Christmas Letter ~ 2007

Merry Christmas!!
It is hard to believe that only another year has passed, It’s a shame that we wait for the snow to fall before we take a minute or two to reflect on all of the exciting and often unbelievable events that have shaped our evolving lives and strengthened our character and family bonds. Hard to believe that this time last year we were anxiously awaiting the birth of our daughter Abigail. Honestly, I was too pregnant, too cranky and just her OUT and I would have loved to have been able to share her birth in the last letter but in true Lawrence fashion she arrived later than anticipated (39 weeks and 4 days) and faster than anyone could have imagined (in the elevator at the hospital on the way up!!).
Things haven’t slowed down since... Abby has taught us that walking early might not be a good thing and that small decorative tables can and will leave a HUGE black eye if pulled down hard enough. That milk has a funny way of making the keyboard,/monitor/tower connection impossible and will rendered it useless if poured down the inside of the tower. But she has also taught us that drooling smiles with 6 teeth peaking thru can melt a heart, Big belly laughs and a hearty game of peak a boo can make anyone smile. She is such a blessing to our family and well worth the wait.
Jennifer is doing very well at school, and in true “tween” style has crammed most of her free time with youth group, Volleyball and Pathfinders. Now that Volleyball has wrapped up for the season (they won 2 games this season) we are taking a small breather until Basketball season starts in January....wonder if they will be mean and have 7 a.m practices again? Jenn has shown us that if you have an ounce of faith you can turn any idea and make it snowball into a grand idea. Our neighborhood experienced a HUGE apartment fire and Jenn spearheaded a bake sale raising almost $3K and collected a garage full of household goods to help the families. She has changed so quickly from the inquisitive child screaming her head off at the sight of an earth worm to a caring, beautiful young woman. Somedays I just want to sit on her and force her to stay little just a wee bit longer.
Little Noah is the “ham” of the family always up to something...like pulling all of the stick pins out of the pin cushion and hiding them under Jenn’s pillow or taking all of the diapers out of the pack and covering my bedroom floor with them... our home never really seems to be quiet unless they are asleep or into something! He seems to have inherited the "look at me!" gene from his father. But we still haven’t figured out which side of the family taught him that hiding apple pieces or paper up his nose was a great idea. Thankfully 2 trips to the doctor seems to have cured that... **fingers crossed** at least I hope!
We are looking forward to completing the basement sometime this winter as we have a fence and deck needing to be build in the spring. After spending the summer landscaping it will be nice to relax and enjoy the fruits of our labor instead of checking items off of our “to do list”. Barry has taken up fly fishing this year and was quite successful in catching his hat, a fence and himself but those pesky fish seem to allude him. Next year...just wait for next year!!
With all of this going on, you'll be lucky to receive this letter before the New Year. Let's make a mutual promise to call next week with our date books in hand and finally get together.I sincerely hope your year was just as fun as ours. Love Always!
The Lawrence Family ~ Barry & Heather that the kids.