Happy New Year!

As usual, December was frantic so Christmas cards weren’t in the ... never mind. I’m justifying it as our attempt to be more eco-friendly. The attached photo isn't very wintery, I know, but it's virtually the only one of us all together. It’s a representation of the last few months, as much as a fact that we never seem to remember how to set the timer on the camera so one of us can run around front to get in the photo. Despite our lack of documentation, it's been a pretty good year.

Glen enjoyed being home with Amelia for the spring and summer and spent lots of time volunteering in her Kindergarten class at Kwaleen Traditional Elementary School. He also did some substitute teaching in a variety of schools and volunteered in a few different classes to get a feel for the education system. In September he headed off to Prince George to fulfill his long-time dream of becoming an elementary school teacher. He spends Sunday through Thursday in classes and has been coming home every weekend, for which we were all grateful. He’s off to PG again in January but will be home for three weeks in Feb/March to do a practicum placement. He’s been very lucky to be able to live at his sister’s house.

I have continued working full-time for the City and am very much enjoying the work there. It is both challenging and rewarding and the City is a very supportive and family friendly work environment. I have also been teaching some weekend courses for the UNBC Social Work program, which has been a real challenge, but a great learning experience as well. Between that and being a single parent during the week, I’m pretty much maxed out. I won’t be teaching in January, so I’m looking forward to a little slower pace. We also battled through bouts and various combinations of bronchitis/pneumonia/H1N1/stomach flu so we’re hoping that we’ve made it through the worst of flu season.

Glen’s mom moved out of our suite in the spring as she wanted to be in a place that was a bit more accessible so she could be more independent. She’s very happy in an apartment across the lane from the Seniors Centre. She and Amelia don’t get to see each other as much, but we still visit often. Amelia is in grade one full time and is loving school. She is reading like crazy and spends much of her time spelling new words while we’re out and about. She’s still playing the violin and although she is getting quite good, she was too shy to play in the Christmas recital. That hasn’t stopped her from deciding she wants to be in a play, so she’s talked her way into the high school performance of Alice in Wonderland. Auditions started before Christmas and she’s loving being a flower. I have no idea whether she really grasps the performance in front of an audience part of the equation, but she’s an adventurer so we’ll take that when it comes. She continues to be feisty and lives on the edge constantly. It is often trying for Mom, but I’m learning to support her risk taking so that when I need to set limits I’m not just being a scrooge. I think she has at least 5X my level of tolerance for adrenaline rushes.

Christmas was quiet with my parents away in New Mexico and my brother and his family up north with his in-laws. It’s wintery here, so we’ve been out cross-country skiing a few times, as well as sledding, etc. It feels great to have a couple of weeks off.

Our big excitement for 2010 we hope will be a new baby. We have applied to adopt again from Korea, and though adoption timelines are always a guessing game, we’re hoping to have some news in spring and with any luck a new addition to our family by early summer. Part of the commitment to this process is a donation to an orphanage in Korea, so we’re getting busy trying to be creative about raising the funds for that. The year ahead looks bright indeed!
We wish all of you the very best in the New Year. May it be filled with happiness, adventure, love, and great times with family and friends.