Merry Christmas 2008

**Because I am too lazy to print and enclose our Christmas newsletter this year, here it is via blog.... cards are in the mail...***

Dear friends and family,

We hope this letter finds you well and looking forward to a wonderful Christmas. We are especially in the spirit of this holiday season with our busy 18 month old who is oh so easily entertained by all of the decorations. (Christa has to point and say "tree" every morning as soon as we wake up.) I am having a blast shopping for her, as it's been a while since I've had a good excuse to visit Toys-R-Us at 5 am on Black Friday. I was wondering if she was still a little too young to rip apart wrapping paper and squeal with delight over her presents until her cousin's birthday party this past Saturday. After watching Christa tackle her cousin's presents and smile just as wide, even though the presents weren't for her, we can't wait for Christmas Day! Here's a re-cap of our year.

If I could describe 2008 in two words, I would have to say it was a year of mixed blessings for us. We celebrated some long awaited milestones as Cline completed his formal training in Augusta, graduating from the Medical College of Georgia's Emergency Medicine Residency Program in June. We celebrated Christa's first birthday appropriately at our apartment complex where she spent her first year. The very next day, we packed our things and said goodbye to Augusta, some very dear friends, and having a convenient Target to shop at. (I'm still making my peace with leaving behind those last two :) We returned to our hometown, where Cline started his first job as a "real doctor," and got settled into our freshly purchased house, where we are still learning the ins and outs of home-ownership. The house we picked is in a great neighborhood with lots of kids, right down the road from Jessica's parent's house. This arrangement has come in handy on more than one occasion... mostly when Cline has been at work at 2 am, leaving Jessica to discern the strange noises that come from the basement. Thank goodness for Dads that don't mind panicked, late-night calls, and Moms who will happily babysit at a moment's notice!

In the midst of our moving excitement and graduation pride, July brought some sorrow when we lost a baby who we called "Teeny-bear" early on in pregnancy. It was definitely the most difficult experience we have been through as a family, but Christa's hugs and kisses helped so much, as we tried to make sense of the situation. We were also grateful to have supportive family and friends and a loving God who continues to bless us in spite of this pain.

In October, we had the pleasure of serving as volunteers at the Lighthouse Family Retreat, a ministry that takes children with cancer and their families to the beach for the week. This was a new experience for us, and one that we hope to repeat many times. We met some incredible people, and had a wonderful time playing with the children and interacting with new friends.

We are looking forward to a week at the beach with Cline's family the week after Christmas and good things in 2009. Christa continues to be a joy and delight every day, and is developing her own little personality. Her favorite past-time these days is running around restaurants, waving and showing off her bellybutton to innocent diners. She already has a Southern accent, which is especially apparent when she waves excitedly and yells "baaaa" (bye). She also loves her Elmo DVD, since she now "asks" to watch it about three times a day by bringing me the case. I don't know what it is about that little guy, but I thought I was buying myself 15 minutes to do dishes one day, and now my child is an Elmo fanatic.

We hope all of you have a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Love to all,
Cline, Jessica, and Christa