Faith gets her first report Card!

Well, as you know we have Faith in public school for Kindergarten this year. And yesterday we had our parent/teacher meeting and got Faith's first report card.

She, as we expected, is doing very well in class. She is right where she is supposed to be with her reading, writing, numbers, etc. She is a "sponge" as her teacher said, and a joy to have in class. And although she is on the quiet/soft spoken side, she eagerly participates in all activities.

yada, yada, yada, yada.

And then, the most important thing, in my opinion, was said in the meeting. I asked her teacher how she was with playing with the other children, wondering if she kept more to herself, stuck with the few same friends or if she was a social butterfly. Faith doesn't give me much info on this when I ask her. Faith's teacher said this "Faith is a friend to EVERYONE in the class. The girls, the boys, the kids who can keep up with her, and the kids who are not quite at her level. She will include everyone who wants to participate in whatever activity or game she is playing. She shows kindness to all the children."

That is what made my heart bubble with pride. Not the marks, although I am very proud of how well she is doing and her hard work, but just knowing she shows a loving heart to all around her makes me feel like the things we try to teach her are sticking! :)

Well done Miss Faith!

It's Christmas Time at the Snowden's!

Yes I know, a little early this year...but we Snowden's LOVE CHRISTMAS!!! And the whole season, and what it's all about. So last weekend we got the trees up!

Now usually we wait until American Thanksgiving weekend to do the tree. Mainly because Sam's birthday is on the 21st, and we don't want to have a Christmas tree up during his birthday party. BUT, this year the party is at the park...SO up went the tree! :)

Here are some pics of the tree trimming!


This year it was Sam's turn to put on the star!


And the biggies posing in front of their masterpiece! Well done kids! (little do they know that later I went and evened out the ornaments..haha)


And so starts the most wonderful time of the year. And the opportunity to teach the kids that Christmas is not about getting a bunch of new toys, but it's about celebrating Jesus and being a blessing to others. This year we are adopting a family with our small group, and I can't wait to get the kids involved with giving a needy family a Christmas blessing.

But I think more importantly we need to carry the Christmas blessings into the new year and always be on the look out for opportunities to be a blessing to others. Something that I have really embraced the last few months, and something I hope the kids are embracing too!

October ends in Fun!

Oh my goodness, what a fun end to October!

The highlight of the weekend according to the kids was winning goldfish at the fall festival we went too! Faith proclaimed it was the "Best day ever!!! I FINALLY HAVE A PET!!!! YEAH!!!!"


Other then the fall festival, we kept busy with the Mom's club party, the Gymnastics party, pumpkin patch, a trip to the zoo, pumpkin carving, and church...not quite in that order, but you get my drift! Busy!

Here are some pics of our fun!

Nate is not too sure about the pumpkin goo...


We loved our pumpkin!


We were superheros this year! So cute!


Now on to November! A busy month for us! We celebrate Sam's birthday, our anniversary, Thanksgiving, and our favorite, get the house all decked out for Christmas! Woot!

November mission

Well, no mission accomplished for October for me!

I had the goal of getting up early to have that me time to just read, do devotions, write, etc.
I did it a few days out of the month, but not to any point of putting a big Mission Accomplished on my post!

So on to November! New month! Yeah! I will keep the goal of getting up. And I will add the goal of accomplishing the "preseason purge" I love to just go through all the closets and cupboards and clean out what has not been touched in a very long time. That way on Christmas morning, I am not looking around saying "Where am I going to put all this stuff??"

All Better Now!

Oh I am not a fan of sick babies...but really, is any Mom??

The boys picked up a cold. No big deal. Sam got over his cold (except for a lingering cough, as is usual with him) But Nate had a hard time with this cold, and I had my first encounter of Preemie respiratory issues!

Nate had a cough for a couple of days. Then on the 3rd day of the cold he got a lot worse. He started coughing so so so much, and was just miserable and crying over everything. The only time he was happy was when I was walking him around the apartment complex. I was beginning to get a bit concerned about him wheezing, and he was breathing really quickly. We kept an eye on him and he finally fell asleep.

Once he fell asleep we realized just how hard of a time he was having. His little chest was heaving, working so hard to get the breaths in and out! We decided to get him to a children's clinic at the hospital. They took a couple of initial readings and directed us to head to Emergency.

5 hours, a respiratory treatment, steroids to help open up the lungs, chest x-ray, and lots of other poking and prying later, we were released with a much better baby. He had a case of Bronchitis. Poor guy.

