Merry Christmas!!!

Greetings family and friends, near and far:

Let us remember the reason we celebrate this Christmas season—God’s gift of His Son Jesus: He sent him to earth to dwell with us, for our ultimate good, we are drawn close through Jesus’ ultimate sacrifice, resulting in our ability to have an eternal relationship with Him.

“The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone.” ~ Isaiah 9:2

"Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift!” ~2 Corinthians 9:15

A bit of an update from this branch of the Cropsey clan:

We have had an extremely busy year! We have undertaken the biggest house project of our lives—the doubling of our current residence. We broke ground November 2017, and just in the last couple of weeks have neared the finish line with the project we had started. Our kiddos, Judah (5) and Zoë (2), while having to endure some of the unglamorous and disruptive aspects of an addition project, have thrived and enjoyed seeing a lot of the process. From diggers to concrete trucks, they have being learning what it takes to build parts of a house and hope that they look back on this time as a unique season.

Gabe continues to work for Stratus Solutions doing engineering work and loves getting his hands dirty on woodworking projects, such as the live edge walnut countertops we put in our new kitchen and the bunk bed he is building for Judah currently.

Bethany is holding down the fort at home with the kids, aiming towards homeschooling Judah next fall. She is pregnant with our third child, a daughter, due in late February! She loves when she gets involved in a creative endeavor, whether it is design work, or the latest baby quilt she is currently putting together.

Judah loves his homeschool co-op this year, which meets once a week at our church. He is a wonderful big brother who loves to build Lego creations, wrestle with daddy, ride his bike and will certainly convey with enthusiasm the latest thing on his mind. We are excited he learned to read in the last year, and he voraciously makes his way through many books a day.

Zoë is so very full of spunk and sassafras. Everything she does, she does with gusto. She is very friendly and has a bright smile she passes out to even those she does not know. She loves nurturing her baby dolls, playing with water (mud puddles, water cups, ice, washing her hands, you name it) and is very fastidious when it comes to cleaning up.

We are excited to meet our newest little one! Thankfully we have more room in our home, even a guest room now! We love our bucolic 3 acres of land with improved house in bustling NoVA and would love to share it. We might even be raising chickens in the spring. Please let us know if you are in the area and might be able to stop in to see us!

Much love,


Gabe, Bethany, Judah, Zoë, and the lil girlie in the oven