In the process of processing...

For the past year I have been in graduate school for Counseling. I don't think I expected to experience so much change within myself during this process. These classes that I'm taking and papers that I'm writing force me to face my own demons and sin issues. This year has been a time of fighting for obedience in my relationship with the Lord. Many time I've felt apathetic and numb to His truth. Few times have I felt His presence in that rich deep way that I love so much. This is why I've had to battle my flesh in being obedient to my God. Many failures and few successes.

The more and more I'm counseling myself in a sense, the more I realize that all of my relationships, including my relationship with the Lord have such heavy conditions placed upon them. God, IF you do this, THEN I'll love you. Taylor IF you do this, THEN I'll love you back. Lacey, IF you do this, then I'll feel complete. I hate this realization but I'm so grateful for it because I'm now aware that I've been relying on my own love and grace to produce successful relationships. Needless to say, my love and grace are not sufficient. They grow tired and run dry. I've been constantly reminded that I am fallible and limited but my God is perfect and limitless. His love and grace are what produce relationships that bring Him glory, not mine. Although many days I fight for control in my own life and disobey my Father, the simple truth is that he still loves me and will never stop loving me. I thought I'd share my gratefulness for His faithfulness. 

I ran across this song  by Audrey Assad about two weeks ago and it has blessed my heart in so many ways. Just a wonderful reminder that He is persistent in his love for his children. 

Our God is....

Faithful. Never-Changing. Steadfast. Love. Father. All-loving. All-powerful. Protector. Provider. Savior. Redeemer. Rock. Comforter. Anchor of the soul. Good. Humble. Committed. Gracious. Merciful. Healing. Sovereign. Deserving. Creator of all things. Perfect. Holy. Trustworthy. He is the Lion and the Lamb. The Way. The Truth. The Life. Glorious. The King of all kings. He has always been and He will always be.

I ran across this video that reminded me of all that my God is. 

Anniversary Pictures

I decided that for my anniversary present that I wanted to have our sweet friend and talented photographer Meredith Bacon take our first official family pictures! Since we have trudy now, it only seem fair that she make the Christmas card! I think it's going to be really fun to watch our family grow each year. I'm hoping that one day a long long time from now, our children will either laugh at these or cherish them. If we are lucky, maybe both. Here are a few of my favorites! Please check out more of Meredith's wonderful pictures at her website at http://meredithbacon.com/ 

I'm sure there will be more on the way!

One Year of Marriage According to my Iphone

Our one year anniversary is on September 25! It's hard to believe that it's been that long! According to my iphone... here is what marriage has looked like for us! Life is good folks. Can't wait for another year with my incredible husband.

life lately

It's nice to have time to sit down and write a blog. I don't often make time to do this but it's nice when I do.  Here lately, life has been good. Busy, but good. Camp is over so things have slowed down for the Jervis' considerably. I started work back up about two weeks ago and I have to tell ya, I really love it.

I work as an interpreter for the deaf at a community college here. When I first started in January I felt totally overwhelmed and incompetent. The more I use my signing skill, the more comfortable I am with the language, culture, and people.

I interpret three days a week from 9-5 with no breaks. Well, if you count walking from class to class a break... then I have small breaks throughout the day. Interpreting is an interesting profession. Your brain is at work 100% of the time that you are working. Your hands never stop, your eyes don't close and mind never stops storing and processing information. Needless to say, at the end of the day my brain feels a little like scrambled eggs. I have come to love feeling spent at the end of the day knowing that I worked hard. 

I absolutely adore the students that I get the pleasure of working with. I find myself learning something new from them everyday and for that I am grateful to them. The more I work, the more I love sign language. 

Taylor, God bless him, he is actually eager to learn sign language. I love him for that. I'm not sure if he does it because he really wants to learn or if it's because he knows it brings me joy. It has been really fun teaching him to sign! I almost can't wait to have kids just because I can teach them a little of what I know. 

Marriage continues to amaze me. Marriage is not for wimps.... that's for sure. At times it is hard because the Lord continues to use it to draw out the sin in my heart. That's the hard part. I think I've realized that anytime I feel like marriage is hard is because one of us isn't getting what we want and most of the time we can only get what we truly want from the Lord. If only I could remember that in those moments. 

My husband also continues to amaze me. He is truly growing into an incredible man after the Lord's heart. His pursuit of excellence inspires me to pursue it with him. As my selfishness continues to be revealed, his patience and grace seem to increase. I mean really... God must give him the ability to love me in the times when I am completely unlovable. What a picture of grace. Grace..... something that we get that we don't deserve. 

All in all, life lately has been wonderful. I am continuing to learn more than I ever thought I could. Whether it be about myself, about my God, about my husband, about a class I am interpreting.... I feel like I am just learning so much. I can only laugh when I look back six years and laugh at myself when I thought I knew it all.

My how marriage changes us....

As I sit here eating ice cream with my dog, I was doing the normal phone check... email, Twitter, Instagram, and the Twitter again (just in case someone happened to post something in the past 2ms) After that I flip through my phone and see a little annoying red flag on my App Store application telling me that I have two updates, without a thought I click it to update and I just laugh because it's one of those moments that you realize you are becoming more and more like your spouse.

Lacey Jenkins would have NEVER done that... it takes too long and come on...those things aren't really serious. But now that I am married there are things that I do now because my husband has engrained it into my heart and soul.

A few things that I can think of off the top of my head would be:

1. ALWAYS update your phone and computer. After all, we must be good stewards of the things that God has given us.

2. ALWAYS flush the toilet AFTER the lid is down! Who wants "poop particles" on their toothbrush?

3. If you need to say something while in the car and the radio is on, just hit power instead of turning it down because if you turn it down you miss most of the song and that just doesn't make sense.

4. When the gas light comes on, you still have a good 45 miles left before things get serious... unless you're in a Uhaul... that's different.

I just love it when I realize that I do something because my husband does it that way and he has a good explanation for everything he does. It makes me laugh. I wonder how life will look for me after ten years of marriage. Color coded closet, shoes, and tshirts? Eh.... doubtful.

Blueberry Pickin' in Texas

You know, the more we explore east Texas, the more charming and lovable it becomes. There is a sweet simplicity here that I think deep down I yearn for. There is no importance placed on what you wear, where you live, how much money you have. I love that. People in east Texas are relational and hilarious.

I went Blueberry pickin' with some of my sweet friends and we had a blast! 

Just starting out... got a long way to go!

These make me smile!

Gettin' there!

Ta-da!! Full bucket!

7 pounds of blueberries!

full bucket for Ally too!

The quicks! All three of them :)