Favorite Pictures from the end of 2010

Now that we are all caught up I would just like to share some favorite pictures from the past year of our family of 6!!!

Here are some pictures from 2010... 

Walking at Mojave Narrows, trying to get Justus to come out!

Big sister again!

He's a great big brother!

Sweet little Justus

Introduction to the iPad at the age of 2, that's how we roll!!

Check out Titus' curls!!

Pumpkin patch

Flying to Seattle for MC director's meeting

Justus' dedication

Howards Thanksgiving

Start 'em young

The girl loved the canned cranberry sauce...the apple doesn't fall to far from the tree!!  ;)

1st Christmas

One of the first time's she wrote her name

Family movie night by a warm fire...life doesn't get any better!

Christmas lights in Rancho Cucamonga

One of my favorite pictures

Mission Inn in Riverside

Titus is so fascinated with ducks

IronMan makes his appearance often in this house. (So often that I have had to sew this costume back together a couple of times already.)

What can I say?!?

Our first baking project with her new oven.

2 weeks later… (September 27, 2010)

Two weeks after Justus was born.  The next best thing in the last year and a half happened.  The Lord blessed us with the birth/launching of Master’s Commission.  Master’s Commission is a discipleship program for young adults.  The launching of this ministry was the result of 2-3 years of a whole lot of work.  Brant and I lead the Master’s Commission.  We were blessed with seven amazing young people who wanted nothing short of an intimate relationship with the Lord no matter the cost.  We also had three interns to assist us for the entire year in discipling these students.  Our students and interns devote six days a week to serving the local church, meeting needs, and learning everything they can about the love of the Father.  They put aside school, jobs and everything else to focus solely on their relationship with the Lord.  We feel very strongly that this time helps them better prepare themselves so they can go onto be a successful student, employee, spouse, parent, etc. and not be swayed by culture and the ideologies that the world has to offer.    This first year marked the beginning of many more to come.  It was a complete success and in August of 2011 we held our first graduation service for this first year class.  We are so honored that the Lord would give us this responsibility in preparing the generation behind us to be strong leaders for the Kingdom.  Kingdom is generational and we will continue to prepare the next generation for the Kingdom.

We are now in our second year and so excited to see what the Lord chooses to do in the upcoming years.

Justus' Story...(September 16, 2010)

So much has happened in the last year and a half that I blogged last.  We moved into a new house closer to church in August 2010. 

Then 2 weeks later we were blessed with the best thing that happened in the last year and half.  Justus Alexander was born on September 16, 2010.  My labor with him was so easy (if I was guaranteed more like it, I would have a dozen more kids!)  My labor from the first contraction to the time he entered the world was only about 5 hours.  Within minutes of his birth he stopped breathing though.  His body lay there in the baby bed completely limp and turning blue at a rapid rate.  I was unaware of how quick he was changing until I saw my mom’s face and about that time two of our nurses dove across the room to press an emergency button for back up.  My heart immediately began pounding out of my chest. Brant, my mom, Odena, and I started praying and speaking life back into my sweet little boy.  And in those moments, the Lord reminded me of what his name meant.  Justus Alexander means “Defender of righteousness”.  The Lord spoke clearly to me and said that his life will be fought against, but his name is his calling.  He is called to fight for righteousness and take a stand for justice.  He may have been the smallest in the family but the Lord has placed a heavy anointing on him.  (Even as I write this I am hesitant because I can feel the weight of this, and as a mom it is scary to think about what our children may have to face or fight for one day.  But then I come back to my self and realize my children really aren’t mine they are the Lord’s. They are in my care for me to give them back to the sustainer of all life.)  The Lord brought peace to me before fear could really settle in, once the peace came upon me in that delivery room he began to breathe.  The back up staff was to late, because my King, the sustainer of life, breathed life back into my son.  The cry of your newborn child is one of the sweetest sounds in the entire world.  Justus weighed 7lbs 12 oz and was 20 inches long, he is known as the little guy in this family (Chloe was 8lbs, Maximus was 8lbs 3oz at 4 weeks early, and Titus was 9lbs 2oz at 3 weeks early).  What a blessing he is to complete our family.  Justus may be little in stature but he is mighty in every other way.  He is turning into the funny little entertainer, he is always looking to wrestle around, and he has a larger than life personality.  He is very determined and clear on what he wants, yet at the same time he is the most affectionate out of all my children.  Justus has filled in the final piece of the puzzle to this Jones family and we are so thrilled about it.

