A New Believer

I am excited to announce we have a new believer in the family!!!! Jolie has been asking lots of questions the last few weeks about asking Jesus into her heart. Last night is when the BIG moment happened. Let me go back a little bit for you...almost every Thursday night while Jason goes to Bible study the kids and I pile up on our bed and play a question game. We call it Thursday Tell Time. This means I ask any question and they answer it honestly! Some questions are funny, about the Bible, preferences, etc. Last night it was late when we started and the girls were already in bed, but Jake reminded me that it was Thursday night. So, we piled up on Jaelynn's bed and I started asking questions. Some I asked were...would you rather fly on an airplane or cruise on a ship? would you rather meet Adam and Eve or Peter? The question that made us all pause and take notice was... What is one question you would ask God? Jolie spoke up first saying that she would tell Him sorry and that she loved Him! Jake was like why would you tell Him you are sorry? She responded with You know for when I do bad things. There the conversation went on to say that she really wanted Jesus in her heart! I am so proud of  our little 5 year old! She has always loved Jesus, reading the Bible, and singing worship music. Now, we get to really celebrate knowing that we will ALL be together in Heaven!!

My thoughts!

Today we went to a friend's Easter egg hunt and had lunch. It was so fun and we enjoyed it! She had everyone sit down (as much as possible with that many little ones) after the hunt and she read an Easter book about the real meaning of Easter. Then, I got home and read a blog by a pretty well known Christian writer and speaker. It was definitely to the point and that is usually her writing style. Which I like! I sometimes disagree, but that is totally ok! We are still believers loving the same God and can have different viewpoints. Well, here is my point and it might not mean anything to anybody, but here it goes anyway! I think in general society gets so caught up in anything secular around any holiday. How my family participates in a holiday and how your family participates in a holiday might be totally different. How my family worships and how your family worships might be totally different too. We preach tolerance, but are we really tolerant if it is different than the way our family does it? I don't broadcast everything our family does and I don't need to because the ONLY One who matters knows anyway. I feel judged sometimes that we do Santa, the Easter bunny (which we really don't do this one that much), and the tooth fairy (which our 4 year old already knows is not real, but our 10 year old still thinks is totally real!). We pray, read our Bibles, tithe, do mission projects, teach at church, etc. Sometimes I really don't think it matters that our family loves the Lord more than anything else when I hear some pretty intolerant remarks (usually more around Christmas). Please don't take this the wrong way. When you are stating your opinions, please don't group all Christians who celebrate differently than you in one group. We NO LESS believe in a almighty God than you do.  We LOVE God, teach our children how to serve others, and put others before themselves. We will serve the less fortunate on Saturday morning...worship at our church on Sunday morning...hunt eggs on Sunday afternoon...all while still knowing that Easter is about our Risen King who loves them more than anything...even if they hunt eggs.

Oh, how I have missed thee...

Oh, how I have missed thee...
It is that time to jump back in the blog world with both feet! I really have missed the therapy of writing my thoughts out for everyone to see. ;)
God has really been working through our family. I have loved seeing the desires of His heart released into ours. I hope we will follow Him where He leads us in these next new adventures. The first is a new young ladies Bible study that will meet in our home starting in February. I am looking forward to seeing how God will use our friend in her gift of reaching these girls.
The second I want to elaborate on a little more. Let me start at the beginning...Jaelynn, who is now 11, asked about starting a club to help with missions before Christmas. In all honesty all I could see is W-O-R-K!!! I know shame on me!!! After Christmas God convicted me that He was the one who had put those desires in her heart and I was squelching them! :( So, I very humbly went to Jaelynn and told her my feelings and my convictions. All she could say is, "It's ok and you know I am just in training for later." You see her main goal in life is to be a missionary. She has the right frame of mind that you are never too young to do God's work!  So, after praying about it and talking with a dear friend. She will be starting her very own Missions Club at our church in a month or so. I am very excited to see what God will do through this young servant with such a beautiful heart for Him!!!!
I will keep you posted on how all our new adventures are going when we get them started.
For now, keep praying for His will to be clear and our eyes to stay open!

