Merry Christmas!

We're getting ready to head out for our Christmas trek across the Midwest! :) I still have a million things to do (as always), but oh well. The kids have really been enjoying the Dora computer games. Jacob is absolutely enthralled (it is Dora, after all!) and Anna is amazing at them! She is so smart. I've actually been surprised at how well she's played them on her own. I've walked her through a couple, but she is very insistent that she CAN do it!



I didn't get a Christmas letter done this year. I wish I would have, but time just got away from me. 2008 was a good year for us. Jacob has brought so much joy--it's been very fun to see how different it is to have a boy around! From day one, really!! He is stubborn, that boy. He can walk, but he prefers to crawl (and he wears me out trying to get him to do it!!). He could talk more, but he prefers not to. It's amazing how much he can communicate without talking :) He knows how to make his sister scream (that's a two way street!). It's hilarious to watch. He knows the right moment to grab one of her precious toys--and then he skidaddles!! He can move very fast. And then he just grins. Ohhhh, that grin. I love that boy.
Anna continues to stretch me with her will :) And she continues to squeeze my heart with her gentle spirit and loving ways. She loves to love! Whether it's her brother (who doesn't always appreciate the lovin', let me tell ya!), her dolls, or her Mommy & Daddy. Her favorite thing to do is play Mommy. She's so good to play on her own, but she loves to talk Daddy into playing with her as soon as he walks in the door! A friend of ours said the other day "Having little girls sometimes stretches our masculinity." HA! I'm sure Aaron never thought he would be playing with dolls:) Anna loves going to Sunday school and she loves playing with her special friend Jake (and his siblings). She usually pretends at least once during the day that she's going to school. I can't believe that she'll be ready for preschool (somewhere, even if it's home!) next year and kindergarten the year after!! That's only 1 1/2 yrs. away. She CANNOT be old enough for that yet! Time is going by so quickly.
Aaron still likes his job. He'll be changing positions after the new year! Moving into an assistant manager position, which means he won't have to work 14 hr. days and he won't have to travel the state day in and day out! It also means we'll have to buy another car, but that's okay. Thanks to Dave, we've been planning and saving :) We're chunking away on our "Total Money Makeover". It's great to see how much progress we've made and it's really taught us a lot about being conscious of how we spend our money. I'm very proud of how hard Aaron works so we can pay off debt even quicker. He's a hard worker, that man. I think I'll keep him around ;) He's also an amazing Daddy. Jacob adores him and if he's not given Daddy's attention quickly after he walks in the door, it's not good!
I'm still loving being at home, raising our precious children! I started doing some work online for Guideposts. They have a prayer site and I have to "process" the prayers before they can be put online--no last names, cities, sensitive info, etc etc. It's nice b/c I can do it from anywhere (that has an internet connection) and it's very flexible. And it helps with that whole debt snowball we've got rolling :)
Mom has an appointment at Mayo next Monday. The swelling has gotten worse again and the chemo is no longer helping. She is still recovering from pneumonia. We're praying the doctors at Mayo will have some more insight into why the swelling is worsening again and can FIX IT! Thank you for praying.
So I didn't intend for this to be such a long post, but there ya go! I still have a million things to do before we leave...I wonder why???
I pray that you have a blessed Christmas, celebrating the birth of our Savior. What an amazing gift God gave us that night so long ago...