Christmas Letter 2008

2008 was especially blessed as we welcomed Shiloh Elizabeth Tripolino to join our family on Monday, August 4. My heart is overflowing with joy as I recall pregnancy, the preparation, and Shiloh's birth. It hardly seems like a year has gone by since we announced to our families Christmas 2007, that we were having a baby. Now we are celebrating Christ's birth holding our own precious bundle of joy, and learning more and more about our relationship with God as we fall more in love with our own child.

Shiloh was born after 12 hours of labor (what a blessing for a short labor!), assisted by the coaching of her daddy and the watchful care of a midwife at Allen Memorial Hospital in Waterloo, Iowa. We made it to the hospital just two hours before she was born at 12:42 in the afternoon (and later marveled that we only skipped one meal due to labor!!). We practiced relaxation, good nutrition, and worked hard to educate ourselves during pregnancy in order to bring our first child into the world in the safest way possible, and without any medication. What a blessing it was that Shiloh came without complications and medicine-free! Weighing in at 7 lbs., 11 oz. and 21", Shiloh was the perfect size to cuddle with from the beginning. We are bursting with thankful hearts that God has entrusted this gift of Shiloh's life to us, to care for and love. Wow!!

Since her grand entry into the world, Shiloh has been extremely loved and showered with cards, gifts, visitors, and friends and family to care for her and her parents. We can never thank you all enough for your kindness and generosity. For details and pictures of Shiloh's life, read our past entries in the blog archive the right (or just by scrolling down) and on Shiloh's babysite. (We no longer update her website but there are lots of good pictures of her first moments!)

We have come to the realization that most people just want to hear and know about Shiloh these days, but the following is for those who wonder what Chris and Erin were up to in 2008 besides loving and devoting our time to Shiloh and preparing for her :)

• We took a whirlwind of a trip to New York City-seeing in one day what most sane people enjoy over a few days to a week! Erin followed this by a quick trip to Connecticut to visit friends.
• Chris "retired" from the Waterloo airport. While we miss the flight benefits, Chris now spends his days working full-time at St. John Lutheran leading the contemporary worship service, young adult and mens ministry.
• Erin greatly enjoyed 10 weeks of maternity leave and returned to Early Head Start, thankful for the blessing of co-workers and the new duty of coordinating Waterloo's program for pregnant and parenting teenagers-Young Parents Together.
• We attempt to still give love and attention to Edmund and Lucy who collectively seem to have destroyed more Christmas ornaments than we can count! Luckily, they often manage to entertain themselves as you can see...
  

Since I'm not printing this out, I haven't been paying attention to how long it is, and I'm a huge fan of 1 page or less when it comes to Christmas letters. So that being said, I suppose I should wrap this up and wish you much joy and happiness this Christmas. May you be blessed as you reflect on Christ coming into the world as a helpless baby and rejoice on the gift Christ is in our lives. We love you and are so thankful for the gift you are in our lives!
Love,
Chris, Erin, Shiloh, Lucy and Edmund

P.S. Add this page to your bookmarks and check back often!! Also check out pictures of Shiloh by clicking here or at the Picasa website link (to the right). We attempt to update every month or so and share all the wonderful things Shiloh is up to!