"Isn't it interesting how new stuff makes us feel like better human beings?

We just moved into a new house and I have a million things in the world to do right now but my girls are both asleep and I find myself full of words that God has placed upon my heart.  So instead of putting things away I just want to put these words upon this page!

So we are on day 5 of having this house.  Usually when I get something new I am just overwhelmed with exhilaration.  You know the feeling!  When you get something new you just are giddy with excitement but I just don't have that feeling.  The lack of giddiness was sort of wearing on me last night so I sat back and mulled over what's going on within my heart.  I'm not overly overwhelmed....little tired but nothing major.  I really do like the house...totally not feeling remorse or regret.  I just feel like God is showing my something in this moment.  And so when I sat down to listen to a sermon today from the Village Church, God totally spoke to me through what the pastor Matt Chandler was saying.

"Isn't it interesting that new stuff makes us feel like better human beings?  I mean we're not.  We just got a new watch.  But that new watch makes us feel better.  Have you ever thought about how crazy that is?  That new stuff has a drug like effect on us.  Like you get a new ride and you think you're a better human being.  NO you're just the same human being with debt.  You're not any better.  You just have new stuff.  New home makes you feel better about yourself.  It's still you...just a new house!  But it has that effect on us.  It's dangerous."

"EVERYTHING YOU OWN WILL EVENTUALLY GO TO THE GARAGE SALE OR THE DUMP.  It's going to be buried with a mountain of dirt with a bunch of other rubble.  EVERYTHING!  Everything you own is transient.  Here for but a season.  None of it makes you a better person.  None of it!"

As I read that over and over again I am just overwhelmed with emotions.  I wanted this house and now here I am living in it and God just showed up in a mighty way and reminded me of two insanely important things.

1. More More More just doesn't satisfy the soul.  It just doesn't work that way.  More square footage, More rooms, More Decorations....just doesn't satisfy.  Instead come to Me Jennifer and I will satisfy your soul!  This house was a gift to you but it IS NOT your God.  Houses make lousy Gods!

2. Remain humble with this beautiful house purchase.....because this house is here for but a season.  While it is here use it to bring glory to MY name!

 "For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me"  Matthew 25: 35-36

http://www.thevillagechurch.net/sermon/the-genesis-creation-and-fall/

Our House has Sold, we MOVE out THIS Saturday...And we just finalized the contract to our NEW house!

All I can say is that this has been an insanely emotional roller coaster of a week and a half!  There have been a lot of high moments and a lot of low moments.  When this process began I told Jake that this is the first time in our life that we have truly relied fully on God.  The job, the house going on the market, the offer on the new house....in all of it we have gone to God.  It has never been approached as what do I want....or what do we want, but rather what does God want?  Is this of God or is this of us?  Because if this is about us I want none of it!  I lived most of my life doing what I want and it just doesn't work!  It leaves an emptiness and a void.  

I could probably write pages and pages about the last 10 days but I just don't have the energy.....the link below sums up the lessons and the feelings from all that God has done in our lives this week.  In our hearts Jake has made guitar skills and I have a beautiful singing voice....in reality we'll let Vince and Carrie do their thing....but know that the emotion that they sing and play with is the emotion that is in our hearts!  God has provided and How Great He is!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLLMzr3PFgk

The Moving Sign is up....the Tears are Flowing Freely!

A man just pulled out of our driveway and he left behind a big yellow and black sign.  It's swinging in our front yard and I'm in the house balling because the words For Sale are really hitting me right now.  This whole process has been happening so quickly and there is no other way to put it except that today I have become overwhelmed.  I have to go back to the beginning though to understand why we are here now with a sign in our front yard.....

A few months ago Jake and I began talking about his career future.  Did he plan on staying where he was at and one day become partner, would he start his own firm, or did he want to do something other than taxes?  I had been praying for some time and I really felt like there was something else that God had planned for Jake.  I also felt like it was coming soon and whatever it was that the process would be super easy!

