New Toys!

Isaac looOooves his new toys!
Two of his favorites are the exersaucer and a cloth book.  His exersaucer has so many different activities on it, which Isaac loves! He has mastered how to spin the seat to get to different activities. The colorful book has crinkly pages, different textures and a rubbery spine, which is perfect for teething.

'Tis for Season for...

...hot chocolate, holiday music, Christmas cards and car repairs!

Pinterest has so many nifty ideas...I found a particularly neat one involving marshmallows!  The pin's source can be found here. Below is a photo of a delicious cup of hot chocolate, which I made for us right after a brisk walk. It was a lot colder outside than we thought so it was a short one! Despite the chillyness, it was nice to get some fresh air.

Moving nearly every year has its disadvantages. Lugging around the non-necessities is one of them. 95% of our CDs are in storage, including our Christmas music. Pandora.com has been our music companion during this special season. Some of our favorite holiday stations are:
-Bing Crosby Holiday
-Josh Groban Holiday
-Taylor Swift Holiday
-Mildred Bailey Holiday
-Michael Buble Holiday


If you haven't heard of Vistaprint, you should definitely check it out! Their goodies are of fabulous quality, creative designs, fast shipping and super sale prices. We ordered a few Christmas cards and here are what some of them look like:

Car repairs...it seems that when one vehicle is in the shop, the other gets sympathy pains. The suv got a new transmission and another thing or two. The van felt left out and decided it needed new brake lines, a new oil thingamajigger and something else. Car repairs and Christmas aren't a fun combo, as anyone can guess. However, these fixes aren't minor - they're important - and it'll be nice when they're both fixed. On a positive note, yay for fully functioning vehicles for the new year!

Luke 2:11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.

Happy Birthday, Adam!

Adam's birthday is on December 12th. 

For years I've been looking forward to celebrating his birthday during the year 2012. 

Why? 

Because it'd be 12.12.12!

How cool is that?

I hosted a small but lovely party for him and (with a talented friend's help), served this delicious cake:

This devil's chocolate centerpiece was four layers tall and sat on a vintage glass cake stand. Shavings of white chocolate were sprinkled on top for a sweet garnish. 

The slices were so tall that they had to be served on dinner plates. 

The evening went well, fun was had by all and right now there is one large piece of chocolate cake left...but not for long!

Happy birthday, Adam! Love you! :-)

Where has the time gone?

one week old...

...five months old.

November November

This month has been pretty busy with Adam finishing up a quarter, beginning another, routine check-ups, visiting family...whew! Here are a few photos from our month:

More fruit, please!

To Great-Grandma's house we go!

One of my first few times in the exersaucer! Love it!

Isaac's Nursery Reveal!

When we found out that we would be having a baby boy, I contemplated the nursery theme for quite a while.

Inspired by the Restoration Hardware Baby & Child vintage aviator theme, the nursery adventure began!

I painted a dresser white and selected a dusty vintage blue paint for the walls. There is a post dedicated just for the dresser, which was published late June 2012...just a few days before Isaac arrived (good thing I didn't procrastinate painting the dresser!). The inspiration for the dresser came from Pottery Barn, such as this piece here. The dresser matches our white changing table and crib.

(Please pardon the lack of photograph quality....)

One of my baby shower's themes was vintage airplanes. I enjoyed helping out with the event's decorations. With my Cricut, I created a triangle banner out of vintage patterned and colored papers. 

It went from cake table decor to the crib's banner. (RH Baby & Child's nursery themes are generally neutral toned, but I wanted to add some cheery reds and pattern.) It kinda reminds me of this banner.

My sister created a beautiful blanket for Isaac. The colors are similar to this blanket, one of the inspirations for the room. She chose the perfect colored yarn for this special gift. It is so pretty I only want to drape it over the side of the crib for display!

In the spring  I found this nifty hook propeller at a children's clothing/etc resale event. Perfect tone of red, creative and great for organization!

Something I wanted for the walls was a dictionary print. You may have seen them...it's basically a picture or letter printed on a vintage piece of paper. Our printer wasn't cooperating and I didn't have a good dictionary page background image...so long story short I did something a little different. I have four identical black frames without the glass. Inside I inserted a dictionary page from my 1960's doorstop of a dictionary. With my Cricut I created "FLY!" in large grey letters. I adhered them within the frame using foam adhesives. I liked the idea of the letters being raised because it adds depth.

During one of the last few days in Wheaton, Mom, Isaac and I went to some garage sales. Along with some other goodies, we found these curtains. Linen. Neutral. Long panels. Only $1 a piece. Perfect. 

So I got four. :-)

One of the last things I added to the nursery was a mobile. I was waiting for inspiration. I really liked this one, but it was $$. So I pulled out my handy dandy Cricut once again and the following is what I came up with. I already had the paper and string...$0.

