2007 Will be one helluva a year! I haven’t experienced this much change this quickly in quite some time.

We hope that everyone had a very safe and Happy New Year Celebration last night. We celebrated by staying home and having Oysters and Champagne and toasting the New Year to the sights of TWO fireworks shows in our view (Alameda and San Francisco) it’s a great site to see!

Next year we’re clearing the books and inviting everyone over for a inaugural event.

An old Friend came over by request and used her expertise in Photography to take some b&w shots of mom & dad & Felix.

Witness her first creation:

I am reposting our Christmas letter in case you didn’t get it.

Best,

Raoul, Jen and Felix

To All Our Family and Friends,

Everything Changes. That, it would seem, is the theme of this year. Our family has changed; we welcomed Felix Maxwell Badde into the world on November 21^st @ 3:39am. My business segment is changing. My job is changing . . . again. Our yard is changing, for the better. The world is changing, and so it goes.

Jen and I were blessed with a pregnancy that had no complications and likewise a birth that went smoothly by all accounts. Felix was due originally on the 15^th of November and so after some consulting with our O.B. we decided that inducement prior to Thanksgiving would be the best way to go. Jen’s Labor lasted approximately 6 hours which many have called “easy”, but when it’s you on that table I am not sure any of us can make that call. I know that Jen did an excellent job in doing everything in her power to bring a Happy, Healthy baby boy into our World and for that we are all thankful. So it was this year that Felix was welcomed to his first Thanksgiving and soon his first Christmas.

As our lives changed we have made some reflective insights into the fact that we are possibly finally crossing our own thresholds into our vision of Adulthood. It’s easy to do what you want, when you want, when all you have to do is report to work or school, but when there is another being involved the purpose of everything seems to take a new meaning. I would say that Jen and I finally recognized that there is more to life than just work and play. At heart we still feel like two giant kids that are way ahead of ourselves, but this is what has brought us here together.

This year we also changed our Website, finally finding someone who was web-oriented in their work and would take the time out of their busy schedule to help us get what we wanted done. Many of you have already used it to see pictures and read little updates. If you haven’t yet had a chance, find a computer and head over to www.Baddefam.com.

This is a site that will see some improvements in 2007 but is basically a way for us to share with you our lives over the coming months and years. If I don’t have your email address you should send me a message: mrbadde@baddefam.com so that I have your correct contact information. Jen can be reached at jbadde@baddefam.com and prefers email as a form of communication.

Jen completed her first full year of graduate school this last semester, so there are only 3 more to go. With all the changes around here we are trying to figure out a way to make her dream of becoming a Psy. D. a reality. It’s definitely one that we want to be able to fulfill. Obviously being a mommy and student were never two roles meant to shaer each other. You can be sure that we will figure out a way to make it work. Luckily she has the winter break and leave from her Practicum to bond with Felix and learn his routine if you can call it that.

The tale of the tape as they say has been the change in the market in which I am making my career. Much of the change has occurred nationally and is of course making headlines in the Daily’s everywhere. Owning a home has come to mean so much more to more people than ever before. With more riding on real property than in the past this business has created a larger scale of definition in the entire financial marketplace. The company I have worked for the last 2 years is making changes that will not bear fruit for me in the coming years and as such I have made the change to the lower risk side of the business. As of January 1^st I will be working at a company with greater opportunities in the coming years. I will also be working with my old boss from 2004, this new job was one that was not officially available until I came a calling and for that I am extremely thankful.

Our address is listed below and you have our contact emails above, we look forward to hearing from you in the coming year.

We are both very thankful that you are in our lives and we hope to share many more moments with you. We wish you a wonderful and happy Christmas and a prosperous and eventful New Year.

Much Love, Raoul and Jennifer Badde