365 Project – September & October

Again, since I sort of fell of the wagon with my picture-taking, here is my update for both the months of September and October. Admittedly, there are several pictures in this bunch not actually taken by myself (mostly by my mom), but I included them anyway, because this 365 Photography Project has been more about capturing daily memories for me than about honing my own photography skills – which should be obvious, considering the majority of them were taken with my iPhone. This fall included memorable moments such as making homemade tomato soup with my mom, a visit from Joe’s parents and sister, a trip to the International House of Prayer in Kansas City, seeing the ultrasound of our baby, a weekend family gathering in Grand Forks, North Dakota, and celebrating Rayah’s 2nd birthday!

To view larger images of my photos, you can visit my 365 Project blog at echoinghim.tumblr.com.

This month, I think my favorite picture simply has to be one of the many I took in my photo shoot of my daughter Rayah, but I couldn’t possibly choose just one – I love them all! However, I do also love the one of me reading a Bible story to both my kids in bed.

Do you have a favorite?

My 30th Birthday – Part 5 (The People)

All right folks, this is the last post in this series on my 30th Birthday.

So, obviously any birthday party wouldn’t be fun without all the people that make it special. You saw some of them already in the photo booth pictures in my previous post, but here are some candids of the friends and family who came to celebrate with me. Thank you to everyone who came and contributed and made me feel loved – I am blessed to have so many great friends and family!! (Most pictures below were taken by my friend Byanka Holder – thanks again!)

My 30th Birthday – Part 4 (The Fun)

If you missed them, you can catch up with Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3.

For me, most of the fun of my party was just having so many friends and family show up and getting to mingle with them all. But I did plan one activity that I wanted, which was a car rally/scavenger hunt which I got my brother Derek to create for me! Whoever wanted to participate showed up earlier and I think there were about 6 teams who joined in. We were all given a set of directions that would lead us on a designated route. Sometimes these directions were something like “turn right at this sign” or “drive until you have to turn left”, etc. Along the way, there were blanks to fill in of street names or other pieces of information that we had to look for on signs. There were also bonus items for certain things to look for that we had to take pictures of or questions to answer like, “how many garage doors on the house at the second driveway on the left after you make this turn”. Also, a couple times during the rally we had to record our time and our mileage so that my brother could make sure we hadn’t taken a detour or that we weren’t speeding! It wasn’t a race, but it was more about being the most accurate and getting the most points. Joe and I went with our kids, with Joe driving and me navigating and calling out the bonus items we needed to be on the lookout for. Having my iPhone was definitely helpful, but I think we had an advantage since it was our home turf and we were very familiar with the area. In the end, we did win first place and my son Justice was pumped that we were the winners! Here is my brother announcing the placings – I was really proud that he did such a great job at creating the game!

Later in the evening, my husband surprised me with a fun poem that he wrote in my honor. He got some good laughs and I felt really loved and special!

The only other “activity” that I planned was having a photobooth set up outside where I demanded that everyone go get their picture taken, using the bin of silly props that I provided. This was a great thing for people to be creative and have fun with and the kids especially enjoyed it! Here are just a few of my favorites…

Daughter and Father enact a miraculous healing!

Hubby with the kids & me with my little girl

My parents smooching & my brother & sister-in-law

Crazy kids & my silly son

My goofy friends

Me & my friend, Me with my sister & the little guy

More silliness

A friend’s family & me and my hubby

All right folks, we’re almost to the end of this marathon. I think one more post and we’ll be done documenting this milestone in my life. Thanks for hanging in there!

My 30th Birthday – Part 2 (The Food)

I have never been a big party planner, as I have usually lacked the time, energy and creativity to do anything out of the ordinary. However, as fate would have it, I joined the site Pinterest a couple months before my birthday and it became almost entirely responsible for everything that I consequently planned to include in my birthday bash. It was wonderful, because I didn’t have to come up with any amazing ideas all on my own – Pinterest just fed them to me & made it so easy for me to put together the fun party I was dreaming of.

First of all, there was the food. Now – I’ll be the first to admit that I have no problem asking people to help out & since there ended up being around 60 people who attended my party, I had no shame in asking people to contribute a little something. So several people brought chips, pop, and other appetizers such as veggie & dip trays, bread & spinach dip, egg rolls, a meat & cheese & pickles tray, etc. etc. The spread was absolutely fabulous! And since I didn’t have plates for the appetizers, I bought a bag of small plastic bathroom cups that worked perfect for people to put their various dips in – I would definitely recommend this little tip, because I thought it worked out really well.

