Parent Update: Skip if You Only Like Hearing About Our Kids

I know some of you just get on to see pictures of our little ones. It's ok, confess!! This post will catch you up on Jason and I, so if you're one of those kid junkies, you'll need to either click the X or muscle through this one. :-)

Jason:

Jason is doing really well! Back at the end of the year his company purchased a smaller company that manufactures down hole measurement devices, valve components, and rotating equipment components.  Jason was sent there to run the new company and to get it integrated into the systems that Gartner already uses.  He is really enjoying working there and likes the new people he is able to work with.  Being there has taken him out of his comfort zone and he has been able to develop a completely new skill set.  I am so proud of him, he is doing such a great job!  The one downfall is that this new business is in Humble, which is on the north side of Houston, about 40 miles from us.  The drive takes him 45 mts in the morning and an hour in the evening.  And the irony of that is...we used to live up there!!  That's where we lived while I was teaching in Humble ISD, and for those couple of years he was making the drive down here to the original shop.  Poor guy, can't seem to keep him away from the long commutes!

His training is also going great.  In the last year or so he has met or exceeded many of the triathlon goals he had set for himself.  In September we went to Las Vegas where he competed in the Ironman 70.3 World Championships.  He has another Half Iron coming up on Sunday and Ironman Texas is on May 19th.  His race on Sunday is in Galveston, so we'll be down there for the weekend at Blaine and Michele's bayhouse.  My brother Andrew is also competing in the race, so we will have great time cheering them on!

Back when we moved in July we continued attending our church in Missouri City for the rest of 2011.  We were so sad to leave that church.  They were so wonderful and supportive of us during both sad and happy times.  But we knew God was calling us to get more involved in our community.  If you attend church, you know how hard it can be to find just the right fit, the place you know God wants you to be.  We were NOT looking forward to the search. So we prayed and prayed that he would lead us to the right church.  And BAM.  We felt right at home at the first church we visited, Friendswood Community Church.  Great staff, wonderful people, Bible focused, awesome place!  Jason has been put in the rotation at our new church to play drums.  He usually either plays down in the sanctuary for "big church," as he calls it, or upstairs for the Junior High service. He really enjoys it, and loves getting to see the way the kids worship.  He also attends a Men's Bible Study on Wednesday mornings before work.

He's not an official coach, but Jason also helps out with Jack's t-ball team.  It is so cute to see him out there with those tiny boys in their ball hats and miniture baseball gloves.  (Oh, and I have been corrected before.  I used to say "baseball mit," but according to Blaine, a "mit" is something you wear when it's cold out.  A "glove" is what you use to catch a baseball.  Check.)  I just love how involved he is with the kids and what a good dad he is.  Nothing's better.

Kelsey:

I am still at home full time with the kids and am loving it.  I wouldn't trade seeing all of their "firsts" for anything, and I feel so very blessed that I am able to be with them all the time!  We spend a lot of time playing, drawing, going on bike rides (now that Jack can ride sans training wheels!!) and just having a great time.  Next year Jack will be in 5 day a week Kindergarden and Sarah will go to her 2 year old class on Tuesday and Thursday. In my prayer time every day I have been asking God for direction.  Have you ever felt like He wanted you to do something but you had NO idea what that "thing" was?  That's where I am right now.  I don't know if He maybe wants me to volunteer somewhere, get involved in a ministry at church, or maybe teach part time while Sarah is at school.  If you happen to think of me sometime while you're praying, would you mind making a request that He point me in the direction He wants me to go?  Thanks!

Since we've moved I've been in major decorating mode.  I've been trying to get the house just the way I like it.  Luckily I have a husband who isn't picky at all about these types of things, so I've been able to use patterns and fabrics and colors that I like without worrying about what he thinks of them.  I've enjoyed getting crafty and doing a lot of sewing and trying to get some more designer-type looks without paying retail prices for things. It's a lot of fun, and something I had NO idea I was any good at until I decided to decorate Sarah's room while Rachel was pregnant.  My mom jokes with me that after the accident I got a blood transfusion from someone who was highly creative, because before 2009 I was anything but!

I have also been involved in two Bible studies things spring, one at the church and a home-based one with some girlfriends.  I have been blessed beyond measure through those studies and the remarkable women I do the studies with!  Our church study was Beth Moore's new study on the Book of James.  I felt like that study was written just for me!  It has brought me to a new place in my faith and in my thought about people. Two main themes that run through the Book are having a giving heart and having a heart for the poor.  I must admit, before the study I did not have a heart for the poor.  If I saw a homeless person on the corner, I looked away and assumed "they got themselves in that situation, they should get themselves out."  Now, don't get me wrong, that could very well be true.  But I now try my hardest to see them as Jesus does, as one of His children who needs help for no other reason than that.  They are His children just like we are, and I need to think of them that way too.  It has created such a change in my thoughts and actions, I can't even tell you.  It's amazing what God will do in your heart when you're open and let Him in!  Another message I learned from James was giving and not hoarding.  If you're not using it, give it to someone who will!

At about the same time we moved here, my two closest girlfriends, Val and Tammy, moved away too.  And when I say away, I mean AWAY.  To Florida and Mississippi.  I have struggled to meet new friends since moving, but now that we have started to attend FCC and Jack's t-ball has started, I have finally begun to make some new girlfriends.  Yay!  A mamma's gotta have her girlfriends.  ;-)

Coming up on April 19th I am going in for surgery to remove endometriosis on my right ovary.  I have two large masses on my right ovary that my doctor is confident are endometriosis and nothing more serious.  I may lose the ovary, but she is going to do her best to save at least a small sliver if she can.  An ovary is the size of an almond and I have two masses that are about two inches each that will be removed.  Generally this surgery is laproscopic, but based on my previous trauma and surgery she's afraid that I might have too much pelvic scar tissue to allow her to do a laproscopic surgery.  I may have to be cut back open on the scar I have from my hysterectomy, but she won't know that until I'm in the OR and she's stuck the camera in to take a look around.  So...I also won't know until after surgery the type of recovery I'm in for.  Minor or no driving, no lifting type recovery.  Or if I'll get to go home right away or have to stay in the hospital 1-2 nights.  So I'm hoping for the best, but preparing for the worst so I have all of my bases covered in case I'm down for a little bit.  So if you would, say a prayer for me that this all goes well and I can be healthy and pain free again sometime soon.

To end on a lighter note, here is a bit of the decorating I've done:

Lamp I added trim and beads to:

Not-So-Formal Living Room with table runners and pillows I made

Kitchen with table runner and curtains I made

Sorry for the bad picture.  Pillow and Curtains from brown and zebra fabric

Resale shop find I refinished

Master bedroom seating area, here I just added flowers to the pillows  and lamp.

Current project: Master Bedroom Curtains