Written by Jackie, Posted here by Kevin
Wow! Can you believe we have sent a holiday letter from the same state two consecutive years? It's amazing to me! We have now been in Kentucky over a year and it finally feels like home. I hope we are through moving for a while. I think I've said that before!
We have had another busy, but fulfilling year here in the Bluegrass. We are quite involved with our church and our careers seem to take up the rest of our time! We joined Tatesbrook Baptist Church after several months of visiting around. It's close to home and very warm, small enough you can know everybody and growing almost every Sunday which is very exciting. Kevin is teaching the high school S.S. class and we are both involved with the youth program. I am the nursery director, which is funny since we don't have any kids of our own yet. I am having fun with it though. We both sing in the choir and enjoy that as always. We also try to go visiting weekly with the church. As you can see, we love our church family and have quickly become involved.
We have had many visitors since we've moved to the Bluegrass, which is always fun. We've also gone on a few weekend trips of our own to visit friends in Charlotte and do some sight seeing. Kentucky is a nice half way point between Charlotte and Indiana. In April, we were able to go to Florida with Steve and Lori Wagner, some great friends from Indiana. They are now living about 20 minutes away while Steve attends Asbury Seminary.
June was full of weddings for us this year and we were able to make it to two of them. They were fun and we were able to visit with friends from high school we don't see very often.
We celebrated our fourth anniversary in July and also received an addition to our family! It was an adorable 8 week old red chow puppy. She is so cute and playful. Her name is Chassie and is now 6 months old. I took her to Indiana for the week of the fair and everyone fell in love with her. She looks like a little bear. Yes, I was able to make it to the 4H fair again this year and had fun helping with the livestock and watching my nieces and nephews show their animals.
Work is going great for Kevin and he has had a very rewarding year at IBM. He was one of the developers of the new PS/1 Printer and is very excited about it. He just returned from a 3 week business trip to Japan and I am glad to have him back. He left right after Thanksgiving and left me with all the Christmas shopping to do. Do you think he planned that? He was able to see some of the sights, but spent most of the time working so he could get home for our Christmas Cantata at church.
I am still working at the Ob/Gyn Clinic and have gone full time finally. I really enjoy working with these doctors and this practice.
We had a wonderful Thanksgiving, which was spent with our family in Indiana. We have so much to be thankful for, so many friends and family who mean so much to us.
That brings us up to December and a busy holiday season. With Kevin just returning from Japan there is much to get done before we take off for Indiana again. We are looking forward to a joyous Christmas and spending our week with our friends and family. We also are anticipating a belated Christmas package. My brother and wife are expecting their third child some time in February and we're all excited about having a new baby in the family once again.
We have had such a blessed and prosperous year, God is so good to us! We hope your year has been as rewarding as ours and we want to wish everyone a blessed and joyful holiday season!
Love in Christ,
Kevin and Jackie
Tuesday, December 25, 1990
Monday, December 25, 1989
Christmas Card 1989
Written by Jackie, Posted here by Kevin
We hope this holiday season finds "you all" well. They still speak a bit southern here! Wow, where has this year gone? I can't believe it is Christmas time again already. This has been a busy year for us with many decisions to make and changes going on. We had a wonderful Christmas holiday in Indiana last year but little did we know that would be the end of relaxation for awhile.
As many of you already know we moved to Lexington, KY in July. The entire printer development at IBM in Charlotte was transferring up to Lexington and with that came a decision for us to make as well. Kevin could stay with his department and move or he could change positions and work in another department. His co-workers also had to make this decision which included approximately 200 families. This announcement came in February and we had to make a decision by the end of March. It was a hard decision to make, since we had just moved last year. We loved living in Charlotte, I liked my job, we were so involved with our church and had met so many great friends. There were so many things to consider. Kentucky was closer to Indiana which was closer to family and Kevin really enjoyed working with the printers. We had a survey trip to Lexington in March to see if we would like to live here and we really enjoyed that. It really is a beautiful area to live in with all the horse farms and rolling hills. After much discussion and prayer, we decided Lexington was the place we ought to be.
