Happy Christmas from the Windsors!

2007 began with drama for the House of Windsor! Eleanor Joy was born on 9 February-four weeks early due to medical complications. But her little lungs hadn't quite developed sufficiently and so she was airlifted from Wollongong Hospital in the Telstra Childflight helicopter to Royal Women's Hospital in Randwick for top-level intensive care. She made a speedy recovery and is now a very smiley little girl who brings us great joy. We give thanks to our God who has continued to sustain her, for our mums for caring for Adelaide and Harry, and the medical staff at both hospitals.

Adelaide is gearing up for Kingdergarten at Gwynneville Public School in 2008. She's looking forward to it very much. She loves making cool craft; we've learned to keep her well-stocked with sticky tape and textas. She has an analytical mind and is asking good tough questions about God, life, the universe and everything.

Harry has loved pre-school with Adelaide and his friends. He's still obsessed with trains, but has broadened his field of obsession to include racing cars and aeroplanes. Harry also really likes doing puzzles, his regular Thursday morning play at the beach with his friends Will, Alex and Nicholas, and pulling silly faces for the camera.

Leonie has found great joy in parenting a baby and two energetic pre-schoolers. She thanks God every day for her dishwasher J She's been spending time with lots of different women this year. Life is always full for us with many relationships in our church and community.

Lionel has loved the opportunity to serve and teach the Bible at St Michael's Anglican church in Wollongong. It's been a great privilege to work alongside a godly and gifted staff team at St Michael's. We had a lot of (serious) fun with our "Mythbusters" series in October. The idea came from the SBS TV show of the same name-we aimed to explode some of the common misconceptions people believe about Christianity-e.g. "Good people go to Heaven" (BUSTED!) Lionel has also enjoyed training our church's ministry apprentice, Ben Pakula, who is in the process of editing and launching his new children's CD, "A Very Special Tent" (stay tuned-it rocks!)

We had a great family holiday at Batemans Bay in July. The kids were desperate to see (and taste!) snow, so we included a crazy one-day trip to Thredbo and back with about ten hours of driving and an hour's worth of snow play!

2007 is certainly the year of Intensive Care for our family. As we write this, our little newborn niece is fighting for her life in the children's hospital at Westmead. She has a very rare and serious chromosomal abnormality. Lionel's sister Jen and her husband Paul are exhausted but continuing to trust that God has her safely in his grip no matter what happens. They're keeping regular updates online.

Lionel's grandfather, Lionel Snr., is nearing the end of his earthly life and is looking forward to being with his Seeker and Saviour. He is being well cared for his nursing home at Richmond.

Happy Christmas to you all, with our love.