365 Days of Blogging, Day 1

Okay-So I thought I would start tonight with a picture of my favorite piece of furniture we have in the house--one that I am not sure how long we will have out, but I will hold onto for as long as I can. It is Nathanael's Car couch. The first time I brought it home, Nathanael knew it was his special couch. He was so young, around a year, and knew how to lay the couch down, sit it back up, and would sit in that couch for so long just looking around observing the world around it.

Nathanael has grown so much even in the short time we have had the couch, and it is hard to believe he is almost too big to use it anymore as a cough--but on rare occasions when he is tired and wants to rest and watch a movie, he will still go over to that couch and cuddle up with his airplane blanket.

I don't think I am ready for him to outgrow the couch yet. He is at that sweet stage where cuddling up is still and option and he gets excited over the possibility of seeing his friends. I don't want time to go by as fast as it is going, yet am so excited to continue to watch him grow, learn, and turn more into the person God has intended him to be.

365 Days of blogging, can I commit to that?

I saw, on facebook, a friend was taking a picture everyday of something that caught her eye and then writing a brief description about what the picture was about. It became an interesting photo representation of her year, her thoughts, her family,etc. I was struck by how amazing this exercise could be and also how difficult of a discipline it is.

It is something that I would like to attempt, but not sure if I want the accountability of blogging this year in pictures. Yet, I understand what a motivation that accountability could be.

I am the last person to encourage New Years resolutions because, as my chiropractor in IL would often say, most find themselves participating in the second biggest New Years Resolution holiday--January 14th, Break Your New Years Resolution Day! But-I think there may be value in starting a disciple such as this around New Years.

Since I can not quite come to grips with actually starting this on Jan 1, I think I may even start this tonight--no time better than the present right? I am sure some might be short entries and other might be more lengthy--but I am doing this more for the end result. The ability to look back and see a year of updates on my family, my thoughts, the experiences we were going through, etc.

Well--here is to one year of pictures and blogging--

Niska's 2010 Christmas Letter

Merry Christmas!

As you can tell, this blog had good intentions, but we haven't updated it since September of last year. Please feel free to look around, there are some links to photo albums and some other random information, but know that our hope is to actually update this more in the future.

To catch you up to speed in a few short bullet points (read posts below for more detail):

April 2009: Harry began a job with Ross & Orenstein, a firm in Minneapolis, working by home office from Illinois
June 2009: We moved from Aurora, IL to Ramsey, MN
August 2009: Harry was appointed to Ramsey City Charter Commission
September 5, 2009: Nathanael turned 3!
September 2009: Jen joined the staff of the Tom Emmer for Governor campaign.

Since September of 2009, we have proven to be very busy. Beginning in 2009, we have had the chance to meet a number of people through local politics and were elected delegates to the 2010 Republican State Convention. Some community members encouraged Harry to run for Ramsey City Council, and after some consideration, in May of this year he decided to file for office, spending countless evenings knocking on doors, introducing himself to voters, listening to their concerns and explaining his views.

Meanwhile, Jen was extremely busy on the Emmer campaign, first serving as the office director and then the scheduler. It was an incredible experience as the campaign evolved from a long-shot grass-roots effort for the Republican endorsement into a full state-wide general election campaign.

In the end, we experienced two tough losses at the ballot box. Harry ended up with 48.94% of the votes in his city council race, but his opponent (a two-term incumbent) ended up with 44 more votes. Meanwhile, the Emmer campaign, after a statewide recount, lost by less than half of a percent of all votes statewide. Obviously, neither of these results are as we had hoped, but like all disappointments in life, we learn and move on to fight another day.

In November, Jen's job with the campaign came to and end, and she recently accepted a job with the Minnesota House of Representatives as a Committee Legislative Assistant. She begins on January 3rd and is quite excited about this new career adventure.

We have the joy, daily, to watch Nathanael grow and learn. He is a constant source of entertainment and loves telling jokes and making people laugh. His newest discoveries include learning his right from left, and mastering many of the games on our phones.

We are so grateful for all the opportunities we have been blessed with over the past year and a half to two years.

Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year!

Harry and Jen (with Nathanael).