A TIME TO DECIDE! - Will he, or won’t he? Christopher has gone through a major change and this was the decision he had to make…’Will he, or won’t he?’ What? You may ask. The answer. Throw his entire family into turmoil (more like himself) on the thought of leaving Wal-Mart after….wait for it….17 Long and arduous, stressful, long, frustrating YEARS!! And yes, we said long twice because it was!
After one day saying, yes he will and the next saying, no he won’t, he finally made the grand decision to leave Wal-Mart management for good. And then, instead of being a gigolo and sponging off his wife and kids, he decided to get a job…oh wait, they already asked him the day he put his application on-line. What is he doing you might wonder? Well….first of all here is his e-mail address: cbovenkerk@ft.newyorklife.com... No, really….just send him a note. He has ventured out and spread his wings and said, “What the heck am I doing now?” Then he became the superhero of the Life and health insurance world. (Along with annuities, long-term care, college funding and the like) SERIOUSLY, he really has.
His stress level has dropped a little too much and we aren’t too sure if it has more to do with the job-change or his meds. (We might think the latter, but only he really knows.) It was great to finally have him at home the day AFTER Thanksgiving to enjoy the frenzied activity of ‘Black Friday’. And he truly enjoyed it….time with the family was worth the day. So, if you need someone to take a look at your insurance, just give him a call and he’ll be sure to hook you up to see how much your life is worth.
Shirley is still working at two different churches….the biggest decision she gets to make now is where to put the desk in her new office, once they get through building a new church. Yes, there are new plans in works to build a new United Methodist church here in Carmi. It is big news since they have been working on trying to get a vote passed to build a new church for nearly 20 years. (You know, small town speed)
After
Katharine decided to abandon her parents, home and “bed” (which became an air
mattress) for the summer break (from school in Missouri), she decided to run
her good old, gold convertible into a bright yellow pole that itself decided
NOT to move and did quite a bit of damage, not worth fixing. We had to make an unexpected trip to retrieve
her from Springfield, MO where she was staying for the summer and bring her home
(Jessica is sad – she was supposed to get her chance to drive in style in the
convertible)….luckily it was just a couple of days before her grandparents
(Warren & Arvella) arrived from California for a much needed vacation. During her time home, and with some help from
others, she decided to buy a brand new Chevy Sonic so now she is riding around style
in her digs near Evangel University. She
LOVES all the features of new technology in her own car (from hands-free phone
calling to an actual CD player and OnStar.) Oh, by the way, she tells us, “At
least my scooter isn’t on fire” (this is what the cops said to her when they
found her car wrapped around the pole.)
Katharine
gave us a scare after school started back this fall when she called us and said,
“I’m in the emergency room”. Of course, all tests have come back negative for
all things related to Katharine. She is
quite the little mystery. Her next big
decision is where, and when she will be going or living after graduation in
May, 2015. She may continue to work with
those ‘clients’ after being with them all summer. She did turn 21 this year and is now a …how
shall we put this lightly, an alcoholic…..oh we mean ‘WORK-A-HOLIC’ She
definitely needs AA. Rather WA since she already attends AA weekly at her
“internship”. At least now she knows her
name! “Hi, my name is Catherin and I’m an intern”. We always knew she could say it!
Jessica….oh
Jessica, what can we say about Jessica….. Her decision was to run home from
North Central College to Mommy and Daddy and live and go to school
locally….only, for one year….She has decided to go BACK TO NORTH CENTRAL….
After we asked her if that’s what she should be doing when she came home!!!!
Silly girl. She still has decided to
stay the course of photography and being a multi-media guru, i.e. Snapchat,
FaceBook, FaceTime, Twitter, Instagram, etc. so if you need to get hold of
her….just ask and you find her EVERYWHERE!!!
