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Monday, September 27, 2010

Dedication

Jared and my prayer for our girls is for them to someday accept Jesus into their hearts and have a growing relationship with the Lord. I know that we can not make that decision for them but I do know that Jared and I have to live our lives to where they see Jesus in us. We want to give them every opportunity possible to hear about the Lord and to tell them about his love, grace, mercy and the beautiful gift of salvation. Yesterday we made a public dedication of the girls in church. We wanted to let people know that we are going to do everything we can to bring up our girls in a godly environment. The church also as a whole promised to help us and to do the same. It was a very special day!

Dedications at our church are wonderful. The pastor will give the origin, meaning, and spiritual meaning of the kid's first and middle names. He also reads a verse for each child. I would like to share those with you.

Claire:
*French in origin
*Literal Meaning: "Brilliant"
*Spiritual Meaning: "Shining Light" ("For with You is the fountain of life; in Your light we see light" Psalm 36:9)

Alden:
*Anglo-Saxon in origin
*Literal Meaning: "Wise Protector"
*Spiritual Meaning: "Guided for God" ("You will guide me with Your counsel, and afterward receive me to glory" Psalm 73:24)

"In the same way, let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise the Father in heaven." Mathew 5:16


Quinn:
*Gaelic in origin
*Literal Meaning: "Intelligent"
*Spiritual Meaning: "Godly insight" ("Behold, now we are children of God; and...we shalt be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is." 1 John 3:2)

Ashlyn:
*Irish in origin
*Literal Meaning: "Dream"
*Spiritual Meaning: "Vision of God" ("The days are at hand, and the fulfillment of every vision" Ezekiel 12:23)

"Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who handles the word of truth." 2 Timothy 2:15

Sunday, September 19, 2010

*Picture of the week*


Claire and Alex

Jared and Amber

I realized that I have only blogged about the girls. Let's face it, they are most important and who everyone wants to hear about. I have no problems with that plus they are alot more interesting than Jared and I. I thought I would kind of fill you in on us real quick, as boring as we are, and then will continue to blog about more entertaining things...the girls.

Jared is still enjoying his job at the Tulsa PD in the Forensic Lab. They moved into a brand new building the beginning of March and I must say it is pretty fancy. It is only a couple of miles closer than where he was before. All though there has been so much construction on his route to work that it actually takes him longer to get here and there. Only in the city! If you ask him what he does all day he will tell you "drugs". It's funny how he stayed as far away from that stuff his whole life just to see it everyday at work. He plays hearts on his lunch hour with co-workers and from what I hear he is the hearts playing champ. Who knows if that is really true or if he is just trying to impress me. :)

My job consists of taking care of our two little cuties and I wouldn't have it any other way. I feel like my day is just as busy than if I were at work all day. Claire keeps me very busy. She is always pointing and saying "Go, go, go!!!" Which means... well...go! She wants me to go and play with her, or color, or get her more juice. I have joined a MOPS group that I go to twice a month. It is wonderful, Claire and Quinn can interact with other kids and I can interact with other adults!!! We even do play dates once a month. I also hope to get started taking them to a story time at the library once a week. I am very blessed the Lord has given me the opportunity of being a stay at home mom. I know not everyone wants to or can afford to but I am very thankful!

Jared and I joined Southern Hills Baptist Church last November. We really enjoy the church and looked for awhile before deciding that this is where God wants us. When we left Great Bend we were praying that God would put us in a church that we could serve in and that we felt like the Lord was present. Jared has always had a heart for the youth. We had such a good time teaching the youth in Kansas, and God has directed Jared to the youth here too. He is a D-group leader to 9th grade boys. He has been at it only a couple of weeks but seems to really enjoy it. I don't think he thinks of himself as an adult so he fits right in. He has committed to a year helping out and will see what the Lord wants him to do after that.

I am helping out in the preschool area as the craft teacher for 2,3, & 4 year olds. Today was actually my first Sunday so I don't have much to tell just yet but I really had a good time this morning working with the kids. I was a little apprehensive at first but I really feel like God can use me in this area. I do have one funny thing that happened that I must share. The bible story today talked about Joseph and how his brothers threw him in a well and then sold him. They lied to their father and said he was dead. (You probably already know the story) Anyway, I asked the kids what they learned today. A 3 year old girl said "They threw Joseph in the well'. I replied "Yes they did throw Joseph in the whale...I mean well" I am not sure if a southern accent came out of me or if I temporarily lost my mind and had Jonah on the brain. The teachers laughed thankfully the kids didn't catch it. It's going to be fun! I also have joined the choir. I love to sing and am having a really good time. It is hard for me to get my voice back to singing so much for practice. My mom always told me if you don't use it you'll lose it. Well, that first day of practice I thought I had lost it! My throat was sore and I had a headache. It has gotten much better and now I am just trying to remember all of the music jargon. (formatta, coda, etc) It has been a long time since I have had to read music.

Well, that is us in a nutshell. Our lives consist of the girls, church, and work. What more could we ask for?

The monkeys are on the loose!

This past Saturday we took the girls and met the Jang's at the zoo. It was the girls' first trip to the zoo. You can probably tell we had a good time "monkeying around"! This is the Jang Family. Desiree, baby Jaycen (in the green hat), James, Alex and their adopted friend Claire. I love how Claire and Alex are looking at each other. We tried to get Claire out of their family picture but as you can tell we did not succeed.
Claire was too cute looking at all the animals, she said "WOW!" alot. We tried to get her to pet the goats and sheep...although she was not afraid to be around them she would not pet them. She did, however, love to wash her hands once we left the petting park . We were a little worried that she would not be interested in the zoo but she truly loved looking at all the animals, even the gross snakes.
Miss Quinn had a good time too. She slept most of the time because we went during her morning nap time. Next time I think she will be alot more interested.
This was the first time we ever put Quinn in the stroller sitting up. She loved it!! She was able to people and animal watch. She looks like such a big girl here, they sure grow up fast.
It was very, very hot! We were all sweating and by the end very tired. Claire was a trooper and walked almost the entire time. (Daddy carried her at the end) We thought she might want to ride in the stroller but she didn't want to. As I have stated many times she is very independent and I think that she proved that by walking by herself, free to roam.
We rode the train around the zoo at the end. It was nice to relax and look at the animals while sitting. :) You can probably tell by looking at us that we were hot and tired but most of all that we had a good time.
Claire and Alex had such a good time together. Claire pretty much followed him around. She liked to try and do what he did. At one point he was skip/jumping and she was trying her best to do the same. They had fun together and I am glad that Claire has Alex as a friend.
Claire was worn out and before we could get out of the park she was already asleep.
We truly had a great time and look forward to visiting the Tulsa Zoo again.

Chef Claire





Claire does a really good job playing on her own until it is time for me to make lunch or dinner. These are the times she wants my attention...of course. My solution, as crazy as it sounds, is for her to help me! She loves to stir, so if I can find something for her to stir I let her. Sometimes there is no stirring involved so she gets to stand on a chair and watch me cook. (not the safest I know) We have a really good time. I explain what all the ingredients are and she likes to "try" and repeat the words. She doesn't quite have the word oregano down yet but she is close. ;) This day she stirred the filling for manicotti, it was excellent by the way!!!