At Christmas time we had several unknowns in our lives so I decided to wait to send this letter when our family was complete and the unknowns are known.
Early in img2008 Marci and Lance completed their family with the addition of Ara, a beautiful baby girl who never had an opportunity to wear many of those sweet little outfits of hers because she was never little. She was a chunky baby and in fact weighed 25# at age 5 months. I considered sending her nude pictures to Michlin Tire Co. to see if they could use her in their ads. However, that rather weighty problem has now been resolved by her simply not gaining any additional weight. She is now 14 months, pleasantly plump and a delight. Her big blue eyes and curly blonde hair are looking prettier every day. She has a very unique little personality that seems to be in tune with every little thing that goes on around her and she also has a very definite mind of her own. She is a relatively easy baby who entertains herself well and is the cherry on top of the whip cream in her Mom's life.
Our little Luke, loves his baby sister, sometimes almost to pieces. By that I mean he has yet to realize she is not his personal bonker target. He beats up on her about every 20 minutes when an alarm goes off in his head, the rest of the time they play together, he pampers her and even takes time to "read" to "Awa". He is a handsome boy and tall for his age, like his daddy's side of the family. His vocabulary is excellent, he is polite, and he comes up with the usual delightful statements of a 2 year old. Did I mention he is brilliant? Next to snorkeling, my favorite thing in the world is to rock him to sleep and have him stay with us a few days now and then.
In October my beloved, soul mate dog, Clonie, had to be put down due to a ripped diaphragm. We have no idea how it happened but I really missed the little trouble maker. It took me 4 months to get another dog, thanks to Craig's List. she is a boxer named Rica (after my trip to Costa Rica last fall). She is an almost ideal dog except she won't come when we are outside with her. She simple stops when we call, looks us in the eye, puts her paws on her hips and says nah-na-nah-na-nah-nah and runs away. Where is Caesar Milan when you need him? They say dogs and owners look alike. Judge for yourself.
Now the latest unknown has become known. Today Vonn and Tami became parents. Their 8 pound, 20 inch baby boy was born on Thurdsay in Houston. I was there with them and was delighted that he is healthy and all went well during the delivery. The birth mother and dad are clean cut, college students who weren't ready for the responsibility of parenthood. We feel so blessed! V & T have been through a lot of heartache and expense with fertility procedures during the past five years, so this is truly a blessing to our whole family. Job, Eli, Garret, or some combination will be his name, and no, we had no vote in the matter. (PS - the name ended up being Eli Otto.) like I said, we had no vote. Now they are looking for a little girl sometime in the near future. http://sawatzky.us
There is one more unknown, and it remains unknown, that is, when will Hans retire? I think his practice will probably just fade away and one day he will wake up and realize he doesn't have to go to work anymore. He is now down to 2 - 2.5 days a week. And actually, we are all OK with that since he has a good supply of old toys to keep himself entertained.
I am primarily a Grandmum who also heads up Depression Recovery programs, and pines away at the state of my house and garden. My teaching and travels are greatly reduced and will stay that way until I reduce. It is too hard to sell the topic of good health while wearing a size @#$%^&*. My Mom is now 91 and doing well, mentally, socially and spiritually; but physically is not so hot. She has a lot of pain due to all the breaks in her paper thin bones, but her attitude is great and we are fortunate to have her with us this long.
That about wraps it up. I hope all the pictures haven't caused you grief if you have a slow internet connection, or are we the only ones still living in the dark ages without DSL?
The existence of our sin filled world is closing at a rapid pace, the stage is set and there is a good chance we will be spending Christmas with Jesus Himself in the near future, but in the mean time I hope this finds you and yours in good health and with great contentment.
