eat sleep and farm

Friday night Jason's softball team won their first game; 21-10 (yeah baby!!) I was super bummed because it was a really late game and so I stayed home with the kiddos and didn't get to be there... but I heard it was pretty awesome. :) When he and Emily got home from the game, we started watching our first DVD of Heros, season 1. So far its been interesting... not sure what I think about it. First seasons of shows are usually "interesting" in many different ways, so we'll see. Saturday was a nice slow and relaxing day. We started off the morning going out to breakfast here in Oakley at a place called Fegan's. We liked the food and thought the atmosphere was nice as well. One of those places that doesn't look like much on the outside, but was very cute on the inside. Jase had a lot of freelance work to do, I did some grocery shopping and we took a nice walk in the evening, just before the sunset. Sunday was a super awesome day. Frank preached one of the best...

Have any of you gotten to the point where you've decided something in your life must be evil or decided "I'm not using it anymore!" ?? I've started to feel that way this week about a couple different things in my life and this morning at Bible study, I was reminded that often times, getting rid of it altogether is the wrong response. How often do we do that? I'll take care of this by just getting it out of my life -- leaving aside practicing self control. Obviously there are some areas in our lives that we need to get rid of. When its sin, its wrong, no matter how we look at it, or want to justify it. Although that is true, I'm starting to realize that instead of seeing OURSELVES as the problem (in most cases), we like to act like the outlet is the problem. There's nothing wrong with doing online shopping... there IS something wrong with sitting on the computer and spending way too much money and time on things you don't really even need. Over ind...

So, I created this blog in a bit of a hurry and put the wrong link for my friend Jen Rippee's site. Oops! Thankfully today I was going through every link I have on here and noticed that one was totally wrong. Sorry Jen! Its fixed now. :)

Many of you have been asking "is Rachel walking yet?!" and I'm here to tell you all, no... she's not. This girl, much like her brother, has decided that talking is way more important to her. She's turning into quite the talker, putting 2 words together really well and understanding most of what we say to her. Ethan did the same thing and I remember my Dr. telling us that kids will either walk first or talk first, but usually not both. Ethan didn't walk until he was 15 months old, so she's got time. She's getting very close; often standing all by herself and she has taken a couple steps and then realizes she's alone and sits down. :) I'm eager for her to walk, so her knees can quit getting so scratched, but I know the day she walks, I'll be sobbing, because my baby is growing up!

We tend to be caught up in our own feelings, with things we want and think we need from God. We live in a society of self-gratification that stresses personal fulfillment, getting what one wants out of life - and getting it immediately. Christians are not exempt from this way of thinking. Each of us must "guard (our) heart, for it is the wellspring of life" (Proverbs 4:23). We cannot allow the world to squeeze (us) into its own mold" (Romans 12:2). We need to learn to incorporate in our prayers the beautiful praise offerings found in God's Word, such as those in the Psalms and in the first two chapters of Luke. Strive to make God the focus of your prayers above all else!

I got this recipe from my friend Megan several years ago. I've never actually made it, but I've been at several events where this is served and its always a huge hit. Since that time of the year is coming around again... thought you'd all enjoy it! Ingredients: 1 box of yellow cake mix (or make your own) 1 large can (28 or 29 oz.) Pumpkin 1 large can (10 or 12oz.) evaporated milk 3 eggs 2 sticks of butter or 1 stick margarine 1 cup sugar 1 tsp. cinnamon 1 cup chopped pecans (or your favorite nut) Method: Melt the butter in a small saucepan. In a separate bowl, mix pumpkin, evap. milk, eggs, sugar and cinnamon. Line 9x13 inch pan with foil (spray with cooking spray). Pour pumpkin mixture into pan. Sprinkle cake mix over pumpkin mixture. Pat down. Sprinkle nuts. Drizzle butter. Bake for one hour @ 350 degrees (usually more) Let it stand for at least 10 minutes before turning out on cutting board. Its best to stand 2 hours or refrigerate to speed the cooling. Turn cake over on...

I've been reading through the book of Luke for CBS homework every week and this week's commentary was especially encouraging to me. Hope it is to you as well! In the commentary on the 1st book of Luke (in our lesson book) we're told that we usually want to criticize Zechariah for his doubt, when the angel told him of John's birth. He then reminds us that we have a far greater advantage. We have the witness of the life, teaching, miracles, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We have evidence of the Holy Spirit at work in our lives. We can look back at the history of the church which, with all its faults and short comings, still gives testimony to the life-changing power of the gospel. We have the Holy scriptures to give us guidance, help, comfort, and correction. We have the Christian community to strengthen and encourage us. Even with all these advantages, how many times have we questioned the truth of God's Word? Do we remain firm in our faith when circumstance...

I need help! We live in a brand new neighborhood and so with all the construction going on around us, some of our 4 month old mini blinds already need to be cleaned! I'm wondering if any of you have any tips on how to clean them myself. I know when I was younger, we would take the aluminum blinds off and lay them on the driveway, soap them up and wash them with the hose. I can't do that with these because they're the faux wood kind and... that would be bad. :) So, any suggestions? Cool gadgets out there you know of that I can use? Please help.

