December 22nd

I (Becky) came home from the Minnesota Minneapolis Mission 4 years ago on December 22nd. I can't believe that I have been home for 4 years now. While serving as a full time missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, I learned so much about myself and the gospel. Wow, how time flies, I can hardly believe that it's been 4 years. What a great experience, I will never forget all the wonderful people that I associated with in good ol' Minnesota.

Christmas Letter 2008

This is Stewart and my Christmas letter for the year, I thought I would post it for those who did not get it in the mail. If you would like to be on our Christmas card mailing list please send us an email with your address and we will be sure to get one out to you starting next year. I promise our neglect for not sending you a Christmas card is nothing personal, just a lack of address. Our email addy is stewartandbeckynorth@yahoo.com.

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE & A HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Dear Family and Friends,

Wow, has it really been a year? Really where did 2008 go? It seems like it was just yesterday that we welcomed in the New Year. Well besides being in shock that it’s time to write this letter once again, Stewart and I are doing fantastic! Life is wonderful and we have been richly blessed.

Last year around this time I (Becky) was on the lookout for a new job. I am happy to report that I found that job shortly thereafter. I still work at ISU’s Holt Arena when they need extra help selling tickets for different events. My new job however is working as a receptionist in the Academic Advising Center for Idaho State University. It is a great job, Stewart and I get good health insurance and because I work for the university Stewart gets to go to school for $5.00 a credit, which is a huge financial lifesaver. We lucked out when I got this job as it has helped us meet our needs.

Stewart is still going to school here at ISU. He will graduate May 9, 2009. Just one more semester to go! He has been extra busy this past year preparing to pursue his dream of becoming a D.O. Doctor (Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine). In May he took the MCAT, his score was a 28, which is competitive for D.O. schools. He then met with the Pre- Health committee for an interview, the reason being he needed a letter of recommendation from them to apply to med schools. That interview was not as helpful as we had hoped; many of the committee member’s slammed Stewart with questions that targeted his personal beliefs associated with ethics. It surprised Stewart that the very group whose job is suppose to help him succeed would try to drag him down for his standards/beliefs. Anyway, with the interviews behind him Stewart focused his spare time on shadowing a D.O. Doctor here in Pocatello, as well as volunteering his time at the Hospital in the E.R.

We ended up applying to four different Medical schools: 1) A.T. Stills, Kirksville Missouri, 2) West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine, Lewisburg West Virginia, 3) School of Osteopathic Medicine (A.T. Stills), Mesa Arizona and 4) Midwestern University College of Medicine, Glendale Arizona. All schools invited us to do secondary applications but we decided to only reply to our two top schools (A.T. Stills, Missouri and West Virginia). Stewart was asked to fly out and interview with both of those schools, lucky for us… and our pocket book, both interviews were in the same week. So on September 26th Stewart took off and was gone for a whole week, it was the first week since we have been married to spend apart… needless to say, it was a long week. Both interviews went well, and we were accepted at the school in West Virginia and put on the alternate list for the school in Missouri. Because of time restraints, we have decided to forgo waiting on Missouri and accept in West Virginia. We will move to West Virginia come July or August of 2009.

Over the past year Stewart and I have had the privilege of serving in a singles ward. If you recall shortly after we were married Stewart was called to serve as the second counselor in his old singles ward bishopric. We loved being able to learn from the great men and women that made up that ward. Sadly, the bishopric was recently reorganized, resulting in us going back to our home ward. We now are serving as ward missionaries in our university married student ward. Even though we both miss the singles ward we are enjoying our new calling and the opportunity to serve together. It has been a great learning experience thus far.

This past summer we had fun going to two family reunions. It was fun to see many of our family members there and to learn what they have been up to. On a sad note my Grandmother, Lucille Willard passed away October 17, 2008. She was a great example to all who knew her and has been greatly missed. On another note, Stewart and I decided it was time to sell one of our cars since we needed the extra funds to pay to hold Stewart’s seat in med school. We sold our Toyota Corolla, making us officially a one car family. The car actually sold recently, so currently we are not sure how having one car is going to work with our schedules, but we will be just fine. This may sound corny to some, but I am really going to miss “Miles”, he was an excellent car and gave us no grief; I hope the new owner will appreciate him as much as we did.

Well, In conclusion, Stewart and I are doing well. We have been richly blessed and have felt the influence of our Father in Heaven guide us along. We are grateful to Him for his loving arms that have been extended to us. We know that without this gospel in our lives we would not be the people we are today. Life together gets better and better day by day! God bless you and your family this coming year.

Loves, Stewart and Becky North

PRT Tour of Lights

Last night, Stewart volunteered to drive the city bus for the holiday light tour. PRT sells tickets for anyone who wants to ride the bus around Pocatello to look at all the Christmas lights. When Stew and I were first dating he took me on a date to see the lights and we have been doing this since… I guess we could say it is an unplanned family tradition (this was our last year, since next year we will be in West Virginia). Anyhow, last night I took Wendy and her friend Diamond along for the fun. Wendy is a girl that I go and hang out with once a week; I have been doing this for three years now it has been both challenging and fun. Ok back to the “Tour of Lights”… Stewart was privileged to drive the “Red Trolly”, which made Wendy ecstatic! I did not take any pictures of the lights… I know I should have, but I didn’t. I did however get some fun pictures of my man on the job, and some with Wendy and Diamond. Hope your holiday season has been fantastic thus far. MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Stewart

Stew and Beck

Diamond and Wendy

Wendy Stewart and Diamond

FHE

Last Monday we had a new family in our ward, the Noordas, come over for Family Home Evening (FHE). After a short lesson, we decorated Ginger Bread Houses! We actually made them out of Graham Crackers, but none the less it was a fun activity. I like to say it was a spouse team building exercise; we definately had to give and take with each other’s ideas. Anyway here are our finished products,

I think they turned out great! TA DAH!
Stewart and I posing with our house


Close up view of our creation

Both of our creations

MaKall, Marcus, Stewart, and Becky

Oh Christmas Tree

Have I ever told you how AMAZING my older sister Katie is? Well she is AMAZING, and I am super lucky to have such a neat” Big Sis”! For Christmas this year Katie had our name (we draw a names in my family and get only that person a gift… it cuts back on expense, and still lets us share the Christmas spirit) she decided to get Stewart and I a beautiful Christmas tree. The best part about it was…. WE GOT TO OPEN IT EARLY!!! So for the first Monday in December we set up our new tree and decorated it. You could definately tell that Katie put a lot of thought into this gift, as she had my mom go thru all her Christmas tree ornaments and find all the ones with my name on them, so she could give them to me (as a family tradition growing up my mother would give each of my siblings a new tree ornament). It was fun for me to reminisce Christmas’s past and tell Stewart about the Significance of the ornaments. Thanks to Katie for a wonderful Christmas gift, it was a thoughtful and a fun gift! Enjoy the pictures :)

This was our tree last year, cute and easy clean up

This is our new tree in all its glory with the lights off

And this is the tree with the lights on, BEAUTIFUL!!!

Love

Yesterday I was having a semi-hard day, not because work was a horrible experience like it sometimes is and not because anything in particular was wrong, I just felt blah… that is the best way to express myself. Anyway Stewart made note of this, when I came home from work he wrapped me in his arms and held me close for awhile while. It was a very sweet and sensitive thing for him to do, exactly what I needed. So on that note I want the whole world to know that I LOVE MY HUSBAND! Stewart is the best thing that could ever have happened to me, I am truly blessed to have him in my life. Love it's a beautiful thing.

The End