Vacation!

So it's only been a month since we went on our beach vacation.... but here's some pictures of our trip! We went to Orange Beach, AL for a full 7 days and it was fabulous!! It was our first real vacation getaway since our honeymoon 3 years ago. It was a great week of sleeping, reading on the beach, watching movies and eating. (well, Jacob enjoyed eating..the baby was a bit picky on what it actually wanted to stay down and what it sent back!)





My pregnancy is going well. We're at 13 weeks now and had my first month doctor's visit last Thursday. We got to hear the heartbeat and it was one of the weirdest, most fantastic things I've ever heard! Baby T is healthy and growing and I'm starting to get over the nausea and getting sick. It was a rough past 2 weeks but I've felt better the last 24 hours than I have in a while. I'm hopeing that's a good sign! We're starting to clean out the baby's room which has been used for storage since we moved in... we're going to wait until we find out what it is in October before we actually do any painting. It will be here before we know it!

It's true...

In case you haven't heard, (or if you missed the all point bulletin our moms issued Friday night) we are having a baby! We're really excited and nervous and all those other emotions first time babies bring. We're due March 6, 2009. (That's 3-6-9 for all you brains that enjoy numbers like my husband does.) More to come as we figure out this fun new adventure!

Swimming

A few weeks ago (against Klondike's will) we decided to go down to Manchester and swim for a while at Jacob's parents house. Klondike loves to go there, but does not so much love it when we toss him in the pool and make him swim out! Here's some of the fun we had with the him...

Wesley Picnic

Yesterday was the annual TN Tech Wesley Foundation Picnic. The Wesley Foundation is where Jacob & I met, also where I made some of my best friends who still remain my best friends. It's a very special place and will always remind me of how wonderful the Lord is. Last night was interesting because there were so many new faces! Wesley spans many, many years back and has continued on another 4 years since Jacob graduated and 3 years since I graduated. The group in the picture was the "old" group last night, all these people were there around the same time I was and I'm so glad we've all stayed in touch. I'm always a little sad to leave when we all get together.. the memories surrounding these people and that place are priceless!

A few surprises...

Last week Jacob was mowing the yard when he noticed an unusually large hole in the ground by our back fence. Upon further investigation he found 6 newly birthed bunnies that hadn't even opened their eyes yet! We've kept an eye on them over the last week and a half and tonight they ventured out of the hole for the first time! Here are some pictures of our little furry friends...

Summertime is finally here!

May was a very busy month for us. We graduated my sister from UT-Chattanooga with her nursing degree, worked on the house, worked in general, went to a good friend's wedding, visited family, and wrapped up May with a trip to Alabama where we spent a relaxing weekend with my cousins, aunt & uncle on the lake. Now it's June and I've suffering from the "summertime blues". I've never had a full time job that went through the summer before and this year I'm feeling it! I've worked during the summer, just always as a camp counselor or babysitting... jobs that let me be outside and enjoy it. This year, I'm in desperate need of a vacation! Don't get me wrong, I love my job, I just wish it ended in May and started up again in August. :) Oh well. We are slowly but surely getting work done on the house, I'll get pictures up here someday. We spent all last weekend painting the living room, foyer area and the upstairs hallway "nook". Last night we did the half bath downstairs and I must say, it all looks quite nice! Just painting has let me feel even more at home here. I really, really love our house! Klondike loves the house, he's finally adjusted to being here. We've even started leaving him out of his crate during the day and so far the only casualty is my pair of summer dress sandals... (fortunately for him they were from Target and starting to wear out anyway!) The pictures are from the weekend at the lake and also our most recent family picture.

Sad Day..

