I'm thankful...

God has given me this man to share life with...
...and to help raise these two boys...
We have so much to be thankful for this year. God answered so many prayers this year. We're especially thankful that Eagan became a part of our family in 2011.

We had a great Thanksgiving. Even though we didn't get to spend it with extended family, we had a great time celebrating with our church family and just the 4 of us. On Thursday we had a lazy morning, then went to the church to eat with other families who are also "displaced" and don't have family here. There was a lot of yummy food! That night (around 11ish), I ran to Walmart to join in on the Black Friday madness. I got a couple of Breeson's Christmas gifts and also got a much needed printer. The only sad part is that I decided to wait 'til midnight (electronic savings started then) so I could get the printer - only to have Jamie tell me later that I only ended up saving $5. :( Booh. Then on Friday morning we went as a family to KMart to catch the last minute deals (air mattress for when we have guests - now that was a great deal!).

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Today we jumped back into our typical routine of life. I ran to the grocery store and did some laundry. Jamie went to the church and did some prep work for an upcoming event.
Except tonight we did take the boys to the Bass Pro Shop to get pic's with Santa. Originally we were going to take them to the mall, but when I looked at prices online, they wanted $30 for a picture and CD. Um, no thank you. So I shopped around and remembered someone had said Santa visits the Bass Pro Shop. Now, I can imagine what you're thinking - especially if you've never been to one. But let me tell you, these stores are huge and there's a ton to look at. And no, Santa was NOT in camouflage. In the end, we were so glad we did it there and not the mall. Why?
a. there was no line - well, not really. You were given a card telling you what time to come back and get in line. I didn't have to wait long. Jamie took Breeson around and jumped in line w/ me when we were close.
b. ton of free stuff for kids. There was even a carousel that they let the kids ride for free!
c. the pic's w/ Santa was free and they even gave us a free 4x6. At the mall, the only thing that was free was seeing Santa.
d. we were able to go eat while we waited for our turn.



I had to include this pic of Breeson. It cracks me up!! I'm not exactly sure what he's doing. But I like how I got his reflection in it.

January 1

...is when Jamie starts his full time position at the church we are at, The Light of Christ Anglican Church. We are so excited for this. We have been praying about this opportunity (for Jamie to be in full time ministry) for a long time now. Thanks to all of you who have been praying alongside us. We have felt your prayers!
We had another opportunity in which we were praying about, but God has made it clear that He wants us to stay where we are at for now.

This hasn't been an easy journey though. A year ago we were one of the few young families there. In fact, Breeson was the only one in the nursery for a while. But now, we are happy to have more young families there and to see Breeson running around the church with more kiddos his age makes me smile.

And even though we have a strong peace that God wants us there, we understand that it's a financial burden on the church. Some had to take pay cuts, and some lost their paid positions all together. But the church believes they have to make some changes, which means bringing Jamie on full time, in order to help this church grow. We know that it's not us - it's all God in this.

For now, Jamie is home with the boys 3 days a week and I went full time at work. Life has been pretty busy in the last few months. One upside to this is that Jamie was able to quit CFA, in which he was VERY excited about. We will swap our roles after Christmas. He'll go full time with the church and I'll go part time at my job. It actually worked out because my job has been going through a ton of changes and they needed me full time, which is why I accepted it. I'm grateful my boys get to spend some extra quality time w/ Dad before he goes full time. We both realize not many Dad's get that opportunity. And I just have to brag for a bit...Jamie does a great job w/ them. Plus, he usually has dinner either already started or ready to eat by the time I get home. I'm pretty spoiled!! :)

Ordination

Well Jamie is officially ordained (or "ordinated" as I like to call it). My family came out last weekend, along with Jamie's mom to witness this big event in our life.
We're thankful to so many people who have been supportive as we have moved forward in what we have felt as God's calling to ministry.

In case you didn't already know, we are part of the Anglican Mission in the Americas (AMiA).
We joined about a little over a year ago.

Here are a few pic's from the service...

So my husband is now a Pastor (or Friar George, as I like to call him!), which means I'm now a Pastor's wife. Scary. As a kid I used to say I never wanted to marry a Pastor. Whoops, so much for that.

October...already!?!

I can't believe October is here, much less that it's already half over. Time flies when you're...working full time and have sick kid's!
Thankfully we're all on the mend.

I had to take this pic of Breeson the other day - I woke up to this!! It cracked me up.


And check out this monster!! He's already 5 months old and weighs in at a whopping 15+ pounds.

