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It’s been a while since I’ve posted, but with good reason – the past couple months have been exhausting. To make up for an absence of posting – here’s a year in review for the Broons.

Our attempt at a family Christmas photo... 2010 was the year of Ben for us. Just after New Year’s, we found out that we were expecting a baby. Soon after that, I also learned I had a job interview to be the Children and Families worker for St. Philip’s Church in Joppa. This was a great opportunity as it would mean that Paul and I could once again be together on a Sunday morning since St. P’s is Paul’s church home and where we were married as well. Thankfully, the job was offered and on Palm Sunday I said goodbye to my friends at Old Saint Paul’s Church where I’d been working as the children’s and youthworker for two and a half years. On Easter Sunday, I started up at St. P’s.

In April, Paul held a Folk Concert at the Church as a way to raise money to volunteer overseas at a summer camp in Kansas as a music instructor for adults and young people with additional needs. His concert was great fun and it raised enough money to cover Paul’s plane ticket as well as to buy several instruments for the campers.

In May, I had the opportunity to represent Action of Churches Together in Scotland at the Ecumenical Kirchentag in Munich. This was a great chance to attend a large Christian conference while having one last holiday with Paul before we became a family.

Dad and Me and Baby Bump In July, Paul travelled to Kansas for Camp Adventure. He had a wonderful week teaching music and getting to know other banjo players who had also travelled over to volunteer. He even had some time to travel to Chicago and visit our friends Liz and Dave as well as Josh and Deliverance. Meanwhile, my parents, Aunt Barb and Cousin Peggy were over to Europe on holiday and I was able to get the train down to London to see them for a couple days. As there was a heat wave and I was 7 months pregnant, we didn’t do too much touring about London, but we did manage to finally see the Tower of London and I also managed to catch up with my dear friend Sandra and her family.

August was filled with nesting and last minute preparations for the wee one’s arrival whilst I wrapped up my work for the Diocese of Edinburgh as their Youth and Children’s Officer. When I finished up on 1 September, my friend Morag returned to post from her own maternity leave. The year I spent in the Diocesan post was one of the most rewarding years in ministry work for me. I thoroughly enjoyed taking part in Diocesan events and leading youth/children’s activities and training sessions for volunteers. I am so thankful for all the wonderful people I met while in post.

Broon and Ben September was the month of waiting on Baby Brown. My mom arrived in the first week as I went on maternity leave. The baby should have arrived on 18 September, but instead he kept us waiting until October… This did give mom and I loads of time to catch up though which was nice. Then, on 1 October, I was induced and finally on 2 October at 6:38am, Baby Brown made his appearance! We named him Benjamin Stuart Brown. (Ben for Ben Folds – one of Paul’s favourite musicians and Stuart after Paul’s brother).

The next three months are a bit of a blur as parenthood has kept us on our toes while we exist on very little sleep, but it’s been an adventure we wouldn’t have missed for the world. Ben is an incredibly sweet and alert little boy and each day we see his personality emerging. It’s still hard to believe that we get to be his parents. Over Christmas we faced the scariest time yet as parents – watching our little boy suffer through his first big sickness. On 23December, Ben’s temperature spiked high and we took him into hospital. After several tests, he was admitted into an isolation nursery for 48 hours of antibiotics until his test results could come back and we were sure what got him so sick so quickly. Our first Christmas as a family was spent at the Royal Hospital for Sick Children and thankfully, our little boy pulled through just fine. It was an exhausting two days, but Paul and I made it work for our family Christmas celebration and we even got to see Santa come round the hospital and deliver a bag of presents for Ben which was pretty magical in itself. On Christmas Day we learned that Ben had been battling swine flu (and that that’s what had both Paul and I sick as well earlier in the week…). We were released and were able to get to Ben’s grandparents’ house for Christmas Dinner. He had a rough cough for another week and a bit, but is now back to his usual self and much to our surprise, actually sleeping through the night more often – yay for more sleep! Ben on Christmas Day

It was definitely an eventful first Christmas for the Broons. I found it all made the Christmas story even more real for me as I watched my little baby boy, so vulnerable and helpless, tackle such an unexpected illness and I thought of how Jesus came into this world as a vulnerable and helpless baby as well. How scared Mary must have been to be the mother of Jesus and anxious Joseph must have been to look after both of them when searching for a place to stay that night. All of a sudden, that nativity scene is even more emotional for me.

We’re happy to be home again and have our baby boy back to good health. We are looking forward to seeing what 2011 brings and hope to catch up with you soon. Many blessings for you and your family this year.