Our 2009 Christmas Letter

Beloved Family & Friends,

This has been a crazy year for us! Let’s see if I can do a little recap so you can see how awesome the Lord has been our midst in 2009.

January: Nicole & Gigi living in California; David in Colorado, trying desperately to get a job in CA.

February: Lost our 4th pregnancy; David finally moved out to CA after taking a voluntary layoff from U.L.A; Nicole got a really great camera as a birthday gift from the whole family.

March: Unemployed and job-searching; fun overnight date in L.A.; took a great family trip to Arizona for MLB Spring Training; saw David’s sister Carly get married; Gigi got to have lots of cousin play time; drove up to Oregon to visit friends.

April: second half of awesome Oregon trip, camping at Carlsbad with good friends; camping in Huntington Beach with family; celebrated Easter at sunrise; still unemployed and job-searching.

May: still unemployed and job searching; celebrated Gigi’s 2nd birthday at the beach; experienced two weddings in one weekend: Nicole’s cousin Jordan, and David’s longtime friend Taylor (David performed their ceremony!); put in our application  and attended an orientation for adoption; decided to take the trip of a lifetime…

June: saw 12 MLB games in 3 weeks, spent several days with David’s sister’s family in Indiana and saw faraway friends and family on an amazing road trip; went roller skating in 80s attire; celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary; and oh yeah, still unemployed and job searching.

July: Gigi started swimming lessons (and did awesome!); had a weekend “away” at some friends’ condo in Oceanside; took an awesome trip to Laughlin with the Pavone side of the family; David got a job!!!

August: spent a lot of time at the Beach; had several opportunities to hang out with old friends (including Nicole’s 10 year high school reunion!), had a visit from the Leonards (David’s sister Stacey’s family); camped at Carlsbad again with more good friends.

September: Nicole wrapped up her summer tutoring job; we finally moved out back into own place (and so thankful for Nicole’s parents putting up with us in their home for 10 months); loving living in Encinitas & thankful for amazing neighbors; Gigi took her first pony ride!

October: celebrated David’s birthday with a playoff game at Dodger stadium, a beach night with friends, and some family bowling time; finished our adoption paperwork; went to a great Halloween party dressed as a giraffe and 2 zookeepers

November: had a great week camping at the beach (Carlsbad again!) for Thanksgiving (with mostly amazing weather), started our home study for our adoption.

December: finished our adoption home study/inspection– almost officially waiting for a baby; so thankful for our family and all our amazing friends and for the journey we’ve been on this year!

This was a year filled with highs and lows and a lot of baseball, crafts, the beach, time with family and friends, and growing closer to our amazing church family. We are truly blessed and are looking forward with an expectant hope to what is in store for 2010.

We pray that you and your family experience the love of the Savior who has done great things in our family, and that you have an especially Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year.

Love,

The Bennetts~
David, Nicole and Gianna (and hopefully soon-to-be one more!)

Did you miss something? Check out our 2009 Photos.