But there were a few specialty items that I wanted that I made special requests from my dear friends.

A big shout out to my friend Stephanie who took on the challenge of creating this adorable watermelon hedgehog that I found on Pinterest! I sent her the website with the tutorial on how to make it and she totally made it happen! He was so cute and everyone loved him! As you can see, he was half devoured before we could even get a picture of him. (Another special shout out to my friend Byanka who took most of the pictures at my party for me, so that I could focus on being the hostess and birthday girl)

Another item I found was rainbow fruit skewers, which my lovely friends Rebecca, Paige & Melinda created for me. They were another hit and disappeared so fast! I also made a quick and easy fruit dip out of whipped cream and yogurt – yum!

Another big hit was the rhubarb slushie punch that I made. This idea I actually did not get from Pinterest and I sadly don’t have a good picture of the finished product, but it is soooo good! Here’s the recipe:

8 cups sugar
4 cups water
32 cups (8 L. or quarts) rhubarb juice
3 cans frozen pink lemonade concentrate
4 cups pineapple juice

My mom gathered a butt load of rhubarb from both a friend’s garden and her own garden and then we cut it all up into 3-4 inch lengths and put it in her largest canning pot. I can’t remember now exactly how much rhubarb we used, but I think it may have been around 24 cups? We then covered it with water, which was probably around the same amount as the rhubarb and cooked it until the rhubarb was really mushy – about 30 minutes. It’s amazing what happens to that rhubarb! All the juice and color cooks out and all you’re left with is this gross green globby mush. So you strain out all that and we ended up with almost exactly the 32 cups of rhubarb juice that we needed!

You then combine your 4 cups water and 8 cups sugar and boil it hard for about 10 minutes or until the sugar is fully dissolved. Add this to your rhubarb juice, along with the pineapple juice and frozen pink lemonade. Then you freeze it all – I filled up one ice cream pail, a 4 L. milk jug, and probably half a dozen or more margarine containers (several of which are still in my freezer)! When you’re ready to serve it, thaw it partially and combine with your clear bubbly pop of choice (we used 7-UP) at about a 1:1 ratio, or more or less to your own taste. Yum, yum, yum!

For supper, I got the idea to do a taco bar, which I really loved! This was also an easy thing for people to contribute to, as I had several of my friends bring the various items – tortillas, cheese, lettuce, Spanish rice, sour cream, guacamole, etc. I supplied most of the meat (taco seasoned beef), refried beans and salsa. The meat, refried beans and Spanish rice we kept warm in several slow cookers and then had a buffet for people to help themselves and create their own tacos – so much fun!

Last, but certainly not least was the idea for a rainbow colored candy bar for dessert! This was another hit, especially with all the kids and with my dear fellow pregnant momma. I hit up the bulk store and blew most of my party budget on candy – lol. But it was worth it! I also used a template for some fun rainbow paper cones for people to dish their candy into, which worked out really well. And in case you haven’t figured it out yet, I sort of had the rainbow theme going on throughout the whole party.

And we absolutely cannot forget to mention the Timbits from our beloved Canadian Tim Horton’s, especially since I just found out they cost my dear mommy a very pretty penny, as she got nailed by a speed trap on her way to get them. Thanks mom!!!

As I was planning all the food out, I did get a little stressed out about having enough, but everything turned out absolutely perfectly and we had such a great time filling our bellies with all the goodies! Thank you to everyone who came and contributed and helped make it such a success!!

More yet to come…

365 Project – May

Though the month started with a surprise snowstorm, I am soooo thankful to the Lord for spring!! I love seeing some color in my pictures this month!

Breakdown of topics:
Rayah – 13 pics
Justice – 11 pics
Me – 4 pics
Objects - 8 pics
Friends –1 pic
Family - 1 pic
Food & Drink - 2 pics
Animals – 2 pics
Spring – 6 pics

To view larger images of my photos, you can visit my 365 Project blog at echoinghim.tumblr.com.

This month, I think my favorite picture is definitely the one of Justice sliding down the fire pole and then Rayah with her face smashed up against the window coming in as a close second.  

Do you have a favorite?

