A blessed Christmas and joyous New Year to all our friends and
family!
Carl, Lynette, Alex & Duncan
You are welcome to visit our
Yahoo Photo’s page
and SEE what we have been doing.
Links to specific albums are provided throughout this page. New albums are added often, so check the
page often for updates.
On this page: Christmas, The Boys, Travels, Church, Carl's Family, Lynette's Family, Other Bits,
Christmas (Click here
for Christmas photos)
We like to get this newsletter
finished before Christmas, but this season of joy, became one of sadness as the
holiday approached. 
On Sunday, the 14th of December,
we joined with Carl’s family for the Franz family Christmas celebration. Last year, because of a last minute change
in plans, we “accidentally” started a tradition of meeting for pizza and gift
opening in December. It was so much fun
we did it again this year. We got
together at George and Frieda’s, Carl’s aunt and uncle, and had a lovely day
together. His cousin’s family with their
2 year old was there in addition to Carl’s folks and uncle
Julius. Our boys are so big; it is
just a delight to have little Henry around to keep the spirit of childhood in
Christmas. We were also glad that we
were able to give Julius a gift he actually liked. He’s always been hard to buy for, but this year we found him a
wood box with a fish laser engraved on the top, filled with fishing
paraphernalia. He was like a kid himself
as he went through and examined the hooks and bait. Later in the week we were preparing to go to Nebraska to visit
Lynette’s family for the weekend before Christmas. But Thursday we received news that Uncle Julius had passed away
at work that morning. He’d keeled over
in the break room and that was it. We
had tough choices to make regarding our travel plans. Carl, of course, stayed here in Chicago. Alex chose to stay also. But Lynette’s mother was planning a large
family get together on Sunday and, because of her health, she wasn’t
comfortable with her doing it alone. So
she and Duncan flew to Nebraska and missed the wake and funeral. There were no good choices, but we all
agreed that this was the best choice to make under the circumstances. We were sad we were not be able to attend
the services for Julius as a family, and that Lynette and Duncan missed the
family and friends who attended, especially Carl’s sister, Julie.
Julius was a kind-hearted soul who was liked by all who met him. He worked hard all his life and spent every spare moment away from work fishing. At our wedding he and my mother turned a few heads, and got some to thinking that there could be other connections between Carl’s family and mine. But, Julius was a militant bachelor. He doted on his niece, nephews, great-nephews and the children of his friends (who called him uncle also). When we bought our home he helped us paint the bedrooms (and probably did most of the work). He was a loving, generous and kind man and the world is a lesser place with his absence. We miss him deeply.
Alex is a sophomore in high
school now. He’s almost as tall as his
dad! 
He’s
recently entered the realms of orthodontia
and is just thrilled to be wearing braces.
He’s active in youth group at church, hanging out with his friends, playing
video games and listening to music. In February he went to the King of Hearts
dance at school with four girls! He has
created a virtual country at nationstates.com. Lynette and Alex spent a couple of days in New
York in February. Years ago,
Lynette had made a posting on a toy website stating that every time one of the
boys would get one of those clear Pokeman bouncing balls, they would break it
open to get out the miniature Pokemon figure that was inside. Seems that some kid was trying to do just
that, and choked to death when he tried to bite it open. The family’s attorneys came across Lynette’s
posting and managed to track her down.
Eventually they asked her and Alex to come to New York to give
depositions. It was an interesting
experience. It had been almost 20 years
since she had been to New York, and Alex had never been there, so they spent a
day and a half doing the touristy stuff.
Alex took dozens of photos of ground zero. There was dinner with a friend of Lynette’s from college, and a
trip to the top of the Empire State Building.
The biggest excitement was getting separated on the subway. Fortunately, Alex is a bright kid and
managed to find his way back to mom quite easily. Though it was the longest 20 minutes of Lynette’s life! (Click here
for New York photos)
Duncan is a fourth grader this year. Bionicles (by Lego) are his favorite toy. He tells everyone that he was “born to build” and wants to be an inventor when he grows up. He has been enjoying learning about fossils in the after school Nature Club offered by a school parent. He loves to swim and play with his friends and is growing like a weed. He’s 10 ½. At 11 ½ Alex was taller than his mom. The way Duncan is going he may be too. (Click here for Duncan’s birthday party photos)
The
entire family went to the Big Island of Hawaii for spring break. It was a blast! Volcanoes, beaches, helicopter rides, snorkeling, whale watching, ranch barbeques, wine, glimpses of spinner dolphins and
even trains! Carl lost his brand new bifocals in the
ocean and Alex got sunburned; but these were minor irritations in a great
family vacation. (Click here for Hawaii
photos)
In October Carl & Lynette went to the VSAC (Vacuum Tube State of the Art Conference) near Seattle. Carl has immersed himself in his stereo building hobby and we are surrounded by really fine sounding music. He has built a Pre-amp (whatever that is), a phono-stage amp (ditto), and a pair of amplifiers (figured out what those are). He seems happy and only has minor soldering iron burns. He is a bit distracted and cranky when he is building something, kind of like an expectant father. Interestingly enough, the only thing he as really gotten good at repairing is soldering irons. (Click here for VSAC photos) We’ll get photos of the stereo up as soon as it, well, works….
