Another year went by and things have been so busy that we wonder just what did we have time to do! We started the year with physicals, TB shots, immunizations and some fingerprints for our latest adoption (more about that later, just be patient). The normal birthdays went by and everyone is a year older than last year. Should we make you try to remember them, perhaps just their names? No, I have enough trouble remembering them some times myself. People see me counting noses or reciting all their names and think I am trying to be funny but I.m not. Really, I.m not, that is the only way I have to make sure that I know where they all are.

Chris and Charles are now both 20, Curtis is almost 16, Charlotte almost 15, Candace 14, Caleb soon to be 12, Cora 9, Camille 8, Connor 6, Claire 5 next week, Carter 2 and then Clark 5.5 months (more about Mr. Precious later).

In January of 2004 we had a really BIG moment in our lives. Some of you may know about it, but there was a really big legal battle in our lives and it was settled in our favor. And to top that off, all the attorney fees are usable as a tax credit, not a deduction, but a credit. We would still prefer not to have had to go through it, but we have to look at the bright side once in a while. We give the thanks and Praise to the Lord for seeing us through that troubling time in our lives, it had been going on for over 2 years.

We.ve had more than our share of problems with transportation this year everything in our home seems to be intermittent. It seems that we would no sooner get one car out of the shop and then another would have to go in for something. It didn.t matter what they went in for; it always took too many days to fix it and too much money to pay for it. But at the moment they are all running ok. The old Tercel (1984) has no working heater so it has problems keeping the windows de-frosted when it gets cooler and moisture in the air, but other than that, it gets us where we need to go. The Toyota and Metro have been in a race this year to see which car can be problematic and go into the shop the most. Seems that as soon as one gets out of the shop, the other wants to go in.

The school situation hasn.t changed much, still the ongoing battles with dealing with 3 different schools, 3 different calendars, 3 different sets of teachers and all that goes with that. We.ve had our IPP.s IEP.s (Individual Program Plan and Individual Educational Plan) and all those other P.s adjusted, updated and re-written so many times that we don.t know which end is up nor do we really want to know at times. Caleb will be leaving West Valley School this spring. He has been there for many years and he has such a wonderful teacher this year (Thanks Roz) that it makes it hard to move on, but we know that it is time. Now we need to figure out how to get him and Curtis into the same school so that we can get our school count down to 2 instead of 3 again. We are looking into moving both of them into a school where they service Jr. AND Sr. High students. The school where Curtis is now has changed and is now only Sr. High and Caleb doesn.t fit that age bracket for another couple years. Nita our Regional center caseworker continues to guide us through the maze of .things. that we need to be aware of through them. Christopher is in the process of moving from his school to a workshop where he can work for a living doing piece part work at one of the local workshops for developmentally disabled. He had been working there last year in a program where he went for about 3 hours daily from school. He is excited to make the move in January (Lord willing), but at the same time we think he is a bit sad about leaving school also. We shall see and we pray that he will continue on the path that the Lord has chosen for him.

Christopher got his first jury summons. I filled it out and did all the calls, stating that he is handicapped and conserved and thought that was it, then later in the year he received another one saying that he hadn.t appeared for jury duty when first called so show up on this date. I called them every day for what seemed like a month. Trying at different times, different days, and I got either a busy signal or no answer at all. The date came and went and nothing has happened. We may get another notice one of these days and I will probably have to make a trip to the courthouse to convince the jury room people that it would be difficult for Chris to serve on a jury.

Carols Auntie Margaret went to be with the Lord during the month of April. She had had a couple strokes and had been moved out of the hospital into a nursing home type of place next to the hospital in Simi Valley where her daughter lives. We rest in the knowledge that Auntie Margaret did know Jesus as her Lord and Savior. Charles and our friend Dave Hunt went to her house when Charles was involved in an outreach program at the church and they felt assured that she knew the Lord and will now be in heaven waiting for us when we arrive. Earlier in the year, Carol.s Uncle George (known as Buba) passed away. He has been on life support. A hard year for all of the family and Carol.s parents also.

Candace and Charlotte had a couple outings with the OCS school. They sang at a Convalescent Home. Chris attended the .Spirits in Action. again this year. This is where they take a bus to USC and have a day (Saturday) of action and fun. They have a type of a track meet and he came home with a chest full of ribbons. They get one on one buddies from USC, lunch on the USC campus and lots of fun with their friends and classmates.

OH, about all those birthdays and ages, well we won.t advertise our ages, but we did celebrate our 24th year of marriage. We continue to grow closer and try to be helpers to each other as much as possible. We fully recommend marriage with the one the Lord has chosen for you.

