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

A sneak peak:)

I am SO looking forward to seeing the "real" pictures...I think we get to see some tonight! The Grady's sent these couple pictures to me...so they will have to keep you all satisfied till later! You can go to the Grady's blog Here to view more!

Walking down the aisle...

Anna & Anna *smile* (Love you, Nan)

~Joe and Rachel~

Sorry...none of the bride...but she was Stunning!! *smile*

A visit long overdue

It was such a pleasure to be able to spend an evening with my mom's cousin, Jeff, his mother (and Grandma Ann's twin) Aunt Paula, along with Robin and her daughter Seriah (sp?) I can never quite figure out how we are related to Robin...but she is such fun to be with that it doesn't really matter all that much:)

Jeff is the one that first introduced us to Settler's of Catan..or did we first show him?...as you can see I am a little bit fuzzy on the details, but I do know that Jeff loves Settlers and we love to play it with him. Anyway, Robin came into town and we had had such fun with her..I think 5 years ago...that Jeff thought we could teach her how to play Settlers and have fun at the same time. We agreed to give it a try...and I think succeeded pretty well *smile* She caught on very quickly, and there was enough chili and ice cream to go around, that it all worked out quite nicely!

It also gave Aunt Paula a chance to see Grandma.

Grandma wasn't wearing her glasses, otherwise they still look very much alike!

Seriah was a little sweetie! She played happily with puzzles by herself for a while but soon required someone else to entertain her. The only person not playing a game was Stephen, so he was elected for the job. He told me later as I was tucking him in bed "Anna, I really didn't want to play with her...but I did it anyway...because you wanted me to." I love that little kid *smile*

I do not think any of them read my blog, but if you do...Thank you for coming over!

Rehearsal Dinner prep...

Whew...I am so behind on blogging. But life has been pretty busy:)

We were so grateful that Mrs. Larsen and Alatheia came over and helped us make 60lbs worth of Hungarian Meatballs. If you happened to be at the rehearsal you could have tasted their yumminess!

Working with Alatheia always make the work seem less workish and more fun!!

(love you Alatheia)

Thanks a bunch you two!

Something to think about

God has really been teaching me about trust this year (maybe I will get a post together about that), and he gave me this little quote;

"Perfect trust knows no fear"

just think about that for a little while...

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!!

Silver Dollar City

I was SO looking forward to our trip to Branson to see the Wissmanns, and I was especially looking forward to Silver Dollar City! I have always had a fascination with Roller Coasters. It is one of the closest ways to fly:) And Silver Dollar City has some good ones:)

Smiles just before the "Powderkeg"

Screams...just after it shot us out!!

It was so fun to be able to see Dan...we didn't get to do a lot of talking due to the cute girl walking beside him, but it was great getting to spend time with him!

The Barn swing was one of my favorites! It was just like a giant swing that swung you up above the trees! Another ride that gives a flying sensation:)

Everybody SCREAM! *smile*

::Smiles::

::Making taffy::

The Cherry's came down to Branson just as we were leaving...but we did mange to spend the day with them at SDC! And we even convinced Stephanie and Valerie to ride the Wildfire with us! And believe me that was an accomplishment!

Branson is known for it's amazing Christmas lights! Esther told me the other day that they bring in a whole Semi-truck full of lights and that if you lined them up end-to-end they would go to St. Louis and than back again. (that is a lot of lights)

Merry Christmas!!

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*

My favorite joke *smile*

What did one snowman say to another snowman?

"Do you smell carrots?"

She just takes my breath away...

Good News Club report

Just a quick update on Good News Club!

Some prayer requests would be;

- More children--we have about 4-6 kids come every week

- That God would show us how to speak the messages in a way that the kids would understand

- The children would not just hear, but do the things we teach about!

- That God would be glorified through this club!

The school was doing a food drive for a couple weeks and we saw this on the table. We couldn't figure it our for a while...so we thought we would take a picture of it and see if you could:) It is WAY easier in a picture then real life though *smile*

Thank you for praying!

Elise...

Our precious little...

Family visit!

Oh the wonder of a little baby!

"A baby will make love stronger, days shorter, nights longer,bankroll smaller,

home happier,clothes shabbier,the past forgotten, and the future worth living for."

-- Anonymous

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

Oh the joys of fall:)

Combine a trampoline + a bunch of leaves from our yard and get....

...hours and hours of fun, LOTS of energy burned and a good lymph system workout:)

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!