A Modern Christmas Letter

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 :-)

Family Pictures 2010

 

We had an awesome day of fellowship with our Life Group taking photos in Grape Day Park in Escondido. After that we fed the homeless and were able to provide goody bags with hygiene items. Some of the members were able to pray for people. It was very moving. We then had a potluck and watched UFC together (I know, we are weird. A Bible study that watches UFC together!)

It was a truly amazing day and we are blessed to have this group that has now become a family.

Halloween 2010 Continued

Halloween 2010 Continued

Halloween 2010

New Blog

I have started another blog about my journey in learning more about the fruits of the Spirit outlined in Galatians 5:22-26. It is thefruitseeker.blogspot.com. Please read if you are interested. Love you all!

Fall is in the Air Continued!

Fall is in the Air!

Start of a New School Year and Year of Age

Long time no blog! I figured it was about time to catch up with everyone. We have had so many exciting things happening lately!
August 25th Ava turned one years old! She had a princess birthday party and finally had her first taste of sugar. As you can see in the pictures, she wasn't exactly sure what to do with it, But she figured it out. She still hasn't had the cake part, she is perfectly happy with only the frosting :-) She was blessed with many friends and many gifts at the party. She now has a little kitchen that Nana gave her. She and Tucker love pretending to cook.
Tucker had his first day of school today! He is starting his last year of preschool. He has the same Assistant teacher he had last year, and he really likes her. He also has 3 other friends that he already knew in his class, so he is very comfortable. I can't believe my baby is in school!
Jimmy is still working at the new hospital. It is a state-of-the-art hospital that is supposed to set the standard for all new hospitals in the nation. It is quite a high profile job and he is blessed to be on it. He enjoys being part of something so important. He is currently the lead guy for the 6th floor!
I am working at Tri-City Medical still. Some new management has come in, so things are changing every day. I still only work about 4 days a month, so it doesn't affect me all that much. I love spending so much time with my little loves. They are the best! I also am scheduling 2 different ministries at our church.
That's pretty much what is going on with us. Other than that we are just getting ready for Erin and Taylor's wedding! Super excited!!! Love you all and hope to hear from you soon!

Getting ready to go, Daddy is nervous!

We enjoyed keeping our feet on the ground :-0

Ava raising her hands in worship at the Jeremy Camp concert. At one point all four of us were doing the same thing.

Cookie Monster's face at his End of School Party.