So you got the Christmas card!

Thanks for coming to the blog after receiving our Christmas card.

We thought we'd show you a couple of the photos that didn't make the cut for the card.



We wanted to include Milo in the Christmas card but we couldn't get him to sit still so most the photos looked like we were wrestling him into position.

So the most memorable photos were't included but we can still say Merry Christmas from all of our house (well, minus the cats - we didn't even consider putting Max and Millie in the photo).

Have a great Christmas!

More to time to help with Kristi's research!

Family & friends,

Please accept my gratitude and thanks, again, for helping with this study of forgiveness in marriage. The objective of this study is to develop a forgiveness scale to be used among married couples.

I and my committee members have decided to extend the study for another three weeks. This moves the closing date of the study from December 15, 2008 to January 5, 2009. We hope this provides you, and those you may know with additional time to consider brief participation in this study.

Forgiveness Study

Thank you, friends, for continuing to consider this request. Please contact me with questions or concerns.

With heartfelt gratitude,

Kristin Russell Mouttet, PhD Candidate
krismou@regent.edu

Want to take a survey on Forgiveness?

Friends who visit our blog here is a request that we want to make to invite you to participate in Kristi's dissertation on scales of "Forgiveness." Here is a letter Kristi is distributing to potential participants:

Dear potential participant,

My name is Kristi R. Mouttet. I am a doctoral student in the Regent University Counselor Education and Supervision program. I am writing this letter to you to request your assistance in a study I am conducting between married couples on forgiveness.

The title of the study is: A Comparative Analysis of Three Scales Intended to Measure Forgiveness. Through this research, we are working to validate a new forgiveness scale that will be used in understanding forgiveness among married couples. The main requirements for participation include:

1. Married partners
2. Each partner will need to participate in the study in order for their results to be added to the study. Though, each partner may participate independently. Couples will be tracked based on a basic identifier such as their wedding anniversary.

The study has been reviewed and approved by the Human Subjects Review Committee (HSRC) of the School of Psychology and Counseling at Regent University. And I am under the advisement and guidance of my dissertation committee who include: Dr. James Sells, Dr. Elisabeth Suarez, and Dr. Gary Oliver.

The survey is available online through SurveyMonkey.com which may be found at:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=20CXcne5haLTSidMg4d1QA_3d_3d. The survey questions average 10-15 minutes of time. If you choose to participate or forward this on to someone who might be interested, participation is voluntary and anonymous. The survey will be available online until December 15, 2008.

If you are able to participate in this quantitative study, your time and interest will be greatly appreciated. If you would like to forward this email to others in your community, this will also be appreciated due to the quantitative nature of this study. We are hoping to study a large population of married couples. Once again, you may access the survey link at:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=20CXcne5haLTSidMg4d1QA_3d_3d

If you have any questions or concerns regarding this study, please contact the Principle Investigator, Kristi R. Mouttet at krismou@regent.edu, or Dissertation Advisor, Dr. James Sells at jsells@regent.edu .

With gratitude,

Kristi Russell Mouttet
PhD Candidate
Regent University
School of Psychology and Counseling
Counselor Education and Supervision

What is in a name?

We're wrestling with the best boy names (by the way, we're having a boy) and we've got a fairly long list but we're leaning towards a few. So if you want to weigh-in just post a comment!

Mason
Samuel (probably go by Sam)
Jackson
Micah

October 24, 2008

Kristi is officially "showing." In fact, we were at church and someone actually asked when she was expecting - Kristi leaned over to me to ask if I told them and I (and you can tell I wasn't thinking at this point) said no. So we had our first experience of publicly being recognized as "expecting" parents.

October 18-21, 2008

Tiffany and Jane Mouttet came to visit for the weekend as Tiffany prepared for a Leadership Conference in DC. It was great to see them and we toured some classic and new monuments.

We visited the new Pentagon memorial which is visually stunning and the experience is moving. In the background is the new Air Force memorial which is one of the more noticeable sites in DC.



Next we visited Arlington National Cemetery and watched the changing of the guard.

It is always inspiring to be there and it was wonderful to have this visit with Tiffany and Jane.







Finally, we visited a number of other sites: the National Zoo, National Archives, Chinatown, Library of Congress and even Union Station.

This particular site is one of the most known in DC it is the Iwo Jima Memorial.

September 15, 2008

Well the baby room better may be better than any other room in our house! Thanks to Phil we finished the wainscoting of the walls and all the trim.

Here are a couple of key facts:
1. the furniture is great (thanks Phil and Sue) and Kristi and I will probably be years behind in getting similar pieces of furniture for our own bedroom.

2. If we are going to be rocking the baby back to sleep at night let's do it in comfort! So a new chair is the final touch on the baby's room.

Added new photos

We've been using Flickr for photos but I did not have all of them available for viewing so now you can click on the Photostream to see many more photos that before.


Enjoy!
ACA Referrals

Getting the baby room ready

This weekend Phil and Sue came to Reston to help us get the Baby Room (Nate's description) / Nursery (Kristi's description) ready. Phil is a much better carpenter than I am so there is no way we could have done this project without him!

Our world is changing

We are preparing for our world to be very different next spring. In 2008 we went with Phil and Sue Russell and Kara and Chris Moore (Kristi's Mom and Dad and Sister and Brother-in-law) to Kauai, Hawaii.

This year we are getting ready for our first child to be born and excited about the new chapter of life.

We will cherish this time but look forward to new pictures with a baby in the photo.

10 and half years later...we're expecting our first child!

Kristi and I are so happy to announce that we are expecting our first child and we hope to share this news with our friends and family.

More to come in the days ahead.
Nate & Kristi