2011 Rogers Christmas letter---the electronic version

Another year is behind us, and what a year it has been!  We will gladly welcome 2012 with calm weather patterns, intact trees, and a void of power outages.  And if at all possible less humidity… although that last one is a bit of a stretch.

All joking aside, I am grateful for what we have learned this year.  I, for one, have learned how to better prepare for natural disasters and, more importantly, how to survive.  The prophets have strongly encouraged us to build a year supply of food storage and to have 72-hour kits ready available for our family. It is difficult to know what we are preparing for, but it is enough to at least get us thinking.  I hope you have been able to get some emergency preparations underway; if not, then maybe this would be an excellent time to start your New Year’s resolution.  

Besides the record fall of four feet of snow at the beginning of the year, bordering tornadoes in north Connecticut, an amazing 6-state-wide earthquake that was nearly felt along the entire east coast, destructive Hurricanes and tropical storms that took out trees, power, and even cancelled Halloween, our family has been growing, changing and learning all year long. 

Danny was recently released from his 2.5-year-calling as Young Men’s president and has now been called to be an assistant ward mission leader/ward missionary.  His primary obligations include working closely with the full time missionaries, going on splits and preparing lessons.  Besides his calling, Danny has been improving his running abilities.  In October, he finished the ING Hartford Marathon at 3:07, nearly making his qualifying time for the Boston Marathon.  His recent accomplishment was running the Manchester Road Race and finishing 5 miles in 29 minutes.  He placed 255^th among 13,472 people (to be exact). 

I, too, have been given a new calling as the ward music chairman/choir director.  I am finding that this is completely out of my element, seeing as I have limited conducting background, but I am ready for the challenge and excited to serve.  I have also been improving my running ability.  I accomplished my goal time for the ING Hartford Half Marathon at 2:00 and finished strong.  Aside from that, I started co-teaching preschool in September and I am learning that 3-year-olds are very different from second graders!  It has been overwhelming at times, especially having Jakob and Molly in the class together, but we’ve seemed to manage through the chaos and in just 3 months I can already see improvements.

            Jakob knows all of his letters, numbers 1-20, shapes and colors. He is active and constantly moving, even at the dinner table when he is supposed to be eating and I find him playing with his food instead. He loves opportunities to go outside, building castles and making cookies in the sand, climbing on fallen tree branches, riding his bike around the block, and playing buzz light year with Molly.  My favorite thing about Jakob is that he enjoys being creative; especially drawing all sorts of monsters in his journal.  It is rewarding to see his imagination and creativity on paper. 

Molly is also reaching some important milestones.  She counts: 6,7,8,9, TEN and speaks in almost complete sentences.  She is not afraid to try new words, and more often gets it within a couple days.  She is very independent and enjoys putting on her own shoes, buckling her own car seat, and going down the slide all by herself.  She also puts on the deceiving charm that only a nearly-2-year-old can, batting her eyes and giving that innocent grin of cuteness to strangers passing by.  My favorite thing about Molly is that she gives the best hugs.  She doesn’t just hug, she throws in a lingering snuggle that melts your heart.  She is a stubbornly sweet little girl and she brings a nice balance to our family dynamic. 

We love and miss all of you and are looking forward to the time we get to see you again. 

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Love,

Danny, Jamie, Jakob and Molly Rogers

NOTE:  The family picture is at the top, right hand side of the blog.