A few more puffer treatments at home, and he's much better! But I will take the cold turning into an ear infection any day over respiratory problems!

Mission Accomplished!

Well, If you look back to the beginning of the month, I had followed Mama Jen's blog and decided to join up the with Mission of the Month. We share things we would like to accomplish and then at the end of the month we report if we made it or not!

My September mission was to get the routine going, figure out how it would all fit with the home schooling and Faith at school, have my meal plans done, etc. I thrive off routine and organization...without it I find myself scrambling, and I can't stand that.

Here is my lifeline...haha. My Daytimer!


I know you can't see it all that well, my camera is nothing special. But it's one of those "Mommy" daytimers that has a place for you to record your activities, and then the lower columns are to keep track of the kids. I use it differently. I put all the activities in the top Mommy portion. The lower areas I use for meal planning. This lives on my kitchen counter and I can easily reference to it to remind myself in the mornings where we need to be that day. First thing in the morning I see what I need to pull out of the freezer for dinner, and what I need to make for breakfast! That way I'm not sitting at 4.30 wondering what to do for dinner (although this does still happen on some days!)

We also have found a routine that works with everyone for school drop offs and pick ups, and home school lessons. I think I drove my gymnastics instructors nuts with changing the kids classes 3 times, but we finally found times that worked well with our schedule! Woot!

I feel like September was the month to get the bumps out, and now we can breeze into October!

Speaking of October....

My mission for October is to simply GET UP!! I find when I'm up early, the day goes better. Things are organized, I get to the gym, school goes better, etc. Everything falls into place a little better when my day starts relaxed and not rushed and scrambling to get 3 kids ready and out the door to the gym (I go at 8am to get it out of the way)

So October goal is to get up every weekday morning at 6.15! Instead of hitting snooze and then all of a sudden it's 7am! Should be easy, right? If only my bed didn't feel so good!! :)

September

September has been one busy month in the Snowden Household!

Here are a few of the things we've been up to!

1. Home School! I have blogged about this already, and it has been the BIG THING for this month. The kids are loving it, I'm loving it! And I think we are almost there on a routine that works for everyone!

Sam working on his letters. I love how he includes his favorite toy to watch him work. :)


Color Matching.


I call this "Creative Play". The kids built Disneyland for their toys!


And the most popular thing in the house right now! Chicka Chicka Boom Boom..which I had NEVER heard of until I started home schooling!


2. Faith starts Kindergarten! I know, but I thought you were Home Schooling?? Yes, primarily Sam for preschool. Faith is only in school for half the day, so she is also doing some home schooling in the morning before she heads to the "Kindergarten school"

1st day of school picture!


The picture she brought home from her first day. I LOVE that she included her "twin" Sam on her artwork. This is a treasure that is now in her school memories binder. :)


Faith is pen pal-ing with her friend Elly. She was delighted to get a letter in the mail last week.


3. Gymnastics! The biggies are in classes and they also offer "free play" hours a couple times a week. On these free plays, Nate can also enjoy the gym! He LOVES this, and I love that it gets TONS of energy out of this guy!


This month we have also been to the zoo and wild animal park. As well as some Mom's Club activities. It's been very busy, a little crazy at times, and a little all over the place some days. But I am nothing but thankful that I get to do everyday with these 3 amazing treasures!

Now to finish off September with a great week of school, prep for October, and endure this hopefully last heat wave of summer! Oh how I love this time of year. Time for the leaves to change, the candles to fill my house with the yummy smells of the season, and for the fall decor to come out of storage!

The Baseball Game

When Jake came home last week saying he had some tickets to the Angels game, I thought Great! He can take the biggies and have a great time! Well, after trying to get rid of the 4th ticket without success, Nate and I decided to join them...

Here is a picture of our evening for you.....

We get to the game, all is good, kids are excited! We have lots of snacks to keep them busy! Then Nate decides that the seat is a really fun thing to climb all over...ahh the reason why I didn't want to bring him are showing in the first 5 minutes!

Nate stands.....


Nate climbs....


Nate is back on the ground...


So this is going on and on and on...as it does when you take a 20 month old to a ball game...we knew what we were getting into and had prepared to be taking Nate for walks around the ball park.

But then....

Faith has a meltdown..the chair hurt her, and then when we switched everyone around so she could be beside me, she melted even more because we moved everyone around....


Daddy, should we call it a night??


Then Sam got stuck in the chairs and HE melted too!!


