Merry Christmas

We're borrowing Camden's blog to write our annual Christmas letter since we didn't send it out this year...

This past year has been quite an exciting one!

We've been in our house for about a year now and we absolutely love it! We are definitely learning a lot goes into taking care of a house, but so far the work has been worth it.




Camden was born on May 18th and is about 7 months old now. He is such a blessing and we thank God every day for giving him to us. He keeps us busy, but for the most part has been a very easy going baby (sleeping trhough the night at 6 weeks)! He loves to hang out with Mary during the day and likes all of the running around they usually end up doing. When we take him to the store he smiles at everyone like he's known them forever. He also really enjoys eating, each bite he opens his mouth so wide, he looks like a little baby bird begging for food. He's recently learned how to say, "ma ma ma" "da da da" and "ba ba ba". If you want to know more about the adventures of Camden you can read more of this blog. Also check back from time to time for updates on what's going on in his world.

Mary gets to take care of Camden on a full time basis and she feels very lucky to have that opportunity. She is still subbing every now and then, usually just for the teachers that request her. In March Mary took over the preschool director position at church. At the time that meant she was in charge of Sunday mornings and all the prep work that went into that. She enjoyed doing it so much she pursued the possibility of First Baptist Church opening a half day, Monday through Friday preschool. Mary, her sister Amy, and their friend Kim presented the idea to the church board, got their approval, and are now working on the state licensing step. They hope to open the doors this spring! It's a lot of work, but they are very excited about it.

Brian is still a Financial Advisor at UBS. As you can imagine work has been a little crazy due to the global financial crisis, however Brian still loves his job, the people he works with, and helping his clients navigate through these hard times.

We still have our two dogs Milo and Molly. They enjoy our house just as much as we do. Milo recently figured out he can jump on the couches and now spends most of his time there. We don't encourage it however, mostly because it makes Molly jealous.

Our Hamster LG died this year. It was sad, but we thought she was going to die a few times before she did so we were prepared.

We really enjoy living in the central valley and especially living so close to Mary's family. Her parents are both still working at the church and enjoying all that goes with it. Billy now works at foster farms in their carpentry department. He mostly builds the chicken coops. Amy and Todd live right down the street from us and that has proven to be very convenient. In January they will have another baby girl making her number three! Emmalyn is now three and Karalyn is eighteen months.

The only thing that would make it better is if we were closer to Brian's family. We miss them a lot but have been very fortunate to seem them every few months. We're thinking it has something to do with Camden! His mom and dad are still working at Bethany Bible Church in Phoenix. Brent and Danielle are living in Pasadena. Brent is enjoying his job working on a series of documentaries. We got to see a few over thanksgiving, he does such a great job! Danielle is teaching English at a Christian High school there in Pasadena and really seems to be loving it! Katie graduated from APU (the last of the three Gudgel siblings to do so) and is enjoying being done with school while she figures out what she's going to do next.

We look forward to the upcoming year and all that it has in store for our new family of three! Merry Christmas and God Bless!

Love,
Brian, Mary & Camden Gudgel