Norm and Susan Manly’s 2014 Christmas letter Our year began at Rancho Resort located in Sahuarita, Arizona. This was our fifth year coming to Arizona. Unfortunately, Norm started the year with a nasty sinus infection that kept us away from all the parties and events for three weeks! It was difficult to walk by the swimming pool and not able to jump in. Life at Rancho Resort is full of opportunities. Lots of clubs to join and events to attend. Norm belongs to two music groups that meet weekly and Sue joined the pickleball club; she really enjoys the game. If you’re not keeping busy down here it’s your own fault! Corky loves it here too as he gets to go on lots of walks and trips to the dog park daily where he visits all his friends. Besides all our RR friends we live close to sister, Maxine and her hubby Wally plus brother Marv and his better half Ginger. One fun event for us was watching the Super Bowl in February. The ballroom was filled with half Seahawk fans and half Denver fans. By the start of the third quarter almost all the Denver fans had went home. Seahawks won the Super Bowl 43 to 8! It’s always fun to entertain company that come down to visit. Our son, Phil had a layover at Tucson International just once during our four month stay. It was great to see him if only for a few hours. He is currently flying for Express Jet out of New Jersey. Our good friends Gary and Diane Stauffer spent five days with us in February. They picked the right week as it was in the high 80’s every day. In March we had a visit from Craig and Chris Rayment, our neighbors back in Manson. Also in March we enjoy a way too short visit with friends Terry and Laura Larson. Then in late March we were very happy to have son, Chris spend a long weekend with us. Chris lives in Ballard and has a great job with F5. All good things come to an end and on April 15 we packed up the Astro Van and made the 1,600 mile trip back home. We arrived on April 18 and found things just as we left them. Spring, summer and fall were loaded with projects for Norm. Even though we have been in the house for seven years there remains several outside projects. First up was a new stone patio in the back yard. It gave us more room for our patio furniture and made the space more usable. Next was completing the rock walls in front and hauling in 25 yards of crushed rock, one wheelbarrow at a time. Work began on a bird sanctuary that we will complete next year. Lots of big events this year. On June 5th attended the Foss Maritime 125 year celebration party at Bell Harbor Conference Center. Had a great time and got to see lots of old friends. During my working career I spent 42 years with Foss. Probably the biggest event of the year was our granddaughter, Sarah Huber’s wedding to Daniel Deurbrouck on June 7th. Their pastor from Chicago came out to officiate the ceremony at Alderwood Community Church in Lynnwood. It was a beautiful wedding and a lot of thanks goes out to mom, Reine Huber for all her efforts. The happy couple honeymooned in Leavenworth and then returned to Chicago and will finish up their education at Moody Bible Institute before becoming missionaries. On June 16th we proudly watch our granddaughter, Isabella Sportelli graduate from Woodinville High School. The event was held at the Everett Convention Center. Isabella is now in her first year at the University of Washington and her brother Grant Sportelli is in his second year at the University of Washington. Our youngest granddaughter, Lydia Huber moved from middle school to high school and made the big decision to not attend public school but rather be homeschooled. There are about 200 families taking part in the homeschool and Lydia loves the concept and the education she is getting. Susan loves to travel the world and this year she marked one more item of her bucket list. Sue’s been working Ancestry for over two years adding over 2,500 relatives to her tree, mostly from Norway. She is learning the Norwegian language by listening to tapes and it is working! In July she flew to Norway visiting her new found cousins, Bjorn Berentsen and his wife Unni. In Kolbotn, Norway she stayed with the Berentsen’s nearly two weeks. They flew to Stavanger photographing graves, churches and old homestead of relatives. While in Stavnger they cruised the Lysine Fjord. Next Susan flew to Oslo then traveled south to Skein visiting a cousin from the other side of her family. Bjorn and Lottie Olsen welcomed Susan into their home where she met dozens more family members who so graciously celebrated her arrival with an American BBQ in her honor. The Olsen’s took her on a driving adventure finding family homesteads, graves churches and birth farms that she has added to her family tree. You certainly can tell Susan is Norwegian as she loves fish balls, lutefisk, all forms of pickled herring and reindeer. It was a very emotional experience for Susan and her heart remains in Norway. She felt connected just standing and walking in the footsteps of her Ancestors. Susan plans to return soon and visit Denmark where she just recently found another cousin on her Danish side. Ønsker dere alle en riktig god jul Norm spent his volunteer time by heading up the Men’s Ministry at North Shore Bible Church, servers as Service Officer for the Manson American Legion and worked with high school students at Manson High and sixth graders at Chelan Middle School. This was Norm’s sixth year of helping students learn how to write cover letters, resumes and how to interview for a job. On November 14 we attended the Lake Chelan Award Dinner at Campbell’s Resort. Norm was one of four individuals nominated for “Citizen of the Year”. He did not win but what an honor! A big improvement in Susan’s life was eye surgery for cataracts. She can see colors that had been clouded in grays and her distance vision is much better but she still needs glasses to read. One major purchase this year as the old Astro Van passed away and we purchased a Toyota Sienna just a few days before we took off for Arizona. This made for a stressful situation but just like everything in life, God has a plan and everything worked out perfect. We arrived at Rancho Resort on December 15. We hope this note finds you in good health and getting ready to enjoy the Christmas season with family and friends.
Posted on: Sat, 20 Dec 2014 01:29:18 +0000
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