Tracing our adventure - 4

For the last couple of years, I have been batting around the idea of going to seminary. As we looked and prayed about whether to move or not, this came into the decision making process as well. Would this help? Maybe by moving it would give us more options, and more help by being around family as we tried to make that happen?

I have felt that this dream? ambition? calling? has been kind of flailing...with me not really taking action on it, but not letting it go either.

Was this an opportunity to kick me in the pants and get moving on it?

Meanwhile...

Kristen, who was both frustrated with the nursing program and stressed out from the class she was taking went out to breakfast with a friend and did a complete information / emotion dump and ended up discussing other opportunities. All of a sudden, Kristen began to wonder if the reason that she hadn't made it into the nursing program was because she wasn't supposed to go into it at all. She had other things that she wanted to do and class was a burden, a stress that she could relieve herself of!

She came home excited about doing a ministry project and maybe going into a business with her friend. yes, she would finish the class...but no more stressing over grades! She just had to convince me.

She said to herself and to her friend, "I have to deliver this the right way to Jason or he will say no."

Apparently that didn't work...cause the first word out of my mouth was "No."

Tracing our adventure - 3

In order for Kristen to go to school in CO, we would obviously have to be there...so we wondered about selling the house. Obviously, with the market where it is everywhere, we knew we wouldn't be too happy with what we would be able to sell our home for. The question really was, could it work though? Especially since we should be able to get a pretty good deal in CO when we got out there...

So, we started to look into it. Kristen even brought an agent out to talk with us. She is the same lady we used to find the place and Kristen loves her. She wonderfully talked with us and did the market analysis so that we could look at it.

Well, let me just say that we wondered how much of an impact the addition would have on things...we have invested A LOT of money on the house over the last 4 years (way more than I care to think about) and what was the return going to be?

Funny enough, around the time we started discussing what the numbers might be, Kristen had a friend over for a play date...was talking about some of the things going on and our thoughts on the house and they got really interested in potentially buying our place!  They were looking to add on to their house or to just buy a different one that could meet their needs.  They even liked the fact that we were only half done with the construction so that they could tweak what we were doing above the garage to fit in with what they wanted...

Kristen told me it was fate :)  One thing for sure was that our heads were spinning.

Tracing our adventure - 2

Of course, I wasn't going to quit my job...but, we did think that there was potential to move it...should everything else fall into place. So, with that window open, we considered the other things involved.

As I had said, Kristen was very frustrated with the nursing program. She was getting ready to finish the very last pre-requisite / other class for the nursing program that wasn't an actual nursing class...and if she didn't get into this now, odds were not going to go up as her class hours would be going down and that is one of the factors the school looks at. She had twice before tried to get in and out of frustration, more than choice, switched things up to try to get into the day program (which is a two year program versus a three year program). Without getting into that program, maybe we needed to look at school's elsewhere...Colorado has TONS of great nursing schools and we thought...maybe that is why she hasn't got in....so Kristen cautiously started looking at options while we awaited a response from her school.

Tracing our adventure - 1

I have thought that I wanted to write down some things that happened over the winter and spring to trace how we got where we got to for this upcoming summer and fall...for our own memory and as a fun thing to share.

We passed our 4 year anniversary in Massachusetts earlier this year. We realized that now all of our kids had actually spent more of their lives in here rather than in Colorado! And while we continue to call Colorado home, it began hitting Kristen and I that maybe we were being called back...we had some friends that were moving at this time making us a bit sad, Kristen was getting frustrated with school and not getting into the evening nursing program, and besides simply missing family (which was huge), we really began to think about not only the kids not knowing the rest of the family but how much life might change for all of us by being together...(part of that was considering the free babysitting we were hoping to get since Kristen and I had not been on too many dates over the last 4 years).

So there seemed things that might be driving us home, but there were many things that would have to fall into place for that to happen...so, we were simply thinking about it and praying about it...

Other note on Bethel...

One other part of the final was to share about our favorite study...I thought I would share that as well since I was able to type it up before class:

My favorite study was 'The Empty Tomb'. There is no other study to me that conveys the critical truths of Christianity as powerfully as this study does. Without an empty tomb, Christ would not be our Lord and King. Without an empty tomb, we would have no hope to be raised after our deaths. Without an empty tomb, death would still be in control! But there is an empty tomb, because Jesus did rise from the grave, he did show himself to MANY people so that witnesses could corroborate the story and He did ascend and promise the Holy Spirit to his disciples.

The Holy Spirit is the other amazing part of this study as that promise enables the church, our transformation here on earth and so much more. The Holy Spirit is responsible for the amazing things that occur in Acts, which is one of the most amazing parts of the Bible to me and something that is so relevant to those of us that wish to see the Great Commission fulfilled.

Beyond these two parts, there were 6 other essays to write that night...but I won't post any of those...Unless I get asked to :)

Bethel Completed!

Had my 2nd part of my final last night. I am done! It was two years in the making but it really was a great experience. Part of the final was to write up a testimony on the class in less than 100 words...so I thought I would share it with everyone:

Bethel was a challenging, yet fun walk with fellow believers who I came to know more and more as friends over the two years. Bethel was a reminder that I don't learn things in life by just showing up...as much as I would like that to be the case. Finally, Bethel was an enlightening walk through the Bible that reminded me of things I knew, taught me things I didn't, and increased the awe I have of God's perfect Word and the amazing story that the Bible tells us. Bethel was a blessing.

Mother's Day

I am so lucky to have Kristen as my wife and mother of our children.
The kids are blessed to have her as their mother.  And we were happy to celebrate the day with her.

The celebration actually began early this year as the thing that Kristen wanted was an elliptical machine since we did not have a gym membership right now.  I was able to find one, buy it and pick it up the weekend before.  She was very excited and surprised.

Then, knowing that Sunday would be busy with church and baseball, we took Mom out to eat on Friday instead of Sunday.  We went to Acapulco's (Kristen's favorite) and enjoyed a meal together.

Finally, Sunday came and we got up early and made Kristen breakfast (AND COFFEE) in bed, gave her cards and one additional gift and then got ready for church.  We did that and the baseball thing and enjoyed our day together.

We love you and thank you!  We hope you had a great day and some great memories for this year's Mother's Day.

1st Half of Bethel Final done

Have to post on this....well, because the final is half done of course!

Can't say that I did well...but I did make it through the two sections tonight.

While the test wasn't good, the grading portion was actually enjoyable as we were able to enjoy laughing with one another for our mistakes and it gave an overall sense of peace since none of us did as well as we probably wanted to (it was a bit difficult).

That leaves two sections next week and we will be finished....but I will say this:

When all is said and done on this test, the reality is that we will all be available as teachers for the course and will be able to help each other as we go along. Each of us knows much more than we did to start and I think that is a significant thing to say. Unfortunately, most people haven't read the whole Bible, most people don't really understand the way the Bible is a cohesive whole within the 66 books and very few could probably speak to some of the things that this class has taught us over the last two years...so I will call it a success regardless of my score ( outright or in comparison to my classmates :) )

Jacob's first t-ball at bat

Yes...no ball on the first swing...but he did end up hitting it well.

Final product!

What a handsome kid!