August Update

New York Part 2

New York Part 1

Updates, Pics, and Vids oh my!

Sorry for the delay family and friends, but we have updates coming soon (hopefully later today!)


Love,
Jason & Becky

4th of July

End of the Month post

Baptism Pictures

Texas Baptism: Part 2

Texas Baptism: Part 1

The Winery

Picnic

The Office

New Intro for video blog

Blessed Be God!!!

Introducing...Our Video Blogs!!!

Blessed Be God!!!

We hope you all enjoy our new series of video blogs. *WARNING* This video is LONG! (We're sorry for that) We had a lot to catch up on. Videos will be shorter, and we'll have guests and have some fun with it : ).

God Bless
Jason & Becky

New Blog!

So I don't get in trouble with Lauren. Here is my "blog post" : )

I'm doing something special...I'm having some technical difficulties (not my fault. Websites fault). Anyways, get ready for a whole new blog from us!

God Bless

Jason Spoolstra

LOST FINALE!/Biggest Loser/ Bugs

Blessed Be God!!!

St. Matthias, pray for us!

Aloha everyone,

So a few things to report back:

Anyone LOST fans that read this? Becky got me hooked on the show! Last night was a great season finale, and now we have to wait till 2010! ugh! Patience I know. Seriously, if you don't watch you, you really need to. go to ABC and start from the beginning, otherwise you won't get anything else.

Speaking of Finales. We watched the Biggest Loser finale. Besides having technical issues with the DVR, it kept screwing up, Helen won! UGH! I did NOT want her to win. I wanted to see Tara, Mike, THEN Helen. I never liked Helen. I don't know why, I just annoyed me. Anyways, great season overall, definately inspired me to do a Half-Marathon in November, but more on that later. For my personal weight loss, if anyone wanted to know, I'm down 55 pounds! I have a little more to lose, but I wanted show my before and after pictures:

MAY 2008

MAY 2009

(Same T-Shirt)

I wanted to share with you the crazy bugs up here! First this past weekend Becky and I were working out and my Aunt Linda told me there was a big bee in the laundry room. I went to go check it out, and this thing was HUGE!!! Probably about an inch in length and the abdomen had to be about the diameter of a nickel. Biggest Bee I ever saw.

Then we have Cave Crickets/Spider Crickets/Camel Back Crickets (many names same bug). They have a body of a cricket in a smaller size, but have long spidery looking legs and long antennas. These are not black, but a green, grayish, weird colors. These things are VERY jumpy. They are also not afraid of people. If you try to attack them they jump AT YOU! I usually find one a day. Oh and they can climb walls! So I try not to think about that when we're going to bed. Linda says they are only during the spring time so hopefully they'll be dying off soon.

I promise I will get pics of our picnic up tomorrow. My mom comes in tomorrow too! Pray that she gets in safely and has a great time while she's here.

Until next time!

Love you all and miss you guys

God Bless

Jason & Becky

Mount St. Mary's

Blessed Be God!!!

Bl. Rose Venerini, pray for us!

Aloha all!

So I finally got around to putting up the pics of us visiting Mount St. Mary's in Emmitsburg, MD. This place is must see! Simply beautiful. This place will always have a special place in my heart because when I was 10 during Holy Week my Godfather took me and my cousins (his sons) up to visit this place. This is where I learned how to pray the rosary. It was different than what I had remember, but it had been 13 years since I last been there. Hope you all enjoy!

Jesus welcoming us!

Huge statue of Mary greeting up on the way up.

One of the many trails

Becky smelling the flowers

St. Francis, pray for us!

One of the Chapel's there

Lourdes Grotto

Statue of Mary in a pool

close up on a mosaic of Our Lady of Guadalupe

Another mosaic of Mary

Up Next: Pics and Blog of our Diocesan Youth Minister Picnic where Becky and I rode a paddle boat!

God Bless,

Jason & Becky Spoolstra

Catholic Underground/Aggies!

Blessed Be God!!!

Howdy y'all!

Last week we went to the Catholic Underground here in Arlington/D.C. area. It's just starting up here, and they are doing a GREAT job. The holy hour was just what Becky and I needed. They chanted just like we are use to chanting through song so that made the transition a lot easier. We ended up not going to see the acts unfortunately do to the crazy weather that night.

Also during that day I had worn one of my Aggie shirts. This one was grey and had the quote from Gen. Patton about if you gave him a corp of West Pointers he could win a battle, but if you have gave him a handful of Aggies he could win you a war. Anyways, the first part of my day I went to help with Rent-A-Teen where the parish hires the youth to help around their homes. I went to two houses, and the second house I went to the lady asked me to turn around to see my shirt. Then her eyes got really wide and quickly asked if I was from A&M. I told her I wasn't, and she told me she was class of '81 and that she was in the Corp and is military. Great lady. Later than day during lunch my Uncle Joe had an old friend come in town, and during lunch she had asked my Aunt Linda if I went to A&M as well. I think she just knew the college. Then later that day driving I saw a truck with a Texas A&M sticker on the back. To cap off the night after the Holy Hour at Catholic Underground, Becky and I were about to leave when a gentleman asked me if I had gone to Texas A&M. I told I didn't, and I looked at his shirt and sure enough he was also wearing an Aggie shirt!

In one day got hit with FOUR Aggie references. CRAZY! You can take the man out of Texas, but you can't take Texas out of the boy I guess or Texas A&M at least.

Next blog we'll have pics of Emmitsburg, MD and today's fun!

Hope all are well and remember we love comments! : )

God Bless,

Love in Christ

Jason & Becky

Easter/Granparents/Warm Weather!

Blessed Be God!!!

Hello all! This is Jason giving a blog. Don't worry, Becky will still be posting, but I know a lot of you have been asking for updates, and my wife has been busy with her new job, so I thought I would step in for a little bit and help out.

So it's been while so let me catch you up:

Becky and I celebrated our first Seder, which is a Jewish tradition of the Passover. It said to drink four glasses of wine! We stuck with four sips. My great aunt Judy was able to come over for it, and we had a great time.

We also helped out with the Living Stations on Good Friday. I was a guard! (So don't mess with me). There were several hundred people out there to watch us. The youth led all the other parts and did a great job!

Becky and I then went to the Easter Vigil mass. Becky got a little sleepy b/c they left the lights off all the way until the Gospel reading. There were lots of baptisms, confirmations, and first communions! Praise God! I also shaved off my Lenten Beard. My cousin cried that I had shaved it. haha. Then after the Mass we came home and Becky and I got to put out the easter eggs for them to hunt for the next morning. Of course the next morning we find all but one! Oh well, it'll turn up somewhere. The lunch/dinner was AMAZING!!! My aunt Linda went way over and beyond with her 7 desserts and unending food. yummm. She even did a great job with our dessert, Tiramisu!

My Grandparents (on my mom's side) came up for vacation this past week. They traveled all over this area to visit family. We got to spend much the past weekends with them. It was great having them up here. Pap Pap killed me at 500, I finally beat him in our last game (after he beat me the first 4).

Finally, the weather up here has been unseasonably warm! 90's for the past 4 days! It's been warmer here than it has been down in TX! Craziness!>!?! BUT the trees are finally starting to bring out their leaves and everything is beautiful and green.

I think that's plenty long.

Stay tuned to up coming posts! (sneak peak: Emmitsville, Catholic Underground, and Texas A&M)

God Bless

Jason & Becky

The Great Outdoors

The past two weeks, Jason and I have gotten some fresh air and enjoyed the beautiful outdoors. Last week, we took a long walk to Lake Accotink and this weekend, we went to DC to see the famous cherry blossoms. There were thousands and thousands of people in DC, which made it a little crazy, but it was still a wonderful time. Here's some photos!

Walking to the lake.

The dam.

Lake Accotink.

Look how many people are at the memorial!

Beautiful cherry blossoms.

The Washington Monument in the background.

Employed

I got the job!!! I start on Monday, working in the Sales Department at the Hilton in Alexandria, VA and am VERY excited! Praise God!

Here's a link to the hotel if you're curious...

