Christmas Letter, 2008

December, 2008

Dear Family and Friends –

Happy Holidays!! Can you believe another year has almost passed? We debated about sending a Christmas letter this year, but we've decided it's been such a wonderful, blessed year that we'd share some of the exciting and not so exciting things that have happened with our family this year.

William is almost done with classes (he'll finish classes in July) and is looking forward to being done with school. He has loved his internship this fall, and has been all over eastern Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana doing Land Surveying. Hard economic times have taken its toll on the construction industry, however, and his hours have been drastically reduced as the months have progressed. He loves it, though, and has considered certifying in land survey when he is done with school. Kylie is still working at the hospital and seems to be spending a majority of her shifts in the ICU. She likes being a nurse but gets frustrated with the politics of the hospital. She's probably told William at least once a month that she's going to quit and go work somewhere else. Seeing how she's usually all talk, though, she's still at Madison Memorial.

This summer we had the opportunity to spend a week camping at Star Hope Creek in the Copper Basin with Kylie's family. Perhaps Kylie's mom should have told us sooner that Star Hope Creek used to be called "Bear Creek" but no one would camp there so they changed the name to Star Hope. Perhaps had we known that we might not have been as surprised at our "adventure" on our first night. We can now say that we've survived a bear attack! We had the unique, terrifying opportunity to be sleeping in our tent when a bear came down to our camp and for some reason decided to take a swipe at our tent, ripping out the portion very near Kylie's head. No, we didn't have any food in our tent or in our camp for that matter – we'd been very careful to lock all food in our cars. We stayed in our tent for way too long before we dared get out and run to our car, where we had foolishly left our gun for the night. We woke up the rest of Kylie's family, explained what had happened, and for the next 3 nights each family took shifts "standing guard" and keeping a fire going just in case the bear came back. Needless to say, we didn't sleep in our tent anymore. Imagine, if you can, William trying to fold his 6'3" frame into the back of our little Ford Escape. We've never been so glad to see a sunrise as we were that first morning, nor have we ever been so glad to be home in our own bed again!

One of the best things to happen to us this year was the opportunity in October we had to start building our house. We are building in Rigby, Idaho, one mile east of the Loft on County Line Road. It's a little subdivision called Pepperwood crossing. We are putting the "sweat equity" into our home by doing all the work ourselves, with the exception of concrete, electrical, and plumbing. It has been a learning experience, but one that has been fun and exciting none the less. Our loan actually comes from USDA Rural Development as part of their Self Help Housing program. We are put into groups, (there are nine families in our group) and we build all nine houses together. It's a great program because we have had the unique opportunity to get to know all of our neighbors before we move in because we work side by side with them. Our group is the fastest group they've ever had, and in the last 2 months of working we are already a month ahead of schedule. Hopefully that pace continues and we're in our house early spring.

The very best part of our year happened at Thanksgiving, when we were able to announce to our families that we are expecting our first baby on June 8^th. It was so much fun to surprise and delight them in such a way. It is something that we have wanted for years and our prayers have been answered. For arguments sake, Kylie bet a ½ gallon of ice cream of her choosing that it's a girl, while William bet his ice cream flavor that it's a boy. Sure hope William likes something chocolate, because that's what Kylie's going to choose on January 15^th when they find out it IS a girl!

We hope this year has been as wonderful for your family as it has been for ours. We can see the hand of the Lord in our lives, and we hope that you can feel His love and compassion this holiday season. May the coming year be full of joy, love and laughter for all!

Love,

William and Kylie Mobley