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Hi all,

Please join Brent on Facebook and professionally on LinkedIn. Brent's Skype ID is brent1777

Brent: Life continues with the Stephens family, working as a project director on an electric car project - exciting project for a friend who decided electric cars is the way to go - we have converted a Mercedes SLK350 and are now working on a Hummer and smart car. Had a trip to Guernsey on the Channel islands to visit some guys who converted a few smart cars and saw cousin Beth and family! Details on www.evxlabs.com

On the soccer front, I am now a Grade 7 referee, instructor, and assessor - still enjoy being paid to exercise - however, as an assessor I referee less, but get to help improve the referee program. Swam on the swim team again, and was in town for the regional competition, came third in my backstroke final so made it to state finals (where I did not fare as well!!) Had my graduation (a few doctoral students and 900 students in total) and was accepted to teach online by two universities, been through the training, will get an assignment for mid 2009. Sadly, I lost a major mentor, Prof. Bill Mitchell in South Africa to colon cancer. Get those regular screenings (I am due my 5 yearly checkup!) Still teach high performance driving for Apex Driving Academy.

I finally bought a new car, 07 C230 Sport Mercedes with a GPS, satellite radio, Bluetooth cell phone and iPod. The way to drive! Also splashed out on a laptop, if I am going to be teaching, the one that survived the doctorate can no longer run all the application at one time and is “upgrade maxed out!” Still on the board for the ASTD Fort Worth as VP Tech where I manage their web site. Ran for the Northwest ISD school board earlier in the year, an interesting experience! President of the Soccer Booster (fundraising) Club, so still actively involved…

Steph: Steph continues as a dietitian, changed office to be closer to home. She is doing well, taught the division how to use mail merge to simplify their reporting. A major change in her life (and ours as a result) is we moved her mom down (in a nursing home in Minneapolis after a stroke) to a local nursing home, and her dad is in some very nice subsidized apartments nearby. Steph has a new Honda Civic and we are very pleased with the mileage she gets. She participated in a physical fitness Boot Camp in January, I signed her up for the swim team in June J. Ve haf veys nd mns to gt u fit, ja?

William: finally finished High School - he was ready to move on, his summer job was life-saving which he thoroughly enjoyed and he has enjoyed his first 4 months of college immensely. Or that is the story that his grades give, anyway L He has a great roommate and it is a wonderful time in life and a joy to watch him grow.

Jason: is now a junior, more carefree, and enjoying not having big brother around and finding his own space. Still has the great group of friends that he has had for years and they regularly hang out. He and William have a mutual friend with a lake cabin in Arkansas and head there summer and fall and had a good time. Played select soccer, played High School varsity goalkeeper, made high school regional finals and swam into state finals on the local club again. Dad has officially relinquished any swimming titles at this point!
Jason turned 16 on June 24 and got the 99 BMW 328i Steph had been driving when she got her Honda. I instruct for www.streetsurvival.org and he loved the defensive driving course but sadly (2009 news) he wrecked it last night - sharp curve, just rained, moved his trunk into the back seat. Thankfully not injured but the worse news is that through an error we found out the car did not have collision coverage so we start the year with a $8,000 less equity than planned L

Andrew: Had a mostly successful 5th grade, made the honor choir but missed the main event. Won an art contest, shows an interest in cooking. Played soccer in the spring and swam to regional finals in the summer. Continues with piano lessons and is an accomplished piano player. 6th grade is proving more of a challenge, adjusting to eight versus one teacher. Plays percussion in the band. We had a breakthrough toward the end of the year when he concluded my holding him accountable was to help him - the counselor was suitably impressed in this accomplishment. Remains a bright, highly talented young man.

Sharla: is now 5 and still a little sweetie, ready to start school, quite a difference to having boys around. She tried a season of soccer but showed little interest in the ball but a lot of interest in impromptu singing and dancing and dressing up. We found a home daycare giver and so moved her out of the daycare center, saving some cost and giving some flexibility. She is mom's little helper, exercising her ability to prove that she can do it on her own and the help becomes extra work in cleaning the resulting mess! Full of love and hugs and thinks waking up early and crawling into mom and step-dad's bed is the thing to do - unfortunately usually when they are still sleeping…

Well, that's about it, despite the rocky start am optimistic about 2009!

That's about all our news, would love to hear yours!

Lots of love, Brent, Steph, William, Jason, Andrew + Sharla