Sunday, December 14, 2014

Greetings from Sarah (Angell) Monaghan


Greetings to all! 

We (Sarah and Adam) continue to reside in Wichita, KS. We are so thankful to be parents to two little ones, Eliana Beth (2) and Seth Michael (1). We love the Kansas prairies, the big open sky, our community and neighbors, our friends and our work. Adam works as a pastor for the Friends church and does event planning and mission coordinating. His job takes him to all four corners of the earth on a regular basis! Sarah is learning many new skills - like how to get a car seat out of the car without the Kansas wind blowing the door into the next car and how to put two children in the car without one running away! When there is time left over, she loves to design with Adobe and help with the communication side of the Friends church. 

Mostly, we are very thankful for the gift of God-with-us, never leaving us, never forsaking us. We have much to learn, many dreams to actualize, but we are reminded that amidst all of the occupations of life, we desire to have the faith of a child and dwell in the love of God and live out of his love. Pray for us that we will not run the race of our life in vain, but that we would always press onward and seek wholeheartedly the Kingdom of God first. 

We are so blessed to know all of you that will read this. You have each touched our lives in beautiful ways and we do not underestimate the gift of being a part of community with you. We truly thank God for you when you come to mind.

Saturday, December 13, 2014

Greetings from Isaac Angell


"For I the Lord thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee." Isaiah 41:13

In the midst of a busy work day, my thoughts often turn to a longing for time with my girls. Every so often I will call Allie and ask, "What are you up to? Do you and the girls want to come on a farm call with me?" When the answer is "Yes!" not only is my heart elated, but I know I will have three of the best travel companions anyone could ask for!

On a particular occasion, when we were just a family of three, driving down the salted roads in the midst of a barren and frigid winter landscape, Allie and I were holding hands, chatting about the upcoming birth of Olivia. With a brief pause, Allie turned around to Isabella, who was sitting in her car seat surrounded by medicine bottles and medical equipment in the back passenger seat of our SUV vet vehicle, and asked her what she was looking forward to most about having a little sister. Without missing a beat, she pipes up in her 2 year old voice, "I want to hold Baby Sister's hand in the car!"

It is in this context that our lives have been lived this past year. It has been a year of blessings and new beginnings. In March, a dream of ours was fulfilled to start our own family business: Bentley Veterinary Practice PLLC. We have been blessed to have a great team in this new venture. Allie is the business manager, but better yet she is my business buddy. Each Sunday evening, we look forward to our “business meetings.” We have two wonderful secretaries. Dr. Hart and I provide the veterinary care.

On May 14th, holding Allie’s hand, we welcomed Olivia Faith into this world. Isabella immediately took Olivia under her loving care. They are true friends, routinely playing with much laughter and smiles.

On our days off, you can usually find us working with our cattle herd. Isabella loves rounding up the cattle, and will often run alongside Papa holding his hand as they corral the cattle. In August, our family’s farming highlight was winning Grand Champion with our Ayrshire cow at the Dutchess County Fair.

Just recently, we were blessed to be able to buy a vet truck with an extended cab allowing Isabella’s dream to come true. Now when the vet calls come in, Mama and Papa are holding hands in the front and Isabella and “Baby Sister” are looking on in the back holding hands!

This is the beauty and wonder of Christmas, Jesus came to us, extending his hand, desirous for us to put our hand in His.

Friday, December 12, 2014

Greetings from Nate Angell

There is a tradition in the Angell family to name cows after the women who marry into the family. This photo was taken on our land with Jacob's Jersey calf named Meghan!

We are living in Irvington, NY, a small river town in Westchester County north of the city. Nate continues to enjoy his job at Black & Veatch in engineering consulting for energy projects. Meghan left her job at the doctor’s office to be a homemaker and loves being able to keep a home, volunteer at a local farm giving tours to school kids, and get involved with the Friday morning ladies group at Bentley Farm. On Valentine’s Day 2014, we bought a parcel of land on the original Bentley farm from our cousin Phebe. Over the course of the late summer and fall, we have been slowly cutting down locust trees from two overgrown groves on our property and cutting them into fence posts and firewood. We hope to have the fence up by next summer and graze livestock on our land. One day, we hope to build a house there too. In November, a dream of Nate’s came true in running the New York City marathon with Adam. We celebrated our first year wedding anniversary in September and look forward to many more celebrations in the years to come! We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Blessings!

