43 months (that’s 1309 days) ago, I married the most remarkable woman I’ve ever known. I thought so at the time, but the more I’ve gotten to know Amy, the more I’ve realized it’s true. Here are some things I love about my wife (we’ll see how much I can list before she gets home from Costco and finds me out!).

• Makes my oatmeal or eggs every morning (with raisins and banana in the oatmeal!)
• Makes my lunch every day (this semester in the mornings before I head to campus for work/research)
• Makes supper every day

(Amy tells me these things are “expected” and “no big deal,” but if I were responsible for them, I’d eat less, buy lunch on campus way more than I do — which is never — and rarely have a good dinner.)

• Gets up every morning with me to read a short devotional and to pray
• Watches Becca all day
• Actually plays with Becca all day (instad of, say, watching soaps while Becca shifts for herself 🙂
• Trains and disciplines Becca throughout the day
• Teaches piano lessons Wed and Thurs evening and Sat morning to help contribute to the family income
• Is content with our rather limited finances (she thinks we’re rich, in fact!)
• Shops for groceries every week (and makes the grocery list and plans the meal schedule), even though shopping is not at the top of her “favorite things to do” list
• Never nags — ever

Someday we’ll be old. I’m glad I’m married to someone that I’m excited to grow old with!

After my miscarriage last year, I had a hard time with being content with just one child. I was supposed to have two children (everyone else seemed to be having more kids), and it was something that was ever present in my mind. One day it hit me that I really needed to be enjoying just having one. Instead of moping about not having the children I wanted, I needed to be enjoying to the fullest that gift God had given me (one – Becca). So I did. In the summer and fall I enjoyed doing all sorts of things with Becca that would have been harder if we’d had two. I stopped moping and enjoyed the gifts God had given me and learned to wait for His good.

Throughout life I need to stop thinking about what I don’t or should or would like to have. I need to enjoy the place God has me (single, married, having one, two, or six children, or even being empty nesters). I need to take what God has given and enjoy it to the fullest.

(Note – the panda bear outfit was a Christmas present from Uncle Jon and Aunt Ashleigh. Also, Becca has started asking to wear my “pink shirt” a lot…this is why you see her in an oversize red shirt. I try to tell her it’s not pink. . . . she doesn’t believe me!)

Speaking of enjoying Becca, I’m working at enjoying our last months with just Mommy and Becca. Our Mondays and Tuesdays are usually our down days (Wednesdays, Thursday, and Saturdays I teach piano lessons). Let me give you a rundown of this past Monday. After breakfast, we enjoyed swimming in the bathtub together (I swam, Becca took a bath). Then we read books on the couch (after bath time Becca gets to be wrapped up in Mommy’s towel and we read a book on the couch). After Becca was dressed, we had a photo shoot in her new dress from China that Anna Martin brought back as a gift. Then we built a tent, flew in an airplane, had lunch, napped, flew in the airplane again, read, and then waited for Daddy to come home while I made dinner. We have a lot of fun. Today I let Becca look at the door while she was waiting for Josh to come home. All of a sudden I heard, “Daddy – where are you?” being yelled loudly to the whole apartment complex.

About that airplane we flew in: Becca, on her own, made an airplane using our chairs. She loves sitting on her airplane and likes Josh and me to join her. Sometimes it’s a little boring, since Becca wants you to look straight ahead. We read books on the plane, and sometimes I let Becca eat her lunch on the plane.  The other day Becca fell off her airplane – it was rather a disastrous fall, but not as bad as falling out of a real airplane.

Becca had a movie night during one of our Friday family nights. She loves eating popcorn and really enjoyed the puppets on What’s in the Bible?. Becca also enjoyed watching Aunt Emily’s band concert webcast live from Dover, PA. Yay Aunt Emily.

The other day, Josh was reading on the couch and we told Becca to get a book and read next to Daddy. We died with laughter when Becca went directly to Daddy’s bed stand and came back with John Paton’s autobiography. Guess when she decided to read next to Daddy, she decided to read just like Daddy!

The rest of this post is cute things Becca has said recently.

One day after lunch I was wiping Becca’s face and expressed concern about wiping the sore chapped spot near her mouth. Becca’s response: “It’s not so bad after all.”

“Becca NOT yummy”, when we say were going to eat her up.

“Mommy NOT go teach piano lessons. Mommy stay with Becca!”

