Stutzman update

Hi Birky's!

Sandy, your white crookneck squash seeds are doing great! They are now double in size from what the picture shows and agressively competing with the zucchini squash.

We have had a fun summer and have started our school routine. Seth gets to do core subjects with me at home and goes to the local school for art, music, and even gets to do Suzuki violin. Levi likes to sit in Seth's desk and feel big. Speaking of big, Levi is 15 months and is a tank! He just learned to kiss and is very cute. Shane has his last big bike race this weekend.

How was the Disney trip for the Millers?

-Kara

Some of you may not have copies of these pictures. I have been scanning some of Mom's pictures, and would love to catalog a Birky Photo archive. If you have pictures to add, please scan them and e-mail them to me. Thank you!

The Millers managed to set up a tripod when everyone was home for Christmas. We are looking forward to a trip to Florida this summer where we will all spend a few days at a Disney resort, then visit Dad's family in Sarasota. If anyone has tips on coordinating a trip for a group this size, we could use your advice!!!

... and a few more...

Is it too late to post Birky Christmas Photos?

Just found the invite, so I'm a few months late to contribute, but I thought that those of you who were unable to come may enjoy a few pictures of the Christmas gathering.

It was, as always, a delight to get together with our beloved family. The site would only allow me to post a few photos at a time, but I believe that there are more on facebook.com.

Never too old to learn!

03/25/10

Merv showed me how to "blog"! I'll see if I figured it out!

As I write, Merv and Venita should be boarding the plane in Atlanta - heading back to Springs.
We enjoyed and appreciate their coming out to visit - it was a blessing to get to see and spend time with them!

Love to All,

Denny

Hi Birky's!

I'm looking forward to seeing some tropical pictures on here soon! :)

We have finally been given an adoption date--May 5 for Levi. So by his 1st birthday he will be officially a Stutzman! We are so thankful. He is doing wonderful: crawling very fast, eating like crazy, and getting really loud. He has even mastered climbing stairs- it must be his very sturdy build. :)

Seth is doing so well and really showing improvement in his therapies with integrating sensory input into daily life. We are getting a school room ready and are starting some of those routines now, and he is taking to them well. I'm so glad that I have the sped background and can advocate for him in this area!

Shane is doing more and more bike training and often rides to church in addition to work. We will have fun this summer watching his races and camping as a family.

I am gearing up for the state testing, where I have to find childcare and proctor tests for 7 days (not my favorite time of year).

I have to share this: today Seth and I were talking about windchimes and he said:
Windchimes are my favorite sound do you know that buns are connected to legs? :) (all in one thought. )

I'd love to see and hear what all is going on in your lives!

Love, Kara

vacation

If I ever get this figured out I will write something. :) We are home from vacation and missing the beautiful south carribbean!

Again this year, our family got together at a 'cabin' in the mountains for two nights & most of 3 days. It was great that JJ & Emily could be here from OR. This year we were at Emily's parents house above Woodland Park, CO, where Venita lived during high school. Emily's parents have been in London, England the past three years, serving at the London Mennonite Center. They will be back next month. The house is a lovely large mountain home, so there was plenty of space for us.

On the last day of our gathering we went to the Mt. Princeton Hot Springs, about an hour away. It is a natural hot springs along a cold mountain stream. You can go sit in the stream, or swim in the two large pools--one quite warm and the other more normal pool temp. In the stream, the hot water is bubbling up from the ground right at the edge of the stream, so the farther into the stream, the colder the water. Was very enjoyable & relaxing for us all--except maybe for Levi; he didn't much enjoy the water.

I'll add a couple of pictures, for what they're worth. We were too busy having a good time, so not many pictures got taken.

I saw a few pictures of the Birky gathering--made me wish we could be there again. Maybe if I change jobs... Not easy to be gone over Christmas in my work.

I think I have everyone added to the list to post on this site now (at least, for everyone whose current email address I have). So it would be great to have more people posting! It works best is you create a Google account (it's free). Then you can log in to do your posting.

Blessings to all,
Merv

yeah! We can now finally add to this blog. :) We enjoyed seeing Birky pics and reading letters from the family over Christmastime. We had a good time in Idaho over Christmas and with my family over New Year's. Now we are trying to create a new routine for a new year.

I'll post more of our fam when I get pics on the computer. I'm looking forward to seeing Birky Christmas pics too. (if anyone else is having problems adding stuff on the blog, just email dad-something with the set up)

-Kara

Birky Christmas Gathering

Ok you Birkys......can we get some pics and a run-down of the Birky Christmas gathering?  Wish we could've been there with you all!

