Our Christmas Blog-Letter!

This year has brought so much joy to our family. We have seen the blessings in our lives continually. We are still living in Memphis near Chad’s family enjoying their love and support.

Our biggest news is that in August our baby girl Brianna Lynn Langstraat was born. She weighed 6 lbs 12 oz and was 18.5 inches long. She’s still a short and petite little 3 ½ month old! She is a joy to have in our home. She brings a spirit that only a child can do. Brianna has had a rough first few months of life. She was a very colicky baby with reflux and some digestive issues. The poor girl is just waiting for us to figure out what’s wrong so we can help her feel better! She has made a lot of progress in the last month or so. She giggles and smiles a lot!She also coos and talks to me all day. Brianna loves to bat at toys and is great at holding her head up and sitting (as long as we help her a little.) It’s strange to think that she was a limp noodle a few months ago. Babies grow and learn so fast! Brianna got her ears pierced after Thanksgiving. Chad's family says that she got her "bling!" Chad and his sister Christine took her because I didn’t want to see her go through the pain. She screamed mostly because she was hungry and was quickly calmed when I fed her. She came home soaked with sweat and tears and puffy red eyes. I felt so bad that she wouldn’t take the bottle they took. It’s a good thing the earrings look cute! Brianna was blessed on November 5. That was the first day that she was really good all day...she must have sensed that something special had happened! My parents, some of our friends, and Chad's family, including his grandparents, were able to attend.

Chad is still working really hard on the I-40 bridge and loving it. The last few months have been really busy at work for Chad. Over the summer he was working almost 70 hours a week! With the river low during the winter they are able to get a lot more work done. Since the work load has been so heavy, Chad's company (Imbsen & Associates) brought reenforcments from California. His name is Cameron and we’ve really enjoyed having him out here. We’ll be sad when he has to go back in February. Chad has really enjoyed having some friends at work that are his age. For a year and a half he was the only one under 55 in his office!

I joke that I’ve become a widow to the “tee” as Chad loves to play golf during his time off! He misses playing basketball now that he’s working difficult hours. He had been playing twice a week from 6-7:30 in the morning. Chad also started his master’s degree in Civil Engineering at the University of Memphis. He’s taking one class in the evenings twice a week. Chad has been really busy since Brianna was born. He is also still the Elder’s Quorum President at church which also consumes a lot of his time. He loves to serve the people in his Quorum and the ward. Chad had a couple of chances to go down to Louisiana and do some Katrina Relief work with the stake. He has really enjoyed those trips.

I continued to work for the DeSoto County School District through summer school. I had about a month off before Brianna was born and haven’t wanted to go back. I love being able to stay home and find myself really busy everyday. I don’t know how working mothers get everything done! I feel blessed to be able to stay home! I’ve been able to continue to do some photography on the side every once in awhile. I really enjoy being able to use that talent occasionally. Poor Brianna gets her picture taken ALL the time, but I think someday she’ll appreciate it. I have a lot of fun photographing her and sharing her pictures on our blog!

Our dogs Copper and Bogey have taken the backseat since Brianna came along. They are usually either outside or in the kitchen. I feel bad that they don’t get as much attention as they used to, but our priorities have changed a little bit :) They are definitely feeling a lack of attention and are SOOOO excited to see Chad when he gets home from work. In order to prepare Copper for the baby we took him to some long needed puppy classes. He made a little progress, but he remains an energetic puppy. We got Bogey this summer from a family friend. I went over to pick him up for Chad’s Father’s Day gift and just before I got there he had run away! I spent the next 19 days going on “Bogey Hunts” looking for a dog I now owned but had never seen. I finally found him a few times but could never catch him. He finally wandered into a vets yard and Chad got his long awaited Daschund! Copper and Bogey get along really well and love to sharing a place to sleep!
So, to wrap it up-- our little family feels blessed! We are so grateful at this time of year to remember our Savior’s birth and the countless blessings that event has brought into each of our lives. We are so grateful to share the spirit of the season with each of you!
Love,
Chad, Erin and Brianna Langstraat

( And Copper and Bogey too)