Glad to be back! :)

L*I*F*E

I really have been in a funk here lately! For all who know me, I am usually a happy, encouraging,and pretty silly person! Well, for Jason, who has been living with me, I have not been so pleasant to be around. I am glad he vowed for better or worse because it has definitely been worse around our house. I feel Satan is really trying to get to me! It has been an emotional few months, but I seemed to rebound with God's help from each obstacle. Until now! First, Jolie had her EEG. Then, Jake had surgery. All that went smoothly. We coasted through all that with God's hands wrapped around us. (Which they never leave us... I know!) Then, I don't know what happened really every little thing just started getting to me! I dropped a large glass tea pitcher and it broke in half. Which ended up with a trip to Direct Care for 8 stitches in my knee. All this right before Jake's last regular season ball game and swim party at OUR house. I made it to part of the game and continued on with the party. Then, we finally got the results from Jolie's EEG in MAY on June 21st. The office had actually had them there since June 7th and did not know they had them!!!! The worst part was that the test results were ABNORMAL!!!!!!! I just cried and cried on the phone with the nurse. Thank goodness she is so kind. I got off the phone and called Jason. I just felt I was in a hole, could not get up, and that was the final load being poured in on top of me!  That afternoon I shattered the glass on my iPhone. I know that is nothing major, but that just added to my funk!  The next morning I got a call from Texas Child Neurology. That afternoon we had an email with all the information for an appointment next week!!! She will have to have another sleep deprived EEG. Then, we will see the dr right after that.

My mom sent me these verses the day we found out the test results.....

“I sought the Lord, and He heard me, and delivered me from all my fears” Psalm 34:4

“Fear not, for I am with you;

Be not dismayed, for I am you God.

I will strengthen you,

Yes, I will help you,

I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.”  Isaiah 41:10

I needed to hear those words desperately!!!! I will replay those words often in the upcoming days!!! If you could pray for us during these unknown days we would really appreciate it. As I write this I am feeling much better today. I am really looking forward to a date with my honey tonight. :) With much love, Jenn 

StResS-Surgery-STRENGTH

We had a pretty stressful week last week.  It could have been more stressful if we did NOT rely on God. God is amazing!!! He gives us strength when we need it most. I honestly felt like I just had a check list of events to get through last week. I knew I needed help from above. Don't get me wrong I did not want these things to happen to my children and I did not like seeing them crying or in pain. BUT- I felt a peace from within that reminded me- these things will pass!!! For those who do not know what our week was like here it goes:
Tuesday- We had to keep Jolie up as late as possible with NO nap that day. She made it until 11:20pm.
Wednesday- Jolie and I got up bright and early at 6am. I took her to a sleep deprived EEG. She did not know what to think at first. She was crying really hard and begging me to hold her one more time. So they wrapped her up in a sheet and let me lay beside her. Jolie finally realized there were no shots involved and they were NOT hurting her. I started singing, her favorite song, Isty Bitsy Spider to calm her down and she went right to sleep. She woke up happy and followed all the directions. I was very proud of her and the nurses thought the was so cute!

Thursday- We had to get up early again! We had to be at the Hospital at 6:30am this time for Jake's surgery. He was so good until they told him he needed to take off his shirt and put on the hospital gown. He threw a BIG fit! We finally managed to get it on and the next issue came when they wanted his sleep pants off!!! Do they not know how modest our child is? We waited until he was like this....

Then, I slipped them off with him laughing. :) Then, he was off to surgery to remove a cyst in his neck that has been causing problems for months now. He had this surgery before, but Dr. L did not take the Hyoid bone that the cyst wraps around. So, this time he took a portion of that bone and all the cyst out.

He did GREAT! He only had to stay one night for observation. We had not heard his voice or seen him smile until...

Jaelynn came! Then, he talked and smiled with her! They are SO close and love each other SO much!!!!!

