Christmas and a blizzard

We took the kids to Jade's work on Saturday (in the middle of the snow storm) to see Santa! They weren't really thrilled to see Santa, but enjoyed the cookies!

I cut Joel's hair. I turned around and looked at him standing at the gate and had flash backs of my nephew David. They look somewhat alike. It was fun to remember David so little, as he's practically a teenager now. We got about a foot of snow. It's really hard to tell because of the drifting. There are parts where you can see grass and then other drifts that are 5 foot high. It's beautiful out. And Ella's crib got moved to the other side of the room. There was too much going on at bed time. It's amazing how much faster they fall asleep :) I've been playing Christmas music during dinner tonight! Tis the Season!

Here's our Christmas letter! Enjoy!

In 2010 the Lord has continued to be generous with us. Despite a few low points, this year has been filled with more blessings than we can enumerate. The triplets are now just over 18 months old; we can hardly call them “babies” anymore. Each has a distinct personality. They enjoy playing with each other and show a great deal of compassion when another is upset. Although Grace said the first word (Hi) several months ago, Ella is the current leader with quite a number of random words. Joel is the most physically adept of the three and enjoys climbing and reaching things. They understand a small number of English and German words…soon they’ll start talking! So far as we are aware, none of the children have any physical or mental complications related to their premature birth. Some would say we “beat the odds”…we instead attribute this to the power of the Lord to bless his people.

In the later summer, we began to search for a piece of land. Our plan was to find several acres which we could pay off and then eventually build on the property. This was an enjoyable process for us. We did look at several properties in person and many more online. Eventually, we stumbled upon a gorgeous 20-acre parcel located about 7 miles north of Elk River, Minnesota (about 30 minutes from our current house). The land has variety: woods and marsh, clear fields and prairie, and even a small cabin! We’re so excited for the children to be able to grow up on this beautiful piece of property.

We and CynDee traveled down to Corpus Christi, Texas in early August for a reunion of Ginger’s side of the family. This represented the babies’ first vacation. They did surprisingly well in the airports and on the flights (with one rather loud exception (Grace) on the way back), but certainly were glad to be back to familiar surroundings and their routine. We really enjoyed spending time with Ginger’s relatives and were able to meet some of her mother’s close relatives for the first time.

Jade continues to work at Great River Energy. Despite the state of the economy, his company remains on fairly solid financial ground. A successful early retirement offering “took the pressure off” staffing, so he feels that his job is safe. Ginger was blessed through an unanticipated sequence of events to obtain a job as a registered nurse working in the emergency room at Methodist Hospital in St. Louis Park, MN. She works 24 hours per week (either 2 or 3 days) in the evenings. This allows her to keep her skills sharp, bring home extra income, and still be the primary care giver to the triplets. We’ve been fortunate to find several exceptional babysitters from our church congregation. It seems that they really do enjoy the children…but we think we’ve successfully scared them off the idea of having triplets of their own 

From our home to yours, we send well wishes, hoping that everyone can clearly see the hand of the Lord in their lives as we can in ours. We wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a prosperous 2011!