~And a Happy New Year to you all! We pray all is well with you and your family. We're all doing fine. The family is getting bigger, the kids are growing up so fast, and we’ve been busy with projects around the house. Overall it’s been a good year, and we have much to be thankful for.
The biggest news this past year is that of our new baby boy: Christopher David. He was born two weeks early, on October 14th (just a coincidence it happened to be on “Christopher Columbus Day”), at Swedish Hospital in downtown Seattle. He weighed 6 lbs 14 oz, and was 19” long. This picture was taken at the hospital when he was one day old. This pregnancy was quite a testimony to the power of prayer. Kim was plagued with several uncomfortable (but not life threatening) health issues, and each time asked our church and family to pray, and within a day or two the problems would either lessen or disappear altogether. The actual birth was a positive experience (unlike the frantic rush to the hospital with Johnathan three years ago, with only 25 minutes to spare). Kim went into labor around midnight. Fran (Kim’s mother) just happened to be spending the night so was able to stay home with Katie and John. At 7:54 AM Christopher was born.
He’s been a good baby: doesn’t fuss much, goes along with the flow and likes to eat a lot. Katie and John love their little brother. When asked who he looked like, Katie replied, “He looks like Christopher David!” Johnathan’s thoughts on his little brother: “All he does is sleep, eat and pooh.” The kids want to hold him all the time. Just a few more weeks and we hope to have Christopher sleeping through the night. That should help with us not being so tired all the time. I was able to take six weeks off of work to help Kim out with the kids and get some projects done around the house. What a blessing it was to have that time together. Already Christopher has grown quite a bit and is starting to smile and coo a lot. The other day a friend of Katie and John's, three year-old Natalie Luxem, heard Christopher crying and came and told her mother that "Baby Christmas is crying. You'd better go and pet him!"
We’re in the process of remodeling our bathroom. Kim painted and I put down new flooring, toilet, towel racks and molding. Now Kim gets to decorate. With our older house, it seems like every time we touch something it causes us to have to fix something else. But it’s rewarding.
We sure had great weather this past Spring and Summer. Lot’s of sunshine and very little rain. We set up a small pool out in the back for the kids and they had a great time swimming and getting us all wet with squirt guns. It was a lot of fun.
We made our annual camping trip up to Granite Falls with some friends, and had great weather. We took a hike up to the ice caves (left) and another evening enjoyed watching a meteor shower along the river while sitting in lawn chairs. We love to camp in that area.
Our mothers have had trying times lately. Late in the summer, Fran was diagnosed with breast cancer. We praise the Lord that she was diagnosed early, and had all of the cancer removed. It was quite a whirl-wind of ups and downs during this time. Lots of prayer and encouragement came Fran’s way via friends and family. Today she has a clean bill of health and is back to her fun-loving self. Unfortunately my mom (Marlis) has recently been diagnosed with breast cancer too. As in Fran’s case, mom’s has been diagnosed in the early stages so we’re hopeful that she will be able to overcome this with the help of lots of prayers, good doctors, family, friends and faith. Your prayers are greatly appreciated.
Katie is now five and getting so tall. She started Kindergarten this Fall and goes half days in the afternoons. Her school is close by and we drop her off and pick her up. She loves doing all the school activities, likes her teacher, Mrs. Cochran, a lot and does very well in class. She’s reading a little bit now and learning to write. The other day she surprised us by being able to sign her name in handwriting. I’m amazed at her ability to do math. Recently she lost two bottom front baby teeth and was so excited to receive 25 cents per tooth. She figures she will make quite a bit of money once all of her baby teeth fall out.
Johnathan is three and wants to go to school too. He still loves bugs and dinosaurs and tries to tell jokes that he makes up. Even though they don’t always include a punch line, John-John thinks they’re hilarious and we have fun listening to him laugh. He’s getting good at hitting the base ball. Katie is pretty good too, so we’ll see about getting them into some sports leagues next year.
I’m still working in the training department at Microsoft, and am still a Park Commissioner for the city of Renton. My year-long term as Chairman of the Board of Directors ended this past summer. Now I’m back to being a voting member of the Board. ~ Kim hasn’t taught for a while. Three little ones, a husband and a house is turning into more than a full time job. So for now she has decided to be a stay-at-home mom with the hopes that as the kids get older she can pick up a few training opportunities now and then. We are so thankful that she can stay home and be with the kids.
Because of our growing family we purchased a second car: a forest green ’97 Dodge Grand Caravan SE. We love the extra room. During my time off from work, my mom came to visit us from Fullerton, California and help out with the baby. During that time we took a road trip over the Cascade Mountains to Winthrop (a Western town) and Leavenworth (a German town). It was great that we all fit in the car (including kids, both mother in-laws and all of our luggage). It was great to have both grandmothers over for Thanksgiving. L-R: Fran, Katie, Kim, Chris, Troy, John, and Marlis.
Also during my time off I was able to work on putting some Christianson family tree information and old photos online (my mom’s side of the family). For those family members interested, you can find the information at: www.landusky.com/Christianson.html. This is an ongoing hobby, so other sides of the family including Kim’s side will be available in the future.
We pray you have a blessed Christmas and New Year. May Jesus grant you peace in the midst of every storm, strength and encouragement in every trial, healing for every hurt, success for every opportunity, and guidance for every decision. We wish you all the best for 2003!
Take care and God bless.
Love, Katie, Kim, Chris, Troy & John
