Tuesday, January 30, 2007

giggles, wiggles, and greanbean gotees...



So long are the days of running grocery store or anywhere else for that matter. Everything is an adventure, just some times a slow one. But we did trade in those easier, not so sleep deprived days for something much cuter. Ava! Ave is 5 months old now as of Jan 27th. She is now eating some baby food. Her favorite happens to be green beans. She lunges at the spoon. Kind of scary. Who knew we would get so excited about grean bean gotees...well, maybe our parents. She sits up a little, rolls over a little, and smiles and laughs a lot...except for those craby days. Nothing makes us happier than when she laughs so hard when we're playing the kissing monster game. It's hilarious. I'd write more, but yesterday was one of those craby days and I'm worn out.

Monday, January 22, 2007

Our far too late, never sent Christmas letter

Well, Adam and I got around to writing a Christmas letter and addressing the envelops, but never actually put them in the mail box. They would have been a little late if we had sent them out after we wrote them, but sending them out at the end of January would be a little embarrassing. So instead, we announce our embarrassment to everyone on our blog and post our Christmas letter here. We had a cute little card with a picture of Ava and pretty green vellum paper, but you are just going to have to pretend ; ) So here is the letter:

Dear friends and family (not to say that if you are family, that you’re not a friend),

We hope this letter finds you in good health and spirits! We apologize for the Christmas card…after Christmas, but we just wanted to celebrate the holiday a little longer (and maybe we just procrastinated, but we can pretend, can’t we?).
We have had a year full of changes and adventures. A year ago, at this time we lived in Tucson and Adam was in the midst of training to be a Wells Fargo banker and Leah was working as a social worker. We had all our plans figured out. We were trying to buy a house and we finally had one picked out. It seemed perfect, but then it did not pass the VA inspection and the purchase fell through. We thought we would never know exactly why God let that happen.
We were still excited to celebrate our second Christmas together. For a Christmas gift Adam gave Leah a large, decorative egg container to open and inside she found a letter from the future bird Adam was going to buy Leah. Then we were overjoyed when Leah got an early birthday present, finding out on December 30th, 2005 that we were pregnant with Ava! Actually, Adam found out he was a daddy, when Leah gave him the same large, decorative egg container to open up. He thought a bird was going to fly out or something, so he held it as far away from his body as possible, opened it, and four positive pregnancy tests fell out. After a second, Adam couldn’t stop smiling, laughing, and saying “No way!”
We think Ava was the first name we thought of. We prayed about it and sorted through many other names, but Ava stuck, even before we knew what it meant. And the name fits her so well! Ava is derived from “bird” or “bird like”. How ironic that Adam was getting Leah a bird for Christmas and we had already received our little bird, Ava. Furthermore, we wanted a name that portrayed the freedom we have in Christ and the name Ava represents that freedom.
We then moved back to Phoenix (Mesa, specifically) to be near Leah’s family and our friends. God knew what He was doing all along. If we would have bought the house in Tucson, that would not have been possible. Adam was then promoted to a branch manager position in Scottsdale, which made it possible for Leah to stay at home with Ava which also would not have been possible, if we had bought the house in Tucson. God is so good even when we don’t know what He’s up to. Ava was born on September 2nd, 2006, a full eleven days late! But finally our Sunshine was born and now she is growing like a weed…or a pretty flower! She sits up with some support and talks, smiles, and giggles like crazy. She is so enamored by her daddy. We are so blessed that God decided to let us be her parents when she was born.
A lot has happened in our lives in one year. We want to thank you for being a huge support to us. Our friends and family make our lives full of joy and growth and that’s all we could ask for. During this holiday season , remember Christ’s astonishing and, yet, humble birth.

Love, Adam, Leah, and Ava Mick

“Love was born on Christmas day
Sleeping in a manger
Was the world’s only Saviour Humble beginnings of love
We're given and shown to the world
Love was born on Christmas day”
Love was born on Christmas day