Our Bartlett Family Wish List:

Reagan is wishing for her two front teeth this Christmas. She is six and is looking very much like a first grader right now! Her favorite parts of school are recess and ELP and she has read more fairy books than I can count. Besides reading, she loves singing, making crafts, and helping to cook. She goes to AWANA on Wednesday nights and has started a cheerleading program called Upward at our church this winter.

Grant is wishing for food this Christmas – any type of food - because “he is always hungry”. Grant is four and started preschool two days a week this fall. He is a chatterbox when Reagan is not around and like I said, he loves to eat! Grant will tell you he loves “sports” but what he really likes is throwing things, tackling things, jumping on things and running around.

Riley is wishing for anything Reagan and Grant have. She is nearly three and keeps up with the older two like it’s her job. She will not eat vegetables or spaghetti sauce for anything and loves Elmo, Dora, and the color purple. She is as cute as any little girl I’ve seen and loves back scratches and “cuddling Mommy”.

Jackson is wishing for more pacifiers, blankies and attention. He is fourteen months old and is not interested in walking. Instead of crawling, he scoots around the house on his bottom – it is a funny thing to watch! Jackson loves his brother & sisters and he’s usually a happy little guy – except at the church nursery.

I (Sally) am wishing for a little peace and quiet – emphasis on the word “little”. (Too much quiet usually means trouble around here. :) I love, love, love being able to stay home with the kids, but there are days when I could use a nap. I am trying hard to bottle up all these baby years and little kid snuggles while also trying to teach the kids to love each other and stop fighting.

Joel is wishing for world peace this year… or um… ok. I don’t actually know because I didn’t ask him. I need to finish this letter or it will become a “New Year’s Wish List” and that doesn’t work as well. This was Joel’s 6th year working as a mechanical engineer for The Baker Group in Des Moines. His co-workers seem to like him despite his habit of whistling whatever tune is in his head. We are thankful that despite the downturn in the construction industry, Joel has stayed busy again this year.

All of us are wishing for you to have a joyous and meaningful Christmas. We are celebrating with you the birth of baby Jesus “Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.” I wonder what He would wish for this year.

Merry Christmas!
Sally (and Joel, Reagan, Grant, Riley, and Jackson)