Jonathan David Deason- Given of God

  On July 5 we welcomed another sweet baby boy into our family, Jonathan David. He was born at 10:30 in the morning and weighed 9 lb. 3oz. 
  Everything with the labor went perfect. My midwife, Leanna did a wonderful job. And, Kenny, as always, was a great coach and helper. 
  Jonathan has been such a sweet, mellow baby. Of course, all the kids love him and are always asking to hold him. We are certainly in for many adventures with a newborn and a toddler in the house and are looking forward to seeing what God will do in the life of Jonathan and what God will do through him in our own lives.

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Posted By Jamie D to Changing Seasons at 7/15/2010 04:14:00 PM

A Fair Deal

Abbigail, 4 years old and Forest, 1 year old














Recently I remembered a funny story about Abbigail and Forest.Abbigail was probably 5 and Forest 2. Forest was playing alone,with some random toys when I heard him crying. I turned around to see that Abbigail had decided she wanted to play with the toys and had taken them for herself. I told her that she couldn't take them and made her give them back to him. She sadly returned the toys to Forest. Her frown quickly changed to a cheerful smile as she said, "Hey Forest, let's pretend you work at a store and I want to buy these things from you." He gladly agreed. Genius.

Being Busy

I am going to attempt to post a full month's happenings in 1 entry. Life the last several weeks has kept us very busy in a very fun sort of way. Abbigail and Phoebe had their birthday on May 5. We celebrated Phoebe's 5th birthday with a tea party at a cute little coffee shop, Cuppies and Joe. We drank pink lemonade "tea", enjoyed yummy cupcakes and listened to tea party stories. For Abbigail's birthday-the big 10!- we went to Frontier City-a local amusement park. The kids all rode on their first roller coaster. They all loved it-It looks like Forest is crying here, but he is actually having a great time. Just don't ask him about the Pirate Ship-not a good experience there. :/
We are enjoying life with a baby in the house again. Josiah has been such a wonderfully content baby. He sleeps great and seems to always have a sweet smile in exchange for a good conversation. He's 2 months old now and I just can't picture life without him!
This is a photo of Josiah in one of his favorite contraptions- his bouncy seat. And here he is in another favorite contraption- his swaddle, with one of his favorite people- Daddy.
Another big event this month was the outstanding performance of Forest and Phoebe as ring-bearer and flower girl in a good friend's wedding. Kenny preformed the ceremony for Adam and Maria. He did such a great job. Here is Forest and Phoebe at the rehearsal.

We have also had a lot of fun just for the sake of having fun.

We celebrated the coming of summer with watermelon and a pool party...

Playing at the Paseo Art Festival...Silly faces..
And tearing down the shed in the backyard!

The Venue

Coffee. Conversation. Music.

Forest's Funnies

I recently remembered a cute story about Forest when he was about 4 years old...His big sister Abbigail, who was about 7 at the time, had hit him in the arm(unknown to me), so he hit her back. When I heard Abbigail cry, I started to correct Forest when he quickly blurted out, in his defense, "Well, the Bible says to do to others what they do to you. She hit me so I hit her back!!" He felt so justified. His disappointment was apparent when I explained that Jesus taught us to treat people how we want to be treated, not how they treat us. Now that he's nearly 7, he understands what Jesus taught, but he's still learning how to apply this concept to his life. I would have to be honest and say, so am I...

Josiah- A Blessing from Heaven

Oh sing to the LORD a new song; sing to the LORD, all the earth!
Sing to the LORD, bless his name; tell of his salvation from day to day.
Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples!
-Psalm 96

Finally! Our sweet baby is here. After 9 1/2 months of pregnancy, 25 hours of tiring contractions and 4 1/2 more hours of hard labor, our baby boy, Josiah, is here. He was born at home on March 21st at 3:30 a.m. On the lower end of the scale(compared to our other babies)he weighed 8 lbs. and 5 oz. and was 20 inches long. The labor was hard work and much longer than I had hoped for, but everything was perfect in the end. I couldn't have done it without the help of Kenny- he was such a great coach. He did everything from getting me food and drinks during the labor to holding me up when I was too tired to stand. The midwives were invaluable as well. I'm so grateful to have had them be a part of this with us. Thanks Michelle and Kristen! Our great friend, Keri B helped out with the other kids, which was also a great help. I'm so glad she was here to share in the birth of our son.

