Happy Thanksgiving! May we each take just a moment and realize that we're breathing. Then, may we start being thankful for all the other stuff, too.

Well, the 20th year high school reunion came and went - what a blast from the past. I've subsequently begun building my FaceBook profile in response to so many school mates who are on the site. (Craig's been on FaceBook for awhile.) Search for me there! =)

February 2008 brought us a new nephew and, if Susie & Craig have anything to do with it, another Pittsburgh fan. His Mom & Dad would prefer the NFC... even Aunt Toni will be pushing him toward the 'Skins... but we'll be ready to point out the strength of our conference!

Jacob is a total cutie and an answer to prayer. We're so pleased to have him join the family! =)

Merry Christmas, 2007, from those two traveling Twiggs!

Well, we hope this message finds you all doing well as we celebrate another Christmas - praise the Lord! Craig & Susie had a relatively calm year in 2007… relatively. We moved again. (Yes, big surprise, I know.) But do you actually think we’ll make it through a whole year in the same home? I mean, what would we do with ourselves in the same spot? (hee hee) But more of this when we get to July.

January 2007 was pretty tame. Craig still enjoyed his work at the state association office of the Southern Baptist Conservatives of VA (www.sbcv.org) and continued working toward his Master of Divinity degree at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary (www.sebts.edu) in Wake Forest, NC. Susie still enjoyed her work with the East Asia office (www.imb.org/easia) at the International Mission Board (www.imb.org.) We started teaching a weekly Bible Study from the Crown Financial Ministries curriculum (www.crown.org) at our church, Swift Creek Baptist (www.swiftcreekbaptist.org.) Craig continued playing local community league volleyball with the Richmond Volleyball Club (www.rvc.net) and made a new year’s resolution to resume his running. More on that in March.

February was also tame. Aside from Susie’s birthday, the month was thankfully quiet. Susie’s sister, Penny, came to visit and attended the first of many meetings for the VA Geographic Alliance (www.cnr.vt.edu/geography/vga.) The sisters enjoy the fun excuse to have these mini slumber parties throughout the year. Craig likes it, too, because he is let off the hook from Susie’s “girl talk” when Penny comes to town! (Penny was even published this year; she had an article titled "Atlantic Canada in Review: Highlights of a Teacher's Trip with the Virginia Geographic Alliance," published in the October 2007 edition of The Geography Teacher. We tried to google her to find a link, but to no avail.) Craig’s class in the spring was an online Missions class, so thankfully we did not have to pay gas prices for seminary. Susie continued her yearly tradition of weekly “American Idol” email updates, but don’t look for it in 2008; Craig has a Tuesday night class in spring 2008!

March was more of the same. Work, Craig’s seminary class, and our weekly Bible Study took most of our attention. Craig began to run again and devised his own amateur training program at the nearby track because Richmond’s annual fundraising event, the 2007 Ukrop’s Monument Avenue 10K (www.sportsbackers.org/10kmainpage.htm,) was held on March 31st. After almost 10 years of nothing, and 3 weeks of amateur training, Craig finished 7678th with a time of 01:00:20! Not too bad. He was re-hooked. His volleyball team adopted the VCU Massey Cancer Center (www.massey.vcu.edu) as their charity. He alone raised over $500. Don’t be surprised if he comes calling this year.

April brought us to Craig’s birthday. With work and classes, we just enjoyed the spring and looked forward to the end of the semester.

May came quickly, and we took our vacation in Gatlinburg, TN (www.gatlinburg.com.) Craig saw the Smokey Mts. for the first time (www.nps.gov/grsm,) and he was so funny. He would look around and exclaim, “these are pretty hills – they remind me of the pass at Mt. Hood!” (www.mthood.org) I asked him to avoid saying something like that to the locals, but he slipped once and the guy just stared at him like he was nuts. Yep…it was funny. We enjoyed the trip, went into NC and the Cherokee Indian reservation (www.cherokee-nc.com,) Mt. Airy (where ‘The Andy Griffith Show’ was aired, www.visitmayberry.com,) and just enjoyed the beauties of the east coast.