Hilton Alexandria Mark Center

Manassas

This past Saturday, Jason and I went to Manassas, VA to see the battlefield of First and Second Manassas (Bull Run). Going to historical sites is always fun with Jason, especially Civil War ones, because I have my own personal tour guide! We walked the marked trail to see the different sites that are still standing, and then we wandered off onto another trail. And we walked, and walked, and walked...and didn't know exactly where it was taking us, so we turned around and went back. Come to find out, it was a LONG trail and we probably made the right decision.  : )

Here's some photos that Jason took...

The trail we walked.

Stonewall Jackson.

Where he got his famous nickname.

Judith Henry's grave. (her house was on the battlefield)

Civil War cannon.

Interview

Things are still going well up in Virginia. Jason is settling into his new office and is enjoying his job. Becky had an interview this morning at the Hilton...it went really well and now we're just waiting to hear the results. *fingers crossed*

We recently tried Five Guys burgers, which are a big thing in this area. (think In-n-Out Burgers, for the east coast) Very yummy, but doesn't beat Braums burgers, according to Jason!  : )

We've also bought a GPS, so hopefully we (meaning Becky) won't get lost on these new roads. 

Virginia

We're here!! After a long weekend of driving (in the rain), we've arrived in Springfield, Virginia. Thank God for a safe trip...now we're getting settled in and acquainted with everything. Jason will go in the office for a little while tomorrow and I'm job hunting still. There's an opening at the Hilton in Alexandria that I'll check out tomorrow. *fingers crossed*

We miss Texas and everyone there! And baby Cole was born on Saturday evening, so sadly we just missed him! Congrats to the Warner family!  : )

Moving on up...

So, if you havn't heard the big news yet...we're moving!! Jason has accepted an amazing full time youth ministry job up in Springfield, Virginia. Everything happened pretty fast with it, but we're pursuing it and are excited to see exactly what God has in store for us. As of right now, we're still looking for housing and a job for me, but thankfully, we have some generous family members up there who already offered to help us out. The move will happen the weekend of March 14th. We've got a lot of work to do! : )

Jason and I thank all of you for your support and prayers. This transition is exciting, but it will definitely be hard to leave our family, friends, and everything we're familiar with here in the great state of Texas.

March for Life

Hello all! So sorry for the delay in posting! Like mentioned before, we went to DC for the March for Life. It was amazing, to say the least! We had an awesome group of youth and the March had record numbers since this year was extremely important in the fight for life. Here's a few photos...

Our whole group

Our small group (makes keeping track of 20 kids easier!)

Our first March for Life as husband and wife!

The Supreme Court building...if only this was true for the unborn too.

The beautiful basilica
Arlington National Cemetary

Waco

This weekend, we went to Waco, TX to help at a DCYC youth conference. Everything went great and we had a quick break so we decided to go see this awesome bridge that was right next to the conference center. Here's some photos we took...

The suspension bridge.

Us.

Jason in an archway in the wall

Becky in a hole in the wall (literally)

Being goofy...

We're leaving tomorrow for DC! Pray for safe travels!

DC

So, this time of year brings preparation for the annual trip to Washington DC for the March for Life. For those who don't know, the March for Life is an annual pro-life march in DC, marking the day that Roe v Wade was passed back in 1973. It's a very peaceful protest and you'll see people of all ages, races, and religions there to stand up for the gift of life. This year, it occurs right after Obama's inaguration, so the streets will probably be packed. It will definitely be interesting to see how it all turns out!

There's a group that's gone from the Dallas-Fort Worth area for several years now. This will be my 3rd year to attend with this group. Every year has been eventful, but last year has topped them all, because it's when Jason proposed (awww). To make a long story short, there's a HUGE basilica there in DC where we designated a 'special spot' that we go to each time we're there. In 2008, when we went to this spot, Jason popped the question and the rest is history.

Here's a photo of the engagement...

Here's a photo of the group that went in 2008, in front of the basilica...

new year, new blog

Hello everyone! Hope yall had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

So, after being inspired by a blogging friend (thanks Lauren), I figured what better time to start one than when starting a new year?

I'm hoping to keep in better contact with friends and family, and this seems like a fun and easy way to do so, especially with those who are farther away. With so many things happening in life, this should be a good way for people to stay updated on what's going on in the new Spoolstra family.

So, look forward to stories and photos! : )

God bless+
Becky