Merry Christmas!

Here's wishing all Silers everywhere a Merry Christmas and a Happy, Healthy New Year! With love, Pat & Billy.

Merry Christmas

Okay you lazy bloggers, where have you been? I know everyone is busy but don't forget the lonely blog.

I pray everyone has the best and a very Merry Christmas. PLEASE do not forget David Perkins at this time of year. Pray for health, and his safety. Especially pray for his salvation. Bring him before the throne every opportunity you get. What more important thing as Christians do we have to do but to Glorify God and pray for the lost. Nothing else matters.

"God Bless Us Everyone," .........Tiny Tim


Sara

Christmas Cards

Ok Siler Bloggers, come on. Time is getting short to send David Perkins phone cards so he will be able to call home for Christmas. See his address below or send cards or check to Laura or me. We will buy them for you. This is very important and I find I can spend my money on lots of useless stuff. A simple thing like this card is showing Christ's love to someone like David who does not know the Lord. Send him a Christmas card (see his address in Laura's blog entry below). David needs a connection to home at a time like this. He's 19 and I am sure misses his family. I know you may not know him but that doesn't matter. he won't know you either. So you can introduce yourself. Youo don't have to spend great big money, $5.00-10.00 will go a long way.

Thanks a bunch!

Sara

If you would like to minister to Chris and Laura Griffith's son-n-law who is spending the holiday in Iraq, his address is:

PFC Perkins Jr., David W
572nd MAC Engineer Co.
Q-West Base Complex
APO AE 09351

David is in need of calling cards. Katie has to wait on him to call her and their budget didn't allow for this expense. The cheapest rate I have been able to find is .28/min. and that is buying a 500 minute card for $27.50 that converts to only 90 minutes of international calling.

For more details about the calling cards or to buy them, visit the AAFES, NEX or Marine Corps Exchange Web sites or call (800) 527-2345.

If you know of something better, let me know.

Merry Christmas and a Blessed New Year!!!

Another Great Siler Christmas Party

We really enjoyed the party. Lots of good food and conversation. The little ones are definitely growing up! On Sunday, Dec. 2, Billy, Linda and I went to the Roanoke College Choir's performance of "Lessons and Carols". It was at St. Andrews Church. The music was beautiful, and the audience got to sing as well. Like Sara, we will be busy every weekend up til Christmas. It's always fun, but then it's good to get some rest after the holidays.

great party

Well from the looks of about all of us we need to stop strapping on the feed bag!

Saturday was fun and it was good to see everybody. Sorry if you missed the get-together, maybe next year? it was a busy weekend for me. it started on thursday night. I met the ladies who used to work with me in the Children's Center at Hollywood's Rest. then our get together on Saturday lunch. Then at 6:00 on Saturday night yet another get together. This one was for the staff of Roanoke Valley Christian School. But that's not all, on Sunday at 12:30 we met at Putt-Putt for a small party for Tessa's 3rd birthday. So it was a happenin' weekend for me. Next weekend is almost as bad. I can't wait until Christmas so I can rest. I have 11 straight days off.

OK, let's get the blog up and running again. Let's hear from you slackers out there.

Sara

Feeding Frenzy or Festive Feast?

Hey Ya'll

Time to strap on the feedbag! I look forward to seeing you tomorrow at the Siler Family Christmas Dinner.

Chris

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to all Silers, wherever you may be. If you're traveling, please drive safely. A special Happy Thanksgiving to David Perkins in Iraq and Katie and the baby in Texas. You're all in our prayers.

