Merry Christmas!

Hello beautiful friends and family, and Holiday Greetings!
We are now a family of four plus cat, and life is good!
I was 4 months pregnant at the beginning of the year, so frankly, I don’t remember much. Matthew seems to have some amnesia as well, so I’ll just give the general scoop—based on what we gathered from researching our schedule calendars and photos we’ve taken.

2010 started off with…? I know it snowed... Isaac was in “playschool” and loving it. The as-yet-unborn baby was a major kicker and mover, so I contemplated the novelty of raising a child who might move more quickly than the average 3-toed sloth. Anyway, winter…spring…not much more to relate there.

We could not have asked for better timing for Cora’s birth. She was 4 days late, much to my (then) chagrin, but the extra time allowed me to get Summer Music Together classes all settled so I could turn over the reins for a few weeks. Matthew and Isaac got their semesters all wrapped up before baby arrival. And finally, after miles of walking, hours spent in odd “turning the baby head-end down” positions, many chiropractic appointments, many Braxton Hicks contractions, one failed acupuncture treatment (needles = faint), one eggplant parmesan meal (2 if you count leftovers), and one “membrane sweep,” Cora Gayle Richmond finally made her appearance on June 4. In an early demonstration of her “move it or lose it” personality, she was born at 7:56 AM after just 5 hours of labor, much to the delight of her parents! She weighed 6’13” and was 19” long.

Since Cora was born, we spent a week in Virginia Beach with my sister Julie in July; Matthew and I saw our first opera as audience members: “Carmen!”; and we saw Cyndi Lauper in concert. Cyndi was way more fun than Carmen. We lost Isaac at the annual farm picnic—he trekked off to the swimming hole with a group of folks…without telling us first. Argh! We found our new favorite restaurant – the best home-cooked German and possibly the best food I’ve ever eaten. Aside from Mama’s, of course.

Matthew had lots of career excitement this year: He wrote and performed his first movie soundtrack for locally made “Flight of the Cardinal.” His jazz group, Like Mind Trio, has been playing a bunch. He spent a lot of time onstage for theatrical productions, playing drums in “Buddy Holly,” “Chicago,” and “Peter Pan” (in costume as an Indian chief!). And he continued to play regularly with the Asheville Symphony and Stephanie’s Id. Matthew was hired full-time at UNCA for the current school year (yippee!). We weren’t sure if the FT position would continue after this school year, but we just heard that he will be re-hired at 3/4 time for 2011-2012—great news!

Music Together is still going strong. I took the summer off from teaching, and once I started back in the fall, it was with reduced MT teaching hours and limited lessons. I’m still managing the Music Together business, but I gave up the High School drum line.

Isaac turned 5 in August and started Kindergarten. He enjoyed school at first, but he has started saying lately that he doesn’t want to go any more and that he’s been going “for SUCH a long time!” Poor guy. I’m not sure he has any idea that he’s not even halfway through the year. He has recently announced that he wants to be a scientist and possibly study snakes. His favorite sport is bowling, but since the real deal is somewhat physiologically inappropriate at this age, he’ll start soccer this spring. Here he is with his homemade bowling set this summer. He got a "real" set with 10 "real" pins for Christmas.Isaac loves his little sister, and she adores him. Their play together is a treasure. Isaac has never expressed any jealousy of the attention Cora needs--he generally loves to help wash, feed, sing to, and play with her. I love to hear the sounds of their nonsense babbling at each other and especially of Isaac singing and reading to her. The other day, he asked if I was pregnant again...yet. Whoa.



Cora is a delight. Her favorite toys are human hair (attached only), computer power cords and plastic bags and paper – the shinier the better. She’s got two bottom teeth and is in the unpleasant throes of sprouting more. She is sitting up and just starting to crawl! She's eating winter squash, bananas, and a few other "solid" foods quite enthusiastically.


We had a fun Halloween...


So there you have the high points of our year, but I’m struggling to find words to convey a general sense of the beauty and growth we’ve experienced—I want so much to share with you some small portion of the love that has surrounded our family. Through my Bible study group and Matthew’s religion/spirituality discussion group, we have separately enjoyed spiritual and philosophical conversation and fellowship. This enlivens and deepens our conversations with each other as we share our thoughts later.

We have learned to receive this year as so many of our friends and family loved us through their gifts of time, baby gear, food, and more when we welcomed Cora home. It’s surprising how challenging it can be to just accept these gifts of love that have no strings attached. I admit that I like to think I can do it all myself, and I suppose technically I could…maybe…but it is ultimately sweeter to accept love and help from others.

When Cora arrived, I started to think about how the rest of 2010 would proceed. I perceived that the dim 6-months-away future would bring cold weather and long nights, and I really dreaded it. The darkness and cold seemed like challenges to endure. However, as we’ve watched the weather and the light turn winterly, I have found myself embracing, even enjoying, the dark, the cold, the snow. I feel a greater sense of intimacy with the Divine these dark days, not in spite of, but inspired by the Winter, much as candlelight is easier to perceive and appreciate in the dark. Perhaps the gifts of 2010 have been greater than past years, but I suspect that I am far more aware of how blessed we are.

Here’s wishing you a Winter of Light and a 2011 filled with blessings and love.
Much love to you from the Richmonds!