God is moving in me

I feel like God is moving more and more in my life. I can tell because I am open to what God's calling us to in our lives are now. Things that worried me before, don't bother or worry me anymore. I am willing to work for Him and guide our family in that way. If I have to sacrifice some "earthly treasures" to follow Him, than that's what I truly want to do. Sometimes I need to remind myself of this! But in the end, I do want to do what God wants for me and our family. Previously, I had talked about Jacob's desire to go to seminary. We are praying about everything that would entail. I feel open and actually excited about moving and the whole process. Jacob has a desire to study languages and possible missions work. I'm not so excited about that part. It is hard for me to be here 7 hrs away from my family. A different country would be really hard for me and them to handle. Right now, we have our phones and are on the same time zone. We make it work and are still pretty close, even though we are not physically together. We are paying off our student loans now, so seminary is still 2 to 3 years away, but I pray that God will continue to work on my heart and mind about the whole thing. By that time, I hope to be pregnant with our 2nd child. We would have to juggle school, working (possibly for me part time too) and spending time as a family. But a lot can happen in a couple of years! We have been married for only 2 years and our hearts are totally different than when we first met each other. Not to mention we are parents now, too! So, I'm sure that God will work everything out and lead us where He wants us. It might not even be to seminary by then! We feel that by paying off our debts we are free to go and do whatever. Not to mention, it's a smart idea in general. I didn't realize how much extra we are paying in interest! We won't be tied down to anything. I feel so blessed that God is working on both of us and growing us together more and more. We have different talents but I feel like we work together really well. I have a desire to know God more. I get caught up in too many outside things to really focus, but deep down I do want that! I see God working and as Jacob put it last night, "it's ok if I'm not a Bible scholar. That's what he's for!" I value Jacob's diligence and discernment for what good, true teaching is. He is my guide and true spiritual leader (as a husband should be). We are doing a family devotional before bed now. It's a short one, based on the Westminster Shorter Catechism. One day we hope to do this again with Isabella (and any other future children).

photos

What a nice lazy Saturday. I am finally getting around to organzing some photos online. Yesterday I conquered a lot of prints that I had around the house. I just put them in a quick photo album. I used to really be into scrapbooking. I still like it but it is very time consuming. I think I'll just have to find some especially cute ones to scrapbook when I get some time. Hmm.. that will be when Bella is a teenager and doesn't want to be with me anymore! :(

It's wierd to look through all these old photos. Different hair shades and styles, old friends that I haven't seen in forever- but looking at the photos just bring me right back to when they were taken. The quiet girl in high school, the fun times in college and now quiet a lot of my Bella boo! My favorites are the really old ones of me and my siblings growing up-the big dorky glasses and all! I take even more pictures now than I used to with the old film cameras. I'm glad that we are able to capture so many memories. They are fun to look at now and I know even more special when she's not a baby anymore.

Here are some photos from our Chicago trip. (click to see them) We went to the Shedd Aquarium and stopped at the Indiana sand dunes of Lake Michigan on our way home. There's also a few of her first pool experience and one is a short video. Isabella is mostly 4 months in them. I also am going to put in some of the beautiful photos that our friend, Kelly (kellyheasleyphotography.com) did for us. If anyone needs some photos for any occasion, she's your girl!

Vacation

kellyphotos

To seminary we go?

Over one of our trips in the car, Jacob and I got to have some nice, quiet, uninterrupted time to talk. I told him that I feel like God has worked on my heart and I feel more comfortable with going where God wants us to go. Last year Jacob had expressed some interest in looking into seminary. At that time I was still pregnant and working. We didn't know what to expect with a baby.We are nowhere near expert parents but I feel more comfortable with Isabella and with myself in general. I feel like if God wants us to move in a couple years to do His work, then we should be open to it. Jacob has the heart, desire and drive to study and work hard. I have seen him work hard this year studying on his own. I still would like to be somewhat near my family but in the end I know that we will make whatever we do work. Our direction now is to pay our debt off and save a little. My dream of a settled down house will be on hold for a while. Good thing God has already worked on that in me a few weeks ago! So we still have a few years and not a clear or definite view of what we will do -but when do we?!

Random thoughts

Whew! What a whirlwind week. Last weekend (Memorial day) we went to Chicago. Wed. was our anniversary (2 lovely years so far) so the trip was kinda for that, and kinda just to get out of town for a little bit. Bella had her first time swimming and stay in a hotel. She is a great little traveler:) We came back on Monday. Then Friday night we were back in the car again to go to Rochester, NY for my sister's bridal shower.So now we're back. Back to cleaning, organizing, errands, etc. Where did May go? Tomorrow Isabella will be 5 months! She is growing so fast. We played a little game a peek a boo today and she was laughing and a smiling so much. It was so fun to see. I am thinking about the summer and I can tell it is going to go by very fast.

Ok, on to a totally unrelated topic, but I feel like I need to put my two cents in about about this. That, and I'm watching it while blogging..So, I have watched pretty much every episode of Jon and Kate plus 8 since it started and when nobody knew about the show. It just breaks my heart to see them on the tabloids every week now. I am frustrated to see that (as it appears) another couple who got a bite of celebrity-ism doesn't look like they are going to make it. I pray that they won't divorce. It's especially sad to watch old episodes now knowing what they are like now. I want to tell Kate to be her old self and to stop caring about the money and the fame. If she truly cares about her family and does everything for her kids, then she should stop the show and go to couples therapy immediately! It's weird to see each of them doing separate things in separate states. Yes, I know my opinion probably counts for nothing but maybe if we get together and pray, miraculous things can happen.I think I'll probably have to go on "strike" against it and stop watching it. Oh, another show down the drain:( Now there is pretty nothing I can watch!

I am blessed to have come from a great family. We truly enjoy spending time with each other. It's hard for me to imagine my parents not being together- how can that happen so fast. I'm glad that I have a great role model for our marriage. Our marriage is based on faith. I cannot think of myself without Jacob. Now that we have Bella, we see how little things could come up in between couples and turn into a bigger issue. We have to make sure that we make time for each other and talk about our feeling, always being honest. While we were home over the weekend, my sisters and I were remembering some funny/embarrassing moments of past boyfriends. Christine said "It's weird to think of our lives before our guys." I agree. I like it much better this way.