Jamie's Journey

The Christmas Post

2012-01-04T14:44:00.000-08:00

     So I wrote a blog at the beginning of the Christmas season and I was so excited for this year's holiday season. I really did have a great time with my family but I will say it was extremely busy and this laid back girl who leans toward introversion was exhausted from all the events! I will say the advent Christmas countdown we did was a BIG hit. Ansley loved all of it. Also giving the girls there gifts was a lot of fun. I'm glad I waited until Christmas. ;)
     The holiday travel started when Ansley got out of school at noon that Friday. We left almost immediately after that and drove to my brother's house to get his dog to take with us to my parents house while they were in Alabama. We got to my parent's that Friday evening. It was an ok trip but they seriously have got to do something on I 35W between the North exits 52 to 60. My exit is 60 and those last 8 miles take FOREVER!! During my traffic wait my friend Kathleen called and asked me to sing with her during the Christmas Eve service. The song she had chosen was Barlow Girl's Hallelujah Light Has Come and it is such a beautiful song. I was so honored to join her.
     The main reason me and my girls went to my parents that weekend was to go to my cousin Aaron's wedding that Saturday. WELL you know things don't always go as planned... We were on our way to the wedding Saturday night all of us dressed up and looking fancy when about 20 minutes into our 1 hour drive we get a phone call from my aunt saying, "Where are yall". So the wedding we thought was at 6pm was at 3pm. Total bummer, but we did go ahead and go see the clean up crew. Everything seemed like it was an awesome wedding and we did get to see the Bride and Groom on their way out so I guess that's something.
     Flexibility I guess is one worthwhile trait I possess. We had planned to be home early on Tuesday because Jay was gonna be gone MONDAY with the youth kids at six flags. Turns out because of weather they went on TUESDAY. So me and the girls stayed at my parents a little longer and left after lunch Tuesday and then stopped to visit my friend Christin in Fort Worth. It was fun to see her and her little girl, Lauren. I was blown away how grown up Lauren had gotten. Man, kids... they learn and grow up so fast. After we left there we drove a little further and stopped for dinner in Waco and finally got home around 7:30 or 8 Tuesday night.

Friday we got back in the car and drove to Burlison to my brother's house for our family Christmas. The video above is of Ansley and Ridgely telling the Christmas story. It was going well and we were all having a great time. THEN, Ansley brought a marker (that was supposed to stay upstairs) down to the kitchen and while she was slinging it around it leaked all over Rusty and Lesley's wall. Of course it was the red marker and so after a not so successful attempt to clean it off the wall they are gonna just have to paint over it if they haven't already. SORRY about that again. That is one of those things that only happen to kids at someone else's house. HA!
Saturday, my parents after spending the night at my brother's came down to our house and it turned out to be a life saver that they were there to help us that night. Since I had agreed to sing with Kathleen I had to be there early for sound check and what not. Jay had to do the power point and being on staff at the church has to show up early for everything. So I left after eating a quick dinner leaving everyone else at the table. Then while Jay got ready for the service my parents got themselves and both the girls ready. YAY for the grandparents!!! It was a great service though. My first ever Christmas Eve service to attend because we have always been at my Nanny's until this year on Christmas Eve. We had prepped Ansley for the Lord supper part and had the discussion about what it means and why we do it and that she wouldn't be participating yet but that hopefully one day she would. LOL It was so funny watching her from the stage. She kept looking at me like MOM, see ALL the other kids are doing it why can't I. HA I was trying to keep my composure watching her but she did good and I was very proud. Of course as soon as it was over she said, "Mom, I just wanted to take something. Everyone else took something!" Aww poor thing... she is so mistreated ;)

Christmas morning went pretty good. I was shocked that Ansley slept until like 8:30. I totally expected her to be up early because she's known to get up around 6:30 for no reason so with it being Christmas I thought she would be an early riser for sure. Don't get me wrong I completely appreciated the sleeping in. We had our Santa part of Christmas and cinnamon rolls and got ready for church again. Jay preached the Christmas morning service and I was so proud of him. He has grown so much in the public speaking area and although I wouldn't characterize it as a typical Christmas message it was one that needed to be shared. I thought it was a good morning. My parents left after lunch that day and we tried to start getting ready for our next phase of Christmas break.
On Tuesday we left after we got up to drive to Clovis. That drive is no fun, especially the last hour or so. The girls did ok, considering its like a 9 hour trip. Jay's brother is a basketball coach and we went to his games every night while we were there. His team ended up winning the tournament. They should be really good this year. When we did Christmas with the Reed family Jay's dad gave the girls things that were his grandmothers. They were really special and I was glad Ansley showed her appreciation for them. Both the girls got a doll that had been their great grandmothers that she played with when she was a girl. Ansley also got a cradle that was made by her great great grandfather for her great grandmother to sleep in as a baby. In Clovis the four of us all slept in the same room which meant no one got great sleep. It really wasn't too bad though. It was good to spend time with Jay's family. We hadn't been all together since Pam passed away so we enjoyed our time there.

We came home kinda late on Friday. I was glad we came home Friday because we had Saturday to just relax before New Years Eve, not that we did anything exciting. Anyway, I had a good holiday season although it wasn't exactly as I expected. I'm not really sure what I expected, but I knew it would be different, kind of a start of a new phase in life I guess. I know that this year I am fully aware of all the blessings God has given me and I am thankful for all the ways he takes care of me.

Happy Anniversary!

2012-01-03T10:01:00.000-08:00

He's so cute!

Today is Jay and my anniversary. I am so thankful to have joined my life with his 8 years ago today. This past year has been a precious one. I think, in honor of my man, I will give everyone a picture of who my husband is to me.
Obviously Jay is my husband and father of my children, but beyond that Jay is my...
- best friend
- prayer partner
- encourager
- motivator
- personal trainer
- alarm clock
- mood lightener
- stress reducer
- co-chef
- and travel companion
That is a glimpse into the life I live with Jay. I am so proud of him, the work he does, and the man he is. I am so blessed to love a man who lives what he preaches and is such an example of walking with Christ and a loving spiritual leader for our family.

Christmas2011

2011-12-22T11:29:00.001-08:00

Seasonal Chic Christmas Card

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Christmas time is here!

2011-12-14T13:45:00.000-08:00

Hello blog reading friends! I am officially and completely done with my master's degree so maybe more computer time for fun rather than school. (cross my fingers) That is one of the exciting things that has happened this December. I will tell you this Christmas season I am so excited! It is a complete contrast to the way I felt last year at this time. Man, I was kind of a grinch. To look back over the changes during 2011 I'm a little upset at myself for being that way because last Christmas was truly one to be cherished, seeing as it was the last one I had with my grandmother and the last one to celebrate with my mother in law. Maybe that realization has spurred me to have a little more joy this year. I am forever grateful to have had those 2 precious women in my life and I will miss them dearly for years to come.

On a lighter note this year I decided to do a 12 days of Christmas with Ansley (and Adalynn although she can't participate quite like big sis can). I love that some moms can do the whole month of December but I know myself and my limitations and 12 days is kinda pushing it. HA! We did start a little early so we could take a hiatus trip to Grammy and Jimpa's for a few days. But here is what we have done so far.
Day 1- Paint a Christmas picture
Day 2- Make Christmas cookies
Day 3- Take treats to the neighbors (Ansley loves doing this every year)
Day 4- Family game night (we played a Christmas version of pictionary and charades, I was super impressed with Ansley's skills)
Day 5- is today and we are gonna make it a hot cocoa night (even though it is like 70 degrees outside)
I used to think I could never do the whole advent season but when I took the pressure off myself to make everything a big "to do" we had a chance to just enjoy the simple things and being together. We might do these things anyway but having it as a mystery for Ansley to open is most of the fun. I love that Jay is also reading a part of the Christmas story every night at the dinner table.

Ansley helped me decorate the tree and she did a pretty good job. Although the bottom right side of the tree is "extra decorated", I think it looks awesome. Ansley also has already had her school Christmas program where they sang Up on the Housetop and Jingle Bells. MAN was that place was a madhouse!!!!

Ansley during her school program

In other not Christmas related news, the girls have both had a hand, foot, and mouth virus. Poor Adalynn! Her mouth and diaper rash looked just awful! Ansley had it too but she didn't look as bad. Her problem was it was in her throat and she could barely eat or drink anything for a few days. I'm happy to report that Ansley is back at school today and Adalynn's face and bottom are back to normal.

Adalynn in her Christmas outfit before going to nursing home

Today Adalynn and I went with some of our MOPS moms to the nursing home and sang Christmas songs for them. It was a good time and everyone there was just so happy to see the kids. Tomorrow is the MDO program and then Friday is Ansley's class party. It is going to be a busy week.

