Merry Christmas in 2011!

Greetings Dear Friends and Family,

We hope 2011 has been a good year for you! It has been a very good year for us and we are excited to share some highlights with you.

In January, Nils wrote a program called floorplan for the Blackberry Playbook and desktop that helps people plan out where to put their furniture when they are moving or redecorating. The program was accepted by Blackberry and Nils was awarded a free Playbook tablet. In March, after several years of marketing in a tough economy, Jen finally met her goal of sustaining a full time client schedule in her psychotherapy practice.

May brought a fun trip to Puerto Aventuras, Mexico (pictures) with Nils’ web design company, RealEyes Media. Jen also completed her training and practicum in EMDR, a brain-process-altering therapy that helps people who have been traumatized to recover fairly quickly from the long-term effects of trauma: flashbacks, nightmares, anxiety, anger, and relationship disruption.

In June, we got to fulfill one of Nils’ life goals: touring Europe. We started the trip in Basel, Switzerland (pictures), staying with Nils’ grad school friends Angie and Matthias. Then we joined Jen’s parents and sister in Berlin on a 12-day Rick Steves' tour in honor of Jen’s parents’ 40th wedding anniversary. In Germany, the tour included several days in Berlin (pics) and Dresden (pics), followed by visits to Terezin (pics), Prague (more pics), and Cesky Krumlov (even more pics) in the Czech Republic. It wrapped up in Austria with a tour of the abbey in Melk (pics) and then several days in Vienna (pics) . In addition to enjoying good food and conversations with the 24 delightful people on our tour, we were particularly excited about our local guides, who gave us a full, detailed walking course in European history, art, and architecture in less than two weeks.

 

July featured some camping and hiking with a group from our church, Cool River. Then in August, we were delighted to find out that we are pregnant, due in mid April. Since then, we’ve been adjusting to the ever-changing symptoms of pregnancy and wading through the deluge of advice and information about delivery, baby gear, and parenting at various stages of child development. The ultrasound (pics) in November was particularly joyful and awe-inspiring, as we got to see 40-50 pictures of the baby’s tiny organs and skeletal structure and find out that we are having a little girl!

This December, we are looking forward to celebrating Christmas with Jen’s family, visited by Jen’s sister Christine and brother-in-law Joe, who returned safely in September from his deployment to Afghanistan.

We are so grateful for all the ways our lives are richer because of your ongoing love and support. Hope you have a Merry Christmas, a Happy New Year, and a joyful 2012!

With love,

Nils, Jen, and Little Baby Girl