Tim Tebow

For the record: I don't like football one bit... I don't watch it and I'm thankful my husband doesn't care for it either.

However..... The Bronco's just recruited Tim Tebow. I don't know all the details... all I know is that this man is VERY inspirational. He was born in the Philippines while his family was living as missionaries there. He was home-schooled his whole life and loves the Lord.

Watch this video...

The Pioneer Woman

Okay I LOVE this lady... she's pretty much the modern day Proverbs 31 woman. If you haven't ever checked out her blog I would suggest doing so right now. She just posted this blog about her vegetables and I feel like it goes perfectly with my blog from yesterday. I also feel the same way about my garden. I love watching, nurturing and watering my precious plants.

http://thepioneerwoman.com/homeandgarden/2010/06/infancy/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+pioneerwoman-full-rss-feed+%28Pioneer+Woman+FULL+RSS+FEED%29

One day I'll learn how to do cool codes where you just click on a word and it takes you to the site... until then you can just look at the ugly URL address.

oh baby, baby!

Ever since I was little I've loved babies and kids. I don't know what it is about them, but I just love them. When I got married I wanted to have a baby so bad! That's probably why I got pregnant after only being married for 6 months.

I loved being pregnant... besides the morning sickness, swollen feet and heartburn.. I loved it. It was such a special time for me. Experiencing something brand new with my husband.. it was fun! Then the labor and delivery experience and bringing home a newborn... it's all so raw and new as first time parents. We were like sponges just absorbing all the information being poured into us by doctors, nurses, parents, friends and family. It's extremely overwhelming.

There is something about being a mommy that I feel bonds us to other mommies. We've all been through this similar experience. Whether you're a mom who uses a midwife and delivers at home and never takes your child to the doctor and breastfeeds your child or the mom who uses a doctor, delivers in the hospital with an epidural and vaccinates your children and formula feeds... we're all moms.

I think my biggest downfall is talking too much to other moms about my experiences and what worked for me. I hate feeling like I'm "that mom" who gives unwanted advice. On the other hand, I love getting emails and phone calls from expecting/new moms asking for advice. I don't think I'm the best mother in the world, I don't think I have the perfect parenting skills... but I do like to talk about babies and being a mom.

I love finding other moms who have similar parenting styles as me because I feel comfortable around them, like I can be my "mommy" self. I also enjoy being around moms who don't have the same style as me because I learn from them.

I get excited when one of my friends is pregnant. I want to talk about how to get rid of heartburn, the feeling of the baby moving on the inside, the anxiety about being a first time parent and what to register for for a baby shower. I love the fact that their lives are getting ready to be forever changed. Then when they give birth I love to visit them in the hospital and ask about their labor and delivery story and hear how in love they are with this little miracle. And when they're home and they haven't slept in days and they're so exhausted and they ask "When will I EVER get sleep again???!!!"... it's so fun!

I was made for this. I was born to be a mom!

Strawberry Cobbler

This is my first cooking/baking blog.. I hope it's not too terrible! I think next time I'll have to paint my nails before I take several pictures of just my hands cooking.

I love Vegetarian magazine!

This is where my mother-in-law found this amazing recipe.

Here it is-

All the ingredients you'll need- sugar, flour, lemon juice, salt, baking powder, baking soda, vegetable shortening and fresh strawberries

First cut 6 cups of strawberries in half

Add in 1/2 cup plus 2 tbs sugar, 2 Tbs flour

and 1 Tbs lemon juice

place in greased baking dish.. I didn't have size baking dish they said to use in the recipe so I used an 8x8 instead.

Whisk together 1/2 cup flour, 2 Tbs sugar, 1/8 tsp baking soda, 1/8 tsp baking powder and 1/8 salt.

Add shortening and mix well with fork

When crumbly add 1/2 cup water

spread over strawberries

put cobbler in oven at 375 degrees and wait 20-30 minutes

There she is!! Seriously, this smells amazing!

Super easy recipe! Enjoy!

