eat sleep and farm

I found this shirt at a consignment store and had to buy it for Rachel. Something about it just seemed... perfect. ;-)

My very good friend (she's more like a sister to me) gave birth to her 4th baby, but 1st girl on Wednesday afternoon!! Little Gabriella Achieng Yimbo was born at 2:07pm and weighs 7 lbs. 15oz. and is quite the little cutie pie. She looks a lot like her 3 brothers, but daintier and more beautiful :) Her middle name is Kenyan and means "girl born in the afternoon" Congrats to the Yimbo family!

The kids and I went to San Francisco today. It was beautiful weather, a great time with friends and the drive there and back went well, as usual. I realized we visit the area more often than I thought, when Ethan told me he could direct me back to the freeway and he did it perfectly! We hit our usual spots, minus our favorite organic hot dog joint (Underdog) was closed when we went by. We got our coffee and snacks and then headed over to Stow Lake/ Golden Gate Park. We had the most fun today, out of all our trips! The kids got to see turtles on the log, the waterfall, paddle boats and more! It was a blast. And, despite what some of my Facebook friends thought - it *was* relaxing ;) I took some pictures with my cell phone. As you can tell, I'm getting desperate now and have finally succumb to using the camera on my phone. Ug. Sadly, I didn't get any pictures of Kara and Chloe. They were both in their strollers, being happy little campers. the weather was crystal clear and the p...

About a month ago my parents sold this nice desk to me. I liked it a lot, but wasn't crazy about the color of the wood. It looked unfinished. Most of you know though, I am NOT creative and doing projects, whether they be sewing, painting or other such crafts, gives me the most sickest feeling in my tummy. Jason was painting his computer desk several weeks ago and I loved the color he chose, so I tried a bit on my desk... and here is the finished product! (I have to say, I'm quite proud of myself)

I pulled these off my cell phone... these were both taken just before she headed into surgery.

I wanted to thank you all for your prayers for my Grandpa. He's doing well, considering. My Mom is still up in Sonora cleaning his house, organizing his belongings and taking care of paper work and such. The good news is, my Grandpa will be moving here to the town we live in and will be staying in an assisted living place about 1 mile from my parents! We're all really excited about that and my kids are especially thrilled that "Great Pop" will be close enough for us to go visit on a regular basis. Thank you for praying for my Mom as well - she really appreciates it. My kids miss their Nana... they're used to being able to seeing her at church and sometimes during the week. She's an amazing Nana and her being gone for more than a week has left a hole in their hearts. Rachel asked me today "Mommy, where is Nana and what closet is she hiding in?" :)

This past week has been full of God reminding me of what's most important in life. Reminding me, because I already know... but often forget, lose sight, place other things in front of it, etc... I need the reminding. Badly. He's been showing me how very delightful a good, solid relationship with Him is. How He is the source of my joy and happiness. He's the reason I smile and the reason I have future hope. Nothing else. The "other joys" would include my husband, my kids, my family, my church, my friends, my life. However, I have joy in those things because they're from God. Because He blesses me beyond my wildest imaginations. Even through the trials. Yes, I did say through the trials He blesses me beyond my wildest imagination. I often feel like going through trials is like being drug through mud and I'm screaming that I want out, but for some reason I can't get up and get out of the mud. I hate it. I complain the entire way through them and find very...

My Grandpa (my Mom's Dad) lost his wife to throat cancer today. Her cancer spread very fast and this morning she was rushed to UCSF when she was having difficulty breathing. We found out she was so sick only a few weeks ago, so its been taking me a little time to adjust. I've never been super close to her. She wasn't the type that liked closeness and kept people at arms length. I'm not sure why. I used to watch her and sometimes wanted to take her by the arms and say "you'd be so much happier if you'd allow yourself to be!" but she seemed quite content living in her small, quiet world. I'm just sad thinking of it. I hate losing people, but there's such a difference when you know someone is in the presence of God... in a good way. And then my heart breaks for my Grandpa. My Grandma (his first wife) died of Ovarian Cancer back in 1983 at the young age of 52 years. I know this has got to be hard, just for him to have those memories fresh in his ...

Kara has done really well since the surgery! She's eating fine, sleeping great and hopefully enjoying her fixed ears :) She definitely doesn't poke at them nearly as much as she used to. She also already makes eye contact more than she used to, so that's a plus! Our lives have already returned back to normal and we're thrilled with her progress. God has been really good to our baby. I just wanted to thank you all for your prayers and your love for her. The surgery went so fast and so smooth, it was a big relief to Jason and me. Tomorrow I am sending in all my paperwork for the camera replacement, so hopefully pictures will be coming soon!

and please be honest with your responses. I use Facebook, which can be a fun thing and a really bad thing all at the same time. I love it for connecting with old friends, new friends and current friends, but I hate it for how nosy some people are, I think its odd when people have long, back and forth personal conversations that once upon a time, you used to share via emails! Yeah. Enough on that subject. Anyway, Ethan is starting Kindergarten in a couple weeks and I've posted about it a few times in the past 3 months. Each time I post about it, I get these very odd comments back, insinuating that its impossible for him to do Kindergarten before he's 5 years old. Like at the age of 5 you magically become smart enough and ready. I was curious, so I drove down to a local elementary school a few weeks ago and said "if my son is 4 1/2 and I wanted him to start school this year, would you let him?" Their answer?... "Yes!" Amazing. So now I'm really curious ...

I am terribly exhausted, but wanted to quickly let you know that Kara's surgery is over, we're home, she's doing great and now we're all going to sleep before E&R come home :-) Thank you ALL for your prayers and love for Kara!

