AJ, Mum, Jill, Brenda, Lexi, Maren, Jess, Beth, & Kevin
Jillian
Kevin and Jessica
The Wolpman’s wish you a Blessed New Year!
It has been another year of discovery for the Wolpman family as Jessica began her second year in France, Jillian was forced into volleyball “retirement” after being diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Mum and Dad (Beth’s parents) moved to New Braunfels, and we rejoiced at Gram’s life and grieved over losing her.
Okay, so why France? Jessica loved Italy and now, adores France. It very well may become home for her. She is in a serious relationship with Kevin Bian, a French native and recent graduate with a Masters in Architecture. Jess works as a freelance English tutor and photographer while Kevin completes one more certification and internship in Rennes. The photography work is picking up as she makes contacts with locals. She spent time working with a magazine photographer who took Jess along on a recent photo shoot. She also had the opportunity to take photos for an architectural website Kevin developed. We hope these opportunities increase for her. Can you believe that Jessica is now trilingual? She and Kevin traveled to Romania with a small group to celebrate the New Year thanks to their fellow architecture friend, Mihai, who lives in Romania. If you like to play with Google maps, look up Rennes, FR to find her. Kevin's family is from Santec, FR. Beth was interested to note that the Isle of Guernsey (The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society) is just north of them in the channel. We hope to travel to France in 2011 to visit the kids and meet Kevin’s wonderful family. For now, we look forward to Jess coming home for a visit in February.
Jillian continues to gain personal strength in dealing with her new situation. She showed incredible strength and courage in the face of the challenges and treatment she faced as an athlete with an invisible illness. Regretfully, we all learned how our Texas State Alma Mater views the DI athlete as commodity rather than as a human. We appreciate USD’s ethics and honor. The Chronic Fatigue remains, but her attitude and determination constantly improve. She will be taking two classes at ACC this coming semester and working part-time at Rusty Bugs and Roosters in Gruene Lake Village. The store is a cute shop filled with artsy-folksy, furniture, decorative items, yard art, and costume jewelry. She loves painting the furniture and working with customers. Perhaps her aspiration of being a boutique shop owner will come true in time. Right now, she is learning to manage this new life. She and her cousin Maren live in what must be one of the best-decorated apartments in San Marcos. They are both quite artistically talented.
AJ continues to work with the DPS, though he is no longer patrolling the highways regularly. Instead, he inspects trucks for safety and for contraband. AJ really enjoys this work, and is a bit of an expert at finding stolen truck rigs. The thieves do all kinds of tricky maneuvers to conceal the theft and AJ enjoys the puzzle of uncovering their deceit. As for Beth, she is in her 21st year at SMHS this year and has begun to welcome the children of her former students into her classroom. Now that Jillian is doing better, Beth is putting final changes on her proposal before submission and is not taking on any more commitments until the proposal is approved. Believe!!!
We are blessed with the love and support of family and friends in our lives. Thank you for being a blessing!
AJ, Beth, Jessica, and Jillian (Bella and Scheffler)
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