Around 8:45PM (Becca being in bed at this point) Josh had responded to Becca’s call from her room. While he was in there I heard her say very loudly, “Daddy NOT sing Jesus Loves Me.” He wasn’t even planning on singing.

We told Becca she was not supposed to push her chair away from the table while we were eating, Becca responded “Mommy teach piano lessons, Daddy go to work – Becca do it.” (Wow – at least she’s honest!)

“Soup – yummy! Green beans not yucky – green beans yummy – chew them up – mmmmmm!”

After talking to Becca about being sweet to Mommy, I taught her to cup my face in her hands and say “I love you Mommy.” Then I told her to find Daddy and do it to him. Becca promptly found Daddy (who was sitting on the floor), cupped his face in her hands and said, “Hello, my pet!” I guess we’ve been reading Snow White too much.

From a conversation when we were outside: Becca: “It’s windy”. Mommy: “Wow – Becca – I didn’t know you knew that word. What does windy mean?” Becca: “Blow a lot!”

“I do myself!”

“Becca NOT________” This started in SC with not wanting to blow her nose and not wanting to go potty.

“Mommy leave the door open.” Becca started saying this after we read her Bedtime for Frances. Oh the things she learns from books.

“Becca walk please.” Becca often says this when we’re driving somewhere . . . not what I want to hear when I’m driving!

This is something Becca often recites before Josh reads the Bible at the table: “Daddy read Bible, Becca not say yayayaya. Daddy read Bible (to) self, Becca say yayayayay.”

“Where Christmas tree go?”  Sadly, we took down the big Christmas tree this week while Becca was sleeping. She is missing it…but we left the little one up for her.

We’re happy to announce that we’re expecting a baby boy on June 4^th! We reached the halfway mark (20 weeks) this past week, and so far everything is progressing nicely. Becca has been rooting for a baby sister; she wanted a little girl so she could name her Goldilocks or Snow White. She even told me that Corduroy wanted a baby sister. (Sorry Becca, I don’t think those names are going to make it to our list.) Right now we’re calling him Brother.

We had our 20 week sonogram yesterday morning and so far everything looks good. [As you can see above – and as you may recall from when we had Becca’s sono – Amy’s OB has really great ultrasound equipment. By the way, there’s a T on the front of that hat – you just can’t see it because of Brother’s angle in this photo. -JMJ] We won’t know if there are any complications like Becca’s until later on in the pregnancy. Becca had a perfect pregnancy until the weekend before I entered the hospital due to lessened movement. This little boy is a mover – I felt him really early on, so hopefully that will help in noticing decreased movement, if that becomes an issue again. My doctor expects everything to go fine.

A lot of people are asking me how I’m feeling (in relation to Becca’s pregnancy). I feel fine. . . . Actually, now that I’m in the middle of 2^nd trimester I have to say compared to 1st trimester, I’m feeling good. Now that I’m feeling myself again, I realize how crummy I felt 1^st trimester. Everything seems better and not as bad as it did a few months ago – teaching piano lessons, church, making dinner, etc. One night at dinner I looked at Josh and said, “You’re way better looking than you were 1^st trimester.” I was too busy at dinner feeling yucky and being tired to notice how good looking my husband is. Of course, I did have the added stress of the miscarriage last year. First trimmest was a time of practicing faith in God’s best for our loves. There was one weekend of this pregnancy when I was pretty sure we’d lost the baby (wasn’t hungry – had extra energy). Glad to be out of that period. God is good and we look forward to what He is going to do in the next 20 weeks for our little boy.

Saturday we got together with Lap’s family (one of Josh’s Jarai consultants). They were in the area for the weekend. As you can see, Josh and Lap even did a few minutes of work (with prepositions – in this case, “on top of”) while they were visiting.

This past weekend we had our 4^th annual MLK Day getaway (Sunday-Monday). We used up our credit card points and stayed at an Embassy Suites in Dallas. Becca loved swimming in the (cold) indoor pool, feeding the swans, and riding the elevators. On Monday we went to the Dallas Zoo (“Penguin Days” for Jan/Feb are $5 per person). The weather was perfect and we spent a few hours looking around.

 Becca’s favorite part of the zoo visit was the bronze statues. Her other favorite animal this time was the tiger. He was pacing and roaring quite a bit at his door (maybe waiting for lunch). Becca wanted to go back and see the tiger again and again to, “show Mama something.” Becca does a pretty good imitation of the tiger roar. We ended with a ride on the carousel. It was a great getaway. It’s one of the few holidays that we get Josh for the whole day without also entertaining others . . . a sweet treat for all of us.