May I take some time to publicly adore my husband? Thanks. Glad you don't mind. I won't go on and on, I promise. I am so thankful for the man I married. So thankful for who he was the day I married him and who he's become over the past 5+ years we've been married. The husband and Father he's grown into; the leader, the protector and provider for our family. He does his job so well and makes it look so enjoyable. His goal in life is to bring glory to God with his life, to serve God with all his being and to enjoy his family. Its not to be a big wig, to be wealthy, to be famous, or even to be a high up person in the church... just to be a man of God, a faithful husband and a Dad who thoroughly enjoys each one of his children. He's been spending the past couple of months eagerly trying to land a good, solid and stable job. It hasn't been easy, many doors have been shut, some windows opened, but never windows he felt God was leading him through and yet, he plug...

We had Kara's pre-op appointment today and she got the green light from her Dr! We're still waiting on an actual surgery time and then we also meet with the Anaesthesiologist today so go over her sedation details. I'm going to post her surgery update on Facebook and will blog about it when we're home and settled down. So, if you're curious about it tomorrow, you'll have to check Facebook (I apologize to those of you who don't have facebook). Also... and this has nothing to do with K's surgery. Jason and I are thinking we'll just keep this website for now and we're not sure what (if anything) we'll do with jastef.net - Looks like blogspot is much easier to maintain and especially easier for ME to maintain. I don't have time in my life right now to be learning the ropes of the code and such over at jastef.net We're not going to delete that website yet, but it won't be in use at all in the near future. Go ahead and change your links...

We got a surgery date for Kara! Looks like she'll be going in this Tuesday, the 18th. We have A LOT to do before then, so I ask that you please pray for everything to flow smoothly. She has several pre-op appointments, we're going to be out of town this weekend and then just life in between will make this difficult, but we know it needs to be done. Please pray God will give us calmness on the day of the surgery and that everything will go really well for Kara. Thanks!!

Our good friends Cody and Chanel Pisahl welcomed their firstborn into God's world today! Baby Jaden was born around 3:30pm this afternoon, after 36+ hours of labor for Mommy. Chanel did a wonderful job and has already announced it was all worth it and she wants more. Jaden weighs 7.3 lbs and is 21 inches long. I hear he's been catching up on sleep quite a bit and making his Grandparents, Aunts and Uncles all fall in love with him already. Congrats Pisahl family!

I'm sorry for not posting an update on Kara's pre-op consultation last week. Everything went well (except for actually finding the building we needed to be in!) and the surgeon said that yes, at this point, they will only be putting tubes in her ears. He showed us the tubes (even tinier than Ethan's!) and said the whole process takes about 30 minutes, and then when you had about 30 to prep and then an hour in recovery... it won't be bad at all. She does not have to be given an IV or put under the way Ethan did - they will use gas and she will be asleep for about an hour. He said she should wake up and feel groggy for about 8 hours, but with the help of Tylenol, she'll be fine within 24 hours. We haven't received a call about a surgery date, so he gave me a number to call today to get that set up. We ended up having a lovely time in SF after her appointment. Took the kids to their favorite dinner spot down on Chesnut Street (by my Grandma's old house) and had...

Today we take Kara to her pre-op consultation in Oakland. This is all happening so fast, but I think I prefer faster, rather than going slowly and having too much time to think about it, like I did with Ethan's. If you see this post before 3pm today, please pray that the surgeon will also agree that she only needs tubes put in at this point. We're really hoping they agree to hold off on her adenoids, since its a much bigger surgery if you take those out. We were told by the Dr. here, that the surgeon might schedule her surgery for as early as tomorrow or Friday! I think we'd actually prefer that, since we've got a wedding next week that at least Jason needs to be at. Also, please pray that if E&R actually have the flu, that Jason, Kara and I won't suddenly be throwing up on surgery day. For those of you who don't know, E&R discovered some coffee creamer in the bottom door of the fridge on Saturday afternoon and, thinking it was vanilla milk (E's fav...

Jason and I have been married almost 5 1/2 years and I am just now getting the hang of budgeting for food and doing meal planning that works with a busy schedule and 3 small kids! I know what you're thinking - "its about time, Stefanie!"... And I agree :-) I decided about 2 months ago to put my energy into figuring out a way to help our dollar go further and to also get good, nutritious meals on our table, for every meal and not just dinner. I read some articles, looked on some websites, asked some of my close friends and picked my Mom's brain a bit, along with some of the older (aka, wiser) women at church. I came away with several different tips, but 3 that stood out to me were: Do your shopping often Don't go with an empty stomach Be as organized as possible The first tip is one I hadn't thought of much. I was trying to go either once a month or maybe twice a month, but hadn't really given any thought to having a grocery day, once a week. I don't ...

Our little munchkin is 10 months old today!! I cannot believe how fast this past year has gone by. She's quite the little motivated girl - already starting to take some steps on her own and learning to say a few words! I love watching her personality develop and getting to see more of her own little idiosyncrasies. I love watching her figure things out and learn on her own - she is very good about entertaining herself and will work with something until she figures it out on her own. I love that about her. She is such a good eater; loves food and also thinks her body need to be decorated with it when she decides she's done with it. She loves being outside, loves going for walks and being sung to. If I need her to hold still and focus, all I have to do is start singing and I've got her full attention. Too bad this technique doesn't work on Sunday mornings, during the sermon. ;) She's still taking 2 naps and sleeps like a champ at night. She'll get up once du...