A Christmas Letter

So there is absolutely no way that Christmas cards are going out from this branch of the Twetens. I had every intention of sending them, I promise. I was even going to write out one of those Christmas letters that everyone seems to like so much. And then it occurred to me that there is still a stack of thank you cards waiting to be sent from our fundraiser and if we have to buy any more stamps this year we may as well be subsidizing the post office.

So here it is. The Tweten Family Christmas letter in all it's glory, just minus the postage.

Dear friends and family -

It has been a crazy year in this Tweten Household.

Most of you already know all this so I'll just hit the high points.

Carrie decided in March that having a corporate job was not all it was cracked up to be and even though she swore she would never do it, decided to go back to school and get her masters. She just hit the mid point and is now on the down hill slide of the program. She is enjoying all of her classes and is only mildly dreading the Science class she's starting in January. She could also use some prayer on January 9th when she will be sitting in cold classrooms all morning long taking two praxis exams. She's sure she'll pass but a little prayer never hurt. She is looking forward to going into the classroom and the age she wants to teach changes weekly. Currently she's thinking kindergarten, mostly because the 3 and 4 year olds in her Sunday school class are so sweet. She's crazy, we know.

Tim is working away at his job and is excited to be joining the social committee next year so that he can be overlord of the party planning committee. It's just a short step from there to CEO. He's also enjoying his work with the junior highers at our church, and I've seen him grow as he teaches them. He even won the "Mr. Dependable" award at their latest Christmas party.

In April we adopted another cat (we are one cat away from crazy cat people), his name is Henri, and due to an accident involving a fence when we got him he only had three legs. Tim was convinced no one was going to adopt him, so we had to. He fits right in with Charley and spends a good portion of the day terrorizing Sophie.

Tim likes to call Henri our distraction from the real thing. In May we met with Bethany Christian Services about our calling to adopt. It seems strange that it was that long ago but I still remember how nervous we were sitting on that couch, basically deciding to have a baby.

It has been a long eight months. Since May we have filled out more paperwork than seems humanly possible, fallen in love with our little man S, had every aspect of our lives analyzed, and felt the frustration of having something this important be so completely out of our control. We never thought in October when we finished our homestudy process that we would still be waiting for it to be completed and approved at the end of the year. We never thought when we saw S's little face on Bethany's website that we would shortly be praying for a sister too. We know that God's timing is perfect, even when it's just paperwork.

In October we were involved in nothing short of a miracle. All of you know about our Both Hands Project, if you don't, click on the Both Hands Tag on the left. One crisp fall Saturday we watched our friends, our family, and a whole bunch of teenagers give their lives away to help people they had never met. It was great. The video says it better than I could, so if you haven't already, watch that.

Christmas this year is going to be pretty mellow as we try and reconcile various Christmas traditions. Do we eat Mexican food on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day? Do we open presents in the morning or in the evening? Do we eat Turkey or prime rib? Mostly we are spending this Christmas praying for S and E and wishing they were here instead of thousands of miles away. Both of us said we weren't going to buy anything for them for Christmas and both of us were lying. Mostly we spend this Christmas looking forward to the next when hopefully our tree will have a few homemade ornaments, and a lot more gifts under the tree.

This year was a good year for us. God has taught both of us wonderful things about joy and patience and loving someone you've never met. This year was a good year, but we know that next year will be better.

We hope all of you have a wonderful Christmas filled with the love of our Savior, the peace of the Holy Spirit, and the wonder of the Heavenly Father.

And next year we promise to send actual Christmas cards with (hopefully) an awesome family photo.

Merry Christmas and Happy 2010,

Tim and Carrie