The year 2008 was a very exciting time for our family. I don’t know that it will be particularly exciting to read about, but I’m going to tell you about it anyway because it was very exciting and fulfilling to live it.

This was our first full year with Callie, our baby daughter. What a joy she is and Brian and I both feel so privileged and blessed that God chose us to be her parents. It’s been so exciting watching her grow and develop both physically and personality-wise. I’ve been around children off and on all my life, but now as a mommy that has the privilege of staying home to take care of my baby, I get to be right there to see every little change. And even though some of them are subtle, they are perceptible and it’s so exciting to be right there and be part of it.

So much has happened during this past year with her. Sitting up, crawling, pulling up, and then those first wobbly steps. Becoming more and more aware of her surroundings and interacting with those around her. Recognizing people, then things. Playtime, first words, starting on baby food (messy!), teething (fussy!). First smiles (precious). Then laughter! She likes bath time, likes music, likes story time - especially the pictures. There were a few uncertain times for mommy in how to deal with sniffles, colds, fever, etc., but we got through it with the help of grandmother, experienced mommy friends, her pediatrician, and always-on-call WebMD. We all came out of it stronger.

Having her first birthday party was so much fun for all of us. We gathered both sides of the family together for a fun day of celebration – it was the whole weekend for some of us. Everyone enjoyed it – not just the birthday girl, although I don’t think anyone enjoyed it any more than she did. She’s very social already and has no problem being the center of attention.

I could go on and on about her, but I’ll spare you.

It was good to have Brian’s parents come visit us quite a few times this year. I know they’d like to see Callie more, but if there’s anything good about the distance between us, it’s that when they do come, they stay several days with us and that allows for some good long visits and closeness. And because it’s only a few hours drive time, those visits still can happen fairly frequently. We went over there a number of times this year, too.

On the other hand, Brian’s sister, Beth, lives only a few minutes away and she drops by fairly often. We’re glad to have her over and so that she can have a meal with us and spend time with her niece. Callie loves her and it s fun to see them together. I feel like we’re all growing closer as time goes by. We were pleased to have her join us twice this year on our camping trips to the nudist campground we belong to. She loves that place as much as we do.

We camped several times this year. We had camping down to a smooth science when it was just the two of us. Since Callie came along, I don’t think we’ve quite gotten to the point we were before in being organized, but we’re getting there. You have to take a lot of extra stuff with you when you take a baby, but we’re getting it. And she’s a good little traveler. Whether we’re going camping or going to grandma and grandpa’s, she tucks right in and adapts pretty well to wherever she happens to be. We’re grateful for that. And of course at the campground, there is no end to all of the attention she gets from the other campers. They love her and she loves them right back.

And speaking of camping, we finally got in a camping trip with our friends, Julie and Jeff this year. It was late in the season before it happened, but we did it. Beth was with us, too, and we all had a great time. We vowed to make sure we go more next season. By the way, this was the first time we tried camping for two nights with Callie and it worked out great.

Julie and Jeff’s first wedding anniversary was this year. It was fun to celebrate that occasion with them. They are such a great couple. It’s been interesting to watch them grow together as a married couple and as individuals. Our friendships are definitely deepening as couples and as individuals, too. Julie and I know each other so well, but yet we never tire of each other. We’re so different, but yet find so much in common. We get together fairly often with them; probably more often with them than any of our other couple friends.

We’ve done quite a lot this year to stay in touch with current friends, make new friends, and reconnect with friends we sort of lost touch with over time. I’m doing my best to stay in touch with a few people I used to work with I had grown close to. I reconnected with an old friend from my earlier school years. I wrote about how she and I ran into to each other a couple of years ago. We – she and her husband and Brian and I – were starting to get to know each other and then we all got busy and sort of drifted apart a little bit. But she and I both made the effort to get back together and that’s been good. She and I talk fairly often and we got together several times this year. That’s been especially good for me to stay in touch with someone from childhood. There is a lot of history there.