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We carved pumpkins and this is what's left of them - stupid squirrels. The same thing happened last year. Jamie wanted to take them out, until we saw the mama and her babies the other day.

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So we did it!! As a joint 30th birthday bash - several of us girls celebrated by going to The Grizzly Rose to go two-stepping/line dancing. It was a lot of fun!!
All of us turned 30 this year:

this pic cracks me up b/c this random guy came over and asked Theresa to dance - for those of you who know Theresa, I'm sure you're laughing too!! But she didn't skip a beat, she jumped up and said yes and he whisked her off! Clint had a good laugh about it too. The guy was harmless - he just needed a dance partner!

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We had a little Whitewater reunion the last couple of nights. Justin and Kirsten (Ensz) Eck came to Denver for their vacation and we caught up w/ them while they were in town. We had a great time catching up.

Waiting....

Joy usually updates our blog, but today I felt like it might be good to add my own post for a change. Life in Colorado is good, but we find our selves in a place that we never expected, at least I didn't. For some reason, I always believed God would make it crystal clear where he would want me to serve, but at this point I only know that I am called to serve in the Anglican Mission in America. So I find my self circling the airport waiting for God to tell me where to land this plane. For now that means continuing to serving as the Young Adult Coordinator at TLC until the Lord leads me else where, which we are willing to do once He makes it clear where that may be.
We currently have a lot going on and I am so grateful that my wife is willing to take care of the boys so I can seek direction from the Lord. This weekend I plan to spend a lot of time in prayer and look forward to spending time alone with my Lord. For those of you who read this I would ask you to be in prayer for us as we seek guidance from God.
In other news, I will be getting ordained to Presbyter on October 29, 2011, Lord willing. My mom and some of Joy's family are coming to celebrate God's calling me to serve as a pastor and I am looking forward to our time together.
At the end of the day, I am blessed to have such a loving wife and two wonderful boys to share this life with and for that I am very very grateful. Thanks God!!!

Finally!

I finally did it. After over 15 years of wanting my nose pierced, I finally did it for my 30th birthday!! Thank you husband of mine. ;)

I'm not gonna lie, when I was sitting in the chair waiting on the guy as he prepped everything, my heart was beating really fast. I joked that I might cry. I was kinda serious.
But I didn't. It lasted only a second - just like he'd promised.
My good friend, Theresa came with me.

I had a wonderful 30th birthday. Thank you all for the sweet well-wishes on my FB page, phone calls, and text messages. I feel loved.

My husband did a great job of making me feel extra special this year. He got me just what I wanted (from my piercing, to a small get-together with friends, to ordering a homemade pie from Marie Calendars). Then to top it all off, I asked if we could go line dancing with friends and he said yes. A few other girl friends (like Theresa above) are also turning the big 3-0 this year, so we're all going to go dancing together later in October and do one big birthday hoo-rah!
Should be fun!! It's going to be a fun excuse to wear my cow-girl boots. Now I just need to find Wranglers for Jamie and plaid shirts for both of us!

Overwhelmed

Feeling overwhelmed has been the theme of my life in the last week or two. I've been feeling overwhelmed with...

• the whole process of potty training
• work and the all of the changes we've been going through - having to change shifts here and there, and more changes to come...
  
• the thought of saying goodbye to my 20's (a little harder than I thought it would be?!)
• juggling 2 kids -my patience level has been at a 2, maybe even a 1 on a scale of 1-10
• trying to figure out possibilities that deal with the future

Speaking of feeling overwhelmed...for those other mommy's out there, do you feel like your house gets overwhelmed with baby stuff!?


At least we're getting some good use out of some of the stuff...


This guy finally went to his 2 month apt, even though he is now 3 1/2 months!! He weighed in at a wopping 15 lbs and is now 25 inches.
While there, I had the Doc pay special attention to the shape of his head. Come to find out...if at 6 months his head is still mis-shaped, then he'll have to wear a helmet. Bahaahaha!! Yes, I said a helmet!! Poor fella - he could have some bad blackmail photos for later on life. So we're working on changing his position of sleeping, playing and doing some muscle exercises for his neck so he'll be flexible in turning/sleeping either way. I just can't even imagine him wearing a helmet at 6 months 24/7.

a chore

Sometimes updating the blog can seem like a chore - it shouldn't, but it does. It's like it's another thing to get done. That's why I've been so negligent lately. It's like exercise. Once the day is done, or just beginning, blogging and exercising are the last things I want to do. :) Ugh.

