Indoor Soccer...

Since the beginning of January Brayden has been playing indoor soccer every Saturday morning for an hour with other Kindergarten boys from our town.

This was his first time playing soccer. The first 30 minutes Coach Tucker instructed the boys on soccer ball drills. The last 30 minutes were spent playing a game.

Brayden just scored a goal!!

For the very last day the coach allowed them some time on learning how to hit the ball with their heads. This was a highlight for Brayden. The coached asked some of the Dad's to help, so Jason got to help Brayden and Johnny a friend from his class.

Brayden had fun learning how to play soccer. It was great for him to spend an hour on Saturday morning running around and having fun during our cold winter days.

Everyone received a medal on the final day.

Johnny and Brayden

Neon In A Night...

Normally our Jr. High students have their youth meeting on Wednesday night and Sr. High has their meetings on Friday night. However, last Friday night everyone came together for a United event called "Double In A Night/Neon Night". Each student was asked to bring one friend to double the number of students at youth in one night.

Sarah invited 8 of her friends from school and 6 of them came with her. Our Activity center was completely dark with black lights and neon everywhere. They had over 300 students attend. The activities included basketball, games and pizza. They also had worship and the youth pastor from Hillsong New York spoke.

Sarah's friends had a great time. We believe that Sarah is planting seeds. She has a heart for her friends to know Jesus.

Rebecca, Jessica, Ethy, Kate, Ana, Sarah and Jenna

He speaks for the trees...

Last week Brayden's school had Seuss Spirit Days to celebrate Dr. Seuss' birthday. Brayden loves Dr. Seuss so he was SUPER excited to be a part of it.

The first day was "Fox in Socks Day" where everyone had to wear crazy socks. The craziest we could come up with in his size was two different color socks, with one high and one low.

That day his class got to try green eggs and ham, which Brayden said he liked!

Day Two was "Oh, the Places You'll Go". You had to wear something representing a place you've been or a place you hope to visit. I really wanted to make him a Legoland shirt, as he is REALLY, REALLY, REALLY wants to go there, but he settled for his Yankee shirt which represented him having gone to Yankee stadium.

On the last day was "Seuss Day". They asked everyone to wear red and white, a Cat in the Hat hat or something that represented their favorite book. Brayden couldn't wait to wear his hat to school.

He said this is how Cat in the Hat poses.

Throughout the day they had different activities. One of them was going to the library and playing different games. Sarah's class actually helped out during this time. She was excited to be with Brayden's class and told all his classmates that she was his sister.

Later in the afternoon they had an assembly for grades K-4. Each grade did something special for the assembly. The Kindergartners were all put into groups and each group was given a sentence from a Dr. Seuss book to memorize. At the assembly they would say their sentence and people had to guess what book it was from. This was a BIG deal for Brayden!

This is an e-mail I sent to Mrs. Arnoldi about it ---
Mrs. Arnoldi, 
     Just had to share with you that Brayden is SO EXCITED about his "sentence" that he has to memorize for Seuss Day. Last night when I read him the line he would be memorizing, he said "That was the line I was wanting!" with great enthusiasm. For the rest of the night he proceeded to repeat his line.

      This morning Brayden told me that he needed to practice his line at school today, so if you hear throughout the day "He speaks for the trees and all living things." I apologize. You or whoever is in charge of the assembly next week has given Brayden the role of a lifetime, he is taking it very SERIOUSLY. :) LOL!

      Now if I could just get that same enthusiasm into some other areas that would be great. He can't wait for next week and all the Seuss celebration days.

Mrs. James

This was Mrs. Arnoldi's response ---
Thanks for the TERRIFIC e-mail!!  Yes, I knew that was the line Brayden would want so I gave it to his group!  He will also be the one to hold up the Lorax book!  I LOVE how excited he is!  Competition for Sarah!!
Mrs. Arnoldi

This was Brayden's moment to shine.

"He speaks for the trees and all living things." 

He said it perfectly. All those hours of rehearsing paid off.

The Mayor of our town also came and declared it "Dr. Seuss Day" in the town of Wanaque/Haskell.

They sang several songs about reading and Dr. Seuss.

Of course Cat in the Hat also made an appearance. 

He took off Brayden's hat.

I love the expressions on Brayden's face. He is right below the Cat's hat.

Brayden had such a fun couple of days. Even meeting Cat in the Hat. 

That night when I was putting Brayden to bed he was asking about the Cat in the Hat and his costume. How did he fit in the costume? How could he see out of the costume? How tall was the person? Lots of questions about the costume. 

Next, he asked if I knew who he wanted to be for the next "Trunk or Treat" we have in October. Of course because of all the questions and the past couple of days celebrating I immediately said "Cat in the Hat!"

His response, "Nope, the HULK. " 

His is a funny kid.

20 Years...

Yesterday Jason and I celebrated 20 years of marriage.

20 Years? It really doesn't seem like it for either us. We are both so thankful for our marriage and all that God has done in our lives since the day we first met at Evangel University in August 1991.

I am grateful that God brought Jason across my path one day to say "Hi". Little did I know that in just a few months of knowing him this handsome 19 year old guy would change my life forever. God knew the man that I would need to walk this life with and as I look back on who I was and who I have become Jason was the man I needed.

We married on March 4, 1994 in Springfield, Missouri where we were both living. I was working at Evangel in their Financial Aid department. Jason was finishing his last semester of college.

