Merry Christmas 2011 from the Blackstocks

2011 has been a year of great joy and great pain. Great joy over the relationships we’re building with our grandchildren. Great joy over a long-planned Inland Passage Alaskan cruise in May. Great joy over the June weddings of a beloved niece (Catherine) and beloved nephew (Justin). Great joy at having son Steve, wife Beth and their girls so close. Great joy at being able to spend another week at Ghost Ranch with granddaughter Kyra. Great joy at being able to celebrate our 40th wedding anniversary in November. Great joy that Dwight began a miraculous recovery from some of the chronic pain that has plagued him for the last 15 years. And great despair at the downward spiral our son Marc’s life has taken and the horribly broken relationship that has resulted in removing his two youngest children from our lives, probably forever.

The Grandchildren:
Since Steve and Beth moved to Byers in 2010, our relationship with their daughters, Grace and Ava (almost 5 and 3) has blossomed. They all spend the night a couple of times a month and drop in at other times as well. It’s a thrill to hear the joyful screams of “Gaga! Granddad!” as they burst through the door. We are also very close to our two oldest granddaughters, Kyra (age 13, Lafayette CO – 8th grade) and Jordan (she’ll turn 11 in January, Fountain CO – 5th grade), plus Jordan’s brother, Jaden (age 6½ - 1st grade), who has become our grandkid, too. And we continue to have wonderful communication and occasional visits with grandsons Caleb (age 9, Kearney NE – 3rd grade), and Kaelan (age 7, Albuquerque – 2nd grade). We are thrilled this year to be able to connect with Hannah (age 10, Englewood CO – 5th grade) and Trae (age 8, Thornton CO – 2nd grade) before Christmas, plus meet Trae’s little brother.

Quick overview of travel/visits:
February – Caleb and his family traveled from Nebraska for a hockey tourney in Colorado

March – Long photography weekend in south-central Colorado for the Monte Vista Crane Festival

May – Annual women’s retreat at Highlands Presbyterian Camp; Beth came, too – great weekend!

May – Alaskan cruise (Inland Passage) – an early 40th anniversary gift to each other

June – Wedding weekend, Milwaukee, for niece Catherine Gallagher and groom Jonathan Brown

June – Wedding weekend, Lake Tahoe, for nephew Justin McElroy & bride Jenny; Steve officiated

July – New Mexico with Kyra, included a day with Kaelan, followed by a week at Ghost Ranch

August – Caleb and his mom visited from Kearney; included a pool day with Grace and Ava

August – Annual Genesis Church retreat; this year with Beth and Grace, and Jordan and Jaden

September – Labor Day weekend with Steve & family at Kepners’ cabin – Winter Park (Thank you!)

October – Sharon to Dallas, grade ordination exams; Dwight to Princeton, 40th seminary reunion

November – 40th anniversary weekend with Jon & Danny Yeagley at their cabin (Thank you!)

Brief visits with Sharon’s brother, Richard, who flew to Denver a couple of times on business

Holiday traditions include the Genesis Church “Holly Daze” event with Jordan, Jaden and their parents, Thanksgiving with Kyra’s family (Steve, too; this year, Beth and girls traveled to Indiana to be with her folks); gift exchanges with the grandchildren; Colorado Symphony Christmas Concert and Zoolights with Kyra and her mom (hoping for Zoolights with Grace & Ava, too); Live Nativity with Jordan & Jaden; lunch with Dwight’s cousin, Bill & family; and Christmas day with Steve’s family.

After Christmas, we will spend a few days with Steve, Beth and the girls at Kepners’ cabin (Thank you again!) Snow play and a sleigh ride are on the agenda, plus a visit from Kaelan and his mom on the 29th, followed by a visit on the 30th with a couple of Sharon’s college buddies from NJ who will be here for the holidays. Somewhere in the middle we’ll squeeze in birthday parties for both of us!

Dwight:
Dwight will celebrate his 65th birthday on the 29th and officially retire after being on disability for nearly 10 years. He still preaches and teaches occasionally and serves on presbytery committees. The “miracle” mentioned above occurred after preaching for the Presbyterian church in Idaho Springs on Father’s Day. Following the service, a member of the church asked if she could pray with him regarding his chronic back pain. “Sure”, says he (thinking this is the 10,000th person to pray for him over the last 15 years, can’t hurt …!) The next day, he experienced significant reduction in pain. That relief has continued with only occasional bad days. His pain medication levels have been slashed, his activity increased, his attitude greatly improved – we’re beginning to believe we’ll actually have some kind of life after retirement. It’s not a panacea – he still needs lots of rest, but it is a huge improvement – and one we attribute to persistent medical care and equally persistent prayer. For the 10,000 of you out there who have been praying for Dwight all these years – thank you, thank you, thank you!

