Sueno Tabernacle

Over the course of the last month the Lord had been speaking to me about building a "Tabernacle" like- structure in our backyard to meet at this next year...well by grace alone, some unexpected provision, willing servants, and surrendering our home afresh to Him, we have built the structure.

Our 1st gathering is this Sunday @ 4pm, dinner to follow...of course dinner to follow as it's IVC.

These are a few pictures of the work being done, we even had Hope working the garden. We will try to shoot more this Sunday as we begin our 8th year as a church in IV!

Samuel's 1st Game

Our little boy, becoming big boy, had his 1st game last Saturday! He did great running up and down the field, smiling, and not taking anything too serious. Dad, on the other hand, well, I get a little more passioante about kicking the ball and scoring...by God's grace, I will maintain my excitement this year.

Holly and I are looking forward to the season and time together as a family. It is great too b/c the games are walking distance from our house in Isla Vista.

Wedding in SB

This last weekend Holly coordinated a friend of ours wedding at the Natural History Museum in SB..it was an incredibly full weekend, as I had all 3 munchkins and no momma around some of Friday and all of Sunday. Overall, the weekend worked out great and the wedding was awesome... Paige looked beautiful and Holly did such a great job!

Samuel's 1st Soccer Practice

It felt like yesterday that I was taking my little man home from the hospital...now we are taking him to his 1st soccer practice, what the heck? I can't believe he is almost 5! It's been nothing but joy watching Samuel grow up, including watching him get so fired up and excited about his 1st soccer practice on Wednesday. We were about 20 minutes late as the directions were not the greatest; however, as a family we prayed and by the grace of God we located this remote hidden field in a residential neighborhood. Once we discovered that we had actually found the right team, after we had first approached a few other teams throughout Goleta, Samuel was nothing but smiles! The boy was worried so Holly and I were stoked that God got us to the right place...our God is a God of details, He definitely cares about what seems like little things in life. More pictures to come of his first game in a few weeks :-)

Church Camping Trip

There is something special about living life together with other people, not just doing church together. I think this is why I (Jason) absolutely love retreats! I even love the ones that when you show up at 3:30pm on Friday afternoon in your air-conditioned van and the temperature gage reads 107 degrees outside! About 20 of us headed up the 154 off of Paradise Rd, about 30 minutes or so from IV, to go camping this last weekend...like always, it was a great time together!

I dropped Holly off at the SB Airport early on Friday with baby J to fly out to Oklahoma to her grandpa’s 90th B-Day, which means I was in charge of Samuel and Hope. Let’s just say I am no momma; however, the kids had a blast and thought sleeping in a tent was awesome….not to mention going to bed a bit later, eating a few things mom is not a big fan of, and missing a few naps. The ship seems to drive a little differently when dad is steering it, not always intentionally, it just kind of happens.

On Saturday we took about a 15 minute drive to Solvang to a great park that had lots of grass and most importantly, lots of shade. One of the highlights from the weekend was this epic water war that broke out while we were at the park. The pictures give you a good idea of what happened, especially the one of Jose sneaking up on Robyn with a few gallons of water. Samuel was cracking me up during the war, as he was running around with his little gun shooting people with water, while others were pouring gallons on each other. Let’s just says that mercy triumphing over judgment got the boot during the water fight. Afterwards we got some ice cream together and headed back to our site for dinner and hanging out together.

The last picture was taken by Paul Carr in the dried out riverbed by our campsite of a battle between a deer and a crawdad…the winner is = the crawdad!

Family Camp in San Diego

Holly, the kids, and I had an amazing weekend in San Diego...we went to a Family Camp through a ministry that Holly gets magazines from called "Above Rubies". The focus of the camp was to encourage dads and moms in their calling to raise children in the Lord. It was such a sweet time of being taught, fellowshipping with others parents (25 families in all), eating some good meals, and having tons of fun together!

In the midst of all the many blessings God showered on us, one really special one was He put this couple in the cabin next to us that was about our same age, had been married about the same amount of time, and have four kids that are five and under. Check out the bottom two picture to see all of us together...Holly and I, along with the kids, absolutely loved this family.

We're more convinced than ever that children are a gift from the Lord and are such a blessing from our Heavenly Father.

"Behold, children are a gift of the LORD, the fruit of the womb is a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are the children of one's youth. How blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them; they will not be ashamed when they speak with their enemies in the gate." (Psalm 127:3-5)

1st Baptist Church

This last Sunday morning I had the priviledge and honor to speak at the SB First Baptist Church. Both Holly and Scott went with me, along with the kids. It was so great being with a different part of the body of Christ, in addition to being with many people who are three to four times older than the most of the family in IVC. The first two people I met had been attending the church for over 40 yrs...needless to say it was encouraging to see the faithfulness of people who have loved Jesus for so many years!

The text I preached out of was John 17:18, which is Jesus saying to the Father, "As you sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world." It was a great reminder for all us that we have been sent into the world to love the world, as Christ loved the world.

At the end I showed this video on prayer in IV and had Scott close with a short word:

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

Some 1-on-1 Time

We took this picture on our way out of the house before the big 30 celebration. Holly and I went to her favorite restaurant, Sojourner Cafe, that night before the Natural Cafe. It was a no kid night, which was super sweet. Those are few and far between these days & we are thankful when we get one...life changes when you get married, life changes even more after one kid, life drastically changes after having multiple kids.

The Big 30

My best friend, wonderful wife, and incredible momma turned 30 years old last week! Literally, by the grace of God, I was able to pull off a surprise party at the Natural Café in Goleta.

Holly's facial expression was such a great reflection of her heart, as she was filled with a huge smile because of the love that was being expressed by so many friends. I setup a time at the party where people were able to sit in a chair in front of Holly and tell her how much they appreciate her…we love you Holly!

“An excellent wife, who can find? For her worth is far above jewels.”
– Proverb 31:10

Isla Vista School of Discipleship

It’s finally official…the Isla Vista School of Discipleship will be launching its first official year this 09-10 school year. This summer has been full for me in seeing a vision that God put in my heart about 5 years ago come into existence.

Check out the site: www.ivsod.com

Korean Church in IV

Scott and I went to the Korean United Methodist Church on my street today. It was a beautiful experience to be with a different part of the body of Christ in IV, even though the whole service was in Korean. We both felt super honored by their pastor and the church family, they even asked us to join them in the Fellowship Hall after the gathering for lunch. It was great time of being together and eating some tasty spicy Korean soup with white rice.

One of the guys took a picture of Scott and I with Pasto Chiyoung Jeong. This was the first time that I really dressed up to go to church. We realized later we were a bit overdressed, but it was all part of our experience.

Erik & Michelle's Wedding

May 30th was one of the most memorable and special days of my life! I had the privilege, joy, and honor of marrying my little sister to such a great guy. Michelle and Erik were high school sweethearts, so even though their combined age once they married was only 41, they had dated for over 5 years.

The wedding was a family affair to say the least…I performed it, Holly coordinated it, the kids participated in it, the matron of honor was my older sister, brother-in-law was a groomsman, and parents were all smiles.

Out of everything I get to do in life nothing comes closer to touching heaven than performing a marriage--it is the foreshadowing of the marriage of the Bridegroom God, Jesus, to His bride, the Church…the first event that takes place once the Lord returns is the Marriage Supper of the Lamb.

"Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready. It was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean; for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.
Then he said to me, ‘Write, blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.’ And he said to me, ‘These are true words of God.’”
(Revelation 19:7-9)