Stamp Family Holiday Letter

Dear Family and Friends,

The holiday decorations have long been packed away and the pace has finally slowed at the Stamp home. As Steve and I reflect on the events of 2007, we are reminded how blessed we are to have such wonderful family and friends.

Niki and Matt celebrated their third anniversary and continue to call Bennington their home. Niki is still working at HDR and last year her business travels included a trip to Alaska where she enjoyed days of constant sunlight, king salmon fishing and glacier hiking. Matt is still with State Farm and still enjoys the art of gourmet cooking. As Colorado Buffs fans, they took a trip to Boulder, watched the Buffs play and also hiked at Rocky Mountain National Park. Finally to report, Niki did complete the MBA program at UNO in December and we all celebrated with Matt hosting the graduation soiree.

Cassidy is in her senior year at KU. She’s studying secondary education and because this is a five-year program, she will graduate this May, student-teach in the fall and begin her master’s work. Last summer she studied in Berlin, Paris, Strasbourg and Brussels. Highlights of her trip included visits to the Berlin Wall, the Louve, famous wineries and the inside of many pubs. When we visited her at school, Steve and I observed, that with the success of their football and basketball programs, sorority and everyday KU life, “the party light is always on.” What a great place to be a college kid.

Steve continues his real job at KETV and still chases his cows every weekend. His interest in horse racing still has him freelancing for Oaklawn Park in Arkansas several times a year. I went with him for the Arkansas Derby in April and can report Hot Springs is a beautiful, historical city with real hot springs! Steve did a feature on the winner of the derby, Curlin’, who went on to win several other major races and won the “horse of the year” award. He also kept busy this summer with landscaping our home complete with an awesome boulder fountain just in time for the annual Bull Family Picnic. The picnic was combined with a wedding shower for our niece, Elissa, and drew over 50 family members who sweated it out with us in humid, 100+ degree weather. Oh to live in Nebraska.

As for me, I’m still enjoying my work at Oriental Trading with the Beading catalog. I’ll have to admit that most days I can’t believe I get paid for doing this. This spring my four siblings and I had a new home built very close to two of them for our mother in Texas. Her home was aging fast and we thought she deserved the best. The Wise family will be venturing to Vegas for our annual trip in April and as usual, Steve will choose to pass on Sin City. He just doesn’t see how flushing money down the toilet can be so much fun. Due to Cassidy’s graduation in May and my high school reunion in New Orleans in July, my mother and I will take our trip to Japan to see her four siblings in May 2009.That’s the news from the Stamp Family Singers. We wish all of you great health, wealth and happiness in the upcoming year. Please pray for those who fight for our freedom everywhere. Take care and love one another.

Happy New Year! (from Joan)

Hello Everyone!

I know it has been a while since my last post but as you can imagine, vet school has been busy! My classmates and I can now count down on one hand the rotations and months that we have left. I took my national board exam in November and am should hear the results late this month or in early February. I have enjoyed a variety of rotations lately including large animal, small animal internal medicine, radiology and I am now on equine. One of the joys of equine is more emergency shifts than usual, which is right now giving me time to write this!! We haven't had too many horses in so far as this isn't yet the busy time for equine. About the time I am on a different rotation is when foaling season will start, so I will likely miss that. One of my favorite rotations so far has been large animal and I've included a few photos.

The bull was so big that he actually got stuck in the squeeze chute when we tried to get him out. We eventually were able to wiggle him out without cutting the chute apart. The cria (baby alpaca...similar to a llama) was a very cute little thing and unfortunately was the first patient that died in my arms...literally. She had surgery for an infected umbilicus and was recovering well outside when she collapsed. We tried to resuscitate her but were not successful. It turned out that she had flail chest (broken ribs) and she was just too weak to survive.

Other things I am doing right now to keep myself busy include starting the job search and learning Spanish. The job market looks good for graduating veterinarians so I am hoping to find an ideal job. I just started using the Rosetta Stone software to try to learn Spanish. This summer I will be completing my field experience for my Master's in Public Health program. A classmate and I have the opportunity to travel to Paraguay to work with the USDA and local governments to help with Foot and Mouth Disease eradication. We are both very excited! That's all for now and Happy New Year!!!


Joan

Ahhhh....Back Home in the Recliner - Sue

John had surgey on his foot this afternoon at 1:30, and was back in his recliner by 5pm.. Went MUCH better, so far, than either of us anticipated... Four years ago he had his ankle fused together because of deterioration. Since then, the ankle no longer hurts, but it's continued to 'roll out' on him when he walks, to the point where his hip and back were hurting.. So today, in a brief, 35-minute surgery, they made an incision, cut apart the heel, then repositioned it to line it back up straight... The Dr. thinks it looks great now... We were both a little nervous about this, because John has a history of taking a long time to come out of anesthesia... and when we realized they intended to do this at 1:30 and send him home yet the same day, we just didn't think there was any way that could happen. But it did.. They gave him a 'block' in the right leg, so as of yet, he's feeling absolutely nothing in that foot. The instructions were to start taking the pain meds now, after eating something, to stay ahead of the pain when that block wears off after about 8-10 hours.. So... hopefully we'll all have a good night tonight... He's in a splint now, until his follow-up visit on the 15th, at which time they will put it in a cast... He'll be on crutches for six weeks, then a boot and some physical therapy, and the Dr. thinks he should be back in real shoes shortly after that..

Hope everyone had a wonderful Holiday Season. We enjoyed a Warren family dinner here on the 22nd, and then a Trihy family dinner on Christmas Day at my sisters. She has 5 grandchildren, ages 8 months to 5 years, so it makes for a lively group.

I think we got all of our landscaping projects done this past year... we added another driveway (to give us more wiggle room with all of Joe's lawnmowing equipment), redid all the landscaping around the front and one side of the house, THEN John and Joe decided to kill off the front yard and start over.. That project turned into more work than either of them could have ever imagined.. but, after much work, and the wettest October on record right after we sowed seed, we had a completely green yard back before winter set in. There will be a little touch-up work to do on it this spring, but I really thought we'd have mud all winter, so I was pleasantly surprised.

Joe is really enjoying his winter break..no lawns to mow and no school work.. He's planning a self-funded trip to Cancun for spring break..so is excited about that. I'll be more excited when he gets back on US soil...

Take care everyone,

Sue