2001 Yodis Yacker
Second Edition of the New Millennium
Seasons Greetings Everyone! We hope your year has been as great as ours has been.
We look back and see that we are truly blessed. In a year when many people lost their jobs in this area, we both stayed employed even though we were fairly new to both of our jobs. Josh graduated from 8th grade and started high school with a lot less stress on him and us than we thought. We stayed healthy except for a bout with shingles (Bruce) and a case of Vertigo (Carolyn). And we had a great 3-week vacation back east.
That was a quick summary, now for all the gory details.
As the year began, layoff talk was the big thing in Silicon Valley. Cisco was going to layoff about 6,000 employees. Turnstone was losing many of their customers (they were all going bankrupt), so layoffs were inevitable. We had both only been with these companies for several months and had some worries about the new guys on the block getting the axes first. But God is good and Bruce’s boss let him know that he was not on the list. As it is, his business unit is very profitable, so very few people were laid off in the entire BU. Carolyn’s company is now down to less than a third of the number of people they started the year with, but she’s still there – some one has to pay the bills. Besides, they like her too much to lay her off.For Josh, and for us, 8th grade was not the best of times. By the end of the 3rd quarter Josh’s GPA was below what he needed to graduate. Not because he couldn’t but just that he didn’t really care about school - mostly because he was a teenager and goingg through the Big “P”. However, by explaining to him the consequences of flunking 8th grade and also tightening the screws on his activities, he was able to do what he is capable of and we were able to go to his 8th grade graduation in June.
Josh also went on the 8th grade trip to Washington DC, Amish Country in Lancaster, and New York City. He had a great time and learned some stuff at the same time. They kept him very busy; so much so that he came home Saturday night and slept all the way through Mother’s Day (one more vacation day for us).
Speaking of Mother’s Day, we took a Champagne Brunch Cruise on the San Francisco Bay with Carolyn’s parents. Josh, of course, was still asleep at home. We had a great time and now Carolyn wants to do it every year.
For summer vacation this year, we took a 3-week vacation back east in July. Bruce is from New York and Pennsylvania and had not been back there since he left in 1970. So this vacation was to be a whirlwind of visiting family and sightseeing.
We flew into Orlando, rented an SUV, and than spent the next 3 ½ days at Disney World. As expected, it was Hot, humid, and rainy but we had a great time. Then we were off to Jacksonville, FL. to visit Bruce’s Uncle Walter and Aunt Pearl. Then over by Panama City, FL to visit Bruce’s cousin Sharon and her husband Al. Next up to Huntsville, Alabama to stay with Carolyn’s sister Renee and her family. From there we went over to Chattanooga and toured through Ruby Fall’s and the Tennessee Aquarium. After that, we were off again to stay a couple of nights in Pigeon Forge by The Great Smokey Mountains. As we were leaving we drove through the Smokey’s and stopped at the Cherokee Indian reservation on the North Carolina side. From there we went to Greensboro, NC to visit Bruce’s Grandmother, Uncle Paul, his kids, and their families. Then up to Virginia to visit Bruce’s cousin Carol and her family. From there we headed to New Jersey, with a short stop in Gettysburg to see the battlefields. We stayed in New Jersey for our last week with Bruce’s cousin Charlotte and her husband Eddie. We used their house as a hotel and were able to go visit Bruce’s Aunt Joyce and Uncle Wayne and their kids and their kids, take a trip into Philadelphia’s historic section, and visit Bruce’s Uncle Fred and Aunt Ginger and 2 of their children.
Tired yet? We were! And were glad to get home. But we had a great time and enjoyed our time spent with everyone. We were amazed at how comfortable we were with everyone – God knew what he was doing when he created families.
Back home and back to work and time to get Josh ready to begin high school. He’s still struggling a little with one class but doing quite well and really enjoys it. He’s made some friends, which has helped a lot also.
We keep busy with work (or school), church, things around the house, but still find time for fun. Carolyn took a 3-day cruise to Ensenada with some girl friends, we created our haunted garage to scare the neighborhood kids, and Bruce got to put up his Christmas lights after Thanksgiving. He expects to win the community contest since he used the $125 that he won last year to buy even more lights and stuff.
Many of you shared in our lives this year and we thank God for the relationships and friendships he has given
Merry Christmas!!!
Bruce, Carolyn, and Josh (and Jenny too)
