Bryan Bergman & Leigh Perreault Family

It has been a crazy year for Leigh and I. In March of 2007 we left on a 6 week trip to Ukraine to adopt 2 children. I will spare the long details, but it was one of the hardest things we have done. The Ukrainians we met were not very warm and fuzzy, the system and especially the culture, is incredibly corrupt – and few people seem to have the children’s best interest in mind. After 3 weeks in country we still didn’t know if we were going to be leaving with children, and spent the vast majority of our time waiting, waiting, waiting. We finally met our future son and daughter, and spent the next 3 weeks living in the town where they were located, getting to know them, and eating a lot of bad food. 

Just soaked by Shamu

But at the end of the day, we finally came home with a boy, Theo – 3 yrs, and girl, Anna – 6 yrs. They are awesome kids, and don’t have the negative behavior characteristics we were warned about for institutionalized children. They were adjusted to the new life after about 3 months – Leigh and I are still getting used to it!

So things are going well. Anna is in Kindergarten, speaks fluent English, and just learned to read. She now knows more Spanish than Ukrainian. It is crazy how adaptable kids are at this age. She is very physical, and loves gymnastics, dancing, and art. Theo is now a chatterbox, and his English keeps improving. He has caught up to his peers for what a typical 3.5 year old should be able to do, which is remarkable considering how far behind he was. He is very mechanically oriented, loves the water, and anything having to do with music. They both love rock climbing, skiing, and most everything outdoors. I think they are going to fit in just fine! 

That news really dwarfs anything else that has gone on. We are still staying fit and have a few events planned for the coming year. I ran my first marathon last fall and still managed to do 1 mountain bike race. I’m going to be pacing a friend for the Leadville 100 trail run from mile 50 to hopefully 100. We will see how that goes. Leigh also has her eyes on some great trail running events for the year. We are still traveling, thanks to frequent visits from grandparents while we go play. 

 

So there is the executive summary. Hope you are all well.

Bryan

Holly and Tom Underwood Family

The past year was like no other I’ve known: pregnant for the first 8 months, then a new mom! Luckily, the pregnancy was very smooth for me. I didn’t want to find out the baby’s sex, though Tom did. Since I was doing all the hard work, we didn’t find out. Maybe next time, honey! Tom dubbed the baby ‘Acorn’ in the meantime. I loved feeling my body change, especially when I started to feel Acorn moving around. What an amazing feeling! The only hard part, really, was enduring this summer’s incredible heat. Usually I’m not a fan of air conditioning, but this year was a different story.

  

On the morning of Saturday, August 18, what I thought was indigestion turned out to be labor pains. Several hours later, as the midwife placed the baby on my chest, I saw that we had a son. And so, at 11:09 PM, we welcomed Zachary Ryan Underwood into our family. He weighed 7 pounds 15 ounces and was healthy as can be. (Here he's one week old. His onesie says 'iPoop'.)

The next five weeks were rocky ones for our new family. I bled more than most women do, and it took two trips to the emergency room to finally discover and remove some placenta that had been missed after the delivery. Thank God Tom was home each time I had a bleeding episode, or it could have been much worse. 

We ended up in the ER with Zach too. When we took him to his pediatrician on day 6, we learned that he has a cleft palate. Over the weekend he just wasn’t acting right, so we returned on Monday and she sent us straight to the ER at Children’s Medical Center. There we learned that because of his cleft, he can’t create enough suction to get the nutrition he needs from nursing so he was dehydrated. Zach was in the NICU for three and a half days, during which I learned how to use an electric breast pump so that we could continue to feed him breastmilk. In those early days he had a lot of formula, but now is exclusively a milk man. We’re happy about that, because it’s important to us that he gets all the natural goodness that is found in breastmilk.

Zach is now healthy as can be, seven months old and weighing in at about 19 pounds. He loves to smile and giggle, can sit up unsupported and is figuring out how to roll over. Crawling isn’t far away now! There is a cleft palate team at Children’s which is made up of a plastic surgeon, dietician, audiologist, and other folks. We have met with them a few times now, and they will follow his progress until he’s 21! We will schedule his surgery soon, for some time in early summer.

 

Other than the huge change that comes from learning how to be parents, Tom and I are much the same. Tom is working at the Dayton View branch of Dayton Metro Library, and likes it most of the time. I switched from full- to part-time at Cityfolk at the beginning of August, and now work three days a week. I bring Zach to work with me two days out of three; on the other day either Tom or my Mom watches him. That arrangement is working out pretty well so far. 