So at that point, we packed up our 2 crying kids and our exploring baby and called it a night to the delight of those sitting around us I'm sure! Haha! I had one lady tell me my kids were too young to bring to a game...well, we've been going to games since Faith was a baby...some go well, some go not so well.

We played some games on the way out to get some smiles back on some faces!


And got home to see the 8th and 9th innings on TV!! Haha.

On The Learning Curve...

Well week one of the school year is over, and now I am readjusting the routine to see if we can have week 2 go a little more smoothly.

Here are a few things I learned:

1. Do as much the night before as you can! For Monday and Tuesday I was all over this. Clothes laid out for the kids, lunches and snacks packed for everyone, lesson boxes organized, any pre cutting needed for crafts completed. I slacked off on this by mid week and Wednesday and Thursday I found myself scrambling all over the place!

2. Make sure the bulk of home school lessons (the stuff that needs more concentration) is done BEFORE Faith goes to school. She wants to be involved so much and not miss her lessons from home. Doing this after picking her up from school was just too much. She was the queen of the meltdown after school. She needs to go straight to a "quiet time" after school. I think I will save the more "crafty" portions of our lessons for an after school and rest activity.

3. Find some Tot School activities to keep Nate busy while I focus on the Biggies. I have found some great ideas online that I will incorporate into next weeks lessons. He was just causing so much interruption last week! He will only color for 2 minutes, and blocks are not keeping him amused for long. Then he's on the table getting into everyones crayon boxes. That's my boy!

Those were the 3 big issues. I have now redone (again) the schedule and we will see if this week goes a bit more smoothly! But we are all on the learning curve, and I knew it would take a few tries, weeks, different schedule plans, etc. until we find the routine that EVERYONE can groove with well!

I love it so much already. I love to watch my kids learning. I love to see Sam reading words all by himself! I love how much they LOVE and are excited to do school!

And Miss Kindergarten is LOVING SCHOOL! She has a great teacher and comes out of class every day with a huge smile and chatting up a storm about her day! Picks are coming!

She Got Afternoons! :(

Well at least I know now..and now I am off to change gymnastics classes, and see how we are going to adjust naps...oh and did I mention that on Wednesdays it's early dismissal...so the class is at a different time...oh so much to figure out!

We will get it all worked out...and it will be great! :)

2 More Hours Until I Can Schedule Our Life!!

So today is finally the day I find out what class Faith will be in for Kindergarten! It is now 11am...the lists are posted at 1pm. I plan to be first in line! Haha!

With this new decision to home school Sam for this preschool year, as well as add some more activities for Faith since she's only in half day (and in public school as well, no Bible learning there!) I have been in desperate need to get a schedule and routine in place. The last couple of weeks we have still been on Summer mode...just putting school work in between activities. So I am so happy that FINALLY I can get some stuff in order now that I will find out when Faith is in school.

I am really really praying she gets into the morning class. If she gets afternoons, this will mess up their Gymnastics classes as well as interfere with nap time for Nate. If she does get afternoons, we will be doing a LOT of schedule reorganizing!!

Will keep you posted on what we get! :) So excited for Miss Kindergarten..she can noy wait to get to school and make some new friends!

No More Training Wheels!

The Princess is an official 2 wheel biker!


Great job Miss. Faith! She made her deadline! We had the goal of no training wheels by the end of summer!

Other goals she has made have been swimming with no help (we still need a lot of work on this..but she can go a short distance!) One goal left...tying our own laces!

School Time Begins!

Well we have been making "baby steps" in getting our school time all organized and into the routine. I know that once Faith starts Kindergarten the routine will get more "normal" and I can really get the day better organized and planned out properly.

I didn't want to get into too much material right away. I didn't want to overwhelm the kids, or myself, with this new home preschooling stuff!

So right now our "School Time" starts with doing the calendar and weather chart. We then start on the Home Preschool materials I had ordered online. All 3 kids participate in the stories, songs, crafts, etc.

All 3 enjoying some School Time. Our classroom at the moment is the kitchen table!


When Nate is down for a nap is when I can sit and focus with the big kids. I got some workbooks from Staples, as well as printed alphabet and number tracing worksheets. I make sure they both work on their numbers and letters every day.

My Preschool Kid!


And The Big Kindergarten Girl! She loves that she gets to join Sam in his preschool lessons! I hope she will still enjoy this as an after school activity...


Our School time usually ends with puzzles, flash cards, or other learning games.

