Christmas Letter 2011

What better way update the world after many months of absence than my Christmas letter? More to come, eventually.

Dear Family and Friends,

As with every year as of late, this year has been a year of change for our family. We have added new jobs to our resumes, experienced new adventures, and felt gratitude for the abundance of blessings received this year.

We’ll start with the most important member of our family, Amora. She has continued to grow and develop into a jewel of a little girl. She loves all things girly, especially princesses, fairies, and dressing up. We successfully mastered potty training which proved to be a challenging yet rewarding endeavor. Her favorite potty activity? Playing on the iPad while doing her business. What can we say? We have a diva on our hands. This year she has shown her artistic and creative sides by speaking “Spanish” (her nonsense language), cutting shapes, drawing people, singing, dancing, and making up silly names for her imaginary siblings and friends. We continue to be amazed at her developing vocabulary and sense of humor.

This year has been the year of many jobs for Wendy. She started the year as a stay at home mom then went back to work as a long-term substitute teacher at a local middle school. She then landed a job as a part-time summer school health teacher at an alternative high school. And in August, she changed careers and began a permanent position with the state of Idaho working in public health. The best part of this new job is the financial stability and the low stress nature of the position. The most difficult part of this has been the challenge of being away from Amora. Luckily, she is in wonderful hands with her daddy.

Adam landed a great job as a psychosocial rehabilitation (PSR) worker that gives him flexible hours and allows him to try to make a difference in the lives of the children he works with. He goes to work part-time in the late afternoons and evenings, takes care of Amora during the day, and does a good job making sure the house is in tip top shape. He even finds time for his fun experiments in the kitchen (which mostly turn out well).

It’s definitely been a crazy year for us, but we are grateful for where it has led us. We have so much to be thankful for this Christmas season and count our blessings daily. We hope 2012 brings us continued stability and maybe home ownership. Merry Christmas and may God bless you this Christmas season!