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.