SURPRISE!

I am posting a blog entry!


I have not posted in a long time, and thought I should update you all on what I have been up too. I have pictures of Judah from the last several months, but I have to admit, there are not nearly as many as I thought I would have.. I will have to go through them and find them.. Maybe a project for tomorrow.. Or, maybe if he is in a good mood, we will do a mini photo shoot!


All of his professional pictures are AWESOME! But they don't give us a CD like Jason does, (How I wish Jason was closer) So, I will have to check the copyright thing and see if I am even allowed to scan them all and put them up here..


So, I have not posted since August huh.. Wow..
Well, here it goes.


August- Judah was 2 months old. Almost the entire month, I had some scary medical issues, which turned out to only be a vitamin B defincency. But in the month of August, I had 12 Dr appointments, 4 MRI's and blood drawn way to many times. I also nearly gave up nursing my darling little boy, since I was out of it so much of the time, and it was way easier just to give him a bottle. Especially for Chris when I had some panic attacks. I am so grateful that God did not let me quit, and that I had several people encouraging me to keep nursing.
September- Put in my 2 weeks at Aenta, and then got fired due to my medical issues. This was a little frustrating for me, because Chris and I were doing really well paying off all the debt, and thought I would only have to work for about a year.. But it was also a blessing in disguise. They fired me the same week I started getting my injections, and made a full recovery, so Chris didnt miss any more work babysitting both Judah and I, and I have been a stay at home mommy ever since. It truely is a blessing to get to be such a major part of his life. Plus, he seems to learn something new every hour! I can not imagine the world from his eyes where everything is new, and exciting. I love watching the wonder in his eyes at every thing he sees and touches. This is the month he got really grabby too! Especially when we wanted to eat! He also starting the teething process, which has yet to produce a tooth, but he has the drool, and sparatic tooth pain. Maybe by January. The first weekend in Sep was Labor Day. Chris's family always goes to Family Camp in Cooperstown. This year my Uncle Kevin from Texas made it up, and he brought my Grandma and Grandpa up. My pastor from Pembina was the speaker, and it was good to see him again.


Judah also got to know my family a little better, when I stayed with them for a week, just to finish recovering from my medical issues.


October- Judah is 4 months old now. And this was a busy busy month! We had his dedication on Oct 11, and a lot of my family was able to make it as well as Chris's mom and dad. The thing I remember most about this month, was trying to get Judah's SS card. I put it in a very safe place, and have not seen it since, so I went down to get another one. I brought his birth certificate, as well as the discharge papers from the hospital, where we indicated we wanted to apply for one. I was wearing Judah in a ring sling when I went into the office, and they told me I needed to prove he was alive! So frustrating! So I asked what kind of proof they needed, and they said the only thing they could accept was immunization records. I felt like banging my head on the wall!.. The lady looked completly shocked when I explained that we did not immunize our child, and told me he would not get into school without it.. So, I explained that we were planning to homeschool, and her jaw dropped even more.. So, she went searching around for almost 10 minutes to see if there was anything else I could present.. Other than the live baby of course! Long story short, I made 3 more trips, before I found out I could present a dedication certificate.
Fun month!


Also in October, I found out all my crazy ideas have a name! And I am not the only one! I practice attachment parenting, which consists of things like wearing the baby, breastfeeding for a min of 1 year, and maybe longer depending on the relationship of mother and baby, cosleeping, tending to baby's cries right away, ect. And my other crazy ideas, about natural living, vaccines, cloth diapers, elimination communication and such is referred to as "crunchy!" Its nice not to feel alone. I discovered an amazing online community called "Gentle Christian Mothers." It has been such a blessing!
Wow, this is getting long! I will try to talk faster!
November- Judah is 5 months old, and the beginning of the month, he got pnemonia, and was hospitalized for 3 days.. Talk about stress! That completly threw off his sleep schedule, and made him way more clingy.. Which is why we were kindof forced into co-sleeping. Now that we are, I love it.. Most of the time. We celebrated Thanksgiving twice with Chris's family.. The weekend before with Stacy, Rich and Bethany, Chris's sister and family, and the second time with Kelly and Brian, his other sister, and her fiance.. Both times at his parents house. It was nice for me to have people to hang out with, and Chris didnt complain about the time off of work..
I also went shopping on Black Friday, and LOVED it.. I found it exhilerating, though my mom disagrees. :)
Somewhere in here, Judah started getting up on hands and knees, and tries really hard to crawl.


December started off with Chris's birthday on the first. Judah got a little sick again this weekend, but more to freak me out than anything.


I went to the Toby Mac concert on Sunday night and it was AMAZING! It was cool to see a preformer so on fire for the Gospel of Christ. I totally support his ministry.



Wow.. What a long post.. I am going to have to go find pictures now.. :)

This is me and Judah when we did his 1 month pictures in July. I know they are a little late, but still precious. These were done by the same guy who did our wedding, Jason Siebolds of Renegade Photography. We have been thrilled with his work.. He does a wonderful job, and we only wish he lived closer so he could do every months shots of Judah. He is for sure worth the cost difference between him and Wal-Mart..