I'm having a really hard time waiting on giving them their gifts. I am so excited this year I can barely stand it.

"Is Santa real?"

2011-12-09T10:20:00.000-08:00

Ansley age 3 with Six Flags Santa

Ansley is 5 and asked about a month ago if Santa was real. I asked her, "What do you think?" That was only a short fix to the question because she kept asking. She later asked, "Do the parents put out gifts?" I told her yes but it is fun to believe in Santa so don't spoil it for other kids. Anyway, my mom sent me the following in an email today to share with Ansley and I thought it was perfect for all the moms going through this same situation during this Christmas season.

Grandma and Santa

I remember my first Christmas adventure with Grandma. I was just a kid.

I remember tearing across town on my bike to visit her on the day my big sister dropped the bomb: "There is no Santa Claus," she jeered. "Even dummies know that!"

My Grandma was not the gushy kind, never had been. I fled to her that day because I knew she would be straight with me. I knew Grandma always told the truth, and I knew that the truth always went down a whole lot easier when swallowed with one of her "world-famous" cinnamon buns. I knew they were world-famous, because Grandma said so. It had to be true.

Grandma was home, and the buns were still warm. Between bites, I told her everything. She was ready for me. "No Santa Claus?" she snorted...."Ridiculous! Don't believe it. That rumor has been going around for years, and it makes me mad, plain mad!! Now, put on your coat, and let's go."

"Go? Go where, Grandma?" I asked. I hadn't even finished my second world-famous cinnamon bun. "Where" turned out to be Kerby's General Store, the one store in town that had a little bit of just about everything. As we walked through its doors, Grandma handed me ten dollars. That was a bundle in those days. "Take this money," she said, "and buy something for someone who needs it. I'll wait for you in the car." Then she turned and walked out of Kerby's.

I was only eight years old. I'd often gone shopping with my mother, but never had I shopped for anything all by myself. The store seemed big and crowded, full of people scrambling to finish their Christmas shopping.

For a few moments I just stood there, confused, clutching that ten-dollar bill, wondering what to buy, and who on earth to buy it for.

I thought of everybody I knew: my family, my friends, my neighbors, the kids at school, the people who went to my church.

I was just about thought out, when I suddenly thought of Bobby Decker. He was a kid with bad breath and messy hair, and he sat right behind me in Mrs. Pollock's grade-two class. Bobby Decker didn't have a coat. I knew that because he never went out to recess during the winter. His mother always wrote a note, telling the teacher that he had a cough, but all we kids knew that Bobby Decker didn't have a cough; he didn't have a good coat. I fingered the ten-dollar bill with growing excitement. I would buy Bobby Decker a coat!

I settled on a red corduroy one that had a hood to it. It looked real warm, and he would like that.

"Is this a Christmas present for someone?" the lady behind the counter asked kindly, as I laid my ten dollars down. "Yes, ma'am," I replied shyly. "It's for Bobby."

The nice lady smiled at me, as I told her about how Bobby really needed a good winter coat. I didn't get any change, but she put the coat in a bag, smiled again, and wished me a Merry Christmas.

That evening, Grandma helped me wrap the coat (a little tag fell out of the coat, and Grandma tucked it in her Bible) in Christmas paper and ribbons and wrote, "To Bobby, From Santa Claus" on it.

Grandma said that Santa always insisted on secrecy. Then she drove me over to Bobby Decker's house, explaining as we went that I was now and forever officially, one of Santa's helpers.

Grandma parked down the street from Bobby's house, and she and I crept noiselessly and hid in the bushes by his front walk. Then Grandma gave me a nudge. "All right, Santa Claus," she whispered, "get going."

I took a deep breath, dashed for his front door, threw the present down on his step, pounded his door and flew back to the safety of the bushes and Grandma.

Together we waited breathlessly in the darkness for the front door to open. Finally it did, and there stood Bobby.

Fifty years haven't dimmed the thrill of those moments spent shivering, beside my Grandma, in Bobby Decker's bushes. That night, I realized that those awful rumors about Santa Claus were just what Grandma said they were -- ridiculous. Santa was alive and well, and we were on his team.

I still have the Bible, with the coat tag tucked inside: $19.95.

May you always have LOVE to share,

HEALTH to spare and FRIENDS that care...

And may you always believe in the magic of Santa Claus!

Isn't that a great story.

Thank you Father for the gift of your son Jesus and thank you for this time of year to celebrate what You've done for us!

My testimony

2011-09-21T12:11:00.000-07:00

This year I joined on as part of the leadership team for our MOPS group. I was asked to prepare a brief testimony for our next leadership meeting. I thought I should share it here too.

My Testimony

I consider myself lucky to have grown up in a Christian family. My parents always were very involved in church and therefore, I was too. My grandparents and extended family also played a significant role in introducing me to a healthy picture of what a walk with Christ looks like. I asked the Lord into my life as a 6 year old. I very clearly remember my parents putting me to bed one night. I’m not sure why, but that night I asked them all kinds of questions and I told them I wanted to ask Jesus to be my Savior. I prayed that night, with my parents by my side, that Jesus would be Lord of my life.

Early on, my relationship with the Lord was mostly about wanting to please Him. Of course I would make bad choices as all kids do, but even at a young age I felt the need to go to the Lord to make things right. Beginning in 7^th grade I was introduced to having a “quiet time”. I began this practice of meeting personally with the Lord and spending time in His word, but it wasn’t until my sophomore year of HS that I truly enjoyed it and met with God because I wanted to rather than because I thought I had to. My senior year of HS my best friend’s brother died in a car accident and through that situation I understood that God is always good and is always in control. Even in a horrible circumstance that was completely unexpected God proved Himself to me and I have never again doubted God’s control and God’s goodness.

Now that I have lived a little while, I see why God wanted to cement those two truths into my life at that age. As an adult you see the suffering of the world and of those around you clearer than as a child. You also face demands and responsibilities that deplete you mentally and physically. Praise be to the Lord that through the power of His Holy Spirit I am able to draw on His strength and trust His guidance through all of life’s circumstances. He has proved himself always faithful to His word. He has shown me He’s able to provide financially. He has encouraged and satisfied my weary heart over and over again. My longing is to show the world around me that God through his son Jesus Christ is the only remedy to the brokenness they feel, no matter what it looks like.

“Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” Isaiah 40: 28-31

So what are you hoping in? Your good deeds, your money, your popularity? All our worldly things will leave you spent and wasted. It is only placing your hope in the Lord that will sustain you through all of life’s journeys.

Daughters

2011-08-22T13:32:00.000-07:00

   God chose me to be mother to some beautiful girls! It is hard work but I feel like I have been given such an AWESOME privilege. Sometimes I wonder why God thinks I was the best person to entrust these amazing little beings to. You know, on those days when I have no idea what I'm supposed to do in a parenting situation.
   However, today we hit a milestone!! My beautiful daughter, Ansley started kindergarten today. I'll say I had a few moments where I was sad. I guess I feel like today marks the day when I get less and less influence in her life. I know I still have a lot of time with her, but we all know that parents get increasing less cool to their children with each passing year. I'm gonna try not to live with that thought in the front of my mind but today it has been staring me in the face.

I have NO doubt that Ansley will do great. She is very outgoing and energetic. Her "I can" attitude is exactly what she needs to succeed in school and life. I do have to remind myself sometimes that her independence is a wonderful thing. :) We have a long way to go but starting this journey today has been exciting. It also makes you dream of what all her future holds. I am confident that He who began a good work will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ (Phil. 1:6).
If you are a daughter or have a daughter please take some time to listen to this great new song from Shane and Shane. Lets praise the one who is our hero!

I'm back

2011-08-09T20:40:00.000-07:00

      The problem with taking long absences from blogging is not knowing where to pick up. I'll start by saying my baby girl turned one a couple weeks ago. CRAZY!! Next, my oldest baby girl starts kindergarten in a couple weeks. CRAZY!! That will make ya feel old.
      Some of you may know that I went to Nashville this past weekend for the MOPS convention. I had never been before. This will be my first year in MOPS leadership. Really, I'm still not exactly sure how that happened or what I'm supposed to be doing. HA! The only thing I do know is that my heart SO longs for families in our community to know the power of Christ. Hearing about the students Jay works with and how the majority of them come from rough family situations breaks my heart. I have no idea how to help with this growing trend other than to start where I'm at. For me I am a mom. So what better place to start serving and telling people about "The Remedy" (as David Crowder so beautifully puts it) than MOPS.
       I took away so many great things from convention. For one Jon Acuff is hilarious, but I think what stuck with me most from my time in Nashville was the simple fact that our marriages need to be nurtured. That sounds so simple, doesn't it. So why are so many marriages less than what they could be? For me the answer is selfishness. I've apologized to Jay several times for my blatant selfishness. But after this weekend I'm ready to do something about it rather than to only acknowledge it. The awesome thing is, that I really am married to the best man on the planet. Obviously no one is perfect but Jay never ceases to amaze me. I love him so much and I am so grateful that he chose me to journey through life with. I only hope that I can return to him the blessing that he is to me.

