WYD- Jammin' in the Rain

Here is a movie that Jason took from on stage that I think is hilarious. This goes along with the story I told two posts ago about the rainfall on our outside event, people leaving, and Jason's genius idea to have the band jam out in the rain. You can't see the rain in this movie, but you can see how excited the teens are despite the bad weather. The girls who go crazy screaming in the middle of this video are involved in our group and this scene totally describes their personalities. You'll know who I'm talking about when you watch the video. Over the weekend I was so impressed with my husband's leadership skills and how God used him to touch hundreds of lives. This video is a tribute to that...

World Youth Day!- BUSY JASON

I posted a little about WYD earlier and promised more pictures. Here are the beginning...
As I said earlier, Jason was a huge planner of this event, and spent most of the day praying, talking to our vendors on the phone, working out conflicts on the walkie talkie and running errands. The first couple of pictures are Jason doing just that. The guy in the second picture is Dewey, the other major planner of this event. The third picture is of Jason and Dewey with our entertainers, Apex Ministries, and the last picture is of Jason with some teens, teaching them how to lead morning prayer.

Some Sneak Pics of World Youth Day

Last weekend was World Youth Day-St. Augustine, based on the original World Youth Day in Sydney, Australia. This is the big event that Jason and I (mostly Jason) have been planning for several months. We had between 400-500 teens come and Jason gave an amazing talk on what it means to be a man of God. I love the picture of Jason onstage. It was Saturday night and it was starting to rain (this was an outside event). A lot of people left, and Jase wanted to fire up the people who had decided to wait the rain out. So, he had the band rock out in the rain, and our teens loved it! This picture is Jason, on stage with the camera catching it all; we'll post those pics later.

Babysitting Brandon

I start full time at the St. Gerard House in August, and so am slowly saying goodbye to Brandon, a little boy whom I babysit. I have been with him since he was seven months old and we have gotten quite attached. He loves cars, keys, green beans and reading books. And look at how cute he is...

Mac

Jason and I love to take pictures of Mac because he is always making us laugh. Recently, however, Mac has developed a reaction to the flash on the camera and shuts his eyes every time we try to take a picture. It's pretty cute. Also, an update on Mac- he has fleas! He sleeps beside me at night and has been scratching himself so hard that it wakes me up. We bought him some flea medicine, I chose the natural kind in case he accidentally digested some of it (hey, Mac is all we have), and now he smells like spicy herbs. It's too much for Jason and I but Mac doesn't seem to mind one bit.

The Scariest Doll EVER!

When we went up to North Carolina, we were horrified to see the doll that Sierra has become attached to...Sorry Sierra, we love you, but the doll has to go! Even Jason is frightened.

4th of July

Thanks to my parents, Jason and I were able to drive up to North Carolina for the 4th. We had a great time and got some really great pics of Renee and Scott's beautiful children. It was so good to see all of you; we miss you guys a lot down here. (The house beside us is still for sale if anyone's interested!)

On the Beach

Our friend Matt took some pictures of us hanging out on the beach with some of the youth last Friday night. We had a great time until a storm came and we had to cut the event short. Middle School youth group (which this event was for) has really slowed down during the summer; people are out of town, at sleepovers, etc. Our solution: just spend time hanging out together on the beach. As you can see, we have a lot of fun!

Sewing!

When we bought new curtains for our living room, I decided to make pillow cases out of the old ones. Trying to remember everything my mom had taught me, I dusted off the sewing machine and got to work. Thankfully, the pillows came out beautifully, but it took me all day long. I had a lot of fun making them and Jason is so proud to have handmade things in our home. I made two pillow cases to fit a 20" by 20" pillow and there is a zipper located on one of the seams.

Baby Gus's Baptism

Last Wednesday, our friend's baby was baptized using the extraordinary rite (the traditional Latin one). It was beautiful and I got to spend some quality time with baby Gus while he was sleeping. The Godparents, had twin baby boys and so Jason and I also had fun playing with them as well. Check our their cute little facial expressions; maybe Jason is warming up to the idea of twins after all!

The Chickens are so Big!

Its hard to see in these pictures, but the chickens have gotten so big! All six are still alive and pooping up a storm. :) We still haven't finished their coop yet, but it is of high importance. The chickens have figured out how to get out, and many times we will come home after work to see them waiting for us on our front porch or by our shed. It is very cute. We have a window in our bathroom that opens out over the coop and each morning we open it up and say hi to the chickens. When Mac hears us doing this, he runs to the bathroom, jumps up on the window and watches the chickens intently. We saw a animal toy the other day that was a stuffed chicken. We knew that Mac would love it and almost bought it for him, only to realize that it wasn't such a good idea. We want Mac to love the chickens, not practice devouring them.