All of Josiah's big sisters and especially his big brother were so excited he has finally arrived. Yesterday, I overheard Phoebe telling a friend of ours that sometimes she thinks it is a dream that he's actually here.

Kenny and I are just overwhelmed with joy about another baby, and even a son, in our home. We love the name Josiah because of the testimony in the Bible of how King Josiah restored the kingdom of Israel back to serving their God. Kenny and I have both experienced this same sort of restoration in our own lives, as we lost sight, for a time, of who Jesus was and who He was asking us to be, only to see Jesus bring us back to Himself. We are deeply grateful for His work in our life! We pray that our son, Josiah, will be one who turns others to the living God that can heal and restore.

HERE is Kenny's side of the story, written the day Josiah was born, before he had a name.

Thank you everyone who prayed for us and served us during this time. We are so thankful for your help!

It Was the Worstest Day Ever and the Bestest Day Ever

Today was the first day of Champs Camp for Abbigail, Abbiyah and Forest. Champs Camp is a day camp that our church hosts over Spring Break,where kids get a chance to play several different sports. They all had a blast and can't wait to go back tomorrow. Phoebe and I had big big plans since it was just her and I and because this will be our last chance to spend some time alone together before the baby comes. We went to the grocery store(not a part of the big big plans, but a necessary part of the day)and got locked out of my van when the alarm malfunctioned. To this Phoebe said, "This is the worstest day of my life," with a sigh. But, she got to ride on the toy truck outside the grocery store twice and have a juice pack while we waited for my heroine friend, Annie, to come rescue us. I got the alarm turned off after some extra effort and we got ourselves and the van home safely. After lunch we went to a yummy cupcake place, Sara Sara Cupcakes, and enjoyed wonderful strawberry cupcakes and chocolate milk. Phoebe then decided the day wasn't so bad after all. I thought it turned out pretty good, as well.

In the Granola Groove

This morning's creation was home-made granola and home-enhanced yogurt. I made the granola with oats(of course), walnuts, almonds and honey. I usually put dried fruit, like cranberries or raisins, in there but we were out this morning. I made the granola in my iron skillet with some oil. I like to cook granola on the stove top instead of the oven because I think it's easier and it takes less time. I also like to use my iron skillet because I am anemic and hope that some of that iron gets into the food. Anyway...I made the yogurt simply by adding thawed frozen strawberries to plain yogurt. All was yummy.

Well, yesterday was my due date and I'm still waiting for my sweet baby to get here. Anyone who knows me, knows that I'm ALWAYS late. Very late. Nearly 2 weeks late. They know this because I complain about it constantly. So, here I am blogging my complaint. Just thought I would update anyone who might not have known how far along I am. I am predicting March 20, but we'll see. I will keep posting as I make progress closer to my real due date, whenever that is...

Another Breakfast Idea...

Here's something else new that I tried today. It is Baked French toast with Sugared Peaches. I still need to perfect the recipe a bit, but I thought it turned out pretty good. The peaches were frozen, so I cooked them in a pot on the stove with a little bit of brown sugar- this is the part I need to perfect- I want the peaches to be sweet enough that they will serve as the syrup for the French Toast, but not so sweet that it's a total sugar overload (which is what I get from regular pancake syrup). These weren't quite sweet enough. The eggs in the French Toast give it protein, though not a lot so I would also serve this with a glass of milk, which would give it a little more protein. I figured the total cost of this meal would be about $6.00- that would be $1.00 per family member and that satisfies my criteria for being reasonably priced. :o)

New Breakfast Ideas

I have been searching for new breakfast ideas, as everyone here is getting tired of scrambled eggs and toast every morning. My dilemma in coming up with new ideas is that I have a few criteria that has to be met...(1)It must have protein!! (2)It has to be whole grain if there are grains (3) It has to be reasonably priced. Well, here is an idea I came up with (from some inspiration I found from google.) This is croissant bread with sliced, boiled egg and cheddar cheese. The kids actually liked it, as did Kenny. Next time I'm going to make it with whole wheat English muffins with the cheese and eggs as well as Canadian bacon. I know, I know the croissants in this picture are not whole grain ( but they were good :o)) That's because I had to do a quick run through Braum's and that was all they had. Also, they may not look quite as tasty as they really were, but the kids had fun making their own. Anyway...please leave a comment and let me know what you eat for breakfast.

