Star Wars Shirt

Grandma Chisholm and a Baptism

 Grandma Chisholm came from Oregon to meet James and attend his baptism.  Here they are meeting for the first time. 

 James getting dressed for his baptism in the same gown that Joshua wore when he was a baby.

 James's godparents are my cousin Peter and my best friend Kate.  A criminal defense attorney and a pediatrician, this kid is set!

 Alma with her godparents, Christine and Scott.

We are so blessed to be able to spend time with family and friends ... and especially our week with Grandma Chisholm!

Vacation Wrap Up

We were lucky enough to have three straight weeks of vacation this summer.  Well, one week of "workcation" followed by one week of "memorialization" before a week of actual vacation.

Our first week was spent in Applegate, CA (near Sacramento) for Joshua's work conference.  The overarching organization that Joshua, through CUNA, works with, People Improving Communities through Organizing (PICO), is an international non-profit that encourages the employees to bring their families to the yearly week-long work conference.  I've been wanting to attend for years but this is the first time that the trip didn't interfere with my own employment.  Alma and I spent our days playing with the other 40+ kids in attendance and enjoying the beautiful Jesuit retreat center where the conference was held.  And, at night, Joshua and I would hang out on the patio overlooking the pond and share a crossword puzzle.

Sadly, Joshua's grandmother passed at the beginning of June, so we spent the next week with his family celebrating her life.  While it was a sad event, it was so nice to have some time with the Chisholm clan when we had not been planning a visit with them for this summer.  We were able to spend a day at Santa Monica beach (photo of Alma and me was snapped by Hayden!), some time in the backyard shooting cans with a BB gun, and Alma had plenty of time idolizing her cousin Hayden.

After a wild trip home -- three days of delayed flights, car rides interrupted with me getting sick on the side of the road (yes, that happened more than once), an eventual red-eye flight home with an overly tired toddler -- we were home for 20 hours before leaving for a trip up to the Adirondacks for a week of relaxing with Kate, Neal (a.k.a. Uncle Fun), their pup Rio and our dog Simon.  It was a week composed of all the greatest things: best friends (even Simon had his best friend), delicious food, and an amazing house right on Lake Paradox.  We spent days hiking, napping, watching the dogs swim until near-drowning fatigue and our nights were long games of Kate beating us at Settlers of Catan.

Happy New Year!

We rang in the new year by going on a family walk over to Broad Street to enjoy the Mummer's Parade.

Our 2009 felt like The Year of Advent with most of the year focused on the arrival of our little Alma. (She was definitely worth the wait!)

However, in glancing at the photos we snapped this year, our year was more than simply waiting. We had a great year with family, friends, trips, work, outdoor adventures, weddings, birthdays and so much else. This might have been my favorite year ever ... I really enjoyed 2009.

Here's to a joyful 2010 with time to wonder at all the blessings in our lives.