In February, we became the proud renters of a Community Garden plot. The garden is conveniently located right next to our apartment buildings and it’s been a great opportunity to meet people. The fee for renting the plot is $35. Part of the renter’s agreement requires us to give 50% of our crops to Mission Arlington. Water is provided and UTA dumps some of their beautiful black compost at the garden for us to use. The first thing Josh did was replace nearly all the soil (mostly sand) with compost.

In deciding what to plant, we chose to focus on produce by what is more expensive in the grocery store. In February we planted two types of lettuce, along with kale (colder weather crops). The lettuce is doing great and we’ve already enjoyed several salads. The kale is not doing so well. In March, we planted tomatoes and green peppers. I say “we” – but I should clarify and say that JOSH is doing all the garden work.

Becca loves going to the garden – mainly to run around the plots and sit on the benches. It’s been a good training ground for learning to obey right away, since it’s a large area. We all enjoy having picnics at the garden. This past week, we found ladybugs on our lettuce. Becca loves having ladybugs crawl all over her.

On Sunday we dashed to a used book sale – we made it in 3 minutes before they closed down. We grabbed enough children’s books to fill a box (price was $2.50 +tax per box). We ended up with several good books. Most of them are “retired” books from the public library. It was a great deal and we’re looking forward to the next sale in September!

Photo Story: Selah Johnson’s 10^th Birthday Party. On Saturday, Becca and I attended Selah’s birthday. Becca was the youngest in attendance. She had a great time – which means Mommy did too. One hit was the soda bottle launcher.  Becca loved getting wet!

We celebrated St. Patrick’s Day by having two couples from our church over for a traditional St. Patty’s Day dinner of corned beef, potatoes, and carrots (no cabbage). Stephen & Kristen (top right panel in photo to left) moved to TX from Greenville, SC, last summer. Mike & Connie (top left panel) began attending our church this past year when they moved into the Bedford area. We enjoyed getting to know both couples more. I’m finding that one of the best ways for us to have people in our home is to invite two families at once (this is all we can manage in our apartment). Having two families over together helps with scheduling (our list of people we want to have over keeps growing and our schedule is limited) and meal budgeting (since usually one family brings the salad and the other the dessert). It’s also been a nice way for different families to get to know each other.

Like our Valentine’s meal, we had conversation questions for our dinner: Tell of one interesting injury you’ve had, Share a quality you value in your spouse, How did you meet your spouse?, How did you come to know Christ?, Share one way you’ve “learned of Christ” within the past year, and List a random act of kindness a non-family member has shown you. We had a great evening and learned several interesting things about our guests. (Pictures surrounding this paragraph are from Becca helping prepare Saturday night’s dinner.)

Photo Story: Becca’s Bedtime Routine: Now that Becca is a toddler with a very active imagination, her bedtime routine has expended. We’re going to have to stop reading books, since they seem to be contributing to Becca’s “ideas.” At this point it sometimes takes an hour to get Becca in bed. As long as I’ve had a nap, it’s a pretty enjoyable routine . . . we’re treasuring the little years.

In our home, we start our mornings with a time of prayer together. It’s been a wonderful way to start our days together.  The exact way we spend our prayer time has changed over the years. When we were engaged it was over the phone; when we first got married we were able to spend longer talking, reading, singing, and praying; when Becca was born our time was considerably shortened (due to my needing more rest); and now that Becca likes to wake up very early our time is “shared” with our little girl.

Currently we’re reading through Spurgeon’s Morning & Evening. Becca sits with us during the reading and drinks her milk. When Josh finishes reading he says “the words of Spurgeon” and I respond, “Charles” – Becca gleefully waits for me to say this so she can respond “I’m not Charles, I’m Becca!” While we pray Becca usually plays or reads, but every once and a while she joins us and listens for a while as we pray. (Actually, she is always listening even when playing, which is evident by her comments during our prayers.) When Josh and I are finished we always call Becca to join us for our family morning prayer.

This week is Spring Break for Josh (time off from his University research position) and me (no music school lessons). Ph.D. students never really get Spring Breaks from researching and writing. Tuesday was our only morning we had free, so we went out to breakfast and the bought and flew a kite. We’ve enjoyed the extra time with Josh and I’ve enjoyed my two free evenings!

Photo Story: “Let’s Go Fly A Kite”

Several weeks ago I read Becca Curious George Flies a Kite. She loved the story. Since then we’ve also read “The Kite” from Days with Frog and Toad and The Berenstain Bears: We Like Kites. Becca also noticed that Lyle the Crocodile flies a kite in the last picture of his first book. Anyway – I told Becca that we would buy her a kite. She LOVED flying her kite and so did Josh. It was a happy morning for all – a perfect kite flying day!

From this point on, I’m entering new territory – this is the longest I’ve ever been pregnant. Becca was born at 27 weeks and 6 days (5:53pm). Day and hour-wise we’ve passed that point, and tomorrow Little Brother will celebrate his 28^th week in the womb. We’re delighted that God brought Little Brother to this point and look forward to the next 12 weeks of pregnancy. Thank you for your prayers!

As most moms of little ones will tell you, much of my day is filled with doing preventive and post-ventive intervention on my little girl’s behavior.  We do a lot of fun things each week, but the week is also filled with a lot of “mommy sighs.” I’m finding that disciplining is not as cut and dry as some people make it sound. It’s not as simple as giving a directive and then negatively or positively reinforcing a child’s behavior based on her response.  Instead, I’m finding that sometimes I need to spend time trying to figure out why Becca did not do what she was asked: Did she understand my request? Is there something (e.g. fear, frustration, etc.) causing her to fail to do what I’ve asked her? Or is just a simple case of disobedience?

Here’s an example: Friday morning, Becca and I played with blocks before I made breakfast (it was one of the mornings she woke up before 6). When Becca was finished playing with the blocks and it was time for me to make breakfast, I asked her to pick up the blocks before she went on to another activity. I immediately noticed some reluctance in Becca, so I sat next to her and made sure she understood what I was asking her to do and the consequence for disobeying Mommy. I stayed for a while and encouraged her as she slowly picked up her blocks, but then I had to start breakfast to get Josh out the door in time.

Shortly after I left I heard Becca dump out all the blocks she had already put in the bag and start throwing blocks. (If I were a cartoon character, my eyes would be bugging out of my head at this point in astonishment. . . . Becca had about 10 blocks left to put away before she dumped the bag, now there were 50 on the floor.) Becca saw me looking at her (maybe she saw my bugging eyes) and came running to me saying “hold me!” Then started our conversation (we have this similar conversation multiple times a day). Mommy: “Becca, you just dumped out all your blocks. Was that a good idea or a bad idea?” Becca: “Bad idea.” Mommy: “Why did you dump out all your blocks?” Becca: “I angry.” Mommy: “Yes, you were angry so you dumped out all your blocks and now you have to pick them up all over again.“At this point I don’t have time to have our talk about being angry (Mommy “Becca, what does it show Mommy when you’re angry?” It always surprises me when she now responds: Becca: ”Becca need Jesus.” ) – I really need to get breakfast finished, and I also need to finish this episode with Becca. Here’s where the “figuring out” comes into play. Becca disobeyed Mommy – the blocks are now all over the floor – so disobedience equals discipline, right? But I decide that maybe the trouble is that Becca has to put the blocks in a bag. Now she’s done it before with no problem, but maybe the early morning with a bag-filling task is frustrating Becca from doing good. So we “try again” – this time I get a bucket from Becca’s room and ask her to put her blocks in there, and immediately she picks up all her blocks, happily singing her clean up song. (While I’m in the kitchen wishing I had used the bucket all along.)

I recently read Give Them Grace (2011) by Fitzpatrick & Thompson. In one chapter they recommend evaluating whether it’s “sin or weakness and immaturity” before you discipline a child for disobedience (p. 102). I’m finding this to be true, especially with a two-year-old. So – if there are weeks that you read the blog and wonder where the fun weekly adventures are, we probably spent a good part of our days learning with Becca.

Tuesday afternoon, we had a quick visit with Dad and Mom Jensen. They had a short layover on their way home from Uruguay. It was nice to be able to see them both.

A Photo Story: Popping Popcorn with Daddy

Five years ago today, my man asked me to be his girlfriend. I was extremely excited…and I still am! God has blessed me with a wonderful husband. So glad you asked me to be  your girl!

One of the nice things about living in the DFW area is that every once and a while we get to visit with people who are in the area on business. Ashleigh, my sister-in-law (married to my second brother, Jon), was in the Dallas area last week on business and spent Thursday and Friday nights with us. Jon and Ashleigh are expecting a baby girl in June, shortly after Little Brother is due. As you can see, Becca didn’t want to be left out of the belly pictures. She brought a pillow over (I’m not sure why), so I put it under her shirt.

On Friday we visited the Dallas Museum of Science and Nature. It was actually two different buildings – the Science building and the Nature building. We spent most of our time in the Children’s Museum located in the Science building. Becca loved the different activities: fire station, dress-up area, farm with a cow to milk, and mirrors. She was so amazed with the mirrors that made her “TALL” and her body small but her head “BIG.” It was so cute to watch her get a kick out of her changing shape.

Ashleigh treated us to a few things. She brought clothes for Becca, Little Brother, and me from the Switcheroos sale in Greenville. Becca has new outfits and shoes for summer, Little Brother has lots of n.b. onesies, and I have some maternity clothes, including some pants for church. It was fun to get clothes for Little Brother . . . we now have little boy clothes in our home. Becca collected all of Little Brother’s new clothes, took them into her room, and went to work “making a bed for Little Brother.” Another treat Ashleigh gave us was a trip to Hobby Lobby with a budget for craft supplies! We’re very excited about the new projects we can do. Ashleigh also took us to Chick-Fil-A for lunch; “poor Daddy” Becca said — he had to work.

We had a great, but quick, visit with Ashleigh. We’re glad her firm allowed her the extra day to visit with us. Lord-willing, next time we see Ashleigh we’ll be holding babies instead of just our bellies!

A Picture Story of Becca’s First Finger Painting Experience

All was neat until I turned my back to get some more paper (and I was on the phone). While I was gone Becca decided to paint her arm. After that I figured we might as well have some fun with the rest of the paint!!