December 2015
Dear
Friends and Family,
I am forcing my fingers to get busy
and not skip out on my annual Christmas letter and card like I did last
year. Our life has been plenty busy,
full of change, adventure and blessings.
However, that won't be an excuse not to reconnect with you all this
season. As we have learned all too well,
time is not promised; and we want to take this time and share our life with all
our loved ones, near and far.
In December 2014 Beth changed
jobs. After three years as a crossing
guard she held her last stop sign and wore her last silly hat in the middle of
the street and as the school closed for Winter Break she ventured out into her
newest endeavor as a Dietitian Aide at our main local hospital. She kept doing the part time job at the
answering service on weekends until June.
Now she happily is a one job girl and enjoys her work at the
hospital. Marko and Beth are celebrating
their 12th year of marriage this December.
Marko is still with the same company
and doing mostly security work in the IT field.
His biggest workplace joy was getting his top level security clearance
which has opened doors for him to work on more projects mostly on military
bases. He travels about 25% of the time
and he enjoys getting to travel. He can
now check California off his list of states he has been too. He found that pretty exciting.
Anthony turned 11 in February with a
Steeler's Football themed sleepover with his two best friends. He is in the 6th grade and plays spring
soccer with his School as well as being on the school's cross country
team. Away from school he enjoys video
games too much and has really gotten into bicycle riding. We have done many longer rides as a family
(ok minus Marko) and just Beth and Anthony throughout the summer. Anthony managed to break two bones in two
months last year; First his nose and then his arm. He got to sport a black cast until
March. Yes, we even consider injuries
noteworthy accomplishments in our Christmas letters!
Jayna turned 10 in April with her
cowgirl themed sleepover with 5 friends.
She is in the 4th grade and does gymnastics, drama and art club at her
school. She is also on the Cross Country
team and says she is doing soccer this spring.
We will see. Her passion is the
arts; both drama and arts and crafts.
She added an interest in rocks and science this fall too. Her highlight of both this year and last, is
easily the school Christmas play where she earned her role as a main character
both years. Next week she will star as
Greta Van Popcorn, a reporter in their play, A King is Coming.
Our life got a lot more exciting
this summer as our family grew for the first time in over 10 years. Our sweet Angela joined our family and
immediately fit right in. The summer
didn't come without some heartache for her, but she is a strong young lady and
knows how to be optimistic which will take her far. In August we gained full legal and physical
custody of her. We celebrated by lunch
just Beth and her at the Olive Garden, which was a first for her. She is 17 and in the 11th grade. She is taking nursing at school and when she
graduates she will do so with her diploma and a CNA license. The household is now filled with endless
giggles and selfies!
Our family grew by two more in
July. This time they were hairy
kids. We adopted Sampson from the local
Humane Society and Phoenix from a litter of kittens about to go to the Humane
Society. We aren't typically pet people
and I wasn't even a cat fan, and yet these two furry critters have won over all
our hearts easily.
We were able to enjoy several summer
trips together. We went to Pennsylvania
twice to visit Beth's sister, her husband and their 4 boys. We went to Chincoteague Island for our beach
vacation along with Poppy and Grandma Joy.
Beth and the three kids were able to visit her brother Zach and his wife
Rebekah where they are stationed in Baltimore and even went on a day trip to
D.C. together. Our final summer trip was
to West Virginia to celebrate Papa's 90th birthday, Nana's birthday and their
anniversary too.
Life stays plenty busy now a days
between school, work, the younger two enjoying Pathfinders Club and the oldest
babysitting 4 days a week after school.
But apparently we still had room for more love and more things to do. Sadly we did receive bad news in August as
Beth’s mom was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer. She had surgery to remove the tumor and part
of the colon in Oct. Unfortunately, that
didn’t remove all the cancer, so she starts chemo Jan 4th.
In early November, little Jayla
joined our family. She is 4, and will
likely be with us through the winter.
She has brought a lot of new excitement into our family. She's in Pre-K and enjoys learning and
playing at school. The three girls
wasted no time creating her her own bedroom upstairs in the girls room. Then
after beloved Thanksgiving trip to WV and time with our cousins, aunts, uncles
and grandparents, it was decided it was in Jayla's best interest to have her
parents here full time. So her parents
are enjoying our living room suite as temporary sleeping quarters, until they
get back on their feet.
This year has been an exciting one
filled with many new adventures, a lot of love and a little bit of adjustment
pains as we entered each new phase that life handed us. We hope you too can look back on your year
with smiles of blessings remembered throughout your year.
Love,
The Sykes Family; Marko,
Beth, Angela, Anthony, Jayna and Jayla and Sampson and Phoenix too of course
For occasional updates: http://busybethblog.blogspot.com/
Thanks for a family's fine wrapup to 2015 on the last day of the year!
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