Startling facts

• 30,000 is the number of children under age 5 who die every day from a preventable cause.
• 1 out of 7 people in the world have no access to clean water.
• The world's three richest people own more than the combined gross domestic product of the 48 poorest countries.
• More than a 1,000,000,000 people in the world live on less than a dollar a day.
• 9 out of 10 kids with AIDS are African.
• Every 3seconds a child under age 5 dies from poverty-related causes.

What are you going to do about it?

www.compassion.com

Oh, by the way...

For some reason I decided to look at the baby blog and I had put up one of those cute tickers that has the growth of the baby. 13 weeks.

Since losing the baby things have been up and down in many respects. There's always reminders of the baby we were planning for and then realizing we don't have the baby anymore. There's people not knowing how to react to the miscarriage. Sometimes resulting in not saying anything at all. No "I'm sorry" or "How are you doing?" It's' not that I feel I deserve those things, but there are some people you'd expect to say those kind of things, but who have kept silent. That's one of the things that hurts the most. Of course, there's the baby conversations that take place and where I use to be included I'm now ignored.

But none of those things prompted this post today.

I realized as I was posting the fire updates from last week that there are likely many little baby reminders that have yet to be taken down. This one was on my profile:

I'm a wife, soon-to-be mommy, teacher, writer, and etc. living life and chronicling it in some sort of way. Enjoy!

Ouch! Soon-to-be mommy. Soon-to-be mommy no more. That's sad. And you know what? I'm not ready to take it down. But that reminded me of the blog I started to keep our family informed about the baby...still haven't deleted that yet. Partly because I want to print those posts and save them, but the other part just wants to avoid that completely.

I did think of something else sad/baby related. My sister-in-law's baby shower is this Saturday for their second little one (a girl...hopefully! The last time the doctor said that it was a boy!). This will be my second baby shower since we lost our baby, and those are hard for me.

But it reminded me of Mother's Day. What am I going to do for Mother's Day this year? Our due date was about a week before Mother's Day and my sister-in-law and me had talked about how cool it would be to dedicate the baby on Mother's day. And now this Mother's Day I won't have a baby. What do I do when Pastor Joe asks all the women who are mothers to stand up to be honored? What will I do? In some ways it doesn't sound like a big deal, but in other ways it's HUGE! When do you become a mother? Once your baby is born or when you find out you're carrying a life within you.

It's just one of those things that I think about now...

am I a mother?

Back Home...

So...hopefully you all are aware of our current situation. We are back home. I guess, I just got so excited to be home and back to a somewhat "normal" routine that I neglected to update all of ya'll on that. We found out a little bit after lunch on Wednesday that we could go home. We quickly packed up our stuff said thanks and bye to Aunt Marie and went home. We really didn't have any damage in our area. The pool was covered in ash and our house smelled like smoke, but other than that things weren't too bad. Except for my car, of course. In the Volvo the driver's side window and sun roof don't close all the way, so I had a nice layer of ash in my car to clean out.

Since then we've been doing fine. Joe went back to work on Thursday and I went back to work on Monday. Some days the air quality is better than others. Monday at work you could feel the smoke/ash in your throat, but today it was fine. Our two friends that I was telling you about who live in the burn area are fine, but not yet home. They won't be able to go home until  mid-November, because their houses have to be decontaminated. Both the Jahnke's and the Bailey's need to have things purified...I guess is the best way to say it. At the Jahnke's they said it looked like a window was left open because ash was covering so much. The Bailey's came pretty close to losing their home. The fire burned a tree in their front yard and burned their trampoline on the side of the house. If I remember correctly neither area has electricity or clean water yet. So...both families are living in hotels until things get cleaned up. The Bailey's adjuster told them not to even open the fridge, because it sucks in all the fumes from the fire and if opened could start another fire (not quite sure how...but that's what they said)...

Well...that's pretty much it on the home front for now. We'd love to hear from you all!

Love,
Jess

...Christ in you, the hope of glory...Colossians 1:27...

