Fish and Fried Bugs

Hello All,

We met Jan and Gary for a fun filled day in the french quarter on Tuesday. It was awesome to get to spend some time with family before Elliott gets here. We went to the aquarium, the insectarium, and the IMAX. At the insectarium, you can go to their bug cafe and eat the day's special. That day, the special consisted of fried wax bugs or chocolate covered bugs. Guess who had to try the bugs.......

Now, onto our latest Crouch adventure....

We had a great time yesterday in New Orleans with Jan and Gary, as always! Jan brought me some of the fishing trip photos, so there is now proof that I did indeed go fishing AND that I caught and touched fish. For all those doubters, yes I really did go on a two day camping and fishing expedition while being 7 months preggo. Yes, there was no bathroom and yes, I did sleep in a tent. Dad, aren't you proud??

My first big fish!!

Gary and Carter's boat..

Check out the big brown that Jan caught!

We took a picture of Shaun and Clayton, but it didn't turn out. That just means we will have to go on another adventure, this time with Elliott! What a fun trip!!!

Shaun and I are so blessed to have a family that loves us. We love y'all!

Happy Friday

I just thought I'd say hello and give a brief update about the happenings in our world.

Not much too exciting to report. We have been working like crazy just due to the sheer number of families coming to us that need help. That is a good thing! Shaun and I have begun to hand off some things in preparation for Elliott's arrival. We have a great team that can cover it too! I am excited because our friend Eric from the Met in Texas has begun coming here and directing our worship. He is also helping at Colonial too. Of course, our friend Terry is the Pastor there at Colonial and many of you know how instrumental he was in guiding us to where we are now.

We are having a church wide baby shower this weekend after the 11:00 Service. I am hoping that it all goes well and I look forward to seeing all my Mosaic Family. Seems like everyone is excited and ready to meet Elliott.

Elliott seems to be doing well. I am having difficulty bending now due to the size of my belly. I can still see my toes if I lean forward. We went to the doctor yesterday. There is still not an exact due date now due to her size and I measured 36 weeks. According to my original thought to be due date, I should only be 34 weeks and her sonogram measures her to be at 35 weeks. So, we are saying that we have 4-6 weeks left. Give or take a few weeks. She is still head down and the kicks are less due to the lack of space. Although, we can now see her butt on the side of my belly when she sticks it out. Based on the sonogram from 6 weeks ago, she would be weighing in at almost 6 pounds now! We go back again on October the 4rth, so we shall see what develops then. I am hoping that I get to take some time off soon to rest as I am get very tired very easily and still not a lot of sleep at night. The Doctor did say to start to really take it easy now. I am going to try!

I am looking forward to this Tuesday. Jan and Gary will be in New Orleans for a few days, so we will get to spend some time eating good cajun food and hanging out with them. I miss my family very much and it is good to have them here, especially now as we get ready for Elliott to be here.

We had an appointment for Tyson this past week too. He is doing great! He is still not 100 %, but almost. He had all his fur again and it seems like we are really getting to see his personality develop now that he finally feels better. He is super intrigued by Elliott's room. Every time I go in there, he goes and gets his toys from the living room basket and drops them in the floor of her room. He will continue to follow that routine until he runs out of toys or I shut the door the her room. It will be interesting to see how he adjusts!

That's all the updates for now. I hope everyone has a great weekend.

I

Just one year

Wednesday marks a very significant day in our lives and the lives of several of our friends. On September 15th of last year, we lost Jackson and Sebastian. In some ways, the loss seems to be very fresh and yet in other ways, it seems so long ago.

It is truly a bittersweet day for us. We are so grateful for our friends and family who loved us and supported us through this. We are so amazed how God has used something seemingly terrible to create in us a beautiful and useful brokenness that in turn has helped us to love and support others.

We are grateful for everyday that we have had with Tyson and seeing his willingness to love despite pain has been very humbling. We are also grateful that Preston is with us and still the same goofy friend that he has always been. We now have Elliott on her way to meet the world soon and are excited, scared, happy, and at peace all at the same time. Life is truly precious and a gift, whether it be the life of a child or a dog who we loved as our family.

Tomorrow will be a difficult day. This past Sunday, we lost two different church members in car accidents. Tomorrow on the anniversary of our loss, we will be helping our church family members as they say good bye to their loved one who was taken suddenly from them. A Father and a Mother lost their only son at the age of 26. I am grateful for the opportunity to mourn, worship, and celebrate together. I am humbled to be called to do something like this and to be able to use the pain that we experienced to help others.

Bittersweet too as we are preparing for Elliott to arrive and just had an appointment and found out she is still doing well and is healthy and may be arriving sooner than we had thought. And through all of this, we know that there is a purpose and a plan.

Thank you all for loving us and being part of our lives. As we go through tomorrow, may we all take time to appreciate the gift of community and fellowship that we have been given.

Much Love,

Jessica

website link

A few of you have had trouble accessing the site with our photo preview. If you have facebook, go to my wall and click the link that Heather has posted there.

If not, go to http://ellajreesephotography.com. On the bottom right, click the word blog. Once the new window pops up, go to the tab that says latest posts. Drop down, and click the Jessica and Shaun post. It will take you to her post about us.

Check it out!

Jessica

New Pictures

Hello All!

Just a quick note. A few weeks ago, Shaun and I had our pictures taken by an awesome photographer and friend. She sent me a preview of the images on facebook. I can't wait to see the rest of them!

I just thought I'd share: http://96.30.18.221/~ellajree/blog/2010/09/jessica-and-shaun.

Check them out.

:-)

Jessica

Elliott's Room

Happy Wednesday!

I have been working on getting everything put together and almost have Elliott's room ready. I'm still waiting on a fabulous painting from a friend that she did for us. But, all the furniture is in as well as the bedding. I've been washing her clothes as I get them, so everything is ready to go.

The furniture was given to us by one of our Elders in the church. He is a cardiologist by trade, but he handmade the bookcase, dresser, and mirror. And it is super solid and heavy! Just ask Shaun! We had an antique brown glaze done on the furniture so that it wasn't so very white and it looks really good. I changed the hardware on the dresser and bookcase, thanks to new knobs from anthropology and voila! New furniture for our little monkey!

I am feeling more and more tired these days and it is getting more difficult to complete simple tasks, like tie my own tennis shoes! I also officially can not see my feet and my lower back hurts most days. All of this is just part of the experience and means that we are getting closer and closer to getting to meet Elliott. We are excited and can't wait for her to meet all of the people who love us and love her.

Work is still going and going. Shaun preached the main services this weekend and tackled a tough topic and did a great job. You can listen to his message by downloading it from our website: www.mosaicgc.com. He has several other dates scheduled in the upcoming months as well. I have basically ended all counseling clients and am focusing on launching Mosaic Recovery as well as teaching a class on boundaries. Both launch this week. Of course, there is still youth and children's ministry to be taken care of. I am grateful to have a great team to work with.

We go to our next appointment on Tuesday. I will keep you updated. Thank you for your prayers and support!

Jessica