Ultimate Blog Party 2011

Well, I had so much fun last year participating in the Ultimate Blog Party hosted by 5 Minutes For Mom, that I knew I definitely wanted to join in again this year! It was really great to meet some new bloggers and have new visitors to my blog, so I’m excited about who I’ll meet this time around!

This year, I made my first attempt at creating & editing a video, so you can watch me as I give you a small glimpse into my life or read the list of things about me below with some links to some other blog posts on my site that you can check out. (The video is just under 10 minutes, so I apologize that it’s so long! If you don’t have time to watch it – I totally understand!)

1. My name is Jacquie and I am a Christian work-at-home-mom who is expectantly awaiting the return of Jesus to the earth! I am married to my amazing husband Joe and we celebrated our 6th anniversary this last January. You can read about how we met & got married here.
2. I have a very active, mischievous and rambunctious 3 year old son named Justice who adds much drama to life – I love him to pieces, even though he drives me a little crazy at times! Here’s his birth story.
3. I have a beautiful, sweet and sensitive 1 1 /2 year old daughter named Rayah who loves to dance and drape clothing around her shoulders and who is learning how to be a troublemaker from her big brother. She is pudgy and extremely squishable and you can read her birth story here.
4. About 3 weeks ago, I had my first (and hopefully last) miscarriage. It is obviously still fresh and I am still processing all my emotions about it, but Jesus has been faithful to carry me through as I am grieving and healing. Though I was only 5 1/2 weeks along in my pregnancy, it was still a difficult loss. We decided that our baby was a girl and we gave her a name that was made up by our son – Ezana. I guess she just couldn’t wait to go be with Jesus in heaven, so I can’t say I blame her, though I do miss the opportunity to get to hold her and know her in this life.
5. I live in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada and we have had an especially cold and long winter this year, so we are just now starting to finally see some signs of spring! Though the weather has its downfalls, since we’re nearly at the exact centre of Canada, I am thankful that I don’t need to worry about earthquakes or tsunamis where I live. We have a lovely home near a small river with some beautiful trails in the forest, so I’m looking forward to enjoying them again as the weather warms up!
6. If you watch the video above, you’ll see that we’re a family that loves music! Though we can often be out-of-touch with what’s current in the music scene, we love to create our own music and our home is often filled with singing, dancing, drumming, guitar and/or piano playing, etc.
7. Since my maternity leave ended last October, it has been interesting trying to balance the roles of part-time computer programmer and full-time mommy to two busy toddlers! I’m definitely thankful for my iPhone that has helped me stay organized, but I find it is a challenge trying to give your best to two different jobs at the same time. However, I’m very thankful for the flexibility my job provides me and that I am able to stay home with my kids!
8. I have been blogging on and off for over 6 years and I really enjoy it, but I find it so hard to find the time to blog as often as I would like. I don’t know how some of you moms do it when you are have way more on your plate than I do! I find myself blogging mostly about my kids and various product reviews, but my real passion is to blog about Jesus and how amazing He is, so this is something that I hope to do more.
9. Though I am an incredibly amateur photographer and I seem to only be taking pictures with my iPhone lately, I do love it and I’m doing a 365 photography project this year, which you can view here. I’m kind of like my mother and am a little bit obsessed with capturing every moment on camera so I can remember and relive it forever – perhaps this is because I have such a terrible memory?
10. I think prayer is the greatest way we can impact our world, so I love being part of Sanctuary House of Prayer, where we get to intercede to God for Him to come and transform our hearts & our city with His love and power. I participate as a worship leader on piano and as an intercessor and we also host a weekly prayer meeting in our home.
11. I love Starbucks Cinnamon Dolcé lattes and Chai Tea lattes, McDonald’s fries, cottage cheese rolls, sweet potato fries, hot spinach & artichokes with cheese dip, Barq’s rootbeer, and milk!
12. I am passionate about seeing God bring justice to the earth – life for unborn babies, adoption for the orphan, freedom for those caught in human trafficking, provision to the poor, protection to the persecuted, healing for the sick, peace for the war-torn, etc. etc.
13. Here are a few random favorite posts: The Oil of His Name, Love Letters #867, My Favorite Cookies, The Fear of Pain, I Love My Fist, Our Mission Statement, Maternity Photo Shoot, and Rayah at 4 months.

So, now that you know a little bit about me, feel free to browse around, leave a comment and introduce yourself!