After we made the decision to move, we then had to find a place to live! We went on a house hunting trip in May. After a week of looking at 40 some houses with our realtor, we decided to buy a home in the Southeast part of Lexington. It was just being framed and we fell in love with it. It's just big enough for right now with three bedrooms and two baths and the largest kitchen I have ever had! HA! It has a double garage and Kevin loves the extra storage space and work area. We really like the location, too. It's close to my work and our church and shopping!!
Mom, Dad and my niece Heidi met us in Lexington that week and drove to Dollywood with us and from there it was on to Myrtle Beach for a weekend of fun and sun. It was fun having company from Indiana there in Charlotte, too.
In June we had to select a moving company between weekends of goodbye parties and trips to Lake Norman for water skiing and the mountains for white water rafting with our Sunday School class. I even unintentionally shot the rapids without our raft. Rafting is something we would love to do again. We chose a different moving company this year and we were very happy with them. They did a super job. PTL!
The move took place the first week of July and so did our temporary living arrangements at the Residence Inn until our house was finished on July 31st. That was nice having a maid to clean up after us and having IBM paying for us to eat out almost every night but we were both glad to get settled down in our own place with our stuff. All of our personal belongings were kept in storage until we could move into our house. The month of July was full of interviewing for jobs and finishing the house. After many different job opportunities, I decided to work for an Obstetrician/ Gynecologist clinic and I love it. There are seven doctors there and we do most of the testing ourselves. It's only part time right now but will eventually work into full time. No holidays, weekends or nights and part time has been nice with getting settled into a new area. I was also able to go home for the 4ÄH fair this year and see my nieces and nephew show their livestock. It brings back many memories.
In September, we went to Kevin's class reunion and it was good to see everybody. It really makes a big difference being 5+ hours from family instead of 12+. We can easily do it in a weekend. We also have had many visits from family and friends in Indiana and North Carolina since our move. Some of our best friends from Charlotte moved to Lexington at the same time so that made it a lot easier.
We have visited many churches together and have decided on a Christian & Missionary Alliance church. We really enjoy the Sunday School class but have not been able to get involved yet with the choir and other groups since we have been out of town so much, but we intend to start after the holiday season.
We had a blessed Thanksgiving this year, which was spent with family. We were able to spend an entire week visiting friends and family and just catching up. We also plan to spend a week there for Christmas. We are looking forward to visiting some we did not get to see at Thanksgiving.
Looking back, we can see once again the many changes we have gone through and the busy year we have had. It reminds me of last years letter telling you many of the same things only in a different place! I hope I can write next years letter from the Bluegrass! HA! We do miss all of our friends from Charlotte and our church there, but if this is where God wants us for now this is where we'll make our home. We have had a blessed year, we hope you have had the same. We want to wish everyone a joyful holiday season.
Love in Christ,
Kevin and Jackie
We hope this holiday season finds "you all" well. They still speak a bit southern here! Wow, where has this year gone? I can't believe it is Christmas time again already. This has been a busy year for us with many decisions to make and changes going on. We had a wonderful Christmas holiday in Indiana last year but little did we know that would be the end of relaxation for awhile.
As many of you already know we moved to Lexington, KY in July. The entire printer development at IBM in Charlotte was transferring up to Lexington and with that came a decision for us to make as well. Kevin could stay with his department and move or he could change positions and work in another department. His co-workers also had to make this decision which included approximately 200 families. This announcement came in February and we had to make a decision by the end of March. It was a hard decision to make, since we had just moved last year. We loved living in Charlotte, I liked my job, we were so involved with our church and had met so many great friends. There were so many things to consider. Kentucky was closer to Indiana which was closer to family and Kevin really enjoyed working with the printers. We had a survey trip to Lexington in March to see if we would like to live here and we really enjoyed that. It really is a beautiful area to live in with all the horse farms and rolling hills. After much discussion and prayer, we decided Lexington was the place we ought to be.
