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Our Trek Down South

February 4, 2011 in Chance, Church Planting, Family, Life Experience, Ministry, Paseo, Paxton, Travel with 5 Comments

I took a million photos on our way down here to El Paso but haven’t had the time to post them till now.

So… let’s play catch up:

Pax getting in the way of packing… with a chocolate face.

Before we packed the truck up in Portland, Oregon.

That’s our 26 footer that trailed our Durango. And my hot husband, Brian.

A few of my closest girlfriends sharing a “bon voyage” meal with me.

Chance’s last day at school with his good friends, Grant & Samson.

At 7am in the morning at the PDX airport.

On the airplane. We flew Southwest. Got stuck in the back in the first leg.

Thankful my bestie flew with me and the kids. Couldn’t have done it without her.

Reading up… just in case, so they know what to do to be heroes.

In between flights. We were the only ones connecting through.

Southwest Airlines is awesome. They let the boys sit in the co-pilot seat for a bit. The pilot even took this photo for me.

Again… I love Southwest Airlines.

Watching outside as we land in our new hometown, El Paso.

Our new hometown from the sky.

And… we made it. Physically. Mentally? Well, that’s debatable.

Paxton getting some love from his Papa.

There’s my story…

… for now…

Our New Firsts

December 28, 2010 in Chance, Faith, Family, Friends, Home, Life Experience, Marriage, Ministry, Missions, Paseo, Paxton, Personal Entries with 11 Comments

The end of 2010 marks the first of MANY things for me and my family:

The first decade since meeting Brian.
The first decade living in Portland.
My first year being fully comfortable in my own skin.
Hearing God’s calling & packing for a 1,800 mile move in result to the call.
My first FULL year of loving and trusting in Brian & allowing myself to be loved BY him back.
Drastically cutting back our cost of living.
Actually walking life WITH God instead of away from Him.
The first time I’ve learned to receive in a healthy way so that I can GIVE better.
Realizing how deeply in love I am with my in-laws.
Having international house guests for 2 months and STILL wishing they never left us.
Adding a sister in my life that I want by my side forever.
Renewing my marriage vows… and MEANING them this time. UNFORGETTABLE!!!
Learning how to mourn losses in a healthy way.
Laughing from the depths of my heart & soul.
Witnessing my baby sister marry the PERFECT man for her.
My firstborn entering into half-day Kindergarten.
Watching my other little sister turn 3 decades old and Chance turn half a decade.
Listening to my two-year-old, Paxton, speak in sentence form.
Realizing my favorite place to be is at home with my family.

It’s been a great year. A year of stretching and a year of growth. I’m not only experiencing the most peace ever in my whole life, but I’m living in full joy. I’m not saying I don’t have worrisome or blue moments… in fact, I’ve struggled with depression this year… but there is a HUGE difference between feeling happiness and experiencing joy. God never promised us happiness on Earth, but He has offered us joy. Even in our pain. And I’m thankful for every growing pain. EVERY. SINGLE. ONE.

We, the Clayville Clan, hope you the most joyous New Year. Thank you so much for being a part of the community here at JenniClayville.com… for being a part of MY community. I’m thankful for you.

Now I leave you with my most recent joyful AND happy moment:

Happy New Year, everyone!

Your turn:
Your top 3-5 favorite firsts of 2010
AND
What’s up for 2011?

Seeing Santa 2010

December 20, 2010 in Chance, Childhood, Family, Motherhood, Paxton, Photography with 28 Comments

Every year, we go see the same Santa at Macy’s downtown.

We go there because they don’t charge you to go sit on Santa’s lap and you can take your own photos. They take everyone’s photos there but they don’t force you to purchase their photos.

We’ve never purchased their photos. The ones I take have always turned out great… till this year because THEY took the PERFECT photo. Both Brian and I agreed to buy just ONE photo for our scrapbook:

I KNOW, RIGHT???

Paxton walked straight up to Santa and said, “Hi Anta! HI!” and Chance just hugged him like a long-time friend.

My boys have come a long way since this photo two years ago:

When I look at this photo, I feel like nothing could ever go wrong in the world.

