Lena's First Christmas

Happy New Year!! I still have three more continents to cover in my Top 5 Recent Trips countdown on BlogSpot, but the Top 3 international spots will have to wait until I find time to resume the countdown here in March. 2012 is already off to an unbelievably hectic start, so I’ll need to prioritize my time. And other than God, guess who gets top priority?

Our adorable baby daughter Lena is nearly 4 months old now. The time that flew by between 9/10/11 and Christmas simply vaporized. Here is my best attempt to capture some of the special moments that led into Lena’s first Christmas season:


Dusk beats us to the punch during an urban hike with Lena at the Tualatin Hills Nature Reserve.


Falling asleep with Lena… ...And later, groggily waking up to a surprise appearance in bed with that little cutie. I wonder how she got up there-- by climbing in all by herself?



Picking up Lena's first Christmas tree: We live right around the corner, so I just carried it back to our house in my shorts and flip flops.


Lena gets an early December bath.


Flying home from Munich to bring Lena her first Christmas present, from Germany (No pictures yet, but don’t worry… later this month, I’ll post this photo and some of last month's Germany pictures here on BlogSpot)



Just before Christmastime, Kathy and Lena gaze outside from our living room window. Every now and then, the view is better on the INSIDE!


Lena sits on Santa’s lap… ...and with us at our dessert table in the gym after the Aloha Church of God Christmas Extravaganza.


Kathy plays guitar and sings Christmas carols to a mesmerized Lena.


Family Christmas photo:
The day after I spoke at the WPC undergrad commencement ceremony (my parents showed up to support me), both sets of our parents and Mike & Girl visited our church to hear me preach the Sunday before Christmas. We snapped a blurry family Christmas photo (above) before heading out to Izzy's Pizza later that afternoon.
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(Photos taken by my mom) After much anticipation throughout the Advent season, we celebrated Christmas day with Lena and our family at my parents’ house in Vancouver.



To start off the new year on a happy note, here are a few cute pictures of baby Lena from the past month or so:


Sharing our first Christmas with Lena was a blessing like no other. The road hasn't been entirely smooth, but we finally made the leap from celebrating a holy Child's birth at Christmas to welcoming in a child of our own! I can only dream of what lies ahead for Lena in 2012!


Coming later this month in the next few months here on BlogSpot… photos from the famed Münchner Christkindlmarkt in Munich, Germany last month, the latest E.P.I.C. student ministry update, and more!