Well, we are almost a month in to the new year...a new decade. Wow!
Christmas with the family was wonderful. We spent Christmas Eve with Evan's family and then Christmas Day with mine. It was Liam's first, which was fun, but he is kind of young yet, so he had more fun with the wrapping paper that with the actual presents he got. He got these awesome books from my brother and sister-in-law that he loves now. They are indestructables. Look them up if you have babies. They truely live up to their name. He also got a totally fantastic lamp from my parents to go with his jungle theme room. Also a bathrobe with sock monkeys on it. Mom is going to make him a sock monkey doll for his birthday in May. He also got a neat book/stuff bee that was written by his great-grandmother Elsie. All in all it was a great time with family and friends.
We then got to spend some time up in Seattle with Evan's brother which was lots of fun. We got to go to the body exhibit. That was totally fasinating and not at all scary like I thought it would be. It was totally scientific. The only part that kind of freaked me out was the part where they had the babies. They all died from "natural" causes but it was still sad and a little bit unnerving. Especially since I was walking around with Liam in my arms. I also kept thinking about my sister-in-law. There was a baby there that was 20 weeks. Which is the same as where she was at the time. The one I found especially heart-breaking was the baby that was like 35 weeks. In that case the mother had died, thus the baby died too. Needless to say I did not stay in that area of the exhibit long. They had it in a separate room from all the rest and had a sign warning people. The rest of it was really cool though.
Liam is working on crawling. I think he is going to end up prefering this army crawl (mostly backwards) and rolling method of getting around until he starts to cruise and walk. He gets where he wants to go, eventually and and has a great time doing it...picking up every little bit of stuff I have not managed to get off the floor and sticking it in his mouth. Building his immune system right? He is becoming more and more talkative as the day goes by. Each time he makes a new sound it is fun. We are expecting teeth soon, but then we have been expecting teeth since he was 4 months old.
We are in the final stages of being approved for membership with Wycliffe Bible Translators. We took the Bible Knowledge Assessment test last Sunday and we are told it has been graded. Now we have to wait for them to do an interview with our pastor and then...I am not sure. But I think that means we will be very close. Of course approval is only one more step in many to get up to PNG.
Before we can finish the process of becoming members (ie going to Orlando for the training course) we want to get at least $10,000 in savings for times when we can't rent the house or are between tenants. We have to do that before Orlando because once we become members we need to leave like within six months if at all possible. So...in the meantime we are working hard and preparing in other ways. Like making a slideshow/video to show at churches when we start raising support money. Also, planning events for raising money to help with initial costs, like vaccines (we have to get a lot), airfare to and from Orlando, airfare to PNG, shipping costs for our stuff that is going over there....all that...plus getting visas, passports renewed, (Or in Liam's case his first!), deciding what goes, what stays, what we get rid of, in general thinning our household. It is huge and sometimes overwhelming...but I take comfort in the fact that we know without a shadow of a doubt, that (eventually) PNG is where we are supposed to be.
In other news, we are planning our first night away from Liam in late February or middle of March to prepare ourselves and see how it goes for a whole weekend away for our anniversary. We will be married 3 years on May 12th and Evan really wants to do something special. Since it will probably be the last time for a long time we can do that I am in whole-hearted agreement.
I am also looking forward to the birth of my new niece (also in May) and the moving and expanding of the company I work for, Perfecto Glass. It is thrilling to be part of such a monumental thing (My boss has built his company from the ground up for the last 6 years or so and so deserves this breakthrough). His wife will be able to quit her jon in June and join the company full-time and Brice will be hiring a new glass artist (hopefully). I am very excited!
So, in closing all I have to say I guess, is...new things, new people, and all manner of venturing in the unknown for the Larsons in 2010 and we are stepping forward in boldness with God at our side and embracing the challenge...