Seasons

2011-05-18T12:51:00.000-07:00

     I've gone through seasons of sadness before, but these past few weeks it wasn't really sadness it was frustration. An extended period of frustration was new to me. My poor husband didn't know what to do with me I'm sure. I was flat out grumpy and unfortunately Jay and Ansley bore the brunt of it. I know I'm 28 and I'm supposed to be on my way to living the life that I was meant to live, but I still feel like I have no idea what I'm doing. It's not for lack of trying, trust me!
     I have always said I know a little about a lot of things, but I don't know a lot about anything. I said it just a couple of days ago to a fellow soccer parent at Ansley's practice and I got the typical response of someone trying to encourage me that what I said wasn't true. I don't think that to throw a pity party for myself, I just honestly think it's true. My mother says it makes me well rounded. HA! I really am grateful for a Mom who tries to turn my lemons into lemonade (so to speak). But I was reminded today in God's word that the truth is he created me that way fully knowing it and completely on purpose!
     The story in John 6 about Jesus taking the 5 loaves and 2 fish and feeding the multitudes, we all know it, yes? Jesus basically asks the disciples the question, where are we going to get the food? It says he already knew what he was going to do in the situation. So for me Jesus is asking, how are you going to obey me and reach out to the multitudes? Just like the disciples I feel ill-equipped and intimidated.
    In the words of Beth Moore...
     "A miracle occurs every single time one solitary person offers everything he or she has to Christ. You may think you have so little to give, but if you surrender your all to Him, ultimately He will touch multitudes in ways you may never know.... (The boy) had so little yet offered all he had. And Christ blessed it and multiplied it many times over. He'll do it every time."
     I love that she said, He'll do it every time. Today I'm feeling ok about my inadequacies because I serve a God who makes much with little. Later on Beth continues to say...
      "The feeding of the five thousand account concludes with Christ's words, "Let nothing be wasted" Beloved, when you surrender yourself entirely to Christ, nothing will be wasted. Not one aggravation. Not one tribulation. Not one celebration. Not one single breath of your life."
     I guess I knew that, but to read today that my aggravations would not be wasted was huge! I knew that my life as whole would not be wasted... that God has a plan and purpose in all things... but after a season of frustration that, honestly, has the potential to continue to be frustrating for an unknown length of time, I needed to hear that even that isn't wasted. Thank you, Lord! Help me to trust you to be the strength in my weakness and to be ok with not seeing immediate harvests from the labor I'm in the midst of.
Galatians 6:9
"Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up."

Happenings lately

2011-03-05T09:35:00.000-08:00

Well it's been a rough few weeks at the Reed house. I feel like we've been sick since the weekend before Valentine's Day. But I think we are pulling through. Ansley had strep throat. I used to get that all the time as a kid. It looks like maybe my kids will too. Adalynn had her first ear infection and man was it MEAN! My baby that rarely cries except to say "come get me" would just cry and cry and I had no idea what to do for her. I guess she just hurt. Very little sleep happened for about a week. But now we are on the other side of it, hopefully, and we can resume life as normal. I felt like maybe it was initiation to being a 2 child family or something because it had been years since someone in our house ran fever then all of a sudden one of us had fever for like 2 weeks straight.
If you know me, you know I am not a runner! I've never been, but the girls from my Sunday school class were going to participate in a 5k that raises money for autism. Several of them were walking so I said I'm in because I can walk forever (almost) :). But a couple girls started a couch to 5k plan and I figured if ever I'm gonna do it, now is the time. So I've been running (well my interpretation of running) for about a month and a half. This past week we kinda ditched the plan and created our own, but we'll get there eventually. Before we started this I was trying to remember the last time I ran on real ground. We have an elliptical machine so I've run on that a few times but I really could not remember the last time I ran on real earth. HA!! The first week you only run 60 seconds at a time. My first time out there I told my friend, I'm cheating, I gotta stop. HA! I mean one minute seems forever when you're running. Don't worry she didn't let me stop and now I'm up to running for 10 minutes and then walking a few and then running some more. But I know all of you marathon runners out there are having a good laugh at my expense. But, it's totally fine I'm just saying it's hard! :)

Nanny, my mom, and me at Adalynn's baby shower.

Some not so good news is that this week we found out my Nanny has a cancerous brain tumor. They were going to remove it Tuesday, but the family decided to take Nanny to a specialist in Dallas before any decisions were made. She will be seeing the doctor in Dallas on Wednesday. I am so lucky to have come from a family where everyone knows the Lord and I know the prayers of my Nanny have so much to do with that. She and my Papaw, when He was still with us, were intentional in letting me and my cousins know about God and the importance of following Him and their legacy to our family is definitely to live a life like Christ. So obviously, my Nanny is a very special woman. Our family would appreciate your prayers for her and for the family as we walk through this.

Me with Nanny at their house when I was about 4

One last thing is I've been trying to decide what to do for Ansley's 5th birthday party. Plan A is not going to work out so if anyone has any good suggestions we are looking for a plan B. She is pretty good about being up for whatever, but she definitely has been trying out her own skills as a little party planner. :) The problem is she changes plans about every 3 hours. HA!

It had been a while so I felt the need to update so there is a whole lot of un-related information about my life this past month. :) Hope you friends are doing well!

EEW, Cockroaches

2011-01-25T14:54:00.000-08:00

   So I updated my status yesterday on facebook about my disdain for cockroaches and I thought I should tell the whole disgusting story.
   The family was in the church office, a likely place to find someone in the Reed family. However, this time it was so I could print some stuff off for my Tx State class. Adalynn stayed in her car seat for pretty much the whole time. We sat her seat on the floor while I was at Jay's computer. Then I carried the seat into the workroom and sat her back on the floor while I got my printouts and punched holes in them. Then Jay was helping our friend (and church secretary) with a paper she was writing for her Temple college class. While he was doing that I sat down and had Adalynn (still in her car seat) sitting on my lap where we were face to face. I was just sweet talking to the baby like everyone does when they see that precious face and all of a sudden out crawls this cockroach from behind her back. It was like she was sitting on it and then it decided to make itself known. AHHHH I'm kinda dying all over again. So, aanyway, the cockroach crawls up onto the side of the car seat on the warning sticker that is right next to her face, literally like an inch away from her face. I didn't exactly throw the car seat out of my lap, but I didn't set it down gently either. Then I flailed my arms and said, "get it out, get it out, get it out!" I look at my sweet baby and she has that puckered lip and a whimper as if to say, mom you're freaking me out. What is the problem? Jay came to my rescue... my big, strong, cockroach killing man! :) Then everyone took a sigh of relief because I had made everyone panic. Adalynn finally was taken out of her seat at this point. HA! I really am not that way about anything else, but cockroaches are my arch-nemesis.
   I could tell you the whole back story as to why my hatred for cockroaches is so deep, but I realize no one really cares. I was just thinking that it is a good thing I am not a superhero like in Batman Begins when he has to face his fear of bats by being surrounded by them...I couldn't do it. Sorry Gotham City. :)
I'll post of pic of my sweet baby in her car seat so you can see that sticker and fully visualize the whole disturbing scene. This photo was taken by Ansley when Adalynn was like 2 months old, but you get the idea.

Food

2010-12-20T18:43:00.000-08:00

Adalynn has started eating "food". I tried to be like every other American mother this time and start with rice cereal. She wasn't a fan. By this I mean that after the third or fourth bite she would start crying at me. So I decided to fall back on the trusty Secrets of the Baby Whisperer book plan. I followed this book with Ansley and everything went well so I thought, forget the cereal bring me the pears. Adalynn loved the pears. By this I mean she smiles and starts giggling when I put her in her chair.

