Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
2007

We decided to do an online holiday letter this year. The blog has been such a great way to communicate what is going on with us and we thought we would keep it up for the holidays. You can catch up on what we have been up to all year by scrolling through past blog posts, but here are some highlights.

Of course the biggest news of the year was the birth of Charlie in May. We knew children were a blessing from the Lord and we would love him a lot but we couldn't have imagined how much. He has totally turned our world upside down in the best way. There are toys all over the floor, pacifiers in the oddest places and squash on our clothes. He currently has a couple of teeth, loves to eat, sit on his own, and roll around on the floor. He also drools through about ten bibs a day and thinks peek-a-boo is the most hilarious game ever. We would love to have you come by and see the joy he brings to everybody he meets. He is a very smiley baby and we can't even fathom having a happier child. It has gone by way too fast though. He will be seven months at Christmas!!

In July we sold our condo in Lynnwood and moved to a new house in North Seattle. It has been a great place for us to settle in to our first house. We have a nice yard for Charlie to play in next summer and thankfully, a little (very little) bit of room to grow in to. It is a cute 1940’s cottage with a lot of character and a lot more projects. The neighborhood is very convenient to everything and our church (Mars Hill) opened a campus in the neighborhood which has been wonderful. Brett is in the process of wrapping up a new bathroom in the basement. Next year, if the energy and funds don’t run out, we hope to build a rec room in the old garage, remodel the upstairs bathroom, update the kitchen, build a shed in the back and about a million other small things. We have days where we dream about the luxury of the organized, clean, updated condo and then have to remind ourselves that an old house is what we (well actually Emilie) wanted.

Brett continues to work at Swedish Cherry Hill Campus taking Cat Scans. He is working four, ten hour shifts which has been perfect for us now that Charlie is here. We love having him home three days a week. Not that he gets to rest and relax much on those days off. He tries to go golfing and snowboarding when he gets a free day (very rare) and is enjoying learning some new skills as we remodel the house. His favorite thing to do, however, is play with Charlie and teach him new things. They make a very good pair and he is a very patient, fun daddy.

Emilie’s life has probably had the most dramatic change this year. She went from flying all over the county on business trips and closing sales to flying all over the house picking up toys and closing the diaper pail. She loves (almost) every minute of it and spends her days planning playdates, cutting coupons, singing silly songs, cooking for the boys, and attempting to get her life organized. You can call her on almost any day and she will tell you “what a mess everything is” and apologize for whatever she forgot to do for you. She went back to work part time from home at the end of August but is now transitioning into being a full time stay at home mommy and should be fully retired by early next year.

2008 should bring lots of exciting things for our family so please keep up with us on the blog. We have trips to Texas/New Mexico and Eastern Europe planned. Charlie will likely be up to all kinds of new tricks and maybe his parents will learn some too.

We hope that 2007 has been as good to you as it has to our family. We look forward to hearing from you about all of your exciting adventures. You are in our thoughts and prayers throughout the year. We thank you for your friendship and send our love!

-Brett, Emilie & Charlie McFarlane