A Little Bit of History

by Jason

Well today was an off day for us. Praise the Lord! That means nothing to do, no services to get to, and a hotel! But anyways... so today after sleeping in, we were able to go to the Patton Military Museum near Fort Knox, KY. It was very cool. I love history so I'm a sucker for those kind of things.

A tank outside the Patton Military Museum.

Its basically an armored museum. There were probably 20 or so tanks and armored vehicles inside the museum including several tanks from WWI, and even German and Japanese tanks from WWII. They also had displays from the current war in Iraq. They also had about 20 tanks outside as well. All in all it was a very cool trip into history and an appreciation of our country.

Windy Weekend

by Jessica

Well, this past weekend was certainly a busy one! Aside from having soulwinning on Saturday and church on Sunday, we also got to go to two graduation receptions - one on Friday evening & one on Saturday. They were both lots of fun and very well put together! (Of course, the best part was that the food was exceptional! I stuffed myself at both parties, telling myself that graduations only come once a year!) My friends, Cassie and Brian, were the new graduates. It's so weird to think that people younger than I am are graduating from high school, and I've already finished a year of college.

This was a hillarious little guy that said different grad phrases
when you smacked him! Amber got this for Brian.

But anyway, like I said, the food was great! Cassie and her family served Zio Johno's spaghetti and ravioli. I've never had their ravioli and it was absolutely amazing! They also had a great salad and fuit... and cake of course. Brian and his family served pork sandwiches and different sorts of chips and a whole bunch of different desserts and brownies that were to die for!

When my family went to Brian's party on Saturday, you wouldn't believe how windy it was! The teens could hardly play volleyball in the yard, because the ball would get blown back over the net. It's funny, I didn't really get any pictures of the grads or their parties, but I got lots of pictures of the wind. I'll share a few with you. (Just pretend you're interested!)

Look at that poor little tree! It was so nice that the Starr family had
this big building (right) to have the party in! It was a perfect shelter
from the wind.

Here's the volleyball crew!

Great parties everyone! Thanks!

Springs of Living (and HOT) Water

by Jason

On our journeys across this great nation we travel to many places. One of these such places was Hot Springs, Arkansas. During our visit to Hot Springs we were able to visit West mountain and see the view of the city, which was pretty impressive, and the bath houses fueled by the hot springs. We also were able to discover first hand why they call them hot springs: BECAUSE THEY'RE HOT! 134 degrees to be exact! We were surprised at how very hot they were. WE could not even hold our fingers under water for 10 seconds! At one fountain, many people had thrown change in to the water. In an attempt to show how macho some of us were, we tried to plunge our hands into the scalding water to retrieve the coins. However, the temperature of the water was so extreme that we could not keep our hands under water long enough to grab the coins. I say we, but I did not attempt it. Not because I was afraid to, but because I am smart, and my hands and fingers are very necessary to the success of the group! Just kidding! After many attempts it was given up as futile, and we left, some of us nursing burnt arms and scalded fingers!

Merry Christmas!

by Jason and Jessica

So you're probably wondering why we titled this blog post "Merry Christmas" at the end of June! Well, that's because we thought we'd tell you the story of the first time Jason told me that he liked me - which happened to be at Christmastime. It was actually while we were on the college Christmas lights activity. We had so much fun that night! The college took a whole bunch of students down to Navy Pier and down the Magnificent Mile in Chicago to look at the lights. It was so beautiful! The college also put on a Christmas concert inside the pier (Jason's group sang!). There were games and ice skating and lots of different restaurants and a mall! This was one of the college's major dating activities, and I was very glad to be able to go with Jason! He bought me a delicious Mexican dinner and we walked around to see all of the different displays and lights together. It was a blast! But I'll let Jason continue this story for a bit - he was, after all, a big part of it. ;)

Here Jason and I are sitting amongst the different trees in Navy Pier's Winter Wonderland. It was gorgeous!

And here I am again to continue this story. So... it really was a great time. Because of the freshmen no dating policy it was hard for us to spend much time together that first semester, so these approved dating activities were always a treat and very welcomed. It had definitely been something that I had been looking forward to for a long time. A lot of that had to do with the fact that its always right around the time of my birthday so its a nice birthday present for me every year. But more than that I was looking forward to being able to spend an entire evening with Jessica. The bus drive to Chicago was a lot of fun and we enjoyed it very much. The group of friends we were with made it even that much more enjoyable. Downtown Chicago was a lot of fun and it wasn't that cold so it was good. At Navy Pier, we had a great time walking around talking and enjoying the sights. As Jessica said before, my tour group sang for the concert, so that made it a lot of fun too. The whole night was a blast! So here's Jessica again for a scoop on the evening as it began to wind down...

This was our seat on the bus as we rode up to Chicago.

Well, the evening began coming to a close - as most evenings do - and we were getting ready to load back up on the buses. The buses, by the way, were really cool! They were each decorated and had a different name like The Grinch, Rudolph, and Santa, to name a few. I think we were on Rudolph but I can't remember. Anyway, Jason and I made a few last trips through some of the shops and stores, not wanting the night to be over - we were having too much fun! But the crowds started moving out and loading up, so we found our bus and got aboard. We went back to our seat and started talking about how much fun we had. Jason...

These were a few of the people in our group that we walked around with. They were great fun! And isn't the backdrop beautiful?!

