O'Tilly Factor
The Nineteenth Motor City Press reports mixed news:
Good News
We had a great vacation the 1st week of August in Naples Florida.  Ellen's folks joined us for several days from their home in Leesburg Florida.
Bad News
The 2nd week of August the a hurricane hit Naples Florida. (The first of four)
Good News
Family and friends in Florida survived all of the Hurricanes without injury or major damage.
Bad News
Conflict in Iraq.
Good News
Free elections were held in Afghanistan will soon take place in Iraq.  The economy is slowly improving, no new "911(s) have occurred.  We have much to be thankful for!

We pray that all is well with you and yours.
Merry Christmas and a Great 2005!

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The Tilly Family Blog is at: http://spaces.msn.com/members/tillyerkt
The Blog replaces our web page. (At least for the time being)

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Contact us on the Internet:
Our E-Mail address’ are:
tillyray@juno.com
tillyerkt@sbcglobal.net
tillyray@hotmail.com

Epidemic
Over Labor Day weekend Ray had a pain.  Ellen took him to the emergency room. The doctor gave him the good/bad news.  Good - The kidney stone on the left had passed.  Bad - There was one on the right.  (The right passed over the Thanksgiving weekend)

Only this past week Ellen was diagnosed as having a kidney stone.  It must be the water.

Big League
This fall Trevor entered High School.  Last week he swam in his first High School swim meet.  (Taking 1st place in the 200 IM and 500 Freestyle)

Although Trevor gave up clarinet in High School he continues with the Boy Scouts. (Although less frequently)

As a result of his hard training Trevor is ranked the top in his age group at the North Oakland YMCA for FitLixx.  (It is not unusual to swim 8000 yards in a practice)

Her Highness
In addition to being Queen of the Tilly household Ellen is also President of the kids year round swim club.  She passed on her crown (responsibilities) of the summer team to someone new.  She continues to substitute teach and keep extremely busy! She still is finding it difficult to believe she has two teenagers and they both tower over her.

No Visible Means of Support
As you may have noted we now have a new e-mail address through SBC/Yahoo.  We now have DSL which in addition to providing much faster internet access keeps our phone line open. (Which is important with two teenagers)
As a further enhancement we added WIFI which allows us all to be on the Internet at the same time.   Using the laptop I can sit anywhere in the house and search the web. (Cool)
As predicted in last years newsletter Ray has changed responsibilities at Chrysler.  He is involved in another new vehicle program. The suspension work is familiar.
(Let Ray know if you are interested in a Chrysler vehicle so he can provide a "Friends & Family" Discount)

Big Decisions!
Katie is making the most of her year as a High School Senior.  In addition to her classwork she ran cross-country in the fall, joined the intramural Bowling Team and plans to run track in the spring. 
She has applied to several Universities and is considering spending a year as an AFS exchange student in Germany.  (She has taken four years of High School German)

Family Notes:
- Again we enjoyed Ellen's sister (Lynn) & family as they spent Thanksgiving with us.
- We get to spend Christmas with Ellen's Brother & Family at Christmas in Gainsville Florida.
- Ellen's parents visited twice this past year.  During the first visit (March/April) they experienced a beautiful ice storm and power outage.
- Ray's father, mother and sister hanging in there and we get together at least once a week.

MERRY CHRISTMAS