Gallagher Greetings
2005 has been such a wonderful year!!!!!!!
Before we tell you about the beginning of 2005, we have to start at the end, by announcing our biggest news of this year…..The Gallagher family is now three!! Our first child, Patrick Ghilcrist Gallagher was born at 1:58 am on Thursday December 8th. He was 2 weeks late and weighed 8 lbs. 15 1/2 oz. and was 22 inches long. After he was born, he tested positive for Group B Strep. This meant that he had to stay in the hospital for 10 days while he was treated for it. The doctors wanted to do a spinal tap, which we declined, which added another 3 days to his treatment and stay. It was a difficult situation, and especially hard to get to know our little guy under such circumstances, but God is faithful and saw us through it. Our friends and family were just wonderful, and we praise God for all that they did. The Suarez family, who we used to teach violin to graciously allowed us to live at their house, which was right down the road from the hospital in McKinney where Patrick was born. They were such an example of Christ and His love to us.
Patrick is now at home, and quite strong and healthy. He got to go to church on Christmas Day which was very special.
Now back to the beginning of 2005 :)
January 1st found us in Dallas TX. James had a concert on New Years Eve, as well as New Years day, so we spent the night in a hotel, welcoming in our first New Years together. During this year we have been able to enjoy many such “week-end get-aways.” I have really enjoyed these times together, and James always makes them so fun—taking me to restaurants and shops (which I love!) One teaching day in January, I celebrated my 23rd birthday. James made the day so special, having a game about my name that we played with the students, throwing confetti everywhere and making a huge mess in our living room!
In February my parents moved from their home around the corner from us. They are now in Lone Oak, which is about 20 min. from Greenville. We also got a new car this month—a 30 year old Toyota truck. It has lots of rust and character!
March was when we found out about our little baby on the way. We announced the news to our families on Easter Sunday. We brought bottles of sparkling grape juice, and James made a toast to “our baby that’s on it’s way.” It took a moment for everyone to get it—my mom even thought that we were announcing that James’ brother and his wife were going to have a baby!
April and May were busy as the teaching semester came to an end. James and I both taught the first semester, and greatly enjoyed it. James now teaches private lessons and group/orchestra classes in Dallas, Rockwall, Greenville, Poetry and Irving. Second semester I retired at least for awhile from teaching and accompanying. The recitals this year were a special treat, since I hadn’t heard several of the students and groups throughout the semester. I was thrilled with the work each student, as well as my husband had done. I must say that I LOVE being a music teacher’s wife!
June was a fun month, with lots of Scrabble and movie parties at my parents house. We also enjoyed a short trip to Rusk, Tx with my parents. One weekend in June we enjoyed getting to “watch” James’ four youngest siblings overnight, while his parents celebrated their 34th anniversary. The 6 of us had a lot of fun playing soccer, eating pizza, setting the tent up in the living room and more!
In July we celebrated our 1st wedding anniversary. James took me back to Lockheart Gables, the bed and breakfast where we spent the first day of our honeymoon. Our 1st year together was very sweet, and we are enjoying the almost 6 months of our second year so far. Looking back we can truly say that we are SO very blessed. We are loving being married. With each passing day the gift of each other just becomes more and more precious! Just 3 days after our anniversary, James turned 28!
The first week of August James got to teach and conduct at a friend’s String camp in Austin TX. I planned to join him later in the week, however the car died on the way there, and as it turned out I ended up staying home. My mom was out of town that same week, so my dad and I got to keep each other company, which was fun! Teaching started back the second week of August. My mom started taking Dulcimer lessons with James, and performed “O Susannah” (as well as another piece) with the Fiddle Class this year!
September was a busy month. We began Bradley childbirth classes, which lasted for 8 weeks. We really enjoyed them! It was great to learn about pregnancy and childbirth, and I really enjoyed the time with James, the teacher and the other expectant couples. I’m looking forward to having a “reunion” with them next year, so we can see each other’s babies, and exchange birth stories! On the 17th, I was given my first baby shower! It was so fun, and we were abundantly blessed by our friends and family! The 20th was an important day as well—my brother Jedidiah returned from just 1 day short of a year in Mongolia!!!
In October our quartet “The Four Seasons” got back together after quite a break, and enjoyed playing a wedding gig. It was wonderful to play together again! James’ brother Jordan moved to NYC the middle of the month. It was sad to see him move so far away, but we have enjoyed keeping in touch with text messages, phone calls and James’ latest “technology toy”— a camera phone :) James and I enjoyed a camping/hotel trip to Oklahoma. I really wanted to go camping again before the baby came. The first night we experienced some troubles, when as we were setting up (in the dark of course!) we couldn’t find the code for our lock. (the lock was holding our tent etc. in the back of the truck) James had to saw the lock off while I shined light from the digital camera and cell phone! Then around 2 am that morning we awoke to find our air mattress deflated! What an adventure! We also had some animal try to break into our ice chest that same night! We took a vacation from our vacation by spending the final night in a hotel. We ordered pizza to our room, swam in the pool and had a lovely time.
Since our baby was due on Thanksgiving, we planned all but one of our recitals for the first part of November. Jedidiah also left the first of November for Florida. He worked for about a month with FEMA, putting tarps on Hurricane houses. While he was there he got to visit with our Mom’s brother and his wife. Since our due date was Thanksgiving, we wanted to have things low key and close to home—thus our families kindly agreed to meet us at Ryan’s. We had a special time together, and made ourselves quite at home, staying at the restaurant for quite awhile.
On December 3rd James got to play a solo Biber sonata with the Dallas Bach Society! He did an amazing job, although he gave me quite a scare when he stood up to play with NO music! I didn’t know he was going to do that! He was sure that baby would decide to come on that day, but Patrick was in no hurry to get here! Patrick’s birth was an amazing adventure. We had planned for and hoped to have a home birth, however I had trouble dilating all the way, so we ended up going to the hospital for Pitocin. It was the night of the ice storm, so the drive to McKinney took longer than usual, but we finally made it. It was an amazing experience to deliver Patrick—one I hope I never forget! James was a wonderful help throughout the labor and delivery, and blessed me so much by being such a strong leader and good father and husband during Patrick’s first two weeks of life and hospital stay.
We hope that you had a wonderful year, and that 2006 is full of the mercies and blessings of the Lord. He is good!
Muchlove, James, Hope, Patrick and Solomon (the cat!)
