The Christmas Letter that Never Got Sent (figured I may as well post it here at this point)

Well, this has been a pretty phenomenal year for us.

Of course, the biggest news was the birth of our little Willow Ruby on April 26. Yes, I am the crazy home birther that you can say you know. Willow smiled the day she was born and her happy personality has continued to blossom. Anya was a little jealous for a day or two, but now loves her mey-mey (little sister) - as long as she keeps away from her toys. "No, Willow, dat's Anya toy!"

In February, Sean quit GE and is now programming for day traders full-time through his business, DB Trader. Despite a few sleepless nights debating if this was a good idea with a baby on the way, in just a couple of months, this turned out to be a great decision - his business is going so well he's turning away new clients for now! He recently hired a long-time friend and GE co-worker to work with him so he can begin taking on new projects again.

I've managed to keep busy taking on occasional freelance projects, working at the church some, and - oh yes - taking care of two little girls under 30 months. They are keeping me running and I love it! I'm working on losing the baby weight I've packed on over the last two years by doing CrossFit - it's varied, short, high-intensity workouts with weight training, running and gymnastics. I also have a side project going at WhiteDogBlackDog.com where I sell some of my designs.

Anya's hobbies include imitating Darth Vader (including humming the Imperial March), blowing her second birthday candles out with her nose, gut-bombing Daddy and Grandpa, and professing a disbelief in eating. Soccer and gymnastics have been a big hit, although she prefers to carry the ball more than kick it, and does somersaults by standing on her head and then falling over. To no one's surprise, she also keeps up a constant stream of words while doing pretty much anything.

Willow's talents include crawling like a caterpillar, bouncing in the jumperoo, chewing on Anya's hair and is currently perfecting a wide range of odd screeching noises. I'm very proud of the fact that I taught her to growl this weekend. She also is testing everything to see if it is food, including Sorka if she strays too close. No problems with food for her - just watch your fingers if you're handling the spoon feeding her!

A very wise frog once said that "life is made up of meetings and partings." We parted with our good friend Macavity the Mystery Cat in June after a thankfully short battle with a lung tumor. We knew it was time to say goodbye when he didn't even enjoy his favorite past time - eating. Beagles Sorka and Belle are aging well and even finally warming up to the kids.

My brother Jake is a Second Lieutenant in the Marine Corps and is currently deployed in Iraq as a Communications Officer. Natalie and Isaac, Noah, Eli and Joey miss him a lot - we all can't wait for him to get home in January! Our family and my mom & dad went down to Camp Pendleton to visit them in October, and on the way back we spent a few days at Disneyland. Anya is still taking about Sleeping Beauty's castle, the Dumbo ride and meeting Mickey. Willow also enjoyed Dumbo - throwing out her arms and yelling "ohhh!" with a big smile.

One more big piece of news - we moved to West Salem the day after Christmas! See, I have a good excuse for being so late with the Christmas card this year. We are now just 5 minutes from our church in a beautiful new home that backs up to Glen Creek. We have room for both of us to have offices, and space underneath to add another level as Sean's business grows if needed! Our numbers and email remain the same, email me if you want our new address. Come visit anytime - we'd love to have you join us for the small group we host on Sunday nights sometime!

I hope that you all had a great holiday season and we look forward to connecting with you in the coming year! May 2009 be filled with blessing and a deeper relationship with Jesus! Amen!