A Year in Review: 2006

Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year! It seems crazy to be saying that already, but it appears the calendar says it's that time of year. 2006 has flown by. I'm not ready for 2007! We have had a great year full of many, many changes! God has been faithful (is anyone surprised?) and we have learned to be patient and wait on his timing.

The beginning of 2006 brought with it the winds of change. By summer time we had experienced the change of a new job, a new house, our car being stolen & many travels. I will try to highlight them for you!

January: A quiet start to the new year & the birth of our new niece, Avery (below with sister Faith).

February: I went to visit Avery in Virginia for a short weekend. She sure is beautiful! Annual Jacobson ski weekend in Vail & Core Knowledge Conference were up next (back to back). The trip to San Antonio was fabulous and included lots of eating along the Riverwalk!













March: Spring Break trip to Virginia. Everyone now has Crocs! (minus Avery, but she'll get hers soon, I'm sure!)
March also brought major discussions about purchasing Joel's childhood home from his mother, securing a loan & talk of a new job at the school where his mom actually works (D'Evelyn Jr/Sr High School).



















April: A closing date for the sale of Rhonda's home is set for the end of May. The planning for fixing it up begins! Joel headed off to Las Vegas for a weekend with his brother! We also learned that Joel is invited to work at D'Evelyn!



























May: On Mother's Day our car was stolen & found all within about 24 hours. God really protected us both physically & financially through this whole process. You can visit the blog entry "Car Violation" to see pictures. It is all fixed now & running smoothly.

We sure do love to cram everything into the last week of school! Two years ago it was our wedding, this year, the purchase of our home!
The day after school got out we both traveled to Vegas to visit with Joel's brother & his family (Charis & Arden above and Tobin on the right) and to celebrate our SECOND anniversary! We had a great time visiting with them & staying overnight at "Treasure Island".















June & July: Much of these two months are a blur. The first two weeks of June we helped Rhonda clean up & move out of her home and worked on projects to get ready to move ourselves. We moved in on June 29 and my mom & dad came June 30. We were very grateful for their help with MANY projects. Somewhere in June we also had a great time camping with our friends Garrett, Jordan (above) and their two dogs, Glacier & Arya. It was much needed resting time for us! Check out the blog entries below for pictures of our house projects!

At the end of July my sister, Aimee & her husband Gary came for a visit. They left their two kids in the care of my parents "Oma & Opa" (Grandma & Grandpa in German). We had a great time for the three days they were here.

August: In August, I went to Wisconsin to be with my sister & family while Joel stayed in Colorado for a while. Gary was in Wisconsin, but busy working, so Aimee & I had a great time traveling to Rockford to visit with family & get in good "sister time". At the end of the week, Joel flew in & we all went on a true vacation. We rented a house up by my parents sailboat, so we could go out on Lake Michigan. It was a great trip! You can visit the blog entry "Family Reunion" to see more pictures.

September: At the beginning of September we went to Wyoming with Joel's mom for a Jacobson family reunion. We had a great time visiting with family members we don't see often. It was also a nice break from the daily grind of school. OK, so it was the first week of school, but everyone needs a break, right?!

We learned how busy our new life was with Joel driving 30+ minutes each way to work every day & with a new load of preps. He teaches High School English to Freshman & Juniors and it is a very academic school. He stays late most days & brings work home.

I am still working at Lincoln Academy & am the Instructional Coach (I work with teachers) and the Enrichment Director (I worked with gifted/advanced students). We both love where we work!

October: In October I went to Albuquerque to visit my friend Jeni (you can see a post on that below--Albuquerque) and Joel went with his mother to Buffalo, WY. His dad is buried there & it has been six years since he passed away. It was an emotional & encouraging weekend for both of us!

My parents came at the end of October and we cleaned out the garage! Miracle of Miracles! We love it!

November: My favorite season of all! We have so much to be thankful for, including the joy of adding a new niece to the Jacobson family in March! The first three weeks of November were very busy with church obligations, work commitments and of course, Bronco football! Joel was able to go to the Chargers/Broncos game (disappointing, but fun).

Thanksgiving brought with it much needed rest & a great visit with Joel's brother and family. We had beautiful weather, so we were able to get outside a few times. Joel, Ted & their mom went skiing one day!

December: December holds another great season for us--the birth of our Savior. Our Christmas tree is up and we are eagerly awaiting another vacation and time of rest. We look forward to visiting with my parents--they will be here for a ski week the first week of January!

We would love to hear from you! Our guest room is all set up now and we would love to have you come through Denver for a visit, too. Colorado is beautiful all year round & we don't get nearly as much snow as the news would lead you to believe!

With much love,
Joel & Sarah

PS I update our blog fairly regularly, so check back throughout the year for updates!

Let it Snow!

In the past 24 hours it has snowed about 6 inches here in our little city. (This picture is of our mailbox piled with snow) We love the snow, but we love it even more when it brings with it a snow day for school. But, no such luck for us. Just cold weather came with this storm--2 degrees overnight tonight. Joel has shoveled the walk 2x--once last night and once this AM, probably before most of you were out of your warm bed! :) The snow sure is beautiful & is a great visual reminder of what God has done for us--washed as clean as snow with salvation by grace through faith alone. Can you tell I've been reading Romans?

It is a big mess here around Denver--lots of accidents and slip-sliding on the roads! But, despite how the news likes to make it look, it doesn't really snow all that often here in Denver. It snows a lot in the mountains, but not in town! More snow is on the way for Saturday...

Check back in a few days for our "electronic" Christmas letter!

These Are a Few of My Favorite Things

The last page of my May 2005-May 2006 scrapbook included a few of our favorite things about moving from an apartment to a house, so I decided to include them in my blog. We have enjoyed the things we looked forward to even more than we thought! Here they are in no particular order (with pictures):

1. Having a king size bed! (and having the room for it!)










2. Two separate offices--it makes our marriage work!


















3. Garage!!!!!!!! How did we ever live without one???










4. Trash cans right inside our garage instead of 1/2 block away










5. Great neighbors (no pictures--I thought they might think me strange if I started taking pictures of their houses)

6. Being right where God wants us to be.

In the Process...

Since my parents were here, I have been motivated to work on house projects again. It seems that my motivation sways from scrapbooking (my first love) to house projects (becoming my second love). I'm praying my third "love" will kick in next year--gardening. No such motivation in that area right now. So last weekend I worked on painting the guest room. Previously it had been the "knitting room" & had been used for crafts & office space. The carpet is in good shape, although it is bright green. The bathroom is also very nice-- already painted, new flooring, toilet, mirror & light fixture! So, I set about the task of painting the guest room. My parents had already pushed everything to the center of the room, so that made it a bit easier. You can see the color-barely. It's a nice green. It's very light during the day & it warms up in the evening. I like it! It looks nice with the comforter & new ceiling fan. My mom & I also finished the curtains for room, too. I hope to finish before Thanksgiving!

Success!

Even with a broken toe (I think that must be what it is), my mom, dad, Joel & I were able to officially "clean the garage"!!! It was a huge project & Joel and I know we couldn't have done it without help! When we moved in, the garage was so full of stuff we could only fit Joel's car in it (see the blog about his car being stolen & you'll understand why his car, not mine, had a home inside!). When the weather turned a bit chilly, I was determined not to have to scrape the car (why did we buy a house if I still had to scrape the car???) so, I worked on the garage just enough to fit both cars in it. Both fit--barely. We were door-dinging each other and it was getting a bit annoying.

So, with some help, we officially got it organized. With one trip to Goodwill & one trip to the dumpsters for recycyling, it's clean!!! It's beautiful!!! It's an official "Man Room!". We love it. Everything has a place--the garden tools are all hung neatly, boxes are off of the floor & Joel has a place to work at his bench. Thanks mom & dad!

Day Off

Joel & I were able to enjoy a great day off from work on Friday, October 27. We had been looking forward to it for some time as October is always a very busy month for teachers (parent/teacher conferences, progress reports, etc...). We were able to sleep in, enjoy the day & oh yes, clean! My parents were coming in to town on Friday evening, so we needed to do the usual cleaning for houseguests. Joel said, "It's a good thing your parents come to town so often so we have to clean!" Otherwise, it just doesn't get done. :) Can I get an "amen"?

Just as we were finishing up, I was in the guest room doing something and stubbed my little pinky toe. It hurt, so I took off my sock & examined my toe. It was fine, so I kept working. A little while later, I went downstairs and told Joel my toe still hurt & took off my sock again. This time it was turning black & blue and swelling up to be quite the little sausage. It's now more than a week later, still bruised & swollen & still hurts quite badly. Don't scroll down if you have a weak stomach--there are pictures.

Albuquerque

A few weeks ago, I was able to fly down to Albu- querque to visit one of my dearest friends, Jeni & her husband. They left this week to start a new adventure in their lives in another country. I met Jeni when I started working at Lincoln Academy over six years ago. She taught kindergarten & taught sixth grades. Over the years, we became good friends and when she moved to Albuquerque soon after my wedding, it was very hard. We managed to stay in touch and each October Joel & I would go down to Albuquerque with some other friends from Texas to visit Jeni & Tim. We went a total of 3 times and co-ordinated the trip with the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta. This last trip, I made alone.



































It was great fun and happened to be the final weekend of the Balloon Fiesta. Dispite a dissapointing evening at the balloon glow (they start the fires in the evening and the balloons "glow")--it was high winds, so they couldn't do it, we were able to see some baloons on Sunday morning before church. They land wherever they can, so we "chased" a couple and saw them come down right in front of us! Amazing! So, here are some pictures from that trip. There are two series of pictures--two separate balloons coming down, one right after the other. If you've never taken a balloon ride--you should! It's amazing!

Confession of Faith

A couple of months ago we attended some friends' church out of town. It is very different from ours (traditional) and I enjoy attending there when we visit. Ours tends to be a bit more casual & contemporary (www.grace-alone.org). Our friends' church recites The Apostle's Creed frequently, if not every Sunday. I just love it. In our society, we just don't speak this way anymore. People are afraid to say what they believe at the risk of offending someone. Our, we might believe in our religion, but believe that another religion is OK, too. Well, I belive & love the summary of Christanity in The Apostle's Creed. Won't you read it & believe it, too?

I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of Heaven and earth: And in Jesus Christ His only Son, our Lord; who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead and buried; He descended into Hell; the third day He rose again from the dead; He ascended into Heaven, and is seated at the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead. I belive in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlastings. Amen.