PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE

Dear Friends and Sponsors,

And the downside of New Neighbors League? Some of the dearest, sweetest friends that we make move away. It breaks my heart. We will so miss Kim Woodall, Denise McCall-Nesius and Sharon Leshiker. Kim and Sharon are moving to Houston and Denise to the Philadelphia. area. We wish you all well and hope you keep touch with us and come back to visit us often. New Neighbors will go on, but you are leaving a big hole.

I hope you all have a beautiful summer. We are going to stay home. We are having a family reunion here over the 4^th. Wherever you are going, please be safe and hurry back to us.

A friend is someone that reaches for your hand and touches your heart. You all have touched my heart.

Blessings,

Joyce Seitz

President

Let’s give a big Texas hello to Jennifer Oler. She and her husband Pat moved to the "Sparkling City by the Sea" on March 7th of this year from Mansfield, TX due to Pat’s job as Deputy Commander CCAD. Jennifer herself is a native Texan whose original home city is Greenville. She and Pat have two children, a son and a daughter. Jennifer’s present occupation is school teacher, but it is apparent that her grandchildren are her passion. Jennifer heard of New Neighbors through DeAnn Gould-Lancaster while they were at Jazzercise. Jennifer’s other interests include reading, travel, art, food, decorating, and games. New Neighbors has been just what she is looking for. Jennifer describes herself as loving, energetic and organized. Sounds like she is just what the NNL of Corpus Christi is looking for. Good to have you Jennifer!

Let’s give a big New Neighbors welcome to Dana Tran. She and her husband, Chau, have relocated to Corpus Christi, from Fort Worth, TX as of April 2004. Dana, who is originally from Albuquerque, NM, came to Corpus as a result of her husband’s job as a nurse anesthetist. Dana learned of NNL from her neighbor and fellow NNL member, Celeste Guernsey. Dana says her interests and hobbies include reading, shopping, travel, movies, computer and food. She describes herself as fun, happy, and caring. We are so glad to have you in our NNL family.

Our July ROSE could be called the "Martha Stewart" of NNL. She was born and raised near New Albany, Mississippi. She got her early training as a domestic diva at Mississippi State University where she received her Bachelor of Science Degree in Home Economics Education and her Masters in Agriculture and Extension Education with a Minor in Nutrition. After graduation, she realized that she didn’t want to teach, so our ROSE began working for the Mississippi Department of Agriculture in the marketing department in Jackson. She has also worked as a test kitchen consultant doing microwave testing in Forest City, Arkansas and at Southern Living in the cooking school division in Birmingham, Alabama. Here she helped develop and market recipes for their national sponsors. Her next position took her to Houston, TX where she worked in the test kitchen for the USA Rice Council.

Houston proved to be a special place for our ROSE. Not only was she able to reconnect with an old high school buddy, but she also found herself being introduced to her future husband, Mark. Our ROSE’S friend lived across the street from Mark, and supposedly, she didn’t approve of his girlfriend. So, she ‘cooked’ up a plan to set up Mark and our ROSE on a blind date. They went on a mini-date, which had been recommended by the matchmaker in case the two didn’t hit it off. (A mini-date is when you drive separately in case you want to ditch your date!) Even though Mark tried to lay out a plan for her life, our rose found that she couldn’t resist Mark’s charms, and a year later, they were married. They just celebrated their 11^th wedding anniversary in April.

They didn’t wait long to start a family. Their first child was a dog, named Freckles. Freckles must have been a very good pup, because before long, our ROSE had a daughter, Julia (8) and a son, Nick (6). They completed their family last year when they adopted a puppy named Tip. After having children, our ROSE decided to become a full time domestic engineer, and she says that she is busier now than she ever was in the workforce!

In 2001, Mark was transferred to Corpus Christi. Traci Danaher was the first person to introduce our ROSE to NNL, and Amy Smith invited her to a coffee. Not one to sit at home, our ROSE jumped at the chance to meet some new friends, and the rest is history! She joined NNL in August, 2002 and immediately put her entertaining skills to use while serving on the Coffee Committee. She has also served as Prospective Member Chair and on the Nominating Committee for two terms, and now she is one of our Advisors. She has participated in the Secret Pals Club and is an active member of Wine Tasting II where she always dazzles her friends with wonderful hors d’oeuvres! (She also claims to be a Bunco-Wannabe!) She has been twice honored with the Fun and Friendship award for her enthusiasm and dedication to NNL. Our ROSE says that NNL has given her the opportunity to meet other people with similar experiences outside of her children’s activities.

Our ROSE’S hobbies are gardening and reading, but she hasn’t had much time to pursue either of those activities since moving to Corpus Christi. She is one busy lady. When she is not at a baseball game or on the soccer field, she can be found volunteering at Luther Jones Elementary. In addition to being a reader mom, a room parent, and working on the yearbook committee, she has also showcased her Home EC skills while serving as the Hospitality Chair of the PTA. You better take a good look at our ROSE now, because when school starts, she will be very busy serving as PTA President! Our ROSE is also a very active member of her church, St. John the Baptist Catholic Church, serving as the religious education coordinator and teaching CCD (Sunday School).

Her friends describe her as energetic, fun-loving, intelligent, enthusiastic, friendly, dependable, generous, and a wonderful hostess! She’s always there when you need her, and she ALWAYS gives 110%!