6-7-8

Here are the vows that Aaron and I wrote and vowed to one another 3 years ago today. They were true then and remain true to this day. We thank the Lord for 3 wonderful years of marriage and look forward to many more!

Rebekah's Vows

Aaron, I love you, and with great joy give myself to you; you are my husband. In love, God has chosen me to be His daughter, and besides this free bequest of eternal life you are the most precious gift God has given to me. By God's grace and power at work in me, I promise to be your trustworthy wife, to be your helper and lover always, to be submissive to you as the church submits to Christ, and to respond to your headship as you lead us in the ways of the Lord Jesus, as long as God gives us life on this earth. I will respect you as my divinely appointed head and devote myself to you alone until we are separated by death. I praise God continually for you, Aaron! Your sweet love for me demonstrates the scriptural truth, "Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows."

Aaron's Vows

Rebekah, I love you, and with great joy take you to be my wife. I acknowledge God's sovereign authority in my life. In love God has chosen me to be His son, and besides this free bequest of eternal life, you are the most precious gift God has entrusted to me. Guided by His word and enabled by the Spirit, Rebekah, I promise to love you as Christ loves the church, to nourish and tenderly care for you, to provide for you, and to lead you as He leads me, as long as He gives us life, regardless of the circumstances. I will honor you as my divinely granted treasure and devote myself to you alone until we are separated by death. May the words of the Psalmist express our lifetime union together, "O magnify the Lord with me and let us exalt His name together."

It is hard to believe how quickly 3 years has gone by. MUCH has changed in our lives over 3 years. The biggest changes were moving to Oklahoma 8 months into our marriage for Aaron's job, and adding a sweet baby boy to our family. We can look back over the 3 years and see God's sovereign hand in our lives. We can see the goodness of God, and we are so thankful for His wonderful and gracious hand at work in our lives. We are still growing, still leaning on the Lord, and we are ever so thankful He is the foundation of our marriage.

ABOUT THE DATE, 6-7-8

For those of you who love cool dates, we have to tell you THAT isn't the reason we picked this date. That was the earliest date we could pick that worked out for everyone. One of my Aunts pointed out to us that it was 6-7-8.

Blessing at BK

Tonight we went for a stroll since it was such a lovely evening. We decided to head to Sonic for a treat, but as we were walking we decided Sonic was a bit more than we wanted to spend. Instead, we chose Burger King for a chocolate shake to share. So we arrived at BK, ordered a large chocolate shake, and the sweet lady said "no charge." I made sure I heard her right and thanked her profusely for her generosity. Boy were we glad we chose Burger King over Sonic! :)

Catching up

The couple that lives in the other half of our duplex has just moved out. This is so sad because they have been the best and quietest neighbors ever. I am praying for more quiet neighbors to move in.

On Tuesday I went and used up my Mother's Day gift. I had my hair cut and highlighted, and then I went and had a pedicure. I felt so pampered, and so much more presentable after the fact. I so dislike having my feet touched by ANYONE...but for some reason, I can sit through a pedicure and thoroughly enjoy every minute!

Tuesday was also the day that we had the horrible weather here. Tornadoes everywhere!! My biggest fear is tornadoes (it used to be giving birth)...I get sick to my stomach whenever they come to town. They were literally within miles of our home in both directions. We thank the Lord for His protection of our home and of us! One of the guys Aaron works with lives with his parents, and they lost everything, but they were all safe in their shelter. When we move next, it is of utmost importance that we find a home with a tornado shelter. They used to say climb in the bathtub (that is where Jason and I were, with his crib mattress over us), away from all windows etc...but these tornadoes lately have been taking entire homes and demolishing them. I am certainly comforted by the fact that I am a child of God, and that whether I go by tornado or some other way, I will be spending eternity with Him. If I had a choice, I wouldn't choose death by tornado.

Have I ever mentioned how thankful I am for Aaron's job at Discount Tire!?! They are an incredible company to work for! Just today Aaron called to tell me that Jason received a gift from the owner of the company and his wife. How cool is that! AND, Aaron is off on Monday for the holiday. AND...he is off on Sunday's. AND...the list goes on. God has truly provided for us through Aaron's job, and He continues to provide and bless us abundantly!

Jason and I are enjoying the Summer. I know, it isn't officially Summer yet, but the temps sure make it seem like Summer. We have been taking lots of walks. We go swimming in the backyard pool (he LOVES swimming). I so wish he was able to take the sing and swim lessons at the public pool next month, but he has to be 6-12 months old. There has also been a lot of learning going on. It is amazing what they can grasp at 4 months old. He is about to be 5 months and I can hardly believe it! He is learning baby sign language, and he has been doing the sign for 'more' really well. He has discovered that his toes will reach his mouth (yuk!!!). He really enjoys the sitting position, but isn't quite able to sit by himself yet. We pray alot with him, and whenever we say Amen, he just laughs.

As simple as ABC

I was introduced to a delicious sandwich just a couple weeks ago at my mother-in-laws home. The name of the sandwich is...ABC. Nope, ABC doesn't stand for Already Been Chewed. :) It stands for Apple, Bacon, Cheddar. This combination might sound a bit interesting, but trust me, it is really great all mixed together. Well, I guess that depends on each individuals taste buds, but to my taste buds, it tasted divine.

