Want to feel selfish? Be a parent.

[I'm starting to sort through the posts in my "draft" section.... this one was started months ago! But it's a truth that I am still learning. Enjoy...]

A tiny person named Obi has taught me so much about myself. Namely, he's taught me how selfish I am.

Before Obi, I LOVED going to Target by myself.  I know a lot of women can relate to me on this "Target Therapy."  Something about the bright lights, wide aisles, the nifty red cruiser-carts, cute throw pillows, and the red clearance stickers...  Only one thing would make this city's Target better: a Starbucks (instead of the awkward Target "snack shop") Oh yes, and a "Super" in front of "Target."  Oh well, can't have it all.

It was so easy to go places and I never though twice about driving across the road to another store.
I loved thrift shopping and would sometimes hit all 5 that I love in this city in one day.
I also loved cleaning and decorating and making my house a home.
In college, I loved going to Borders book store and flipping through magazines in a comfy chair. (RIP Borders stores)
I could get ready in the morning so fast after accepting a last-minute sub job.
I enjoyed laying out in the sun getting a tan.
It was fun to see movies in an actual theater.
Oh the days of a long shower and shaving my entire leg, not just the knees-down.

I really miss those things! Since a baby, my Target trips are very "to the point" and I look at only what is on my list.  Oh yeah, and now lists are a must because I can never remember what I need.  And the list has things like "the white package non-scented boogie wipes" on them. Thrift stores are only possible with baby-wearing in those cluttered aisles.  Good thing Ben has made a movie theater in our basement because now that's impossible.  There's a constant "game plan" in my mind of when I fed him last, when he'll be tired-therefore when he'll be fussy, when he'll need to eat next... etc.

When I think about these things that I miss, my selfishness is embarrassingly obvious.  I coveted my alone time and the simplicity of life.

And I only have ONE baby and he takes at least two naps a day!!

Slowly, these things are becoming more possible. And even enjoyable.  If I want to leisurely walk around the mall and buy nothing... I want to do it with my baby because I can justify that trip as "getting the baby out of the house."  I only go places when I know he'll be awake because he's so happy to be out.  Grocery shopping is fun with him.  The constant "game planning" now comes to me so naturally. Sometimes I think more about when he needs to eat next that I forget about when I may need to eat next.
 Putting him to bed has become SO easy that babysitters are a possibility. Napping has also become SO much better (like put-him-in-his-crib-and-leave easy).

It's a combination of turning the infant into the baby... and getting past the 1st time mom learning curve/shock.

But mostly, it's sacrifice.  Many people who haven't even experienced salvation through the ultimate sacrifice of God's son will tell you that having children requires sacrifice- but that it's SO worth it.

Learning true sacrifice for another comes with friendships/family/dating relationships/marriage... it makes you be something else.  Marriage made me be a wife. This baby boy made me be a mom. But being a mom doesn't replace my titles of wife/sister/friend/daughter/etc.  It just adds to it. Each new role requires you to adapt to changes and make those changes the "new normal."
Being made a wife was exciting and I could converse with the one [husband] who brought about the changes and my necessary adaptation and sacrifice. Being made a mom was also exciting... but probably more exhausting if I'm honest... and you can't converse with the one [baby] who has caused all the changes. I mean, they are tiny people who act entirely on a series of reflexes. Thus, sacrifice is necessary.

I've noticed that I've started to say "we" instead of "me."  "We'll return the Redbox today." "When we went to the store..." "When we ate lunch.... "   This kid is my little sidekick in everything I do all day.  It may seem like my perspective in life has gotten so small and so focused on this one mini-person and everything to do with a baby.  But "mom" is just being lined up with all my other titles.

Has my perspective narrowed? I don't think so at all. My ability to love has grown so much (and I can tell it's not done growing) and that has made me a better and broader person. Sacrifice for a worthy cause is always worth it.

tiny Obi pictures

Just taking a step back to the days of Obi-infancy. This may have been brought about by the fact that this baby is 9 months old is less than a week. Oh how I miss that black baby hair... but I do love the smiles from today!

5 generations

(This is one of those posts that has been sitting in my "drafts" folder for a while... )

My Great Grandpa and my son are 102 years apart.  That's so crazy to think about!!  1912 and 2012 are very different years.

We had a very special opportunity to visit him in September and who knew that they'd be the best of friends :)

He had to ask a few times what his name is... but he guessed he was "about a half a year" which he was a little over 4 months old then.  

5 generations is pretty special!

