bonus: february favorites {2014}

last family dinner on the west side.  as usual, there was lots of personality around our table.

we invite you to see more of our lives via instragram. or at instagram.com/jdavis2

five sentence friday #34

my desire & discipline for electronic communication has diminished significantly since arriving on the west side.

for the first several months i’d fret about it.

feeling behind i’d begin to feel overwhelmed by my failure to “keep in touch” with so many wonderful friends & supporters.

but then i remembered (once again a slow learner in need of a good epiphany) that my keeping in touch while on the west side just looks differently… as in now much of it’s done in person & those empty evenings on the east side i use to compose our updates & blog posts are now being filled up with family, friends, quick errands to the store… & dates!

love keeping in touch with you all!

 

blessed to be a blessing : narrator style

for 6-12 months prior to our arrival on the west side i was praying: “Lord, please help me to be a blessing to our home church.”
it was a simple prayer… but it was the desire of my heart.
one day in october we were asked to be in our church’s CHRISTmas performance.
immediately i scoffed at dismissed the idea.
you see, if there is anything 9 years on the east side has confirmed for me, it is this: i am not good at memorizing!
jarod, on the other hand, thought it would be so much fun & signed us up.
yep, us!
http://instagram.com/p/hcdlMwrEkp/
every time i’d try to learn my lines i’d get discouraged, overwhelmed, feel defeated. i wanted to be mad at him.
but then something amazing happened. during one of my overwhelming “why did he do this to me? i can’t do this!” moments i had an epiphany…
this. this struggle. this willingness. this humility. this giving. this is how our church perceives we can be a blessing. this… this play… is it!
at that moment i had to silently giggle at the profound, yet simple lesson Dad’s been working so diligently to instill in me all these years – i am God dependent.
and this is just another painful, but oh so sweet reminder!
so after my epiphany, giggle & humble reminder i stopped complaining, i stopped fretting (so much) & i relished the idea that even though i don’t view myself as a gifted speaker or quite understand how serving our church in this way is a blessing to them…
they think otherwise!
& you know what?
it was a blessing to me as well!
truly a worshipful experience, from practice to final “Merry CHRISTmas!”
http://instagram.com/p/hrRe8BrEmL/
today & always: blessed to be a blessing!

five sentence friday #31

honored that i was able to go to Kentucky where 2 of my “we did Fusion together” life friends currently reside.

“e ayi” (aka. Erin) was a gracious host & it was fun to be included in her world.  but most of all i walked away proud – proud of the woman she’s become & proud of her dedication & perserverance as she works full time as a nurse, is almost finished with her biblical counseling degree & ministers lovingly to many.

my reunion with “d ayi” (aka. DarlaH) was especially meaningful as when we were last together she was still a girl in so many ways… & yet now she’s a woman, God fearing, & an amazing mommy with a beautiful baby girl of her own.

it was hard to be away from the sprouts & my man for 3 days, but our sweet reunion was just what my soul needed.

celebrations & a painful pause. please pray…

this past week has been filled with wonderful celebration!

liberty’s 3rd birthday.  jarod taught at our home church.  softened hearts & miracles.  my mom’s 60th birthday.  watching her skydive.  jarod’s mom’s birthday.  sweet, sweet times with the sprouts.

so much to be thankful for.  so much to celebrate.

and yet this week we’ve also experienced heart wrenching pain.  the downward pull of disappointment, confusion, betrayal.  deceit.

translating every pause, every quiet moment into overwhelming, life sucking, soul punching grief.

please pray – that we would be encouraged by His faithfulness & that Dad would glorified as He works out all of these things – especially the hard things – for His good.

He reigns & we are depending on His ongoing intervention.
meanwhile, in faith, we celebrate!

treat & treasure 2013

this “TREAT” tee goes all the way back to 2009, when we first met Sterling… which reemerged again in 2010 with a fun what-a-difference-a-year-makes photoshoot. after a day of being “the treats” in 2011, sterling & liberty became “treat & treasure” last year. & now it’s our official theme. this just may be the last year he’s able to pull off this year-to-year trick! 😉so this year he got a new “TREAT” tee. courtesy of a bright green/yellow clearance shirt & stickers from hobby lobby…liberty’s “treasure” tee came off the same clearance rack, but being that it was way too big i did what i always do to give oversized shirts a girly twist – gave it a quick pillowcase stitch across the top & added ribbon. viola! with the addition of stickers, the theme was complete! then all we needed was a few accessories…treasure & treat: together!gotta love it when birthday gifts also double as dress up for the “party at the church building”!

