Dinner with Mom-Mom and Pop-Pop

This evening we had the privilege of having dinner with my grandparents. One thing that always strikes Lindy and I when we are with this couple, who we love so much, is how well they know the Lord. From the way that Pop-Pop prays for our food, to the way that Mom-Mom talks about her trust in and love for God, and just how often they talk about the Bible and what they are learning in their small group or at church is impossible to miss when you speak with them. I was able to draw them out about what a normal day looks like in their home, what time they get up in the morning, how much time they spend reading and praying, how often they pray together, what they pray for, etc. It was inspiring to hear their answers. Since they've been married (which is approaching 60 years), they pray together every night before they fall asleep. WOW! And since his retirement, they pray not only at night but in the morning together. Lindy and I were saying how we would love our marriage to look like this when we've been married for 60 years. Their marriage is a wonderful picture of Christ and his church. They were telling us how their stories about God's activity and faithfulness are intentionally shared so that when they are gone, their grandchildren will remember the goodness of God. Pop-Pop mentioned how he learned this while reading the Psalms and is trying to be faithful to obey God's command to "tell the story" to the next generation. Pop-Pop and Mom-Mom, thank you for being faithful to tell the story. I pray that my children hear your stories and they help draw them to God Almighty. You both are a blessing to us, and count it one of the greatest blessings God has bestowed on us to have you as grandparents.

Mom-Mom's first comment afer holding Abby is "she is strong". Notice how she is holding onto her with all of her might. Lindy is getting some serious muscle tone since Abby's been born. She is one strong, determined, and happy little girl.

Pop-Pop was kind enough to let Isaac watch Thomas, Percy, and Terrence work hard moving "coal" (marbles) around a track for about 100 passes back and forth. Isaac continued to be amazed everytime they would pull off moving these marbles around the track by themselves.

Beach Day!

We had our first beach day of the year on Saturday! In the morning we did chores around the house, and it was so beautiful outside so we decided to go to the beach for the afternoon.

We had a great time as a family, and with our friends Dave, Sarah, and their kids David and Owen.

Mommy's girlie

The water was freezing!! Isaac went in only up to his ankles, but I still don't understand how he tolerated it!

These two had a great time.

Abby and Owen had a great time on the blanket, under the umbrella. Sweet babies.

Big TV.

Monstrous TV in a tiny house.

We received our tax return a few weeks ago, and for several reasons it was a bit bigger than usual. Church, debt, savings, vacation, and our home all were allotted certain amounts of money.

I was (am) very excited about spending money on our home. Keith and I joke that we decorate our home $30 at a time . . . We decided that we wanted to purchase areas rugs, and a TV. Our old TV is upstairs in our loft, and we love having it there, especially in the winter when it is nice and cozy upstairs. However, we thought it would be nice to have a TV downstairs for several reasons: the kids when I am making dinner; for our guests (Keith's family loves to watch sports when hanging out); for the summertime when it is too hot to watch TV uptairs; and for when we plan to have another baby (I get very sick for much of the pregnancy; at that time it would really serve the kids to be entertained).

We decided to buy a 32 inch TV. Shopping around we found that the prices were all too high for what we wanted to spend on a TV. Yesterday, Keith was doing something with the cars outside and he was thinking about what we should do about the whole TV situation. He ran into our neighbor, Tim, who just happened to mention that his father-in-law was selling his 50 inch flat screen TV and just wanted to get rid of it. Tim was trying to sell it for his father in law on craigs list.

Needless to say, we bought it. It wasn't exactly what we were looking for, but it was $200 less than we budgeted for a TV. It doesn't really fit with my sad attempt at french country decor, but we'll make it work.

As you can see in above picture it is HUGE!

Again, not exactly what we were looking for, but looking forward . . . it'll be great whenever we do get a single family home. Not to mention I have more money to spend on my area rugs.

March: Rainbows

One Sunday afternoon in March, after a spring storm, two rainbows appeared!! I thought they were so pretty.

March: Fogo de Chao

Now an annual tradition, we went to a Brazilian steak house - Fogo de Chao - with our good friends Dave and Sarah. We go in the spring to celebrate our birthdays. Sarah's is in February, Keith's - March, Dave - April, Lindy - May. If you've never heard of Fogo de Chao, think all-you-can-eat filet mignon and many other delicious cuts of meat.


The house special is on the left, and the filet mignon is on the right. The house special was one of my favorites.

Keith getting more of what I think is the house special.

Our friends, Sarah and Dave.

To some, this may look disgusting, but believe me - it was sooo good.

March

Abigail began pulling herself up onto everything, and "cruising"! First her crib, then tables, then all the way up the stairs!

We went to the zoo. No great pictures of the animals, but Abby really liked sitting in her stroller without the carseat.

Daddy's birthday. We had a great steak dinner, then cake and presents. Isaac really enjoys celebrating birthdays, even when it is not his.

Wednesdays

We love Wednesdays! Keith gets off early from work every Wednesday, and doesn't have go in again until Thursday afternoon. What a blessing to have 24 hours together in the middle of the week! Every Wednesday we have family devotions and worship time, which Isaac is really beginning to enjoy and benefit from (Abigail does her best : ). Keith also tries to release me Thursday mornings to go out, get some coffee, and have an extended (uninterupted!) devotions. As you can see in the picture, the kids love having Daddy around!

Isaac's 3rd Birthday Party

Well, after almost a month of illness, we are all on the mend! These pictures are from Isaac's third birthday party that was on 2/6/09. Unfortunately Isaac got sick at his Jackson family party just two days later, and was sick (throwing up) for over a week- including his actual birthday of 2/10. Just in the past three days he appears to be fully recovered, and we are praying that this virus has run its course in our family.

