Merry Christmas!

Okay, so I totally edited the time stamp on this. But I intended to post it before the New Year, so I don't think the date it actually appears on the blog really matters.

We hope you all had a joyous holiday season! In an attempt to be frugal we only sent these out to select family members, with the intent to e-mail them to the rest of you. If you didn't get the e-mail, don't feel left out. No one else did either.

So here are our family's Christmas card and letter, as well as a birth announcement we made for Rhett (which was pretty much only sent to parents and grandparents).

Dear family and friends,

As another year comes to a close and we celebrate once again the birth of our Savior, our family is ever grateful for the blessings that we enjoy. This year has brought our family triumphs as well as challenges, and we have felt the Lord’s guidance and protection in all of them. Paul and Vicky both graduated from Brigham Young University feeling accomplished as well as relieved, and we moved our family to Bellingham, WA, for Paul’s first post-college job.

Two days after Paul and Benjamin left Provo, and four days before we all arrived in Bellingham together, our family was joined by Rhett Buehler Duersch on June 28, 2008. He arrived three weeks early, but was a welcome surprise! Rhett is a very happy baby who is loves his older brother tremendously and brings great amounts of added joy to our lives.

Benjamin is a feisty two-year-old who loves to repeat everything his mom and dad say but who, fortunately for us, has not done it too often in public yet. He is a great helper for Vicky, who feels blessed to stay at home and raise her two little boys, and is a sweet brother to Rhett. Benjamin loves to read books, sing songs, and play with basketballs.

We are grateful for all of you who have helped and supported us this year, as well as for old friends and new, and we wish you all the very best of things during this Christmas and the coming New Year.

Love,

Paul, Vicky, Benjamin & Rhett Duersch

We appreciated receiving cards and letters from many of our friends and family, and hope that you won't take it personally if you didn't receive them from us. It's amazing we got them out at all! We are grateful for you and hope you each find many blessings in the New Year!