6 cups fresh strawberries, halved

3/4 cup sugar, divided

1/2 cup plus 2 Tbs flour, divided

1 Tbs lemon juice

1/8 tsp baking soda

1/8 tsp baking powder

1/8 tsp salt

3 1/2 Tbs non-hydrogenated vegetable shortening

1. Preheat over to 375. Coat 11-x 7- inch baking dish with cooking spray.

2. Toss together strawberries, 1/2 cup plus 2 Tbs. sugar, 2 Tbs flour and lemon juice in bowl. Transfer to baking dish.

3. Whisk together remaining 1/2 cup flour, remaining 2 Tbs. sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt in separate bowl. Add shortening and mix well with fork until mixture is crumbly. Stir in 1/2 cup water. Spread over strawberry mixture. Bake 20-30 minutes, or until browned and bubbly. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

Mrs. Baker

I go through these phases where I love to cook and bake and then I'm over it until I realize we've been eating the same 5 or 6 meals every week and we're all sick of it. Truthfully, I think I like to bake more than I like to cook... probably because I have a serious sweet tooth!

Recently I found a recipe from my favorite cupcake company.. Sprinkles!! My favorite cupcake is the red velvet. I couldn't find that recipe but I did find the one for Strawberry cupcakes. I made them this last week and they were Ah-mazing! It's a good thing I have neighbors to take extra goodies to, otherwise I'd be sick to my stomach from all the sweets!

The recipe can be found here:

http://www.oprah.com/food/Sprinkles-Cupcakes-Strawberry-Cupcakes

-My one complaint is that it's missing an ingredient. If you decide to make these add in 1/2 tsp baking soda.

I have this recipe I'm going to make today. It's Strawberry Cobbler!!! YUM!!!! My mother-in-law made it on Memorial day weekend and it's so delicious. Maybe I'll be like The Pioneer Woman and photograph the baking process... we'll have to see... :)

Hope you all are staying cool in this VERY hot weather!

Words

I've been thinking about my words a lot lately. It seems like an odd thing to think about, until you realize people are actually listening to the words that come out of your mouth. Jayden is my little parrot. He's repeating everything I say and it's caused me to remember to think before I speak. I don't want him walking around saying words that aren't appropriate for an almost 2 year old... that that I say "bad" words. I really hate the use of the words: freak, freakin', frick, fricken.. etc. But for some reason these words are in my vocabulary. The last thing I want to hear is my child walking around saying, "I want my freaking cup!". I'm hoping to break myself of that habit before it turns into one of his.

The other reason I've been thinking about words so much is because as parents our words are very valuable. When it comes to discipling we have to keep our word. If I say, "If you throw your food on the floor you won't get anything else to eat until the next meal." Then I better mean it! It's not always easy to keep my word but I know that my kids will test the boundaries and that when they do they will know I'm not moving. Especially when it comes to saying, "If you do that again, you're going to get a spanking."

I was talking about this with my dad awhile ago and he said there were times he wished he wouldn't have said those very words because in all honesty whatever it was I was doing wasn't really worth getting a spanking over, but since he said it he had to stick to his word. My dad is so good about keeping his word and not being persuaded by a child who isn't getting her way... ahem.. I remember when I was in middle school I wanted to stay the night at my best friend's house who lived across the street and my dad said no. I went to the store and bought him a card and his favorite candy bar and I begged and begged and begged and he still refused to let me stay the night. I was so angry with him because I wasn't getting my way!! Years later I found out the truth about why he said no and I respect him for it now.

I took a parenting class through my church when I was pregnant with Jayden and I remember the teacher saying that our no must mean no and our yes must mean yes! I never thought about how important it is that when we say yes we mean it.

Another reason I've been thinking about my words is because of this scripture:

Proverbs 18:21
"Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof."

The words we speak have so much power.. life and death are in the POWER of the tongue... What are we speaking over our children? Over our spouses? Over our finances? Are we speaking blessings or curses over them? Are we gossiping about our friends or family? This is a daily walk.. it's something we have to be aware of all the time!!

I've been known to talk a lot. In fact, my nickname in elementary school was motor mouth. I feel like I always have something to say and it should be heard. Well the truth is there are times I'd be in a better situation if I could keep my words to a minimum. So this is truly a challenge for me.

Teething.. RAWR!

It's funny how God didn't decided that we should be born with a full set of teeth that we'd have for the rest of our lives. Why are babies born with just gums and then have to go through the painful process of teething???

