24 Hours Worth...

Here is a progression of our snow over the last 24 hours...

Friday 8:00 a.m.

Friday 12:00 p.m.

Friday 5:00 p.m.

Saturday 8:00 a.m.

We were all snuggled in at home by 2:00 p.m yesterday. I had run some errands in the morning while Brayden was at school and by the time I picked him up at 11:30 a.m. and went to the library for some movies the roads were starting to get bad. Sarah had an early dismissal at 1:15 and Jason came home early too. 

We enjoyed a quiet evening in our cozy house. Chicken Pot Pie was on the menu for comfort food. I worked on my 2011 digital scrapbook. Jason worked on setting up a Twitter account (@jay_james7) and a few items for our new campaign at church What On Earth Am I Here For? Sarah watched almost the entire Star Wars Clone Wars Season 3, finishing up this morning. Brayden did a little bit of everything from iPad to drawing to playing with the massive laser gun, backpack and sword balloons he got at Fuddruckes the night before.

Friday morning Brayden asked when we were going over to Aunt Susie's house. He had heard us say snow "storm" and he has correlated "storm" with our electricity going out and going to stay with Aunt Susie. Thankfully it wasn't that kind of storm although we do love going to stay with Uncle John and Aunt Susie, always a fun time.

As of this morning we have blue skies, the wind is blowing, but no more snow in the forecast for today. It looks like we got less than a foot, but will measure it when Jason goes out to snowblow the driveway. Who knows maybe our snowman Steve will come back to life today.

A New Favorite...

My new favorite album is Jesus Culture with Martin Smith Live from New York. Love, love, love it.

The album came out in November, but I didn't start listening to it until a couple weeks ago and since then I constantly have it playing whenever I can.  You may want to check it out if you are looking for some new worship music.

Jason and I have been long time fans of Martin Smith, who was the lead singer of one of our favorite bands Delirious, so he is an added bonus to this album. Along with other songs he sings "Did You Feel The Mountains Tremble?" which is an older Delirious song and brings back a lot of memories from past years and church services.

Favorite songs on the album - Waiting Here For You, Song of Solomon, Pursuit (which we sing at church), Walk With Me, actually pretty much the whole album. : )

The Next Step...

Today, Jason finished the final process of applying to be an ordained minister with the Assemblies of God, the denomination we are a part of. He is currently licensed and was recommended for ordination.

The first step is taking an exam, which he passed in November. The second step is an interview with the NJ district presbyters, which we had today. It was a 45 minute interview, which we both were a part of. They asked different questions about ministry and our personal walk with the Lord. We both felt that it went smoothly.

Afterwards they let us know that Jason was approved from their perspective. The next step is for the General Council in Springfield, Missouri to approve him, which we should hear from in April. The official ordination service would be in the beginning of May.

I am so proud of Jason and excited for this achievement for him. I know the calling that God has placed on his life for ministry and his heart to serve and believe this is just a public affirmation of that.

Third Place Goes To...

SARAH JAMES!!!!

At Sarah's JBQ meet on Saturday she placed 3rd individually for the Northeast region. She was just 5 points away from getting second place, so close. We are so proud of her achievement this year. Last year she placed 8th and has really made the effort in her studying to improve this year.  

Her team, "Team Jason", consisting of herself, James and Ayerim were shocked when they ended up 1st place overall.

Way to Go!!!

Jason and I weren't able to be there on Saturday with her, but she had a great day with the rest of the Bethany Church teams and friends.

In honor of Sarah's achievement, and because we love chocolate, we had chocolate fondue after dinner. Yum! (Jason missed out as he had a dinner to go to.)

On March 23rd her team will be a part of District Finals, so she still has more studying to go.

Brayden quotes and lunch...

Quotes
Our little bear makes me laugh, have to share some of his out loud thoughts with you. A lot seem to be contradictory, you'll see what I mean.

Our church now has 4 different campuses now. Very exciting. Bethany Church. One dynamic church. Multiple locations. Anyway, Brayden loves being able to go to the different campuses when Jason has to be at one of them on a Sunday morning or another occasion. We were talking about our Wanaque campus the other day and he asked if we were going there on Sunday. I said no. He says in his frustrated voice...