five sentence friday #30

2 months in, it finally happened – missing the east side.

when we first moved to the east side i would randomly think things like, “i need to go to {fill in the blank} today…” only to be rudely awaken to the realities that that place, that thing that i wanted to get or do was 1/2 a world away and it’d be 4 years before i saw or did that again!

eventually those thoughts, urges… & ultimately griefs – can we say “death to self!?!” – became less demanding & stole less of my mental & emotional reserve.

so as one might expect, being back in my home culture has allowed me to flip the switch & once again enjoy things like running a quick errand to walmart & enjoying the convenience of pre-cut, prepackaged, pre-canned, pre-priced goods…

& yet today i was totally surprised when i randomly found myself missing the local wonton place near our east side home.

sterling’s happy 5th birthday!

his special day began with a candle in his waffle… & some serious concern about being safe around fire. love his strong sense of safety!

you’ll notice a birthday theme: fire & water!

in the morning we visited LaoLao & LaoYe’s where a water bladder blob was awaiting us!

a lot of love went into this water mattress like gift. (thanks LaoLao for all your hard work!)unfortunately it rained off & on all morning which meant the water was quite chilly.

even so, the sprouts had a lot of fun retrieving the sea creatures. sterling was especially apt at catching sharks!with the help of a net…
and some assistance from LaoLao & her squeegee…

they caught their quota!& his reward: a shark bite towel!

meanwhile liberty enjoyed sitting on the sidelines playing with NaiNai & enjoying some warmth & cuddle time.

afterwards we enjoyed a special birthday lunch at firehouse subs (which we captured on video) then headed home to give liberty a nap. this allowed sterling time to enjoy several of his new toys…

(he even got a waterproof Bible!) & some Netflix while NaiNai & i went to work in the kitchen. (thanks NaiNai for your patient persistence – with me & the icing!)our sweet 5 year old firefighter!blessing me with a wink! love that he randomly winks at me!our attempt at “firetipped” cupcakes! (store bought icing didn’t exactly work – apparently the ‘consistency’ makes all the difference!)i eventually gave up on the idea & went with the simplicity of white icing with red sprinkles topped with fire themed stickers. F-I-V-E!!!at dinnertime liberty was happy to be rejoining the party!this year we began a new family tradition. instead of making a wish before blowing out the candles, we thanked God for sterling & he prayed for wisdom.so many of our prayers have already been answered…first bites:after dinner we had a mock fire drill which included sterling dressing up in his fireman gear. then the real surprise… a trip to the local fire station!

& a personal tour!

the highlight of the day – literally!& a ride in a fire truck!!!sterling was in total awe!& liberty was totally chill!so many contraptions & tools!talking to each other on the headset:jarod’s excitement was obvious. our visit to the local volunteer run fire station truly was a special gift! (thanks “fireman justin”!)& sure to be the thrill of a lifetime! listening over the headset requires a certain degree of concentration! as you can see, sterling had a lot of cameras pointed on him the entire time! of course, sterling also got to practice “being” a fireman!liberty was eager to join him…definitely the cutest firefighters I know!in spite of the rain & the fact that we had to improvise when things didn’t go according to plan, it was a great & memorable day… & we all enjoyed celebrating sterling’s first birthday on the west side!

five sentence e friday #22

the countdown is officially on!
in one month we’ll be headed to the west side… with a 5 day stop over before we arrive “home”.
many expect that this would be the time that we would began mentally preparing for our (& the sprouts big transition), essentially checking out, filled with great excitement & anticipation for the life that’s waiting for us there.
the reality is, over the past 8 years we’ve had ample opportunity to perfect & suppress our great desire for “home” & “comfort” & our schedule is such that it leaves us little room for contemplating the upcoming changes to our “normal life”.
hopefully our hearts & heads will catch up & we’ll all transition well into our “new normal.”

{unplugged}

by now you may have noticed that we’ve unplugged from most forms of communication.  it wasn’t completely intentional.

we left our abode on the 3rd for an overnight train, followed by a trans-pacific flight, a layover… and eventually a wonderful reunion with family.

i knew that i wanted to spend every possible waking moment with our loved ones but i also thought that we’d have way too many wonderful stories to exclude you, our faithful (are you there?) and loving audience (still with me?).

but alas soaking it all in and enjoying this adventure and the many magical discoveries with our sprouts has both filled my cup to overflowing and allowed me to enjoy this special time with friends and family: the {unplugged} version.