Josh Renaud

Christmastime in review

As I mentioned in my previous post, this was an interesting Christmas season. It was nice to have Justin and Becca in town for several days before the actual holiday so we could spend some time together.

Among the activities was a game of disc golf at muddy White Birch in Hazelwood. It was quite fun, even though I didn't fare too well. The highlight for me was making a birdie on hole 17, which is not easy, and making par on 18.

On my side of the family, we often make Christmas lists to give relatives an idea of what kinds of things we need or would be a blessing to us. This can be a good thing. This year, Yoli and I kept our lists very simple. I wanted donations toward an iPod and she wanted donations toward a video camera.

This can be tacky, and I hope I don't do it again for a good while. But I had been patiently waiting to get an iPod for several years now, and it was so good to finally get it. After Christmas I found a nice used one here in town (similar to one my brother Jon has already) with some accessories at a great price. Yoli did her research on digital video cameras and we are buying a refurbished Consumer Reports best-buy which we'll take to Bolivia in January. It will be good to tape Jadzia with her Bolivian family so she can see them again and again when we are in the U.S. Likewise, we can make tapes of her and send them to Bolivia.

I am enjoying my iPod, but as is usually the case, the most memorable gift is the unexpected one. My mom got me a nice pair of gloves to replace the ancient tattered ski gloves I've been wearing since junior high or high school (I forget). Later in the morning she pulled out a fancy dress coat they had been saving for years for one of my brothers. Turns out it was too small for them, so she asked me to try it on. And it fit me fine. So now I have new gloves, a new dress coat, and my old English caps. When I go to work now, I look like a new man.

This past Wednesday we had our annual movie night with some friends from Hazelwood West, McCluer North, and UMSL. We watched "Million-Dollar Baby" which I had not seen before. The story takes a somewhat-surprising twist in the last portion, which made for lots of interesting discussion afterwards. Lots of thanks to Matt for hosting the night and for the great chili! Unfortunately, Jadzia was a "Million Cries Baby" through about the last 1/3 of the movie and the discussion.

That's the challenge of the baby... Finding ways to adapt our lives to accomodate her. With movie night it wasn't so successful, but we'll get more creative next year.

Even babies need passports

Some family members were surprised at Christmastime when Yoli whipped out Jadzia's brand new passport to show them.

Christmas went well. Jadzia slept through much of it, but she had nice long visits with her grandparents and got to meet her aunt and uncle and baby cousin. She got a few Christmas presents, and undoubtedly her favorites will turn out to be the San Antonio Spurs clothing from our relatives in Texas.

She also got to meet my dad's maternal extended family on Christmas evening. I wasn't able to stay long because of work (hope you enjoyed your Christmas weekend sports sections!) but it sounds like it was a great night.

December photo update

Well, now that everything is all settled in here at our new "Renaud Family" website, we thought it was past time to post some of the photos we've taken lately. Most of these are of Jadzia, so check 'em out!

Yoli holds Jadzia before her first Petra concert. This would be Jadzia's (and our) last Petra concert since they are on their Farewell Tour.

After the concert (which Jadzia slept through), we got her picture taken with John Schlitt (lead singer, left) and Bob Hartman (founder/guitarist).

We also got a picture with Paul Simmons (drummer, left) and Greg Bailey (bassist), who gave Jadzia her first set of bunny ears in a photo.

Jadzia is smiling a lot now. It certainly made all the work worthwhile once she began to do that.

Mom and daughter play.

Jadzia sleeps. We have had some 8-hour nights, actually, though she isn't doing that every night yet.

Jadzia usually enjoys playing on her "ocean wonders" mat.

We took Jadzia to the Spanish church in Collinsville that we visit from time to time, Iglesia Bautista Agape, to be dedicated. The pastor is Calixto Ulloa, who was one of Yoli's professors at seminary in Bolivia. One of Yoli's fellow students from that seminary is also part of the church as the worship leader.

Dad takes Jadzia for a plane ride through the room.

Mama and papa celebrate their second anniversary, but somebody else isn't too happy about the whole picture-taking thing.

Jadzia's doctor complimented her on her strong neck. I hope that her neck stays strong in only the literal sense.

Bottle-feeding is hit or miss with Jadzia. Notice how her hands are "praying."

Jadzia poses with her cousin Hayden (born in November) at Thanksgiving.