Holiday Greetings

Hello Friends & Family. We hope the 2006 holidays are treating you well. We have been very busy, so apologies for not getting a nice letter into our holiday cards. Not only did we move in November which was quite an adventure (but we're now happily settled in), but we've had several other big changes in our lives. First of all, Eric's job at Niman Ranch was eliminated with the new management. This was truly a blessing and he's quite excited about new opportunities where his skills and experience can be put to better use. While I'll certainly miss the employee discount on the yummy meat, it's probably good for our cholesteral levels not to be eating so much of it. (And don't worry, he left on good terms with everyone, so we should still be able to get a good deal on meat for the wedding).

While Eric's thrilled about the opportunities for his future career, there was an even more important reason that he needed to move on. Most of you have heard about Eric's sister Adrienne. She is a very dear person to the entire family and anyone who has met her is very blessed. I had asked her to be the maid of honor (along with Wendy) in the wedding. Unfortunately, as many of you know, Adrienne has a very rare genetic disorder called NF2. This disorder basically disrupts her tumor suppressing gene, and she has many non-cancerous tumors on her nervous system. While they tumors are non-cancerous, they continue to grow. Until this past Spring, Adrienne was in quite good shape (she did lose her hearing a few years ago and had balance issues). However, the past few months the tumors on her spine have been growing quite rapidly not only reducing her mobility dramatically, but causing her a horrific amount of pain one can't even imagine. She has had several surgeries (including one last week), but these tumors are very difficult to remove without destroying the nerves. We pray every day that the doctors can treat these tumors and heal her pain. She had some major respiratory issues as a result from the last surgery, but it sounds like she's finally coming out of the critical phase, and the plan is to begin radiation in three to four weeks.

But the blessing of all this, is that Eric has had a lot of time this past month to go help out his parents when they really need it. He's been spending quite a bit of time down in Orange County working on the books for his parent's company (and being the math geek that he is, is having quite a blast doing it). So it really has been a wonderful thing that he has the opportunity to help out his family and the opportunity to find the perfect professional home for him.

As for me, I'm just trying to get my life all organized. SmartsCo is continuing to put out new products and we're about to have some exciting news which will involve some positive changes that will provide more stability in my life. More news on that soon.

With all the wedding planning and life changes, we haven't had much opportunity for adventurous trips or anything. We have been able to spend lots of time with family and I've really getting to know the extended Legrand family better. Eric's brother, Michael, has been working a lot in SF, so he's been a good proxy for Eric while he's home. I also was able to fly out to St. Louis to after Thanksgiving for my "bonus mom", Laura's birthday. As always, it was a delight to see Heidi & Chris, Augie & Krissy, and Wendy and Shawn, but even more precious little nieces and nephews - Denise, Marie, Anna, Jonathan, and Addie - they keep getting more and more fun as they get older, which is a suprise. We had a rockin' party dancing until the wee hours (at least 9:30 if not 10:00 pm!). We also got a chance to pick out flower girl dresses for the wedding which as a blast! (Have I mentioned there are 8 of them and 3 boys? - I'm told it's the British way.)

I'm not sure how the time got away and it's already time for Christmas, but here we are. I'm off to join Eric in the OC tomorrow. We're praying that Adrienne will be strong enough to come home from the hospital for Christmas. We look forward to seeing you in 2007.

Love,
Julie (& Eric)