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                Happy Holidays!       

          December 2005

            ‘Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house, not a creature was stirring . . . not even Mary, Margaret or Meaghan.  Well, now I went and did it.  As soon as I said Meaghan wasn’t stirring, she stirred.  From a day-to-day perspective, that’s pretty much the story of the year.  Meaghan likes to do pretty much everything except sleep when everyone else does.  So as the year closes, we’re tired!  Anyway, what follows is our open letter that constitutes the 2005 State of the Family address.

The year opened with us more settled than we’d been in a few years.  Funny how we had to live on the other side of the planet from where Jen and I grew up to feel that way, but with 2001 through 2004 bringing as much upheaval as they did—three moves, three deployments and one new baby—opening 2005 as quietly as we did was noteworthy.  Naturally enough, it only lasted a few weeks.  Toward the latter half of January, it all pretty much went to pot inside of about twenty-four hours.

            See, the plan was to pick up the midwife and Jen’s parents at the airport within about an hour of each other, but we found out at the last minute (literally after her plane was airborne) that the midwife with whom we’d made arrangements to deliver Baby #3 would not be able to make the flight out.  So I picked up Mary and Jerry and gave them the full brief on the drive home.  (It went something like this: “I have no idea what’s next.”  I’m sure all my old bosses would’ve been real proud.)  Jen made a few calls back to Virginia , and fortunately the midwife network took it from there.  Take your pick assigning credit to either the good Lord, the network or both—Cathi Cogle arrived at our doorstep inside of a week after dropping pretty much everything and hustling out our way.  Suffice to say that we couldn’t have been in any better hands.  So by January 31^st, life had gone back to pretty settled.  Naturally enough, that didn’t even last until February.

            Jen went into labor the night of January 31^st, and about five hours later Meaghan Scott Gillespie joined us.  After muddling our way through figuring out how to feed the first two right after birth, we finally got efficient, and delivered Meaghan in the dining room.  Now whereas Mary pooped on her daddy six minutes after being born and Margaret just cried (and cried) for 30 minutes, Meaghan made an equally apropos Gillespie girl entrance, yet one all her own—she literally emerged rooting for her mother’s breast.  After waiting VERY patiently for about 30 minutes, she finally got to latch on and she’s been eating like a champ ever since.  Easily our biggest baby yet—around 8.5 pounds at birth—she ain’t missin’ any meals.

            So about now, you might be thinking, “Great.  Three paragraphs down, and we’re only up to February 1^st?  This is going to be the longest Christmas letter ever!  Do I still have that Jamieson’s stash I’ve been hiding in my nightstand?”  Fear not, the letter pretty well sprints from here on in.  Not that we haven’t been busy or anything—just that pretty much all events since Meaghan’s birth were a lot less, well, eventful.

            Not too long after Meaghan made her grand entrance, it was Margaret’s turn to celebrate.  She turned two on March 25^th, and ever since then she’s been telling anyone who will listen, “I’m two.”  It is in fact now the answer to both, “How old are you?” and, “What’s your name?”  Though she was named after my Nana, she reminds me most of my mother, Helen-on-wheels.  She’s exceptionally independent, pretty much wanting to do everything for herself unless you can prove to her that she’s physically not capable of it.  I can pretty well count on being corrected by the little blond rocket any time I’m just a little off on something.  My favorites these days are, “I’m not a goofy girl!  I’m a curly girl!” and, “Don’t call me sweetie, but you can call me Margaret.”

            After Margaret’s birthday, the big event was our trip back to the States.  The first notable event on the whirlwind tour was a surprise greeting from Pop at Dulles.  After he and the girls’ Aunt Marg shepherded us through getting the rental minivan picked up and loaded, he headed back north and we headed to our hotel.  A few naps later, we were ready to eat and then headed north ourselves to bed down with Tony’s clan for a few days.  Between us and Kevin/Irene/Iain, I’m pretty sure we moved every Gillespie who actually lived under that roof out of their own room, so to say the red carpet got rolled out for us is probably the biggest understatement you’ll read in this letter.  Tony once again proved himself the Pied Piper to all humans under the age of eight.  Mind you, this was Margaret’s first time meeting most of the Gillespies, and within fifteen minutes after we arrived Tony and Margaret were sitting on the living room floor playing blocks.

            After a great visit with the Lancaster crowd, we stopped in Frederick, Maryland where an on-line Hood Moms acquaintance of Jen’s in graciously put us up for the Hood College Alumnae weekend.  We had a wonderful weekend showing the girls Jen’s old stomping grounds and finding that none of the rest of the Hood girls from Jen’s days there had aged either.  On Sunday, we had the privilege to visit a dear old friend in Walkersville.  Pastor Mark Foucart, who also hasn’t aged a bit, baptized Meaghan--with all of her grandparents, Mama and Papa Behr, Jill and Donovan Murray and the Lowells in attendance--to cap off a perfect weekend.  (Come to think of it, Pastor F looked very unfazed for having two grown daughters.  I’ll have to get back to him for notes on that part.)

            Next we headed south to log some time with the Tennessee crowd.  Decoration Day is always a special treat, and this year was no different.  Particularly cool was watching a new generation of cousins splashing around in Tom’s Creek.  This year, we got to see Mary, Trey, Brett, Margaret, Audrey, Iain and Cameron all running around together.  Didn’t seem all that long ago that Sean, Elizabeth , Kevin, Tracy , Bub and Roy were wearing each other out.  Now our kids are doing it for us.  Thank goodness for beer—proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy, if you believe Ben Franklin.

            Not too long after we got back to Korea it was time to put on Mary’s birthday production.  This year’s theme was—and try not to be too shocked by this—Spirit, from the animated Dreamworks movie of a few years ago.  You know, the one with the horse with a very expressive face who narrated the film but never talked in it (and sang, if you also credit Bryan Adams’ contribution to the narrator).  Needless to say, if you ever had a child, you understand.  And if you haven’t yet but are thinking about it, we’ll be happy to loan you any or all of ours for a few days to help you think it through. 

The next big milestone was Mary starting second grade in September, and the year has really flown by since then.  October was noteworthy for another Navy Birthday (230)—thank you, Mr. Adams—and another anniversary for Jennifer and me (thirteen!).  We snuck a quick trip to Hong Kong in November, and we’ll close the year in staying in Singapore for just over a week.

So, the State of the Family is quite good.  Jennifer has stayed quite busy, taking on duties as the ombudsman for the staff where I work in April and as Mary’s brownie troop co-leader in September.  Mary’s halfway through second grade, and she’s wearing a look now and then that tells me she’s about ready to debunk relativity.  Margaret is, by my estimation, about eight years shy of ruling the world.  (When Pop and I discussed this, I told him my money was on Mary.  He replied his was on Margaret . . . with Mary telling her how.)  And Meaghan will clap on cue and is just about ready to start crawling. 

For my part, the tour in Korea has been exceptionally rewarding on all fronts.  Spending some no-kidding quality time with all the girls for the first time in a few years has easily been the best part.  The job here, while a distant second, hasn’t hurt either.  Definitely found a niche working in an environment where a lot of days it’s pretty much up to me to define what’s what.  (Another way to say it—my favorite—is that I’m a dim bulb in a real dark closet.)

So with that, I’ll sign off by wishing that all of you experience all the blessings you can handle in the coming year.  If you’re presented with a tiny fraction of what’s come our way in 2005, you’re in for a grand time in 2006.  (Hope your seatbelts are fastened.)  Merry Christmas, and may the Lord bless and keep all of you.

                                                            Sean