Hello Everyone: I was struck by a comment in Tricia’s e-mail with the request that we EACH write something – quote, Tricia: “It doesn’t have to be a long or super detailed article – just a bit of something to connect us all together”.
This is one beauty of the Burgin family – the “something that connects us all together”. In fact, may I suggest for the next newsletter each of us write about what/ why/how the “something” connects us. It could be many different things; I could guess one thing that each of you would write. Can you??
My activities here at WMO continues to center around the activities ‘here on campus ’- as they would say. I walk from my apartment to the Administration building daily to participate in my exercise classes, play table tennis, and attend many different functions – plays, musicals, etc. However now I use a roll- aider to go that far—a roll aider is a little gadget with wheels and a seat- For me, it helps with my balance, and a tool to avoid falling.
One of the recent activities was the day of the Royal Wedding. A big TV screen in the Maguire Center was set up for viewing the wedding – and us attendees wore hats, gloves, wobbling on high heels, and whatever else we could “round up”. – Afterwards, there was a reception, tea with trays of food – Some of the costumes were interesting/funny to see!! But wasn’t the Royal Wedding beautiful – but no more so than each of your weddings!!
I love you all. Part of my comfort in life is having Tricia and her family here, seeing all of you from time to time, and your wonderful e-mails and contacts through the year. Thank you!!
Blanks
Hey fam!
We just got back from the beach with Mom, Dad, Jenn and Caroline! Our first of two beach trips this summer! I can’t say it was a typical beach trip as we got rear ended and pushed into the car in front of us trying to cross 98 coming off the mid bay bridge(the most millennial interaction ever-they compared the number of accidents they’d been in this year 🤦♀️-she thought somebody had hit her and nobody was behind her.. can we say texting and driving?), we then got a flat tire on the way to Baskin Robbins the next night, and the A/C was out the entire trip! Brian also flew out Friday for a funeral in TX. If any of you remember Matt Miller or his wife Caroline from our wedding, his dad passed away from cancer. Keep them in your prayers! Brian got to stay with Trent and Abbie so it wasn’t all too bad of a trip! We still had a ton of fun despite the drama. Earlier this May, Elizabeth was dedicated at church and our parents drove over to celebrate with us. We had several of Brian’s coworkers and their families over for an end of year cookout. One of the families is even keeping Harley over Memorial Day while we are hanging with Brian’s family at the lake! Hope to see some of you one morning on our visit to Mom and Dad’s house! Especially Aunt Madee! Most of our days are spent trying to keep up with Miss Independent herself who wants to walk everywhere on her own! We are soaking in our last two months as a family of 3 before we welcome Margaret Ann, who will go by Maggie. Y’all can pray for my doctor who I haven’t seen since February. He was in a car accident and got a bad concussion. I haven’t quite figured out what to do about my rapidly approaching due date and which doctor might deliver Maggie! I’m trying not to be too anxious but I’ll be 30 weeks Memorial Day so the final countdown is on! Keep us all in your prayers as our next update might be around the time she’s due! August 6! Woo! Happy summer!
The Blanks
Nabors
Hello Fam,
I am headed home from the lake where we had a wonderful time (as always) thanks to Aunt Susan and Uncle Jeff! Aunt Madeegot to come (thanks to Lulu), and it was so awesome seeing her! She got to meet Susie, which meant so much to me. I still miss Grandy and often I hold Susie and talk to her about Grandy (and B-pa). Tears still seem to come easily at times when I think about her – and things I want to share with her… though I always smile knowing how blessed I am. I miss her greatly because I was loved deeply and blessed immensely.
The last two months have been busy at work. It’s been an encouraging time for me as we have had a handful of athletes from other gyms asking to come to our program. We have become known for a gym that creates top level athletes in a healthy environment (and we have tough conditioning) 🙂 We still have a ways to go to be the program that I envision, but we are on the right path. And more than anything, God is opening up opportunities for me to be His hands and feet. This is my mission field and I want to plant seeds and shine His light. We haven’t had the most successful championship season, but our girls continue to push forward. We have one last qualifier that we will be attending in June. My goal for our two athletes is for them to do in the meet what they do each day in practice. We have struggled with the nerves of competition this season, so I have some work to do to help our athletes in this area.
