My First Texas White Christmas!

What a wonderful surprise it was on Christmas Eve day to see snow start to come down in a flurry! We had just commented the day before (when it was 70 degrees) how amazing it would be to see the ranch covered in snow....little did we know we'd get our wish the next day! This was one time I was thankful for the crazy Texas weather!



It was just Drew and I for Christmas Eve and Christmas - so having our beautiful surroundings covered in glittery whiteness made for an extra special time together. We cuddled by the fire and enjoyed a beautiful Christmas - thanking the Lord for the birth of His Son!



The animals sure did love it!




To view all the pictures of our White Christmas, click here:
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=56964740&l=08e9d1bb6e&id=5244184

Holidays at the ranch

Since I was unable to travel this year for the holidays, I had the joy of hosting my very first Thanksgiving and Christmas! My family came for Thanksgiving and we had a grand time hiking around, picking up pecans and enjoying the beautiful outdoors.



Drew and I got a bit of practice holding our newest niece, sweet little Molly. Drew looks like a natural at it! Now we just have to see how he is at changing diapers :)



We have so much to be thankful for this year: Drew's job, a beautiful place to live, being close to family, Abigail on the way, a great church family and so much more!

For Christmas Drew's family came to visit and we loved every minute of it!

Grami (Tami) lovingly made beautiful outfits and blankets for Makayla (due in Feb) and Abigail. I can't wait to bring her home from the hospital in it!



We are so excited for Mandy and Stephen (Drew's brother and his wife) and can't wait to meet Makayla as well. It's been so fun to be pregnant together!



The cousins are bound to be best of friends!


Here's a pic of all the girls:



And the brothers and "Grandpa":



To view all of holiday pics, click here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2776684&id=5244184&l=b6c039bbf0

This picture says it all:



These are the maternity pictures that my talented friend, Amy, took for us at 36 weeks! She took them out at the ranch that we live on. I'm now 39 1/2 weeks and we're anxiously awaiting her arrival any day now! Drew and I agree that this has been the loooongest couple of weeks of our life!

Drew is SO excited and ready to see his daughter!


I HEART her already!




Drew has asked what seems like a million times, "Can she just come today!!"


Here is a link to a few more of the pictures Amy took: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2765551&id=5244184&l=b647f2f771

Abigail's Nursery

With the design inspiration and help of my dear friend, Amy Busti, together we created Abigail's outdoor inspired nursery. Drew and my wonderful mother-in-law were also very helpful as well!

Here are a few pictures:



A cozy corner for all of our times spent cuddling and nursing! The dresser is a special piece that my Grammie gave me - it was my dad's dresser as a boy and then my dear Gramps had it in his room. I have so many wonderful memories of Gramps letting us kids get into his "treasure chest" that sat on this dresser and get whatever money was in it!





Since we live in a log cabin, with wooden walls, we wanted the outdoors to naturally be apart of Abigail's room. Drew found this pecan branch to hang as a mobile over her crib. She's bound to love animals and nature with falling asleep to this every night!



I made these birds from a pattern that Amy found online and just LOVE them!






This bike was a special treasure in my "little Italy" kitchen in the apartment that I lived in while Drew was in the game warden academy. Some pink spray paint made it so girly and pretty!



My mother-in-law slaved over stripping and painting this $10 garage sale bookshelf into the unique piece that it is now! Amy helped me choose the fabric and make the curtains. Her sweet mother, Pam, helped sew the bed skirt!



My mother gave me the gingham lamp and Kay Ohendalski quilted the beautiful blanket on the rocker. This nursery truly has been a labor of love from so many people and will be such a blessing to our sweet girl!

Fall Fun!

Fall is finally here, one of our favorite times of the year! I am more thankful for the cool weather this year than I've ever been. Pregnancy has made me so hot natured! Fall also means that hunting season has kicked in full gear for Drew (see below for his most recent happenings!)

September was the main dove season. We took a quick trip up to the deer lease (roughing it with outhouse and all!) so Drew could dove hunt.



I had never been dove hunting and enjoyed being his "spotter" when I wasn't busy reading "Redeeming Love" - one of my all-time favorites. Drew made sure I was comfortable!



I think Abigail had fun on her first hunting trip as well :)



We sure enjoyed eating the dove the next evening with Drew's brother Stephen and his beautiful wife Mandy - who are also expecting a baby girl. We are only 5 weeks apart and it's so fun to share this journey together!






September was also a wonderful month because my little niece, Molly Anderson Berry was born! She is so tiny and such a sweetie.



Makenna jumped right in as a wonderful big sister. I have loved watching my brother Jonathan and his wonderful wife Karen parent their beautiful girls. We have some great role models for raising Abigail!



September was also my birthday month and Drew planned a wonderful trip to the hill country! We camped at Inks Lake state park and had such fun kayaking the lake....more like Drew paddling me around :) We then went to Enchanted Rock, hiked and camped. I have such a wonderful hubby - to top it off Drew took me to Fredericksburg for shopping and we stayed at a wonderful guest house - the Brickner house. Drew researched and found this awesome place to stay - I highly recommend it!

To view our trip pictures click here

We are enjoying our last bit of time together before Abigail comes. Drew keeps saying he's ready to hold her and I keep thinking I need more time before her arrival!! I have been busy working on her nursery....with the help of my wonderful friend Amy. Her and her mom, Pam, helped sew the crib skirt for me! It looks so good, I can't wait to get the nursery completely together.

I'm also busy reading all of the parenting, nursing and sleep scheduling books! We have so much to learn about this new stage of life. We are starting our birthing classes the end of this month, so that should be interesting! I've been trying not to think about the whole "birth process" but alas I guess I must. I am already so queasy when it comes to yucky medical stuff (that is why my sister is studying to be a nurse and not me!)......so I'm sure these classes and the birth will be quite an experience for me.

I am still feeling great although the belly is getting bigger and more uncomfortable! Here are some recent pictures of the growing belly: click here

Drew is enjoying his work and is getting even busier with bow season having started. He is doing such a great job! You can often see what he is up to on the Game Warden field notes, click here. Here are some of his recent happenings:

Trigger Happy: On July 25, A Coryell County game warden was in the process of writing several no fishing license citations to a group of fishermen on Lake Waco when he heard multiple gunshots coming from the Corps of Engineers property nearby. Upon investigation, the warden found three people in the woods shooting without a permit for the property. During a safety check for more weapons and ammo, marijuana was found on one of the subjects. All three subjects received citations from the Corps of Engineers, and one subject was transported to jail for marijuana possession. The subjects stated that they had just gotten new guns and couldn’t wait to shoot them. Cases pending.

Right into the hands of the law: During the early morning hours of Sunday, September 20, a Coryell County game warden was patrolling an area near the Leon River known for poaching activity when he saw a vehicle on a nearby county road stopped on the bridge crossing the river. Several people got out and began moving around. Soon several shots rang out, and the vehicle sped away from the area unknowingly heading straight for the warden. He waited on the highway and when the vehicle exited the county road, a traffic stop was conducted. The driver, a young woman dressed in camouflage, admitted that she and her boyfriend had just shot from the road into the Leon River. The woman stated that she had just gotten a new pistol and needed a place to shoot it. Citations were issued for shooting from a public roadway.

Thank you for letting us update you on all that's going on in our lives. We feel so grateful to the Lord for how wonderful we are transitioning into our new community and are thankful for the many blessings he's given us including great new friends, a wonderful home, awesome jobs, being closer to family and a new baby on the way! You are one of those blessings and as always we're thankful to have you as part of our lives!
Love,
Jessica & Drew

Welcome Baby Abigail!

It's a girl!!! A healthy baby - our sweet baby Abigail. We chose Abigail because it is a Hebrew name which means "Father's Joy". We know that she will be a joy to both her father and I, but it is also our prayer that her life will be a Joy to our Heavenly Father.



Drew and I are so excited to have such a blessing in our lives and pray that we will be Godly parents. We have started reading, "Shepherding a Child's Heart" by Tedd Tripp which was given to us by the pastor at the church we are attending (and I highly recommend it for my friends with children). Reading through it makes me realize more and more the wonderful yet daunting responsibility we are taking on.

I have been feeling great and loving the energy that comes with the 2nd trimester. Baby Abigail is quite an active one - kicking away since 16 weeks! Drew can feel it from my tummy which is wonderful. I am 21 weeks! Over half way there! I have been doing my prenatal pilates (thanks Tamzen and Amy for the DVD's!) which is helping with some of the back aches I'm starting to experience. I have a feeling the aches have just begun....


Here are some more pictures of my growing belly:

On another note, we are LOVING our new home! After 2+ months here it is starting to feel like home! Drew and I still act like newlyweds - loving living together after our 7 months apart. I am so enjoying the slow paced "country" life. We spend much of our time on our front porch, eating breakfast or having chats. Drew's sister, Mary, came to visit this week and here we are enjoying some good 'ole Blue Bell Ice cream.



Even though we're in the country, there is never a lack of excitement! The elk have rubbed their velvet off so every so often now I'm interrupted from working in my office by the sound of antlers clanking together - only to go out and see the elk fighting with each other! They put on quite a show. Last week Drew and I were of course spending time on the porch and the Gemsbok (an African species) was chasing all of the big elk off in quite a frenzy. He patrolled the are by the house for hours with his sharp horns keeping the elk at bay! Here is the ferocious guy (click the picture to enlarge it). This is the view to the left of our front porch:



Then there is the hawk that has been diving in the much receded pond for anything he can find....he scored a few days ago with a tiny snake from the front yard! That's one thing I could have done without seeing!! Ah...the excitement of country life! Don't worry Rookie patrols the yard and keeps all of the fierce squirrels away:



We have found a church that we are loving, Grace Bible Church. They are so solid in their focus on studying God's word and are a wonderful community of believers. Since the first day we visited we have felt warmly accepted and have started making some wonderful friends there. We feel very blessed to be apart of a genuine group of believers.

We also explored the local Drive-in-movie this past week with Drew's sister, Mary, and it was a blast! Come visit us and we'll take you to Gatesville main attractive - the drive -in! We saw, My Sister's Keeper - quite a tear jerker.





Well that has been our past month or so. Now I'm off to more nursery ideas! My dear friend Amy came over today and we spent the morning concocting the most wonderful whimsical, outdoor inspired nursery! I can't wait to start working on it....I'll keep you updated with pictures!

We appreciate each of you & are so glad you're apart of our lives.
Love,
Jessica and Drew

First Trimester Pics :)

I think this is the ONLY time that women are proud of their big bellies! :) My creative sister made this cute collage for me - thanks Lauren!! I'm slightly apprehensive to share this as several have asked me if I'm having twins and continue to remark on how big my belly is....not completely appropriate comments for any pregnant woman!

Baby on board!

Move over Rookie....

We are so excited to announce that we are having a baby! We are looking forward to this new stage in our lives and this tiny blessing growing inside of me. I don't feel very tiny however! I am almost 13 weeks and our doctor says I'm very healthy and everything is going great. Drew was still in the academy for my first ultrasound, so my good friend Amy Busti went with me and we got to see the little one. It was so amazing! Drew and I went back this Monday to the doctor and heard the heart beating strong and clear. Only 6 more weeks until we find out what the sex is - it's going by so fast! I LOVE my doctor at Scott and White - Dr. Sulak. For those of you who have heard about it, she wrote the "worth the wait" abstinence curriculum for the Texas school districts. I am so glad that we were stationed close by and I was able to stay with her. My due date is Jan. 2nd which is great (deer season will almost be over for Drew :) and I don't have to endure this Texas heat with a big belly. We went kayaking today on the Colorado River and I thought I was going to die from the heat - I can't imagine being a lot further along in the summer.

With my first trimester almost behind me, I am starting to feel great. I was pretty tired which is aggravating when I'm used to being super productive! (my sister-in-law, Mandy, who helped me pack up and my mom who practically did all of my unpacking in our move 2 weeks ago know how unproductive and tired I was!) Thanks for your help - I couldn't have done it without you guys! Fortunately I didn't have any "morning sickness" - just some nausea...but that is starting to wane too. My growing appetite is not waning however! I am so surprised by how hungry I am!! I am trying to stay fit and exercise as well as eat healthy....

Thank you for celebrating in this good news with us! I am sure I was post more often now with news of the little one. We are thankful to the Lord for this incredible blessing and pray that we will be parents who are examples of Christ to our child.

Much Love,
Jessica & Drew

It's Official! He's a Game Warden

This post is 2 weeks late - but better late than never :) It's been a whirlwind moving, unpacking and getting settled in. Two weeks ago today Drew became an official Texas Game Warden! He has worked so hard and he is already such a wonderful warden. He comes home from work just grinning like a child in a toy store - he is absolutely loving his job!

The graduation was at the capitol and here is Governor Rick Perry pinning his badge on:


Drew had the honor of saying the invocation at graduation. It was such a great prayer that I wanted to share it with you all:

Father,

Thank you for seeing us safely through to this day. We are humbled by all that You have done for us in the past seven months and look forward to the time ahead as we prepare to begin our service. Thank you for the instruction and teaching that we have had during this period of our lives and for the time and effort given by all of those who have led us. We are also extremely grateful for our families. It is through their sacrifice and dedication that we are able to be here today. We also want to honor those who have served before us, especially those who have given their lives in this service. Help us to always remember them and honor them by the things we do, with the understanding that none of us are guaranteed tomorrow.

Psalm 104 says, “How many are Your works oh Lord. In wisdom You made them all. The Earth is full of Your creatures.”. Lord, for seven months we have been training our minds and bodies for this day and stand before You now, willing and ready to serve in the protection of Your creation.

We pray for several things today, Lord.
That you would watch over us as we serve through long days.
That you would guide us through the dark nights.
That you would protect us in times of danger.
That you would give us strength against our enemies and
Give us wisdom in making the many decisions that we will face.

May our integrity be beyond reproach and our behavior always without question.

Help us to remember that You are our fortress and strength and that through You we can never be shaken.

May we always strive to be, both servants and warriors, in the protection of Your creation and for the people and the state of Texas.

In Jesus name we pray,
Amen

The 54th Game Warden Class and supervisors:


Celebrating!


Drew's parents, brother - John Michael and grandparents were able to come and celebrate his graduation with us! To view all the pictures of this big day, click here:

Our New Home!

The countdown is on! Well, it's been for 7 months now...but our time apart is finally coming to a close! Drew has 1 week left in the academy. We have gotten to our explore our new area, Coryell Co. and we are so excited about moving there and seeing what God has in store for us. Some of the Game Wardens referred a place for us to rent - an awesome log cabin on a wild game ranch! We are both so excited about living there and really enjoy the landowners. I think it's going to be a great place for us. For family and friends who have been asking for it, below are some videos of the cabin and place. We are hoping to move in 1 1/2 weeks...which means I really should be packing right now :) I am looking forward to settling in and making this cabin our home.

Here's a video of the outside of the cabin...the lawn really needs work, so just ignore that :)



Look at the little elk that came up to the backyard - so cute!!



Last video - this is of inside the house for all family and friends who have wanted to see it. I can't wait to get in and make it our home. You can see it here on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6eomIMkM7Q

We feel so very blessed and thank the Lord for providing such a wonderful place to live and work!

Our new station!

As many of you know, we found out where Drew is stationed!! We are going to Coryell County which is west of Waco.



We drove through there this past weekend and the area is just beautiful - lots of character to the land. Rolling hills, creek bottoms with pecan trees, grassy field with big oaks trees. A beautiful mix between the post oak savannah area of Texas and the hill country. We will still be fairly close to our beloved hill country.

We also had the privilege of meeting Drew's co-workers and Captain at a kid-fish event this past weekend. While Coryell is a single warden co (meaning Drew works by himself) these are his co-workers in surrounding counties. Everyone was so welcoming!

A great blessing is that it is only 45 minutes - 1 hour from where we are now and it's only 3 hours from each of our families. We were really nervous that we would be put on the border - which is pretty dangerous right now. My heart goes out to those wardens and their families that were placed there. We knew that God has a purpose for wherever we would be placed and could completely trust in His will. We are excited to discover what purpose He has for us in Coryell.

The main city in Coryell is Gatesville. Growing up in Huntsville, the prison capital of Texas, it seems like I can't get away from prison cities :)! The women's death row maximum security prison is in Gatesville!!



Here are a few other interesting facts:
Boasts the "last drive in movie theatre in Texas" and the largest spur collection in the world!



Part of the large Fort Hood base is in this county.
There are a 15 small towns throughout the county. You can click here for some interesting pics of them: http://www.texasescapes.com/CentralTexasTownsNorth/GatesvilleTexas.htm

We are in the midst of finding a place to live. Only 4 more weeks today until Drew graduates!! We cannot wait to live together again!

Thank you for all of your prayers, we'll keep you updated with pictures of our new county and new home.....once we find one :)

Dear Family & Friends,

It has been a while since I have written!

Drew and I are excited that our time apart is soon coming to a close. He has 2 1/2 more months left in the academy! Woo hoo! I can't WAIT to live with my husband again. We have wonderful times on the weekends, but it's still not the same. In early April we will be able to pick our top 3 choices for him to be stationed (doesn't mean that we'll get them) and late April we should know where we are going.

We have had a lot of change these past few months with moving, now moving again, living apart - a different season of our lives -- but the Lord has been very gracious and compassionate to us during this time. Time and time again, the Lord is reminding us to put out hope in Him - not our circumstances. Drew can't wait to be done with training and really start his job!

For our 4th anniversary (Jan. 22nd), our good friend Amy, took pictures of Drew and I -- she did an AWESOME job! You can check them out here:

Click on this link to see them all: Drew & Jessica's 4th Anniversary Pictures

As many of you know one of passions is nutrition & healthy eating. Some wonderful ladies, Lori Martin & Jacki Nyberg in Tallahassee taught me a lot (especially about the benefits of grinding your own grain) as did a wonderful nutritionist Krystal Gray. I believe and research shows so many illnesses and problems we experience can be helped or cured with eating whole foods & not processed foods. I LOVE experimenting in the kitchen and making healthy recipes. At the beginning of marriage and my experimentation things didn't always turn out ok...but Drew was always gracious!

Here's a compilation of some of my most recent creations:

Homemade Chicken pizza with fresh stone ground wheat

McDonald's Egg McMuffin has nothing on me! Fresh spelt biscuits with flax seeds, eggs and deer sausage


Yummy salad with roasted asparagus

I have learned so much and am continuing to learn a lot about nutrition -- if any of you have good books you'd like to recommend on nutrition, I'd love to read them. Luckily, Drew is as interested in healthy eating as I have become --- and he sure doesn't mind eating whatever I make (now that is)! I am SO excited about the yummy cake I made today that I had to share -- here is the receipe for anyone that wants to try it:

Carrot/Pineapple Cake

(I doubled this and it made 2 9" round cakes that I stacked and put icing inbetween)

1 1/2 cup whole wheat flour (I used fresh ground)
3/4 cup sugar (I used Sucanat)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon (or more to taste - I like LOTS)
1/2 teaspoon salt (optional)
2/3 cup applesauce (I made mine with older apples I had in the fridge)
2 eggs (I used my mother-in-laws eggs from her chickens!)
1 cup finely shredded carrot
1/2 cup juice packed pineapple (with juice)
1 teaspoon vanilla

The cake is so healthy but it's the icing I used that KILLED it!

1 stick butter

1 pkg creme cheese

16 oz box of powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla

(I didn't make either of these recipes up, I found them online)

Well, I hope life is treating you and your family well. I encourage you as Drew and I are discovering more and more to rest your hope in Christ.

Much love,

Jessica

January

Here are some of our highlights from January:

Drew enjoyed a field trip to a small town outside of Abilene, trying to catch illegal hunters. He loved it & can't wait to "get in the field":
Courthouse in that small town.....

It was open country...at least they took advantage of the wind power out there! If only I had one of these next to my house, I'd have electricity galore with all the wind where I live!

We also celebrated 4 wonderful years of marriage in January! We feel like we're still newlyweds on a great adventure! We have a blast together and feel so grateful to the Lord for these past 4 years. To celebrate we went to Austin (such a cool city!)......walked around the capitol building:

Went to the massive whole foods store (we were like kids in a candy shop!), ate at a delicious Greek food restaurant downtown and went for coffee at Mozarts on the lake to top off a wonderful day!

Since we were unfortunately not together on our actual anniversary, I mailed Drew this yummy cookie cake and he sent me beautiful flowers! What a wonderful husband!


Let's see...the next weekend, I attended an awesome Arbonne VP conference in Oklahoma City. I love these ladies that I have the privilege of working with including my wonderful mom! She looks so young and trendy!


and Drew went hiking at one of our favorite Texas State parks...Enchanted Rock. This huge rock with caves and peaks that you can climb all in and over. You can actually see Enchanted Rock from our deer lease and that's where Drew spent the weekend with his dad & youngest brother, John Michael.


Towards the end of January I was cooped up trying to keep warm from the ice/sleet storm -- my car got covered!

This weekend we decided to kayak a river that fed into Lake Georgetown, about 30 minutes south of where we live. So we found a spot to park, Drew wheeled the kayak to the water and we were ready to go! The river look a bit low, but not impassable for a kayak.....


That water quickly dried up...but we were not deterred by having to "portage" the kayak over the dry spot, because it led to this beautiful part of the river...

We would not even be deterred by 2 more portage spots...even after the kayak falling off the wheels repeatedly & Drew having to rig it up with his fishing stringer, until we came to this spot!

So much to our amusement we had to HIKE over a mile out of the river on the biking trail! Drew got some good speed on the downhills!

No matter what we always have a grand adventure!

What a great start to 2009!