I typically work Monday's and Thursday's, but one of the girls at work couldn't work this past Wednesday, so we switched days. And with Labor Day coming up on Monday, it means I have a week off.

So, I decided to try potty training Breeson. He's 2 years and 3 months, so I knew it was a gamble if he would be ready or not. I've been hearing a lot of input lately (like it or not) on whether he's ready or not. A lot of mommies have told me their boys didn't do it until they were at least 3. This exercise was NOT to prove a point or be obnoxious in thinking "my kid can do it sooner than your kid". We've just been tired of changing diapers and putting the cost in them. $$ is tight these days and if he can start using the potty - why not!? So with having the week off, I decided to at least try it and if after a few days he didn't make any progress, then I was willing to digress.

I started yesterday and I gave him tons of juice, milk and water. I could tell he was holding it in b/c I know we typically change diapers before 10 a.m. After following him around for what seemed like forever (only a couple hrs that morning), I turned my head for 10 seconds and found him jumping in his own puddle of pee. About a week or 2 ago I watched a segment from the Today show. On it she has the kids clean up their own mess!!! So that's what Breeson did (I did follow him with the clorox wipes). I know it seems harsh, but it seemed to work for her. So anyways, he had 1 more accident and then we had tons of success the rest of the day. All except 1 poop in the undies close to bedtime.

I found he actually did better with me not in there. I think the pressure of me watching him was too much - I don't blame him!!
I figured I would try a sticker chart and see if he liked it - and he did. He does get some candy in addition.
Today is our 2nd day and we've had no accidents (knock on wood) thus far; it's 3 p.m. right now.


As for Eagan...well he's been pretty good. I was worried about this whole process b/c I wasn't sure how I was going to take care of Eagan and follow a 2 year old around all day.

Mi casa es su casa

"my house is your house"...is something I hope everyone knows and feels who walks through our front door. One thing I am the most thankful in marrying Jamie is that he too enjoys entertaining and having guests over. I don't think it was one of those things I particularly looked for in a husband, but since he enjoys it, I'm very grateful. And what's great about him is that he doesn't care if it's a big or small group, and he's all about inviting people over that we barely know in order to get to know them more. (Thank you husband!!)
This summer we've had a lot of gatherings in our backyard for BBQ's and I've loved every single one of them!! This is what summer is all about - loving on our friends. I feel like in the last couple of weeks, we've been super busy with either having people over or going to our friends' house. Sometimes I wish summer wouldn't end.
One thing we're trying to do is be more intentional in getting to know our neighbors. Last night was a great opportunity as we had 2 couples come over for hamburgers.
One of the pastors at our church recently gave us a patio table and chairs - thank you Bishop Green!! It has been a blessing to us, as well as others for when we host. I think it could be easy to feel "inadequate" as our backyard is ugly b/c we have no grass - only weeds. But it's something that we just can't do anything about right now and we've got bigger (better!!) issues to tackle.

So as summer winds down, I raise my glass and say, "here's to friends who come eat our food - we're the ones who benefit from your presence!".

The boys

I thought I'd post a few pic's of the boys and what they've been up to lately.

They're both growing, growing, growing!

Breeson:
In the last week and a half, we've been dealing with some pretty bad tantrums, or "fits" as we call them. I would say we deal anywhere with 2-3 on a daily basis. :( It's been hard emotionally, physically and mentally. I know it's a "phase", but I hope we grow out of it soon. He's really been testing us as what he can get by with and he has been really jealous of our attention. We're doing the best we can in dealing with them. For now, what seems to work the best is time-outs on his bed. He hates being in there by himself. Plus, we do it because I hate hearing him cry, or should I say scream, in the dining room - where we typically had time-outs. But once we usually get these fits out of our system, he plays pretty well. At least the good outweighs the bad!! We still love that boy to pieces.
I truly believe that once Eagan can start interacting with him and "playing" with him, he'll really start to enjoy him more. Right now he still ignores his brother 95% of the time, but likes to show his affection every now and again. I think in the end, he'll be a great big brother.

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Eagan:
I haven't taken Eagan to his 2 month apt yet (he's about to be 3 months this week) due to insurance issues. I hope to get him there soon. I think he's anywhere from 12-15 lbs by now. ??
He's such a good baby. He has been ever since he was born. Sleeping habits are decent. His first phase is usually from 8ish-2/3 am, then he can sometimes sleep 'til 7. If he does get up before then, then he'll sleep in longer. Otherwise, because we're all getting up around 7, he'll usually join us. Already he plays so well on his play mat. The other morning he played and cooed for an hour and a half by himself. Breeson NEVER did that. We always had to be entertaining him. Eagan usually only gets more needy as the evening progresses and that's because he's tired.

