Christmas letter

Well, I "sent" you all our Christmas card; it's time now to include you on our Christmas letter mailing list! Enjoy!  (By the way, this was sent out on plain white paper--knowing that will help you make sense of the first paragraph!)

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Merry Christmas!

 I don’t do Christmas letters.  I’m doing this one on the spur of the moment, which means you don’t get to look at any cute Christmas stationery.  Wait, what am I saying?  This is Christmas stationery.  The theme is “White Christmas.”  It is an affordable design, sure to bring back memories of Christmas blizzards past.

Our year has been great.  In January Chickie turned two.  She does a really good job being two, making sure to reach her quota of tantrums.  She is independent, and it is a joy to be her parents.  Sampa (Beth’s dad) says she’s sure to be a leader.  Traditionally “boy toys” like construction vehicles and Hot Wheels are her favorites.  She loves to read, draw, paint, and watch PBS Kids TV shows. When we hear the crazy things that come out of her mouth, we realize we really have to watch what we say, because there’s a very good chance she’ll repeat it later.  Today Zoodle was fussing, and Chickie said, “Zoodle's starting to freak out.”  At least she wasn’t telling him to “knock it off,” which was her phrase of the day a couple of weeks ago.  She loves to hear stories about Flame, a fictional orange bear, and about Jesus—the calming of the storm story is a particular favorite.

January also marked a year since The Engineer's brain surgery, which means we’re fast approaching two years.  He is doing great and finally feels that the strength on the right side of his body is fully back.  I don’t know of a non-trite way to say this….  We are so grateful for God’s healing hand.  I am so thankful to have a healthy husband and a healthy father for our kids.  For the big two year anniversary we’ll be having homemade chocolate brains with coconut filling.  (Yes, seriously.)  Don’t tell The Engineer—it’s a surprise, and he’ll love it.

January was a big month for us—it also marked our eighth wedding anniversary!  God has blessed us so much with each other, and we thank Him for making us partners for life.

March was the other big month this year; on the 29^th Zoodle was born.  It was an unmedicated birth in warm water, assisted by a midwife at a local birthing center.  Thankfully we made it to the birthing center; he was born 35 minutes after we arrived there.  It was intense, painful, and amazingly beautiful.  Beth fulfilled her wish of feeling like Superwoman!  Zoodle is a joy.  He’s a go-getter, now that he’s crawling around.  He keeps us on our toes!  He loves to laugh at his big sister, and she just loves helping with him.  He adores both Mommy and Daddy, and we feel the same about him.

The best way to keep up with what’s going on in our lives and to see plenty of cute kid pictures is to read Beth’s blog (Internet journal) at cbethblog.blogspot.com.

Over the next year—and years to come—may your family be at least as richly blessed as we have been! 

-The Engineer, Beth, Chickie, & Zoodle