Gabriella is getting her teeth in the strangest order. She got her bottom two at about 4 months old. Then a month or two later she got the tooth right next to her bottom left tooth. Now she's getting the tooth to the right of where her front tooth should be and then a couple of days ago her front right tooth started to cut through.

Now Jayden has all of his teeth except a couple of his 2 year molars. The other day I was tickling him and noticed his top right molar was cutting through. I was so happy because he didn't act like he was teething. Last time he got a 2 year molar it was 4 days of being miserable for everyone in the house, especially Jayden. We tried everything during those 4 days. We bought Hyland's teething tablets, gave him Tylenol, popsicles, cold wet wash clothes and a clove paste. I honestly think the only thing that helped was the clove paste. We just took some of the ground cloves that I cook with and added some water (then Jordan added honey and vanilla... he always has to add something..) and then rubbed it on his gums. Jordan and I both tried it and it really worked!

I don' know if you caught that... but BOTH my kids are teething right now. Yuck!! I think this is one of the downsides to having babies close together. They actually haven't been too bad though, so I really shouldn't complain.

They are both up from their naps so I better go...

Jordan's Father's Day Present

Click here to view this photo book larger

Honest to blog...

Have you ever seen the movie Juno? I love her little one liners...

Well Jordan celebrated Father's day yesterday by leading worship at church, dealing with screaming babies for about 20 minutes in the car until they both fell asleep, picking up Chinese food for lunch, an unsuccessful nap due to Jayden protesting at the top of his lungs and fixing our refrigerator. It was quite the day. Honestly, it seems like every Mother's day and Father's day is like this for us. Last year on Mother's day we went to The Macaroni Grill and Jayden was so tired and didn't want to sit in his car seat and just cried almost the whole time.. I honestly don't remember last Father's day. This year on Mother's day two of our friends got married and of course Jayden didn't nap before the wedding so he was a handful... I honestly think it's because these holidays fall on Sundays and since we're at church all morning it just takes a toll on him. He always falls asleep on the car ride home though.

So money was pretty tight the last couple of weeks so when I received a coupon from Target for a free 8x8 photo book from Shutterfly.com I was elated! I knew I wanted to use it for Jordan's Father's Day present. Then a couple days later I received a gift card in the mail from Kohl's for $10!! It may sound cheap to you, but it's the thought that counts. I spent many hours picking photos, changing the layout and re-doing the photo book so that it was just the way I wanted it!! I actually really enjoyed it. If online photo books count as a hobby, it's my new hobby.

If you want to check it out go to my previous post.. I'm still learning how to do all this.. :)

It actually turned out to be a pretty nice day. After we ate lunch and fixed the refrigerator Jayden and I went to Kohl's and I found him a pair of sandals which only cost me $3 because of the gift card. Then we went to Target and bought Jordan new grill accessories and a package of basil since someone picked the basil in my garden.. :( As we were leaving Target we were approached by a man asking if we had jumper cables and if I could pull my car up to his minivan to jump start it. Of course, I said yes. As I got out of my car I realized this man had his wife and a baby close to Jayden's age waiting in his broken down minivan. They were all very grateful when it started and we went on our ways. I just love being able to help out a complete stranger. Car problems are the pits!

I love being able to celebrate Jordan as a father. He has come such a long way in the last 2 years. I remember the night before Jayden was born he looked at me with all seriousness and said, "I don't even know how to change a diaper!" I had to teach him on a stuffed animal THE NIGHT BEFORE his son was born!!

Happy Father's Day Jord!

Garden Of The Gods

Finally, another family photo!!!!

During the Summer Jordan gets Fridays off. So instead of spending our day just hanging around the house and not really doing anything I researched places in Colorado to go do the tourist thing. I came across the garden of the gods and saw that it was free!!! Free is always better! :)

When Jordan got home from band practice at 10:30pm on Thursday night I asked him very excitedly if we could go... after a little explaining about what the garden is, he said yes.

So Friday morning after running a couple of errands we made the one and half hour drive to Colorado Springs. We ate lunch at Chipotle (our favorite place) and then headed to GOTG (that's what I'm going to call it since I'm tired of typing it out.). On our way into GOTG we saw a big horn sheep. Of course, I didn't take a picture of that because I didn't realize what all the people were standing around looking at until it was too late.

It's nice because they have paved sidewalks that are perfect for strollers and it goes all throughout the park. Less than 5 minutes into the park Gabriella thew her hat out of the stroller and I had to retrace our steps to find her hat. It was a beautiful day out, like 90 degrees with a cool breeze. We met a sweet old lady and her two grandchildren, who are 14 months apart too! We walked with them for awhile.

Jayden did really well on the walk. We let him out of the stroller so he could run around and he enjoyed it. The only thing he didn't like was being forced to stay on the sidewalk and not wander off. Gabriella hung out in the stroller until we got to a shaded area where we had a little photo shoot! :)

After about an hour or so walking around we jumped back in the car and headed home. We did get a chance to see the "balancing rock" but of course I miss that photo op as well!!! GRRRR!!!

It was a very successful trip since we didn't have any meltdowns until about 20 minutes from home. I had a really great time just being out and enjoying the beauty of Colorado!

Garden of The Gods

Downtown Denver

Sign Language

Lately all Jayden wants to watch is his sign language DVD by Baby Einstein. I don't have a problem with him watching it because I feel like it's more than just 30 minutes of TV, it's his education.

We started teaching Jayden how to sign when he was around 7 months old. My aunt knows sign language and taught me everything I know how to sign. So with Jayden I wanted to start out with signs he could learn while he was eating. We started with "more". Before every bite of food I would say, "Jayden, do you want more?" And I would sign more and then grab his hands and show him how to sign it. It was a lot of work at first and I felt really silly since he never would do it himself. It took about 2 or 3 months by the time he finally got the hang out of. We moved on to "please, all done, thank you and eat" all of these he learned by 12 months. I remember at his one year appointment the doctor said he should know 5 words (verbally) Jayden knew 6 signs and 5 verbal words... interesting, eh?

By 15 months his vocabulary grew so much I could hardly believe it! We started showing him one of the "Your Baby Can Read" DVDs and he started repeating those words and learning how to do commands, like open your mouth or close your eyes, etc. I was so impressed. Around that same time my mom gave him a book for Christmas that had lots of new signs he didn't know, so we continued learning new signs together.

Back to the Baby Einstein DVD... it was about 3 weeks ago I realized Jayden learned probably 7 new signs by just watching the video. I hadn't been teaching them to him! We watch this DVD everyday.. if not twice a day. But it's paying off. I love being able to communicate with him through sign. I also like the way baby Einstein teaches the signs. The screen is divided into 3 sections; the bottom section is the written word, the right side is a picture of the word and the left side is a clip of someone signing the word. I feel like not only is Jayden learning how to sign the words but he's learning how to recognize what the written word looks like.

I'd really like to take a class and learn more signs that I can teach him and Gabri.

So pretty much my kid is a genius... just thought I'd take the time to write this blog to brag about how proud I am of him! :)

Betsy

Christmas '05

Four years ago today a dear friend of mine went to be with Jesus. I've been thinking about her a lot lately. She would have been 18 this past April. It's hard to imagine her driving and graduating high school.

I first met Betsy when I was 16. She didn't like me. Ha! I was going on a trip with her mom to Texas to visit her sisters who were both going to CFNI. Betsy was mad she had to stay home with her dad and brother. When I got back from the Texas something changed and her and I became super close friends immediately. She was 5 years younger than me, but she was so mature for her age.

The Summer of 2004 we were both preparing to go on a mission trip to Ukraine. We did all of our fundraising together. I received all of my money before Betsy did, but I wanted her to go on the trip so I helped her go out and sell "pizza cards" so she would have enough money. I'll never forget her face the day she found out I had all my money and I was just fundraising to help her. I loved Betsy like a sister and I would have done anything for that girl!

Betsy and me in Ukraine

She really was one of my best friends. I have so many precious memories with her that I'll never forget.

Square-Foot Gardening

Back in April I met a friend of a friend who has now become my friend... confused? Her name is Jessica and she is a such a neat lady! The first time I met her I was at her house and she showed me her square-foot garden and told me all about the fruits and vegetables that she's harvested from only 16 square-feet. I was shocked and intrigued at the same time. The idea of being self sufficient is scary, my family is so far from it! We would be in serious trouble if we were no longer able to go to the store and buy our food.

