Short & Sweet

I'm going to make this entry short and sweet. As you can see I have changed the name of my blog to "Days go by". Since I started working I haven't quite figured out how to keep up with everything I was doing before I started working. One thing that I had to let slide was my blog. I absolutely love my job though, and know that God provided the perfect job for me. Hopefully now that I'm making a simple entry I can get motivated to at least write a little something every now and then. I just know that before I know it the days will have gone by quickly again. We have so many exciting things to look forward to before the end of the year....Thanksgiving, Chris and Matison's wedding, Christmas, New Years! It will certainly be a time of celebration and I want to make the most of it knowing that the days go by too fast....don't forget to cherish every moment.
Jenny

Two Celebration Dinners!

Some of you already know that there was a strange turn of events this week. I was ready and excited to start my job at Starbucks. Nicki and I had even been shopping over the weekend for my new "work" clothes and shoes. Before I got the chance to go in for my first day, the Northside ISD called and said that the school that I had applied at called and offered me the job I had really hoped for. I was initially in shock and needed a few minutes to process what had just happened. I had gotten my heart set on working at Starbucks and convinced myself that it would be the Best Job in the World. I could taste the benefits and was looking forward to how it would challenge me to grow and be more adaptable. After only a few minutes of considering the new offer and talking it over with Jim I accepted the job with the school. It is what we had hoped and prayed would happen since April when I started applying for the schools. This will allow us to have the benefits we need as well as the holidays and summer days off that the school offers. We had already had a celebration dinner at Chuy's when I had gotten the Starbucks job and now it was time to celebrate again so this time we went to Texas Roadhouse. I know that God's hand was in all of this and it just proves that trusting Him is the only way. He knows the future and has blessings for us around the corner that we don't even know about. Monday is my first day at the school and I'm looking forward to this new stage of my life. I thank the Lord for His faithfulness and perfect plan!:)

Jenny

Trusting

This week has been a week of trusting. Trusting that God has a perfect plan for my life and that even if I don't understand what that plan is, or why that is the plan, that I can trust Him. His purposes are higher than my own and He knows the future, not me. If you know me, trusting isn't always easy for me, although, it's always been easier for me to trust God in the "big things" rather than the "little things" in life. One of the "big things" for me lately has been searching for a job. As I thought God was leading me one direction, by the end of the week where I ended up from where I started was a completely different location. The location that I ended up with is a job at Starbucks!:) If you talked to me today you know that I'm actually thrilled about my new job and can't wait to see how this job might fulfill part of God's purpose in my life. I trust that this is part of my journey, and as I see it now, God has me right where he wants me.....dependant on Him to provide just what I need, just when I need it. With the crisis in the economy right now, I have needed the reminder that our trust needs to be in the One who is the True Provider. He is faithful and worthy to be praised!:)
Jenny

Happy Birthday Crystal!

This blog entry is dedicated to my best friend Crystal. Crystal and I have been friends for over 35 years. We met during grade school in Aurora, Colorado and have remained friends to this day. I'll never forget the day she moved from Colorado when we were in high school. It was honestly one of the hardest days of my life. Little did I know at the time, that our friendship would last a lifetime. No matter how far apart we've been through the years, we have remained close at heart. I was so excited when we were moving to Texas knowing that I would be able to see Crystal more often. One of the greatest blessings that God gives us in our lives is friendship. Here is one of my favorite songs about friends. This one is dedicated to you Crystal! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbPKaIozS-c Hope you have a blessed day!
Jenny

Where did September go?

I can't believe it is October 1st today. Somehow September went by faster than any other month for me this year. We've had reason to celebrate since my last blog and reason to fall to our knees in prayer. We celebrated our 26th Wedding Anniversary on September 25th and Jim took me to our favorite steak restaurant, Myron's, in New Braunfels. This is the restaurant we usually go to to celebrate special occasions. The last time we went, was to celebrate Nicki and Mathis graduating from college. Our good friends Rick and Kelly were able to join us and Kelly was so sweet to have prepared a special dessert for us to share in at their house after dinner. She had spent a lot of her day preparing this for us and so we felt very honored and fortunate to have such good friends to celebrate with us. On Sunday we found out that Matison's brother, Dalton, had been in a serious motorcycle accident near San Antonio and had been taken to a hospital here in San Antonio. Chris and Matison drove down from Waco that night and stayed at the hospital with her family until 3:30AM. Although he has serious injuries, he is able to move his arms and legs and was wearing a helmet at the time of the accident. He is still in the ICU and we're not sure at this time whether any surgeries are necessary. Please just lift Dalton and Matison's family up in your prayers and pray that God will heal him and give comfort to the family. Chris and Matison were able to return to Waco again yesterday and we're thankful for the safe travel that they've had during the past four weekends they've had to travel back and forth from Waco to San Antonio. We still count our blessings everyday and know that God is Sovereign. During the days of our celebration and the days of our sorrow, He remains the same and we can trust in Him and His faithfulness.
Jenny

Busy Weekend

This past weekend went by extremely fast. Chris and Matison were home on Friday for Chris's follow-up visit for his right knee. The good news is that his knee is healing very well. He will still have to wear his immobilizer for another 3 weeks, but is able to get around without his crutches now. He will have one week without the immobilizer before he has to have surgery on the other knee. We still count it a blessing to be able to get all of this taken care of in the near future. We enjoyed a dinner out Friday to Texas Roadhouse which has become a favorite of ours lately. We also had some showings over the weekend, but no offers yet. I'm trusting that God has the right buyer at the right time. We hadn't been to the movies since we had returned to Texas, so when we already had some showings set up for Saturday at our house, we took the opportunity to go see Ghost Town. This is a movie I would recommend seeing. It was comical and yet had so many touching moments too. A fun way to spend the afternoon. Sunday we were off to church and teaching our adorable 2 year olds. Our hour is receiving so many children we've had to break off into two classes to accommodate all the children coming. Although challenging, this is a good problem to have. We were able to get in a quick brunch at Cracker Barrel before Chris and Matison had to head back to Waco. They've had to make the trip down to San Antonio for the past three weekends. This week I'm going to continue my search for a job here in San Antonio and as always work on cleaning through and giving away more stuff . This is a favorite past time for me so I really don't mind, in fact I look forward to it. I'll check in again later this week.
Jenny

A Reason To.......

Robert Byrne said "The purpose of life is to have a life of purpose"

I have always been someone who is motivated by purpose. The years that I was fortunate to be able to stay home and raise Nicki and Chris brought great purpose and fulfilment to my life. I always wanted to be the best mom to them and create close relationships with them that would last our lifetime. The greatest satisfaction to me is that both of them love the Lord and I know that they are living their lives for Him. That is our true purpose anyway, isn't it? I originally started this entry to be silly and talk about how having our house listed for sale has given me a purpose and reason to be obsessive compulsive about everything being in place, or a reason to not cook dinner (since we want the house to smell fresh), or a reason to eat Freddy's ice cream (the times we need to get out of the house for a showing at odd hours). That was my original purpose for this entry. I see now that God had a greater purpose. It is for me to remember that my true purpose is to glorify Him in all I say and do. I know I fall short of that most of the time, but thankfully God isn't finished with me yet.

Just for fun, those of you who have raised your children, or are still raising them, will enjoy this song on youtube..."Then They Do". It makes me cry every time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7iMFduQcns

Jenny

Blessings and a Birthday

I can't believe it's taken me so long to write in my blog again. A lot has happened since my last entry. We had a wonderful weekend with Nicki, Mathis, Chris and Matison home. I also loved all the time I got with Nicki while she was here in San Antonio for a week taking a training class(see her blog for details). Chris was able to see a Dr. here about his continual knee problems (each knee has dislocated 3 times), most recently at camp (Sky Ranch) this summer. In order to stop this from happening again, Chris ended up having knee surgery this past weekend. This was on the right knee. They will do the same surgery on his left knee in about 5 weeks. Matison was able to drive him down to San Antonio for the weekend and she was also able to schedule her practical exam for her Cosmetology license yesterday, which happened to be Chris's 21st Birthday!:) Matison passed her exam with flying colors!:) I had the privilege of being her model during the manicure and facial part of the exam. Although I'm sure Chris had better plans for his 21st Birthday than recovering from knee surgery, we count it a blessing that he can get this all taken care of before he and Matison get married in December. Another blessing is that we have had several showings on our house and seem to have one family that is very interested. Time will tell, but we are encouraged with everything so far. So, hopefully I will be better about writing in my blog or I will have to change the title from "Day by Day" to "Month to Month". Either way, we feel God's blessings on our life and know that He is the one in control.

