Random...

Neela's 1st trip to the state capitol.



Neela's 1st time at the lake! She loved the water and the sand in her toes. :)



Neela's 1st time at Dallas Cowboys Training Camp.



Neela LOVES her Daddy!!



Mommy and Neela hanging out. :)

Missing Esther

My special, beautiful, sweet cousin Esther passed away on July 3, 2009. I know there are so many of our friends who were constant prayer for her and I want to thank you so much for your thoughtfulness and love.

Esther's heart and complete desire was to know God and to make Him known. She was willing to follow His will even if it meant losing her life on this earth. She did not find her hope and identity on this earth but took every opportunity to share Christ with anyone who came in contact with her.

I am daily challenged with the life she lived and how she faced death. She truly had the peace, love, and gentleness of God.

I miss her so much. I hate that she had to suffer like this, but trust God was using her. I can now see the impact she continues to make in my life as well as the lives of so many others.

Here is a video she made a few months ago. It shares her heart full of despair, hope, and trust in God.

Book Club

On Friday nights I am a part of a ladies book club. We are going through a book called Captivating by John & Stasi Eldredge. Tonight we talked about what it means to be romanced by God. "Romanced by God" sounded funny to me when I started to read this chapter, the thought of being "romanced" by God seemed a little weird to me. Because when I thought of being romanced, I thought in the worldly sense of being given flowers, written sweet cards, or given gifts. But the more I read this chapter and put aside my fleshly thoughts God opened my eyes to how beautiful and intimate being romanced by Him really is.

The book talks about when a woman is in love she becomes more beautiful which I totally agree with. Just think about it, when you meet someone who just got married there is a certain glow about them. It's because they are being loved well. They are sharing intimacy with someone and being vulnerable and still being loved as they are. In all their junk and imperfections, they are loved unconditionally.

This is how we are with God but in the most beautiful way. Because God is love and we can only love ourselves and others because of God, our relationship with Him makes us more lovely and beautiful. When we have intimacy with God, know Him deeply, we become more lovely. Jesus calls himself the Bridegroom (Matthew 9:15, Matthew 25:1-10, John 3:29) This is the most intimate of all the metaphors Jesus chose to describe his love and longing for us and the kind of relationship he invites us into. When I am "romanced" by God, this means the God of the universe loves me, knows me inside out (knows the # of hairs on my head Psalm 139) and is drawing me to intimacy with Him. I know this takes time like relationships do. God who is perfect, will slowly sanctify me and make me more into his image and reveal more of Himself to me. As I fall more in love with Him, He is unveiling beauty in me so He can shine and be glorified.

In the next chapter, Beauty to Unveil, she does a great job defining what a "gentle and quiet spirit" means. When I think about this verse (1 Peter) I always picture this lady who is quiet, soft spoken, and just smiles alot. :) But that is not what that means. :) She defines a "gentle and quiet spirit" as to have a heart of faith, a heart that trusts in God, a spirit that has been quieted by his love and filled with his peace. I love that! That is what I truly desire in my life.

Just my thoughts at the moment. All raw and unedited.

Have a good night!!

Neela 1st mini photo shoot

Neela had her first pictures taken a few weeks ago. She did a great job. She smiled alot in the beginning, was a little cranky because she was tired, and then fell asleep. It's funny how babies are so unpredictable. I let her sleep all morning so she would be rested for the picture time, but it actually just made her sleepier. Oh well, she still looked oh so cute. :)
Enjoy!


Neela has such a sweet smile. This is the beautiful face I get to look at everyday. :)














This background is so great with her skin tone. :) She is beautiful if I do say so myself. :)

http://jeffersoncares.wordpress.com/

most of you probably know that we are involved in apartment life in Austin... we are basically the event coordinators at our apt. complex, serving and loving our neighbors.

we created a blog to post event details, photos, and updates....
http://jeffersoncares.wordpress.com/

1 Month Old!!

I can't believe it, Neela is more than a month old. Today marks 5 weeks and June 12th Neela hit a month old.. The time went by so fast!

She has been such a blessing in our life. Things are definitely different, but in a good way.

-Everyday when we wake up look at how much she has grown literally overnight.

-We laugh at the funny faces she makes when she is sleeping.

-We are in awe of how God creates life and we get to be in the mist of the process of our baby girl understanding and personally knowing our Life-giver and Sustainer of life.

-I love how she stares so intensely at Tim anytime he is in the room. She loves her Pops!

-We enjoy taking her places with us because she enjoys it so much and is so easy to please.

-We laugh at how she tries to cry but really is just making whining noises. It's so cute!

-I (Jaya) LOVE that at night she only wakes up for feedings and goes straight back to sleep. Also she sleeps longer between feedings at night. She knows what her Mama needs. :)

-It's a joy to give Neela a bath because she enjoys it so much and is so calm.


I am so thankful for her and the joy she brings to our life. It's funny how in a month our life has been so radically changed. I love our family!
More of Neela to come.

Neela's arrival