Christmas Gift--HELP!!!

Each year the Simpson family draws names of who they are going to buy a gift for. This year I got Robby. OK, help! I hardly know what to get for my husband, let alone my 27 year old brother-in-law! He actually seems easy to please--he loves looking sharp (nice clothes) he loves shoes, expensive pens, golfing, socoor and Starbucks. If something interesting comes to mind from that list, please let me know. I have a $50.00 limit :). Thanks!

My 6 month old---all grown up!

It was so awesome having Claire here this past week! We had a blast! Brookie really loves her!
We finally had some cold weather hit so we had to bundle her up. Needless to say, she hates being put in her carseat when she has her coat on. I have no idea why!

Thanksgiving is a Choice!

I hope that you enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving! This year we celebrated at my house again with Nate's family. My sister-in-laws family from MO was here also and so they ate and spent the day with us. We had about 15 people and way too much fun! I love having big parties at my house because it reminds me of growing up. Our house was always full of people and we loved it! It wasn't rare for us to have 20-40 people over on a Sunday after church. My Mom was amazing in this area and my dad always helped her out with the food too. I guess then I didn't realize what a big job it was and I wish I would have helped my Mom out a little more. Anyway, I'm off on a bunny trail.
The Wednesday night before Thanksgiving, Brother Kaighen (Joanna's dad) preached a very convicting message called, "Thanksgiving is a choice." To me, even the title was convicting. How often we go about our every day lives choosing (absentmindedly) to be unthankful! He talked about how important it is for us to be positive, happy, thankful people ALL the time. He ended with this illustration: Tonight, when you go home, think of what is most important to you in this life--something that you treasure. Your spouse? Your family? Your church? Whatever it is, think of how much you love and appreciate your treasure and how much that means to you. Then, think of what it would be like to have it taken away. And really think about it. I think of the anguish that I would go through if my best friend, my husband, were to be taken away from me and the turmoil that I would experience of not having his steady, guiding hand to help me through every day life, loving me unconditionally. Now, what can you do to show more appreciation for that person, your treasure? If it were taken away, would you regret not being grateful to them and expressing your gratefulness to your treasure?
I wanted to write that down before I forgot about it. I hope that we all learn to be more thankful and grateful to God for what he has done for us and to others and what they give to us each day. Thanksgiving is a choice, so choose it each day!

Chicken, Anyone?

Last night Nate was going to make his favorite home made vanilla ice cream but we didn't have any eggs. He ran over to the neighbors house to borrow some (which happens to be his brother Robby) and came over with a few different colored eggs--obviously farm fresh. In went one egg into the pot to be cooked, and when the next one was cracked, it said, "CHEEP CHEEP!" A baby chick!!! I have to say that I have seen this before but when you live in the classy, hi-tech city of Austin, Texas, you don't really expect to see it. It was gross. Disgusting! I'm sure you can see by the looks on our faces that we were not too impressed! And when we told the person we had borrowed it from (omitting names :) they accused us of chicken abortion! :) Not really. Anyway, it was a little weird and a little disgusting but it was funny in a way too. So that was our little adventure last from last night! :) By the way, after the baby was properly disposed and a new batch was made, the ice cream came out the creamiest it has ever been, or at least I was told. I, for one, did not eat any!

Alabama Trip

This past week we went to Jack Patterson's "Come and See" Jubilee and I have to say that they were the best meetings I have ever been to. The preaching was phenomenal and the music was uplifting. It was held at Gloryland Baptist Church in Birmingham, Pastor Charlie Andrews. He was one of the preachers, along with my dad, Vince Massa, Eddy Wyatt and several other men of God.



This is the Tabb family singing. They sang kind of a theme song throughout the week called, "I have been blessed." It was so good, and everyone was crying and shouting and having a time when they sang it on Thursday evening. How blessed we have been!
This is the boys home where the Parkinsons live. The guys in Old Paths built it and it is very beautiful inside!
It's so nice whenever I have a chance to sing with my sisters! We sang for most of the invitations and a lot during the services.
Brookie was really good in the car until the last few hours--then she would get really whiny and discontent :) But so would we!

4 of the second generation girls from Old Paths were there along with our babies, so we got this picture one night. It was so neat to all be together again!
We also got one of the grandpa's of the kids! This picture is so sweet!
This is Bro. Jack with his girls home. They sang and quoted scripture. Bro. Jack has and incredible heart for all the kids in his home.
Dave and Pat are really good friends and they had an awesome time at these meetings too. They helped me by taking care of the baby one afternoon, too. :)

Nate and I happily reunited after a week apart. I wished so bad that he could have been there!

