Dec 2016:

In December 2016, Dan & Gaye (along with some of Gaye's side of the family – her mom (Beverly), aunt (Linda), and brother (Leigh)) went to Columbus, Georgia, for Anne's Senior Art Show! We had a great time, hanging out with Anne and her fellow artists, and enjoying her display of photographs. (See the photos!)

We then (later in December 2016) took a ride on the SAM Shortline train, dubbed the "North Pole Express" and had a great time with our friends George and Julia, and Roy and Jane! (Gaye had been wanting to do this for years...)

After Christmas at home, we hit the road, visiting Dan's side of the family in Washington, DC, for post-Christmas celebrations, and Gaye's side of the family in Yellow Springs, Ohio, for more post-Christmas celebrating and the traditional New Year's Day party!

2017: another year with the theme of "Never a dull moment around here!"

Jan-May 2017:

About the first thing we did in January 2017 was stop at a hat shop in Cincinnati (on our way home from Yellow Springs) and buy a matched set of fedoras! (which we later came to call our "jazz hats!") (you'll see why shortly...)

We joined some good friends of ours (and about 20 other friends of theirs!) in a massive murder mystery dinner, Dan played the part of the town mayor, and Gaye played an aging chocolatier, who had a major role in the ending (though she wasn't "whodunit!").

In April of 2017, we went to a jazz concert (by a local band named Soulosophy) at a very nice coffeehouse called Wellston Station (which is, sadly, now out of business...). We had fun wearing our "jazz hats" (new fedoras), as well as dark sunglasses, which made us feel like the Blues Brothers...

In May 2017, we hit the road again...first was a quick trip over to Columbus, Georgia, to visitAnne and celebrate her birthday (she's 24 now!). Then, we started a long tour of visiting relatives, starting with Gaye's Uncle Gary and Aunt Shirley, who toured us all around Wilmington, North Carolina, and fed us VERY well.
   Then it was on to Washington, DC, again, where we spent some time with Dan's Mom & Dad, before going across to Yellow Springs, Ohio, to see Gaye's side of the family again! It was strange for us to see everyone's flowers all in full bloom! (because we're typically only up north around the end of December...)
   And then from there, we stopped for a couple of nights in Black Mountain, North Carolina, whee we visited with Dan's brother Robin! He showed us all around downtown Asheville, took us shooting (at his local indoor range), and took us to a concert by the Tannahill Weavers!

Jun-Aug 2017:

We celebrated Allen's 22nd birthday at home, with a large, home-made, hand-iced chocolate chip cookie cake, in June 2017. Then, in July...we went back (again!) to Washington DC to visit and help with Dan's Dad who was recovering from surgery. (P.S., he's been doing very well – getting stronger all the time!)
   Then, of course, it was back to Ohio (for just a quick, one day visit) and then back home...where we went to an outdoor jazz concert in Macon, Georgia (in July). We wore our "jazz hats," of course, and enjoyed the music as the sun went down, with our good friends, Roy and Jane!

This is a fun story: Gaye's Dad would carry a small, machined aluminum trinket in his pocket to show prospective clients. From one direction it was a perfect circle; from another direction it was a perfect square; and from the third direction it was a perfect triangle! He would pass it through matching holes (in the three shapes) on his business card, to demonstrate that he could think outside the box and solve their problems with his engineering skills and his tool and die shop.
   So, to recreate the trinket, Gaye went high-tech! She designed the piece in her SolidWorks software, took the resulting file to the Macon Maker's Space and had them print it on their 3-D printer, in August 2017. (See the photos! You'll need to scroll down to the 8th & 9th photos...)

So do you remember all the hoorah about the total solar eclipse back in August 2017? Well. it didn't quite reach totality where we were in Warner Robins...but it came pretty close! Gaye and Dan (just outside the door of his work building on base) punched a small hole in the bottom of a Styrofoam cup, which let us project the image of the sun onto a piece of paper. It was pretty cool!

Sep-Nov 2017:

In September 2017, we got to go to a house concert of Dan's brother Robin, performing with Sue, an award-winning Irish harpist at the home of his agent and promoter, Joe Cullison of Acoustic Productions.

In October, we rented a pontoon boat and spent a couple of hours out on Lake Blackshear, near Cordele, Georgia. We (Dan & Gaye, and Allen & his friend Chris) enjoyed playing in the water and eating a picnic dinner on board. (Then, when got back, we had to wait an extra 3 hours for AAA to show up, because we locked our keys in the car...oh, well...)

Then we were back on the road (again? again!), this time starting with a doctor's appointment for Dan in Augusta, Georgia, where we spent two delightful nights with our friends, Mike and Lorie.
   We then drove on to Washington, DC, and checked in on Dad,, and found him steadily improving (with the help of several visiting caregivers and therapists). This time we just drove home from there (after visiting with our young friend David, who lives in the District and works full-time for Peet's Coffeehouse).

In November, we splurged on a very nice formal dinner and ballroom dance event, held at the Museum of Aviation! We got to sit (and dance) with some old friends from our various dance organizations...Dan ended up buying a tuxedo for the event ($45 used on eBay!!), because Gaye didn't want him to shave his beard (which he would have to do before wearing ANY military uniform, including his mess dress uniform)!

Dec 2017:

In early December 2017, we went to Dan's brother Robin's and Steve Baughman's annual Christmas concert at the Pierce Chapel, on the Wesleyan College campus in Macon (terrific, as always)!

We had our own traditional Christmas-Day-at-home gift exchange in 2017. Ben came and joined us, so he got a stocking filled with little things, too! He was a good sport , too, wearing a Santa hat like most of the rest of us (except Anne, who wore reindeer antlers)! Stryper got Christmas presents, too.