Seth, Tyler, Liam - in costume

Merv & Venita's grandsons

Most of you haven't seen Kara & Shane's foster son, Levi, who is now 7 months old. They got him four days after he was born, and are hoping to adopt him. If things go as planned that should happen early next year. So I've posted a couple of pictures of him and, while I'm at it, a couple of the other three grandsons: Seth, Tyler, & Liam.

Bartel Buzz...

Hello! We don't have anything too major to report...wish I could say we've been to an exotic country or fancy B&B like Merv and Vin can. But we can say that we are happy and healthy and life is just dandy! A few notes on our latest...

* We had fun seeing Shawn and Tera recently when they brought some kids out on the train to visit Hesston College. I remember when I first met Tera when I was in middle school. I thought she was so gorgeous and sweet - and she hasn't changed a bit! And I remember when Talashia and I rode out to Illinois with Shawn (and Shannon) when he was a student at HC. He only let us stop once to pee, and we had exactly 5 minutes to get it done. Unlike his wife, I get the impression that he HAS changed!

* We visited Talashia and Daniel for Thanksgiving. Sometime ask Daniel why his new nickname is Hot Crossed Buns. Good story.

* Eva wrote her ABCs the other day - in order! I didn't know she even knew more than the 3 letters in her name because if she senses that I'm trying to teach her something, she suddenly has something else very important and more pressing to do. (I hear you Aunt Sandy..."she is exactly like her mother...").

* River's entire existence revolves around food. I've never seen a one year old eat like that. Ryan says he'll be getting a job when he's 5 to pay for it all.

* I'm worship leading at church for four Sundays in advent. I like getting to be part of the planning and organizing of it all. Last Sunday, someone had a grand mal seizure during the call to worship. Oh my word was that ever intense. Another time that I worship led, someone had a heart attack. Might not want to come to church when I'm worship leading.

* Ryan is working 10 shifts this month in addition to his usual teaching job. The shifts are in a residential unit for teens - he's a mental health worker there. He loves it. I love the cash the shifts bring, but wish he could be home more.

* The other day, Eva commented that she "loves Grandma Birky even though she only held me that one time".

Ok...so there's my update. Hurry up and post yours!! Check my facebook page for new pics of us all. Love you all and miss you!

Some Paraguay pictures

Here are a couple of pictures from our trip to Paraguay & Brazil this summer. The Iguazu Falls are where Paraguay, Brazil, and Argentina come together. Our pictures are from the Brazilian side, but we got there by bus from Paraguay. They are the most spectacular thing I've ever seen. We were in Paraguay for the Mennonite World Conference. What an inspiring time! People from 37 countries; translations into 7 different languages (via headsets), with the platform language being Spanish. And wonderful music!! As we sang sangs, often with people singing in their own language, there was one word which always was the same for every language --Alellujah. Which is what Revelation says we will all be signing. Just a little bit of a taste of heaven, with every tongue, nation & tribe praising around the throne.

We have a PowerPoint of the trip that we presented at church and to the conference pastor/spouse group. If you come see us we will be sure to 'make' you see it.

On another note: some have said they are having trouble viewing the blog. Let me know if you are so I can try to figure out why it doesn't work. Not that I'm much good at that, but I can try.

Blessings,
Merv

We returned today from an overnight outing to celebrate our 38th anniversary. Over a year ago I married a couple for whom Venita had been a mentor while the girl was in jr. high. They gave us a gift certificate to a really posh hotel in Manitou Springs. We just now got around to using it. I doubt we'll spend the money to go there again ourselves, but we did enjoy the elegant supper and a relaxing get away.

Had a nice Thanksgiving Day at Kara & Shane's. Turkey with all the trimmings and at least three kinds of pie. Went on a walk thru Garden of the Gods in the late afternoon. Kara was the only one of our four children there -- JJ & Emily in Portland; Andrea at Hesston; Lisa & Clay went to NM. Venita's folks were there, and her brother Rick & his family.

Blessings to all,
Merv

Welcome to the "Birky's Bulletin"

You are invited to join the Birky's Bulletin blog!!

This blog is intended for the extended family of Wilbert & Viola Birky. Some of the family is still in central Illinois, while others of us are scattered across the country. I realize this is more useful for those of us who are scattered, but I hope that those clustered closer together will also post items so that we can all stay a little more connected to each other. You can post updates about your family, including pictures, and general family information that you want the rest of the family to be aware of.

To view the posts, all you need to do is open the blog. To add posts, you will need to create a login for yourself, and then login each time you want to post something.

Thanks, and blessings to all!

Merv Birky

P.S. I'm still an amateur at this myself, so hopefully I'll get better at it as we go. Feel free to experiment until you find a process that seems to work for you.

This picture is of Venita & I at Iguazu Falls (Brazilian side) this past summer. The falls go on for over a mile - the most spectacular site I've ever seen.