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Wednesday Morning Fire Update 10-24-07

 
So...there's a few things to report:

• The two northern fires have converged as predicted.
• We're still not allowed back into our area. On the news this morning they said that they were seeing hot spots on Camino del Sur. Just to give you some perspective Camino Del Sur is the street that Brandon's old high school (Westview is on). The exit for Camino del Sur is off of the 56 and it is two exits above us.
• Another thing is the power grid for San Diego is in bad shape. One of the main corridors in the south is out and the other one near Camp Pendelton/San Onfre is threatened. So...that's not good. Water, electric, and gas are out in some areas....we'll see what happens with the grid.
• They're saying that the air quality today is the worse that it's been all week. And we can even tell that from Tierrasanta. The sky is pretty brown looking north (toward our area). We left Grandma's house (where we're sleeping) and are at Aunt Marie's house (where we have the wireless...woohoo!) and you could see ash in the air and it was gathering on car windshields. Spot, Joe's dog, had ash on him as well. We're still safe here. No evacuation orders yet.

I think that's about it for this morning. Talk to us people...we're bored!

Love,
Jess

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Lunch Fire Update!

Right now we're at Joe's aunt's house in Tierrasanta, which is the area my family lived in when we lived here before. We're just waiting to see what to do next. They're saying they wouldn't be surprised if the fire goes all the way to the coast.
 
If you remember Angie Bailey from the wedding (she was like my coordinator person) they went into our area last night and when her husband went back to their house at 5am this morning he could see fire on the hill across from them. They live more in Poway about 15-20 minutes from us, but the fire has moved up and around that area, so they don't know if they have a house to go back to...It's crazy stuff to watch.
 
If you remember there's like a "small" mountain right behind our church and you can see it from our apartment also but right now that's basically the only barrier between the area the fire is now and our area. They're saying that the fire isn't trailing, but that embers are landing places and causing new fires. So...we'll see what happens. I'll try to keep in touch. I've been keeping in touch with both of my parents if you want to call them. Talk to you later!
 
Love,
Jess

...Christ in you, the hope of glory...Colossians 1:27...

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Morning Fire Update! 10-22-07

Hi Friends & Family -

Nervously I'm writing this e-mail to you...A local friend of mine called at 6:21am and said that our areas are being told to evacuate. So...we did pack some stuff last night and we're packing more as we speak.

The I-15 is closed from the 56 and to the 78, which to give you a perspective the start of the 56 is at our exit about 3 minutes from our house. Sadly, the fire has not been able to be contained, because of the smoke and winds. Usually, the winds will die down during the night making it easier to see the fire and where it's going and be able to fight it, but now it's gotten even worse. Over night another fire started in San Marcos and the fire has gotten closer to the Wild Animal Park. Why we're being evacuated is because the fire has moved under the I-15 by Lake Hodges, which is about seven (?) exits north of us on the I-15. And with everything else they're saying evacuate when you're told to evacuate, don't wait to be told a second time. So....I'm packing it up people...Joe's out getting gas.

I'll send another e-mail when we head out.

Love you guys!

Jess

Christ in you, the hope of glory...Colossians 1:27...

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Help yourself to FREE treats served up daily at the Messenger Café. Stop by today!

Frugal Fridays

So...I thought about this recently and I figure it follows the "frugal rules."

I shop for my clothes mostly at thrift stores, clearance racks, and discount stores like TJ Maxx or Ross. I've grown up shopping this way--enjoy it and couldn't think of paying full price (most of the time)!

But another thing I do to save money is to separate my fall/winter clothes from my spring/summer clothes by boxing up the out of season clothes and storing them for the next few months. When the weather begins to get warm I put away my heavier skirts, sweaters (except for a few light cardigans I wear throughout the year), work blouses, and even shoes. Then, when the weather turns cooler I switch to my fall/winter clothes. Of course, there are certain clothing items that remain in my closet throughout the year like plain t-shirts, jeans, denim skirts, the staple black skirt, denim jacket, and etc.

I do this for three reasons:

1) It helps me to preserve my clothes so that they stay in good condition and last longer.
2) It makes me evaluate the clothes that I have and what I wear most often when it's time for to put the box back on the shelf.
3) When I pull that old Ikea box off the top shelf when the seasons change it makes me feel like I have new clothes...which means less shopping!

So...check out your closet and have fun!

