Greetings and salutations to all from the Marino Famiglia!
God has been good to us this year, as always. Here are some highlights:
Deb has reached a new high (literally) in her career. She is currently in training as a critical care team medic with the Cleveland Clinic. She will have to work on the ground initially, but ultimately hopes to be in the sky. Here, she is training in the whirly bird!
She also works at a farm where her horse, Gypsy lives. She recently gave us a tour of the farm and introduced us to many animals.
Lewis graduated Trooper Academy near the top of his class and is loving his career in law enforcement as an Ohio State Trooper. Apparently, cars are not the only vehicle that Troopers are responsible for. Lewis made the front page of his local paper! Lewis also got a chance to ride up in the sky with some Troopers to see what it's like up there. (The plane below, is NOT the one he was riding in).
Margaret moved to sunny Arizona in July and is enjoying the warm climate and better health.
After taking a gap year to work full time, Jared enrolled in the local community college and is enjoying it and doing well. He still works part time, and continues to work on a couple of large writing projects, beautiful digital music and creating clothes for his younger sisters (which you shall see below).
Edith is a senior this year and plans to head to community college next fall. She is a serious student and works part time for an auto mechanic. She traveled to Tennessee last summer with her youth group on a week-long mission trip. She worked full time as a lifeguard all summer while working part time at the auto mechanic shop. Deb took some casual pictures, and Jared did the formal pictures (as well as making the dress) for her senior photos. It's nice to have older siblings! I caught her at work one day helping a customer. Deb was able to come and celebrate her birthday with her birthday buddy!
Natty has surpassed several of us in height! He also travelled to Tennessee last summer with the youth mission team. His love of flying is now getting a bit more serious, with a plane ride to introduce him to flight and by joining Civil Air Patrol. He dabbled in swim team last summer and built a raft in the back yard. I guess if the flying thing does not work out, there is always the Navy.
I am seeing a pattern here...
Ellie loves to read and has developed into a very skilled read-out-loud reader. Ellie also dabbled in the swim team this past summer, and for such a sweet child, she looks like a beast when she swims! She was the only one of the three younger kids to have the courage to participate in her piano teacher's recital. Not only did she do very well, she inspired her older siblings to participate in the next recital this Spring! Her costume pictured below is another one of Jared's creations.
Mattis continues to be a most beloved of dogs. Everyone loves him and he is happy to take a long walk or a long snuggle, whichever you want. We are so thankful to have him as a part of our family. Those ears!
Our local Metro Park continues to be a source of peace and joy in all kinds of weather. We attended a beautiful summer wedding and reception, where there was a lot of food and dancing and merriment. We hit the beach a few times at Mentor Headlands this summer- such a quiet and relaxing place! We attended a Lake Erie Captain's game with our church friends on a beautiful late summer night. They won and there was a fireworks show that was about the best I had ever seen! We took a short trip west of here- somewhere between Sandusky and Toledo- for a long week end. Deb joined us for a night and brought a quilting project for us to work together on.
We celebrated 30 years of marriage this year. I am so grateful for Jay- he works hard and faithfully, drives the kids all over for their various activities, and supports me in home educating the kids. He also went on the youth mission trip this summer with Natty and Edi. I find I am slowly retiring from homeschooling as time goes on, although I do get a lot of one on one time with the younger kids. I have more free time, so I joined a fitness club to get some purposeful exercise.
We are thankful for God's blessings and care for us, in good and bad times. We are thankful for God providing a way of salvation through His Son, Jesus. We pray you find the peace that only God can give- now and always.
Love,
The Marinos.
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