Merry Christmas!!

2008 has been a very big year for the Sorensen family!! We started out with Melanie having a crazy delivery with Janey being born 3 months early at 1 pound, 15 ounces. (For those of you who don’t know the details, Melanie had a placental abruption, which put both mom’s and baby’s lives in danger. An emergency c-section was performed, and Janey had complications from prematurity. She had a hemorrhage in her brain, causing hydrocephalus and a need for a shunt that runs from the ventricles in her brain to her abdomen.) After a very rocky start, 4 months in the NICU, and 3 head surgeries, Janey is now almost a year old and doing great! She is a Life Flight veteran and graduate of 2 NICUs! (Dixie Regional and Primary Children’s) Despite her problems, she is almost ALWAYS happy and smiling! She is our little angel baby! She eats well, sleeps well, and is finally growing well! She weighs about 15 pounds now! Janey has a physical therapist who comes to our home twice a month to work with her, and she’s doing great with it! She is so patient, and such a good little hard worker! Janey makes new friends everywhere she goes with that sweet smile of hers!

Taylor and Callie love their baby sister! These two little big kids have grown up a lot this year! For starters, Callie is now a big sister, and a great one at that! Both are ver familiar with “Janey’s hospitals,” especially the cafeterias! They are also very good at staying in hotels! They are now accomplished explorers!
*Callie is 3 years old, and the mini mom at home. She helps entertain and feed Janey, and is very good at telling Taylor what he needs to be doing! She loves doing “school work” in her preschool workbook, and she’s learning to write her letters (she’s already a pro at her name). She loves to play with dollies and has a great imagination! She is a very talented singer and loves to dance, especially with the 12 dancing princesses! She is definitely our little princess!
*Taylor has grown like crazy this year, and he has the leg pains and flood pants to prove it! He is a big 5 year old, and started kindergarten at a charter school in August. He loves his school and his teacher. He loves to show us his lessons and school work at home and when we visit his classroom. He’s made lots of friends and is a very social little guy. He’s a jokester, and loves to play ninjas and superheroes. We are amazed at how quickly he’s learning and maturing! He shares his testimony of Jesus and gospel principles with us and we are just amazed! What a great example he is! He’s a fantastic big brother! Oh, and most recently, he got to be Joseph in a live nativity, which was very cool!

Ryan and Melanie are much older and wiser this year, as well! (Or maybe just more experienced). We’ve become more knowledgable with medical terminology, and much more grateful for medical technology!
*After Janey’s birth, we found out that Melanie has a blood disorder called Factor V (5). It is a clotting disorder that required medication for a while. It can cause lots of other health problems, so I’ll have to be much more careful with my body from now on. I’ve gotten lots of experience in decision making, and lots of opportunities to work on my goal of becoming more patient! I’ve realized that answers to prayer often don’t come the way we want. With 3 children, I’ve learned to juggle and schedule better.

I love being a mom! Connie, Ryan’s mom, once told me that I’m giving my children the best gift by staying home with them. I’m very grateful that I’ve been able to do that!
*Ryan is still managing the Marriott, and enjoying his job. He’s a proud daddy, and loves to play with his children! He’s very excited now, too, because Janey is saying “da-da-da!” He’s taken up golfing, and has had some really rare, good moments! He is thrilled that winter is finally here, and that the snow is coming!

We’ve traveled a lot as a family this year! And though long car rides are boring, we’ve gotten to visit relatives a lot, and go to many fun places, including the zoo, a dinosaur museum, an awesome aquarium, and lots of parks. Tons of new experiences and many new friends have made for a very exciting year!
We’ve gotten to spend a lot of time with Melanie’s sister, Kim, since she’s been attending SUU in Cedar. She’s been invaluable with helping out, and we’ve loved having her over at our home so much! She’s a very fun aunt, and we love her so much!!
We’ve gotten to see Ryan’s brother, Steve, and his wife, Jessica, a lot, too! They live in St. George, and helped out a ton while Janey was in the hospital. It’s been nice having family so close to us this year- we love them! And Ryan’s sister, Stacie, and her family just moved to St. George as well! Maybe we’ll get the rest of the fam down here, too!

Our family has learned a lot about love this year. Even though the world revolved around our family and trials for the first half of the year, we know our comfort and support came from all of you. There is NO WAY we could have gotten through all of that without the prayers and fasting and help from all of you! We’ve learned a lot about how much our Heavenly Father loves us, and how he shows it so many different ways, and through so many people. Thank you all for your love and support- it really has been truly appreciated!
Our family has also learned patience and faith and trust and friendship this year. We’ve really learned to appreciate and love our Savior so much more for his atonement and wonderful way of succoring us. The Holy Ghost has become a very dear friend as well. We are so very grateful for the gospel and the plan of salvation! We love our Heavenly Father and are grateful for His priesthood power, and for the many miracles we’ve been blessed with! We are so grateful for temples and for our forever family!

You know, we are so grateful that the Christmas season is here! This is our favorite time of year! Despite the crazy things that are going on in the world, so many people remember to love and to serve. I think it gives us a chance to remember all of our blessings, and the abundance that we have to be grateful for! This is a great time to think about our lives, and re-prioritize. We’d like to challenge all of you to take a few minutes to really think: What are your blessings? Your talents? Count your many blessings, name them one by one! Think about how you can re-focus your life, whether it be to rededicate to God and family, or to start working on your goals again. Remember the recent counsel to simplify our lives! Put the most important things first, and let go of all the other “stuff!” Make it a priority to tell people that you love them! Smile! Serve others! Be happy!

We love you all, and are so grateful for all of you! Thank you again for all the love and support! Have a very Merry Christmas, celebrating that Jesus Christ who made it possible for all of us to have such wonderful lives!

Love,
Ryan, Melanie, Taylor, Callie and Janey

Ok, ok, ok! I know we haven't updated anything for a long time, but I have a good excuse..sort of. Good excuse: we've been having problems with internet connection on our computer, so I haven't been able to blog during the day because I have children! Bad excuse: I haven't taken the time to blog elsewhere after Ryan gets home at night. Sorry! I'm now working on an extensive report with lots of pictures, so it'll be up soon!