Get Ready for a Jamming Post!

Every time I reminded Ian that Sarah and I were jamming on Saturday, he'd make some "really cool" joke about how we could borrow his guitar. Clearly, it wasn't that kind of jamming.

But get ready, because I've got pictures galore to share from our jamming session. It was so fun and we ended up with 8 jars of jam each, which is great!

We started with fruit, sugar (A LOT OF SUGAR), pectin and lots of recipes. Since we were trying it for the first time, we wanted to try a few different recipes and styles, so we could do some taste testing. That way, next time, we'll have the perfect recipe and we'll know if freezer jam is just as good as shelf jam (because if it is, I'm making that from now on. It was way easier). More on the difference later.

Okay, here we are, prepping.

Here is Sarah, lightly chopping (not pureeing, as we were warned several times) the strawberries. We started by making two different recipes of freezer jam, which means we didn't boil it after it was jarred. (And we didn't use wax sealed lids, since it had to go in the freezer and wasn't shelf stable anyway). We tried one from a Frugal Girl, an online blog I follow and one from the pectin box, called "Low Sugar." Not sure how true the name was.

After we mixed the 2 cups of strawberries with 4 cups of sugar (that's right, collect yourself, 4 cups of sugar), we boiled the pectin with water. Here I am stirring it (don't judge - it's a Saturday and I didn't shower or do my hair or put on make-up).

Then we mixed in the berries - this is actually a shot of our 3 berry jam that we made later in the day, but you get the idea.

Up next, ladling! Here I am, putting the jam into jars for the freezer.

Then, I remembered that someone had given me a jamming kit and we busted it out. We discovered a GREAT funnel and tools for making shelf jam, which is coming up next.

For our last project, we made three-berry shelf jam, which means we had to use jars with wax seals and boil the jam for 10 minutes to make sure it sealed, keeping all the bacteria out (hence being able to store it on the shelf).

Here is a photo of some of strawberry jars. Sadly, I didn't get a photo of all 16 jars, but it was quite impressive and so beautiful! Isn't jam pretty?

Our first taster was Mary's daughter Abbie (we were babysitting while she and Mike were working). Her refined palate gave us a big thumbs up. She loved it.

In fact, she licked the spoon completely clean. (Don't worry, I only gave her a tiny amount, given the high sugar content!)

It was SUPER fun and Sarah and I both agreed we would love to do it again. It probably didn't save us that much money and it did take about 4 hours, but 8 jars of jam each is a lot of jam! We both love cooking and experimenting, so we've got big ideas for peach jam later on in the summer.

On a side note, when I was trying to give Sarah her box of jam on Sunday (it had to set overnight, so we didn't want to move it on Saturday), someone at church stopped me and asked how much I was selling the jam for.

Future money maker? Just might be!

Brian Regan

For Ian's first Father's Day (which he claims he doesn't deserve but for all the vomit he's cleaned up*, I felt like I couldn't do enough!), I gave him two DVDs of comedians he loves - Jim Gafigan and Brian Regan. The real surprise though was two tickets to see Brian Regan live in our arena in Long Beach. I've seen Brian Regan once before and LOVED it but that was before Ian and I were together. So, he's never seen him and always wanted to.

I figured the tie to Father's Day was not only will those kinds of things be harder for us to go to because we will need to line up babysitting, but we won't really be able to afford expensive shows in the future. So better live it up on this Father's Day.
Tomorrow night is the show and we're so excited!

If you haven't seen any of Brian Regan, you should definitely check him out. He's totally clean but not at all lame and cheesy.

Here is a YouTube link to one of my favorite sketches, on tyring to get UPS to pick up your boxes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89frRi8GgGA

This is a very funny one on the difference between men and women: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONBNYTNDz-Q&feature=related

Just one more for kicks - a sketch on the emergency room: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9m2FLHlEwA

If you're desperate for more, his Stupid In School once is really funny too. Clearly, we like this guy.

Enjoy! And Happy Belated Father's to all the rest of you wonderful fathers out there!

*Why is Ian cleaning up vomit, you may be wondering? Because I've had A LOT of nausea with this pregnancy and sometimes it comes on me quickly before I can quite make it to the toilet (don't worry, most of the time I made it to a trash can or sink). And then, I'm so grossed out by what's already happened, I can't look at the vomit or it just keeps coming. So, Ian has been SUPER TROUPER and cleaned it up many, many times. Thankfully, we seem to be on the up swing with that and I haven't thrown up in almost two weeks! We're both thrilled.

Sweet Victory!