Thursday, December 11, 2014

Greetings from Luke Angell



Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from Rochester, New York!

We have really enjoyed our first year of marriage together and celebrated our first year anniversary in Cape Cod. We both continue to enjoy working at the University of Rochester Medical Center. Luke is a pediatric nurse and Abby is a secretary. Luke continues to pursue his pediatric nurse practitioner degree with an anticipated graduation date of May 2015. As the new year is dawning we are reminded of the blessings that this last year has brought. 


This advent season we are reminded of the gift of life that comes with each new day and season of life. We are excited to announce that we will be expecting our first baby in June! Our hearts are overwhelmed with joy and excitement as we anticipate being parents. As we celebrate this new gift of life, we are reminded of the life that this Christmas season is all about: Jesus Christ. May you know his love this Christmas season. 

Wednesday, December 10, 2014

Greetings from Hannah (Angell) Hunt


The highlight of the Hunt's year was welcoming Asa James into the family on March 3rd. Asa has brought much joy and laughter to the home with his love for life and ear to ear smile. When Eric and Hannah are not playing with Asa, they have been renovating their 1934 home that they bought this spring in Columbus, In. They continue to be grateful for their church and Eric's employment with Cummins. They are looking forward to welcoming another new little life into their growing home in June of next year! 

Tuesday, December 09, 2014

Greetings from Jacob Angell


Merry Christmas! As I reflect over the last year, I am truly struck by how blessed I am.

I am on my way to completing my senior year at the Dyson School at Cornell University. The experiences I had at Cornell are ones that I will never forget, and I hope prepare me well for my future endeavors. This is an exciting time of life, and it will be fun to see what the future holds.

The experiences I have had this year have been great. I was able to go to Italy, Aspen, Colorado, for a ski trip, and I was able to spend my summer in Wichita, KS. Not only was I able to spend my summer with my sister Sarah and family, but I was able to fulfill one of my dreams and that was to work for Cargill. For those that don't know, Cargill is the largest privately owned company in the world, and I had the privilege of working with the marketing and executive teams of their beef division in their corporate office. Cargill processes close to 8 million cows per year to supply the global beef demand. I very much enjoyed seeing the macro view of the agriculture industry. I was really amazed by how many men and women that work day in and day out to provide food for the world population. We often take their hard work for granted.

I have also very much enjoyed being an uncle and being a part of all the little blessings of nieces and nephews. It is always exciting to be around young children and watch them grow. You definitely wish that they didn't grow up so fast!

 I wish each and everyone of you a blessed New Year and a very Merry Christmas!

Monday, December 08, 2014

Greetings from Rebecca Angell


As I reflect on this past year I can't help but feel blessed. God has provided me new experiences, new friends, and an abundance of gifts.

This spring break I was able to go on my first mission trip where I traveled with different Friends' churches to Mexico. I was thankful to have that opportunity and to get to know the loving and hospitable people of Mexico. We went with the desire to bless them, but I left feeling I had received the blessing from them!

This summer, I enjoyed working for Children's Medical Group. I was able to serve many Hudson Valley families with pediatric care and I enjoyed building relationships with staff and patients. I also had the opportunity to work at Bentley's Veterinary Practice which provided for me many unique opportunities to further my secretarial and clinical skills. This August I moved to Wichita, Kansas to live with Sarah's family as I attend nursing school at Wichita State University as a Junior. I have loved getting to know Eliana and Seth better and to form relationships with them as I love on them! I am so grateful for each day of breath God has given to me and I hope to continue to treasure all of life's moments both big and small. 

Merry Christmas to you as we celebrate God's greatest gift of all: his son. 

Sunday, December 07, 2014

Greetings from Caleb Angell


Merry Christmas to all! I am currently finishing up my sophomore year at Dutchess Community College. I have become very involved with the Student Government Association at DCC and am enjoying the college experience. In the spring of this year I played a season of baseball with Upton Lake Christian School. I also joined Rebecca on the missions trip to Mexico, and was blessed by that experience. Over the summer I worked on Bentley Farm, landscaping and tending to other projects as they arose. Recently, I have worked at Malafy's Meat Processing in Red Hook, and have blessed by the friendship of many people God has placed into my life. I wish you all a very merry holiday season. 

Warm regards!

Friday, December 05, 2014

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