Baby Updates

Zach and I went to our first "Birth of the Family" class last night. Most of the information was stuff I already knew: the stages of labor, terms like presentation, effacement, dilation, etc. But most of it was new to Zach, so I guess the two hours were worth it. Next week we'll start learning breathing techniques and labor positions, which ought to be more interesting. I can hardly believe it's already time for us to be learning this stuff! My pregnancy has really flown by.

On the not-so-good side, I did the one-hour glucose test on Monday and my results came back too high so I have to do the three hour test. I am not so excited about that but am trying to remember that I have been blessed with an incredibly easy pregnancy so far and if I turn out to have gestational diabetes it will certainly not be the end of the world.

Weekend Trip

Zach and I spent the past two and a half days at Fort Myer, VA with nineteen tuba and euphonium players from IUP. The occasion: the United States Army Band's annual Tuba and Euphonium Conference. We had a good time and I think the students did, too. Just imagine, two whole days of tuba and euphonium recitals, open reading sessions, and all the horns and mouthpieces you could wish to try!

Okay, so if you're like me, that doesn't really sound all that appealing. But I wasn't about to sit at home by myself for the weekend when the chance to explore Washington, DC was at hand! I went to a few performances with Zach, but each afternoon I took the Metro into the city to visit the Smithsonian. Friday I went to the National Portrait Gallery and Saturday I went to the Museum of Natural History. I think my favorite parts of the Portrait Gallery were the temporary exhibition about Katharine Hepburn (I learned that one of my favorite movies, Bringing Up Baby, wasn't very popular when it came out but is a hit now) and the Presidential portraits. The highlight of the Natural History Museum was probably seeing the gems and minerals section, including the Hope Diamond and a bunch of other amazing gemstones.

All that exploring really wore me out, though. I guess it shouldn't be too surprising that at six months pregnant I don't have my normal stamina for sightseeing. Kudos to the Smithsonian museums for having plenty of benches.

A little update

Once again there have been some requests for an updated Courtney picture, so here you go. I want to point out the curtains on the window. Mom made those (this room would be so boring without her talents!) and we hung them yesterday. The room is getting cuter by the day!

My New Kitchen Toy

Finally, I have a slow cooker! I have been wanting one since we got married but I have always put off buying one, thinking I don't really have space for it. Now that we own our house, the realization set in: there's not going to be any more space than I have now! Plus, I am on the planning committee for the Women's Club annual Chili Party and one of our main responsibilities is to bring a batch of chili. Obviously, a slow cooker greatly facilitates the transport and serving of this chili. So my fellow committee members encouraged me to use this as an excuse to buy an item I've wanted for so long.

So friends, besides taking chili to the Chili Party, I don't really know what to do with my new appliance. I know a lot of you use your slow cookers regularly, though. Please send me recipes--I would love to have some tried and true favorites from friends!

Grandma and Daddy's Hard Work

Austin's grandma and daddy put in a lot of work on Austin's nursery this week. I am so thrilled with the results! We have quite possibly the cutest nursery in Pennsylvania, if I do say so myself. Maybe I should say nursery-in-progress; you'll notice that there isn't actually any furniture in it yet, but that will be changing in the next few weeks.

Here's the progress so far:

From plain white storage room...

...to pretty colors that look ready for a baby!

Search the Scriptures

Since Christmas I've been using a book called Search the Scriptures in my quiet time each day. (Thanks for telling me about it, Ashley.) The book takes you through every verse in Scripture in three years, with two or three questions every day about the passage you've read. I just finished the first part of the book, 25 studies which take you through Luke 1:1-9:56, and already I've dealt with questions like "What is the purpose of salvation?" and "What is the cause, nature, and outcome of repentance?" There are also a lot of personal application questions. It has been so helpful for me to have questions like that to focus on as I read the Bible. I am thinking more deeply about the things I read and how they apply to my life.

As a lot of you know, moving away from Grace Church and the amazing preaching there has been a challenging transition for me and Zach. God has really used this time to bring me back to the importance of my own personal study of His Word, though. I am growing in the faith that He and His Word are truly sufficient for me. Church can be a blessing (and I certainly believe He wants us to be part of a church), but it is possible to rely on church too much for growth, a pattern that was very easy for me to fall into in California. Now I am relying more on Him to teach me from His word and I'm seeing the blessings of deeper personal worship.

Just sitting around

Mom came to town a few days ago to help us paint our nursery and put up a wallpaper border. Since I'm not allowed to paint, I have spent a lot of time just sitting around while Mom and Zach are upstairs working. I'm trying to find things to do so that I don't feel completely useless but I'm running out of ideas! I can't wait to see the finished room, though. I have peeked in the door (trying not to breathe much) and the colors look great so far!

"Sneaky" Cooking

My sister gave me a great cookbook for Christmas, The Sneaky Chef by Missy Chase Lapine. Perhaps some of you have heard of it? It's pretty new and I think it's gotten some media attention because of its somewhat-controversial approach to healthy eating. The basic idea is that you (as a parent) hide healthy ingredients in the foods your kids like. The book is full of recipes for typical kid favorites like pancakes, macaroni and cheese, chicken strips, spaghetti, and of course desserts.

