Scobba 2008 Christmas Letter

May God's promise of eternal life give you hope,
the presence of the Holy Spirit give you faith,
and Jesus' perfect love give you peace.
December 2008

Dear Family and Friends,
With each Christmas card we send, our thoughts and prayers are with you! May 2009 include many blessings for you and yours.

2008 has been a good year for the Scobbas. Megan turned 8 in August and is in 3rd grade this year at St. Jude of the Lake. Charlie coached her softball team this summer and is now coaching her basketball team. She had her first game last weekend and was very excited to score a basket!

She will also be appearing in Pirates! the musical through Ashland Productions in January. She loves the singing and dancing, and we’re excited to see her on stage. She is on the math team again this year and is a Girl Scout with her “volunteered” mom as a troop leader. We’re still getting the hang of it, but I enjoy having something we can do together. Megan is a great help to us around the house, and we’re very proud of how she’s growing as a sister and a friend.

Shea turned 5 this fall and is a busy preschooler. He is going to all-day pre-K at St. Jude’s and is really thriving. It’s fun to hear about the letters he learned and the little friends he’s made. He’ll be very ready for Kindergarten next year. He too is a great big brother to little Sammy and likes to be a helper around the house. He’s a very thoughtful boy with a smile that melts our hearts.

Sammy is 19 months old and doing his best to keep up with Megan and Shea. He spends his days at Laurie’s and really loves it there. He’s learning how to climb stairs and likes to look at books, watch Baby Einstein videos, take baths, bang on things, throw balls, and try to catch Furry the cat.

Charlie and I are doing well. Charlie is teaching 4th grade at St. Jude of the Lake again this year and really enjoys his class. Their enrollment was down a bit this year, so we are praying that next year’s numbers are good and that his job is secure. He keeps very busy with teaching, coaching, and doing an awesome job of helping with the kids, laundry, dinners, etc.

I will be celebrating my 10th year at Trane in January and really love my job and the people I work with, which is such a blessing. I’m trying to get the hang of Girl Scouts, and I’m still part of my Monday night Bible study group. I fit in reading, scrap-booking, and gardening when I can.

Be sure to check out our latest adventures in our pictures at www.kodakgallery.com/charlieandtracy (password: scobba) and drop us a note at tracyscobba@hotmail.com or scobba@usfamily.com (Charlie). Or, you can find us on Facebook. If ever you’re in The Twin Cities, give us a call. Our home is always open.

Love and blessings,
Charlie, Tracy, Megan, Shea, and Samuel

Klein's Korner announcement

My parents purchased the local bait shop and live bait supplier in Rock Rapids. My sister Melissa moved from Omaha to Rock Rapids so that she could run it. She and her son Jaylen are doing so well since the move. It has been such a blessing for them and our whole family. This is the announcement in the Lyon County Reporter.

Sleepy Scobbas

I have been whining a lot about Sammy being sick and our overall lack of sleep over the Thanksgiving holiday. I am so thankful though that he is feeling better, and we all seem to be catching up on our sleep. Praise the Lord!

Sam slept 11 hours last night, but after being up for just over an hour, was back to sleep on the couch with Megan. The picture below is what I found when I came upstairs this morning after getting ready for work. It was really tough waking them up to head out the door.

What a sweet big sister our little Sammy has!

Paperback Swap

I can't really say what I'll think of this because I just joined. But I'm trying this paperback swap for exchanging books with others. It seems like a good way to receive and get rid of books. Check it out.

Megan at Bat

Sammy's First Steps

Friday, March 28, 2008

Wow, I can't believe March is almost over, especially when I think about how long this week has seemed ...

I'm excited that our friends Dan and Raye are coming to stay with us this weekend. They live in Omaha and are coming up for a conference for Raye's work. They're a fun couple who love to play Euchre, so Charlie and I are pumped to play cards with them. I think we're also going out to dinner - to a sit down place - so that's pretty rare for us. :-) Anybody want to come over tonight to help me do some last minute cleaning before their arrival?!

Saturday morning Megan has a retreat for her first communion. I sent invitations out today for the big event on April 19. The retreat should be fun.

I am getting ready to starting doing a monthly prayer training for my women's Bible study group. We're doing a wonderful Beth Moore study on the fruits of the Spirit at our weekly meetings, and we have a prayer time at the end of the evening. But there are several ladies who are uncomfortable with praying in the group.

