Dear friends and family,

Merry Christmas!
2005 has been another eventful year, filled with joy and sorrow.

Since our discovery of Sports Towne, an indoor sports complex in Macon, our year now begins and ends with soccer- indoor soccer. Sarah and Teddy played last winter and Teddy will play again this winter. Ian plays basketball in the winter now. In January we tried having Lydia's first "big" birthday party, but we had a little ice storm instead! All year she's said, "Remember when it was my birthday and it snowed?" No one in this part of Georgia wanted to brave going out in that ice, even her friend up the street. We also had a Bible study in our home for 6 weeks in January and February; it was a great learning experience. We were busy with more successful birthday parties too last winter- we had our friend, Jayme's 15th birthday party at our house the last week of February and the next week end was Sarah's 18th, so we had another great party-what a fun way to keep an eye on your teen? Have the party at your house! Also last March Claire was a "Soaring Eagle" in Miss Slaton's 2nd grade class. We are so proud of her!

Spring was also very busy with Peach County High soccer, Teddy was on the JV boy's team and Sarah was on the varsity girl's team. Bob was busy with the soccer boosters club. Both the boys and the girl's varsity teams went to the play-offs. Sarah also went to Prom; she was worried about getting a date and at the last minute asked a guy friend from the boy's JV team. In the end; three of her "guy- friends" from soccer picked her up and took her to Prom!

In May Sarah graduated from Peach County High with honors. In early August she moved in the dorms and started classes at Georgia College and State University. She plans on becoming a nurse. She was also on GC&SU's JV soccer team which kept her active and kept her from gaining the infamous "freshman 15" (for those who don't know, college freshman often gain 15 lbs when they go to college).

In July we met my brother Jon and his family at Lake Guntersville in Alabama. We had a great time tubing and water skiing, some of us for the first time! We also visited the space museum in Huntsville.

On August 23rd, my oldest brother Tim, went into the hospital with an infection. He had surgery and was in critical condition. When they thought he was stable they moved him to a different hospital. He was still on life support when his fever went up very high. Before that he had been responding to people but afterwards he wasn't. His girlfriend found a living will, which stated that he did not want to be kept alive by machines. On October 14th they unplugged the breathing machine and Tim went to heaven. He was 53. He was an arborist and in the landscaping business. He had written Sarah a nice letter for graduation and sent her money. I last saw him in 2004 when we drove out to California. My parents took one of his bibles home. The inscription in the front of this bible dated August 2005, said "To Tim, in celebration of your spiritual rebirth."

In September a preacher named Ron Herrod gave a very interesting sermon at our church about eagles. He said, "The eagle is the only bird God ever told us to be like." He told of how they drop their young to teach them to fly, they continue to catch them before they hit the ground and eventually they take off. It reminded me of a dream I had when I was Sarah's age; It was about little baby birds in a nest trying to learn how to fly, but one kept struggling and falling, when I awoke I knew that I was that little bird.

As Tim lay in the hospital for almost eight weeks I was comforted by an old friend via e-mail. Diane and Tim were together when Tim was younger and I was only about 10 or 11 when they were going together but she has remained a good friend of Tim and our entire family. She said how she saw birds flying over her house every time someone close to her was about to pass on. She saw them the week before Tim died. I told her I believed God can do things like that as a sign, which I thought was for Diane. I kept seeing flocks of purple martins (I think that's what they were?) which I always see here in Georgia in the Fall. But that week in October a whole flock landed in our woods, in the back yard. Maybe they did that before, but I just didn't notice. I sat out on the bench of the picnic table and cried.

I found a CD with a modern version of "I'll Fly Away" by a Christian rock band called "Jars of Clay". My brother Paul, who died in 2002, liked that song and I played it on my flute at his memorial. There are about three different Christian radio stations that we listen to in the van as I drive from the elementary school where Claire is to the Middle school where Ian is and sometimes out to Ft. Valley where Teddy's high school is. I hadn't ever heard that song on the radio until that morning of October 14th. I had Teddy, Ian, Claire and Lydia in the van with me; I don't know if they noticed mom crying. Sarah came home from school that afternoon. Then she went to her old high school's football game (the Trojan's are now the State Champions). I told her when she came home, "uncle Tim is gone" and she gave me a long hug.

Isaiah 40:31
"But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint."

Flying lessons, anyone?

With Love and best wishes. The Story family: Bob, Susan, Sarah, Teddy, Ian, Claire & Lydia
Copyright 2005 - Susan E. Story