greenwoodadventures

School Days!

2011-09-02T10:44:00.006-05:00

The girls officially have school desks this year!! No more working at the kitchen table, or anywhere we can find a spot...they now have their own place to work and are sooooo super excited about it!!

The girls started school officially on August 22nd and they are loving it! Haley is in Kinder and Emily is completing her last year of Pre-school.

1st day of Kindergarten

Last year in Preschool!! 1st day of school

Working hard our 1st day of school!

For little girls they sure do know alot already and are learning so much more! This year Emily is focusing more on her ABC's (writing all her upper and lower case letters), more numbers (we know up to 10 already), scissor skills, reading time (I still read to her), and beginning phonics. Haley is learning her numbers to 100 (she can say almost all of them, but forgets a few still), skip counting by 2's and by 5's, math, english (to include vowels, writing etc), more scissor skills work, art, history, holidays, money and telling time skills and so much more I'm sure! They both know their days of the week already and the months of the year as well as the 4 seasons. Last year we started on started on sign language as our foreign language and we learned our alphabet, so this year we are focusing on our alphabet again as well as signs for days, numbers, simple/common words etc...we are all sooo excited and I know it's going to be a great year! This year Haley is also learning how to read!! She can read simple sight words already, but we are focusing now on her becoming a more independent reader, so we took a fantastic idea we found online and are using it for her (next year Emily will have one). It's called a Reading Caterpillar! For every book she reads by herself we add a link to our caterpillar...if she can get it to our designated length, she will earn the Butterfly Award once she graduates in May. This award will show that she has gone from a little caterpillar to a soaring butterfly in her reading skills. She's so excited and doesn't let me forget to add those books to her caterpillar! It's a great motivation for her and something she can see progressing!

Here's the 1st book read so far...she has already read another one as of the typing of this post!

As I'm sure you can tell it's going to be a fantastic year!

If you're a fellow homeschooler we wish you a fabulous year as well!!

Have a super day everyone!
Jessica

Where has the time gone??

2011-08-28T18:17:00.008-05:00

Our poor poor blog has had no attention for so long...so I decided it is time to start updating on it again!! Yay! I know you're all as excited as I am right!?!?!!

Okay, so since March...yes the last time I posted was in March....we have had a pre-school graduation, taken the girls to their 1st live concert(well 1st one they can remember), enjoyed summer, tried to stay cool this summer, started school back up and just enjoyed spending tons of family time together!

In May we finished up school and celebrated by having a graduation party for Haley! She is officially a Kindergartener....wow I can't believe she is already school age...it seems like just yesterday we were bringing her home from the hospital.

Emily still has one year left before I start Kindergarten work with her, so she got to just have an end of school celebration, but she enjoyed it either way!

This summer we have visited the pool....a BUNCH because it has been sooooooo very HOT in Texas!! We went to family reunion, took a family vacation to Tyler and prepped for the upcoming school year. This year for school, the girls got desks....real school desks so they are LOVING it!!

Also KLOVE (for those who don't know...it's a Christian radio station broadcast all over the US), put on a free...yes you read that right FREE concert!!! So it being free you can bet we were there! Travis was on-call that night so unfortunately he couldn't go, but I took the girls and they LOVED it!! We went to see Buildng 429...we also bought a shirt and a copy of their Listen to the Sound CD...the girls LOVE their music and all their songs. Being as how we bought stuff we got special VIP passes to attend the meet and greet with the band and because we were some of the last ones in the room, we got to sit on the floor right near the band's feet. The girls just thought that was the coolest thing ever!!

The girls also had their end of the year dance and gymnastics recital. Haley's dance team did a ballet and tap dance routine...they were soooo cute! In Emily's gymnastics class only her and one other girl signed up to participate in the recital but she had fun anyway...she was a bit nervous, but still had fun. At the end of the recital each child was awarded with a medal...I think that was all the kids favorite part of the day! I was very proud of both of them!!

Now we have started school again and the girls are loving it! We are looking forward to dance and gymnastics starting back up again...we took a break from them this summer. Haley will be starting Girl Scouts....yay!! Emily is finishing her last year of preschool work and Haley is starting Kindergarten and we'll have a double graduation ceremony in the Spring. I'll keep you updated more often!

Have a super day!
Jessica

Cakes!!

2011-03-30T14:16:00.006-05:00

Two posts in one day....whew!!

As some of you may already know I have started making cakes & cupcakes in my spare time for extra income....I'm not the best at it yet, but have been getting in lots of practice with family and church friends letting me make them cakes. I also have been working with some friends gaining knowledge and techniques from them. As with everything I know that the more I practice the better I'll get, so if you have any events or occasions coming up and would like a cake or cupcakes or cupcake cake made...just let me know. I love being creative and am definitely getting that opportunity with cake making. I've also learned how to make wedding cakes :) Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of the one I made with a friend, but as soon as I get a copy of it, I'll update the blog with a picture. Until then...check out the following cakes I've made so far:

My first cake:

More birthday cakes:

Have a yummy day!!!
Jessica

Updates!!

2011-03-30T10:49:00.003-05:00

Well Hello again everyone!!

Once again it's been forever since this poor blog was last updated....poor blog, I bet it's feeling kinda neglected :(....that's why I have decided to go ahead and give you all the updates in one big blog...then I PROMISE I'll do better about updating more frequently :).

When I last blogged in Dec we were getting ready to head out for Christmas...in case we didn't see you, haven't talked to you since then or maybe you just want to hear it all again...we had an EXCELLENT trip!!! We left here early...I'm talking...the sun wasn't up yet EARLY...on Sat. Dec. 18th. We drove for 14 hours and arrived in Tucson the night of the 18th...stayed overnight there and got some much needed rest then left out of Tucson on Sunday morning, Dec. 19th and finished our next part of the trip. We stayed with my grandparents in Southern California for a couple days then headed out again to go up the CA coast.

Once we left grandma's the first stop was Hollywood. It had been raining for several days there in CA and being Dec it was a bit cooler and wet...that worked in our favor though because there really weren't a lot of people out and about. We walked the Walk of Fame with the kiddos...they loved getting to see names in stars on the street. We were going to look for Mickey Mouse but the rain picked back up and the wind starting getting pretty gusty again, so we had to call it quits for the day and get back out on the road, but the kids loved it either way. From there we drove the Sunset Strip and Beverly Hills to check out Rodeo Dr and all the big houses....yes it was VERY VERY NICE...I can't believe people spend sooooo much money for material stuff!!!

Well from Hollywood we traveled up the 101...it was too wet and rainy to travel Hwy 1 and see all the gorgeous coastline so we opted for the 101 instead and it was a very pretty drive. Once the 101 finally met up with the Pacific Ocean it was AWESOME!! You have to remember growing up in TX all we usually get to see is the Gulf of Mexico and that doesn't even compare to a whole ocean!!!! We stopped off at Pismo Beach and let the kids get out of the car and go run in the sand and play for a bit. I don't know who enjoyed it more...the kids or us adults! :) Once we finally got everyone back to the car we took off for our last part of the journey and finished our drive up the 101 to San Jose where we stopped for the night. For those who have ever been to, lived in CA or driven the 101 you know that we took a LONG TRIP taking the 101 from Hollywood up to San Jose...I can assure you by the time we got to San Jose we were ALL ready to be out of the car for a while!!! Although the car ride was very, very long, we loved every minute of it...we got to see cities, small towns, the ocean and wine country. What beautiful land our God has created!!!

We spent the night in San Jose and got up the next day...Dec. 23rd and drove up to San Francisco!! I had our whole...I mean the WHOLE day in SF already mapped out...needless to say I failed to mention to Travis (the driver that day) that the SF streets go either straight up or straight down...HAHAHA...the look on his face once we hit them was priceless!!!! One of the first things we did was go down Lombard St....I LOVED IT...the kids LOVED IT...the driver....ummmmm not so much...maybe because he was having to drive it! After coming off this crooked street we hit the up& down streets and all I kept hearing from Travis was..."please quit laughing and help me find a parking garage so we can get out of this car and off these streets!!" Once we found a parking garage...for a very reasonable rate mind you which is hard to do in SF....we took off on a walk to the cable cars. Once we realized after 3 cable cars stopped that they were all filling up down the hill from us, we took off walking to see where the beginning of the line was. I'm so glad we did...we got to stop in Union Square and take pictures with the HUGE Christmas tree, see the stores and then go down to where the cars start their trip. It's a great place to go because we got to see them turn the cars around...Emily LOVED watching them turn the cars around and to this day if I ask her what her favorite part of SF was that's what she still tells me. We bought our tickets...rode on the cable cars...aka trolleys to the tourists....went to Fisherman's Wharf, China Town, saw Alcatraz, went out on the Pier and had a wonderful time while there. From SF our next stop would be at my dad's house in Folsom...well of course we had to see the Golden Gate Bridge before we left SF. This was another site that the kids loved...they called it the Golden Bridge. We finished out our trip that day by getting to my dad's house by about 6:15ish that night and just spent time visiting and relaxing. We got to stay with my dad and his fiance (Patti) till Dec. 30th...so for next week we were able to relax...meet new friends (Patti's family)...go shopping...see Sacramento...have Christmas with them, be with dad on his birthday, watch movies, eat, eat and eat some more!!! One day we even took the kids up towards Tahoe because it had been snowing...we didn't make it all the way to Tahoe but we did manage to find a spot near there where we could get out and play in the snow. The girls even got to take pictures on their cameras I got them before we left. The time the girls got to spend with Grandpa and I got to spend with my dad was WONDERFUL!! We don't get to see him very much seeing as how we live so far away from each other, but I cherish the times we do get to hang out and visit together and I hope they get to come to TX next and visit us. I know that the girls LOVED spending a whole week with Grandpa and Patti and I had an amazing time just getting to hang out with my dad!

