DJ and Yvette’s Blog!

Hello friends and family!

Well, here it is.  Our first holiday letter as The Eshelmans!

2009 has been an interesting year, for sure.  And ‘interesting’ is the understatement of this decade!

2009 started for us just returning from our last Christmas with DJ’s grandmother, Eileen Larson.  While difficult to face at times, it was great to be with DJ’s wonderful family in a large family reunion.
Never one to let a gathering like that go uninteresting, just before leaving DJ put a promise ring on Yvette’s finger!

January passed in a breeze, with worries about the policies of the soon-to-be President dominating DJ’s thoughts (and Facebook account).
Soon more practical distractions would arise as one Sunday in our church, DJ felt a strong leading to attend what he thought was going to be a one-night event- Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University (which is actually a very comprehensive multi-week course).

After attending the first week, DJ was overwhelmed with conviction and asked Yvette to join him.  She did so and thru taking the course together, we realized that we were ready for the next big step.

DJ asked Yvette to marry him on March 21st, 2009… and she said yes!  Well, eventually.  She was apparently so happy she forgot to say ‘yes’ and just kissed him instead, but he got the official ‘yes’ eventually!

So began a whirlwind of real change in our lives!
The spring did have a bit of hardship, as DJ’s last remaining grandparent, Eileen, went to her Heavenly Home- but we were very blessed to see Eileen smile very large- fixated without any words on Yvette’s wonderful eyes before she passed along.  She obviously liked Yvette very much and approved, which meant a lot.  It’s a moment DJ will likely never forget.

As for the wedding and it’s planning, there’s no doubt about it- Financial Peace changed a lot of things about how we approached the wedding, and thanks to some generosity from our families, we were able to pay for the entire wedding on a budget of about $7,000 in cash.  Absolutely no credit was used for the event, which for DJ… was a big thing!
(and it’s continued- in the first four months of our marriage we’ve paid down almost $6,000 of debt!)
Today we live on a comfortable budget and believe our life to be much happier because we are communicating well about the #1 thing that families struggle and fight over… money.

Of course, we have made sacrifices- we currently live in a very small apartment (with a very small rent!) and will be waiting to have kids until the shackles of debt are no longer around us (currently estimating 1-2 years but we’ll see how God works on that one)!

After the wonderful wedding on August 29th here in Fort Collins, which we were blessed with so many of you attending, we went on a short honeymoon to Estes Park- where we rented a cabin and played for a few days.  The rest of the honeymoon will follow over Christmas in Glenwood Springs!
Soon after, we had the pleasure of attending DJ’s cousin Meg’s wedding (a very funny story that involves getting married three times in one summer!  Meg is a missionary in Hungary and married there as well as here…  long story!).  DJ actually DJ’d the wedding as well, which was interesting because the wedding was in Indiana!

Sadly, the only other travel we’ve done this year has been to Yvette’s uncle Steven’s funeral in Houston on December 14th.  He was a wonderful man and will be missed by us both greatly.  The trip did give DJ the opportunity to finally meet the rest of Yvette’s extended family, which was quite positive.  Fortunately DJ did get to spend a little bit of time getting to know Steven before he passed, which we’re thankful for.

Yvette and DJ were surprised to have two sets of siblings move here to Fort Collins- DJ’s sister Star and family, and Yvette’s sister Nikki and family!  That has been wonderful to say the least!

In summary, we are quite happy and content.

No, those words are not quite right…  let us say we are extremely blessed.

God has blessed us beyond what anyone should expect this year.  Not only with our love and marriage, but with steady paychecks, a somewhat loving cat and wonderful families and friends that care for us.  In short, more than could be expected in our difficult times.  We both feel that we are headed in a very good direction and absolutely love being in love with each other!

Merry Christmas to all!