Made it to the Dentist twice this year and for the first time some of the kids had cavities. Charles had two, Connor had one and Camille had one. They have all sat through the fillings with no big problems. Charles needs to have his wisdom teeth pulled and will probably schedule that with the oral surgeon in Jan of 2005 and Charlotte will need a bit of orthodonture work at that time also. We have been blessed thus far with good health in this area and we will get through this with the Lords help.

We had to go through the searching for babysitters again during the spring / summer months. We tried advertising a couple places and after not having any successes. We were blessed with two new sitters Blanca and Lillian. So far they have worked out well. The kids love them and they are getting used to our strange way of doing things. We pray that these relationships will continue to be strong and that we will have them around for a while.

Chris spent almost every Saturday working at the Septo house with his grandfather. Chris is getting be a good helper and he has learned a LOT of new things there. He has painted, scraped paint, swept the sidewalks, carried rocks out of the yard, mowed the yard, general cleanup inside and out. He can be a real helper.

Charles has been attending a few classes at The Learning Tree. They have a campus down by LAX. He tried taking the fly away bus down, then he stayed at a motel down there once just to get away from us for a few days, then again taking the fly away bus. He is also still involved in his Linux users group and their meetings.

We were greatly encouraged when some friends that run an organization, NATHHAN / CHASK, we support prayerfully & financially, came out to CA for a visit. We had been blessed many years ago to spend the day with them at our home. This time they were at a church in Simi Valley for sharing, presentation and encouragement for each family that attended It would sure be nice and is our prayer to find more of these conservative believers much closer to home. It also was nice to have another family around with almost the same number of kids as us. They just added #12 also! Boy was there a lot of kids there!

We found out the hard way that Claire Vanessa loves to take our mail from the mailbox before the Mailman gets it. She took our DWP bill, which was quite a large amount, and it disappeared. We were unaware of it until we got a second notice that the bill was due. We did send another check to them and we were watching for the original to turn up or for someone to return it to us. We prayed and felt as though it would be hard for anyone else to cash and if it were found perhaps would end up at the DWP. God is good because it was found under the shed door several months later where she had only nibbled a bit of it.

OCS Graduation was in June, everyone moved up a grade, which puts Charlotte in 9th, Candace, Cora and Camille are in special Ed and Connor is now officially in the 1st grade. Please keep us in prayer as we continue to try to teach each of them at the speed that they can work at, but not allow them to fall behind because they just don.t want to do the work. Also please pray that the subject matter will be able to hold their interest well. They had a fun day at Petit Park and then onward to Chuck E. Cheese for an end of year celebration.

Carol.s Mom and Dad celebrated their 50th Wedding Anniversary, we were very excited as a family, we had asked them a few months earlier what they would like to do, a Pot Luck, an Open House, being this year has been a full, also an up and down one for Mom and Dad and our family, with the loss of Uncle Buba who had been on Life Support and his heart gave out, to Mom.s older sister, my Auntie Margaret ( Auntie with the Orange hair as the children called her), went to be with the Lord, her service took place on ( Good Friday) April 9th, 2004. With all that plus the fact that they had been working at the Septo Street house for almost 14 months, making it a totally remodeled home. Mom.s up and down health with the diabetes, they said a Family Dinner would be what they would choose at this time, maybe later, something more. Perhaps the BIG Gathering will be for their 51st? We put announcements together, many people sent beautiful cards either to Mom and Dad or our home for the .Card collection. and it was very special to Mom and Dad as well as us getting to share, thank you all. We had a meal , cake and some reminders, the vows, celebration time here at our home. Congratulations Mom and Dad you have been a wonderful example to myself as well as Carol and the rest of the family. We love you both so very much.

Cousin Colleen and her two daughters Jocelyn and Joannie finally managed to visit in July. We always talk about trying to get together at least 2 times while they are down from Canada, however they have their plans so until they arrive, we never know. We were able to visit for a few hours here which was nice for the girls to get together and for all the kids to see their Canadian cousins.

Candace and Charlotte had a few friends over a few times this summer even going shopping at our local shopping street Mall or Target.

OUR MOST PRECIOUS BLESSING OF THE YEAR CAME WITH THE ARRIVAL OF MUCH PRAYED FOR NUMBER 12.

Born July 16, 2004 12:53 a.m. 6 pounds, 6 ounces and 19 inches long.

Our prayer is that he continues to have a gentle spirit and a good healthy long life serving the Lord.

