Christmas 2021

 Merry Christmas from Minnesota

My Dad

 

Jon Charles Tuttle

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Tuttle, Jon Charles 69, of Plymouth, passed into the presence of his Savior on Sunday, December 19, 2021, surrounded by his immediate family. Jon was born on June 19, 1952 in Spencer, Iowa, to the late Paul and Grace (Fausch) Tuttle. When Jon was nine years old, he trusted Christ to save him from the penalty of sin. Jon graduated from Albert Lea High School and from Pillsbury Baptist Bible College with a bachelor's degree in Bible and secondary education. He received his master's degree in Christian school administration from Grace Seminary. Jon spent thirty-five years in Christian education: 1975-1981 teaching at Calvary Baptist Schools of Lansdale, PA; 1981-1998 as the principal at Calvary Baptist Christian School in Lancaster, PA; 1998-2010 as administrator of Fourth Baptist Christian School in Plymouth, MN. Jon also managed several Twin Cities area O'Reilly Auto Parts stores. Jon is survived by his wife, Cheryl (Grandia) Tuttle; daughter Lindsay (Chris) Levang; daughter Emily (Jon) Hight; daughter Meg (Jake) Flaming; and ten amazing grandchildren: Lily, Ella, Margot, Benny, Calvin, Wren, Blake, Peter, Quintin, and Charlie. Jon is also survived by his father- and mother-in-law, Ron and Dorothy Grandia; siblings Jeff (Gayle) Tuttle, Becky (Steve) Forman, Bruce (the late Natalie) Tuttle, Brian (Dawn) Tuttle, Chris (Sherri) Tuttle, Karen (Steve) Borders, Kathy (Bill) Mitchell, Ronda (the late Mike) Clements, and Tom (Connie) Grandia; and many wonderful nieces and nephews. Visitation is Tuesday, December 28, 4:00-7:00pm and Wednesday, December 29 at 10:00am at Fourth Baptist Church of Plymouth, MN. Jon's memorial service will be held on Wednesday, December 29 at 11:00am at Fourth Baptist Church. Memorials may be directed to the Jon C. Tuttle Scholarship Fund at Fourth Baptist Christian School. Funeral arrangements entrusted to: Washburn-McReavy.com Glen Haven Chapel 763-533-8643

Published on December 26, 2021

Star Tribune Obituary

A move to a forever family

This little bug moved to a pre-adoptive home today, after being part of our family for over 10 months. 

She joined us for a few days around Thanksgiving of 2020.  Then came back into our home, as a placement, on February 6, 2021. She was only 16 months old. She came to us as a serious and shy girl with many fears. She has grown and blossomed into a smiley, giggly, strong, and independent girl. She turned 2 back on October 16.

I don't have enough space or words to tell of all the lessons each of us have learned while having her in our home. The joy & challenges she has brought. I also don't have time to tell of all the ways we have seen God's hand in guiding our family and His fingerprint on her life.  

After months of prayer, we feel that God is asking us to continue to saying YES to foster care. In North Carolina, you can only have 5 children total in your home, in order to be licensed foster parents.  So we prayed through saying YES to adoption or YES to foster care. It was a difficult decision, but since making the decision God has given us peace. He has also given us more peace and reassurance as the pre-adoptive family, that was selected, are friends of ours, who also know and love Jesus. 

 

Last year & This year

Serenity Mae, S I X

This girl turned S I X today.

Wren loves doing cartwheels and playing games. 

She is learning so much in school. Her sweet giggle & smile melts our hearts.

Birthday breakfast of blueberry chocolate chip waffles. Made by Daddy.

Presents after breakfast.

New dress from Grandpa & Grandma Tuttle

Wren asked for vanilla cake with chocolate frosting and sprinkles. 

She even helped make it!

Happy SIXTH Birthday, Wren!

We love you.

Wren is currently 46" tall and weighs 41.6 pounds.