God Bless!
Pat

Wild Urp

Here is a picture of Wild Urp. He is the paper toy of the month for November over at the Custom Paper Toy blog. You can make him in just a few minutes and it is fun as all get-out! All you need is a printer, card stock, scissors, glue. (Guess where most of my Christmas presents are coming from this year? ...Uh huh!)

prayer request

I would ask anyone on here today to pray for my stepgrandaughter, Katie and her family. She is Laura's oldest. Her husband, David Perkins left today for Iraq. He is in the army in Ft. Hood, TX. That is near Waco. Please pray for him and Katie and their one year old, Loretta. David will have a very dangerous job of seeking out and blowing up bombs. I suppose that would be the IED's the media speaks of. Just pray for safety and wisdom for David. He is 19 years old and ALL army just as it should be. He will be gone for 15 months. Her dad and grandmother are there this week to help her get through it. Laura was down in September. It's a very sad time for them. They know they may never see each other again. I do not know about David's salvation. I do not think he is saved. But God can work in thse situations. Just keep them close to your heart. I am sure Katie would love to hear from anyone. Just call me or email for her address. Of course, please contact David. Christmas will be especially hard for him, I am sure. I will get addresses for anyone who wants them. David would be my step-grandson-in-law. I know he doesn't know you but he doesn't have to know you. He will be fighting for you. God Bless Him.
Sara

Williamsburg Reunion

Sara, Betty, Dewey & Jackie, Estelle & Jerry and Billy and I attended the reunion at Mary Ruth's in Williamsburg this past weekend. I don't know about everyone else, but Billy and I had a great time.

It was fun to visit with everyone and catch up on family news.

Dewey, Jackie, Estelle & Jerry spent Saturday at the outlets shopping. The rest of us just sat around and talked. We had a pot luck supper Saturday night which was wonderful. Sue, Mike and their girls Ashlee and Haylee were there. We had a special treat Saturday night. Allison's boyfriend, Johnny St. Clair (a very good country singer/guitar player) performed for us. Allison's Cory had fun playing cards with everyone. Laurin, who is a senior at William & Mary came for supper.

Everyone but Billy and me left after breakfast Sunday. We helped celebrate Mike's birthday Sunday night with a delicious German meal prepared by Sue. We came home Monday. We had a wonderful time. Many thanks to Mary Ruth for hosting us. Next year we plan to have another reunion, this time at our house in Callaway. We hope that the other brothers and sisters will be able to attend.

Hey Siler Bloggers

Hope to see all the brothers and sisters that can make it to Williamsburg this weekend, Oct. 26-28. Looking forward to it. Betty and I are going down early on Friday.

I read an interesting thing the other day. It was talking about Welsh people and we are on mama's side. That would be the Evans branch. Now I understand that grandma and grandpa Evans (that would be Ruth and Ed) were first cousins. She was a Hendricks. I don't know what Hendricks is. Do any of you all? I am not fully certain that they were first cousins but would like to check into it. Maybe that is where this weakness for diabetes is coming into play. The article that I read said that the Welsh are dark to black haired, blue-eyed and fair skinned people. I think we fit the bill. Look at our family picture, we all are just that. Of course, from the Siler side, the Germans were also blue-eyed and fair skinned. (Griffith is also a pure Welsh name but my sons have so many American Indians genes that all Welsh genes disappear. Their grandma and grandpa Griffith were both indians from North Carolina. I think John has all the Native American traits and looks. Well I think so anyway. Maybe not so much Chris. He has more of the Siler look than Griffith). I do not know what I hit that changed my type, Sorry!!!! Weird

Siler bloggers let's hear from you.
Sara

Siler Summer Reunion '05

I guess the title is self explanatory. You should know who you are. Actually, I messed up. I wanted to put text beside each pic :) Have a great day.

Kitty Litter Cake

Well, this is the best picture of the "cake". Chris took pics, I operated the video camera :) Maybe I can put a clip from that on here. Someone looks happy to eat kitty droppings....

check it out

If anyone is on the blog today, go down to the blog article about the rescue of the men (it's below our Siler blog )on Smith Mt. Lake. It was a Siler man and his son who resuced the men. Remember one man drowned. It happened back in August or Sept. I think.

Happy Birthday Sara!