Unfortunately as with all vacations we had to come home at some point in time, so on the morning of the 30th we began our journey back home. We were going to stop at the Grand Canyon on the way home but a massive and sudden snowstorm had the road going into northern AZ closed so unfortunately we had to bypass the Grand Canyon on this trip, so we detoured back to southern AZ and stayed the night in Phoenix. On Dec 31st...New Year's Eve....we drove and drove and drove till we made it to Travis' parents house in Anson....man that was a LONG trip from Phoenix to their house but we made it (even with the time changes) before midnight, so we were able to ring in the New Year with family! Our time with his parents was even sweeter because his brother and our sis-in-law and their kiddos had been stationed in Italy for the past 3 years and they had just gotten back to TX the day we left for CA...we managed to make it back to TX in time to see them before they left to go to Virginia where they are stationed now...we didn't think we would make it in time to see them, but due to the snowstorm in AZ we did! It was great!!

Our trip finally ended on Sunday, Jan. 2nd when we returned back home! It was a wonderful trip...we made lots of memories, saw TONS of country, got to visit with family...which was PRICELESS...and had lots of laughter and fun in the car all along the way! We LOVE road trips and can't wait till we are able to take another one!

Well, this brings us into 2011....and things are going great! The girls and I picked our homeschooling back up (I only have them now) and Haley is learning to read!!! Emily has learned how to spell and write her name and is learning her seasons, days of the week and so much more! They are two very smart little girls and they are only in pre-school. Haley doesn't officially start Kindergarten till August!

January was also a busy month for us because the girls turned 4&5!! Oh my I can't believe they are that old already...time just seems to fly by!! This year they voted to have their birthday party at the Hoppin' Hippo...which is an indoor inflatable jumping place...them and all their friends had a wonderful time and they got TONS of gifts! I was able to make their b-day cake...they wanted Tinkerbell so we made a green cake to represent the fairy forest and put Tink and all her friends all over the cake. I made the cake half chocolate, half white w/rainbow sprinkles...it was a HIT!! In February we celebrated our god-daughters bday party her at our house with a cake and dinner. The girls all loved playing together and helping Jubilee celebrate her birthday.

In January the girls started their dance & gymnastics classes back up again and once again they are loving it. Haley is learning more and more dance techniques and in Emily's class they will be learning how to do handstands and cartwheels soon. They already finished their 1st session of the year and just started on their 2nd session this past week. Next up for them will be their year end recital in May. They LOVE their performances...not sure if it's the performance or the fun costumes they love more!

Well, that's about it for the Greenwood's...we had a great holiday and enjoyed the girls' birthdays, now we are just enjoying the day-to-day of life before our busy summertime!!

Have a super day!!!
Jessica

Life!

2010-12-14T08:27:00.003-06:00

Oh my goodness...I can't believe that it has been over 3 months since I last posted on our blog!!! Where has the time gone???!!!

Okay so for all who we haven't seen, talked to, or kept in touch with through emails and on Facebook...here's a run down of our lives from Sept. up to this point.

The girls have LOVED their dance and gymnastics classes...they start up again in Jan. Here's a picture of them before their performance and performing at the Round Rock Family Christmas Night:

Haley all ready for the Christmas night program

Emily all ready for her Christmas night gymnastics routine

Haley is the 5th (counting from left to right)...doing their turns!

Emily doing the bridge! (she's on the far right)

Let's see....we have also been busy with church. We participated in a Celebrity Dinner...that's where people come dressed up as celebrities and did various performances....it was TONS of fun! We also had a Fall Fest at church...the girls came home with way tooooo much candy...as usual! The ladies of the church got to participate in a progressive dinner for our Nov. Women's service and that was so fun. Then we celebrated Thanksgiving with friends and family.

We have finally arrived in December. I can't believe how fast this year has just gone by. We are going to spend the rest of our month on vacation and enjoying some much needed family time. I'll keep you posted on our adventures!

Have the best day ever!
Jessica

Picture Collage

2010-09-12T18:04:00.005-05:00

So I have a cousin who has just started up her own photography business. I took several pictures of the girls the other day when we were at the park. My sweet, sweet cousin took one of the girls pictures and did this to it.....

Don't you just LOVE IT!!! I'm sooooo going to have to put this up in their room!!!

Check out her website: www.emotionalaccord.com

Have a super blessed day everyone!!!

New Adventures

2010-09-06T21:11:00.005-05:00

So our house has enjoyed this Labor Day holiday and we have had a very relaxing day together which ended with a nice walk around the neighborhood. We have really taken advantage of a down day like today because starting tomorrow we get back to the school work and starting Saturday the girls have a new adventure to embark on. I'll give you a hint...it involves:

AND.....

DID YOU GUESS IT???

Starting this coming Saturday morning Haley will be participating in Kinderdance and Emily will be participating in Kindergym. They are both soooo excited!! So for the next 4 months we will be at the rec. center every Saturday morning for the girls classes. They can't wait!! We went and bought Haley some tap shoes last week. She already had the dance clothes. Emily also was blessed with some gymnastics clothes from a friend so she is all ready too!

I'll post pictures soon of them attending their classes. It's going to be an awesome time for them to get out, make new friends and try out new adventures!!

May you have a spectacular week!!!
Jessica

Ahhh...sweet Saturday!!

2010-09-05T15:07:00.009-05:00

Yesterday was a FANTASTIC Saturday for our family! It was one of the last "free" Saturdays we will have for the next few months, so we took the time to really relax and enjoy it!!

First thing in the morning we took the girls out for breakfast burritos at Speedy's Tacos. It's become one of our favorite Saturday morning traditions!

Then Travis had to help one of the single women in our church move, so the girls and I went to the park to feed the ducks and play. It was such a beautiful day and the creek at the park was nice and low so I decided to let the girls go ahead and play in the water for a while. Of course...they LOVED IT!!!

Then we met up with our dearest friends and went to the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum (since the 1st Saturday of every month is FREE!!!). We ended our day with dinner and a movie with our dearest friends!! It was a WONDERFUL Saturday!!!

First Day!

2010-08-24T08:26:00.002-05:00

Yesterday was our first day of homeschool! I've had the lesson plans and books ready for several weeks, but yesterday was our 1st day of school! Even though the girls are just in pre-k we have school everyday, just going to go ahead and prepare Haley to start Kindergarten next year! This year I've also been blessed with the opportunity to teach two kids from our church who are in the 7th and 2nd grade, so you can see we have quite an age span here. A 7th grader, 2nd grader and 2 preschoolers...it's a challenge to keep up with everyone, BUT we had a WONDERFUL 1st day! The preschoolers did a few pages in their workbooks and the older kids got to pick some subjects they were interested in and work on them (they are still waiting on all their books to arrive before we work harder everyday). It was just an easy relaxed 1st day of school and I know that this year is going to be so awesome!

I am so blessed that God has given me a husband who loves the decision we've made to homeschool and works so hard to provide for our family so I can stay home with our children.

I am looking forward to an awesome year at home with my babies, teaching them not only "school" work, but also life skills and more and more about God! It's going to be amazing!

Cow Day!!

2010-07-09T16:33:00.004-05:00

Today is Cow Appreciation Day at Chick-Fil-A!!
WE LOVE CHICK-FIL-A...anyday, but Cow Appreciation Day just makes it so much more fun!!

The girls and I have dressed up for Cow Day before and had so much fun doing it that we decided we were gonna do it again today. I am babysitting right now another little girl, so we dressed her up too.

All the girls had their cow shirts, little black tails (made out of felt), signs that said: "Eat Mor Chikin", and I put all their hair up in pig tails with little red ribbons. Emily wanted to wear the cowbell, so she got an extra red ribbon and wore the cowbell with her outfit. They were so cute and LOVED the free food!! There were tons of people there all dressed up in the cow attire too. OH YEAH, we will soooo be participating in COW DAY next year! If you have a Chick-Fil-A near you, I highly recommend participating in Cow Appreciation Day, it's lots of fun and you get free food!! :)

Have a "Cow-Tastic" Day!!

8 years!!

2010-06-08T14:21:00.008-05:00

Today's the day folks!! 8 years ago I married my best friend!!

Here we are on June 8, 2002!

The past 8 years have been remarkable. We've grown up together, grown closer to God together, grown closer to each other and have two awesome little girls! God is so good and I am so thankful that I have such a great and loving husband!

