Our Annivasary cont....

We planned on our wedding night....that on our 10th anniversary we would go on a cruise....
needless to say that hasn't happened quite yet.....with moving and kids and everything else that has happened in the past few years....we are a few years behind schedule. Also...we have 3 wedding in the next 3 weeks and two of them we are both standing in so this year is extremely busy! But we did settle for a nice dinner and some quality time together...it was very nice!

Here I am testing the camera in the car.....He hated when I do that!! :p So that's WHY I do it!

We live up in the North Woods now so this is what the Scenery looks like mostly the whole time adding in a few beautiful hills and some deer and wild turkeys! :)

But you sure can't beat the North Woods sky! It is so beautiful and God gave us such a great day!!
At first we went to Iron Mountain....I got my nails done and my toenails painted! It was nice! Then it was off to Wal-Mart! Wal-Mart? On a date?....It has been a tradition we started...in TOledo! but Now....Wal-Mart is an hour away! We don't get there very often and my kids needed school supplies!!!!!

Then it was off to Maxsell's! It was a beautiful home on the lake turned into a Bed and Breakfast-Fancy Restaurant! Great Food and a beautiful atmosphere!

We had a good time...talking....catching up on life...and reminiscing about when we will get that cruise!!!! :)

The waitress took our picture for us.....

Then it was off to pose by the lake outside the restaurant....(I couldn't for the life of me get this picture to turn around, so turn your head! )

We had a great time! 10 yrs!! Wow! it seems like it just began!!! I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with him!!!!!

Our 10th Anniversary!

August 8th Adam and I celebrated our 10th Anniversary! It seems like so little time has passed and I could never imagine life without him! Adam made me the most beautiful Montage for our anniversary and made me bawl my eyes out! He's my prince charming! The one God gave for only me and I love him so dearly!

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Jehovah Jireh

I was posed with these questions 3 weeks ago. "Jessica, Do you really believe that God is in everything? Do you believe that He is in every single area of your life and things happen for a reason? Do you really trust God in every circumstance?" WOW! What questions! I couldn't answer right away...I mean I could say "Of course I do!" I can say I do until I am blue in the face! but.....do I really believe it! Am I really convinced and trust that God knows what He is doing?

I know sometimes as a Christian I know how to walk the walk! I know how to talk the christian talk! I know exactly the right things to say in almost every area.....but...when it comes down to it do I really LIVE what I believe? If I really lived what I believe why do I walk past a person in need? If I really lived by the spirit why do I fail to listen to God and reach out? If I really believed what the Bible says then why am I not praying for people in the grocery store or at the mall when they need healing? Am I in tune with what I see my father doing in heaven? Jesus said that I am in the father and He is in me! Jesus lives within me! Shouldn't it be the same! We have the very presence of GOD on the inside of us! We are the very example set out by Jesus himself..... but because I get so wrapped up in "CHURCH" in "MINISTRY" in "MYSELF and my own selfish desires" I fail to really hear what God is telling me to do. I fail to see the bigger picture of what God is wanting from my life. Church is not a place where we come and get fed from God and filled until the next week and then do nothing about it.......We ARE the church!!!!!! Every day we are the church! We are all one body...and yet we sometimes fail to realize that. Every denomination, every race, every color....we are all one body!!!! We are all so divided and it breaks my heart! The body can not work to its full function if one of it's parts is hurting, broken, in need of nourishment etc.. That's why Paul tells us to encourage one another! God is slowly changing me! Here in Iron River....God is working. He is purging me in a way that I never thought He would purge me! and He is posing those questions to me and I am ever thinking about them. Do I really believe that the Living God...Lives inside of ME?....and is in every area of my life and when I am in tune to the Holy Spirit who sees what the Father does in heaven then that Holy Spirit living within me speaks to me. It blows my mind that God chooses his dwelling place as me! He could have chosen any building, any majestic thing as his dwelling place but HE in all his Glory chose me! Solomon made the most glorious temple to house the presence of God in. His Glory would fill the temple like a cloud. His Glory went in front of Israel like fire and a cloud. Moses couldn't even look upon the face of God or He would surely die...and now His glory fills His temple and that temple is me!! Do you even know how amazing that is????? I am so in awe and cannot begin to even comprehend those things in my finite mind! BUT....God in his infinite wisdom chooses ME! Wow....it is something to think about! So....Do you really believe what you say you believe? Can you put that into action somehow? I am trying...slowly...

I am just amazed at God! Tell me about how you are amazed right now. What has God done for you?

Jessica's New Joy Toy

This is my new phone! I am in love!

It's COLD outside!!!!