Jake had been talking to Justin, a headhunter, and Justin was keeping his eyes open for Jake.  One day Justin called with two potential job opportunities.  It was evident to me in the light in Jakes eyes that the oil and gas option really excited him.  He went in to take a basic accounting test, was told he wouldn't be interviewed for awhile due to vacations, but was called in right away for an interview.  I know Jake like I know the back of my hand.  He is a good man who loves people and is genuinely interested in their lives AND he is insanely smart.  I know that transcends in interviews, so I pretty much figured that he would get the job, and he would take the job.  That's exactly what happened.

Then began the talk of moving closer to Fort Worth, which is where Jake now works at Enduro.  Jake said we'll wait a year or maybe two and save up more money.  I laughed inside and decided to ask him what he thought after he started the job and did the commute for a day or two.  Remember I know Jake like I know the back of my hand.  The man used to have to commute to Dallas and it got to him more then anything I have ever seen!  Plus Jake is an amazing dad who more than anything wants to be present. This new commute has been snatching away his quality time with his girls.  So there is a sign swinging back and forth in our  front yard.  From the start I have said that I have had such a piece about this entire process.

The past few days I have been struggling though for several reasons:

I love this house and yard that we have made a home.  Yesterday Kylie Jo and I were sitting out on our swing in the backyard.  It was quiet, there were bunnies hopping around, and neighbors congregating in the street talking.  I love that and as we begin the search for our next home I just am scared that we won't find this again!

I love our neighbors.  This is our very first house and I think we struck the jack pot.  There have been times of trouble and celebration in our neighborhood and when those times come everyone bands together to help out.  They have taught me how to be a neighbor and have showed me what it looks like to love and I am praying that in our next neighborhood this will ring true but scared that it won't!

We thought we were going to move to Aledo.  It is where our church is, it's closer to Ft. Worth, and it's one of the best school districts in the area.  My heart was SLAMMED on Sunday at church and now I am doubting Aledo. Is this where I want my children to grow up?  Will they think that prom dresses that are hundreds of dollars is okay and that our house is small because of the mansions all around us?    If we adopt from Africa like we are thinking that we might, will our child feel so very out of place in this area of almost no diversity?  Are we being good stewards of God's money by moving to a place that we have to pay so much more money for a house?  Are we putting our children up as idols by limiting this search to only AISD?  Does God want us in Aledo?  Does God want us in Benbrook?  Does God want us to quit wanting so much in a house or does he want to bless us with a nice house so that we can bring people in and use our house to glorify Him?  Something that I had so much peace about I am all the sudden stressing about because of that stupid sign hanging in the front lawn and the first showing today at 1:30.

If you're a pray-er please pray that in all of this we would hear God.  That he would make His plans known to us and that this process would be easy.  That our house would sale and then our new house will come on the market and we will just know that is where God wants us whether it's in Aledo or Benbrook or wherever.

If you aren't a pray-er....you should be!  Call me...we can talk!

Saying YES to God via Isaiah 58:10... through Noonday Collections

So...lately it seems like everybody in my life is going on mission trips.  Jake, my husband, is going to Portugal to share Jesus with tough guys who can be reached through some good, ole fashioned, down and dirty football.  My Mom and dad are heading to Panama together to see, through their friends lives, what it looks like when faithful servants leave their comfortable life and pour out their love on others.  My mom is then going to Cambodia to share Jesus with the millions of people who are walking around empty and to love on the kids.  My friends are going wherever it is that God is calling them.  And I am stuck, here, in good ole Weatherford, TX, watching them all go on their journeys while wishing that I too could be going out to share Jesus's love.

However, God has blessed me with 2 precious, young, girls who need me.  I can't just pack up, head to the ends of the Earth and love on others.  I have a job to do here, to raise them to know the love of Jesus first, so that one day they too can go out and spread the word.  My prayer lately has been one of pleading.....God PLEASE show up and show me a way that I can help the poor and the orphans all over the world without getting on a plane.  I seriously thought it was a pretty far fetched prayer but God is an awesome and loving God who has so graciously opened a window for me.