I am looking forward to many more wonderful and remarkable years together!!

Have a great day everyone!!
Jessica

Camping Days!

2010-06-01T08:24:00.003-05:00

This past week we decided that since we were going to have a 3-day weekend that we would take the girls camping. Our kids have never gone camping before so the whole week, they were just sooooo excited about going. I think I heard about 100 times a day..."is today the day we go camping Mommy?" and "is it Sunday yet so we can go camping?"

FINALLY Sunday came and after church we came home...loaded up the car and went out to Tejas Park at Lake Georgetown. This park is really cool. They have 12 "tent only" camping sites and each site has a lantern stand, picnic table, fire pit and an area to set up your tent as well as TONS of trees. Anyway, we get to Tejas Park, go pick out the site we want and start to unload. The girls loved the big tree we had at our site. It had two big branches that came down to the ground and they used the branches as swings. We got the tent all set up and then took the girls on a hike of the area.

They found butterflies, capterpillars, grasshoppers, scorpions (yes we even had scorpions...but they were off in the woods...not near our tent) and all kinds of bugs that you would expect to find outside. Right there at the park is the tip of the lake with a crystal clear swimming hole. The water was perfect! Not too hot, not too cold...it was no more than about 5 feet deep all the way across so we got the girls in their swimsuits and took off for the swimming hole. After an hour or two we decided it was dinner time. The girls got to roast hot dogs over an open fire, which of course they also throughly enjoyed. And of course who could forget the experience of smores on an open fire. We all LOVED that part!

After a night of tent sleeping, which wasn't bad at all, since we had such a nice breeze and it was a cool night. We took the kiddos fishing...we didn't catch anything, but we did manage to drown a few worms. One more trip to the swimming hole then it was time to come home. All in all we had a FANTASTIC camping trip and the girls LOVED every minute of it. From hiking in the dark with our flashlights and lanterns, to cooking over an open fire, to just swinging on the tree branches. This is a family activity that we are DEFINETELY going to be doing again!

Hope you all had a great long weekend too!
Jessica

Crank It Up!!

2010-05-25T09:13:00.002-05:00

We recently got back from a trip in Lubbock where we went to a Transformation Conference at Church on the Rock. This was good stuff people...if you haven't already done Transformation...GET YOUR HANDS ON IT....it's really, really gonna change your life!!

Anyway, at this conference I got the privilege to work with the COTR sound/media team. They were a TOTALLY awesome group to work with! Anyway, back on topic...the sound guy, Robby, is always on the look out for new bands, bands not so widely known etc etc. Robby introduced us to the Parachute Band....THEY ROCK GUYS!! If you look it up on youtube, google etc...there are 2 Parachute Bands...one was the original band...the newer band is younger with a more "rock" type style, but very very good!!

Their lyrics are so pure and so true...just what I want to hear and CRANK IT UP! Take a listen to their song, Come to the River! It's such a catchy song with GREAT lyrics. I'm sure you will enjoy it as much as I did. Travis and I will be putting these songs on our playlist...how about you???

Have a fantastic day in the river!!
Jessica

New Adventures

2010-05-07T22:14:00.003-05:00

Don't you love when you take on new adventures in life??!! I've always wanted to decorate cakes...not just throw some icing on them...I'm talking really decorate some cakes. The other day I found the Wilton Course handbooks ON CLEARANCE!! Clearance...my absolute FAVORITE!! Anyway, I took some time and read through the books, started practicing and tonight made my first offical cake using real decorating methods!

My niece turns four on Mother's Day...so her party is gonna be tomorrow. She asked for a Strawberry Shortcake party and I just so happened to have a Strawberry Shortcake pan from when I was little, so I volunteered to make the cake. It took a long time, but here's the final product!

I hope to make many more cakes in the future and get better and better!!
Jessica

Mom's Life!

2010-05-05T09:11:00.002-05:00

Okay so by now you all know about our weight loss journey...it's still going great!! It's getting to where I'm only seeing a pound a week, compared to the 5,6 and 7 lbs a week I was seeing, but hey 1lb is better than gaining...right!!!

Well, I was sent the following cartoon and it's soooooo true! Hope you enjoy it!!

A mom's life....new method to work out!

Have a happy day!!
Jessica

Still Going!

2010-04-07T22:45:00.003-05:00

So do you all remember when I talked about losing weight and going at it with a new mindset...the mindset of an Olympian? Well, I just wanted to let you all know that I am still at it. Yes, there are times when I just really and truly want to quit and there are also times when I just totally skip working out, but I am still going and reaching my little goals one step at a time.

When I decided that this year I was going to start this journey and STICK WITH IT I weighed as much as I did when I was pregnant with my 1st baby girl...and she turned 4 this year! Yes, 3 and 4 yrs ago I could say that I was heavy because I was pregnant, but really after 3 yrs (after our 2nd was born) I am still carrying around all that weight...what is wrong with this picture???? That realization FINALLY struck me like a TON of bricks and I decided that now was the time for a change. I AM NOT going to be looking at myself this same time next year saying "man, if I had just finished I would be in better shape by now"...and repeating that awful cycle year in and year out. I AM DONE WITH THAT!!!
In 2010 I will be a new creation....just like it is written in God's Word...I am a new creation with a healthier and more fit body in 2010! If you too are embarking on this journey for a healthier more fit body....not a superficial worldly looking body, but a healthier more fit you...then I want to just encourage you and say...YOU CAN DO IT!! Yes, there are days you want to quit, yes there are days when you will splurge and even days when you won't even exercise, but keep going...YOU WILL GET THERE!!

I am proud to say that after 3 months of exercising (no, it hasn't been a solid 3 straight months...I have slacked off here and there)...I have lost....drumroll please......

20 lbs!!! That's right folks!! I am now 20 lbs lighter than I was when I started this journey in Jan. It feels really good!!I am about 2 lbs shy of hitting my next BIG goal and that is busting through this one number that has been alluding me for the past 4 years....I know that once I finally break through that hurdle I will NEVER go back over that number EVER again!!

I pray that if you too are embarking on this journey that you will KEEP GOING! You can do it and I believe in you!!

Love and Prayers!
Jessica

Family Days!!

2010-02-27T17:17:00.006-06:00

I just love family days and I especially love family days when the weather is so beautiful like today was!!!

With nothing on the church calendar for today and no other plans we decided to take the girls to Mt. Bonnell in Austin. It's a place where you can just climb the stairs and look at the view of Lake Austin, or walk along the trails and see different views of the houses and the lake and they have lots of picnic tables there too. So we thought....let's do it!! The girls had soooooo much fun!! Haley said she loved hiking! One day we are going to take them to some REAL mountains to hike, but this satisfies them for now!! :) After our hiking trip, we came back to Round Rock and took the kids to the park where they got to play on the playground and play in the sand and we also wore them out at the tennis courts!! Travis and I had fun playing tennis and the kids played for a few minutes then they became the ball chasers...they had fun doing that too!! Anyway, I hope you and yours have many fantastic family days!!!

Here's a glimpse of ours:

Breakfast

2010-02-25T14:47:00.004-06:00

This morning the girls and I were in the kitchen disussing what to eat for breakfast. Of course there was the usual choices of cereal and toast, but since I know how much my girls LOVE eggs I thought I would see if they were in the mood for some. Let me tell you...when I said the word eggs, they were soooooo excited! We don't make eggs often in our house, so for them that was a HUGE change from the "norm".

Well as most parents know, when your kids are little all they want to do is help, so I took advantage of their excitement and willingness to help this morning and let them help cook the eggs and toast and then help set the table. It was a good breakfast and I know the girls loved helping....they LOVE to help in the kitchen :)

And here's breakfast on Emily's plate!! It was YUMMY!!!

Hope you have an "egg"tastic day!! :)

A first time for everything!!

2010-02-16T11:30:00.003-06:00

So this past weekend the girls and I went to Abilene to celebrate my sister's 16th birthday with her. Wouldn't you know it....this is the one week the weather would turn really cold AGAIN and the snow and sleet would start falling. Well with all the weather they were having in Abilene, we weren't able to get a cake ordered in time for the party, so mom and I decided that we would just make a birthday cake. Thursday night we went to the store and got all our supplies and set out to make this birthday cake. Now we had made cakes before...you know the ones you make and then turn around and eat, so you aren't focusing so much on gotta decorate, make it look like a birthday cake from the store etc, etc. But this time we were going with a sheet cake and decorating it like one in the stores...well that was our mission anyway. So we make the cake then set out to ice and decoarte it. Scout had decided that she wanted a jungle/safari themed party, so when I started icing the cake I went for both a jungle and a desert theme on the cake...add some greenery, some plastic animals and BABOOM...you come out with this:

Now I haven't take a cake decorating class or have the steadiest hand, but for my first cake like this...I think it looks pretty good! What do you think??

Cake anyone??

Have a super fantastic day!!

