Brooks Blog

Result of Shutterfly House Party

2011-11-15T21:40:00.000-08:00

So, with a promo code for 15 free cards, and 40% off all Christmas cards (through tomorrow), Matthew and I completed our design for our Christmas cards! You can check it out below. We're sending out a small number this year and emailing everybody else, but this way you can all see it.

We took the photos in red clothing on Labor Day. If this is an actual end to a blogging drought, I will post more pics from that and some from Halloween and other activities soon. Don't hold your breath, but right now I'm feeling inspired. We'll see!

The most exciting thing in my life as a mom right now is having Naomi almost perfectly potty trained. I'm sorry if you read this in 10 years and get embarrassed, Sweetie, but it's been a long time coming and I'm thrilled! Naomi and I have also been doing preschool together and that has been really positive for both of us.

Matthew just finished his soccer season as a coach for the city. He already knew three of the kids on his team, and right now is looking forward to doing it again next year.

Eli is still cheery as ever and is climbing up and down stairs, busting through a 7th tooth, starting to cruise, and letting go of things for half a second before falling down. Today at the park he was squealing as I pushed him in the swing - he likes to go almost as high as his big sister!

Other than the above, I've been working on new recipes and new crafts and finishing old crafts. It's been fun and I just wish I had twice as much patience with the kiddos and housekeeping! But I'm getting plenty of opportunities to develop it. :-)

Good night until next time, whenever that might be!

5x7 Folded Card

2011-11-15T21:35:00.001-08:00

Gift Wrapped Christmas Card

Turn your favorite photos into personalized Christmas cards.

View the entire collection of cards.

Eli's Birth Announcement

2011-03-05T14:08:00.001-08:00

Mod Marquee Blue Baby Announcements

To see Shutterfly's birth announcement designs, click here.

View the entire collection of cards.

Eli's 1st Week

2011-02-17T15:25:00.001-08:00

Here are a few pictures from Eli's first week at home.

Our family of four out for a walk with our fancy (new to us) stroller

Eli hated being naked, like here when he got his first sponge bath.

But mom can make it all better.

Dad and Eli watching the Super Bowl

Squishy face.

Dad and Eli relaxing.

Eli had lots of visitors his first week.

Grandpa Keith holding Naomi and Eli.

Hanging out with Grandma Beth

Auntie Krista got a turn too

Grandma Kathy showing off her newest grandkid.

Grandpa Tim and Eli.

Naomi's Visit

2011-02-03T10:11:00.000-08:00

Our friend Merrilee who Naomi is staying with while we're at the hospital made the long drive to Paradise so that Naomi could meet her little brother the evening of his birth. Here are a few pictures.

Eli James Brooks

2011-02-02T08:39:00.000-08:00

A few pictures from his first few minutes.

Camping at Lake Tahoe

2010-07-12T16:32:00.001-07:00

Auntie Krista shared her tent with Naomi quite a bit. It was nice for Naomi to have a clean place to play.

Pinecones make the best natural toys.

So proud of herself!

We hiked up to the Lily Pond for a picnic lunch.

Matthew got to carry Naomi for our hike. She enjoyed shaking the canopy to add a little more challenge to his walking.
The last night we went out for dinner and stopped by this park/public beach in Tahoe City afterwards.

Naomi really liked grabbing handfuls of dirt and letting them flow down her arms and shirt.
A first S'mores experience - the sticky marshmallow didn't go over very well, though she mentioned the crackers and chocolate as yummy.
I promise we didn't do this to her hair! After getting her head sprayed with mosquito repellent three days in a row and sleeping with a beanie on, this is the result.

After a picnic at D.L. Bliss on our way out of town, we went down to the beach to say hi to the local geese.
During the last days of our vacation we stayed in Roseville. Naomi got this Dora helmet at a garage sale some friends of ours were having. She was excited to have both her new hat and her forggie pajamas on at the same time.

Boggle

2010-06-08T11:14:00.000-07:00

Naomi did this for 45 minutes this morning. I got it out because she loves letters and puzzles more than anything right now. And it let me get some work done. She is my mechanically-minded little girl! Where could she possibly have gotten that from??? (Me and Grandpa Keith is the answer.)

Father Abraham

2010-05-19T19:44:00.000-07:00

Here's a little video of Naomi doing the motions to "Father Abraham" with her daddy.

Testing the Sprinklers

2010-05-03T15:36:00.000-07:00

Christmas

2010-01-08T18:07:00.000-08:00

We had a wonderful Christmas with our families in Roseville. We are truly blessed to have both sides of the family in one place so that we can celebrate with everyone every year.

It was Naomi's second Christmas but this time she was actually able to really enjoy some of the Christmas activities. She had lots of fun going Christmas Caroling with our Faith Bible Church family and looking at Christmas lights with the Hallsten's in Roseville. On Christmas morning she opened presents and had fun playing with her new toys. Here is a small sampling from Christmas.

Here's Naomi all bundled up for Christmas Caroling.

Here are a few videos from Christmas morning at the Hallsten home.

Later on Christmas day we went to Matthew's brothers house for food and gift opening for his side of the family. We hope all of you had a blessed time this year celebrating the birth of Jesus with your loved ones.

Go! Go! Go!

2010-01-08T17:47:00.000-08:00

Naomi's official first word is Go. She started saying it in late December. At about that same time she also started understanding and responding to much more of what we were saying. Here are a couple of videos that Emily took of Naomi saying her first phrase (go, go, go!).

Since these videos were taken Naomi's communication has continued to explode. She has a number of words now (although her use of them is still somewhat inconsistent). She says "ball", "girl", "daddy", "go get it" and (joy of joys) "T.V.". She also imitates many other words and sounds that we make. She can clearly understand much of what we say and will sometimes respond to simple requests like "let's go upstairs" and "shut the door". Her signing has also improved significantly and she babbles almost constantly. We're going to have real chatterbox on our hands soon.

Future Seamstress?

2009-12-18T16:39:00.000-08:00

The other morning Naomi got hold of Emily's Quilter's Measuring Tape and decided it made a great accessory. She played it with it for over an hour and walked all over the house wearing it. Here's a quick video.

Christmas Tree Hunt

2009-12-11T17:04:00.000-08:00

On Saturday November 28th some friends of ours from church (Rick and Bobbie Green and Troy and Kimber Caldwell and their son Curtis) took us along for their annual Christmas Tree hunt. They drove us up with them into the Mendocino Forest where for a 10 dollar fee you can cut your own Christmas tree.

Here is a short video of us tromping around in the snow.

We had a lot of fun visiting with our friends on the way experiencing the snow and looking for the perfect tree. We found a beauty. A 9 foot silver tip fir, the biggest by far we've ever had. Naomi had fun too (mostly). Here are a few pictures from our hunt followed by a couple showing what the tree looks like set up in our house.

A family picture by the side of the road before starting the search.

Here we are with our tree, newly discovered, shortly before we cut it.

Matthew and Naomi pose in front of the tree set up in our living room right after we got it home.

Here's the final product. A beautiful tree fully decorated and lit. We've really been enjoying it.

November random pictures

2009-12-11T16:54:00.000-08:00

Here's a few more random pictures from November

Naomi playing with the plastic flowers on the basket we received (filled with goodies) for Pastor's Appreciation Month in October.

Our growing kitties Misty (head on right) and Thunder (head on left) sleeping together on the Family Room sofa.

Naomi sharing her toys with her Great Grandma Hallsten.

Thanksgiving

2009-12-11T16:33:00.001-08:00

After we bought our house we decided it would be fun to host Thanksgiving this year. We weren't sure how many people would actually be able to come but we went ahead and invited both sides of the family. Much to our surprise pretty much everyone within a day's drive decided to come. When we added it all up we ended up with 32 guests (35 total people).

That was too many to squeeze around tables at our house so we got permission to use Faith Bible Church to host the main meal. Everyone who came brought food to share which left us with just the turkey and whipped cream. All in all it wasn't much more work than putting on our own Thanksgiving by ourselves would've been. We had a great time.

After the main meal we took a break for people to visit and/or go to the park. Some of the guys even played some touch football. Then everyone met back at our house for dessert where we enjoyed a variety of pies and hot drinks (and cookies for the kids). The weather was beautiful which allowed us to use our back porch for additional seating and while it was a bit snug everyone was able to enjoy their dessert just fine.

We had a wonderful time. It was so great to see so many family members and have them meet each other. It was also neat that everyone got to see our church, our house and a little bit of our new home town. Thanks everyone who came for making it such a great celebration of God's blessings in our lives.

We were having so much fun we barely got the camera out. Below are a few pictures that Emily snapped at dinner. If any of you who were here have some good pictures from that day we would love to see them.

(from left) Emily's Aunt Laura, Dad, Keith and Mom, Beth

(from left) Matthew's grandparents (mom's parents) Alice and Don Gibbons with their son-in-law, Dave and middle daughter, Lori

Matthew's sister Christy and her husband Andy with Matthew

Matthew's Dad, Tim, Mom, Kathy and brother-in-law Andy
Emily's grandparents (Dad's parents) Hap and Beverly Hallsten with her uncles Roger and Tom.

Matthew's sister-in-law Shandela and Great Aunt Miriam.

Walking (for real)

2009-12-11T15:52:00.000-08:00

Naomi took her first unassisted steps came on Saturday night, November 20th. By Wednesday morning (November 25th) she was walking on her own a fair bit. Here's some video of her walking while we were setting up for the big Thanksgiving Day shindig at the church.

Knee Walking

2009-12-11T15:30:00.000-08:00

Between her crawling only and walking on her own stages Naomi went through a phase where she frequently would get around by walking on her knees. This gave her the stability that she was comfortable with while allowing her the freedom to carry something in her hands and keep her eyes looking around the room.

At first she would only go a few feet this way but eventually she got to the point where she would frequently "knee walk" across a room. She would still crawl and cruise a fair bit but knee walking was a big part of how she liked to get around.

When she started walking just before Thanksgiving we decided we better get some video of her walking on her knees like this before she gave it up altogether. A number of people told us that they had never seen a child move around in quite this manner. Here's a sample of Naomi knee walking from November 25th (the night before Thanksgiving).

Towel Walking

2009-12-11T15:23:00.000-08:00

Naomi had been cruising along furniture for quite a while and loved to walk while holding Mom and Dad's hands. Once in a while she would walk holding only one hand but in mid-November she made a break through. Occasionally she could be persuaded to walk for a while holding on to nothing but the end of a kitchen towel held by Mom or Dad.

Here's an example of her towel assisted walking from November 21st. She took her first unassisted steps on her own initiative that evening.

Ellie's adoption

2009-12-11T15:07:00.000-08:00

On November 19th we made a quick trip down to Roseville to celebrate our niece Elizabeth's adoption. We were so glad that the adoption was final after almost 2 years of prayer, waiting and bureaucracy. Congratulations Ellie and the whole Dane Brooks family.

Naomi had fun watching her cousins play and playing a little bit herself but you could tell she wasn't quite sure how to fit into the chaos, being used to playing by herself or with a grown up. Here are a few pictures.

Ellie's adopted parents Dane (Matthew's brother) and Shandela with their kids Emmaleigh and Koen along with Elizabeth (Ellie).

Naomi taking in the chaos around her.

Elizabeth enjoying playing dress up with one of her gifts while big brother Koen pouts in the foreground.

Naomi looking up in awe at her big cousin Emmaleigh.

Koen enjoying some time on his Mommy's lap.

Jean Quilt

2009-12-11T15:04:00.000-08:00

Emily recently finished the Jean quilt she's been working on (off and on) since we got married. Taking a quilting class on Monday nights gave her the dedicated time to finally finish it off. She's really enjoying her class and is already full speed ahead with her next project. Here's a picture of how the Jean quilt turned out (it's huge and will be great for picnics).

Halloween

2009-12-11T14:57:00.001-08:00

This year we finally got to use the Halloween costume that we asked Shandela (Matthew's sister-in-law) to hold for us for "someday" since well before Emily was pregnant. Here are a couple of pictures.

Emily dressed as a bee holding Naomi in her Dumbo costume.

Here's Naomi posing with Julianna and Julia, two girls from Faith Bible.

Random Fall Pics

2009-12-11T14:52:00.000-08:00

Here's a couple of pictures of Naomi that Emily took around the house in late October.

Stair Project

2009-12-04T17:50:00.001-08:00

We've been fortunate that even though we bought a bank owned home earlier this year it hasn't really needed all that much work. The one major projected we decided to take on this year was to replace the carpet in the stairway area and get a new banister for the staircase.

To save money we ripped out the old carpet ourselves. Here's what it looked like.

Emily dismantled the metal banister and this is what we had for stairs for several days.

A contractor in our church recommended a guy to build our new banister for us. We decided to go ahead with the all wood banister event though it was a bit more expensive.

A couple of days before the carpet install guys came we ripped out the rest of the upstairs carpet.

Finally the carpet was installed (a day before the Open House that Faith Bible threw for us).

It was a lot of work and used up most of our home improvement budget for the year but it really looks great and we are very pleased.

Naomi's 1st Birthday

2009-12-04T17:06:00.000-08:00

Emily's parents graciously offered to host a party for Naomi at their home on her first Birthday (September 26th, 2009). It even fell on a Saturday this year so many of Naomi's biggest fans (at least those in the Roseville area) were able to attend.

Here Naomi sits on Uncle Eric's lap next Christina and Brooklyn while her Grandpa Brooks plays with her cousin Ellie while cousins Emmaleigh and Micah and Aunt Shandela look on.

It was also a great chance for Naomi's parents to catch up with some of their family and friends. Here Emily visits with Aunt Jean, Aunt Miriam, and Grandma and Grandpa Brooks.

Thanks to the Shupe family (pictured here) for coming all the way from Folsom to celebrate with us.

Grandpa Hallsten manned the BBQ while Grandma Hallsten handled the fixings.

Mom ordered Naomi's cake.

Everyone (including Naomi) enjoyed the delicious BBQ as well as the cake and ice cream.

Mommy helped Naomi open her presents.

Grandma Hallsten was apparently too busy throwing an awesome party to be photographed. Thanks for everything.

Here's a little video of Naomi playing with her Birthday Balloons toward the end of the party

Peter's Baptism

2009-12-04T16:57:00.000-08:00

On September 20th Emily and Naomi went down to Roseville to see Emily's brother Peter get baptized (Matthew had to work).

Some of the onlookers who witnessed the baptisms of Peter Hallsten and Kelly Burns.