If you're here visiting, its because I've invited you! So welcome. :) We're trying something a bit new here... a blog where I can write more mommy type stuff and write a little more free, without worrying about who might be reading it. :) This is going to be where I post most of my stuff and I will continue to upload all our pictures to jastef.net (although I'll keep some posted here) and I will continue to post family type updates over there as well. I will no longer be posting any personal stuff, recipes or product plugs over at jastef.net Feel free to add this link to your websites and if I've missed inviting anyone to this one, they can email me and be added. Welcome!

We had a nice (if not super full) day today! We went to church this morning and heard an excellent sermon from the book of James on wisdom and humility. After the sermon we (and several other couples) were officially welcomed into the membership! In the Spring we took the membership classes, gave our testimonies and then met with the Pastors and its finally official! We're very excited and eager to see how God will use us here. After church we went to J's parent's house for a birthday celebration for his sister Jenny. Some of our friends from our old church were there and it was really nice to see them all again. We had a great time and I took some pictures that I'll post on here. Hope you all had a nice weekend. :)

Happy 24th Birthday to J's sister Jenny! We love you so much and can't wait to see you on Sunday! ~J,S,E&R

Like Laura (my fellow blogger friend!), the week is half way over and I've had nothing to post about. I mean, sure... I could bore you all with the dull details of our lives, but I think I'll spare you. In place of an interesting post, I'll share a recipe with you all! Have a good week. ~Peanut Butter Striped Delight~ Serves 24 35 OREO Chocolate Sandwich Cookies 6 Tbsp. butter, melted 1 pkg. (8 oz.) Cream Cheese, softened 1/4 cup sugar 3 cups plus 2 Tbsp. cold milk, divided 1 tub (8 oz.) Whipped Topping, thawed, divided 2 pkg. (4-serving size each) Vanilla Flavor Instant Pudding & Pie Filling 1/3 cup peanut butter PLACE cookies in food processor; cover. Process to form fine crumbs. Transfer to medium bowl. Add butter; mix well. Press firmly onto bottom of 13x9-inch dish. Refrigerate 10 min. Meanwhile, beat cream cheese, sugar and 2 Tbsp. milk in separate bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until well blended. Add 1-1/4 cups of the whipped topping; mix well....

They're getting so big! I love this picture Jason took, so decided I'd share it with ALL Of you - even those of you that don't log in . Rachel was making Ethan laugh so hard. She kept grabbing onto him and laughing while she hugged him and then he was laughing even harder. Had to be there; super funny.

...came to our church today! A man came and spoke to us about their purpose and also shared a bit of history with us, which was all very interesting and informative. He encouraged us to learn more how to better witness to our Jewish friends as well. Here's the link, if you'd like to learn more. JewsforJesus

We had our first softball game last night. We went down 15-9, but had a good time. It's pretty clear that in this league, the key points are to make the basic defensive plays (minimize throwing errors), and consistently knock out line drives that move runners along. We did both of these pretty well for the first half of the game, but then the scoring dried up :) I had a pretty good game; I dropped my first fly ball (I haven't really played outfield since I was 12, and the ball looks pretty crazy coming out of the lights), but grabbed a couple more (actually harder) flys later in the game. I went 2 for 4, and got one of the highest compliments I could receive: on my third trip to the plate, the opposing team was yelling to each other "He hits line drives". And then I popped the next pitch up (crazy knuckleball -- the other team had a good pitcher) :) Anyway, it was lots of fun and got my head out of my normal flow of work; and it was nice spending some time w...

Tonight I had my first session of what we call something like servant-leader training. Ryan is leading a 2-year course that is essentially a lighter treatment of the training that they do at Grace Theological Seminary (which he graduated from recently). Meetings are once every 2 weeks, with some homework and reading in the middle... the purpose is really beyond helping us grow spiritually, to also helping us minister effectively to those around us. I think this is going to be great and an excellent opportunity for me to be pushed past limits that I'm confortable with, and grow in areas that I would not otherwise make progress in. Between this and home fellowship and my freelance projects, I'm going to have my hands really full, but I think it will be good for me. And I'm rapidly approaching wrapping up a couple of projects -- I've got some client training for one scheduled on Monday, and the other is nearing completion. Once I've got those done, I'll b...

I'm actually making the recipe this weekend. I love making special treats like that. Laura, to answer your question (without writing a book) I think these links best sum it up. http://www.soytoy.com/soydanger.html http://www.healingdaily.com/detoxification-diet/soy.htm Just so everyone is clear on this, I do not think you're a bad person, parent or caregiver if you feed soy products to your family. This is simply the road Jason and I have chosen to take for our family. I'm not a fan of dairy products in general (though I think they taste divine!) but I am yet to find healthy and safe alternatives for them. Our kids are not your typical milk drinking kids. They do drink milk, just not as many glasses a day as some. I'm a big fan of drinking water and for added calcium, they eat a lot of dark leafy greens and other healthy sources that give their bodies the calcium they need. We typically stay away from High Fructose Corn Syrup, too much sugar (unless its grown...