Happy Birthday to my mom Sara Griffith! She is turning the big 6-0, (In case you didn't know). Although she may tell the world's corniest jokes, she's still a great mom and we love her very much!

Here are some important things that happened in October of 1947, the year she was born.

October 14 - American test pilot Captain Chuck Yeager flies a Bell X-1 faster than the speed of sound, the first man to do so in level flight.
October 20 - The Indo-Pakistani War of 1947 begins.
October 30 - The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), which is the foundation of the World Trade Organization (WTO) is founded. (from Wikipedia)

where is everyone?

So where did all the bloggers go? Everyone started out like gangbusters now -----pluffffff.
I went to Rahel Goldstein's bat mitzvah this past weekend. It was very unusual for this old gentile. I have been taking her to Hebrew School for 4 years now. Wow she did so good. It was a 2 hour thing on Sat. morning. She read from the Torah for 1 hour solid. All of her New Jersey jewish family was here and all of her gentile family was here from Maryland, plus all their friends from Roanoke, Salem, Vinton. Ther were about 200 people there. Saturday night it was Hotel Roanoke and boy it was fancy!!!! I had to have fancy dress and all. The food was absolutely fabulous that is for sure.

Come on bloggers let's see some action

Hello

Hello All,

This is my first posting. Chris, thank you for creating this.

All is well with me. I just came back from vacation. I spent 3 days at Virginia Beach. I had a nice time. But like all vacations, I was glad to get home and sleep in my own bed. The kitty's were glad to see me.

Work is going well. I work for Carilion Labs doing client billing for nursing homes.

Well, that's all for now. I'll post more later.

Linda

...and with Brian Williams on NBC

Someone must really be getting the word out about the Silers Blog. Maybe we can catch the attention of some of the other Siler Family through the main stream media.

Sara

Thank you for that info on Grandpa and Grandma. There is so much I do not know about them. Especially her.
Love you.
Mary Catherine

Silers Spotted in Big Apple

When I first started this blog I had no idea it would take off like this!

Check out what was recently spotted in Times Square, NYC on the right. And then out West, below. Who would have thunk it?

A Comparison: Left 1966, Right 1998

(Click on pictures to enlarge.)

Billy Siler and Family

This photo was taken in November 2002 on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. It was the first time in years that we'd been in the same place at the same time and Mom insisted on a family portrait. Back row left to right, Jim (aka Jimmy), Shain (our granddaughter), Linda, Billy. Front row left to right, Mary Catherine, Pat and Lori (Jim's wife, Shain's Mom). By the way, Jim now has short hair. The amazing thing is that everyone was smiling. None were happy being in a photo studio full of little kids having Christmas pictures taken.

wedding picture

Mary Catherine,
The family members you need to talk to are Darlene, Bruce and Phyllis. They know all this stuff. Every now and then one of them will come out with something I have never heard before, like this pic. I think mama was introduced to daddy by aunt Margie. She and mama worked at the shoe factory together in Lynchburg. Daddy was in the navy. Did you know he rode his motorcycle from Hampton Roads to see mama? Someone ( I think it is Phyllis ) has a pic. of daddy on his motorcycle. It was an Indian 500. John always he wish he had that thing now. I think mama and daddy got married in the mid 1920's.

Wedding Picture!

I was not aware that that picture was taken on their wedding day. Would love to learn more about how they met and the begining of their life together.
Mary Catherine

Circa 2005

This was taken at Bill and Pat's open house. Compare to the circa 1966 pic :)

If you click on pic it will enlarge. I know it's not the best of everyone, but it was the best with the most people looking good!

Fun in the US Navy

Okay, this is a little off the subject, but after watching this video, I wondered what Grandpa Siler would have thought about the modern day US Navy? Of course, I guess there has always been a since of behind the scenes WACKINESS in the Navy!

