Our 2006 Christmas Letter

Ho! Ho! Ho!
Hello Dear Family & Friends! It’s that time of year again where Christmas lights don the house and yard; the hint of snow is in the air, and the excitement from the kids that the Holidays are near! Christmas cards and letters start to fill your mailboxes everyday sharing news of what has happened from the past year. Well, we are no different. I look forward to sending and receiving letters each year. It’s great to see a snapshot of what is happing in your lives. This past year has been an eventful one for Our Family. We have a lot to share! So sit back with a cozy blanky, a cup of hot cocoa, (don’t forget the marshmallows), and enjoy a sneak peak in the past year.

So soft and cozy

We have received a bit of teasing in past years, wondering what we are going to announce in our next Christmas letter, seeing as in the past few years we have told you about the adoption of a few new children. WELL, this letter is not going to tell you that at all! Nope, no new children here! None whatsoever. But….there is something new running about, and as usual a complete surprise! A few days ago my mom shows up on our doorstep with a puppy! Oh My! We had talked about it as a family for a year or so. They saw a great opportunity for this darling little beast and jumped on it. She is a German Shepherd and her name is Lucy. The kids of course adore her! She has defiantly added some liveliness to the house (as if we needed more!?) How can you not think this a cute.

Big Big Brother

Kaiden is now 9 years old. He is in the 4th grade. This year has held some pretty amazing things for him. He joined the Cub Scouts and is a Webelo 1, well on his way to earning all of the badges needed before going on to boy scouts. His papa has taken on the job of doing all those Boy Scout things with him and they are both having a great time! Kaiden continues to enjoy many sports activities including baseball, soccer and swimming. Kaiden also got braces on this summer. He has done so well with them his doctor said with all the time and effort he has put into his headgear he has lessened his time by a year. Piano is a big thing in Kaiden’s life. We were blessed with the gift a free piano, and it has been a great thing for Kaiden to practice on that instead of his keyboard. Kaiden had the time of his life (as did the rest of the family!) paling around with his cousin Nathan for Christmas break. It was hard to see them go, Kaiden & I both cried as we left the airport.

Little Big Brother

Bennjaimen is now 4 ½ years old! This summer was a milestone year as he joined the ranks of being on a team sport. He chose to be in baseball this year. It was hard at first for him, since he is so very shy. After a few weeks he got the hang of it and the idea of so many people watching him lessened. Ben also started preschool this year at a local Christian preschool. His teacher is phenomenal with him and is helping him to overcome that shyness in him. He has a good time there and enjoys all the kids there as well as the art projects. He comes home and is very serious about sitting down and doing his “homework” like his big brother Kaiden does.

Little Big Sister

Kate’s now officially the Little Big Sister. She is only 24 pounds at the age of 3 ½. What a little peanut she is. She has finally graduated to 18 months sizes, as size 5 shoes. What she lacks in size she makes up for in spunk and personality. She likes to dress up in “pretties” and wear her rubber boots. (And sometimes at the same time even!) She is still a rough and tumble little girl, but now she does a bit better at keeping her glasses on. Her hearing test have shown improvement (Wahoo!) and she does not need to wear her hearing aid right now. (Good thing because the last one we had got thrown out the car window –oh yes she did that!) She likes her new glasses too! We also have started supporting some missionary friends of ours Paul and Larissa Dobson who are serving in Cambodia. We thought it would be special to establish that relationship and who knows, they could be helping to bring Kate’s relatives to the Lord! (www.dobsondata.org)

Big Little Sister

Seanesey is now taller and bigger than her big sister! She weighs 26 pounds and is a good inch taller then Kate. She is growing by leaps and bounds. She has no trouble keeping up with the troops, or at least she tries to. She is such an animal lover and is oh so very excited about the new puppy. I can easily see her as the kid who grows up working with animals. We just have to say the name and sound an animal makes one time and she has it down. She loves playing outside, usually her first words in the morning are “go play outside”. She also has a special affection for the moon. She will wake up at night asking to see it and says in a sweet voice over and over “Moon Mama Moon” pointing it out to me as if I did not know why we were up at 12:15am. How can you say “no” to that?! Seaney has a special love for sweaters too! It is very charming. She wears one all the time, even over her pajamas. We call her our sweater baby!

The Mommy

What a whirlwind this year has been. I get comments all the time “WOW 4 kids?!” and I say right back, “WOW, yes, 4 blessings!” One of the highlights to my year was planning a huge surprise Luau for my mom’s 60th birthday. Friends and family from all over came. I think one of the best parts was getting the real Hawaiian leis made and given to the ladies of her family. For the party I put together a video of her life in pictures. (Thanks to some help from Sean.) It made us all cry! This year I have had the pleasure of helping my friend’s Kathleen & Brian with the adoption of a new baby. What a thrilling experience that was! I have also helped a few other people along the way & I am excited about being an adoption liaison of sorts, helping people through the hills and valleys of the adoption process. As you can tell, it holds a very dear place in my heart. I have also been very busy with the non-profit I work with, Capital Kids Connection (www.capitalkids.org). We grant wishes for kids in foster care. This year for Christmas we sponsored 90 kids for their Christmas gift wish list. Two different churches (Tumwater Fountain Church & South Sound Four Square) jumped on board to help us, as well as many other individuals who responded to our emails. My goal is to have all 350 Thurston County foster kids sponsored via us in the years to come. I feel it is a very attainable goal. I am praying I can get a few more churches and organizations to catch on to the idea! Robert and I look forward to celebrating our 12th wedding anniversary this next spring. What amazes me is we have passed the milestone of being together for half of my life! What a great half-life it has been! Robert and I had the pleasure of going away for 6 whole days without kids to our favorite place, Victoria B.C. We stayed in an amazing B&B called the Ashroft House that we will be sure to go back to again! www.ashcrofthousebandb.com

The Daddy

Robert is still plugging away at his Bachelor’s in accounting. He is due to graduate from University of Phoenix this spring! He plans on taking a year off before pursuing his masters. There will definitely be a big celebration when he graduates! It has taken him 7 years to get this far. Thankfully the masters program will only last a year. Robert also has enjoyed this last year continuing to pastor in a church plant for the Fountain Church. He is leading a home group bible study too. He is ready to be done with school so he can focus on more of what he really loves, doing church ministry work.

So, that is our life in newsletter nutshell. I hope you enjoyed your hot chocolate, or maybe a cup of my favorite – Starbucks Christmas Blend, while reading about us. Happy Holidays! Love, US.