June ushered in our summer, class was over, and the summer rush began at work. Craig began competing in volleyball tournaments, so Susie brushed-up on her “pack the cooler” skills and cheerleading. A few sunburns, some fun times, and Craig’s sore muscles reminded us all the more how wonderful life can be! God is good!

July brought with it a flurry of events – our craziest month yet... We celebrated our wedding anniversary and then Independence Day. (Craig is now making jokes about the irony of this combination of dates after 8 years, but Susie actually thinks it’s too comical to be appalled.) Then, a lingering maintenance concern in our home was finally declared “un-solvable,” so the apartment complex allowed us to transfer to another unit in time for our trip to Oregon on July 14th. So we signed paperwork on July 9, moved our entire home after work each evening the 9th, 10th, and 11th… Dad & Shirley came to help the 3rd night, so that on the 12th Susie could just do the final vacuuming/etc., and turn in the keys on the 13th… only to fly out the next day for OR. And boy, did we need a vacation by the end of that week! This was our first time to see OR during the summer for 5yrs. We loved seeing family again, as well as Bend with leaves on the trees (www.visitbend.com.) We planned a day trip with Mama & Papa Twiggs to see Crater Lake National Park (www.nps.gov/crla) and picnicked on the rim. What a beautiful area – do look it up if you’re in that part of the country!

August meant school was approaching and this time Craig started his year of Biblical Greek. It’s a night class every Tuesday. We arranged our work schedules to get off early, Susie drives while Craig reads or rests, she drops him off and goes shopping, and Craig drives us home in time for Letterman. This works pretty well for us.

September brought the last of the summer volleyball tournaments. Thankfully, Craig had very few injuries this year. (We’re not spring chickens anymore, you know?) We were pleased to see extended family during Labor Day weekend’s Rock-n-Roll Half-Marathon at VA Beach (www.rnrhalf.com,) in which Susie’s cousin, Marty, ran. He & his family live in TN, and came up for the event. Craig is hoping to run in that next year. The NFL season was back in full swing, and with a 3-0 start for the Steelers (www.steelers.com,) there was peace in the land.

In October, things became relatively quiet again. We enjoyed our weekly trips to NC. Work got busier for Craig as planning for the state annual meeting in November was under way. The Steelers started losing, and so went our cheery dispositions!

By November, Craig traveled to Liberty Baptist Church in Hampton, VA, which hosted the annual SBCV event. Susie was unable (again) to accompany Craig on this business trip. She was lonely, but survived. On Nov. 10th, Craig ran in Richmond’s annual NTelos 8K (www.richmondmarathon.com) and placed 2669th with a time of 49:53:00. Again, not too bad… especially considering that he fell off the wagon over the summer and only played volleyball. No running since March 31st, and he still met his goal with a cold jog. (Grrr!) Craig promptly bought the SunTrust Marathon t-shirt and declared to run that in 2008. He’s decided to joint the Richmond Road Runners Club to focus his efforts (www.rrrc.org.) We’ll keep you posted!

December has been busy as we decorate for Christmas and wrap up year-end work load at our jobs. Craig’s class finished for the semester and we prepare to fly again to OR this Christmas. We look forward to seeing the west coast family once again. All but one of Craig’s immediate family is in OR, along with all but one of the nieces/nephews. The “Grandparents Twiggs” enjoy having so many nearby! All but one of Susie’s immediate family is in VA, along with all but two of the nieces/nephews. Susie’s step-brother & family moved to NC this past year and took the two nephews with them. The “Grandparents Anderson” have more driving to do now! We already celebrated Christmas dinner and gift exchange with the Fredericksburg, VA, family, and recognized yet again how much God has blessed us all! You can visit Susie’s sister’s website for more on the east coast family: www.tonianderson.com.

