What a week!

WOW, what a week! There has been so much stuff going on this week, it's just been crazy! I've got to warn you, this is going to be a long winded post, so read it when you get time! Where do I begin? Let's see...

The 2006 NFL Draft is on Saturday! I know that isn't headline news for most of you but for us Fantasy Football fanatics, this is a good time of the year. I have to work Saturday morning but hey, that is what our DVR is for! Haha! GO DALLAS COWBOYS! I just wanted to throw that one out there to get it off of my chest before I get to the good stuff.

On to the good news. As of yesterday, Kimi officially never has to go to class again! Lucky lady. She has completed her coursework and is just waiting to walk across the stage next Friday to get her MASTER'S DEGREE in Speech Language Pathology. She's been working on this for so long. She's put into this degree all of her heart and it's finally coming to fruition. She still has one big hurdle to jump left before everything is finalized but she can definitely see the finish line.

Tomorrow morning Kimi is taking her big certification exam! She needs to pass this test b/c there are some pretty big implications if she doesn't. But seriously, that's not going to happen. She's had her head buried in her school books for the past few weeks going through old notes and refreshing things she already knows. We need your prayers for her tomorrow morning at around 10:45am. She knows what she needs to know to pass the test but it's nerves that needs to be conquered. Thank you all for your prayers. Oh and speaking of Kimi graduating college, we got her a graduation gift! Here is how the events unfolded...

On Wednesday, we sold Kimi's car! This was a major blessing for us. We had a 2001 Honda Civic coupe with 94000 miles and a nice size dent in the bumper (you should ask Kimi about how that got there sometime. Let's just say this, it has to do with a sale at Kohls. Haha!). We were needing to sell this car b/c fitting a baby in the back seat of a 2 door civic would be extremely hard. Well, I just happened to mention we might be looking to sell our car to a guy at work and he said he was interested. He went out for a test drive and loved the car but the dent was just too much for him so he went another route instead. We were a little bummed by that but we decided that we'd hold off for a little while and try again later on this summer.

Well, out of the blue (more like straight out of God's will!), we get a voicemail message from this girl who is interested in seeing the car. She was good friends with the guy who test drove it and he referred her to us. I called her back and set a time to meet up with her to go for a test drive on Wednesday. Needless to say, Kimi and I did some mad cleaning on the car. We got the oil changed, filled up the gas tank, bought scratch remover and SCRUBBED the car down like crazy. By the time we were through, the car was glistening. It looked good. ;)

I met up with the girl and she had a friend who was there to help her out to make sure she was getting a good deal. I went through a whole gambit of questions and told them everything I knew. After they finished with their inquisition, I asked her if she wanted to go for a test drive. She said, "Nope, I trust my friend completely and if he says the car is good, then I believe him. We're good to go. I'll meet you this afternoon to finish the paperwork." I was dumbfounded. They were actually going to buy our 94000-mile-dent-in-the-bumper car without even test driving it. WOW. I met up with her that afternoon and that was that! We had sold our car without even so much as advertising it! Completely amazing. Which leads me to your next obvious thought... "Well, what did you buy?"

Well, you'll have to wait on that for a few paragraphs. Haha! Kimi and I had been comparing different cars for several weeks before we sold her civic and we had narrowed it down to 3 cars... the new Honda Civic, a used Honda Accord or a used Honda Pilot. While we were doing our research still on those cars, we stumbled across a really nice Lexus ES 300 at a dealership in Edmond that had a good price. We checked out the specs on the net and it compared almost equally to the Honda Accords we were looking at with the prices, mileage, and years between the two being almost the same as well. When all was said and done, we threw out the Honda Accord in favor of the Lexus ES 300. And after looking at the Honda Pilot, we were very unimpressed with the gas mileage on it and besides, we already had an SUV in the garage so we threw that one out too.

We stopped by the dealership in Edmond tuesday night and went for a test drive of the Lexus. It was easily the best car experience of my life. The way it looked and drove was just incredible, like a dream. We would have bought it then and there but we hadn't given the Honda Civic a test drive yet and we wanted to make sure we covered all options. I know, I know, how does a Honda Civic compare to a Lexus.. but anyway, we told the dealership we were still shopping around and if we were interested, we'd give them a call later.

We made our way down to the dealership in Norman to test drive a 2006 Honda Civic EX. The interior center console design and engine noise is what blew it for the civic. The center console was raised up and the parking brake was where my knee usually is at. NOT comfortable at all. Plus when you sped up the engine, it made this uncharacteristic whine that was loud and annoying. Both of us have driven Honda Civic's in the past and none of them sounded like this. Not sure what it was, but we definitely weren't buying this car now. Back to Edmond to start negotiations...