I could not get this picture to turn! :(

Jake had wanted Jason to spend the night with him. Jason ended up having to work late that afternoon, coach a game that night, and get up early the next morning for an important meeting he could not miss. So, Jake and I hung out and spent some quality time together. We watched a movie, played I Spy cards, and played on his DSi. (Grandme and Poppa got him a new game he had really wanted to occupy him.)

While Grandme and Poppa had the girls for two nights and spoiled them rotten. Granny came to check on us again at the hospital and picked us up Friday afternoon to carry us HOME!!! I am very thankful for grandparents that live so close and take such good care of us!!!!

He could not wait to play his new Wii game that Granny and Papa Ross gave him. Nick came and played for a little while. That really cheered him up and wore him out. He fell asleep at 6PM and did not wake up until 7AM! Wow- that is some sleep!!! He is doing wonderful now and we are having to remind him of things he cannot do. :) He will miss one more baseball game tonight, but he is anxiously waiting for the next game.

Through all this God showed me He is right there with us and He gives us what we need even if we do not know what that is! Thank you to all the friends and family who visited, called, and most importantly PRAYED!!!  

Happy Birthday Jake!

I know some of you might know Jake's story, but I want to share it again. :)
We had not found out the gender of Jaelynn, our firstborn daughter. I begged Jason to find out when we found out we were pregnant when Jaelynn was only 9 months old. When the time came we both showed up at the appointment wearing blue shirts and khaki pants (which we did not plan). We laughed and thought maybe that was a sign. We went in for the appointment and Dr. T told us he was 99% sure we were having a GIRL!!!! I have to admit I was a little tiny tiny bit disappointed, but then I thought of all the cute matching outfits. Ha ha! So, we started buying those cute matching outfits and even had a few things monogrammed with Jenna Marie. We did not change the nursery from the jungle theme we had used with Jaelynn. We were ready with our bags packed with all the girlie stuff for the hospital. Jason and I drove to the hospital that Monday morning for a c-section. We anxiously awaited our Jenna Marie! Jaelynn came to meet her sister in a cute Big Sister shirt. We look back at pictures and she was only a baby herself! We went back to the operating room and I will never forget the look on Jason's face! Also, him SO EXCITEDLY saying,  "IT'S A BOY AND HE WEIGHS 9LBS 5OZ!!!" I just said no way!!! The assisting Dr laughed and said, "What did you tell them this baby would be?" Dr.T said, "A girl!" As they finished up with me Jason got to go let everybody in on the BIG surprise. He walked out with JAKE all bundled up and went straight to Jaelynn. He looked at her and said, "Meet your BROTHER!" Everyone was shocked and thought he was lying. HEE HEE HEE!!! I wish I could have seen all their faces. People were so funny when they would come to our room and see the beautiful white bear and  BLUE ribbons with Jake Marshall written on them. They would go back to the nurse's station and say they had the wrong room. I think the nurses thought it was humorous and would point them back to the Carlile room. The visitor would very hesitantly come in the door and say in a small voice.... Jennifer? We would laugh and say yes come on in and it really is us. They would bring their cute GIRL presents and not know what to say. :) My mom exchanged everything for us by the time we got home from the hospital. We had NOTHING blue or boyish at all. I am glad Jaelynn was too young to understand that she did not end up with a sister, but a brother. We have loved sharing his story. We are more than thankful that God gave us a boy. He was a perfect addition to our family.


Now, a little about what he is up to now. He loves any kind of sport. Give him a ball and he is one happy boy. Jake played soccer in the fall, basketball in the winter, and is about to start baseball next week. His uncle is the head baseball coach at University of Houston. So, when we were there a few weekends ago he got to be the bat boy. He was thrilled and had tons of fun! His favorite things beside sports are playing on his DSi and on the Wii. He loves riding his bike with his friends and swimming in the summer. Jake is full of energy and can be pretty silly! He has a caring heart and likes helping others. Thank you God for Jake and the surprise that he is to us!

Cruise 2011

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Hello Peeps!