By our 5th anniversary we were living in New Jersey and found ourselves buying our first home in Haskell. I had just quit my job with KPMG to stay at home with the hope of starting a family. Jason was working for Presentation Systems. They were exciting years of setting up our home.

Two years later our princess, Sarah, was born.  
(Did we not have money for clothes? I'm still wearing the same overalls that I had two years prior!)

Our 10th anniversary found me at home taking care of Sarah and doing medical transcription. Jason was still working for Presentation Systems.

Three years later in 2007 our little bear arrived, Brayden. Our family of four felt complete.

By our 15th anniversary I was loving being at home with our beautiful kids. Sarah was in 2nd grade. Jason was working part-time with Presentation Systems and part-time as a pastor at Bethany Church.

At 20 years we are still living in Haskell, New Jersey. I am still able to stay home to take care of our kids and our home. Jason is the community life pastor at Bethany Church. Sarah is in 7th grade and Brayden is in Kindergarten.

We enjoyed celebrating our 20 years a bit early on Monday by having a nice lunch and time together.  Yesterday Jason had meetings at church and with our church district and would not be home until late in the evening. We are looking forward to taking a trip, just the two of us, at the end of May to South Carolina and Georgia to celebrate our 20 years. 

Our love has grown deeper and richer because of all that has taken place in our lives since we first met. We in no way have a perfect marriage, but in my opinion we have it pretty good. Jason is my best friend and I love the life God has given us to share together.

So here is to 20+ more years together. I can't wait to see what they hold in store for us.

be Strong...

This past weekend I attended the annual Bethany Church "She" Ladies Retreat.

My mother-in-law, Donna, spoke on Friday night on "The Strength of Seed and the Power of Prayer". Challenging us to think about what we are sowing and what we are producing in our lives.

On Saturday morning and Saturday evening our other speaker Anne Bosman, spoke to us on the "Pursuit of Becoming Strong" and "How Do We BE Strong and Walk In It?" We must know who we are, know where we are as a child of God and believe we can do what God has said we can do.

It is always amazing to share the weekend with all the ladies from our 4 different campuses, as well as others who join them. I love seeing friends I don't always get to see who attend other campuses, as well as meeting new friends.

My roommates were two of my close girlfriends, Michele and Joy. I have shared so much life with these two and it was great to share in the fun of getting away together. Our room was adjoining with my sister-in-law Susie and other friend Lisa, which was an extra treat. Lots of laughs, thanks to Lisa.

It really was such an amazing weekend away for me. Each year the "feel" of retreat is always different. Although the schedule of it is typically the same each year, something new always takes place. This was an extra special year for me though, The Lord spoke so much and I came home a different woman then when I arrived.

I walked away with a confidence I didn't have before. 

I walked away fully knowing the Lord will take my hand, guide me and will show me the way he has for ME.

I walked away believing even deeper that HE can do more than I think or imagine.

I walked away wanting to go wherever He calls me.

I walked away STRONG... in Christ. 

I am so thankful for these weekends away. Sometimes you have to get out of your routine so God can speak to you in a nonroutine way. - Mark Batterson "The Circle Maker"

Hobby Lobby...

I have heard wonderful things about the store Hobby Lobby from family and friends. I had the chance to go to one last summer in Florida with my Mom and picked up scrapbook supplies for my kids school days albums. However, we didn't really have time to look around the whole store nor did I have room in my suitcase to take a lot of stuff home.

The closest Hobby Lobby to our house is 50 minutes away. When my girlfriend/sister-in-law, Susie, suggested a night out for dinner and a movie with our other girlfriend Michele, I said how about a trip to Hobby Lobby instead. I knew they would be up for it, they love stores like that. That's just one of the reasons were friends, we love scrapbooking and we love craft stores.

We spent 4 hours walking around in Hobby Lobby. Yes, we are crazy, but we had a blast. We covered every square inch of the store except for the jewelry and woodworking aisles. We wanted to see everything and make sure we didn't miss something cute or a bargin.

We all purchased something. I got some mason jars and items for Easter baskets, as well as searched for frames for my mother-in-law for our ladies retreat this weekend. Susie found a cute "Train Station" sign for Sammy's train themed bedroom. She also purchased things to make a burlap wreath, which we are excited to see finished. Michele got a mirror for her room and some other goodies for a project she has coming up.

We are DEFINITELY going back sometime. Loved the store! I so wish we had one closer.

To top off our outing we found a tiny restaurant called Mix-n-Mac. Their menu is filled with all different varieties of mac and cheese dishes, or you can make your own. It was so good. I had chicken cordon bleu, Susie had chicken, bacon, ranch and Michele had traditional with a little bit of BBQ sauce added. We were so hungry and it looked so good I didn't think to take a picture of them before we dug in. We as well will be visiting this place again.

Learning to Tie Shoes...

We started working with Brayden a week or two ago in learning how to tie his own shoes. It has been a step-by-step process with first just being able to put his shoes on and then cross the laces and pull one through. Once that was achieved we went on to loops.

It wasn't easy and sometimes ended in frustration, but we would take a break and start fresh the next day. Practice makes perfect.

 

He was so excited to go to school the next day and tell Mrs. Arnoldi and his friends that he knew how to tie his shoes. When I was putting him to bed he said "Hey, maybe I can teach some of my friends how to tie their shoes. Sydney, knows how to tie her shoes, but she doesn't know how to double knot." 

Proud of our bear and his accomplishment. Next thing he wants to achieve is learning how to snap his fingers.