Christmas Letter

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Dear family and friends,

This year has been quite eventful for our family. After celebrating last Christmas and the New Year in the beautiful city of Paris we tried starting a new life in England. We soon made the difficult decision that it was not good timing and we decided to move back to Provo, Utah, in late January. Levi then applied for US Permanent Residency in February and we had to wait until October for him to receive his Work Permit. In the meantime, I went back to school to continue my Master’s Degree, taking one class in the Spring, another in the Summer, and my last three classes in the Fall. The Lord blessed us to endure these challenging times in miraculous ways.

We were extremely happy to welcome our second daughter into this world, Sophie Chantal Selway, born on June 6th, 2009. Sophie is a very content baby; she wakes up smiling and goes to bed very easily – a strong contrast with Eve who still hates going to bed. Her presence and spirit have brought peace and relief in our stressed lifestyle. Eve and her are already enjoying playing with each other, although Eve takes it a little too far at times, experimenting with her sister’s emotions and pain threshold.

Eve, who just turned 3, has been attending a French immersion pre-school and has loved every moment of her new found independence. Her teacher says she is always very polite and well-mannered and amazingly has never wet herself at school – she saves that all for us.

Levi started a job in the Regulatory Affairs department at Neways – an international company that sells dietary supplements and personal care products. He loves the environment, the salary and the free hot chocolate.

Levi applied for medical school in the US and the UK (again!). He has been accepted at medical schools in Colorado and Pennsylvania and still has an interview in Iowa early January. In addition, he has been invited to interview in York, England and is expecting to hear back from other UK schools in January. So we are still unsure exactly where will be for medical school which is exciting for Levi and not so exciting for me.

2010 looks very exciting for our little family. I will be writing my thesis and I plan to defend before summer so that I can prepare for our departure (however near or far that may be). At this moment in time, I plan to write about the representation of mountaineering in 19th century French literature. Levi will have a break from studying for 9 months so he will be enjoying a lot of pleasure reading: his latest reads include a lot of Sherlock Holmes and now he has caught the Dan Brown fever.

In this Christmas season, we wish to let you all know that you are in our thoughts and in our hearts: this year, we were reminded of how important the people in our lives are and of how they can be an answer to our prayers. We are grateful for your love and positive influence,

… and we wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year 2010!

Love,
Levi, Anabelle, Eve, and Sophie.