Christmas Letter

Merry Christmas 2008

(be sure to click on the picture to make it big enough to see all the pictures)

This has been an eventful year in our household. The word for the year was change. One of the biggest changes was moving from Kansas to Texas. The transition took 3 ½ months! In March I quit my job of almost 8 years with the Lyons Recreation Commission. Then Brody and I moved to Texas so I could begin my new job (working as an accountant for my mom). Mike stayed in KS to finish building our house and fulfill his contract with the Sterling school district. We wore out our web cams and cell phones the 3 ½ months we were in separate states. The house sold (before it was even put on the market…praise the Lord) and at 36 weeks pregnant we moved everything from KS to TX.

In May we were very sad to lose Daddy Ken to cancer, however, I was thankful that because of our move to TX, Brody and I got to see him several times in the months preceding his death.

The sadness of death was followed by the joy of the birth of our son, Barrett Daniel, on June 27th. He was born at _____Hospital in Texas and our midwife actually let Mike deliver him. It was so cool! Barrett has been a wonderful baby. He began sleeping thru the night at 9 weeks. He’s always smiling and cooing at us. He loves watching his big brother play and at 5 months old is already sitting up by himself and is starting to scoot on his belly using the army crawl! He is such a blessing to our family!

A few weeks after Barrett was born Brody got to go with Daddy Steve and Namaw (my parents) to Colorado for a week long vacation. He still talks about the airplane trip and the mountains.

Over the summer Mike studied for and obtained his CAPM (Certified Associate in Project Management) certification. In October he was hired by XTO Energy as a Business Analyst. He does a lot of project management for the Records in Management division and is really enjoying his new job.

In August Brody turned 2 years old and in September he started preschool (at our church) 2 days a week. He loves school and loves learning. Not only does he already know his colors, numbers, and ABC’s, he’s also memorized several Bible verses! His favorite pastimes are playing golf, watching Daddy & Uncle Caleb play softball, “fixing” any and everything with his tools, spending time at Daddy Steve and Namaw’s house (we currently live 2 blocks from them…so he gets to see them daily), and going to Cabela’s with Daddy.

This year we went to KS for Thanksgiving. We hit Plains, St. John, and Sterling in the few days we had. Mike had fun hunting with our friend Chris Anderson and we all enjoyed visiting with lots of family and friends. We’ve loved getting to see all of our TX family more often since the move and are looking forward to a relaxing Christmas at home and in Temple.

We know that many of you were praying for us during this year of change. We can’t thank you enough. God has blessed us more than we imagined possible this year! We can’t wait to see what he has in store for us during 2009!

We love you and hold you dear in our prayers!
Mike, Staci, Brody, & Barrett