Merry Christmas everyone! This is our Christmas card this year. Things have been very busy here at the Hertel household. I've been busy grading essays and final exams and Trey's been busy with his job search. For those of you who don't already know, Trey's company decided to discontinue his product, which meant he needed to find employment elsewhere. He has several good leads and an interview or two scheduled for the first of the year. Please keep us in your prayers. We are truly praying that God will open the right door for Trey.
We're hoping to get the nursery painted and decorated over Christmas break. I know that by Spring Break I'll be lacking the energy to do so, so I've made it my project for Christmas. We've settled on pink and brown as our colors.
"Stella," as we've been calling her (her real name will be disclosed once she's born), has been making her presence known on a regular basis. She's kicking on schedule: 4am, 9-10am, 3-4pm, and 8-9pm. She is quite an active baby! Trey and I went for a 3D/4D ultrasound last week. It was really neat to see what she's doing when I feel all of the movement. She's breech and folded in a V. Her toes were touching her forehead. She was very bull-headed, she covered her face with her arms and hands when we were were trying to get pictures of her face, and covering her "junk" with her feet when we were trying to make sure she was a girl. AHHH! We did get a few cute pictures.
My other project for Christmas break is reading. I am starting a book club with my students next semester. They will have the opportunity to choose from 7 books. Our wonderful librarians helped me choose the books, but I hadn't read any of them! So far I've read two. I'm very excited about this project. The students will be creating a billboard or a "movie trailer" type of commercial to advertise their books.
Trey and I will be joined the Hertel family Christmas Eve morning for brunch. Our Christmas Eve service started at 4:30 up north, so rather than driving down south and back up again, we watched Charlie Wilson's War and then headed to the Christmas Eve service at church. It was such a great movie! Our church service was wonderful! "Stella" really enjoyed the music. This child is going to be a rocker like her daddy! She LOVES music! We went to my parents for brunch on Christmas day. It was so great having Mom's famous sticky rolls! MMMM!! After brunch, Trey and my dad went on a motorcycle ride while my mom and I discussed nursery plans and I took a nap. It was a very relaxing day!
We'll be pretty busy the next couple of days. Omah will be down on the 28th and we're looking forward to spending time with her. Our friend Carlos from Indiana will be spending the new year with us. Angie, Scott, and Noah will be down on the 3rd-7th. It will be great to see them again! Noah has become quite the talker (I wonder where he gets that?).
That's all for now. I'll post pictures when I can. Until then, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
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