IRON RIVER!
We are finally here! At last....I know it has been awhile since some of you have heard from us! So let me fill you in!
We left Toledo January 18th and drove half way up to Mackinac City. We stayed the night in a hotel and were rather glad we stopped because we hit white out conditions about 20 or so minutes before we stopped. We stayed the night, got to swim with the kids and all that good stuff. We arrived Saturday afternoon around 2:00pm (we are in central time just to let everyone know now) and of course it had to be the coldest day of winter so far. Adam, his dad, and the men from the church unloaded our moving van into a 10 by 18 ft storage unit in -5 degree weather and were absolutely chilled to the bone! It has been so cold! When we woke up for church the next morning it registered -11 degrees on our thermometer.!! AUGHH!!
We have been staying in a beautiful lakehouse that a Pastor and his wife own from Milwaukee. It is about 25 minutes from civilization and we happen to get no cell phone reception up there at all. Living without computer, phone and internet has been a little difficult but it has just been a nice get away that we have needed so far. The first day we arrived at the lakeshouse and started to unpack...we had around 7 deer just watching us. I got to feed them and got about 5 feet away...They are now like family pets and come for food 3 times a day at least. They even wag their tails when they see us coming with food. The most we have had at one time have been 15 deer. We have them on video tape...they were fighting over the food and actually standing up on their hind legs. It was so neat to watch. Anyway, we have been attempting ice fishing and other North woods activites such as freezing, freezing, freezing, and trying to stay warm in the extreme conditions! :)
We will be staying in the lakehouse until the end of this week and are not sure where we will be headed next. We are putting a bid in on a house but it could be a month or more until we can get in it. There are some possibilities for rent for a couple of months around here so we will have to see.
I want everyone in Toledo to know that I love ya and miss ya! Keep praying for us! And...I will write more when I get a chance! Talk to you soon! JESS

Moving ....Finally!

Moving....Jan. 18th!

*Well to say the least I have two very different feelings...right now...I have a deep sadness and a sense of loss! And I have an excitement about the things to come. I will miss all the friends I have had here in Toledo for the past six years so much! You all will never even know how you have impacted my life...you probably don't even realize it! .I have birthed 3 of my children here, almost lost them all, had a brain tumor and had countless friends and family members be here to help along the way. I am blessed. God has taught me so much through these 6 or so years! It has been a growing period for me, growing in Faith to move mountains if I need to. Learning that God doesn't always move and answer prayer in ways WE think he should move and answer prayer.
All of YOU are my family. I love you like family and you will be friends for life! We move the 18th of this month. We are moving on to what God has called us to do. We are moving on to more people that need to be touched and ignited with the Fire of God! So what I would like to say to you in general is pray for us! Pray for me....Be excited for what God is going to do in us and through us! This has been and will be the hardest leaving we have done...please support us.....and be there as friends for us through this. Don't pull away already! That's harder to bear! I love you like family and always will. Release us into God's glory!*

We are finally off!

After much packing....unexpected blunders....and crabbiness....We are off! Love you all and have a good Christmas!

Another Hardship...Another miracle?

The past few days have been pretty tough....Ethan ended up getting really sick on Wednesday. He was complaining of a headache and he ended up throwing up everything we tried to give him. By mid-afternoon he was throwing up every fifteen minutes. We thought maybe it would slow down after awhile, but it kept on going right through the night. By Thursday morning his throwing up had slowed down to about once an hour but he was so tired and worn out that he would sit up sleeping and throwing up. Thursday Afternoon around two I would tell he was getting really dehydrated and I brought him to a small hospital by my house...I figured they would have to give him an I.V. It has happened to my children so many times that I knew he would perk up finally after he got fluids...except he didn't. He got worse and more lethargic. THe doctor was thinking of sending him home and when he walked out of the room I prayed. I asked the Lord if their was any doubt in that doctor's mind he would keep him there and do some more tests. The doctor came back and he asked Ethan a couple more questions to which Ethan responded...uhhh, mmm, and went right back to sleep. The doctor said.." I can't send him home....I need to do another test!" Praise GOD! They did a CT scan of his abdomen because they thought maybe it was appendix and the test showed inconclusive...so Ethan and I had a nice ambulance ride over to Toledo Children's hospital where we got checked in. By that time I couldn't wake Ethan up. If he did open his eyes it was almost as if he didn't know who I was. It really started to scare me. The doctor came in twice to look at him...and he still was unresponsive...this time they did another CT scan of his brain and after that they did a spinal tap. THe test result came back. It was Meningitis. Viral or bacterial they didn't know. Ethan slept for almost two days straight....barely waking up even if they moved him. I left at 2:30am Friday morning exhausted. Adam spent the night with Ethan and I arrived again around 9:00 am. Ethan was still sleeping! Adam left for work and I called people to pray. Around 11:30am one of my friends called me and we prayed. I laid my hands on Ethan and just cried. I didn't know what else to do.....5 minutes after we hung up the phone Ethan woke up and wanted to EAT. He was bright eyed and bushy tailed from that moment on. We played video games, watched T.V. and we had a lot of conversations! I missed that! He never complained of one headache again and ate every meal...and again played video games of course for two days straight! (I think he liked it there too much! :) ) Anyway, the 24 hour test came back and they said it was viral and we could go home! What relief! I know God did something. It was a total 100% turn around. So we just got home tonight. NONE of my other kids are sick! AND wont be in Jesus name! Thanks for all who were praying!