*I did not realize when I wanted to post pictures from Shutterfly to my blog that they would show up as they did. I wanted to write about the different pictures, but I guess I will tell you about them here in this post. :)

We had a wonderful Christmas this year! My Mom, Dad, Todd, and Matthew ALL spent Christmas Eve night with us. (Todd and Matthew are Jason's brother and nephew) It was a ton of fun!!!! We had several wonderful Christmas'. We started off Christmas Eve morning at Jason's grandparents,The Carlile's, for brunch. Then, we headed to Jason's mom and Ross' for lunch and presents. The kids got big presents that they had really wanted from Granny and Papa Ross. Jake was thrilled with his DSi. Jaelynn was super excited about her HUGE Barbie house. Jolie got a really cute princess carriage CD player with a microphone. She LOVES music and dancing!!! Then, the whole crew headed to our church for a terrific Christmas Eve service. Jason did not play the guitar this year. It was nice to worship side by side. After the service all our family came to our house and enjoyed time laughing, eating, and hanging out. We decorated our Happy Birthday Jesus cake and made reindeer food. We settled down for bed by reading the Birth of Jesus. The kids fell asleep quickly. Christmas morning we had to wake Matthew and Jolie up to see all the presents. Ross and Sue came over to join all the fun and enjoy our yummy breakfast that my Mom made. We have a tradition of sausage balls, blueberry muffins, pig in the blankets, and we added cinnamon rolls this year.  We sang Happy Birthday to Our Savior and thought about all the blessings we are so thankful for in our lives. That afternoon we went to Mom and Dad's house to celebrate some more. Jake got the Criss Cross race track that he had been begging for months to buy. He was SO excited. Jaelynn decided to get money this year instead of presents. She ended up buying a digital camera which she had been wanting for YEARS!!! :) Jolie had not stopped talking about the dancing Mickey Mouse. When she opened it she did NOT have the reaction we had hoped for. She played with all the rest of her toys instead. Later on she decided she did like Mickey and danced like we had hoped she would. The day after Christmas we went to Ross' mom, Ma's house. We always enjoy seeing cousins that we only see one time a year there. We ended up with two extra kids on the way home. :) The girls had a great time together. We are truly blessed with family! I love Christmas! All the family closeness and activities. Yes, it can be stressful trying to make sure we see everyone, but this year we seemed to glide through the season with no upsets.

Then, comes my birthday. Let me just say it was FANTASTIC!!! I got up that morning went on a walk. Came back to a table of presents. Opened new workout clothes, a Willow Tree angel, and a gift certificate to Academy(which helped buy my new Asics tennis). Then, we went on about our day cleaning, playing,etc. That night Jason and my family went to eat at Mercado's. Yum Yum! Then, we all went back to my parents to eat my strawberry cake and open presents. If you looked at the pictures in the last post you will see (close to the end) a picture of me laughing really hard and then hugging Jason. I opened his present last and it was a CRUISE!!!!! Yes, a C-R-U-I-S-E!!! We have never been on a cruise before and I am SUPER DUPER EXCITED!!!!!! When I looked at the date to leave it said January 27th. I about flipped out. That was a month away from then. Now, it is THIS WEEK!!! We leave Thursday and I am beyond excited. This is the first time we have been away since Jaelynn was a baby and she is 9! I will post pictures when we return. Until then Bon Voyage.......

Christmas2010 and My Birthday

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Christmas....

I have so many post that run through my head and never make it to the blog. So, I will start with this one and may work backwards later. Ha ha!

