Merry Christmas

Here is this year's Christmas letter. More pictures and updates on our family coming soon!

Christmas, 2009

Dear Friends and Family,

We now know first-hand the joys of boys! Our family traveled to Ethiopia in August to bring home our new son and brother, Samson.

Samson will turn 3 in February. He has an inquisitive personality and wants everything, including his own car, set of keys and cell phone. Rightly so, we are a little nervous about what he will want when he is 10. His personality is both demanding and charming at the same time. He is also all boy, with endless energy. He will kick anything that resembles a ball and likes to wrestle with family members. We are so lucky to call him our son and brother!

We feel extra blessed to have the three girls to help ‘mother’ him. We joke about how he came home from Africa with 4 mothers and one father.

One of those mothers is Lauren, our oldest daughter. She is in eighth grade and will be 14 in February! We are so proud of her accomplishments academically, musically and sports-wise. But most important, we are proud of the path she has taken in life, which has kept her humble and has formed her into a very nice young woman with admiral character.

Olivia is our next oldest or as she likes to say, “the kid in the middle”. She is 10. We admire her gift of imagination that she expresses so well in her writing and drawings. She is our story teller and always ready to give the family a good chuckle. Sometimes during a birthday celebration, she will surprise everyone with a poem or a memoir showing her creative and positive thoughts of the birthday person. Olivia and Samson share a similar look in that they both have dimples on each of their cheeks. Oh, and they both have brown eyes.

Avery is our youngest daughter, 6 years old, in the 1st grade and makes a great playmate for Samson. She has a sweet and vibrant personality. She is also a very talented little gymnast. In Ethiopia, she got quite the stares because of her light complexion and blonde hair. She loves school and likes to read stories to her new brother.

Steve enjoys the challenges of his job as CFO for a local company. Samson adores him as his father. Each night when Steve returns home from work and Samson hears the garage door open, he goes running to greet his daddy.

I (Tammy) am a SAHM (Stay at Home Mom) and would not want my life to be any different. I love my job as wife to my husband, mother of our children and keeper of our family nest.

Our cups are overflowing with God’s blessings to our family. We hope this Christmas Season you too find God’s abundant blessings from the benefits of being adopted into His family.

With Love,

Steve, Tammy, Lauren, Olivia, Avery and Samson