Yes, I am back to finish this off. Well we now had about and hour an a half ride back to the college. We had a great ride talking about the night we'd enjoyed together and kinda reminiscing about our times together in the past. Once we got back to the college, it was almost time for us to part. It was a really emotional time and kinda romantic... if a school bus can be romantic. Now for a long time I'd wanted to tell Jessica that I liked her but I wanted the right time. So as we were pulling in to the college I told her for the first time after talking for 6 1/2 months that I liked her. Made me feel pretty good because I'd been wanting to get that out for quite a long time! And I meant it then and I still mean it now! I like Jessica a whole lot! She's my best friend! So I'll let her add anything else to finish this up...

Here is the Hylander Singing Men singing at the concert. (There's Jason at the piano!!)

Well, I guess I'll just end by saying that was the perfect ending to a perfect evening. We had just finished a beautiful Christmas date and Jason Felt had just told me he like me! The day couldn't have been made any better. I'm so glad I had the honor of going with Jason! He's amazing, and I still can't believe that he wants to date me, and I like him too. It's so great to have a best friend like Jason! He's my hero! The end.

Professional Chefs

by Jessica

Today I had the opportunity to go over to my friend Paige's house for the afternoon. We had a whole lot of fun! We watched The Magic of Ordinary Days. It's a Hallmark movie that I think is really good.

We also made lunch - well, sort of. We had cordon bleus with a creamy broccoli sauce inside. They were delicious! We also made no-bake cookies which turned out to be really yummy. We made a mess in the process, but cleaned it up very well! ;) It was lots of fun!


Here is our delicious lunch! And this is me stirring the cookies.


The Cookies! And we got to see a little hummingbird come to their feeder.

I Go a Boating...

by Jason

This is us guys enjoying the blue sky, blue water, and lots of sun!

I'm back again! I thought I'd drop in and just let y'all know a little about somethings we've been doing on tour. The many lives that have been changed and souls saved and apps taken and all that other stuff that goes a long with tour. Now all thats well and good, but the best part about tour so far was definitely when we were able to rent a boat and go out on Lake Hamilton while we were in Hot Springs, Arkansas. It was a blast! We also rented an inner tube and had a lot of fun using that also! I'm doing a pretty good job of working on my tan too! So it definitely turned out to be the most fun that any of us had had in a very long time! And I am the only one who never flipped off the tube!

This is me working on my tubing skills!

Forever Always: The Beginning

by Jason & Jessica

Well Amen. This is Jason now, (if you couldn't figure that out by now), and its my first time on the blog, which by the way I think is a fabulous idea. Of course, it was the brainstorm and brilliant idea of my beautiful, gorgeous, wonderful, amazing, awesome, and VERY smart girlfriend! So now as we start this entry we've decided, for the sake of those who don't know already, to tell the story of the grace and sovereignty of God that made it possible for the two of us to be together right now. And even if you don't want to hear it, we're gonna tell it anyways because I like to tell it! But in order to start it right, Jessica needs to begin...

(This is Jessica) Well, once upon a time in a land far away... hehe. Just kidding. Well, it all started I suppose when one of my friends, Cassie, got Jason's number off a phone and decided that it would be oh so much fun to prank text some people. I decided to go along with it. Now we had met Jason once before at Thanksgiving, but he didn't have a clue who was texting him when we sent our texts. Eventually, he figured out who we were and gave me a call. We've been together ever since! Now back to Jason...

Boy. She's so precise and to the point. If only she was like that when we're talking on the phone! But anyways... Yes thats how it happened, believe it or not. A couple of prank texts that were getting really annoying, and a 13 hour drive from Missouri to Colorado produced the sweetest relationship that God ever put together. (I figured out who she was on that 13 hour drive just in case you were wondering. And I even forgot her name!) Its pretty amazing to think about and I thank God every day for what He has done in our lives, and the way He has shown us how real He is. He's pretty awesome! Amen! Now here's Jessica for the last word.(As usual! ;) )...


This was our first picture together (Youth Conference 2007)

I guess I should finish with the fact that we made it through last summer (2007) over the phone (we got to see each other at Youth Conference, though) and continued our relationship through a whole year of college! Well, I guess I'll end this just by saying how amazing it is that God can use even the tiniest things for His good. I mean, who would think that sending a few prank text messages could change a person's life! It just goes to show you not to take any decisions for granted - even the tiniest ones! Because they could turn out to be the most important. But anyway, I guess that's the end of this story for now and you're probably tired of reading our book. So, I will end with saying goodbye and thanks for sticking around to read all of this!

Our Summer

by Jessica

Wow, it's been a whole four days since I've been back on here! Not that there's much to do... I haven't invited anyone to come look at it yet. But I figured I would get back on and add another post worth looking at before I sent something out for people to come and see, so I hope to hear from some of you soon!

But anyway... Well, the Hylander Singing Men have been touring for Hyles-Anderson College for a while now. From everything I've heard from Jason, they seem to be having a great time! I've put a few pictures up here of Jason and I during this summer. The first two were taken when the Hylander Singing Men came to our church on June 1st. It was a blast!


Here we are washing dishes after lunch on Sunday afternoon.


This is in the lobby of my church.


Here is one of Jason and me at the end of college.

Welcome, friends!

Well, here it is. A new blog by Jason and Jessica is up and running. Thank you so much for stopping by, and we hope you enjoy taking a little time to look around and see what we've been up to. This blog is mainly going to be used so that we can post bits and pieces of what is going on during this summer. (I know, it's already almost half over! Eek!) Please, don't be afraid to offer a comment or thought. We'd greatly appreciate hearing from any and all of you! So, don't forget to stop by now and then to see what's new and check in by commenting on the posts we've added. Can't wait to hear from ya! Enjoy!