Sharon:
Sharon continues to work for the City of Lakewood – 15 years as Central Records Administrator in the City Clerk’s Office and plans to work until age 66 (3 more years). She sings in her church choir (Genesis Presbyterian, Littleton) and serves on session. She traveled to Dallas for the last time in October to grade Presbyterian ordination exams (exam grading goes digital next year), and serves on an annual church women’s retreat planning committee. This year’s trip to Ghost Ranch was taken in early July, which meant Sharon could participate in the Ghost Ranch Chorale with a bunch of very talented singers and musicians. Lots of fun, very challenging, great music!

Marc:
In September, son Marcus pled guilty to felony theft of an at-risk adult (his father-in-law) and was sentenced in November to 8 years of closely-supervised probation and a huge restitution bill. Before he’s released, he faces child support and failure-to-appear charges (and another huge bill) in a different county. Our relationship with him and his wife is so badly broken that we don’t expect to see Jaellynne (age 4½) or Ayden (born March 14) again unless they seek us out after they become adults. Also learned recently that Marc has another child we’d never heard of, probably several years old (a girl named Jayden, we think). That makes 10 for him.

Steve:
Son Steve started the MSW program at the University of Denver this fall, earned straight A’s his first quarter and is doing an internship at a non-profit housing agency in Aurora. He continues to serve as part-time pastor at the Presbyterian Church in Byers (about an hour’s drive from our house) and Beth is working part-time in the local school district. We are blown away by what wonderful parents they have become (and a bit humbled; they’re better than we were …. ) We get to see a lot of them and their girls (Grace, almost 5, and Ava, 3) and love every minute of our time together. They are, without a doubt, the most talented pre-schoolers on the planet! Betcha never heard that before!

Kirk:
Our lovable Great Dane is doing well at 7½ years old, but has developed fear of walking on wood or vinyl floors, also icy conditions.

Merry Christmas!
Our prayer is that the Prince of Peace will bring peace to our world and that you will experience God’s blessings at Christmas and in 2012.

Dwight and Sharon at the Rockies season opener - April 2011

Ghost Ranch - July 2011

Steve, Beth, Grace, Ava - July 2011

Dwight and Kyra at her 13th birthday dinner - Sept 2011

Jaden and Jordan - Angels for the Live Nativity - December 2011

Sharon and Hannah - December 2010

Grace and Caleb - Pool Day - August 2011

Kaelan and Kyra - Albuquerque - July 2011

Jordan and Jaden with Kirk - February 2011

May and June Travels - Alaska, Milwaukee, Lake Tahoe

May and June were very busy for us with lots of fun travel. In late May we took a week-long cruise up the inland passage to visit Juneau and Skagway, Alaska. On the way back to Seattle, we went on a whale-watching tour and followed a pod of orcas for about an hour. We enjoyed the cruise - the weather wasn't great so we don't have a lot of great pictures to share, unfortunately. Our cruise was with Royal Caribbean. The ship was Rhapsody of the Seas.





Our niece Catherine was married in Milwaukee on June 11th and it was a beautiful event. Again, the weather was cold and foggy, but could have been worse - that didn't stop anything, however. Following are pictures of Sharon's brother Richard & wife Ann with bride and groom and rest of their family and close friends at the reception (Milwaukee Country Club); Jonathan and Catherine; gorgeous flowers everywhere; Elizabeth (sister of the bride)and husband Chris; Sharon's sister Kathy and husband Tom; our nephew Tim and niece Elizabeth (cousins); beautiful strawberries "dressed" like bride and groom and served at a luncheon for the bride two days before the wedding; three more nephews and their wives (left to right: Heidi, Jaime, Nathan, Mike, Matt, Tracy); and finally a pretty nice picture of us at the reception!











