Dear Family and Friends,
This has been a year full of changes and achievements for our family. Over half of the year was spent in Cincinnati where Holly completed an internship in dietetics. This entailed working full-time in the hospital and various other locations and completing major projects in her “spare time.” Mark moved to Cleveland a month before Holly finished so that he could start medical school at Case Western Reserve School of Medicine. (Holly had to stay ‘til August to make up for her maternity leave the previous year.) Holly’s mom and grandma came out to keep Noah out of trouble for the month. At the end of the internship, Holly and Noah were able to take a much-needed vacation to attend a Rands’ Family Reunion at Yosemite National Park. Noah got to meet all of the Rands’ cousins (except Coral), for the first time.
Our family finally was reunited in August. Mark continued to study dutifully and Holly and Noah got straight to work getting the house settled in. Mark has done really well with his school work so far. He also started working in a lab where he assists in research regarding laparoscopic surgery techniques—don’t worry, they practice on pigs. He is interested in pursuing a specialty in surgery.
To finish her studies and training, Holly passed her national exam on Noah’s birthday, earning her credentials as a Registered Dietitian. Now, she finally gets to be a stay-at-home mom. She has decided to earn her continuing education credits (to keep her lisence current) by taking some Spanish courses at a local community college—she starts Saturday classes in January.
Noah continues to amaze and surprise us. He started walking at 11-months. He can make a variety of animal sounds (including elephant, dog, and cat). He uses some sign language and is fluent in jibberish. He has said a couple words (in English) but mostly he just says “hi” about every five seconds. Noah is also climbing everything. A major change in our lives this year is the continual Noah-proofing we have had to do and there is still so much more to do!
We are looking forward to finishing this year off with a trip to Tucson for Christmas (we will be with Mark’s side of the family, although we will get to see Spencer’s family too), as well as celebrating our two-year anniversary on the 28th.
Hopefully, the following year will allow us to settle in a little better. While we are sad to be so far away from most of our friends and family, we are enjoying Cleveland and have made many good friends here already. We hope you are having a wonderful holiday season and that you will take the time to focus on the birth and life of our Savior Jesus Christ. We are thankful for His presence in our lives and for the many blessings He gives us. May His blessings be with you as well.
Merry Christmas!
7 comments:
Wow, you guys get more done in a year than anyone I know! Noah is so cute and his smile makes my day. You are such a fun family. Hopefully, we will be able to see you guys in the not too far future! Love you guys!
We miss you here in Cincinnati! We're saving your spot at book club if you want to come back to visit. :-)
Wow! You guys have been through such a year! We hope you have a Very Merry Christmas! We miss you here in Cincinnati.
Merry Christmas guys! We miss seeing you and are excited you are doing so well!
what a beautiful family you have! Happy New Year!
you guys accomplished a lot this past year! That's great. I wish I would have read this a little earlier so we could have met up while you were in Tucson! Next time you guys can get away and come here. I wanna see your family. Hope you guys had a great New Year's and Anniversary!
oh and I hope you had a great Christmas..I forgot that one.
P.S. Remember when we watched the New Year's sunrise on the wrong side of the sky...yeah we were smart!
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