Merry Christmas 2024

 Merry Christmas friends!  We love and miss you all. Phew!  What a year  2024 has been for the Finch Family.  It has been a year of the highest highs and the lowest lows.

Greg is sick and tired of feeling sick and tired! Late last year, he learned he has prostate cancer. From surgery to radiation therapy, hormone therapy, a whole slew of new meds, and living away from home for a couple of months for treatment, he's ready for 2024 to be done! For all the bad this year, there was much good: Going to the Big 12 bball championship in KC with Adam, going to March Madness a week later with Jacob (so much basketball!), seeing his two daughters both happily married, sending Ben off on his mission, and squeezing in a half marathon in July! As far as the cancer goes, he's done all he can for now and we wait and hope for a better 2025!

 

Tammy has enjoyed spending time with the people she loves most.  She has spent a lot of time fussing over Greg this year.  She got to experience the eclipse with Adam and Camryn and Greg in Indiana.  She and her sister enjoyed getting away to Florida to swim with the manatees and play at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. It was a much needed respite and she felt like a kid again.  She lazed on the beach in California when visiting her brother. She enjoyed helping the girls with their wedding plans, a short trip with Ben before his mission and a beautiful adventure to Glacier with Lizzy and Andrew.  She is tired, but so grateful her life is filled with so much love.

Adam and Camryn have been working hard and going to school at Indiana University.  Adam will graduate with his master’s in data science at the end of December.   Camryn finishes up her master’s in social work in the spring.  Adam’s hard work has paid off and he will be starting a full time job in January, working as a Data Scientist for Michelin in Ft. Wayne, Indiana.  They enjoyed hosting Greg and Tammy in the spring as they all witnessed the solar eclipse.  They continue to love to sing together and are looking forward to a trip to Hong Kong with Greg, Tammy, and Jacob over Christmas break.  

Anna married Justin Culebro in May and they are living in Orem, Utah.  We are so happy to welcome Justin to the family.  He and Anna are a great fit for each other and their wedding day was so joyful!  Anna graduated last December with her degree in Anthropology.  She is now working full time as a behavioral therapist helping kids with autism.  She continues to work on an anthropological film she created with some fellow students during her undergrad.  It will hopefully be ready for release soon.  Justin is finishing up his degree in finance and will graduate next spring.  He and Anna have created a wonderful business called Messiah AI.  They use AI and other digital tools to create artwork of the Savior.  You can find some of their work on the Havenlight site and the rest in their Etsy shop.  You should check it out.  

Lizzy was married this year too!  She married Andrew Hansen in August.  They are both going to school at BYU.  Lizzy is majoring in Exercise Science and she is busy cramming in all the classes she can so she can apply to PA school next year.  She has also been taking an EMT course and will be a certified EMT soon.  Andrew is in the very busy mechanical engineering program at BYU.  He has a side business he is working on too.  He designed a new type of pond filter and is trying to get it into the hands of the right people.  He is excited for an internship he will be doing this next summer in Dallas, Texas.  Lizzy and Andrew loved their honeymoon to Mexico, and they are both enjoying married life! And we are enjoying seeing how happy Lizzy is with Andrew!

Ben finished his first year at BYU and is now serving a mission for our church. After spending 5 months as a missionary in Orlando, he received his visa to go to his original assignment in Mozambique. It has been quite an adjustment and he has experienced some crazy things in the time he has been there.  They speak Portuguese and some local dialects there and he is still working to understand and speak better.  He has been pickpocketed, tear gassed, and visited the police station more than once.  He is coming to love the people and recognizes that they are a people full of faith.  He is busy teaching people all day long about Jesus Christ.  He is learning a lot about faith and a lot about himself.

Jacob is a senior in high school.  Our last little baby bird will be leaving the nest next year.  He stays busy with cross country and track.  This year he ran varsity and even got to run at state.  His team placed third!  In the off season he enjoys cross country skiing and has even learned to downhill ski and enjoys that as well.  He is also busy earning money working at Little Caesars pizza.  He is looking to the future as he has been applying to several different colleges.   His big adventure for the year was hiking the Inca trail in Peru with a bunch of other teenagers.  He loved it! Jacob is a joy to have at home and we are trying to soak up every minute of it.

This year has been so very hard and so very wonderful.  Through it all we have been sustained by our faith in our Savior.  He gives us strength when we are weak.  He gives us hope and peace.  We feel His love as we mourn together and rejoice together as a family.  He is an anchor to our souls and the light that shines in the darkness.  We are grateful to honor Him and rejoice in His life this Christmas season.