We met up with our salesman (his name is Ralph. He had a radio announcers voice which cracked me up everytime I heard it) and started up the paperwork. To finally end this story, we bought a 2003 Lexus ES 300 and got an amazing deal. Plus, we put down the money we made from the sale of Kimi's car. Everything just seemed to fall into place with this car. It's seriously the nicest car I've ever been in, much less owned. Check out the pics below and you'll see what I mean. ;)

"Kimi's Graduation Present: Front view."



"Kimi's Graduation Present: Another front view."


"Kimi's Graduation Present: Back view."


"Kimi's Graduation Present: Interior view."


"Kimi's Graduation Present: Another interior view."


"Kimi's Graduation Present: Dash controls view."


"Kimi's Graduation Present: Chrome Wheels. Nice touch."

Oh man, we were so fortunate to find this car at the price we did. Didn't I tell you all it was a crazy week? God is allowing a lot of good things to happen for us this year so far. We are just trying to hang on for the ride... no pun intended. Haha

Thank you God so much for your amazing blessings. They have been way more than what we would have ever dreamed. Please keep your Hand on our family, especially as we are entering the final few months until our baby is born. Thank you so much for your love...

God bless you guys.
Jason

Only 15 weeks left!

How was everyone's Easter? We had a good sermon Sunday morning. I never usually buy a copy of it but I just had to this last time. Good explanation of the stone rolling away and proof that Jesus had risen. I really like our Pastor Mike. He's pretty good at analogies. After church, we went to have a good lunch at Cracker Barrel with my mom and Scotty. I always get so stuffed after I leave that place. :)

Afterward, we made it home to take some pictures with Kimi's family. I have the first pregnant belly picture of Kimi in her Easter dress.

"Kimi is almost 25 weeks along! Not much longer..."

I know pictures are a whole lot of fun so here are a few more from that day.


"Isn't she so pretty?"


"Jason and Kimi standing for Easter Pictures."


"The Avery girls. Left to Right: Sherry, Kimi, Grandma, and Jan"


"I just had to throw this one in for fun! Texas sucks!"

Okay, on to the baby news... We went to the baby doctor yesterday and everything is still on schedule for August 1st. Her heartbeat was at 155 b/m, which is strong and healthy. ;) We crossed into week 25 on Tuesday and we are going on full steam ahead!

From Babycenter.com, the following is an update on our baby's growth thus far: "Head to heels, your baby now measures about 13 1/2 inches. Her weight — a pound and a half — doesn't sound like much, but she's beginning to exchange her long, lean look for some baby fat. As she does, her wrinkled skin will begin to smooth out and she'll start to look more and more like a newborn. Her hair is probably recognizable now (in color and texture), although both may change after she's born."

We only have 15 weeks left and we are growing more and more excited by the day. Please keep us in your prayers. We really do appreciate them so much. While you are at it, could you say a prayer for our very good friend Steve Brown from Florida. He's got some tough things going on right now and I absolutely know that he would covet your prayers as well. You can visit Steve's blog here. Steve, we love you and are praying for you bro.

One last thing, Kimi and I visited Soldier Creek today to have a looksie at the daycare center. While we were there, Kimi grabbed a job application so she could have something to do this summer. Haha. So my wife's first actual job after graduating with her Master's Degree is going to be babysitting. Oh man, I can't let her live that one down...

God Bless,
Jason

OKAY, ONE MORE PHOTO. This is what happens when you get bored and have some graphics programs on your computer. Click here to view the DISAPPEARING BEN photo! Haha Just a warning: It's 2mb's in size, so let it load fully first. Enjoy!

Happy Easter Weekend!

I hope everyone's Good Friday was actually "good" to them! :) A trivia fact (Courtesy of the Bathroom Reader): "Today is Good Friday. This Christian holiday marks the execution of Jesus, so why call it 'good'? Theologians' best guess is that the name is derived from "God's Friday" (the same way 'good-bye' came from 'God be with ye')." Hmmm....God's Friday? Good Times!

It's going to be a good weekend. My wife get's to wear her beautiful new dress I bought her (one of the only things that actually fits her! Haha). Her mom and brother are coming up from the great wasteland of Texas to the south and Kimi's aunt Jan is flying in from out of state as well. We are all going to meet together to surprise Kimi's Grandma and Grandpa for Easter! Isn't that awesome? Kimi and I are volunteering to cook on the grill for everyone... which might not be such a good idea. I'm terrible! I burn everything... Haha. Oh yeah and...

