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Love you all long time,
JME

Long time overdue!

So I haven't written in awhile...but the best part about that is that we have been sooooo busy with the photography that I haven't had time! Yeah!! So here is our family update!

February 5, 2010
I decided it was High time for me to dedicate JME Portraits to God. I spent a whole day praying about it and asking God to take the business for his Glory. In all things I want to give glory to the God that created all things! Our slogan is, "Capturing the moments that matter." But I would like to think of it as capturing the moments that matter, the moments given to us by God. I think once I run through the business cards I have now I will reprint them with the new slogan, giving glory to Him.

February 13, 2010 & February 15, 2010
Hailey had her first birthday! And my mom and brother flew out from California for this special day. What a treasure to have time with them after all they have been through. Michael is a special miracle for us, his accident reminded me of how much I love him, and every chance I get to spend with him is precious. So what was Hailey up to by her first birthday? Hailey's stats at her one year appointment included her being in the bottom 25% in weight, 35% in height and 90% in the big ol' head category!! She could crawl by her birthday, but not walk. She had her 2 bottom teeth and the top 2 were breaking through. Her favorite foods are carrots, celery, CHEESE, and apple cinnamon nutri-grain bars. She loves to take baths and she sleeps like a champ.

February 28, 2010
I turned 27 this year!! AHHHHH I have only 10% left of my years before I turn 30! Whoa!! Who knew you would feel so young when you turned the age that once felt sooooo OLD!! When I was 18 I thought 30 was OLD!! I got to get pedicures with all me best girl friends, Amber Fusca, Jana Kirksey, Molly Milillo, and Tori Parsons. It was so much fun, we had spa pedicures and manicures and then went and ate at Target! I know, nasty nachos!!! Yummy!! On Sunday we went to Huskies and had delicious hamburgers (or turkey burgers if you're ready this and you really know me!) ;-) It was so much fun to watch all of the babies sitting around eating like big people! They grow up so fast!!

March 9, 2010
I was driving to work and was listening to KSBJ radio station. KSBJ is a Christian radio station in Houston and I love to listen when I get the chance. On this particular morning they were asking if small business in Houston offered people deals for their birthday...well I started wracking my brain (AFTER I CALLED THE STATION) about what I would offer clients from my photography business on their birthdays. I got on air and we talked about my photoshopping skills, my business being dedicated to God, and how I offer clients a 30 minute birthday shoot for free! I got to work about 10 minutes later and sat in my car listening intently...but they never played the sound bite. BUMMER! So I got out of my car and went on to teach first period. At 7:50 am Nina Campbell text me to tell me she HEARD ME ON THE RADIO!!! What a blessing!! Apparently they kept the clip and edited it! They played the whole conversation on the radio! How amazing is that? Free air time on a popular radio station for JME Portraits!!!! Thank you Jehovah-jireh, the Provider!!

Here is the email I sent to John:
Praise!!!
So this morning as I was driving to work, KSBJ asked small business owners to call in and share what they do, for free, for people on their birthdays. So in my GENIUS I quickly thought about what I could do for people....and then I called in!!!!!!!! They answered and we talked about photography and how, if you are my client and it's your birthday I will do a FREE 30 minute photo shoot!! They asked me if I could do what they do for Oprah, and I said, "Oh yes!" I told them I was a woman and I know what it's like to get photos back, and so that makes me a master poser! ;-) I then waited in the car for 20 minutes listening, but they never played it. :( So I was kind of disappointed....UNTIL Nina Campbell text me to tell me she was listening to ME on KSBJ!!!!! They played my "ad" at 8:00 on the morning show!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! God is good!!!!!!!!! Free advertising with the kind of people I want to work with, CHRISTIANS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! God is GREAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am still shaking from the excitement!! I am going to email Nina to find out exactly what they played because I can't believe it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I love you all and thank you for your prayers, the business is growing and I believe it's because I dedicated the business to God on February 5. In all things we give glory to the God that created it all! We capture the moments that matter, the moments given to us by God.
Love you long time,
JME

March 14, 2010
Hailey WALKED!! John has been practicing with her for weeks, but on Sunday we sat in the hallway about 5 feet apart and she took 4 steps!! I then backed up and she took 8 steps!! She consistently took 8 steps that whole night!! I was soooo proud of our little angel!

