Ty Warner Sea Center

Yesterday the whole family was able to visit the Ty Warner Sea Center located on the pier in Santa Barbara...it was a blast, as the kids are getting bigger and able to communicate about what they're seeing and learning about at home.



One of my favorite moments yesterday was watching Samuel pull this rope up, which was connected to this crate like structure, from about 30ft down in the ocean...usually when you pull these things up you don't catch anything; however, to Samuel's surprise and the staff worker he caught a starfish, a crab, and a fish! This was definitely the highlight for Samuel yesterday, even though once the crate was up he was a bit scared of the flopping fish at first.




Here are some more pictures of our time...it was such a joyful time being together as a family and watching the pure excitement of our kids as they walked/ran through the Sea Center.

Jesus Loves IV

This week Real Life, Campus Crusade, has been doing this awesome act of demostrating God's love in attempting to clean every home in Isla Vista in one week!  It's called Jesus Loves IV:

http://jesuslovesiv.com/

http://www.ivsod.com/jesuslovesivday.html

Several months ago this gal who visited the fellowship did an article about IVC and me in regards to what we're doing in Isla Vista...this week she did an article on Michelle, who is this awesome gal that helps lead worship on Sunday for IVC.

http://365faces365days.com/c/2010/face-110-michelle-jesus-loves-iv/

Here is the article she did on IVC and me a while back:

http://365faces365days.com/c/2010/face-39-jason-the-joyful-gift-of-giving/

Thankful

I have come to believe some of the greatest gifts in life are relationships with people...I am beyond thankful for the relationship I have with each of my children! It's such a joy watching them grow up together and be apart of the life that God has called Holly and I to in Isla Vista...this last week the three kids and I went for a walk to the DP House to say hi to the family - the one picture is of baby J and Hope trying to get Bianca, one of the gals who lives at the DP House, to pick them up and swing them on the hammock behind her. The other is Hope holding a piece of bark that she ripped of the tree while on our walk...for awhile Hope had this affinity with finding snails and ripping their shells off and playing with them... we are thankful that is done and she has moved on to just ripping bark off of trees in IV.




This picture is of Samuel at our house after he got done picking a bunch of oranges with another DP House sister named Lindsay - thanks Lindsay for loving our kids so well!

3-Day Conference @ Our Home

We had the most amazing weekend hosting a 3-day conference at our home! The testimonies and stories of all the good things that happened are endless...the conference began Friday evening and ended after midnight on Sunday w/people slowly trickily out of our home.

To sum up the weekend it's probably easiest by saying it in one word: love

Knowing the love of God and experiencing it with one another. Saturday night we were able to take the majority of those who were attending the conference out to Jesus Burgers - it was one of the best nights of the year as we saw several people receive Christ and over 20 people being physically healed of different things on Del Playa!

Jesus is so so good, life is fun when we do it with Him! This song sums up our weekend and everyone who was apart of it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ls68i1Y4Quw&feature=related

Thank you Jesus!

The loss of Samuel's 1st tooth

My boy lost his first tooth this last week! He was so stoked to tell me the exciting news when I got home and show everyone that has been visiting us. When he was asked about the tooth fairy by a few of our friends he politely told them that the tooth fairy does not exist...ha, ha - true statement; however, dad is taking him out to yogurt tomorrow to celebrate the lost of his 1st tooth!

Easter Sunrise Service...He has risen!

This past Sunday was our 8th annual sunrise service as a church family...it's one of my favorite days of the year as we get to celebrate the resurrection of Christ, eat breakfast together at our home afterward, and enjoy special blessings like baptizing a beautiful sister in Christ this year.

These last few years I have teased the fellowship by telling them that if Jesus rose from dead, they can rise from their bed! C'mon, Jesus calls Himself the resurrection & the life - He has risen and given life to all who believe in Him.

The picture of me holding the lamb was a demonstration I was giving of Jesus being the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world...Easter is a day to help the world remember the resurrection of Jesus, and I am thankful that every day is a celebration of this!