Merry Christmas!

Since I know I missed people on my Christmas card list, I am posting our Christmas letter here, for your reading pleasure.  Thanks to my Polish friend Renata, it is also available po polsku (see next post).

Our year in review:

On my birthday (January 15), we found out I was pregnant (Hooray!) and I also started practice for a musical production, Quilters, that I was in with my sister Marianne and five other women.  It was a big commitment, but a lot of fun.  We didn’t finish until mid-March. 

At the end of March we went on vacation to Southern California.  We spent 2 days meeting/catching up with Edgar’s friends & family there. Edgar and his childhood best friend, Luis, hadn’t seen each other for 14 years.  We also went to Disneyland for 3 days.  We decided not to return to Disneyland until our youngest child is 5.  Ruben loved the rides, but was very unhappy when they ended and he hated waiting in line.  Getting to know Edgar’s family and friends made the long trip worth it.  They were wonderful.

 In the summer we went to Twin Falls, Idaho to attend the Twin Falls LDS Temple Open House.  It was a lovely experience to have as a family.  It was great to see our children’s attitude change to reverence and awe as they felt the spirit of the temple.  They felt the difference of being there.  Also this summer, I started teaching Liliana kindergarten in June (she will be 6 in March).  With our baby coming, I felt like I needed to get a head start. Other than school, I did nothing in the summer.  I was hot and pregnant and the cilantro and sunflowers took over our garden.  Lili is doing well with school.  She is starting to read and write in English and Spanish.  The poor child is our little guinea pig and we have yet to see how well our little bilingual experiment will turn out.

Ruben started going to our Starr Valley cooperative preschool this fall (he turned 4 in November).  He loves it. Lili is part of our local Sunshine Generation performing group (her cousins next door teach it).  Also this fall, Edgar’s friend Luis and 5 of his relatives came from California to help Edgar shoot his deer.  When I met Edgar I never would have dreamed he would want to hunt—you never really know what you’re getting into. The silver lining is that Luis and his family were able to take the meat home and enjoy venison birria.  Though Edgar is bloodthirsty, he doesn’t like venison.  Edgar has continued with his woodworking hobby, which I much prefer to hunting.  This year he made a beautiful bookshelf and a dresser.

Our biggest miracle and best news of the year came in the form of little Marcos Edgar.  I had a much better pregnancy than anyone expected and went 37½ weeks!  Marcos was born on September 9.  He weighed 6 pounds, 14 ounces and came home with us!  He has been completely healthy.  It is a delight to see the little fat rolls on his legs when we change his diaper. Our greatest misery of the year was that I had a tonsillectomy in November.  It seemed like a good thing to do because it was free.  We had met our out-of-pocket limit with our insurance because of my pregnancy.  The recovery was rather painful.  I learned the hard way that there’s no such thing as a free surgery.

 As Christmas approaches, we are grateful to remember the miracle of our Savior’s birth and life.  We rejoice this Christmas season in Him and pray that you will feel the peace and joy that He brings.

With Love,

Olivia, Edgar, Liliana, Ruben, and Marcos