March 14-21, 2010
I got to take Spring Break this week. It was a great week we played outside every day! Hailey can ride the rocking frog at the park next door, and she is VERY proficient in doing it all by herself! She walked to and from the house each time, it was beautiful. Now she can get in her ball pit, stand up, walk, and she even tries to keep up with Cami at Mrs. Beth's house! Now that is fun to watch!!

March 25, 2010
So the day has come!!! On Thursday I will be honored at the Rocket's game for teacher of the game!! The dream is for real!! I have to admit I thought it might not be real, because it's soooo amazing but I am going. The Rockets have contacted me and my PRINCIPAL to inform us that the game is happening this Thursday against the LA Clippers! My dad is flying out! Grandma Macie is flying out! Aunt Cindy, Macie and Jamie are going! Molly and Steve are going! This is just sooooo awesome!! I have 2 tickets on the court and 2 tickets in the suite with Devon Energy! My heart is so full as I type this blog that I almost can't see straight!! Thank you God for all of the blessings you have bestowed upon me and my family!

Photos are coming soon!! We love you all long time!!

THE ROCKETS GET EVEN BETTER!!

So the Rocket's Teacher of the Year just keeps getting better and better!! The company that hosts' the event, Devon Energy, somehow got a hold of my personal blog and read it! Apparently, they were so impressed with what I had to say that they...INVITED US INTO THE DEVON ENERGY SUITE FOR THE GAME!! So not only do I get floor tickets but I get to go into a suite too!! UNBELIEVABLE!! The game is scheduled for March 25 against the LA Clippers!! I know a Cali team!! Unfortunately, none of the Rocket's games are nationally televised so you won't be able to watch it out west.

A bit of Rocket’s history for you too…did you know the Rockets were originally a team out of San Diego?? I know, crazy! When my students say, “Why are you such a Rocket’s fan? You’re not even from here!” I promptly reply, “Ah ha! Bet you didn’t know the Rockets were originally from San Diego (where I am from). They played there from 1967-1971!” Normally they just stare at me like I am crazy! And maybe I am…

Now here is some more trivia for ya…The San Diego franchise nickname became the "Rockets" due to the local development (General Dynamics) of the famed Atlas missile/booster rocket program. The franchise became the first NBA team in Texas, and the team's name kept its relevance even after the move (because of NASA for those of you who don’t know much about Houston!) Thanks to Wikipedia for giving up some of this information!floor tickets, but I get to go into a suite too!!! UNBELIEVEABLE!!!t floor tickets, but I get to go into a suite too!!! UNBELIEVEABLE!!!

Thanks again for all of your prayers! This has really made my year! 2010 has been great so far!!

Hailey

The weather has been sooo beautiful in Houston the last couple of weeks that I thought we should do a baby shoot! After school, I packed our wagon with snacks and blankets. Hailey, Bubba and I went to the bayou by our house...it was all dry and dead, but I thought the colors were pretty anyway. Here are some pictures from our fun day!

How big are you Hailey? So big!!

What you lookin' at Willis?

Come my children!

So I read a scripture today that I have decided to commit to memory. As a general rule of thumb you should memorize scriptures, it's just plain good for the soul. But I want to memorize this one because I want my children (only using the plural so it includes future children) to wake up to this:

Come, my children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the LORD.
Psalms 34:11

Thinking God's timing couldn't have been more perfect for me to find this scripture, I went into Hailey's room to wake her up. Feeling quite proud of myself, I said it....Normally she is as happy as a clam in the morning, but due to a horrible night last night she looked miserable! Her hair was going every which way, if you know Hailey and her CRAZY hair you can only imagine the sight I came in on this morning, and she had those squinty sleep eyes...It was hilarious! I thought, 'Great the one time I bounce in her room spouting scriptures she looks at me like I just ruined her day!!' But as soon as I finished my little greeting she looked up, squinty eyes and all, and beamed!! "Mama!" That made my day!

