EVERYDAY LIFE

Feeling Better

2006-02-28T07:12:00.000-08:00

Aren't they precious? They are feeling much better. They still have runny noses and the occasional cough, but they are playing by themselves again and not needing Mommy to hold them all the time.
They are playing in the rain water from the great rain we had over the weekend. They still have their church clothes on, but water doesn't hurt them. Jared just turned 11 months and Jonathan will be 23 months on Saturday the 4th.
Jason's still doing well too. He preached Sunday at a small church in Sweetwater. (By small I mean there were only about 35 people there in all!) He did a very good job and made a quick $200, which we desperately need now that the medical bills are arriving rapidly. Please pray for our financial state. We owe quite a bit since we don't have insurance.
God Bless you all!
Shana

Sick, sick, sick

2006-02-23T06:49:00.000-08:00

Well, it's been a while since I updated last. I'm using all of our sicknesses as my excuse. Let's see, we started out in January with Jason going to the ER twice in two weeks. Then Jared got rotavirus and threw up and had diarrea for 8 days. Following that, Jonathan and Jared both got ear infections. We were well for about 5 days at the most. Then I got a cold that put me on the couch for a few days. Then Jonathan got another ear infection and last night, Jared was in the ER with RSV and another ear infection. ( They didn't admit him into the hospital because his breathing was okay. I'm supposed to watch him closely.) I'm sure Jonathan has it because it's highly contaigous (spelling?) . There is no treatment for RSV because it's a virus. We just have to wait it out. Will this ever end? Is everyone getting this sick this year? Last year, we didn't get but one ear infection and it didn't last but a few days. My relatives are convinced that we have mold in this house. I'm not sure that's what it is, but there is something blowing out of my air ducts because it's leaving black dust all over everything. I'm cleaning as much as I can. Prayers are appreciated.
Tired of being sick,
Shana

New Year, New Beginnings

2006-01-06T14:51:00.000-08:00

Here are my precious little ones in their new TV chairs that Gran and Big Daddy got them for Christmas. Jonathan absolutely loves his. The weather has been so bad lately that we've been doing a lot of movie watching and the chairs have been used quite a bit already.

Jared is now 9 months old and Jonathan is 21 months. We're approaching the 1 and 2 year marks! I can't believe it!

Well, as my title suggests, we've had some new beginnings. Jason has decided to try to go MIT (Manager in Training) at Academy. This will put him on a salary starting at $24,000 and after going through the program, he'll be a manager here in the Abilene store starting at $32,000. These numbers are double and triple his $7.50/hour rate right now.

As for me, I'm working at MOPS now instead of attending. That saves us $5 every couple of weeks and I earn a whopping $6.25 per hour. But I'll be with my boys! Also, I've decided to try to give some piano lessons. I really want to buy an electric keyboard. I can trade in my very heavy console and get the bottom of the line one for $900 which is a good deal, but I'll have to figure out the payments. We'll see about that.

Jason has withdrawn all applications with churches for youth ministers. We both love Southern Hills Church of Christ here in Abilene and find ourselves getting extremely involved. The managerial position at Academy would solve our financial difficulties, so hopefully that will pan out. We'll know pretty soon.

I'll keep you posted! HA!
Love,
Shana

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

2005-12-21T11:34:00.000-08:00

I hope this finds you all doing well. We are excited about Christmas this year. Jonathan is going to be lots of fun. Jared will probably follow suit. Jason has interviews with two churches in progress. One is in Marble Falls, TX (45 min from Austin), one is in Mansfield, TX (south of Fort Worth) and the other is in Ruidoso, NM. We're hoping for something to pan out. Any of these would be fine assuming the church is the kind of church we would work well with. I am doing well. I have really good days and really bad days and not many in between. I am losing more weight due to loss of appetite, but that's okay. My size 8 jeans are about to fit nicely for the first time in 2 years. Jason thinks I go shopping all the time because he doesn't recognize my clothes when really they're several years old and this is the first winter I've been able to wear them since 2003.
Jonathan is talking up a storm. He loves to vacuum and anytime I asked what we should do, that's his answer. He repeats pretty much anything I say now.
Jared is crawling all over the place and even pulling up already. He's falling a lot and bumping his head frequently.
Hope you all have as Merry a Christmas as we have begun to have.
Love,
Shana

