Celebrating 6 years!

We celebrated six years of marriage on the 17th.  I found a killer deal at a five star resort in Santa Rosa that included a dinner at a five star restaurant!  It was a luxurious and restful retreat for the night, and we were able to savor a five star meal- a real treat!  

We met my Aunt for lunch the following day, and she encouraged us to buy fresh crabs to take home.  We had always wanted to try them....  it was a bit "scary" as we set the bag with the fresh crabs on the kitchen counter and the bag kept moving.  I didn't particularly like the idea of putting the crabs in the boiling water, so I watched Scott do it.  If you've seen the movie Julie and Julia, you will remember the "lobster killer" scene....  it was pretty much the same thing, though the crabs didn't knock the lid off the pot!  Nothing better than fresh crab, a nice warm loaf of french bread, and crisp glass of white wine!  It was a very nice Anniversary weekend! Six years flies by when your having fun!

Add caption

Waterfall outside our room at the Vintner's Inn

Cooked crab.

MMMMM Good!

Poor crab!!

2011 year in Review

Persicke Family Year in Review.

In reviewing our year, the over-arching theme in the Persicke family has been thankfulness and gratitude for the many gifts that God gives us on a daily basis.  Inspired by the book "1000 Gifts" by Ann VosKamp, Scott and I have journeyed through the practice of recording our gifts and purposing to be more thankful each day.

Scott began the year working at Trader Joes.  While he absolutely loved working there, it was not providing nearly enough income for our family.  In March he was hired at Auto-Chlor, a commercial-grade dishwashing company.  In the first part of April he started his new position as a Sales and Service technician.  For the most part the job has been a very good fit for him, and has brought many challenges along the way.  Scott enjoys the service part of the job as he gets to fix machines and solve problems.  The sales part of the job has been much less enjoyable, but has provided the opportunity to stretch and grow.  We are continually blessed by God's faithfulness in answering daily prayers for Scott on the job! We are so thankful for Scott's job and we are looking forward to what God has for him in the future!

Another answer to our prayers came in March when my online business really started to grow.  (For reader who do not know, I have had a shop on Etsy where I have sold bags, nursing blankets, quilts and the like since 2009-  see my shop home  here.)  Early in the year I began making small handbags (some call them clutches).  In late March I had a bride contact me wanted me to make 8 similar clutches for gifts for her bridesmaids.  Ah-ha!  The lightbulb went off- bridesmaids clutches- why didn't I think of that?  So I started labeling my items to grab the attention of brides, and sure enough order after order started rolling in.  By the middle of the summer I was swamped (I think I got up to 110 clutches on my backlog at one point) so I hired a girl to come help my once a week.  The rush lasted until about October when things slowed down considerably- which was a very nice break for me!  It has started picking up again, and I am sure after the New Year things will really take off.  I am working on expanding my business by starting my own website and contacting local wedding venues to help promote my work.  For those of you who have known me for a while you will know that this business has been a dream for a very long time, so to see it finally come to fruition is a huge answer to prayer and a blessing!  

God has been incredibly faithful to us this year!  I cannot tell you how much He has proven time and again that He is in control and we can trust Him fully with ALL aspects of our life- both great and small!  In this uncertain world that provides a great comfort- and as scripture says: "a peace that surpasses all understanding!"  God is good!

Many of you have asked about our adoption process over the past few months.  It has been almost a year since we started this process with a private adoption facilitator.  While it seems like that may be a long time to wait, it is a typical amount of time to wait for an adoption to happen.  Many often ask what we can do to speed things up, or what we are waiting for.  Simply put, we are waiting for a birth-mother to see us online or view our profile and choose us to adopt her child.  For many waiting parents this time can be very difficult, but for us it has been a time of complete and total trust that God has the perfect child in His perfect time.  We have a complete peace knowing that His perfect timing is best, and we rest in that peace.  Scott and I both know that God will bring the adoption about in the way and in the time that is absolutely perfect.  The situation is out of our control (as is so much else in our lives) and so we have no choice but to wait patiently!  I am so thankful to God that I do not have to worry about this- I'd be a wreck if I tried taking matters into my own hands!  I am also thankful that God has kept us quite busy over this year- busyness can be a good distraction too!

Scott and I are continually thankful to the Lord for how He has grown our faith and our trust in Him during the past year!  We are thankful for the daily provisions- both big and small!  We are so thankful for our supportive family and friends who have encouraged us through job/financial issues, infertility, adoption, and so much more! God has blessed us with an amazing support group in our immediate family and our church family!  We are looking forward to see what God has in store for us this coming year!

We wish you all a wonderful Christmas, and hope that you remember the reason for the season as we celebrate the birth of Jesus our Lord and Savior!  We have much to be thankful for indeed!

With much love and gratitude in our hearts!

Scott and Jen (and Kona and Jake too!)

Christmas 2011

I've enjoyed decorating a little differently for Christmas this year.  I have had this "addiction" to burlap and muslin and decided to use these wonderful fibers to go a little more rustic with the decorations this year.   I was inspired by one of my favorite blogs, Dear Lillie.  She made some burlap stockings similar to these.  I also recently discovered Pinterest (both a good and bad thing!) where I saw a friend post this burlap wreath.  I changed it up a bit by adding some muslin with a little red for Christmas!  And of course, our tree- it has to be a real one in the Persicke house!  You cannot pass up the $30 trees at Larry's produce!  I made all my own decorations this year (with the exception of the snowflakes).  I filled glass bulbs with ribbons and of course strips of burlap and muslin.   Both Jake and Kona enjoy the warm glow of the tree!

My first embroidery attempt!  My mom drew the trees for me and I embroidered them.  (Shhh... she is getting this for Christmas!)

Fall, Halloween, Kona, and Jake

A quick update on the past few months here in pictures...

We welcomed the coolness of Autumn with warm fires, evening walks, and snuggles with our 106lb lovable puppy dog, Kona (who by the way, just turned 5!!)  Such a handsome and photogenic doggy!

Pumpkin Carving with our neighbors.

The Pumpkin Ghost getting ready to scare trick-or treating little ones!

Scary!!

It was a nice evening and we decided to sit outside to pass out candy.  Pumpkin ghost is taking a little rest while guarding the candy.  It was a slow night of trick or treating which we learned was due to a large block party down the street. 

Random shot....  what is this??