Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! May the season bring you joy and peace as it has us!
We relocated 15 minutes south of Longmont to Erie this February. It was probably the best move we’ve ever made. We live in a community that is so tight, that just thirty minutes ago my doorbell rang. When I opened the door, I received a plate of cookies from the three adorable munchkins next door. We have friends all around us who have kids in the same school and it’s really just one big party. We are so thankful God brought us here. The sense of community leaves you feeling as if you are in a constant embrace of friendship.
Three days after moving into the new house, we found out that God wanted to stretch us a little. No surprise, He does that with great regularity. We just hope we are growing in the way He wants us to. We thought three kids were all we could handle but He thought four was a better number. The kids were in shock when we broke the news to them up in Breckenridge on a ski trip. I video taped their responses. Watching Eden reject it out of hand then ask if we were serious while Kaitlyn instantly embraced the news and Nick hopped around like a little pogo stick was priceless.
I racketed my way through the year grappling with how I would possibly manage four kids, two dogs and a rental house across the country. There wasn’t an epiphany. I am just taking it one day at a time. Hm, that makes it sound mundane which my days are anything but. I’d give you some highlights but I have to remind myself that you were expecting a joyful letter about the blessings of 2011.
We took a little camping trip up in Estes Park with my sister Ginny and her family this summer. If I hadn’t been six months pregnant wearing flip flops, the epic six mile hike to a high mountain lake to see blooming lily pads probably would have been a little more thrilling. As it was, I think the grueling trek was a feather in every kids hats and that is a treasure in itself.
This fall we took our annual trip to the mountains to see the fall colors. Somehow we waited one week too long and wound up driving up to Frisco in a snowstorm. It was surreal to see snow with patches of golden aspens peeking through. Jody’s dad and Marcy met us up there and we had a nice little mountain jaunt. The kids loved the trip but I kept having contractions which was giving Jody the jitters.
Two weeks later our lives changed forever. Hazel Ann was born. Each of our children have brought a profound change in our world, filled our hearts to bursting and made us want to laugh and cry all at the same time. Hazel is no different and if anything the senses are heightened. The unexpectedness of her arrival in our family makes everything about her presence more amazing and incredible. I sit and hold her for hours every day, marveling at everything about her. I haven’t been caught up on laundry since she was born but I wasn’t very often before anyway. Jody and I are swept away in love with our baby and so is everyone else in the family. It’s like we got a puppy. We love her, dote on her, carry her around and can barely stand to let her sit in her swing or bouncy seat. My favorite thing is to lay out the sheepskin by the fireplace and lay her on it so she can watch the fire. She is the most peaceful child in the world. All is as it should be.
Thanks to so many of you who have given Hazel such lovely presents. We are so blessed and thankful to know each of you. Thank you for the beautiful Christmas cards. I love the photo cards. I can’t believe how the kids grow and change each year. Please call or write anytime!
Love,
Jody, Elizabeth, Eden, Kaitlyn, Nicholas and Hazel
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