Eating her first cereal

On the subject of food...
December is just killer when it comes to trying to eat healthy. Our family by no means qualify as health nuts but we do try to pay attention and eat more good than bad. Since Jay works at church people are always bringing goodies up there this time of year. Also Ansley brought a whole bunch of stuff home from her last week at MDO before the holidays. I didn't realize how much the sweets had taken over until two days ago when Ansley kept saying her tummy hurt. Turns out after a couple of trips to the bathroom she felt much better. HA! Eating lots of sweets has always been rough on her. And "lots of sweets" for Ansley is not much in comparison to most people. She has just had about three days where she had eaten about 3 cookies a day. She really doesn't eat "treats" a lot. She does eat pop tarts and have peanut butter and jelly like every other day but cookies, candy, and such are rarities. Now with Ansley not eating as much it means that more of it is staring at me all day. I guess thats why someone decided we needed to make New Years resolutions after the holidays. :)

Thankful

2010-11-11T12:37:00.000-08:00

Today is Veteran's Day and it just has me thinking how thankful I am for so many things in my life. I am thankful for this country and those who serve to protect what we stand for. I could never express how thankful I am to be born into the family God placed me in. I am surrounded by loving, supporting, Christ followers on all sides to journey through life with as family and I will forever be grateful! I am so thankful for my husband who is so perfect for me, whom I will never take for granted! He is such a fun and loving provider, mate, friend, and father. When days are blah I simply have to look at the faces of my two beautiful daughters to take me to a place of being thankful! Their smiles and little selves that were fearfully and wonderfully made are so inspiring.

Over the weekend we attended my 10 year high school reunion. I was feeling a little awkward about the whole thing but once we got there sweet faces from dear friends eased that feeling away. I have told many people that I feel my high school experience was different than most because I truly feel most of my friends were seeking to live a life like Christ. Maybe it was my naivety but I have always been thankful to have been a part of a seemingly rare occurrence. I'm not saying it was perfect. There was drama as will always be amongst teenagers, but for me it was an as iron sharpens iron so one man sharpens another (Prov. 27:17) kind of experience. If it weren't for facebook I would not have kept up with just about anyone, so on my list of "I'm thankful for" I must add facebook. :)

Being a friend as an adult is way harder than it has previously been. I guess because there are other priorities that take precedence and because you aren't forced to be in the same location as others day after day, especially as a stay at home mom. But I am not using that excuse anymore. I am resolved to be a better friend. I'm not exactly sure how that will look but I have begun praying already that God would help me to see beyond my door and show me how to be a real and compassionate friend.

The Willeford part of my precious family

Sweet "new" friends

Cookie Lee

2010-10-23T16:39:00.000-07:00

   So, what is Cookie Lee? It is a jewelry business that operates a lot like selling Avon or Mary Kay. Consultants (me) help people host "home shows". That is how we sell the jewelry, and that is how a hostesses earns free jewelry. I hosted a show right before we moved from Clovis to Taylor and I loved my stuff. They have really cute things at reasonable prices. The Cookie Lee jewelry I have, I bought over 3 years ago so it is durable as well. I still wear those pieces which means I am either not up on fashion or the jewelry has been designed well to stay current. I would love for you to view the catalog online at www.cookielee.com  For now I have chosen not to have a website so you won't find me in the consultant locator, but feel free to email or call me with an order, to host a show, or ask questions.
   If you host a show there are great benefits! If the sales from your show are over $200 you earn $30 in free jewelry, 2 items at %50 off, and an opportunity to get the monthly hostess special. The benefits only get better the higher amount of sales dollars your show generates. Also no matter how much money your show brings in if any of your guests book a show you will receive a $25 gift certificate to use at their show and at least 1 item at %50 off. All this information is in the catalog too if I am doing a poor job of explaining it. There is no presentation at the show it is just a time to invite friends over to see the jewelry and hang out. It is super low key and no pressure, which is reassuring to me.
   There are also ways to do fundraising, which I think is pretty cool. I will have to look into it a little more and see how it all works but I just wanted to throw that out there in case anybody knows an organization, team, etc. that needs to do a fundraiser.
   So that is Cookie Lee in a nut shell. I have chosen to do this to hopefully save money to buy a new (to us) car. You know that Dave Ramsey... He would say to save up and pay cash. I don't know if we will be able to do that but that is kinda my goal.

What's next?

2010-10-20T19:43:00.000-07:00

Life is so busy these days. I LOVE the weekends when we have time to just spend together as a family. We always find something to do. Recently we have been to Zilker Park, Jay's first 5k run of the fall, Lexington for the Chocolate festival, and the day of all things pumpkin. The chocolate festival was not so much about chocolate which was a disappointment for Jay and I, but Ansley had lots of fun. We did all eat some chocolate pancakes. The day of all things pumpkin we first went and picked out our pumpkin. Then we came home and painted and carved it. We roasted the seeds, that I ate almost completely by myself because Ansley didn't like them and Jay doesn't really either. They were delicious if I do say so myself. :) We also made pumpkin bread which everyone loved. There was LOTS so it's good that I had help eating it.

   We are about to enter a new phase of life I think. As of this weekend our house will be on the market and I will try to start selling jewelry. I am SO nervous about having people come look at the house with my disaster of a 4 year old who makes even cleaning up a mess. Seriously, I have to applaud her effort but it is kind of incredible how that works. We were given the opportunity to move into our church's parsonage is the reason we are trying to sell. It is funny because we were actually talking about trying to sell the house anyway because we really would like to have a bigger yard with shade trees because Ansley loves to play outside and in the summer it is just SO hot. Right now though, we do spend a lot of time outside which is nice. Just a couple months ago we had mentioned to some friends that we were thinking about it. We really do love our house we just kinda wish it was on a different lot. So we won't be devastated if it doesn't sell. We would just stay put. That situation is totally in the Lord's hands to do whatever he wills.
   Now, for the jewelry story. When we first moved to Taylor I thought about doing this to help our family financially, but was asked to teach MDO instead. Then I started Grad school and at first I had classes during the day. Now my classes are online and I can do them whenever. Although I will have to drive to San Marcos (over an hour from our house) next semester for one final night class. Then a few months ago Jay and I started talking about it again because our car has been aging quickly lately. You should hear it start... poor thing. It musters up all it's energy just to start. I know you are all thinking... just get a new battery. And I'm sure that would help but it's more than that I think. So in response to needing a new car I started really looking into selling Cookie Lee and finding out what it would take and if I think I could do it. I almost committed a month ago, but decided I should take a little more time to consider it and pray about it. Well, I meet with the lady who is going to help me make my first purchase on Friday. I am so hesitant about it because I don't want people to feel like...here comes Jamie she just wants me to buy something. HA! I have been praying that it will be a ministry opportunity as well as extra income. Maybe I can interact with people that I may never have come in contact with before and show the love of Jesus through this silly jewelry business. This situation is totally in the Lord's hands as well. I will not be disappointed if it doesn't work out, but you don't know if you don't try. I know I am not super outgoing so this will definitely stretch me. I can be pleasant, yes, but I am NOT a conversationalist. I so wish I could just talk to anyone but it's a real challenge for me to hold conversation with people I do not know. Anyway after Friday I will post another blog about Cookie Lee just in case anyone is curious.
   So life has been crazy and is about to get crazier.
   Lord, I pray for strength and wisdom to juggle all the balls I have in my life. Help me to keep my priorities in order so that I don't neglect the important things in life. Show me how to share your love with the people in my path. Most of all be glorified and use me as you wish.

Growing Baby!

2010-10-12T18:59:00.000-07:00

I don't really have any interesting stories to tell. Surely something blog worthy has happened in the last month, but life has gotten too busy to document. :) However I did want to post Adalynn's photos I've been taking each month so I could see them all together. She is such a doll and I can't imagine life without her. It's like I've known her forever and she has only lived 3 short months.

1 month

2 months

3 months

The princess and the frog

2010-09-21T15:25:00.000-07:00

In our front yard there is a water meter box between our house and the neighbors. I think the first summer we lived in this house we realized a frog was in there. Ever since then there have been several frogs that have chosen that place as their home. Well actually I think they are toads, but it's all the same to me. Right now we have about 4 in there. Until this summer Ansley would only occasionally go and check on the frogs. I think she mostly wanted to know they were still there, but now she has adopted them as if they are part of the family. We "go look at the frogs" just about every day. She picks one out and holds it, carries it around, and pets it. She almost always gets peed on at least once, but she doesn't care. ICK, just thinking about it is gross. She had it on the swing with us in the backyard the other day and it jumped up against my leg and I acted like the prissy little girl because I shivered and screamed. HAHA! They just feel so disgusting. Ansley is a girl with lots of drama who loves shiny things, talking on the phone, and shoes like any girly girl does. However, she also loves to climb trees, run around and get sweaty, and play with frogs. I don't know whether to call her a "tomboy" or not. Anyway, I have always thought this about Ansley but this situation makes it so much more evident. I guess I was kinda that way as a young girl too. I loved being outside, climbing trees and such. I DID NOT ever like frogs though. Here are a few pictures of my little princess and her frog.

This was about 2 weeks before Adalynn was born. Her eyes are closed so because she is showing off her blue eye shadow.

