Being an Aunt...

...is just SO much fun!!!

I haven't posted pictures of my favorite babies for a long time:)

Elise's Uncles love training her...so that one day she will be a great baller!

::Storytime::

Praising the Lord for His protection

God is Good!

My brother, Joe, got into a car accident just last week.

We were on the way to a friends house and we received a call from Stephen saying "Joe got in a car accident and he is in an ambulance and on the way to the hospital...seriously hurt." Then he said that mom told us to go ahead and go to the party. After thinking through the facts...and calming the initial panic rush, I realized that it couldn't have been that serious if mom told us to "go ahead."

Joe was on the way to school talking on his phone to Rachel when he said "Umm...I think I just ran out of gas..." and then she heard no more. Naturally she was worried and called mom...abut before they had a chance to start freaking out Joe called. He said he was in the ambulance and on the way to Creighton Hospital, then he hung up.

It turns out he had stopped at a stop sign and then proceeded forward, then promptly ran out of gas in the middle of the intersection. He was T-boned by a lady from the right...spun around and rammed into the car ahead of him.

He suffered a mild concussion and a scraped up face. That's all. Praise the Lord.

On a funnier note; while at the hospital he was continually making very short phone calls. Rachel received about 10-12 and a friend from the basketball team, Dan, received about that many as well:) They were very short calls consisting of "Are you almost here." And, "Where are you?"....etc. When we asked him about it he denied it all...but then quickly looked at his calls...and we were correct! He can't remember anything...it's just like a dream...except for the fact that he doesn't have a car anymore:)

Happy Birthday!!!

Happy 15th Birthday Phillip!!

Your hardworking spirit is a blessing around the house

...and I am sure to other as well

May the Lord bless you, and show you His love as you seek Him daily!

May you grow to be a man, like your dad,

who "Fears the Lord and shuns evil."

And just to let you know, it is a pleasure watching you shoot...I wish I had a picture of your "Robin Hood" shot to put up...Love you LP!!

Sisters

Joe gave me the little hat for Christmas...what do you think?

A quote that describes my father!

"A leader is a man who does not groan under burdens,

but takes them as a matter of course,

allows them, tolerates them-and with a dash of humor."

~Elizabeth Elliot calendar

Love you Daddy!

Happy Birthday!!!

Happy Birthday Mom!!

Thank you so much for the example that you have given me of;

putting God first, above everything else!

...staying faithful to Dad...and loving him with all your heart!

...cherishing the special moments of life!

Love SO much Mommy!!

"Within your temple, O God,

we meditate on your unfailing love."

~Psalms 48:9

I thought it was pretty clever...

I heard this just yesterday and I thought that I might as well share it with you too! If you are a Huskers fan, or even if you aren't, you probably heard of the NU defensive tackle Ndnamukong Suh. He is a game changer...and evidently really good at what he does...(at least that is what my brothers tell me *smile*)

This is a clever rendition of Jonny Cash's song entitled "A Boy Named Sue". So if you enjoy Husker Football, or in my case have brothers who enjoy it, you might enjoy this (I did at least);

A Man Named Suh

Side note: make sure you note how it starts out...with the NU fight song...very fun:)

Another picture:)

I just got to babysit her last night...and I wish that I had brought my camera along...she is just SO darling!

Letter from Josh

I miss him...so much!

Josh sent us a letter with this letter enclosed to be read at Church for Thanksgiving...I thought that you all might enjoy it too!

Of the things that I am thankful for this year, the first and foremost is Jesus Christ and His redemptive work. The fact that He has conquered death means that our souls never die; only the physical body passes away. Because He rose from the dead, death is only a temporary separation. He is the great healer and He is in the business of resurrection and renewal. I am thankful that He, and He alone, not time or anything else, holds the keys to healing. I can say first hand with the apostle Paul, “I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, be it well few or hungry whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all things through Him who gives me strength.” I am thankful for this strength, and for the fact that he is the comforter of the down trodden and broken hearted.

I am also thankful for all the support, the prayers, books and visits that you and others have given me. You have been an immense encouragement to me, thank you. I sit here writing this alone in my cell. I struggle on every front. My cellmate is a pagan witch, I am locked up with 500 drug dealers, rapists, and other felons. But as Paul wrote, “I am dying yet I live; beaten, and yet not killed; sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing yet possessing everything.” “I am hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.”

In the last year I went from having everything I’d dreamed of and sharing it with the girl of my dreams to being in prison with nothing. And although my own strength failed long ago overwhelmed by unspeakable grief and unable to function, I am thankful for God’s strength and his love. Romans 8:38, “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, not any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else at all, will be able to separate us from the love of God.” Enjoy all the good food for me, hopefully I will be able to join you two years from now.

Joshua Beasley

Also, an excerpt from a letter sent to our family:

I had a hard time sleeping last night, I was thinking of last Thanksgiving. There was seemingly so much to be thankful for then; celebrating it for the first time with my new wife. Now I'm just 70335 in a holding tank of felons. I am comforted by the fact that Alaina's soul didn't die just her body, that death is just a temporary separation. But life seems like too long a time to wait. Anyway, I miss you all and wish I could celebrate with you. Hopefully the next two years will go by fast. I feel that I should be entitled to 3 times as much food, or at least dessert, the next time around for Thanksgiving. :-) What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, right?