If you'd like to see more pictures of this cute little cousin, click here.

Take care!

Holly

Bill & Rusty Bergman

Hello to everyone from 5157 Oak Tree Drive in Kettering! It is hard to believe another year has flown by, as they seem to go all too quickly! We do enjoy taking our annual turn to tell of our adventures!

We have had a wonderful year as new Grandparents! Holly and Bryan have added to the family tree with three super grandchildren. Zachary Ryan Underwood arrived on August 18th of 2007 and just passed 6 months of age. He is sitting up and seems to enjoy the world around him. Anna and Theo arrived in Boulder on April 20th and are marvelously adapting to their new home and family.

It is such a joy to watch the grandchildren learn and grow. They are all having fun and learning lots every day! We are trying hard not to spoil them all silly, but hey! That’s what grandparents are supposed to do!

I am learning to fully enjoy retirement! The important thing is to stay busy doing the things that you like that are MOST important, such as woodworking, travel, playing golf, traveling, did I say playing golf?? I still do some “work” of both plan review for several local Building Departments along with Architectural Design for selected projects. I just finished a new automotive dealership for Bill Marine Honda in Springfield that is now under construction.

Rusty enjoys being a “resource” for her former department by working a couple days a week based upon her own schedule. This approach keeps her busy doing some outside work, but still allows her to do other things she likes.

Rusty and I are continuing to volunteer for the Victoria Theatre Association as ushers for the live theatre productions that go on at several venues in Dayton. We really like seeing live theatre in exchange for our time. We also joined the Cincinnati Pops and have enjoyed the many varied shows down at Music Hall.

We are maintaining our interest in travel, having just returned from an 8-day adventure in Egypt. Sometimes it was surreal to know that we were actually cruising on the historic Nile River….sightseeing the Great Pyramids in the Giza….. riding a camel on your birthday….. having an Egyptian Bouzouki band play Happy Birthday……….seeing the temples of Ancient Times……visiting the tombs of famous Egyptian Pharaohs and Queens…..seeing the celebrated Sphinx…….getting a first hand look at the actual glorious treasures found in the tomb of King Tut! While the schedule was very hectic we did pack an awful lot of Egypt in those 8 days! We met many new fellow adventurers! In many ways it was a once in a lifetime trip. 
 

In February of 2007, we celebrated my birthday and our wedding anniversary by enjoying a 7 day cruise to the Southern Caribbean aboard the Royal Caribbean cruise ship Adventure of the Seas. A giant monster of a ship that was surprisingly easy to navigate. We saw the new ports of Aruba and Curacao and re-visited the familiar ones of San Juan, Saint Maarten and Saint Thomas. Always a great time with our cruising buddies! Ruthie and I got to ride Segways in St.Maarten, which were a blast.

Last July, Alaska beckoned and we answered. We had a busy adventure with Princess Cruise lines starting with a 4-day land tour, which included two train rides via the well-known vista dome railcars. We stayed in Princess Lodges; the best being the lodge at Denali National Park, where we were fortunate enough to see Mt. McKinley clear of clouds….a magnificent sight. We also went whale watching and saw multiple pods of Killer Whales (Orcas), which can be a rare sighting event. We then took the train down to the dock where we boarded the Coral Princess and sailed down to Vancouver, Canada via Glacier Bay, Skagway, Juneau and Ketchikan. We finished the trip with several extra days in Vancouver including a trip via ferry to Victoria and the beautiful Buchart Gardens.

Several trips to Colorado were also part of our year. Ruthie went out by herself to help Bryan and Leigh get rebalanced in their work/parenting arrangements before Montessori school got underway in Boulder. We also went out in early December to celebrate Christmas together. We enjoyed being part of Anna and Theo’s first American Christmas. Wonderful Times!!

Well, that is it for now,

Our love to all,

Bill and Rusty

Angela and Kevin Snyder Family

Kevin, Angela and Nicholas Snyder and Anna now live in Union, OH closer to family and friends. Our new address is 307 W Martindale Rd, Union OH 45322.

Kevin and Angela recently had a baby boy, Nicholas Michael, on December 20, 2007 at Miami Valley Hospital. He is as cute as a button and weighed 6lb 11oz and was 21 1/4 inches long. Nicholas is growing very fast and is already up to 11 1/2 lbs. He loves floor time on his play mat, taking a bath and hanging out with his dad. We can't wait until it gets warm so we can play at the park down the road and go swimming in Aunt Ellen's pool.