Wedding Day Picture

By the way do you all know this is mama and daddy's wedding day picture? I didn't know it until either Darlene or Phyllis told me. That is uncle Bob in the driver's seat of the car. All you older ones know that but younger generations may not.

Lice

Laura was telling me about an newly adopted child she knew (who came from a foster home situation), who had her hair in a bun and when they took it down, she has lice living in it. That made me think of the time when we were real young ( I think it was before I went to school), Estelle came home from school and had a fever and was put to bed with the old fashioned measles. Mama discovered lice in her hair but she was so sick and feverish mama could not do anything to treat her. So we all got lice as I recall. Does anyone remember this?

I didn't get in on this poll Chris did but I think daddy was saying............"I need a cigarette about now." I did like the one Chris did about the rabbit ears though.

Navy Pic

The blog looks better each time I have checked it. The Navy picture is really great....they look so young.....

Bonnie

Laura's Trip to Texas

Everything has been going well with the Griffiths. Just this past Saturday Laura and Lorien returned from a visit with Katie, (Laura's daughter) who lives in Texas. Katie is married to David and they have a one year old daughter by the name of Loretta. David is in the Army and stationed at Fort Hood and will be going to Iraq in November. They had a long but wonderful trip! (And I must say I was glad to have them back...eating Raisin Bran for three meals a day just about did me in!)

Keep Tweaking!

Chris, keep on tweaking the blog. It looks better every time I sign in.

I know a lot of you got invitations from Chris to join the blog. C'mon and join. If you aren't sure how, Chris will help. What's everyone up to?

We spent the last two weeks in August in Massachusetts and Vermont. We spent a lot of time with Mary Catherine and my mother, and also saw a lot of our friends and some of Billy's former co-workers. We had a family get-together (about 30 people) at a restaurant. It was really good to see everyone and we took lots of pictures. We ate LOTS of fresh seafood, the only thing we miss since we left the Massachusetts coast. We spent the last few days in Vermont with my cousin Beth and her husband Tom. Tom works for Entergy Corp. at the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant. Pilgrim Station (the nuclear plant Bill worked at) is owned by the same company so they had a lot to talk about.

We're looking forward to the "brother sister" reunion next month at Mary Ruth's.

We're also looking forward to a trip to Gatlinburg in January or February, where we'll meet up with friends from Alabama and Georgia.

I know Mary Catherine won't brag on herself, but she was recently promoted to Assistant Branch Manager at Sovereign Bank in Pocasset MA (Cape Cod). We're really proud of her! We wish she lived closer to us, but knowing she's doing well and is happy is all that matters.

If Jim (Jimmy) joins the blog, I'm sure he'll include his website. It's pretty cool.

Linda's leaving on vacation Sunday, but I'm sure she'll join the blog when she gets back.

Even Billy joined! For someone who resisted learning to use the computer for years, he's getting pretty good.

So lets hear from all the rest of the Silers!

What's He Doing With That Thing?

I know I may irritate some of you, but I'm tweaking the look of the blog. I won't lose any of your posts, but you may notice some changes take place as I'm working on it. Sorry for the inconvenience!

WHAT IS HE THINKING

HE IS THINKING JUST TAKE THE PICTURE!!!!!!!!! SHE IS THINKING JUST SHUT UP, THEY ARE YOUR KIDS TOO!!!!!!!!!!

Love it!!!

What a great idea Chris! This way I will know what is going on with everyone.
I love my life up here in Massachusetts but I miss all the Siler's.
Blessing.
Mary Catherine

Thanks Chris!

Thanks Chris, for starting a blog for the Silers. I hope the blog gets lots of participation. I know I plan to check it often and contribute whenever I can. Aunt Pat

A Work in Progress

I've got the new Siler blog up and running. It is a work in progress and will undergo many changes over the next few days. Beware, I love to "tweak" things.

If you want to contribute, send me your name along with email address and I'll get you started. If you don't know much about blogging I can help. It's really easy. So, let's have fun!