After we made the decision to move, we then had to find a place to live! We went on a house hunting trip in May. After a week of looking at 40 some houses with our realtor, we decided to buy a home in the Southeast part of Lexington. It was just being framed and we fell in love with it. It's just big enough for right now with three bedrooms and two baths and the largest kitchen I have ever had! HA! It has a double garage and Kevin loves the extra storage space and work area. We really like the location, too. It's close to my work and our church and shopping!!
Mom, Dad and my niece Heidi met us in Lexington that week and drove to Dollywood with us and from there it was on to Myrtle Beach for a weekend of fun and sun. It was fun having company from Indiana there in Charlotte, too.
In June we had to select a moving company between weekends of goodbye parties and trips to Lake Norman for water skiing and the mountains for white water rafting with our Sunday School class. I even unintentionally shot the rapids without our raft. Rafting is something we would love to do again. We chose a different moving company this year and we were very happy with them. They did a super job. PTL!
The move took place the first week of July and so did our temporary living arrangements at the Residence Inn until our house was finished on July 31st. That was nice having a maid to clean up after us and having IBM paying for us to eat out almost every night but we were both glad to get settled down in our own place with our stuff. All of our personal belongings were kept in storage until we could move into our house. The month of July was full of interviewing for jobs and finishing the house. After many different job opportunities, I decided to work for an Obstetrician/ Gynecologist clinic and I love it. There are seven doctors there and we do most of the testing ourselves. It's only part time right now but will eventually work into full time. No holidays, weekends or nights and part time has been nice with getting settled into a new area. I was also able to go home for the 4ÄH fair this year and see my nieces and nephew show their livestock. It brings back many memories.
In September, we went to Kevin's class reunion and it was good to see everybody. It really makes a big difference being 5+ hours from family instead of 12+. We can easily do it in a weekend. We also have had many visits from family and friends in Indiana and North Carolina since our move. Some of our best friends from Charlotte moved to Lexington at the same time so that made it a lot easier.
We have visited many churches together and have decided on a Christian & Missionary Alliance church. We really enjoy the Sunday School class but have not been able to get involved yet with the choir and other groups since we have been out of town so much, but we intend to start after the holiday season.
We had a blessed Thanksgiving this year, which was spent with family. We were able to spend an entire week visiting friends and family and just catching up. We also plan to spend a week there for Christmas. We are looking forward to visiting some we did not get to see at Thanksgiving.
Looking back, we can see once again the many changes we have gone through and the busy year we have had. It reminds me of last years letter telling you many of the same things only in a different place! I hope I can write next years letter from the Bluegrass! HA! We do miss all of our friends from Charlotte and our church there, but if this is where God wants us for now this is where we'll make our home. We have had a blessed year, we hope you have had the same. We want to wish everyone a joyful holiday season.
Love in Christ,
Kevin and Jackie
Sunday, December 25, 1988
Christmas Card 1988
Written by Jackie, Posted here by Kevin
Kevin graduated from Purdue in May and along with that came many changes. He started interviewing early in the year with different companies and by March had wrapped that up. In February, Kevin was contacted by IBM in Charlotte, NC. He flew down for an interview and was successful as you notice our return address. It wasn't an easy decision, believe me. Kevin had other offers closer to home which we were also considering.
Well, like I said earlier, it wasn't an easy decision; but after much discussion and prayer we ended up in Charlotte. We truly felt the Lord was leading us to Charlotte. I still get homesick once in a while; but knowing God wants us here really helps. It has been confirmed to us many times that we made the right decision and we are happy here in Charlotte.