And speaking of friends from back in the day, my first high school reunion was this year and that was so much fun – even more than I expected. I got involved in some of the planning for it since I still live in the area. In fact, I got to know a couple of people on the planning group for the first time. I only went to school here my senior year so there were many in my graduating class that I never really got to know. It was good to catch-up with many that I hadn’t seen for a while – some since graduation. It’s very interesting to learn what people are doing with their lives. And there were several that I didn’t really know before but found out that they are still in the area, too, and so I’ve had a chance to keep up with them a little bit since then and that’s been fun. Brian’s reunion was also this year and that was fun and allowed me the chance to learn even more of his history from his school friends. I had met a few of his school friends before and it was fun to meet a lot more of them. Brian was a popular guy in high school so there was no end of remember-the-time stories to be told and laughed about.

Another good thing about being a stay at home mom is getting to know many of our neighbors so well. I’ve developed some really close friendships by simply being available to others. There are several of us that enjoy getting together and helping each other out in various ways such as watching each other’s kids or running errands for each other when we’re out and about. Sometimes that even includes house watching when someone has a delivery or a repairman coming and can’t be there or gets tied up and can’t get there on time. It’s good to have friends nearby (as well as to be the friend) that you can call on at a moment’s notice. It’s nice to have neighbors that you can call close friends. There are several of us that have pretty much of an open door policy among our selves and families.

There have several of our friends and neighbors that have been hit by the financial crisis this past year with either a job loss or other financial problems. That’s sad, but it’s good to be able to be there for them and help out by doing whatever I can. Sometimes that’s watching kids while they go on an interview or helping them with a resume or letter, but other times it’s simply listening with a sympathetic ear.

We continued and even increased our involvement with our church family. We’re in a small group with other parents around our age with children around Callie’s age and older. That’s been fun. Parenting is a source of common ground to us new parents. It seems we’re always talking about our kids and sharing ideas and experiences. That’s good. We all want to have a home life that fosters a value system in which our children can live, learn and flourish. We’ve made some close friends with other families in this group and we enjoy getting together.

I’ve gotten involved in a new women’s ministry at our church that encourages friendship and connection and that’s been a great experience. When I was asked to help lead that, I didn’t think I had that much to offer, but I soon learned that there are so many out there who are hurting for some caring, meaningful friendship in their lives. I guess I knew that, but it didn’t really sink in until I spent some time around people that are really in need of someone to talk to and someone to care. I soon came to see that just being there to encourage these people to connect with one another makes such a difference. Not everyone makes a deep friendship with everyone else, but it only takes one friend in someone’s life who doesn’t have anyone to talk to or support them to make a huge difference. I help with a group of women around my age and that has let me become part of some new and exciting friendships, and I’m seeing lives being changed as a result of it. We were made for relationships and when that is missing, we miss out on most of what life is about.

Looking ahead a little bit into next year, we’ll be hosting another home group for a study. We haven’t done that since before Callie was born so we’re looking forward to that. This group will be primarily for other families around our age so that will be interesting to see how we all get along with that. The group will be small, so we’ll be able to have some meaningful time together as we study and discuss and get to know each other. It’ll be good.

The holidays were such fun this year. Callie was much more involved and aware of it all this time and could really sense some of the excitement and certainly all those who love her loved experiencing Christmas with her. We got a lot of really sweet pictures of her, including some with Santa that we’re going to cherish forever. Christmas Eve and Christmas Day was at Brian’s parents again this year, but next year we’re inviting everyone over to our place. His parents understood that we wanted to start having Christmas at home for our little family and allow our child to grow up in that tradition. They said they had gone through the same thing with their parents when Brian was a baby. We’re glad they understood. They are wonderful people.

Well, that was a lot of our 2008. It was a great year. We’re looking forward to 2009 and all that it may hold in store. We wish all of you a wonderful year of abundant life and blessings.