Thanksgiving & 8 months old!

We had a great Thanksgiving with the Jacobs family.  All 8 of us (Jesse's parents, sister and niece were with us for Thanksgiving!) crowded into our little home to celebrate the holiday.  It was so fun getting to host in our new house, use our china, and be together as a family.  Jesse's mom and stepmom did most of the cooking and it was delicious!

Each Thanksgiving I try to take some time to reflect on the past year and say what I am thankful for.  I love Thanksgiving for this reason-it causes you to be mindful of the things you have and all the blessings in your life.  Some of the things I am so thankful for are:

1. My new little family: Luke brings so much joy to our lives, has grown our marriage and made it stronger (we have learned to communicate and work through issues in whole new ways!).  My husband never ceases to amaze me-he balances work, family, and school so well and loves me beyond measure.

2. My family & Jesse's family: I am so thankful for how supportive and loving they are. I appreciate them so much and definitely wish we lived closer, but treasure the time when we're together.

3. My job: as much as I am looking forward to staying home with Luke full-time, I am grateful to have a job where I can make a difference in children's lives and grow as an educator. I know there are many people without jobs so I do not take mine for granted.

4. My church: we have made wonderful relationships there and have connected with other parents who have been a great support to us this past year.

5. My friends: although I don't get to see my friends as often as I'd like, I love the time we do get together; their support and friendship over the years means so much to me.

6. My relationship with the Lord: He has been SO faithful to us. I do not know how I would make it through the hard times or celebrate the good times without my faith. 

Luke turned 8 months old a few days later. Each month he becomes more and more fun as his personality continue to develops. He is quite the talker and always has a lot to say! He is working on crawling but rolling is his primary way to get around. I also discovered yesterday (when he bit me!) that he has a tooth coming in on the bottom.  I'm hoping he won't get too many more teeth until he's completely on solids and drinking cow's milk. :)  Here are two of our favorite pics. 

Christmas card photo taken by our baby-sitter, Elisha!

The Lord will fight for you....

This past week we have experienced some major ups and downs.  As most of you know, Jesse has been faithfully fundraising day in and day out for the past 6 months.  While we have seen some fruit, it is not to the extent to which we need it to be in order for Jesse to enter back on campus full-time.  It has been discouraging and tears have been shed these last few months, but we have experienced a peace throughout this whole journey that cannot be attributed to circumstances.  Jesse and his staff had an opportunity to study Exodus 14 a few weeks ago.  The context of this passage is that Moses is leading the Israelites out of Egypt and they are being pursued by Pharaoh and his army.  The Israelites are crying out to the Lord, wondering why He allowed them to leave Egypt only to be pursued by the Egyptians again.  Moses responds to the Israelites by saying

"Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today.  The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. The Lord will fight for you; you need only be still." (Exodus 14:13-14)


This last part of the passage really hit home for Jesse and for me as well. We have been holding onto this verse and believing that the Lord IS fighting for us and has amazing things in store for our family.  This week we saw God's provision in a new way.  We are amazed and in awe at what the Lord has done and is doing and we give Him ALL the glory.  No matter what your circumstances are, we firmly believe that if you are honoring and loving God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, He WILL fight for you...you need only be still.

7 Months!

I'm 2 weeks late on this post(actually, now I'm 3 weeks...I started this post last week!)...but late seems to be my middle name these days! Late to parties, late to church, late to meet with friends. The only thing I seem to make it on time to is work, which is a good thing since I have 18 little 8 year olds waiting for me to teach them:)  That's life with a baby (although I was never very good at being on time before!)

Luke has mastered sitting up on his own, something I LOVE! It is so nice to plop him down with some toys. He has a toy bin in just about every room of the house.  He's also starting to become very attached to mama, and being 18 pounds, I'm building some nice arm muscles these days:)  Here are some of our favorite pictures from this past month:

He LOVES sweet potatoes!

Hanging with his girlfriends...AKA my college friends:)

Favorite! This was shot by one of our amazing baby-sitters, Elisha! 

Day trip to Catalina Island!