Funky Town

I guess you could say that Kenny and I just don't know how to act "normal." We dressed up for Valentine's Day and met up with friends dressed just as crazy for dinner. Needless to say, we had a few stares at the restaurant. But, It was tons of fun.

Back in Action...Finally

After a very long break, I am finally back to blogging. My computer was down for awhile and life has been busier than what I have been able to keep up with at times. As I had posted before, Kenny has been pastoring a church part time. Well, tomorrow is his last day at his old job and starting Monday, he will officially be pastoring full time. Again, we are so excited and having a great time. I am now 33 weeks pregnant and looking forward to the arrival of our new little one. I am hoping the next 2 months will pass quickly. We are now half way through our school year and moving right along. Abbigail, Abbiyah and Forest have started playing basketball. Just this past Saturday was their first game. Abbiyah and Forest are actually on a team together and Abbigail is on another team. They did such a great job. I was so proud of how hard they tried. Abbiyah and Forest's team doesn't actually keep score, as everyone is still learning the game. But, they both put all their energy into the game. Abbigail played 2 games on Saturday, and her team won both games. I just hope as they get older they will stay interested in the same sports, as I can't imagine what it will be like running from one sport event to another on different days and at different times. I'm excited to be blogging again and will be more faithful this time around.

A New Season

This is outside the building where we meet on Sunday evenings.
During worship...
Just hanging out...

Recently Kenny was hired as the part-time pastor of a new church. The church that we have been members of for the past 2 or 3 years, Northwest Baptist, is sponsoring this new church, which is called Campus Church. It is a church specifically geared towards reaching the college community of Oklahoma City and the surrounding cities. We are very excited about this new endeavor for many reasons. One of which is that we are eager for young people to see the power and hope a life with Jesus Christ can offer them. Also, there is a large number of international students that are very interested in Jesus and His teachings- which is a blessing to us because we want to be missionaries when we grow up :o), so this is a great oppurtunity for us to get to know people from many different cultures. Another reason that we are excited about this new oppurtunity is that Kenny and I have been involved in ministry together for the nearly 12 years that we have been married and it is something that we absolutely love and are committed to. This just helps us, especially Kenny, to be able to spend more time doing what we are passionate about. We also have quite a number of great people (which are also great friends of ours) that are just as excited about this new work, that are also working together with us at Campus Church. This will eventually be full time work for Kenny, though we are not certain when that will be exactly. In the mean time, we would value your prayers to manage family, work, ministry, etc., as well as your continued prayers as we continue in what God has asked us to do.

Yesterday morning around 8 o'clock I found out that it was $1 day at our state fair. So, by 9:30 the kids and I were there.
Forest was excited about the insect exhibit. He's been collecting bugs for some time now. His most prized find is the robber fly. It amazes me how much he actually knows about different bugs and their behavior.
Phoebe discovered these huge pumpkins. And all the kids had fun at the petting zoo. We also enjoyed a funnel cake-'cause you have to get funnel cake at the fair- and a yummy cinnamon roll.

