Miracles Happen!

Yes, miracles still do happen! I took the state social work exam and actually passed!! Just to make sure I wasn't going to get sick from not eating for 4 hours, we went out for steak the night before, and then we went out to breakfast before my test. I had delicious strawberry crepes and hashbrowns. I'm always so happy after I eat a good meal when I'm pregnant. :) And, I was able to last the entire testing time without getting sick.

I love my husband. For Christmas, he got me like 3 or 4 boxes of Gushers. Every time we go shopping, I make some comment about how much I love Gushers and then wipe drool off my face as we pass the fruit snacks. He must have picked up the idea that I liked Gushers...! Every time I open one of the packets to eat some, I have to go over and kiss him because those Gushers just make me soooo happy!


He also got me a "new" violin bow -- originally he was going to get me a new one until we found out that warped bows can be repaired! Who knew?! Anyway, that option was much better than paying for a new one. It's still in the shop being repaired, but I can't wait to get it back and test it out.

Avery got a play kitchen from Grandma and Grandpa Lemmon, which she LOVES! We enjoy sitting at the play table and eating plastic food. She loves the Christmas tree lights. Each morning she'll come out and say "sha," for "star" because she wants the lights and star plugged in. Then she'll sit on my lap on the ground in front of the tree, and we'll just look at it. It's fun to have her be old enough to start enjoying little things like that! We've also been teaching her the "one-finger touch" method for the ornaments. It was impossible to have her not touch the tree at all, so we tell her that she can touch things with one finger. It works most of the time, and keeps us from having to rescue the little ornaments all the time.

I gave Nathan an MP3 player for Christmas because whenever we drive places, we always want to listen to books on tape, but have no way to do it. We've downloaded a ton of free online courses that Yale University has on its website (we've been listening to New Testament and Music 101). It's been fun to go through and learn lots of new things with Nathan while we drive places. I'm a fan of MP3 players. Sure beats the radio most days!

Here are some Richardson family pics we got taken back in September. I was so sick that day that I ended up being an hour late for pictures, and had to sit down with my puke bowl between shots so I didn't ruin my white shirt. :)









Next post I'll have all the Christmas pics up! And Nathan and I are planning on moving in June or July next year. We'd love to go to Western Oregon (close to Northern California as possible), but it's looking like Yuma, AZ may be Nathan's best employment option so far. So, we've got lots of big decisions to make in the next few months!