This is another one by Jason at 1 month, with Chris.

Okay Grandma, he doesnt need to grow up that fast! Judah's first driving lesson, at camp, Sep, 2009.

And last one I could find real quick was a family pic also Sep 2009. Like Chris's hair? I did it myself! It doesnt look like that now though.. His hair grows fast.. It isnt fair.

Well, with that I will publish my little book.. Ahem, I mean post! I hope I will get better at this.. It might stimulate me to actually take more pics!

More Judah, again

Here are more pictures of the little one! This one, (below) is a pic of him in his new Jumperoo.. We got it for him on Sat, and already he has spent hours in this thing. He laughs and giggles, because he can swing himself all over. He really want to be independent, so I think this helps him feel more like his own baby..



Again, another picture of the amazing new toy!

It got pretty cold here recently.. Chris and I realized we didnt (and still dont) have a lot of clothes that are going to be warm enough for winter. Here he is with his new winter hat on. He doesnt seem to mind it, unless it falls down and covers his eyes. We learned the hard way that this is a very very bad idea. Makes babies very unhappy.

He is also working hard at learning how to crawl.. Most of the time, tummy time makes him mad, because he isnt crawling yet. But he is mobile! I put him on the bed friday afternoon, and put pillows all around him.. After he woke up from his nap, he somehow managed to roll onto his tummy, and scoot right off the bed. He is doing alright. I think he scared mommy even more than himself!

This is Gwen, Chris's mom and Judah. It is the best grandparrent picture that we have so far. It was taken tonight out at Rob and Gwens place. Grandma and Grandpa just love having him around!

So, there you go. I finally got around to putting more pics of Judah on the computer.. I am not nearly as punctual with this as Rachel is.. Dont know how she does it..

If you have access to facebook, all the pictures I have on the computer of him at all are on my page. If you are on facebook, this is probably just repeats, but for those who are not, here is some Judah to whet you appatite! IMO, he is a major cutie!

Judah at almost 8 weeks.. Even some Smiles!!

Look at my super cute smile! Mommy has been trying to get a smile on camera for almost a month. And I finally cooperated.

Here is another one. I was in a happy mood. I finally fit into my church outfit. It is a size 6 month, and I am not even 2 yet. But then, I am a big boy!

Mommy really likes this picture. She thinks this looks the most like me in real life.

I sneezed, right as mommy took the picture.!!!

And one last washed out smile! Sorry the color is bad, mommy did a lot of playing with the lights.

I finally got more pics of Judah to share. I actually have more, but I lost the camera that they are on. Someday I will find it.

Hope you enjoy them!

Judah is 3 weeks old!

Here are some pictures of Judah at 3 weeks old! Today, the 29th, is his 3 week birthday. He has very wide eyes, that take everything in around him. He loves to study your face, and lights facinate him.



I just love the way his mouth looks. He looks so curious about his world. He likes to watch things, and watching his expressions as he takes in his world is so fun!

Here he is in hid boppy. They are simply one of the best inventions in the world! The boppy pillow has only hundrends of uses, and Judah likes sitting in it and watching whatever mommy and daddy are doing.

Here he is in the carseat that Aunt Kelly gave him. He has a love hate relationship with it. Sometiems he will scream when he is put in it, and sometimes it puts him to sleep.

I think this one was taken a few days ago, so he isnt quite 3 weeks yet. He loves his pacifier.

Judah is 3 weeks old today! Here are some pics that I took throughout the day. The first couple are him in just his new cloth diapers. Robin, my pastors wife, gave me her old stash, and I am thrilled! Probably 700 dollars worth of diapers at least. We love this little guy very much! God has given us a blessing that is so huge..

I never really understood what people would always say about the love a parent has for their child until he was born. We would not trade him for anything in the whole world! We are already praying for and anticipating the day that he accepts the Lord Jesus as his Saviour. We know that God has a plan for him, and cant wait to see how God works in his life.

God has been teaching me a lot about trust over the last several months. Life has been so unpredictable, and right now Chris and I are trying to figure out what the future holds now that Judah is here. Our small group bible study has been so challenging. We have been talking about Jonathan and his armour bearer. There is a story about a time when Israel was being attacked by the Phillistines, and Saul, who was King at that time, was spending his time under a pomagranate tree drunk. Jonathan took his armour bearer, and decided to attack a Phillistine outpost alone, just the two of them. The interesting thing is that he didnt know if God was going to bless his efforts or not. What he did know is that God had the power to give them victory, and that ultimatly, God's will would be accomplished. So he stepped out on faith and put his life on the line.

It has been a great study, and is based on the book Chasing Daylight by Erwin McManus. If you ever get the chance to read this book it is VERY good, but VERY convicting and challenging.

I guess the gist of that whole thought is that God has been very good to us, and even though we have no idea where he is leading us, we are doing our best to walk with baby steps in the direction we think he is, and allowing him to guide us. Its scary, but looking back on the last year, God so knew where we needed to be, and He got us here. What a mighty God we serve!

Second Night at Home

Last night was Judah's second night at home. The first night, (Wednesday) was really rough. He was wide awake and fussy till 3:30, and then was up again at 6. Last night went much much better. He slept for 3 hours, and was only up 3 or 4 times.. It was wonderful! I am really enjoying having him here. He is a little joy. Will keep you all updated!

More Judah!

This is mommy and my very first picture together! Other than one that Great Aunt Darla took, but this is the first one to go online. This is me with my rings. I love my rings! They were a gift that Mommy got for me at her baby shower.

Mommy thinks this looks like I am picking my nose, but I really and only stretching my very long fingers using my face!

Sorry this picture is crooked, Mommy is still trying to figure out how exactly to put pictures on blogspot. She has tried several times, but just can't seem to get it.

And, this one is turned the other way, but if you crank your neck just a bit, you will see this is Uncle Tyler. He just finished giving me a small bottle of Mommy's yummy milk.

This is my "I am very content and happy with life face." Mommy says she wishes she could see it more at 3 in the morning.

Here are the long awaited pictures of baby Judah! He is such a joy. He has his cranky moments, and God gave him a strong will, and he picked up a bit of a temper from somewhere. (Definatly not from Mommy) and we are looking forward to teaching him to bring it all into submission to Christ. Most of the time he is pretty content.. Especially during the day. Nightime can be another story!

Hope you all enjoy the pictures! Daddy wasnt here for pictures, he is trying to get some sleep, so that he can go back to work in the morning.

Love,

Jennie and Judah

Christopher Judah Hall!!

Well, After several weeks and months of waiting, Judah decided to make his enterance last night, June 8th at 9:21 pm! He is so cute! I am so tired though, I have not even gotten to the camera, so I will post a few of the pictures that Chris took of him. I know its funny that we are not in any of these, but trust me, there will be more!

Christopher Judah Hall

06-08-09, 9:21 PM

9lbs 3oz

22 Inches Long

14 1/4 head diameter

Big Feet, Big Toes, Long Fingers!

I have Daddys lips, Chin and Toes,

I have mommys nose, fingernails and ears!

We are so happy to finally meet him!

(Ps: Sorry the pics all ended up on the top.. I have yet to figure out how you get the pictures to show up where you want them on here.. :)

Another Update

Hello All,
I dont know if you are waiting as anxiously as I am for this baby to come, but so far, he has taken his precious time. On Monday, I had another dr's appointment, and everything looks good. God has been very good to us. Everytime they look at him, or moniter him, they tell us, wow.. He looks perfect! I know that God is taking care of him, but I am getting to the point that I really want to help!
I have yet another induction scheduled for the 8th (monday), But I really really want a natural birth. Chris and I have been talking it over, and he thinks that maybe we can have baby #2 at home. I really wanted to have this one at home, but Chris was a little nervous just in case something went wrong. But since things seem to look so good, depending on delivery, we may just have the next baby at home.

Someday I will post a birth announcement and pictures! I have been having contractions on and off all last night and now this morning, so we will see if that brings anything about.

I went to the Chiropractor yesterday, and decided that they are way worth the money! My back feels better than what it has in years. She said my pelvis was out of joint, and that could be why all my other labor has stopped. (I have been in active labor like 5 times. Contractions get to be about a minute apart, intense and about a minute long, and then it stops.) She said the baby might not have been able to decend properly, so now that I have been adjusted I am hoping he will come soon!

Thank you for all your prayers and support!
Love, Chris, Jennie, and baby Judah.

Update

Hello All!
Just a quick note to let you know the day is coming!! I was in labor last night for about 5 hours before it stopped. I had a regularly scheduled doctors appointment this morning, and the baby is engaged, and my cervix is soft, and I have made progress as far as dialation goes!! Today not much has been going on, but I am hoping my body is storing up energy for either tomorrow or Wednesday! I am not sure how soon I will be able to put pictures up, but I will try to post a little blurb when Judah or Rylie makes their appearance!
Love,
Jennie

Baby Shower

Last Sunday, the ladies at my church threw me a baby shower. I thought I would share a couple of the pictures. Soon, there will be pictures of the actual baby!! The picture below is of my mom, Gwen, Jeanie and Robin from church, working on one of the games. The one to the right, is me opening gifts. We had a lot of fun, and we recieved many

Usefull things that we will definatly put to use. I got lots of breastfeeding supplies, such as bags and ointment. Then there were the really cute baby things like clothes, and bibs, blankets and so much more. Today we finally got everything all put away, and the diaper bag packed! Its getting closer. My due date is 2 weeks from today!

Politically Correct Little Red Riding Hood

I got this in a email a while back from a friend, and thought I would share it with all of you:
While it is humorous, it always makes me think of where all these seemingly "small" legislations are heading. I sure hope that my kids dont find them living in this kind of a "normal" world.

"There once was a young person named Little Red Riding Hood who lived onthe edge of a large forest full of endangered owls and rare plants that would probably provide a cure for cancer if only someone took the time to study them. Red Riding Hood lived with a nurture giver whom she sometimes referred to as "mother", although she didn't mean to imply by this term that she would have thought less of the person if a close biological link did not in fact exist. Nor did she intend to denigrate the equal value of nontraditional households, although she was sorry if this was the impression conveyed. One day her mother asked her to take a basket of organically grown fruit and mineral water to her grandmother's house.
"But mother, won't this be stealing work from the unionized people who have struggled for years to earn the right to carry all packages between various people in the woods?" Red Riding Hood's mother assured her that she had called the union boss and gotten a special compassionate mission exemption form.
"But mother, aren't you oppressing me by ordering me to do this?" Red Riding Hood's mother pointed out that it was impossible for womyn to oppress each other, since all womyn were equally oppressed until all womyn were free.
"But mother, then shouldn't you have my brother carry the basket, since he's an oppressor, and should learn what it's like to be oppressed?"And Red Riding Hood's mother explained that her brother was attending a special rally for animal rights, and besides, this wasn't stereotypical womyn's work, but an empowering deed that would help engender a feeling of community.
"But won't I be oppressing Grandma, by implying that she's sick and hence unable to independently further her own selfhood?" But Red Riding Hood's mother explained that her grandmother wasn't actually sick or incapacitated or mentally handicapped in any way, although that was not to imply that any of these conditions were inferior to what some people called "health".
Thus Red Riding Hood felt that she could get behind the idea of delivering the basket to her grandmother, and so she set off. Many people believed that the forest was a foreboding and dangerous place, but Red Riding Hood knew that this was an irrational fear based on cultural paradigms instilled by a patriarchal society that regarded the natural world as an exploitable resource, and hence believed that natural predators were in fact intolerable competitors. Other people avoided the woods for fear of thieves and deviants, but Red Riding Hood felt that in a truly classless society all marginalized peoples would be able to "come out" of the woods and be accepted as valid lifestyle role models.
On her way to Grandma's house, Red Riding Hood passed a woodchopper, and wandered off the path, in order to examine some flowers. She was startled to find herself standing before a Wolf, who asked her what was in her basket. Red Riding Hood's teacher had warned her never to talk to strangers, but she was confident in taking control of her own budding sexuality, and chose to dialogue with the Wolf. She replied,
"I am taking my Grandmother some healthful snacks in agesture of solidarity."
The Wolf said, "You know, my dear, it isn't safe for a little girl to walk through these woods alone." Red Riding Hood said,
"I find your sexist remark offensive in the extreme, but I will ignore it because of your traditional status as an outcast from society, the stress of which has caused you to develop an alternative and yet entirely valid worldview. Now, if you'll excuse me,I would prefer to be on my way." Red Riding Hood returned to the main path, and proceeded towards her Grandmother's house.
But because his status outside society had freed him from slavish adherence to linear, Western-style thought, the Wolf knew of a quicker route to Grandma's house. He burst into the house and ate Grandma, a course of action affirmative of his nature as a predator. Then, unhampered by rigid, traditionalist gender role notions, he put on Grandma's nightclothes, crawled under the bedclothes, and awaited developments. Red Riding Hood entered the cottage and said,
"Grandma, I have brought you some cruelty free snacks to salute you in your role of wise and nurturing matriarch." The Wolf said softly
"Come closer, child, so that I might see you."Red Riding Hood said,
"Goddess! Grandma, what big eyes you have!"
"You forget that I am optically challenged."
"And Grandma, what an enormous, what a fine nose you have."
"Naturally, I could have had it fixed to help my acting career, but Ididn't give in to such societal pressures, my child."
"And Grandma, what very big, sharp teeth you have!"The Wolf could not take any more of these specist slurs, and, in areaction appropriate for his accustomed milieu, he leaped out of bed, grabbed Little Red Riding Hood, and opened his jaws so wide that shec ould see her poor Grandmother cowering in his belly.
"Aren't you forgetting something?" Red Riding Hood bravely shouted.
"You must request my permission before proceeding to a new level of intimacy!" The Wolf was so startled by this statement that he loosened his grasp on her. At the same time, the woodchopper burst into the cottage, brandishing an ax.
"Hands off!" cried the woodchopper.
"And what do you think you're doing?" cried Little Red Riding Hood. "If I let you help me now, I would be expressing a lack of confidence in my own abilities, which would lead to poor self esteem and lower achievement scores on college entrance exams."
" Last chance, sister! Get your hands off that endangered species! Thisis an FBI sting!" screamed the woodchopper, and when Little Red RidingHood nonetheless made a sudden motion, he sliced off her head.
"Thank goodness you got here in time," said the Wolf. "The brat and her grandmother lured me in here. I thought I was a goner."
"No, I think I'm the real victim, here," said the woodchopper. "I've been dealing with my anger ever since I saw her picking those protected flowers earlier. And now I'm going to have such a trauma. Do you haveany aspirin?"
"Sure," said the Wolf."Thanks.""I feel your pain," said the Wolf, and he patted the woodchopper on his firm, well padded back, gave a little belch, and said "Do you have any Maalox?"

The big kid world

I think there is a time in ones early adult life, when it feels like you are play-acting at something that really isnt real. That is where I am at right now.

Lots of things have happened over the last few days that have really scared me. Yesterday we got a nasty blizzard, and against our gut instincts, Chris and I went to work anyway. Even though we came home early, at 1, we got the car stuck 5 times just trying to put it in the garage.
In the process of getting it stuck and unstuck we managed to almost completly remove the bumper, which finished coming off on our way to work today. Needless to say, instead of going to work, I lost another 4 hours of PTO, which I am desperatly trying to save for maternity, at the car body shop. It is going to be almost 700 dollars to replace the bumper, which we need to do, because we now have all the wireing exposed to the snow. And there is lots of that. Then we found out that our anifreeze leak may very well be the water pump, which I replaced last year. That will cost 600$. Then there is some sort of issue with something that is causing the car to stall while it is idleing. We dont even know what that problem is, or how to fix it. They are going to run more tests on it next Wednesday, when we take it in to get a final quote on how to fix the antifreeze leak. So as of now, with 2 of the 3 known problems with the car, we are at 1300$, and the car itself worth maybe 700.

So we are starting to think about a new car. This is kind of tricky. Because we would like to spend cash on a car... and that means we will only have about 2500$ to work with. That would mean buying something at least 15 years old, and probably having the same type of trouble next year. Or, we could put the 2500$ down on a newer car, and be tied to a car loan. In which case, we would want to get something we could drive for several years after the car is paid off. Also, depending on the number of kids we have in the next 10 years, which we expect to be more than 2 or 3, we will need something with trade-in value when we buy a mini-van, or larger vehicle. Or should we just get the van now? It would be more price efficient to buy a smaller car with really good gas milage now.. So we found something this afternoon, that looks nice, but is at the top of our 10,000 dollar limit. (9,990 to be exact) It is an '07 Dodge Caliber. Low miles, about 22,000, and room for 3 car seats in the back, as well as some storage space. The salesman says it will get about 24 mpg in town, and over 30 on the highway.

So what do we do? We could get a car that would run well, and pay on it for a few years, or we could pay cash, and be in this same position in a couple years. Then we would have the same issue then. With the economy the way it is, do we want another loan. No. However, is it going to be feesable to just expect that we will be able to get another one when this one does die? Would we be better off trying to pay for one now, when we have two steady jobs, or hoping we will be able to afford it later?

Then the next question is, if we get the newer car, how much is our insurrance going to jump?

I keep waiting for someone to come knocking on my door and say, "Thats enough big kid play for you Jennie.. You need to come home and be a kid again"

One thing is for certain. I will never be able to understand how those who do not have the promises of God to lean on cope. One verse that has been in my head for the last 2 days is Romans 8:28. "And we know that all things work together for good, to them are in Christ Jesus, that are called according to his purpose." I am not sure if that is word for word or not. But it has helped me not to really freak out.

I hope you all are staying dry! Pray for those families who are losing their homes to the flooding. The worst is still to come this spring I think.
Have a great day!
Jennie

How do you raise Godly Kids?

Hello All,
I am sure this question has been asked several times, but I think it bears repeating. How do you raise Godly kids?

At my church right now, I am working with Awana, and teaching Sunday School with Chris on Sunday mornings. We are learning about Joshua in Awana, and about Daniel in Sunday School. Before we started each of these lessons series, we asked the kids what they knew about the charachters. (Daniel and Joshua) We were shocked to find out that not even the kids who have been in church their whole lives knew anything about these people, accept the pastors kids. My awana girls do not know their books of the bible, and really, they do not memorize any of their verses. It is very, very sad.

So, I am doing some brainstorming. Mainly, how do I teach my child all these things.. and secondly, where do I start with my Sunday School and Awana kids?

I am very tempted to do a little Bible trivia game, and cover several of the main Bible stories, and see where the kids really are. I am kind of scared of what I would discover.

I have already made up my mind, that when Judah is old enough to talk, he will start memorizing the book of Romans. This will give him a nice foundation on which to build his worldview. Then I figured we would move on to Pauls other letters, some Psalms, and mainly the idea is to have him leave home with a considereable amount of Scripture memorized. In addition to this, teach him the Good News and the Old Testement. This is very scary. How in the world am I going to have enough time to teach all these things to my child? What if instead of giving him a firm grasp of the faith, I make him so sick of it, he will reject it as soon as he can? It is no small task. But by the grace of God, we will be able to instill these essential truths.

I have noticed over the last several years, that in the American church, kids are very biblically illiterate. They dont know the stories, or the basic truths about who God is. I want to teach these things to the kids that I have. I only have about 2 hours a week with them total. Where do I start? How do I go about this? The other thing that makes in complicated, is that kids are at the point where if it is not fun, and entertaining, they do not want to sit through it.

Here are some ideas I have had.
1.) Write my own curriculum. My youth pastor from Wy. did this, and it was great. He started in Genisis 1, and covered the entire Bible, and wrote worksheets that kids could understand. He even referanced other scriptures for the kids to cross-referance. And also included a memory verse.
2) Start a quizzing. Make a list of questions and answers from a certain book of the Bible, and then teach the book to the kids, have them study it on their own, and then have a quizzing contest.
3) Assign the kids a lesson project. Give them a story and a text, and have them prepare a short lesson about their story, and give it to the class. This would encourage them to learn it for themselves.
4) Teach them how to be taught without always having to have games or rewards.

If any of you have more ideas, let me know.

I really want these kids to learn the Scripture.. Kids seem to get one message these days. "Jesus loves you and died to save you." This is a GREAT lesson kids need to learn. But if we dont teach them the context, and give them the whole picture, we are cheating them.

Thankfully, there are lots of awesome programs at the church I attend for these kids, and the other lady that teaches with me at Awana does an AMAZING job. A lot of the kids are from unchurched homes. I really want to make the most of the opportunity that I have to reach these kids.
Chris is an amazing partner as well. I love how hard he works preparing for Sunday School, and the interesting ways that he presents the lessons. And we also have the support of the Pastor, and other parents. Our church seems to handle it in a better way than many churches do.
Please keep Chris and I in prayer as we prepare our hearts and our lessons to teach the kids.

Shopping!!

Hello All...

Today Chris and I went shopping.. For maternity jeans, and for a MINI VAN!!! Well, we are not acutually looking at buying till we have enough money saved up. But we did test drive one that I loved!!! Its really nice looking, (the part I like) has lots of room, (again I like), runs great, (Chris likes), and will have room for 4 or 5 kids. So, I love it!! God has been really good to us.. I cant wait to fill up the van with kids..!! (of course, we need to save up the money for it now:))

I got myself all excited about the van, and now I dont want to wait a couple of years to save money for it. Chris tried to tell me.. but I didnt listen. :)

Well, Thats all that I have to talk about..

I guess my life has gotten kind of boring.. :)

Have a great day!!

Jennie

Great Day!!

Well, I know I said this morning I was going to take pictures, and I did have my memory card, but this time, we dont have any batteries... So, I have to apologize for lying.

But I did have a really good day!

My aunt and cousins got here around noon, and we went to Sears so they could get their family pictures done. They got some really nice pictures, and we all had fun teasing my uncle about his lack of enthusiasm for them! (He is even less fond of taking pictures than Chris is, and I didnt think that was possible.)

Then we came back to our place, and played a few games of keep away with a volleyball, until that got to wild. Then we played Pay Day, and all had a great time.

On Thursday, we had a potluck at work, and I made an angel food cake, a devils food cake, and a big bowel of pistachio pudding salad, and brough a lot of it home with me.. I have been doing so well recently at only eating things that are good for me, and now I have having Chocolate craving temptations.

Today I got to explain to my cousins how my body is taking care of the baby, and how he is growing. It was a lot of fun. As I thought about how everything works just perfectly, so that the baby is protected, and nourished.. He thought of everything! How people can say that all of this is by chance just amazes me.

Chris says I am "nesting" because I have had the uncontrollable urge to clean like everything in the last few days. Because of that, I am getting really tired. I wish that we could afford for me to just stay home, but at this time, God has not made that an option.

Well, I guess thats really all there is right now..
Talk to you all later,
Jennie

Catching Up....

Hello All!!
Happy Saturday!! At least, it is for us here..

Sorry it has been so long since I have updated this. I get on and read everyone elses updates every night, but I usually am to tired to actually post myself. So my apologies.

Things have been very busy for us recently. Last weekend we went to Fargo, for Chris's sister Stacy's birthday. We had a lot of fun. Bethany, Chris's niece is almost 2, and we had a lot of fun playing with her. I had all these great intentions of taking pictures to put on my poor pictureless blog, but I left my memory card home, so I didnt get any.

Better luck next time I suppose.

I am now at the 28th week of pregnancy, into my 3rd trimester. Its kind of scary to already be over 2/3rds of the way there! Little Judah has been very active, day and night. I love feeling him move around.. Maybe because I am so paranoid of something going wrong, though up to this point it has not been a concern.

I found out that Aetna is very friendly as far as moms breastfeeding when they get back to work. We are still trying to find a way to work it so I can stay home with Judah, but so far, it isnt looking promising. The good news is, that Aetna has a program where they will pay for 200$ of a breastpump, so that I can still breastfeed the baby. God has also opened other doors. Pastor Todd, and his wife Robin, told us that they can watch the baby after I need to go back to work. That way we dont have to deal with daycare. That is such a relief... Though I still really want to stay home with him myself, I am much more comfortable leaving him with people that I trust, and who will take oprotunities to teach him about Christ. I know he will only be a newborn, but I am already reading scripture to him.. I am really looking forward to the day he will accept Christ as his Savior, and doing all I can to get him ready for that.

Today is very exciting, my Aunt and Cousins are coming down.. I am going to carry my camera, and get some pictures and hopefully post tonight.

Chris applied for law school again this year. Out of 3 schools, God has closed the door to 2 of them. The third, University of South Dakota, sent Chris an offer for a probationary type of program, where he can take a couple classes early in the summer, and if he scores really well, they will accept him. He got this same offer last year, and could not pursue it because we got married in June. This year, the program starts on May 26th, and I am due on the 23rd. So if it comes to your mind, pray for us as we try to figure out where God is leading us.

On a bright note, I now have Romans chapters 1 and 2 memorized. I have been working on it for a while, but got real serious about doing it the beginning of Feb. Now my goal is to get one chapter done a month.. I have really been learning a lot. Amazing what you notice when you take the time to slow up and think about how the words are put together!

Thats all I can think of to write about right now.
Hope you all have a wonderful Saturday in the Grace of Our Lord.
Love,
Chris and Jennie

The blessing of the Lord

Hello all,
Recently I have become aware of a very disturbing trend in American society. The attitude towards large families. I guess the way I was raised, I thought large families were normal, I thought they were just a choice the parents had made. I didn't realize the hate that exists towards those of us who have/come from large families.

I started asking myself, what is wrong with this picture? Why are large families not appreciated? Why the hatred and blame? Then the Lord brought a verse to mind...
"Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord: and the fruit of the womb are his reward. As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are the children of the youth. Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them. They shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies at the gate." (Psalm 127: 3-5)

As I contemplated this verse, I noticed some things, first of all, Children are the heritage of the Lord. When I looked up the word heritage means: 'something that comes or belongs to one by reason of birth; an inherited lot or portion: a heritage of poverty and suffering; a national heritage of honor, pride, and courage.' Children are litterally the inheritance of the Lord, and he rewards us with them. What a great blessing! We are given children to teach them up in the ways of the Lord, and then they will be the light to the next generation! Why would you not want several? The next part of the verse says that children are like arrows in the hand of a warrior. I wondered why God compared children to a wepon. Then I was thinking about an article I read. It was written by a very hateful man who used profanity and slurs to try to get his point across. He was quite upset about Michelle and Jim Bob Duggar's seventeenth child. He asked the question, where are the liberal atheists to having 17 children to balance out the "hyper-christians" and all their kids. I think he is onto something. The world is not having more than 1 or 2 children, due many times I think to selfishness. Those children are raised in the liberal views, and generally will follow in their footsteps. Think of the inpact then, if Christian families averaged 6 children, every 1 Christian family would equal 3 families of 2 children. How God could work in our nation if our Children followed his way! They are a lethal wepon against the devils advances in our evil world. The Lord goes on to tell us that "they shall not be ashamed" The world is trying to pour shame on large families. Most parents of more than 4 children have heard sneers and jeers in public, and people generally giving them a hard time.. ("Dont you know how to use birth control? There is no way you can love that many kids.. Your kids will grow up unscocialized.. Dont you know you are being selfish having so many? You are irresponsible!) But the Bible tells us that those with children will not be ashamed. In my mind this is yet again another place where the world sees God, and does the opposite.
Please don't take these observations to mean that it is a sin not to have a large family, just that large families are a blessing from God. Each child is. I can not wait to bring our little blessing into this world!
Well, I need to go to bed.. After I finish studying for Sunday School tomorrow.
Jennie

Vaccinations, and other random child issues I am researching

Hello all,
I am again stuck in bed sick, so I thought I would go ahead and put my thoughts on some very controversial topics on here. (Funny, it seems everything I am passionate about, has some sort of controversy attached)
As I mentioned in my post yesterday I have been doing a lot of research on Vaccines. A lot of people vaccinate their kids when the doctor says that they should, and do not think about what they are putting in their kids bodies. I have done some research, and have been rather scared by what I have found. Their are many studies out there that show that the vaccines that we give out kids, may in fact be the reason why SIDS, and Autism, as well as a number of learning disabilities have become so commen in the last 50 or 60 years. On website that I went to, called "ThinkTwice" even has a place for parents to write in with stories about how the vaccines affected their kids! I found the stories to be very frightening. In some cases, the baby is fine, but screams bloody murder for hours. In most of the cases that they have posted on the website, the children either died, or had physical or mental problems that they had never seen before in their child. To be fair to both sides however, I also spent quite a bit of time on the FDA's website dedicated to vaccines, and immunizations, as well as CDC's website.
I found some key points from both sides, and tried to weigh the risk of both vaccinating, and not vaccinating.
Pros to vaccinations:
*They have cut way down on the number of people who die from the diseases that they are used for.
*They work more effectively if most or all of the population is vaccinated to produce what is known as the community immunity idea.
*They make it much easier to put you child in school, as vaccine records are requested, and there is some paperwork to go through if you opt out.
*It fosters a "safe" feeling in the community as a whole.
*By preventing the diseases through the vaccines, we save more lives than we lose in the process.

