It's A Girl!!!

* 2nd edit* I tried to fix the video - please let me know if it still isn't working!!

My brother and his wife have had their baby!! Many congratulations to Jedidiah and Rachel and all the Vande Hei's and Beeman's!!! We are all thrilled that this little girl is here!!

Kathryn Esther Beeman

Wednesday October 24th, 2007

3:34 pm * 7 lbs. 8 oz * 22 inches

Kathryn is SO beautiful and precious! Patrick loves the "bebe" as he calls her! He said that often while visiting her, and loved to touch her and kiss her!

My dear brother and sister in law did a wonderful job, and I thank God for answering our prayers and bringing baby Kathryn into the world safely and healthy, and for giving Rachel strength and keeping her safe as well.

As to the votes we made when Rachel was in labor:

Grandmerry Beeman and I voted girl :)

I was the closest in guessing the time, although I was far off! I voted 2:00 am on the morning of the 24th.

Grandmerry was closest to guessing the weight. She guessed 7 lbs. 3 oz. Poppie was close behind with 7 lbs. 14 1/2 oz.

Patrick voted 22 inches :) which was absolutely correct. That's how long he was too!

I'm really sad that I can't upload any pictures here. I've hit my limit until I purchase more space. I'm uploading some to facebook though, so let me know if you'd like me to send you a link!

Baby Bee and Various Parenting Musings....

Tonight we are awaiting the arrival of the newest Beeman! Rachel is in labor and we are all so excited, and praying for her, the baby and Jedidiah!!
We can hardly wait, and I'm sure J&R feel the same way!
We five have cast our votes as to when the baby shall arrive etc. etc. - I'll let you know who comes the closest after the wonderful event occurs! :)

Recovery has been going pretty well. It's hard to not be able to lift Patrick, and it's hard to have our life "upset" out of it's normal routine, but it's so worth it, as James reminds me when I fret.

I was reminded today of how much my little son needs a routine - among other things. From the time he was itty bitty he was easily over-stimulated. He needed lots of sleep, yet sometimes fought it, thus making himself and his parents rather miserable.
With the surgery has come the need for people to be over here helping me since I can't lift P. With that has come a change of routine. and more stimulation. Poor little Patrick is having a hard time with the changes and excitement. He is also testing the waters. Fun times indeed. But we shall make it. And we are ever grateful for the help of those willing to come spend the day here with me lifting Patrick etc. etc.!

Patrick's personality continues to bloom - and as it does, I can look back and think -hey! he used to make that look when he was "little!" For quite awhile now he has had very definite opinions of how he wants things to go. Things of play etc. etc. - he has planned out just how he wants them to go - and he gets rather upset if anyone suggest something different!

It's amazing how different it is to have a child of your own vs. just babysitting. It's so true that love covers a multitude of sins.
It's a really neat thing to be able to compare our imperfect but oh so strong love for our children, no matter what they do, to the perfect and oh so much stronger love that God has for us. It's a great hope when we feel like surely God couldn't love us after this or that thing that we've done. I mean, last night my son threw a terrible terrible fit - totally out of control awful behaviour. Yet that night my heart was full of love for him. To think that God feels like that (and so much more/better) towards us! It's encouraging!!!

The 21st marked the one year anniversary of finding out I was pregnant with Jamie. So many milestones to pass after that loss. Still some more coming up in November, too. Almost a year since I've been pregnant. That's the longest I've gone since getting married. It was 8 months until there was Patrick, then about 9 months before there was Jamie.

Well, James was up until about 3:30 am - then up around 6:30, so he is already in bed. Perhaps I shall head that direction here soon, since I will hopefully be making a trip to visit the new baby tonight!

Have a wonderful evening! Hopefully soon there will be a big "IT's a GIRL or BOY" posty!!!

Rachel's Baby Shower!

Of course we have nick-named the baby "Baby Bee" :)

Trying to figure out how many jelly beans were in the baby bottle!

Grandmerry Beeman! Poppie Beeman! Aunt Hope with The Mommy-to-be! Rachel participates in the Busy Mommy relay race!
Others waiting their turn :)
The lovely Mother
Mrs. Landry giving a devotional
The guests...
Opening gifts!

Can't wait for the precious baby to arrive!

A Successful Surprise!

I planned a small surprise party for James' 30th birthday, and actually manged to really surprise him! I was so glad about that! :)

I could not of done it without the help of my dear family though! My brother and sister in law reserved a pavilion at a park near their house-and opened up their home, too! They helped with preparation and grilling the food,clean up - all kinds of things!

My mom and mother in law helped out with food-buying and cooking, decorating, clean up etc. etc. - and my mom babysat so I could do errands.

I'm very grateful to God too, for taking the rain away for the party and sending out the sun! :)

It was so fun to surprise James, and the party was lots of fun-despite Patrick being so over tired and rather a big grouch! :)

It was James' first surprise party-I can hardly believe we managed to surprise him! It was a little tricky, but it worked out. I loved seeing his face when he started to realize what was happening! (after we arrived at the park, and he saw some family) Such a fun time! :):):)

Our Busy Beginning of July - An Important Birthday for James!

