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!

Christmas Cutie!

Getting the Good Shot...here's how it works...bribe 'em with Goldfish! Thanks to Rebekah for taking these shots of Jenae on Sunday.

Merry Christmas!

We hope all of you have a very Merry Christmas celebrating
with friends and family.

I'll try to post as the festivities occur, but if not, we'll see you next year!

"I Don't Know"

We still aren't sure where exactly Jenae learned her newest trick, but we sure are enjoying it. This is the expression we got when, in her lift-the-flap book, we asked, "Where did the ball go?"
In this part of the story there is a duck hiding behind the bush and he will rescue the ball for his dog friend. "Jenae, who is behind the bush?"
It was a surprise to us when this was also her reaction to our home phone ringing. I guess she wasn't sure who it was that was calling. Feel free to call us anytime. We love these priceless moments!

Trimming the Tree

Jenae is such a great age to start enjoying all the fun of the holidays! She is just in awe of the twinkling lights and loves the decorations she sees everywhere we go. I was worried about her wanting to destroy the tree, but she has done so well. We let her put this snowman ornament on the tree, then explained that we don't touch the tree we just look at it. And, that is what she's done! I'm so proud of her.

We still need to make a trip to the mall to see Santa. There's no doubt her name is on the good list this year. Maybe this weekend we can do that.

Living in a small town there are some fun holiday happening that take place. We have always been able to go to many of them; we'll see if Jenae is up for it this year. If so, know you'll get to read about it here first!

It is time for our playgroup, so we better get going. The pies turned out great last night. I'll post a link to the church's photo page once they are online. Have a great day!

Look out, Pillsbury!

I think I'm an official homemaker now. That is me with a homemade apple pie and two other homemade pie crusts just waiting to be filled with pumpkin. Who really needs a Pillsbury frozen pie crust anyway?

Now, before you think I've gone off the deep end or if your sitting there thinking it appears I have too much free time for someone raising an one-year-old, let me explain. First of all, it is 11:34 pm and the apple pie is just now baking in the oven. So, forget about all that free time. Second of all, it is Christmas Blessing time at our church and that means all the Middle School girls get to learn how to make homemade pies. (Much more about the Blessing in the next couple of days.) Since I head up the teaching team this year, that puts me in charge of this project. Did I mention I've never made a pie from scratch before? Yeah, now tell me if this isn't the blind leading the blind. Thankfully, as with many things, if you just follow the directions it isn't too difficult. Or so I think. The real test will come tomorrow night when the ladies who know how to make pies have to eat mine! Now, that scares me. (Quick affirmation: Jordan just walked in the kitchen to tell me it's really beginning to smell yummy in here!!)

So, if you have time Wednesday night, just say a prayer for me, the 20+ middle school girls, and all my volunteers who will be making pies at church.

Thank You, Ameriscapes!

Look, you can see our house again! We finally broke down and asked for help. Our front landscaping was done by our builder and was not done well. They didn't put up dividers and the things they planted were way too large for our small home. Some friends of ours at church own a landscape and irrigation business and they did a major overhaul for us! I am so pleased with what they did. I think it really opens up the front of our home and makes it look a bit larger, if that's possible. So, if you live around here and ever need help with your yard, you need to call Chris or Quinton at Ameriscapes. They will make your neighbors jealous!

Here are the before and after shots:

More Cuteness

Thanksgiving

This year we spent Thanksgiving with Jordan's family in Abilene. It's always fun to get together with the whole clan. Jenae loves being with her cousins and getting to play with Reyna Belle. Of course, there's no doubt she also loves her Ya-Ya (Sha Sha) and Mama-me (Mimommie). We all ate too much, especially those pies that kept disappearing. We all got to share something we were thankful for spelling out THANKSGIVING. I had the letter "T" and am thankful for the task/thrill of raising up little Jenae.

Friday morning I got to go shopping all by myself! It was amazing how much I could get done without my little helper. I didn't have to stop for naps or mess with carseats. It was fabulous. I got almost all of our Christmas bought on this one day!

The cousins also made their annual Gingerbread Houses. Jenae has to wait 2 more years before she gets to make one...but she still gets to be in the picture!

Oh yes, big news...Jordan would be upset if I forgot to mention the LARGE table that we ALL got to sit at this year. The Hubbard family has continued to grow over the years, yet the dining room table hadn't. We would all try to fit, but it was just a bit too close...if you can imagine 12 people squeezing around a table designed for 6 or 8. We love our family, but... So, this year Jordan got his wish...a bigger table!! And we all fit! It was very nice!

Catching Up

At least I warned you. Weeks have now passed with no new entries. We have been super busy and we don't have many signs of slowing down. But, Jenae is taking a nap and I've already mapped out our afternoon of errands, so let me catch you up.

The weekend before Thanksgiving Jordan had a retreat to speak at, so Jenae and I packed up and headed down to Houston to visit our friends the Duncans. Our other friend, Homie, was going to spend the week of Thanksgiving with them, so this way we all got to be together for a few days.

It was such great fun! Times with old friends where you can just hang out, laugh and share life are the best!! We've all been friends for over 12 years. Homie and I were on a campaign to Brazil when Anna Beth was just days old. Now AB is in Junior High helping me take care of my own girl!

We did lots of eating out which was great since there aren't so many restaurant choices here in B-town. Here we are at Piccomolo enjoying our icecream cones. This may be Emma's fav hangout since she asked to go there every night!We also enjoyed eating at Beck's Burgers. The best part here was the setting. The have two humongous trees out back with patio dining. Seriously, check out those trees! All those branches from two tree trunks. The weather was perfect to be outside.










Xtreme Pizza might have been the most extreme food I've consumed in a long time! Emma did a great job handling hers.


The Duncs were great hosts. Thanks for the great weekend! We'll be coming back and we might even let Jordan come :o)
P.S. Homie, there are no pictures of you because of the threats I received. Sorry. But, I hear you make an awesome Sweet Potato Pie!

OK, I just found this one...

Baby, It's Cold Outside

Lesson Learned

Okay, so I revived this blog with great expectations to keep it up-to-date and give all 4 of you who read this something new to look at each day. HA! What I've discovered in my attempt to do that, is that when I have time to blog I have lots of time and end up doing multiple entries at once (like today) and...when I don't have time, I don't have any time to blog (like this past week.) So, no promises from here on out. Just enjoy what I can share when I get a few moments.

And, because I know you all are really looking for pictures of Jenae and could care less about my commentary, here are a few to keep you going: