6 More Things I'm Thankful For...

After a year and a half in the Midwest (after five years in South Florida) , today I am thankful for Small Town, USA.

The people are friendlier, the community is closer, and just about everyone reaches out a hand to help someone in need. In terms of places that I want my son (and future children) to grow up, we have found our paradise. From Main Street to the county fair, Paint the Town, the Christmas Walk, and all of the other fun year-round festivals, it is family-friendly fun all the time. I am so thankful that ministry brought us here where we have met some of the most wonderful people on earth (and I truly mean that to those of you from around here who read this) and have been able to put down some roots. Never in my life did I think that my first child would be born in Northwest Illinois, but I could not be happier about it! I will forever be a small town girl at heart.

7 Things I Am Thankful For...

One of my oldest friends, Maury, did this over on her blog and I thought it was a great idea. She started by saying:

I'll be doing a post a day until Thanksgiving about something I am very grateful for. Why don't we make this fun and you do it, too.

Today, even though you're probably tired of hearing about him, I am so very thankful for my husband.

There is nobody that I know that works harder, challenges me more, or inspires me to be a better person other than him. As a pastor he provides council to many hurt and broken people, but does not take it home with him. Instead, he somehow finds a way to tuck all that away so that he can be at his best when he's here. If it were up to him, we would go bankrupt from giving all of our money and possessions away, but his wife won't let him! :) And of course, my love for him grows everyday watching him be a dad to our little Jakie.

I realize that I could fill my 7 days with just about every person in my family... I have great parents and in-laws, great sisters, and an awesome extended network of grandparents, aunts, and uncles. I know that they are truly blessings in my life and I do want to acknowledge them even if they all don't get their own posts. I'd like to take the next 6 days instead to really dig deep and find the blessings that are outside of this special group of people, so please know that you are counted among the best of what I am thankful for. With that being said, however, chances are that my little Jakie will probably get a post of his own... I can't resist.

So with 7 days until Thanksgiving, what are you thankful for?

What do you get...

... when you have a squirmy baby during diaper changes???

a MAJOR baby diaper wedgie!

I didn't even know that was possible. One day he may kill me for this, but it was far too funny not to share.

On another note, sorry for the lack of posts lately... not only have things been crazy busy (as they usually are) but I have also been feeling a bit uninspired. In fact, I've hardly even taken pictures this month! And since I work from home and spend most of my day staring at a computer screen, I have zero motivation before or after work hours to continue to do so. Especially now that my son is doing such uber-cute new things everyday. For those of you who are wondering, yes, he can walk behind his dinosaur toy pictured here... watch out world, it won't be long before this kid is walking! *sigh* If it were up to me, he would crawl forever as I am a huge fan of the crawl. But I'm learning everyday that no matter how hard I try, I just cannot make him stop growing. I remember hearing all the time before I had kids, "oh they just grow up so fast!" and it just seemed like a cliche thing to say. But man, once you have a kid, you really know what they mean! Jake has been with us now for eight months already and I can hardly believe it! But at the same time, I can hardly remember life without him.

Hopefully I'll be out of my blogging funk soon for all of my faithful readers, and seeing as the holidays are coming up, I'm sure there will be plenty to post about. Jake's Pawpaw arrives tonight and will be with us thru Thanksgiving, then before I know it, his Uncle Michael, Auntie Mindy and cousin Adam will be here to celebrate Christmas with us! I think I will have plenty of material in the coming weeks.

Thanks for stopping in, even though I haven't had much to say lately! Next time I'll make sure to include a picture of the kiddo's face... although who can resist that little pinchable tush!?!

The other day I decided to give the dogs a bone, so I looked under the kitchen sink

When I pulled the bone out of the packaging I was a bit confused to find that the filling was gone and the outer shell was only partially in tact

Upon further investigation I found that something had nibbled its way into the bag

Which then made me take a closer look to realize that the mess under my kitchen sink is this little creature's new home.

Ewwwwwwww.....

I wish I could say that the story ends here, but it doesn't. I wish I could say that I did not jump about six feet in the air and scream like a little girl when I saw the culprit scurry behind the bag of dog food, but I can't. I wish I could say that I courageously and responsibly took care of the problem, but I didn't. I wish I could say that the dogs will get fed regardless of the sighting, but I cannot commit to that. What I can tell you is that I am going to love my husband even more than I already do once our unwelcome guest is gone. Ahhhh, the perks of marriage!

Under the Weather

Even though the little man is not feeling good...

You certainly wouldn't know it! He is still all smiles for us!

I think he'll be back to his old self in no time!

Now if only Josh could fight off whatever Jake shared with him we'll be all set!