Jessica introduced me to the book, "All New Square-Foot Gardening" by Mel Bartholomew.

I went out and bought it the next week! This man is a genius! He figured out that most plants only need 6 inches of soil to grow. He also came up with the perfect mix for soil, 1/3 peat moss, 1/3 vermiculite and 1/3 compost... that means no more pulling weeds!! So we built our little garden, put in the soil, made a grid and planted the seeds.

Of course, now we are in the waiting and watering stage. Everyday I go out at about 10 or 11 (after the water in the hose is warm from the sun) and I water my cute little garden. I planted corn, summer squash, cilantro, basil, peppers, onions and lettuce.

Here is my garden 3 weeks after we built it.

The corn, basil and lettuce sprouted.

I didn't plant all my seeds at once because I wasn't sure about the spacing for my squash and onions. I ended up moving my cilantro (I had to replant seeds) and planting my onions and squash at the same time.

Due to all the rain over the last 4 days everything in my garden has sprouted and is doing well! It did hail this weekend, so my amazing husband went out and covered my garden with a tarp every time the weather turned bad. My corn took a beating, but I'm hoping that over the next few days it will perk back up!

This is my garden now!! You can see the corn in the top left boxes, the lettuce is in the bottom left and the summer squash is the 3 row over and 2nd square down... everything else is too small to see from so far away. It's so gratifying to watch as these tiny seeds become plants! I'm sure the first time I taste food from my own garden it will be pretty wonderful!

They Call Me "Mama"

It's cold and rainy this weekend. Friday afternoon we were over at my in-laws for a little bit and they gave us a box of Jordan's old stuff. We spent a good hour going through it and finding all sorts of interesting things... old love letters, song lyrics, action figures, graduation cards, a harmonica from the first time we hung out, a watch, beads, etc. Here is Jayden all dressed up in stuff he found!

This is my first parenting post.. and I'm sure it won't be my last!

Parenting is something I do 24 hours a day. You might say, "yeah right you're sleeping 8 of those 24 hours." And you would be wrong... ha! Gabriella still isn't sleeping through the night. I'm up at least once between the hours of 11pm-7am. Typically, she gets up at 3am-ish.

Anyways, I have a little boy who is entering his trying, terrible, terrific, boundary testing, food throwing, fit throwing, screaming, laughing, exploring two's. It's been an interesting time since Jayden turned one. I feel like everything I knew about parenting changed. We weaned him of formula, the bottle, pacifiers and baby food all by the time he was 13 months old, with the exception of the pacifiers he was weaned off those at 15 months. It's a big deal when all of those things change. For the first year of his life those things are what he lived off of. Not only that but he learned how to walk and has not slowed down. Jayden is 100% boy and loves to play in dirt, run cars over pillows, wrestle and just get down and dirty. I love it! He's an active boy and there is nothing wrong with that.. as long as he has boundaries.

Gabriella on the other hand, is very content sitting on a blanket with a few toys watching everyone around her. She's very quiet and reserved. She actually didn't laugh out loud until she was about 6 months. She loves to cuddle and just lay in our arms. Of course, she is only 7 months old and isn't quite to the stage of wanting to get out and explore the world.

This is Gabri's first time in a grocery cart..

I love Costco's carts because the kids can sit side by side.

I found out I was pregnant after only being married for 6 months. It still amazes me how much a marriage changes when kids enter the picture. It's a beautiful thing really. We now have these children that have come from us and were created by God, The Father... AMAZING! The process of how life starts is so incredible. I am always amazed when I hold a new baby fresh from the womb.

Parenting isn't always pretty or glamorous. There are times my kids have meltdowns in public and we as parents have to figure out the best solution without ruining our day or anyone else's. I'm sure more than once throughout the day I have drool, boogers, spit up and who knows what else on my clothes. There are days when I have had to put both my kids in their cribs shut their doors and walk outback and plug my ears because they are so cranky and I'm so cranky that I need to take a few minutes so I can regain my peace.

Last night a friend of mine threw a dinner party for one of our friend's who was turning 30. It was so much fun. It was ladies only so I was able to leave the kids and my husband at home so I could go out... 5 hours of not having to worry about anyone else but myself. It was incredible!!!!!!! But at the end of the night I was so happy to come home to my darling little girl who woke up and wanted mommy to feed her! It's just nice to have those refreshing times and feel like a normal 23 year old woman!