Now I don't really agree with the author that it's a good idea to use deception in order to get your kids eating healthier. (I won't try to explain her whole philosophy, which is basically the first half of the book. Suffice it to say that mealtime is not where she chooses to pick her battles with her children.) However, it's hard to argue with the fact that eating more vegetables and whole grains is a good thing and this book gives lots of fun ways to do that.

One strategy that is used really often is using small amounts of fruit/vegetable purees in recipes. I have tried two so far: Orange Puree, which is made of carrots and sweet potatoes, and Purple Puree, which is blueberries and spinach. (Recipes for both are on the Sneaky Chef website if you'd like to try them, along with a few ways to use the purees.) We have tried the Orange Puree in several dishes this week with great results every time: in French toast batter (believe it or not), mixed in with store-bought pasta sauce, in macaroni and cheese (both homemade and from a box), and in grilled cheese sandwiches. The food still tastes great; in most cases you don't even realize there is anything extra there but it's nice to know you are getting a health benefit.

I just made Purple Puree today. I have tried it in two recipes so far and I think they both turned out pretty well.

The raw ingredients of Purple Puree

The finished puree

Purple Puree Recipe #1: mixed into our meat/bean/taco sauce mixture for taco salad

Purple Puree Recipe #2: "Health by Chocolate" Cookies. Besides the puree, these are made with wheat germ, whole wheat flour, and less sugar than most cookies. Still tasted good, though.

I would love to hear if anyone else has used this cookbook or has any similar strategies. I may be an adult but I still find it challenging to eat enough veggies sometimes. The Sneaky Chef is making it more fun to "sneak" healthy stuff into my own diet!

Baby Stuff

Zach and I made another trip to our "big city" shopping destination of Monroeville today to buy some stuff for Austin. The first of many major purchases for our child, I'm sure. Apparently we spent enough to set off the fraud alerts at our credit card company because we had a message for us when we got home asking us to verify one of the purchases! (Kind of nice that someone...a computer, at least...is looking out for us, huh?)

So what did we get? Well, we ordered our crib and changing table/dresser. They will arrive in 7-14 days. That means that by the end of January our second bedroom will be well on its way to looking like a nursery because my mom is coming for a visit next week to help us paint and hang up a wallpaper border. So exciting! We are still looking for a glider and an area rug.

Second, we bought a camcorder. Zach, bless his heart, has done hours of research on the subject over the last two weeks. (I have no patience for that sort of thing. I'm really content for him to decide what we want, buy it, learn how to use it, and show me the basics I need to know.) But anyway, we walked into the store with a few models in mind. The very helpful Circuit City employee actually talked us into a different model, an HD version that we hadn't considered before, but we feel pretty good about our purchase. The picture quality on HD camcorders really is a major step up, even if you're shooting in standard format. (We were given a very convincing demonstration of this at the store.)

So I'm hoping to learn how to use the camcorder to post videos on my blog, but don't count on it. Like I said, I'm not one to devote lots of time to figuring out tech stuff. But maybe Zach will learn how and teach me!

The "Scary Little Monster" Inside

FYI...The title of this post refers to a certain baby outfit we were given for Christmas. Our parents will get it, I'm sure.

But anyway, Austin sure made his presence known this weekend. I first felt him move around 19 weeks, but his movements have been getting a lot stronger and more frequent in the past few days. Then yesterday morning Zach finally felt him for the first time! Zach was surprised at how strong it felt; I thought he was getting only a moderate taste of what this baby can do.

Then tonight Austin started kicking really hard right in the middle of my tummy so I decided to pull up my shirt and see if it was visible from the outside. Sure enough, it was, and Zach was nearby so he didn't miss out on the action. Even though I've been feeling him for a month, there was something a little startling, but very exciting, about seeing my tummy jump and ripple because of this tiny creature inside me. No doubt about it, something strong is growing inside!

Home Again

Zach and I flew back to Pennsylvania on Thursday. Since then it's been two days of cleaning, unpacking, and grocery shopping as we try to get back into a normal routine. Zach still has a whole week until classes start at IUP, though, so our routine doesn't have to get too normal just yet!

Just thought I'd post a few last pictures of our trip. It was such a wonderful two weeks--we are so thankful that we were able to see both our families and so many friends.

We spent Christmas evening with our good friends Christy and John Hansen, who are missionaries in Croc, Mexico.
One of the best parts about our time in Missouri was getting to see my sister and her husband almost every day. Going to my parents' house isn't quite the same now that Megan doesn't live there anymore, but we got to spend lots of time with her on this trip.

My parents flew down to Texas for the last few days of our trip to go to the Cotton Bowl. Can you tell it was a bit chilly that day? We had a great time...as my dad put it, "Football is really a lot more fun to watch when your team wins." Go Tigers!

Hail, All Hail, TCU!