So this brings us to you – we do wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
:) :)

Thanksgiving 2007
We're so very thankful for so many things - health, happiness, loved ones... these are not cliches, these are some of the more precious resources of our world! Craig and Susie are still serving the Lord through study at Southeastern Seminary. (www.SEBTS.edu) We think in just a few more semesters we'll be done... we think. School has not gone by the schedule and pace we expected, but it has been a fun journey, nonetheless.
We've moved again this year, and will include details in our yearly newsletter. That should be posted soon... as always, this site is still under construction. We hope you visit again!
:)

Yes... this site is STILL under construction... but I just posted our double year Christmas newsletter, and that just illustrates the point how "behind the times" we are with our communications. Thank you for visiting. :)

...from Craig & Susie: our very very long Twiggs familys double year newsletter...


Twiggs family’s “double year” newsletter for Christmas 2006:

Yes… Craig and Susie are horrible pen-pals. Horrible. This is the first
newsletter since 2004. No excuse. Reasons, but no excuses. We moved, again,
in the summer of 2005. (Big surprise, huh?) And we let the busy-ness of that
year and holidays get in the way of writing a Christmas newsletter. Well, lo
and behold, we moved again in 2006. (Last month, actually.) And we’ve let
the busy-ness of this holiday season get in the way of doing Christmas cards
again. So here is an email newsletter that will hardly do justice to what
you all mean to us, but I know that you know the source, and hope you will
continue to claim to know us as we move around the country and cross paths
again. We truly are thankful for the fellowships that God has given to us,
the friendships you have given to us, and we do wish you a very Merry
Christmas and a blessed New Year.

2005

2005 found us in Richmond, VA, for the second year in a row at the same Kent
Rd. address. (Big surprise!) We flew to OR to see family at Christmas and
New Years. The west coast Twiggs were doing well and the little ones were
growing like sprouts! In the early spring, Craig began working at one of two
of our state capital’s Baptist State Convention offices: the Southern
Baptist Conservatives of VA (sbcv.org) as administrative and mission support
worker, while he continued to take classes part-time toward his seminary
degree at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary (sebts.edu). Susie
continued working at the International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist
Convention, also as administrative and mission support, in the Office of
Overseas Operations. Her particular area of service is East Asia
(imb.org/easia/). By April, we took a vacation: our first trip to VA’s
eastern shore, Maryland, and Delaware – so beautiful! Yes, Susie grew up in
VA but had never visited VA’s eastern shore. Chincoteague and Assateague
Islands, Chesapeake Bay, DelMarVa penninsula… so many wonderful sights to
see. We also visited Brett, Craig’s twin, who was living at Baltimore’s
Inner Harbor. He is the lone “east coast Twiggs” with us.

In May 2005 we were hired as Part-Time Resident Asst. Managers by a local
storage company. We moved on-site and enjoyed the new job (two weekends a
month to “relieve” the Full-Time Resident Managers.) By the summer and fall,
we were getting used to the new job/new home, new area of town, and new
routine. In July, Craig served at the state-wide “Studentz Camp” in
Lynchburg. Susie accompanied him on that ‘business trip’ and enjoyed herself
as a tag-along spouse. Over a thousand kids in one week. God provided Craig
strength and stamina for a wonderful camp and brought us home safely and not
too tired. We were still at Bon Air Baptist Church, but had begun to think
about looking for another church home. We loved the church and pastor, but
it was just one of those “there’s something missing” feelings.

In August, Craig helped at the state Youth Conference, where Kirk Cameron
was a key-note speaker. Much to Susie’s chagrin, Craig had to rescue Kirk
from the hotel after a scheduling oversight, and had to chauffeur him to the
conference center. The first comment out of her mouth when told was, “Please
tell me you stopped to tidy up the car before you drove over there!” Craig
said that he did his best, but Susie’s not so sure. Craig said that he
probably didn’t notice; that they just talked ‘boy stuff’ and enjoyed the
ride. How funny to think of how time flies… that the teenager on the 80’s TV
screen is also simply a grown-up now, too, and both he and Craig are just
trying to be the men of God that they need to be, however that service finds
them.

The fall holidays flew by… before we knew it, Thanksgiving and Christmas had
come again. We spent time with family in VA for Thanksgiving and flew to OR
once more for Christmas. We were so pleased to spend almost two weeks in OR
with loved ones as 2006 approached. It is so good to see the west coast
Twiggs.

