Overview of 2008

(my Christmas letter for this year)
What a full year 2008 has been. We celebrated our 5th anniversary in June & Kevin got his baby, a 2002 blue corvette. (I was happy because he finally felt the energy to clean out the garage!!) We stayed busy with work, neighborhood happenings (Kevin enjoyed participating in our neighborhood Trail of Terror on Halloween & I am the chair of the social committee) & we even survived infertility treatments. This was what took up most of my life this year and although we didn’t get pregnant, we grew closer together, learned a lot about waiting on God & I made a great new friend along the way.
Our biggest adventure of the year was when Kevin & I went to South Africa with my sister Kelsey. Her boyfriend was living in Africa & she wanted to visit him, so we were happy to volunteer as chaperones & he met us down in SA for an adventure! I have always wanted to go to Africa, & not just because I love Elephants, so we made the trip affordable by staying at backpackers & using our sky miles for one of the tickets & viola-South Africa here we come!! I think I saw some of the most breathtaking scenery that I have ever seen in my life on this trip! We also met some cool people from all over the world, staying in backpackers is the way to go when traveling in SA, everyone is so friendly!
A quick overview of the trip: *Staying up all night at the Johannesburg airport waiting for a flight. *Visiting Addo Elephant Park, were we saw zebras, elephants, ostriches, monkeys & warthogs galore! *Surfing in the Indian Ocean in Jeffrey’s Bay. (Surfers come from all over the world to surf in J-Bay, how neat that we were able to do that there! Although, later we found out the place we were at is known for Shark attacks, what was I doing in that water!!!! Also, I don’t think surfing is for me, I drank half the Indian Ocean through my nose!) *Meeting a childhood friend of Travis’ who lives in J-Bay with his wife, it really is a small world after all!! (Also the backpackers we stayed at was run by Christians!) *Hiking the Otter Trail at Tsitsikamma National Park (you hike through the rainforest & along these huge boulders lining the ocean until you get to a waterfall. Words cannot describe the beauty of this place, and even pictures don’t do it justice. If you ever find yourself in SA, be sure to hike the Otter Trail to the waterfall in Tsitsikamma!! This is actually were Travis and Kelsey got engaged & Kevin was there to catch photos of the event!!) *Riding an Elephant!!! (We stopped at an elephant park that works with rescued, wounded & abused elephants.) *Zooming through the air (Kelsey & Travis did a cable slide at the tallest bridge in Africa-he really wanted to bungee jump-but I think she talked him out of it!) *Begging for water (While staying in Cape Town, Kevin & I hiked up Lion’s Head (a smaller Mountain next to Table Mountain) without water!!! Thankfully there was a nice local who gave us some of his!! I really felt proud after making it to the top-Kevin just thought I was crazy-but it was worth it for the incredible views of Cape Town and the Atlantic Ocean.) There is so much more to say about our trip, but I have taken up too much space already so on to what happened with the rest of our year.
2008 was a year full of weddings. From January to December there were friends & family getting married. Kelsey & Travis actually got married in May. I was able to be the coordinator at a few of the weddings & loved every second of it. I really would love to be able to do that full time. What an awesome job that would be!
Now the holiday’s are here again & we’re excited to spend the time with family & friends. Life is good, God is faithful and we are looking forward to all that 2009 has in store for us! Hope that you are able to take some time to enjoy the people you love this season & that you have a blessed 2009 as well! -Emilee & Kevin