Happy Holidays 2012
Every
year I plan on updating the Christmas Letter format; every year I try to make
it more interesting, more fun, more holiday-y.
And, every year I just run out of time and energy and creative
juices. So, here is your standard Christmas
Letter from the Norman Family, 2012.
We
still have four representatives of the Animal Kingdom in our home. Jette, our Bearded Dragon is four years old
now, about 18 inches long and healthy according to our vet visit this
summer. Callie (6) and Princess (7) our
cats have retained their living spaces in James’ bedroom and only venture out
when “the dog” is out for a walk or in the kennel for the night. Mustang (2) loves his daily walks and looks
forward to every Sunday after church when he gets to run free at the off-leash
dog park. He also tries unsuccessfully
to convince the cats he’s their friend.
James
turned 19 this year and continues to look for full-time work. He has a part-time job with the school
district in food services, but it’s been on-call, so very few hours. He’s also done some house sitting and yard
work, is looking at taking a class or two and buying a car.
Blake
is 14 years old and keeps us on our toes.
He plays football and is enjoying 8th grade. He had a very rough 7th grade
year, but after 8 months of intensive (and expensive) tutoring, he’s back up to
speed and doing well. Over the
Thanksgiving holiday he wanted to change his hair color, so our handsome,
charming brown-haired boy became a striking strawberry-blonde. He also played on Century Link Field with his
football team for a Thursday night exhibition game (before a televised Thursday
Night Football pre-season Seahawk game).
Jessica
and Randy gave us a fantastic present this year: Our third grandchild, Bryson David Monkley
was born May 12th, just in time for Mother’s Day! He is a happy baby and Jess and Randy are
settling in wonderfully in the role of parents.
Jess is able to stay home and work part-time with Group Health, while
Randy is the IT Executive at Emerald Heights Retirement Center here in
Redmond.
Brie
and Todd still live just a few blocks away; Jaine turned 8 this spring and
Hayden will be 3 on Christmas Eve. We
are blessed with having all our family so close to us all the time. I am blessed that I get to watch all three of
my grandchildren on a regular basis.
Russ
is in his 12th year with Snohomish County PUD. He handled most of the day-to-day hassles and
planning for their big data center move this fall (continuing through
2013). He also is active in scouting and
our AWANA program at church.
And
me? I nanny, volunteer in scouting and
at church, drive the kids everywhere, schedule all the appointments and in my spare time I added some new clients to
my personal chef business. Because I’m
an over-achiever, I’ve taken up walking with a friend every morning and met my
weight loss goal for the year (now to keep it off during the holidays!). Sleep is over-rated.
Philippians
2:7-8 New
King James Version (NKJV)
7 but made
Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming
in the likeness of men. 8 And
being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient
to the point of death, even the death of the cross.
Russ, Paige, James & Blake Norman
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