Naomi with Aunt Krista waiting for Uncle Peter to get baptized.

Peter with Pastor Tim (Matthew's Dad) at the baptism service in the Hallsten's back yard.

And finally here's a brief clip of the actual submersion. Congratulations Peter!

September Pics

2009-12-04T16:43:00.000-08:00

Here are a few random pictures that Emily took of Naomi from around the house during the month of September.

Naomi watching TV, very interested.

Naomi saying "hi" to Misty who had been resting peacefully on the piano bench.

Naomi showing off some tired cuteness for her Mommy.

Naomi enjoying a kitchen sink bath (she has since graduated to the bathtub).

Naomi out cold during the time she was sick in mid-September.

Climbing Down the Stairs

2009-12-04T15:29:00.000-08:00

Here is some video from late August of Emily coaxing Naomi to climb down the stairs in our house.

It's kind of long but is a good picture of Naomi at that stage.

Sorry

2009-12-04T15:26:00.000-08:00

Sorry to everyone who may have been checking in on our blog over the past few months. We've been really slacking on it. We have been taking some pictures and videos so we'll try to post some of those now (or over the next week or so at least). We're hoping to be a bit more up to date going forward.

Naomi Still Has PBJ in Her Hair!

2009-08-22T14:42:00.001-07:00

So, our darling child is learning new things and getting into more and more trouble. She invents new games and enjoys new things almost daily as well.

Just now she climbed down backwards off of the bottom landing of the stairs. We’ve been working on that one for awhile! But when I tried to get her to do it again on video, she just looked at me like she was stuck. Figures.

Last week it was figuring out the touch lamp in our living room:

She has invented a tongue game recently as well, although it was only a really big hit for about a week. And I think part of it was just to see if she could trick us into letting her touch our tongues.

One of my highlights is seeing her enjoy new foods. Here are the aftermath shots of a chocolate covered pretzel and peanut butter and jam sandwich.

In the lives of the adults in this house, not much is happening. We cleaned out the church office last weekend with some help, and that’s a relief. Emily is shredding old documents a little bit at a time as the motor on the shredder gets hot and stops working after a few minutes. :-) She is also gearing up for starting to serve - on Worship Team and by leading a women’s Bible study – the material is good stuff and the prep has been beneficial to her.

Matthew had a minor cold this week, but a day and a half of rest was enough to shake it off, mostly. The job is still a little overwhelming, but he is growing through the challenges!

Meet Misty and Thunder

2009-08-14T13:50:00.000-07:00

On July 23rd, Emily brought home two kittens for an early birthday present from her loving husband! The Orphan Kitten Project in Davis is where we got them - Emily and Naomi went down together and met with their foster mom about adopting them. She is a feline specialty veterinary student at UCD.

Meet Thunder and Misty!

Thunder is going to be a BIG cat. This picture is of him at a little less than four months old. He is more shy about new things and loud noises, but he is also usually the first of the two to come and find a sitting person to curl up next to.

Naomi showed the kitties how to use their toy. There is a high level of overlap between cat toys and baby toys! They've been sharing a lot. Wooden puzzle pieces are one of the cats' favorite baby toys.

Misty and Thunder were alternately napping, grooming each other, and wrestling on the couch this morning. Misty (looking at the camera) is smaller, has more white on her neck and back, and is a little motor the second you pick her up. She is perfectly fine seeking out love from new people. She also is more prone to just sit there while Naomi abuses her, whereas Thunder will start batting at her and nibbling her fingers playfully.

We left a pen on a table, and I think Naomi actually was the one who found it and started playing. Well, Emily has rescued it a few times from under the edges of various rugs. This is what happens....

This one we filmed the first night they came home. We found a cat mouse toy under the oven the last family had overlooked, and Misty started her snow plow move. Her front feet attack and stay still, and her back feet push her along the smooth floors.

We had just finished taping Naomi on the stairs one day when the kittens decided they needed to be part of the action. They do this and more on a semi-regular basis. We notice it more when we're trying to sleep at night! Every time one of us has gotten up with Naomi in the night, or when Matthew gets up in the morning, both of them are waiting at the top of the stairs. It makes us feel loved.

Naomi's Dedication, Plus!

2009-08-07T16:59:00.000-07:00

On July 19th, Matthew's parents were in town. We wanted to be in our new home when Naomi was dedicated so that we could share it with our new church family. Matthew's dad officiated for us.

Naomi wore a bow in her hair for the first time - she finally has enough hair!

She was happy to be able to crawl around when we got home.

It was a special treat to have Tim and Kathy stay with us for a few days.

My mom got Naomi a couple little books to commemorate - she loves looking at the Baby Animals one. It's great, with photos of all the animals, and activities that will keep it fun for a long time.

It ALSO happened to be Krista's 13th birthday, so we had chocolate chip pancakes, bacon, and sausage for lunch upon her request.

Kathy, Keith, Peter, Krista, and Emily played Ticket to Ride.

Emily experimented with baking. My first heart cake - and from scratch! (Thank goodness for frosting that hides broken cakes!)

Old News: Early July

2009-08-07T16:43:00.000-07:00

On our last day of vacation at home, Naomi decided it was time to learn how to climb our stairs. Now, a month later, she does it just about every day - following kitties, coming to find Mommy, or exploring. The struggle now is teaching her how to get back down!

On Naomi's first 4th of July, we fed her some watermelon. She gnawed on this piece for quite a while.

She didn't even notice all the juice dripping from her chin!

Here's a shot of one of Naomi's silly faces. Her Auntie Krista named it "Rhino Face". She wrinkles up her nose and snorts. It's one of her favorites, and you can't help but laugh at her.

Old News: Grandma's 80th!

2009-08-07T15:17:00.000-07:00

Before our vacation, Matthew's Grandma Brooks turned 80, and all her sons were able to join in the celebration. The next morning, we all went to a park to get pictures and play.

Naomi and all her cousins - she and the other two babies are all within 6 months of each other.

The birthday girl with her hubby and all her great-grands:

Matthew's entire immediate family and all our kids:

It was good to have the whole family together - we really enjoyed the time.

Old News: Summer Vacation

2009-07-27T12:17:00.000-07:00

We were just realizing we haven't posted any pictures since before our vacation last month. I guess we've just been busy recovering from vacation! Oh, and I guess we have to acknowledge our obsession with 24 - Thanks a lot, Nick and Jody!

I guess we'll start with our road trip through the Central Valley.

We started out camping - Naomi's first time! Her nap schedule was off, so she slept at weird times and in weird places. Like this...

To keep warm, and to have someplace reasonably clean to put Naomi, we tried this...

The camping trip was for the Grace Valley (church we got married at) Retreat. It was wonderful to have time and teaching to reflect on God's attributes and be reminded not to limit God's greatness in any way. We also really appreciated the time to catch up with folks and get to know others better. This included a "hike" with some of my college buddies.

Then we celebrated Father's Day in Roseville with my family. Naomi had just figured out how to initiate Peek-A-Boo.

Next was Great-Grandma and Great-Grandpa's new home.

Then we spent a few days with the Thomases and Bradleys. We played LOTS of games and the kids played with toys - sometimes together.

Our next adventure was Naomi pulling up for the first time at the Bradley's house. We paused Tetris long enough to document it.

Our last stop was Naomi's Great-Great-Grandma's home. G'ma Jessie enjoyed watching Naomi - and Naomi had fun exploring G'ma.

New-s

2009-06-10T15:35:00.000-07:00

Matthew carried his girls across the threshhold when we got the keys.

Lots of new things happening around here. Buying new things (furniture and tools, mostly), doing new things (learning to paint, drill, repair things, kill unwanted plants, etc.), and watching Naomi learn new things (she's army crawling, gasping intentionally, rocking, and finger-and-toe tripod-ing).

The last big projects are replacing our unsafe banister, stair carpeting, and four broken doors. We got the car parked in the garage last night for the first time (woo hoo!) and have screens on order for the two missing ones so we can open up better at night.

Here are some of the latest videos of Naomi:

Mid-May...

After a week in the house...

Over the weekend...

This morning...

829 Baywood Way

2009-05-11T16:32:00.000-07:00

It should be ours Friday or next Monday! We're planning on some major pruning. :-)

Naomi is sitting under the divider between living room (where I am) and dining room (behind her). Kitchen is through the doorway to the left behind her.

Looking upstairs from the living room.

We'll be repainting Naomi's room.

Looking down at the living room from the top of the stairs.

Mother's Day in the Park(s)

2009-05-11T16:07:00.000-07:00

To celebrate Mother's Day this year, we went to McDonald's for coffee and took a picnic lunch to Jensen Park, the big long park on the south edge of Willows. Naomi sat on the grass while we ate, loving the feel of it and trying to pick as much of it as she could (not much). After lunch, we played at Jensen, Central, then Sycamore Parks in town.

We hadn't taken her to any playground yet, so we wanted to get some pictures of her first impressions. Mostly they were un-impressed-sions. But she shows signs of loving swings in the near future.

We had fun on the dinosaur, too.

First time on a slide was more surprising than wonderful.

Basically, Mom and Dad enjoyed the time a lot!

The thing Naomi liked best was this wall of spinning "beads" with animal parts painted on for kids to match up. Here she is between the bunny and monkey feet.

Miscellaneous Videos

2009-04-08T09:31:00.000-07:00

Here are a few miscellaneous video clips that we've taken over the last month or so.

Cousin Nathan really entertained Naomi with this dancing monkey stuffed animal during our trip to Florida.

It's been a crazy winter in Portland this year so it was only appropriate that we got some snow (as well as other types of precipitation) during our visit in March.

Almost anything can become an exciting toy for Naomi these days. As illustrated by her enthusiasm when she discovered the luggage tag still hanging from the handle of her car seat.

Naomi is learning to lunge for objects and getting closer to standing on her own all the time. Here she shows off some of her progress during our time in Portland.

Naomi usually really enjoys her bath times. She loves to kick and splash, she's becoming quite an expert.

Hope you enjoyed the videos.

More to come

2009-04-01T09:20:00.001-07:00

Just wanted to let you all know that we are taking pictures and video of Naomi. Right now we only have dial up Internet access at the home we're staying at so we have to come to Starbucks or the local library to use the Internet for almost anything. We will be posting more pictures and video as we can.

We are doing well. We're busy getting settled in and trying to establish routines while getting to know people. Naomi is doing well. We're making her put herself back to sleep when she wakes up in the night. Some nights are better than others but things seem to be moving in the right direction. She's growing up fast. She just turned 6 months and is already eating large amounts of solid foods. She's sitting up unsupported for long stretches which has increased her ability to play by herself. Just yesterday she started imitating our head movements and she seems to be making new discoveries every day.

Thanks for all of your prayers. Keep us posted on what is going on with you.

Learning to sit

2009-04-01T08:44:00.000-07:00

Part 1 March 3rd

Part 2 March 6th

Part 3 March 8th

Part 4 March 17th

Portland Pictures!

2009-03-27T11:32:00.000-07:00

Here are some scenes and videos from our trip to Portland the first weekend in March:

Melissa holding Naomi. The Paces came over for game night. :-) We stayed with Erin and Jayelle (and Dave).

One of the Thomas' mugs Naomi had been enjoying. She felt how much everyone else there missed Virginia's cookies!

Asleep on one of the chairs in the Seminary lounge. Naomi was a real trooper - she took naps where we let her, and let us pack her around and meet hundreds of people happily.

Smooth Move

2009-03-17T10:38:00.000-07:00

Sorry, hubby, I couldn't resist.

Pretty much everything went better than expected this weekend. The truck was loaded in less than two hours, we enjoyed one more lunch with our helpers, then came up and had everything unloaded again in less than an hour! Not only that, several folks from church brought food and supplies to help us survive until we have time to make a trip to Chico to stock up.

I'm sitting at the Starbucks right now enjoying free wifi. Our favorite location in Roseville didn't participate in the plan here (as far as I know). As long as you have an active gift card, you have free access 2 hours a day. Woo hoo! With dial-up in our home for the next couple months, no internet at the church office, and our favorite independent cafe out of business, we're appreciative.

In Naomi's world, life is not very different. Same car seat, same pack-n-play. BUT, some things are new. We got out some new toys and feeding supplies. She can now sit up like a champ. And we've started making her fall asleep on her own when she wakes up at night - the crying lasts less than 5 minutes already! (Why didn't we do this before?) So she's back to being a champion sleeper.

Matthew and I are both working on establishing good routines in our new place and situation. And lots of logistics are coming together: Naomi has a doctor, prescriptions are transferred, I have spring clothes again, we're signed up for Netflix, etc.

Thanks for your prayers for us! God is showing himself powerful to provide again, and Matthew and I are wondering how we still worry how he's going to take care of the next thing.

Pics and a new video of Naomi coming soon!

Moving Day

2009-03-13T13:55:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow is moving day. We'll be loading up the U-Haul and heading North to Willows. Matthew starts work on Monday. We've been enjoying our final days in Roseville and also had a great trip to Portland. Sorry, we haven't been updating the blog. We've been busy but we are taking pictures and video of Naomi and hope to post some of the highlights soon.

Our 971 area cell phones are no longer valid. Our new contact information is as follows:

Home (until around May 1st)
857 N. Plumas St.
Willows, CA 95988
Phone # 530-934-8264

Matthew's work
Faith Bible Church
403 Vine St.
Willows, CA 95988
530-934-3259

Matthew also has a new e-mail address: FBCWillowsPastor@gmail.com

Look for highlights of our trip to Portland, our move and of our transition to Willows in the coming weeks.

Florida Pictures

2009-02-22T16:51:00.000-08:00

Our vacation to Florida was pretty relaxed. We spent most of our time relaxing, visiting with family, sleeping in, eating great food, going for walks, etc. The only real touristy thing we did was go to the Kennedy Space Center on Saturday. It was a nice trip though. Here are some pictures.

Naomi traveled really well. If it hadn't been for our flight from Salt Lake City to Orlando getting canceled resulting in a 6+ hour delay we would've made it to our destination long before any serious fussiness set in.

Due to some thrush related diaper rash Naomi got lots of baths while in Florida. Fortunately she learned to really enjoy them and we were able to pretty much enjoy them as well.

One of the highlights of our visit was getting to see Emily's cousin Sarah and meet her family. Sarah and Emily are about the same age and were close growing up but hadn't seen each other in more than 8 years. Matthew had never met Sarah and neither of us had met her husband (Matt) or two daughters (Cameron & Natalie) prior to this visit. This is a picture of Emily and Naomi with Sarah and her youngest daughter, Natalie.