Most of the planes in the nursery are from my second home. This beautiful silver one is, however, a gift from some dear friends.

I hope you enjoyed the tour of Isaac's nursery. It was fun to create! And just think, this summer I'll be taking it apart and putting it back together again this summer when we move. 

Last Weekend

Last weekend we drove a few hours to visit Sarah's family. This was to be an especially special visit because Isaac's great-grandmas drove 12 hours to come see baby Isaac, their brand new great-grandbaby. Laura did a great job taking such lovely photos of the weekend's festivities.
                                    




Isaac also had pears for the very first time last weekend! He was not enjoying his cereal anymore, so one of his great-grandmas said (saraphrased), "I got all of the grandkids and great-grandkids fruit for Halloween instead of candy. I got Isaac baby food. Want to try mixing in some pears or bananas?" He loved it!
                                                       



One of the fun parts of the weekend was getting to see all of the cute critters again. :-) Bo is cautiously wanting to sniff Isaac's foot. Sonny is posing handsomely for the camera.
                                             


                                                             



Saturday evening we had a bonfire. The weather was great! A bit overcast, cool and the rain waited until later to grace us with its presence. We roasted hot dogs and s'mores and enjoyed other goodies as well. We've had Isaac's first bonfire planned for months.
                                          

Good-byes were hard...but we're all looking forward to the next visit!

                                                        

Another {Co op Friendly} Recipe!

I was perusing Pinterest and came upon this lovely lil blog: Little Magnolia Kitchen. She shared a yummy looking red beans and rice recipe and I just had to try it - and it could be done in the crock pot!

How easy is that?

[image source]

The delicious recipe is super easy and Little Magnolia Kitchen has even included some step by step photos to make the process even easier. I didn't have any red beans on hand so I used kidney beans. I soaked them in water for 6-8 hours and then added them to the crock pot (good thing, too because I misread the recipe and put the crock pot on low for 7 hours rather than on high!). Definitely include the Tony Chachere's seasoning - if you don't have it in the cupboard, it's worth popping over to the grocery store and picking it up. I served this over brown rice and it was delicious. You know me, I made as much as our crock pot will hold so we'll be eating this one dish meal for a while (or putting some in the freezer). 

A Cup of This, a Tablespoon of That

It's nice being back at the seminary and being able to use the grocery co op - especially after living in the Chicago area for a year! The food co op is basically a grocery store for seminary families. There are many items available, everything from pasta and bread to onions and potatoes, milk and cheese.

Lately I've been busy striving to utilize the co op as much as possible. That goal has led me to the following recipes:

[image source]

Cream of Sweet Potato Soup was definitely a hit! I paired it with a yummy cheesy bread and fresh green beans. This soup also tastes delicious with some feta cheese sprinkled on top. Very filling.

[image source]

Curried Acorn Squash Soup was another good soup. To be honest, I liked the sweet potato one better, but this one was okay. Actually, if I had bacon like the recipe suggested the soup probably would have been just as yummy as the other! This soup was also paired with fresh green beans, feta cheese crumbles and a yummy bread.

When I made these soups on Tuesday I doubled or tripled the recipe so that they'd last through the week. I think I've decided that Tuesdays (food co op day) will be my cooking day. If I make a big enough batch I'll put some in the freezer for those days when I don't feel like cooking or if we have guests over and need another side dish or additional main dish.

Seminary Directory Photo

Every year photos are taken at the seminary for their directory. It's a great opportunity for us to get a family photo. Isaac did a great job being in a good mood for the picture. The lil cutie was playing with his daddy's watch during the session. :-)

Moving Day & Etc

The whole moving process began on July 18th. Some of us went to Fort Wayne ahead of the moving truck so that the house could be prepped, nursery walls painted and kitchen unpacked. The large moving truck arrived the next day and some unloading was done. However, Saturday was the big day - unloading the moving truck, arranging furniture and beginning the adventure of unpacking.

We are so so thankful for all of the unloading and unpacking help we received. Moving can be quite a challenge...even more so with a newborn. Some wonderful people from our vicarage church helped as well as some good friends from seminary and family from Illinois. So thankful!

We are very blessed with our home this year. It is a cute house, close to the seminary and a short distance from several places we like to shop. (It is just about walking distance to Hobby Lobby! Dangerous, I know! ;-)) Our home has three bedrooms, which is wonderful! Isaac has his nursery and Adam is able to have a room for studying. There are built in shelves and desks, too. As many of you know, a seminarian can never have enough book shelves. ;-)

Here we are once again calling Fort Wayne "home"...but for only a year! The Call Service will take place in the spring and we are already doing the countdown. :-)

Baby Isaac

Nesting was in full force late June...painting Baby J's dresser, packing up my beloved craft room, paying bills extra early (just in case Baby J came early), coordinating housing for his baptism sponsors for during baptism weekend, verifying pre-registration with the hospital, putting together the moving weekend agenda, coordinating moving help, contacting a Fort Wayne pediatrician, organizing insurance paperwork for Isaac...the list goes on and on.

Perhaps nesting is an indicator of when a baby is about to arrive because Isaac Jacobsen entered the world on June 29th, 2012. He weighed 8 lbs, 6 oz and almost 22 inches long (and he was ten days early! Quite a good size for an early baby, the doctor said.).

Here were are on Isaac's baptism Sunday:

1 Samuel 1:27 I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him.

Psalm 9:1, 2 I will give thanks to you, Lord, with all my heart; 

I will tell of all your wonderful deeds. 

² 

I will be glad and rejoice in you; I will sing the praises of your name, O Most High.

Baby J's Dresser & My Trip to Home Depot

We have been very blessed with nursery furniture. Some friends gave us their cute white changing table that they aren't using anymore. Our neighbors are doing some spring cleaning and getting rid of baby stuff they don't need - like an adorable white crib that happens to match the changing table.

Baby J will have a closet in his nursery next year. I must admit, baby clothes look so cute hanging up on their lil hangers all in a row in a closet...but it is a pain to fit hangers into those wee little clothes! Folding Baby J's outfits and fitting them easily into a dresser drawer would be better for my sanity. So the search for a dresser began.

We acquired this dresser recently...someone didn't want it anymore and I said, "Oooh, I'll take it!"

Our lil guy's nursery has a vintage airplane theme. The furniture is white, bedding cream, walls grey/blue and the curtains tba. There are accents of red here and there and I thought, "Oooh a distressed red dresser would look neat!" Adam wasn't so sure about that idea, he thought one big red piece in the room could look funny...perhaps a red side table or something would look better. He had a good point...and if I painted the dresser white, it would match the crib and changing table. Also, the white dresser would be gender neutral and easier to match with future furniture pieces and decor arrangements (there are lots of pros to choosing a neutral paint color). 

So off to Home Depot I went. I picked up two gallons of nursery wall paint and three cans of spray paint for the dresser. The Home Depot guy was very helpful, he helped me find satin white spray paint - primer and paint in one! (Oooh, and spray paint is getting pretty easy these days - they come with a trigger instead of some obnoxious knob that numbs your finger.) This worked like a charm - steady consistent stream of paint, dried quickly...and I'll be going back for the red paint as soon as we find that perfect side table. ;-)

While I was there I picked up some lovely blue/grey paint for Baby J's nursery walls. I got two gallons of low odor/zero VOC Behr "Blue Fox".... I think the white furniture will really pop against this wall color. :-)

Anywho, back to the dresser. After my two gallons of paint were mixed and ready go, I headed to aisle 11 - the hardware aisle. Part of recreating a piece's look is adding new hardware. If I wanted to go for the Pottery Barn look, I would've chosen white knobs...however, as some of you may know, I'm a sucker for dark metal vintagey hardware. This is what jumped into my cart:

When I was in the paint department, I had intended to get only two cans of spray paint for the dresser - good thing the Home Depot guy convinced me to get another can! I used all three cans and this is what the dresser looks like, knobs and all:

It looks like a totally different piece. I'm glad Adam convinced me to do white instead of red! The dresser will coordinate nicely with the white crib and white changing table.  I'm looking forward to seeing how everything will fit together once we move into our home late July. It will be great to finally assemble all of the nursery pieces and decor I've been accumulating over the past few months. :-)

It is the Lord who goes before you...

The other day a certain verse in Deuteronomy caught my eye. It's a verse that's found amidst a time of transition in the Old Testament, when Joshua succeeds Moses.  

Moses tells all of Israel, "Be strong and courageous... it is the Lord your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you" (Deut. 31:6).

Then Moses tells Joshua in front of  the Israelites: “Be strong and courageous, for you shall go with this people into the land that the Lord has sworn to their fathers to give them, and you shall put them in possession of it.  It is the Lord who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed” (Deut. 31:7,8).


Note the peace and comfort that is given: "It is the Lord who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed." Transitions can be tough, whether it be receiving a new leader, switching schools, moving 1,000 miles away for a year or coming back to a certain place in Indiana once called "home." Our Heavenly Father knows that transitions can be difficult, that's why the Israelites were given those sweet words of encouragement. Our Lord knows our hearts and sees our tears. That's why He gives us the comfort and confidence that He is with us, He won't leave us, we needn't fear in what lies ahead because "It is the Lord who goes before you."

Dinners, Brunches and Coffees Oh My!

The past couple weeks have been busy with social gatherings...fitting in lovely dinners, brunches, desserts and coffee dates here and there with friends. The baby will be here in about a month and then the big move is less than a couple weeks after the lil guy's due date. It's been wonderful to see old friends from college, nurture new friendships and continue to invest in older friendships during this time as we prepare for two huge life transitions.

What a blessing! :-)

Lately

The past several days have been busy. The days have flown by with family visiting, a lovely baby shower (what a huge blessing!), writing thank you notes for such wonderful baby gifts, fitting in last social engagements before the baby arrives and packing up our home. On Memorial Day we packed quite a few boxes and wrapped three wall hangings (things are beginning to look more and more bare!).

Our lil packing helper has been adding humor to the packing process, which makes wrapping up this chapter of our lives a bit easier. {Saying good-bye is not fun. :-/}




The lil robin babies have hatched!! They hatched middle of last week. They are growing oh so fast, but here is a photo of them when they are brand brand new. :-) Watching the cute lil robin family grow is such a neat experience.

 

Moving Box Mountain

With baby on the way and our moving date just a couple weeks after, we have been packing as much as possible.

Our mountain of boxes has been growing steadily! It'd be nice to store the boxes in the basement or guest bedroom (not such an eye sore)...but it's easier to keep them in the dining room, which is on the main level. We don't want to wear out our moving helpers by asking them to bring the boxes all the way from the basement or 2nd floor to the moving truck!

Ideally, I'd like to have most everything packed about two weeks before Baby J's due date...just in case he decides to arrive a bit early! Hopefully we're able to accomplish that and live with the essentials until we move in late July.



While we've been packing, another family has been moving in:

This robin family has parked itself on our front door's wreath. We've been trying to use the back door more often because the momma robin gets quite persnickety whenever we use the front door: she will fly off of the nest, sit in a nearby tree, then share with us her dismay by chirping "go away, go away!"

I plan on taking that wreath back to Fort Wayne with us...hopefully Mr. and Mrs. Robin are empty nesters by then. :-)

60 days

60 days until Baby J's due date! 

Time has flown by and we can't wait to meet our lil bundle of joy. 

He is an active little boy (his kicks are strong!) and we are looking forward to 

getting to know him better beginning early July. 

Only a couple more months to go! <3 

Exciting!

Tonight is the night for vicarage assignments! 

At 7pm est, the vicarage assignment service at Concordia Theological Seminary Fort Waye, IN 

can be watched live here: www.ctsfw.edu

Tomorrow evening at 7pm est, the call placement service can be watched live here: www.ctsfw.edu

{It's hard to believe that just a year ago we were sitting in the chapel at seminary, anxiously awaiting our vicarage assignment...hearts racing, sweaty palms, smiling at our friends who had just received their vicarage assignments...and eagerly awaiting our own assignment. Thankfully, "J" is near the front of the alphabet! ;-)}

Here we are on vicarage assignment day. 

This picture was taken just an hour or two before the service began.

Anywho, back to today and tomorrow's events. Friends, we are so excited for all awaiting their assignments and placements. Our prayers are with your, dear brothers and sisters in Christ!

This week...

...has been full of planning and organizing for the upcoming transitions: 

Baby J and the move back to Fort Wayne.

Packing.

Freezer meals.

Moving truck quotes.

Doctors in Fort Wayne.

Health insurance for Baby J.

My position's replacement at work.

Speaking of transitions...

Next week is when two very important things will be happening at the seminary: vicarage placement service and call service. I am anxious and excited for all who are eagerly awaiting their assignments!

The constant season of change continues within the seminary as many prepare for their vicarage assignment, their call, or preparing to move back to Fort Wayne for a final year of classes. {Ohhhh transition.}

Amidst all of the busyness, temporariness and for some, loneliness, let us continue to seek the Lord as our Refuge and Strength. Dealing with constant transition can be tough, but  keeping in touch with encouraging friends and family (the Body of Christ!) can make a world of a difference!

Philippians 4:6,7

...do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, 

will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

What helps you cope with transition?

Maternity Photos

When visiting my family in late March, my talented sister of Rooney Photography
took some very cute maternity photos of myself, Adam and Baby J. 

She did a fabulous job and we are so excited
to get these sweet photos printed and framed!

Check out more of our photos here!

Spring!

The past few days have been quite warm...80 degrees! This is a record breaking high for the Chicago area. 

The people of Chicagoland are not the only ones who are enjoying the warmer weather...

so are the trees and flowers!

The landscaping is starting to brighten up and reveal their colorful cheery faces.

Warm weather like this in March is nearly unheard of around here...but I'll take 

warmer weather over dirty cold slush any day!

Psalm 118:24 This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.