It is hard for me to believe that my baby boy is three years old! He really is a little boy now! He loves the movie Cars and requested a "Cars" themed party. We had about 10 little boys (and 1 little girl) over on a Friday morning to help us celebrate. Isaac had a great time with all of his friends, and so did Keith and I. Thanks to everyone for helping make Isaac's birthday so special!

The Cake!

I thought that the cake turned out well considering that it was my first time decorating a cake (aside from frosting).

Games!

Pin the tire on Mcqueen. Keith drew this poster. I married a man with many talents : )

Pinata!

Presents! Thanks everyone for being so generous with Isaac!

Abigail slept during the whole party! Maybe next year she can enjoy the festivities.

Jackson Blog -- ON HOLD

In case anyone was wondering what happened to our blog, to sum it up, February has been a rough month for the Jacksons. It started off great with Isaac's kiddie "Cars" party, but shortly after a nasty virus entered our home and since then life has been somewhat on hold. (We have some pictures that we'll eventually get up in the future). We were driving up to PA for Isaac's Jackson family birthday party when he threw up in the car. I'll keep details aside, but the short story is that for 7 DAYS after that he continued to throw up and lie around like a sick pup. Two days after he was back to normal, Lindy started, and again, the short story, here Lindy and I sit in the hospital. We have been here since Friday morning (it is now Saturday afternoon) and things are starting to look up. Hopefully she returns home tomorrow and we can get our lives back on track. THANK YOU to all who've been praying for us. The Lord is answering your prayers as her pain is subsiding. Now she just needs to hold some food down without getting sick and experiencing severe stomach pains. Please continue to pray for us. It is really hard for Lindy to be away from the kids like this. Neither of us have had much sleep since Thursday night, so please pray that we both get some sleep, especially Lindy. The kids are doing great. A combination of Mom Jackson, Sarah Johnston, Mom and Dad Patton along with Aunt Ellie and Mia have done a great job caring for Isaac and Abigail while we've been back and forth to the hospital. It is a blessing to have family and friends who drop everything to serve you when trials like this hit.

Thanks for your prayers, please keep them coming. We'll be back soon Lord willing.


kj

Cousins

This past week we were able to visit with cousins on both sides of the family that we don't see that often.

First we met Curtis (Lindy's brother) and Emy's new little one Emma Violet who was born on January 19th. Isn't she sweet? Congratulations Curt and Emy!

Emma's big sister Annie was visiting her new sister in the hospital while we were there. Annie and Isaac had fun playing together while I held my new niece.

Keith went to South Carolina to take a class, so Isaac, Abby, and I went to Pennsylvania for the day to visit Nana. Lucky for us Isaac and Abigail's cousin Campbell was visiting Nana too! We had a really fun day together.

Thanks Nana and Campbell for spending the day with us!

Remembering Rileigh Rose . . .

Rileigh Rose Jackson

January 18, 2005

In His presence is fullness of joy

Today is Rileigh Rose's 4th birthday, in heaven. We miss her dearly, but are comforted knowing she is well and her heavenly Father is close to her, celebrating her arrival into the everlasting kingdom four years ago.

Starting off this blog post, since most of you are close friends and family that read this, I want to say a heart felt thanks for all of your prayers for Lindy and I over these past 4 years. God has been faithful, and used the prayers of you all to help us find our way through deep valleys. We thank God for all of you, and pray that you feel God's pleasure in that you have cared for us well.

God has been, and will be, faithful to us. One of the ways I am freshly aware of his faithfulness to us, in light of the loss of Riliegh, is that he has kept us over these past 4 years. He has protected us by drawing both Lindy and I to himself individually, made our marriage stronger by knitting our hearts closer together, and he placed us in a solid local church which has faithfully cared for us by making us aware of the truth of the Gospel and God's character. Because of these things we've been able to worship God for what we know of him, and not withhold worship from him because of unanswered questions as to why this happened to our little girl. Our hearts are full as we consider the fact that despite our sin and ways we drift from God every single day, he has shown us great mercy, continued to be patient with us, and he does not let go of us.

One of the reasons we thank God for Rileigh is because in her death, it has loosened our grip on the things in this world. She has caused us to really look forward to eternity in heaven. Part of this is because she is a tangible gift waiting for us in heaven. We held Rileigh on this earth for only moments before letting her go. But, there is a day coming when we will hold her body again, and this time it will be full of life! What a gift both of us are looking forward to! I can't express in words how excited Lindy and I are about the eventual reunion with Rileigh. Whenever it is that I get there, I cannot wait to meet Jesus face to face. How sweet it will be to worship him, and say thank you a thousand times over for saving me from my sins so that I can be in paradise. I will also say thank you because if he didn't save me, then I would never have seen my little girl again. After I've spent time with him, I expect my eyes will start to wander, looking for Rileigh Rose. When our eyes meet, and Jesus makes it clear that, yes indeed, that is Rileigh, what a glorious embrace, what joyful tears will be shed at that moment when I see her again. This is something both Lindy and I think of often and are eagerly looking forward to.

So, in an effort to remember Rileigh, I thought I would share these thoughts as a way to honor her birthday. Rileigh, happy birthday sweetheart. Your Mom and I cannot wait to hold you again. We know that you are well, and we know the number of days we will be apart will be far less compared to the days we will be together. We love you.

Dad and Mom

Milestones

Last week was a big one for our little girl. On Saturday, Abigail began crawling! She isn't a proficient "crawler" yet, but she gets better every day. She scooches around on her tummy, like a little inchworm. Abigail also got her first two teeth last week! Both bottom teeth, both at the same time.

Abigail working very hard to get to her toy bird.

Success!!