Merry Christmas from the Volmers

This just about sums it up....

Mary's first blog

Hello family,
I can see that we old folk have not quite embraced this idea. I finally found Katie's original email and found the blog again. It was great to see the pictures and here about everyone's life. We are doing great but I think the whole family has gotten a cold for Christmas. Stuart and Jim are home from college and Charlie is off school for break. I am supposed to be working on the Mora family calendar but got distracted. I know that my boys are in favor of dropping their names off the family exchange list and for whoever they have it will be a belated Christmas. I am excited about coming home to help mom celebrate her 80th birthday. I will be arriving on the 3rd. Hope to see many of you then. Does anyone have any software they reccommend for making slide show Love Mary

An Update on Mortgage Rates

Hey Everyone---Chad wanted me to pass this on...
Hey, rates have dropped significantly. Over the last 2 weeks the have been going down. There is a chance that I can help lower somebody’s interest rate and monthly payments that work in your building. There is a possibility depending on the situation that I could cover some or all of the closing cost. If I can lower their mortgage payment and have no cost or very small cost it would be a no brainier for them. A lot of the guys around the office are calling clients that are at 6.375% and higher on a 30 year fixed and getting them into the high 5%’s or low 6%’s.



On the other hand if they didn’t want me to cover cost I could get them down to the middle to high 5’s. On a 30 year fixed rate right now par is 5.5%. This means that I would have to make all my money on the front of the loan. But if somebody wanted to pay a point or two and roll in the closing cost I could potentially get them in the middle 5%’s. In any case there would be no out of pocket cost. If you would pass this email on to your colleagues in the school I would appreciate it. If they just wanted to talk and see if there would be a benefit have them give me a call.

If you have any interest or know someone that might just give him a call--
316-619-9308 or email him at chadb@mscloan.com

Thanks!!!
Megan

Valley Center Oblingers

We finally found the Blog! I am writing this from Kent and Christina's living room waiting for the rest of the Thanksgiving revelers to arrive. Happy Turkey Day everybody!

The updates are as follows:

The newest Oblinger/Letourneau is Trinity Therese (Ter-ezz). Megan posted her picture. She is a daddy's girl, more introverted than her new sister, but a lot of fun. She is precocious and precious! The adoption will be finalized in December. Trinity is 1/4 Cuban, 1/4 Puerto Rican, 1/4 Caucasian, and 1/4 African-American. She was born 3-3-06, and has been living with us since 10-5-07. We love her, and you will too when you get to meet her! We will (God-willing) be adopting her half-brother when he is born sometime around late-December... potentially the first great-grandson. We are considering selling naming rights (Just Kidding).

With the new addition(s), we were forced to upgrade transportation. We bought a used Honda Odyssey Minivan last week, and it made its first trip to KC today.

Hope the holiday season starts out right for all Letourneau Clanspersons.

Dan, Myle, Monica, Trinity, and baby to be named later.

Adult Cousin Gift Exchange

A while back a few of us discussed the possibility of changing the older cousin gift exchange and all giving to a charity instead. So many of us are blessed with everything we need...and lately the gift exchange had lost it's flair...we thought that giving to a charity would be a nice new tradition. Obviously with the posting of the exchange list we didn't get it put together for this year, but would anyone still like to do it?? We could all give to the same charity or we could ask the person whose name we have "drawn" and give to a charity of their choice. Let me know what you think...and please pass the word on!!
Megan

The Dumler Update

We have some very sad news to report from the Dumler house. We have to put Chica, our beloved chihuahua, to sleep tomorrow. Scott adopted her about 9 years ago as a puppy, and I fell in love with her 3 years ago when I started dating Scott. About a week ago, she started getting sick. The vet said that her kidneys were failing, so she has been undergoing dialysis since last Friday. She hasn't responded well to the treatment, so we don't have any other choice but to put her to sleep. We are all very sad. Isabella will definitely miss her best friend. Keep our family in your prayers. It's so sad to lose a pet.