The move was an experience all in itself. We had a moving company move us and I hope we don't have to do that again in the near future! A few things were broken and time schedules were mixed up, but everything eventually was taken care of - PTL! We now live in an apartment and hope to start looking at houses within the next year. For now we are thankful for the extra space we have compared to our last apartment in West Lafayette. The traffic here is awful and sometimes we would rather follow an Amish buggy. (We were not born to be city folk)
Kevin loves his job, he is a Computer and Electrical Engineer, but is working now as a Software Engineer. He is working on Proprinters, which this was printed on! He wanted me to throw that in. I am working in a Medical Clinic right now in the Lab and enjoy the regular hours with no weekends or holidays. It is much different from the hospital in Lafayette. I am changing jobs in a week, though, basically because of salary and benefits. My new job will be with Charlotte Allergy Clinic. I will be working in the lab there and am looking forward to it. I'd appreciate your thoughts and prayers throughout this transition. Thanks!
We have joined a Southern Baptist Church and have met some super friends. Kevin's officemate is a Christian and he invited us to their church. Wow, how God works is so wonderful. We still visited many other churches and different denominations, but with much prayer we felt led to University Hills Baptist Church. We are really happy there and are getting involved with many different areas. We both sing in the choir and are involved in a Friday evening Bible study and a Sunday prayer and devotional group. I'm also involved in the Women's Ministries group and we help with the college ministry also. Our church is located across the street from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. It has a great college group and we help plan activities for them and whatever else they need. We really enjoy ministering that group. As you can see we are keeping busy and loving every minute of it. We were able to drive back to Indiana in August for my High School Class reunion. It was a rushed and packed weekend, but a lot of fun. It was good to see everyone again and spend a little time with family too. Our families are all doing great. We have had a few visits already from family and friends since our move in May. It's always nice to have visitors, but hard to see them go again!
We had a blessed Thanksgiving which we spent with friends from church; since we were unable to go home. It makes it a little easier being away at special times and holidays when you have a church family right where you are. We have worked it out though to go home for a week at Christmas. We are really excited about that and anticipating many visits with family and friends. We leave on December 23rd and will be home until January 3rd. We are praying that the weather cooperates with us and with other travelers on the road as well. It takes between 12 and 13 hours to make the trip, so we're hoping the snow and the ice stay away until we get there.
Looking back, we can see once again the many changes we've gone through and the busy year we have had; but also looking back we can see God's hand at work in it all. What a fantastic and blessed year we have had. We hope that you have had the same. Isn't it just wonderful to know that God unconditionally loves us and we all have family and friends that love us too! Wishing everyone a joyful Holiday Season.
Love in Christ,
Kevin & Jackie
Kevin graduated from Purdue in May and along with that came many changes. He started interviewing early in the year with different companies and by March had wrapped that up. In February, Kevin was contacted by IBM in Charlotte, NC. He flew down for an interview and was successful as you notice our return address. It wasn't an easy decision, believe me. Kevin had other offers closer to home which we were also considering.
Well, like I said earlier, it wasn't an easy decision; but after much discussion and prayer we ended up in Charlotte. We truly felt the Lord was leading us to Charlotte. I still get homesick once in a while; but knowing God wants us here really helps. It has been confirmed to us many times that we made the right decision and we are happy here in Charlotte.
The move was an experience all in itself. We had a moving company move us and I hope we don't have to do that again in the near future! A few things were broken and time schedules were mixed up, but everything eventually was taken care of - PTL! We now live in an apartment and hope to start looking at houses within the next year. For now we are thankful for the extra space we have compared to our last apartment in West Lafayette. The traffic here is awful and sometimes we would rather follow an Amish buggy. (We were not born to be city folk)
Kevin loves his job, he is a Computer and Electrical Engineer, but is working now as a Software Engineer. He is working on Proprinters, which this was printed on! He wanted me to throw that in. I am working in a Medical Clinic right now in the Lab and enjoy the regular hours with no weekends or holidays. It is much different from the hospital in Lafayette. I am changing jobs in a week, though, basically because of salary and benefits. My new job will be with Charlotte Allergy Clinic. I will be working in the lab there and am looking forward to it. I'd appreciate your thoughts and prayers throughout this transition. Thanks!
