What Brings You Hope?

Members of the Yeske Buie team share the people, places, and things that keep them grounded in hope. Read our stories and cast your vote below!

Tell us what brings you hope!

Check all that apply, then click ‘Submit’.

Rachel Shin

During the challenges of COVID, Rachel finds hope and strength through her strong relationships with her family, friends, and her furry little brother. Although she recently moved away from home, they constantly remind her of the amount of love and support they have for her, and that they are always cheering her on!

Another strong source of hope for Rachel is the ability to travel this beautiful world again. Although she was not able to do much of that recently, she has found a lot of hope in reflecting on pictures/videos of trips she has taken in the past. She finds herself to be incredibly thankful for the experiences and hopeful for when the world is safe to explore again.

Sydney Woodward

Through the challenges of the past year and a half, we’ve learned that strengthening our sense of hope can come from a wide variety of sources including loved ones, our furry friends, hobbies, sports, and travel among other things. For new hire Sydney Woodward, she finds hope in art; the old and the new, creating and admiring. The pandemic has allowed Sydney to spend more time than ever before putting her paintbrush to paper, which was a great way for her to illustrate her continued hope for the future. With the world opening back up, she looks forward to returning to art museums so she can soak in others’ expressions of hope. Thank you for inspiring us with your talent with us, Sydney!

Kacie Fawls

Kacie finds hope from small expeditions with her husband, Dominic. In 2020, Kacie was finishing up school from her bedroom, unable to take the traditional trips around the east coast with Dominic (at the time, her fiancé). Now, a year later, the couple is fully vaccinated, married, and have been planning trips whenever they have a free weekend! We think these photos of Kacie and Dominic radiate hope and positivity, and we hope they trigger happy memories for you, too.

Dorothy Navales

What gives Dorothy hope is her daughter, Dannika. While still in her 20s, Dannika developed some medical issues that require ongoing treatments. This was a big shock for Dorothy given her daughter has always been healthy and athletic. These challenges have made Dorothy all the more grateful for Dannika’s now stabilized health, her own health, and the support of her family, colleagues, and friends over the years. Her family also includes Bella and Ryder who continue to bring so much joy and happiness to their lives, especially during this challenging past 12 months with COVID.

Mila Lavoie

What gives Mila hope is her best friend and partner in life, Casee Jones. This pup has been through so much, and has nonetheless persevered; from being picked up at two months from a dog fighting house with multiple scars on her precious head, to having and beating cancer in her leg, to having her spleen removed in an emergency surgery, and recovering from a rare liver condition.

Despite the obstacles, Miss Jones continues smiling and wagging her tail each and every day, and this pure and unconditional joy for life has been Mila’s shining light while going through the pandemic. Every opportunity Mila gets to spend time with Casee outside gives her hope that things will continue to move forward, and reminds her that there is joy and light in every day. Mila has also found that Casee is the best listener she knows; Casee rarely interrupts to offer her opinion!

Pandemic or no pandemic, Mila looks forward to many future hikes with Casee and her bright smiling face!

Lauren Mireles

While Lauren deferred physical travel during the pandemic, her mind had the privilege of traveling across more than 7,000 pages of novels in 2020, bringing her much needed hope and sanity!

Lauren is a member of a Book Club where members take turns selecting the group’s next read and get together monthly to discuss the book and enjoy some social time. The group has read over a dozen books together, and hosted a few meetings on Zoom in 2020 to maintain their reading momentum.

In addition to the escape and imagination that reading provides, Lauren enjoys the freedom and coziness of finding a quiet place to read and unwind. Here are a few of Lauren’s favorite reads from 2020, and photos of Lauren and her four-legged friend, Lexi, enjoying their cozy reading spots.

Cristin Stinson

What gives Cristin hope is love. Despite all of the challenges of the past year, there have been unwavering moments of pure love and belief in our fellow man.

One thing that quarantining taught Cristin is that her love for her (now) fiancé made the pandemic bearable. They didn’t mind staying home, as long as they’re with each other. In 2021, what has been giving Cristin a surging hope is planning their wedding celebration in June, and getting to spread all that excitement and joy with both of their families and friends.

Outside of wedding planning, anytime Cristin needs a boost she checks in on her favorite Facebook Group, Vienna VA Foodies. While the group typically reports on the local food scene, they have become a formidable force for organizing the community to buy food from local restaurants to feed both our food insecure families in the area and a very wide variety of our front line workers (they even supported the gaps in feeding our National Guard at the Capitol). If you’ve seen the heart signs at homes and businesses throughout Vienna, you can thank the efforts of local children to fundraise for Vienna VA Foodies – they call themselves Rustic Love Vienna! There’s always a new post that makes Cristin smile every time she logs in.

Ryan Kelly

Ryan Kelly dreams of the day he can begin to travel again. One thing that imbues him with hope is to see the odes that others have written to their own dreams of travel, especially in the New York Times’s weekly Travel Dispatch. He’s also begun visualizing future journeys to the country’s National Parks with the help of a Parks Project Gift Box he received over the holidays.

Here’s photos of Ryan at two of his favorite National Parks: Grand Teton and Yellowstone Nationals Parks.

The Yeske Buie Team

We had a blast connecting with the Yeske Buie community at our virtual holiday party! The way our Clients and friends engage with us – at the party and all year round – fuels us with energy and hope, and we could not be more grateful for your continued trust and support.

Row 1: Lauren Mireles, Lauren Stansell, Dorothy Navales, Ryan Kelly

Row 2: Mila Lavoie, Cristin Etheredge, Dave Yeske and Elissa Buie, Jack Petras

Row 3: Alishia DuBois, Ryan Klemm, Cole DeLucas, Yusuf Abugideiri

Row 4: Karen Simons, Howard Brown

Lauren Stansell, CFP^®

Lauren recently road tripped from Virginia to San Francisco with her husband, Daniel, and their 6-lb chihuahua, Bella. The trip was an opportunity for Lauren to see so much of the country for the first time, and from the passenger seat (thanks to Daniel). As they passed by farmland full of cows, grasslands, wind turbines, and chainsaws dangling from helicopters, Lauren was reminded of how much beauty is all around us, all the time. Even in seemingly mundane moments, hope can be found.

Cole DeLucas

Cole was excited to buy a home in Reston earlier this year, and when he found a spot perched on Reston National Golf Course, Cole’s new home became his own “slice of heaven”. Cole says, “Golf has and always will be my greatest passion, joy, and source of hope.”

Yusuf Abugideiri, CFP^®

Yusuf spends every Monday with his son Noah; time that they affectionately call “Baba Mondays.” Both father and son relish in the opportunity to spend time together. At bedtime at the end of an especially great Monday, Noah whispered, “Thank you for a great Baba Monday.” And Yusuf has candidly shared “My son is my Hope Chronicles.”