If there is one thing about parenting, it's that everyone does it differently! I have so many mom friends with completely opposite views as mine, but it doesn't mean that our kids can't be friends and that we can't learn from each other. The other night I was watching home videos of Jayden and I realized I have changed so much as mom since he was just a few months old. I do things differently with Gabriella than I did with Jayden... BECAUSE it works for us.

Here are some of the books or videos that I have found SOO helpful!

Babywise and Babywise 2 by Gary Ezzo and Robert Bucknam

The Happiest Baby On The Block by Harvey Karp

To Train Up A Child by Michael and Debi Pearl

Super Nanny (the show) I've learned some pretty neat techniques from her show.

I don't always agree with everything these books have to say, but they all have great ideas and points about parenting.

Obviously, I don't have this whole thing figured out, but I'm learning what works and what doesn't. It's a process and I'm pretty sure I'll never completely understand everything about why my kids act the way they do and how I'm supposed to deal with it.

And this is the reason it's worth all the tears, screaming, tantrums, sleepless nights, etc......

(Jayden playing drums with Gabri's hands and beat boxing)

Home Owning

In February 2009 we started the process of buying a home. We met with a mortgage broker and found out how much the bank would loan us and our price range for buying a house. We started looking and came across this four bedroom, two bath home in Brighton. The only problem was, it wasn't on the market. In fact, most of the previous owner's belongings were

still in the house. Our realtor, who is also our best friend (Brendan Winans) noticed the papers on the window and checked to see if his HUD key would open the door...and it did! We looked around and realized it would need work, but it would be perfect for our growing family.

In June the house came on the market and since we had already lost a bid before on a different house, we wanted to make sure we put in the best possible bid. I did some research and found that in Brighton most people bid pretty much at the asking price, where in Thornton they bid WAY above the asking price. The house was priced at $109,000 and we wanted to place a bid at $120,000 to make sure that we would get it! Well as we sat down with Brendan to write the bid he noticed in the fine print that if you're applying for an FHA loan (which we were) if you bid higher than the asking price you would have to bring the difference in cash when you closed on the house. Well we didn't have $11,000 laying around.. so we put in the best possible bid we could. We would bring $1,083 to the table and our bid would be $110,083.00. The $83 was Jordan's idea... :)

So we waited and when they posted the results our name was second on the list... I could have cried and Jordan was totally bummed we didn't win. But there was still hope because if something were to fall through with the winners than we would get the house! Well with my heart full of faith that God would move on our behalf, the first place bid fell through and it went to us!! We got our house.

There were so many obstacles before we even closed on the house because some of the pipes above the kitchen were broken so we had to hire people to come in and fix them and Jordan would go straight to the house after working a 10.5 hour day and work on it until 9pm.. By the time we finally got everything moved in I was so happy!!

Anyways, I say all of that to say this.. Owning a home is a lot of work!! All of the sudden you have to become an electrician, a plumber, a painter, a landscaper, etc... My husband continues to amaze me every time something comes up. So far he's learned how to fix broken pipes, drywall, paint (he already knew how to paint), fix our furnace, replace faucets (indoors and outdoors), rototill, plant grass seed, etc... the list goes on and on!! I never knew how much he was capable of.

It's very gratifying owning our home because when we first bought it needed a lot of work. We are no where near being down with our to do list, but we're getting closer. It's a huge improvement from what it was. The day we get carpet, tile and lay hardwood, I'll be a very happy lady!

Moral of the story: HGTV makes buying and owning a home look too easy! :)

Below: Brendan (left) and Jordan (right) patching holes and replacing the door handle/lock

Before

After

(The grass is a little patchy, but it's still filling in)

Before

After

Before

After

Before

After (I wasn't a fan)

After I got my way... ;)

I need to finish taking pictures of the rest of the house.... one day it will look just the way we want it to! :)

My Passion

The first time I ever left America I was 11 years old. My family was going on vacation to Mexico. I remember one night walking the streets of Puerto Vallarta on our way back to our hotel and I saw a mother sleeping on the street with her little baby in her arms. This was my first memory of extreme poverty. I wasn't a Christian at the time, but compassion stirred within me for this woman and her child.

