Holiday Letter

Dear Friends and Family,
Since it has been over a year since I last wrote I figured its time to start back up.  :)  It also helps that I have a lot of wonderful things to talk about.  First and foremost is that I serve an amazing God that has provided Handsome and I with a wonderful life!  He has gotten us through a lot over the last year.  Last fall and part of winter I spent going to physical therapy for my ankle and today I can do almost everything I could do before the break.  The cold weather makes me a little more aware of it, but it doesn't slow me down.  :)  The middle of November we were blessed with an apartment to move in to for the winter that was on a farm.  In spite of all the challenges that we had while living there, it was great to have a place to live during a very cold winter that was not a camper.  Lets just say though that Handsome and I will never be owners of goats, period.
In January we were blessed by Handsome's family to get to take a trip to Israel.  The entire family got to go, and it was a wonderful experience to get to see the land that God chose for His People.  At Easter, Handsome and I were excited to announce that we would be expecting a baby the end of October.  We spent much of the time over the next couple of months preparing for our baby girl's arrival.  We also got to celebrate Handsome's sister getting married in May.
In June at our 20 week ultrasound we found out that our baby girl would have a clef lip, and a possible clef palate.  It for sure wasn't the news that we planned on hearing, but after having a second ultrasound in Rochester they concluded that our baby girl was completely healthy other than the lip and we embraced the joy of a healthy baby.  Also in June we purchased a house on a little acreage just north of Mountain Lake.  We love it!  It is so nice to be in a house again, and to have space to have all of our stuff in one location.  We don't quite have all of our stuff all in one location yet, but it is definitely closer to being a reality.  Moxie also is very appreciative of the new place, because it has room for her to run and plenty of squirrels, rabbits, and birds to chase and sometimes kill.
Then in July we took a family vacation with Handsome's family to Canada where we celebrated the wedding of a cousin and just enjoyed some relaxation in beautiful Banff and Jasper National Parks.  I continued to work for KBQ until a few weeks before our baby was due, but have since taken on the job as a full time mom.  Our baby girl was born on October 29th, after quite a long delivery process.  I am definitely enjoying being a mother of a baby outside of the womb as opposed to inside the womb.  :)  She does have both a clef lip and palate, but honestly I wouldn't have her any other way.  She is beautiful and has the best smiles.  Another family that has a boy with clef lip and palate says that wide smiles are the best smiles, and its true!  There really isn't anything better than one of my little girl's smiles.  It lights a room up!

One of her many smiles!

We have spent much of the time following her birth with family, partially due to the holidays, but also due to the loss of both of my grandfathers.  My mom's dad passing away the day our girl was born and my dad's dad passing away here a couple of weeks ago.  Life has been a whirl wind, and for some reason I don't think its ever going to slow down.  A couple of days from now our little girl will go in for her first surgery, which will be for the lip repair.  Many have asked me how I'm doing and told me that they're praying for us, and I am so appreciative of your prayers.  Honestly I'm doing okay.  I'm excited to see how God is going to work through all of this.  Our little girl is so full of joy that she can't help but brighten everyone's day that she is around.  Something that Handsome and I did from the beginning of the pregnancy was to pray over her and bless her spirit.  Even though our earthly bodies can't understand language at conception our spirits are eternal and can understand a lot.  So we chose to speak to our little girl's spirit and to bless it.  I wholeheartedly believe that she is a joyful baby because of that.  My prayer is that everyone we meet in Rochester sees that joy and asks us about it.  :)
Handsome through all of this has continued to work for Easy Automation.  He is really growing in his job, and is very knowledgeable in his work.  He gets to travel quite a bit with it, and enjoys getting out of the office to see people and what they're doing on their farms.
Well I should get to bed, but I thought I would try to get this update out to all of you.  I'll try to do a little better on the communication front.  Thank you all for your love and support!
Blessings,
The Adventurous Farm Wife