Meet Some People
Miranda, Kara, Preston, Alan Lattimer
From kindergarden to graduate school, the Lattimer's are true Hokies. (Alan and Kara both graduated from VT) Alan works at the VT's corporate research center, Kara is an advisor in the Via Department of Civil Engineering at VT. Preston is in 8th grade, and Miranda is in first grade at a local elementary school.
After attending many churches in the New River Valley, Kara settled on Fieldstone after visiting a summer celebration when Fieldstone met in the park (we had no building then!) The food was good, the people were friendly, and the music was fantastic. When Alan began managing the website, he started coming too! Now we all enjoy the Fieldstone spirit, and His almightly love for us! Now Alan is the music worship leader and Kara stays very involved with the children. Hope to see you on Sunday.
Our hopes include a happy and healthy family, and a comfortable long life together. Our dreams are big -- and too many to put here. It's good to dream!
Ginny Marshall
Jamie, Tonja, Holly & Riley Roberts
Tonja, whose name is misspelled more often than not, “retired” from the rat race a few years ago to take care of Riley and other children full-time in her home. She enjoys a good movie, dancing, and shopping for incredible finds. She has devoted a lot of time over the years to ministering to the needs of young people. Jamie, whose name also is often misspelled, is a research scientist at Virginia Tech, working on issues related to conservation of rivers and fish. He is also pursuing his doctorate in that area. Aside from his obvious interest in fish, he enjoys lots of outdoor activities, dancing, listening to and playing old-time mountain music, vegetable gardening, and reading. Holly is a 3rd grader with burgeoning interests in history, marine animals, and science fiction. She reads like there is no tomorrow. Other hobbies include movie-watching, riding four-wheelers, cooking, gardening, telling jokes, and doing magic tricks. Riley is an extrovert and an explorer. Life is her oyster. She very much enjoys playing games, being read to, hiding, entertaining others, and anything related to Dora.
We moved to Virginia from Athens, Georgia about 6 years ago. We attended a variety of churches during our first 9 months in Blacksburg. We first came to Fieldstone in January 2001, when Sunday meetings were in the dance studio under El Guadalupes, because of the invitation from a friend. The feel was totally different – most churches felt like a bus that was heading somewhere that we were welcome to get on or not – Fieldstone felt like a box of bus parts that we were being invited to help put together, then to decide where the bus was going.
Fieldstone has enabled us to see God’s plans play out on a grand scale as truly incredible ministries have developed essentially from scratch. We have seen God meet the needs of Fieldstone as they arose, time and time again. This has really strengthened our faith in ways that we could not get without being involved with a strong community of faith. We have also met some wonderful people here – many of which we will always have as close friends no matter where we go in life. Do not think that all has been roses – we have had high and low points – but the highs have far outweighed the lows. And also know that Fieldstone is not for everybody – you can not come and go without being noticed, you will be asked to help with something, and people will seek to build relationships with you – but that just happened to be exactly what we wanted.
Anna, Melissa, Chris, and Elizabeth Kile
Our family enjoys camping in our travel trailer, and our yearly trip to Outer Banks (not in the trailer!). Chris, Melissa, and Elizabeth play on the Fieldstone softball team. Anna is anxiously awaiting the day when she's old enough to play, too.Chris is the leader of the Music Team, in which he plays guitar on Sunday mornings. During the week, he's the distribution manager at
Riverbend Nursery in Floyd County. He also enjoys playing bluegrass music.Melissa is a Kindergarten/First Grade teacher at Auburn Elementary School in Riner, where she's taught for 12 years. She enjoys gardening (she's leader of the Landscape Team at Fieldstone), reading, and scrapbooking, when she has time. Elizabeth attends James Madison University in the teacher education program, where she'll graduate with a Master's degree in 2006. She was the food/kitchen intern with Project SPY during the summer of 2004. She enjoys playing softball and volleyball. Anna attends Auburn High School, where she is a freshman. She enjoys playing softball, has been a Girl Scout since kindergarten, and likes hanging out with her friends.
The Kile family began attending Fieldstone in January 2004. We love it here because everyone is so welcoming and warm. Also, there seems to be "something for everyone" at Fieldstone.