Our nephew Justin was married on June 25th in California. Son Steve officiated the ceremony which was held at Murphy's Irish Pub in South Lake Tahoe. Thirteen of us spent the weekend together in a rented house and that was great fun: Dwight and Sharon, Steve, Beth, Grace, Ava, Dwight's sisters Marcia (and husband Calvin), Donna, Annie, Calvin's parents Jim and Dorothy, and Marcia/Calvin's granddaughter Jordan. Our ages range from 2-81 years old! Following are photos of Grace at Pope's Beach Lake Tahoe; Grace and Ava having a picnic lunch on the beach; Ava in her car seat; Grandpa Jim (the piper) with Ava, Grace and Jordan; Sharon and Steve; Grace, Annie, Donna, Ava, Jordan (Dwight in the background) finding their seats for the ceremony; bride and groom Jenny and Justin; the bridal party (our niece Dawn is the bridesmaid 2nd to the right of the bride - Dawn is mother of Jordan and sister of the groom); a cute picture of Grace, Beth and Steve, followed by another good one of the 3 girls (cousins) Grace, Jordan, Ava; the mothers of the bride and groom (Marcia is Justin's mom); Steve and Calvin (father of groom); and more beautiful flowers!

Welcome Ayden Reese

Marc, Kim and Jaellynne (almost 4) welcomed a new baby boy on March 14, 2011 - Ayden Reese - born in Colorado Springs. Grandma and Granddad were at the hospital waiting for him to be born and watching after Jaellynne. He's tiny, but growing. Everyone's healthy!

Dwight holds Ayden about an hour after he was born!

Jaellynne, Kim, Marc and Ayden having lunch with Grandma on March 27th.

Marc holding Ayden - he's 13 days old in this picture.

Merry Christmas 2010

2010 started out with a road trip to help son Steve move from New Mexico to Indiana, close to Beth’s parents, so that Steve could start an MSW program at Northern Indiana University (Master/Social Work). Beth and Steve and the girls (and all their worldly goods) drove from Belen (near Albuquerque) to Denver after Christmas. Friend Jim flew to Denver from Wisconsin on January 1st to help with the drive east. On January 2nd, Beth and the girls flew from Denver to Chicago where her parents picked them up, while the rest of us started the drive east. Steve and Jim drove the moving truck, hauling a sedan behind, and Dwight and Sharon drove the family van along with Mello, their chocolate lab. First night, Kearney NE, where we met up with grandson Caleb and his mom. Next day, lunch in a very cold and snowbound Omaha restaurant with Steve’s friend, Howard. That night, we made it to Cedar Rapids, where the below freezing weather and wind froze up the moving van and we ended up cooling our heels until the following afternoon. That meant driving through Chicago during rush hour, followed by snow and wind and dark roads as we finished the journey into Michigan City. After a day of helping with the unpacking, Dwight and Sharon flew home. What did we learn? After nearly 4 decades of marriage, we still enjoy spending long days together in the car! It was a great adventure.

Sharon and Caleb pose for a picture in Kearney in January when we met for dinner.

Steve on the phone trying to arrange for service for his frozen moving truck, Cedar City, Iowa.

Service arrived, but it took several hours to get the truck going. It was very very cold!

The Carlisle house in Michigan City, where Steve and Beth lived for most of the year.

Dwight keeps busy taking a photography class every semester at a local community college, offers the opening prayer for the Colorado Senate on a few occasions (January-May), and preaches around the presbytery when he can. He was invited to teach a Sunday morning Bible study series at First Presbyterian, Littleton, in the fall and has been asked to come back and do another series beginning in January. He loves teaching so this has been a real gift. He continues to be a member of the Denver Presbytery Permanent Judicial Commission (which didn’t meet this year; that’s good news) and to serve on the Synod Coordinating Council. He is still on disability because of his back injury, is in constant pain and spends the better part of every day resting so he can keep up with the few activities he’s able to manage.

Sharon continues to work for the City of Lakewood – 14 years as Central Records Administrator in the City Clerk’s Office. She sings in her church choir (Genesis Presbyterian, Littleton) and will serve on session starting in January. She traveled to Dallas for several days in October to grade Presbyterian ordination exams (hard work, but very meaningful and important), and hopes to be able to do this again next year.

Marc: Son Marc and wife Kim live in Colorado Springs with daughter Jaellynne (age 3½). Sharon recently enjoyed having dinner with them (see pictures below). They are expecting a baby boy in March.



Steve: Son Steve started the MSW program at Northern Indiana University last summer, but after seeing that a part-time pastor position was available in Byers, Colorado, he and Beth decided this could be an opportunity to live in Colorado and still have the time and resources to earn that 2nd master’s degree. He applied, the church responded and the rest is history. Yup, they moved again, arrived in Colorado mid-September. We have enjoyed seeing them and their girls (Grace, almost 4, and Ava, 2) regularly. Within days of landing in Byers, Beth was offered a teacher’s aide position at the local elementary school, so Steve is currently a stay-at-home dad. Steve just learned that he's been accepted into Denver University's MSW program, with partial scholarship(!) and will begin in the fall.

