Jastef

I would have to say that so far this year, June has been the quickest month. It was over as quickly as it started.

We had all our weekly summer activities start up at the beginning of the month, then VBS, family reunion and the trip to Seattle kind of took up the rest of the month. Amazing how quickly 4 weeks goes by!
We all stayed healthy this month, which was nice. I hate being sick when the weather is so nice outside. The heat has arrived, which means I want to go into hibernation, but I must admit, its 10 times nicer NOT being pregnant in the middle of summer. I pity all you ladies who are with child. You have ALL my sympathy.

Many of you know (some of you probably don't) Jason was interviewing for a job with Amazon in Seattle, WA and did not get the job. We keep getting asked "how do you guys feel about it?" and we definitely have mixed feelings. It would have been a good opportunity, but we've always prayed for God's will to be very clear and He answered our prayers quite directly, so that was the blessing. Answered prayer doesn't mean you get it answered the way you thought it should be. Sometimes I have to remind myself of that. Okay... so I often have to remind myself of that.
Other popular question is "why is Jason looking for a new job?" and the answer to that is pretty easy. He would like a more stable job, one with medical benefits, one with an income we can live off of, without him having to work so much OT and a job environment in which he can really mature and grow; be pushed out of his comfort zone.
We're aiming for a better quality of life and, in saying that, I know some people will automatically think in terms of money, but it goes so far beyond that. Obviously he'd like to be able to make enough at one job so that he's not having to supplement, but we'd mainly like to have our family life back. Jason doesn't want to feel like all he does is work, work work... adding God, family and church in there where he can. I know it seems to be the all American way, but we're not sold on it. There are other exciting possibilities on the horizon and so we're praying about them and excited to see where God eventually lands him/us.

I have to take a moment here to say how very proud I am of my husband. He is very driven, very purposed and very diligent in what he does and I'm so thankful for a husband who's always looking for better ways to provide for his family. He's not afraid to try new things and go new places and he makes me more adventurous in being that way. :) His trust and faith in God has been inspiring to me and its been exciting to see him grow through this process. I also want to thank those of you who've prayed for us - you guys are such faithful friends and we're so thankful for you.

July is here and brings new festivities with it! I hope you all have a wonderful 4th!

We spent the weekend up in Sacramento at my Uncle Jon's house (my Mom's younger brother) for a family reunion and had such a blast!! We mainly just swam for 2 days straight and enjoyed every minute of it. My Uncle BBQ'd the best burgers and pork chops... my mouth drools just thinking of it. I got to a cousin of mine that I've not seen in over 10 years, which was lots of fun and then just being with all my sisters, nieces, nephews and cousins was so much fun. We really need to do it more often. Jason has several cell phone pictures, but we still don't have a camera. The plan is to get our old one replaced this week, so hopefully pictures will be coming soon!

This week is going to fly by because we have plans with friends and pools every day and then Jason, Kara and I fly out for Seattle on Thursday night. The kids are going to be spending a 3 1/2 day holiday with my parents and I hear they've got quite a lot of fun stuff planned for them. I think the summer heat has officially set in. I hate that on these beautiful days we have to keep the mini blinds closed and the house all shut up to keep the heat out... makes me wonder why so many people love this time of year. I'm just a Grinch when it comes to hot weather.

Next time I blog on here it will be July, so enjoy the rest of June everyone!!

Today is the day we celebrate Jase. We look forward to this day all year and I love finding new and creative ways of making the day special for him. 

The kids are at fun ages where they actually understand this is an important day for Daddy and so they like getting into it all with me. So I told them I would write down reasons they love Daddy and are thankful for him... 

Ethan: I love Daddy because... He is really good at Mario Kart, he likes to play hide-and-seek nerf guns with me, he prays with me in the night time, he tells me silly things in the car to make me laugh, he says "I love you, Ethan", he teaches me to be a bigger boy, he has glasses and he loves Mommy.

Rachel: I Love Daddy because.... he gives me dinner and says fank you to God, he has a pretty laptop, he lets me mow the lawn wif him, his car is green and goes fast, because he's a handsome Dad, because he plays wif Kawa, he loves me and says "Rachel, I love you." he takes me to Nana's house, he goes to church wif me and he eats frozen yogurt wif me and he kisses Mommy and dances wif her.

