Giesbrecht Reunion 2011

Things are beginning to ratchet up for our Reunion next August. Actually the long weekend starts on Friday, July 29 and carries over to Monday, August 1. I had sent out an email to all cousins whose email addresses were known to me and I asked for one cousin in each family to send email addresses and phone numbers of their siblings (and their children - the next generation) to me at greg@greggiesbrecht.com. We will be having the first formal meeting of a group of cousins to start the planning process. YOU are welcome to attend; it will be on Fri. Oct 15 at 7:15 pm at 76 Homewood Drive, Winnipeg. My home number is 254-4275 and my cell number is 770-3659.
We'll keep you posted.

It's the day before Christmas, and all through the house... It's gearing up for Christmas brunch, dinner, and Boxing Day dinner. Focus on food! Oh, yes, there may be presents involved. I bought mine already; I finally got the DLSR camera I've wanted for a long time. I couldn't decide whether to get a camcorder or a digital camera, and although Juanita got me a very good Pentax camera 5 years ago (a film camera which had a very nice lens that I really liked), it finally dawned on me that I could have it all. Well, new knees weren't part of the bargain, but I thought that if i bought just the body and used the existing lens; and if the camera were versatile enough, I could shoot movies with it, and one thing led to another, so, after spending much more money on myself that was or is warranted, I bought a Pentax K7 body and absolutely need no other Christmas gift other than a card and a chocolate bar.

I got to try it out at Chris' graduation. He is now Acting Sub-Lieutenant Giesbrecht of the Canadian Navy. He's home after finishing his basic training and reports to Halifax in January to start training in Naval Systems Engineering which will take him to Victoria and Portsmouth, England before the year is up. It's so exciting that he has found something he can commit to.

And our young son, Sean, is getting married next October. He has been going with an absolutely wonderful girl who he met in the University Singers; and yes, they both sing. Sean as a hobby and Jenn as a vocation. Sean is currently working for Western Inventory Systems and Jenn is working at the Faculty of Music, coordinating music lessons and also studying (and teaching) voice.

So far, I've had cousin Rob, son Sean and wife Juanita sign up for this Giesbrecht Reunion blog and hope to have more soon. I'll have a little more time during the holidays after we get these meals and leftovers handled. So long for now!

During the visit of cousins Verna and Linda, a small gathering of cousins, spouses, and aunts decided to try to get the Giesbrecht clan together one more time.

Verna and Linda informed us of their visit a few months before they arrived in July of this year, 2009. They visited Aunt Helen in Gretna and Mom and I drove down from Winnipeg to see them. Juanita and I had invited the cousins to visit at our home and Randy and Biff invited everyone over to their newly renovated house at 832 Renfrew. Not everyone was free to get together so we thought we would give it one more try. Aunt Alvina emphasized that although she was eager to attend, it was our time (this generation) to do the planning