We
kept taking early morning trips once a month to the train station to get Jessica
from school in Chicago, just because….No really, she just couldn’t make up her
mind if she wanted to be home where it was warm or to just come home to get
warm. At the end of June she decided
Florida might thaw her out more so she took a trip and instead, got SUNBURNED –
1st degree mind you. The sun
officially scarred her for life! She is
still thawing out today.
The great thing about small colleges is that Jessica is SO smart, she decided to join the Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society. We are proud of her for that. (As Katharine adds, ‘Aren’t you proud of me for working with drug abusers?’) **Please see attached. So, at the bequest of someone unnamed, Jessica thought that the next best decision was to try and be Beauty Queen, or I mean, “Miss Gallatin County”. The next question now is, “where can she sign up for Toddlers and Tiaras?”
Joshua
has decided that his time is best spent trying to make money by working as a
McDonald’s expert at McDonald’s (he is only 15), so that he can pay for all his
GAMES. He decides to spend time on the Xbox360. We only see him when he’s hungry or runs down
the hallway YELLING, “Don’t Look!!” He
has now entered the grand stage of driving….the last one! And he thinks he
knows it all…typical teenager.
Allie
and Baby, aka – THE DOGS, are still figuring out ‘who rules the roost around
here’. Three-pound Baby shows her
dominance (or tries) by choosing to crawl on top of Allie while she is in
laying in her rightful bed. And Allie looking at us like, “So, you really are
letting her do this to me?!” To prove
who still rules the roost, Allie still looks to us as the actual rulers of the
roost, to get her ‘annoyance’ out of her bed on occasion.
Baby
accurately represents her namesake while whining and crying, pooping and peeing
and begging to be held ALL THE TIME!!
However, she’s become quite old and decided to displace a disk in her
back and continues to act like a Baby.
Trent,
Shirley’s brother, decided that he needed to get married in the small-town of
Carmi, IL in May this year, instead of the mosquito capital of the US, Alaska –
not sure about that but, He, Dawna and family from all over flew (or drove, or
rode in on a moose, or dog-sledded) in to help them make this life-long
decision. It was a grand affair attended
by all, including their father and his newest flame, Annette. It would seem that he met her while doing a
jig that impressed her so much that she decided to tag along and meet the
entire family in one week.
Remodel of the upstairs (small) bathroom has started and is still going on...and on…and on... (and Jessica is still bothered about that), which is also helps feed the “Don’t Look” comments held by the youngest of all. The decision to finish will start soon. Next…the kitchen….OH, I’M OVERWHELMED ALREADY. One too many decisions for this moment. (Shaking our heads – SOH, LOL) *See attached acronym list. – Please send suggestions to us at this time, thank you.
Chris & Shirley decided they needed a much-deserved vacation from the kids and ran off to Cape Girardeau, MO. In case you didn’t know, this is where they filmed the movie ‘Gone Girl’. It was interesting to see it on the big screen literally 3 days after we were there. Katharine was sad that she didn’t meet Ben Affleck or know they were in the same she was, or really mostly sad about not meeting Ben. Aka the ‘hottie’. And speaking of ‘big screens’, we went the store to look at bigger*** TVs than the current 23” in the house, and came home with one that 55” and is ‘smart’ (and almost smarter than the kids and computer, which keeps shutting down). New computer next?? Please send funds now (the TV was too much, jk). Well, the decisions for this year have all been made. Bring on 2k15. By next year our dogs (and Katharine) may learn to spell. No guarantees.
Love and Peace,
The Bovenkerk’s
Chris, Shirley, Katharine, Jessica,
Joshua
(And the dogs – Allie and Baby)
*SMH,
LOL (we don’t know either)
***and
by bigger, we mean 3 times the size
P.S: When do we get our own reality TV
show? We promise it won’t be called “Here comes the Bobobovenkerk’s” or “The
Dutch Dynasty”.
P.P.S: Disclaimer- we cannot verify the
authenticity of any of the above actions and/or facts and statements. The only thing we promise, is that this
letter will not be written next year on the Sunday before Christmas.
