Merry Christmas!

Dear Friends and Family,

Merry Christmas! We’ve been so blessed this year and hope you have, too.

Abby is growing fast. She turned four, started Preschool, and is learning to read. She tries to read everything! The other day she was watching me work on the computer and asked, “What does Google mean?” 

I rebuilt my first VW engine over the summer, which, unfortunately seized up at 2,000 miles and is now back apart for my second rebuild. I got to do a lot of flying for work this summer and now exceed the minimum qualifications for most missionary aviation agencies.

Sarah stayed busy at home filling 3 freezers and all of our canning jars with tasty things, and being a mom and wife.

The most exciting news of the year is that we are expecting a sister for Abby at the end of April.  Abby is looking forward to having a sister, but is a bit unsure about sharing her room. She is also worried that the baby will eat her toys!

Overall it’s been a year of growth for each of us personally and together as a family. We are thankful for so many blessings and especially for Jesus, our greatest blessing. May you be filled with wonder and thanksgiving for your many blessings as we celebrate His birth together.

Sincerely yours,

Dustin, Sarah, and Abby

Merry Christmas!

Christmas seems to have snuck up on us this year. I guess that's not surprising since we were on the other side of the world for 2 months, and didn't return until just a few weeks ago. We are doing things much simpler this year - fewer decorations, no lights outside, not going overboard with gifts. While those things are nice, it feels good to simplify (and also to know that there won't be near as much stuff to clean up!). It's so easy to get caught up in all the "stuff". Life was very simple when we were in Papua New Guinea. There were so few distractions that you couldn't help but get to know people better than you might in a different setting. That's something we want to try to continue here. It won't be as easy, but it will definitely be worthwhile. Anyway, back to Christmas......

We finally managed to get our tree decorated on Saturday.

On Sunday Abby was in her first Christmas program. The kids recited a poem and sang a song. She did very well, and we received several comments about her performance that morning. Having been placed directly under a microphone, and not being shy, it was no surprise everyone heard her loud and clear! You can see that the video starts shaking because Dustin is laughing.

We will have Christmas dinner with my family, and then my sister and her family will be staying with us for a few days. Abby is very excited to see her cousins again! It's been over a year since we visited them in North Dakota. We plan to take lots of pictures and try to post them here.

As far as pictures from our trip, we have LOTS, so it may be a while before we can get them organized and in a good format to post here.

Merry Christmas!!!

Happy Thanksgiving! Merry Christmas! Happy New Year!

I guess it's been a while. Due to some serious uploading issues, I don't have any new pictures here. However, off to the left, at the top of our favorite links, you can see one called OUR PICTURE ALBUMS. That is a link to our Shutterfly site. It has pictures from the trip Abby and I took to North Dakota, and a bunch of Christmas pictures. It also has some older pictures. 

December was pretty crazy around here. Dustin remodeled the bathroom the first weekend. It ended up taking much longer than one day (as he had planned). Luckily, we were only without a toilet for one day. He tore out the carpet and replaced it with tile. He also replaced the toilet, cabinets, and molding. What a huge job! It looks much better now. 

Dustin and I celebrated our 5th anniversary on December 13th. We actually left Abby for 2 nights!! We didn't go very far (downtown Portland), but we had a lot of fun. By the time we headed home, the snow had started. There were cars all over the side of the road! It was a slow trip, but we made it home safely. We then celebrated Christmas with Dustin's parents, since they had been up here watching Abby. 

There was more snow throughout the week, so Abby and I dug out a really old sled we found in the garage. Talk about fast! That thing can move! A few days later, all three of us spent the afternoon sledding. Abby had a blast! By Christmas Eve, we had 14 inches of snow. It was great fun, but hard getting around, even with chains on the car. We spent Christmas at my aunt's house in Brooks. The roads were fairly clear, but we almost couldn't get out of our parking space! We spent the afternoon eating and opening presents, and Abby got to take apart the gingerbread house they had made. 

We rang in the new year at Dustin's aunt's house in Clackamas. She had a cheese party. We didn't plan to stay all evening, but we were still there when the new year began. Abby was still awake and having fun, but she fell asleep within minutes of getting in the car. 

We've been taking life easy since then. Abby was sick last week and she still isn't sleeping well. I'm starting to feel a bit sick, myself. Today definitely felt like a Monday! I'm hoping to start updating this blog more often, but no guarantees. I know I've said that before, and it just hasn't worked out. Oh well, Happy Monday!

Happy New Year!

We have been busily packing up our belongings. In a few short weeks we will be moving to Canby to be closer to Dustin's job. We found a cozy little house with a BIG garden. It should be perfect for the next 6-8 months or so until we (hopefully) buy a house. Since we will be gone next week, we basically have to have everything packed this week so we can move the weekend of the 12th. I have to say, I'm getting weary of all the moving. The good news is that we've gotten pretty good at it!
Christmas was both fun and busy. My parents, my Grandma, and Dustin's parents were all here for several days. We also hosted the family Christmas party for my side of the family the weekend before Christmas. Abby had a blast opening presents. The sound of paper ripping made her squeal. She also reveled in the constant attention from all the grandparents. To everyone's delight she began saying grandma and grandpa. It took a few days to get her back to the usual schedule after everyone left!
Tomorrow is 2008! Once upon a time, I would spend New Year's Eve coming up with resolutions. They were usually similar from year to year, and despite my best intentions, they would only last a few weeks. Since I have found that to be a waste of time, I decided that I will spend this New Year's Eve being thankful for all the blessings in the previous year.
We are all healthy. We have a wonderful place to live. Dustin has the perfect job with great employers. We've made some good friends through a church group and a play group. God has met all of our needs, even if we didn't realize it at the time. Abby is growing into a happy, independent little girl. I could go on, but I don't want to bore you. The point is that we've been blessed, and I'm thankful for it.
Happy New Year!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! We had a very busy weekend full of family. It was difficult gettting back into the swing of things on Monday. Long weekends are so nice! Now we are gearing up for Christmas. Dustin put up the Christmas lights last night and we will get a tree this weekend. Since we were gone over Christmas last year (has it already been a year?!), we are twice as excited for this year. We hope to make Abby's first Christmas special, although I doubt she will remember it.

I can't believe how fast Abby is growing. Last month she weighed in at almost 10 pounds! She's more vocal every day. She is also full of smiles. We have gotten her to giggle a few timesand it's so cute that we can't help but laugh along.

Parenting is a huge adventure, and we have found that every time we think we know something, she changes! It's a constant game of catch-up! I appreciate my own parents more each day. I don't know how they did it with two kids!

I will be working on updating the photos in the album a bit more regularly. So you can watch Abby as she grows and changes.

--Sarah