The day after Christmas Josh, Becca, and I rented a car and drove to PA to spend a week with my family. Becca and I were sick about half of our time in PA. My siblings were there in shifts. Jon and Ashleigh went back to SC on Wednesday, so we overlapped with them one full day. Sam, Ashley, and Colette came for New Year’s weekend. Dan and Isabelle did not get up to PA this year. I didn’t take a single picture in PA  but had over 500 pictures from the week from other people. So nice when everyone else is taking the pictures.

We all enjoyed being with everyone. Becca loved having lots of people to interact with. She had been looking forward to being at Aunt Emily’s house since Thanksgiving. Becca loved running around the house in a circle (through the dinner room and into the kitchen). I’ll recount one funny conversation she had with my dad. Becca has a habit of slamming the toilet lid down when she’s finished using the potty. My dad was concerned about the porcelain and turned to Becca and said, “Becca try not to slam . . . oh nevermind, you’re a sweetie, you can do whatever you like.” I love how grandchildren change people.

Tuesday we had Christmas with the gang who was in town. Mom saved the cinnamon rolls for the day, we read the Christmas story and sang carols. This was the second time for Dad, Mom, Emily, Jon, Ashleigh, Joey, and Lauren to read the Christmas story and sing; they did another whole round for us. Becca enjoyed putting the flannelgraph up. Becca also enjoyed my parents’ dog Toby. She would call him loudly, “Toby, come back!” She now also says “big dogs scare you, little dogs don’t scare you.”

Becca loved opening her presents — actually she enjoyed opening anyone’s presents who would let her help. But she did show concern for others. She got a baby doll and was then told that the other present was for the doll (doll clothes). Becca sat the doll in front of the presents and tried to help her open the gift. It was really cute.

Uncle Joey was a big hit. For the second year, he gave Becca a candy cane. Last year he gave Becca her first candy cane. He also let Becca have some of his Mountain Dew (she spit it out). Who knows what else he gave her . . . got to watch those young single uncles! Uncle Joey gave Becca a pair of pink Converse shoes and an ‘apple computer.’ The shoes are a little big (smallest size available), so Becca will get to grow into them.

Thursday we took a trip to NJ to visit with Grandma Sutter, Uncle John, and some of the other Sutter family members.

Friday Sam, Ashley, and Colette arrived. Becca seemed to enjoy trying to teach Collette big girl things. Becca would roll on the floor with Colette – very cute.

We had Christmas again with Sam, Ashley, and Colette – it was a shortened version. They gave Becca a train and she loves it. It’s the perfect size for our apartment and Becca enjoys putting her Nativity pieces in it for a ride. Sam gave Josh a book that he instantly started reading. He just finished it the other day.

Monday night Aunt Emily, Uncle Joey, and Lauren babysat Becca while Josh and I went out to dinner with Dad and Mom (thanks Grandma B). We all enjoyed our steaks, while Josh is still wishing he had ordered a steak instead of a hamburger. Becca did great – this is when the Mountain Dew incident took place. Tuesday afternoon we flew back to Texas.

Ok – you made it (or I should say I’ve made it through posting and getting all these pictures up!). We had a great time visiting with family, but it is truly wonderful to be back home with nice water pressure, all the hot water we want, and lots of heat when it’s cold – our poor parents who own their own houses and have to pay for their utilities! (Not that we froze or couldn’t take hot showers at our parents’ houses, of course!) We’re looking forward to all God has in store for our family in 2012. His will be done.

Monday, December 19, we headed out for two weeks of Christmas travels. We spent the first week (Dec. 19-26) with Josh’s side of the family and the second week (Dec. 26-Jan. 3) with my side of the family. We had free tickets (credit card deal) and were able to fly from TX to SC and from PA to TX for free. We rented a car and drove from SC to PA the day after Christmas. One of the highlights of Becca’s trip was meeting Santa Clause at the airport. When we flew back to TX, Becca expected to meet Santa again.

Tuesday and Wednesday we visited with Grandma Martin in GA. We also spent some time with the Doug Martin side of the family. It was good to catch up with everyone.

We also did a little extra visiting in SC. We spent time with Mrs. Burch, and Becky, Evan, and Adam Wilbur on Thursday. And we visited with Grandpa and Grandma Hess Christmas Eve morning.

Becca ended up catching a cold and from Thursday morning on had congestion and a nasty cough for the rest of the visit. This is the first time Becca has been sick and we count ourselves very blessed that she’s been so healthy. She kindly passed the cold to me on Christmas day. Both Becca being away from home and being sick made for some rough nights. She usually woke up 3-5 times a night, sometimes screaming and very confused.

Friday we enjoyed the Jensen Christmas get together, which included a gift exchange:

We had a lovely Christmas day with Josh’s immediate family. Becca and I stayed back from church Christmas Eve and Christmas Day because of her cold. After church, we had a great meal and enjoyed time with family. Becca enjoyed playing with her cousin, Bella (9 months younger than Becca). Bella loved hugging Becca. As you can see from the pictures, Becca was not always too keen on being hugged for an extended amount of time. It was quite humorous to watch Becca run away from Bella’s open arms.

A very Merry Christmas from the Jensens! It is especially exciting to celebrate Christmas with a little girl who came out the first morning we had the Christmas tree up and just stood there saying, “tree – pretty lights!!!” This year we celebrated our family Christmas early, since we were with extended family on Christmas day. We chose a night to have “Christmas,” and we had a special dinner and then went to Main Street in Arlington to look at the Christmas lights.

Afterwards we came home and let Becca open her first gift – Christmas pajamas. Becca and I went out looking for her Christmas pajamas a few weeks ago and she’s been excited about getting them. She loves how soft they are and was delighted to finally be allowed to wear them. After the Christmas pj’s, we sang a carol and read the Christmas story from Luke 2. Then we let Becca open the rest of her Christmas gifts. She was quite pleased with everything, but the highlight for her was getting a Snow White book! Josh and I both received some very enthusiastic thanks and kisses thanking us for the gifts. Christmas with a toddler is priceless!

Josh gave me some very special gifts for Christmas – even made me cry, but that’s for another post.

We’ll post more on Christmas later, but for now I’ll close with a few pictures of some other Christmas activities: Making Christmas ornaments and delivering cookies to our neighbors (in front of Becca’s Christmas wreath).

Josh and I put up the Christmas tree (thanks Aunt Rita for letting us borrow it again!) the first Friday night in December while Becca was sleeping. Saturday morning, we put the lights on before Becca got out of bed. Becca was so amazed and delighted – “Tree – pretty lights.” The following night Josh put up light around our living room. It’s so cozy with all the lights on.

The night of the Arlington Christmas parade it rained. We decided that we didn’t want to attend a parade in rainy weather. I was really disappointed, since I’ve been looking forward to the parade since last year’s. I thought Becca would really enjoy it. Josh decided since we didn’t go to the parade, we should have our own. So we put our “parade clothes”on, got our instruments, and paraded around our home.

Becca got an early Christmas present – a front facing car seat. Becca loves her new seat. She loves facing forward. You can see from the pictures of her first ride, that she was quite delighted. Three days after getting her new seat, Becca was still laughing with delight every time we went somewhere.

We saw a really neat house in Plano, TX. Gordon Lights is a home that synchronizes their Christmas lights to music. It’s quite impressive. The entire cycle of songs is about 30 mins. Becca loves the lights…she said, “Becca so happy!”

If you’re interested in seeing a bit of what we saw, here’s a youtube link to one of the songs they did.

Here’s a post filled with random details. One of the great things about being a mama is that every day is filled with all sorts of delightful randomness. Randomness that makes me stop and smile and think, “I love being Josh’s wife and Becca’s mama.” Becca’s big accomplishment for this week is climbing out of her bed (a pack-n-play). She successfully climbed out twice during nap time. The first time she was crying that she had to go potty (a typical nap-time escape routine); the second time she played in her room for quite some time before she appeared to me – quite proud of herself. When I asked her to show me what she did, she was quite excited and I was shocked to see her do a full flip, landing on her back. (I was thinking, “THIS is how you get out of bed?!) She stood up and said “Becca really funny,” but when I asked her if she was hurt, she started crying. I guess that’s not how her two first escapes went; ever since that third experience she hasn’t tried getting out of bed again. (However, a few times since then we’ve gone into her room and found her in the pack-n-play when we hadn’t put her there. Apparently she likes climbing in to play with her “friends” — who all get thrown in first.)

Above is a sneak peak at Becca’s Christmas dress. I figured since Christmas is on a Sunday this year, Becca better have a nice dress to wear to church.

What you see on the left is what we call “magic underwear.” For quite some time I’d been wanting to get Becca some big girl underwear to see if it provided any extra motivation in taking a break from her playing and going to the potty. I found out that most stores don’t carry underwear for a little girl like ours. The smallest I could find is for 30lbs: Becca is 24.5lbs, but it worked. Becca enjoys wearing her magic underwear and so far it’s proved to be useful in helping her go to the potty.

This weekend we had dinner with some of Josh’s former Thai students. Dow (next to Amy in photo) finished her Ph.D this semester and is returning to Thailand at the end of this month. Dow treated us to a wonderful Thai meal to thank Josh for reading her dissertation to help with the English grammar. Both Dow and Mook made sure that we didn’t eat anything too “simple.” We enjoyed our time with them. Becca liked the fish tank, except the largest fish frightened her. When it started swimming towards her she yelled “Nooooooooooooooooo!!!” It was really cute.

A few months ago a family from our church gave us their daughter’s kitchen set. It’s an amazing set, including fridge, sink, stove, and oven, with a full set of dishes, coffee maker, food, pizza (with removable toppings), and all sorts of kitchen gadgets. Becca’s favorite things are the plastic cookies and the pizza. Moms, it’s the kind of kitchen we dreamed of having when we were little girls. We’re very thankful to the Countrymans for their generosity to our family.

This past week Becca decided her legs were getting dry and that lotion would be the solution. Only problem was that she forgot to roll up her pants and in the process she moisturized the couch, too. [Another lesson to Daddy that I should should check quickly when things get quiet. -JJ]

Becca is enjoying Mama’s Christmas cookie baking. She loves cookie dough. Becca continues to enjoy reading. We got 7 new books at the library and read them all in one sitting as soon as we returned from the library (including 2 Curious George books – lots of words).

Friday night, Josh surprised me by taking me to hear one of our favorite singer/song writers. I thought we were meeting Dow and Mook for supper, but was shocked when we went to the concert. I had no clue where we were going. We got to hear one of our favorite songs, Planting Trees, as well as a series of songs going from Creation to the birth of Christ. The Matthew genealogy is one I hope to learn one day.

From Becca’s annual spoon picture, you can see she’s come a long way since Nov. 2009. Her current weight is 24 lbs. and 7 oz. (19th percentile) and height is 32 in. (8th percentile). She might be on the small size but right on track compared with my 2-year-old stats (weight 22.3lbs; length 32.5in.) . . . she’s small just like her mama! Dr. Raine gave Becca a glowing report. We’re very thankful for the good health God has given her these past 2 years.

We had a wonderful day celebrating Becca’s 2nd birthday. I told Becca that we were going to go to Chick-fil-A on Saturday for her birthday. During the week whenever I’d talk about Becca’s birthday she would tell me that we were going to Chick-fil-A on Saturday! But before we went to Chick-fil-A, we had a little surprise for Becca . . . bounce houses! Our mall has a place with lots of bounce houses. Becca was quite delighted to get to “fall down” again. After our fun outing, we had more Flopsie cake and we opened presents. Then we went for our annual visit to the NICU to thank our nurses for taking care of Becca.

My sister Emily visited with us for a week at Thanksgiving (Tuesday to Tuesday). We really enjoyed having her with us – she’s the perfect house guest and was a great help at Thanksgiving and with Becca’s party. Becca loved her Aunt Ememememe. When we were at the Woods, Becca would go to see Emily in her room every morning. I’m not sure exactly what they did up there, but Becca got a make-over one morning. Becca cried the morning I told her that Aunt Emily had to go away to her own home. Becca pointed to the bed and said “Aunt Ememememem – right here!”

One other fun thing we did as part of house-sitting was enjoy the Woods’ outdoor hot tub. They told us we could heat it up, so we saved it for the Friday night after Thanksgiving. Becca loved it and so did we. Josh and Emily warmed up in the hot tub and then jumped in the freezing pool and then hurried back into the hot tub . . . Becca and I watched. The same night, Becca got to stay up past 7  to watch the Hoops and Yoyo Christmas special on TV and Elf on a Shelf. We told her it was part of her birthday celebration. And of course, Emily and I just enjoyed being sisters.

A big thanks to Emily for all her picture taking!

The day before Thanksgiving, Becca and I went to the Fort Worth Zoo with my sister Emily. I wasn’t sure the weather was going to be good for zoo-ing, but it turned out to be a perfect day to visit the zoo. Each time we go to the zoo, Becca seems to enjoy it more. This visit she got some close up views of several animals. She was delighted to sit on the alligator’s back, since we have a little rhyme about alligators that she enjoys saying.

A big highlight for Becca was riding the train. She really enjoys trains and once I said we were going to go on a train ride, Becca’s thoughts were focused on one thing – TRAIN RIDE! Another interesting experience was feeding the hungry birds. Once you had a seed stick in your hand, the birds were very eager to be your friend. Becca wasn’t too sure of what she thought of having birds up so close to her. She kept saying “no thank you! no thank you!” We had a great day at the zoo – thanks Grammy for sending Aunt Emily with $$!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. It was the best Thanksgiving we’ve had in a few years and we’re thanking the Lord for an excellent day. Emily was a great help with all the preparations. Just like last year, the turkey and Becca were close in weight. Our turkey was 20lbs and Becca is 24lbs.

We were house sitting at the Wood’s (same house we were at this past summer) for 10 days and the extra room gave us the opportunity to invite more people than we would have been able to in our apartment. We had two families from our church – the Countryman and the Rodriguez families. Both are families without any relatives in the area. We had a wonderful time of fellowship with them all. After our meal, we had a little birthday party for Becca.

(Josh here to wrap things up by linking to funny a little video I made last week using footage I recorded during one of my research trips this summer. The link goes to the previous post.)

A very happy 2nd birthday to our dear sweet little girl! We thank God every day for giving you to us. You bring us so much joy, so many smiles, and you fill our home with laughter. We love you, our sweet little bear.

The night before Becca’s birthday I told her in a sad voice that tomorrow she was turning 2 and that she was growing up. She looked at me and her little lip stuck out and she said “no thank you! no thank you!” I guess she doesn’t want to grow up. I told her that it was ok and that she would always be our little baby. That seemed to calm her down. It was so cute.

We had a birthday celebration for Becca on Thanksgiving day. We made it part of our Thanksgiving celebration. Becca liked her cake and having everyone sing to her.

We have plans for more birthday celebrations today. I’m planning to take the “spoon” picture when we get home from house sitting this afternoon.

A very happy Thanksgiving! We’re looking forward to a day celebrating with Emily (my sister) and friends tomorrow afternoon. We’re also going to have a little birthday party for Becca while we have people over. I’m writing this Wednesday night and am currently in the process of making her cake (Josh is out looking for black food coloring), potatoes are boiling for tomorrow . . . I think it’s going to  be a late night.

We have so much to be thankful for. But I think I’ll sum it up with our morning prayer, written by Josh:

Father of Lights,
You never change.
All Your promises are certain,
And all Your gifts are good.
Thank You for joy and trial,
For work and rest,
For food and drink.
Thank You for the Word of Truth,
and the New Birth.
Grant that we may receive Your gifts with Thanksgiving,
and give to others as You give to us.
Through the power of Your Spirit,
and the love of Your Son,
Who live and reign with You now and forever,
One God.
Amen.

Thursday morning Josh told me we were going on a special date Friday night. I knew we were going to a concert in Dallas, but I didn’t know who we were going to hear. Josh told me to list three performers. . . I listed Yo-Yo Ma, James Galway, Evgeny Kissin. All people I knew we weren’t going to see. I was shocked (and got all choked up) when we arrived at the Dallas Meyerson Symphony Center, and Josh told me we were going to hear Sir James Galway. The entire concert was excellent. We had great seats about 10 rows from the front (an advantage due to student discounts). The program consisted of Mendelssohn’s Midsummer Night’s Dream Overture, Mozart’s Flute Concerto No. 2, Smetana’s The Moldau, and Janacek’s Taras Bulba. Galway performed the Mozart and then did three short pieces as an encore: a traditional Irish jig, Danny Boy, and a movement of Bach’s second orchestral suite (played “double time” according to one reviewer, and it’s true!).

Becca has started asking to “help” wash the breakfast dishes again. In the past she had been very interested in helping, but then she lost interest. So we’re back to getting an “extra bath” every morning. We’ve also somehow started the tradition of reading a book while wrapped in Mama’s towel after bath time. Two years ago this time of year, Becca and I were trapped in a hospital bed . . . it’s such a blessing to be washing dishes and reading to our little gift from God!

I started listening to Christmas music this weekend. You might think it’s a tad bit early, but this holiday season I’m planning on soaking up all I can of Christmas and enjoying every moment. And why not? After all, I haven’t really had a normal holiday season two years in a row. We’ll start with a nice calm Thanksgiving – no time in the hospital (first time in 3 years), no traumatic events that turn the Christmas season into an exhausting time mingled with joy and grief. Everything is going to be perfect and filled with laughter and joy.  That all sounds good, but those were my same expectations last year…and it certainly didn’t turn out that way. The other day I started wondering what’s going to happen this Thanksgiving…maybe my appendix will explode, maybe something will happen to Josh or Becca, maybe….”Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God” (Psalm 42:5).

I can choose to live in fear about what’s going to happen this year or I can hope in God. Hope – trusting that He does use all things for His own glory. Hope – looking at our little girl whose body (shoulders to bottom) was the length of a spoon at birth and who now is a very active, happy, talkative almost 2 year old. Hope – knowing that God uses miscarriages for the good for His children and for His own glory. So I’m looking forward to this season by hoping in God. I’m breaking out the Christmas music early, teaching Becca how to dance to the music, and enjoying hearing my girl squeal with delight as I twirl her around the room as we start of our holiday season.

All is well here in the Jensen household. I teach piano lessons 3 to 4 days a week.  Becca continues to be a very busy little girl. She also has an interesting sense of humor – last evening I told her to eat all her refried beans by saying each bite was a different one of her animal friends. She loved eating all her friends! Becca’s talking up a storm and has plans to keep me busy all day long: “Mama play Becca!” “Mama sit here!” “Mama play!” “Mama color Becca!” “Mama talk Becca!” “Mama clean it up.”  “Mama eat it up!” “Mama read!” (“Mama read self!” – that was going a bit too far…my 23 month year old was telling me to read to myself!?!) Josh continues to work on his dissertation research. He’s also been busy fulfilling his work obligations as the department chair’s research assistant. (Plus, in the last few weeks, doing a website for AM Fabrication in Fort Worth, owned by some friends of ours.) I have an amazing husband who, though he has many responsibilities screaming out to him, still continues to be a wonderful husband and father. So glad God gave me my man!

Friday night Josh and I carved our first jack-o-lantern without adult supervision. We had a great time deciding about the face and then putting our knifing skills into action. We were both quite pleased with the results and spent the rest of the evening sitting on the couch in the dark, enjoying our glowing pumpkin. We introduced Becca to the pumpkin the following evening. She loved it!

In addition to the pumpkin, we added a little cat to our home this weekend. Becca loved having her nose painted black, and she cried when I cleaned the paint off before bed. We took her to a trunk-or-treat event, and she was very excited about getting candy in her bucket. On the way to the event, Josh told her that people might put fruit and tracts in her bucket . . . she said, “no! candy (in) bucket!”  Becca enjoyed seeing the “eensy weensy spider” on different people’s trunks. She loves spiders because of the song.

The best part of the event for Becca was the bounce house. Since it was a small event, we let Becca go in by herself. If you ask her about it, you’ll get a very enthusiastic response: “Bounce House! Fall! Yay!” The next day I had to run errands and everywhere we went Becca asked to go in a bounce house. She broke down and sobbed at Walmart when there was no bounce house there. I’ll have to keep my eyes out for events with bounce houses!

A very happy 100-week birthday to our dear sweet precious gift from God, Rebecca Grace. Becca’s come a long way since Nov. 2009. I always get a little choked up when I look back at pictures from Becca’s birth. God has truly blessed our family with Becca. He spared and protected her life, and we thank Him every day for giving us our little girl.

We recently had a friend, Diana, over for dinner. Diana is a linguist with SIL International in East Asian. We enjoyed hearing about Diana’s work (and Becca enjoyed wearing the “lampshade” hat that’s worn by villagers where Diana works).

Becca continues to love going to the library and reading her weekly book picks. She has an excellent memory with stories. Some mornings (if she gets up too early) I let her read in our bed, while Josh and I have our morning prayer time. It’s really cute to hear her “reading” books.

I’ll close with a few pictures of some of our home decor.

The photo on the left is of our dinning room picture wall.

The scene on the right and below is from one of Becca’s favorite books Can’t Catch Me. I bought the animals at Hobby Lobby and designed the “set” from construction paper.

And here, left and right, some of Becca’s art, entitled “Spring Hands, Summer Hands, Autumn Hands” & Winter Hands”. Becca loves tracing her hands (which so far doesn’t come out looking much like hands), so we decided to take advantage of it. Just above Becca’s art are pictures for our 3 Christmases together. Black cardstock and clear contact paper make great frames.

Our first fall in Texas I prayed for a pumpkin and God used the Bixbys to answer my prayer. This past weekend, Josh bought a pumpkin for us and it’s a reminder to me of all the prayers God has answered while we’ve been in Texas. As I look at our real life pumpkin – Becca – I’m reminded of how many blessings God has given us in her. She’s the “pumpkin” I look at this fall as I pray for other requests, knowing that God answers in His time and in His way.

To celebrate the first day of fall, Becca and I made a little project for our apartment door. I think I saw this craft idea for a Christmas wreath in a Highlights magazine when I was a little kid. Becca loves tracing her hands, so it was easy to get lots of hands for our autumn wreath. Add a little glue, cardboard, and contact paper and presto!, you have a wreath. Becca loved working on the project with me. I think her favorite part was playing with (eating) the glue!

Friday night we took our yearly visit (2008, 2010)  to the Hall Pumpkin Farm with René, Yani, and Amaris. Going through the corn maze was a little different with 2 toddlers. They both loved running around the maze, as well as riding tractors, sitting on pumpkins, and riding in a wagon. I think Becca’s favorite part was pushing Amaris in the wagon . . . she mentions it to me every time she remembers going to the pumpkin farm.

“I need you to get some things together for Becca, she’s going  home with the Rodriguezes. We’re going on an overnight date.”  What a surprise! This is what Josh told me when I came home Sunday afternoon from a church bridal shower. René and Amaris had dinner with Josh and Becca while Yani and I were at the shower. A little while after Yani and I got to our house, we were sending Becca off on her first pajama party sleepover.

My sweet husband had planned a little getaway – hotel, museum visit, babysitter – all without my knowledge. We stayed at the The Fairmont Dallas, located in the West End of Dallas. He strategically planned our hotel location so we would be able to walk to our Monday field trip.  We enjoyed walking around Sunday and Monday. It was lovely to spend some relaxed time together.

For dinner we decided against eating at The Heart Attack Grill (“Over 350 lbs? Eat for free!”) and ate at the original Spaghetti Warehouse. The restaurant was filled with antiques. After dinner we walked around a building that had fountains all over the place. It would be a really neat place to play in warm weather, if they allowed such things.

Monday morning we visited the Dallas Holocaust Museum. The museum exhibits center around events that took place on April 19, 1943: the start of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising, the Bermuda Conference, and the day of the attack on the 20th Transport train from Mechelen to Auschwitz by three men armed with one gun, a lantern, and 4 wrenches (over 200 Jewish deportees were able to get off the train).

We had a wonderful time on our little vacation. My man is so sweet to plan the trip for us. I’m thankful for the thoughtful, loving man the Lord has given me as my husband. And for those who are wondering, Becca did great on her first pajama party. Yani gave the girls a wonderful time together!

This past weekend Grandpa and Grandma Jensen came for a visit. Grandpa knew exactly what to do to warm Becca up to him . . . he brought her a new “Flopsie” bear. The panda is a Rinconada – “carefully hand-carved and detailed in fine grain earthenware ceramic material.” Becca is delighted to have her new “glass Flopsie.” Becca also enjoyed reading and playing games with Grandma. It was fun to see her interact with her grandparents.

On Friday Grandpa & Grandma took us to the Dallas Zoo. It was the perfect day for being at the zoo – great weather and not many people. Becca’s favorite part was walking (“Becca walk!“) around the zoo. The animals Becca really enjoyed were the giant lizard, the elephants, the giraffe, and the fish. Becca was quite worn out after our day at the zoo.

Saturday we went the Fort Worth Stockyards, where we saw a little bit of the western Texas. The rest of the visit was chatting and just enjoying time together. On Sunday both Grandpa and Grandma spoke at church for our missions emphasis Sunday. We had a great visit together and now Becca has some fresher memories with her grandparents J.