Christmas Feast

Benjamin, our 16-year-old going on 17, has developed a real passion for food this year. He loves showcasing his culinary skills.

In the past, he has often held out on the family on the foods he makes. He makes a long list of food. We buy the food. We make it. Then he refuses to let us eat it.

We discovered this Christmas that part of the logic behind the 'madness' is that he is waiting to showcase the food he made. Since the family in Arden each had their own Christmas dinners, Benjamin held on to a number of the dishes until Monday when our family got together with Martha's sister, Marian, and her family.

The menu this year included: Gingerbread and muffins (I don't normally like it but this was good!), a cornflake marshmallow wreath (kind of like Rice Crispy treats only with cornflakes. Again a great twist on a favorite.) Butterscotch cookies, fudge (we're still working on perfecting that one), a Christmas punch, and a Christmas stollen. We also had brownies he had made earlier in the week.

It was all very good food!

One of the benefits we've discovered with having all this food around is that now that all the pans and bowls have been washed there have been a lot fewer dishes.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

As the year draws to a close, and we have the opportunity to reflect upon the past year and what it has meant to us, we each came up with a short list of the things for which we are most grateful. I will precede that with the thought that we are so grateful for this time of year and what it represents. We are grateful for all that we have been given, the blessings of good health and good friends.

Carolyn at the Park

Carolyn (3) frequently at Grandma's while Mommy's at school

One of things that Carolyn remembers from this year is a family trip we took this summer. One of the highpoints of the trip was watching her cousin, Patrick DeFranco, get married in the Palmyra, NY temple.

Another big change for our family this year was when Steve's parents moved into an assisted living facility in Tacoma, Washington. That meant Steve's older brother, Tom, who needs support, had to find a new place to live. He moved out here to Asheville. Carolyn took very well to the change and really enjoyed having her uncle in the house. (He has since moved on to his own assisted living facility, but she enjoys seeing him when he comes on the weekends.)

Another thing that Carolyn really enjoyed was going to her Aunt Marian's house to play with their dog, Butterscotch, (a golden lab, beagle mix) that they recently got.

Joshua at the holiday concert

Joshua (11) in middle school

Both Joshua and Jessica started attending middle school at Cane Creek this year. They are in sixth grade with different sets of teachers, so they seldom see each other. This is a big change for them with more responsibility. The teachers they have are much more stern than those they have had in the past.

A tradition at Cane Creek Middle School for a number of years has been for the sixth graders to go out to Earthshine Lodge near Lake Toxaway, NC. Both Joshua and Jessica went there this year. The lodge offers outside education. Per their website the course is "designed to inspire thought and creativity, as well as encourage students to push themselves to destroy the myth of 'I Can't.'"

Joshua began the summer by going to band camp. He is playing the trombone. He will say that he doesn't like it, but I think he enjoys playing in the concerts and learning a new skill.

Jessica at New River Gorge

Jessica (13) in middle school

Jessica also enjoyed our long road trip we made this summer. We drove up through Virginia, Pennsylvania, and into New York state. We stopped at the Priesthood Restoration Site in Harmony, Pennsylvania. (Harmony is now Oakland, PA.) From there we headed north to Palmyra. We enjoyed spending the day with the DeFranco's and Beth's family.

Palmyra has a lot of church history. We stopped at the Sacred Grove, Hill Cumorrah, the Joseph Smith Farm, the Grandin Building, and the Peter Whitmer farm.

After leaving Palmyra, the family headed for Niagara Falls, which was an amazing experience. You can't really get an appreciation for how massive and powerful the falls there are unless you are there. More than 6 million cubic feet of water go over the falls every minute. (Niagara Facts)

As part of the long road trip, we passed through West Virginia where Steve served his mission for the LDS church. He hadn't been back in West Virginia for any length of time since his mission. The family enjoyed stopping at Cooper's Rock State Park, which provides a dramatic overlook of the Cheat River Gorge.

The family also stopped at the New River Gorge Bridge and Overlook. Jessica had quite an experience going over the bridge, which straddles the New River for 3,030 feet and sits at 876 feet above it. Jessica has always been quite fearful of driving along heights. She was challenged, though, to keep her eyes open as we crossed the bridge and really pay attention to what we were doing. The intent was to help her realize what she accomplished, and it worked. Jessica was excited that she was able to get across the bridge without closing her eyes and without being too scared. After she told everyone how happy she was, she declared she wanted to cross it again... later!

The family also made a trip up to the Cincinnati, Ohio area to be at Matthew and Amelia Murdock's wedding reception. As part of the trip, Jessica enjoyed spending her 13th birthday celebration with her Kellar cousins in Dayton, Ohio. The Kellars were gracious as always and went out of their way to bake and cook all kinds of good food.