Clomid Challenge Test: Part One

Last time I went to my infertility doctor, he told me that he wanted to do a test to see at what age my ovaries were functioning (endometriosis prematurely ages your ovaries). So, for this month, I was instructed to go on Clomid, a hormone pill, and to get blood drawn various times throughout the month. I'm about halfway through the month and haven't had too many side effects from the medicine, only a couple of headaches. I go in for an ultrasound tomorrow, thursday, to make sure that the medicine didn't make me ovulate multiple eggs, (but of course, I'm thrilled with the idea of twins!, Jason not so much :) ). Here's a picture of the medicine and treatment plan so you can get a sense of how involved it is. Also, My doctor is one of the best in the Southeast, but he has the tackiest logo that is on all of my paperwork. It is an "egg" with a dancing family in the middle of it, and then a bunch of "sperm" around the egg. It's really embarrassing when other people see it. But I think it will make you, my dear family, laugh...

Vegetable Garden!!!

"Fruit of the vine and work of human hands..." Jason is so proud of his vegetable garden. Here are a couple of shots of his tomatoes and his peppers.

In the Garden

From Jason: The top pic is a nice shot of Vitex agnus-castus in bloom. I purchased this plant for dirt cheap because the guy was so excited that I knew what it was. This plant is not well known despite it's great blooms and form!
The second pic shows some Rudbeckia (yellow flowers) that Katie and I grew from seed for her class (I think that counts as cheating). The third pic is the Blessed Virgin Mary overlooking some Impatiens also grown from seed but not for any college credit.
And just look at the contrast of those ornamental grasses in the fourth pic. That's one of my favorite parts of the yard.
In the bottom right of the fifth pic you can see my banana tree putting on alot of new growth. I still can't believe I can grow bananas! The rest of that pic shows our mixed border coming in. A couple of years and it should be exploding with color and texture.



























From Katie: Every evening, when Jason comes home from work, before he even comes inside, he throws his stuff down on the porch chairs and starts watering his plants. We haven't had rain in forever, so making sure that the plants don't die is a huge priority for him. :) I try to tease him with my new plant knowledge (from my Horticulture class at NCSU) that we should have waited to plant our garden until the fall as to have root establishment before the summer heat comes, but he just laughs and gives me that "I'm glad that you know something about gardening, but don't mess with the pro" kind of look. Jason loves his garden.

Feast of Corpus Christi!

On the Feast of Corpus Christi, Jason noticed that our priest was looking worried. He sent back to the sacristy to check on things and found out that none of the altar servers had shown up! So, without any previous experience, Jason was thrust into being the cross bearer. He did great! These are pictures from the procession around downtown.

Check out Jesus! For more info on the REAL PRESENCE, go to http://www.catholic.com/library/Real_Presence.asp

Post Surgery Pics

Note the lack of enthusiasm. I was exhausted and very out of it. I hadn't had anything to drink since the night before so I was sooo thirsty and hungry. Here I'm munching on graham crackers and water.

Jason took this picture as he was first walking up to me after the surgery. This picture says everything!

Turns out, I had stage 4 endometriosis, which is the worst kind. The doctor removed 99% of it. Since the surgery, I have had little pain; for that I am very thankful.

My Surgery...

It has been four months since my surgery, no baby yet, but I realized that my family never saw the before and after pictures. These are the before pictures...

Showing off my gown and no-slip socks.

Waiting and Waiting...my surgery was pushed back 3 hours! I spent a lot of time watching tv to keep my mind off of being nervous.

Being wheeled off to the surgery room...

See next post for post surgery pics...

Day at the Beach

Going to the beach was long overdue for our family. So we spent Saturday with some of our friends at Vilano. We only got a little burnt, thank Goodness!Jase fishing! Finally! He was so excited. :)

Here is Sam: our favorite little boy! How cute is he?

What do Catholics do at the beach? Make St. Peter's Square out of Sand! haha This is Matthew, Sam's dad, working diligently. Note the little shells that represent the statues.

St. Gerard House- Meet some of the babies!

This school year is over at the St. Gerard House. Here are some pictures of where I work and the teachers and babies I work with:
This is Amber, one of the teachers I work with and one of our favorite babies: Jeremy!

This is Nasia, one of our toddlers. She is so beautiful, sweet and fun to play with!This is my Boss, Carmen, and our little screamer: Takayla. She had MAJOR temper tantrums!

Me, with one Jeremy. He was such a snuggler and us teachers would always fight over holding him! The orange blur is his ball. He would throw it and then chase after it for hours!

For more info on where I will be working full time next year, visit

http://www.stgerardcampus.org/

Graduation!

Katie graduated on May 10, 2008! Thanks for all of our family who came to celebrate with us. :) Following graduation, Katie will be working at the St. Gerard Campus, a highschool for teenage mothers.