October in (mostly) Pictures

If you're wondering why I was pretty much MIA for most of October, it was because I feel like I blinked and it was gone! We ran non-stop all month at full speed and I don't think November is going to be much different. October might just be my favorite time of year here in the Midwest though with our crisp sunny days and vibrant leaves. And now that we have Jake we certainly take much more advantage of some fall fun. So without further ado... here is our month in review...

At the start of the month, Jake and I hit the road to head to Georgetown, Kentucky to visit the Vans. On the way we made a pit stop (with perfect timing... Jake was really antsy to get out of his car seat by this point) and spent about an hour with my friend Lara and her family. Lara and I went to high school together and have stayed in touch throughout the years. I felt like nothing had changed after so much time even though we both are married with kiddos now! Now that I know that she's right on the way, I see many more pit stops and visits on future trips!

We finally made it to our destination and guess who was there to surprise us??? Baby Adam! And his mommy of course as well as my mommy! :)

Auntie Angie was over the moon to have both of the boys at her house!

Kevin and Kyle were so good with the little ones. Kevin carried them around pretty much wherever they went and Kyle spent a lot of time playing on the floor with them. They even told their friends that they couldn't come out and play because their cousins were in town.


The two definitely made up for lost time and we felt like they were almost always up to something

They wreaked havoc on the Van household

But they looked so cute doing it! We had them race a couple of times, but since I don't have a copy of the video, you'd have to check out my sister's post about the trip here

We just couldn't get enough of the two of them together!

The best part of our trip was a visit to Bi-Water Farms, a local pumpkin patch

This place had everything! First we measured to see how tall we were in October 2010

Then we checked out the playground(s)... there were several for adults and kids!

Then we did a little trike racing! I would love to show all of these pictures, but I fear that someone might hunt me down for a couple in particular

Jake got plenty of attention from his aunties

And from Gramma, too, of course!

She was so excited to have all four of her grandbabies in one place at the same time... this was a first for our family!

And here is the whole gang sans Josh Van who was nice enough to be the photographer! All of the Elder ladies and their boys!

Next we hopped back in the car and headed north to Ohio. On the way we stopped in Cincinnati to see another Laura... this one is a friend from college! We hadn't seen each other since my wedding and a lot has changed since then! The picture isn't the greatest since we snapped it with a Blackberry, but it gets the job done. For now this is the only picture I have from my Ohio leg of the trip because I am still waiting on the others from my cousins. Hmmm... maybe I should send a reminder! Another point to note was that I got some sort of flu virus while on my trip and I think Jake had a touch of it, too. Three days later Laura informed me that she had caught our bug, but let us know that it was worth it to see us. What a great friend!

Once we were back safely in Illinois, we spent a lot of time outdoors. Jake thought it was hilarious when Josh would throw leaves in the air

We didn't go in the corn maze this year, but we did skirt the perimeter to get our annual family pictures with the corn... so far we have no good ones of all three of us in the corn. Oh well... maybe next year

We had to check out the local pumpkin patch here in town, too! Although it was tiny in comparison, Jake was quite festive in his little orange and black outfit. Josh found a great apple orchard while we were away that we wanted to visit, but the month got away from us. It's another thing on our to-do list for next fall.

Thankfully he is finally starting to smile for the camera! It makes the pictures so much cuter!

And that brings us to the end of the month. We went over to the Tucker's house to help eat hand out candy on Halloween. Brody was a little monkey and Jake dressed up as a spider!

This is the closest we could get to a smile... he was not thrilled with the idea of wearing a hat!


We also carved pumpkins again this year, but this time we used a pattern for the first time ever. I think it turned out great! Sure, I still think it's "cheating" but the end result is so much better!

I wish I had video of him crawling in this costume... it was too funny!

So that about wraps it up. In Jake news, he started crawling just before our trip to Kentucky and hasn't slowed down since. He also cut his first tooth while we were there and got a second one last week! But my favorite thing? His incessant rambling of Mamamamamama... granted, I think Mama is his word of choice for just about everything, but I'll take it!

Now that October has come and gone the countdown for the holidays begins! Yahooooo! Looks like you'll be seeing more of Adam and his parents on the blog soon! I hope you're enjoying the last bit (or first bit for you Floridians) of your autumn season as much as we are. Now bring on the snow!

