Jastef

When I was younger, God used several books in my life to first convict me of MY own sin, then to draw me to Him, then to draw me closer to Him and thus began my journey of sanctification. Those few books have become quite precious to me. I'm not saying the entire Bible isn't precious to me... it is. But there are those few books that really stand out in my mind as the "key" books/passages that were very "eye opening" to my soul.

The first was the book of Romans. Most importantly, chapter 8 verses 1-4 

"There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit."

Powerful, convicting, encouraging, hopeful words. Its funny because I heard those verses read and probably read them myself about one hundred times before God really opened my eyes to the glory spoken in those words. I love when the Holy Spirit softens our hearts at just the right time.

The other books were: Luke, Philippians, Ephesians, James and 1&2 Timothy.

All for various reasons, but all because He used those several books in capturing my heart and turning it from stone to flesh. So I have a special place in my heart for them, even though I love and prize my entire Bible and consider it a gift greater than any earthly gift. 

About 3 years after I was saved, I felt very ashamed that I had not put many verses to memory (outside of AWANA verses) and so I prayed about what verses/chapter God would have me to memorize first. For me, I took the easy way out and opted for James, since its a smaller book. I started with chapter one and in 12 months, made my way through chapters 2,3,4 and 5! I was only 13 when I finished and I have no idea why I stopped there, but sadly, I did. I had great plans of going on to memorize more verses/chapters/books, but I only stuck to some verses and never tackled more than that. :(

A few weeks ago I was talking to Ethan about some of his verses he memorized at VBS and we were discussing how we "hide God's Word in our heart" - Ethan was really curious how we go about hiding the Word of God IN our hearts. I love that he thinks in such literal terms. When we neared the end of our conversation, he asked me "what verses have YOU memorized, Mommy?" and I could feel my face stinging with guilt. I told him that I hadn't memorized anymore than he had and he replied with "but you're a mommy and your brain is bigger, so you should memorize WAY more than I do!"

W-O-W

I actually found myself smiling and saying to God "so... using my kids to get to me, eh?" :) I promised Ethan that I would start working on some verses and told him my reason for it was, I need to keep hiding God's Word in my heart and not become lazy about it. He seemed quite pleased about it and continued to remind me of it until I announced what chapter and verses I was committing to memory.

My 1st goal is to memorize Romans chapter 1. Followed with Romans chapter 2, then 3, then 4... you get the picture. I'm hoping to do one chapter in two months, which means I'll complete the book around the fall of 2011. I know this is a huge undertaking, but I'm ready for it and I think its about time.

What I'm gonna do on the blog is every so often I'll just come on here and post what section I'm working on and I think I'll write it out from memory. You guys can check and make sure I've got it right. :)

Please pray for me! I really want to do this and not give up and become lazy again and stop. I'm very excited about this and I'm sure it will be quite an adventure.

the blog world is very slow and dull these days. 

and i blame facebook.

just F.Y.I

Cannot believe 9 months ago today, Kara was born! She's been alive the amount of time people are pregnant! She's also the age Ethan was when we found out I was pregnant with Rachel - that always amazes me. :-)

 Kara is just the sweetest little thing! Even on nights when she decides sleep is overrated, or the days when she won't let me put her down. Her personality is so cute and I love watching her discover the world every day. She is a champion crawler and has begun standing with the help of furniture or solid toys. I think she's in a huge hurry to walk and run after her big brother and sister. I can see her studying their every move, watching them very closely and then trying to copy everything they do.

She decided about 2 weeks ago that she has had enough nursing and that, for me, was a sad week. I kept trying and decided even if all she wanted to do was "hang out" I'd let her, but within about 4 days, she was pushing away and very much letting me know her nursing days were over. I have to say though, 9 months was a huge bonus for me!! I was thinking we'd only make it to 6 months, so I'm congratulating her and myself, even though its a sad milestone.

She was a major trooper during our trip to Seattle and did awesome on the plane rides! Both flights were uneventful, with some slight fussiness just before landing. She was driven all over Seattle and surrounding cities (300 miles, to be exact) and did great with it. We're very proud of the good traveler she's become. She slept great in the hotel room, however I did not. I think I'm just partial to my bed and my home.

Big news in Kara's life (and ours as well) is that she has to have the same surgery Ethan had last summer. She appears to have inherited my bad ears and nose issues and so they will be removing her adenoids and putting tubes in her ears within the next couple of months. I think September/October is when they'd like to schedule it. She's learned how to say "Da-da" and "E-ah" which means Ethan... very cute. She's not talking nearly as much as Ethan or Rachel did at this age, but I'm fine with that. I'm still adjusting to the older two rambling my head off all day long. :) Ethan and Rachel talked in complete sentences by 1 year and they were slower with the physical side of things -- Kara appears to be catching on quicker with the physical side and "slower" with vocabulary. Amazing to see how different they all are! We're getting a new camera soon (I promise) so pictures should be up within the next couple of weeks! Happy July everyone!! 

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!!