Happy New Year!

Well, our holiday season is over, and is going out with a whimper. And a sneeze. And a cough. And a fever. We're all sick with Madeleine's cold (I actually have the flu as well) so our New Year's Eve was kind of a bust. But I think the Ramsay New Year's Eve Party was as great a sucess as it ever is. I tried, but I couldn't make it past 10 pm and went to bed with the kids that night.
Overall, it was a good holiday. What I am most proud of is actually getting my Christmas cards out this year. I honestly tried last year, bought cards, ordered wallet-sized prints of our family portrait. I got the cards assmbled and signed, but ran out of steam before I could get them addressed and in the mail. I was so tired, I barely had the energy to finish my shopping and wrap gifts. It turns out, I was tired for a very good reason. I was pregnant with Noah, and that's how our 2006 began. It was another wonderful, hilarious, challenging, and adventurous year:

- Shannon's Mom's 60th birthday party
-Oddwalk busier than ever going to(among other places I'm sure I'm forgetting): Lubbock TX, San Diego CA, Beaumont TX, Ogdensburg NY, Sioux City IA, Las Vegas NV, plus mutliple appearances at the Shrine in Belleville and in Jefferson City
-Camping with a few of our ministry friends at Mark Twain Lake State Park
-Our 3rd anniversary dinner at the Melting Pot with Orin and Erin
-The announcement of our niece-to-be, expected to arrive soon (due Jan 11)
-Our weeklong vacation at the beach with Clan Ramsay
-Oddwalk recording and releasing a new CD
-The Cardinals winning the World Series!
-Traveling, with both the kids, to Las Vegas for the National Conference on Catholic Youth Ministry
-Christpower and Young Neighbors STL for Shannon
-Following the Farmers' Chinese odessey and welcoming Ava Therese FuBin Farmer
-Welcoming fresh-from-God Cerneka family members Sammy Driscoll, Molly Distler and Griffin Leahy
-Welcoming fresh-from-God friends Craig Willmann, Ava Reeser, Caedmon Farmer, and Jacob Smith
-Our first (and sadly only for the summer) visit to new Busch Stadium to watch a Cubs-Cards game
-My craziest transport ever: meeting a county ambulance on the side of Highway 63 to pick up and resucsitate a 27 weeker that had delivered in the ambulance on the way to the hospital
-Madeleine's daily discovery of language (you can say "Dolphin?" I didn't even know you knew what a dolphin was!"), the emergence of her sense of humor (knock knock! who's there? orin. orin who?), and her budding independence (No! I do it 'self!)

The two most signifcant events of this year occured this summer, with weeks of one another. We lost my grandmother Dorothy Haxton on July 2 to her four year battle with lung cancer. Our Gammer was fun and funny, smart, amazingly creative, generous, ornery and at times a little insane. I find myself thinking of her often, and miss her very much.

Four weeks later, we brought Noah Matthew into the world. Aside from the four miserable months of "morning sickness" (morning my butt), it was a healthy and easy pregnancy. I delieverd him safely on August 29 after a few short hours of labor, with Shannon and my dear, wonderful friend Katy Korte at my sides. My Noah-Boy totally rocks, with his one dimple, his chubby cheeks and round belly, his sweet, easy smile, his crinkly little green eyes (like mine) and big ol' round noggin (like Dad's).

God is so good. Blessings abound, and I can't hardly wait to see what 2007 holds for us, our family and our friends.