Ben-diddy is turning 24 years old today! Happy Birthday Ben! Congratulations on making it this far! LOL

By the way, Ben, I'm glad the motorcycle thing didn't turn out to be anything serious. It's official: your ex-girly is a terrible person...

On Sunday, my mom and Scotty are going to go to church with us at Emmaus Baptist. Which is completely awesome because we hardly ever get to go to church with my mom. PLUS, good food afterward! We were going to try to go to see my Grandma Fox with my Dad & Brenda but they are going out of town to Houston for the weekend. Sad sad. Hopefully, we'll see them soon after they get back.

There is a blessing though that I need to share with you all. My wife is graduating with her Master's Degree in a few weeks and it's time for us to look for a job. Kimi put out her resume on the interent and to several places locally not knowing what to expect. Well, the very next day she had 4 phone calls and 3 emails from places interested in her! WOW!! This week Kimi had an interview with a local place which will allow her to work in the school system. Everything went extremely well and it looks like it's hers! Thank God! This is good news b/c school won't start until the fall, right around the time the baby is born, and they told her she was guarenteed a job when she got back from maternity leave. SO, she hasn't even graduated yet and she already has a job lined up for the fall. God is awesome, isn't he? Wow...

Thank you all for your prayers for Kimi and I. It's been such a blessing. We go back to the doctor to hear the heartbeat again this coming Wednesday. Please continue to pray for us. God Bless you guys!

Jason

P.S. I pray that God will impact our hearts again with the depth of His love this weekend. Remember, we serve a RISEN Lord... let God's love impact you this weekend!

Happy Birthday/Anniversary!

I just wanted to give a shout-out to three very special people that have big events happening today.

First off, this big crazy man is my best friend in the whole world, apart from my beautiful wife (OF COURSE!). He is turning a whopping 27 years old today! Can you see the grey hairs coming? Man, I've got so MANY memories and stories with BJ and on BJ that I could go on for hours (and often do). Congrats bro on your birthday. It's been a crazy year. Happy 27th Birthday! You rock man!

The picture below is of our good friends Guy and Leah Bierwirth! Today is Leah's Birthday and she's turning 26 years old! And her husband was very smart (or crazy depending on how you look at it) by getting married on her birthday! If he forgets either one of these events, man talk about in trouble! I believe they are hitting 4 years now of marital bliss??? Wow, congratulations you two. You were one of the best examples of marriage for Kimi and I (and still are!). Thank you both for everything. Here's a pic from back in the Crown Pointe days. Good times. Good times.





Congratulations to all three of you. I pray that God would make today a very special day for you. BJ, I will drink our ceremonial root beer tonight at dinner time. I hope you will join me!

Jason

Which Name Would YOU Choose?

SO, the big news this week is that I was switched to a new location at work. It's not as dire as it sounds but it's still an issue of leaving your comfort zone. Our supervisors came up with this "wonderful" idea to switch the loan officers from each of our three locations on base to begin a rotation so they could more "fairly" see how each of us are doing at our job. I am trying to be nice about this even though I completely don't want to change locations. Like I said, it's not an issue of if I am going to do well, it's purely comfort zone. Well, I guess it isn't all that bad. There are only three of us loan officers here at our location and that means I get plenty of people coming through to keep me busy. Plus, my mom's office is right down the hall so we can go to lunch anytime we want! Haha But I did lose my two windows in my "corner office"... sad times.

On to better topics. :) Kimi and I are debating on names for our little girl. We've whittled away and have now come down to two names. Ultimately, though, we will have to choose from our gut and that's been the hardest part b/c my gut has a lot of other things going on inside there... it's hard to hear it clearly! Haha Anyway, we'd like to hear from you guys on which names you like. Look at this picture first though before you decide. See that goofy grin I've got? Haha


Here goes:

Makenna Grayce Fox

or

Madilynne Elizabeth Fox

Now, we are leaning toward Makenna Grayce b/c of how spunky that name is and it's not very common, which is a plus. However, Madilynne Elizabeth is close to our family. Maddy is the name of Kimi's great grandma (? not sure ?), Lynne is Kimi's moms middle name, and Elizabeth is my mom's first name, plus it's the long version of Betty - Kimi's Grandma's name!
SOOOO, as you can see, lots of family ties there.


Tell us which name you would choose and why/why not. We'd love to hear some of your thoughts. Thanks guys for everything!

Jason