SuperBowl 2010

2010-02-08T13:59:00.003-06:00

So SuperBowl 44 is now behind us!! What a great game!! Way to go Saints! How awesome that a team that has NEVER one was able to pull out a win on the biggest game day in football!! It was super fun watching the game with friends, and as much as I love watching football...you know the SuperBowl is just as much about the commericals as it is about the actual game......so, my favorite commercial this year was from Doritos!! It's sure to put a smile on your face....ENJOY!!

Going for the gold!!

2010-02-04T10:21:00.005-06:00

Are you a fan of the Olympics? I wouldn't say I am a "fan," but if they are on and there is nothing better to watch I do find myself watching one or two events. Well....with the Winter Olympics coming up (and not having cable) all I see on TV is a BUNCH of commercials announcing the winter games and seeing all of these commericials made me think about the athletes. They train long hours and work really hard just to make the team, then they have to work even harder to prepare to go to competition. Could you imagine....from the moment you wake up (which would be extremely early), till pretty much the moment you went to bed all you were doing was preparing for this upcoming competition??? That's a lot of work!

Yesterday was a long day for us....we took Travis' brother to the airport, went to the library, came home and cleaned and started dinner and then had to get ready for church...and to top it all off it was cold and rainy ALL DAY!! I was so busy yesterday that I seriously considered NOT exercising. After about an hour of debating with myself why I should even exercise I thought about those Olympians. Those people who work and work and train and train so hard so they can win the competition and get the gold! I decided that I really should start thinking like an Olympian when it comes to exercising....I'm gonna have to work and work if I am going to get my gold (back down to a healthy weight). I know I can do...it's just gonna take some work. Well, yesterday I did finally decided to go ahead and exercise...even though I didn't really feel like it and I must say I was shocked!!

You see...I play the Biggest Loser game for the Wii and every week (just like the show), the game does a weigh-in and elimination. Now I check my weight every day I get on my Wii balance board and to me it just seems like it is staying the same. I mean for the past couple days it has been about the same...I may see a 1/2 lb difference or so, but then it seems like the next day I am right back up by a 1/2 lb. or so. Anyway...I didn't think I was losing any weight and just knew that I was going to be up for elimination. My turn came to step up on the scales and after lots of numbers ticking on that screen, it showed my final weight....I had lost 7 lbs!!! I couldn't believe it!! 7 lbs!!! It was amazing! I went back and looked at my graph for the past week and I saw it...one pound here...one pound there...and suddenly I was down 7 lbs. Then I thought back to those Olympians...they all started somewhere and through much training, practice, hard work and patience made it to the Olympics!

So I have decided that the next time I get frustrated working out, or just don't think the numbers on the scale are changing much that I will keep the mindset of an Olympian....train, practice, work hard and have patience and very soon I will see the benefits and one day get my gold too!!! I am not going to settle for a bronze or even a silver...I am GOING FOR THE GOLD!!!

Have a great day!!
Jessica

Weight Loss Journeys

2010-01-28T22:33:00.005-06:00

So, I have decided that I am going to continue on my excercising journey. I started back in Sept. of 2009 and did really well, till the holidays. I actually didn't really splurge during the holidays this year, but I just quit excercising everyday like I should. Well two months later I began to notice it. Thanks to my willpower in avoiding all those holiday goodies, I only gained 3 lbs. back during those 2 months. That to me was AMAZING!!

I have started exercising everyday using some workout DVD's I already had, using the Biggest Loser for the Wii and using my Wii Fit. It has made a HUGE difference. In 2 weeks I have lost 8 lbs!! I was shocked when I saw that....now I am not anywhere near where I want to be, but I am beginning to see some progress!!! OH HAPPY DAY!!!

I'll keep you all posted on my journey and at the end I plan on posting some pictures and also posting my starting and ending weight. I encourage all of you who are losing weight to keep going....YOU CAN DO IT!!

My goal is to be at a healthy weight and be fit for my 30th birthday in August! I no longer want to go another year being at an unhealthy weight and then look back at myself again next year saying...oh maybe I will do it by this time next year! Nope, change is at hand NOW!!

Getting fit and having fun!!
Jessica

Happy Birthday to Emily!!!

2010-01-12T21:16:00.008-06:00

So today is now Emily's birthday!! She is 3!!! Yep, for those who were unaware and just now doing the math, our girls are VERY CLOSE in age! They are 1 yr and 3 days apart!!

Today has been such a fun day, we spent the day playing games, watching movies and just hanging out enjoying her birthday. When I stop and think back on it, it really is hard to believe that 3 years ago we just welcomed her into this world. I mean sometimes it feels like it was just yesterday that we were bringing her home from the hospital. I really can't believe that 3 years has passed so quickly. Emily is so different from her sister, and I love it! She enjoys girlie things, but is much rougher and tougher than Haley is. She loves to dance, run, jump, play and play some more. She is growing like a weed and is developing such a beautiful personality and I know that she is going to be a very beautiful, loving young lady. She loves her friends, her family, her sister, animals and God!! I am looking forward to watching her grow into the beautiful woman God has called her to be and making so many wonderful memories in this journey of life with her!!

In 3 years she has grown up so much, I just can't believe it!!

She has gone from this:

To this:

Happy Birthday my sweet baby girl!! I love you princess!!
Mommy :)

Happy Birthday!!

2010-01-10T00:11:00.012-06:00

So yesterday (it is after midnight already)was Haley's birthday!! All I can say is WOW! I can't believe that 4 years has gone by soooo quickly. I mean really, 4 years ago we were just holding her for the 1st time. It's amazing how much your life changes when you have a child. Of course, these last 4 years have been amazing and I love my sweet darling more than ever. Her personality is really starting to evolve and she is growing into a beautiful young girl. She is a typical girl, she loves all the princess stuff, Tinkerbell, babydolls, Barbies and dancing. Man, this girl LOVES to dance. She will dance to a commercial jingle if it's long enough :). For her bday this year she is = getting to take dance classes. I know she will be soooo excited. She won't start for a little while, but either way I know she will be siked! More importantly though, we have seen her grow up loving God! She absoultely loves church, all her church friends, saying prayers and worship. Most days I will walk in her room or the living room and find her leading a congregation (her imaginary one, but one nonetheless) of people in worship. I know God has a great calling on her life and I look forward to seeing all the wonderful plans he has in store for her!

What an amazing journey these past 4 years have been! I love my sweet princess dearly and say thank you Lord for such a beauty! She is amazing!!

She's gone from this:

To this:

Happy Birthday sweetie!! I love you!
Mommy :)

2009 into 2010!!!

2010-01-02T13:27:00.004-06:00

Hello to all my faithful followers!! It's been a while since I last blogged, so in case I haven't seen or talked to you...I hope you had a very Merry Christmas and a fabulous New Year!!!

We really enjoyed our holidays, we were able to stay home and spend time with each other and with some of our very dear friends. It was nice to not have to be out and on the roads this year. Not that I have a problem traveling...I LOVE TO TRAVEL, but a chance to just be at home was very, very nice!

We celebrated our holidays by playing games, playing games on the Wii (which we got for Christmas this year), and just relaxing! Well, that was Christmas anyway...for the New Year's Eve celebration....well, things turned a bit awry for about 2 hours. Let me explain......

We had some of our dearest friends come over to celebrate and they have a daughter who is Haley's age. So the girls are all playing in the bedroom together, the parents are all playing games on the Wii, next thing you know we hear a very, very loud and heart-renching scream.....parents out there...you know that scream, the one that tells you, you better run into the room to see what just happened. Well, I was closest to the room and took off, I entered to find Emily (who is 2) sitting on the bed bleeding on her head. I scooped her up, ran her into the kitchen (Travis was there to help)and we get her cleaned off and see she has cut open her head at her right eyelid. So, we get her all cleaned off, get ourselves all ready and head out to the ER. Thankfully enough it was still early in the night and we were seen pretty quickly. About an hour and a half later we were headed back home with one tough little girl and 3 stitches in the eye. Emily did really well considering the situation and only cried when she first hit her eye (for about 5 min) and when they papoosed her to put in the stitches...that was it, no other crying or complaining at all. She's one tough little girl!! We came home, she ran and played with the other two girls, like nothing had ever happened and we rang in the new year!!

2009 went out with a BANG in our household, but she will have the stitches out in a couple days and all will be well!!

I pray you have a blessed 2010!!!

Here's some photos of Emily:

The cut on her head...small but just big enough to need 3 stitches...and one puffy eye to go with it!

Emily and her Hello Kitty bandaid...she got it at the hospital:

Emily and her stitches (day 2):

Merry Christmas!!!

2009-12-22T10:32:00.003-06:00

May you all have a very Merry Christmas!!!

I still celebrate FALL!!!

2009-10-27T14:04:00.003-05:00

Hello Readers!!

Have any of you been to the stores lately?? I have, we went just last night and you know what I think is absolutely crazy???....the stores are already putting out Christmas stuff!! INSANE RIGHT!!?? I mean don't get me wrong, I LOVE CHRISTMAS, but really are we just going to totally pass up the Fall season? What's even crazier is we have even seen people who have Christmas stuff up in their yards already!! HELLO!! We haven't even celebrated THANKSGIVING!!!!!