Benjamin along a creek

Benjamin (16) in high school

Benjamin is really growing up—sometimes to the chagrin of his parents. For example, he was off at Youth Conference in eastern North Carolina when the family went on our long road trip. Unfortunately, due to the timing we had, we realized we would need to be in two places at the same time. Benjamin was very gracious in allowing the family to go on our trip. It was strange, though, to have pictures we took along the way that did not include Benjamin in them. It emphasized the point that it will only be a couple years before Benjamin is off on his own mission for the church and then on to college.

Benjamin has expressed his appreciation for his family, especially for sisters who are so willing to help.

The experience at Youth Conference was memorable for him. There were over 1,500 other LDS youth from 10 stakes across North Carolina and from Columbia South Carolina. Benjamin really appreciated being around so many other LDS youth who share the same values. He also enjoyed the conversion story that retired NBA basketball player, Thurl Bailey, shared with the youth.

At the beginning of the summer, Benjamin (and Dad) headed to Cumberland Island for a week-long scout camp with his troop. The island is off the Georgia coast nearly to the Florida border. The island is both remote and historical. We hiked in three miles to our camp. Initially, this was quite a hike for our fledgling group of hikers. However, after several ten mile hikes for Benjamin (and some of the other scouts) the hikes got much easier. It didn't hurt that Cumberland Island is one of the easiest places to hike as the elevation is completely flat.

Historically, Cumberland Island, Georgia's largest barrier island, has passed from its aboriginal origins some millennia ago to the Spanish missionaries in the 16th century, to James Oglethorpe who built the first forts there, and up through Thomas and Lucy Carnegie in the 1880's. After several more decades the island is now largely a national park though there are still some private residences on the island. The island shows some of its historical past through ruined mansions left behind and feral horses that have been protected on the island.

Martha and Steve-Peter Whitmer Farm

Martha in nursing program

After a couple years of working at finishing prerequisites, Martha was accepted into the nursing program at Blue Ridge Community College. Many of the courses along the way have been challenging, but this first semester of the program brought some more anxiety for Martha. She persevered though and did well.

Part of the program has been to do clinicals (following a nurse) at Pardee Hospital and Carolina Village. It has provided her with good experience.

Martha has enjoyed watching Carolyn grow up. We may be biased, but we think she is a joyful, spirited and intelligent young lady. (Carolyn describes herself as a 'teenager.') Martha is grateful that Carolyn has so much fun spending time with Grandma and Grandpa Collier while Mommy is away at school

Martha was really instrumental in getting Tom settled in Asheville. We are all grateful that he has taken so well to getting established here.

Steve getting older ;-) and working hard

Steve is really grateful for good health — physically and emotionally. He has been working hard at getting back in shape through strength training and yoga.

This year Steve has enjoyed spending time with family. He went to scout camp and hiking with Benjamin,who passed off his hiking merit badge this year. Of course, he also really enjoyed going on the road trip with the family.

Through a lot of time and hard work, Steve is really grateful that the house has been painted. He's also grateful for the new windows that have been installed. The house has really taken on a new look through all of this.

We are all grateful for good friends, a beautiful place to live, and a loving Savior who blesses us amply.

To all: a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

Love, the Garvin family

2011 in Review (at least through October)

Much of the beginning of our year was spent trying to get a grasp on dealing with the failing health of Steve's parents and the changes that brought on. For those who don't know, Steve's mother went into the hospital last December due to her diabetes getting out of control. She spent a few weeks in the hospital before being moved into a nursing home. In April, she and Grandpa Garvin moved into an assisted living facility in Tacoma, Washington.

The facility seems nice, but it was a challenge to lose some of the independence they have enjoyed for so long. At the same time, many of the stresses they have had have been reduced or eliminated. Since moving into the facility, it has become more apparent that Steve's dad's health is also failing. Both parents are dealing with diabetes, but Steve's dad also is beginning to get confused more frequently and severely.

When Steve's parents moved into the assisted living facility, his older brother, Tom, moved to live with us. That was a bit of a challenge with limited space and combining different families, and due to the fact that Tom didn't have as much to do here as he had back in Washington. In June, Tom was able to move into a 'family group home' north of Asheville. That has worked out better. Steve, and Martha particularly, have been able to continue to offer support to Tom while everyone is able to have some of the distance that seems to have been needed.

Another focus this year has been home improvements. We have been able to replace quite a bit of the siding that was getting old and damaged. We have also replaced half the windows in the house with plans to replace the rest in the next year. In addition, we have been able to (finally) paint the exterior of the house. There's still much to be done on home improvements but at least we feel like we have made some progress.

The summer was busy with a scout camp to Cumberland Island in south Georgia (near the Florida border). Steve was able to go along for the whole week with Benjamin and the troop. They had a good time hiking and seeing the sights on the island. The island was beautiful and still had a sense of being removed from the world. They actually had the beach to ourselves. (They did have to hike in three miles to get to their camping spot.)

Benjamin and Steve, and some of the other scouts, were able to go on a few 10-mile hikes. The island was once the private reserve of the Carnegie family, so there were some interesting ruins of former mansions. Some of the buildings are still standing but 90+% of the island is now national park land. One of the wonders—that soon became commonplace—were all the wild, feral horses. A former owner had stipulated that the horses that had been brought to the island be set free and preserved.