Kevin is working at the Submarine House since we have moved back from West Virginia as a shift manager. He really enjoys it and gets a great deal of hours and is moving into the manager spot. Kevin is very anxious to take Nicholas fishing with his dad and grandpa when he is big enough to go on the boat at the lake.

Angela works as a temp at Lion Apparel for Ellen helping with accounting things. She likes it alot and really enjoys the break but is always anxious to get back home to Nicholas. Angela just had her gallbladder removed at the end of February and is recovering well.
Anna recently moved to Dayton and is living Angela and Kevin and works at Waffle House in Englewood as a server. She is attending Wright State in the fall as an accounting major and looks forward to living in the Dayton area for a while.

Overall, things are going well for the Snyder family and Anna. We are all looking forward to grow with Nicholas and enjoy living closer to our family and helping mom.

Fred and Suzanne Bergman Family

Hello From The Bergmans,

2007 was a challenging year, we do hope that 2008 is less hectic and more peaceful.....

Jason and Tina are very busy with their four children: Matt, Karen, Dakota and Katie. Jason works many hours at The Stripe Shop. Jason is a sports nut just like his dad and attends as many of the games for the Reds and the Bengals along with playing softball himself and watching his son Dakota play baseball. He is a member of the Knights of Columbus and bowls with Fred. He is a great bowler and has acquired many high scores. In the summer we like to go to their house for the Bergman Traditional Bon Fire. Tina is watching children in their home and has made their house a home. They were married this past July at Queen of Martyrs Church. It was a beautiful intimate family wedding. Tina helps the children with school and keeps them on track with all of their activities.

The grandkids are growing up so quickly and are very involved with school. Matthew is the 6th grade and likes Math. He loves to read and is quite artistic. Karen just had a Feb. birthday and is doing very well. She loves to help mommy in the kitchen. Dakota is anxious about playing ball this summer. He starts this year with coach pitch, we are all looking forward to attending his games at Patterson Park. Katie loves to dress up and is a girlie girl, her favorite thing now is ponies and a is a very good student. All love the outdoors, riding bikes, skating and swimming, They are all looking forward to better weather.

The BIG news for May is that Jessica is graduating from UD. Jessica has been on the deans list for a few semesters now. Her last semester she receives straight A's. We are very proud of her accomplishments. She is student teaching at Wantz 7th grade English in Miamisburg. She passed her 2 year teaching license requirement and looks for the future when she will acquire her Masters. Her teaching concentrations are English and Math. She has been in search for a teaching position not only here but beyond Ohio. She was just involved in a Dance-a-Thon to raise money for Childrens Hospital.

Joe is 16 and a sophomore at CJ. He has applied to attend CTC next fall in Digital Computer Tech., a tech prep program. It will give him the hands on experience of learning. He loves to play HALO on his x-box and has a high national rating. I bet if given a chance he will soon design those types of games. Joe spend alot of time with Jason now that he lives just down the street.

Fred and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary. Wow! have the years flown by. Fred has a very hectic schedule at the hospital. He still loves Vegas and went there this past November, I think in another life he must have been a card dealer at a famous casino. Fred is also a sports nut and tries to atend the sports programs including the Reds, the Bengals, Jasons games and Dakota. He sure misses watching Jessica and Joe play. He also ushers the UD basketball games for the Knights of Columbus and bowls with Jason. His high scores have been published in the Dayton Daily News.

I am in my 14th year at the Grinding company, hard to believe but true. I spend my free time which isn't much with my family and being involved with church and the activities there. My heart just wasn't into singing this year so I took some time off. But I am auditioning this sunday to sing at a Dragons Home game. As I get older I enjoy just staying home doing absolutely nothing. When the weather is nice you will find me in my yard planting flowers and getting into the mud. I long to see the sun.

That's about it, take care...............Suzanne

Collins/Bold Family

Hi, everyone. As some of you probably know, Doug and Christy are staunch Bengal fans. And Frank and I like to watch a game or two ourselves. Over the last couple of years, we have even picked an "away” game to travel to and cheer them on! 
 

This year the four of us traveled to California in December to see the Bengals/49ers game. And while we were there, we also celebrated another significant event – Frank’s 65th birthday! 

We had a ball. We flew to San Jose, then drove to nearby Carmel where we stayed a couple of days and enjoyed the food, brew and views. We drove down to Big Sur, where we saw some breathtaking, sweeping views of the Pacific Ocean.

We toured the Monterey area, taking the drive through Pebble Beach. It was awesome!