No matter how many stores put up Christmas stuff or how many people decide to go ahead and start preparing their homes with Christmas decorations I have decided I will celebrate fall and all of it's beauty before I celebrate Christmas. My tree will not go up, I won't turn on Christmas music and as much as I want to...I won't watch ELF or any other Christmas movie till after Thanksgiving!!

May you all have a very happy Fall!!!
Jessica

Funny!

2009-10-13T10:48:00.004-05:00

Hello readers!!!

Today I wanted to share with you a very funny email that a friend of mine sent me. I thought it was hilarious and hope you enjoy it. What makes it even funnier is that I am sure everyone has done something like the kid in this email, just to stay out of trouble...ok maybe not as extreme, but I am sure something nonetheless just to stay out of immediate trouble!

Read on and enjoy!!! Have a great day!

Why Parents Drink
A father passing by his son's room was astonished to see that his bed was nicely
made and everything was picked up. Then he saw an envelope, propped up
prominently on the pillow that was addressed to "Dad."

With the worst premonition he opened the envelope With trembling hands and read
the letter..

Dear Dad:

It is with great regret and sorrow that I'm writing you. I had to elope with
my new girlfriend because I wanted to avoid a scene with Mom and you. I have been finding real passion with Stacy and she is so nice. But I knew you would not approve of her because of all her piercing, tattoos, tight motorcycle clothes and the fact that she is much older than I am. But it's not only the passion...Dad she's pregnant.

Stacy said that we will be very happy. She owns a trailer in the woods and has a stack of firewood for the whole winter.

We share a dream of having many more children. Stacy has opened my eyes to
the fact that marijuana doesn't really hurt anyone. We'll be growing it for ourselves and trading it with the other people that live nearby for cocaine and meth.

In the meantime we will pray that science will find a cure for AIDS so Stacy can get
better. She really deserves it.

Don't worry Dad. I'm 15 and I know how to take care of myself. Someday I'm sure that
we will be back to visit so that you can get to know your grandchildren.

Love, Your Son John

PS. Dad, none of the above is true. I'm over at Tommy's house.

I just wanted to remind you that there are worse things in life than the Report Card that's in my center desk drawer.

I love you....Call me when it's safe to come home.

There Are Great Things In Lubbock (cont'd)

2009-09-25T09:22:00.005-05:00

Hello readers.....so I am back to tell you all more about the great things there are in Lubbock!!! As I shared with you the other day, we attended the Women's Conference in Lubbock this last weekend and it was excellent! I shared with you what the conference speaker Margaret Feinburg shared with us in the opening session and a little bit about the first breakout session I went to. Today, I am going to share with you some points from the second breakout session and the closing words by Margaret. So here we go......

"This Side Of The Table"...
Have you ever thought of the importance of tables in our lives? You eat at them, maybe study at them, have family pictures (your heritage) on them and so much more. Tables were important in the Bible too. Psalms 128:3 "Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine in the very heart of your house your children like olive plants ALL AROUND YOUR TABLE." She shared that precious family time is usually spent around the table which is the very heart of your home. In Matthew 26:7 Mary anointed Jesus as he sat at the TABLE. The very act of her pouring the oil over Jesus is significant, but when she did it she also wiped His feet with her hair. The act of her hair hanging down meant come to me my lover...her Lord! Jesus calls us to come to the table to be with Him (as Mary did) daily for intimacy and to be transparent before Him, like the alabaster jar that held the oil Mary anointed Jesus with. Alabaster is almost transparent.
The other table that most everyone thinks of (maybe you did too at the start of this) is the table that served for the Last Supper. Here's some very interesting facts about that table. The tables then were only 2 cubits (36 inches) tall, so everyone sat on the floor. Also everyone only sat on one long side and the two ends of the table. Think about the picture of the Last Supper...where is everyone sitting? Do you know why??? That is because the other long side is where they were served from. Also, the three sides of the table may represent: the trinity....Interesting facts for you the next time you are thinking about the Last Supper. Anyway, back to where I was......When people would serve their guests at the tables in those times, they would give EVERYTHING they had...not just food, but they gave of themselves too. And because they didn't have chairs, they reclined, relaxed, leaned on each other, even layed down. They were NEVER in a rush for anything, they just spent the time being together, being intimate with one another. Jesus invites us to meet him daily at the table of our hearts and share this same type of intimacy and fellowship with Him. That is why the heart of your home is at the table!
Psalms 23:5-"You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; My cup runs over." Our speaker translated this to what it means in Hebrew: I will lavish hospitality on you; you will lack nothing and I will do it all before your enemies. I will provide ALL things to you both life and Godliness. I will provide ALL things to you both body and soul. I will be your bountiful benefactor.
He is preparing fresh manna for you daily if you will come to the table and be with Him. Go to the table, lean on Him, be intimate with Him and ask him, "What Lord are you going to serve me today on the long side of the table?" If you choose to sit with Him he will give you:provision, protection, confidence, renewal, grace, fellowship, hope, faith and the promise to sit at His table for eternity.

I hope you enjoyed learning more about this side of the table....will you ever think about tables in the same way?? I hope not, cause what she shared was REALLY good!

After this breakout session, we all headed back in for the closing words by Margaret...here's a couple things she shared with us. Exodus 3:1-4...what if Moses would have walked away from that burning bush? How would things have been different? We must listen to God's voice and if he is speaking do what he says. Too many times we choose to think that what he is thinking might just be a bit crazy, so we don't do it....be obedient to His voice.
Psalm 27:4--God's beauty is captivating. Be drawn into His beauty and seek him, dwell with him daily. God invites us to fix our eyes on Him, and not be swayed by the trends and things of this world. The final thing she asked us was: "What do you love about Jesus?"

So as you can see...there are great things in Lubbock!!

The conference was really good, and the van ride was EXTREMELY long, but it was soooo much fun. We stopped in Brownwood, both going and coming back, for a great meal, and we took the time for a photo op while we were on the way home!!

The van ride was tons of fun...I mean a little over 6 hours (each way) in a van ...what are you gonna do but entertain yourselves. We shared funny stories, laughed (a lot), had Missa sing us such "beautiful" songs (HAHAHA.....it was very humorous singing), took lots of crazy pictures, received up-to-the minute text message score updates of the UT/Tech game all the way home, and even had someone breakdance in the Humphrey Pete's parking lot (that's where we had dinner on the way home)....so all in all it was a FANTASTIC trip, lots of fun, learning and laughter!!!

May you have a great day!
Jessica

There are Great Things in Lubbock!!!

2009-09-23T09:14:00.003-05:00

Yes, you read that title right...there are great things in Lubbock! Now if you have every been there you may be thinking....seriously, are you off your rocker here? Nope, I know there isn't much in Lubbock, TX, but this past weekend there were some really great things in Lubbock!! We had the privilege of attending Church On The Rock's Women's Conference and it was AMAZING!!

The conference speaker for the Weekend was: Margaret Feinburg. She is amazing and had so many wonderful things to share with us. If you have never heard of her or read any of her books, I highly suggest you search her up on YouTube or head out to the nearest Christian bookstore and purchase her book: Organic God....you will truly be blessed. The book is nothing like you may be thinking by that title...here is something she shared with us: "Organic means: natural, pure, and essential. God is natural, he is pure, and he is essential to our lives! So how do we know him organically?" She also shared this: "We give of many areas and God loves it when we give of ourselves in every way, because it is a reflection of Him. He is a generously outrageous God! God gives us so much more than we could ever want, need or expect. In Exodus 16:16-20--the Israelites were dependant upon God everyday for their manna. He provided for all their needs, no matter how much or how little they gathered. (check it out in Exodus...it is really good). We also had 2 different breakout sessions we could attend. The speakers for these were so awesome! The first one I attended was: Ordinary Women Living Out Loud For Jesus by a remarkable woman of God...Callie Boyd.

Here is just a brief breakdown of what she shared with us....we are all "just" women. "just" moms, "just" wives, "just" a teacher etc, but God can use us "just" women. For example Deborah and Jael...they were "just" ordinary women who God used in extraordinary ways (see Judges 4 for their story). If we are going to live out LOUD we must TAKE RISKS! Even if you fail at the time, you stepped out and did it and that is living out LOUD! Like Callie said, "I have laid hands on 7 dead people and none of them have come back to life yet, but God said I could lay hands on the sick and they would be healed and raise the dead, so even though I have taken a risk and it hasn't happened yet, I will keep doing it, because one day I know it will happen, because I took the risk and stepped out to do what His word says I can." And her last point was God lives inside of us, so anywhere you go or anything you do you are taking Christ with you. So, the next time you go to the grocery store, remember Christ is in the grocery store too, because he lives inside of you. The moment you enter in anywhere, the atmosphere has changed, because Christ is in you so that place will never be the same, because you and Christ were there! As Callie said...the moment you enter anywhere say to yourself..."Everything Changes!" And as Bill Johnson said (Callie quoted this)..."You are bigger on the inside than the whole world." and "God isn't looking for people who will invite him into a situation, but who will allow Him to be used in a situation."

