Christmas Letter 2008

Dear family and friends, this is our christmas letter for the year. (Basically I didn't want to drag 5 kids to the copy store) Its been a crazy year for our family... but I think thats becoming the normal for us and everyone else. It seems that I think that every year. I'll give you the readers digest verion and then if you want you can check out other things on the blog. In March Keith and I started classes to become foster parents. This was such a long process. We got our first placements the end of October. They were brothers... a 2 year old and a 3 year old. On December 1st they went back to mom. This was so sudden and everyone (including the case worker) was surprised. We learned a lot from those boys. We pray for them and wish them and their parents the best. We continue to pray that Heavenly Father will guide that person we are supposed to have to our home (please not a 3 year old!!) soon and we can complete our family.

Sariah will be 5 the day after Christmas. We can't believe she will be 5 already. She is so fun to have around. She started ballet in September and is quite a dancer... as long as there isn't any balance or gracefulness involved. She is learning to read and is so proud that she is now officially a big girl. Please note that its ok for big girls to suck their thumbs... just ask her.

Corrine will be 8 in January. She is so excited to get baptized. In March she started designing her baptism dress and we found one that will work. She is in the 2nd grade and tries to let us think she can't do the work. But, if we bribe (or sometimes threaten groundings) she seems to get it done pretty fast. She is a smart little girl. She is also taking ballet. This is her second year and she loves it. She is getting pretty good at it.... and she is always fashionable while doing ballet.

Jakob is 10. He has earned his Weblos badge and his arrow of light (in October) and is excited to go into 11 year old scouts. He is in th 5th grade and he is doing well. He is working on Pre Algebra so there have been a few lessons that we have had to wait for Keith to get home from work to help him. I know, its embarrassing. Jakob is also in his 2nd year of piano lessons. He is doing very well with it. He never has to be told to practice and he has a pretty good feel for it. He will be able to pass me up pretty quick now.

Keith changed jobs in July. He still workes for Northrop Grumman but its a different division. He now drives down to SLC every day but it hasn't been too bad since they opened Legacy. (was supposed to be a freeway.. but we won't go into that) He seems to really like this job a lot (ya know, for a job). He isn't as stressed at all. Keith is still working in Young Mens and that keeps him very busy with scouts and mutual and firesides and all the other stuff that goes along with young mens.

Im crazy as ever. In August I was called to be the Stake Humanitarian Specialist. I love this calling. Its so fun (ssshhhh, and easy). I still homeschool the kids and I still say its the best. I love it even on our bad days. The foster care has been an interesting experience. I've learned that I don't have patience. I know... those of you that know me will be so surprised to hear that. I've also learned that I need to get patience before the Lord sends me another trial to help me learn and grow. I run kids from piano, to scouts, to ballet, to field trips, to the store, and to doctors. Mostly we are a normal family.

We hope that you are well and happy. We would love to hear from you. We love Christmas time and we are so grateful (especially this year) to think about Christ and the many blessings we have. We love you and we are so grateful for all of you in our lives.

Love, Schramm Family