Beach House Update

All of the windows are IN minus two windows that are coming in this week.

Thanksgiving 2021

Thanksgiving Day at the Oceanic Pier

Jake's parents came to visit the week of Thanksgiving.

Reading with Grandma one morning.

I have started asking the kids to "sign up" to help make one of the dishes. A friend, from BSF, told me she did this when her kids were little. Then once they were older, they could make the dish all on their own for holidays. Such a fun idea! This year Lily helped with the turkey and mashed potatoes. She loves digging out the neck and giblets - ha! Ella helped with the turkey, cornbread stuffing and she made the pumpkin pie. Benny helped make the apple pie and the cranberry sauce. Wren make the place cards and set the table for our Thanksgiving meal.

Grandma, Lily & Ella made the zweibach.

We feasted on Thanksgiving Day.

Little Bug turns TWO

 Today we celebrated this little bug turning TWO.

We had a full day that started with a yummy birthday breakfast of waffle iron french toast, followed by her opening her birthday gifts. We all went downtown and picked out Halloween costumes (free!) with the Foster Pantry. The birthday girl played, ate lunch & napped. Later in the afternoon we played at Wrightsville Beach park, enjoyed a family dinner at Panera Bread followed by birthday brownies & ice cream.

HAPPY 2nd BIRTHDAY LITTLE BUG!

She is 25 pounds and 32" tall.

Self Portrait by Ella

I'm good at gymnastics. I'm good at surfing. I like how I can do all things and don't have allergies at all.  I like how God made me. I like myself because I'm made in His image. I like myself also because i don't have any injuries.

By Ella Flaming

Benjamin Lee, S E V E N

Today we celebrated Benny turning SEVEN

This guy kept throwing out last minute ideas and requests for his birthday, like balloons.

We always do the chalkboard for birthdays. And I always enjoy looking through the old photos, although I don't print off very many photos any more.

Benny picked chocolate chip pancakes for his birthday breakfast. Daddy makes pancakes almost every Saturday morning so Jake made them for his birthday too! We even topped them with whip cream and strawberries. Benny's breakfast request wavered from chocolate chip waffles to chocolate chip pancakes to donuts and back to chocolate chip pancakes. These are hard choices!

Over the summer, Benny has become quite the surfer. He has even been standing up on his boogie board. We told some friends that we were looking for a 54" breaker board but were sold out everywhere. We could not find any used ones either, for the right price.  Well, these sweet friends asked their adults sons and Benny was gifted a 54" breaker board and a 6' surf board.

After school, Benny put his new lego set together from the Levang family. We enjoyed dinner at Chick Fil A. His dinner choice also changed 4 times (Waffle House. IHOP. Pizza. CFA.). Then home to open his other gifts and enjoy cookie cake. Cookie cake is the one request that did not change. I made a chocolate chocolate chip cookie with peanut butter frosting.

Happy 7th Birthday, Benny! You are so creative and pretty amazing at building your own LEGO creations. You are helpful, thankful and kind. You are loved immensely.

Benny is currently 47.5" tall and weighs 46 pounds.

First Day of School 2021

 

First Day of School

Lily 6th grade (middle school)

Ella 4th grade

Benny 1st grade

Wren Kindergarten

And this little bug (22 months) will be waiting for them to come home!

Aunt Bekah's Visit

Auntie Bek was just here visiting us this past week. Boy did we pack in the fun! We enjoyed lots of reading time and game playing. We did the beach: Blockade Runner, Topsail Beach, Chrystal Pier, Wrightsville Beach. We ventured out on a rainy day to the $1 movie at Regal. We got out the paints and created some masterpieces. We enjoyed a dinner at Chop't. We also explored the Cape Fear Museum one morning.  Here are the photo highlights:

Blockade Runner

Beach House at Surf City

Topsail Beach

Reading all the books

Snuggles

Cape Fear Museum

Oceanic Pier

Wrightsville Beach