"Awww, we never always go to that church!"

Now that he has been taking showers we have to adjust the water for him when he gets in so it is just the right temp for him. When we ask him if it is good, he says...

"It's needs to be hotter colder." Ummm, okay? That helps.

We were driving to school last week and hit traffic because of weather. I tried to get off and take what I thought would be a "shortcut", but it wasn't a shortcut and resulted in Brayden getting to school 15 minutes late. He of course was anxious to get to school knowing it had already started. He doesn't want to miss out on anything. Now everyday he asks if we are going to take the "shortcut" to school. No, Mommy learned her lesson that day. This week he says...

"Ava Sinocchi was big time late for school the day after yesterday. She must of hit traffic."

Sarah and Brayden love dessert. Almost everyday, no actually everyday, they ask if they can have dessert. To cut down on the sugar I have been telling them that they can have something every other day. It is usually right when we sit down for dinner that Brayden asks if he can have dessert. I say if he eats his dinner then yes. Out of the blue in a nonchalant voice he says...

"When you guys die we are going to have dessert everyday." Silence. Laughter. Jason and I look at each other. Really? Dessert is that meaningful for you?

I love to hear his 5 year old thoughts. Sometimes they are precious. Sometimes silly. Sometimes sad. Sometimes frustrated and on rare occasion sometimes mad, but they are his thoughts just the same. He is learning and we are trying to train him in the way he should go the best we can (Prov 22:6). Through them all my favorite thoughts though are the ones that bring a giggle to my day, those are precious to me.

Lunch
This week he decided he wanted to make his own lunch. Now that he can take showers on his own he is feeling some independence. I let him give it a shot. He pretty much has the same thing everyday, so it isn't difficult. Cheese sandwich, pretzels, carrots or fruit. He is in a routine.

He got everything out. I helped put the mayo and mustard on the bread, but other than that he did it. Even peeled his orange. Impressive.

Now I just have to teach him to put everything away and someday put the dishes in the dishwasher, which would make this Mommy very happy.

Changes...

Over the past week we have had a couple changes going on at our house.

First change - Brayden has started showering on his own. A big accomplishment for our 5 year old little boy. He loves it and has been asking me each day when he can shower again. I hope his love for showering continues as he grows. He especially likes combing his hair after he gets done. He has a special way of combing it so it is nice and high on top.

Second change - Sarah got an early, early birthday present from us, a new iPod. We loved surprising her. She needed more "giga-giga" (as Tim Hawkins says) to hold all the new music she is listening to.

Third change - I decided a while a go that the upstairs bathroom needed a change. I am so done with bright green. However, I wanted to wait until winter to do it since we have more time at home. Out with the bright green paint, pretty flowers and butterfly stencils and in with... Ahhhhhh, I am not sure yet. Two coats of primer to start. Will post when the final paint color is on the wall.

Brayden taking a turn to help paint.

Scrapbook Weekend...

I spent the weekend with girlfriends scrapbooking in Greenwood Lake, New York, just 30 minutes from my house. My friend Michele's family has a cabin right on Greenwood Lake, so it is a beautiful setting for our time away.

I arrived Thursday afternoon and started working on my digital scrapbook pages for 2011. The rest of the girls continued to arrive throughout Thursday and Friday. Several of us usually head home on Saturday night and the rest leave Sunday afternoon.

We have been getting together like this for 10 years now, which is hard to believe. It is a highlight of the year for all of us. In the past we always saw each other at least once a week, but now with different church campuses and where we live it is only on special occasions like this that we can all be together. I am thankful for the time away with each of them and catching up on all that is going on in our lives while recording our memories through pictures.

Here is our crew...

Michele - our hostess

Christy

Myself and Melissa

Lisa

Susie

Each year we take a group picture to capture who was there. Amanda, in the bottom right corner was our photographer this weekend, hence why she isn't in any of the pictures above except this one. Gotta love self timers.