Here's a little video I did of her playing with her frog the other day.

Of course I have to post a photo of Adalynn. I don't want her to feel left out. :)

This was on her 2 month biirthday.

For the parents

2010-09-09T15:13:00.000-07:00

Well summer is over. I do LOVE summer, but this year I am kinda ready to get back into the routine of "school days". Ansley started MDO this week. I have always called MDO school but Ansley insists on me calling it Pre K this year. :) A lot of the kids from her class last year are in the other class which made me a little sad. I think this means Ansley is one of the oldest in her class. She already thinks she is so "big" so I appreciated her being the younger rather than the oldest of the kids last year. It will be fine though. Ansley's teacher Ms. Debbie is awesome and so sweet. I think her calm spirit will be good for my crazy Ansley. I hope that a little of Ms. Debbie's calm can wear off on her. Today was my first day to "teach" music to the MDO kids. It was a lot of fun and those kids were so sweet. I'm glad that I see them in 15-20 sessions that way they stay sweet. HA! It's not really long enough for them to get to cranky.

Last weekend we went to visit my parents. While we were there we went to visit my Nanny so she could meet Adalynn. I think Adalynn is her 13th great grandbaby. It was fun to go up there. It had been a while since we'd gotten to visit and as always I enjoy seeing my family. It still feels like home when we are all together. Jay, Ansley, and I went riding around "the farm" on the gator. Jay had never seen all Nanny's land and Ansley has been talking about how she wants to live on a farm when she grows up so we thought it would be fun to explore. I wished I'd taken my camera with me out on our drive. Oh well, maybe next time.

Adalynn will be 2 months old this coming Monday. To me she has gotten so big, but today I had someone ask me if she was a preemie. She has started holding her head up pretty well and reaching out for things she sees. The other day she even pulled the rings on her swing to make the music come on. Isn't she talented. :) Oh those little milestones. My favorite of her new activities is her smile. She has started smiling a lot and when you smile at her she will she back. She also smiles when Jay tickles her. Love those sweet baby smiles. Now we just need to start sleeping through the night! Here is a video of Ansley and I giving Adalynn a bath...she was all smiles!

Road Trip

2010-08-24T08:33:00.000-07:00

Last week we took our first road trip to Clovis as the Reed family of 4. The trip there could not have gone better. I mean I was a little nervous but the girls did great. Ansley did ask if we were almost there when we were in Georgetown though (which is 25 minutes from our house). Once she realized this was a REAL car trip and not just a trip to go shopping she was fine.

We got there on Tuesday night and on Wednesday Adalynn met her great granny. Then later that night we went to the Curry County Fair and had our pictures made with our friend Cristy who has been a sweet friend since we lived in Clovis. She is married to one Jay's best friends from high school and he was also a groomsman in our wedding. Cristy is super talented and what I love most about her is her desire to use her business for the Lord. If you have never visited her website, you should! www.cristycross.com Also if you want to help us earn free photos comment on Cristy's blog post of the Reed family here http://cristycross.com/jounral/?p=2085
On Thursday we ended up taking a few more pics of Adalynn and Ansley at Cristy's house and then we got to visit with our friends the Osburn's. It is always good to see them and catch up. Ansley then went swimming with Jay at another friends house. Friday Ansley "played" golf at the par 3 course with Jay and his dad. She has been visiting the driving range and putting green with Jay here at home through out the summer so this was her first time playing actual holes although I'm not sure she finished any hole all the way though. HA! Me and Adalynn just mostly sat around the house on Friday but that was good because I think we wore miss Adalynn out. Saturday we packed up and drove back home. It was a good time and kept Ansley and Jay busy. Adalynn was a little more fussy on the way home but both girls did get a good 2+ hour nap in.

Jay's dad has a huge garden in his backyard and I just had to post a pic of Ansley and her vegetable find. It was pretty crazy!

One month old

2010-08-12T20:22:00.000-07:00

1 month old

So Adalynn had her one month birthday today. I feel like "man it's already been a month, and man its ONLY been a month" all at the same time. I am not sure I'm totally taking it all in. I feel like I walk around like a sleepy airhead most of the day. I am realizing why I barely remember anything from life with Ansley before she was 3 months old. You are just too tired to remember anything that is happening. HA! The first two weeks seemed to go extremely well, followed by a much more difficult 2 weeks. We will see how things go from here. I feel like Adalynn is sleeping fairly well considering, she only gets up once around 3 or 4 AM. It's just I'm still not accustomed to waking up in the middle of the night. Apparently I am a deep sleeper and when I'm out I would like to be out for a long time. I typically would rather not sleep at all then sleep for only a little while. So I am not a napper, usually. I say usually because I think I've napped more this month than at any other point in my adult life. This makes for feelings of guilt when relating to Ansley. I can't help but wonder what she thinks about me napping all the time. I keep telling myself that it's ok because if I didn't nap I would be a much grumpier mommy and Ansley wouldn't like that either. :) The best part of the last week has been 2 of my other friends having their babies. Ansley's MDO teacher last year Ms. Kayla had her baby on the 5th and another of my friends from church/MOPS who's oldest son was in Ansley's class last year, had her baby on the 7th. We are still patiently waiting for Kathleen to have her little girl. Her due date was today and I am dying to meet Jill. I'm sure Kathleen and family are too. But it's so sweet to see all these beautiful baby girls that have all been much anticipated for so long.

Before church last Sunday morning

Ansley is still doing very well and seems to love being a big sister. Yesterday she found one of the "baby" movies that we watched when she was little. When Adalynn was awake and playing yesterday evening Ansley wanted to watch it because she thought it was a movie she and Adalynn could both watch together. I thought it was sweet of her to try and include her baby sister. She hugs her all the time and wants to hold her as much as possible. She also likes to help hold the bottle if we use one. Her favorite is when Adalynn holds onto her finger. Ansley has so many questions too. I can't imagine what she thinks when I'm nursing and what she thinks about all the crying. I do know she does NOT like the crying. I don't either who can blame her :) I feel bad saying this but I kinda think the worst part of newborn life this go round is Ansley trying to "help". Sometimes I just want to tell her, "Don't worry about it, I'm handling it". Also she seems in the way a lot and I know she is just curious but some things would go a lot smoother without a sidekick following me around. I am grateful though for how understanding she's been because I am sure I've hurt her feelings a lot lately but maybe one day she'll forgive me.
So thats life from the first month of life with 2 children. I can't wait until I am well rested once again and can really start taking it all in and enjoying these beautiful girls the Lord has given me. I am so blessed!

A new look :)

2010-07-21T12:15:00.000-07:00

This blog is so titled because my family not only has a new look but this blog page is apparently going to have a new look because my background says it disappearing on Friday. So, a new look it is. :)

It has been just over week since we had our baby girl, Adalynn. She is beautiful of course and we feel absolutely graced by God to have her join us on our journey. There are so many things to say that I'm not sure where to start. I was almost shocked to see how much Adalynn looks like Ansley did when she was a baby. It is almost like de ja vu but Adalynn was 3 inches shorter than Ansley. I'm super impressed with how my 4 year old is handling everything so far. I just hope it continues this way. Ansley loves being a big sister and wants to help however she can. She has even done really well staying semi quiet for her little sister, and anyone who knows my crazy kid knows what a feat that is.

I also have been given such a gift in my husband, Jay. He is such a servant and so sensitive to the needs of his family. I can not say enough about how thankful and incredibly blessed I am by him. I just hope and pray that I am doing well at loving him too.

Yesterday was really the first full day of life as it will now be. Jay was at work and I was at home with the girls by myself for the first time since Adalynn was born. We did pretty good most of the day. Ansley had a play date with her friend Victoria. Thanks again Nicole! But by evening I was exhausted still. Adalynn had gone down for a nap and Ansley asked me to play "door" (a game that is a Jay Reed original) I just started crying because I REALLY didn't want to play "door" but I felt like I should take this time to spend with Ansley since I could. When I stated crying Ansley just said I'll just go see whats on tv in the living room. AWWW how sad. Luckily Jay came home just a few minutes later because God won't give you more than you can handle. :) He played play doh with Ansley and I laid down for a few minutes until Adalynn's next feeding.

So my life has a beautiful new look. My sleeping patterns do too, but I will continue to count my many blessings because God is so good, He's so good to me!