A Little Bit of Life

So...life has been a little up and down as of late. We found out we were pregnant and a few weeks later lost our baby. So...yeah. Life is here and there. Stuff is hard and we're working through it...talking about it and staying connected to people. But God is good...all the time.

The other day at Joe read this to me at work. At the time it made me cry, but it's also been something I keep looking back to...

Q.

What is your only comfort in life and death?

A.

That I am not my own,1 but belong with body and soul, both in life and in death,2 to my faithful Saviour Jesus Christ.3 He has fully paid for all my sins with His precious blood,4 and has set me free from all the power of the devil.5 He also preserves me in such a way6 that without the will of my heavenly Father not a hair can fall from my head;7 indeed, all things must work together for my salvation.8 Therefore, by His Holy Spirit He also assures me of eternal life9 and makes me heartily willing and ready from now on to live for Him.10 1 1 Cor 6:19, 20. 2 Rom 14:7-9. 3 1 Cor 3:23; Tit 2:14. 4 1 Pet 1:18, 19; 1 Jn 1:7; 2:2. 5 Jn 8:34-36; Heb 2:14, 15; 1 Jn 3:8. 6 Jn 6:39, 40; 10:27-30; 2 Thess 3:3; 1 Pet 1:5. 7 Mt 10:29-31; Lk 21:16-18. 8 Rom 8:28. 9 Rom 8:15, 16; 2 Cor 1:21, 22; 5:5; Eph 1:13, 14. 10 Rom 8:14.

http://www.canrc.org/resources/bop/hcat/index.html

Birthdays are over and new News has come...

Well...our birthday season is all over and school is back in session. We do have other news...

http://muellerbaby.blogspot.com

Belated Birthday Update

This is a picture of Joe's planning diagram for my birthday. Quite funny considering the person looks a bit like a monkey! ;)


Something for my eyes

A SLR Sony camera we've been saving up to buy

Something for my ears

A song that Joe wrote for me (to the tune of "My Rifle, My Pony, & Me")

Something for my heart
A poem Joe wrote for me

Something for my mouth

Dinner at Jake's at Del Mar

Something for my brain

Two cute journals I've been looking at lately

Update on the birthday surprise

Here was my first clue, which came in an e-mail yesterday:

Dear Princess,

Tomorrow marks one of the more delightful occasions that have occurred in my short 25 years of life. Your birth has brought me so much joy and happiness that we absolutely have to celebrate. So in honor of you birth please be ready for your coach by 6 PM. A dashingly handsome man will come around that time to carry you off. The delay, unfortunately, is necessary. Wear something that helps you give expression to the timeless truth that you are beautiful.

With a heart of love,

Your Prince

Here's my most recent clue:

There'll be...
something for my eyes
something for my ears
something for my heart
something for my mouth, and
something for my brain.

I'll just have to wait and see...

So...it's been awhile...

The summer got really busy for us. After we went to visit my parents in South Carolina the rest of our summer was pretty much filled up with youth events and work. But now, I'm on a five day break between the ending of our school's summer session and the beginning of our academic school year.

Oh, and today's my birthday, so "Happy Birthday to me!" And Joe is taking me out for a surprise evening tonight. It should be fun.

I do have pictures to upload from Joe's birthday (which was on the 20th). My hubby is now an old man at 25! ;)

Well...not much more to report now. Maybe later.

Have you heard about the pope's been up to lately?

Read these:

Pope: Other denominations not true churches

Now, I'm not Catholic, so I don't know much about Vatician I or Vatician II other than that Vatician II brought good reform (so I hear from Catholics) to the church. But, it's interesting...this new pope is beginning to make changes and it makes me wonder how it will affect Catholism and Protestantism. In other words, Pope Benedict is seriously confused if he truly thinks that Catholism is the only means of salvation. I mean, has he read the Gospels?

And what about this statement,
"“Christ ‘established here on earth’ only one church,” the document said. The other communities “cannot be called ‘churches’ in the proper sense” because they do not have apostolic succession — the ability to trace their bishops back to Christ’s original apostles."

Is he serious? I don't mean to be disrespectful, and I apologize if I come across so, however, the pope is seriously in trouble with his interpretation of the Bible. The only TRUE church is the body of Jesus Christ, those who are TRUE followers by faith through grace--and nothing else.


