Merry Christmas!
Subject:Merry Christmas!
Date:Christmas, 2004
The time for the annual Christmas letter has arrived. We hope that everyone has had a good year and will have time during this busy month to reflect on God's gift to us of sending His Son.
We have further reason for such reflection this year, as once more we are expecting a little one to arrive to the outside world this spring. Although he (or she) is not expected until early June, he is actively making his presence known. He spends most of his day moving.
We've cut down on travel a lot since last year. We spent a weekend in North Carolina in the spring, and about three weeks in Canada in June visiting Sara's family and friends. Jeremy also spent a week of June in Sweden for some work-related meetings, and also got to see some of our friends in Linköping.
Kajsa is growing up. She loves VeggieTales and Baby Einstein videos. She is playing by herself a lot now, which will be helpful when the baby comes. So far we have never needed to worry when things are quiet; she tends to make more noise when she is into things she shouldn't be touching.
Kajsa enjoys reading books, and dressing up in mommy and daddy's clothes. She still likes bathtime, and is happiest when both mommy and daddy are home so she can play with both of them. We are anticipating having to deal with a lot of jealous behavior when the little one arrives.
Jeremy is still working with IBM, but has returned to his former position and is no longer working with the company in Sweden which has been keeping him busy for the past couple years. He continues to work with the sound team at church.
Sara is volunteering 3 to 4 times a month at the Good Samaritan Medical Clinic. She enjoys using her skills again as well as getting a break from taking care of Kajsa. She sees people who are un- or under-insured with aliments running from depression, to gout, to a cold. It is pretty much an urgent care combined with a center to provide medications for chronic conditions. She also presented her thesis at a Spirituality Conference at Mayo this fall. It was well received.
Due to the backlog of cases at US immigration, Sara is unable to leave the USA at this time (or rather, if she leaves, she can't come back), so we expect that we will spend Christmas trying to get things more ready for a baby and spend a couple of days with Jeremy's family in Wisconsin.
Overall it's been a relatively quiet year, but that has been nice after a couple years of business. Next year is sure to be crazy again with our new arrival! We hope you all have an enjoyable Christmas and a great new year.
The Arnolds