So despite a terrible night's sleep and not feeling very well, the Lord has blessed my day because I am a mom, and mom's teach their children to fear the Lord...even at 5:30 in the morning!!

Random Phone Updates

I normally go NO WHERE without my camera...but in the catastrophic event that I leave it at home, my camera phone always has my back! Here are some super cute/funny/sleepy/all around adorable pictures of my baby girl!

She LOVES to read! This is her at her bookshelf in her room
Smile if you're literate!

I have never seen Hailey take so fast to a toy as she has to this dolly. Hailey LOVES her dolly so much that I think I might have to buy another one for just in case something happens to her. It makes my heart melt watching her love on a baby like she does to her dolly.

This is literally a cloud in the shape of a "j" in the sky! We were at Jonathan and Jana's house which made it even weirder...

John, Jamie, Jonathan, & Jana made a "j" in the sky!

BFFOOEDs are SUPER CUTE!!

Another reading is fun poster!

Hailey is NOT allowed to stand in the tub...so we compromise, she can kneel.

Sorry baby, but that pouty face was WAY too cute not to photograph!

smiley in the tubby!

LOVE it! Hailey's first freeze.

Look at those darling eyes...begging me to take her out of the carseat! ;)

Crazy hair at Mrs. Beth's house!!

With all your thoughts...

With all of the thoughts buzzing around your head, do you think of God? I read something in Psalms today that really made me think about that question. I have LOTS of things to think about, as a matter of fact, that is a HUGE contributor to my dysfunctional sleep habits. I am tired pretty much all day, but the minute I lay down I am WIDE awake thinking about all of the things I need to do/have to do/should do sometime in the near future! While the Psalmist is speaking of his enemies having too many thoughts to think about God, I really took what he said to heart. With everything I am thinking about day to day do I including God in all that? That is the question I will be pondering today...I hope you will join me in asking yourself that very same question!

Psalms 10:4
4 In his pride the wicked does not seek him;
in all his thoughts there is no room for God.

Accountability

I would like to bring my family and friends into an accountability contract with me. I would like to start studying the bible in the morning and spending daily alone time with God. Our pastor said yesterday that he will guarantee a closer relationship with God if you will commit to spending time alone with Him. I took that challenge. My goal is to wake up before everyone and study in the dining room. I hope that I can encourage you to do the same, and to really evaluate how much time you do spend with Him. As our 2009 Christmas card stated, we are at war, what are you going to do to protect yourselves?

“Ever plan for yourself in simple dependence on God. It is nothing less than self-idolatry to conceive that we can carry on even the ordinary matters of the day without His counsel. He loves to be consulted. Consider no circumstance too clear to need his direction. In all thy ways, small as well as great; in all thy concerns, personal or relative; temporal or eternal, let Him be supreme. Who of us has not found the unspeakable ‘peace’ of bringing God matters to minute or individual to be entrusted to the most confidential ear?” - Charles Bridges

Rocket's Teacher of the Game

As you may or may not know, we are HUGE fans of the Houston Rockets! They are a basketball team, for those of you not familiar. We are such BIG fans that we record EVERY game and try to see at least one game a year in person. I even asked John for tickets to the game for my birthday this year...but unfortunately, due to finances, we decided that getting tickets wasn't going to happen this year. That was until Friday night...

Here's how it went down:

I received a message from a woman named Hai. "Hi Jamie Anderson, my name is Hai and I am with the Houston Rockets. Would you please call me back at..." Now you have to picture what is going through my mind at this point. WHY would the Rockets be calling me? Do they need someone to fill Yao's shoes? Do they want to name me as 6th (wo)man of the year? Am I being invited to the All-Star games? Despite my wild imagination, I called her back.