Halloween

2005-11-07T08:27:00.000-08:00

Aren't they cute? Jonathan is Winnie-the-Pooh and Jared is Tigger. It was more fun dressing them up than it was taking them out. We didn't trick-or-treat, but we went to the church for the trunk-or-treat and Jonathan got a bucket full of "hunny". He calls them "yummies". Maybe next year Jonathan will understand a little better what's going on. He didn't have a clue that people were putting candy in his bucket. Jared just cried most of the time because he was tired. What can you expect from a 7 month old at 6:30 in the dark? Anyway, it was fun. Enjoy the pictures!

Apology

2005-10-31T12:50:00.000-08:00

Well, I have to apologize for the e-mail I sent to several family members. I did post a new blog, but it didn't actually go through thanks to ACU's terrible dial-up web service. (I really shouldn't complain, though, because it's completely free for us!)
So, I'll try again. We have been trying not to get sick here in Abilene. Jared and I have had runny noses and a little congestion, but nothing further so far. Hopefully it's just a little cold.
Jason is working a hundred hours a week it seems. He's worked 18 days in a row with the exception of Tuesdays, but I call it work when he has school from 9am to 9pm. The boys are really missing him and I am too. It's hard to go that many days without a break from the kids. I've been trying to go to as many things at church to take advantage of the free child care, but I've been paged out of my activities because Jonathan is going through another "mommy" stage.
The boys are growing so fast. Jonathan is going to be 19 months old this month and Jared is now 7 months old. I can't believe it. The days seem to be so long, but the weeks and months fly by!
I'll now try to get some pictures up on here. Sorry about the wait!
Love, Shana
PS-I am selling Mary Kay again, so if anyone needs anything or knows anyone who needs anything, I would appreciate the orders. I'm trying to make enough to pay for rent every month. Our savings is going too fast! My e-mail is shanafry@ilovejesus.net or my phone number is 325-675-0676. Thanks!

Growing Babies

2005-10-27T18:22:00.000-07:00

My babies are growing so fast! I can't believe that Jared is now 7 months old. Jonathan will be 19 months next week. They're so cute and love each other so much! They hug and talk and laugh together all the time. I don't have much going on here. My Mary Kay business is going well for as much time as I'm putting into it. I've been averaging $50 a week since the debut. That's pretty good. I really need to double that to pay the rent, though. If anyone out there needs anything, let me know. I've already gotten a pretty good long distance customer that I'm mailing product to. I'll be glad to do that! You can always shop online at www.marykay.com. I don't have a website, so you have to call me or e-mail me to order from me. My e-mail is shanafry@ilovejesus.net and my phone number is 325-675-0676. Not a whole lot more to say! enjoy the pictures!

A Visit in New Mexico

2005-10-14T08:13:00.000-07:00

Hello. It's been a while since I wrote last. I have been quite busy. I had a Mary Kay back-in-business debut last weekend and spent the previous week preparing for that. I did quite well considering I invited about 50 people and only 4 showed up. I made about $200 profit, so it was well worth the time and when I get back in contact with the other 46 people, I will hopefully have made a lot more!

I have been at my Mom's since last Saturday and here it is Friday already. It's been an entire week. It's been real nice. I've been able to relax a lot more than usual because of all my brothers, Dad and Mom entertaining the boys.

Jonathan is getting better at jumping since he's been practicing on the trampoline here at Mom and Dad's. He's enjoyed the lawn mower rides, skateboarding, drumming and rough-housing. Jared is sitting up pretty good now. Every once in a while he throws himself backward and bumps his head if the Boppy isn't around him. He's also working on cutting his second tooth. He's loving the cereal and wanting to eat anything we are eating at meal times.

Staying home is very hard work, but it is so rewarding to see all of the "firsts". It is getting easier now that Jared can entertain himself more.

I miss my husband, but I've enjoyed getting out of Abilene.