Kara of course couldn't give me her list, but I think if she did, she would tell me she loves him because he jumps at her every whimper. :) That girl knows if she makes just the right, pathetic sound, Daddy will immediately come to her rescue. 

I would give you my list here, but its way too long and way too personal. 

I love you, Jase. Happy Father's Day!! 

I've not been blogging much on here for a couple reasons:

1. no camera. 2. we've been insanely busy.

This has been VBS week at our church and even though its over by 12:30, it means I'm way behind on everything else around here. The kids have been enjoying their classes, learning a lot and having fun with friends! Ethan says his favorite thing so far has been, "being at Papa Griffith's ranch." I had no idea he was such a nature boy until this week. Rachel has been enjoying all the songs, the verses and what she calls "school". Jason is on travel for work, so the kids and I are winging it here alone. Its funny how much I miss him, even being so busy with our kids. I'm only half a person when he's not here and I think my kids can feel it. I was reading something sad in my book earlier today and when Rachel walked in and saw tears on my face, she rubbed my arm and said "Oh Mommy, don't worry... Daddy will be home soon!" :)

We have a family reunion on my mom's side of the family this weekend, so we'll be leaving town for that, bright and early Saturday morning. I'm looking forward to seeing my Uncle, Aunts, cousins, siblings, etc... should be a fun BBQ and pool weekend! Looks like we'll hit some awesome weather too.

I've been reading some good books lately... really good books. Finished my 500+ page one (excellent read!) and moved on to Dear John (another good read, but not nearly as long) now I'm in the middle of The Appeal (John Grisham) and its just ok. Maybe it just shouldn't be measured up against such great novels? Its kind of long winded, with a ton of info and I feel like its taking the story a long time to get going. I'm also enjoying John Piper's Desiring God. Wow. That book is killer (in a good way) I've loved every page so far!

Jason, Kara and I are flying to Seattle next weekend. We're looking forward to visiting our friends and enjoying time away, just the 3 of us. Kids are doing well... Ethan has entered a tough stage, just as he passed his other tough stage. Maybe this is just how raising kids is? He's become very defiant and tries to demand having his own way. Its been showing Jason and I areas that we've slacked off in; I tend to bargain too much and Jason tends to give too many warnings. So along with the trials of parenting, God is teaching us a lot, which is awesome. Rachel is just around the corner from her 3rd birthday and has the whole thing already planned out. Most excited birthday plans? She and her cousin Emma are going to a Princess Tea party at our local Scoops Play N' Cafe. She's beyond thrilled; going to buy a princess dress-up and everything. I'm enjoying having a girl and I love that Rachel is SO girly. I wasn't this way at all when I was little, so its been fun seeing the world through her "pretty & pink" eyes. Kara is crawling absolutely everywhere, loves to clap for herself when she thinks she's truly accomplished something great, and still adores her big brother. Ethan is the only one in the family that has gotten a true gut laugh out of Kara and its priceless. He is so in love with her, its made me cry a few times. I love seeing the gentle, kind side she draws out of him. He wants to help with her so much, it can be quite annoying for me sometimes. His new thing is carrying her around. I'm not very comfortable with it though, so I try and discourage it, but he feels like such a strong champ when he carts her around, room to room.

Just to give you a mental picture... you know what it looks like when a small child carries a big cat around and you feel bad for the cat because its just hanging there, practically by its throat? Yes... that's what it looks like when Ethan carries Kara. She seems to enjoy it, but I'm convinced he could drag her around by her toes and she wouldn't complain. Just like the big cat never seems to mind being half strangled by the child. We're enjoying our summer, even though its been terribly busy. Still can't believe we're going into the 3rd week of June! Hope you're all having a great summer so far!

Ethan is starting to be able to write pretty well, here's a sample of his handiwork (it's hard to tell at this size, but he wrote his name, all by himself!).  The kids love my whiteboard, and come into the office every so often to draw on the lower half for a few minutes.

The kids wanted to write down their top 5 favorite movies... and they'd love to know yours!

1. Cars
2. Ratatouille 
3. Beauty and the Beast
4. Veggie Tales
5. Wall-E