Oh January, where have you gone?

Ah, how time flies. Here we are already past Groundhog's Day (Punxsatawney Phil did see his shadow) but no updates since Christmas. If you were keeping time by my blog we'd still be in 2009. But oh, what a month it's been! Shortly after my last post Ellen celebrated her first Christmas, her first international travel, and got baptized...all in the span of 9 days! Yes, we do have photo evidence of all those things and yes, I will be posting those photos shortly. But let's cover one news story at a time, shall we?

Christmas came and went and though it is Glen Rock, NJ tradition for Santa to arrive on the firetruck with sirens blaring, he did not swing through our neighborhood this year. We're not sure why, but hopefully next year he'll remember. We celebrated a really fantastic Advent and Christmas season at RCRC where we held a candlelight service of lessons and carols on the Sunday evening prior to Christmas. Here is a family photo from that event:


Jeanine's parents flew in on Christmas night, after fear that they wouldn't make it in at all because of Iowa weather that day. They spent a couple of days with us before we all piled in the car and headed for the great white north. After morning worship on the 27th we hit the road, driving all the way to New Brunwick - the last bit of it in snow and ice. We arrived around 1:30 AM, lounged in the morning, and then had a cookout. Yes, out in the snow, a hotdog roast - Ellen's first.





I flew back on the 30th, the rest of the family drove down on the 31st, and my parents flew out on New Year's night to get ready for baptism on the 3rd. A great worship service with lots of friends and family in attendance, my good friend Eric performed the baptism, and a small gathering of family after the large cake celebration at church. By the end of the day, we were all exhausted.








So now you're all caught up. Or rather I'm caught up. The young 'un turned 5 months yesterday. Incredible. Hopefully it won't be another month before you hear from me again!