This summer so far

2010-06-27T20:47:00.000-07:00

This has been one crazy summer and I can hardly believe that June is almost over! Ansley had her first ever swim lessons and it was incredible how much she learned in just 4 30 minute one on one sessions with her teacher, Ms. Staci. I was such a proud momma and still am because she just keeps getting better at it. Jay is convinced she can be an athlete if she wants to be because she picks things up very quickly and has good coordination. Of course, I wouldn't know anything about being an athlete but if he says so. :)

Adalynn got lots of stuff she will need at the shower that was held at our church. My sweet friends and hostesses had planned a lunch for the guests and it was such a great day and I felt very special to have so many people in my life who are supporting Jay and I as we raise these 2 girls!

Next, we stayed a week in WF with my parents while Jay and the HS kids were at camp. It was a good visit and that week went so fast. The following week we went to Port Aransas Tx to stay at the beach with my family. This was Ansley's first trip to the beach and she had a blast. Of course we stayed very busy so now every day she asks "what are we going to do today" or "where are we going now". She needs to snap out of vacation "GO" mode because this momma is worn out. It was a lot of fun and really the first time that my family has been together more than just a couple days over Christmas. My brother, sister-in-law, and nephew Ridgely were there too. It is so funny how things change like adding spouses and kids but so many things stay the same in family situations too. I feel like I have changed the most and unfortunately not really for the better. Being an adult doesn't wear well on me HA! At least I'm aware of this though, and I'm working on it.

Two weeks from tomorrow we are expecting to meet this precious child that been sharing life with me for the past 9 months. I am getting very excited to meet her and a little bit worried about the change all at the same time. I find myself being sentimental about things with Ansley and am praying that she will still feel just as loved and adored as ever even when her mommy and daddy have another baby to love and adore. My due date is July 26th but we are inducing on July 12th. I really do feel like this induction is an answer to prayer. I have friends that have shared their concern about inducing, but I also have friends that have had nothing but positive things to say about their induction experiences. Like I said I feel grateful to have been given this option because I would never have just asked to be induced but my doctor is going to be away at a conference for over a week and since Ansley was born a week early my doctor gave me the option to be induced so she could be there for the birth. We thought and prayed about it for a couple of weeks before deciding for sure what to do, and in the end we agreed to do it. Like I said I really feel it was an answered prayer to an extra detail God allowed me to praise Him for. Ever since I was having the ligament pain (which was worst between weeks 8-15) I've been talking to God about having this baby early. HA I'm sure lots of pregnant women pray this prayer because no one wants to have their baby late. But I mostly said God whenever you're ready so am I. Anyway, all this to say I will be induced exactly 2 weeks before my due date at 38 weeks. I was kinda induced with Ansley because my water broke and nothing else labor related happened until they started me on the pitocin. Seriously, I think I was only dilated to 1 or something when they started it. But everything with Ansley went well and I loved the birth experience with her so that is keeping me from having reservations about inducing with this one too.

Sorry that was a really long story about nothing of interest to anyone but me probably but I just got carried away writing my thoughts. I am exhausted having started month 9 but I am going to try to make the most of these 2 weeks in preparation for Adalynn joining the Reed family.

short story

2010-05-27T07:36:00.000-07:00

Sometimes, I underestimate the mind of children. I really try not to because I learned a long time ago they are smarter than we give them credit for (even as infants), but still I'm amazed at what my child (and other kids too) says sometimes.
Jay, Ansley, and I were on our way to the track as we have done a lot this spring/summer. Jay was going to run of course while Ansley and I were gonna walk. Anyway, out of nowhere Ansley asks, "Mom, why doesn't the track have a mailbox". So in all my wisdom I said because no one lives here. Without any hesitation at all she replies, "no one lives at the church". I mean come on that is some serious quick thinking. I just said back to her, "you are so right" and had to laugh. Then of course Jay tells her that people work at the church and they send mail there and yada yada yada. Obviously she had noticed at some point that the church has a mailbox and the entire block where the track is does not. But it just had me amazed first of all at the random question and then how quickly she responded. I have a feeling that this ability to think so quick on her feet will not be as astonishing when I am trying to discuss curfew (and other similar topics) with a teenager in a few years. But for now I am going to marvel at God's precious creation that He is allowing me to parent and thank Him for His goodness in our lives.

This picture is from a month or two ago. If you notice her arms she is pretending to be holding the reins of a horse. I think she thinks that it makes her faster. She runs with Jay on his warm up and cool down laps.

Splash Day

2010-05-15T11:36:00.000-07:00

   Ansley had her last day of MDO for the year. She had a great class this year, and I think she will miss getting to see Ms. Kayla's and her friends. Since MDO is at the church I'm not sure she comprehends that MDO is over because we are at the church all the time. I bet next week she'll be asking when she gets to go to Ms. Kayla's class though, because that usually happens at least once a weekend already. The MDO teachers always send home a scrapbook of the year, which are always SOO cute. It was funny to see how different Ansley looked this year, mostly because at the beginning of the year her hair was really long.
(this video is from the week after Thanksgiving and you can see how long her hair is!)

   I will miss getting to talk to her teacher about our pregnancy adventures because our due dates are like a week apart. Two other moms of Ansley's classmates are pregnant also. I love having people to talk to about it that you know aren't thinking in the back of their mind... I really don't care about your pregnancy stories. HA!
  Anyway, I am trying to motivate myself to have a "learning time" throughout the summer with Ansley. Well more convince myself that she will cooperate than motivate myself. She is doing well with sounding out words and writing her name but we still have lots of practice to do too. I know she likes doing those things in class but will she let mom be the teacher is the big question.
   In other news, Ansley is doing well on her quest to sleep through the night without pull ups and not wetting the bed. She is not a fan of pull ups anymore (which is good) but this meant a lot of changing sheets for a while, but she is doing a lot better (not perfect, but better). And lastly, 2 more months until Adalynn's arrival. I think we decided to induce the middle of July because my doctor is planning on being gone and since Ansley was a week early she mentioned having the baby the middle of my 38th week. So, thats the plan and we will see what happens.
   Enjoy some pictures of Ms. Kayla's class and splash day.

4 years old!

2010-03-24T15:42:00.000-07:00

A blog to Ansley:

I can hardly believe you are four now! I just stare at you sometimes and I am amazed at how incredible you are. Beautiful, smart, and so loving -- You must get that from your father. ;) I just wanted to be sentimental sense we only have a few more months of being the Reed family of three.

Your first birthday will never be forgotten because the night before there was a tornado in Clovis. We were having your party at the youth building and hoping it would still be standing so that we could celebrate your first year of life. Sometime soon after your first birthday we were inside while your dad was mowing. He had found a tiny little turtle and brought it in for you to see and placed it in a box. I don't remember if I knew this information before I walked in a saw you with a turtle in your mouth but none the less I let out a shrill that had your father thinking you were dying or something. Praise the Lord it was just the turtle but I was extremely freaked out that you had put it in your mouth.

Your second year (07) was so fun because you were learning to communicate back to us. You also learned to sing songs which is still one of my favorite things to hear from you. We moved that year and you were such a flexible, happy girl no matter what we were doing. On the road for hours, making lots of short overnight visits, living with friends for a while, and finally settling into a new home. I praise God for how well you handled all that transition because kids love routine, but what a blessing you were to your stressed out mom who didn't handle all the change near as well as you did.

Year three (08) was extremely funny and extremely challenging. You were such a good talker and would say the greatest things that always made us smile. You were also potty trained during the third year which made this time of my life a huge "chance for growth" and "character development". I am looking forward to having you around to help me with this task for the next baby girl! :)

Finally, this past year (09) has been so great because I feel like you will begin to remember things we've done now for the rest of your life. Because you've grown up and matured we get to do lots of fun things with you. You also play pretend a lot now, which is such a sweet thing to see your creative mind at work. You have become very efficient at doing things for yourself. I'm just so proud that you can dress and undress yourself shoes and all, brush your teeth all by yourself, and you've even started learning to read.

You are such a blessing and I thank God for you everyday. I love you Ansley Grace! (born March 24, 2006)

Come praise the Lord with me!

2010-03-03T12:50:00.000-08:00

The prayers of a righteous man are powerful and effective. James 5:16b

I know I've heard the verse a million times, but God is just showing me the truth of it over and over recently. Not only am I seeing this personally in my life, but also in the lives of others as men and women join together, sometimes from all over the globe, and pray. Should I be surprised? Our God is a good God and He loves the prayers of His children. I guess, I just feel so blessed to witness his mighty power so much. There was a time, probably about 6 months ago, when I was talking to God and I just said, I know you are God and if you want to be silent then I am going to keep trusting you, but I feel like I've prayed and seen nothing. If you see fit, please make me aware of when you answer my prayers. I tell you what, I never expected that He would answer that prayer so obviously. I just wanted to publicly give Him thanks for blessing me with answered prayers, and give Him praise for being such an awesome God. That verse in James would still be as true as ever had God decided not to respond the way He did in my life, but I am so grateful for the glimpse of His glory! I've got to go get my child from MDO, but to give you a short list of answered prayers...
- The Godwin family and Isaac waking up from a 2 week + coma
- Providing financially for our family and the fact that we are expecting a new baby in July and were able to get pregnant
- Easing my worry over the babies development and the physical pain I've been struggling with this pregnancy
- Restoring a marriage of people we love that was very near ending
- The spreading of God's glory and fame through the situation Matt Chandler's walking through
Obviously I could keep on listing, but you get the idea. "The Lord has done great things for us. And we are filled with joy!"

