Christmas Part II

The second leg of our Christmas journey took us home to Chattanooga. There we got to see just about everybody. The girls were thrilled to see Nanna and Pop.

As well as their Grandad and Great Grandmother.... (and if you look really closely you will notice that my magical clavicle ball came to grandad's house as well

And we even got a chance to spend some time with Mary Jane's Great-Grandfather (that's the girls' great-Great-grandfather!!) He turned 100 and it was exciting to have FIVE generations all together (Pop, Granny, Nanna, Mary Jane, and the girls).

And of course there we saw everybody else as well...

..and there were presents......lots...

...and lots of presents.

I know what all of you are thinking. You're worried that with all this visiting and presents and there very cornucopia of adventures which await one when they travel to Chattanooga, that Mary Jane would not getting any brother sister bonding time with Mark. Well never fear....

...there was plenty of time for that too.

(you almost can't tell he's struggling to get away from her hug ;)

Mark & Teela

On September 26, 2008 at 5:30 PM Eastern Standard Mark Stephen Hendrix (Mary Jane’s brother) was married to Teela Moore. We were supposed to be in the wedding, but life took the change that has led to all of you reading this.
We spend a lot of time talking about the girls here, and so I figured you would be okay with taking just a brief moment for us to let Mark know we care.
Mark, we hate that we’re not there. We know you understand, if anyone would understand we know you do. Know that we are praying for the two of you. Know that we love you both.
Congratulations Mark and Teela!

Love Jason, Mary Jane, Parker and Emma Jane

Reuion...er reuNion

Life continues to go well for all "four" of us. All signs suggest the babies are doing well.

We went to Chattanooga the other weekend so Mary Jane could attend to her 10 year high school reunion. Much fun was had by all. The day started off with a picnic downtown at the park. Some people packed elaborate lunches. Others brought...Chik-Fil-A.
That evening everyone met at the Winkler's for the "official" event. We arrived early (although not as early as some) to help with the setup. It was decided by someone, no one has exactly claimed this idea, that it would be a good idea to send some of the husbands to the area where people were parking to direct traffic. There wasn't enough room to park near the Winkler home so people were given directions to a near by area to park and the plan was to shuttle them back and forth by car. And a very good plan it was too. The men were sent to do the directing and shuttling without a second thought by anyone. Jason, Paul, John, and Nelson all left along with a bag of chips and some home made salsa. It was only after they were in place that it was realized that none of them were actually members of the high school graduating class. They were just four strange men standing by the side of the road (Nelson wearing a T-Shirt with "Reuion" scrawled in sharpie on it...it was realized to late a letter was missing and an extra "N" was scrunched in amongst the jumble of letters) flagging down cars and asking if they were part of the reunion. Actually, Nelson and Paul flagged down cars pointing at Nelson's T-shirt and then pointing at the parking lot. John Calvin drove the car back and forth. While Jason walked up to people getting out of their cars and asked "Are you here for the reunion? Hi, you don't know me. My name is Jason Broge, my wife is Mary Jane Broge, she would have been Mary Jane Hendrix when you knew her. I'm sorry to say there is no boat, but someone is shuttling people to the Winkler's. If you want to wait here for just a moment he will be right back." Well...truth be told. That isn't quite what Jason would say. He actually began with, "Are you hear for the CCLS reunion? Hi, you ...." The problem with this was that it was not the ccLs reunion. It was the CCS reunion (no L), so people would look at him very strangely (which is nothing new for Jason so it took him a while to realize something was wrong). Now the mistake was easy to make and should be forgiven. Jason was (until his vicarage started a month ago) a fieldworker at Webster Gardens Lutheran Church. The school attached to this church is CCLS (Christ Community Lutheran School). Naturally Jason is used to saying CCLS and found it easy to slip into. Eventually someone took pity on him and said..."do you mean CCS?" To which Jason paused and said..."uhhh...probably"

About an hour after the party had started the boys began wondering if they had been forgotten about and made inquires as to whether they could come back to the Winklers. There is some disagreement amongst the wives as to whether they had "forgotten" their husbands...but Kim gets points for sending John back to the husbands with snacks.

After all this one might start to think the whole party was a debacle, however that would be a mistake. A great time was had by all. Mary Jane got to catch up with friends she hadn't seen in a while and Jason got to see a slice of Mary Jane's life from before he knew her (which he always likes doing). Jessica planned the party perfectly and the food was provided by the Winklers...and was fantastic. We could go on and on but...well you've put up with enough rambling already.

The next day we attended Mark and Teela's shower. This was a great chance to see a lot of Mary Jane's family all at once, as well as support Mark and Teela (something we are always happy to do)

All in all it was a wonderful weekend back in the "Noog"