And I suppose I revisited this post from my drafts folder because I've been thinking about them a lot.  My grandma's Heavenly home is being prepared for her to arrive very soon.  About a month after this photo, she learned of her diagnosis of pancreatic cancer.  And only a few months after that diagnosis that cancer has taken over her body.  We've been blessed to spend some time with her in her last days and it was comforting to hear that she's not afraid of death.  No Christian should be and that's a promise I'm clinging to these days.  

" No fear in death, no guilt in life, this is the power of Christ in me."

How I did Christmas cards for under $30 total

I knew about Pinterest a long time ago... like got my account in Spring 2011.  I'm pretty sure I was one of the first to use Groupon.  I've gotten probably at least $50 in credit from their referral bonuses.
I had Facebook back in the day when you needed an .edu email address to sign up for it.  Before the "news feed" (Can you even remember what that was like??)
I used Picnic forever ago (RIP Picnic... hello PicMonkey) **

And now I'm pretty sure I discovered Cardstore.com.

I follow some coupon blogs that let me in on some good deals... and this was one.  Cardstore.com often runs sales on their cards, I got mine for 75% off.  AND, they send them to your recipient for FREE.   So that means NO time or money spent on stamps, labels, addressing, etc.  I did have to spend an entire naptime (ha! that's totally a mom-measurement of time) putting in addresses in their own website template.  But SO worth it!   I simply selected the date that I wanted to have the cards delivered by... and voila!  I delivered 44  cards for $15.71 total and in under an hour.
And then I ended up ordering 25 un-addressed ones to give to those I didn't have addresses for at the moment for $9.75. So I will have to cough up the money for a few stamps on those.

Funny thing is... I didn't even get the best deal.  Later, they were offering 29 cent any Holiday cards,  So I could have gotten some premium enveloped beauties sent-and-stamped cards for 29 cents instead of my 36 cent 5x7 postcard.   But such is the life of bargain-hunting.

What an awesome idea for any card you want to send!  You can choose the date shipped within one year.... so you could get all your cards sent for the year and never have to think about it again... in under an hour today!

I really don't know how they make their money. Probably because people like me will go and tell people like you and they didn't even pay me to do it.  So you're welcome for telling you about Cardstore.com. And sorry for not telling you before you sent your Christmas cards :)


** let it be known that there are PLENTY of things that I am definitely not the first to know about. The list is MUCH longer for those things.

Happy Christmas/New Year/Anniversary!!

Merry Christmas... and Happy New Year... and Happy 3rd Anniversary to us!!!

Yep, 3 years today.  Gonna cash in a free champagne and chocolate cake anniversary offer from a local restaurant.  Also, same restaurant gave us $30 in vouchers because they were slow last time we ate there.  So anniversary date night for free!!

Oh, what 3 years has done for us.  Really... what this past year has done for us because of Obi!

Since we have a baby, I suppose we are expected to send Christmas cards now.  So here's the picture we used for our Christmas card this year...

I didn't write a typical Christmas card letter.  I figured that everyone we're sending it to kinda already knows what's going on in our lives.  But, just for you people who like to read things... here's what happened in 2012...

Ben finished up an engineering rotational program at The HON Company in Muscatine and began a position as a manufacturing engineer at Oak Laminant plant within HON.  With all the projects he's worked on, he says he's saved the company lots of millions of dollars (sorry Ben, I forget the number...)

Jera worked as as substitute teacher in the Iowa City School District and worked frequently at one of the high schools.  I also worked three times a week teaching reading and math as an after-school program at an elementary that is just minutes from our house.  I loved it (most of the time) and I miss it (sometimes) but I LOVE my current "job" taking care of Obi now.  I was able to complete my teaching job on the due date of our baby boy... and he arrived 4 days later!

Obadiah Alan Jensen was born the morning of April 30th.  Obadiah means "servant of the Lord" and we mostly call him "Obi" for short. His middle name is after his grandpa in Heavan. Now being 8 months old, we're still waiting for some teeth to appear and for his crawling to be perfected.  He's a happy and curious boy who makes us laugh with his facial expressions and his many noises that he makes with his mouth.

We are enjoying being a part of our church, Veritas Church, and lead a connection group in our home. I took lots of little trips this summer with Obi to the Ozarks, Kansas City, and back and forth to Ames several times. My oldest sister got married in October and that gave me a new brother-in-law and also provided lots of fun things for us to be busy with!  We love our little white-picket-fence house and I have especially loved being within walking distance to lots of food and shopping.  Lots of times when Obi and I took walks, we would end up at one of those places :)

We are so thankful for 2012.