Spring is Back!

Yea! The weather has finally warmed up again and we were glad to get out of this house. Jenae and I had to check on our irises, and of course the cold spell didn't slow down the dandelions one bit. We love Spring and Jenae loves her "shoes where her toes show." Fun days!

Easter Lunch

I had such a great time preparing our lunch for Sunday. Many times our plans were changed as the weather kept some family from joining us and also we kept changing the menu after we priced our original entree. ($$$!) In the end it was a great time and lots of fun getting ready for and enjoying our lunch.

I didn't take any pictures during the meal...we were all too busy eating...but our menu was a roast, mashed potatoes, baked green beans, and a feta cheese salad. We also had rolls and Chocolate Delight for dessert. It was all very yummy, even if I do say so myself!

Here are pictures of the dinner table that was set:

Easter Basket

Jenae was very quick to discover her Easter basket on Sunday morning. Jordan was at the church practicing his sermon and I'd hoped he be home for the basket, but as soon as I put her down to get some milk she spied it and there was no turning back.

Jenae with her new stickers and "pink" Bible!

Looking at all her goodies with Shasha and Boppa while waiting for lunch.

Egg Hunt at Church

Egg Hunt at Home

Jenae's first introduction to snow

Can you tell by the look on her face that she much preferred indoor egg hunting in her pj's? She was a good sport, though. It was just difficult because the snow was so dry that as she would reach for an egg it would just fall deeper into the snow. It was funny to watch, but she obviously grew frustrated. One more egg hunt to go...

Egg Hunt @ Shasha's

Looking for eggs with Shasha

Jenae & Jaycie with their baskets full
(I like this style egg hunt...indoors and in PJ's!)

Shasha was a great help to me this past week. I was able to get alot done at the house while Jenae went and played with her and Jaycie. I'm certain egg hunts in pj's doesn't even begin to touch on all the fun those three had together! Thank you, Shasha!

I'm Dreaming of a White....Easter?!?

Look, Mimommie!

Here it is, Mimommie! I took these photos last night after the hutch was delivered. You can also see part of the Easter dinner decorations. I think the hutch really finishes off the room for us. Hope you like it, too! I can already tell I'm going to like having the hutch vs. full cabinet. It will be so handy to set food and drinks there...and when not dining cute decorations! :o) It also has a feature I didn't realize it had in the store. It has a "touch dimmer" control on the lights. One of the hinges is wired and you just tap it to turn on and off the lights, plus it has three or four levels of brightness. We are very happy with this purchase!

Getting ready for Easter

We are going to be busy this week getting ready for Easter. This has always been Jordan's favorite holiday. Since we all live so close now and we don't have LTC this year, Jordan's family will be joining us for the weekend. We are very excited to have them here with us and for them to hear Jordan preach. Jenae is my helper and so she got to decorate the back door with our Easter "stickers." This girl loves stickers, but she doesn't leave them any one place for too long. We'll see where else these window clings end up before this week is over!

Last year I dyed eggs during Jenae's nap. I can't decide what to do this year...humm. I'm thinking we may go all plastic. Any suggestions what to put inside the eggs for an one year old?! (Besides stickers, of course!)

The Abilene Zoo

The other day we were in Abilene and decided to make a quick trip to the zoo with Shasha...she has annual passes :o). Jenae just loves all the animals. It's almost not fun to take pictures while we are there because then I miss the moment of her joy and excitement. So, here are just a couple I was able to get. The top one is Jenae in the new butterfly garden. These others are from our experience of trying to feed the giraffe. She did just fine until he started sticking that big ole tongue out at her.

The B-I-B-L-E

Jenae found a new spot for her daily Bible reading.

It is amazing to me. Jenae loves books. She has always loved books. She will just sit and "read", of course, she also likes it when others read to her. What is amazing to me is that she is able to distinguish which of her books are her story books and which books around the house are Bibles. She can say "Bible" now (thank you, Darlene) and loves to carry it around and say, "Bible. Bible." She was doing this the other day and I asked if she was preaching like Daddy, if she was telling other people about Jesus and she responded by saying, "Eeeee, Ooooo, Eee-oooo, Eeee, Ooooo."

I pray that she will only grow in her love of God's Word and that she will live to tell others about Jesus!

Jenae at 18 Months

The Preacher's Kid

Some of our best (and most difficult) days in Belton were the last two weeks of our ministry there. During those days we spent precious time with people who had blessed our lives in such significant ways. We shared many meals and conversations, hopes and dreams for the futures and laughter and tears over our memories. It was during these days that Jordan and I would lament and wonder why we don't do this more often. No, not move--aahh! But really share life and the things most important to us...tell people what they mean to us and the church...why their ministry is important...pray together...look to God and trust He is shaping our futures...speak God's graces to each other. Such powerful and meaningful times!