Have I ever showed you Eagan's toes?? They're quite comical to me. If you can see it well enough, you'll notice that his toes are all the same length - they don't digress. They remind me of monster feet. I think he'll be able to grab a lot of things with these toes someday!!

In all, life with 2 hasn't been as hard as I thought it would be, but yet it has been the hardest thing so far. Make sense!? :) We pretty much take it one day at a time. We love these boys and are so thankful we get to parent them - good days and bad days.

4 Years

We've made it 4 years now!! It's been a good journey and we both look forward to what the future holds. God has blessed our marriage in so many ways.
Last night we dropped the boys off with some friends, then headed to The Melting Pot. We don't typically spend that much $$ on food, but we decided to splurge this year ~ plus we've been wanting to eat here for a long time; now we can say we've experienced it. It was quite yummy. We were SO full. We talked about some goals we'd like to accomplish in this next year and we recapped on our last 4 years. It was a great night celebrating our Anniversary.

Praying for Kristi

For those of you who don't know Kristi, please read the following. I went to college for a year with Kristi and her husband, Robert, before they graduated. This is a HUGE prayer request - God is much bigger than all of this. If you want to follow them more, go to Facebook and search for the group "Praying for Kristi".

July 31st, 2011 Robert and Kristi Casey, and their two daughters, Aidyn (3) and Rosalie (2), welcomed Lydia to the world. Three days later when they were going to be released from the hospital, they found out Kristi's collar bone had broken. After a few X-...rays and tests the doctor's found cancer in her chest area and that the cancer had spread to her bones and that was the cause of her collar bone breaking so easily. Please be in prayer for Kristi and God's healing in her body. Please be in prayer for Robert and for their little girls. A web site was set up for meals if anyone is interested in helping with that for them. For more information, please go HERE.

This is updated news from her friend Ali:

This is the latest info that Kristi has given me as of today (8/9/11):
There is a Cancer Foundation for Cervical and Breast Cancer through the state of Alabama that works with hospitals on behalf of cancer patients in regards to financial issues with treatments. Kristi's doctors have been researching and are 99.9% sure that she DOES QUALIFY for them to cover her treatment! PRAISE GOD!
PRAY THAT ALL GOES THROUGH WITH THAT!
She had her first round of Chemo today and a round of regular radiation (regular radiation is safe to be around the girls). This first round was FREE and shouldn't make her sick or lose her hair.
She goes tomorrow for an appointment for radiation at 9:15. Pray during that time for her and the treatment.

8/10/11: PRAYER
Kristi told me last night where the cancer is in her body, exactly and Patrick and I thought it would be a good idea to let all you guys know just in case you wanted to pray about these areas.
She definitely has Breast Cancer. It has spread to her blood, bones and her liver. She has two broken bones, her right side collar bone and a rib on her left side. Because of the cancer in her bones the two broken bones can't heal until they can get the cancer taken care of in them (this is what the Bone Scans are for -- she can't be around the girls for 24hrs whenever she has these).

Mommy-Son Date

Breeson and I had a Mommy-Son Date last night. We went to see Barney Live!! I NEVER would've believed it if you would've told me years ago that I would be doing this right now.
But we did. And we had fun. A friend of mine gave me the tickets, so we didn't pay for them. I told her Breeson doesn't even watch Barney and she said her son didn't either. :) Thanks Tricia!

The show lasted an hour and a half. I was shocked it would last so long considering it's for kids. But Breeson was mesmerized the whole time!! We let him watch Barney the Friday before we went and we talked about going to see Barney the last couple of days. There was some songs that he knew and was super excited about singing along.

The show was at the Pepsi Center downtown. The convenient part for us is that we live next to the light rail (2 blocks away!!) and so we rode the "train" in. The inconvenient part was that after we got on, we learned the tracks were down a few stations ahead and we all had to be bussed downtown. However, Breeson was super excited to get to finally ride one of the busses. We had a fun time all around.

You wanna know the silliest part of all? When we were sitting there watching Barney, and Breeson was jumping up & down singing, I got a little teary-eyed. You see, for that exact moment, there'd be no more like it. We will experience other fun things in life, but I got to enjoy him for his first "concert" (if you will). To see his excitement, and amazement; plus to just hear him sing along...there will come a day when he'll deny going to that show and probly not want to sit on his mommy's lap to sing the ABC song.

We had a great first date night just the two of us. I love that boy!!