When I was 14 I gave my life to Christ and became a full gospel Christian (meaning- I believe everything the Bible says is still relevant to our world today... healing, baptism, the Holy Spirit.. EVERYTHING!).

The following Summer I went on my first mission trip to Kingston, Jamaica. It was on that trip that I knew God had called me to be a missionary. I loved every moment of being in a foreign country, surrounded by people of another culture. The next trip I went on was to Kiev, Ukraine. Again, I fell in love with the people and culture of Ukraine.

My first semester at Christ For The Nations Institute I signed up for a student ministry called, Neighborhood Impact. You see, the CFNI campus is in a bad part of Dallas, in fact there are two different 'projects' on each side of the campus. One of the apartment complexes was the goal area for this ministry.

The next semester Neighborhood Impact was cancelled so I signed up with a ministry called Dallas Metro, a sidewalk Sunday school to the inner city of Dallas. I was heavily involved with Dallas Metro. I helped teach at one of the sidewalk Sunday school sites every Friday, visited the families every Saturday and helped with the youth on Thursday nights.

It was during my time as a volunteer with these ministries that I realized missions is more than just going to another country. It's about taking Jesus to the people of the world... even if it's your neighbors. It was also during this time that I realized not only was I called to be a missionary, but I was called to children's ministry. (During my time at CFNI I was also a children's pastor for a church plant in a suburb of Dallas, called Rockwall).

My last year at Christ For The Nations, my new husband and I enrolled in the 3rd year missions program. We spent our first semester on the campus learning about building a financial support team, newsletters, reaching unreached people groups, etc. The second semester we spent in Peten, Guatemala learning what day to day missions work is like. Talk about a wake up call for me!!!! I had been on two short term mission trips... yet those didn't prepare me for the reality of what a missionary's life truly looks like.

Jordan grew up on the mission field so for him 10 weeks in the jungle of Guatemala was more like home. The first two weeks were the hardest for me. I was 8 weeks pregnant when we got to Guatemala, I was having morning sickness all day long, I was tired and I was frustrated that my husband could communicate with everyone and I couldn't. I wanted to go home, I thought I made a huge mistake by leaving America as a young pregnant woman. I missed Target and Wal-Mart.. and I hate Wal-Mart!! I missed being able to buy my shampoo and conditioner and make-up and deodorant without having to search the entire town high and low and pay way more than what it's worth.. I was going through culture shock.

The ten weeks we spent in Guatemala were life changing. I learned so much about myself, ministry and what it takes to be a missionary.

So fast-forward 2 years and here I am writing about my passion for missions as I sit in my nice suburban home in America while my two kids take their naps in their air conditioned bedrooms. This isn't exactly where I thought I'd be in life..BUT I know one day I will take my family overseas and we will spend our days serving God by telling the world about Jesus, and I will not lose sight of the vision and the desires that God has placed in my heart!

"Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

Matthew 28: 19-20

Pilot

My husband and I celebrating our 3rd wedding anniversary

Our adorable children, Gabriella (7 months) and Jayden (21 months)

Okay, I've decided I need to start blogging. On a regular basis. This is the third blog I've started in the last year and I would really love to keep up with it.

My name is Kortnie. Chances are if you are reading this blog you already know this about me...

I have been married 3 years to my fantastic husband, Jordan. We have 2 beautiful children, Jayden (he'll be two in August) and Gabriella (she's 7 months). Our kids are almost 14 months apart. We live in Colorado and we bought our first home less than a year ago.

I turned 23 in March and realized I've accomplished a lot in the last 5 years. I moved to Texas to go to Christ For The Nations Institute at 18. Got engaged at 19. I graduated CFNI and got married when I was 20. At 21 I gave birth to our son. At 22 we bought our first home and had our daughter. I'm thinking 23 should be a slow year??

I'm a stay at home mom. I was working for an oil and gas company and loved it, I learned a lot about other people and myself. However, my goal is to be a missionary. My husband grew up in Guatemala as a missionary kid and I went on my first mission trip when I was 15. I fell in love with the concept of missions. I think my next blog will be about my love for other countries and the poor.

I guess you'll find out more about me as we take this journey together.