Christmas Letter 2007

Hello, Friends and Family!

If you're here, you probably got a card from us. If you didn't get a card, sorry. (Unless we don't know you -- in which case, go away.)

Life has been a whirlwind: We left Iowa and began a new adventure in Tennessee! Where are we? Click here.

There are a few details about us individually below, but our main vortex has been Summit ATA Martial Arts, our new Taekwondo school. We are all very excited to have our own school and be entrepreneurs in the fitness industry. The business is located in a mall, so we get lots of foot traffic with high visibility. God has really blessed us with this awesome location, and a manageable number of new students. We think that this will not only be a successful business venture for us, but it will also be a great opportunity to minister to individuals and families; we covet your prayers on our behalf in this endeavor.

Moving to Tennessee has been a pretty smooth transition, so we are thankful about that. The biggest challenge that we've faced is finding a comfortable church home. There are many different churches around here, and we've landed at First Presbyterian Church -- at least for now.

Here's what we've been up to individually:

Duncan is at Westview Middleschool. Known to many now as "Donut," (think Dunkin) he's made several friends; some are in band, but mostly they are banded together by Halo 3. They get together as often as they can and blow each other to smithereens -- great fun. He has impressed most of Morristown now with his skills on both acoustic and electric bass; his band teacher featured him quite prominently in their Christmas concert.

Savannah has really enjoyed band at West High School -- it has given her a good group of kids to hang with, and she has started making friends, too. In addition to band, she has really enjoyed being in a drama class and competing in forensics events such as interpretive reading and short skits.

Melynda has tried her hand at substitute teaching; she's had some mixed success there: enjoying some of the experiences, but not others. Mostly she's been stoking the fires of entrepreneurship around here with our business. She attended a business seminar in Little Rock, AR for our Taekwondo school, and she also completed her Level 2 teaching certification in Missouri. In addition to all of this, she still manages to keep things running smoothly here on the home front.

Sean has had his hands full teaching at his new school, Carson-Newman College. He successfully completed his ATA Level 1 teaching certification and has enjoyed learning and managing all the different aspects of entrepreneurship as well.

We wish you all a lovely Christmas and New Year's Season.

-Sean, Melynda, Savannah, and Duncan

Our New Business!!

In case you've been wondering why this blog has been so lame for so long, I have a very good reason. We've been in the major, life-altering process of starting our own business: Summit ATA Martial Arts!We officially opened for classes this week and it has been going very well. We are located inside the local mall - which has been great for getting people to just walk-in and talk. Our goal is to have 15-20 students by the beginning of January and we are well on our way there.
We feel like we have been able to put together a "dream" facility and have received some great feedback from our new members and other martial artists just walking by. It has been alot of fun! Check out our website www.summitata.com to see what we're doing and what we have to offer.
If you'd asked us 6 years ago if this was in our future I probably would've said, "No," and Sean would have said, "Sounds good!" However, about a year and a half ago I started thinking about getting certified as an instructor in the ATA. After it was obvious that our life in Orange City was going to change we both started exploring the idea of starting our own Taekwondo school or club. We have enjoyed doing Taekwondo so much as a family and since all of us are 2nd degree black belts, with the desire to continue that journey, and help others reach their goals, we decided that this was the step to take. Lord willing, someday this will be our full-time job!
So that's our news! We've had a lot of life changes this year, but God keeps opening doors and we keep walking through them!

A very busy week!

