Miracles....

I have never really let anyone know of my deep desires and prayers. I have spent hours upon hours crying out to God asking Him to help me to be ok with things in my life that i can not control. One of those things for me, is having children. Matt and I have been told in the past about the obstacles we would have to go through in order to have a child. When Matt had cancer, he was told that there would be a large chance that he wouldn't be able to have kids. We were both thinking that maybe we would have to go through a long process of trying to concieve. However.. God has worked an amazing miracle.. and today i can say that God is so faithful in answering prayer.. and Matt and I are three months pregnant. I am crying as I write this because even writing it.. it doesn't seem real! I can't stop praising God and thanking Him for this amazing miracle that is being "knit together" as we speak. I feel so in awe of His amazing hand in our lives. He really does know my deepest desire!

I found out that I was pregnant while I was at home with my family watching my sister's children. My brother in law was in the hospital and was very ill. I thought that I was feeling tired from watching the kids, and an emotional week prior.. sending Matt off to Sweden alone. I had this feeling that maybe i should take a test to see if I was pregnant, but I really didn't think anything of it. When i took the test... while i was waiting that dreadful few minutes.. I prayed so hard for God to answer my prayers. I also prayed that if it wasnt' positive that He would help me to cope with the news. When i went back to read the test.. I was sure it said that i wasn't pregnant. I cried. I began to pray that God would give me strength and then I shook it off.. and decided i wouldn't mope around but would continue on with my day. About an hour later.. i started to think about the test.. and what it read. After thinking about it.. i realized i had read the test wrong!! I took 3 more tests simply to confirm, that I was in fact pregnant!

It was kind of a crazy time for me. I was leaving for Sweden in one week, and I was without my husband, and i had no idea what I should do. God really went ahead of me and worked it all out. I was able to get an ultrasound and find out that i was 8 weeks, and everything looked good! I decided to wait to tell Matt until I got to Sweden. I had this amazing plan about how I would tell him! I had it all worked out, however when i got here.. and after I saw him, things didn't go according to plan.... Once we arrived at home, I was overwhelmed with emotions from seeing our new house, and feeling so blessed. The first minute that matt and I were alone.. I just blurted out ... " I am pregnant". Not so romantic! haha He turned white right away and didn't know what to say.

Since then, we have laughed, cried, and been so excited about what is to come. It is such a scary, emotional, blessed thing!! We both feel that God performed a miracle, and we are so excited about what is to come. I feel like God's timing was perfect. We have an amazing house, that i feel totally comfortable in, we have awesome friends surrounding us, and we are doing the Lord's work. God is good! Today we went to the midwife we will be seeing here, and she told us how much of a miracle it is that Matt and I are pregnant... knowing Matt's history. I feel like God wants to use our baby already for His glory. I want Him to have ALL of the glory. He performed such an amazing work in our life, and we are forever grateful to Him.

Matt and I feel so happy, grateful, safe, and blessed. Please pray for us during this time, and pray for our little baby. Someone very special to me, wrote me an e-mail and reminded me about Pslam 139. I have read it over and over again the past few weeks. I get stuck on verses 13-16

"13 For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother's womb.

14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.

15 My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place.
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,

16 your eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me
were written in your book
before one of them came to be."

Amazing. God is knitting our baby together right now, and He already knows all about him/her. What an awesome comfort. We love you all so much, and we were so excited to be able to share this news with you! Please pray for us during this time. Pray that God will grow us into the kind of parents He wants us to be. Pray that our baby is safe, and for God's hand in our lives. Pray for opportunities to share, and pray that God indeed gets all the glory, honor and praise.

So much love!!!!!!

Jess, Matt, and our little miracle!

Our Swedish home...

Hello Friends and Family!!!! Here is a short video of our home. We love it so much and feel so blessed to be able to stay here. It is such an amazing blessing and we can't stop thanking God for it! There aren't any photos of our bedroom.. as it is not in the best shape, but i will take some and post them soon. Thank you for all of your prayers. We miss you all.. and love you all. Wishing you a very Merry Christmas!!!!!!

Luke 2:13-14

"And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!” “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”

Swedish Pancakes....

Hello there friends and family!

What an amazing time of year! Lights twinkling, the buzzing busy people, the smell of a new swedish Christmas tree! I love it. I have to admit I was a bit nervous to be away at Christmas time. I wondered if it would feel the same, if I would feel at home, and comfortable. Although i do miss our family and friends... i have to say that God has already made this Christmas so special for Matt and I. We have a lot of first this holiday season. Last week we got our first Christmas tree. It is small, and not so pretty looking, but Matt has been SOO excited about it since we got it. We had the option to get a Danish tree.. which i have to admit was beautiful and full and the man told us that the needles wouldn't shed. It would have been nice to get that one, however Matt insisted we get the "Swedish" tree, as we are in SWeden! It is perfect! I love it. In Sweden then don't put up their tress until right before Christmas. So we are going to decorate it and put it up tomorrow. I will post some pictures of our house and of our trees hopefully tomorrow.