Then, the day after Christmas 2017, we drove (with Allen, this time) to Washington DC! (Yeah, we did a LOT of traveling this year...). We had our traditional post-Christmas gift exchange, with the whole family (except for Anne...but we were able to include her via Skype for a few minutes...) Robin was there with Karen; and, we all got to have a big, home-cooked Christmas meal together!

Then it was off (again) for Ohio, and Gaye's family. It snowed on us about the last half-hour of the drive, and we had snow on the ground for our whole visit! (Yay!) There was enough for Gaye to make a nice snow angel.
   In Yellow Springs, Ohio, we did more post-Christmas celebrating – after New Year's Eve dinner we did party poppers, that had whistles (8 of them – an octave!). Gaye directed us all in playing Christmas carols on whistles!
   Then we all participated (even Allen) in the traditional New Year's Day festivities, including a post-Christmas gift exchange and a very nice dinner!

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Dan is still playing the bass guitar: for musical worship at home; for the praise & worship team at church; and he and Gaye still play at our weekly "bar gig" – which is what we call the Pickers' Circle group that gets together and jams every Tuesday evening at the Moose Lodge...in the bar area!

Dan still loves going shooting – he really enjoyed getting to shoot with his brother in May 2017 (by the way, Robin, I like your new Canik TP-9 9mm pistol!) He took Gaye out a few times to our favorite local outdoor range, too.

He's still very active in our Celebrate Recovery group (at Southside Baptist Church), and in our Care Group at church (a home fellowship group).

Dan took Gaye out to several ballroom dancing events with the Warner Robins Dance Society and other groups – the best of which was probably the Veterans Day Gala Dance for Habitat For Humanity (we got all dressed up, and had a blast!).

Dan is looking for work again (anyone out there need an experienced Air Force aeronautical engineer and project manager?). Although, with his Parkinson's condition and the fact that he doesn't drive any more, a work-at-home option may turn out best...

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Gaye got a job! She went to a Target hiring event with Anne, just to be moral support for Anne...and got herself hired as a seasonal cashier! (Just November-December 2017.) She loved it – especially the interactions with the public.

Then, Gaye got another job! You probably remember that we've told you about her recent college courses learning the latest Computer-Aided Design (CAD) software...well, it has paid off! She's been hired by Southern Perfection Fabrication as an Engineering Drafter using SolidWorks – and she loves it! She likes the work and her coworkers.

Gaye has been doing a great job caring for Dan in his Parkinson's Disease – especially serving as his chauffeur (because he doesn't drive any more). She did all the driving on all our many recent trips up north to see relatives – which was made easier by the fact that she LOVES her car (the Buick Lucerne that Dan picked out for her after he cracked up our last van...)

Gaye still plays her guitar and sings, primarily at home and at our weekly "bar gigs!" She helps with the children's ministry during our Celebrate Recovery meetings, and works in the nursery at our church (which gives her her "baby fix!").

Please click here to see Gaye Leigh's Rules For Getting Older!

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Anne worked at the Columbus Public Library until she moved to Macon, and started working part-time at the Macon Public Library (and in the clothing department at Target, for a couple of months around Christmas). She has broken up with her boyfriend, Ben, and is planning to move, in the spring, to Birmingham, Alabama, to live with a friend from college. We'll miss her, of course, but at least we'll be able to travel to visit with her occasionally...and we hope to see her back here in Warner Robins once in a while, too! (Gaye and Dan have both been enjoying meeting her for coffee during her work breaks, maybe once a month, at Taste & See, a nice coffeehouse in Macon. (It's a gallery, too, currently full of terrific nature photos that look like things Dan would have shot!))

Car ownership can be tough -- recently she had her front right side window smashed. After driving it for a while with taped-up plastic, she called Safelite, who came to her and got a new window installed in about an hour! All better now...

Anne is getting ready to go to graduate school! She's looking into on-line programs to get her Master's Degree in Library Science, which she hopes will increase her career prospects in the world of libraries. Go Anne!!

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Allen had been living at home with us for about three months, but he recently found new digs, with a couple of friends who also work at Marco's Pizza. He finally has a room of his own, in a rented house in Bonaire, Georgia! He's still close to us, so we anticipate seeing him once every week or two for dinner and games...

Lately, he's been thinking about going to work as a night-time stocker or the like at the Frito-Lay plant here or a new Publix grocery store going up. He's still working as a delivery driver for Marco's Pizza in Perry, Georgia, but would like a job where he has to drive less.

He's now the proud owner of a light blue Hyundai Accent, which we helped him get from a used car dealer. It's a nice little car!

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Please pray for our family, as we deal with all the challenges that life has been throwing at us, and continually work to become the authentic individuals God created us to be.

And remember, no matter what's going on in our society, in our culture, in our government...that God is in control! He's still on the throne, none of what we do takes him by surprise, and he'll continue to be faithful to make sure that "all things work together for good, for those who love God and are called according to his purpose!" (Romans 8:28)

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Dan likes this web site format, and it seems to work o.k. It's based on a template we got free from someone else (hence the attribution at the bottom of the page), and modified to our liking, as permitted under his terms of use. Dan, as much as he likes hand-coding (yeah, right) couldn't do something this nice by himself.

The artistic photo pages, however, are still entirely Dan's design, for now at least, so maybe he hasn't totally abandoned the craft of manually writing web pages...

The "NIV" in our Scripture quotes stands for New International Version. The copyright requires that notation, as well as the following statement: "THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide."

Similarly, "NKJV" stands for New King James Version, and its use requires acknowledgment as follows: "Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved."

KJV, of course, means King James Version, which, having been written in 1611, is public domain.

(Hey, I thought of putting in a FAQ section -- you know, Frequently Asked Questions -- but no one ever asks any questions about the site!)

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