Our vacation time this year started with a big visit to the Dr.s office. Our pediatrician, of more than 13 years, knows us by name by now. It seems that someone picked up a throat or sinus infection and shared. How can we teach them not to do that? Anyway, we started out with the prescriptions in hand and went on our .Mini. vacation. We spent 3 days and 2 nights away to a motel. Our first afternoon and night was in August where we had a connecting room and a single room (3 in total), and a view of .The Pool.. To some that may not be a big thing but that is a vacation blessing to all of us. The pool was enjoyed by all, just not all at the same time. Charlie took all but 2 or 3 to Denny.s for a sit down dinner, while Carol stayed with little Clark and Caleb. Then some walks in the evening in a different area and new sights. Walked by a railroad and different sounds, people, sights etc. Next morning some went across the street to good old McDonalds for another treat while others that have their own food or can.t eat there stayed in the motel room to eat.

After check-out time the second day, we drove for about another ½ hour or so to the next motel We had a HUGE room, actually two of them. Carol and I divided that night so that we would have an adult in each room and Charles came with us, he drove the car from work to spend the day and night with us. With another .Big. person we were able to take turns in a much nicer pool for swimming and it was GREAT! The motel also served a buffet for dinner and breakfast for all of us. That saved us some $$ and helped pay for the room (just a little though). As before, there were new places to visit on our walks. We walked over the freeway, by a gated community so nice with a HUGE Flag, Oak tree with acorns which we usually only read about and also a neat water fountain to view. We walked by a Japanese Restaurant where we took pictures of some HUGE Koi fish, along with turtles in the water, for us that was special.

Third day, we were able to stay till noon, just barely making it out in time. Then we enjoyed a day at Travel Town/Griffith Park, the Merry Go Round, lunch, also during vacation we Celebrated and had a Praise Party for Candace.s 14th Birthday.

After all the vacation adventures, it was now time to get ready for school, both public and private and to get the curriculums together, prepare for the first school meetings and all that goes with getting started with school each fall.

Charles had a Cyst removed in the fall and was off of work for 4 weeks. He has recovered well and is now in the process of enrolling at Mission College for the spring semester to start his higher education and work towards a CS degree. He has given an early notice at NEWROADS and will be going to school full time.

Chris, Charlotte and Candace got to start going to .Youth Group. at the church for the first time. Boy was that an interesting experience!

Charlie gave some blood to have ready in case it was needed for Cora.s surgery. She had her tonsils and adenoids removed and a tube in her ear had .fallen. into the ear so it was removed also. She went through a week or so with some eating problems after this. Most of the problems were for us to remember to give her only soft foods that wouldn.t scratch her throat. Cora seemed to bounce back really fast, faster that we remember Curtis doing it when he had his done many years ago. We give Praise how she was able to eat some things without it causing any bleeding and such in her throat.

Clark Matthew has made it through his 2 and 4 month checkup and the shots that go with it. He didn.t particularly like the shots and did not react well. Had much soreness and a fever. Next is the 6 month in Jan.

This year Charlotte, Claire and Mom walked the .Walk for Life. in our neighborhood as by the time we got babysitters would pay out anything we brought in. We were blessed to donate close to $200 to Pregnancy Resource Center in North Hills by the time it was all collected.

Trying to look for possibilities to get new hearing aids for Chris as he uses sign language, He also misses a lot and his articulation quickly begins to regress. We started the process of getting a new pair for him because one of them had been lost at school even though the teacher AND the DHH (Deaf and Hard of Hearing) teachers were to help him follow through with the care of the aids. But as expected, there was a substitute teacher and things didn.t get followed through with and one of the hearing aids never came home. We applied and were accepted to purchase a new set of hearing aids at a discount. He goes in this week for new ear molds and will order new hearing aids at that time.

Carol was able to meet with an old friend from High School. Must have been over 20 years since they were able to just meet and talk. They met at Starbucks. and the time was enjoyed by both and hopefully it won.t be another 20 years before it happens again. Thanks Michelle.

Another friend that used to live across the street and Carol have been able to meet on a semi-regular basis, usually every 2 months. They are able to keep in touch with email and the good old telephone in between these times. Again, thanks to Marlene.

During Carters 2 year checkup, the Dr. heard a new heart murmur, so we gave a call to our favorite Pediatric Cardiologist Dr. Ferry. We were again blessed because after the EKG, then an Echo Cardiogram, it turned out to be a .Functional Murmur.. This simply means that Carters heart makes noise that most normal hearts don.t. God was (and is) so good isn.t he?

We celebrated Thanksgiving with Mom, Dad and some friends from the past and a new friend from the church. There was lots to eat and lots of people and fun was had by all.

Which brings us up to today. How about you, is your family ready for Christmas? We never know until the time comes.

Have a Very Blessed Christmas and a Joyful New Years.

Love all of The Wyble Family.

Charlie Carol Christopher Charles Curtis Charlotte Candace Caleb Cora Camille Connor Claire Carter and Clark Wyble