Dear
Family and Friends,
I realize that this letter will not arrive in
time for Christmas or before the New Year and hope your holidays were
well. Our family was blessed with the
best Christmas gift we could have asked for this year. Our sweet baby, Hadley Jane, was born on
December 14th, almost 3 weeks early and perfect in every way. Her early arrival caused us to set aside some
of the things on our usual Christmas “to-do” list, the timely mailing of this
letter being one of them. I considered
not doing it at all, but finally decided on the “better-late-than-never” philosophy.
Austin
is a constant reminder of how quickly time flies. You really feel your age when your children
start to reach milestones and have experiences that you remember so vividly in
your own life. He is in sixth grade and
heading for junior-high next year. If
you can overlook doors left open, lights left on and a persistent trail of
dirty socks that never make it to the hamper, he is a great kid. He has recently discovered that he enjoys
basketball and is looking forward to playing in a league this winter. Other favorites include: the Sunday comics;
chess games with Dad (he recently beat him in a match!); playstation; reading
every book he gets his hands on; breakfast, lunch and dinner (this kid can
eat!); sword games at recess (too complicated to explain) and time with cousins
and friends.
Ashleigh
continues to be a little bit of sweet peace at our house. She is having a great year at school and has
deemed third grade “the best ever.” She
has two best friends, and together they are mastering the Chinese jump rope
(all of you girls that grew up in the ‘80s with me know what this is). She enjoys singing (she sang a solo in church
the week before Christmas), clogging and piano.
She loves art and has an uncanny ability to make something out of
anything and everything (e.g. cereal boxes, milk jugs, paper towel rolls,
etc). Somehow, all of these projects
seem to involve tape and printer paper, making these items a hot commodity at
our house. She is a great help to me and
generally happy to do her part (not so much if it involves weeding and yard
work). I feel confident that both of
Ashleigh’s brothers would count her among their best friends-quite an
accomplishment for a nine-year old girl.
Hayden
is still busy stretching our parenting abilities. He is five years old and worries on a regular
basis about getting baptized (an event that is two-and-a-half years away)
because he can’t wear goggles for the occasion.
Cameron attended one of his school programs during the day a few weeks
ago- something that doesn’t happen often because of Cameron’s work location and
load. Hayden came home from school and
exclaimed, “Mom! Dad must have gotten
checked out of work today!” Oh, to be
five again. Every time I drive the
kindergarten car pool, I experience one of those great mom moments when you
take a picture with your heart. As soon
as he sees my van turn the corner, his face lights up and he can hardly contain
his excitement to see me. He spends the
entire time I am waiting in the line of cars to reach the curb waving and
telling me he loves me in sign language.
I know it won’t be long before he outgrows this, and more than once I
have struggled to hold back tears of gratitude for the love of a child in my
life. I just have to remind myself of
these moments when I have completely had it and feel that I am going to lose my
mind in the daily battle of motherhood.
We
refer to Ellie as our tornado. I’m not
sure if this nickname started because of her constant crazy hair (any attempt
to tame it is immediately ripped out by her) or her ability to blow through any
room in the house and, in just moments, leave a path of chaos behind her. One of our favorite things about Ellie is her
amazing memory and vocabulary. We taught
her every animal sound we could think of, including kangaroo (DOINGG!). One day, I was reviewing them with her: “What
does the cow say?” “MOO!” “What does the sheep say?” “BAA!”
After running out of animals to quiz her on, I finally asked, “What does
Ellie say?” Without missing a beat, she
responded “Party time! Party time!” In early October, I pulled out her witch
costume from last year, hoping it would still fit. As I went to try it on her, I could see that
she was apprehensive about wearing it.
In an effort to assure her, I told her that she would be so cute in this
costume. From that day on, if anyone
asked her what she was going to be for Halloween, she would say, quite simply,
“I be so cute!” I turned Christmas music
on one Sunday morning right after Halloween.
I teased the older kids that Daddy was going to “freak out” if he found
out we were listening to Christmas music this early in the year (this is one of
Cameron’s pet peeves). Ellie heard me
and spent the rest of the day saying, “Daddy gonna freak out” to anyone that
would listen to her. I’m sure she raised
a few eyebrows in nursery that day.
While our
family has been blessed abundantly, this year has also brought its fair share
of struggles and heartache. If we
have learned anything, it is that we are not meant to make this journey alone. Our appreciation for family and friends has deepened. We have felt assured of our Heavenly Father’s
love for us and are grateful for His tender mercies in our lives. We
feel especially thankful for a Savior, who loves and understands us perfectly. We trust in His ability to heal and save us
perfectly as well.
Much
love,
Cameron, Amy, Austin, Ashleigh, Hayden,
Ellie and Hadley
