New Year, New...everything??

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all!

This year the Christmas season got a little crazy (when doesn't it?) and I was caught off guard when it came time to send Christmas cards and write our New Year's letter so basically, if you live close enough for me to hand you a Christmas card personally then you're covered but for the rest of you this blog post is for you!

Here's an update and overview from 2011!

Isaiah 41:10
So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

I guess you could say this was our "life verse" for this year in reference to the scripture.

 We started out this year facing a difficult and uncertain time in our lives. Among the rejoicing of our engagement and the excitement of planning our upcoming wedding Shaun and I began this year recovering the loss of a loved one and fearful of what lay ahead in regards to my dads health.

 In January my dad had open heart surgery to replace a valve in his heart and just a little over a month later had surgery again to remove prostate cancer from his body. This certainly wasn't the start our family wanted for 2011, but it was exactly what God had planned. We questioned, we cried and we lived by faith every day (which i'm certain is WHY God had this planned) as we heard doctors report after doctors report. Looking back a year later I guess you can say our family was living proof of Isaiah 41:10! God upheld us in the most difficult circumstances and brought friends into our lives whose encouragement and love truly help us through such a trying period of time. I am thankful today, and give God ALL the praise to be able to say that my dad is back to his normal self (as normal as he ever was, lol) playing basketball three days a week and running around mowing lawns and working himself to the bone and completely cancer FREE! Praise Jesus!

As we transitioned from this difficult season we were blessed (again, God knew just what He was doing and proved that HIS timing is perfect) to enter a time of celebration in our lives! Wedding festivities overtook what seemed like every minute of everyday and lead to one huge celebration of love as Shaun and I were married April 23rd! We praise God for the work He did in our lives to bring us to this point!

Shortly after the wedding Shaun had to start a new job and leave his Long John Silver's family behind as he was now related to his BOSS! He started a new job working part time at Fish 'n Chix in Umatilla and is loving every minute of it! We praise God for meeting our needs better than we could have expected! Not only is his new boss a Christian, but he strives to run his business as a ministry...the perfect job for Shaun! Of course, we are both still enjoying our teenagers at church where Shaun serves as Youth Pastor! Between these two jobs he stays one busy boy! Finally, in May of 2011 we were able to see God fulfill another one of His plans as Shaun graduated from the Baptist College of Florida with a degree in ministry!

To stay busy over the summer I took on teaching 3rd grade reading in summer school! What an adventure that was and it led into an exciting start to a new school year! God has certainly blessed me with a job that I love and with friends who I so enjoy working with!

This brings us to the next exciting event our family celebrated this year! (Remember what I said about God's timing being perfect?! He certainly gave us reason to celebrate after the trials of this year!) In October my baby brother (not so much a baby anymore) proposed to his girlfriend of several years, Amber Schultz! We are SO excited to be adding another member to our family and she is such a gift from God! They will be getting married in August of 2012!

Finally, as I reflect on the end of 2011 I have a couple of final stories to share with you. Shaun and I decided (after MUCH prayer and waiting) that we felt it was time to start trying to have a baby! I'll spare you with all the boring details and doctors reports, but the end result is this: the doctors have decided that I have a major thyroid issue. It was something I was born with and can do little to nothing about, but nonetheless it is keeping us from being able to get pregnant. After weeks of doctors visits I FINALLY, in December, got the right prescription to hopefully get this crazy thyroid under control so that maybe, hopefully, Lord-willing, one day soon we will be able to get pregnant. Until then we are trusting God and praying daily for our hope-to-be, soon-to-be, one-day-will-be baby Beach's!

I think that sums up the highlights (and low lights) of 2011! We were blessed to celebrate the holidays with both of our families (except our family that is currently stationed in Japan; Nikki, Dave and Alysia) and enjoyed spending quality time with all of them! God has blessed us with the greatest families, friends, church family and work families around! We love you all!

It's with this final thought that I will leave you...

Let's make 2012 a year of moving forward and not looking back; a year of celebrating our blessings in life; a year of being thankful, even for the little things; and most importantly a year of living faithfully sold-out to and for our Creator! May God be glorified in 2012!

Love,
The Beach's