Finally, I've got time for a breather! The last 2 weeks have been a little hectic around here, but I think last Friday and Saturday were the craziest in a long time. Just a few of the activities: Duncan played in the Orchestra for a college production Thursday, Friday, and Saturday night, Savannah had the homecoming football game and parade Friday night, I had to drive to Knoxville Saturday morning and pick up my dad, and Savannah had a marching band competition (the opposite direction from Knoxville) late Saturday afternoon! I didn't know if I was coming or going Saturday!
Savannah's band did a great job Saturday afternoon, we were very impressed with their sound. And their uniforms are quite snazzy! Of course, we think she is the most talented marcher out there, but we are biased! Here she is on the left side of the outer group of 4 clarinets. It was fun to get to watch her again. This was the first competition they've been to this year. (She has another one today, so we'll be off again this afternoon.) This was my parent's first ever marching band competition, so they wanted to know as much information as I could relay, too bad we didn't get to stay longer, I think they would have enjoyed seeing some of the larger bands, too.
It was wonderful having mom and dad here for a few days. The weather was beautiful so I had a lot of fun showing them around East Tennessee and beyond. Monday we went to the Cumberland Gap National Historic Park, so they both got to add 2 more states to their list of ones they've traveled to! We went through the mile long tunnel and ended up in Kentucky and then drove up to a viewpoint and walked a very short ways down a trail and found out we were in Virginia! Three states in one short afternoon! This first picture is looking down into Tennessee (I think) at Fern Lake. We are in Virginia as we look down this way. This next picture is Mom and I at the Powell overlook, on our left is Tri-State Peak. Somewhere on this peak (I personally think they need a huge flag) Tennessee, Virginia and Kentucky all meet. Lastly, you can see Mom and Dad looking at a civil war era cannon. The Cumberland Gap was seen as a very strategic area during the civil war. No battles were actually fought here, but the gap changed hands 4 times during the war.

New Neighborhood Funny

I just have to share this! The day we closed on our new house we met the next door neighbor. He warned us about the people on the other side of him. It seems they have a very large tropical bird and he felt that he needed to share with us how very loud and annoying this bird is. Well, today I experienced the bird for the first time. It was HILARIOUS! The bird imitates the sounds of children playing (among other things). I was mowing the lawn and and heard the voices of small children, "Mommy, Mom" etc. I looked but couldn't locate anyone so kept mowing, of course. Then I heard someone crying and pitching a fit (sounded like a typical 2-3 year old to me). But I still couldn't locate the voice. He gave himself away when he started to say, "hello," after I started to call for one of the cats. Then he whistled like you would for a dog (he was trying to help me out)! A little later it sounded like small children fighting and a mother intervening, but it was just the bird (Huh, what do you think he hears a lot of?)! I got a good laugh out of it. I hope you will, too.

Our First Outdoor Adventure

Wow! What a beautiful Labor Day! We decided that we had lived in this beautiful place for too long without getting out and really seeing it, so yesterday we went down to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. I think we spent a good portion of the day marveling about how we didn't have to drive an entire day to get to such a beautiful place (only an hour)! We went into the park at the Cosby entrance in the northeast corner, picked a trail and took off. I was amazed at how much of the park is only accessible on foot. We met several parties of backcountry campers returning home after the long weekend. The kids were pretty impressed that those people had hiked in 5 miles to their campground!
Our destination was Hen Wallow Falls less than 2.5 miles down the trail. It was a very pretty little waterfall. We ate our lunch and enjoyed the sound of the water hitting the rocks. And, of course, took the requisite picture with a little silliness from dad. Then everyone, except mom, decided that they needed to test the water and cool off their feet. Cool was definitely the operative word as you can tell by the look on Savannah's face! We were so amazed by the abundance of rhododendrons in the forest. We'll definitely have to go back in the spring!

Calling all knitters and crocheters!

Just in case you noticed the link on the right hand side of the blog under the profile and wondered what was up. . .
The organization Afghans for Afghans collects hand knitted and crocheted items to send to the people in Afghanistan. Every few months they request specific items and send over several cartons full. In October they'll be sending another shipment. I started knitting about a year and half ago, just really simple things, mind you. I found this hat pattern that is soooooo easy to make! But they are also looking for baby socks (not booties), blankets, vests and sweaters for children, socks, etc. The only thing is you have to use wool yarn - the winters are very cold over there so only wool is warm enough. They will not accept acrylic items. I have found some good deals on wool through a couple of websites: Elann and Knitpicks.
So, if you feel the spirit move. . . join the circular knitting revolution!!!

Band of the Week!

Friday night was a busy one for Savannah! We found out earlier in the week that the marching band plays at every football game, home and away. This last Friday they had their first game - away - in Knoxville, but they were chosen to be the band of the week by one of the local TV stations. Use the link below to see the video. They come on after the commercial for Pellissippi State. You won't see Savannah until the end of the 2nd segment and the beginning of the 3rd segment, but it is a pretty good video of the band.
Band of the Week