Jason made some changes

2005-09-16T19:45:00.000-07:00

Howdy folks, this is Jason. I wanted y'all to know that at Shana's request I came on her blog and deleted the spam comments. I also made a couple of changes in how comments are posted. One, we don't allow anonymous comments anymore. Blogger gives you a free account if you ask, so that shouldn't be a big deal. Two, we turned on "image verification." To post a comment you'll have to copy a few random letters from an image that blogger will give you. Sounds complicated, but try it and it's not so bad.

See ya later!
Jason

Prayer Requests

2005-09-14T21:06:00.000-07:00

Hello, all. I apologize for not posting last week. I actually did write a post, but my "cookies" were turned off (for those of you who are that computer literate). Jason has fixed my "cookies" now, so hopefully this post will not be written for nothing.

I have a few prayer requests:
1) Jonathan and I have been running fever today. I think his is teeth, but mine I'm afraid is allergies turned infection. Please pray for healing and that Jared and Jason don't get it.
2) I have applied for CHIPS for the boys insurance and I go see the WIC people next week. I don't know if I approve of us taking the government up on these programs. I know they're set up to help out the needy, but I also feel like I might should get a job or try to find a way to make some money to be able to afford health care for our family. I don't know what I need you to pray on this one.
3) My brother, Sean, was recently in and out of jail due to a drug test failure at his probation appointment. Please pray that he will seek God instead of these "quick highs". I don't think he realizes that he is lost. You might also pray that God will "wake him up" without harming him or anyone else physically.

That's all for now. Please write me, call me or post comments. I love to hear from you.
Love,
Shana

I'm back!

2005-09-02T09:52:00.000-07:00

Where have I been? In Mommy-mode! I've had a rough month. I've just been real busy and the babies have been teething, so my days and nights have been very long. We're getting better, though. Hopefully I'll be updating weekly at the very least.

Things are getting better here in Abilene. This morning I took the boys to the zoo and met a few other moms from church. It was fun, but hot. We went at 9am hoping to beat the heat, but we were dripping in sweat by 10:30am. The lions were roaring for their breakfast, so that was fun and the giraffes and elephants, jaguar and monkeys were all out and about. It's a good size zoo, not too big and just enough neat animals to make it interesting.

I will be trying to get off of the Lexapro this month. I hope it's easy.

Picture for my profile

2005-08-03T09:01:00.000-07:00

I need to get a picture online so I can use it in my profile. Here's one of me and my boys. I've been working on some administrative stuff on my blog, so maybe it will be a little nicer.

Lexapro

2005-07-25T15:53:00.000-07:00

Hello all! I hope you've enjoyed the pictures from my last post. I'll post some more later this week.
For those of you who don't know, I've been pretty down-in-the-dumps. Yes, depression has set in pretty heavily. I am blaming it on moving, having very few friends here and yes, of course, having a baby only 4 months ago. After Jason suggested it, I called my doctor in Texarkana to see if she could prescribe something for me without seeing me and she did. She got me some Lexapro. It's a safe anti-depressant that I can take while breast-feeding. I could feel the difference in just two days. I am feeling a bit nauseous today, but I'm not sure that's why. I've been in much better spirits, but pretty tired. I'm not sure if that has anything to do with the Lexapro or not.
Well, the kids from Texarkana are here for Kadesh this week. We will go up to see them a few times. I think Jason's taking Jonathan tonight and I'll have to go another time because I'm going to a Get Acquainted Pizza Party at Southern Hills. It's just for mothers of young children who wish to have a mentor of sorts. They will group us with some older women that we can call if we ever have questions or help. I will also get to meet a lot of other mothers, I hope. Maybe I'll make some more friends.
Better go. Love to all!
Shana

Pictures of the Boys

2005-07-19T08:39:00.000-07:00

I am going to learn how to post some pictures on my blog. These are some recent snapshots of Jonathan and Jared, my precious little ones.

The top one is at home in the recliner waiting to go to church.

The right side is on Mom and Dad's bed.

This one to the left is when we went to my mom and dad's in Lovington just a few weeks ago.