The last time I ever took a photo with Santa was when I was 19. In hindsight… that’s kinda weird.

When’s the last time you took a photo with Santa?
Don’t lie!

Brian’s 36th Birthday…

November 19, 2010 in Chance, Family, Marriage, Motherhood, Paxton with 10 Comments

… is TODAY!!!

The boys wanted to human playdoh themselves to wish their Daddy a “Happy Birthday!”

And this…

My Dearest Brian…

I can’t believe 11 years has passed since we first met. I also can’t believe you look younger now than you did at 25. What the what??? The good news is I love you more today than I did yesterday… and a million times more than I did the day before that.

Today, I can’t remember a life without you. Maybe that’s strange… but I think it’s because life wasn’t worth remembering without you in it.

You are my heart.
You are my warrior hero.
You are my baby daddy

I love when I catch you staring at me from across the room.
I love when you catch me staring at YOU from across the room.
I love hearing our kids call out for you: “I want Dadda!”
I love that you make time for our boys.
I love that you invest everything you’ve got into our family.
I love when we make eye contact… and just KNOW.

Most of all… I love that what you see above is what we get to live right now… together.

Happy Birthday, Baby…

I love you forever.

Halloween 2010

November 1, 2010 in Chance, Family, Motherhood, Paxton with 6 Comments

This year was Paxton’s first REAL trick-or-treating experience.

Last year, though we dressed him up, he was just too young to do the walking. Plus, since we didn’t give him candy then, what was the point, right?

This year was different.

Chance picked his first costume ever. The last many years were awesome hand-me-downs from Holly. It’s great when kids don’t care what they’re dressed up as. However, this year, Chance had some very clear instructions for me. He’s definitely my spawn.

Excuse the quality of the photos. We forgot our cameras so we used our iPhones for these.

The amazon woman in the middle is Chance’s best friend, Morgan. They’ve been friends since birth. She’s only a few months older than Chance… but obviously doesn’t have the Asian height gene.

Every year, we spend Halloween with the Smith’s. It’s become quite a tradition. One we will miss quite a bit.

Chance wore his costume Thursday, Friday, Saturday AND Sunday. He wanted to wear it Monday too… but I told him it was time to retire the suit. He was sad, but he understood. Sweet boy.

Just for fun. Here’s some snapshots of they boys earlier in the day before naptime:

Pathetic. I know. But these photos still make me want to gobble them up with kisses.

And while we’re tossing in photos… why not add some from yester-year:

Here’s 2009 – Chance was 4. Paxton was almost 1.

Here’s 2008: Chance was 3. Paxton wasn’t born yet.

Oh the sweetness.

What was your favorite costume as a child?

Trust

October 12, 2010 in Chance, Faith, Family, Motherhood, Paxton with 9 Comments

Chance has always been afraid of the water.

I’m not sure if it’s just part of his firstborn traits or because of his already overly-cautious personality… but he’s always hated swimming pools. We enrolled him in a few swim lessons early on and it helped take the edge off of his fear of not being able to touch the bottom of the pool, but our poor child was still overly fearful. Little progress seemed to be made.

Along came Paxton, and we soon found out he was the same way. Not as dramatic as Chance in his kicking and screaming in fear, but Paxton definitely clung to us.

So when my Aunt Leenar & Uncle Bill gave the kids some lucky money this last summer, we decided to use that to enroll them in swimming lessons.

This is will be the third week of lessons and I am proud to say Chance LOVES jumping into the pool. He doesn’t even mind if his head goes underwater. Paxton is even getting more and more relaxed with the idea.

And this reminds me of my journey.

I am always fearful of the unknown.
I am fearful of what I can’t control.
I don’t want to jump in when I can’t see the bottom.
I don’t like getting water up my nose.
I really question if He’s gonna catch me, even when He says He will.
I’m really quite comfortable here on the stairs with my feet in the water.

But then, I finally jump in.

The water’s warm.
He holds me close and instructs me gently.
He lets me go solo a bit, but always with a life jacket.
I struggle and push, splash and laugh.