Happy New Year!

It's the start of the new year and while many are making resolutions, I thought it was the perfect time to post an update.

Things with us have been great.  The kids are thriving and (mostly) healthy and the jobs God has blessed Jon and I with are going very well.  This year brought about a few new additions to our family. In June we bit the bullet and haggled our way to a new minivan!  We couldn't beat the deal they were offering on new Odysseys and through some careful negotiation we were able to get a fantastic price.  The van's name is Vader, following the tradition that all of our cars are named after Star Wars characters.  once we found out we got the black one we wanted, we knew immediately we had our Darth so he now joins Luke and we said goodbye to IGgy.  (yes, we are weird)  Jon also found a great deal on a new DLSR camera on Black Friday, so he bought me an early Christmas present and I got a new Canon!  I am still figuring out how to use it, but hopefully I can learn the ins and outs of it little by little.  I absolutely love the pictures it takes so far.

In July, Jon went on his first mission trip to The Amazon in Brazil.  He spent 10 days there and got home the day after our 6th wedding anniversary.  The kids and I missed him, but we definitely made the most of it and filled our time as best we could.  Jon had an amazing time and was a blessing to the people they visited.  I know he is looking forward to the next opportunity, whenever God provides!  Just the other day Harper was asking him when she was going to get to go to Brazil and "go on the boat" with him.

Other than that, we didn't do any major traveling this year so I am anxious to head out west to see friends and family this Spring.  I think we will be making it a road trip in Vader! This is our last opportunity to take a trip whenever we want since Harper will be starting Kindergarten in the Fall. After that, we will need to do our best to work around school schedules.  Wow, time is flying!

We did take a mini-vacation to hill country and stayed in Marble Falls, TX.  Cousin Cody was getting married and we thought it would be the perfect opportunity to spend some family time together and break in the van.  What we didn't expect was our first trip to the ER as Jasper came down with difficulty breathing and complaining of stomach pain.  I was afraid of appendicitis, but it turns out he had a nasty case of lower-lung pneumonia.  They gave him a strong dose of steroids through his IV and that allowed him to power through for the rest of our stay.  We headed home and started a steady course of albuterol and he was on the road to recovery.

Unfortunately he had a tough month in December with back-to-back upper respiratory infections.  Two rounds of steroids and a heavy regimen of albuterol and he is finally healthy!  Harper dealt with a couple of really nasty illnesses the second half of this year (thank you daycare!) but we have both kids (and Mommy) on a steady dosage of Flonase and allergy meds, so hopefully we can stay well for a long while.  We've had our fair share of yuckies lately!  I'm hoping they will both have amazing immune systems when they're older after dealing with all this stuff right now.

2012 brought some new friends into our lives as we finally got plugged into a home group that we LOVED!  All of the couples live right in our immediate surrounding neighborhoods and all have kids the same ages as ours. In fact, almost all of the couples have 2 kids and almost all of them have an older girl and a younger boy.  The kids all love playing together, and we have formed some deep friendships with the adults.  We are so thankful to have met all of them!

Harper is in Pre-K and learning a lot each day, including Spanish vocabulary.  She can count to 20 without assistance and knows a lot of basic words including colors and people.  She is only 4 1/2 but some days I feel like she is already a teenager by the way she talks.  She is extremely motherly to most of her friends and of course her little brother - in the best way and the worst. :)  She is caring and tender, but incredibly bossy.  (I don't know where she gets that from!)  She has the biggest heart and I am continually being taught by her.  Not too long ago, I found out one of the teachers had brought her little girl who has Down Syndrome to daycare just for that day.  While on the playground, Harper took her under her wing and helped her up and down the ladder and showed her all around.  When I got there, Harper couldn't wait to tell me that she had made Alexa laugh by "tickling her chin and tickling her nose. Mommy, she is so cute!" Harper never mentioned Alexa being different, she just enjoyed being a caretaker of someone.  She is very thoughtful and has an amazing memory.  She baffles Jon and I almost daily with the things she remembers and brings up out of the blue.  I don't listen to country music too often in the car with the kids, but every time a particular song comes on, she somehow remembers it was the same song playing at the State Fair as we sat and ate corny dogs under Big Tex (pre-fire).  We hadn't discussed the song at all while it was playing that day - she just remembers it!

Jasper is our little clown who just wants to make you laugh or love on you.  He is constantly acting silly and is the first to offer a hug to most people.  He is fiercely independent and insists on doing most things by himself.  And in just the past week he learned how to open the refrigerator himself (it's a big deal - now he can get his own yogurt each morning!) and how to take off his own shirt.  Each activity draws big cheers from everyone within earshot as his excitement is contagious.  His speech is improving and we try to compliment him every time he says something clearer than the last time.  Even Harper is very good with telling him "you said that really well, Bud!" He gets his feelings hurt very easily and gets very sad when he is told he has hurt someone else's feelings.  He is very good with "I'm sorry" and "awwight" is still my favorite phrase of his because he is so agreeable (most times).  He is doing great in his class at school and will soon be moving up to the next classroom.  Once he does this, he moves to the "bigger kid" side of the school and he and Harper will be on the same playground during free time!!  I can't believe this is even possible.  She insists she is going to show him all around and be the best big sister ever.  I hope she is right.  :)

That's us in a very brief nutshell in 2012.  We are looking forward to 2013 and all that God has in store for us!