Hanging out with daddy in the mountains at Spiritual Formation Retreat

Big boy in his highchair

He loves his cousin, Willow

Little turtle-Halloween

Fall

We took a break from house work & moving to take Luke to a pumpkin patch. He LOVED eating the hay and tasting the corn. :) I found him a cute turtle costume and he and I will be going as "The Tortoise and the Hare" for Halloween.  I can't believe Luke is turning 7 months and his first holidays are just around the corner!

D.I.Y. (Do it Yourself)

This month has been C-R-A-Z-Y! Since closing on our house October 6th, we (and when I say we I really mean my wonderful husband and our friends) have been working nonstop on the house, getting it ready to move in.  Our friend Steve, who is a contractor, took the lead on the renovation.  He and his wife, along with Jesse and our friend Serge, spent many long days and late nights painting, ripping up old floors, laying down new floors, and cleaning.  I am SO appreciative of all of their help and generosity. They went above and beyond and gave up so much of their time to bless us. We could not have done this without them! We are loving having a home and look forward to more projects to come. 

Here are some before and after pics:

Living room-before

Living room-new floors!

Living room-after!

Dining room-before

Dining room-after

             

Luke's bedroom-before

Jayna working hard:)

Luke's room-after!

Steve touching up the baseboards

Homeowners!

Homeowners!!!

Jesse and I are so excited to announce that we are officially homeowners!! We began the process of looking for a home back in June when we drove past this house in a neighborhood we love.  We saw that the house was vacant so we peeked through the windows and walked around the backyard.  We loved the fact that it had a great front and back yard (something you don't usually get much of in San Diego), it was in a walkable community, 1.5 miles from the zoo and Balboa Park.  We also have friends from our small group that live around the corner.

We saw the for sale sign but thought, "there is no way we could afford this house and I'm sure there are lots of offers in on it already."  Well, turns out the house was a short sale, in our budget, and the only offer that was in ended up falling through!  Our offer was accepted and less then 3 months later (which is very fast for a short sale!) we have closed escrow.

We have some work to do on the house-floors, painting, and cleaning-but for being 100 years old the house is in good condition. I'm excited to post some before & after pics once we've fixed it up!

We know and believe that it is the Lord who has given us this home.  He has given to us so generously and we are so greatful for this gift.

Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord; trust in Him and He will act. -Psalm 37:4-5

6 Months!

I can't believe my baby is half a year old already! This month is by far my favorite. Luke's personality is coming out more and more. He is such a happy baby, always smiling or giggling.  Milestones this month are eating solids and giving kisses (mostly just slobbering all over mama's face but I count that as a kiss:) Here are our favorite pictures from Luke's 6th month:

Yummy toes

Wee!

Eating avocado for the first time!

Splish splash!

Family time at the park

6th months!-September 28th

Dedication Day!

We dedicated Luke at church this past Sunday. It was a wonderful service and we had many family and friends there to celebrate. We shared the meaning of Luke's name-"bringer of light"-and read his "life verse": "Therefore, if your whole body is full of light, and no part of it dark, it will be completely lighted, as when the light of a lamp shines on you."-Luke 11:36.  Thank you to everyone who came and made it so special!! Here are some pics of the day:

Jesse brought his dorm leaders and incoming freshmen!

Jesse was at Catalina Island the week prior to Luke's dedication and us moving. My parents came down and spent the week with me and Luke. They packed, cooked, cleaned and loved on Luke. It was such a blessing to have them-I don't know how we would have survived the move without them!

We said good-bye to our house on Vermont St. this past week. I'd be lying if I said I didn't shed a few tears as I packed up Luke's room. I can't believe just 6 months ago I was decorating his nursery and anticipating his arrival. We are so greatful to have lived in that house this past year. We fell in love with the neighborhood, found a great church nearby, and made some great friendships that will hopefully last a long time.

We are in escrow on a house that is only a few miles from our old neighborhood! We are anxiously waiting for the appraisal this week which will determine whether we get to move forward on closing. For now, we are settling into our friends' house and loving living with them.  This is the view from the roof of their building...not bad, eh? :)