A Snapshot

So to start the posting, I thought I'd record just a bit of what our lives all look like right now...I suppose to provide a starting place for future blogs.

Jason is a 3rd year law student. He has done a remarkable job juggling all the stresses of law school. He came out with a great resume and great grades. In an economy such as this, our main stress as of late is finding that right job for us. We've got a few options we are hoping and praying for right now. We know that it will all turn out in the end, and that even 10 years from now we'll look back at this time and wonder to ourselves why we worried so much. In the moment, with two babies to take care of and debt to deal with, it's still a little disconcerting. But we are confident that we'll be taken care of as long as we keep doing all we can do.

I stay at home with the babies. Keeping up with them and the house keeps me extremely busy. Other than the home and motherly duties (most of my news will be their news), I teach a class on Sundays to the Young Women (16-17 year old girls) and help out with Tuesday night youth group activities.

The best word to describe Rachel...passionate. That girl is truly passionate about being happy when she's happy, and passionately angry when she's angry. She's two (almost three), so this is I'm sure how many two year old's can be, but she's always added a little spice to our lives. She is so so so smart. She's always telling us funny things. Right now she loves watching movies, dancing, and going to Joy school. She and I get to do Joy school this year, where I teach 2 days per month. It's kind of a co-op preschool where 4 moms rotate weeks. We only do it two days per week, for just 2 1/2 hours per day, but it has been a good experience so far. Rachel really loves going and she's made some new friends. She's learning all about different types of "Joy," i.e. the joy of the body, the joy of the earth, the joy of being honest, etc. It gives me a great mindset and framework to talk about lots of different things in life with her. If nothing else, I think it's helped me be a more proactive mother in teaching her about the world.

Alden is my little sweetie. He is incredibly tender and his smile really can just melt your soul. I could gush over him all day. He has had a hard time teething (for what feels like his whole life), and already had to get two hematoma cysts in his gums lanced so the teeth could come in. But aside from those bumps in the road, he sleeps well at night (finally...this was a long time coming) and is healthy. I just stopped nursing him a few days ago (this has been wearing on me for a long time and I've wanted to stop but didn't know how-with Rachel it wasn't really a choice when to stop). It has been a little emotional for him, but I'm feeling great about it. He's eating a little better than before (getting this kid to eat is somewhat difficult).

Anyways, that's kind of an update of what we're like right now. I need to post more later about all the funny things Rachel says now and the words Alden knows.

Another thought on my mind today, it really is incredible how fragile life is. Our friends lost their little baby girl yesterday morning at just 11 days old. She was born with a heart problem. I've been thinking today about how I felt about my babies when they were 11 days old, and while I can't actually know how our friends must feel, I just hurt for them. It's times like these, when really sad, unexplainable things happen to good people, that I'm grateful I know about this. Knowing God's plan has helped me wrap my head around tough things. And while it doesn't make bad things good, it does bring peace, even through hard times.