Merry CHRISTmas 2011

            Another year has passed all too quickly. Many things have changed in our lives and many milestones have been accomplished. It has been quite the quotable year! Many of these quotes have been seen on Jamie's facebook page, but we think they are worth revisiting (or seeing for the first time). We cannot wait to see what God has in store for our future and we pray that you are more aware of the gifts and blessings you've been given this year.

Jan 5 - Hannah's on a roll. - (at 2.5 months old)

Jan 13 - Rejoice with us!!!! We just completely paid off ONE of Greg's student loans!! Yay! This WILL be the year we get closer to being debt free!!!

Jan 26 - Naomi quote of the day: "mommy, Micah wants to watch TV ALL day." Jamie: "Do you think we should let him?" Naomi: "No, then he'll miss all the fun."

Feb 9 - Day one of potty training Micah (yes, we're a little slow) =fourth pair of underwear, four cleaned up accidents, one success on the potty and dry after nap...bring it on. (Micah is potty trained now...this was a big milestone that took a while to conquer but is now a distant memory)

Feb 22 - Greg has accepted the call to serve Concordia Lutheran Church in Jackson, TN. Please keep us in your prayers during this time of transition.

1.Greg has accepted the call to serve Concordia Lutheran Church in Jackson, TN. Please keep us in your prayers during this time of transition.

2.Greg has accepted the call to serve Concordia Lutheran Church in Jackson, TN. Please keep us in your prayers during this time of transition.

Greg has accepted the call to serve Concordia Lutheran Church, TN. Please keep us in your prayers during this time of transition. - (Big changes for us: a new state, new church, new home. Greg is the sole Pastor and enjoys the challenges and triumphs that come with the job!)

Feb 22 - (Greg took Naomi to the ER. She fell off her bouncy-horse outside on her head; she had a CT scan) What an amazing little girl! When they were done she asked for a sticker for her brother and sister...so caring!!!

Feb 24 - Just saw my parents from half way around the world...so good to chat with them for a bit! I miss being able to call whenever I want but it was good to catch up a bit! (Praise God for technology. We are able to Skype with grammy and papa every week while they are in Hong Kong)

Mar 6 - Our last day at Mt. Calvary. - (very sad day and extremely hard to say goodbye to some great friends!)

Mar 8 - My sweet husband has found us a place to live! Yay! Now we need to downsize, simplify, and purge. Then clean up this place and hope it sells fast! - (we will be renting for at least a year)

Mar 11 - Naomi quote of the day: she walks into her room after being gone all day while I stayed home to clean/pack, "It looks pretty clean in here." 2 seconds later, "I don't like it like this."

1.Naomi quote of the day 2: "Micah's crack looks big" Taken out of context this sounds horrible...or pretty funny, even in context it was pretty funny. Micah had asked me to leave his door open "a yittle crack" so I said I would, that's when Naomi said "Micah's crack looks big"

Mar 28 - God is good! He has provided a next door neighbor who is sweet, helpful, and has a little girl a month younger than Naomi and a little boy who's 1.

Mar 29 - Going to pick up my sister from the airport!! Not as easy as it was in San Antonio...now we have to drive two hours one way! Bummer, but so excited she's coming!

1.ladies and gentlemen, let the record show, I finally beat Greg Truwe at Monopoly (here and now edition)

April 2 - Micah celebrates his 3rd birthday with his birthday buddy Aunt Tracey and grandpa Truwe (April 3).

April 3 - Greg's installation at Concordia - Pastor Barz from San Antonio preached. Tracey, the Nethertons, and grandma and grandpa were here too.

May 4 - In the words of my husband: "Just heard from our lawyer back in San Antonio. It's official. The house is SOLD! Unfortunately, that means we can no longer claim the great republic of Texas." (Praise be to God, our house was only on the market for 5 days, it just took a good month to get everything finalized.)

May 10 - Things you never thought you'd hear yourself say, "Micah Ruben, do NOT pee off the deck."

May 26 - Micah quote of the morning: we were watching a cardinal on the roof and when it flew away I said, "there it goes." And Micah said, "to the baseball game." (Greg was thrilled to watch his team battle back from a 10 game deficit to win the World Series!)

June 1 - Naomi quote of the day: She and Greg went on their "date the alphabet" for lunch. She said to him, "Do you think people will think I'm your wife and that the babysitter is home with the kids?" (Greg takes Naomi out on the 1st of each month to a place that starts with the next letter in the alphabet. A great bonding time and a great learning/teaching experience for them both.)

June 11 - We were able to travel to St. Louis (which is now only 4 hours away)  for Greg's grandma's 90th birthday. What a fun time we had celebrating such an amazing woman. It was so good to see family too!

June 23 - So today, Micah peed on the neighbor's dog. It was totally by accident and totally hilarious...now Boomer needs a bath!

June 27 - Just signed Naomi up for swimming lessons! She starts today!!! Hopefully at least one of my children will take after me and LOVE to swim, we shall see!!! (She had a good time and keeps talking about taking lessons next summer, Micah wants to go too!)

July 9 - Naomi quote of the day: "I think I'll do just a little bit of badness today, because I slept in. I'll probably just be a little bad around dinner time." Well, I'll consider that my fair warning I guess.

Aug 9 - Micah quote of the day: We've been working on memorizing the 1st and 2nd commandment, so when Greg put the kids to bed he asked them again, "What's the first commandment?" and Micah said, "Stay in bed"

Aug 26 - Thanks Greg for helping clean, mowing the lawn, letting me nap, taking the kids to the library and for making dinner...all on your day off! You're amazing and I wanted the world to know how much I love you. So I put it on facebook!

Sep 3 - Took Hannah to her first Cardinal game, with grandma, grandpa and the Nethertons. Of course the big kids enjoyed it too (all three of them :))

Oct 1 - Happy 5th Birthday to Naomi. We cannot believe our little girl is five already!

Oct 7 - Greg took me to the Peabody in Memphis to celebrate our 9th Anniversary. The kids got to stay with my aunt and uncle. What a great night!

Oct 12 - Happy 1st birthday to our sweet Hannah Joy!! Our lives are so much better with her in our family!

Nov 8 - Naomi quote of the day: "Mom, I learned a really funny song at school today. I'll sing it for you. You can laugh out loud when I get to the funny part" (Naomi goes to St. Mary's 4K two days a week and loves it!!)

Nov 21 - Micah quote of the day: there were lots of tears on Naomi's part and she said Micah threw a Barbie at her. I said "Micah tell me what happened." He said, "We were playing Barbies and then Naomi freaked out." (They play really well together most of the time, but they are still brother and sister.)

Nov 26 - Hannah took her first unassisted steps this morning! The big kids said, "Wow Hannah, that's awesome". It may be a couple of weeks before she's really walking but it's a "step" in the right direction!

Dec 1 - Naomi quote of the day: "Did grandma really get run over by a reindeer? Is she okay?"

We pray that you have a very Merry CHRISTmas. May the word made flesh be alive and well in your homes and hearts. May your new year be full of quotable moments and milestone memories.