Our favorite part of the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) was the 3-D I-Max movie we saw about the international space station.

Naomi got a little sleep deprived for part of our time at the KSC but she had some really happy time as well. During one of her more cheerful moments though she decided that daddy's coffee was just what she needed for an afternoon pick me up. Are we already teaching our daughter to become caffeine dependant?

The shuttle launch scheduled for the end of February was still on delay so we got to see the shuttle with boosters all set up and ready to go on the launch pad.

We also saw all kinds of cool space hardware. Here Emily and Naomi pose in front of an actual engine used in multiple NASA launches.

This is the actual lunar module taken up on the Apollo 13 mission. Emily and I were both surprised by how flimsy it looked.

We are hopeful for a less stressful travel day tomorrow than what it took to get here. Next up is a trip to Willows (leaving Wednesday returning late Sunday of next week) after that we have a few days at home before taking off to Portland, OR the following Saturday. We'll post pictures from those adventures when we can.

Crazy Times

2009-02-19T19:59:00.000-08:00

Since getting the news about Willows our lives have been pretty hectic and the coming weeks look to be just as crazy. Most of the hecticness of life has been self induced but we've also been experiencing some of the less desirable excitement of parenting recently.

On the night of February 7th we took Naomi into urgent care because the cough and wheezing from her "cold" had gotten so bad. They checked her out, took a swab to check for RSV (Respiratory Syncytial Virus) and gave her a nebulizer treatment gave us a prescription for an ear infection she had. The next day we missed church to follow up with her pediatrician who got us our own nebulizer machine and wrote another script to help with her cough. The following week was pretty interesting as we discovered that Naomi did in fact have RSV, made yet another trip to the pediatrician and did our best to start preparing for the transition to Willows and maintain our regular responsibilities while taking care of a sick little girl.

Naomi has recovered well from the RSV and her breathing has returned to normal. Thank you all for praying. This Tuesday Emily figured out that Naomi had developed thrush (a kind of yeast infection affecting her mouth and diaper area). This meant that Emily had to get a same day appointment at the Dr. to get two more prescriptions that same day since we were leaving for Florida early the next morning (more on that in a bit). At first the thrush didn't seem to be affecting Naomi all that much but the diaper rash she has developed as a result has become very severe. It is bad enough that it is impacting Naomi's overall disposition and it doesn't seem to be healing very quickly. We would certainly appreciate your prayers for her and this pesky and now painful condition. It also makes caring for her a lot more work.

Yesterday was a marathon day for us and a milestone for Naomi. We left the house a little after 4am where Matthew's mom dropped us at the airport and we got a plane to Salt Lake City in route to Orlando, FL for a visit with Emily's and aunt and uncle and their family. We were supposed to catch a direct flight from Salt Lake City that would've had us in Orlando by 4:15 Eastern time but our flight was canceled. We fortunate enough to get rerouted the same day through Memphis but it meant that we didn't get to Orlando until after 10:30pm, we were than delayed further by the car seat we had checked not having arrived yet. We finally got to the "Florida Hallsten" home at about 11:30pm.

Naomi actually handled things very well. She was wonderful for the first two legs of our trip and for most of the time waiting at the airports. If things had gone according to plan it would've been a wonderful experience but about 20 minutes into our flight from Memphis to Orlando the fatigue and over stimulation finally caught up to Naomi and she became inconsolable. It was a very stressful flight but we suspect someone was praying because about 25 minutes before landing she calmed down again and our transition off the plane went fine. Today was spent sleeping, relaxing and visiting with family. Naomi has been a bit fussy and it is hard to know how much of that is from the thrush and how much is her recovering from yesterday but we're glad that we've still had some good stretches with our happy, smiling baby girl for our family to enjoy.

We are in Florida until Monday when we fly out early and should land (Lord willing) in Sacramento around noon. Tuesday Matthew will work and Emily will unpack and re-pack and then on Wednesday (Feb 25th) we will drive up to Willows where we will stay with the outgoing pastor and his wife (Bob and Joyce) until Sunday afternoon. We're looking forward to this time to prepare for the transition and get to know these dear people who we see as future mentors. We also plan to meet with some of the other church leaders, explore the community a bit more, get oriented for our future house sitting gig and hopefully look at some houses for sale.

Upon returning from Willows Matthew will work two more days at Health Net (extending our benefits through the end of March) and than after a few more days to rest and prepare we will get on a plane once again this time for a trip to Portland, OR. We'll be arriving in Portland the afternoon of Saturday March 7th and leaving first thing the morning of Wednesday March 11th. We're really excited about the chance to see dear friends from our three years of living in that city while Matthew was in seminary and to introducing Naomi to some of the people have loved and blessed her from before she was born.

After that trip we will have two final days to prepare before moving to Willows on March 14th. It should be a fairly move since most of our stuff will be going straight from storage in Roseville to a garage in Willows as we'll be house sitting for the first 6 weeks or more in Willows. Matthew will officially start work as pastor on Monday, March 16th and preach his first sermon on March 22nd.

As you can see our lives will be pretty full over the next few weeks but we are excited about and looking forward to almost everything on our schedule. We do hope to say some goodbyes in the Roseville area but are glad that we will be close and should be visiting frequently. We'll do our best to keep you all updated with pictures, news, etc. but may not be posting all that consistently until we get settled in Willows.

Thank you for all of your prayers and well wishes. We appreciate you all.

We Got the Job!!!

2009-02-04T21:02:00.001-08:00

Faith Bible Church in Willows, CA held their vote tonight and officially invited Matthew to be their new pastor. We happily accepted and look forward to putting down roots and investing in a new community. We are very excited about the future and can't wait to see what God has in store for us and for the people of Faith Bible Church.

We still have to nail down the details but right now our target move date is March 14th with Matthew starting work on the 16th. We have a lot to do between now and then. We want to spend a few days up in Willows in February with the outgoing pastor and his wife to get to know them better and help prepare for the transition. We already had a trip to Florida scheduled to visit family and we're hoping to squeeze in a short trip to Portland while we still have limited Sunday obligations.

We'll try to keep you all updated on the details as we transition into the next phase of life. Thank you all for all of your encouragement and prayers during this period of uncertainty and searching out God's will. Thanks especially to Aunt Miriam and Mom & Dad Brooks for providing us with free housing and to all of you who have provided for us and for Naomi in countless ways.

We were told when we started this process that it takes a year on average to find a pastorate. Matthew started sending out Resumes on February 1st of 2008 so that is just about what it was for us. The eight and a half months between graduating and getting tonight's news have actually been quite wonderful but we are glad to have some direction for the future and look forward to having our own home again.

Blessings, Matthew and Emily

P.S. Emily wanted to title this post "Matthew is Jobful!" but Matthew wouldn't let her.

Naomi 4 months

2009-01-30T10:20:00.000-08:00

Here are a few more baby pics. Naomi is officially 4 months old as of this past Monday. She loves going on walks, or hanging around the house, in the Baby Bjorn front carrier. She can watch her mobile for as long as we're willing to wind it up for her (but we're absolutely sick of the song!). She's just starting to think about maybe working on rolling over, but sitting and standing (with help) are great fun. And she's making noises more and more of the time.

Grandma Kathy and Naomi get along great. Grandma knows how to please Naomi - let her stand up! Naomi is staying with Grandma and Grandpa tonight while Matthew takes me away to some surprise location for an overnight.
Here she is showing off her ladybug hat (Thanks Hilary!) and her cool onesie (Thanks Tanjocos!) She's getting bigger - Monday for her 4 month check-up she weighed in at 13 lbs., 13 ozs. (That's about the 50%ile for us baby non-experts)

Great-Grandma Brooks saw Naomi at her house last week, and they got along very well!

This is Naomi's newest cousin, Nathanael Lewis. We finally saw him when he was 2 weeks old.

His mommy, Matthew's sister Christy, is recovering much better from her 2nd pregnancy than the first, and has really enjoyed Nathanael's newborn stage.

Below, we couldn't resist putting up a couple videos - one is her learning how to use the jumper. The grunting she does here is her new favorite form of communication - imagine a constant stream of gutteral noises for 30 min! It makes Aunt Miriam afraid she's going to permanently damage her vocal cords. :-)

This captures my all-time favorite moment with Naomi so far in her short life. Since she was born, I have been longing for the day I could actually do something that would regularly cause her to laugh like this.

Waiting Game

2009-01-21T18:18:00.000-08:00

For those that may have been wondering our second visit to Faith Bible Church in Willows went very well. We got to know some more of the church members and Matthew's preaching was again well we received. We continue to be optimistic about this opportunity and barring some major unforeseen revelation are confident that we would accept the position if offered.

For now we are waiting. The congregation votes 2 weeks from tonight and we expect to hear something by the next day. It is hard to not start planning our lives in Willows but we are trying to be patient and continue to pray that God will close this door if this is not the right place for us to enter into ministry. Thank you for some continued prayers.

In other news Naomi has entered a new growth spurt and has been eating like crazy the past couple of days. She has also figured out how to make loud happy squealing noises (very high pitched) whenever she wants to. For now it is still very cute. We hope to get some more recent pictures of her up in the next week or so.

Willows Update

2009-01-12T19:33:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to give you all a quick update on our visit to Willows, CA this past weekend. It went really well!

We drove up Saturday morning and Matthew spent more than two hours having brunch with about 15 men from the church, telling his story and answering all manner of questions. Emily got to know some of the ladies in the church at a tea hosted that afternoon while Matthew sat down with the outgoing pastor to get his perspective on the church and vision for the future transition of leadership. This was truly encouraging!

Saturday night the head of the pulpit committee and his wife took us out to dinner along with the retiring pastor and his wife. We had a great time!

On Sunday Matthew preached (at both preaching services) and was well received then we enjoyed an all church potluck where we got to visit informally with more of the people in the congregation. We got a little rest back at the house we were staying at (the home of a wonderful retired missionary named Prudence) then we drove around and explored the town (which didn't take long) before heading home.

At this point we are feeling very positive about this opportunity. The church seems fundamentally healthy and ready to be challenged to grow and change. The people are friendly and really seem to love the Lord, and the leadership seems capable and excited about what God wants to do in their church. We also found out that they are able to offer a salary that would be livable as a single income and got to know what seems like a really neat little town a little better. There would be a lot of adjustments if we went but we are excited about the possibilities.

We will be returning this weekend. Perhaps for part of Saturday but at least for the bulk of the day on Sunday. Matthew will speak again and we will try to get to give more people a chance to get to know us a little better. The congregation will vote on whether or not to extend the call to us on February 4th (their by-laws require a two week interval).

We appreciate all of your prayers and will update you when we hear in February. Please continue to pray for God's guidance for us and the people of Faith Bible Church and that we would guard our hearts and trust Him to know what is best for us.

Willows from the air.

A Willows Weekend

2009-01-09T18:48:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow morning we're getting up early (well, for Matthew it's still sleeping in compared to starting work at 5:30) and heading up I-5 to Willows, CA for a candidating trip. Faith Bible Church is there, and their current pastor is retiring. We'll be doing the usual eat and talk routine, with a men's brunch, women's afternoon tea, dinner out with church leaders, and a potluck after church on Sunday.

Thus far we feel positive about the situation: There is a good generational mix in the church, there are children in the nursery, the leaders have a fairly good understanding of where the church is strong and what they want to change, and the outgoing pastor has been there for several years. Matthew was able to set up a meeting with the current pastor to discuss his perspective on the church, his vision, and his perspective on what his role would be as a continuing member of the church if Matthew were to be the new pastor. In terms of location, it's a little less than 2 hours from family, in a community of 6,000 (within the city limits). Willows is the county seat, so there are more amenities there (like a WalMart), and Chico is about 30min away.

Some of the things we're praying about include:
-Peace about whatever decision is reached, whether they decide against us or we have to choose. Clarity in the decision-making process for all.
-Emotional energy for the weekend, especially for Matthew as he's an introvert and will be preaching twice in addition to all the social activities.

For those who are interested: a map of Willows.
http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&tab=wl

We'll let you know how it goes!

Happy New Year!

2009-01-09T17:45:00.000-08:00

Greetings! We enjoyed a wonderful Christmas. The tree below is from Christmas Eve, the Brooks celebration. The tree usually ends up half buried as we unwrap together after the service at our church.

The three older cousins (Naomi is #5, and another was born last week!).

On the 26th Matthew went back to work while my dad, brother Peter, Naomi and I traveled to Turlock to visit with my Great-grandma. She's still a speed walker, and plays Phase 10 with us whenever we give her the chance. We don't play her favorite game, Scrabble, because she always wins!

Thank you, Melissa! She loves bragging with the shirt you got her.

New Years meant a huge family gathering (both sides and lots of extended family members as well). Here's some of the huge spread of turkey soup, fresh homemade rolls, cold cuts, and lkeftover desserts we enjoyed. Yum!

Elizabeth is two months older than Naomi. She's a little extra-miracle baby. And she's happy an amazingly high percentage of the time.

One of MANY games of Settlers played on New Years Day.

For Christmas, Matthew and I got Naomi a Johnny Jump-up. It says it's for 4 months and up, but she's so stiff it's her new favorite toy! This is the first time she got in it. The toys aren't even attached yet, but within 2 minutes she'd already christened it with her spit-up. Hooray for machine-washable!

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-21T18:16:00.000-08:00

We are getting excited for Christmas, and are again reminded of how incredible it is to have a Savior who came to live with us and experience every temptation of our lives - the same Jesus who now reigns victorious over all of creation! We hope your Christmas is filled with hope and joy as a result of God's gift to you of his son.

We are still staying with Matthew's Aunt Miriam in Roseville. She has been very gracious with us as lots of Naomi's stuff (stroller, Pack N Play, swing, ...) invades her living room. We have a candidating trip scheduled for Jan 10-11 for Faith Bible Church in Willows, CA, less than 2 hours from our families. Thus far we feel positive about the situation. Please praise God with us and pray for discernment for both us and the church, and also for God's workings in all the circumstances of the trip and the potential job. Meanwhile Matthew continues to work at Health Net and I am mostly enjoying raising Naomi. She just woke up happy, which is wonderful!

Below are some pictures from the past month.

Just in the past week or two Naomi doesn't have to be swaddled in order to sleep more than 10 minutes at a stretch. We enjoy watching her be peaceful (her bed is in the living room). She sleeps 9-10 hours a night now! She makes up for it by taking very short naps during the day and is often fussy - but the happy stretches are progressively increasing.

