Cleo Baker-Roberts:  

7/10/2010 Bill & I have decided to stay right here in Oregon ~ for awhile, anyway. I received a job offer from Wooden Shoe Tulip Farm, and have accepted the offer. The Farm is the sight of the Wooden Shoe Tulip Festival ~ the largest Spring event in Oregon ~ and draws 150,000-plus people to our area annually. I am their new Marketing-Communication Specialist and I LOVE MY JOB! The closer we came to moving to Nevada (for various reasons, one of which being Oregon's tax structure), the more I knew how much we'd miss Oregon. We've lived here since '69, and it is home. I began to pray God would make a way we could financially afford to stay in OR and this job offer came just days later.So, I am no longer "retired," but I don't mind a bit. I continue to write my "Food for Thought" column and feature articles, continue working on my mysteries, but the challenge at the Farm and extra income are certainly welcome in this economy and I feel blessed, for sure. My Bill still responds to emergencies as a "retired" Emergency Chaplain, but has cut the number of depts he serves from 40-plus to just 4 fire, 3 police, 2 dispatch centers and medical teams. He's on the Harley as often as Oregon's weather allows and is in terrific condition for having just turned 70! (Wow) So .... that's a little update on the Roberts' household. We trust all of you are well, happy and blessed. Till next time ~ Cleo 08/05/09 Update: Hard to believe another year has flown by ... but here we are kiddies, lovin' life and wonderin' just where in the world our America is headed! OK, I promise NOT to jump on my political soapbox. I'll save it for another time! Bill & I are very much enjoying ourselves these days; he's still volunteering as an Emergency Chaplain to 4-5 area fire depts and 2-3 police depts, and I am writing, writing writing! I have a newspaper column, which appears twice a month in the Molalla Pioneer. It's called "Food for Thought," and you can find my articles on their website under Story Archive. Just put in my name and a date range from June 3, 2009 to present and my articles should pop up. It helps to read them in chronological order because each one builds upon the previous column (so far, anyway). I'm also working on 3 mystery series and hope to have one ready for submission this winter. We are healthy and happy, wondering if I can stay "retired" in this sick economy, but trusting the Lord to give us direction. It's great to be in touch with so many of you here at Classmates and on Facebook. I love knowing you're well and happy and doing things you love, too! We are still in Oregon, the Reno move feel through due to the economy tanking; we haven't given up on making the move to NV, but we're waiting to see where/when things level out financially. It would be nice to be closer to some of you after 40 years and I am a NV native, so it would be like coming home! Oregon's been good to us and we love it here, but NV would offer us a bit of financial relief, so we're still contemplating what to do. In the meantime, we're staying busy, riding our Harley, enjoying ourselves and each other. I know there are reunions coming up and ...Expand for more