Enjoy! Love, Shana

Visits with Parents

2005-07-18T10:22:00.000-07:00

Well, this last week was a good one for the most part. Jason took a short course, so he was gone every day from 8 to 5. My mom came to visit and to help me out a bit. She helped out a whole lot. She did everything from laundry to mopping to changing dirty diapers. She always knows just what needs to be done. Moms are great, especially mine! We tried to get out of the house each day. We went fabric shopping one day, to the bank one day, to the mall one day and it helped us not go stir crazy, but some of the trips were hard with the boys. They seem to always cry at the same time.

This weekend Jason's parents came to see our new residence (and the babies, of course). They got here Saturday at lunch and left around 4 on Sunday. I didn't get to ask how they liked church. We went to Southern Hills again. Jason and I really like it there. We went to Westgate last night and it happened to be small group night, but the group that met at the church just happened to be Sherry Gumm's group, whom I know very well and was good friends with when we were here before. So we went to eat with them afterward. It was fun. We want to go there on a Sunday morning now to see how the worship is. (Westgate has about 250 members, Southern Hills has about 1100. )

Well, Jared has woken from his nap. I better get him. Love you all.
Shana

Unpacking and Settling In

2005-07-08T12:57:00.000-07:00

Well, we've been in Abilene for two weeks today and I've lost count as to how many boxes I've unpacked. I have had to be very creative with my decorating because we just don't have any wall space. Our hallway consists of the bathroom doorway and a closet doorway and that's it, seriously. This house feels like home now, however. I don't feel real comfortable being in Abilene again, as far as familiarity and such, but I'm adjusting. The month of June had to be the absolute hardest time of my life. I'm battling a little bit of postpartum depression and moving with two babies just isn't fun!

We visited Southern Hills Church of Christ all last week. It went real well. We met lots of young couples with one to two kids. We recognized a lot of acquaintances from ACU. We got invited to one couples house for food and fireworks on Monday night, so that was exciting for us.

Jason applied for a job as the worship leader at a small church that is sponsored by Southern Hills and Highland. You might pray about that.

That's all I know.

Abilene, Texas

2005-06-26T14:16:00.000-07:00

Well, we're here in Abilene. I guess we've officially begun the next chapter of our lives. I am liking my new house a little more than I did on Friday. It's not as small as I had pictured, it's just quite overwhelming when you have boxes stacked taller than your head and one little path to walk throughout the house. Jonathan has had a real good time with his fly swatter. He pushed it all over the house like he was vacuuming or something. He's slept pretty good each night, though. My parents came to help us unload and unpack some things and they left today with Jonathan in hand. My mom wanted to keep him for the week so that I could get more unpacking done, but I think we compromised with him staying until Thursday. I'll probably meet her halfway to get him. I feel like crying because I'm going to miss him so much, but at the same time I feel relieved to not have him underfoot. I'm going to work real hard while he's gone so that when I get him back I'll be able to give him lots of attention and not be unpacking still.

We went to church this morning at Highland Church of Christ. It's only 4 blocks up and 4 blocks over from our house. That was nice and close for a change. I don't know if I had expectations, but I was disappointed. I'll start with my negative feelings.

First of all, they had bucket seats which are not conducive to small children.
Second, the praise team stood up and faced the congregation for most of the worship service. I want to be part of a praise team someday, but I want to blend in with the rest of the congregation in worshipping God, not stand out for people to watch.
Third, I was very uncomfortable with women serving communion and speaking up at the front. A married couple did the communion talk and it was good, but I just didn't feel right. The children's minister is a woman and she did the announcements. There were a whole lot of people and I felt like a number.

As for the positives:

It was new and different and I need that!
They seemed to have a great children's program set up.
I recognized a lot of people.
There were a lot of people our age there and this is a college town in the summer, so I know that they are probably members.
Several people came to talk to us after services and were very nice.

Please pray for us! We love you all!