Will finished kindergarten. This year has been wonderful! His teacher was amazing, and I am so thankful for her and all she did to help Will grow. His love for learning and for Christ were definitely stirred by her. Luke graduated preschool 🙂 but he will do another 4K program next year. With his August birthday, we decided to not have him start kindergarten yet. He also had a wonderful teacher at MBCC. He is excited to go to the same school as Will next year. Susie is growing too fast! She’s always wiggling and squirming – she loves to kick her legs, especially in the bath. She’s started eating cereal and is slowly catching on. The boys love her so. Will has really enjoyed helping out with her – Will loves to entertain her and loves on her. Luke tends to be my ‘errand runner’ and help by getting a diaper or burp cloth or that sort of thing.
Cory has been busy. Work has been a bit crazy for him. Not everyone takes pride in their work, wanting to do their best, in all things. So he’s got his work cut out for him right now. Last Sunday our pastor had a very encouraging, inspiriting message (in my opinion). Two things he said/quoted that hit home with me that I wanted to share – 1) Bloom where you are planted…. not waiting to ‘bloom’ when you get to where you want to go, but right where God has you. Similar to the parable that Jesus told about the talents. 2) Be faithful in the small things because it is in them your future lies. -Mother Theresa…
Know that each of you are loved so much! We look forward to every time we get to see any and all of you!
Trent and Abbie
Fam Jam,
I hope all of you received my email, if not, we are moving to BIRMINGHAM!! I got a job with Cooper Construction as an assistant project manager and will start June 18th. We are so dang excited to get home and be closer. If you are thinking we are moving Home to have kids, you could not be more wrong. However, we are excited to spend more time with the kiddos, and all the fam, living in the ham. While it was not the best circumstances, we did get to spend about 24 hours with Brian in Dallas. We enjoyed sharing a couple of meals together and picking his brain about finances. We missed seeing everyone at the lake, but hopefully we can catch up with each of you on July 4th.
Sorry this was a short article, but we love each of you very much.
Love,
Trent and Abbie
Jennifer and Caroline
Hello all! I am currently living my best life at the lake. It’s even better cause AUNT MADEE IS HERE!! I am loving visiting with her and teaching her about the new iPhone she has. Aunt Madee you’re doing so great already!!!
This article is from myself as well as Jen. We are both doing great. I am still looking for a job in bham, post graduation life is weird and I’m ready to have my own classroom!!
And Jen told me to say: “My life is fine. Thanks.”
We love y’all
Jen and Carol
Net Net and Uncle Merritt
It has been a busy spring with the Camargo’s moving back in with us in preparation for Pedro’s court date of July 12 . They are settled now for the most part. Summer has been with us while Merritt hiked. Marshall and Raina will be living downstairs till they head out west in the fall. We went to Destin for 5 days with the Nabors, Aitchesons and Camargo’s . We sure missed Pedro, Mike , Merritt, Marshall and Raina. The weather was perfect and the water very nice. We found a bunch of sand dollars one day and rode a few waves in the raft. I also got to spend s lot of time with Susie . She is laughing and talking a lot now.
I have also spent some time in Carrollton mowing grass, trimming and cutting trees. We had to cut down one of the hammock trees and several others.
All is well here at the Terch lake house. What a great place to spend Memorial Day.
Marshall and Raina
So it’s been a semester full of driving. For those who don’t know I started working for my Dad in January. So I have spent a lot of time in the car between working and following the lady statesman around the south east. But the season has come to an end and so our time in Cleveland, Ms. Raina has turned in her resiginatation to Delta State and we will be moving to Birmingham for the summer. Future plans to come in next news letter.
Currently we are both in Cleveland working our favorite kids camp. OKAR CAMP.
I love and miss everyone!!!! Hope everyone had a great memorial day.