Little Toes

When Brooke was 6 weeks old, Claire painted her toe nails. Mommy finally got on the ball and painted them again yesterday at the age of 5 1/2 months! :) It was so sweet this time beacuse she was more aware f what was going on. She was all interested in it, looking at her toes and putting her head on mine when I was painting them. Then We got a picture of her in her little white sandals that she just got. I love being a Mom! It's so fun! Brooke gives me some of the sweetest little moments ever! God has blessed me so much with the most beautiful, sweet, content little baby! :)

We pushed her around all day at the river walk in San Antonio. She was s good!

Brookie loves Grandma! She took care of her a lot during the services when she was sick.

Last night Nate and I went on a date. It was the first one in a while and he had it planned really special for us to go to Houston's. Houston's is a very nice restaurant with a romantic, quiet atmosphere. If you didn't listen really hard, you wouldn't know that there was music playing because it is so soft. There is a candle at every table, and dim lights around. The food there is excellent and not extremely pricey, although it's not cheap.
I ordered a Sashimi Tuna Salad. An exotic dish with tuna steak on the side. I've heard a lot about Tuna Steak, and I wanted to try it. The tuna was wonderful. The salad was bitter. Bitter! I couldn't eat it. I was so disappointed. I ate my small pieces of tuna on the side and ate a few chunks of mango that were in the salad. The rest I left on my plate for the waitress to carry off and throw away. I felt the tears coming. I kept telling myself that it didn't matter. It's just food, and I'm with my husband. Why should I care? I excused myself to go to the bathroom and i cried. I really didn't know why I was crying, but I felt horrible. I had been looking forward to a date with my lover for a long time now, and now we are at a nice restaurant and the food is disgusting! When I came back to the table, I was excited about ordering dessert because I was still really hungry. My sweet, sweet husband ordered a huge Sundae for us that we had seen someone else get and it looked sooo good. Only I can't eat ice cream. It makes me sick. I wanted to cry even more! I felt so stupid! And I bawled, right there at the table, with my husband eating his gigantic sundae that I couldn't eat and my stomach growling. I knew how much this was going to cost us and I felt even worse.
I guess the moral of the story is: be glad when you get to go out with your husband, even if the whole night is a disappointment. Because it was the first night I got to spend with him in a long time! We did have a wonderful time, too. Except for the part where I was crying. Oh well. Next time I will know not to order Sashimi Tuna Salad!

Happy to be going on a little trip!

The Missions Conference this week has been wonderful. The Lord is teaching me many things, of course, and a few different things have stuck out in my mind that I just wanted to share so I don't forget.
One of them is not worrying about the maybes. It sounds really simple, but I tend to do that, especially now that I have a baby. What if something happens to her? What would I do if she ever died? What about her living in America when it is getting worse and worse? What would I ever do if Nate died? I know it sounds morbid but I think those thoughts are to be expected from any mother and wife. Just not like crazy. I know people who are paranoid about their kids getting SIDS or getting kidnapped. You could really drive yourself crazy thinking about everything that could happen! This particular message was preached by my dad :) and he said," focus on what God has done in the past instead of worrying about what might happen in the future." It doesn't help to worry. This message was great for me.
Another thing that I have been convicted about is just handing out tracts in my day to day life. I honestly have not done it in a long time, I'm ashamed to say. I have lost my focus and with the Lord's help I will do better with that.
Of course, at this time of the year, I'm always reminded that the Lord could call us to the Missions Field at any time and I have to check myself to make sure that I am still just as willing as I was when I dedicated my life to the Lord when I was younger. Nate and I went to the altar the other night, just reminding God that we are willing to do whatever he wants us to do.
The devil was really at work and he still is. My brother-in-law ran away. 2 other boys in the church, ages 16 and 17, left. This has been very hard on their parents. Many people have gotten sick and so much has happened that it is clear that the devil wanted many people to be discouraged. Thank God that he hasn't gotten the victory in many area's. There is a lot of coughing and sneezing going on during those services! :) Everyone refuses to stay home! Thank the Lord that he is really working this week. I can't wait to see what will happen next!
I will be posting pictures soon! :)
I love you all!
~~Jen~~