Cons to Vaccines:
*Parents are not really told what the risk is when they take their child in for the shots.
*Many children to experience adverse reactions, even if they are not long term or severe.
*There are many apparent links to vaccines and illnesses and abnormalities, such as autism, physical disabilities, mental problems, and SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome)
*While vaccines have done a good job cutting down on the illnesses they are here to prevent, they have also opened up many new illnesses, such as Autism.
*Several vaccines given at one time ultimately end up weakening, instead of strengthening an infant or young child's immune system.
*These problems seem to be happening more and more, instead of levelling off.

I have read both sides, and have personally decided against vaccinating Judah. But I am willing to admit it may be an emotional decision that I use the facts to support. A couple of years ago, my friend Heather had a baby, and a few days after his 3 month vaccine, she found him in his crib, dead. The doctors ruled it SIDS, but refused to even acknowledge that the vaccines might be responsible. They told Heather that adverse reactions are"extremely rare" but that isn't much comfort on your way home from your 3 month old son's funeral.
The other thing that caught my attention is that the government insists that the vaccinations are safe, and yet they have set up a fund for parents who lose their children to the vaccine. The name of the system is VAERS. (Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System) And if you go to the actual site, you can search by age, type of vaccine, if the child actually died, and all that. There are thousands of entries. Some died, some had serious illness, and hospitalization. If they are so safe, like the doctors tell us, why the system? Why is their a fund to reimburse these families? (as is money can really fill the hole) Also, why are parents who receive money from the fund told not to talk about their story?
So this is where I have fallen on this issue.
One other thing I am still looking into is circumcision, so if any of you have any information on that, I would LOVE to look into it.
And one more thing I have been looking into is something they call "Orgasmic Birth" It is a home birth, where the mom is completely relaxed, and actually, instead of a painful labor has what some have described as a "blissful" labor and delivery. I would love to know if it is legitimate.. because I like "bliss" way better than "agony" I never even knew this stuff would matter to me so much before I found out I was pregnant. Chris told me he wants me to have the first baby in the hospital, and after that he is open to home birth. I am very excited about that. I think it will be much more relaxed. I have heard horror stories about hospital stays and labor, and everyone that I know who gave birth at home said it was much easier to just do what their body told them to do, instead of having doctors peering at you every 10 minutes.
Anyways, I guess this is enough of all that, I am tired, and still feeling sick, so I am going to get some sleep! *yawn*
Signing off-
Jennie

More from the Hall's

Hello all,
I have to apologize for the long time it has been since I have written on here. Things have been so busy!!
We did get an ultrasound done on Jan 9, but still have not been able to scan the pics into the computer. So we have not been able to get them on-line. As most of you already know, it appears that we are having a baby BOY!! So far we have been able to agree on the name Christopher Judah. We are so excited about Judah coming to live with us, but I am starting to get really scared. Mostly about the whole labour and delivery thing.
Chris tells me that I am already an overprotective mommy. I make such a fuss over what I eat, and how much I drink. Its hard to believe I am going to be 24 weeks on Friday. Its wonderful. Thats 6 months! I am almost in my last trimester! The excitement sure is building.
One of the things that has had me preoccupied is the issue of Vaccines. I have been doing a lot of research on them, and I found a lot of interesting things. I talked with my doctor some time back about my consideration of not vaccinating Judah. I was rather surprised at the strong reaction that I got from her. That made me do some more research. I am sure however, you are not nearly as interested as I am, so I will leave it at that. I have learned quite a bit.
My grandpa sent me season 1 of Perry Mason, an old mystery TV show. I have been really enjoying them. Today I am stayed home from work, because I am sick, and I am finishing them up now.
I am not sure what else to say about the last couple of months. One of these days I am going to take pictures of things here in Bismarck and post them, but ever since I got married I have not carried my camera as faithfully as I did before.
God has been really good to us, It is amazing to watch Him work through our lives. I am still working on memorizing Romans, but I was pretty lazy about it for the last month, so I am redoing a lot now. I want to teach it to Judah when he is young, and in order to do that, I need to become more faithful. Its funny all the things that seem more inportant now that the baby is almost here.
I hope you all have a great week.
-Jennie

First Belly Picture!!

Well, my aunt insisted on taking a side shot of me at Christmas, and so I thought I would put the picture up. My little baby must be growing, because I have gained 13 pounds!! I have not done that since I was 13 or 14.. So its a little weird for me.
Chris and I spent from 9 o'clock this morning till almost 5 cleaning house. We did our spring cleaning early, and got everything dusted and washed, and actually caught up on laundry for the first time since.. Well, we got married I think.
Last night we went to Valerie and Chandler's, (friends from Church) and rang in the New Year. We were the only couple to last till midnight, and we had a lot of fun. Their first baby was born in November, and is a big cutie, and I got to hold her last night. She is very content, so I told her to rub that off on my baby!
God had been so good to us in 2008, and looking forward, it can only get better in 2009. I hope you all have a very blessed New Year, and remember to put God first in your lives!!
Jennie