2007 in Review

This post is a lot wordier than usual. We did not send a Christmas letter with this year's Christmas photo, and my cousin had the great idea to blog their letter, so I thought I'd copy that idea for our New Year letter. Here's our Christmas photo, followed by a summary of 2007:




2007 was a year of change for us! Last Christmas we were not able to travel for Christmas (because we were expecting Elizabeth!), so the first week of 2007 was greeted by Mom's family visiting us at our home in West Texas for a couple of days. Grandma came back on the first full weekend and stayed for a week. MawMaw came, then went back, then came again. Both Grandma & MawMaw were able to be with us, and help with David, when Elizabeth was born on January 9, 2007. I was so thankful for their help because Dad had to be in Fort Worth the day after she was born for part of his hiring process with the Fort Worth Fire Department! Later in January, Dad had to return for his polygraph. David adjusted nicely to his new status as big brother and continued speech therapy.


Elizabeth made her first road trip to meet family and more family as the page turned to February. Dad also had an oral interview in Fort Worth at that time. The rest of the month was rather uneventful as Elizabeth grew and started smiling. David was still loving going to Mother's Day Out and proved to be very helpful!







March was a flurry! On March 8, Fort Worth called to offer Dad the job of Firefighter Trainee, starting April 2! That gave us less than a month to find somewhere to live, pack for the move, going away parties, and get our house on the market... with a 2 1/2 year old and a 2 month old! By the end of the month, we (or just Dad) had made four trips to the Fort Worth area house hunting. We had a place rented and then that fell through at the last minute. So in that last minute, we asked Grandma & Grandpa if we could move in with them. They were gracious to welcome us in without hesitation... and their lives have been a bit crazier since then!



April came in with piles of boxes! And Dad turned 30! Our last day at church and Dad's last day on duty at the Fire Department was Easter Sunday. We moved the next day with lots of help from some fellow firefighters. Uncle Bubba was also gracious to help store our household of stuff and Aunt Wee was waiting for our moving caravan with pizzas for everyone. People keep asking if we're settled in yet, and I still think no! With the move, David was now out of Speech Therapy and Early Childhood Intervention. Dad started with the Fire Department on April 16. Mom & Elizabeth were able to attend a welcome reception on Dad's first day as we all joined a new family of firefighters. We participated in Antique Alley with Aunt Wee, celebrated PaPa's 80th birthday, and had dinner with Curt & Suzanne. This was the start of a long line of family events that I guess will never stop... but that's why we moved back!


In May, we celebrated Mother's Day, Elizabeth started eating cereal & rolling, we started going to Family Swim, Aunt Erin graduated from high school, and David turned 3 years old!






Mom was able to go to a wedding shower for a college friend in June, and Dad had EMT clinicals before continuing with fire school. David attended Vacation Bible School at Grandma & Grandpa's church, we celebrated Father's Day and my brother's 40th birthday, and cousin Jordann & Aunt Sissy got to come to Texas for a visit. We tried to go to David's first theater movie, Ratatouille. (we only made it about 1/2 way through the movie!)


July 4 brought Mom & Dad's 9th Anniversary. Elizabeth turned 6 months old and was eating all sorts of things, except green beans! Grandma & Grandpa went on a mission trip, leaving us to the house. In just a short time, we had noticed a great improvement in David's speech with no more therapy!








August was a lot of the same thing. Dad continued to make it through another rookie school, kids had some sickness. David enjoyed his first midway at the Old Settler's Reunion and we took a family day to the Star Wars Exhibit. Mom's highlight of the month was attending the Women of Faith Conference at the American Airlines Center in Dallas! This was also Elizabeth's first conference. Also in August, we started blogging "Tiny Talk Tuesday" each week!

In September, David started attending Cubbies and we found a MOPS group to attend. We celebrated Andy & Aunt Wee's birthdays and Grandma & Grandpa took a trip to California to visit Aunt Sissy, again leaving us with the house.

October was a very busy month! Elizabeth turned 9 months old! We met one of Dad's cousins & her family for dinner and continued Cubbies & MOPS. We celebrated birthdays for Alex at Chuck E. Cheese, which David LOVED! We also celebrated birthdays for Jordann, Aunt Sissy & Grandpa AND Aunt Erin! Dad went to a haunted house with one of his friends and started Ride Outs. David went to the PTO Halloween Carnival with MawMaw & we went to Trunk or Treat on Halloween night. We also surveyed the land and got the 9-1-1 address for our future house!

November found us celebrating MawMaw's 50th birthday! and Dad finally graduated from the training program!!! We celebrated Grana's birthday and enjoyed Dad's extended family Thanksgiving. We were finally able to put more time & energy into our own house plans, met with a draftsman (who said the plans Dad had worked up were good enough to use) and obtained our land from Grandpa. Elizabeth started playing peek-a-boo! David is loving going to Cubbies each week and has memorized all of his memory verses so far.

December is always busy, and this year was no exception. Mom decorated a table for the Ladies Christmas Tea at Grandma's church and was thrilled to have a short visit with best friend & family! We visited Santa and went to Christmas parades & parties. We finally placed membership in our new church. Mom & Dad had a wonderful Christmas Date Night, joined by Elizabeth. Christmas Day was celebrated at home, then at MawMaw's, then at Grana & Papa's, then at Aunt Laurie's. Aunt Sissy & family arrived from California & we celebrated Christmas again at Grandma & Grandpa's. Aunt Sissy commented just yesterday that David is talking more at this age than her girls did! What a long way he's come!!! It seems like he's constantly talking or singing. He has especially enjoyed singing Christmas carols this year: 12 Days of Christmas, Angels We Have Heard on High, Away in a Manger, and Jingle Bells. He also memorized Luke 2:11-14. We welcome in the new year with Aunt Sissy still visiting.

This has been a wonderful, unusual, and displaced year! We are excited about 2008 and the new beginnings it holds. We are planning a first birthday party! We pray for blessing on a new home, new and restored friendships, and new growth. We will celebrate 10 years of marriage! To all who read: May you be equally blessed! And Happy New Year!