Funny Face and Sammy the Sad Snail

School is in full swing for the year. For Pre-K, Phoebe and I have had lots of fun playing different games- all while she is learning to count and learning more colors and shapes. We have these great toys from Lauri that are made from a soft foam. I bought about 4 or 5 different sets, but they can all work together. There are several pieces that can be laced together or put together like a puzzle and there are pegs that can be stacked or the shapes can be stacked on the pegs. They've been great for counting, learning patterns and just for having fun. I was surprised to find that Phoebe can already count to 26 before getting off track. I hadn't worked with her with numbers higher than 10, so I asked her how she learned to count that high, and she said, "I practice in bed every night." I think her big sisters have been working behind the scenes and I didn't realize it. :D

Today we are playing with play dough. Forest joined in and made this sad snail. I'm not really sure what inspired it but its cute. Forest is in 1st grade this year and is continuing to learn to read- something he has definitely approached differently than his sisters. He learned all the letter sounds from last year and can sound words out but doesn't take any initiative to try to read on his own- only if I ask him too. Yet, he still remembers the letter sounds from last year. As far as I can tell, he is right on track for his age, so I think he will still pick up reading by the end of this year; it's just interesting to see how different he is learning from how the girls learned. I'm no expert, but I am convinced boys, in general, learn differently than girls. I am using curriculum from My Father's World for all the kids. This year Forest will learn about different Jewish customs and practices from the Old Testament. His reader for the year is full of Bible stories that he can read himself and he will have drawing lessons, as well as learning about God's creation in science and learning Bible verses. I expect it to be a fun year.

I'll post soon about what my big girls are learning along with some pictures of them hard at work.

Feelin' good 'bout the way I am...

I think I may finally be out of the clearing concerning morning sickness. Thank you Jesus! This time around, I have been a lot more uncomfortable- hopefully not a sign of things to come further in the pregnancy, but possibly a sign of my escalating age. I've tried to keep the promise of I Timothy 2:15 in front of me- a promise that if I will be faithful during this time of discomfort and continue to pursue holiness and love and self-control then God will use the time of affliction( light as it may be) to refine me. I'm not so sure I've done well so far, but I do have 6 more months to keep trying. But for now, I am grateful today that I have found some level of settling in my tummy!

A Prayer of Phoebe

Jesus, you are the most wonderful man in the world. And I am not as pretty as you because you are the handsomest man in world.

I should have known when I started drinking pickle juice...

Without fail, every time that I have been pregnant, one of the things I crave most is pickle juice (along with soy sauce- yes, to drink, and Italian salad dressing-yes, also to drink). So when I looked at the pickle jar about a month ago and thought,"Yumm, that pickle juice looks tasty," then found myself downing some of it, I certainly should have known I was newly expecting. Yes, we have been hoping for another little one, but it really never crossed my mind at the time that I might be pregnant. I am now 9 weeks along and am pretty much living off of ramen noodles and saltine crackers- hold the pickle juice please. But, regardless of how my tummy feels these days, I and my family are very excited to be expecting the arrival of another little one into the family. So, come next March we will again be stretching out our tent stakes and making room for a sweet new baby.

Summer Fun

We have had a lot of adventures this summer. Phoebe has been taking care of her own flowers in the flower garden. She got the seeds for her birthday from a friend and has done a great job growing them. Our library has this big chair in the children's section and I couldn't resist getting a picture of the kids in it. The last picture is of the kids at a soda fountain that is just down the street from our house. We took Kenny for ice cream on Father's Day and the clerk gave us all these hats, though the kids were the only ones brave enough to wear them. Abbiyah didn't like them at all.

Crazy Creatures

We have had several animal friends around the house this summer. Forest has some sort of inch worm on his arm. These things look crazy when they crawl. Very cool. Abbigail and Abbiyah tormented our dog by dressing him up in their own dress up clothes. Baxter was not impressed....Forest found this frog (or is it a toad?) at Will Rogers park. It was so fun watching him trying to catch it. He chased it for awhile before he was able to get a hold of it. We had a lot of fun that day walking on trails and crossing bridges("How romantic" as my Abbigail would say) and walking through flower gardens... Phoebe is holding a jar with a caterpillar that we had hoped would turn into a butterfly...sadly we found Catti on the floor one morning half mutilated. Maybe next year...

Birthdays

Here are some pictures from the kids birthdays. Forest turned 6 in April. We went to Lake Hefner to fly kites. It got to windy and then started raining so we went for pizza instead.

Abbigail and Phoebe share a birthday. Theirs was back in May. Abbigail turned 9 and Phoebe turned 4. As you can see, Abbigail was more than a little excited to get an mp3 player.