November – We welcomed Soleil to our family!, hosted either my mom or sisters for most of the month, attended my fourth baby shower for Soleil, and celebrated (American) Thanksgiving with very thankful hearts.

December – Attended my fifth (and last!) baby shower for Soleil (thanks, all, for the wonderful gifts!). We celebrated Christmas together at home Christmas morning, and then went to Blair’s parents house for a big Breckenridge family gathering. It was crazy but fun, as revealed in the picture below of all the cousins. 

On the 27^th Soleil and I flew to Spokane to spend a week with my family. My dad got to meet Soleil for the first time, which was so wonderful. I got to meet my nephew Aiden, on his first birthday, and for the first time in over a year and a half, got to spend time with my brother Tyler and my sister-in-law Natlya.  It was so nice to be ‘home’ for a few days and soak up precious family time. Here Soleil is with her Great-Granny Leah Bennett.

January – the 11^th came and went, with such routine activities that it was easy to forget that 2 seats and a bassinet on a British Airways plane were headed to Uganda without us. God knew we needed to stay here for a bit longer and we are grateful for the extra months. The ache to return to the country I love has not lessened at all, but the peace in resting in God’s care has increased as the days go by. Also in January Soleil received her first shots (agh!) and did better than Mommy did.

 February –  We were invited to be the missionary speakers at a Christian Workers Conference at Galilean Bible Camp February 8-10. It was a wonderful couple of days spent together with current and retired missionaries, Christian workers and pastors. Blair was so excited to get reacquainted with several missionaries he had grown up praying for. These are ‘Hall of Fame’ missionaries, he told me. Amazing men and women of incredible faith and trust. I loved getting to meet them and embrace people who had impacted Blair deeply. We had about 20 minutes to share our upcoming ministry with AIM and all about Uganda. It went really well and we were able to make some new connections. We’ve been invited to share with an adult Sunday School class at a local church on March 28^th! Please join with us in prayer that God will use us to encourage and challenge those we meet with, and that more people will join our prayer and financial support teams. Pictured below is Abe Janzen, a missionary with Shantyman Missions who took Blair on a weeklong missions excursion through small towns in Northern Ontario when Blair was in Bible School. They visited lumber mills towns and shared the gospel with “anything that moved.”

March – This past weekend WINTERFEST 2010 happened here at our church. Blair helped our friends Karl and Stephanie with the games and activities (a BIG job!) It is an annual youth retreat our church hosts that Blair started many years ago when he was the youth pastor here. He hadn’t been able to attend for probably 8 or 10 years so it was great for him to be involved and for me to get to watch and partake as much as possible. Soleil did really well with all the hubbub created by 35 teenagers put together for 3 days. We did drive over to Blair’s parents to spend the night, as our apartment was sandwiched between the girls rooms and the guys rooms, and from what we hear, it was LOUD til 2 or 3 am both nights. I can’t remember if I’ve mentioned it or not, but we live in the church-owned dormitory. It is a 6,000 square foot building with offices, library, Sunday school rooms, kitchen, apartments, dining hall area, lounge, and more. Essentially, “a big, big house, with lots and lots of rooms.” And as the retreat activities were centered in our ‘home’ we enjoyed not having to cook for a weekend, but did think it wise to vacate for quality sleep! On a more serious side, several girls gave their lives to Christ and I’m sure many more recommitted their lives to His service. It was great! Here are some pictures of the youth playing team games. 

 Soleil was 4 months old on the 3^rd, and was recently in for a checkup to see the nurse practitioner. She weighed 10 lb. 15 oz and measured 23 ½ inches long. So she’s very petite for her age, (still wearing 0-3 month clothing!) but the nurse assured us she’s fine, as we can definitely attest she’s happy, healthy and developing well.

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