My Thanks

We celebrated Thanksgiving on my side of the family a little early this year killing three birds with one stone...Thanksgiving, Gavin's birthday and Carter's Dedication. The past several years we've had the big Thanksgiving celebration at my Aunt Paula and Uncle Doug's house in Topeka. We had the fun of celebrating again this year at their house and it was a lot of fun. Thanks for opening up your house to us!

Below are just a few of the many people I am so Thankful for!

This is Levi...I think (I get Levi and Evan mixed up). Levi was teaching Jeremy how to play Uncle Mark's Wii.




Gavin turning 4!



Miss Clara Marie playing air hockey with her cousins.

My sweet hubby!

This is my Grandma...my last living grandparent on my side of the family.



Drew and Matthew playing the Wii also.

Ethan playing air hockey...little twurp was pretty good at it too!

Drew, Matt and Gavin. I wasn't able to get pictures of all the little ones. Some of them napped most of the afternoon. Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Tagged

I've been tagged from Alisha to give some info about my hubby and I and here it is!

Husband's Name: Jeremy Troy Ekeland. His dad wanted to name him Jesse. Thanks Bonnie for picking Jeremy! Jeremy doesn't seem like he'd be a Jesse.

How Long Married: Three years this past July 16th.

Dated How Long: Well, we've known each other since 1999 and technically weren't allowed to date until he was 17 but we went on dates anyways so I'd say about 6 years.

How Old is He: 22 and a half...his birthday is April 23rd.

Taller: Him...he's 6'5 I'm 5'7

Who Can Sing the Best: probably me

Smart: Jeremy is definitely technical and book smart. His mind is geared toward wires and hands on things. He was always an A student and didn't have to hardly study. He LOVES math and creation too!

Laundry: I'd say Jeremy does more of this then I do. Since we both work full time we've just kind of gotten in the pattern of when we get home from work I'll feed Julia and he just goes and does the laundry...he's so super good to me!

Paying Bills: I pay our school bills and car out of my account and Jeremy takes the mortgage and other bills out of his account.

Who Sleeps on the Right side of the Bed: If you're laying in bed Jeremy is on the right side of the bed...we switched sides last spring!

Mows the Lawn: Jeremy does, I love to mow but when I was pregnant and ever since I had Julia he won't let me touch the thing.

Cooks Dinner: Usually me but Jeremy helps me out quite a bit

First to Admit Their Wrong: I am extremely stubborn would have to admit that Jeremy is the first. I've gotten better though but still need to work on it.

Who Kissed First: Jeremy kissed me first.

Who Wears the Pants: We both make decisions together or find a way to compromise. Jeremy can be so quiet and I can be so loud that quite a few people have made comments that I (Jennalee) am the one to wear the pants...hahaha that's understandable.

And here he is:

Now I tag Katrina, Jess M., and Tami V.

And He Answered!!!

The full time positioned opened up at Hospice! God's timing was absolutely perfect! I received the call from my new boss on my last day at the hospital (although I was at home very sick)...much sooner then I expected. God is so good to our family and Jeremy and I have so much to be Thankful for...not just at this time of year but all year round!

Out on a Limb...God I'm in your Hands!

Today I resigned at the hospital, giving my two weeks and starting full time training at Hospice December 1st. I am so incredibly excited about this opportunity and am in love with the care and support that Hospice supplies to their patients. I've started orienting already on days that I have free in between home life and still working at the hospital. We prayed for a couple of months about this decision and finally ran with what we felt God was telling me to do.

The Joy of this job is that it's Monday through Friday, pretty close to 8am-5pm hours, one on call weekend a month or so (no other weekends except the on call weekend!), awesome paid time off accumulation, the freedom of being able to see Julia or Jeremy during the day or take Julia to an appointment if needed and fantastic staff to work with who have devotions every morning together and lift each other up.

Through all these positives I have a heavy, burdened heart yet a peace only God can give. It is way to entirely long to try to describe on here but if you think of Jeremy, Julia and I...would you keep us in your prayers. We (together) made this decision about my job and knew that it was a perfect chance to go out on a limb giving ourselves the only option to give our lives fully and completely to God to meet our needs...His "future" perfect timing for moving me to a full time status, providing good insurance and meeting all of our financial needs. I personally can become very scared about the next several months being so uncertain if I don't consistently pound into my brain that God is BIGGER then this situation, he has put this through his filter first, don't try to calculate without Him...it's not going to work if I do and that he is carrying myself and my family in his hands...I would be crazy to think that God would ever let us (me) fall out of His hands.

God's Blessings...Some Hidden

Our week has been quite a whirlwind so far filled with Blessings, Challenges and sickness...

It's easy for me to forget the Blessings hidden within lifes challenges...big and small. So I'm making this blog to remind myself of what I do have to be Thank ful for, and, that I really don't have it that bad at all.

Challenge: I (Jennalee) was hit like a brick wall with a horrible sinus infection Saturday night and have missed 3 days of work so far.

Blessing: I am slowly getting back into the grove of things and should be back to work by the end of the week

Challenge: Julia is teething like the house is on fire and our evenings have been filled with a feverish, fussy, slobber soaked baby...poor thing.

Blessing: She still manages to smile, chatter at us, giggle and be happy through it all...look at this face!

Challenge: Jeremy had his teeth cleaned this afternoon and he has six cavities...and his insurance doesn't cover dental :-(

Blessing: The dentist is going to shave some off of his crooked/tilted teeth to make all his teeth more aligned and the dark spots (that have been there since his teeth came in and the spots with the cavities) on his teeth will be blended with the natural color of the rest of his teeth which Jeremy has always wanted to have taken care of!

Other Blessings:

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  We're celebrating the Will extended family Thanksgiving this weekend...it'll be exciting to see everyone!


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  I might have a greater opportunity approaching with Hospice soon. Please Pray!!!


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  I have had orders from my personal business this week! (we'll need it to pay for those teeth! HAHA, Bless Jeremy's heart)


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  We have a healthy and stable family and home.

On a more upbeat note, here's little Babe with her "Learning Doll" that Karen gave her. She loves to eat her dolls. Hope this isn't a sign of her interaction with her future siblings!

Judgement House Makeup

Our church presented Judgement House again this year (a walk through drama showing you life consequences to choices you make or do not make). I helped with makeup again and had the privilage of working with these fun guys. My mom made up the Satan's (this is Adam) and I made up the Damian actors.

Joel after make up getting ready to peform.
Over all effect was to look aged, like he'd been in hell a long time and with lots of blistery wounds/sores. Was it successful?

I also did Kelsey and James' "Damian make up" too!