Duffs
Hey fam,
As I write this, the little two are playing on the rain while the big two are at school having board game day. The past two months have been chock full of activity so I will keep this article to the highlights.
Sanjae’s adoption update: the judge granted her mom a 20 day extension to write a brief for her appeal. The lawyers do not believe she will be able to successfully do this as she is representing herself. The 20 days have since passed and we are waiting to hear whether she successfully filed or not. If she did, the court has 30 days to review and rule on it. If she didn’t, we can adopt any day.
Adah Marie graduated from preschool and is headed to kindergarten in the fall. Due to her August birthday, we will re-evaluate next year whether she should repeat kindergarten or not. As it stands, her preschool teacher thinks she needs to go onto kindergarten.
Nora Grace completed her first season of softball and absolutely loved it! I don’t know when little girls are supposed to turn into attitude filled preteens, but apparently it’s 6 for Nora Grace—pray for us!
Bryan had an up and down third grade year, but it has finished well. He started a new flexible thinking therapy at school which we hope will yield positive rewards. He will also be starting cognitive behavior therapy this summer.
We spend a lot of time in our house working on emotional and sensory regulation. Tim and I are learning to recognize when our kids are disregulated and what works for each one to regulate themselves. The goal being that they will learn to do this without us in the future. We are not naturals at it, but we are learning.
We are looking forward to summer and the freedom that comes with it. Please pray for us, as much fun as summer freedom is, the lack of strict schedules really wears on Bryan which affects us all.
We love y’all and look forward to visiting some over the summer!
Love the Duffs
LA and Nik
Hey everyone!
Not much new happening with Nik or myself. We did just recently get back from a trip to CA to see his family and friends and it was great. We ate at our favorite restaurants and got to visit our old church.
One of the highlights for me was when we drove out to see Nik’s great grandparents. Being born in the early 1900s, I was curious of the story of how they met, their role in the wars, etc. Mr. Cook was familiar with Eglin Air Force Base and had driven through Alabama on multiple occasions. His job was to supply military parts across the U.S. and some overseas. It slipped my mind to ask if he recognized the Schestopol name, but it was still neat to hear him remember those times. He could recall the smallest of details of things that happened decades ago (reminds me of Aunt Madee!)
Overall, it was a nice little vacation, and I’m excited to spend time with some of y’all this summer! Love ya!
LA & Nik
LuLu and Uncle Dennis
Hello Family
These article are hard to write because I can’t remember what has happened during the last 2 months. But I love hearing about every one so I will contribute too.
Not much happening with the old Dunne’s. Dennis and I finished watching Bluebloods on Netflix. Now I want to go to New York City. Our new night time entertainment is Hawaii Five-0. It is fun seeing all the places we took Grandy last year when we went to Hawaii. Brings back good memories.
Dennis finished reading a book on Cason Calloway that he borrowed from Grandys house. He said it was very interesting reading about how Calloway Gardens came to be! If you want another good book to read try the book “Before we were yours”
It is about a crooked adoption agency in Tennessee and the story of its affect on this one family. Really good book!! And it is kinda true.
Today was the last day of school!!! I have loved driving the special needs bus but it will be nice to have a break.
Dennis is still blowing and going with his dog training. I am a wimp and told him I couldn’t deal with boarding dogs. It was good money but just to disruptive for me. So he is just doing training on location.
I am all out of news. Hope you all are well
I love you all!
Aunt Susan and Uncle Jeff
Hello family!
Even as I write this at 11:15pm, there are several others here at the lake writing articles. We miss all of you who could not be here at the lake. Though rain was predicted for each day we have only had one short shower. There has been tubing, Sea doo riding and boat cruising. Dennis had been the great boat driver for the trip. Cory has pulled tubers on the sea doos. . Cory has also been our air conditioner savior. He has repaired one unit and gave one unit a temporary fix so it will work until a new part is ordered. Yay Cory!! Thank you!
Aunt Madee is here at the lake with us and we are really enjoying her company. She is smart, funny and wise. She is a pleasure to be around. So glad Luanne was able to go and get her.
