SocialMedia Talk

So after sitting down and finally allowing for a few moments of relaxation and listening to Amy Grant’s “Breath of Heaven” I realized that with all the craziness of the past few months we hadn’t gotten out a Christmas/New Year’s letter or Christmas cards. So here it is. Albeit a little late.

The past month and a half have been absolutely crazy here in the Gannotti household. I received an offer for a new job in Microsoft that has us moving back to the Philadelphia area of Pennsylvania. I started the role December 1^st and stayed with our friends the Gorman family for 2 weeks with Tracy and Mary still in North Carolina. Now we are scrambling getting the house ready for sale, working with realtors and the banks getting pre-qualified to buy a new house. It has made for a stressful, crazy house and we will certainly all be relieved once we are all moved and settled in. In the meantime I am heading back up after the holidays and will be staying with our friend Peter Colosi as we sell our house and shop for a new one in PA. I am super stoked about the new role as it provides an opportunity to work with some incredible folks and to be able to formally implement a lot of the ideas I have had around social as a part of my job. Going to be an exciting ride

Mary – Mary has had a busy year so far. She turned 14 and is in 8^th grade and starting to shoot up like a weed. It won’t be long before she passes her mother up height wise. This year she was also named captain of the Cheerleading squad at St. Mary Magdalene. With her coach having to miss several games it has been great seeing Mary step up to the leadership role and really take charge of the squad. Right now she is fervently praying that the move isn’t finished before the end of the basketball season ;-) She is the one most shaken up by the move but thankfully it’s happening before the start of High School. Our intention is for her to attend Bishop Shanahan High and we have found a great youth group at the local parish for her up there.

Sam – Sam is now in his 3^rd year up at Franciscan University. It has been a real blessing to see him growing as a young man emotionally and spiritually. He has been a great source of help around the house while home helping to get things ready for the move. This past semester Sam let us know that he was done with casual dating and that if he was to date it would be with a young woman, not girl, that he could see as his potential wife and that before they started dating they would first have to spend time hanging out as friends and getting to really know one another without romantic entanglement to cloud things. For a parent that was music to our ears and just further confirmation for us that for him he is in the right place getting an education that forms him as a young man of God and not just simply getting a degree for work.

Tracy – Tracy has continued to be very active here locally. Her participation in weekly painting classes the last several years has seen her grow and really become an artist and our house is full of pieces she has done that simply amaze me. She has also been busy with a women’s bible group, women’s book club, and her and I together led the youth group’s older kids, Crew, on Wednesday nights. She is really going to miss all the great friends and community we have here, we all will. This summer Tracy accompanied me to Seattle for the first time and was quite the adventurer while I attended training. She fell in love with Bainbridge Island while there. January 1^st she will be driving up to help me move in with Pete and to look at some houses. Tracy also got a new dog, Sophia. Now have a 4lb Yorkie (Sophia) in addition to our 84lb Yellow Lab (Sasha).

Well that about sums it up. It has been a crazy year and promises to be a crazy new one of new beginnings and all the fun, stress, new acquaintances, and sad goodbyes that moving brings. We hope that this Christmas and New Year’s finds all of you well and looking forward to the New Year.

God Bless

Michael, Tracy, Sam, and Mary