This window came into view through an e-mail that I received from my sister in law a little over a week ago.  She sent me a link to a website and told me that I would LOVE it.  As I clicked on the link my eyes first saw the words Noonday and then as they scanned over the homepage I saw Isaiah 58:10; " ...when you satisfy the needs of the oppressed, your night will become like the noonday."  I'm not a crier but I broke down and started crying.  God knows the desires of my heart and loves me enough to deliver, in an e-mail, an answer to my prayer, in a way that I could never have dreamed up.

As I looked at the necklaces, bracelets, earrings, scarves, purses, shoes, belts, hats, and home decor, I was 100 percent certain that God was calling me to invest my heart and time into this company.  Let me break it down in a nutshell for you.  Over and Over God tells us that we are to love and take care of the poor and the orphaned.  Noonday does both of these things.  They buy all their products from artisans in insanely poor areas.  These people all the sudden have money to send their children to school , buy chickens, or even expand their business so they can employ others in their community.  Noonday is helping to pave their way out of poverty with this stable income, which in turn means that these people are less likely to abandon their children  .

As if that isn't enough, Noonday helps families raise money for their own adoptions.  They give 10 percent of trunk show sales directly to the adoptive family when they host a trunk show.  Aside from donating 10 percent towards qualified adoptive families, Noonday gives towards orphan care and prevention.

This is just amazingly mind-blowing to me.  How great is this company?  So now I am a Noonday Collections Ambassador. I get to take this message out in my corner of the world.  I get to share Jesus, help the poor, help the people who are adopting, help the orphans, and I get to style my friends and family all at the same time.  I cannot wait to see what God does through this opportunity.  All I know is that it's going to be great.  I can feel it in my heart and soul that this is going to change me forever because this isn't about the money at all.  I wasn't even looking for a job!  This is about applying the words in the bible to my life...it's about saying Yes to God.  It's about taking that leap of faith and seeing the opportunity that he has placed in front of me.  

I pray that this company touches your heart as it has touched mine.  When you wear Noonday you're saying, "I care about the poor, the hungry, the sick, and the abandoned."  You get to be a voice for the oppressed.

If you know of any families who are going through the expensive adoption process let me know because I would love to get in touch with them and book a party in their name.

If you don't know a person who is adopting get in touch with me anyway.  Host a show...not for me...for them.........

Founder of Noonday, Jessica Honneger, spending time building relationships with aritsans.

Like my Noonday Facebook page to stay up to date on all things Noonday!

https://www.facebook.com/JenniferWeberNoondayCollectionAmbassador

Check out some outfits that I accessorized with Noonday Love on Polyvore! http://www.polyvore.com/noonday_style_made_with_love/collection?id=2504348

Order Online from my website:

http://www.jenniferweber.noondaycollection.com/

What does the future hold.....maybe Photography?

Right now I am a stay at home mom.  It is beautiful and perfect and messy but I know without a doubt that it is exactly where I am supposed to be.  I don't have a desire in the world to do anything other then guide and love on my girls right now.  But one day when they spread their wings and fly off to school I know that I want to get out and do something.  I love teaching but for many reasons I don't know if that is what I am being called to do in the next season of life.  For as long as I can remember God has had photography on my heart.

Since having kids, that love of snapping a shot has just continued to multiply. I have so much to learn though!  My prayer lately has been for God to show up and show me if photography is something that I should really start investing in and pursuing since I have that passion.

This week, my phone rang and my answer was waiting on the other end....."Would you take pictures for us?"  These 6 words rocked my world.  My neighbors, who have become great friends, needed somebody to take pictures for their son's baptism and I CAME TO MIND!  My passion/love/obsession is obvious to others and they know that they will at least get decent pictures!  THIS IS SO EXCITING!

So here are the pictures from today......they aren't edited because I am still learning how to do that.  But it was such an honor to be able to capture real, honest, unedited moments.  I loved every minute of it and secretly I would have made them take a ton more but I didn't want to be annoying.  My heart has been set on fire now.....if you want some free pictures so I can keep learning....you know who to call!  

Parenting is HARD

Our Pictures we put on facebook NEVER look like this but I think for a lot of us this is more accurately life most of the time!

I came across statement after statement in the reading of a parenting book (Desperate by Sarah Mae and Sally Clarkson) that shook the very foundations of my parenting world.  I started to realize that everything I am going through, all the feelings, all the hardships, all the joys, I’m not alone in them.  All of you moms out there have gone through or are going through the exact things that I am but so few of us talk about it.  Umm this just in…parenting is HARD.  It is without a shadow of a doubt the single hardest thing that I personally have ever done in my life.  

Before being a mom I had parenting wrapped up in this pretty little box with a giant bow on top.  It was perfect and I was going to be the best!  I would be up bright and early before the kids; dressed in nice clothes, makeup on, hair styled, smellin good, quiet time checked off and breakfast cooking in the pan before the kids arose.  I was always going to be happy, energetic, and ready to conquer everything that needed to get done for the day.  Then I had Kylie Jo and I wondered why someone didn't set me straight?  Why didn't someone tell me that my idea of parenthood was wrapped a little too neatly.

The lid (and bow) has since been blown off of my pretty little packaged idea of parenthood.  “Down to the deepest part of my soul is the love I have for my girls.  Every day of my life is imperfectly offered to them.  But the little years, they’re hard and oftentimes lonely.  It’s like a secret we fear sharing, just how life-altering motherhood is. And the thing is…we moms don’t need an instruction manual.  We need physical help.”

“Going at it alone is, without a doubt, one of the most common and effective strategies that Satan uses to discourage moms.  A woman alone in her home with her ideals eventually wears down and becomes a perfect target for Satan to discourage.”

“God made us for community and accountability and close friendship.  He also created family, so that no one would ever have to be alone or bear the burden of life by themselves.  Young moms were never meant to be without the advice and care of multiple women assisting them and advising them in their lives.  Yet we have become so used to living without support that we often lose perspective on how much we need intimate friendships with other women."

Titus 2: 3-5 says "Older women likewise are to be reverent in their behavior, not malicious gossips nor enslaved to much wine, teaching what is good, so that they may encourage the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be sensible, pure, workers at home, kind, being subject to their own husbands, so that the word of God will not be dishonored."

Older women out there...just so you know.....we (as a generation) are desperate for you.  You have experience and wisdom under you belt....mentor us...teach us...help us!  Yes you can bring us a meal, Yes you can watch our kids so that we can clean or have a little alone time (what's that?), Yes you can volunteer in the church nursery so that we don't have to be the ones to do it, YES you can come over to our houses of chaos and show us how to _____!  YES you can be the woman that God has called you to be in Titus 2 (Shout out to my mom for being a Titus 2 woman in so many peoples lives and for Dad who is always standing somewhere by her side!)

“This journey of mothering is a challenging marathon of moments, hours, days, months, years, and decades.  And yet, in each moment, God has sprinkled across our paths beauty, love, and joy.  Don’t neglect to see the beauty of the life around you while being over-whelmed by the duties of life.”

Wow can I just "say" that one more time...."Don’t neglect to see the beauty of the life around you while being over-whelmed by the duties of life.”  Sometimes someone says something in such a way that it reaches down to the deepest parts of your soul and changes you, and that is just what that sentence has done for me.  In my winter rut I was getting so bogged down by the mundane ins and outs of life that I was missing the beauty, love, and joy that is plastered all over my days.  This week I started out not trying to be perfect because if that's my goal I will fail every time.  Instead I just looked for God in my days....and I found Him over and over again and again!
   
 

What did Santa get you for Christmas?

To this day I can still remember finding out that Santa, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, and all those made up holiday gift givers were a lie.  To say that I was devastated would be an understatement.  I was a tad bit of a dramatic child but I felt betrayed, like my entire life was a lie.  If my parents lied about this what else did they lie to me about?  The very first time that I celebrated Christmas knowing that Santa wasn't real the magic of the holiday was gone for me (as a child)...and so before Jake and I had children I was really on the fence about the whole Santa thing!