The Cumberland Island trip helped Benjamin move along towards completing his Hiking merit badge--one of the last of his required merit badges and ones he needed for his Eagle. He is now complete with the merit badges—yeah! He is now working on completing his Eagle project which will be planting a dozen trees around the picnic shelter at Lake Julian park that is accessed from the Hendersonville Road entrance (where the old campground was.) The ward had a picnic at that facility on Labor Day. While it was a nice experience, the setting did seem a little barren so we are glad Benjamin has taken this on as a project.

During the summer, we also enjoyed going on a trip up to Palmyra to attend Patrick and Beth's wedding and see the sights in the area. It was a beautiful wedding and nice to be there with the family—especially considering the then upcoming move of the DeFrancos to Texas. (They're missed here.)

Visiting Palmyra was a great experience. So much happened there. However, it really struck Steve how so many of the people in the area were totally unaware of the restoration of the gospel that took place there. (It's understandable—just eye opening.)

While on the New York trip, the family also enjoyed going to Niagara Falls. What a natural wonder that is. The size of the falls really can't be appreciated without being there.

We also took the opportunity to come back down through West Virginia, where Steve served his mission. There they were able to stop at Cooper's Rock, another natural beauty, and the New River Gorge Bridge, which is both in a naturally beautiful area but also an engineering wonder. The bridge is currently the third highest vehicular bridge in the Americas and the third longest arch bridge in the world.

Jessica, who has been terrified of heights—especially while driving—was able to come to grips with her fear and overcome them to a certain extent on the journey across the bridge. She had just hiked down to a viewpoint where the family could see the entire span of the bridge from down below, and she got really worried when she realized that we would have to cross that bridge to continue our trip. As we were crossing the bridge, Steve told her to be aware of where she was and what she was doing so that when they got across the bridge she would realize what she had accomplished and had made it. After getting across the bridge and on the road a few mile, Jessica exclaimed that she was ready to do it again. We were thrilled for her success. She was so excited to have overcome that fear!

Benjamin missed the New York trip as he was having an adventure of his own at a regional LDS youth conference at Eastern Carolina University. There were over 1,500 LDS youth there along with numerous LDS leaders; Brother Arian Ochoa of the Young Men General Presidency and M. Keith Giddens, Area Seventy over North and South Carolina and guest speakers Thurl Bailey, Troy Dunn and Elizabeth Craig, and musical performers Jon Schmidt, Greg Simpson, Jericho Road, and The Fading Point. The theme of the conference was “One, but not alone.” Everyone seemed to have a good time and got spiritually fed.

We've enjoyed seeing family this year whether it be at Matthew and Amelia's wedding reception, Patrick and Beth's wedding or locally here in Asheville. It was fun for us to be at the Kellar's on Jessica's 13th birthday on August 7th . The Kellars made our family feel very welcome, as they always do, and put on a big birthday feast for Sunday afternoon. It was fun and a good way to spend Jessica's birthday.

This new school year, both Jessica and Joshua have started playing instruments in band class. Jessica is playing the clarinet and Joshua the trombone. Despite all the stereotypes about how awful it is to hear the kids practicing their instruments, it has really been nice to hear them practice. For Steve, who has never played an instrument, it is amazing how quickly they have begun to make nice little musical pieces. They are short and simple but still nice.

Benjamin has had the opportunity to take a cooking class in high school. He continues to develop his skills as a budding chef, and the family often gets to enjoy the rewards of his efforts. Interestingly, he seems to have a particular interest in making desserts despite a constant concern for watching his weight. He is still quite thin

Martha began formal nursing training after completing all the prerequisites that she has been working on for some time. She will be done in less than two years now. She is enjoying her studies and the opportunity she has to do clinicals and work with patients. As you all know, Carolyn has been staying at Grandma's and Grandpa's while Martha has been at school, which, including time Martha has set aside for studying, turns into being gone as long as the older kids are, almost. It is a good situation, though. Carolyn starts every morning by saying “No, I don't want to go!” and every afternoon by saying “Mommy I missed you” and almost immediately “I had such a good time at Grandma's!”

Carolyn has also really been enjoying nursery. As most children do, she is very happy when she finds out that it is Sunday and she gets to go to nursery! She loves the activities, she loves the singing, and she loves her teachers. She started this year as the only child attending regularly, so she had her teacher (Sister Hardy and sometimes Brother Hardy as well) all to herself. Then a couple of families moved into the ward, a couple of children started coming more regularly, and a couple of the younger children turned 18 months, and suddenly she had a roomful with her. She went up to Sister Hardy after a couple of weeks of this and asked her “Are you still my teacher, too?” She has adjusted well to the change, and will adjust well again in January when she joins Primary as a Sunbeam.

So that is a quick summary of our lives. We hope you all enjoyed it!