He's 21

Happy 21st Birthday Daniel!

Oh my goodness! It is hard

to believe that my baby brother is 21! This young man is truly special! He has a heart for Jesus like you wouldn't believe. He is hard working, loyal, kind, compassionate, giving, BOLD for the Lord, determined, and joyful! He has become a man of integrity who passionately seeks Jesus! Oh and he can play some mean worship! The Lord has truly gifted him in many ways and yet we consider him alone a gift to us! Tu and pray that our Tre Tre grows to be a man of God like his Uncle D. Dan we love you and pray the Lord blesses your birthday and your life with more of Him! WE truly thank JESUS for you! Happy Birthday

Daniel! Keep serving and shining for JESUS!

Love you Uncle D

Thanksgiving in Tahoe

I pray you all had a blessed thanksgiving! God is so very good! Seriously I feel so blessed to know Jesus. I know that every good gift comes from Him! James 1:17

This year for Thanksgiving and in celebration of D's 21st b-day, and my dad's b-day in december the Lord blessed us with the opportunity to go to Lake Tahoe. My parents were able to rent a cabin for us all to celebrate and come together and spend time with each other reflecting upon all the Lord is and all He blesses us with! Thanks Dad and Mom for all you did to make this time happen! We appreciate it!

We had a wonderful time enjoying time together. Nanny Sue (my grandma) join us for a few days, which was amazing, and we also had the Mendez family and JR join us for thanksgiving! It was a blessing all around! Nanny Sue taught the kids how to make a traditional Syrian food "Fatoyers." We enjoyed the snow (Tre just loved it, Aaliyah wasn't so sure, but still had fun), reading, watching old home videos, playing in the snow, playing board games, and just hangin with each other! Thank you JESUS for the Joy you bring through family!

Oh and Praise Jesus for His faithfulness and answered prayer to keep us all safe! THank you LORD!

Here are a few pictures from our trip... and a slide show of more for those who care to watch :)

Love and Joy in Jesus,

~Jewels~

Thank You JESUS!

Oh The Lord is sooooooooooo good! I am so thankful to Jesus for so many things this Thanksgiving! Here are a few....

*Jesus

*God's Grace, love, correction, encouragement, gentleness, wisdom, strength, provision. He is amazing isn't He!!!

* Life

*My wonderful Husband

* Our Children

* Family

* Friends

*Home

* Job

* Working Cars

*Safety

*Love and Joy

*Health

* Time with family

* I could go on and on!!!

God is soooooooooo good! To Him Be all glory!

Every good and perfect gift is from above! James 1:17

My Best

I am thankful for...

My Man. My Best. God's Best for me!

So in college, after the Lord confirmed we were to be together, Tu and I would always say to each other... You are my best! He is truly my best! Well besides JESUS of course! Tu is such a gift to me and I treasure this man the Lord has given me.

Tu you are an amazing man! You bring so much joy my life! I love how you reflect about old times and yet still enjoy making new memories together. I love how you can laugh about silly things! Your perseverance, determination, commitment to JESUS have held strong during some trying times! YOu continue to strive for excellence and pursue the Lord's will in everything you do! Thank you for fighting for our Faith! Thank you for fighting for our Family!

You truly are fighting the good fight as the Lord commands us!

You have taught me so much about humility and you truly do humble yourself many times. I have watched as you allow the Lord to fight for you in situations and He always shows you favor as your surrendered to Him!

Thank you for being a man of integrity, for placing Christ first and striving to place us (your family) right after Him. Fighting to keep us a priority when it would be so easy to let work and success steal you. Thank you for being proud of your Savior and proud of your family! We are so proud of you! I am honored to call you my Husband and my BEST friend! I know I speak boldly for the kids... they are honored to call you daddy! Your amazing!

I (we) are so very thankful for you! I truly Praise JESUS for your life and that I have been able to share life with you! I love you with all my heart and treasure you dearly!

Thank you oh my sweet Jesus for this man you have blessed me with! I prayed years for Him and He is more then I could have thought or imagined... Just as you promised Lord!

Thank you Jesus for TU!

Special People; Special Thanks

With Thanksgiving right around the corner I just had to share about this lovely lady and why I am so thankful for her!

There are those few people in life who have the amazing gift of giving and serving and expecting nothing in return. That is our Kollene! This beautiful Lady overflows with giving, serving, and joy! Just look at that smile! She radiates Jesus!

Since we moved here it has been a blessing for our family to have Kollene in our lives. She is a long time friend of my dear aunt Ellen and really all the Browns, and we just happen to move near her town. She has a wonderful husband and four daughters who are all grown and in college :), but one, Haley, who attends the school Tu works at. Amazing how the Lord works!

Mrs. Kollene is what the kids call her and they love her to death! She showers us with love, special treats, and time with her.

And

She watches the kids so I can run errands or get out for a bit. Oh and this last Friday she allowed Tu and I (and Jaylin, who really is so easy to take) go out on a date! It was so wonderful! Wonderful to get out and wonderful to know that our babies were safe with Mrs. Kollene and Haley.

Seriously, do you know many people who are that generous with their time, finances, and treasures? She is a true gift and I thank JESUS for her!

But wait there is more...

She not only blesses us with all of those wonderful things, but she truly brings the Joy of Jesus everytime she comes! She is a wonderful Wife and Mommy and inspires me to strive to do the same! Her wisdom and love are straight from Jesus and I quickly try to glean any and all she will share! She is both beautiful inside and out and is a gem! She is so refreshing! And as a stay at home mommy of 3, who are 3 and under, being refreshed is such a gift!

Thank you to my dear friend Kollene! You are a treasure and I am so thankful to Jesus for you!

I love you! We love you!

Proverbs and Popcorn

So when I was young my dad and mom taught us to read one chapter of Proverbs a day. There are 31 and so you can read one for each day of the week! For example yesterday was the 19th so we read Proverbs 19. Today the 20th so the 2oth chapter of Proverbs is read. It's a great way start time with Jesus daily! okay, I wanted to share a verse the Lord spoke to Tu and I in Proverbs 19.

Proverbs 19:23

The Fear of the Lord leads to LIFE,

and he who has it will abide in Satisfaction;

He will not be visited with evil.

I was so blessed to read that when we FEAR the Lord, to have the reverence and understanding that He is all mighty, it brings LIFE. Who doesn't desire Life! Then it says that those who have it will be satisfied! This is the nugget, as I call it, that God gave me. To be satisfied is such desire we all go searching to fill and yet the Lord says it so clearly in His word! Those who Fear me find life and will be satisfied! So it made me take a good hard look at myself and check my heart in areas I am feeling unsatisfied. Refocusing on JESUS and that He can and will be my true satisfaction when I am placing HIm first, desiring to know Him more, and learning to Fear Him. It is then that satisfaction will come in all areas! It reminds me that He is to be on the thrown of my heart and no one or nothing else!

then this passage ends with such an amazing promise. When I do fear Him I not only receive satisfaction, but I will not be visited with evil! Oh, thank you JESUS!

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So yesterday I was blessed to be able to watch my dear friends girls for a few hours. THe kids loved having their friends over! They has such a great time together! We even made popcorn which was a highlight for us all. It was so cute to see how excited they all got watching the machine pop it. Thankful for sweet friends and sweet memories!

Fall Fill In

So check out this fun Fall fact...

So I can't believe that I am living in Cali and experiencing the Fall colors! I LOVED that about the Midwest when I was there and now I get a little sprinkle of it here! The Lord is so good! He has given me opportunity to appreciate His beautiful creation this fall!

We are richly blessed! Look at these beautiful trees!

Some more fun fall news below...

Hi! Hope you all are having a blessed week! I wanted to fill you in on a few things we have been blessed by recently! Fist of all...

God's third little blessing to us is 2 Months and brings such joy to us! It has definitely been an adjustment adding a third baby especially being that we have 3 who are 3 years old and younger, but God is soooooo faithful and we love each one so much! Jaylin is a really calm and good baby, and I just know that it's God's grace as we adjust to 3! So traditionally I like to take the kids to get pictures done each month until they are one. Sometimes I take the pictures and sometimes I go to the portrait studio. So this month for Jaylin I took her 2 months pictures. Here are a few!

Oh and how could I resist a picture of the 3 of them!

Thank you Jesus for our sweet little blessings!

Our prayer is that they Love and serve Jesus all the days of their lives!

Tu's childhood friend came to visit us for a few days. Kids are calling him Uncle Ae'Wag. Tre is loving his company! We were so glad Uncle Ae' Wag came for a visit and we had a ton of fun introducing him to what life is like with 3 little ones! I am sure enjoyed it, but is glad to get home to be able to sleep in and with NO interruptions :) While he was here we went to a football game, took a quick visit to SF, read books, played games, made dinner/cookies and just enjoyed reminiscing about old times! Thanks Aaron!

We enjoyed a few days out with daddy too! Kids love playing at the park, any park! Although I have tried to be more adventurous and find new parks each time! There are so may up here that are really amazing. I even discovered that my gps will find parks in the area that I am located at time of search. That has been fun to play with! :) But sometimes it's easier to go to ones we know. Either way we all enjoy getting out.

After we dropped Aaron at the airport we headed to the city for a visit. This time we went into China Town. I was really wanting some Dim Sum and wanted Tu to try it. It was fun to be down there on a sunday and the kids got their first watches! Tre picked a mickey mouse watch and Aaliyah chose a Dora watch. It was a blessing to enjoy time with the family God has blessed us with! I want to treasure each moment He gives us!

Thanks for stoppin in to check on us! Please continue to pray that the Lord would give us His wisdom and Joy as we serve Him and teach our children to do the same.

Choose Joy,

Jewels~