Our Christmas Letter

Dear Family and Friends, December 2008

Last year I promised myself that we would write a Christmas letter this year. As the time drew near, I found myself increasingly reluctant to sit down and actually commit the events of this last year to paper. 2008 brought Jeff and me the greatest joy and the deepest sorrow.

In February, to our delight, we found out that our family was expanding. In May we received very difficult news during a routine ultrasound: our baby would not survive after birth. After weeks of ultrasounds and confusing and ever-changing diagnoses, we learned that a further medical complication developed which necessitated an early delivery. On June 24th our tiny baby girl arrived. Leah Veronica Klug was 9 ½ inches long, and weighed 1 pound, 6 ounces. She had her mother’s cheeks and her daddy’s ears. She spent forty-five amazing minutes with us. We cherish the time we had with her, both in the womb and in our arms and we continue to thank God for this blessing. We are grateful for the incredible support we have received from family and friends throughout this time. Pictures of Leah are posted on our blog at www.lovinglittleleah.blogspot.com. We are so proud of our girl.

I had been on track to complete my dissertation over the summer, but my work fell by the wayside in the midst of everything. I have now turned in all five chapters of my dissertation and am working on revising them to be turned in next summer. Jeff has continued on track towards his Ph.D., and should be graduating in June of 2009. Jeff currently works at Argonne National Lab and hopes to continue in a post-doctoral position there after his graduation. Although I am not looking forward to a few more years of snow and ice, we have made wonderful friends here in Illinois who help make the winters more bearable.

In September we decided to begin working on adopting a baby. We plan on adopting from Uganda, and if all goes well we hope that we will be matched with a child and be able to pick him or her up within the next year. We have completed our home study and have been approved as adoptive parents by the state of Illinois. We now await approval from the United States in the form of an orphan’s visa.

We continue our involvement at our church, First Presbyterian Evanston. We both serve in First Focus, our church's young adult ministry. Amy volunteers at the church library, and Jeff plays electric guitar in the worship band. Between our activities and work we feel rather busy these days. We are looking forward to a break and to spending the holidays in California with our families.

We hope that you find peace this Christmas season.

Love,

Amy and Jeff Klug