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Today is Andrea’s 30th birthday.  Happy birthday!  I love you!

Wednesday we went to Portrait Innovations for our first family portraits and for Ethan’s 18 month pictures.  It was really good to get out and get pictures taken as a family.  Ethan was great for the family pictures, but not so much for his individual pictures.  He was pretty much done and just wanted to run around at that point.

More of the portraits...

It’s been a good week working on preparing for Christmas.  Last Thursday, Ethan helped Andrea and I put up the Christmas Tree in the living room.  He was a really good helper.  For every ornament mommy or daddy put on the tree, he took one off.  Andrea came up with the idea this year of using the Advent calendar that she made to help us build on some repeating family traditions.  Thus far we’ve put up the Christmas tree, had a candy cane pie from Village Inn, and made cookies.  Ethan helped me in the process of making the biscochitos, a traditional New Mexican Christmas cookie.  I’m pretty sure he ate half the dough before we baked it though.  He just loved them.

I’m really thankful to have both of them back around and it is making this holiday season so enjoyable for me.  Pastor Rick commented at church on Sunday how it was so good to see a genuine smile from me and I’m sure it’s not hard for anyone to see how happy I’ve been lately.

With Thanksgiving coming tomorrow I’m reminded how truly blessed I am.  As I write this, Andrea and Ethan are on their way back to Colorado from Iowa.  Despite all of our trials and challenges, I’m blessed with a wonderful wife and son who love me, an extended family that supports us, and some truly wonderful friends that have helped us through good times and bad.  Over this past year, I’ve learned a lot about myself and I know that this process of self-discovery will continue for the rest of my life and I’m thankful for those who’ve accompanied me on this journey.

I’m also thankful to have found a job that challenges me to push my limits and learn new things every day.  This is easily the most engaging job I’ve ever had and one that makes it so exciting to get up and go to the office every day.

As Andrea and Ethan move home, I’m I know there will be challenges ahead as we all have to get used to new patterns of daily life, but I’m so excited to confront these challenges and help Ethan grow into the amazing young man that I know he will become.

I’m finally updating my site here and I can’t believe it’s really been more than 2 years since I did anything.  And what a crazy 2 years it’s been!  Just a sampling of what’s happened in the last 2 years:

• July 2009
  • Hailstorm hits our house and causes nearly $24,000 in damage.
• September 2009
  • My friend Nick and I are in a bike crash together.  I broke both bones in my right forearm and chipped a front tooth.  I ended up with 2 steel plates and 14 screws in my arm and spent 3 days in the hospital.
  • Found out Andrea was pregnant!
• June 2010
  • Our first son, Ethan Russell Love-Church is born on June 28th.  He has meconium aspiration and has to be transported to Children’s Hospital in Aurora where they put him on a heart/lung bypass machine for 5 days.  He ends up spending 23 days in the NICU before being released to come home.
• July 2010
  • One week after Ethan is born, while in the hospital with him, I am laid off by CNSI.
  • Grandpa Ideker passes away on July 29th, just one week after Ethan is released from Children’s Hospital.
• September 2010
  • I get a job working at EffectiveUI.  I have never had this much fun going to work every day or been this challenged on a regular basis.  It is a great environment for me.
• August 2011
  • Yet another bike accident.  This time I was hit by a car.  Fortunately I’m ok, but the bike was totaled.  I ended up getting a new 2012 Trek Madone 4.5 to replace the 2008 Trek Madone 4.5.  It’s a great bike, but I’m still sad that all I have left of my 30th birthday present from Andrea is the pedals and the water bottle holder.

Those of you that know me well will also know that this isn’t a full accounting of everything that’s been going on, but this is the list for public consumption.  Hopefully I’ll be able to post more regular updates here in the near future.