Merry Christmas!

Howdy! Well I’m WAY behind on everything and figured that there was absolutely no way I was getting all the Christmas letters printed and out so posting is the next best thing. Last year we did a Top 5 list so I thought I would switch it up and do it by family member this year. Here it goes……..

Rudy
Rudy is still working for Heartland America but remotely now. We were very fortunately that he is able to continue working for the company even though we live in Texas. Can you believe this year he will have been with Heartland 8 years!

Working remotely hasn’t changed the pace – he’s still busier than ever! Actually probably more now that he helps me out by taking Diego to “school” each morning. The move into our new house would have been horrendous had he not been able to manage the house projects and people coming in and out.

Rudy’s enjoying the close proximity of Houston to San Antonio as we are able to go visit his family a lot more often now. This year was the first time in seven years that we have been able to spend Thanksgiving with his family. Needless to say, his mom was thrilled!

Christine
It seems like I am in a state of constant transition lately. At the end of February I was offered a job with ExxonMobil and within 4 weeks of that date was moving back to Texas! Within 4 weeks of getting back to Texas we had sold our Minneapolis house and bought and moved in to our current house. Rudy had to hold me back when we were looking at houses as you can get WAY more square footage in Houston for less money than you can in Minneapolis. We were able to get 2000 more square feet for less than we sold our house for in Minneapolis! Needless to say we were pleased.

Work has been very exciting and different. I am the HR Advisor for all of our Company Owned Retain Stores (CORS) in Houston, Chicago, Miami, Orlando, and Tampa. So I handle all harassment complaints, investigations and discipline for Store Managers and Territory Managers, and any other activities that may come up (for Houston this year it was disaster relief with Hurricane Ike). I’m also the FMLA and Divestment Subject Matter Expert for our group.

We got some AWESOME news in December! My parents are coming back to the US! While we are sad that we will not be able to visit them in Australia before they come back, I am extremely happy to have my parents closer to home. It has definitely been hard not having them on the same continent.

Diego
Diego has been growing in leaps and bounds! This year has definitely been a year of milestones as I’m sure they will from now on. His favorite word is still “No”; his favorite phrase is “What happened?” He loves “Blues Clues” and enjoys helping Mommy feed the dogs. This year has been filled with illnesses but since he got his adenoids removed and his ear tubes replaced in December he has done very well (knock on wood). We are very fortunate to live in a city with such great children’s health care. When he got his adenoids removed, the surgeon said that they were obstructing ¾ of his nasal airway! Can you believe that?

We hope you and your family had a wonderful holiday season. In economic times like this we reflect on what it really important to us and its not the money, house, car, or any other material things…it’s our friends and family that are invaluable. Thank you for continuing to be a part of our lives and we pray you all have a wonderful 2009!

Love,
The Mendoza Family