We still try to get to Fort Wayne as often as possible to visit our friends Jim and Heidi. Jim celebrated his 50th birthday in November and we wouldn’t have missed the surprise party. It has been a two steps forward, one step back sort of process for Jim since his stroke almost 2 years ago. But clearly he is in the Lords hands. They love their new home and are part of a wonderful, supportive, family of faith at the church where Heidi teaches. (Photos)
Lynette continues to develop the church website and is still directing the Drama Ministry Team. The team presents a chancel drama during 9 a.m. service on the Second Sunday of every month. During the six weeks of Lent the Team presented 10 different dramas involving 31 actors and crewmembers for Lent and Easter! It was a breathtaking challenge, possible only because of the effort and commitment of everyone involved. The Church presented her with tickets for the touring production of The Lion King as a thank you. She attended with her friend, Gabriel, who served as her assistant director, and has directed a number of our productions in her own right. Carl’s service as congregational treasurer ended in July. All are welcome to join us on any Sunday! (Click here and here for Church photos)
Carl's Family:
We are still reeling, of course, from the
loss of Carl’s uncle Julius. Carl’s dad
just moved his business and occasionally mentions retirement. His mom has been spending her retirement
volunteering at the Luther North Resale
Shop and had been delving deep into the family’s genealogy. Julie
and her husband Grady are still in Florida and have enlarged their family by
the addition of Jefferson Davis. An
active boxer puppy, who has already grown into a fine dog. We are looking forward to a spring break
trip to visit them. We also went to
Milwaukee the day after Christmas to attend the wedding
of Carl’s cousin’s son.
Lynette's Family:
In August we made the trip out to
Nebraska for Lynette’s Grandma Rose’s 80th birthday party. 
It
was a joyful family reunion. Relatives
came from far and wide. The décor for
the party was yellow roses, Grandma’s favorite. Many of the ladies even wore yellow rose temporary tattoos. Lynette and her mom even had yellow roses
painted on their nails! We had a great
time. While we were there, Lynette’s
dad presented her and her 3 sisters with a diamond
each from his anniversary ring from working at Nebraska Book Company for 45
years. We had it set in a pinky ring
and she wears it all the time.
Lynette got to see her “granddaughter” Sydney and new “grandson” Christopher George the weekend before Christmas in Nebraska. We tell everyone that Christopher was named after our kids: Alexander George and Duncan Christopher. Of course every generation of Welters has at least one Christopher and at least one George, so maybe it was just coincidence ;)
Lynette’s mom has had health complications over the last few months. The two weeks she took Fen-Phen years ago caught up with her and she needs heart valve surgery. At first the doctors said that she couldn’t have the surgery because the blood thinners required for surgery could cause her cavernous angioma to bleed. But they have since said that, as long as the angioma is stable, for the couple of hours of surgery, the blood thinners shouldn’t be a problem. They are planning to do the surgery in February, after her husband recovers from his own surgery that he had before Christmas. Please keep her in your prayers.
Carl’s days as an independent consultant for the bank are coming to a close. His contract of almost six years ends on December 31. He plans to take some time off before looking at other options. We are confident that the Lord will provide in due time.
The
mystery of chronic health problems that Carl has suffered from for over three years
was finally solved when a stone the size of a kidney bean was removed in
September. He feels MUCH better
now! Lynette continues to be healthy,
but people are seeing “less” of her these days, about 30 lbs less. She lost it in the first half of the year
and has managed to keep it off so far.
Everyone, even her doctors, ask what her secret is. Unfortunately, it is no secret. Eat less.
Exercise more. Pass it on.
Carl surprised Lynette with tickets to Cirque Du Soleil for her birthday. And we were awed and amazed by the performance. Next time they come through Chicago we will definitely bring the boys.
We pray you have a blessed 2004.
