Christmas Newsletter 2008

Our Year at a Glance

The beginning of this year found Derek and I both back in school. I began taking classes for my Master’s degree and Derek was finishing up his computer certification training at Centriq. He finished his training in February and began working for a webhosting company in Overland Park. He really enjoys his job and the people he works with. In September, he received a promotion to a level two technician.

Since finishing school and working with fellow “computer nerds,” Derek keeps busy with new computer projects daily. He has created a website and has successfully converted his computer to run on Linux instead of Windows. He has been working recently on setting up a server, which is beyond my realm of understanding.

We celebrated Derek’s birthday in March with a bunch of friends at a Kansas City Brigade game at the new Sprint Center in Kansas City. For his birthday Derek bought a motorcycle from a friend. He has enjoyed working on the bike with his dad.

In April, I traveled with my old college roommate to New York City. We spent 4 days making our way through the city and had a fabulous time. We managed the subway, walked the entire length of central park, and visited Lady Liberty.

Derek and I packed up and moved south of the city in June. Our new place is a three bedroom townhome, which feels like a mansion compared to our old place! We really like it here. I got a new job at a bank for the summer and I started classes again. Going to school and working both full-time was a challenge, but I managed just fine and really enjoyed my classes.

Over Labor Day weekend, we went to visit a friend down in Branson. It was a nice little vacation to relax, do a little shopping, and visit with friends.

I stopped working in September, but kept myself busy helping out with activities at church and getting ready for Jackson to arrive. I got a little crafty decorating his room with airplanes and picture frames. October brought us our little boy and he has been keeping us busy ever since. Now the end of the year is already upon us. We are very excited to celebrate this holiday season as a family of three! I am still deciding on whether I will start classes again in January, but we are so fortunate that I will be able to stay home with Jackson and not go back to work.

We are still teaching 4th and 5th grade Sunday School at church and we have been doing the Truth Project Bible Study on Sunday evenings

Jackson Christopher

The last week of February, Derek and I found out that I was pregnant. We waited until March to tell our families and we went to our first doctor’s appointment. I was so fortunate to have such an easy pregnancy. Derek was so very excited to find out that we were having a boy when we got to have an ultrasound in June. Jackson was born on October 28th, nine days early. He was born healthy and is really an easy going little boy. We picked the name Jackson just because we liked the name and Christopher comes from Derek’s middle name. Jackson looks a lot like his daddy including his blue eyes and some say he has his mommy’s nose. We can hardly believe how fast he is growing!