New Year and more...

Happy 2009 for all of you! We had a terrific time during the holidays. I'll start where I stopped last. The 31st (New Year's): Glenn, the kids, and I went to my sister's place in Austin. The only thing not 100% Mexican in her house were (besides Glenn) the eclairs that I bought at Sam's. She made all kinds of Mexican food to receive this new year. Dina and I decided to make the most of the traditions that we always do during New Year's in our family. For example, we dress in something new (that means that you are going to be looking good most of the year); when it's 12:00 we put our shoes on the wrong foot vice verse and put a coin inside of the shoe (that means you will have luck and money); we also eat 12 grapes and make a wish for each one of the grapes. Then we go in and out of the house 12 times while holding a suitcase in one hand and the rest of the family with the other hand (that means we are going to have trips during the year). It's all very superstitious I know, but it has worked so far :) After that we all hugged and then celebrated with sparkling grape juice. The kids were so tired that they didn't fight by the time they had to go to sleep. After we celebrated and laid the kids down, Glenn, Beto and Dina were playing Wii. I was way to tired, so I stayed up until 2:00 a.m. Glenn and the others went to sleep until 3:00 a.m.. Next day we woke up and had a light breakfast. Then the guys played Wii again most of the day. We spent the night again there so the second of January we decided to come back home, but before our return we decided to go and visit Aunt Barbara who had kindly invited us for lunch. The kids had a blast. Nicky thinks she is so cool with her theater that she has in her house. Ian was happy exploring the house which, by the way, is huge. We had a fun visit and got the chance to met her new daughter-in-law. We came back home very very tired. I just wanted to sleep and the kids were so grumpy but happy for coming back home. Ian even learned the sentences, "ARE WE GOING HOME? I WANT TO BE HOME!" Poor little guy. At night that same day we went to our friends the Chapmans' house. It was Eric's b-day and it didn't matter how tired we were we just couldn't miss that event. We had a fun visit and the kids were very well behaved (if you count the fact that they were very tired and hungry). After that we came back to our home and the kids immediately asked for dinner. We served them turkey and some noodles; they devoured it. Then we changed their clothes and laid them down. Glenn and I went to bed and as soon as our body touched it we were totally out.

Since then we are just trying to get back on schedule. Nicky even told me that SHE LOVES TAKING NAPS...which is great because this was going to be the year that I was not going to let her take them anymore.

This weekend Glenn has to go to Michigan for an interview. We will leave tomorrow for my sister's, and I'll drop him off to the airport on Thursday. I'll be staying with my sister until Glenn gets back from his trip. Keep us in your prayers so his interview can go well. We would love to match here, but at this point as long as he matches we will be so happy and blessed.

Anyway, in conclusion, we had a great year. 2008 was full of blessings. We are so grateful we could say good bye to Grandma Walker and that she is happy and reunited with Grandpa in heaven. We are so happy and recognize the Lord's hand in our family and feel so blessed we could make it to Canada to visit and get to know the rest of the family. The kids bonded very well with their extended cousins. Nicky keeps asking me when she is going to see them again...that's a tough question to answer. Nicky started school and she is doing great progress in the language and other skills that she has been working on. Ian is fast in catching up with her. Glenn is also done and happy with his results on Step 1 and Step 2. We decided to add another member to this family, so we adopted 2 beta fish who by the way are STILL ALIVE. We had a great trip to Monterrey to visit with family and friend. We also decided to add another member to the family who we'll hopefully meet in April (unless she decides to come a little early). We got to visit Lisa (my sister in-law) and her family, and not just get to know her new place but also to meet baby Sabrina (who by the way is gorgeous). We have 2 more nephews and one more niece added to the family this year, which make Nicky and Ian so happy because they have more cousins to play with for future family reunions.

We are so thankful to the Lord for His help with my pregnancy and our family. We are still together and happy, which is the most important. We still have lots of trials just like we had this past year, but we know our heavenly father will help us on the way as He always does.

We love our friends and family and wish the best for all of you.

The Walkers.

We are praying of course for this year to be even better and full of good surprises.