Marino Xmas 2025

 

GREETINGS FROM ALL THE MARINOS!

Jared graduated massage therapy school and before settling down into a job search, travelled to Palermo, Sicily for 8 days. It was his first time travelling anywhere alone, and it was a trip to remember! He has been hired by Massage Envy, loves it so far, and moved out the week of Thanksgiving into a nearby high rise, that has a lovely 6th floor view with Lake Erie as the backdrop. He is still working at the service station on the weekends, and we stop in often on the way home from church to get gas, visit, or grab a pic of him for my newsletter!

Deb is flying around the area as a flight medic for the Cleveland Clinic, after waiting for a about two years, and we have been on the ground a couple of times as she flew right over us! Deb often sends pics of the beautiful scenery from the helicopter. She is busy with her horse Gypsy, travelling around to find beautiful places to ride, and putting in a lot of time working at the barn. And Toby is always there to greet her when she gets home,

Edith will be finishing up her Associate's degree in business this Spring and plans to work full time as a key holder for Talbot's, where she has been a sales associate for 2+ years.  She travelled to Boston as a youth group leader and was fortunate to be able to tour the historic section of the city while there. She still loves hiking and exploring new Metroparks. The second pic is one of her and her sister working to build a deck on the mission trip!

Ellie ran cross country for the first time and worked hard to improve her times, and earned the integrity award. She also travelled with her youth group to Boston. She swam on swim team for the local city pool and had a personal best for one event. Ellie also loves writing and reading, and continues to study piano. She continues to be so helpful to me in keeping the house organized!

 

Margie and James are in a house in the Tucson area. She has been working on increasing her hiking distance and is up to 5 miles! Margie has loved lemons her whole life and will eat the rind and all. She has been growing a lemon tree in her yard and can now go pick a lemon and eat it right off the tree!

Nathanael/Natty/Nate worked as a lifeguard this summer and got certified as a swim instructor. He also travelled on the Boston mission trip and volunteered for the third time at the Conneaut D-Day reenactment. He ran Cross Country and achieved the MVP award, and has switched from Civil Air Patrol to Law Enforcement Explorers to see which he likes better.

Lewis and Kaitlynn are still living near-ish and keeping busy with work and church. Lewis won the ACE award for recovering at least 5 stolen vehicles. Kaitlynn has challenged herself with the pleasurable task of reading as much Russian literature as she can. I really enjoy discussing books with her!

So, now we just have three kids at home at home, and Ellie and Nate are both in high school, so the nest is emptying quickly.

Another member of the family left the house, but not our hearts. We had to say goodbye to our dear Mattis, which I wrote about here and two months later, I still see and hear my beautiful boy everywhere and yet nowhere. He was such a treasure.

Jay is keeping himself in shape with a better diet, long walks and working out at home, in addition to his long term hobbies of gardening and wood chopping. He is still working, but is looking forward to retiring (I hope for sooner rather than later!). I am still plugging away at PT and recently bought a treadmill to keep up with the walking during the cold, icy weather. I challenged myself to read 50 books this past year, and I ended up reading 54! I'm in the last few years of homeschooling and absolutely love it. 

"Let's reverently bow before the holy Child whose innocence restores to humanity its ancient glory; and let's pray that He may be formed in us, the hope of glory. Immanuel, God with us in our nature, in our sorrow, in our life work, in our punishment, in our grave, and now with us, or rather we with Him, in resurrection, ascension, triumph, and Second Advent."

                                                                                    -Charles Spurgeon