It's a girl!

2010-02-25T08:33:00.000-08:00

So, it's been a month since I've posted. I guess I just haven't felt inspired lately. However, we went to the doctor yesterday for our sonogram. It ended up being a nice day but we had snow the day before which almost caused us to re-schedule the appointment. It was at 8AM which a little early in the Reed household considering thats usually when I get out of bed. I made it that early so Ansley wouldn't miss the whole day of MDO because I really wanted her to go with us and see the baby. Ironically, she didn't have school because it was canceled due to the weather. It turned out to be a good thing she was home all day. We got there about 20 minutes early, per doctors request. I will say we did start 2 minutes before 8:00 though. This hospital is just extremely thorough in their picture and measurement taking and we didn't leave until 9:45. Thats right, an hour and 45 minutes. I was starving by the time we left because we had planned on eating breakfast after the appointment. I did have a banana and a big glass of OJ before so it's not like I hadn't had anything. Needless to say we were all three ready to go by the time it was over. We girls had to have a potty break before we left the hospital and so I took the chance to let Ansley know that it was really special to me that she was there with me to see the baby. Her response was, well, I didn't like it. I took a really long time. Which it did, so in a three year old world I guess I should appreciate the gesture at least. HA :) We went to Cracker Barrel when we were done and had a good breakfast together. I did embarrass Jay because I had the hostess take our picture while I held up the sonogram photos (top photo). It was a special day for me, I wanted a photo. It turned out really cute by the way! Enjoy the pics.

She is sucking her thumb...aww

Isn't she sweet

Up close and personal

2010-01-23T18:12:00.000-08:00

Today the Reed family drove about an hour to visit a drive through zoo. It's just NW of Copperas Cove. We left the house and it was a nice 63 degrees outside with sun peaking through the clouds every now and then. We stopped to eat lunch in Killeen at Fuddruckers, which was right next door to Chuck E Cheese. Ansley thought we drove all that way to eat at Chuck E Cheese and was a little sad that we weren't. However, to be honest, I was expecting a huge fuss about not eating there and she pretty much got over it right away. I think it helped that up on the roof there was a fake owl so scare other birds away, but she thought it was real. We had to choose a table that allowed her to look out the window and watch the owl. Anyway, by the time we got to the zoo thing it was cool, windy, and sprinkling. We didn't let that spoil our fun though.

When we first got there we walked around to see the animals that were out in front of the drive through path. We saw a couple monkeys, cougars, goats, kangaroos, and a black bear. Then we got in the car with our paper bag of animal food and headed down the drive through. Of course I brought my camera, and of course the battery was dead. Towards the end of the trail I took some pics with Jay's cell phone that came out ok. Well see how well they post here. There were lots of emus and all kinds of goats and deer. Ansley's favorites were the ponies. Anyone who knows my child would have guessed that. The zebra were really pretty and it was cool to see them up close and personal. At the end of the trail were the really big animals.

A camel (left) decided to stick it's huge head (and half its neck) through my window and try to steal the whole bag of food. Apparently he thought the couple of pieces in my hand that was stuck out the window was insufficient. Jay really liked the yak looking things (above right and very top). But the show stopper were these cow kind of animals that had really HUGE horns. I mean they were so big the poor animal couldn't even hold it's head up. In the pic we took it looks like he is charging our car. (bottom right) It wasn't quite that dramatic but its horn did run into my window while the camels were trying to shoo the cows away.

I have been told that I went to a similar place called Arbuckle Wilderness (also lovingly known as Buckle Willis's at the Selman house) when I was a kid, but I do not remember that experience. This made today all the more exciting for me. I thought the animals would be scared to come to the car unless you showed them the food. I guess of few of them were but for the most part these animals were relentless and persistent in their quest for food. It was a good day for my animal loving daughter. I hope that she remembers more from her trip than I do from the trip I had back in the day. If you want to see this place check out www.topseyexoticranch.com

6 years

2010-01-03T11:33:00.000-08:00

I have been married to my love and best friend for 6 years on Jan. 3rd. I could not consider myself more blessed to journey through life with him. I admire his patience, I am amazed at his knowledge, and am comforted by his love. He gives so much for me and Ansley and I hope he knows that none of it is taken for granted. I love you so much, Jay and thank you for being my partner in everything. Here is a picture montage of our years together.
Sigma Alpha Formal March 02 The start of something good

Our parents meet I think this was HSU homecoming Oct 02

Date to the fair 02

The night we got engaged Feb. 12 2003

Engagement Pic in May maybe or Aug? :) 03

The wedding Jan 3 2004

Honeymoon Jan 2003

Winter Park Ski Trip Nov 03

Mexico Mission Trip June 04

Cruise Sept 05

Christmas 05 (about 6 mnths pregnant)

Ansley's 1 month photos April 2006

During Ansley's 6 month photos Sept 06

Valentine's banquet Feb 2007

Christmas card pic Nov 2007

Carrie Underwood concert Oct 2008

Photo taken by Ansley Thanksgiving 2009

I'm looking forward to many more years and photos! Happy 6th Anniversary Jay, I love you.

Just what I needed

2009-12-30T13:27:00.000-08:00

   Well, the holiday season is coming to a close and secretly I am relieved. :) This past week was a crazy one, but that will make it a Christmas I am not soon to forget. First of all we left all our presents at the house so no one has received a gift from us yet. But I'm trying to move on past that frustration so next, it almost never snows in Wichita Falls. If it does it rarely sticks and accumulates but this Christmas Eve was a SNOWY one. I think they got 8-10 inches of snow. Therefore, traveling was a huge hazard and even impossible at some points. They closed the highway between my parents house and my Nanny's house so I didn't get to see the family like I have done for the past 27 Christmas Eve's. Driving to Clovis took a really long time too, but what can you do but just try to be patient and pray for safety. Which God obviously graced us with since I am here to tell the story. :) Despite all that it was a nice Christmas week, exhausting YES but all things considered it was good.
   To change the subject totally, last night I was thinking a lot about how much this new baby is going to cost. I got the first bill in the mail for the blood work they do on the very first appointment. Our insurance was better when we had Ansley, not to mention we didn't pay for insurance because our church did. Anyway, I started feeling very overwhelmed and I said to the Lord. I know you are God in Heaven and own the cattle on a thousand hills, but I am here in Taylor Texas wondering how this is all gonna work out. Guess what He did today! In my time with him it was all about God's providence, which was defined as God's provision for people's needs. I mean what kind of timing was that?! One of the verses from the lesson that I decided to claim during this time of change in our lives is Phil. 4:19. It says, "And my God is able to meet all your needs according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus." AMEN!
   Now, for a cute Ansley story. Yesterday we were watching one of the Hermie videos that Jay's parents got her for Christmas. The catepillars were praying to God and God spoke back. Ansley said, "I didn't know God could talk. I can't hear him....see." I told her about how we can't actually hear God, but he speaks to us. He speaks to us through the bible, and in our hearts. I told her you know the feeling in your heart when you know right from wrong, that is God speaking to you, and that God could also speak to us through things other people say to us sometimes. Then she somehow starting talking about Jesus. She said that one time she went to her grandpa's house (the stories about "grandpa" is a whole other story) and Jesus was there. I said, "REALLY!" She said, "Yes, he was REALLY there." I told her if Jesus came back he better take me with him as I kinda laughed. She said. "You were there too, Mom." HA! Oh good, I wouldn't have wanted to miss that. :) She is so silly. Right now she is taking a nap and she got her bible out and put it in bed with her. She said, "I need my bible so I can read about Jesus." I said, "good idea!" :) That little three year old mind sure is entertaining.