Bitter Sweet

2005-06-19T05:58:00.000-07:00

Well, this is our last week in Texarkana. I have several more closets to pack up and then the kitchen and that's it! Walnut is giving us a "Going Away Party" tonight after church. We are ready to go to Abilene and get on with our lives, but at the same time I really don't want to leave our friends. We had a nice get-together with them last night. I don't think we'll ever find friends like them again. I pray that we will all do our part to stay in touch. I am quite sad because I really wanted to raise our children together. They are a huge part of my parenting. It's amazing how much you value your friends opinions of how you're raising your own.

On another note, Jared is constipated again. I'm going to call the doctor if he doesn't go today. It's been an entire week this time.

You know, I was just thinking...this will be the first move we've made where we won't have a church home before we get there. Who will unload our U-Haul? Just kidding! We will have my family and Jason's brother for sure to help us.

Anyway, have a blessed day!

House in Abilene

2005-06-14T13:18:00.000-07:00

Well, Jason just called and is on his way home from Abilene. He left yesterday and I told him not to come back to Texarkana without a place for us to live in Abilene. He found us a nice 2 bedroom, 1 bathroom home on a nice block in a decent part of town. The address is 1617 S. 9th Street, for those of you who know Abilene well. (I'll post our mailing address as soon as I get the zip code.) He said that the kitchen had nice new tile countertops and had been remodeled recently. He said that there is a nice entry-type room that will do for an "office", and that the living room is huge. He also said that the dining area is very small, but that there's another room, too, I believe. He said that it has a nice fenced back yard, which I'm very glad to hear. I like being able to get out with the boys and not have to worry about the street. He said that the only drawback was that there weren't but two closets in the whole house and they weren't in the bedrooms. So, I'm inquiring from my readers some advice and ideas on what to do with hanging clothes, because we have a lot! I've already gotten on e-bay and checked out some retailers clothes racks. Something like that might work. I really need to see how big the bedrooms are. Give me your ideas soon!

Thanks for the prayers on our behalf.

Mylicon

2005-06-10T11:34:00.000-07:00

Can you overdose your baby with Mylicon drops (gas drops)? I was under the impression you really couldn't, but I read the label on the bottle and it said no more than 3 doses per day. If so, what else can help the poor little guy?

Confusing Stuff

2005-06-09T14:29:00.000-07:00

I'm confused about some things. I feel so many different feelings right now that I think I'm going to have a breakdown. I'll share so that I can get some new insights on it all.
1)Jason's going back to school and I'm not sure I like the idea. I want him to fulfill his dreams, but at the same time, I feel like it's kind of selfish of him. After all, he does already have two degrees and 7 years experience. He could get another ministry job.
2)I don't want to settle for a very small or upstairs apartment. I thought we were past the "having to settle" stage in our lives.
3)I don't want to feel guilty for wanting to stay home with my babies. I just can't stand the thought of someone else being there for all the "firsts." However, I do have a degree and can work if I have to. I hate feeling this guilt!
4)Now I'm feeling selfish.
If you have any insights, please share.
Shana

Plum Jelly

2005-06-04T13:02:00.000-07:00

Well, we returned from our close-to 2000 mile trip safely on Tuesday. We've now been home for a week and still don't have our routine down, but I guess that's okay because it'll just have to be rearranged when we move anyway.

While we were in Marble Falls on Tuesday, Jason picked some fresh plums from Meemaw and Papaw's plum tree. We came home with over 2 gallons of plums. I made some jelly with two batches yesterday. I froze another batch of juice for later. It turned out pretty good, if I do say so myself. It jelled just right for spreading on toast. Another new experience ending in success!

Jared has started smiling when you talk to him. He's really looking around and taking it all in. Jonathan scares him pretty often. He just doesn't understand the concept of being gentle yet. Jonathan on the other hand is cutting more teeth and he's been a real pain. He isn't sleeping through the night due to pain and I even give him Tylenol before bed.

We found out that Jason didn't get the job in Sweetwater, so he'll be going back to Abilene probably on Wednesday of next week to look again. He'll probably put a deposit on the small house he found last time, too. Please pray for God to reveal to him the right job for him right now. He's a little down about not knowing what it is God is saying to him. He feels great pressure to provide for his family, as every husband and father does, and he's just getting a little nervous about not having anything yet.

Thanks for the prayers for our safe trip. In Him, Shana