Even after we had Kylie Jo we weren't sure what our Christmas traditions were going to look like.  But this year Kylie Jo is old enough that we needed to decide.  I admit that I almost gave in to Santa....because I feel like I am taking some childhood "fun" away from our girls...but then I remember that their souls are so much more important, so we won't follow the ways of the world.  I don't want the magic of the Christmas holiday to be wrapped up in hopes that St Nicholas soon will be dropping even more presents that we don't need under the tree.......but rather in the gift that God has given us....Jesus!  I want them to never be confused about what Christmas is about!  Jesus is fun too people and....waaiit for it....the reason for the season haha!

Even though we have made this decision I KNOW that many of you are reading this and feeling sorry for our girls, or thinking we are CrAzY cHrIsTiAn FoLk.  That's okay though!  This is just one of those times in life that we'll just have to agree to disagree.    

So with the decision of no Santa behind us we found that traditions just sort of developed (Jake's favorite of course being any and all food traditions).......here are some of my favorite pictures of our holiday season.

Every year I buy the girls a new ornament that sums up their year for the tree.  This year I found a Finding Nemo ornament online.....Kylie Jo LOVES that movie and all animals in the ocean!

One night we decided to make sugar cookies....

Somebody sneaking some dough

Jake likes this tradition more then Kylie Jo I think....

Love that girl!

My bible study girls.....dress as a character from your favorite Christmas Movie.

The husbands

What are we dressed as?  Every lifetime Christmas Movie....he's the stud in flannel and OBVIOUSLY I'm the hot girl!  

One night when Jake and Kylie got home I had all the lights off, tree lit, candles all over, and the fire blazing....

You can be impressed with my fire making skills!

We read some books.......camped out and later Kylie watched a Christmas movie.  It was good quality family time!

Watching a classic

Breakfast on Christmas Eve which was when we opened our presents with just us 4 this year.  Famous sausage balls and a new french toast casserole.  YUM!  

Lila is tryin to swipe Kylie's stuff already!

Somebody LOVES her princess dress! 

And another princess outfit...this Christmas was the year of the princess!

Thanks Uncle Dan and Aunt Ann.....gotta support Illini

Having a tea party in her new pajamas!

We got Lila two things this year....this was one of them!  Her cousin had it and she LOVED it!

Dancing in her pajamas and tutu!  Love that girl!

 My gifts from Jake this year were my FAVORTIE!  LOVE my boots, bracelet, vase, CD, champagne  and board game! 

We're ready for our Christmas Eve church service.  Tradition of dressing nice and matchy matchy as a family just might not last!  It was like pulling teeth to get a decent picture and I am not a fan of "pullin teeth".

Somebody is a goof ball!

I love my sweet Lila Ruth!

After church we came home and had birthday cake for Jesus.  I know what you're thinking....cake decorating is not in my future!  It's not about what the cake looks like people....it's about remembering what we are celebrating.  I can make a mean tasting cake even if it looks bad though!  

This year on Christmas we went to my parents house to open presents and celebrate the day!  Even if everybody else is dressed we are stylin and profilin in our new pj's which is officially a tradition....because I can eat all I want and my pants don't get too tight!  DON'T judge me!

Lila and Grandaddy gettin some snuggle time in!

Love that girl.....cleanin up the paper with her new broom!

Best present of all....SNOW ON CHRISTMAS in TEXAS!  First time Kylie Jo has seen snow and wanted to play with it....of course I didn't bring shoes.

Oh wow....tryin to eat snow.....

I think her mouth is bigger then Jake's.

I love these two SO much!  This picture captures them completely!

Lila is thinkin....get me outta this cold!  

Picture round two with snow in the background

Everybody takin a present break to watch it snow....you can for sure tell we live in Texas.

Like father like son....even matching with their plaid.

Lila loving her new toy!

PRINCESS book!

The trees are covered!

Looking pensive as he researches his new mole trap.

Aunt Jaycie clockin in some Lila time!

The girls with Gigi and PaPa

Lila is cheesin for the camera!

Kylie Jo gettin her reading time in!

Kylie got a princess set from Gigi and Papa....not happy about the earrings but we'll make her suffer for one picture!  

Fist time walkin in heels!  Pretty pumped (haha yes pun intended)

Christmas celebrations in December are over....I am whipped and the girls are sick but we were so thankful to spend this time with our family and most importantly to have a God who loves us so much that He gave His only Son.