Our travels then took us through Half Moon Bay for a night. We continued north and stopped at Muir Woods to see the huge Redwood trees before our stop in Sonoma. 

Frank and Debbie are wine connoisseurs, and Doug and Christy are learning the trade, so a visit to the Sonoma Valley area was a must! We visited several Wineries and vineyards and needless to say, ordered several cases of wine. The food, wine and beautiful landscapes in that area were fantastic.

We ended our trip in San Francisco. We visited Alcatraz, saw the sights, and finally the big game (which the Bengals unfortunately lost) but we had a great time!

Our travels also included a trip to Vegas in Feb 08 for Doug’s 28th birthday. (Hey – he wanted some crab legs!)

To close, here is one last pix. Last spring, Doug and Christy got a new dog named Rudi (yes – after Rudi Johnson of the Bengals). He’s a black lab, border collie mix and as cute as can be. We really enjoy our “Grand-dog”, Rudi-Ru!

That’s all for now. Have a good year!

Linda & Dave Nauroth Family

Hi from Mason. 

We have a new Grandson! We welcomed Nicholas Michael Snyder into our family on December 20, 2007. It was so awesome to be in the room when he was born. He was 6’11” at birth. He now weighs around 11 pounds and is very alert. He notices everything. He truly was the best Christmas present. He is wonderful gift from God.

Linda is doing pretty well all things considered. She had a mastectomy in October 2007. Linda is on her third month of chemotherapy and the doctor says that the treatment is going well. The redness on her skin is fading. She had a CT scan in February and the results are ok. She is getting a bone scan in March. We will keep you in touch on the results of the scan. The side effects are not as bad as before, this time around. She still has her hair, which is a nice thing. Thank you for all of your cards, prayers and thoughts.

David celebrated his 30th anniversary with Roadway in November 2007. He has a while yet until he can retire. He is doing better now after his diagnosis of meningitis in March 2007. The pic line the hospital inserted caused him to have a blood clot. After months of taking blood thinners, the clot is gone and the doctor took him off of the blood thinners in December 2007.

Sarai is really growing. She turned 8 in September. She is a third grader at St. Susanna Catholic School in Mason. She absolutely loves her school and her teacher. She said that it is so nice to be able to talk about Jesus in school. She is keeping an A average. She is a member of the children’s choir and the math club. She is playing softball. She likes to roller and ice skate, ride her bike and scooter. She is so proud being Aunt Sarai. She loves to hold little Nicholas and feed him his bottle. She is always praying for healing for her mother. She is so caring and compassionate.

Sammy is in first grade. He loves school. He attends Mason early childhood center. He is in a special classroom with other students with similar needs. He is interacting more with his classmates, teachers, and family. The teacher sent me a video of Sam reading a book and requesting object with his pictures. We were just in awe. We had not idea that Sam was able to read. His words were very clear. He is using the pictures exchange at home and saying more words. He likes to get you to “tickle” him. He likes to have the life-sized Raggedy Ann tickle him. He is participating in the Special Olympics through his school. They take him to and from the event on the school bus. He likes to swim, run, jump, go to grandma and grandpa’s house and make popcorn. He will be getting speech therapy at Cincinnati Children’s hospital at the Kelly O’Leary Center. They have a special facility for children diagnosed with Autism. He receives speech therapy at school and occupational therapy at a private therapist.

Heather, our cat, is almost 13 years old. She still thinks she runs the house. She loves to chase the flash light beam and puffballs.

We appreciate all of your prayers and concerns and ask that you continue to keep our family in your prayers and thoughts.

God Bless
Linda, Dave, Sarai and Sam

Fred and Phyllis Bergman

We are great-grandparents again! Our granddaughter Angela who married Kevin Snyder blessed us with a great-grandson Nicholas, born December the 20. 

This March on the 26 Grandpa will reach his 80th birthday. Ellen have a family get together at her and Steve's house. 

On April 4, Linda's cat scan showed no sign of the cancer spreading. Pray for Linda.

Sammy will be attending speech training as soon as there is an opening for him. Edna and David Nieport visited bringing Christmas gifts with a flag for Fred which plays the National Anthem, America and The Stars and Stripes Forever. Dave was in the Vietnam War receiving a Purple Heart, comparing notes with Fred.

Adam Claybaugh

[submitted by sister Alison] Adam is doing well and still living and working in Columbus. He is still employed at Mercedes Benz in Dublin and recently got promoted to a Supervisor. He gets better pay now but still works his butt off. He and Shelley are still living together and she has recently started a new job which is keeping her very busy traveling. Again, no wedding plans just yet, but we are hoping for it soon. They came to visit us the week of 4th of July and we had a lot of fun.