I will leave you with those thoughts for today. Tomorrow I will fill you in on my second breakout session, which was: This Side Of The Table and the closing words that Margaret Feinburg shared with us!! May you have a remarkably blessed day and always remember that "EVERYTHING CHANGES!" the moment you enter in ANYWHERE!!

So in closing I will repeat.....THERE ARE GREAT THINGS IN LUBBOCK!!!

Be blessed....and remember to come back tomorrow for more!!
Jessica

Happy Tuesday!

2009-09-15T23:17:00.002-05:00

Hello to everyone out there in blog world!!! I just wanted to give a shout out to you all and say "HAPPY TUESDAY!!" I pray you have all been having a very blessed week so far and have a remarkable remainder of the week!

That's it, nothing else...just wanted to wish you a Happy Tuesday!!

Smile!! :)
Jessica

Ha Ha Ha!

2009-09-05T09:07:00.000-05:00

Don't you just love to laugh? Love it when something just tickles your funny bone so much that you just can't help but laugh out loud. Laughter is good for you. It improves your health and it takes a lot less muscles to smile than it does to frown, so come on...let out a big old laugh....one of those deep down belly laughs that just makes your side hurt!!! Not a LOL typed on the screen or a ROFL (rolling on floor laughing) typed, a genuine deep down laugh. Having a hard time coming up with something to laugh about? Just repeat the following out loud...haha, hoho, hehe...say it again, faster this time....haha, hoho, hehe...keep going till just can't contain yourself and let out a big old laugh! Now, don't you feel so much better!!!

I talk about laughing today, because one it is great to remember to laugh at life! And also because I am in the process of helping my parents update their church website....www.newriverministries.net....and I just updated the Heavenly Humor section, which is just some cartoons that I found online, but they gave me a great laugh yesterday and even today when I looked at them again. I just wanted to share them with you and hope they give you a laugh too!!

May you have a blessed, joyful day full of laughter and rest this Labor Day weekend!
Jessica

Stop the World!

2009-08-25T16:45:00.001-05:00

Hello fellow readers!

I just recently bought the Matthew West CD, Something To Say. I bought the CD because I needed the song "The Motions" for our Women's service this month, but the whole CD is AWESOME!! As I told Travis....man, sometimes you just gotta sacrifice for the ministry...hehehe!!!

Anyway as I was listening to the CD today while the kids were asleep one song, "Stop The World" really stood out to me and I wanted to share it with you today. May you too remember that sometimes the world needs to stop so you can be refreshed in His presence.

Have a great day!!

Enjoy!!

My First Blog EVER!!!!!!

2009-08-20T22:43:00.000-05:00

Hey you guys. It's me Travis this time. Usually Jess is the one doing this blog, so I thought I would give it a shot. After all I am one member of the Greenwood family and so... why not.
Today is Jessica's birthday and I can't help but remind her that as of today she is two years older than me. Really she is only like a year and some months older than me, but for three months outa the year she is two years older than me. And I will not let her forget it. On a great side note it is also my parents thiry year anniversary. Wow! Thirty years! I can't believe my mom let my dad hang around that long. Okay not really! The two of them are crazy about one another. I mean they had five kids so it's not to hard to see what has kept them togather for thirty years. I feel so blessed to have found someone that I truly believe will still love me alot after thirty years. My wife is awesome!!!
I really can't wait to get old togather. Of course, I will always have a good reference to what is coming in old age. After all my wife is two years older than me and so I will just keep my eye on her. This way I can be ready for what is coming down the road. At least two years down the road anyway. I am happy to have a wife that doesn't mind getting older. She is not one of these girls that sits in her room and eats ice cream and cries all day because she is one year closer to death or something and goes through all the lists of things she wanted to have done by now and hasn't done and ect. Instead, she wants to party. I think birthdays are the biggest thing next to Christmas for my wife. I mean don't get my wrong I love me a good birthday, but my wifes family is so passionate about the day they were born. I think thats great...especially on my birthday. Anyway I got my wife a new B-B-Q grill and she loves it so I think it was a good birthday for her.
Okay, so lets recap, my first blog ever, Jessica is old, my parents will be togather forever, I love my wife and we got a new grill. Not bad for a first blog I don't think. And what have we learned today? Getting your wife a grill for her birthday is good for everyone.

While the Mom's away......

2009-08-03T09:26:00.000-05:00

Hello to Everyone!!!

This past Friday night we had our monthly Women's Service (I'll come back to that). While I go to the WOD (our Women of Destiny) meetings, Travis stays home with the girls. This gives them some great time together and usually these are the nights that they order Chinese food (not on my list of favorite foods) or he takes the girls out to eat somewhere. On this Friday evening they decided to go to Taco Bueno and get a burrito. So Travis loaded them up and off they went...on the way there he taught them to say: "Oh yeah baby, burrito time baby!" They told me this Saturday morning and I laughed sooooo hard. I couldn't believe it. What is even funnier is just the way they say it and lots of times they will shake their hips when they say it too. It is just too cute!! So while the mom's away...the daddy teaches them things like...Oh yeah baby, burrito time baby and now the girls say it ALL the time!! HAHAHA....makes good memories and gives me a great laugh.

On the other hand, I was at the WOD service and it was AWESOME as it always is!! We have so many ladies who have such great words in them!! This time we talked about JOY and how even in our times of trials and heartaches we need to have JOY!! It was an awesome time in the word and P&W was so powerful. After the time in P&W and time in the word we had TONS of fun playing games!! Our theme this month was a luau....several ladies came dress in their best beach/Hawaiian outfits and they all looked marvelous!!!! We played a "guess the number of seashells in the jar game," a name game and then we had group Hulas. The group Hulas were the highlight of the evening and everyone had such a great time performing them. Lots of fun and laughter which is exactly what the ladies needed...especially after we had just talked about JOY!! All in all it was a wonderful night for all....the ladies at church and even daddy and the kids!! I love nights full of so much JOY!!

Have a great day full of JOY in everything!!

Here's one of the songs from our worship on Friday night!

Oh me oh my!!

2009-07-29T16:00:00.000-05:00

Oh me, oh my things have been so very busy in the Greenwood household! Between regular everyday basics (the children, work for Travis etc) and all of the many opportunities we have at church to serve and with our upcoming Summer Fest I have found myself a bit busy. Now, don't get me wrong, I LOVE being able to be so very involved with all the different ministries at our church, but there are sometimes that when we just have to remember to stop, spend some time with God to build up our Spirit and then continue to serve. During these very, very busy days, I have just loved this song and wanted to share it with you.

May you too take the time to spend with God even during your busy days of serving others! He is a God of restoration and will restore your soul even in the long, busy and weary days!!

Enjoy!! (thanks Missa for sharing this with me!!!)

Family, Friends and Freedom...a Great Mix!

2009-07-06T00:18:00.000-05:00

Hello to all my faithful followers!

Hope you all had a super awesome 4th of July weekend!!! My family and I had an excellent time together! (which I will share with you momentarily)

It has been some time since our last blog and since then here's an update for you on what all we have been doing!

We celebrated Father's Day with Travis, by letting him pick out the grill of his choice as his present from all us girls! :) Also on Father's Day we went out to one of the state parks in the area and took him fishing. This was the first time Haley and Emily had been fishing and they loved it! It was a very, very, very warm day when we were out there, but for DAD we will do anything and I know he enjoyed his day too!

The last weekend of July we had a family reunion! It was a great time and all but one brother was able to be there for our weekend, because he is serving somewhere in the Middle East right now. We went to Lake Brownwood, stayed in cabins, rode the boat, swam in the lake, BBQ and even had s'mores!! AWESOME, AWESOME, AWESOME time for everyone!!!

For the 4th of July, my (jessica) parents came into town with their boat and even though we are in a really, really bad drought, we headed out to the lake (yes, for all you Austin-area readers...there is still water in some of the lakes :)....)
Anywho, like I was saying, my parents were here, one of my sisters was here, and our very bestest friends were able to join us that day too! (and yes missa, we consider you and scott some our very bestest friends too)! :) We went out to the lake, swam, rode the tube (some people...not to mention any names..KRISTINA!) got thrown off of the tube, ate, then ate some more then left the lake to watch fireworks. We went back into Round Rock to watch the firework show and decided to avoid so much traffic we would park a little off the beaten path. Can you guess where we went? If you guessed the Wal-Mart parking lot, then you win!!! Yes folks, we watched 4th of July fireworks from the Wal-Mart parking lot!!! It was fun, and there were a couple hundred other people there with us...gotta love Wal-Mart....it's got it all, including great seats for watching fireworks!!!