Here is the recipe, which believe it or not IS as simple as ABC. :)

ABC SANDWICH
2 cups cheddar cheese, grated
1 apple, finely chopped (I used a granny smith)
12 strips of bacon, cooked and crumbled
3/4 cup mayo
6 hard boiled eggs (optional...I haven't tried it with the eggs yet, but I suspect it would be yummy)
1 tomato, chopped (optional...I also haven't tried with the tomato yet)

Mix all ingredients together. Spread on your choice of bread. ENJOY!

-It reminds me a bit of a BLT. I will be trying the eggs and tomato when I make this recipe next.

Life Happenings

This week is the final week of BSF for this school year. Last week I said goodbye to all the precious children I had the privilege to teach this year. Even though I was out almost half the year due to pregnancy complications, I still grew very attached to these little ones, and was sad to see them go. I am amazed at how much they had changed from last September until now. They went from hardly talking at all, to chattering away. Most of them started the year in diapers and finished on the potty. They thrived on the structured schedule that BSF is known for. They knew when it was Bible story time, snack time, hymn time, large muscle time, quiet time and rhythm time. They were the sweetest group of kids, and I sure do love them. I especially loved hearing them say "Mrs. Palmer..." followed by whatever they would want or need. I am praying that they each understood at least some of the truths we taught them from God's true word, and that they will remember them. I am also VERY thankful for the summer break!

To all of my friends who read my blog (I know I have so many faithful readers ;)) and have newborns-preschool aged children, I encourage you to check out a BSF Women's Day Class in your area. www.bsfinternational.org It is a wonderful Bible study!, and your kids will be loved on, cared for, and taught directly from God's word. Next year is the study of Acts, and I believe most classes begin in September. I have been in BSF off and on since I was a preschooler, and now I am bringing Jason along with me. I am going to be a Children's Leader again next year, and am looking forward to it.

Aaron and I took Jason to the zoo! We had so much fun! We have been to many zoos in our life together, and we dreamed of the day we would have a child to stroll around with us. He won't remember it, but we sure will. It was the PERFECT day to go too. The temps were in the 70's, it wasn't too crowded, AND the brand new baby elephant was out for viewing.

Yesterday was my first Mother's Day as a Mommy! I was expecting Jason last year on Mother's Day, but I didn't know it yet. We spent the day together as a family. Aaron cooked all the meals, and we played with Jason in his new pool. I am blessed to be a Mom! I don't know how to express just how thankful I am for my sweet baby boy! Jason IS a blessing from the Lord. There is so much I could say about our time spent praying and waiting for a child, and maybe someday I will write about it, but for now I just want to say Jason is our gift from God, and Jason was given to us in God's PERFECT timing. God's ways and timing are always perfect! I love being a mommy, and I loved celebrating Mother's Day as a mommy.

Jason Ryan

Many people have asked us where we came up with the name Jason Ryan, so here is the story behind his name.

Aaron's middle name is Jason, AND Aaron really likes the name Jason, AND I came around to liking it, so Jason inherited his papa's middle name.




Ryan is a much longer story. All along we had liked the name Jason Riley, and that was to be our boys name (this name was chosen back when we were first married, before our miscarriage). After I became pregnant with Jason, we were talking about the name Riley (not knowing he was a boy), and I said that Riley is also a girls name. I didn't want our boy to have a girly name, so we ditched the name Riley and began discussing a new middle name. Well, at this time of discussing a new middle name to go with Jason, the Rangers were in the World Series. Anyone who knows Aaron knows he is a HUGE Rangers fan, and a HUGE Nolan Ryan fan. We saw Nolan Ryan sitting in the crowd during one of the games, and we thought, hey...Ryan...that's a good name. Aaron actually said "hey, Nolan Ryan, now THAT'S a good name." I quickly nipped the whole Nolan idea in the bud, but we did like the way Jason Ryan sounded, so we decided that this would be our boys new name.

Jason Ryan is named after his papa and Nolan Ryan. : )


The name Jason means HEALER
The name Ryan means LITTLE KING


Jason is also a biblical name. In Acts 17:5-9, Jason's home is used as a refuge for Paul and Silas. He is also mentioned briefly in Romans. I suppose as we study Acts in BSF next year, Jason will get to learn about the Jason in the Bible. : )

And that is the story behind out little Jason Ryan's name.

WHO KNEW...

...that baby wipes would be such handy little buggers? I am not even sure how I ever lived without them. I use them for so many things other than Jason's little bottom. I use them on his face and hands, I use them on my hands, and I use them to clean up little messes. Just the other day I used one to wipe my cell phone down. They are so soft AND they smell good.

I noticed at Babies R' Us that they sell Boogie Wipes. SERIOUSLY???, boogie wipes? What is the difference between a boogie wipe and a wipe you use on a baby's bottom? I think I will stick with my trusty old huggies wipes even when Jason starts needing them for his nose. (I was going to say for his boogers, but that sounded way to gross. :) )

Baby wipes=awesome!