I suspect this is because many of them have not been trained in prayer. It may seem like a silly thing to be trained in, but like any of the spiritual disciplines, it takes training and practice. I'm hoping that by working on our prayer together, we will have more rich prayer time with each other, on our own, and with our friends, family, coworkers, etc.

If you have any resources or testimonials, I'd love to hear them!

We had a very nice time in Rock Rapids for Easter. It was wonderful seeing much of my family after not seeing them since Christmas. And we'll all be together again in early April for a visit with my sister Erin who's coming from Alaska with her family. Yippee!

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!
Hugs,
Tracy

Bon Jovi and Daughtry

The concert last night was AWESOME! We had so much fun. Jon Bon Jovi is such a nice looking man, and he has more energy than any performer I’ve ever seen. They played for 2.5 hours, and I don’t think the man hardly stood still.

The crowd was great. You could tell that they have a very strong fan base who adore them. It was so loud in the Xcel Energy Center that I couldn’t hear out of one ear for a while after the concert.

Daughtry was good. Chris Daughtry has an AMAZING voice. I thought he did an okay show, but I think he tried too hard to get the crowd going. He wanted us to sing along, and I didn’t know many of the words to his songs. He wanted us to clap along, and he doesn’t really have “clapping” songs. They’re more “head banging” songs.

But again, very, very strong singer. And he’s not bad to look at either. ;-)

Charlie and I had such a nice time together. It was fun dancing and trying to sing along at the tops of our lungs. Bon Jovi did all of the songs we wanted to hear. We went to dinner before with our friend Kathy and her sister.

Our friends the Atkinsons watched the little ones, and we watched American Idol when we got home. We went to bed at 2 AM; I’m too old to stay up that late and then get up for work the next morning.

Oh, one complaint about the concert. I really wanted to get a T-shirt, but I refused to pay $40+ for one. Bummer!

Thursday, March 20

My sweet little niece Ella (Erin and Andy’s daughter) is getting tubes in her ears this morning. I am praying that all goes well and that the tubes will ease her continuous ear infections.

I’ve got a bad case of the Fridays. We’re off tomorrow for Good Friday, and we’ll be driving down to Rock Rapids to see my family. I’m super excited because I haven’t seen them since Christmas, and it feels like FOREVER!

Melissa and Jaylen will be home too, and we’ll be going to see my mom’s side of the family (Grandma and Grandpa Muecke and the gang) on Saturday. I’m going to pick up some more supplies tonight for the Easter bunny, and I’m going to get some stuff for Melissa and I to do First Communion invites for Jaylen and Megan.

Megan’s first communion is Saturday, April 19 in Mahtomedi. Jaylen’s is Sunday, April 27 in Omaha. I can’t believe they are already in second grade!!! It’s just not possible.

I’m excited for Megan because she is going to a water park today with a little friend from school and her family. Shea is terribly jealous, but I’m excited that Megan has a friend who wants to hang out with her while they’re on Spring Break.

Happy First Day of Spring, BTW! We’re supposed to get 2–4 inches of snow tonight, but at least it’s 40°F and it should melt quickly. I’m hoping the roads will be good for our road trip tomorrow.

I just printed out the spring and summer community ed program calendar. Shea should be old enough for T-ball this year, and Megan is excited to play softball. So we’ve got to get signed up. I am soooo excited to get outside and do things. I can’t wait to start gardening and walking and going to the park.

I wonder what Sam will think of grass. I remember Megan hating it and Shea just plowed through it. I guess we’ll have to wait and see. ;-)

Braggin' on Shea

I don’t brag on my boy Shea as often as I should, but he really is quite the awesome little boy.

• The other day, Charlie picked up the boys from daycare, and Laurie asked him how we taught Shea to write his name. Charlie said, “err, we didn’t.” But low and behold, he can write his name! Megan said she showed him once, but I certainly don’t know of anyone sitting down and really working with him on it. Bad parenting probably – but a great kid.
• So last night he wrote his name on each of his Valentines for the kids at daycare. Plus he counted out the pieces of candy and put the candy and card in bags for each child. He was so cute doing such big kid stuff.
• Yesterday morning he was talking about what he wants to be when grows up. He’s thinking that fireman, policeman, or race-car man would be good. He was weighing the pros and cons of each and asking me which one I thought he should be. I think he’s leaning toward race-car man at the moment.
• Another thing that is so sweet about him is that he always asks before taking something – a drink of my water, a piece of my candy, etc. And he waits for me to respond before taking what he wants. Megan doesn’t do that. :-p

He has his frustrating 4-year-old moments, but he’s a sweetheart. Thanks for letting me share!