I was so worried that she wouldn't answer when I called back and I would have to wait all weekend to know why she called...but SHE DID!! Our conversation went like this, "Hi Jamie I am from the Houston Rockets. Do you have any idea why I am calling you?" "No." "Would you like to take a guess?" "No because if I am wrong I will be super sad!" "Why don't you try." "Does it have to do with teaching?" "Yes." At that point I started crying!! "It's ok you don't have to cry. You have been chosen as our Devon Energy/Houston Rocket's Teacher of the Game. You have won 2 tickets to a Rocket's home game, a 100 dollar gift certificate, a t-shirt and a plaque. I will call you next week to compare schedules so you can choose which game you would like to attend."

I was soooo overwhelmed by everything that I seriously thought I was going to faint! I screamed to John that he needed to come into the bathroom (he probably thought someone had died...or been brought back to life because I was WAY to happy for someone to have died!)

This weekend has been such a huge blessing/rejuvination time for John and me. I have really been struggling with whether or not to continue teaching now that I am a mother, but due to our finances it just hasn't been something I could do. Isn't it amazing how well God knows us? I mean come on, Teacher of the Game? You couldn't combine two things like that and not be a perfect God! I feel renewed in my place as a teacher, and hope that this will help me cope better with the fact that I am not staying at home with Hailey. Don't get me wrong, that is what I want to do with my life, but since that is not within our ability right now, I am satisfied being Teacher of the Game!!!

My school picture! ;-) They never get any better do they!

Oh Snap!! It IS ME!!

So this is what a HUGE fan I am...Oh yes!! That is a LIFESIZED painting of Yao Ming in my classroom! One of my students knew how much I LOVED the Rockets so she painted it for me...All 7 feet 6 inches!

I know in this picture I don't have a Rocket's jersey on...but John does and that counts! I don't like the way basketball jerseys look on me...they make me look chunky! ;-)

I love you all so much! And to the friends and family members that nominated me...
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR MAKING MY DREAMS COME TRUE

more cheese please

Finally...

she looks like a photographer's kid!! At ten months she has learned the meaning of smile! So know when I get the camera out all I have to say is SMILE and she does!! I love it!!

F

i

The birthday twins

So here's the story...the waitress walks up to take our orders from Dave & Busters (a giant arcade for adults) and John tells her that Molly and him are twins but born exactly 3 years apart. They were both "rodeo" babies...the waitress bought it hook line and sinker!! We are still laughing about the "twin incident!!"

Dance Dance Revolution you ain't got nothing on Molly and me!!
The twins...molly and john...or steve and john...no one really knows!!

BFFFOOED

This is Hailey's best friend Camryn, aka Cami.
They are what you call BFFFOOED!
Best
Friends
Forever
Forever
Only
On
Even
Days


Camryn's daddy says that girls are too fickle to be best friends everyday so we'll just make it official. They will be best friends forever on even days...if it's an odd day we can't be sure what will happen!!

The babe in a manger

Hailey got a nativity set from her Gramma Nette and her Grauntie Laurie (that's grandma aunt for those of you who don't know!! Grauntie got the manger scene and Gramma Nette got the 3 wise men and the Inn at Bethlehem.

Here is the scene....before Hailey destroys it of course!!!

Hailey's first snow...

the perfect eyes closed, tasting the snow shot!!














No that's not dandruff all over ourhair and clothes! That's the best snow we get in Nor Houston!

As you can see Hailey was super impressed! Or not...

Hailey's first Thanksgiving!!

Daddy, Hailey, Uncle Matt and Cousin Walker






Uncle Matt is currently serving our country in Iraq. Please keep his safety and his family in your prayers!

Mommy, Hailey, and Uncle Matt

Mommy's first kiss from the Buggy!!

Mommy, Hailey, and Daddy before we head out for a crazy day on Thanksgiving!!