sola gracia

What a wonderful Christmas!! I ate too many cookies and spent too much time on the computer. I was broke so I had to make a website for my sister and her boyfriend as a present. The result was a quirky magnetic fridge poetry thing that remembers where people put the words. You can download the source code here.

http://josephandkelly.com/uploads/magnetboard.zip

The positioning code isn’t as accurate as I’d like it to be and if someone figures this out let me know. For some reason the position of a word when released is different than the position used when placing the word (top-right corner?). Anyways , a super big thanks to Gus Mueller who gave me the green light to extend his random fonting and Mike Hall for his genius drag-and-drop code.

Well, Christmas has once again crept up on us and we are, once again, unprepared! We are thrilled to have the convenience of the internet that we might be able to more easily communicate with you, are friends and family! So, for all of you, an update on our lives in the last year.

It’s a Boy!!
Kelly gave birth to a baby boy, Isaac Ryan Swenson on March 10th! He was a healthy 7lbs 8oz and we were grateful for a short labor. He lived happily with us in Missoula until our next major life changing event. Now Isaac is rolling around and crawling up on anything he can get his hands on. He is a joy and such a blessing that we decided not to wait and have another one. We are expecting another bundle and blessing this coming March!

More School For Some Less School For Others
Nilla started Kindergarten this fall and is excited about all the new friends she is meeting and all the fun things she is learning at school. She also recently celebrated her sixth birthday with her friends from school. As Nilla began school Joe finished his degree this spring in Missoula. After five years, two majors, and three different schools he crossed the finish line and graduated from University of Montana-Missoula in the Spring with a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science!

What Moves Us
We moved our little family up to the Flathead valley in the Summer and began the pursuit of work. Joe got to try his hand at manual labor doing work with a great local landscaping company.
Kelly and Isaac went to Sidney, MT for a few months in the Fall and Kelly was able to start up on a treatment for the Rheumatoid Arthritis. Joe just started a new job doing software development for a company in the Whitefish area and is pleased to say he thoroughly enjoys it! We moved the family into a small apartment in Kalispell and have done well cluttering it up with our “necessary” junk!

Thanks
As this year comes to a close, we would like to thank you all; friend, family, foe alike for your courage in continuing to be a part of our spontaneous lives! May this new year find you well cared for and happy in the current state that this life God has granted us finds you in! Our advice for all this Season, find a fire to warm your hinnie, decorate a nice Christmas piney, and spend your time with the one’s who love you, or those who can at least tolerate you with a smile on their face!

Click here for the The Year In Photos

I was thinking today of stress and the holidays. Why exactly do we stress out? Is it fear of not getting everyone on your list the right gift? Not remembering a distant friend or relative who may be “put out” by your lack of thoughtfulness? Or perhaps, secretly we fear not getting what we really want for Christmas? Hmm?? Let’s be honest now, people.
I’m releaved that my son is only nine months old and could care less what I get him for Christmas. That’s why I’ve decided to wrap up a bunch of boxes for him to just tear into and chew on, since this seems to be the only thing he cares much for during this time of teathing! Why we don’t maintain that mentality of receiving a brightly wrapped box as enough is a sad question.
So, I hope that this season I will be thrilled and overjoyed when my husband, having read this musing, gives me a brightly wrapped big empty box for Christmas!
Much love, thoughts, and prayers to you all this season!

After a brief upgrade procedure (2.5 hours), we have moved over to WordPress from b2/evolution. The development of WordPress seems like a promising blog format and we are looking forward to using it. Until we get everything figured out the gallery is here.

As the snow approaches we are finally getting settled into our apartment in Kalispell.

Amy & Matt had a new baby boy!!

Born: July 7, 2004 – 4:15 p.m.

Weight: 7 pounds 6 ounces
Length: 20 inches