When other methods fail, Naomi ofter calms down and gets curious again when Dad makes her Superbaby.

I love how she folds her hands and curls her legs up under her for a little nap after many of her feedings.

Hooray for naked-time!

On Thanksgiving Day we stopped by Turlock to see G'G'G'ma Jessie before heading up to Stockton for my first Brooks Thanksgiving. My Great-Grandma is 96 years old, and was very excited to meet the next generation of her family.
Great-Grandma Hallsten came to Roseville the day after Thanksgiving, and she and Naomi got properly introduced.

Grandpa Keith loves his new role, and frequently takes Naomi outside for walks when she's protesting, or holds her so that Matthew and I can eat when we're over there.

The whole gang.

Naomi and I went with my parents, Peter and his girlfriend Stephanie, and Krista to get their Christmas Tree. I took Naomi on the same tree swing I went on every year as a child at Snowy Peaks Tree Farm.

Sorry the video below is a little longer than I intended - 92 seconds of Naomi cooing and kicking. Call me an obsessive first-time mom. ;-) There's no amazing finish, so feel free to stop it whenever you've had your fill. Meanwhile we'll be working on figuring out how to use our video editing software so we can give you 20 seconds next time....

Wow! Has it really been more than a month?

2008-11-26T11:03:00.000-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving to everybody. :-) And today Naomi is officially 2 months old.

I posted new pictures on Facebook in a public album, so you can all see them at:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=50486&l=2f173&id=692971443

This past month has been eventful! Naomi is learning how to nap - she's awake more during the day than we hear is typical for her age - she almost never sleeps more than an hour at a stretch. BUT more important, she sleeps well at night consistently! It's usually 6-7 hours, and the start time for that is getting more consistent as well, and then she goes right back down and sleeps another 3 hours or so.

Matthew started permanent status at Health Net last week, so we'll have benefits provided through his work in another month, and it was just in time to have paid holidays for Nov and Dec! Hooray. :-)

In the search for a ministry job, overall we are both encouraged - things are still happening, even as we look at December. He is preaching at a church in Willows this weekend and is turning in an app for an Assoc. position in Massachusetts by Sunday as well. Then next week there is another app due and the accreditation (towards ordination) interview for the Alliance.

Emily, meanwhile, is enjoying being able to stay caught up with chores, and to make a little progress towards moving ahead with paperwork and preparations for Christmas. This is possible in part because Matthew's Aunt Miriam returned home last week, and she has taken over care of her kitties. For now we are staying here with her and she is being very gracious in sharing her car, her kitchen, and her TV with us.

The last month we've really enjoyed watching Naomi learn. She's really started to smile at us, and will laugh when she's well-rested. Just in the past few days she's started cooing. As Grandpa Keith puts it, Naomi is very stiff - she holds up her head, and sometimes even her body, when we hold her up on one shoulder. She has a definite preference for being upright and able to use her legs. Forget rolling over or sitting up - she wishes she could stand! She's also learning about her hands, sucking on her knuckles and grasping Daddy's arm hair - but still nothing intentional. Last week she went in for her 2-month check, and she's at 10 lbs 10 oz (60th %ile) and 23 in long (75th %ile).

For Thanksgiving, we're heading down to Turlock in the morning to visit Emily's Great-grandma and let Naomi's Great-Great G'ma meet her, then we'll celebrate with the Brookses in Stockton for the first time as a couple.

God bless your travels and family time as you celebrate as well. We truly have an amazing God who has met our most pressing needs abundantly.

More Naomi Pictures

2008-10-16T15:41:00.000-07:00

We have been enjoying our little girl. We still want to use this blog to update you on what is going on in our lives but right now there isn't a whole lot of new information to report. Matthew continues to work at Health Net and look for a pastoral position. Emily is embracing the challenges and joys of motherhood.

We are enjoying our daughtrer and times with friends and family and just trying to keep up with life. Maybe we'll post some of the details of the birth later but we'd rather tell you in person (or over the phone). Feel free e-mail or call or set up a time to meet up. We appreciate your love and prayers for our family. Now on to the main event: more pictures of Naomi.

We call Naomi's bouncer her "happy chair" we have it on the kitchen table under a bright warm light which she loves and she spends much of her happy awake time in it.

Here she is staring at the light.

Emily's Mom has been coming over frequently to help out, which has been much appreciated.

So far Naomi has been mostly great for her various visitors.
We were pleased that she was able to enjoy this visit from great grandma and granpa Brooks.

Naomi is growing fast but is still quite a tiny little bundle, carrying her is no burden at all.

Naomi did not enjoy her first bath.

Here Naomi enjoys some time with Grandma Brooks. She is a very loved little girl.

This is our first "family picture".

There are even more pictures on facebookfor those of you who have profiles there. Please do let us know how you are doing. We love you all and always enjoy hearing from you.

Intorducing Naomi Linda Brooks!

2008-09-29T19:19:00.000-07:00

Our daughter was born on Friday, September 26th, 2008. She weighed 7 lbs 1 oz and was 19 and 1/2 inches long. Mom and baby are home and doing great. We are so blessed to have such a beautiful healthy little girl and thank all of you who have been praying for us. We will post more details about the birth later but for now, by popular demand, here are some pictures of Naomi's first three days of life outside the womb.

Naomi likes being swaddled (the process of getting swaddled isn't always as fun) and has been sleeping great the last day and a half.

Naomi is a wide eyed little girl and likes to look at faces, here she makes eyes at mommy.

Grandpa Hallsten came by on Sunday afternoon to get acquainted.

Daddy is learning quickly how to sooth his little girl and loves holding her in his arms.

Mommy did a great job throughout labor and delivery and was feeling well enough in the hospital to be able to really enjoy her little girl.

We know that every parent think their child is as cute as they come but even Naomi's nurses went on and on about how cute she is. Just look at that face!

Maybe we shouldn't tell her too much about how cute she is. She already seems to be mugging for the camera. ("Dad, make sure you get my good side").

We are looking forward to introducing Naomi to all of her new friends and family over the coming weeks and months. So far she seems to be hitting it off with everyone she meets. Look at the smile she put on Auntie Krista's face.

We will do our best to keep this blog updated with more pictures and stories as Naomi grows. We feel blessed to have so many people who care about us to share this special joy with.

Answer to prayer

2008-09-19T18:25:00.000-07:00

Thank you all for praying about the health insurance! We heard Tuesday that Blue Cross is going to let us go on their Portability Plan after all. The supervisor went back and listened to all my archived calls, and the portability guru agreed that we could be covered through the end of December by this plan - praise God! Basically, that means that instead of having to go on COBRA and spend $889/month, we're going to cover just me for $208/month (and then Naomi for a little more). Matthew will have a separate individual plan here for less than $100. So we'll all have good coverage, and we'll still be able to pay for gas/groceries without dipping (much) into savings.

I also had a doctor's appointment today - 1 cm dilated and 75% effaced. That's no guarantee of any time estimate for when labor will actually start, but it was encouraging enough that the doctor doesn't think I'll need to be induced, which is very good.

Preparing for Baby Naomi's arrival

2008-09-13T18:57:00.000-07:00

I keep stalling actually posting anything, thinking that "maybe tomorrow" I'll have time to get pictures organized to post with the news, but that's not happening so I'm just going to say something. :-)

There continues to be a lot of activity in our lives - more than I anticipated for this time period! Matthew (and others) would probably say that's just because I overestimate how much I can get done without feeling busy.

Before I go on, what you're all wanting to know: Due date is 12 days away (9/25), and doctor says she's probably not coming early. There are more contractions now, but I don't think she's really dropped yet. (A blessing - so far I have not been very uncomfortable so the waiting isn't so bad yet.)

For actual events, we go back to late August: My dad and I went out to breakfast for my birthday (family tradition) and a couple days later mom and I went shopping for my birthday - she got our family a Pack N Play and then we went to La Bou and I had soup in a bread bowl and a frappuchino-like thing. Yumm! Thanks for the lunch, Mom! And the place for Naomi to sleep.

The next day was Sunday and we were in for a surprise when we visited Grace Valley, our Davis church family. They offered the overwhelming blessing of having an 'in-lieu-of-baby-shower' donation, and we are just humbled and blessed by their support, both in prayer and in this show of their care for us. As a result, our health expenses related to the birth will be minimal. Thank you, Grace Valley!

Next, on that Thursday my Davis friends threw an actual shower and afterwards we felt like we had the practical stuff! Thermometer and nail clippers, changing pad, clothes for when she's older, sippy cups and toddler silverware/dishes, and many families' favorite books. Anna did a beautiful job decorating her backyard and we sat outside in the evening breeze - then ate rich cake! Thank you, ladies!

The next day we moved to Aunt Miriam's house to housesit for the six kitties and to have a place with more space and privacy for the time directly surrounding Naomi's birth. We have now thoroughly invaded Miriam's space. We just feel blessed - what a privilege and provision for us! It makes it even nicer that Aunt Miriam feels the same way since it means she's free to visit her daughter's family for the first time in quite a while. Thank you, Miriam!

And the next day (so far we've only gotten to last Saturday!) our home church, Hillcrest Alliance, blessed us with a baby shower. The decorations all had animals all over them - it was a happy rainbow Noah's Ark theme. Many of them got together on a group gift and supplied a beautiful, comfortable glider, a stroller, and an activity mat. Again, the women were insightful about the practical things we really need! We now have a car seat, bathtub, diapers, Boppy, etc. Thank you, Hillcrest!

That afternoon we met with our doula (=professional labor coach) and got to know each other and talk through things. My friend Angela (who got all those great Noah's Ark decorations!!) was over to look at baby stuff and catch up a little bit before she needed to get back home, as well.

Since then, I've just been doing the last shopping trips and trying to get things more organized. On Wednesday I cooked about 10 meals and put them all in the freezer so we'll have instant food when we're most sleep-deprived. My mom and I went to Babies R Us yesterday to get some of the last needed things (and a few splurge things from gift cards :-) ). Last night I packed our hospital bag and diaper bag. Today I finished making one of those Bebe Au Lait-style nursing covers (supplies: ~$6; blanket sold online: $35). If I were to make another one, I'd make a couple small changes, but overall I'm very pleased.

So, the main thing I want to say is that God is amazingly good. We have all that we need and more. Secondly, we are starting to actually feel ready for Naomi to let us see her!

One prayer request:
We got some information this week that means our insurance situation is not as straightforward as we originally thought. The insurance company is working with us (partly because I received mis-information from one of their employees), but we ask you to pray that we will have insurance that covers the end of the pregnancy and the delivery, and that it would cost less than $900/month (what they're quoting us now). Thank you!

P.S. Quick update on the job search:
Matthew continues to send out lots of resumes, and has follow up steps with a few churches right now. Overall, we are both doing well emotionally and have found that in general we are able to rest in God and enjoy the time we have here in Roseville. However, there are good days and bad days (today we got discouraging news).

Work at Health Net is going well. Matthew put in a request for a 4 10-hour day schedule and was accepted, so he'll have Thursdays off starting this week. Also, Matthew asked if they would be willing to hire him on as a permanent employee (right now he's going through a temp agency), and they said he should apply when the position is posted again. So again, we are being provided for and blessed beyond what we need. Thank you, God!

Whew! Congratulations if you read all this... sorry I'm so exuberant! May God provide for you as well in your times of struggle.

Birthday Celebrations

2008-08-27T17:06:00.000-07:00

So August 16th we celebrated my birthday (which was actually on the 4th). My sister, Krista, was in charge of the decorations (with some help from Mom), and she did an awesome job. We ended up with leis and a flip flop "door curtain", a palm tree centerpiece and more.

After people had arrived, all the kids and many of the adults jumped in the pool. Here's me with nephew Koen.

Later, I got to hang out with his big sister, Emmaleigh and help her get warm after her dips in the pool.

My dad very kindly agreed to be grill-master for the evening, and the chicken breasts and beef shishkabobs came out great!

Our friends Edward and Mollie came, too, and their son Ben got a turn with his feet (legs?) in the water.

Add to all that great family some delicious cake and my favorite potato chips, and it was quite an affair. :-)

Just this past Monday Krista, her friend Emily, and I went to the California State Fair! For Krista's birthday (back in July), Matthew and I gave Krista a coupon to take a friend somewhere, and she chose the fair. :-) The guy at the water preservation booth convinced us to wear trout hats.

We had fun looking at all the expensive "You need this to make your life better!" sales booths, the county exhibits, the cattle and goats, and the quilting and youth art exhibits. Krista and Emily also did a few things at the Midway carnival.

And today is Matthew's mom's birthday! It's been a great two weeks.

Hallsten Family Reunion

2008-08-19T12:18:00.000-07:00

So, last weekend (the 8th through the 10th) was the Hallsten Family Reunion (31st annual, or something crazy like that). Matthew and I hadn't gotten to attend since we were engaged, so it was fun to catch up. I think I know the family relationships better than ever after attending this year. Basically, my Grandpa Hallsten and his five siblings (four still living) and all of their children, grandchildren, and now great-grandchildren are invited. We gather in Kingsburg, CA, the center of all things Swedish in the state, and, they like to think, in the country. My grandpa's family came over from Sweden to Kingsburg (after living in Chicago for a little while) in 1912 (?) in a modified Model T Ford. Grandpa wasn't born yet - he's number 5 of the 6 siblings.
It was nice to get to catch up with my Uncle Mark and Aunt Kathy who live in Orlando. The two youngest of their clan of 6 kids were in attendance as well.

The next day we gathered at the family farm (the original property, now operated by one of my dad's cousins) and a traditional sibling line-up picture was taken. They are, oldest to youngest (counter-clockwise from bottom right) Eileen, Bertil (passed away), Milton, Ted, Harold (my grandpa), and Ruth.

The Harold Hallsten cousins who were in attendance also had a group photo. (Two are in Spain this summer, four more stayed in Orlando.)

After the reunion, Matthew and I got together with some of our closest friends from Portland, Luke and Virginia. We all like Starbucks. :-) Luke is a teacher and the head football coach at Emmanuel, a Christian high school in Reedley. (Reedley and Kingsburg are both outside of Fresno.)

And, on our way home, we stopped in Turlock to visit Great-grandma Jessie. She played her harmonica for us, and we dined with her (at 4:30pm!) She's doing very well physically for a 95-year-old -- her hearing and sight have gotten worse in recent years, but she still walks as fast as I can!

P.S. A special thank-you to Nick and Jody who hosted us in Fresno on this weekend! Apparently we enjoyed their company and their daughter Ashlyn's antics so much that we didn't take a single picture while we were there! We did, however, play Cranium on their Wii, watch Kiwi (the dog) and Ashlyn play tug-of-war, and sleep very soundly.

Em's Birthday, etc.

2008-08-08T22:31:00.000-07:00

This past Monday we went to Emily's parents' house to celebrate her birthday. Krista made super yummy brownies. Mom tried to put some candles in the whole pan, but the brownies were still warm so the candles started to melt. So I had an individual brownie with a candle in it. (I'm having the last one tonight for dessert).

On the same evening, we took our first "family portrait". I'm officially 33 weeks pregnant now. Baby Naomi's latest tricks involve putting pressure on my ribs and lungs. Her movements are more like pressure being increased and released than real "kicks". Tonight was the first night I could clearly identify a foot - that was fun!

This Wednesday we started childbirthing classes - we had mixed feelings about that. I have not been sleeping as well since then - my brain is turning different tasks and pieces of knowledge over and over in my head. For example: Oh yeah, my kid needs a pediatrician before she's even born! Oh shoot, how do I find a pediatrician? And they gave us more reading material - because all I need is more pages to feel guilty about not reading.

Matthew also finished training at work this week, and he's looking forward to really being on the job starting Monday. He's struggling to figure out how to balance working full time with a long commute, working hard to find a "real" job, contribute to ministry, and participate in all the family events we're surrounded by. It's a challenge! We're feeling blessed by God to have to provision we do, and that we have so much family around us. One of the main reasons we decided to move to Roseville instead of waiting it out in Portland was to have the proximity to family that we have here - we're soaking it up!

All of our nieces and nephews (except the 1-week-old) know who we are and like hanging out with us now that we've been here a month. That's been special to us.

After this weekend we're going to post some pictures of the giant Hallsten reunion. We're in the Central Valley, with friends (Nick and Jody) right now... tomorrow the whole clan gets together to celebrate being Swedish and a descendant of my great-grandpa Richard (who I never met). My grandpa and his four siblings, and all their kids, spouses, etc, meet in Kingsburg, the Swedish center of California every year. We haven't gone for four years, so I'm a little nervous about knowing everyone's names... It will be nice to see my grandparents and some of my cousins and aunts and uncles who I haven't seen for a long time!

Good night! Enjoy the Olympics. :-)

The Search Continues

2008-08-02T09:57:00.000-07:00

On Thursday Matthew had a very positive phone interview with the search team at Peter's Creek Baptist Church for their Associate Pastor of Adult Ministries position. This morning the Sr. Pastor called to let us know that they had reached their final decision. He said that everyone was really impressed with Matthew's application, sermon samples and interviews but that ultimately they had decided to go with another candidate who had some significant experience in a similar position. He said Matthew was their 2nd choice out of 45 candidates and that the only thing that set their first choice apart was his experience which they thought would be helpful in getting up to speed quickly.

While we were excited about this possibility because of the job description and what we knew about the church trying to start a new job within a few weeks of Naomi's birth would have been quite challenging and the location was not ideal for us. So getting the call this morning was a little disappointing but not devastating. Over all it was an encouraging experience. We appreciate your continued prayers as we wait for the right time and place to begin vocational ministry. We are confident that God will provide a special opportunity in his timing but not knowing where or when can be a little hard some times.

Also a quick update on our niece Elizabeth. She is home with her adopting parents Dane and Shandela Brooks (Matthew's brother and sister-in-law) and is doing great. Please pray for the adoption to go through without any problems and also for the family's housing situation, they need to find a new place to stay now that they have 3 kids and are in a tiny 2 bedroom condo with no yard. Thanks for your prayers.

Two Quick Updates

2008-07-28T19:00:00.000-07:00

First, we would like to welcome our new niece into the world. Elizabeth Anne Brooks was born a healthy 7 pounds 13 ounces and 18 and a half inches at 1:21am this morning. We are excited to hear that Mom and baby are both healthy but invite your continued prayers over a complex family situation and ask for a speedy and hassel free adoption.

Second, on the job search front Matthew has a phone interview with Peter's Creek Baptist Church on Thursday at 12:30pm PT. He has already answered some follow up questions in writing and we've been told he is on the "short list" (though no one has told us exactly how short that list is). It is for an Associate Pastor of Adult Ministries and the job description looks great but we've yet to receive the packet with more information on the church itself (should come tomorrow). Peter's Creek is an independent Baptist church and is located in South Park, PA (about a half an hour south of Pittsburgh. Please pray for God's clear guidance and peace as we pursue/consider this opportunity.

That's it for now. Emily has had plenty of activities to fill up her days while Matthew has been working but has been getting things crossed off her to do list. Keeping this blog updated remains on that list and we hope to soon be posting some pictures from the past month and some more details about our time here in Roseville.

In transition...

2008-07-20T15:01:00.000-07:00

Hey all,

So we've been in Roseville for over three weeks now, and as Matthew has recently started a temp job that's full time, it is now up to me to keep you up to date. I have failed! Sorry...

This past week and most of this coming week we're housesitting for Matthew's great-aunt who lives in Sun City Roseville. She has not been able to travel much recently for various reasons, so she's excited to get away to see friends. And we are quasi-homeless, so it's been kinda nice to "have our own place" for awhile. Matthew's aunt has 6 cats, so we're caring for Tommy (the people-friendly fat one), Puss (the oldest and the biggest wuss), Norman (the punk) and Ethel (the one who loves ice water), and Bonnie (who stays in her closet) and Clyde (the playful one). Matthew's aunt used to foster litters of kittens when they needed to be bottle-fed, so when not all the cats of the litter were adopted out, she ended up with the others. So Norman and Ethel are from the same litter, as are Bonnie and Clyde. As you may be able to tell, I'm enjoying having pets, even though I wouldn't choose to have 6 of my own! It's really neat to see how all of them are cats and behave like cats, but each has his/her own unique personality too. God is cool that there is so much diversity among creatures that are so easily stereotyped! I guess that's true of humans, too.

So anyway, aside from life with cats, I put together a dresser/changing table that got delivered to Matthew's parents' house this past week. If you're ever looking, I recommend going straight to WalMart or Target, and if you like what's in stock, buy there. It's cheaper than anywhere else. But if you make the "mistake" of looking online at Target first, you might get into trouble and become perfectionistic like I did. Target won't order something they have in their catalog for you to be delivered to the store, and for furniture they charge $95 for shipping. Babies R Us is about the same, but has a bigger selection and slightly higher prices. So I went with JC Penney, because they had a pretty good selection and only charged $27.50 for shipping. The whole process ended up being way more dramatic than I had anticipated, but I'm excited to have a place to put our clothes now (our armoire is in storage), and baby Naomi's stuff when she arrives.

Matthew and I have also joined a gym, and so far I've been successful in going to water aerobics classes three times a week. I can tell they're going to make a difference in my overall strength and condition by the end of the pregnancy, and it's nice to be able to work out pretty hard without my entire abdomen getting sore and tired! I went for a walk with Matthew last night, and I had to walk crazy slow so as to maintain a certain level of comfort.

Aside from all that, I spend most of my time catching up on little projects I never got done while we were in Portland, doing little projects to help out Matthew's parents (like re-attaching handles that have fallen off of various drawers), watching DVR recordings of Law and Order, and reading/napping. It's a hard life. ;-)

This weekend in particular, Matthew and I went to Roseville Sugarbears champs to watch my siblings, Peter and Krista, swim as fast as they could. Yesterday was also Krista's 12th birthday, so we went out for dinner and then returned to my parents' to eat cake while Krista opened presents. She got lots of clothes, and was very excited about that!! She must be a pre-teen. Or maybe she's just a completely different creature from me... that's highly plausible! The two of us are hanging out for a few hours each Tuesday afternoon for bonding time. This week she's starting a game of Civilization, meeting the six kitties, and we might make some cookies. :-)

Well, I'm having issues getting to a "good" ending place, so I think I'll just stop blabbering instead. (Sorry no pics this time.) Happy Sunday!

We made it!

2008-06-26T20:25:00.000-07:00

We have arrived at Matthew's parent home in Roseville, CA and are settling in nicely.

Yesterday was a long day. We did the final check out from our apartment a little after 8am, put the car on the car carrier and got on the road by about 8:45am. It was a long drive. We had to go about 15 MPH slower than normal with the truck and trailer and tried to stop about every two hours to stretch our muscles, etc. On top of that we had to slow way down going up steep hills (especially the Siskiyou pass at the boarder) because the truck engine was getting too hot so it took us a little over 14 hours with us arriving around 11:15pm last night. It was a long day with a stressful ending (a mishap with unhooking the trailer from the truck) but we got good rest last night and today has been much more relaxing.

We got a pretty good start and thanks to some help from our dads and Emily's mom were able to unload the truck into our storage unit in about 90 minutes. Since then we've done a little unpacking and a lot of relaxing. We're excited to be home near family and old friends. Thanks to all of you who prayed for safe travels and a smooth transition, thanks also for all the well wishes and goodbyes from our Portland friends and the good wishes and

The Truck is Loaded!

2008-06-24T16:51:00.000-07:00

This will likely be our last blog post for a bit but I wanted to give everyone an update. We finished loading the truck at about 4:30pm thanks to help from our friends Jason, Gary, and Ford. We had quite a bit of extra space but don't think things will tumble around too much. We still have some cleaning to do but will have the help of our friend Virginia with that. We should be done by 7 or 8pm. We'll be staying the night at our pastor's home and then coming back for the final check out from our apartment at 8am tomorrow. That should put us on the road by about 8:30. We figure we will take it nice and slow (since we're towing the car too) with plenty of stops so it should take between 12 and 14 hours but we should be able to get into Roseville in time for a good night's sleep there. Then on Thursday morning we'll unload most of our stuff into storage and start to settle in as guests with my parents. A busy couple of days but we're excited to be coming home!

Peninsula Baptist Update

2008-06-17T15:16:00.000-07:00

We had a good time visiting Peninsula Baptist Church (PBC) this weekend. God gave us some beautiful weather and we were able to explore Long Beach and a fair bit of the greater peninsula on Saturday before enjoying an evening of good fellowship with the church's pastor and his wife, daughter and son-in-law. We stayed the night with them and attended church the next morning "under the radar" then went back to the pastor's home for a Father's Day BBQ and US Open viewing get together with several other couples from the church.

While we enjoyed our time and see a lot of potential and positives in this situation some of the traits of the community itself (demographics, culture, climate, isolation, distance from family, etc.) are dampening our enthusiasm about the prospects of raising a family in that area. We have advised PBC that at least for now we are not able to commit to coming there if they offer us a position. While we don't want to shut the door we have informed them that with our move and the baby coming we will not be able to continue to pursue the process at this time. We expect them to continue their search. If after a few months in California they are still interested in us we may try to make another visit and take a closer look but for now we will be continuing our search and we will be perfectly content (and happy for the wonderful people we met) if God raises up someone else to fill this position.

Penninsula Baptist Church

2008-06-07T12:52:00.000-07:00

Thursday Matthew made the 2 and half hour drive from our home in Portland out to Ocean Park, Washington for an interview with the search committee of Penninsula Baptist Church. PBC is an independant Baptist church. They run about 150 on a Sunday and currently only have 1 pastor. They are looking for an Associate to assist with general pastoral ministry (preaching, visitation, etc.) and to help develop lay leaders for and oversee ministry to families and youth.

Matthew has had several opportunities to dialogoue with the pastor, Kerry Stroupe, and they seem to have a good rapport. The church is located on the Long Beach Penninsula in Southwest Washington about 40 minutes north of Astoria, OR near HWY 101. The Penninsula is a beautiful area. It is a popular tuourist destination during the summer and has one of the world's largest beaches but it is fairly isolated area and gets about twice as much rain as Portland so there are definitely some cons to go with the pros.

So far the interaction has been positive. We are planning to go out together next weekend (June 14 & 15) to check out the area a little more and visit the church "incognito" to see what we think. This will also serve as a mini-vacation to celebrate the end of Emily's teaching year (June 13 is her last day with students). We would appreciate your continued prayers for God's clear guidance as we consider this possability.

Interview

2008-06-02T12:45:00.000-07:00

Matthew has an interview with the search committee at Penninsula Baptist Church in Ocean Park, WA. They are smallish church on the coast of Southwest Washington (near Long Beach, WA north of Astoria, OR) looking for an Associate Pastor to assist their senior pastor in various asspects of ministry.

So far Matthew has had a brief phone interview and a lunch meeting with the pastor. Those have gone well enough that Matthew plans to spend most of tomorrow (Tuesday) with him at a conference in Salem, OR before driving out to Ocean Park for the interview on Thursday. While the pastor seems like a great guy we really don't know that much about the job description, church or community yet. We would appreciate your prayers for God's guidance as we consider this opportunity. Thanks!

Moving Preparation

2008-06-02T12:27:00.000-07:00

A week ago we helped our good friend Luke Thomas load up for the move down to California. Yesterday Matthew helped our neighbors Travis and Cheryl Wavrin with their move. Our little housing complex is starting to get pretty quiet with all the summer moves that have been taking place and all of this serves to remind us that we too will be leaving our wonderful home here in Portland very soon.

Our last day at Central Bible Church is June 22nd and our plan is to take Monday the 23rd to finish packing up our stuff, pick-up the moving truck on Tuesday the 24th and load the truck and do our final apartment cleaning on that day. Then on June 25th we will drive south to California where we will unload most of our belongings into storage and move in temporarily with Matthew's parents while we wait for Naomi to be born and continue to look for a long term ministry job.

Over the next few weeks we have a lot to do to get prepared. We have already begun to collect empty boxes (see above left). Fortunately as the yearbooks at Beaverton High are distributed Emily is able to collect as many of the empty boxes as she can fit in our car each day. We're also beginning to pack up some of our things that we won't be needing before the move (see below) and of course we hope to get rid of a lot of our stuff before we move.

How valuable something is can be significantly altered by the knowledge that we'll be loading it into a truck, unloading it into storage, storing it for months, loading it back into a truck, driving it to wherever we end up and unloading it again before we get any more use out of it (not to mention that we'll be paying for the privilege of moving and storing).

Matthew signed up for a Craigs List account today and we're hoping to sell some of our furniture in the next couple of weeks. We also are planning to give a bunch of stuff away before we leave. If you are in the Portland area keep an eye out for a "Free Stuff" post coming soon. Also if any of you local Portlanders are available on June 24th we'll be looking for help that day. Don't worry though we'll almost certainly contact you directly to beg ;-).

Baby Shower

2008-06-02T11:50:00.000-07:00

This past Saturday the ladies of Central Bible Church put on a baby shower for Emily. It was a special time and we really felt incredibly loved by our church family. We also ended up with a ton of great stuff to get us started on our way as parents.

Emily admiring the two "cakes" made for her shower.

Jennie Wymore, a friend from church and Life Group who is from Honduras had a beautiful cake made for Emily in the authentic Latin American style. With dual blessings written on it in English and Spanish for our coming baby girl. Connie Clayton made us a "diaper cake", a decorative sculpture of diapers, toys and baby products assembled to look like multi-layered wedding cake.

A close up of the eatable cake.

Emily was showered with a wonderful variety of gifts including clothing, blankets, books and toys for Naomi to enjoy throughout her first year or so of life. Our generous friends also kindly took into account our coming move and avoided giving us bulky items, instead chipping in on some gift cards for a group gift.

Emily preparing to open her many wonderful gifts as the Clayton daughters offer to help.

Emily showing off the lovely "Sunbonnet Sue" quilt that Donna Gurney made for us.

Emily enjoying the love showered on her with gifts, words, and fellowship.

In addition to the gifts the ladies showed their love by throwing a great party with food, games and good fellowship and with kind words spoken and written on many cards. A special treat was a book they assembled for Emily with each woman writing their own page sharing their words of personal love, encouragement and wisdom for the mother-to-be.

Kay Ramsey, Shelley Price and Rachel and Tia Clayton at the shower.

Sarah Clark, Lori Wolpert, Mary Lister, and Karen Dunbar with Emily at the shower.

Unfortunately, the timing of the shower was bad for some of Emily's closest friends from Multnomah who were not able to attend. However, these girls didn't want to miss out on the fun so they threw Emily a "private baby shower" on Sunday after church. Erin Searight, Virginia Thomas and Mellisa Pace took Emily out for lunch (and of course dessert, too) at the Cheesecake Factory. The four of them enjoyed some good "girl time" and Emily received even more adorable gifts for baby Naomi.

Emily, Erin Searight, Mellisa Pace & Virginia Thomas at the "private shower" at the Cheesecake Factory.

Parental Visit

2008-05-28T15:36:00.000-07:00

Matthew's Mom (Kathy), Dad (Tim) and Emily at the Rose Test Garden overlooking downtown Portland

We were delighted to host Matthew's parents (Tim and Kathy Brooks) recently for a relaxing week of fun and celebration. Emily's family has been able to come up and visit twice since we've been in Portland but this was the first time that any of Matthew's family has been able to come up for a visit. They arrived on Tuesday May 13th in time to attend Matthew's ordination council interview and stayed through Monday May 19th so they were able to come with us to Emily's ultrasound appointment and see little Naomi on the Doctor's screen.

Right: Mom, Dad and Emily at the mouth of the Columbia river in Atoria.

Left: Emily flying our two-string kite on Cannon Beach

In addition to being great company they were very generous with us, taking us out to eat several times and treating us to beautiful day on the Oregon coast on Saturday May 17th when the wheather turned unusually warm. We had a great time introducing them to Tillamook ice cream, Burgerville, Powells City of Books, and many of the other wonderful traits of the Portland area. Most importantly we enjoyed good times of visiting, play games and just being together. Thanks Mom and Dad for such a great time.

Dad takes his turn with the kite with Haystack rock in the background.

Matthew watches as Mom flys the kite, she said it was the first time she'd ever been able to keep a kite in the air.

Emily and Matthew got their turns too. Here Emily flys while Mom takes a rest.

Graduation

2008-05-27T14:55:00.001-07:00

Well, it's been more than a week so it is past time that we acknowledge Matthew's graduation from Seminary here on the blog. Matthew graduated on May 16th with Masters of Divinity degree from Multnomah Biblical Seminary. It was a special celebration because so many of our good friends from our time here in Portland were all graduating together. It was also neat that Matthew's parents were able to come up from California to visit during this time and so were able to be here for the ceremony.

Graduation day began with Baccalaureate chapel which featured a message given by our good friend Ford Jordan (he did an awesome job). Afterward there was a group photo taken of the seminary graduates and faculty (see below) and an informal reception.

Although Emily had to work Baccalaureate was a good time for Matthew and his folks to celebrate graduation with some of his classmates (many of whom were never found in the crowd after the graduation ceremony that evening). Here (from left) are proud graduates Milan Homola (holding daughter Arianna), Ford Jordan, Matthew and Paul Kwok.

That evening Matthew and many of his friends got to walk across the stage and receive their hoods as they graduated with Masters Degrees. Here Matthew receives his hood from Seminary Dean Dr. Brake. The combined graduation featured all of the Seminary classes as well as the undergrads at Multnomah Bible College. It didn't start until 7:30pm and featured a lengthy address (everyone I talked to agreed that Ford's was better) so it was pretty late when it finished up. The crowd afterward combined with the late hour and the presence of family and friends made it difficult to track down everyone we would have liked to see that evening and limited the celebration for that evening (although it would carry over to the coming days). We were able to track down some of our best friends for a few group photos at the end though.

Here Luke Thomas (MDiv), Zach Banker (MA), Mike Pace (MDiv) and Dave Searight (MDiv) stand left to right with Matthew on the end. This group of guys has studied, played, laughed, discussed theology, eaten, and done just about everything else together over the past three years of study together.

Although our wives (with the exception of Virginia Thomas who earned her Graduate Certificate) didn't get to walk across the stage this graduation was just as much for them as their accomplishment of supporting (financially and otherwise) their husbands as they earned their degrees. Above are the so called "Sugar Mamas" (from left) Virginia Thomas, Amanda Banker, Mellisa Pace, Erin Searight and Emily who celebrated earning their PHTs (putting hubby through) degrees with equal gusto.

We were blessed that Matthew's parents were willing and able to take valuable vacation time to come up for a week long visit that included graduation (check back for more on their visit). Here are Matthew and Emily with Matthew's parents Kathy and Tim Brooks on the big night.

Meet Naomi Linda

2008-05-22T12:20:00.001-07:00

Yep, it's a girl! The ultrasound we had on Monday confirmed that and also that she is healthy and developing just fine. Our revised due date is September 29th. Above is our favorite of the pictures we got from the appointment. You can see her spine and the sillouette of her head with her lips slightly parted as well as her left arm raised up near her face. We can't wait to meet her!

We decided on the name for a girl within a few weeks of finding out Emily was pregnant. We like that Naomi isn't too common (outside of the top 100 girls names) but is still known enough as to not throw people off too bad with spelling or pronunciation. We also really like how it sounds and it's meaning (sweet/pleasant/beautiful) as well as it's biblical origins. The Naomi of the bible (Ruth's mother-in-law) is a beautiful example of the grace God shows through family relationships. Our prayer is that we would be that kind of channel of grace to our daughter. Linda was Emily's birth mother's name and we wanted to honor her memory. We like that our daughter's middle name will have a meaningful story behind it as well as a pleasant sound.

Sorry it took so long to get this posted. I had some difficulty finding a scanner and then getting the scanned images uploaded. Thanks for all of your prayers. We will keep updating this blog with relevant news and photos including updates about our coming move, Naomi's continuing development (and it's impact on Emily) and Matthew's ongoing job search. We hope to have some photos from Matthew's graduation and our visit with his parents later this week.

We will leave you with an image of Naomi's tiny little foot (sorry it got scanned crooked)

Big Week!

2008-05-20T09:36:00.000-07:00

So it has been more than a week since we updated this blog and a lot has happened in that time. It has been one of the biggest weeks of our lives. We've enjoyed good times with friends and family and personal milestones. It is going to take a few days to catch up a little with all the exciting things that have been going on in our lives so keep checking back over the next week or so. We'll have news and photos posting rapidly for the next few days.

Good Times

2008-05-12T09:33:00.000-07:00

Matthew finished his last Seminary class last Tuesday. It's been a good week since then with a mix of productivity and fun. Emily still has to go to work but has been able to get in on some of the fun as well. Here is a brief review of what we've been up to.

Wednesday - Matthew celebrated academic freedom with breakfast with friends followed by a couple of hour playing Nintendo Wii before hitting the Internet again to resume the job search.

Thursday - Matthew sent out 14 new resumes and had a phone interview with a church in Indiana. In the evening we both enjoyed good times with friends and good food at our friend Mike Pace's birthday party.

Emily and our friend Virginia Thomas hamming it up during a game of shuffle board at Saturday's Masters Class Retreat at Canby Grove.

Friday - Matthew finally crashed and spent most of the day resting in some capacity. We enjoyed a quiet evening at home and went to bed early.

Our friends Erin Searight, Luke Thomas, Ford Jordan & Virginia Thomas at Masters Retreat

Saturday - After getting some chores done in the morning we headed off to the Multnomah Master's class retreat where we ate large amounts of good food and had good relaxing fellowship with many of our friends from school. We enjoyed visiting and playing mini-golf, Foosball, shuffle board, etc. The day was capped off with a time of singing around a campfire.

Sunday - Yesterday we enjoyed a rare Sunday with no afternoon or evening scheduled activities. We took a long afternoon nap, had time to visit and pray together, Emily cut Matthew's hair and we got to call out mothers. Our neighbors the Thomases also hosted us for dinner feeding us yummy homemade pizza.

We're looking forward to the coming week as well. Matthew's parents will be visiting from California (arriving Tuesday evening). We are looking forward to spending time with them and to Matthew's ordination interview (Tuesday), Graduation (Friday), and our Dr. and Ultrasound appointment (Monday) among other things. Check back next week for more updates.

One Day Left

2008-05-05T19:28:00.000-07:00

Sorry I haven't been very good about keeping up with the blog lately. It's been a hectic finish to the semester the last couple of weeks but we are doing well. Tomorrow is my last day of classes at Seminary. Next week my parents are coming up to visit and will be here for my graduation on May 16th. We're looking forward to having some time over the next few weeks to celebrate the completion of my seminary degree and spend some time with friends who will be starting to go their seperate ways soon.

I should be able to do a better job of keeping things updated during the next couple of months. I'll keep busy enough looking for a job and preparing for our transition but I'll still have some time to relax and hopefully stay in touch a little better.

In the mean time I wanted to let you all know that I have a phone interview with a church in Crawfordsville, IN on Thursday. I don't know a whole lot about the church or job yet but it is still good to see things moving along. We'd appreciate your prayers. Thanks!

God Closes a Door

2008-04-21T19:02:00.000-07:00

We heard from First Baptist Church of Clovis today. They've decided to go in a different direction with regard to their staffing plans (which I took to mean they're not going to add a full time associate pastor right now). They didn't elaborate beyond that which is probably just as well.

As you might expect we're feeling kind of disappointed right now. We were pretty excited about this possibility the church was healthy and growing, the position sounded like a great fit for Matthew, it was close to family and as a bonus we already had good friends at the church. We've been praying that if God had something different in mind for us that he would close this door so that is how we're trying to look at this decision but we're still a little bummed out for now.

Please keep praying for our job search. We've got some conversations started with a few other churches but nothing is very far along. We're continuing to look around for other possibilities as well. Thanks for all of your prayers and words of encouragement.

Our Trip to Clovis

2008-04-14T20:16:00.000-07:00

Here’s a quick overview of our visit to First Baptist Church or Clovis (FBCC) this past weekend. We had a really good visit. The church treated us like royalty not only flying us down but renting us a car, putting us up in a nice hotel, feeding us tons of wonderful food and on and on.

Matthew flew down Thursday afternoon and spent the evening hanging out with his friend Nick (the youth pastor at FBCC) and a bunch of high school students who come over for Bible Study every Thursday night. Friday morning he got a chance to tour the church and get to know most of the staff in an informal setting and over lunch. Friday afternoon Emily flew down and that night the Sr. Pastor and his wife took us both out to dinner where we had a chance to get to know each other a bit.

The folks at FBCC were thoughtful enough to keep most of our Saturday free so we could have some time for ourselves. We took advantage of the opportunity to meet Emily's immediate family in Turlock (halfway between Roseville and Clovis) for lunch and a short visit. Then Saturday night we had pizza with the staff and some of the church board members and had a chance to answer questions on a whole range of topics.

Sunday we got to church early enough for Emily to get a quick tour and then attended the first service. Between services we met briefly with a couple board members who couldn't make it Saturday so we could answer their questions and then we got to hear our friend Nick speak at the youth service which runs concurrently with the second main Sunday service. After all of that the Sr. Pastor took us out for one last fabulous meal and we all had a chance to ask a few more questions and offer some impressions in a kind of debriefing session.

We don't expect to hear anything for at least a couple of weeks which gives us plenty of time to continue to process our experience and get whatever insight we can about this decision from people that we know and trust. Of course we don't even know if we will have a decision to make, there is no guarantee they will make us an offer but so far we're feeling pretty positive about the possibility of joining this church if they do. It is a healthy and growing church and seems to have some needs that fit Matthew's skills and interests. We continue to appreciate your prayers for wisdom for both us and the leaders of FBCC in considering this possibility.

FBCC Visit

2008-04-08T14:17:00.000-07:00

This weekend Emily and I will be visiting First Baptist Church of Clovis (FBCC) near Fresno, CA to discuss the possability of my joining their pastoral staff. I will be flying down Thursday afternoon and Emily join me on Friday. We will stay through Sunday evening but don't have the details on how exaclty we will be spending that time yet.

One of my very best friends, Nick Bradley (he was Best Man at our wedding) is the youth pastor FBCC so we know a little about this church and they know a bit about me through him. The church would like to create a new pastoral position to oversee discipleship and small groups and help out with some teaching ministry. Right now this sounds like exactly the type of position that I've been looking for. In addition the idea of being on staff with Nick and being only 3 hours from "home" (Roseville, where our families live) is very appealing, plus some of our very best friends from Seminary (Luke & Virginia Thomas) would only be 45 minutes away in their new home. With all of this in mind we are very excited about this possability but are trying to keep an open mind and really seek God's will in this.

We will let you all know how things go and when we have any hard information we will post it here promptly. In the mean time we would really appreciate your prayers for God's peace and clear guidance both for us and for the leadership of FBCC as we explore this possibility together. I continue to be in various levels of contact exploring possible Associate Pastor positions with a number of other churches but right now this potential opportunity is front and center in hearts and minds.

P.S. If you're curious about FBCC you can check out their website at http://www.fbclovis.com/

Spring Break in New York

2008-03-31T17:56:00.001-07:00

We had a lot of fun on our trip to New York. It wasn't probably as relaxing Spring Break as we might have benefited from but we had a good time and squeezed a fair bit of the New York experience into our three days there.

The Manhattan Skyline from the Ferry to Ellis Island (Tuesday)

On Monday we got up dark and early (4:30am) had a quick breakfast, walked to the max station and got to the airport with plenty of time to spare. Our flight was oversold so they offered us $200 in travel vouchers each to fly through Atlanta instead of direct. We accepted and it wasn't until we were being rushed on to the plane going to Atlanta (it was leaving earlier) that we realized it meant we wouldn't be sitting together on that leg of the flight. So that was kind of lame but we connected fine in Atlanta and got to fly first class together from there to New York. Our two-leg flight meant that we got in to JFK 90 minutes later than we would have so by the time we tracked down our luggage (taken to but not yet scanned in at the luggage storage facility because it arrived on the direct flight that landed earlier) and took the subway all the way to Grand Central station we were pretty wiped out. Fortunately it was just a short walk to the hotel and after a rest we walked down 5th Avenue to the Empire State building and over to Times Square.

Emily in front of the Brooklyn Bridge (Thursday)

Matthew with Lady Liberty in the background (Tuesday)

Tuesday we slept in a bit had a big breakfast at the diner next to our hotel and then headed down to Battery Park for a trip over to Ellis Island. The weather was beautiful but the lines were long. We ended up boarding our ferry around noon and enjoyed the ride and a cool audio tour of Ellis Island itself. We were back at Battery Park around 4pm where we had a hot dog and enjoyed some street performers before walking through the financial district, past the bull statue, down Wall Street and over to the New York Stock exchange. From there we made our way over to Ground Zero before heading over to Times Square to see about discount Broadway tickets. We didn't like the selection too much and were pretty pooped so we went back to the hotel and relaxed for a while. When our appetites returned we took the subway down to Chinatown and found a hole in the wall Chinese food place that our guidebook had recommended. It was obviously good because it was packed out but we didn't have to wait. The food was great and we shared a table with a couple from California which was fun.

The Statue of Liberty (Tuesday)

Wednesday we got a little earlier start, just coffee and a bagel for breakfast and plenty of snacks in out backpack and we headed to the Metropolitan museum of art. We spent a little over 4 hours exploring the art work from various time periods and regions, not counting a 30 minute break to have a snack and enjoy the sun in Central Park. From there it was over to Times Square to try for discount tickets again, this time we were early enough for a good selection of shows. There was a line but it moved quickly and we got tickets to a musical comedy for half price with time for a bit of a rest before dinner. After a little down time we got ready for our night on the town and headed down to Union Square for a fancy dinner at the Blue Water Grill. After dinner it was off to the theater district for our play. It was called Curtains a light hearted murder mystery with plenty of silliness and big song dance numbers. It starred David Hyde Pierce ("Niles" from Frasier) who was excellent and we really enjoyed ourselves.

Emily in front of the Flatiron building (Thursday)

The Empire State Building at night (Monday)

Thursday morning we got up fairly early packed up our stuff, checked our suitcase and checked out of our hotel before heading out for our last day in New York. We got Jamba Juice for breakfast and drank it while walking North on 5th Avenue past Rockefeller Center, St Patrick's Cathedral and some of the world's most famous stores. We even ducked inside FAO Shwarz to warm up and play for a while before heading down another block and beginning our exploration of Central Park. We spent several hours wandering through the park from it's woodsy interior (called "the ramble") to it's children's zoo, it's famous carousel, it's Shakespearean theater and Belvedere Castle which provided a great view. After all that walking we had worked up an appetite. We took the Subway over to Brooklyn and walked down to a little place under the Brooklyn Bridge called Grimaldi's in search of New York's best pizza, according to the people we'd met Tuesday night (and apparently the cityguide website). After a short wait we settled in and devoured a ham, olive and mushroom masterpiece. We took a short walk down by the water to take in a view of the bridges and buildings that make New York famous and then rode the subway the long way around so as to catch the line back into Manhattan that would take us across the Manhattan Bridge for some more views. We even still had time to make a quick stop to see the Flatiron building before buying our tickets at Grand Central for the 4:00pm shuttle to JFK and grabbing our suitcase and some Starbucks for the road. The traffic to the airport was horrid but we were able to relax and had no problem making our 6:55pm flight. After a long, but thankfully direct, flight home we made our way home and collapsed into bed thankful that we had Friday to unpack and recover from an amazing but draining trip.

Matthew in front of Belvedere Castle in Central Park (Thursday)

Matthew's Quirks

2008-03-20T08:43:00.000-07:00

I didn't make this up but I got "tagged" so I guess I'll play along.

1. Link to the person who tagged you.
That would be Sara Greco: http://bighairbetty.blogspot.com/

2.Post the rules.
Done.

3. Share six non-important things/habits/quirks about yourself.
See Below. I'm posting for myself (Matthew) only. If Emily wants to come back and list her quirks later she can but I'm not going to go there.

4. Tag at least 3 people.
Um...I don't read a ton of blogs but I guess I'll go with:
1. The Jordans - http://fljordanfamily.blogspot.com/
2. The Bankers - http://littlebylittleonetravelsfar.blogspot.com/
and
3. Jason Kirkpatrick - http://idrinkicedtea.blogspot.com/

5.Make sure the people you tagged know you tagged them by commenting to them.
Taken care of.

Matthew's six quirks:

1. I'm a bit of a language Nazi: I can handle the occasional grammatical error or mispronounced word OK but there are certain misuses of language that really bug me. The worst is when someone uses the word "literally" for emphasis but then follows it with a figure of speech. Sportscasters are really bad for this one: "He's literally carrying his team to victory" (No you idiot he's figuratively carrying his team, if he were literally carrying his team they'd all be on his back) or "He literally flew over the defender" (Really, did he sprout wings? Did he get in an airplane? or did he just jump really high so that it seemed like he was flying). I don't mind figurative language but don't go out of your way to say you're not using a figure of speech and then use one anyway.

2. I hate sticky fingers: This wouldn't be that odd except that in all actuality I'm kind of a slob. I'm not neat and I spill stuff pretty easily but for some reason anything sticky on my fingers is really annoying to me. I've always been that way. I hated paste when I was in kindergarten and to this day when I eat something sticky with my fingers I compulsively touch them together until I can wipe them (repeatedly) on something. My wife calls me "napkin boy" for this one.

3. The noise of scratching cardboard is torture to me: I'm not exaggerating. My skin crawls (figuratively) when I hear finger nails against cardboard, or cardboard scraping against concrete or something like that. That noise is far worse to me than fingernails on a chalk board and I actually get a horrible physical sensation when I hear it. My wife thought it was funny at first but when she realized how bad it really was for me she stopped using it to tease me.

4. I am a leg shaker: I'm convinced this is hereditary. My dad does it worse than me and his dad does it and both my brothers do it. When I'm sitting around kind of relaxed with my foot flat on the ground and my thigh parallel to the floor my leg frequently shake up and down rapidly with my heel striking the floor and the balls of my feet staying put. I don't even realize I'm doing it until someone gives me a dirty look because they can feel the ground shaking. It is really weird, I have no idea why it happens.

5. I am a slow reader: I'm not sure how quirky it is but people who don't know me real well might be surprised to learn that I am really a very slow reader, especially for a Grad student. I almost never read faster than I would be able to read aloud. I have to hear the words in my head to really follow what I'm reading. If I really focus I can make myself read a bit faster but my comprehension goes way down. When I read slow and "hear" the words I have very high comprehension and really enjoy reading, it just takes me forever.

6. I can't remember numbers: For most things I have a pretty good memory. Words stick in my brain particularly well and I generally can remember names, concepts, even directions OK but numbers are another story. I have almost no phone numbers or addresses memorized. Even when I hear a new phone number I have to keep saying it to myself or I'll forget it in like 10 seconds. If I say it to myself for a whole minute and then am distracted for 20 seconds and haven't written it down I will have lost it. Fortunately Emily is great at remembering numbers so I can just tell them to her instead of writing them down all the time.

Well there you have it, six of my quirks.

Busy Weekend

2008-03-15T15:28:00.000-07:00

Emily has been feeling better energy wise, which is a good thing considering our busy weekend. Friday night we went out for dinner and then saw the Beaverton High School production of "Once Upon A Mattress" one of Emily's students played the lead (Princess Winifred) and is extremely talented. It was a good show and we really enjoyed it. Afterward we went to the local Dairy Queen and got to use the 2 for 1 coupon Emily has been saving for months.

Today Emily had a Student Wives Fellowship event from 8:30 until about 1pm and then tonight we are going to a joint birthday party for two of our friends that are classmates of mine at Multnomah. Tomorrow Emily teaches Sunday School and I'm helping lead a meeting for all of our welcome ministry personelle before church. After church there is a potluck and meeting for all of the Young Adults which we are attending and then in the evening we have Life Group.

It's all fun stuff but makes life a little crazy. Emily's napping right now (good idea) and we'll both need to rest up and get some work done in the coming week so we'll have energy and freedom to enjoy our Spring Break in New York.

To our prayer warriors out there thanks for praying for Emily. She has been doing better. Please pray for her dental health. Her gums have been receding (which is normal) and now have reached the point where food or water can get between the gum and tooth in a few places. She'll try to get in with a dentist before we leave for New York.

Job Search Update

2008-02-28T11:13:00.000-08:00

Most of you know that Matthew is in the process of looking for a ministry job for after he graduates in May. Many of you have been praying for this search and some have been asking how the process is going so I thought I'd give you an update.

Over winter break I worked on preparing my resume and gathering resources for the job search process. I also completed the lengthy application for accreditation with the Christian and Missionary Alliance (C&MA), the denomination I grew up in. I also decided to focus his search (at least initially) on Associate Pastor positions working with Adults in teaching and discipling type ministry (jobs that weren't primarily Youth, Administrative or Worship Pastor duties). This narrows the focus considerably but it is where I think I can be most effective in ministry.

At the beginning of February I began to circulate his resume, sending it to just about everyone I knew who might know someone who might know about a job opening that might be right for me. I also began checking for job openings that might fit him on Ministry job search sites. To date I’ve submitted more than 30 resumes for Associate Pastor positions that looked like they might be a good fit at churches all over the country (from NY to FL to AZ to WA). For the most part these churches are still in the process of reviewing resumes and deciding which individuals to give consideration to so I’m in waiting mode for those.

A few churches have responded either indicating they are considering other applicants while a couple others have sent more detailed information and requested applications to be returned or suggested we set up a time to speak on the phone. This has been encouraging but still leaves us a very long way from finding the right position so even as I prepare to begin a few conversations I am continuing to review websites for new openings, consider potential referrals from people I know and wait on churches who are still considering my resume. I’m also waiting for the C&MA to finish reviewing my application and schedule an accreditation interview which might open up some additional opportunities.

The process of settling on the right ministry position is lengthy and complex. After considering resumes a church will generally want more detailed information from a candidate either by filling out an application or speaking on the phone. Additionally I need to find out more about the church and the position to decide if I want to continue to pursue that job. If things move along from there the next step would usually be for Emily and I to visit a church to get a better feel for it and talk to the leaders in charge of making the decision. Again we would be interviewing them even as they interviewed us to make sure both sides felt it was a good fit. Often a second or even third visit would be desired before a church would officially decide to “call” me and we would be able to confidently accept. At this point, depending on the church, there could be additional steps required before I could officially be hired, such as a congregational vote or denominational approval.

As you can imagine even if one of the churches I’ve already contacted turns out to be the right fit it is likely that we won’t know for sure for a number of months. This means that we’re not optimistic about knowing for sure where we’ll be heading long term when we have to move in June. That’s OK because assuming things are still up in the air we’re planning to move to the Sacramento area for the interim while I continue to search and follow up with the process and perhaps work some. This would allow us to be close to family when our baby is born and get in good visits with the people we’re closest to before we potentially move far away.

So that is where things stand. We appreciate your continued prayers and any other leads you might hear about. The more contacts we make the more conversations we can potentially start the better chance we have of finding a really good fit in reasonable amount of time. Thank you all. We love you!

Big News!!!

2008-02-21T09:46:00.001-08:00

Well it is time to officially let the world know.

We're going to have a baby!!!

This is from the ultrasound we had on Monday. It confirmed that Emily is about 9 weeks along and that everything is looking good in terms of baby's health. Our official due date is September 25th, 2008. Baby's heart rate was a healthy 171 BPM.

So far Emily's symptoms have been very manageable. She has definitely felt a variety of symptoms (nauseau, fatigue, etc.) but so far she has been able to keep everything down and hasn't had to miss any work. We would appreciate your prayers for her and also for the health of the baby. We can't wait to meet him or her and introduce him/her to all of you!

In case the ultrasound picture just looks like a blob to you (and lets face it unless you already know what you're looking at it is just a blob) here is a more discernable image of what our baby looks like at this stage of development.

Thanks for sharing in our big news and for all your prayers and well wishes. As we have more details to share we will keep you all posted through this blog.

"KJV Only" Preacher on the theology of pee

2008-02-20T20:12:00.001-08:00

OK, so Emily can't get blamed for this one, it's all Matthew. When I saw this I didn't know whether to laugh, cry, or get mad so I posted it here.

The guy is right about the phrase appearing 6 times (although the numerology he refers to is bogus) and that it is only translated lliterally in the KJV. It is translated males elsewhere. If he were willing to look at the original Biblical languages he'd actually see that the KJV is doing a pretty fair literal translation as well, word for word that is what the Hebrew says but where he goes from there is absolutely crazy.

All 6 times the phrase is used (1 Sam 25:22, 1 Sam 25:34, 1Ki 14:10, 1Ki 16:11, 1Ki 21:21, and 2Ki 9:8) it is part of a promise to wipe out all the males of a certain family. It is clearly a deragatory phrase referring to men and it is not a statement about manhood to be emulated, so "males" isn't an inappropriate translation but you could argue it is less literal.

This guy obviously hasn't bothered to think about the point of any of these passages and just likes to pull Biblical phrases out to support his rants on personal issues. This is a very extreme example of the kind of twisted "pull and prove" use of isolated Bible verses that lead Christians astray and give Christianity and the Bible a bad name.

Incidently, the reason some people (in Europe or wherever they might be) discourage peeing standing up isn't to emasculate men it's because they no men don't always have perfect aim. Worse yet some men don't bother to clean up after themselves if they do "miss the mark" so sitting is encouraged. Maybe this preahcer never "misses the mark" but it is interesting to note that if his KJV wanted to stay hyper-literal the Greek word it translates as "sin" in the New Testament could be literally translated as "miss the mark" so that Romans 3:23 could read literally as "all have missed the mark and come short of the glory of God". Hmm...maybe he should reconsider his refusal to sit down.

Matthew is Published (sort of)

2008-02-12T11:56:00.000-08:00

One of my professors, Dr. Paul Metzger, has set up Blog to interact with issues related to his new book Consuming Jesus: Beyond Race and Class Divisions in a Consumer Church .

To get the ball rolling he selected a few student papers to be published on the blog. Mine paper titled, Church Discipline in a Consumer Culture: A Call for Compelling Community was selected. In the essay I discuss how the tendancy of the evangelical culture to treat church goers as consumers has undercut the Bible's model for corrective church discipline and suggest stronger community within church congregations as the best remedy. If you're interested in reading it or just curious about the Blog or Dr. Metzger's book go ahead and click over to: http://consumingjesus.org/ my paper is in the "essays" section.

New Laptop

2008-02-07T12:29:00.000-08:00

On Monday we received our new Dell Laptop computer. The HP laptop I have been using was given to me by my Dad about four years ago when it was time for him to upgrade. It has been servicible with a replaced hard drive and new battery getting us another year out of it but it has been freezing inexplicablly from time to time and it's power cord is so worn that it only charges the computer if you arrange it just right. We have desktop also but it was purchased before Emily started college and has 25% of the RAM reccomended for running Windows 95. So we decided it was time to get a new computer.

Our new Dell Laptop (left) doesn't look all that different (except for the duct tape on the power cord) from our old HP (right) but it functions on an entirely different level.

Emily played with it some on Monday night and yesterday I was able to get it set up to access the Multnomah internet network. It's very nice and we expect to be very happy with it. Thanks to Mom & Dad Hallsten who let us use their consumer report info. and my brother Dane who helped us determine what features to order. We feel like we got a good deal. It will be nice for me to be able to sit through a class without worrying about having my power cord nudged and my computer dying or having it randomly freeze in the middle of a lecture.

If anyone knows someone who is desperate for a free laptop that functions but has plenty of issues let us know. We'll be donating it (and probablly the desk top too) somewhere in the next 5 months.

The Simple Church

2008-01-24T17:37:00.001-08:00

One of my Christmas presents from Emily was the book The Simple Church by Thom S. Rainer and Eric Geiger. I just finished it yesterday. I thought it was great. I found myself thinking about ideas of how to apply it in real life in some imaginary church setting that I might find myself in some time in the next year.

The basic premise of the book is that most churches try to do too much and don't have a clear process for how to become a mature disciple of Christ. Individual programs clutter up the calender and compete for time money and energy but don't necessarily work together or lead people to greater maturity. The result is a lack of excellence and spiritual stagnation while every one works harder and gets more stressed trying to maintain (and even add to) an overwhelming list of disconnected church programs.

Rainer and Geiger propose that every church should come up with a simple process for making disciples characterized by clarity, movement, alignment and focus. Clarity means that it is clear to the leadership and the people of the church how the church works and what the process for growth is. Movement means that the process is sequential with a clear next step as people proceed through each stage of growing maturity. Alignment means that the same process is adhered to throughout all aspects of the church ministry. Focus means that only programs that are crucial to helping people move through the process are maintained, everything else is eliminated so that the church can focus on the process.

Rainer and Geiger make a great case for this model and back it up with some impressive research. It's a little simplistic (which I guess makes sense) but I think it is an important rethinking of the way churches tend to approach ministry. I would highly recommend this book to anyone involved in leading a church. It's a quick and easy read and I'd be happy to loan you my copy (just ask me).

New York City

2008-01-18T15:01:00.000-08:00

Here we come. Well, in about 8 weeks, anyway.

We wanted to take advantage of our last Spring break (hopefully next Spring Matthew will be gainfully employed and unavailable for travel). After considering a number of destinations (all domestic considering the current state of the US$) we decided that the Grand Canyon and Orlando, FL would make fine family vacations in the future but NYC might be now or never so we're going for it.

Wednesday night we bought our airline tickets. We'll be in the Big Apple for three days and three nights flying out of Portland the morning of Monday March 24th and arriving home late on the night of Thursday March 27th. So far we don't have any set plans for what we'll be doing and seeing while we're there (we haven't even booked a hotel yet) so if any of you have any tips or recommendations feel free to send them our way.

Jean Quilt

2008-01-18T14:55:00.000-08:00

One of the things that Emily was really excited about over Christmas break was the chance to make some progress on her jean quilt. She caught the vision for the project even before we got married but unfortunately everything has been sitting in a box untouched for the past year and a half. But over the past two weeks Emily was able to transform the stack of old jeans into a completed quilt top. She still has to insert the battine and sew on the back lining but getting this far feels pretty darn good. With the progress she's made in the past two weeks she has high hopes for finishing the rest up before we move this summer.

Celebrity Look-alikes

2008-01-08T13:16:00.000-08:00

So I was playing around on the internet today and found a site that lets you scan a photo of yourself and then will tell you what celebrities you supposedly look like. It sounded kind of fun so I tried it.

My beautiful wife apparently looks like a combination of women like Kate Bosworth, Christie Brinkley, and Marcia Cross.

I on the otherhand seem to be an odd combination of Patrick Swayze, Pablo Piccaso, and the Nortious B.I.G.

California Christmas

2008-01-04T12:00:00.001-08:00

We had a wondeful trip down to California over our Christmas break. We left after church on December 23rd and arrived home on the night of January 2nd. Our time was filled with yummy food, good friends, and of course family. It seemed like there was a non-stop parade of people we loved that we wanted to visit with. Here are some highlights.

We spent time with good friends many of whom we hadn't seen in some time. A few examples:

Nick and Jody Bradley with daughter Ashlyn and dog Kiwi

Emily with her high school friends Angela (left) and Rachna (center)

Emily and Matthew with Ed and Mollie Tanjoco and their son Ben

Matt and Sara Greco with sons Ezra and Justus and newborn daughter Gianna

We enjoyed celebrating Christmas with both sides of our family. Christmas Eve at the Brooks home was a raucus and joyful afair (pictured below). Christmas morning at the Hallstens was a little more subdued but no less enjoyable (Peter, we're waiting on pictures). All of the celebration in honor of Christ's birth was very special.

Highlights of our family time included playing with our nephews and niece, seeing and (in Emily's case) meeting Matthew's Aunt, Uncle and cousins who have been in Brazil as missionaries for the last four years, visiting with Emily's Aunt, Uncle and cousins from the bay area and a special New Years day game and food bonanza which both sides of the family participated in.

The Brooks, Hallsten, White, Clark, Rovenstine and Mathew families (all represented in this photo) converged on New Years day to eat and play together.

Matthew plays with our youngest nephew Koen

At the Railroad Museum Emily and Matthew's sister Christy each hold one of nephew Micah's hands with Matthew's mom in the background and cousins Rachel and Caleb White to the right and left in the foreground.

Matthew and Emily pose with Emily's sister Krista Hallsten and cousins Eric and Jason Hallsten at the Hallsten home in Roseville.

Emily had a blast playing with niece Emmaleigh Rose Brooks

Matthew got really in to reading nephew Micah Rovenstine his new truck book
We had a truly wonderful trip and thank God for safe travel great friends and wonderful family. We're especially grateful that both sides of the family are in the same place so we can see everyone when we go back to visit.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

2007-12-24T14:04:00.000-08:00

Thanks for checking in with us again. We wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a blessed New Year!

We're down in California enjoying time with family and friends. We look forward to posting some photos and a recap of our time when we return to Portland the first week of January. We're also planning a little flashback to our summer before school starts up again for Matthew on January 14th. God Bless!

Summer Roadtrip Flashback

2007-12-21T16:25:00.000-08:00

When we started this blog in September it was in the hopes sharing some of our amazing summer with all of you but as the semester got going I never got around to posting anything from our summer. So we're going to go ahead and post a few highlights now, six months later.

Among other things we took an amazing road trip in August. On August 4th we left Portland, OR to head for Spokane, WA home of the Bunkers and our first stop. From Spokane we drove to Priest River, ID where we stayed with Matthew's Aunt and Uncle Mike & Ruth for two days that included visiting the church Mike pastors and a drive up to Priest Lake to see our friends the Vancils who had just begun a ministry there.

Us with Mike & Ruth Brooks (top) and Ted & Kathy Vancil (bottom)

From Priest River we headed east across Idaho and Western Montana to visit our friends Matt Reed and Annie Masscorro in Missoula, MT. We got to spend an afternoon and evening with them a few months before they left the country for Africa. From there we went further east to beautiful Yellowstone. We camped in Yellowstone for three nights and were able to see a lot of the park. Including the famous geysers...

Amazing wildlife...

and spectacular scenery....

On our way out of the park we drove through the majestic Grand Teton Range, where we took in more of God's amazing creation and even saw a Moose (though we didn't get a picture).

From there it was back to Idaho but this time to the South East corner of the state to visit our friends David and Andrea Zimmerman who had recently moved to Soda Springs, ID from Portland. David has begun serving as a pastor in this small mining town and it was wonderful to see them and learn more about how God has been taking care of them.

David, his sister (to his right) , and Andrea (2nd from right) pose with Emily in front of their home

From Soda Springs it was off to California for 10 fabulous days with friends and family in he Sacramento area. But since it was only going to be an extra 30 to 40 minutes we decided to stop in Salt Lake City, UT on the way. We drove through downtown and took a brief tour of the Mormon Temple before heading west on I-80 across the Great Salt Flats and traversing the Nevada desert on our way home.

We really enjoyed our visit in California as well. It was wonderful to see our parents, siblings, niece and nephews, and many old friends. We thanked God for the time and money to be able to take such an awesome road trip recognizing that most people don't have these kind of opportunities and that we may not have another one for a long time.

All told we traveled through eights states, logging nearly 3500 miles over tree and a half weeks of summer fun and adventures. What a trip!

Christmas Break

2007-12-15T22:34:00.000-08:00

Matthew is done with his semester which means he is finally updating this blog. Sorry, we've been so lame about keeping this current but we're going to renew our efforts.

Although Matthew's semester is done the next few weeks are still pretty busy, but with mostly fun stuff. This morning we had brunch with our seminary friends and this afternoon worked the nursery for our church's Christmas program. This week we will be baking, working on Christmas letters, celebrating Matthew's birthday, cleaning and packing before leaving for California after church on the 23rd.

We will be in Roseville through January 2nd. We're looking forward to seeing family and celebrating Christmas and New Years down there. Check back here after January 3rd for pictures and news from our trip. Between now and then we also hope to post some old stuff from this summer that never got put up.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Prayer Update Fall 2007

2007-09-15T14:32:00.001-07:00

September 12, 2007
Dear praying friends,
God continues to bless us in answer to your faithful prayers. Our summer was truly amazing and the new school year is off to a good start for both of us.

Summer Adventures
Recognizing that this might be our last summer off of work/school together, we did our best to make the most of it. After Matthew took two summer school classes and Emily’s family visited, Emily went to Spain to study Spanish and travel. Meanwhile, Matthew did class work, hung out with friends, helped out at VBS and prepared to preach. (He was able to preach 3 times this summer, and all went well.) With the exception of one horrible travel day, everything came together beautifully for Emily’s trip. She learned a lot, visited many new places, and had many opportunities to talk to people about what it means to be a Christian. Matthew was also well taken care of by friends and God helped him make good use of his time. Thanks for praying!
After 10 days together in Portland we hit the road, traveling almost 3500 miles over three weeks. We had valuable, deep visits with many friends and family and an amazing time camping in Yellowstone. God kept us safe and provided time for us to relax. We both felt ready for the new school year when we arrived home, and your prayers were a big part of that!

Back to School
The school year is already well under way. Matthew is glad to have just four academic classes: Preaching Epistles, Galatians (a Greek class), Spiritual Warfare, and Contemporary Theology and Ethics. We’re both excited that Emily is able to audit Spiritual Warfare. In addition to academics, Matthew continues his internship responsibilities at Central Bible Church and seeks to learn all he can from our Senior Pastor. He also hopes to be looking and applying for ministry jobs.
Emily is teaching three levels of Spanish (1, 2, and 3) at Beaverton High and is very grateful to have the same materials for levels 1 and 3 (for her first time as a teacher!). She is still serving on the Student Wives Fellowship board, helping Multnomah students' wives connect and receive spiritual input. Emily is feeling excited and thankful to have more opportunities for spiritual meat this semester through a women's Bible study at church and the Spiritual Warfare class. Do pray for us both to have wisdom in managing our schedules.

Approaching the Unknown Future
We have really enjoyed our first two years here in Portland and are looking forward to making the most of the year ahead, but even just entering this final year we feel the unknowns of post-graduation future approaching faster than ever. We know what our lives will probably look like between now and July 1st of next year (when we must be out of on-campus housing), but there are so many questions about what comes after that: Where will we live? What will Matthew do for work? Will it be God’s timing for us to start a family? We’re excited about what God has in store for us but also a little bit nervous. We would very much appreciate your prayers as this time of unknowns draws closer.

Praise Updates:
☼ Praise God for enabling Emily to both learn from and enjoy her time in Spain.
☼ Praise God for sustaining us spiritually and emotionally while we were apart.
☼ Praise God for protecting us on the road and blessing our time with friends and family.
☼ Praise God for working it out for us to take Spiritual Warfare together.
☼ Praise God for an encouraging start to a busy school year.
Prayer Requests:
☼ Pray for Matthew to be disciplined and wise in using his time.
☼ Pray for Emily to balance her priorities and set limits to not get overloaded this semester.
☼ Pray for God to provide the right ministry job at the right time.
☼ Pray for God’s perfect timing for us to start a family.
☼ Pray for peace and joy as we look ahead to the unknowns in our future.

Staying Connected
As always, we would love to hear from you! Feel free to call or e-mail us at any time. We’ve also started a blog at MandEmBrooks.blogspot.com. This is another way you can stay connected by reading and commenting as we share what God is doing in our lives. You can also find both of us on Facebook or Matthew on MySpace if you use those services.

Gratefully yours,

Matthew and Emily