On another note, I am having so much fun being a grandmother. Elizabeth is fun to be around. We,Blank’s Jennifer and Caroline, got to go to the beach together and had fun playing in the sand. Well maybe not in the sand but just being together. The air conditioner broke while we were at the beach. That is a long story to be told another time. There again rain was predicted but we had great weather.
That is all this time!
Love y’all!
Susan
Camargos
Hello family!! It’s hard to imagine life without each one of you (and who even would!!) our family amazes me more and more!! Especially when I see a glimpse into other, we just have something special!!
Thank you so much to Aunt Susan and Uncle Jeff for there generosity in hosting us at the Lake house AND thanks to LuLu for getting Aunt Madee there!! It was awesome seeing everyone! For those who might have caught up with me there, feel free to skip on down!! 😂😜
For those who don’t know Pedro, the kids and I have moved into my parents house. This is in preparation for Pedro’s last steps in getting his papers!! This is a good thing unfortunately along with good come scary, hard, and out of our comfort zone!
July 12, at 8:00 A.M. in Atlanta, GA pedro will have to appear in immigration court. We will be asking for the Judge to close our case here in the US and allow Pedro to await his Nation Visa Center (hearing or trial, which we call NVC hearing) Currently as of the last several years no immigration judge has granted this the next best thing is they will grant a voluntary departure. In the voluntary departure the Judge will give Pedro so many days to leave the US. Anywhere from 30 days to 120 days…there hasn’t been any pattern establish so this is very unknown. Worst case scenario is that they will detain him immediately and deport him. Any ruling the court makes that day the following step is the same. We have already applied for a NVC hearing date but have yet to be granted one. Prays that we will be granted one soon. If the date is known before he leave we will know the time frame he will be gone BUT if the NVC hearing is not scheduled before he leave he will have to wait in Mexico until he receives his hearing date!
We have tons of plans A through Z and more. At this point so much in unknown we have decided to try to settle into mom and dad’s house and just enjoy family here this summer and when July 12th comes we will face what happens then 😃🙏🏽
God has been so good and brought us through SO much! We know He will continue to walk before us! Pray that we will continue to lean on and trust in Him in every circumstance!
As far as life outside of that Pedro is working lots this summer and always busy working.
Gabby and SammyD are finishing up school (virtual online). And Jon Jon and I are on SUMMER break!!!
The kids summer calendar is bursting at the seams! From VBS with LULU (Camp LuLu), VBS at our church, show choir camp, big kids have overnight church camp while Jonathan is at soccer day camp, Jonathan and SammyD are playing soccer 1 or 2 times a week in a summer league, then they have music and arts camp where they will preform a play and to wrap up the summer the beach!! So is say they will have LOTS of fun!!
I’m excited about Trent and Abbie’s move back home (Birmingham, I’d even take Alabama or the southeast for some of you guys hehehe) sad that Marshall is headed out. But you all are young, live life!! Though I love living through your adventure through the newsletter!!
Anyways love each one of you so much!!
Lynne
Justin and Brittany
Family,
It is so good to read everyone’s articles and catch up on the happenings. Thanks to all of those who wrote and sent pictures!
Quick update for Brittany and I: Brittany is a full time superwoman with juggling school, work, Church, and taking care of me. I am convinced that she is one of those people who could go 3 days without sleeping or eating but still be better at life than 90 percent of the population. I am a lucky man. For me, life is full between work, Church, and being a hobbyist. I have recently become obsessed with mountain biking so it is only a matter of time before I break my collar bone.
The Lord has blessed Brittany and I in Salt Lake “far more abundantly than all we can ask or think” (Ephesians 3:20) with our Church and community group, so we are currently starting to go through the membership application process. Exciting times!
That’s really it. We love and miss you all……….. Time to start planning the 2019 Burgin Family Western Road Trip? I think its an optimal time with Ryan, Marshall (soon), and I out here. Just a thought!
Love,
P.S. I went on a little road trip over Memorial Day with some of my Indian friends from Atlanta, below are a couple of video’s to get people excited about our 2019 road trip.
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