Christmas. What does it mean to you? Family? Presents? Jesus' Birthday? Santa?
I LOVE Christmas!!! I love the times that we are with our family. Last night we all snuggled by the fireplace, drank hot chocolate, and watched The Legend of the Candy Cane. You know in this day and time Christmas is SO materialistic and WAY over commercialized around toys and Santa. Yesterday we were doing a Christmas Glyph for school. The activity means each part of the picture represents something else. You answer questions and it tells you how to color the picture, what to add, which way to turn an object, etc...(more about this in a minute.) Jake and Jaelynn love Christmas just like any child. They make their Santa list, talk about the commercials, and what they want all the time. Jolie has even jumped on the bandwagon replying to every commercial with I WANT THAT TOO!!! BUT- when asked what Christmas is truly about they all pipe in that it is Jesus' Birthday. When asked why do we get presents they know it is to help celebrate Jesus' Birthday and the Wisemen brought Jesus presents too. Jaelynn knows all the truths about Christmas and expressed how hard it is to keep the Santa secret. She said do you know how hard it is NOT to tell the truth.  We have always had Santa come to our house and will until Jolie knows the secret too. As excited as we get about Santa-that really is NOT what our family is so focused on. It was apparent yesterday when we were doing the Glyph. Jake and Jaelynn both put their favorite thing about Christmas was spending time with family! Oh how that warms my heart!!!! I love that we can celebrate in all the different ways, but keep our focus on what is the most important this season. Jesus' Birthday and spending quality time with family. I hope you will take the time in this busy season to love on your family. Merry Christmas Friends!

My Word When Did Our Baby Get So Grown Up!!! 9!!!!!

***I started this post October 18th. Oops!****

Jaelynn got a BIG surprise for her birthday! She has always LOVED Chris Tomlin!!!!! Even went dressed as "Chrissy" Tomlin for Halloween one year. So, when a good friend called and told me he was coming to Tyler....we jumped on tickets. How more perfect could it get that it was on her birthday week!

We went with The Solberg's and had a great time!

Then, comes the Cowgirl Party!!! We took a few girls to see the movie Secretariat. IT WAS SO GOOD!!! Jaelynn loved it and had fun dressing up as a cowgirl at the movies. Then, we came back home and had a slumber party. I think I am getting too old to stay up late.

Jaelynn wanted Jolie to be a little cowgirl too!

Our Beautiful Cowgirl!

Thank you Lauree for a cute and YUMMY cake!!!!

 Mrs. Chelsea, Miss Kelly, and Miss Emily came and did a wonderful job dolling up the girls. The girls make up looked beautiful. It made me sad seeing what they will look like in just a few short years.

Sister Beauties! Kate and Tess look absolutely stunning!

                                                                      

Jake had to get in a little dancing too! Love the hat!



She has all her friends to play with and look who she still ends up goofing off with.



The Whole Crew

 Grandme and Poppa enjoy the craziness too!





Family Reunion

Oh, the family reunion is always so much fun! The kids never want to leave the farm. Here is some fun pictures that captured the excitement of the little time that we were there.

It is always fun to see the kids swinging on the swing. We used to swing in this same spot on a not so fancy swing. Our swing was a board with a newspaper rolled around it.

Poppa and Jolie rocking.

Jaelynn was locked in the chicken coop by some cousins. Hillbilly fun! Right?

Jolie turns 2!

We started off Jolie's Birthday morning with a not so wonderful surprise! We went to get her and her and her bed was covered!!! Poor baby had got sick sometime in the night and we never heard it in the monitor. So, our plans to go the zoo and meet Jason for lunch were postponed for another day. :( We just chilled at home and she acted fine all day. Jolie really wanted McDonald's for dinner and cake. We invited my parents and Sue (Ross was out of town) to come after Jaelynn's soccer practice. 

I am NO baker. I leave the cakes to my friend, Lauree. I had to make one for her actual birthday though.

She loved her monkey purse, monkey lipstick, and Belle phone.

Poppa and Grandme gave her cute shoes and clothes!

Granny brought some more cute clothes and a fun tricycle to ride!

 Jolie was really excited on Thursday when we went to the zoo. She HAD to carry her purse to the zoo, but look who was sweet enough to carry it for a little while. ;)

My Three Beauties

 These were her favorite animals that she could not stop talking about......

This was my first attempt of Wonder Under on clothes. She is really into princess right now and I love those initial shirts.

His shirt says it all...Superhero! Well, to us anyway. :)

Peek-A-Boo Beautiful!

Cutie Pie!

Getting Di-R-tYYYY!!!!!

Goodbye zoo! We had a wonderful and beautiful day celebrating Jolie's Birthday!