The Little Preschool Wannabe!


I'm hoping to get the hang of this soon. I did not realize how much time went into teaching your kids at home (even if it is just preschool and a little K) I find myself trying to juggle Mom's Club, the gym, School Time, gymnastics, errands...and the days just race away on me! I'm praying I can get into a groove, especially since next week I have to throw in taking Faith to school and picking her up!

I will let you all know how the routine is going, once it's all in place! :)

I have been reading lots of blogs while getting ready to embark on the whole "home school the children" task that I am taking on. I have really enjoyed the Mamma Jenn blog. She had a great challenge on her blog to link up for a "Mission of the Month". I find it so helpful to write my goals down, and to have that accountability!

So what is my mission of the month? Routine baby! As we get into September it's a great time of year to get the routine in place and CONSISTENT!! (When I say routine, this also includes calendar/meal plans in place, etc) So the plan is to get the daily routine in place, and to stick with it. This also means actually getting to the gym in the morning!! Haha! I also need to get Preschool/Kindergarten home school organized and find a schedule that works for everyone. I know this will be a month of great learning for all of us!

So there we go! It sounds like a simple goal, right? Hopefully I will be able to check this off as a successful mission accomplished at the end of the month! :) Wish me luck!

A New Direction! A New Adventure!

So for the last month, I have been SEARCHING and SEARCHING for a preschool for Sam. After all my searching, I have found nothing under $200 a month. Right now we are not in a situation financially that we can pull off an extra $200 a month for Sam to go to preschool only 2 days a week!!

So, I have taken matters into my own hands, and have decided that this year I will HOME SCHOOL! Faith will still attend Kindergarten at the public school. (She is only in for half the day) I will save my school time with Sam to include her and work with her on her weaker areas or just have her participate in whatever Sam and I are working on.

So thanks to my dear friend Christy, and some wonderful Momma blogs online, I am on my way! I am gathering curriculum, finding great learning games, and learning how to be best organized to have a successful school experience with my kids. We are currently testing out a 3 day sample of home school materials that I ordered online and the feedback from the kids is great! They love the lessons, crafts, and games. I love that I am teaching my kids! Even little Nate will sit all cross legged and raise his hand when we are doing our lessons. haha!

So pray for me friends! I had never EVER even CONSIDERED home schooling. And some may say, oh it's just preschool, and a little Kindergarten..and yes, not that hard of material, I agree. The hard part is keeping little minds focused and interested...and keeping a very busy 19 month old (happy 19 months today Nate!) from destroying what I'm working on with the big kids!

But I'm excited. I have the bug! I spend my spare time (what spare time there is!) looking at sites, getting ideas, how can I make this fun for EVERYONE? What can I download? When can I get back to Target to the $1 section? (They have GREAT STUFF, by the way!) Oh, and WHERE in my little 2 bedroom apartment, can I get a "school area" set up that will be somewhat out of the way?

So much to do, so much fun to be had, and so great to embark on a new adventure! xo

Fire Station tour with the Mom's Club!

The Mom's club I joined last month hosted a fire station tour the other day. The kids were so excited to see an actual fire station!

Our tour started with a story being read to the kids all about fire safety, followed by a lesson about 911 and when to use it, and when NOT to use it! Now the kids keep telling me to be careful so I don't fall and hit my head. They don't want to call 911! haha

We then went for a tour of the station. This included the fire pole, the kitchen, where the fire fighters sleep, etch.

Sam was very interested in the fire pole....had to drag him away from it...I think he wanted to try to climb it :)


After we saw the station we went to see where they keep the truck. Unfortunately there is only one fire truck at this station, and it was out on a call. We saw them pull out lights and sirens when we arrived. So that was a bit of a bummer, but the kids got to check out a huge Semi truck they send out to big disasters like Katrina.

The tour ended with the kids getting little fire hats, badges and coloring books. Making up for the no fire truck in their minds! We took a pic of all the kids in front of one of the other fire vehicles. Notice Nate is not in either one of these shots. hehe. He had to stay held in Momma's arms the entire tour or he would have been into EVERYTHING! He was not all that thrilled about that! But it all worked out and we all had a great time, and met some more Mommies! :)



The "Make a funny face" shot.

What a wonderful boy he is!

I have spent some time reading through the older posts on my blog. I spent a lot of time looking over the posts I wrote when Nate was born. I was brought to tears as I looked at the photos of his tiny little body in the incubator with all the tubes and wires hooked up to him.

They were not sad tears...they were grateful tears. To look at Nate today, you would not know he had a rough start.


Today I have a very busy 18 month old toddler! We call him the "little mountaineer" because of his love of climbing. He has a fearless nature that I both love and hate. He will climb anything he can get his hands on, and then turn around and jump off it!


He also has a great love of the water and loves to hang in the pool. Again, his fearless nature takes over and he just jumps right in, weather you are ready to catch him or not. You can not take your eyes off this child!

If I was not holding his sweater in this shot, he would be in the water!


He is restless and does not like to be tied down in a carseat, high chair, shopping cart or stroller. He wants to be out exploring. Running outside or down the isles of a store. He always wants to be on the move! You can imagine how "fun" this makes any shopping trip, or even the attempt at a family dinner out! Take out is a much better option!

Jake and I often talk about what we think our children will do when they are all grown up. It is fun to dream of their futures. And when we get to Nate, we always say he is the one that will be climbing mountains, or cliff jumping. We never really talk about what we think his career will be...we just see him as the adventure seeker of the bunch!

I love my boy so much! Even though he has me on pins and needles daily with his fearless nature, I know God has an amazing plan for this child. I can not wait to see what He does with my childs life. I am so thankful for my precious son, and am glad we decided to go for number 3! I could not imagine life without him!

Nate enjoying one of his favorite places!

What a fun weekend!

Even though we usually pack our weekends with tons of fun family activities, this weekend I found myself thinking often, "What a fun weekend. This weekend is so great!" Here's what we did!

Saturday:
Morning started with a trip to the Irvine Farmer's Market...Jake got the wrong address off the internet and we ended up at Sprouts Farmer's Market (the grocery store) Now this usually would have annoyed the heck out of me. But I have been trying to make a point of not stressing so much, not getting annoyed, and just rolling with it. I had given him the correct cross streets and then he did a search online and got the wrong address...I simply asked, "Did you not wonder when your address did not match the streets I had given you??" We asked some people where the proper market was, and then we were on our way...with the market only going on until noon, and we were asking directions at 11:15...yikes! But we were not all that far away, and we had plenty of time to walk the market, try some yummy fruits, and I walked out of there with some awesome hummus, fresh pita bread and some tomatoes.

So after the market, we walked to a near by shopping area and found a nice patch of grass and decided to have a picnic. We had packed lunch ahead of time. After our lunch we headed to Irvine Spectrum. They have a great little water park area so we let the kids get wet and play in there for a while. Followed by a nice little walk through the Spectrum. Now it was time to get the kids home for some much needed quiet time. While Nate had his napped Jake took Faith and Sam out on their bikes. Then we all hit the pool for a nice cool down! Faith and Sam are now just using their "arm floaties" in the pool. Getting closer to having swimmers!

Dinner consisted of some BBQ burgers and dogs, compliments of Jake the BBQ master! :) We then got our very tired kids into bed and watched some Office. A nice relaxing way to end a full fun day!

Sunday:
Or course, Sunday starts with a trip to Saddleback Church! Kids love their classes and the teaching was really great.

After lunch, we went to the Bowers Museum. Every first Sunday of the month is free! Today they were having a Native American festival. There were crafts for the kids and entertainment. The best part though is the kids museum. So much to do. They played instruments, dressed up, did puzzles, there were puppets, oh I could go on and on! I would encourage you to check it out one Sunday if you are in the area. Your kids get to play, and learn all about other cultures.

After that we headed home. Jake needed to pick up some overtime hours. After getting Nate down for a nap, the rest of us enjoyed a game of Candyland. How Faith wins pretty much every time, I have no idea! But every time I play her, she beats me! Oh well. It doesn't matter who wins, it's the fun you have playing!

I just found myself so many times this weekend being really thankful for my family. I get to do life with 4 amazing people every day. They are all such treasures in their own special ways. I am so thankful that I have a family that loves to do things together, to have fun and make memories. I just hope the kids still like to hang out with us when they are teenagers.... :) But that is A LONG WAY down the road!

Some pictures of my treasures:

Date Your Kids!

One of the wonderful things our Pastors from Relate Church taught was to date. Date your spouse, date your kids. Just to make that time to really connect and have fun and make memories.

Jake and I take this very seriously in our family and we have it on the calendar monthly to go on dates. Some people wonder where to fit it in, who dates who, how is each of the 3 kids scheduled etc. So I thought I would share what we do.

On the 5th, Faith gets her date. We rotate each month between dating mom or dad. This also happens on the 10th for Sam, and the 20th for Nate. On the 15th and the 30th, Jake and I have a date (if we can get a sitter) :) On the 25th of the month, we do a family date. Hence, the calendar gets filled quickly!

We usually let the kids choose what they would like to do...but Chucky Cheese was the choice EVERY TIME! So we have moved Chucky as a family date option, and Jake and I have been coming up with other ideas for our dates with our kids.

We got a little behind on our dates, so this week we have been working on making up missed dates. Nate and I went to the pet store to look at and pet puppies. Nate goes NUTS when he sees the puppies. We then went and enjoyed a little play area at the mall that was just a great size for Nate to play in.

The other night Jake took Faith on their date. He gave her the princess treatment. He took her out to get her hair cut, her nails done and then he took her to a store to do some dress shopping. He let her pick out 12 dresses. He then had her pick 5 to try on, and she would be allowed to choose one to bring home. Well, she ended up bringing 2 dresses home, but well worth it! She is still raving about this date days later.

Here are some pics of Jake and Faith's date:

The Nails:


The Hair:


The Dresses!:


And of course, modeling for Daddy:


If you don't already have dating your kids and spouse as part of your routine, I suggest you start! It is such a great way to have that one on one connection with your kids and they are never too young to start. We have been dating Nate since he was teeny tiny. It's so fun seeing the kids get excited when it's their turn for a date. I really hope it is something my kids will enjoy for years to come and will do the same with their kids.

Life is finally back to "normal"

Well last time I posted, Jake was still looking for work and we were still invading my parents place in Canada...lots has happened....as usual...but I see things slowing down and sweet stability in our future :)

Jake got a job with Oakley. He does research and development for the footwear department. He is loving his job and I'm loving the discounted Oakley clothes and sunglasses that have come home with him! We found a great apartment just 2 miles away from Oakley. Jake can ride his bike to work leaving me with a vehicle and not being "stranded" at home all the time. The area is wonderful where we live. Great parks, Faith's school is close by, pool is very close to our apartment...just a great great great great place!!!

We live just minutes from Saddleback Church. Their pastor is Rick Warren (Purpose Driven Life writer) and it is just a wonderful church. The kids programs are AMAZING and I have 3 kids who happily (well, Nate is happy after a few minutes, or when he's put into the 6 seater stroller and handed a cookie) going to their classes!

So I spent so much time praying for God's BEST after the whole Navy thing....and a place we could call HOME!! Two things that were SO VERY IMPORTANT to me! I think those prayers have been answered. We found an area we all love, and are ready to stay settled here in the Lake Forest area for years to come. The only move I see in the next few years would be to just upgrade to a 3 bedroom. We are in a 2 bedroom right now due to it being all we could afford...but it's a good size..and we fit! For now! :)

More to come...as we have some fun plans for the summer and are keeping busy with fun activities, and have just joined up with a Mom's club here in Lake Forest. They have tons of activities planned and I'm looking forward to getting to know some Mommies in my area!

Alight, time to start posting again!

Ok, it has been a LONG time since my last post. I will be working on blogging more often to keep everyone updated on the happenings in our lives! haha!

Never a dull moment in the Snowden Family!

We did 6 months serving with Faith Chruch in California. Things didn't quite turn out as planned, and we had to move on to something else.

That something else ended up being Jake joining the Navy! Something he's always wanted to do, but I had always said...NO! I finally gave in and Jake worked really hard and got a Navy Seals contract! Not an easy thing for a 31 year old with 3 kids to get!

So I decided to come to Canada to be with family while Jake went off to Boot Camp. At the end of March Jake went to Chicago to training, and I came to Princeton to take over my parents house! :)

Jake lasted a month. Which ended up being good, because once he was in, he realized how much he wanted to be home! So he prayed and prayed for a medical condition to come up (your only way out) and low and behold Jake has Excema! He got a nasty rash from the neck down and was discharged. You can not be in and Navy if you have a skin condition. So just a couple of days ago we got Jake back!

Now we have no idea what the next step is. Jake is looking for work now and we will just go where we get work I guess. We are really praying for God to give us some direction on what the next step is. So hopefully you will pray for us too!

We are ready to settle down now and our next move will be the last move for a long time! With Faith starting Kindergarden and Sam starting preschool, we just desire to get Jake a great job, and find a great HOME! Amen! :)