For the last 2.5 years we've had a Beta fish named Leopold (aka Leo). He joined us shortly after we got married and lived through 3 apartments and a move across country in his aquarium in a moving truck. He loved to eat and also enjoyed visiting friends when we were out of town. This morning, we woke up and found Leo had passed away in the night. Yes, it's a fish... but it's been a very sad day here in Nashville. :(

Klondike's Big Adventure

Yesterday was a big day for little Klondike! We began the day like any other- waking up at 7, going out to potty, eating yummy beef flavored food for breakfast followed by some relax time people watching on the patio. At 10:30 we went to the vet to check out an itchy, red rash on his ears. It turns out that our little white dog most likely has developed a food allergy to either beef or milk. Both ingredients are found in his food as well as his treats and bones. So the vet gives us an antibiotic to clear up the rash, some ointment to be applied daily, an anticeptic wash to use once a week and some hypo-allergenic food. No more bones or treats until we figure out exactly what is causing the skin break out... :(
So we go home and spend the rest of the day cleaning out closets and getting the house ready for Easter company. Before dinner we took Klondike up on the grassy hill to chase the ball, little did we know that someone had thrown a bottle out in the grass and the mowers had mowed right over it earlier in the day. Little Klondike found the bottle first, unfortunatly for his right front foot. He jumped and landed right in the glass. We picked him up quickly to find blood dripping down his leg. We brought him home, cleaned him up and then decided that it definitely needed to be checked out. We found a "pet emergency room" that is opened at night and on weekends so we headed there. When we got there, Dr. Jeremiah told us that he needed a staple put over the cut to help it heal and prevent infection in the tendon. So they gave little Klondike a shot of morphine, shaved his leg and inserted a staple over the wound. When they brought him out to us, he had this goofy smile on his face and was completely unable to do anything but sleep due to the morphine. Our little puppy was totally out of it until about 7 this morning! The best part of the evening came when they told us he had to wear an e-collar, better known as a doggie lamp shade, over his neck for a week. He really does not enjoy the collar, but it getting used to it. It's been a very rough 24 hours for the puppy and Jacob & I are starting to wonder.. if a dog is this stressful, will we ever be really ready for kids??? :)
Here is a picture of Klondike high on his morphine and wearing the "lamp shade".
Poor puppy...

We're real people now...

Last week as scared, excited, & nervous individuals, Jacob and I signed a contract on a house! We're SO SO SO excited! We close on April 15th if all goes well. We'll be moving to Franklin, about 20 minutes away from where we are now. It's still the same commute (25 minutes) for me to work but much shorter for Jacob once they move to the Franklin office. It's beautiful and really close to exactly what we were looking for. It's got a big yard, Klondike won't know what to do with himself. We're now in the waiting for everything to go through and go well stage..which I'm finding to be a bit overwhelming but well worth it! We'll post pictures as we go along and hopefully be moving in a month! :)

Tennessee Snow...

Finally! It was beautiful and, in typical southern snow fashion, gone as quickly as it came. I do miss Minnesota snow.. Believe it or not this amount of snow closed every school in Middle Tennessee! (Except mine, of course. We did go 2 hours late, though) In the defense of TN snow, there was a nice layer of ice under it. Klondike had some fun with the snow, he'd never seen it before. The first picture up there is us with Chad, Becca and Ginger. We visited them a few weekends ago in Maryville. Klondike and Ginger got along, but I think Klondike kinda bugged her. She's 4 years old so her energy level isn't quite what his is!

In the Stillness...