This one and the one up top is from the WF Blizzard of 09 :)

That CVS card from a couple weeks ago

2009-12-14T11:17:00.000-08:00

   Back when Ansley had pink eye I took her prescription to CVS, remember, to get the free $25 gift card. So now I should tell the world, because I promised, the story about that. When I got the card I used it immediately on toothpaste, crest Pro Health to be specific, and a pregnancy test. Jay and I had been trying for a while to have another kid, but we really were happy with just the one we had. It had been a year but we said we would give it until the end of 09 to make any further decisions on the subject. I was late, but for some reason I always feel like there is no way I'm pregnant. I remember feeling that way the first time too. But sure enough I got home and took the test to find a positive result. I was excited but still felt like, well, ok, what do I do now? HA! That was right before Thanksgiving and we weren't going to tell anyone until Christmas, but obviously that didn't work out. :) It is hard to keep good news to yourself.
   We wanted to tell Ansley first so she would know what everyone was talking about. She is also the one who told my parents and Jay's parents. I think she is ok with the idea, but sometimes I think she is not so sure about all this new baby stuff. She is pretty funny though. She asked if we could call the baby coconut the other day. We told her that could be her nickname for the baby. I was feeling kinda sick one day and she asked why. I told her when mommies have babies in their bellies it makes them feel a little sick sometimes. She said, "Then take it out". HA! Just this morning she asked me if the baby was still in there. When I said yes she said the baby must not be done growing yet. :) RIGHT!
   I am about 9 weeks now so I still have a long way to go. To Ansley the end of July is like an eternity away. This pregnancy so far has been very different from the first one. With Ansley I didn't feel sick at all, expect for one day I took my vitamin without eating first. But this past week I have had a lot of sickness. Mostly, just the feeling not actually getting sick, thank goodness. Jay, Ansley, and I are very excited about the new member of the family and would love to be remembered in your prayers during this transition time in our lives. I'm sure there will be lots more baby Reed news in the future.

A Happy Heart

2009-11-30T11:31:00.000-08:00

   Well tis the Holiday season. We had a good Thanksgiving visiting all our family, but that 8 hour drive to Clovis is a killer. UGH! I am so glad to be home. However, on the car ride home I was once again blessed my sweet little miss. Our sermon Sunday was about putting more of Christ in Christmas and not being so caught up in our "Americanism". Derek said in his message that we feel like we have to buy all this stuff to give our family a Christmas they will never forget and then we do it all again the next year, so is it really working? Probably not. So my daughter while watching Madame Blueberry boiled it all down for us. She said, "She doesn't need all that stuff. She needs a happy heart. Right Mommy?" My heart melted just a little and I said a prayer that she will always hold to that truth.
   Today, we had to go to the store because after being gone for several days we had no groceries. Ansley sang the Madame Blueberry song the whole time we were shopping. I feel the need to post the words here so we can keep this in mind during this hectic time of year.

   Because a thankful heart is a happy heart
   Be glad for what I have thats an easy way to start
   For the love that HE shares as HE listens to my prayers
   Thats why we say thanks everyday

Thank you Lord for the life you've chosen for me. Help me to be ever thankful for all you do for me and all you have given to me. I know I am entitled to nothing, but because of Christ I am an heir of the God who created everything. May I long for more of Christ in this season and all year through.

Pink Eye

2009-11-19T16:52:00.000-08:00

   Today Ansley had to leave MDO because they were afraid she had pink eye. She woke up from her nap with red puffy eyes that were a little bit goopy. I was SURE it was just allergies so I brought her home and gave her some allergy medicine and hoped for the best. I kept asking Ansley if her eyes hurt or if she felt bad because she was so sad and wimpery, buy she insisted she was fine. I finally got out of her that she was so sad because she had to leave school early and she didn't get to play with Makayla on the playground. HA! My child is the little socialite that is for sure. Anyway, an hour after I gave her the medicine she said mommy I feel so much better look at my eyes now. Well they did look better but they were still red and goopy so we went to the doctor. He said "It is really just a guess, but my opinion is that it IS pink eye".
   We took the prescription to CVS instead of Walmart today because you get a $25 gift card for starting a new prescription. (More to come at a later date about what I spent that gift card on) The prescription is eye drops. Now, you have to understand my child is SUCH a happy girl, however, she is SUCH the drama queen as well. For example, just yesterday Ansley had a speck of glitter on her face. I noticed while we were putting her to bed and so you know I was gonna have to get that off. You would have thought I was trying to rip the hair out of her head because of the following meltdown. She had in her pretty little head that the speck of glitter was gonna hurt like the dickens to get off and during the flailing that ensued it just fell off on it's own. You should have seen the priceless face when she realized it was off and she didn't even feel a thing. I guess you can probably see where this story is going because now we are having to put drops in each of Ansley's eyes. We talked really calmly to her about what was going to happen and even showed her what it would be like by me putting eye drops (not the prescription of course) in Jay's eyes. It didn't help AT ALL! Jay had to hold her down with her arms pinned back and I had to force her eye open enough to put a drop in them.
   All I can say is, neighbors, I promise we weren't abusing our child. We were only trying to make the infection in her eye go away. The exciting part is that we get to do this 4 times a day for a week. :)

Veterans Day

2009-11-11T11:12:00.000-08:00

In honor of Veteran's Day I want to thank everyone who has taken part in maintaing the freedom's we have in America. Today I was reminded to do my part in protecting those freedoms by handing down my spiritual heritage. In the past, people have thought it so important that they gave their lives for me to worship the Lord freely. Not only do I want to honor their sacrifice but I am commanded to pass it on to my children.
Lately, I've been really trying to think of ways to show Ansley how important walking with the Lord is. Because Jay is a youth minister (and Ansley's MDO is there) we are at church all the time. I don't want her to think lightly of that heritage just because it is just where we go. I guess the best description is like comparing it to going to the grocery store (because we go there A LOT too). I don't want her to think we just have to go to church like we go to the store. I want her to know it's a choice and to appreciate the reasons WHY we choose to always be there. On the other hand, I am so grateful that for now my child LOVES church. I pray that it will always be a place she desires to go and as she grows hopefully the reason for that desire will be her hunger for the Lord and a heart that longs to please Him with her life.

Kind of on the same note as spiritual heritage and passing things on, Ansley helped fill her first shoebox for Operation Christmas Child. She helped pick most of the items out. When I picked things out, like soap and wash rags, it was such a cool experience to tell her why we were packing this box. At night we pray that our family could be a blessing to others and maybe she can understand the concept of being a blessing by helping fill this box. She was so good about realizing these things were not for her even though she picked things that she would enjoy. When we were finished she asked when we were going to take it to the little girl. I loved her heart of wanting to deliver the items. Obviously, I had to explain how we just fill the box and someone else will deliver it for us. One cool thing Kathleen told me about today was that you can pay your shipping for your box online and it lets you print out a label that will be scanned so you can track your box. I think we will do that so we can show Ansley on a map where our box went. At MDO they gave the kids a page to color and include in their box. After Ansley colored her picture of Veggietales we wrote a note on the back for the child who opens the box. It talked about how old Ansley is and what she likes to do. Then we talked about how the picture was of Veggietales and Bob and Larry always say God made you special and loves you very much. The picture above is of Ansley, her picture, and her shoebox.

Old friends

2009-11-09T07:29:00.000-08:00

Angie and baby Colt (7 mnths) with Christin and baby Lauren (5 mnths)

Well, these friends are by no means old but rather these are friends I've had for a long time. I love them so much and it is so fun to see them. I wish we had the chance to get together more often. We went to Christmas magic in WF, and that was quite an experience with three strollers. HA! Hey and just to let you know Jay loved the famous fudge. That stuff was delicious and I didn't even really like fudge. :)

My first blog!

2009-11-04T12:34:00.000-08:00

I decided to blog today because recently everyone keeps telling me I need to write stuff down, and I know that will never happen. Maybe if I type it I can keep up with it. Also, today the Lord was showing me some stuff and I thought a blog would be a good place to report His goodness.

We were talking about Elijah today and how he had a time of discouragement after the Mt. Caramel experience and he ran from Jezebel. I thought of so many times I could identify with Elijah's lonliness and disillusionment. What hit me most was the way Elijah snapped out of it was obviously meeting with the Lord but THEN he picked himself up and kept obeying the Lord. I can look back on times in my life when I felt discouraged and wanted to throw a pity party and say why is this happening to me, and the Lord in his gentle compassion waits for me to get all that emotion out. Then he says, if you're done, lets get back to work now. He picks me up and says just keep following me, Jamie. Remember I am with you and I am in control!

We also talked about Ahab who also experienced the Lord in a time of need, but Ahab responded with rebellion and selfishness and it ultimately caused his destruction. Seeing this contrast between the two was interesting. We have the choice to respond with obedience they way Elijah did, or respond in selfishness like Ahab. (if you want to, refer to 1 Kings 19 and 20 for the whole story)

I am so thankful that I am not at a point of discouragement right now in my life, but I have been so many times. I think writing this down will help me remember to refer back here next time. Keep your eyes focused on the Lord and not yourself and your emotions.