2006

2006 began much like the year before. Craig still enjoyed his mission
support service at the SBCV and Susie still enjoyed the IMB. The spring
semester went fast as Craig took a “one-night/wk” class at campus. That
actually worked out better than we expected: we arranged work schedules so
to get out early on Tuesdays, Susie drove on the way down so that Craig
could read or cram, Craig sat in class while Susie went shopping, and then
Craig drove home. The only dilemma (apart from the rising gas prices) was
that American Idol showed on Tuesday night. Susie had to tape the show and
watch it late. Then, a quick phone call to Mama Twiggs on Pacific time would
do the trick for Susie to have her cast a vote by telephone for the favorite
act. It was all the more exciting of an AI season because the local kid,
Elliott, made it to the top three, while several North Carolinians made it
pretty far in the competition, too. How fun it was to drive down the highway
with “Elliott” signs on the car and listening to the honks from the NC
residents!

In May 2006, Susie had the privilege to stand with her childhood friend,
Shay, at her wedding in GA. What a wonderful ceremony and what great new
additions to our extended “family of friends.” After the wedding, Craig and
Susie took vacation and invited the VA in-laws to share some time at Myrtle
Beach, SC. Jim and Shirley Anderson were great fun for the “double-date”
vacation. We’ll have to do that again sometime. Summer came quickly and
Craig had another opportunity to serve with the annual Studentz Camp. This
time, work prevented Susie from attending. She missed him. She heard every
sound outside. Very little sleep that week. She asked Craig when Studentz
Camp 2007 is scheduled, and immediately put in for vacation. :)

Also in the summer, Susie’s Aunt MaryAnn had moved from TN to the DC area
around the same time that Brett (the other east coast Twiggs) moved to DC,
and we enjoyed making several road trips on our weekends off. We also
escalated our church search and joined Swift Creek Baptist Church. We love
it. Great pastor, great Sunday School class, great activities and
ministries. We really enjoy our new church home. By Labor Day 2006, we took
another vacation (more of a vacationette) to the Outer Banks, NC. Again, a
first time for Susie and Craig. Kitty Hawk, Nags Head, Oregon Inlet, Cape
Hatteras, etc. – what beautiful sights to see! We had a great time getting
away, having a chance to talk dreams and share blessings, and decided that
we really wanted to focus more time on us and how God would have us cherish
our family of two... (and yes, we know exactly who’s counting.)

We decided to make plans to resign from our part-time job so to open up more
free time and lighten the stress load. We began looking to move closer to
where we work, and stumbled upon a cute little apartment complex about a
mile from Craig’s office. (Remember, our place on Kent Rd. was across the
street from Susie’s work.) Craig’s commute isn’t as short, but is less than
five minutes even if he is stopped by the lights. We put in a 30-day notice,
packed it up again, and moved across town. We were smart enough to get a PO
Box the previous summer, which we plan to keep as long as we’re in the area.
We’re on our third address in the same town, so just keep using our PO Box,
okay? Even we don’t know where we’ll end up and when. Our eighth home in
seven years… it might be a record.

So here we are, enjoying the new-found time and upcoming Christmas of 2006.
We will not be flying to OR this year but staying in VA. Susie’s older
sister is flying home from TX and this will be the first Christmas with all
four siblings and Dad Anderson in five years. We will miss the west coast
Twiggs, but look forward to vacationing there this summer so that we can see
the green grass of the ranch with the snow caps in the distance. We wish we
could come visit all of you… but please know that you are remembered just
the same. Each year we make a New Year’s resolution to be more diligent
about corresponding, and each year we fail miserably. Our hope is that you
realize how grateful we are for the memories we have shared throughout the
years with each and every one of you, wherever you are. Those memories are
the easiest to pack, and the most important for each new home we make.

May God bless you during this wonderful Christmas season,

Craig & Susie Twiggs
Richmond, VA
***Serving the Lord through Study with Southeastern Baptist Theological
Seminary***

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