Have we ever been busy! It all started last Friday, when we decided at the last minute to make a trip to TN. We left around 8:30 and arrived around 6:30 the next morning! We had a wonderful time visiting our dear friends the Smiths. More pictures will be posted later on Patrick's blog! :)Then arrived our 3rd anniversary on the 3rd! My parents came to stay with Patrick while James and I went back to "our" B&B in Fort Worth. We've spent every July 3rd there since our Wedding Day! We had a lovely time together. Sadly I deleted all our pictures by accident though :( - except I manged to save one--this one: Stay tuned for the story of our anniversary snake! ;)

The Next day was July 4th! We spent most of the day together while my parents had little P. (THANK YOU Grandmerry and Poppie! You did an EXCELLENT job!)

We dropped our rings off for cleaning, resizing (I went from a 8 1/4 to a 6! Yahoo!) and engraving. We wanted to get them engraved when we were married, but decided to wait. I'm SO excited that we finally did it this year! :)

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and now, today.

July 6th, 2007.

Today is my husband's birthday - and not just ANY birthday - it's his 30th!!!

HAPPY 30th BIRTHDAY, JAMES!!!

Here's just a little peek into the 30 years he has lived so far!

James was born July 6th, 1977. He wishes he could have been born on 7-7-77, but oh well! God has a perfect plan for his life, and picked the 6th for his birthdate! He was born the third child of what would become eight in the following years. He was the second boy of 4.

When he was little, he went to ACE schools, later, his family switched to homeschool, using ATIA (ATI)....

Here he is, little "Jimmy" on his 2nd birthday - 1979

Here he is with Joseph, his brother right below him. They were best-est little buds! :)L-R Jordan, Joseph, James and Dad Gallagher
James holding his baby brother, Jonathan!James and Joseph, a little older here! :)
In 1992, I met James for the first time. I was 10 and he was 15...many fun years followed, and finally in Dec 2001 (Christmas night!) we started courting!...
...and in July of 2004 we were married!!!

James loves music - specifically baroque music. He plays the violin beautifully -and loves to improvise (and is excellent at it too, I might add! ;) )

He has played with lots of groups - the Dallas Bach Society, New Trinity Baroque, Orchestra of New Spain - in lots of different places. He even played (with others) for the King and Queen of Spain! (although not in Spain! :) )

James is a wonderful husband and father! I always loved his gentleness and sweetness with me - and now I see it with our son, too! Just last night he went to check on Patrick before we went to sleep. He came out and told me how P was making these little noises - then he said "I'm going to check on him again, and pray for him...." I thought that was so sweet!

Besides being so sweet and kind, James is also very manly and strong! People wouldn't always think he is strong, but he is! VERY! and he loves sports, and is very good (and competitive!) at them! I'm looking forward to him teaching and playing sports with Patrick!

In 2006 we began to feel that a job switch might be needed. James went from music teaching and performing to learning how to be a Technical Support guy at Weirs Furniture.

He is doing a wonderful job learning something new-I'm so proud of him! Already he has passed the tests to get his A+ training!!

I'm grateful to him also, for working so hard to provide for us - and setting his dreams aside for awhile. I really hope that someday he can do more with music than he is able to right now.

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....and now he is 30! Hard to believe we've known each other for almost 15 years now! Half James' life!

I have many precious memories of your 20's, James! I look forward to the memories we will make while you are in your 30's - even though you left me behind in my 20's!

I love you, James! HAPPY 30TH!! God bless you!!!

A Visit to The Brother and Sister-in-laws!

Saturday we drove over to Bowie! We got to visit with my brother and his wife, as well as my parents and some other people!

It was really nice to get away and have some fun!

So many "different" things in this picture.....The Texas flag, pictures of Rachel's family in Wisconsin, Jedidiah's picture from Mongolia, Rachel's Muslim things and Jedidiah's Guatemala blanket !

signs of two full lives blended into one!

Patrick loved looking at everything!

Our wonderful hostess (and Esther!) fixing lunch! We were fed delicious meals!!

After awhile, we all headed to the skating rink!

The newlyweds ~ married for over 2 months now!

A jolly time was had by all! ;)

After skating we came back to the school and put Patrick to bed. After that, some of the things we enjoyed were: root beer floats, fellowship, dinner and a game of catch phrase!

It was a wonderful trip! For more photos, please visit Patrick's Blog

The Newlyweds

The Honeymooners!

Rachel and Jedidiah in Colorado during their honeymoon.

and here is their adorable first home!

We went a few days before they arrived, and tried to organize things a bit...and decorate! :)

Here's their kitchen---(they don't usually have a highchair there :) Patrick was using one that belongs to the school while we were there!)

What fun it was to decorate! We love you Jedidiah and Rachel!