Dwight wanted to start a holiday tradition with Grace and Ava - making gingerbread cookies, so that was on the agenda last week:

Other Stuff:
May – Traveled to Michigan City, Indiana to visit with son Steve and family and to attend nephew Michael’s wedding in Milwaukee.

June – Very busy month! Grandson Caleb and his mom drove from Kearney for a weekend visit. Also in June, grandson Kaelan and his mom (Albuquerque) came to Denver to visit family so we got to spend a day with Kaelan; in mid-June we were well taken care of by friends Jon and Danny Yeagley for a weekend at their cabin near Fairplay.

July – We enjoyed July 3rd fireworks in Avon/Vail with friends Tom and Ruth Powers (an almost annual tradition). Dwight flew out to Southern California to visit sisters Donna, Annie and Marcia. Later in the month we traveled to New Mexico with granddaughter Kyra for a week at Ghost Ranch. We drove down a couple of days early so Kyra could meet half-brother Kaelan. They enjoyed a Sunday afternoon getting acquainted (and chasing a couple of roadrunners through a shopping center parking lot!)

August – Steve and family came for a week-long visit and while here, he candidated for the part-time pastor position at Byers, Colorado (about an hour’s drive from us). Also while they were here, we enjoyed a visit with Dwight's cousin, Bill, and family, who live in Highlands Ranch.

October - Dwight flew out to Oakland to join sister Donna for sister Marcia's surprise 60th birthday party (organized by Marcia's family). Unfortunately, Dwight ended up in the hospital overnight and now his doctor is working on figuring out why Dwight's "episodes" happen primarily when he travels. Dehydration appears to be the culprit, based on recent tests. Dwight has nearly doubled his fluid intake to address this issue (which is hard to maintain when he travels).

November – We had hoped to spend our mid-November 39th anniversary weekend with the Yeagleys at their cabin, but after just one night, Dwight was experiencing high altitude issues and we came home early, much to everyone’s disappointment. Our annual Thanksgiving gathering with Kyra's family resumed in 2010 after a couple years' hiatus (we spent some Thanksgivings in New Mexico while Steve lived there).

2011: Next year we celebrate our 40th anniversary (November 14) and plan to spend the year doing some things we’ve always wanted to do, including a cruise to Alaska in late May! Cruising is one form of travel that works well for us - Dwight can rest and maintain his fluid levels as needed, and Sharon loves the pampering!!

The other grandchildren: We are particularly close to our two oldest granddaughters, Kyra (age 12, Lafayette CO – 7th grade), and Jordan (she’ll turn 10 in January, Fountain CO – 4th grade). Jordan’s brother, Jaden (age 5½ - Kindergarten), has become our grandchild, too. And we continue to have wonderful communication and occasional visits with grandsons Caleb (age 8, Kearney NE – 2nd grade), and Kaelan (age 6, Albuquerque – 1st grade). We will see Hannah (age 9, Englewood CO – 4th grade) over the holidays, and hope to connect with Trae, age 7 (Thornton CO), sometime soon.

Kirk: Our lovable Great Dane is showing some signs of age – mostly in the form of fears (afraid to walk on wood floors, refuses to get in the car) so that has been a source of concern.

Dwight and Kyra at the Colorado Symphony Christmas Concert this month (a tradition we enjoy every year with Kyra's family).

Sharon, Jordan and Jaden at the Genesis Presbyterian Church retreat in Estes Park last August.

Jordan and Jaden came up last weekend for our church's Live Nativity. Jordan played the part of a king and Jaden was a sheep.

Caleb got a kick out of having a Great Dane lap dog! Caleb and his mom visited from Kearney last June.

Kyra and Kaelan ham it up for the camera last July in Albuquerque.

Kyra and Dwight at Ghost Ranch last July. Sharon enjoyed a Gospel Singing workshop, Dwight did R&R, and Kyra had a wonderful time.

Kyra, Grace and Ava - three cousins - our house last August.

Grace, Steve, Ava and Beth at Rocky Mountain National Park last August.

Jaellynne enjoys playing in the pool during the summer. This picture was taken in June at her home in Colorado Springs.

Merry Christmas!
Our prayer is that the Prince of Peace will bring peace to our world and that you will experience God’s blessings at Christmas and in 2011. We love your holiday letters, even the ones that don’t arrive until Easter!