We have joined a Southern Baptist Church and have met some super friends. Kevin's officemate is a Christian and he invited us to their church. Wow, how God works is so wonderful. We still visited many other churches and different denominations, but with much prayer we felt led to University Hills Baptist Church. We are really happy there and are getting involved with many different areas. We both sing in the choir and are involved in a Friday evening Bible study and a Sunday prayer and devotional group. I'm also involved in the Women's Ministries group and we help with the college ministry also. Our church is located across the street from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. It has a great college group and we help plan activities for them and whatever else they need. We really enjoy ministering that group. As you can see we are keeping busy and loving every minute of it. We were able to drive back to Indiana in August for my High School Class reunion. It was a rushed and packed weekend, but a lot of fun. It was good to see everyone again and spend a little time with family too. Our families are all doing great. We have had a few visits already from family and friends since our move in May. It's always nice to have visitors, but hard to see them go again!
We had a blessed Thanksgiving which we spent with friends from church; since we were unable to go home. It makes it a little easier being away at special times and holidays when you have a church family right where you are. We have worked it out though to go home for a week at Christmas. We are really excited about that and anticipating many visits with family and friends. We leave on December 23rd and will be home until January 3rd. We are praying that the weather cooperates with us and with other travelers on the road as well. It takes between 12 and 13 hours to make the trip, so we're hoping the snow and the ice stay away until we get there.
Looking back, we can see once again the many changes we've gone through and the busy year we have had; but also looking back we can see God's hand at work in it all. What a fantastic and blessed year we have had. We hope that you have had the same. Isn't it just wonderful to know that God unconditionally loves us and we all have family and friends that love us too! Wishing everyone a joyful Holiday Season.
Love in Christ,
Kevin & Jackie
Friday, May 23, 1986
Jackie Graduates from Marion College
Jackie graduated from Marion College with Medical Lab Technician Associate Degree. She is picture here with friends from NorthWood High School that were attending Marion College with her.Just in case anyone wants to do a little research on whether Jackie's diploma is legitimate, you may need to know that Marion College changed their name to Indiana Wesleyan University after she graduated.
One of the things that I remember about Marion College is that it did not let guys from Purdue stay in the lobbies of the girls dorm. This made motorcycle trips between Marion and West Lafayette be single day trips.I also remember a David Meece concert at night, but I don't remember riding motorcycle home after the concert.
Jackie started college at Anderson College but decided to transfer to a two year school in order to get married and move to West Lafayette.
After graduation and a wedding, Jackie went to work at Home Hospital in Lafayette.
Thursday, June 15, 1972
Spring Mills Camping Trip
We didn't take very many vacations when I was a little boy, but camping is the only way we did it. Our family purchased a Star Craft pop up camper that was used once a year at various Indiana State Parks. In 1972, we went to Spring Mill
Most of the pictures that mom and dad took of us were not really pictures of us as much as they were pictures of trails, trees, hills, signs and caves with us in there for perspective. This one picture featured us and I like the detail. For instance, you can see the "iron-on" patches that we used to get some more life out of boys pants.I remember those things were stiff, but evidently they didn't stop us from crawling on our hands and knees.
Here's a picture with mom in the creek. I have a terrible memory but I do remember playing in this creek and everybody making a big deal about Keith not being cold. I have never liked being wet and it looks like I didn't like it in this picture either.
Monday, June 15, 1970
Hunting in Wyoming
One of the things that my Dad loved to do was to go hunting in Wyoming. I think this picture is from 1960. Two years after Dad got married and five years before I was born.This first picture is my Grandpa ( Charles Victor Eby ) and my Uncle Devon Swihart ( Mom's brother-in-law ).
The second picture is my Uncle Jay Klein ( Dad's brother-in-law ). I'm not sure whether this was their first trip or not.
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