Future Singing Career?

Here is our goofball singing "Mary has a Motorcyle" (instead of a little lamb) in honor of my dad. Jake loves Grandpa's motorcycle and made up a song about it!

Wrestling

Well, with the boys down early for bed tonight, I was able to take the time to figure out how to put video on the blog. After seeing my sister's and friend Kelsey's videos of their kidlets, I was glad to be able to do this too. Enjoy!

Birds

As some of you may well know, here in the Temple City/Arcadia area, we have become overrun by birds! They are small, green, parrot-like birds with a squawk that is one of the most annoying sounds ever, in my opinion. Well, there are literally hundreds of these pests making their early morning and late evening homes in the trees around our house, and when they all get going, the sound is something to behold, let me tell you. Sometimes, when all the windows are open and we're sitting down for dinner, we actually have to raise our voices to hear each other and carry on conversation! We just figure it's one of those things we must endure for the sake of a superb home and location.

Another walk today, and this time I remembered the camera. We stopped by a local park so Warren could swing and Jake could ride his bike in a big open area.

Jake attempted to push Warren in the swing but didn't quite understand to move out of the way when the swing comes back toward you, and Wo-Wo thought it quite hilarious every time he ran into Jake! Cute boys!!

Happy Birthday Mom!

Life with my Boys

Today was one of those days that was just fun. My days with the boys are, for the most part, good, but inevitably during the course of a normal day something will happen. It may be that Jake is feeling especially rebellious and practicing his use of the word "no", or Warren is unusually cranky, or I burned my batch of cookies because Jake doesn't want me to leave him while he is on the toilet. It's Memorial Day, so maybe it was just meant to be a special day from the beginning.

We really didn't do anything super special or new and exciting. Ryan was studying a good part of the day for an exam tomorrow, and the boys and I just did normal daily stuff. The highlight of the day was going for our walk this morning. Jake wanted to ride his orange Harley-Davidson Hot Wheels bike so I plopped Wo-Wos in our wagon with a few toys and we rode/walked around our neighborhood for about 45 minutes. At least every minute for the first 10 minutes or so Jake would look up at me and say, "This is fun!" as he bumped into a hedge or tree.

We had to venture out onto Baldwin Avenue, which, for any of you who know where we live will remember, is a very busy street. I was slightly nervous about Jake being on the bike so close to zooming cars, but my heart swelled when he listened carefully to what I told him about staying close to me and watching out for cars. Throughout the walk I was attempting to teach him left and right and I was thrilled when he remembered and was able to tell Ryan and then Grammy and Papa later in the evening which way was right and left. Such a smart boy! We'll see if he remembers in the morning!

On Sunday, our dear friends Glen & Shilo Thompson came home with us after church. The men were great sports and hung out with the boys all afternoon so Shilo and I could watch 5 hours of Pride & Prejudice! We watched the 1993 A&E version starring Collin Firth. Our P&P party was complete with lemon bars and shortbread cookies from Shilo and tea sandwiches made by moi, and at least 7 cups of tea each!! I recently read the book and saw the newest P&P movie, and I really enjoyed this version. We had a fantastic girls afternoon!

I have a busy couple of weeks coming up preparing to go to Castro Valley for the summer. Packing is not high on my list of "Things I Love to Do", but alas, it must be done!

Hope to talk to each of you soon!

Sermons and Summer Plans

Well, here we are, already one week of summer classes behind us and two more to go. Ryan is taking Theology IV which focuses on eschatology (study of end times/last things) and ecclesiology (study of the church). He is loving this class, especially since our pastor, John MacArthur, has been going through an eschatology study during the eve service on Sundays. We aren't able to make it back to the evening service with the boys, but we buy the cd's and listen to the sermons. I highly recommend this series to anyone who has an interest in learning about God's future for Israel and the Church; Pastor John is only four sermons in (with dozens more to go at least!) and we've already learned much. The title of the series is "Why Every Calvinist Should be a Premillennialist." It's comforting to know that despite all of Israel's unbelief and apostasy, God has not abandoned His chosen people nor His promises to them. The series has been a good reminder that God's promises are not carried out because of our faithfulness to Him, which is always far from perfect, but rather on the basis of His character and sovereignty, and simply because what He promises will come to pass. Psalm 89:30-37 illustrates this perfectly:

If His sons forsake My law and do not walk in My judgements,

If they violate My statutes and do not keep My commandments,

Then I will punish their transgression with the rod and their iniquity with stripes.

But I will not break off My lovingkindness from him, nor deal falsely in My faithfulness.

My covenant I will not violate, Nor will I alter the utterance of My lips.

Once I have sworn by My holiness; I will not lie to David.

His descendants shall endure forever and his throne as the sun before Me.

It shall be established forever like the moon, and the witness in the sky is faithful.

All that to say that we are really learning so much and enjoying this teaching time.

So going back to my original thought about summer classes, I was saying that we only have two weeks left of summer school which means only two weeks until we go up to Castro Valley for the summer! We are all excited to be going up there and living with Grandma and Grandpa for about 10 weeks or so. For those that don't know, Ryan will be working for my dad doing various office/administration work for his construction inspection company and the boys and I will spend the lazy days of summer soaking up as much grandparent time as we can away from the hot hot southern California summer! After last summer being very pregnant in the middle of a 100 degree plus heat wave for several weeks with no air conditioner, this will be a VERY welcome change!

And now, what you've all been waiting for...PICTURES!

This is our neighbor girl, Anabelle. She always wants to come outside and say hi to and play with "Baby Warren." She and Jake are the same age and have a great time playing together. Anabelle has a baby sibling on the way and will be a great big sister.

We were all playing outside yesterday with our neighbors enjoying the great weather! Warren, of course, was playing with "his favorite", dad.

New Directions

Well, Ryan and I had lunch yesterday with John and Maria Wernli, the couple from the church in Kansas that is looking for a couple of new pastors, and all we could say after the meeting was "WOW!" Believe me when I say that we had a fantastic time getting to know them and talking about their church and Ryan's school and our kids, among many other things. Even if we don't end up at their church, we know that we know that we will have friends in Kansas. We got along with them so well; it was very easy to talk and make conversation. Ryan and I got very excited about the ministry going on there, and they just confirmed that it is an excellent place for raising a family. (Am I rambling? There's so much to say, I'm just writing the very next thought in my head even if it doesn't go with the previous one!) We were very like-minded in our beliefs and convictions and from this initial first meeting, it seems like a great fit. They want to fly us out sometime in early fall, after we return from the summer in Castro Valley, to visit their church, meet the people, and see the town. We were just thrilled with the way our lunch went with them and can't wait to pursue this further and see where the Lord leads! We plan to keep in touch with them over the summer and keep building the relationship. Again, what comes to my head is "WOW!" It's amazing how the Lord changes hearts, well, mine in particular, from, "Oh no, not Kansas" to "When can we go visit?!"

Ok, I better stop my ramblings now lest you all think I can't write a coherent post!

Thank you if you've been praying for us, and we are so excited to share this journey with you!

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Some pictures too!

The Great Masked Jake

These were taken at my sister-in-law's baby shower last weekend. It was fun to get the family together and for everyone to see baby Jaina. I made that diaper cake for Christi. I made one for my sis Jess for her baby shower too last summer and discovered I like doing it! They are super easy to make...just roll up some 100 or so diapers, put ribbon around the whole thing, and add cute baby things. Hmm, maybe I should go in business! ("Diaper Cakes by Jen")
As you can tell from the other picture of Jaina, she had had enough of partying and wanted to get in to some comfy clothes! She'll be 4 weeks tomorrow; amazing how fast time flies!

Meeting the Fam

Last weekend my cousin (who I haven't seen since my wedding!) and his wife and baby came out to southern CA for a visit. They were celebrating a couple of things and decided to make the trek out here from Mesa, AZ. It was great to see them and meet Jamie and Carly. We all went out to lunch at Cheesecake Factory and had a fabulous time, and we can't wait to go out and visit them. My cousin, Johnny, looks just like his dad, my dad's brother.

The cousins (John and Jen) and Carly & Jake

Us 4 Trzeciak's

Jamie, Johnny, and Carly at the beach

Uh-Oh

Oh great, Cheese is dead (Bubba and Cheese are Jake's fish--he named them). What are we going to tell Jake? Do we have a toilet memorial? Do we bury him in the backyard? Should we say some kind words about how he was a good fish?

Oh, never mind...guess he was just sleeping!

We've come to realize that these fish are just weird...we don't know what they are doing when they are upside down...sleeping, seeing the world from a different angle, who knows!? It cracks us up that they are upside down all the time, I really thought they were dead the first few times I saw them like this.

Moving toward the unknown

As graduation approaches (in December), we have began to more earnestly seek where the Lord would place us in ministry. There are, so far, two possibilities before us and I tell you these 1) to keep you informed and 2) to ask that you pray that we would get a clear sense of God's will for our future.

The first possibility is that we would return to our home church in the Bay Area, First Baptist Church of Castro Valley. We love the area (and blue sky!) and all of my mom's side of the family live in the area (Grandma, aunts and uncles), not to mention my parents. Ryan was the Jr. High and College youth pastor there for three years before we moved down here for seminary, so we are familiar with the church and many of the people. Ryan also gets along very well with the senior pastor; they are extremely like-minded when it comes to areas of doctrine--a must considering how closely they will be working. He has made his wishes known to Pastor Rod, so we will just have to wait and see if this opportunity pans out.

The second possibility is one that as soon as Ryan mentioned it, my mind instantly said, "NO WAY." Yet that very next second I had to repent and realize that I must be open to whatever opportunity comes our way and supportive of Ryan in the search for a job. Now as a California girl all my life, never far from oceans and mountains, Disneyland and Sea World, you can probably understand why I immediately recoiled when Ryan said, "What do you think of Kansas?" Yes, Kansas. In my mind (and I must say I've never even been close to Kansas so I really don't know what it's like) it is the land of nothingness. Devoid of running water, good schools, Starbucks, and the internet. Yet in my quest to find out some information about the town of Emporia, Kansas, I found that indeed, they are a community complete with several web pages about the town! And despite having a liberal governor, Kansas is a red state! In all seriousness, it looks like a lovely town of about 35,000 with a quaint downtown that is full of family activities. They are quite a college town, from what I understand, and it snows in the winter! Ryan and I desire to give the boys a small town/country life upbringing, away from the big city, and Emporia definitely fits this mold. We have a lunch meeting set up with the chairman of the elder board and his wife from Flint Hills Christian Church this coming Wednesday to discuss the possible associate pastor position.

To be honest, we are equally excited about both opportunities. We are very open to the Lord's leading and who knows, we may find after this lunch meeting that we are simply not a good fit for the church and that's that, and end up in Castro Valley. Or we may get really excited about the ministry at Flint Hills and strongly desire to go there. We may also not end up at either place, and that's fine too. It is quite exciting though, to be in this process of discovering where we'll be after December.

That's all for now, I'll let you know how the lunch goes on Wednesday.

Milestones...

Ok, so this isn't up there with crawling and walking and putting words together, but Warren started clapping! It's awfully cute and as his mother I believe I have earned the right to show off his new skills. He is extremely proud of himself and it shows in the pictures.

Clapping Sequence:

I know it sounds sappy and cliche, but every day truly does bring something new and exciting. I am blessed beyond measure to have these 2 little guys in my life to care for and teach and train them. They bring so much joy to our lives!

It's the little things...

We have a new niece! Jaina Grace Ilharreguy was born to my sister-in-law and her husband, Christi and Brian, April 27. After a speed labor in which she broke all records previously known to me by any woman, Christi delivered Jaina and they are both doing very well. She's a real cutie and we've been able to see and hold her several times now. Hannah is thrilled to have a baby sister and us Trzeciak's welcome them to the club of "4 in a Family."

The local Arcadia Fire Department has an annual pancake breakfast where they bring out all the fire trucks and old police cars for the kids to climb on and explore. It is absolute kid paradise! This year they even had 2 helicopters in the parking lot and we got front row seats to see them taking off! Jake kept yelling, "See that? See that?!" as they were taking off. It was quite exciting to be so close!

For Mother's Day we went to Ryan's aunt Pam's house for a delicious Italian meal loaded with lots of family members. Jake wanted to go swimming with the other cousins and of course we didn't bring his shorts. So we tried it first with just the Pull-up, but after marinating in the water for 2 or so minutes, the thing weighed about 9 pounds and he ended swimming in the buff for the rest of the afternoon. I was a little embarrased for him, but he didn't mind a bit. I chose a mostly modest picture of him that none of you can use to tease him later in life! He loved watching "uncle" Scott jumping in and making big splashes.

A first--a family blog

Hi all! I got the idea of creating a web log of our family from my cousin Johnny's wife, Jamie (thank you!). I'm looking forward to updating this site with pictures and letting you know what is going on in our lives. I haven't made up my mind completely yet, but I am thinking about just using this blog for showing off pictures of my cute boys instead of using Snapfish. I like the idea of a blog better because that way I am able to write about us too, which is not possible on Snapfish.

It makes me feel so "internet proficient" to say that I've got my own blog! I hope everyone enjoys the updates and feel free to let me know what you think.

FYI: This picture was taken at our annual seminary banquet in March, held at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. We had a great time out with all of our friends.