"And remember, that the love of God can not take us

where the grace of God can not keep us!"

Branson and Thanksgiving

Our trip to Branson this year was scheduled over Thanksgiving. It was so special to be able to share it with the Wissmann's and Dan! We were having SO much fun that I totally forgot to take pictures of some of the things that we did. But just know that we had a wonderful time!

It has been a tradition for our family to play a big Thanksgiving game of football on Thanksgiving day with our extended family. This year being away from our "regular teamates" we decided to invite our soon-to-be extended(ish) family to join us for a family game of football in Branson. It started off with kicking field goals...and I can't remember how far they kicked..but I was impressed:)

And of course since I actually played in the game I was not able to take pictures...

After the game we quickly drove back to our Condo and ate a delicious Thanksgiving meal!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And of course our absolute highlight of the trip was spending time with the Wissmann's and going to their show!!

Thank you Wissmann's for letting us steal you away for the weekend (sort of). We had a wonderful time!!

Random: )

Stephen, the baby of the family:)

A while ago Ellie sent me this picture she took at Father/Son baseball. And it is so cute I just had to post it!

And speaking of Ellie...she is coming home SOON!! Miss you Ellie, and can't wait to see you again *smile*

She just takes my breath away...

Our precious little...

A little late...

We actually managed to have our traditional "birthday breakfast" for Joe this year!

~Joe and Rachel~

Opening presents... (we scored big this year *smile*)

I love our tradition of Dairy Queen cakes!! We had finally filled our little 'punch card' so this one was practically free!

The cake this year proved to be an interesting affair...(just ask Esther and Abby)

Normally you set the cake out 15 min. before you intend to serve it that way it is soft enough to cut/eat. But we were in such a hurry to eat it...and with it being game day, totally forgot to take it out to thaw. So...the long and short of it...some ended up microwaving their piece so as not to damage their teeth:)

"Live not as a man whose reward is in this life.

Live as a man whose greatest reward is the pleasure of God."

-Mom

Announcing the new arrival of...

Yelena Joy Beasley

Isn't she sweet?

She is a 6.6lb bundle of sweetness, born at 9:06:)

Mama and baby are doing wonderful!!

Elise was gone for the actual birth but came home to see her new little sister!!

All through out the day Elise would wander over to the "nice baby" and smile, laugh and 'pet' the baby then walk away again:) It was so very cute!

The sweet little sweet pickle:)

Ah, what joy a new baby brings!

Happy Birthday!!!

Happy Birthday Daddy!!

Thank you for being an amazing example of a man who has "acted justly, loved mercy and has walked in humility before God."

I could not have asked for a better father!!

~I love you Daddy~

"And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others."

2 Tim. 2:2

Goodbyes are hard!

It was so hard to see my brother walk through the door and know that I wouldn't see him for about a month...and then only on short visits!

But I do know that he is safe with the One who is in control! And I am trusting that He will work ALL things for good for those who love Him!

The last week was full of;

Treasuring sweet moments...

Spending time with good friends...

...and roomates

...and family...

I love you Josh, and I am going to miss you like CRAZY:)

Just remember to "make it count."

A HUGE thank you for all of you who are/have been praying! Our family and myself personally have felt them!!

Kitchen makeover!

For Mom and Dad's 26th Anniversary they decided to take a week long trip to VA. With Dad being George Washington in "Let Freedom Sing" he decided that that would be the perfect time to visit his gorgeous estate, Mt. Vernon, and the other historical monuments the DC area (hopefully more pictures on that soon).

The dream of painting the kitchen had been in the back of Mom's mind, for quite sometime...and so while they were gone, and with the help of many friends, we made that dream a reality! And we had SO much fun while doing it!

The first step was decided what we were going to do to "transform" our kitchen. We knew that Mom had been wanting to paint it red, so that was a start, but she hadn't said a whole lot moret...so we called up our favorite decorator (who happened to be skilled in just about every area that we needed: ) Abby, to help us!!! A whole day spent shopping...and we were ready to get started!!

We never knew quite how dirty the walls were, until we began to clean them...

We had lots of willing helpers...right John?

The painting process was so rewarding to watch! We have such wonderful friends that will come over and help! Luke N. came over and painted the red and cut in the white for us! He is a very skilled painter when it comes to red...after painting his grandma's bathroom in 7 coats of red, he found out the secret and did our red in only 2 coats!! He was so fast that we hardly got any pictures of him..but I did manage to find this one! Thank you, Luke!

Not sure how Noah U. fits into this...not sure why he was over...lol...but he did a very little bit of corner work...(did you, or were you just holding the brush while you paid someone to take your picture?)

Josh heard we were painting and came right over...well...not exactly, but we needed someone tall and he just happened to be in the right place at the right time! *smile*

While we were busy painting Abby and Anna N. were busy arranging the pictures that were to go on the big red wall!! And after a little arm twisting we got Caleb to screw in the pictures for us! He did a marvelous job!

Picture hanging is always a precarious job..."right, now left...no, too far now...up a little,...down just a bit, now to the right again." It was a happy thing when they were all hung and looking pretty!

Finally it was all done!! The "finished pictures" didn't turn out very well so feel free to come on over and see it for yourself!

Mom's reaction was just what we had hoped for! A lot of pleasant screams irrupted when she entered the kitchen!

A HUGE thank you for all of you who helped!!!