Sunday, we had a powerful church service and Travis got to minister during our time of giving. He had such an amazing word about how just like our service men and women sacrifice a part of their lives for our freedom, Jesus too sacrificed for our freedom from sin! He talked about how there have been POW's who had been prisoner for so long, once they were freed from their cells they would just sit there. As if they weren't sure of the freedom they were being given, because they had been prisoner for so long. Just like us in our giving and lives Jesus is saying, the cell doors are open, captives you are FREE, but we are still sitting there as if we are prisoners. It's time for us to start taking those steps, walking out of those prison cells that have held us for so long and start rejoicing in our freedom!!!! Listening to Travis minister this was so amazing, especially when you think about all that our Lord has done for us and is doing for us every moment of every day! He wants to free you from anything that is holding you in your prison cell....the doors are open, you are free! Just like you celebrate the 4th of July as our nation's day of independance, don't you think that the freedom Christ gives us in EVERY area of our lives deserves to be celebrated everyday?! Everyday is Independance Day!!! Walk in your freedom!!! You need freedom in your marriage, finances, work, home etc??? Get up out of your cell, walk in faith, follow God's leading and give when he says to give. Whether you are giving of time, finances, compassion or even love, if you step out into that freedom, you will be amazed!!! Like the song we sing at church says:
"Where the Spirit of the Lord is: THERE IS FREEDOM!!!.....It is for freedom, I've been set free! It is for freedom, I've been set free! And I'm FREE!!!"

Be Free!! Have a happy, everyday Independance Day!!!
Jessica

Here's a few pictures of our weekend!

7 wonderful years!!

2009-06-09T10:10:00.000-05:00

Hello to all!!

So yesterday Travis and I celebrated our 7 year wedding anniversary! It was so awesome! In this day and age where more and more people don't stay together for more than a few years, being able to say I have been married for 7 years is great! We have had so much fun these past 7 years together, have some great memories, two beautiful girls and are looking forward to many, many more wonderful years together!!!

May you have a truly blessed day!
Jessica

Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend!!!

2009-06-01T17:26:00.000-05:00

So to this past weekend we had our Women of Destiny Retreat....and it was TOTALLY AWESOME!!! Our theme was: Shine-4-Jesus: Diamond's Are a Girl's Best Friend.

We had great words delivered, not only by all the pastor's wives, but by so many of the ladies attending the retreat too. It was so awesome to see God doing so much in everyone's lives. Basically the whole idea of the weekend was to learn to let your light shine and how we are all beautiful diamonds and God is doing new things in us everyday and bringing out more and more diamonds in our lives. Therefore, diamonds really are a girl's best friend!! We talked about how to let our lights shine in everything we do and how God is our master jewler and he is creating us to be the diamond he has called us to be. Sometimes the cutting process is not fun, but the result in the end is worth it all. It was so awesome to have so many ladies really just open up their hearts and share about what God is doing in their lives. We had lots of fun, laughter, food and great intimate times in worship with the Father. It was so awesome to get away with such amazing ladies for a weekend!

On Saturday night we had a Princess PJ party and an Italian dinner banquet. We all had pink crowns with our names and jewels on them that we wore for our banquet and for our group pictures. It was so fun to be able to be silly and cut loose and have such a fun time! We ended our weekend by going outside on the patio in total darkness, opening our cellphones (each of us was emitting light in the darkness) and singing "This little light of mine." It may have been a song that you usually only sing with little kids, but it summed up the weekend perfectly and really was powerful! All in all, we had such an amazing, awesome and wonderful time....words can never describe it all! Thanks to everyone who came and shared their hearts, to all the ladies who helped pour so much time and effort into pulling this retreat off (I couldn't have done it your help)...hopefully I wasn't too bossy for ya :).....and to our lovely hostess and her husband for opening their home to almost 30 ladies for the weekend!!

Here's a goofy picture of all of us who were still there late saturday night.......we are soooo CRAZY, but having sooo much FUN!!!!

So much......

2009-05-26T09:02:00.000-05:00

Okay readers, so it has been a while since the Greenwoods have blogged. Life has just had so much going on. The calendars have been full, but it has been great. We've had company visit our new place, gone to 2 Express baseball games (which Haley LOVED!!), had a Women's Service...which always takes a lot of time and planning on my part, celebrated a birthday and Mother's Day, got to see our newest nephew, had more company over and recently have been planning and preparing for the women's retreat. Needless to say we have been to busy to stop and blog, but good news for all......WE ARE BACK!!! Woo Hoo!!!

I must say though in all of our busyness it has been great to look back and see how truly blessed we are. To be able to have a nice home and have people come to visit us, and provide food and shelter to our family while they come in from out of town is so awesome!!! God has truly blessed us!! We also were able to take our girls to 2 Round Rock Express baseball games. For those who don't know, the Express is the triple-A affiliate team for the Houston Astros...basically they are one step down from the majors. Anyway, our girls love to watch baseball...especially Haley....so it was so nice to be able to take them and see them enjoy the game and all the activites there too. We haven't been able to do something like that with them in 2 yrs, because Travis was working overnights and it really put a halt on us being able to do some things with our girls as a family! We are really enjoying this time and season we are in and are very thankful that God is blessing us with times like this. Having time to do things as a family has also been great as our niece just had turned 3 and we were able to go as a family to her birthday party. We've even been able to have company come stay with us...even had our newest nephew and the rest of his family over this holdiay weekend (he's 3 weeks old..and adorable!!)....which last year with Travis working overnight we wouldn't have been able to just have company come over sit and fellowship and all, because he would have had to sleep during the day.

We are just so thankful to God and for blessing us with so much. Sometimes we don't always see the blessings that God is showering on us until we stop and look back on it. So maybe this time of no blogging has been exactly what God needed for us, so that we could look back just over the past couple weeks and see all of the things he has blessed us with in such a short amount of time. So many blessings in such a short time....think about all the blessings our Lord has showered over you. Some are obvious (cars, homes, jobs etc), and some like time may not be as obvious till you stop and think about it.

Take some time out today from everything to "Count Your Blessings, name them one by one. Count your blessings, see what God has done. Count your blessings, name them one by one. Count your many blessings see what God has done" as the song so wonderfully says!!! It's okay to take time out of your day to just stop and reflect on the good things God blesses you with and then, be sure to take the time to thank him!!!

We serve an awesome God who loves us so much and I for one am thankful for the "so much...." he has blessed us with!!!

Have a blessed day of "so much...."!!
Jessica

Time to Move!!!

2009-04-30T19:33:00.000-05:00

Guess what??? The Greenwood Family is moving again!!! This time we are going back to Round Rock. We really love that town, it is our favorite. Big enough to enjoy and still outside of the big city of Austin, but it has that great small town feel to it!! With over 100,000 people in the town there is a lot that this town offers, but like I say, still has the feel of a small town. We are really excited about our new place and really know that we will enjoy it here! Great thing about RR is that now it is baseball season and we will be closer to the ball fields so we can take the kids...Haley keeps asking to go to a game, so guess we better take her soon!!

Anyway, I hope to post a few pictures of the new place soon...keep checking back for them!!! My kitchen is my favorite!!!!!! Enough room in it to work, and LOTS of counter space too. If you want our new address, just let me know!!

Have a super blessed day!!!!!!
Jessica

Take the time to worship

2009-04-26T16:38:00.000-05:00

Take the time to just worship our Father today! What an amazing video and worship time with the Father. This is from the New Hallelujah DVD by Michael W. Smith who has such terrific music anyway. Enjoy!

It was a date!!

2009-04-10T12:33:00.000-05:00

Thanks so much to Scott and Melissa for stepping us to help us out the other night, because they just love kids so much, they volunteered to watch our girls for us while Travis and I went out!!! IT was so nice to be able to go out and get away, even just for a short time without kids!!! We had dinner...and didn't even have to look at the kids menu, went to the park and took a nice walk, then hit up the bookstore...which I just love!!! Anyway, we had a great evening together!! It has been a long time since we've had the chance to do that, not so much because we have the girls, but because Travis was working night shift for so long that we just didn't have the time in the opposite schedules to spend the time together. But we finally have and it was GREAT!!

While we were out, Scott and Melissa had the slip-n-slide out...which I heard they just loved!! Then they took them down to the pond to feed the ducks!! It was an evening of fun for everyone!!!

Make sure you take the time to enjoy a date for yourself too sometime soon....

Have a great day!!
Jessica

Spring Showers are Here!!

2009-03-25T19:51:00.001-05:00

Hello to all!!!

So last week was Spring Break for all the kids in this area and the weather was
G-O-R-G-E-O-U-S for all of them and I am so glad that they did not have to deal with the spring showers that came upon us today! I love the rain, but not when it is the severe thunderstorms like today was. I know we need this rain to see the beautiful flowers, but the hail I could do without. Today we had some BIG....I mean BIG hail come with our fast moving thunderstorm. It was at least the size of golf balls....golf balls...how crazy. Thank goodness though we were indoors and perfectly safe. Our car is just fine too...nothing broken, unlike some others we heard about on the news. That is just God's great protection on us! Even though the wind was whipping hard, the hail came down and the rain pounded and pounded, God had us safe in his hands, just as he always does! I am so thankful for such a great God and for the great rain he brings to us so that very soon....the beautiful flowers will appear!!

May you have a super day!
Jessica

No Internet...but sunny days!!

2009-03-17T13:33:00.001-05:00

Hello to all my fellow readers!!!