This has been the most relaxing weekend I've had in months. I have done nothing, literally. (Thanks to the help of a sinus infection..UGH) That aside, I have not had anything pressing to do. I'm not very good at doing nothing. In fact, if you ask Jacob he will tell you that most of the time he has to force me to sit still long enough to watch a TV show. I get used to constant motion and when the motion stops, I don't know what to do with myself! I was thinking about that this afternoon after church. Our pastor did a sermon today on Psalm 46:10- "Be Still and Know that I am God." He was asking us to reflect on the last time we spent being still and listening to God, the last time we truly stopped to experience God. I thought about my aversion to being still. When is the last time I sat still and listened to God? Sure, I pray constantly and then continue on knowing that the Lord has heard me. But when was the last time i really sat down, sat still and listened to Him? So many things distract me, get in my way.. so many things on my daily mental to-do list. Will it really hurt me to leave those dishes in the sink? To let the dog toys be scattered across the house for a little longer? To get up a few minutes earlier before work? I realized this morning that I have a lot of work to do in clearing out my "oh so important to-do list' and making time to listen to my Creator. In the end, it won't matter how clean my house is or whether the shirts are all washed and ironed on the same day. What matters is Him, the time I spend just me and Him, and what He has planned for me. tAnd he only way to know His plan is.... to listen.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas....

FINALLY! In talking with Jacob this weekend, we've decided there are a few things we very much miss about Minnesota. First, our friends. We just haven't quite made local friends yet. We have all our friends from college that are near Nashville, and we see them lots more than we did while we were up north, but we miss that weekly fellowship a lot. Second, snow and cold. Yes, I know..this is coming from the precise one who whined about it being SO COLD for SO LONG the last 2 winters! However, it's been a ridiculous weather pattern in the south this year. Only this week did it get below freezing for the first time! We long for heavy jackets and boots... It only now feels like it should be Christmas time. I can't believe it's next week! This brings me to our Christmas picture.... here are some blooper pictures of us trying to bribe Klondike into looking at the camera!




And now, finally, success! He hated the ears, too. :)

THE BAR

There were definitely shouts of joy here in Nashville Friday afternoon....Jacob passed the bar!! He will be sworn in as an attorney by a judge soon and then begin work for a firm practicing family law. What a relief to have this waiting behind us! :) Praise the Lord!

The time is drawing near...

Bar results come in a little over 24 hours! Jacob is anxious, but at peace. I wish he would get on here once and a while, but he's not that into blogs. :) Maybe someday... So for that reason, you get to hear from me(Jen) about the matter. I think I speak for both of us when I say that the bar results will bring more than just a right of passage into a career. For 3 years he has worked so hard towards this goal that has finally come! Getting to this point the Lord has taken us places we never thought we'd go, apart or together. Getting the results of this test will bring for us a sense of settled. To this point, our entire married life has been centered around a "what's next" theme. My jobs have been uncertain and varied, we've moved 3 times out of the 2.5 years we've been married, we've wondered and prayed and dreamed of a time when we had an idea of what was to come. We've watched our friends get married and buy houses, able to put down some roots with secure jobs and incomes. It seemed that day for us would be SO far away...
All this has been harder for me than for Jacob because I'm a very "planned" person or "control freak", if you will. (I'm not proud of this and I'm working on it... slowly but surely) I like to know what's next, I like to look forward to things and plan for them (I'm also a little OCD...) and I haven't been able to find anything surrounding our lives to be concrete. It's been full of questions to which we've prayed and prayed and prayed our way through. God has been faithful to us despite my desire for control and longing to be settled. No matter how upset I have been with Him for the questions, He still provided the answers in His time. And as always, it's worked out perfectly according to His plan. We've made it... we're here at the end of this particular journey in our lives and it is filled with hope. Hope and excitement for what is to come in the next year as Jacob gets his career started and we finally settle for a while at least. I am constantly amazed at the way God directs us through things and then at the end, when we look back it all makes sense.
So- beware Friday morning if you hear yells and shouts of joy- don't worry. It's us celebrating this new chapter in our lives that's been a long time coming!

It's been a while....

I don't think I realized it had been so long since my last post! I can't believe it's October, the time is flying by. Currently, life is going well for us. I love my job and have just started there full time as opposed to half days. I like it for a lot of reasons:

1. Little kids are inspiring, even though they drive me crazy. Everything is new to them and fun for them. I had forgotten how exciting learning that the grass is green or the sky blue could be..