I would also love to offer a prize to everyone who’s reading! If you win, I will give you a choice of a $20 gift card for either Starbucks, the iTunes store, or Amazon. To enter the draw, simply leave a comment below and I will do a draw after the Ultimate Blog Party is over, on April 9th at 9:00 am Central Time. Make sure to include your email or twitter handle so that I have a way to contact you if you are the winner! To earn extra entries, you can leave an additional comment for doing any of the following:

• Subscribe to my blog
• Follow me on Networked Blogs
• Follow me on Google Friend Connect
• Follow me on twitter
• Tweet about this blog post
• Visit my 365 Photography Blog and come back here to tell me which is your favorite photo.

For all the places to find me on the world wide web, visit my profile at http://about.me/echoinghim

365 Project – January

Well, I completed my first month of my 365 Photography Project and so far, so good! I enjoy the challenge and find it fun to wonder each day what my photo of the day will be? A couple days I couldn’t choose just one and on some days I was scraping the bottom of the barrel to try and come up with something. 95% of the photos were taken with my iPhone this month, with only a few taken with my point-and-shoot camera, but I’ve been enjoying using some of the fun photography iPhone apps like Instagram, Hipstamatic, Camera+, and PS Express.

Breakdown of topics:
Rayah – 9 pics
Justice – 5 pics
Joe - 5 pics
Me – 5 pics
Objects - 9 pics
Friends – 3 pics
Food & Drink - 4 pics
Prayer – 4 pics
Winter – 4 pics

To view larger images of my photos, you can visit my 365 Project blog at echoinghim.tumblr.com.

Do you have a favorite??

The Ultimate Blog After-Party!

So, I totally had more fun at the Ultimate Blog Party than I was expecting!  I didn’t really know what to expect, seeing as it was my first time participating, but I really loved getting some new visitors to my site and then visiting all of their sites.  I felt affirmed and loved by all the sweet comments and I look forward to partying again next year!

For the Ultimate Blog After-Party, I’m going to share with you some new blogs I discovered…

Awakening Purpose, Passion and Purity is a blog about rediscovering the joy of marriage in a world where marriages are continually falling apart.  This blog is written by Esther, who has another blog, A Spoonful of Sugar, which is “sweetening your day with laughter, inspiration & hope”.  Coincidentally, Esther is also the winner of the draw for the $15 Starbucks card – congratulations!!

My Freshly Brewed Life is written by Barbie,  Christian mom to four kids, who’s desire is to be “rooted and grounded in the marvelous love of God”.  I loved discovering another singer and intercessor at a house of prayer!

Joyeful is a Christian mom to 4 kids (one is still baking in the oven) and is in love with Jesus, which totally comes through in her writing.  She has two blogs as well, her personal blog, The Joyeful Journey, and a blog with conversations between her and God that we get to eavesdrop in on, called Dropping Eaves.

Lastly, I discovered the blog Impress Your Kids, which has crafts and activities to help us moms teach our kids about God and impress His Word on their hearts.  I’m really excited about this one, as they have lots of creative ideas!

Thanks for partying with me here at Echoing Him!

The Ultimate Blog Party 2010

I’m sort of late joining in, but I figured I would try to participate in this year’s Ultimate Blog Party, hosted by 5MinutesForMom.com!  Essentially, it’s just an opportunity for bloggers to promote their blogs, visit other people’s blogs, get to know new people, get new visitors to their sites, win prizes, and just have fun! 

So allow me to introduce myself…

1. My name is Jacquie and I have been married to my wonderful husband Joe 5 years this past January.
2. I have two of the cutest kids ever – my son Justice, who is 2 years old and my daughter Rayah, who will soon be 6 months.  While mothering is one of the hardest things I have ever done, it is also the most rewarding and it is making me a better person.
3. I live in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada and I truly love it here, even though I could definitely do without the -40C winters!
4. I am a computer programmer by trade, but am currently on my 1-year long maternity leave (a sweet benefit of living in Canada!).
5. I have been blogging on and off for about 5 years at several different locations before finally ending up here at www.echoinghim.com. 
6. I love Jesus and am eagerly awaiting His second coming to the earth!  Woohoo!  I think the Bible is an amazing book, as the very words of God to mankind and the story it tells is so dramatic and exciting, so I am looking forward to the fulfillment of this grand story and hope I am on the earth when it all happens.
7. I think prayer is the greatest way we can impact our world, so I love being part of Sanctuary House of Prayer, where we get to intercede to God for Him to come and transform our hearts & our city with His love and power.  I also created a prayer blog called Prayer Fuel where I write prayers for needs around the earth.
8. I love Starbucks Cinnamon Dolcé lattes, McDonald’s fries, cottage cheese rolls, sweet potato fries, hot spinach & artichokes with cheese dip, Barq’s rootbeer, and milk!
9. I love writing, reading, singing, playing piano, cooking, and social networking.
10. I am passionate about seeing God bring justice to the earth – life for unborn babies, adoption for the orphan, freedom for those caught in human trafficking, provision to the poor, protection to the persecuted, healing for the sick, peace for the war-torn, etc. etc.

