One year ago we moved from Greenville to Garland. About a month prior to our move, James had switched jobs, and we felt the need to be closer to his work. He has now been at Weirs Furniture Village, in technical support, for a little over one year. God has blessed him with a good job, and many opportunities for training that will be very beneficial to him in years to come.
Leaving behind his "musical" job was a difficult thing to do, and we continue to miss those days—but it is something that he felt was the right thing to do, and now, one year later, he feels even more confident that it was the right decision.
Teaching and performing have been able to still be a small part of our lives. Two evenings a week James teaches students for a few hours—and I recently took on one student.
This fall James was able to do some playing with the Dallas Bach Society again, which we both greatly enjoyed—he the playing, and I the getting to attend! :)
James and I have enjoyed a year full of dates! Between our families and our friends the Blair's, we have found ourselves with many wonderful opportunities to go out together! We have enjoyed a variety of things, from tennis to swimming, to eating :) to trips to Wal Mart, to concerts to Christmas shopping! It has been wonderful to have so many chances to steal away together, and we are very grateful to all our babysitters!
In July, we were also able to go on a little get-away overnight for our 3rd anniversary. We returned to our honeymoon spot in Fort Worth, and enjoyed a lovely time together-minus the little snake that attempted to be part of our celebration!! That was an anniversary we will never forget!
Our little Patrick has spent his whole year growing and changing! He is now a little two year old! We find it amazing that he is two—wasn't it just yesterday he was a newborn? But time marches on!! Our two-year-old is a great delight to us. We love watching him grow, and being his parents. He is truly one of our greatest joys, this little boy of ours! We are so grateful to God for blessing us with him. We realize more and more as he grows, how much we need the Lord's wisdom to train him in the ways he should go. (Proverbs 22:6) A big part of his life right now are Choo-Choo trains. He also likes dogs. He thinks the trash truck is kind of interesting, but pretty scary, too! For some reason he calls it a "boy-da-bah" and when he hears it he starts saying that and wanting to be held. Sometimes after he is comforted, he will sit near me and whisper over and over "boy-da-bah, boy-da-bah" - He is a hoot! He also currently loves the movie "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" and requests multiple times a day to watch it, by saying "Choo Choo" or "Ba Ba. " Partial potty-training is his biggest achievement of late—hooray for having to buy less diapers!! :)
At the beginning of this year, we discovered that Patrick has some food allergies. He is very allergic to eggs and milk, with mild allergies to other things. He seems to be very sensitive to food, and we have had a challenging year trying to figure out what to feed him. He eats a very limited diet—but we are very grateful for the progress he has made so far. We hope he will outgrow some of these things and that God will heal him of his allergies! I never knew that people could have such problems with foods/medicines. It has opened up a whole new—and very difficult—world for me, not to mention poor little Paddy! But he is such a trooper—he handles his limitations really well—eating the same things each day without complaining—and even watching others eat things in front of him with little or no complaining!
This year we saw the Lord provide for us in many amazing ways. One of those ways was through my gallbladder surgery. In December of 2005, we believe that I started to have gallbladder attacks. These continued for a few months, until we had a sonogram which confirmed our suspicions. At the time we had no insurance, plus we wanted to try some natural things. The natural things helped a lot, but I continued to have some problems. In the fall of this year, things started to fit into place for surgery. At that point we still weren’t sure if we could afford it, or if I should have it, but God was at work! Our family and friends put together garage sales which raised over half of the up-front fee we needed! After that, on the exact day we had to pay the rest of the up-front fee, we received a very large sum of money in the mail. God had completely covered the up-front fees!! So on October18th I finally had my gallbladder removed!! What a happy day! After the surgery we found out something interesting. Apparently my gallbladder had been twisted—something the doctor rarely sees. I am so grateful to all our family and friends who helped us out throughout this whole experience. I am so grateful to God for His faithfulness and provision. Without Him and the generosity of our friends, I would not have had my surgery!
Less than a week after that, we were rejoicing with my brother Jedidiah, and his wife Rachel, over the birth of their precious little baby daughter, Kathryn Esther! We have LOVED having a baby in the family again—and Patrick thinks his new cousin is just the greatest thing since sliced toast! He really loves "be e-bee s!!"
That about sums up our big news of 2007. In some ways this has been a hard year. Lots of little struggles-and some big.
It has been a year of tests, and hopefully a year of growing. We know that God is faithful. We know that He takes care of his children.
We hope that it has been a good year for you, and no matter what joys or trials you have faced, that you too have seen Him prove himself faithful and good. May your Christmas be blessed as you remember why Jesus was born—born to die, so that we might be saved!
We wish you a 2008 full of His love, His joy, and His peace!! Merry Christmas!!!!
James, Hope and Patrick Gallagher
...On the icy cold morning of December 8th, at 1:58 am, A BOY was born to us!
Our little Paddy! Even at just a few days old, we could tell that he was a strong little guy, and was determined to tackle whatever was thrown his way - which he did right from the beginning! We called him a little pig, too - he had and continues to have a big appetite! 
How we loved this little baby boy!! He changed our lives, and added so much to it!
Patrick was our dream come true! Both of us had wanted a baby for years!
I loved to dress him up and take him out - he was my little dolly!
From the beginning James and Patrick have had a special relationship. James is so good with babies...and he can nearly ALWAYS get a smile or a laugh out of Patrick - they love to be silly together! 
We were so excited when he got a high chair! I remember sitting him in it for the first time, and his little legs poking straight out - too short to hang over the sides!
This was taken on the eve of his first birthday! Such a petite little fellow he was! He was taking steps at this point, but as you can see, felt safer when he had something to hold onto! :) He has never been the dare-devil type. He is cautious and sensitive. 
...and he has a great smile :) but I already said that :)
As he grew, so did the messes! :) but that's ok! Someday my house will be perfect, but I will miss the messes then....or, I will miss the little people who used to make them.
And as he grew, so did his hair - and surprised us by having some curl! What a delight!!
And then, somehow, another whole year went by. Now Patrick can open doors, feed himself, drink from a cup without a lid, use the potty, say some words, use sign language, run, pretend with his toys, make his stuffed bear from Aunt Emily eat, go potty.......he understand a whole lot, even if he can't say the words. He makes noises for cars, fire engines, dogs, monkeys and more!
Grandmerry Beeman!
Rachel participates in the Busy Mommy relay race!
Opening gifts!
