The Week Before Chirstmas!

Well needless to say with all that has happened in the last month I am feeling pretty good about how Christmas will go this year. Our Christmas day will be very different but still focused on the best present ever given Jesus!

I think I have all the presents bought...wrapped no but at least in the house ready to be wrapped. I have dozens and dozens of cookies made thanks to the help of my dear friend Kathryn. We baked over 50 dozen cookies this year. We added some of these goodies to the 17 Christmas Baskets at our church, have given some to friends to celebrate Christmas, and we will take some to the Veteran's Hospital on Christmas day to spread some joy to those there. So hopefully that means not to many will end up in my stomach.

We will have a full table but will be missing one very important person this year, my mom. Christmas was her holiday all the decorating, gift wrapping and gift giving. You could always count on my mom to have the prettiest best wrapped gifts and she would spend hours upon hours getting ready. Most of all she loved giving the gifts you really wanted....not the ones she thought you may like. You got to make a list every year and put your most wanted gifts at the top...you might only get a few gifts (depending on the budget) but it was exactly what you asked for with no exceptions! This was one of the ways my mom brightened my life!

Well off to wrap some of those gifts, and put lights on the Christmas tree! We wish you all a blessed Christmas and look forward to a Happy New Year!

Ok so it's been awhile!

I sort of forgot about having this blog until a friend asked me to follow hers, so here is a quick catch up on us. We still live in State College PA, Bill still works for the University as a APSO with the University Police, the kids go like this Dustin 16 (will be a licensed driver by the end of the month), Sarah is almost 14 (in January), Julia is 8 and Ryan is 8 too (LOL), I am still at an at home mom (although I had to leave the best job ever (PSU ARMY ROTC) last year in February and had the privilege of taking care of my mom who just recently lost her battle with cancer). My mom lived here with us for the last six years and we were able to care for right up to her passing.

Well there you go, a catch up in words for now. Enjoy the Christmas season!

Offically Retired

Well we had Bill's retirement ceremony on Friday last week. Boy was it a whopper of a day. The weather went really bad so many of our friends could not come from Philly, but we had a wonderful turnout. Bill's parents and his brother's family where able to make it out in the terrible snow, ice, slush.... that fell all day. As well as close friends that live here in the area... The Kissel's and The Damiano's.
The ceremony itself was very nice. A few of the gold bar's (graduated Lieutenants working as recruiters) made a sweet video of our time here at PSU and included some great pictures of Bill and our family with cadets over the years. Bill made a really nice speech, a little humor, a little history and lots of thanks.

After his ceremony he had to do two 1st salutes. They made sure that they mentioned his retired status LOL it sounded so strange. But such is the life of a SFC retired.

Bill is now employed at PSU!

Well, we have some great news to share this week. Bill received a job offer as a security guard at Penn State this week. We had been trusting that God would provide a suitable job for him and we feel this is it. He will be starting right after the New Year. One of the many request we have had during this time was that Bill would be able to enjoy his leave from the Military and have the assurance of a job starting in the New Year. Well I will be the first to admit that I struggled with trusting that God would grant such request but He has shown us such grace and mercy during this time. Looking back on the last few months we can clearly see God's hand at work and see each time He lifted us up when we were down or doubting. And in the end He provide just what we had asked for: Bill has been able to have an great few months (being around home, picking up deer, working with friends, and just enjoying life) and he has a job to go to in January. Praise God!

Courage, above all things, is the first quality of a warrior. --Karl von Clausewitz

Bravery, is not acting out of a lack of fear-that is easy;
it is having the ability to act despite one's fear.
-adapted from Ambrose Hollingsworth Redmoon

Life has a certain flavor for those who have fought and risked all that the sheltered and protected can never experience.
- John Stuart Mill

It is with great honor and privilege that we announce the

RETIREMENT
OF
SERGEANT FIRST CLASS WILLIAM JOSPEH NEUMANN, JR
FROM THE
UNITED STATES ARMY

We will be celebrating his 21 year U. S. Army career
on
December 19, 2008
with a formal ceremony
at the
Boalsburg Military Museum
Boalsburg, Pa
at
3:00 o’clock in the afternoon.

Please feel free to attend.

Please RSVP to bbneumann@juno.com
(attendees only)

Road Kill Strikes Again

Many of you may not know about Bill's hobby... he has become quite good at finding fresh road kill. Well this past week has been a whopper. He got a 9 point buck earlier and then a 10 point. Needless to say we have been wanting to get deer heads for the mountain house and now we have them plus a story. The kids were really excited too!

A Message from Ryan about Daddy's Retirement

Yesterday after Bill came home from his last day at work, Dustin was asking Bill what he was doing the next day. Ryan inturupted and said " Dad you aren't doing anything tomorrow, you are reitred now!"