So, now that you know a little bit about me, feel free to browse around, leave a comment and introduce yourself!

I will also be giving away a prize – a $15 CDN Starbucks card (I would expect it would still work in the USA, but I don’t actually know for sure).  To participate, you can leave a comment to be entered in the draw.  You can leave an additional comment if you follow me on twitter (@echoinghim) and/or if you post a link to this post on twitter or on facebook.  I will announce the winner on April 17th on this blog and the winner will have 48 hours to contact me so I can get your mailing info.

As for the prizes that I would love to win from the US/Canadian list, here are my top three picks:

1.  USC 11 – Win a $50 gift certificate good towards any purchase in my Etsy shop or my website. Provided by: Priddy Creations Custom Designs Follow here: Priddy Creationsor Visit Our Fan Page: Priddy Creations Custom Designs
2.  USC 43 – Prize value: $100. One winner gets to choose 3 meal time plate sets – which includes a personalized plate with coordinated personalized placemat. Provided by: Olive Kids Direct, LLC Follow here: olivekids or Visit Our Fan Page: Olive Kids
3.  USC 57 – One winner will choose a pair of children’s shoes from Eleven Collection! Provided by: Jamaise @ Wishing Penny Follow here: Jamaise or Visit Our Fan Page: Jamaise Wilson

If these prizes are all taken, I would also go for any of the Amazon gift cards (8, 36, 37, 40, 44), cash prizes (35, 39), or the Bath & Body Works gift card (63).

Thanks for visiting!

Thinking of you…

I wanted to write a blog post to tell you about some dear friends of ours who are in our thoughts and prayers these days.  Roger and Rose are one of the most delightful and beautiful couples you’ll ever meet and who we had the joy and privilege of connecting with when we lived in Calgary.  When Joe and I were leading the young adult prayer ministry back then, they were kindred spirits who, for a time, joined their hearts and intercession with ours for this generation and were such an encouraging support to us.  Over the years, we got to witness their incredible hearts of generosity and love as they repeatedly took people into their home, even as newly weds and new parents, sharing what they had without restraint. 

When they took in Rose’s younger brother Timothy, he was in a rough stage in his life and in desperate need of some guidance and a touch from the Lord.  Because of their willingness to open up their lives to him, we got to see the mighty workings of the Lord in Timothy’s life as he was delivered and set free from the addictions of his past and also healed miraculously of dyslexia – finding that he could read for the first time as he opened up his Bible as a new believer!  Again, we were blessed to observe Timothy growing in maturity and passion for Jesus and his testimony was an encouragement to us all.  We were also often blessed by Roger’s worship leading as the anointing and intimacy in his songs brought us into God’s presence numerous times. 

Around the same time that we moved from Calgary, Roger and Rose and their two girls had the opportunity to live abroad, due to Roger’s work.  I have been following Rose’s account of their travels as they first lived in Kaula Lampur, Malaysia, and now in Lagos, Nigeria, Africa.  I have thoroughly enjoyed Rose’s poetic story-telling of their many adventures and have been touched by her depictions of the poverty she witnessed and the orphans she would minister to.

But just a couple days ago, Rose shared on her blog the difficult news that her brother Timothy (now 24 years old) has been diagnosed with brain cancer.  So, if you read this, I am inviting you to join with us in prayer to contend for his healing!  We know from before, that the Lord has his hand on Timothy’s life and that He loves to deliver and heal his kids, so we are anticipating that He will do it again and reveal His glory and might in new ways, that we may again be in awe of His goodness!  If you would like to follow Timothy’s progress as he fights this disease or if you simply want to be blessed by reading the blog of a beautiful woman of God, then please visit her site at http://rogerandrosaleen.blogspot.com.

Roger, Rose, Timothy and your family – we are thinking of you and praying for you…

Next Page »