Here's another article: Pope OKs Latin mass, sparks Jewish concern

Meal Plan Monday: Week of July 2nd - 6th

Monday - Leftovers

Tuesday - Hummus Pizza

Wednesday - Texas BBQ at the Bailey's

Thursday - Turkey & Pasta with Peanut Sauce

Friday - (I don't know, we'll be back east at my parent's house.)

More from Acts...

Again, where there is unity there is power. The church in Jerusalem began to pray in "one accord" to God after Peter and John had been arrested and released, and when they had finished praying (see Acts 4:24-30):

And when they had prayed, the place where they had

gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with

the Holy Spirit and began to speak the word of God with boldness.

Acts 4:31

Today from Acts...

"But God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death,
since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power."
Acts 2:24

As I finished reading chapter 2 today, this verse stuck out to me. It reminds me of a sermon I heard once by John Piper (at least I'm pretty sure it was Piper) where he said the best two words (or phrase) in the Bible are "but God."

• "But God remembered Noah..." Genesis 8:1

• "Now, therefore, it was not you who sent me here, but God..." Genesis 45:8

• "...but God will be with you..." Genesis 48:21

• "...but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive." Genesis 50:20
• "...but God will surely take care of you." Genesis 50:24
• "And Saul sought him every day, but God did not deliver him into his hand." 1 Samuel 23:13
• "But God will redeem my soul from the power of Sheol, for He will receive me." Psalm 49:15
• "My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever." Psalm 73:26
• "But God is the Judge; He puts down one and exalts another." Psalm 75:7
• "And He said to them, "You are those who justify yourselves in the sight of men, but God knows your hearts; for that which is highly esteemed among men is detestable in the sight of God." Luke 16:15
• "But God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power." Acts 2:24
• "But God raised Him from the dead..." Acts 13:30
• "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5:8
• "...but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong..." 1 Corinthians 1:27
• "But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us..." Ephesians 2:4

Book Sale! All John Piper books are $5 today and tomorrow!

Yep! It's true...all John Piper books--that includes books, Bibles, and study guides--are on sale today and tomorrow only for the price of $5 each! So visit http://www.desiringgod.org/ today!

Here's the list that we're getting:

Joe's Picks:

• Contending For Our All
• The Hidden Smile of God
• The Legacy of Sovereign Joy
• The Roots of Endurance
• Battling Unbelief

Jess' Picks:

• A Baptist Catechism
• God is the Gospel
• Faithful Women & Their Extraordinary God
• Treasuring God in our Traditions

The website is moving very slowly because of all the traffic today. Supposedly, it'll be better in the afternoon, then I'll update you on the rest of my picks.

Reading in Acts

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. Acts 1:8a

"...all with one mind were continually devoting themselves to prayer..." Acts 1:14a

When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. Acts 2:1

And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit was giving them utterance. Acts 2:4

And they all continued in amazement and great perplexity, saying to one another, "What does this mean?" Acts 2:12

It seems to me that these "devout men from every nation under heaven" (2:5) were awakened and realized that something significant was happening. Each heard, in their own language, this gathering of believers "speaking of the mighty deeds of God" (2:11).

It raised two things in me. One a truth, the other a question:

1. Where people pray and gather together in true unity stuff happens, as in the Holy Spirit shows up in power!
2. It raises the question: Is the "gift of tongues" simply the Spirit enabling you to speak another language, not some "special" language? Definitely something I'll be looking into.

Here's the "Good quotes and stuff..."

At church our pastor has been preaching from Romans and lately we've been in Romans 13, which talks about authority and submission. So, here's some "good stuff" from the sermon on Sunday...

• "God has built submission into every area of our life such that it exposes the pride, independence, self-reliance, and stubbornness in our heart."
• "The measure of my submission to people in authority over me is the measure of my submission to God."
• "Show me a person who is submissive to people in authority over them, and that person is pliable and soft-hearted. Show me a person who is not submissive to people in authority over them, and that person fights God." (I think I kind of messed up the wording on this one, but it's the same point/idea still.)
• God has higher purposes in mind than our comfort or safety, namely His glory.