I hope this finds you all having an extremely blessed day!!! It has been a while since the last blog, but I just wanted to let you all know that I am still here!!! We just moved again (surprise, surprise)...this is becoming something we do often. Anyway, for the time I don't have internet, but that is okay because I love the sun shine so no internet means I get to get out in the sun and enjoy the wonderful weather God has been giving us.

Right now it is just me and Emily together as Travis is in Abilene on a work trip and Haley is also there, "on vacation" as she tells me. She is visiting her YiaYia and PaPa and of course her aunts. She is having a great time and Emily and I are getting in some great quality one-on-one time as well!!! it has been fun!!!

May you enjoy the time you have with your family too!!!

Have a great day!
Jessica

Rain and Cold....burrrrr!!

2009-03-11T17:58:00.000-05:00

Okay, so my last post was about how much I really just love the sun. So I guess God is reading my blogs too, because it is rainy and really, really cold. He has such a great sense of humor. I look at it as his way of saying, so Jessica, you say you like the sun, how about the rain I send too?? Well, I must say first, "Thank you God for the rain!" We have not had any rain in so long it is such a welcome sight, but the cold...oh my goodness, God is just making Travis smile so big right now....remember from the last post...Travis LOVES the cold weather. So over the last week, we have both been extremley pleased with the weather. I've had my sun shine and he now has his cold days.

Even though I am not a fan of the cold, I do get to get in at least one last use (this season) of my leather jacket. Which is great, because I just LOVE my jacket!!! I know that this cold snap will help take care of some of the bugs that have decided to start setting up camp early and will also water our plants, grass and trees so that we can have a beautiful and green spring in a few weeks! I will praise God for the rain, and just have to stay bundled up from the cold and enjoy it while we have it, because I know the rain can't last forever.

May you stay warm and have many wonderful rainy days to keep your little piece of the world green too!!!

Have a super day!!!
Blessings!
Jessica

I love the Sun!!

2009-03-08T16:44:00.000-05:00

Happy Sunday to everyone!!

I hope this finds you all having a blessed and fantastic day! I just wanted to say how much I love the sun!! Travis and I are such opposites when it comes to this. Not to say he doesn't enjoy the sun as much as I do, but he loves the colder weather better. I on the other hand am such a spring and summer person! I would rather be out in the sun doing something any day of the week, compared to being indoors on a cold day!!

So, as much as I love the sun, we took advantage of some beautiful weather this weekend! On Friday afternoon, Travis got of work early and we took the kids to the park for a picnic. It was wonderful! The food was good and then they got to go run around and play. On Saturday, we had another gorgeous day, so, once again we took advantage of the wonderful weather and we took the kids out window shopping, and just let them run outside and play here at home. The same goes for today, right now, the kids are outside playing and I am about to go join them!! Oh how I love to be out in the sun! It just makes you feel good, you can breathe in some fresh air, have fun with family and friends and you don't have to be all cooped up in your house!

So, it is off to the outdoors for me to go enjoy and bask in the sun for a while! I love that God gives us seasons like spring and summer to enjoy! May you enjoy your sun-shiny days too!!!

Have a great day!!
Jessica

Praise & Exercise...a Great Mix!!!

2009-03-05T15:39:00.000-06:00

Good Afternoon to all!!!

So as I said previously, Travis and I are taking 2009 to become a year where we become healthier everyday. A great way to do this is exercise, so today I decided that I would crank up the music, so the kids could be entertained while I exercised. In the process of deciding what music to turn on, I opted for 2 different DVD's. First playing was: New Life Worship--My Savior Lives DVD. We turned up the music so loud, I am positive the whole neighborhood heard it. Well, they were so happy and jumping around and clapping to the music, I thought I would join them. Soon enough I was out of breath and I could feel my heart beating fast, so I thought...this is a good idea....why workout when I can just dance around the livingroom with the kids dancing and claping and singing. Well, the time came that the slow worship music started and the kids were beginning to lose interest, so instead of restarting the DVD I put in another one. This time it was: Hillsong-This is Our God. Now Haley & Emily know the words to most of these songs, so there we all were dancing, clapping, spinning, jumping and singing in the livingroom with the DVD blaring through the TV. We had such a good time I have decided that this is the best workout yet! Not only do the kids have fun, I have fun too, and we are all praising God with everything we have!!!

I feel like I have done as much exercise just worshipping as I would normally do in a typical workout. So next time you are ready for a change, crank up some good music, dance, jump and just spend some time praising God. You might be amazed at how good you feel physically and spiritually once you are done!! We see throughout scripture that dancing and praising were a part of people's lives, so maybe it is time we all get back to dancing and praising our God. May we become undignified in the eyes of the world, just to draw closer to God....He's the one that matters most anyway!!

Have a great Thursday!!!
Jessica

Fried Deliciousness!!!

2009-03-03T08:50:00.000-06:00

Okay so Travis and I decided that in 2009 we would treat our bodies more like the temple of God that they are. We have gotten tons better at our eating habits and becoming more and more active. Though we are still not at the point we want to be, at least we are doing something.

Well.....last night that was all completely forgotten. You see we have this really great combo appliance, it can be a steamer, roaster and fryer and you guessed it....I opted for the fryer method last night! Oh, how I love the fried food.....so good, yet sooooo unhealthy!!! I get this stroke of genius to buy some meat for chicken fried steaks. As I'm shopping I am thinking, "this will be good, maybe we will do something baked or veggies or something for the sides, surely I've got something good at home." So, I think this thought, buy the meat and leave the store. Little did I know I did not have anything to go with the meat except potatoes. My little head got to thinking again and another stroke of genius occurs to me last night. "If I've got to heat up the fryer, why dirty any more dishes...take the potatoes, cut 'em up and make yourself some fries too!" So, that is just what I did. I fried up some potatoes into fries, then made us some delicious chicken fried steaks. Oh man....they were soooooooo yummy, but sooooo unhealthy!! The house this morning still smells of that fantastic fried food, but we have decided that we just can't do that anymore if we are going to be eating healthier.

I guess every once in a while won't hurt anything, but we really do want to cut it out altogether. We will get better and soon we will be feeling much healthier too! If you are on the journey to eat healthier or even dieting, I wish you the best of luck in all you do!!! And the willpower to stay away from all those delicious fried foods!!

Blessings!
Jessica

Prayers Answered!

2009-02-28T20:30:00.000-06:00

Hello to All!!
I am so excited to say that after 2 1/2 years of fervent prayer, God has finally answered our prayers and Travis has a day job!!! HOORAY!! It has been a very trying and difficult few years running opposite schedules of each other, but God is faithful.
Matthew 21:22- "And all things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive."
I know that God was listening to us and we kept on believing and now we have received our answer! The Lord is so good to us!

At the WOD meeting, Darlene (a sweet sister in Christ) was speaking about your testimony and how it has such power. One thing she said that has really stuck with me was that the Hebrew word for testimony literally means: "Do it again!" So I am proclaiming the testimony of answered prayers to everyone so that God can..."DO IT AGAIN!" Amazing to think what the power of your words can do. As Proverbs 18:21 puts it: "life and death are in the power of the tongue." Next time you begin to say something just remember that verse and that what you are saying is a part of your testimony. Speak life to produce life and produce a testimony that you will be excited to say: "Do it Again God, just do it again!" I am proclaiming today and everday that we serve an Awesome, Mighty and Faithful God! He is the same yesterday, today and forever and because he is, he is still faithful to hear us when we call and answers our prayers!

I know that I am looking forward to spending more time with Travis, since he will now only be working M-F and he now gets to be home in the evenings and on weekends. But more importantly I am excited that our precious girls will be able to spend more time with their Daddy. They are definitely Daddy's Girls and every little girl needs her daddy there for her!While Travis has to get accustomed to a day schedule again, we as a family will love being able to just be together more!

May you have a blessed day and remember God is listening.....what do you need to go to him in prayer about today?

Be Blessed!
Jessica

Strength Training for Life

2009-02-28T00:21:00.000-06:00

Hello everyone!
So tonight was our Women of Destiny (or WOD as we like to call it) meeting! What an awesome time we had together tonight! The Lord moves in such amazing ways!

Tonight's topic was: Strength Training for Life. The crazy thing was that the 3 of us who were talking tonight all felt led to follow a different route than we had originally started and on top of that we all had very, very rough weeks! Imagine that, we are supposed to be talking to a group of ladies about building up strength and all we feel like is we are so weak! Isn't the way God works amazing???? Needless to say, God, as he always does, directed us to say the exact thing he needed us to say and do tonight. What a sweet time we all had in his presence.

I am looking forward to seeing more and more ladies become the stronger women that God is calling them to be in 2009! God has some amazing things in store for all of us, women especially and it is time for us to take our rightful places.

What an amazing and awesome God we serve!!!

Blessings!
Jessica

Welcome!

2009-02-26T08:47:00.000-06:00

Welcome to the Greenwood Adventures!!! We live such a blessed life and are looking forward to sharing it with you!! May you be blessed! We look forward to sharing more with you in the future.

Blessings!
Travis & Jessica