Allison & BJ Curtis Family

The past year has been quite an amazing journey for us. We are enjoying being parents to our beautiful little girl, Macy Irelyn. Parenthood is definitely not easy, but we wouldn’t trade it for anything. We just celebrated Macy’s 1st birthday on July 23rd and then had her party this past weekend. It was fun, but chaotic. You really don’t know what to expect for their first one. We did have a lot of fun and she did get spoiled! She is just a joy and crawls about 90 mph and walks along all the furniture and stuff, but isn’t quite standing alone or walking by herself just yet. We are in no hurry and we can see that she isn’t either. Dad and Jenny came down for a visit in June and we had a lot of fun. My mom and step-dad were able to make it down for her birthday.
 

Our other big news is that we bought our first home in December and are really enjoying it. We have a great yard and lots of room. There is even a play set for Macy when she gets a little older. BJ is still a drill instructor and is working hard as usual. He got promoted to a Staff Sergeant July 2nd, so we are very proud of him. As for me, I am FINALLY finished with my Bachelor of Applied Science and will be receiving my degree in August. I am still staying at home with Macy, but plan to look for something part-time in the fall. I may even take up substitute teaching for awhile so that I can do it as often as I want to. Overall, we are all doing well and just enjoy Beaufort so much. This is definitely the best duty station thus far. We hope all is well with everyone. Take care!

Love,
The Curtis’

Matt and Lina Witte Family

What is going on with Matt, Lina, and Connor Witte?
 
Matt has been teaching at George Verity Middle School in Middletown since January and begins another school year August 20th. He teaches Physical education and Health. The summer has certainly gone by fast. Daddy has spent a lot of quality time with Connor and is working on installing wood laminate floors in two rooms.

We all went down to Florida for a week in early July to visit family. Connor loves the sand at the beach. He is 20 months old and is just the happiest toddler. He has quite an expanded vocabulary, imitates almost anything you do, and is even becoming interested in toilet training.



Connor will be having a little sister soon. Lina is due on September 14th with a little girl who will be named Hannah. Lina has been working at Procter and Gamble for almost a year now. Her pregnancy is progressing quite similar to Connor’s. Her and baby Hannah are healthy as can be. She will be taking the rest of the year off once Hannah arrives. [Holly: Hannah is here, as these photos show!]

Bonnie and Mike Witte Family

Hi Family!

Hard to believe it's been a year and what an eventful year it has turned out to be. I became the manager of the New Carlisle Curves in October, Mike left Delphi this spring (no early-out packages were offered to salary employees before he left) and he seems to enjoy working at Mazak Corp., and Matt and Lina are giving us a granddaughter in September. We also made it to 2 80th birthday parties--Uncle Fred's and Uncle Fritz's. Enjoyed being at both parties. Got to spend some quality time with Jeani and Kitti, something that we haven't done in a very long time.

To top it all, our basement flooded after 5.5" of rain fell in less than 24 hours. The sump pump couldn't keep up with the water (it had been zapped twice by electrical outages). Long story short, lots of damage and no sump pump insurance. Silly us, we assumed it was covered in the homeowners policy. Now Mike is working on redoing the basement. My beautiful oak laminate floor in my 3 year old sewing room was a complete loss. We hauled away a lot of damaged stuff. But it's just STUFF. We are still alive and our home is livable. We were spared from anything as horrible as Iowa. Besides, the basement needed to have a good cleaning!!

Missy's oldest Allie is a freshman this year, Cara is a 4th grader and Kevin is going to kindergarten. They were very involved in baseball this summer. Cara broke a bone behind her knee playing ball. She did however get back in time to play in the All-Star game and did very well.

Mike Jr. is now working in electronics and seems to be enjoying it. He continues to play softball and golf.

Matt, Lina and Connor are waiting on baby Hannah Marie in September. They are well and keeping busy with the installation of a new floor in their dining room and living room.

To say the least, the Bergman family is growing in leaps and bounds this year. Congratulations are in order for Paul and Amanda (Adrianna Marie) and Adam and Lindsay (Kaleigh Yvonne). Soon it will be Jenny and Justin's turn, Matt and Lina's and then Doug and Christie's. What a great year!!

I'm sure there's something that I've forgotten, but that's the way it goes!!

Love to all of you,
Bonnie and Mike