Do you hear that sound? That is the sound of victory, sweet victory. When I came home from work last night, this is the site that greeted me:
Ian, hairless and beardless (well, buzzed hair and trimmed beard). If you follow this blog, you know his beard was a fierce competition between us about who would crack first. Turns out, I won! He wanted it off before I felt like it was too long.

He says that when he was buzzing his head, he "accidentally" clipped part of his beard so he had to trim it all. But he admits it feels so good and he's happy to have it cleaned up.

My prize, you ask? I have decided that for my reward, Ian will watch all of Season 8 So You Think You Can Dance, which is pretty much the best show ever. Since this is quite a lot to ask, I'm only making him watch Wednesday nights, not the Thursday results show.

Truth is, he has been watching it with me so far (only because he loves me, not really because he would choose it) but I could tell last night his attention was waning, and we still have a long way to go. So by claiming this as my prize, I can assure his presence (if not his attention) for the weeks (months) to come. Yay for being the victor!

Can You See What That Is?

I'm sure this post is going to come as no surprise to anyone, since I'm pretty sure everyone who reads this blog already knows, but since people have been asking me when I was going to go public, to you I say: Now.

See that picture below? Yep, that's a pregnancy test. And yep, it says pregnant. PREGNANT! So amazing, so exciting, such an answer to prayer.
When Ian and I took this test on Sunday, April 3rd, we were both amazed at the word on the stick. In our year of trying, we took relatively few tests. Neither of us liked the experience of the sudden answer. So we waited for the God-given answer that had come all those previous months. But this month, I was a little late and while I thought I was having period symptoms, I was actually having pregnancy symptoms. (They weren't kidding when they said early pregnancy cramping feels just like period cramping.) But when it didn't come, we took the test. (Plus, we were seeing my parents that afternoon at Disneyland and we thought if we were pregnant, it would be fun to tell them there.)

I was right in the middle of saying, "It's taking too long - positive tests don't take this lo..." when the magical word flashed on the screen. And what joy! Ian's words where, "Oh, whoa!" and I burst into tears on his shoulder. It would have made for a great movie scene, except we were so thankful to be sharing that moment just the two of us. After months of tears as the blood came each month, it was so wonderful and special to be crying together because God had turned our "wait" into a "YES!"

We ran back into our bedroom to cuddle in bed before church, reveling in our news. I truly don't have words for that first morning. All we could say was, "Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Jesus."

Obviously, that was weeks and weeks ago. I was just four weeks pregnant when we found out. And this Thursday, I will complete my 16th week. Our baby is now the size of about the size of an avocado. We did have a little scare around week 10 that made us feel anxious and wary of telling people, but now that I'm two weeks into my second trimester, we feel like we're going to keep this baby and we feel good about sharing.

Hence the post. =)

One other thing I do want to say. In the middle of March, after we were past our trying time frame but well before we could possibly know, Ian and I were having dinner together at the table, as we always do. That night, as he prayed before our meal, he asked the Lord, very simply and quickly, for a baby, as he always did. In that moment, in my chair in our dining room, the Lord said to me, "I have already given you one."

I didn't really know what that meant - did it mean what I hoped it meant? Or did it mean God had a baby picked out for us that he wanted to adopt? Or did it mean we would get pregnant some time in the future?

Because it can be a little weird to be like, "Hey, the Lord told me this" I kept the thought to myself that night. But the next morning, when I was praying and journaling, I was talking to the Lord about it, asking him if I had heard him rightly. And I had again a very strong sense that yes, I had heard him right. He had already given us a baby.

Later that night, I told Ian about it, cautiously and with a preface you would expect. (On a side note - don't you just wish we could say with boldness, "The Lord spoke to me" and trust that people wouldn't think we were crazy?) Of course, with Ian, I can tell him that and he doesn't think it's strange. I also told my sisters, but I think that was it.

But when that PREGNANT flashed across the screen, I felt so overwhelmed. Not only had God answered our prayers (and so many of yours), but he had let me be involved in the process, assuring me before science could confirm it, that he had indeed given us a baby. What a God we serve!

To my friends who are longing for their own good news, I say, I love you. And so does Jesus. I know there is nothing else to say. I continue to pray and hope with you.

To my friends who have prayed with me, rejoice! God has heard our prayers and this December, we will get to meet this anxiously awaited and so deeply wanted baby!

Aside: Since we're not finding out the gender, we have nick-named our baby Cricket, so we don't have to call it "it" all the time. You are welcome to use the nickname as well. =)

A Flurry of Posts

Apparently, I am making up for lost time over here. =) Since there has been such a blogging drought, I've decided to post until you just can't take it anymore.