Air1 Concert

Every year Air1 travels the country and offers free concerts for listener appreciation.  This year they contacted our church and asked us to host it.  Gladly, we accepted.  The concert included "Satellites and Sirens", "The Wrecking", "The Red Airplanes", and "Manic Drive".  The kids had a blast dancing around and playing while Brant worked one of the booths for the bands.   I just monitored everyone and everything, it's what I am best at!!!  =)  Here are a couple of pictures from the night.

Summer Fun

Well one thing I have learned about having little ones, is that it is very important to keep them busy.  So I went and bought some wooden bird houses and decided that we could have a painting day.  So of course, when you are 2 and 3 years old, there is nothing more fun than getting messy.


Titus was sleeping during all the fun so he didn't get to join in.  But next time we will see what he decided to do with the paint!!

The finished product.  We put their handprints on one of them so we can treasure them forever.

After painting, it was time to play in their new beach ball sprinkler.  There's nothing like a good summer day!

Baby #4

Well it is about that time again. Actually we have gone a lot longer this time than usual. This past Friday we found out that we are expecting our fourth child. From the beginning of our relationship, Brant and I have always known that we would have at least four children. And here we are expecting our fourth. It is such an amazing blessing. The Lord has blessed us with being able to have children and conceive them easily. I know that there are many women who are not able to do that. And I am very thankful and humbled that the Lord has blessed us with this. When I found out that I was pregnant with Maximus, Chloe was only 4 months old, when I found out that I was pregnant with Titus, Maximus was only 4 months old. So this time we decided that I needed a little break (I had been pregnant for 30 out of 36 months since I found out I was expecting Chloe). Life had just been crazy and I was starting to feel the effects of it.

But in December Brant and I both felt that we ready for another baby. Titus is 9 1/2 months old, so this will put him and the new baby right around 18 months apart. We are so excited. Children are such a gift and I am so privileged to have my little angels, all 4 of them. =)

I can not believe that it is almost time for Christmas. I have always been told that the older you get the faster time goes. And I am finally starting to believe that. I wish that we could save time and slow it down. Chloe, Maximus, & Titus are growing in so many ways. Most days Chloe tries to run our house, she is so clever and so creative it absolutely impresses me. Maximus is my little enforcer. He has become my little book worm and just loves doing things that scare me (jumping off the couch, climbing up on tables, all the stuff he's not supposed to do.) But I love that he is completely fearless and is always looking to have fun. But these days the loudest, most vocal person in our family is Titus. I can already tell that he is going to be very opinionated and good at voicing it. He is all over the place and into everything, but he has already learned the meaning of "No" and is very good at listening.
These days we are really into crafts and singing/writing our own songs. Chloe and I turn Bible verses into songs and that makes it so much easier for her to memorize them. She now has 2 Bible verses memorized and she can write her own name. (She is only 2 1/2 years old).

Chloe and Maximus have discovered the candy canes on the Christmas tree. The other day I caught them stealing them off of the tree, breaking them, and eating them in Chloe's bed. (They were breaking them because I told them that we had to eat the broken ones because they couldn't hang on the tree. So breaking them was their way of justifying eating them.) So I hung the remaining candy canes close to the top of the tree; Chloe then tells me that I missed one, she said "Mommy, you need to put that one up high so me and Maximus don't eat it." I busted up laughing and just said thank you Chloe for helping me. The honesty of a child, you have to love it. I am very curious to see what Titus will add to those two. He is into mimicking our every sound. He copies our sounds pretty well and then laughs because he knows it is a pretty impressive skill.
Our life is so blessed.

I began keeping the twins two days a week. It is a little extra income for us as well as it helps Destiny a lot. I love having all 5 kids together. It is a lot of work and don't get a chance to sit down for those 2 days. But I would not have it any other way. I love the fact that the twins are in our environment and it will only enable a strong bond between the cousins. Brant and I have been working on Masters' Commission here at our church and getting the early development of it together. We are very excited about it and about what the Lord is going to do through it. The Lord has been so good to us and we are amazingly blessed.