Christmas Letter 2009

Dear Family & Friends,

Season's Greetings!

This year, we decided to post our annual "Christmas Letter" here, on our blog.

As I write this update, we have snow on the ground, and the temperature outside is a warm 3 degrees! It is looking like Christmas inside and out ~ It is truly an exciting time of year full of wonder and awe as we celebrate the birth of Jesus and look forward to a New Year.

I'll begin our update from the youngest member of the house, to the oldest...

.....which leads me first to our China adoption update.... as many of you know, we began our adoption journey in April 2006. We have been "waiting in line" for a referral of a baby girl from China since October 2006. Many of you wondered if adopting Anna from Taiwan would change our plans to adopt from China....the short answer is, we are still waiting and have no plans to end this journey. When we began this journey, we felt in our hearts that we were going to have a daughter from China named Selah and that has not changed. We still don't know when we will finally see her face or if she is even born yet. But one thing we know is we need to stay on this course that He has put us on. We pray for her all the time and hope that it will be sooner than later when we get the wonderful news that we have another daughter.

Anna is now 22 months old. In January, we celebrated her FIRST birthday. She has grown so much this year.... Last year at this time, she was not quite walking and signed only a few words like "more" and "please". She now has a vocabulary of 20+ words and still uses some signs like "more" and "please".... although her language skills are fairly normal for her age, the place she excels in is her motor skills... She has become such a little toddler ~ she continues to show interest and talent in music as she dances to any music and claps her hands. She even raises her hand in worship at church... it is so precious! She is an independent little girl ~ she loves to get her own cups for drinks, attempts to take her own clothes on and off, and, in general, likes to try doing everything she sees us doing. Her growth is on target and we couldn't be more pleased with how she has adjusted so well to being part of our family.

Michael is 7 years old and in the 2nd grade. He is our deep thinker and very wise for his age. He is also very witty and has a great sense of humor, often coming up with his own jokes. He is a very sensitive and caring child. We were told by his teacher that she often finds him helping the 1st graders (he is in a 1st/2nd blend class so he interacts with 1st graders daily) when they need help. He likes anything STAR WARS and especially lego star wars. He is taking piano and has a natural ability to play by ear.

Calvin is 9 years old and in the 4th grade. He is always the life of the party. He is also very sensitive and kind to others, and like Michael, loves Star wars legos. He is taking guitar and learning a few chords. He enjoys playing with his brothers and friends at school. He is always eager to help around the house, even though sometimes he is forgetful and doesn't quite follow through with tasks. He has a great heart and does well in school.

Noah is 11 years old and in the 6th grade. He cotinues to be a sweet brother, especially to Anna. He is doing great in school and does well in all subjects, although his favorite is Science. He is taking guitar and piano right now and thinks piano is his favorite. He will be competing in swimming at LEST (Lutheran Elementary School Tournament) in February 2010.

Aaron continues to enjoy his practice at Desert Orthopedics. He enjoys riding his bike and commutes on it almost daily (even when it's snowing....) he added some studded bike tires this year to make the hills not so treacherous to go down when it's icy. Even though he has a very busy schedule, he is and always has been gifted with knowing how to work hard but also set aside enough time for family.

I (Pam) started running this year and have competed in a number of 5k races in town. I am now training for 2 half marathons in 2010 , one at the end of June in Sunriver, OR and the Portland (half) Marathon in October. I always considered myself a "non-runner", but it only took about 20 days of beautiful spring weather here in Bend and a heart rate monitor/watch to get me addicted to the sport. Now I absolutely LOVE it and go stir crazy when it's snowing or icy and I can't get out as easily. I did purchase a pair of yak traks and have used it a few times in the snow/ice and they work great :)

As a family, we enjoyed our vacation to Maui with Aaron's family, My (Pam's) 20th high school reunion in Oak Harbor, WA, and our trip to Seattle, the boys birthdays, my 40th birthday, and our one year FOREVER FAMILY DAY anniversary in Sept.

In January of 2009, our family sat together and came up with a "Family Resolution" and they were:

1) Listening to God
2) Serving our Family
3) Using our God-given passion

As I look back on this year, I can honestly say that we listened to God more, served our family more (including teaching our kids to serve each other), and have minimized activities so that we can truly pursue more of our God-given passions. I know we probably failed from time to time, but we look forward to continuing to pursue this family goal and will likely carry this resolution into 2010.

We look forward to another exciting New year ahead and pray that many of you will be able to share in this journey with us.


Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!!