Actually, I just wanted to share a recent photo of Ian's beard. Even this photo doesn't do it justice. It's so long and bushy and curly.
He and I are in a battle over the beard, with a bet riding on the outcome. But it's not what you think. I like his beard long and he likes it trim. He's always amazed when I say it looks good after he's let it grow. So, we're in a competition to see who will crack first: Will the beard get so long that I finally yell "Trim it!" OR will he be so fed up with its bushiness that he runs straight to the bathroom for his trimmer? We shall see.

So far, I'm hanging in there just fine. I think his beard is such a handsome color and texture. He on the other hand complains about being hot, about having to wash his whole face after each meal and about how many comments his students make. He told me recently that one student said to him, "Do you think something could be growing in your beard Mr. McCurry?" So I think I'm on track to win this bet.

But I'll keep you posted (pun totally intended).

Caleb's Play

I am always so thankful when I get to be involved in my nieces and nephews lives. A lot of times, stuff happens while I have to work. My oldest niece Sophie was recently one of a few Alice's in Alice in Wonderland. I would have LOVED to be there but couldn't make it.

But, I was able to attend Caleb's play this past week. He is in 2nd grade at a Long Beach school not too far from where I work and since his play was at 1PM, I was able to run by there on my lunch. It was so fun.

Being that's brilliant and so enthusiastic, he actually had the opening line. He welcomed everyone to the play. He was so cute. Here he is (apologies for my terrible photography skills).


The play was themed Americana and had all kinds of American folk songs and anthems. It was very patriotic and very well done. Here is a photo of all the 2nd graders at his school - you can see that they really packed them on that stage!
I love being an aunt and am sooooooooo thankful to live so close to my precious nieces and nephews.

Baseball Game with Friends

A few weekends ago we went to a baseball game with our friends Matt and Lauren Sanders. They are relatively new to Long Beach and we met them in our last life group at church. Since then, we've hung out with them several times and we always have such a good time.

It was an Angel / Yankee game and there were so many Yankee fans there (and the Yankees won). But since we got the tickets for free and really don't care that much about baseball, we had a great time. I never eat hot dogs, but somehow they always sound so good at a baseball game.

Anyway, here is Ian with Matt and Lauren. It's probably been a while since I posted a picture of Ian but isn't his beard awesome?! I'll try to get a better picture of it soon.

The thing I love about baseball games is that it feels like summer. And today, which is rainy and about 60, I could use a little summer!

A Prayer Question

This morning I was thinking about a situation I heard of a few months ago. One of my siblings friends is having a hard time in their marriage. In fact, it sounds like perhaps the husband is thinking of getting out all together. I was feeling burdened for this situation and was praying about it this morning and I found myself praying something that I wasn't sure if it was okay.

I was praying for the husband to feel convicted, to see what he's doing to his marriage and his wife, all of which I think was fine. But then I started praying that God would take his presence away from this man, that he would no longer sense God's pleasure with him until he turned in obedience. As soon as I prayed for God to remove his presence from him, I wondered if that is an okay thing for us to ask God to do to another person. I've thought on and off about it all day and haven't come to a conclusion one way or the other.

Thoughts? Advice?

Did I Tell You We Got Citrus Trees?

When we first started working on our backyard, about a year ago now, I told Ian that I wanted a "citrus grove." Of course, by that I meant three mini citrus trees. We originally intended to plant them against the wall of our neighbors garage, since we have an existing bed already there. However, the lovely people at Armstrong told Ian that citrus trees need lots of sun. Since that area doesn't get that much sun, Ian decided to buy used wine barrels and plant our orange, lemon and lime trees in those barrels.

He worked so hard over his spring break a few weeks ago (he had to drill lots of holes for water) and here they are. Don't they look so cute?

We didn't want to leave that other bed empty though, and Ian knew I love roses, so he surprised me with four rose bushes, which are already blooming. Aren't they lovely?

Ian also got a fountain (which he is very in love with). And I can't blame him - the sound of running water is so nice while we're eating dinner under the veranda. It seems to be drowning out some of the traffic noise, which is great. He also got two more wine barrels and planted some wisteria, that he hopes will grow over the top of the veranda and make the whole patio completely shaded.

So here is the most update to date photo of our backyard - doesn't it look great? Ian did such a good job! In this photo, you can just barely make out the hanging plants, but they actually make a really big difference in the space. We heart our backyard!