Christmas Letter

I don't have the Christmas cards I bought the day after Christmas last year... so I'm sending a Christmas email and doing a Christmas Letter blog update. For you faithful blog readers this will be somewhat repetitive since it's a recap of the year and what's new with us.

Joseph got laid off his job October 6th and started applying for new jobs. He got several leads fairly quickly and we decided to take the job at Spirit Aerosystems. What I liked most about this job was the relocation package. It certainly made packing up a few things and leaving our house behind much easier. We flew out here on December 3rd so Joseph could start work on the 5th. It was a long day, but the kids did great with all the traveling. Isabel was especially thrilled to fly on an airplane. We have been staying at some temporary housing and will move into a duplex rental on January 1st. We had some local help finding a cheap rental in a pretty good neighborhood. We will wait for our house to sell in Provo before we get a house out here. I'm suprised at how cold I am here in Wichita. We always had a lot of snow in Utah, but the temperatures here are just a lot lower. I've been getting more familiar with the city and where things are located and I LOVE that there are 5 major interstates stratigically placed throughout the city. I've also been impressed at the difference between Utah drivers and Kansas drivers. They are much more courteous and law abiding here in KS.

Joseph is still transitioning in his new job. He has to actively find things to keep him busy at work, but it looks like it will be a good fit for him. We just had our third child, Lincoln Tanner Ashby on November 18th, 11:15pm. It was a wonderful experience. Since it would be a little bit cheaper and not real different to have our baby at home instead of at the birthing center we had planned on, we decided to have Lincoln at home. Labor happened extremely quickly: one hour and 45 mins. (It wasn't until 30 mins into labor that I came to the realization that this was real labor.) Joseph did an amazing job. He was pushing on my back during almost every contraction and in between contractions he was running around the house hooking up the hose to the shower to fill up the birth tub, comforting a crying Ansel back to sleep, boiling water to warm up the birth tub, calling our midwife, giving directions to our lost back up midwife, etc. Obviously having the baby was pretty hard work, but Joseph worked hard too. I could tell that the baby was about ready to come so I got into the birth tub and in about 5 pushes he was born. Joseph delivered the baby and then we were on the phone with the midwife talking us through things until she arrived. (She came straight from another birth, it was her third one for the day!) I don't know many husbands who can remain so calm, reassuring, intelligent and helpful in a situation like that. I definately am a lucky girl.

We are so glad that my mother was able to come out after Lincoln was born and help with everything. My dad also came out to spend Thanksgiving with us and bless Lincoln. It was great to be able to see him before we moved out of driving distance. Even though we are sad to leave Utah and move away from 2 siblings, we are excited to be only 5 hours away from Joseph's parents and 6 of his siblings. And of course we are thrilled to live in the SAME city as my sister Cindy who will be moving to Wichita from Japan in a few months. Isabel loves being a big sister again. She has made Lincoln stop crying several times, she loves to feed him and hold him. I can't wait until she'll be able to change his diapers. Although today I asked her to throw away a dirty diaper for me and she said, " Yuk, I'm not going to touch that gross stinky diaper." So...I guess we'll just have to bribe her. Ansel has grown up so much in the last month. He is talking SO much. He can be a little trouble-maker and do things to irritate Isabel on purpose. But he is better behaved for strangers, maybe because he can be a little shy. When we took him to the doctors office the nurses and doctors commented on how well behaved he is and how good of a talker he is.

Through many uncertain changes in our lives this year, one thing has remained constant: we are so blessed. No one wants to loose a job with a pregnant wife, but if you are going to have it happen, you couldn't have it happen more smoothly and perfectly than it happened for us. We stopped worrying about details because we knew that the Lord was looking after us and taking care of our family. May we all remember the birth of our Savior and the meaning He brings to our lives.

Merry Christmas from Kristin, Joseph, Isabel, Ansel and Lincoln!!