A Quick look at 2008

With wheels and words, Austin had discovered a whole new world this year. One day while playing outside this spring, Erika taught Austin how to ride his bike without training wheels. He now protests if he has to walk somewhere rather than ride his bike. Last year he learned to speak Dutch at pre-school and now at age 4 he can say about anything he would like to in Dutch. He goes to the tweede kleuterklass (pre-school) in the mornings and enjoys playing with the children there. In the afternoon, I teach him pre-school in English. He has learned how to read and loves his new found ability.

Our creative 7 year old is always busy drawing, coloring, and “scrapbooking”. Erika is excited that it is Christmas break and that the final exams in tweede leerjaar (2nd grade) are finished for this tri-mester. She is doing really well in school which is taught in Dutch. We are sure we’ll hear singing throughout the house this holiday because Erika discovered her voice this year and loves to sing, if she is happy, she is always singing.
She also loves to dance and is taking ballet from the local dance academy.

Justin has worked hard as the manager of his software team for the past 3 years in Belgium. In the new year he will finish his work in Belgium and we will be re-locating back to the U.S.A. We will miss Belgium very much, but we look forward to hopefully being able to see our family more often. He is also the Elder’s Quarum president at church is doing a great job.

Traveling with my family was the highlight of my year. It was exciting to have my sister Amy and her husband Nick visit in May as well as my sister Tammy and my Mom visit in July. We went to Paris, Germany, London, the Isle of Man, and around Belgium with them. It was especially interesting to visit the beautiful Isle of Man which is where my Grandfather grew up. It was beautiful to see the green landscape including wild fuschia flower plants growing along the roadside. I loved seeing some of the places my Grandfather had written about. We are looking forward to having Justin’s brother Cody and his wife Andrea join us today.

Happy New Year! We wish you all a healthy, happy, and blessed year to come.