Balderas Family Four

God decided to send us a little surprise...Baby # 3 is due to arrive in mid October! This was actually a big surprise, but we are very excited! Tucker is ecstatic, he has been asking me to have another baby since the day I came home from the hospital with Ava. He is kissing my belly, talking to to the baby, and telling everyone. He is also getting Ava in on the excitement and telling her to do the same things. I'm sure she has no idea what a change she is in for, but I am sure Tucker will help her adjust. Ava will be 2 years and 6 weeks, Tucker will be 5 years and 3 months when the baby arrives. I will keep you posted, our first ultrasound is on March 2. So much for thinking I was in control of this whole thing! God has a better plan than I do anyway :-)

I hope all is well with you this Christmas season! I figured I would post our Christmas letter on here! So here is an update for the entire Balderas family!

Jimmy is doing very well at work! He is back working for Berg Electric, who laid him off almost exactly 2 years ago. He started working for them a little over a year ago. When they heard he was available, they jumped on the chance to hire him back. It was a big boost of confidence for him, as he really enjoyed working for their company and was unsure of why he was let go. He is a lead man on the new Palomar Medical Center in Escondido. He is in charge of a crew and has less hands on work and more supervising and quality controlling. He works hard and enjoys it. When he is not working, he plays softball for the Movement church team. He has really enjoyed spending time with the men of the church and evangelizing to the other teams. He also is the head usher at the Movement, he oversees 3 services a week. Jimmy is currently in the process of training up other leaders to oversee each service so he can oversee the overseers :-) Jimmy and I also lead a Life Group, which is one of the best parts of our life. A Life Group is like a Bible study we have in our clubhouse. Our little group (which has now grown to 16 people!) has been together for over a year now. We recently all shared our testimonies and to hear them all say how we were like a family to them and how important our group was to them was one of the highlights of our year. We love our Life Group! In Jimmy's free time (ha ha) he likes hanging out with the kids and getting Tucker ready to start T Ball.
I am still working at Tri-City Medical Center (thank God!) after a reduction in force announced in October. I am blessed to only have to work about 6 days a month, which allows me to spend the majority of my time with my babies :-) They are the joy of my life! I also help Jimmy with the ushering, doing the scheduling and reminder texts. I am happy to be able to help him with all of his work. I am also a table leader at our mom's group at church. It is a true joy to be able to go to this group and be involved in the leadership. It is one of my favorite parts of my week! As you can tell, we are super involved and love our church. The leadership is amazingly dedicated to going through the Bible one verse at a time and staying true to what the Lord calls them to. In my free time (ha ha again), I started a small business making nursing covers for breastfeeding moms. I enjoy sewing and making things for people that they love! I hope to be able to dedicate more time to this in 2011. Probably the most significant change so far in 2010 has been my other blog I started. "The Fruit Seeker" is a chronicling of my journey on embodying the fruits of the Spirit, and it has truly changed my life. It can be found at thefruitseeker.blogspot.com.
Tucker started his second year at First Presbyterian Preschool in Fire Mountain. He loves both of his teachers! Tucker has 2 friends in his class that he has known since he was 3 months old. He has learned how to write his name and is learning how to read at home. His favorite thing to do is play Wii. He is such a great big brother to Ava. They play very well together and he is very understanding when she starts being a brute. He has a great memory and has memorized many Bible verses! Tucker will be starting T Ball in February and he is very excited! He is very tall, measuring about 45 inches, which is in the 95th+ percentile. We love our big boy!
Ava is a bundle of energy. She likes walking around the house and getting into everything. She also has quite the sense of humor! She likes to stop and do yoga at any moment, play hide and seek (sometimes she doesn't tell me before she starts ;-), and can make the most serious expressions, which of course makes Tucker and I laugh. She is saying some words, but understands everything! It is great, because I can ask her what she wants and she will nod yes or no or bring me what she needs. Her favorite things to do are eat, take all the DVD's out of the baskets, and wrestle with her brother. She is a little more on the petite side, measuring about 30 inches, which puts her in the 30th percentile, but is a little chunker at 24 lbs! We love our little rollie pollie!
As you might have guessed, this year has been quite busy, but so blessed! It has been a year of leadership, love, and learning. We can't wait to see what 2011 has to hold for us. We are praying that 2011 is a year of growth for you as well. Love and God bless :-)