks of the Canadian Rockies. Leigh called it the
"Bergman Boot Camp” because our idea of fun was to trail run and
mountain bike our way through the parks. That way we saw so much
beautiful scenery more quickly, and while exercising at the same
time. We also went caving in Canmore which was a really fun
adventure!!!