Last night we had an amazing time, as we went to a Christmas market/fair called "Liseberg."It was amazing. Full of lights, games, Christmas smells, and it truly made me feel like it was Christmas time. There was even an outdoor skating show where the Swedish national champion skated. It was so much fun. We were so blessed to get to go with our good friends Peter and Louice and Lucas their little boy. He had the most fun playing games, and riding some rides. I had this strange moment when we were walking through the park.. i just had this realization that we were in Sweden.. and it is Christmas time.. and how cool that is. It is amazing. God is sooooo good, and I can't stop praising Him for His amazing hand in our life.

Tonight I made Swedish pancakes tonight for the first time ever. I was so nervous.. but it was so fun and they were DELICIOUS!!!!! It felt so great to make them! We have such an amazing home to spend our christimas in, and we really do have amazing friends who are like family to us. I feel blessed beyond words. Lets not forget the reason for the season. Jesus came to this earth to seek and to save. What an awesome time to remember when he arrived. We love you all. Matt promised me he would write.. so we will see if he finds time. His hockey is going really well, they are on a break now, but still have practice. He is third for points on his team and has only played 9 games. I am so proud of him for working so hard. It is awesome to see.

Love you all and miss you all.. here are some pics from the fair..

Hello to our faithful readers!!!!

I was thinking today that I didn't really have much to write about, but I know it has been awhile since i last wrote.. so i will try. Things have been great here.. i love our house, i love our friends and God is really just so good! The past few days Matt and I have not been feeling the best. Matt came down with a cold and i have been trying to get used to the time. It has been pretty crazy, but it also has been nice to just get to spend time with my husband. The past few years have been such a crazy rollar-coaster of a ride for us, and the past few days I have just been able to be thankful for togetherness with my husband. It is just a blessing, even if we both do feel gross and sick ;)

Matt has had a game since i last wrote. He played very well and had a great time. He told me he missed a penalty shot, and he was so mad he made up for it with 2 goals and one assist. Their team won 4-0. Today he has a home game, and I am hoping i feel well enough to go. I love watching him play and i get so sad when I can't go. This last week there was a newspaper article written about Matt. From what we were told, it was an awesome story about Matt's journey with cancer, his history with hockey, and his reason for being here.. to tell people about God. What an awesome platform to have. I pray that everyone who reads the article will be blessed by our God's grace and provision.

Please pray for us this week, as we will be getting a better idea of what we will be doing this term in Sweden. We just simply want to be used, in whatever way we can be. Thank you for your support, love and prayers. I will be updating again soon after Matt's game tonight. Perhaps tomorrow, or tuesday. We miss you all and love you. Thanks so much for your comments also, Matt and I are truly blessed by them.

Blessings,
Jess and Matt

Finally here...

What an amazing feeling to finally be here with Matt and feel totally at peace! I can't even begin to tell you how amazing it was to walk into our new house and see all that our friends had done for us. I was brought to tears as soon as I walked in the door. The house is filled with love and has an amazing feeling in it. Everything is more than I could have ever imagined. I just kept hearing the verse in Ephesians 3:20,21

"Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen"

He really has exceeded any expectations that I had. Matt and I both feel humbled by this whole experience. Our friends worked day and night to make a place for us where we could feel at home. It is amazing. I wake up praising God, and thanking Him countless times for the friends we have here, for the home we have here, and for the ministry He has provided for us here. We are truly blessed! As soon as i get over the jetleg i promise to post some pictures. The only times i seem to be fully awake right now are when the sun is down, and the pictures wouldn't do our house justice.

Since I have been here.. Matt has played one game. It was so awesome to get to go watch him, and i know i am a proud wife.. but I truly have never seen him play this well in all of my time watching him. He is playing with such passion, control, and confidence. His last game he had 3 assists. He is playing with one of his best friends on the team, Mattias. Mattias and Matt have developed such a special bond. They began to have discipleship times together last year, and they will continue this year also. I would love to go into more detail about Matt's ministry opportunities, but i feel like it would be best if he got to share it. I will force him to sit down and write haha.

The team they played on Friday tapes some of their games, and posts the goals and important plays on youtube. Matt is number 10 and his friend Mattias is number 16 on the red team. This way you can see what I see when I watch him play here.

Thank you so much for your love, support and prayers. We really cherish them. We are so lucky to have so many people who pray for us and support us in this amazing adventure God has provided. We miss you and love you all.

Jess and Matt