One evening was spent with the Jarratt family. Their whole family is making an eternal impact at the Belton church. Mom, Dad and kids are all special to our family. At the close of our evening together a "presentation" was made to us:I was blown away! Michael did this pencil sketch from a photograph his mom took of Jenae at Christmas. It is incredible! He was entering it in the art contest so we didn't get to take possession right away, but he explained to enter the contest each piece had to be titled. Since he had done this as a going away gift to our family as Jordan began his preaching ministry, he titled this "The Preacher's Kid." That's when my eyes began to well up with tears. How thoughtful could he be?! Thank you, Michael! And thank you Jarratts for sharing your lives with us! We love and miss you.

Tad Meyer Park

One of the ways we fill our days is going to the park. We just hop in the stroller and head down the street, past the DQ and the football stadium. (Of course it seems we don't drive anywhere in town. We just walk.) This park would be defined as a park with a "classic" playground. There are no brightly colored plastic climbing toys, no fancy tube slides, not even a water fountain. What we have at the Winters park is old school and FUN! We have an old bandstand pavilion, metal monkey bars (with at least 10 coats of paint), plank of wood see-saws and a merry-go-round. Not many parks have merry-go-rounds anymore, something about safety, but in a town where kids still ride around in the back of trucks, we love the merry-go-round. And so does Jenae!

Here are some shots from the park:

I'm Back!!!

We are getting settled in Winters and we have so much to tell. Our lives have been quite busy over the last few months and I am so glad things are slowing down to a normal, easy pace. I'm ashamed at how much I haven't blogged about...even as we uploaded pictures from the camera I was surprised that they went all the way back to before Christmas!! That is a horrible blogger!

So now, I have many stories and even more photos and I'm not sure where to begin. I'm a little afraid that blogger will crash on me if I try to do too much at once so I'll break this up into small stories.

Many of you have been waiting anxiously to see pictures of the "parsonage." Here she is in all her glory! These are the pics we took before we moved in while they were still working on the house. When I get all of our stuff squared away I'll post new ones so you can see.

Happy Birthday, My Friend!

A Running Start in 2007!

Where to begin?! I'm not sure either, but I am almost a month into the new year and have yet to post anything. How shameful!

We had a great Christmas, spending time with both of our families, eating lots of good food and exchanging gifts. Jenae really enjoyed Christmas this year. It was so fun to watch her "Ooohhh and Aaahhh" over her gifts. It seemed like each gift was a game of Peek-A-Boo that she had to uncover to find. So much fun!! We got some great photos on our new camera (yea!) but I've not had time to upload any of them. Sorry!

During the holidays we also had the to opportunity to explore a new ministry. We've been praying for a place we could minister as Jordan begins preaching and we both wanted to go back to school. Right after Thanksgiving we got a call from Winters, Texas. God has taken our requests, gift wrapped them, and placed a great big bow right on top!

Winters is a small (3,000 pop) town about 45 miles south of Abilene. We've visited with them several times and they seem to be small-town, salt of the earth kind of people. What we love is that the church doesn't think like a small town. They have a great outreach program the whole church participates in on Wednesday evenings. They have taken the initiative to build close relationships with the other churches in town, even holding joint services. We both believe this is going to be a great place to learn, grow and share life.

Now, that doesn't mean we aren't scared to death! Preaching is a whole new world to Jordan. He does such a wonderful job though. He is just going to have to find a new rythm to ministry. Neither of us have ever lived in such a small town. On the church grounds. Ha! That's right we'll be moving into the parsonage! It's a great house, but seriously, we'll walk across the parking lot to the church building! You can also imagine this move will curb our eating out as the restuarants aren't so numerous in Winters. The flip side of that means I have to cook...a lot! And we have to eat leftovers.

It's becoming more difficult to realize that we really are leaving Belton. This is where we started OUR life together. We began our ministry here two weeks after we got married. We bought our first house. Jenae was born here. To say nothing of the relationships! I'm going to miss my playgroup on Thursdays. Jenae has always had Ms. Darlene for her Bible class teacher. The kids in our youth group are amazing. So many of the moms are my closest friends. Even as I type it seems too much to think about all at once.

So, to top off all the holiday travels, job changes, emotional stress (both joy and sadness), did I mention we are trying to sell our house?!! Yup, that's right. House is on the market. Which if you've ever sold a home you know that means it has to be clean...all the time! I had a hard enough time keeping it semi-clean when it wasn't for sale. I keep hoping maybe I'll learn some new behaviors and be able to keep the parsonage sparkly clean. Ha! So, if you know anyone who wants to buy a house, tell them to call me!! Soon! Jenae and I have a heard time communicating when the house has to stay clean.

Maybe now you understand why there haven't been cute postings with lots of pictures. We've had a little bit going on in our lives. Don't even mention the packing, please! I just keep telling myself I'll have lots of free time once we get to Winters. Let's just hope they have a good internet connection! Keep us in your prayers: pray for both congregations during this transition and pray that our house will sell quickly. We love you and will try to keep you posted, even if it's without pictures!

By the way, the Winters mascot is the Blizzard and their fight song......wait for it.....is "Winter Wonderland" Does it get better than that!