2. I get to move around the building a lot and no 2 days hold the same things. I spent all day last Friday with the babies (up to a year old). It's the most time I've ever spent with babies and I was thrown in with 8 of them! I honestly feel more prepared for my own babies now (someday..) so that's a plus.

3. I enjoy the people I work with.

I look back to when we left MN and I see SO many ways God has blessed us, my job being one of them.
Jacob is still waiting- 18 more days! October 19th is the big bar result posting. They will post them online somewhere that morning and it can't come soon enough! The blessings have been coming the last few weeks just as he was getting frustrated with this process. He's got an interview for a clerkship at the end of October and has had the opportunity to meet with some Christian lawyers who were very encouraging and helpful. He's also found numerous job postings in the past week that he has applied for and not heard from yet. The doors are opening slowly, finally!!
Another little blessing is Klondike- he's 6 months old this week. He is a challenge and a great pre-child experience for building patience. He's spoiled but well behaved. :) Here's some pictures of him now at 15 pounds.

A new adventure

My new adventure comes in the form of a job!! I start Monday teaching music, computer and doing odds and ends at a preschool here in Nashville. I'll teach music one day a week, the computer program one day a week and hopefully will be the "floater" the other 3 days. A little different than what I'd hoped to be doing this year, but an answered prayer none the less! It's part time, about 5 hours a day, but I'm ok with that since hopefully Jacob will have a full time job here soon. He's working hard on all sorts of applications and has gotten some positive feedback. Things are starting to fall into place and that "lost" feeling is subsiding. We still haven't found a church and we still miss our friends in MN, especially on Thursday nights. This weekend we're going down to Auburn to visit Jacob's family there. We're taking Klondike so it should be an interesting trip... 4.5 hours in a car.. maybe we'll all survive!!

Weddings and Forever Friends

"Some people come into your life and quietly leave. Others come in, leave footprints on your heart, and you are never, ever the same".
The girls in the above pictures are what I like to call my "forever friends". More like sisters, really. The top picture is from yesterday. Alison married her soulmate, Richard, in a beautiful outdoor mountain ceremony. It was perfect for them and a wonderful afternoon. Alison's wedding is the last of the three of us (Becca married Chad last October). It was an exciting day but brought up more emotion than I thought it would. As we waved goodbye to them yesterday, my heart was smiling but my tears surprised me. Alison's wedding closed an era and opened up a new chapter of our friendship. We've all been through the college years, the dating years, the ups and downs of relationships, watched each other meet our now husbands, and stayed up late nights talking about the future and wondering what life would be like "when we're all married and have to be adults". Now, here we are. The years have gone by and we're living those dreams that seemed so far away. We're all married friends and fortunately our husbands do enjoy each other's company! I'm a little mournful of those days gone by, but I am excited to have babies and share the next years of our lives together. There are just some people you know that no matter what happens or where you go you'll always be friends, I'm grateful the Lord gave me friends like these.

Happy Birthday, Jacob!

That's right Jacob is 26! Here's a picture of Klondike helping him open some presents last night. We had our parents and some friends join us for dinner to celebrate. In other news, the BAR is over! Jacob feels like it went well and is relieved that he can have a life again. We will find out October 19 how he did. He's spending this week filling out applications and sending out resumes, so hopefully we'll hear something soon. Schools here officially started today so it looks like I'll be finding a non-teaching job. I thought about subbing again, we'll see how that goes. I'd like a consistent job, but beggar's can't be choosers. :) I'm sending my resume to some preschools and some music lesson places, also. I really can't believe it's August already. The summer came and went incredibly fast! Except for the heat, it tends to linger longer than anyone would like and it's hotter this week in Tennessee than any time on record since 1990! When they said that on the news, and then followed it with "that was 17 years ago, folks" (yes, they say folks on the news in TN!) I felt a little aged. It doesn't seem like 1990 should be that long ago. Here are some pictures of our time at Center Hill Lake with my parents last week. It was nice to get away for a few days.