Christmas Letter 2010

Merry Christmas Everyone! We decided not to send out a Christmas letter this year, because, well, life is busy and we just didn’t have time! So, we are writing a year end blog instead.

I can’t believe we started 2010 with a 3 month old and are ending it with a 15 month old! This year has been one of learning to balance parenthood and residency (which feels like a needy child at times!). We have seen the clock at every hour this year, whether that be from Matt’s crazy shifts or Haddon’s desire to hang out at all hours of the night. The Lord is teaching us not to idolize sleep and that our joy does not depend on the number of hours our head was on the pillow. We are slow to learn this lesson (just ask Matt how grumpy I was when the alarm went off this morning!), but we’re getting there.

Our biggest news of the year is that we are adopting! We have always wanted to adopt, and thought, why not now? So in May we picked a country and started the process. Over the summer we did a home study and a LOT of paper work and then began waiting for a referral (description/picture of a baby available for adoption). On September 1st we received a referral for a baby girl and immediately accepted it. She is beautiful and we just received notice a couple weeks ago that we have officially adopted her in her country. We are now working to get her a visa and hope to have her home in the spring. We can’t wait for her to arrive and to be able to share more about where she was born, her birth date, name, pictures, etc. (we are not allowed to share details about her till she is home).

Matt’s year has been busy with residency. He completed his 2nd year in July and is now in his 3rd. He just finished up a month working in the ICU at UC San Francisco, which included very early mornings and some 30 hour shifts. He is thankful to be starting a couple lighter months now and we are thankful to have him home more! When he’s not busy running around the ER or some other department in the hospital he enjoys church activities, keeping up with his favorite sports teams, working in the yard, hanging out with friends and playing with Haddon.

Haddon has had a year of learning and growing. He started crawling in May and was walking by July. He loves to explore everything and enjoys all the typical baby favorites, like my kitchen cupboards and dresser drawers. He is a joyful and energetic little guy who loves to laugh. He is starting to say a few words and his current favorite things are eating raisins, dancing to music, going outside to explore the backyard and playing with daddy (Matt is his hero!). He is quite social and loves to “talk” to and wave at anyone and everyone when we are running errands or out for walks. He is truly a blessing and joy and we are looking forward to watching him be a big brother next year.

I have been busy this year keeping up with Haddon. As I always say, being a stay at home mom is the most time consuming, tiring job I’ve ever had, but the best too! I wouldn't trade it! When I’m not tending to the house or Haddon, or working on adoption details, I keep busy with ladies Bible study and other church events and enjoy hanging out with friends.

We have also enjoyed our first full year as homeowners and are thankful Haddon has so much room to run and play! There is always a little project or some gardening to do, but we like where we live and are enjoying working on our “cosmetic fixer” as we like to call it. We have brought it a long way in the last year and it really feels like home now! We still have a pending to do list though so if anyone from HGTV is looking to do a room makeover, come on over and I’ll bake you some cookies while you work!

Though life is busy we wouldn’t change it and are so thankful to the Lord for His many blessings! We hope y’all have a wonderful Christmas and New Year! Here are a few recent pictures: