SHOWING MY LIFE - Wedding Dress

If there's one thing I am extremely proud of, it would have to be my wedding. Simply put, it wasn't my own. It was the Lord's. He had orchestrated it, and He had called us to marriage in an three-hour talk at Starbucks.

Brian was my pastor and nothing more at the time. Though we had known each other for three years after having met on a mission trip to Jamaica (even though we lived five miles from each other here at home), it wasn't until he called me on January 23, 2007, that the two of us had ever been alone together. Eight, short days later, we were engaged, and a fun-filled, fast two months later on March 31, we were married. TWO MONTHS. I had a whopping two months to prepare. I mean, I hadn't even had time to think about it. I mean I had dreamed my whole life, but it would be impossible to come up with bright pink and orange daisies in March, and the pink dresses would take up to 12 weeks to arrive! SO, champagne could be ordered in 3 weeks, so champagne and white would be our colors.

I went online soon after realizing this was "it," and found the wedding dress I wanted, but the likelihood of it fitting, looking halfway decent, or it being in my price range was pretty far-fetched. I went to David's Bridal with less than 60 days before the big day and saw the dress immediately. The lady who worked with me said that I HAD to take other dresses back into the fitting room just in case the one I loved didn't work out. I tried on two dresses, and my favorite was the third. Third time was the charm...


After stepping into my dress on my wedding day


Walking into the sanctuary on our wedding day for bridal portraits


A view of the whole dress


Looking down on the dress and the veil


Outside shots after the ceremony


Close-up of beading


Perfect dress for the perfect day

I am in love...

with this man...


who is the father of our son,



the provider for our family,


the leader of our home,


the best friend I have ever had,


and the most amazing father I have ever seen.

Turning Three.

Okay, so it is only three months, but still, as a parent, it is crazy how fast he grows and how badly you just want him to stay little... forever.


Oh, and HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Daniel's great-grandfather, Pop!

In his 9th week:
He decided that being held was not so cool.
He absolutely adored anything that moved above him...
from mobiles to ceiling fans.
He started spitting up like crazy.
He began sleeping through the night or only waking up once!

In his 10th week:
He started wearing 6 MONTH clothes!
He laughed... at everything.
He coughed and sneezed all the time.

In his 11th week:
He really hated being held more and more.
He loved standing up in his mommy's lap.
He would smile at anyone!
He started choosing nursing over bottles...
He threw a fit when the mobile stopped.
He took his first out-of-state trip to the Indiana Youth Weekend.
He also visited the Creation Museum.
He disliked his carseat...
Actually, he would stiffen his whole body when you went to put him in it.

In his 12th week:
He loved resting in his parents' arms.
He stopped sleeping through the night.
He would NOT sleep in his crib.
He went to church... He went to church... He went to church...
He was the best behaved child in every service his daddy preached.
He sat in his Bumpo all by himself.
He drooled all over himself (we thought he may be teething).
He "talked" all the time: cooing, laughing, making sounds.
He was 24 inches long and weighed a ton. :)
He rolled over... from his back to his belly on the day he turned 3 months old!!!





Here are a few pictures from his third month:

Demanding NOT to be put into his carseat, thus his stiffened, straigtened-out body


Having just met his security blanket and favorite toy, Giraffe


His great-uncle, Ricky, paid him a surprise visit


Um, so he adores his Mimi...



The day his mommy found him "talking" up a storm on his playmat


Learning to sit up in his Bumpo for the first time


Sitting with mommy at the hospital to visit his great, great uncle Joe


Playing with his daddy after a night at revival


After rolling over onto his belly on his first try

Daniel's Friends

Daniel's been busy making friends... Lots of friends. I mean, he has his family and all, but he's been taking the time to win over some friends. He does whatever he can just to make his friends smile and laugh at him. Just so happened that a few of them came over to see him today. He was so busy showing off ("talking", standing up, and laughing) that we weren't completely shocked when he decided to show them (as well as mommy and daddy) that he could sit up in his Bumpo. See for yourself:







Oh, and this is from a few weeks back, but Daniel made his first friend simply by taking a nap with his pacifier... Watch how:

Paci Stealer from Jenna Johnson on Vimeo.

Miracles in the Making

Reading the Bible used to be incredibly difficult for me. It wasn't because the King James Version was impossible to interpret or even that I had a tough time learning to read because I didn't. It wasn't that the Bible didn't interest me or because it wasn't cool to be a Christian because it was. It wasn't exactly because I didn't enjoy the words on each divinely-inspired page or that I didn't have to time to take it all in because I did. It simply was that as a young child I could not believe the words I was reading were true.

How could a ninety-year-old woman have a baby? How could a man part a sea? How exactly did a person live inside the belly of a whale and not die? How could a young man live after being thrown into a lion's den? How could anyone feed thousands with a few fish and some bread? How could a person be "born again"? How could a man be crucified and raise from the dead? I just could not fathom that miracles like that were capable of happening in MY world.

Just recently, I have been made to believe. Those Old Testament events have not reoccurred, and physically, Jesus isn't exactly walking the roads healing and performing miracles like He did in the New Testament. But let me tell you that the words I am privileged to read are becoming much more believable to me.

Today, I learned of a young mother who gave birth to three healthy babies; each weighing in over five pounds; the triplets, who some feared would spend days in the NICU, are well. Last week, I listened as a young woman explained that she had miraculously been touched by grace, and that after years of doubting, she knew that God had given her the salvation she craved. A month ago, I watched as two aged church members had a surprise wedding ceremony after both had been widowed; I saw the love the Lord had placed in their lives even after having lost their loved ones.

I feel as though God has been begging us to believe. He places these events in our lives for us to see how great and glorious He is, and yet we still have trouble in believing that miracles can happen in today's world. God questioned the Israelites' doubt in Numbers 14:11, "How long will these people reject Me? And how long will they not believe Me, with all the signs which I have performed among them?" Is that not what we are doing now?

If we take just a moment to read God's word, we will truly be given a glimpse of how miraculous God truly is. Not only was He able to make miracles happen in the days before Christ, but He is far more capable of giving them to us today. Just as I had trouble believing them to be true in my youth, we have to be willing to see them as they are. God's miracles are in the making all around us, but will we ever be able to believe?