Thanksgiving Holiday

Ryan, Jezreel and I went to Stockton to visit his family. We had lots of fun seeing as Jezreel turned one year on November 16th and his grandfather turned 90 on the 17th. It is always crazy when you have so many family members in one spot at the same time. Here are some picture from our trip







Grandpa's dress














All the grandchildren








Ryan's grandfather








Oh come on dad, enough love!!!


I can play the piano

Pics of Jez

So in an effort to get some updated pics of Jez I got my crappy camera to work. I really hope we decide to get a new one for Christmas, but sorry that's a side note.

I will let you know that I decided to take these while we were putting away clothes. And then she started throwing them all over the floor. It was very funny. Then she started with the hangers. She thought that was a riot. It's amazing to me what she finds entertaining. Like right now I'm watching her try to get some curtain rods behind our couch and she is laughing because she can't get them.. But anyways.

I really love being a mom. Even though sometimes it can be stress full. Like when she doesn't want to go to bed when she's really tired or doesn't want to keep her bib on while we are feeding her spaghetti o's. But she reminds me to laugh at the little things like Peek-a-boo or bubbles.

Lots of new and exciting things

So I got a job as a pre-school teacher (only part time, but I will be teaching) so that means that Ryan and I are moving next weekend (August 8-9) because we have to be out of our aparment by the 10th of August. We are hoping to be able to move in early so we aren't doing everything at once.



Jez is getting bigger by the day and crawling around now. I'm waiting on pics from my parents (because my camera is horrible) from when we went to Tennessee so I can post those.



Life is a little stressful right now and I sometimes forget to relax and end up taking my stress out on Ryan. He is very patient with my mood swings and loves me none the less. I just hope that I can one day resist the urge to get angry so quickly and take it out on Ryan. That is the biggest struggle that I have. I feel so bad for it afterwards, but when it's happening I just get out of control and can't stop my anger. I don't ever get violent because I don't believe in that.. I just raise my voice and yell at Ryan. The devil definatly has a strong foothold on me in this department. I pray everyday that I can learn to release my stress to God and allow myself to rely on him to take care of everything. Because I do know in my heart that he will take care of everything eventually. It is such a hard thing sometimes to rely on someone that you don't see, you don't always feel the presence of, or even think that they are listening to you. But I do know that God is always around, he is always taking care of me, and he loves me unconditionally.

I am starting a new book called the Power of a Praying wife with the women at my church. I really hope that this will not only give me the opportunity to learn how to pray for my husband, but to converse with other women and talk to them about their frustrations of being a wife and a mother.

Job Hunt and such

I am currently still on the lookout for teaching jobs or something that involves children. I have had a couple of prospects, but nothing permanate as of yet. I am hoping to line up a couple of interviews before we go on vacation.

I am so looking forward to going on vacation. I need a break from my house and my tenants. They are driving me nuts!! It's also really hard to work where you live.. but oh well.

I'm not quite sure what else I want to say.. I'm just stressed right now about future stuff and the unknown. I hate not knowing, but don't you go through most of your life not knowing.

I also am struggling with... how to put it.... not being challenged spiritually. Church is great, but I'm not getting a lot of meat there, it's milk. Which does help me learn the Bible better, but I also feel like I need to be ministering to people, or helping people out, or something. I just feel like there is this void inside of me that hasn't been filled since I left Brunswick. It might be because I'm not working in a profession that challenges me so my brain is not working as hard or because I'm not involved in something at church (except for Saturday night small group). I don't know. And it's hard to fill a void when you don't know exactly what they void is there for.

I'm also getting very short tempered with my husband, all the time. I feel like I am constantly getting angry or stressed about something little he said. I think that this is because we are around each other all day long and the only break we get from each other is the 4 hours that I go to work (if i go work that long) and during that time he is taking care of Jez. I feel like such a bad wife sometimes, because I talk before I think and it ends up in this huge argument that didn't need to happen in the first place. I like being selfish and getting things my way.. but i know that this is not how a marrage works. I am trying to work on realizing that my husband jokes all the time and he's hardly every serious about anything he says to me. Along with not being so stressed out all the time.

Anyways.. I better get to bed, it's late. Sorry for rambling. I appreciate prayers and loyal readers

Pics

So, I wanted to put up pics also.

For the few people that do read my blog

So, I know that I don't post that often. and the subjects usually aren't "debateable" or whatever.. but for those of you who are loyal.. THANKS!!

Anyways (after that brief tantrum)... Ryan has been out of town since Tuesday and I really hate it when he leaves. I don't sleep well, Jezzy always fusses, it's hard for me to work the way I want, and I have to go yell at me tenants late at night and leave Jez alone in the appartment.

I'm having a really tough strugle right now with my job and what God wants me to do right now with my life. I know that I'm supposed to be preparing for the mission field (which I totally feel inadequate for, but that's another story). But, I don't know what I need to be doing as far as a job so I can help support my family. Ryan doesn't work because he is going back to school in the fall and the VA is going to pay for it (which is a wondeful blessing). So, that means to make up the difference, one of us has to work. Well, the VA really doesn't want Ryan to get a job and I know how much Ryan struggles with school, so I feel like I need to contribute and plus I really want to work (or at least have something to occupy my time besides Jez). But, at this job that I'm doing currently I work and take care of Jez (well some of the time because usually Ryan is home and can take care of her) and the house and the cooking, cleaning, etc... It just all piles up on me and I feel like I'm going to cave in. Now, don't get me wrong, Ryan helps most of the time... but still.....

SO, I don't know if this means that I need to find someone to watch Jez when Ryan goes back to school (because I would hate for him to have to take her, although I know he could do it) or find a different job- but put her in child care. If I could find a job taking care of other peoples children, I would jump on it in a heart beat (as long as they didn't mind that I had my own child)... but it had to pay enough for healthcare, part of a house or apparment payment, cell phone, car insurance, gas, etc. So, I don't know.

I just need some major prayers of support right now.... or suggestions or anything at all..

5 months old and counting

These are some pictures from the first week of April. I'm hoping to get professional ones for Mothers Day.. .but we'll see. We have been wonderfully blessed lately with things falling into place. The VA finally gave us the info that we needed to hear (they are going to pay for Ryans school and give Ryan some money for the rest of his life), Ryans truck will finally be getting fixed and we'll be able to have two cars again, we had a wonderful time at Pepperdine and Jezzy is growing big and will be 6 months in a couple of weeks.

Pepperdine was a good time for renewal of spirit and faith. This trip came at a time of struggle spiritually for me, so I had a great time singing songs, listening to lectures, and being spiritually uplifted. If you ever get a chance to go to Pepperdine, you should. I'll keep you guys updated on our orphanage process. Nelly Starkel is working on our business licence for us along with our non profit orginization licence. Anywho.. that's an update

4 months

So I never posted pics from 3 months, so I'll combine them with this post.

Jezreel is now 4 months old, so that means she just got her second round of shots. She is now 11 pounds 3 ounces and 24 inches long. Which means that she is too skiny and very long. We were instructed to start giving her rice cereal so she can start to gain weight. They're not too worried about her weight, but would like to see her a bit heavier.

Well, we are finally moved to Portland. We found a job as appartment managers at La Haceinda. We get a 2 bedroom town house and a $500 a month payment on top of it. It's not the nicest apparment in the world, but it is also not the worst. I'm excited to finally be up here and able to start the next phase of our lives and get onto the orphanage.

It still is a bit scary to think of moving to Central America somewhere, but also very exciting... anywho

So, if you're in the area our address is 7920 SE 72nd Ave apt 26 Portland, OR 97206 or give us a call

3 months

So not very much has been happening since my last post. We are still living in California, but hope to be moving to Portland before the beginning of March. We're looking for appartment manager jobs so that way I can keep Jezreel with me and Ryan can go to school and flip houses on the side. I really hope that we find a job soon because I'm ready to move on to our next stage in life. We do have a job interview this Monday so anyone that is in Portland e-mail me your number at emilykpeters@hotmail.com (because Ryan lost his and I don't have everyones number) and we'll try to hang out with you while we're there. Pray that this door will open for us and we can move up there and start working.

Jezreel is now 3 months old. She has gotten so big it's amazing. I'm finally able to put away all newborn or 0-3 month old outfits and get her into her "old girl clothes". She's now holding her head up fairly well, sometimes playing on her tummy, and ocassionally rolls over when we have her on her stomach. She sleeps mostly through the night, but still doesn't like to be layed down for a nap (unless she's raped up well), but we're getting there. She has put herself to sleep a couple of times, so we're definatly getting there. We're now into a routine, which makes it easier to get things done.

I will try to get some updated pics of us up soon, I just have to take them. Hope to see some of you soon.

2 months

Jezzy will be 2 months on January 16th. I can't believe that she is that old already. I guess time really does fly by when you're having fun. We found out that she is allergic to formula, so we had to switch to soy. She is adjusting well to the new formula and seems to do much better with it when we do give it to her. We try not to give it to her too often, only when I know that it's not going to be convenient for me to feed her. She is now almost 10 pounds. We go in on Tuesday for her shots (Not looking forward to that) so I'll be able to find out exactly how much she weighs and how long she is.

Now, updates on Ryan and I. I am going to Georgia for two weeks to visit family and friends. Just me and Jezzy are flying (which will be interesting to experience) home, so I'm pretty excited about that. Ryan will be traveling to Portland to find a job, a home for us to live in, or a house to flip. We are hoping to find a job/place to live by March so we can move up there and get out of Cheryl's house. I love living with my mother-in-law.. but I really want to live in my own house with my husband and baby. We haven't really lived alone very much since we've been married. Before we move here, Jordan was living with us for 6 months and then we moved here (been here for 5 months). So for one year of our 2 year marriage either someone was living with us or we've been living with someone... and remember for the first 7 months of our marriage, Ryan wasn't even here. That means we've only lived alone for 5 months!! Wow, that's really sad when you think about it.. anywho.

We're just waiting for open doors right now on what Gods going to provide for us next. I really hope that we can both find a decent jobs to support our family and provide health insurance for us. I really miss teaching and want to find something that will allow me to get out of the house and meet some new people. I don't have very many close friends here and would like to be somewhere where I can hang out with more people my age. We're also ready to get our orphanage process started, so if you know anyone who has gone through the process of getting a non-profit business licence, please let us know. We appreciate prayers of patience as we wait for Gods plan to happen for us. I know that in good time whatever needs to happen in our life will happen, but it is very hard to be patient when you know what you want to do and nothing is happening to allow that to happen.