Jenny

Exhausting Week

This week has been one of the most exhausting weeks for me. I haven't even felt as if I have had a spare moment (until now) to update my blog. We are in the process of selling our house so we can downsize to a smaller house. Needless to say, getting your home ready to sell takes a lot of work and energy. Since our return from Colorado, we have spent most of our spare time preparing for today. The "For Sale" sign is now in our yard and we are ready to have showings. I'm actually excited to get the first call that someone is interested in coming by to see it. I imagine that excitement will fade after several showings, but for now I have the anticipation of what it will be like. This home has been such a blessing to us and we have so many memories that we'll take with us. It's such a great family home and I know there is a family out there that will also be blessed by it. We're excited for the weekend because Nicki, Mathis, Chris and Matison (Chris's fiance) will all be home this weekend. I guess we still have a few more memories to make in this home before we let go of it. Please pray that God will bring just the right buyer in His perfect time!:)
Jenny

His name is "Beau"

Good news! We found out that Dawson and Mollie's friend was not far from home. Although the rabies tag indicated that our lost friend lived in Helotes, he actually only lives about a mile away. I was so happy to find out that his name was "Beau". We had been calling him "Little Bear", so I guess we weren't too far off between "Beau" and "Bear". We also found out that Beau is 9 years old. Maybe that's one of the reasons why he was such a good guest. He was polite, friendly and well behaved. His only bad habit was to get at one roll of toliet paper. We had already started to get attached to him and so when his owner was coming to pick him up I got tears in my eyes. Nicki will attest to this, as I had to call her for moral support at the time. Jim was out running errands and I was glad that he returned in time to say good-bye to Beau. I think Jim got just as attached as I did. We are pleased that Beau is now home safely. We told the owner that we would be willing to petsit anytime!:) I honestly hope she takes us up on it. Enjoy the video of Beau's short visit.

Jenny

A Friend for Dawson and Mollie

Just as we thought we were down to two dogs after our visit from Boston, we ended up with another visitor today. We were out running errands in the pouring rain when we saw this little male shih tzu running along the road. Jim stopped and tried to get him to come, but he kept going and so we didn't think there was anything we could do. We were starting to pull away when I saw him again. This time he came to us and I was able to see he had a collar and tag. Unfortunately, the tag is only a rabies tag, so we won't be able to find out from the vet who he might belong to until Monday. He is a very sweet and happy dog and he immediately became friends with Dawson and Mollie. Of course Mollie still has to block everyone coming up the stairs, but she has generously shared her food and toys with him. I'm sure he misses his home, but hopefully we can provide him with the care he needs until then. Please pray that we can return him home safely on Monday.

Jenny

Bear Hunting

Some of you may know that I collect teddy bears. I have several placed around my house and my two little yorkies don't even give them a second glance. After the past few days of having one of my grand-dogs (Boston) visit, I realized that he is quite the bear hunter. The bears in this picture are only a sample of the bears that he captured at one time or another during his visit. Chris says Boston's favorite toy has always been a stuffed bear so I realized that he must feel like he's in bear heaven at my house. After each catch he would happily come and show off his success and then be dumbfounded when they were taken away each time. That didn't stop him from trying though and I think the final count was at 13 before he had to leave this morning. Better luck next time Boston! Maybe I'll have to buy him an actual dog toy that is a bear before his next visit. Somehow, I think he'll still like the thrill of the bear hunt more!

Home Sweet Home

After being in Colorful Colorado for over 3 months this summer, we are finally back in the Great State of Texas. On our way back to San Antonio we spent the weekend with our daughter, Nicki, and son-in-law, Mathis in Abilene. Nicki helped me create my blog and now this is my first attempt at adding an entry on my own. We had a wonderful time with Nicki and Mathis and have so many memorable moments of the weekend. Even though it rained most of the time we were there, we made the most of everything! To get a more detailed account of our time there you can check out Nicki's blog. We couldn't be more proud of how Nicki and Mathis are doing and look forward to more trips to Abilene. Thanks for the memories N&M....We Love You!:)

Day One

After much encouragement from my daughter, I have decided to begin my very own blog. This blog will detail the daily events of my husband and I as we live life day by day. We have been married for over 25 years and have two beautiful children and one great son-in-law. We are the proud parents of two wonderful yorkie dogs, Dawson and Mollie. Our desire is to serve our Lord, Jesus Christ and to glorify Him in all we do!