Long Day Musings

Lately I have felt drained. I looked at my husband the other night and said, "I wouldn't want your job." He gave me the strangest look and asked me what I meant. I tried to explain to him that the deeper I get into my faith and the more I come to understand Jesus' sacrifice for us, the more I hurt for others that do not know what I know... those that do not have what I have. And then I feel like I am standing on some big know-it-all podium and looking down on everyone else. And I hate that. It's a strange place to be considering that I call myself the world's least likely pastor's wife. Most people assume that a pastor and his wife have led some squeaky clean existence, but that is not the case for me and it sometimes just makes me feel less than adequate to tell others about my faith. But that was the old me... and the new me- the reborn me if you will (even though I know that phrase freaks a lot of people out)- knows that it is my responsibility to do so, even if I feel less than adequate. In fact, being uncomfortable is what we as Christians should be doing... and lucky for us, we don't have to do it anymore in fear of being killed or sent to prison like the early Christians did- and many around the world still do. And yet, I still find it difficult.

So like I said, lately I have felt drained. And then today, clear as a bell, God demonstrated something to me that put it all into perspective. This morning Jake woke up sounding really croupy. I was so worried as I listened to his labored breathing and could hardly stand to put him down for a nap in fear that laying him down would make it worse. Of course jumping on Google and thinking he had everything from pneumonia to whooping cough didn't help, but after a trip to the doctor we learned that it is just an upper respiratory infection. So even though our little guy sounds bad, he is going to be just fine. What I did not anticipate, however, was how clingy and fussy he would be. All day today he just needed his mommy. And instead of being the soothing, loving mommy that he needed, I spent most of the day frustrated that I had a million things to get done and he was getting in the way of that. And tonight, now that he's in bed, I just feel awful about how selfish that attitude was. After a little bit of reflection, I realize that today I was trying to live for me rather than living for him. And that's when it hit me... almost every day of my life I try to live for me rather than living for Him. Living for God. Today He gave me an experience that blatantly pointed it out to me and I opened myself up to it. And I certainly needed it.

So tonight I am reflecting on the idea of dying to oneself. The Bible speaks of this in so many places and even says that we must "lose our life" in order to find it, and I needed to be reminded of that. So what is dying to self you might wonder? What does it mean to lose your life? Well it's simple: you put God first and your own selfish needs last... just like I should have done with Jacob today. You see, by being a mom I do this everyday. Instead of pedicures and new clothes, I now hesitate before even buying shampoo for myself and splurge on new pajamas or something of the like for him. Instead of going out at the last minute for a night out with my girlfriends, I realize that I have to stay home and care for my son who solely depends on his dad and myself for everything. My priorities have shifted, and in return my son is the most rewarding thing that I have in this world. Now imagine if I did that all of the time for God. Instead of watching that mindless TV show, what if I spent some time in His word? Instead of logging onto Facebook, what if I spent some real time in prayer? Those selfish "needs" that I have need to die, and I need to focus on what is truly important. As I look back over the past year, I see the fruit that has come from the periods of time when I truly did put Him first, so I already know the rewards are bigger than I can imagine. Over the past year we've given away over 20% of our income... to tithing, charities, families in need, or wherever our heart leads us, and God has provided for us in the most amazing, unexpected ways. And in the times that I have really spent time in my Bible and used my free time sparingly to do things for the betterment of His kingdom, I have seen blessings in my life ten fold. Being a mother is a blessing and the rewards are huge, but the rewards don't even compare to being an obedient child of God. And at the end of this life, our reward will be in heaven, and that is truly something to be excited about.

The odd thing is that it wasn't until I started living my life for someone else- for God- that I truly found out what life is all about for me. And for awhile I felt like maybe I shouldn't share these things with anyone. I mean, who am I to teach about Jesus? I am just a gal who has regrets from her past who happened to marry a pastor. And while that might be true, I am a gal whose regrets are gone because I am new in Christ... I live for Him and my old self is gone. What a wonderful place to find myself! And sometimes I worry that some of the people I know will think that I have gone off the deep end... that I'm "too" Christian now... but today I realized that I'm okay with that. If I am going to be passionately campaigning for something then it might as well be this. I mean, who can argue with a faith that teaches that love is the most important thing in the world; that life should be lived with integrity, humility, honesty, and honor; that we should give away what we have in order to help others; that we should serve one another and put others before ourselves... the list goes on and on. If I'm going to side with something, then I am happy to be viewed as someone who has gone off the deep end for this. I am dying to myself... I am losing my life more and more so that I can find something richer, greater, and deeper. And the more I lose it, the more in awe I am of His majesty.

I encourage you to figure out how you can die to yourself today... what can you give up that is getting in the way of your relationship with Him? Use that time and energy to devote to the Father and see what blessings pour out in return. I promise that you won't be disappointed.

Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it. ~Matthew 10:38-39

PS - I really do hope this makes sense... it's been a long day and like I said, I am drained. I look forward to reading it tomorrow in the hopes that it's at least coherent!