Zach and I left Kansas City on Wednesday and drove south to Fort Worth, TX to spend a week with his family. We decided to visit TCU's campus while we were here because they've been building a lot and we wanted to see all the changes. It was so neat to be back on campus at the place where we spent four fantastic years, but the place really has changed a lot. Four new dorms are being built in the middle of campus, plus a new student center. The beloved Frog Fountain is still the centerpiece of campus, although it's been cleaned up a lot. It was never this shiny while we were there!
As we exited the freeway on our way to campus, I was reminded of the first time I visited TCU with my mom. Can it really have been almost ten years ago? If you don't know the story of how I ended up at TCU, read on. It is one of the clearest examples in my life of God leading me in a specific direction.

From the time I was a sophomore in high school, I really wanted to go to Rice University. I really, really, really wanted to go there. Rice is pretty tough to get into but I thought I had the grades, test scores, extracurriculars, etc. to get in. I applied for early admission and was absolutely devastated when I learned in February that they were deferring my decision to the regular admission pool.

I realized at that point that I was not happy with the other schools I had applied to. So, I decided to apply to TCU. Yes, just that suddenly. I had no real reason. I truly believe God placed the thought in my mind because that's where I needed to be. I know I had gotten mail from TCU during high school (along with dozens of other schools) but I had never given them any special thought. When I announced this intention to my parents, I'm sure they thought I was crazy, but being the supportive parents they are, they did everything they could to help me. They made calls to the admission office to find out how I could apply within the admission deadline (which was that week) and faxed my application for me so it would arrive on time.

A few weeks later I received an acceptance letter from TCU along with a t-shirt and a small scholarship offer. (I applied weeks after the scholarship deadline, so that was a big surprise.) The t-shirt may not seem like a big deal, but to me it represented a school that wanted me there enough to send a little token like that. Mom and I visited TCU during my Spring Break and while we were there I decided to accept the admission offer. TCU was the right size school with the right majors in the right kind of city.

I have not regretted that decision for a single minute in the past ten years. God worked in my life in so many ways during those four years--I am so thankful for the crazy decision He led me to make!

Cinnamon Rolls!

Christmas Eve in the Jones house means one thing: cinnamon rolls. Every Christmas morning for years my Grandma Irene served cinnamon rolls for breakfast when the family gathered at her house. Before she died my mom watched her make them and wrote out the recipe for the first time--Grandma didn't need a recipe. Now my mom continues to make cinnamon rolls for our Christmas brunch. It's a long process, with multiple rises and all the work of rolling out the dough, but by this time in the evening the house smells amazing and we can hardly wait for tomorrow morning, knowing what a treat is waiting for us!






Mixing the dough








Kneading in the flour








The dough before it rises








The risen dough








Rolled-out dough with LOTS of butter








Lots of butter deserves lots of brown sugar








Rolling up the dough








Slicing the dough and arranging the rolls in the pan








The finished product!

Thoughts for the Season

I read Isaiah 55 this morning and I was struck by its appropriateness to the Christmas season. My Bible has titled the chapter "The Free Offer of Mercy." Isn't that what Christmas should be: a reminder of the free offer of mercy that God is still extending to sinners everywhere?

Several verses in particular stood out to me. Verse 2 says "Why do you spend money for what is not bread, and your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, and delight yourself in abundance." Millions of people have been busy this month spending their money on things that cannot really satisfy our longing souls. Only Christ offers what we really need.

Verse 6 says "Seek the Lord while He may be found; call upon Him while He is near." It seems to me that during the Christmas season Christ is on the one hand a little "nearer:" we hear songs about Him, see Scripture proclaiming Him on Christmas cards, and see images of His birth as decorations. But on the other hand, this pushes the true Christ a little farther away from us if we treat Him like the jingle bells and snowmen that also decorate our world.

I pray that Christ would be near your heart in this season. I pray that you (and I) would call upon Him to satisfy us in the midst of so much worldliness.

Oh, There's No Place Like Home for the Holidays

The "home" I am currently referring to is my parents' house in Independence, MO. Zach and I are fortunate enough this year to have the resources to visit both our families during the holidays. We have been looking forward to this for months! No job responsibilities and no tuba, just lots of time to relax and frankly, to get spoiled. (If our parents are half as good at spoiling Austin as they are at spoiling us, he will be one lucky child!)

I am really glad that my parents still live in the house I grew up in because so many of my holiday memories center around this house. Here are some of my favorite things about Christmas in the Jones house:

• making Grandma Irene's cinnamon rolls on Christmas Eve
• admiring all of my mom's beautiful decorations...she really inspires me to try to make my home as beautiful as it can be for my family
• listening to Christmas music both serious and not-so-serious...my mom just reminded me of the first time we ever listened to a "Cow Christmas" tape...pretty hilarious. We'll pull it out in a few days for old times' sake
• listening to my sister or my dad (no one else could do it justice) read aloud "The Christmas Tree in Brooklyn" by Betty Smith. This short story is probably supposed to be poignant and touching but is so funny (at least to us) that we can hardly get through it.
• doing crossword puzzles or having long conversations with my dad...he is so intelligent and I love how many different subjects on which we can converse
• enjoying our traditional Christmas brunch and then relaxing for all of Christmas afternoon