Four Lovely Years

Yesterday was mine and Mr. W's 4 year anniversary! It's amazing how quickly 4 years has gone and how much we've accomplished in that time.

For those of you who don't know the story, this is how we came to be Mr. and Mrs.

The first time I laid eyes on Jordan we were in the 7th grade. He was the new cute kid in school. Jordan had just moved from Guatemala City, Guatemala to Broomfield, Colorado. I remember walking through the cafeteria and I saw him sitting by himself wearing a blue plaid shirt with brown spiked hair and piercing blue eyes.

We didn't actually become friends until our freshmen year of high school when my best friend, Devin, had a crush on Jordan and started inviting him and some of his friends to hang out with us so she could get to know him. After a few weeks I heard from Jordan's best friend, Brendan, that he liked me. It was a total drama mess... but of course we were 14 and it all worked because Devin and Brendan became a couple.

We were boyfriend and girlfriend for 5 months. The first day we started dating Jordan and I were working on a class project together and he said, "Kortnie Wertzbaugher... it has a nice ring to it." During those 5 months Jordan on multiple occasions shared his faith in God with me and asked me to come to his youth group where he played the drums in the band. I finally agreed after 3 months of him asking. The second time I went, I decided I need Jesus and surrendered my life to Him.

It wasn't long after that night that Jordan broke up with me for his ex girlfriend... yep that's right. He loved me and left me. I was completely broken hearted. For the first time in my life I felt like I knew what it was like to love someone and have them love me back (in a boyfriend/girlfriend kind of way).

A year later Jordan and I were back together... but it only lasted a couple of months.

I decided that I was going to take a break from dating my junior year to focus on my relationship with God. It was one of the best decisions I ever made! At the end of the school year I went on a mission trip to Ukraine and then to a Summer camp in Florida. During the Florida Summer camp I saw Jordan drawing closer to God in a way I had never seen before. He started being nice to me again and that old flame started burning a little brighter.

On a camping trip just a couple weeks after we got back from FL, Jordan confessed his love to me in front of his two cousins (who are my very close friends) and one of his best friends, Jonathan.

So we started dating again for a third time. Only this time it was different. We were putting God right smack in the middle of us and staying focused on him.

(High School Graduation)

We graduated high school together and then moved to Dallas, Texas where we both attended Christ For The Nations Institute. At the beginning of our second year of CFNI on a quick trip back to CO, Jordan asked me to marry him... we were nineteen!

(Just Engaged!)

When we graduated from the 2 year program at CFNI we drove back to Colorado and got married in Lyons at a cute little church on a river.

5-26-07

It's been a crazy ten years since we first started dating, but I'm so thankful that we've been able to share them together. I honestly believe there isn't another person on earth who can love me like Jordan does.

Books and Babes

I started doing the 5-a-day book challenge with my kids probably a week and a half ago. It's been such a great experience. My kids have absolutely loved sitting down together and reading these same 5 books. Kids love repetition anyways, so when you sit down and read the same books over and over and over it's amazing how long they'll sit in your lap and let you read to them.

I'm amazed at how Gabriella's vocabulary has grown already. She learned how to say the word "Strawberry" and how to identify strawberries in real life. Not only that, but strawberry is a 3 syllable word and I think it's pretty impressive she can say it. :) Both the kids love to "read" the stories with me.. or at least the parts they know.

I've found for me it's easier to sit down and read with them when we have the same set of books to read. I've kept them off the bookshelf (mostly so I don't have to go back and find them every time) and on Gabriella's big girl bed (which doesn't get used for sleeping... just reading). So the books are always ready to be picked up and read.

I'm getting ready to pick out a new set of books today. I'm looking forward to this next week to see how they react to a different set of books and what words and phrases they'll pick up.

Blessed and Favored

My last semester at CFNI Heidi Baker came to speak to the school. Heidi Baker is one of my modern day heros. She's absolutely amazing! She is originally from Southern California but is now a missionary to Mozambique. Her and her husband, Rolland, work with orphans and street children. They have an incredible ministry to these kids. You should check her out.

Anyways, when she came to speak at CFNI I was getting ready to leave for Guatemala for our ten week internship. During the 11 o'clock lecture she spoke to the entire student body. The notes from her sermon were on my laptop before the hard drive crashed, so sadly I don't have them anymore. However, there is one thing that stuck out to me and I still think back on often.

In Luke chapter 1 the angel Gabriel comes to visit Mary, who is engaged to Joseph. He tells her, (from the amplified version) "Hail, O favored one [endued with grace]! The Lord is with you! Blessed (favored of God) are you before all other women!" Doesn't this sound like an amazing compliment?? He then goes on to tell her how she'll conceive Jesus supernaturally.

Now imagine yourself as Mary for a moment. She is a young woman, a virgin and engaged. Now all of the sudden she is pregnant with the Son of God. From the outside looking in, it doesn't look all that great. It looks like she's a fornicator who is unfaithful to her fiance and a disgrace to her family. Now think back to what the angel said, "You are blessed before all other women". I can't say how Mary felt in this situation, but I know how I would feel.

When I think of what it looks like to be blessed and favored of God, I tend to think of it being a little prettier than Mary's situation. But the truth is, it's not always pretty. When God calls us to something it might get down right ugly, but it doesn't mean that He has left us high and dry. His plan is perfect and His ways are not our ways.

Always Learning...

Part of being a mom is that I'm always learning. I take bits and pieces of what I hear and read and apply them to my style of parenting. Sometimes they work and other times they don't.

I got a bunch of advice awhile on potty training and I read about a million different websites as well. I was at a complete loss. I felt like we had tried EVERYTHING to get Jayden to go on the potty and he wasn't into it at all! Then one day Jordan comes home from work and says, "Let's go to Wal-Mart and buy Jayden some Curious George underwear." I protested because he already has 3 pairs of Diego undies that never get used. However, the next visit to Wal-Mart we bought Jayden some cool "Cars" undies and Gabriella some cute little princess panties. That night Jayden wanted to wear his new big boy undies so we told him he need to go pee on the potty. And would you believe it, he actually did it. Then the next morning he did it again. I didn't try super hard Sunday-Wednesday to get him to go on the potty because we had a lot going on, but ever since Thursday he has gone pee and poo in the potty EVERY SINGLE time!!! NO MORE DIAPERS!!! (although we are using pull-ups as his "just in case" while he's sleeping or when we're out in public, but he hasn't gone in them once!)

Remember those bits and pieces of advice I mentioned? Last Summer I had a friend tell me, "You can either spend 6 months potty training, or do it in a weekend when the kid is ready." It's totally true! Gabriella has been going pee and poo on the potty for a few weeks now, but we would spend the next few months working with her to try and get her completely potty trained. So I think we'll wait and hopefully when she's closer to 2 she'll be absolutely ready.

It was my goal to have both the kids potty trained by this Summer so that we wouldn't have 3 kids in diapers. At this point, I'm just glad to have one out of diapers!!!

Switching gears a little bit....

I recently came across a blog from a woman in the UK. It's called The Imagination Tree. She has SO many great activities for toddlers! This past week, since it was super rainy, we tried making our own paint and I let the kids do whatever they wanted with it.

It was fun to see them be creative. One of things she talks about in her blog is how parents are always trying to keep their kids from making messes and so when they get the chance to do arts and crafts they're afraid to because they don't want to get dirty. Then they aren't able to be creative either.

Another thing I've taken from her blog is the 5-a-day books. You choose the same 5 books to read to your kids every day for a week. There are tons of benefits to doing this. I'd encourage you to read about it here.

We've started doing it this week with these books:

Encouragement For Parents

Happy belated Mother's day to all you moms and soon to be moms.

I was very blessed to not only spend my day with my children and my husband, but also with my mom, my mother in law and my mom's mother-in-law. We all went out to eat at our favorite Chinese restaurant and it was perfect. Jordan bought me two new plants and I love them!

Today during my quiet time with Jesus I was reading 2 Corinthians 1. This chapter blessed me so much, I wanted to share it with you. There are several parts that really stuck out to me.

The first thing that stuck out was in verse 3-4 when Paul says, "God is our merciful Father and the source of all comfort. ⁴ He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us." Not only does God comfort us when we need it, but He does it so that we can be a comfort to others when they are going through the same thing.

The second thing is in verses 8-11 Paul is telling the Corinthians how they were being persecuted in Asia, "In fact, we expected to die. But as a result, we stopped relying on ourselves and learned to rely only on God, who raises the dead. ¹⁰ And he did rescue us from mortal danger, and he will rescue us again. We have placed our confidence in him, and he will continue to rescue us." I like this because they went beyond just praying a prayer of faith, they put their confidence in God that He WOULD rescue them. It wasn't a prayer of, "God if you wouldn't mind helping us out here.. maybe if you have the time.. DON'T YOU SEE WHAT'S HAPPENING TO US!!! HELLO!!!!!!!" They were fully confident that HE WOULD help them. And we can have that same confidence.

Now the third and final thing is what really blessed me as a mom. I think it was God's Mother's day gift to me. :)

Verses 17-20 "Do you think I am like people of the world who say “Yes” when they really mean “No”? ¹⁸As surely as God is faithful, my word to you does not waver between “Yes” and “No.” ¹⁹ For Jesus Christ, the Son of God, does not waver between “Yes” and “No.” He is the one whom Silas,^[f] Timothy, and I preached to you, and as God’s ultimate “Yes,” he always does what he says. ²⁰ For all of God’s promises have been fulfilled in Christ with a resounding “Yes!” And through Christ, our “Amen” (which means “Yes”) ascends to God for his glory."

As a parent I've always thought it was important that my "no" is no and my "yes" is yes. But I never realized that when I do this, I'm actually showing my kids the CHARACTER of God. This is such a big responsibility we as parents carry. It's one thing to talk to your kids about the character of God and it's another thing to live it out. It's much easier just to tell them... I want to keep this in my mind every time I want to give in and let me kids have their way or to not follow through with discipline.

I hope this blessed you in some way!

My Little Nikon

I carry my little Nikon Coolpix camera with me at all times because I want to capture the moments of my kids growing up... however, I tend to forget that I actually have it. I realized on Friday I haven't uploaded the pictures off my camera since before Christmas. So here is a little preview of what I found.

Jayden eating Cold Stone for his 2nd birthday

Random cute picture

Gabriella looking adorable

Me and Gabri at church

At the petting zoo for Christmas

This is when I decided I love llamas.. and doesn't it look like this guy is smiling?!

Then Friday after my 28 week OB appointment Jordan met me and the kids at my mom's house and told me he was taking us somewhere. So we hopped in the car and drove 45 minutes to Evergreen, CO to try and find a dresser at Habitat For Humanity... Now you might be thinking.. why would you drive 45 minutes to a thrift store when there are probably 100 of them within 20 minutes for your house. The answer: because my husband planned it. :)

We didn't find a dresser, but we made memories, and that's the important part!!!

I also found a few videos of Gabriella's first steps.. and another hilarious one of Jayden running into a wall. I might have to post those in another blog!