Update on Megan

Hello Everyone!!! I thought that I would add a post to represent the Oblingers. Things are going well here in Topeka. I really love my job...the kids are a lot of fun and my team teacher and I are very compatible. God's work can be pretty amazing. I have 622 students in K-6 grade...I think that as of right now I know about 50% of their names!! We usually see them in groups of 40-55. Luckly I see them for 40 minutes every other day, so I am getting to know them quickly. I just completed my first round of evaluations....I got a "We were nervous to hire someone so young, but we love you speech so all is well. Chad is still working in Kansas City as a Mortgage Officer...he really enjoys what he is doing, but we are still praying for a drastic change in the market. We are going to be spending Christmas in California with his family...I am looking forward to the trip!! Other than that not a whole lot new...I am studying to to be a Certified Personal Trainer and running a lot in my evenings alone.Oh, and I am a proud new aunt...for those of you who have not meet Trinity she is too cute!!
love & prayers
Meg

Keffer Update

Excitement around the Keffer house: Rachel is busy with her Junior year with her busy social life and being on yearbook. Things are going great. I even took her and a couple of friends to Atchinson, KS for an escape weekend. Next time you see Rachel, ask her about Sallie's house. Melanie is busy with her volleyball. She had been practicing 5 times each week with games on the weekend. Her team just wrapped up the CYO league where they took second in the tourny. On to Club V-ball tryouts on Saturday. Brent is into football and having a blast. His team just one three out of the last four. He loves being a lineman!! Scott has gotten to come home a few times. He has been practicing so hard, that he likes to escape when he can. The fall practice season is now over and it is now conditioning season.

We finally opened the new basement for parties. It is not quite done, but we needed to break it in for the KSU vs Texas game. It was a great game to watch. Well this is my first time blogging.

Upcoming Ear Surgery

I (Katie) am scheduled to have ear surgery on November 21. Todd's parents will be visiting for Thanksgiving, so they will be able to help out during my recovery. My right ear drum was perforated this summer, which turned into an UGLY infection. My regular ENT wanted to give it some time to heal on its own. When it didn't after two months, I finally saw a specialist. They redid a hearing test, which I still did poorly on. Then he checked both ears. I got to finally see what the commotion was all about, as he had a little camera that he stuck down my ear. It was neat for about a minute, and then it made me feel dizzy and woozy and I had to close my eyes!! The eardrum is perforated and the flap of "skin" from the eardrum is stuck to the inner ear. The first bone in my ear canal is supposed to be horizontal, but has been "sucked" down into the ear canal as well. There is also TONS of scar tissue everywhere. He basically said that my eardrum is shot. So, I will be having surgery. He will cut my ear open behind the ear, and create a new eardrum in front of my old one using cartilage from my earlobe. He will also be putting a tube in the eardrum. At my appointment, there was also some fluid behind the left eardrum. If it is still there at my pre-op visit, he will go ahead and put a tube in that ear as well. It is only a day surgery, and I should be ready to go back to school on the Monday after Thanksgiving...

Newest Member of the Family

Phil and Nancy are the proud parents of a bouncing 135 pound boy!! (I would say "baby boy," but Jenna insists that she stay the baby!) His name is Chase Curtis Michael Sutton. He is 15 and a 9th grader in Bartlesville. I knew him and fell in love with him last year when he was an office aide at Madison Middle School. He moved in with us on October 6th, and has already managed to meet a large portion of his extended family. I am sure that he is overwhelmed at this point!! He is a foster child that has been in the system for over 8 years, and we are hoping that our home will be his last stop. Six months ago, I would have bet all of my money that I would not be parenting another male at this point in my life, but I feel very fortunate that God has placed him in our lives. He is an outstanding teen. And believe it or not, Phil will actually be looking for ONE more teen car in the near future!!

Chase gets a "Gr-eating Card" when visiting the Janssons


Uncle Chase and Adeline really hit it off!!


Chase challenges Phil to a game of Guitar Hero...and wins!!