2008 was a great year for the Sneed family. We successfully transitioned back to America from an 18 month sabbatical in Slovakia and settled down in a suburb of Dallas, Texas, where we purchased a 5 bedroom house. Tony had a rewarding year professionally, in which he authored two courses for DevelopMentor, presented a session at the Microsoft TechEd conference, and published an article in MSDN Magazine. However, the biggest blessing by far was the arrival in late October of our daughter, Karisma.  We’ve recently posted our latest family photos.

In the early part of the year we enrolled in a parenting program, through which we met some friends here in the North Dallas area. In February Zuzana became pregnant, and we started making preparations for a larger family. In June we look at two week family vacation in Cancun, Mexico. Then in August, we attended a natural birth class.  Tony also started a weight-loss program and has since dropped about 20 pounds.

Later in the summer we started attending a church in a nearby town, where we made a few more friends. After Karisma’s birth we also became better acquainted with some of our neighbors. We’ve found the folks around here live up to the reputation of Texas as the Friendship State.

As rich as this past year has been, we are looking forward to even more blessings in the coming year. May you have a cheerful Christmas with friends and family, and may your 2009 be filled with joy.