A New Year!

In one hour a new year begins. That is so refreshing for me. I went to Walmart tonight, alone=beautiful/wonderful, and as I was shopping and thinking, I just realized that although we have been incredibly blessed in unfathomable ways this year, I am so glad there is a new one beginning. This year has been hard for me in so many ways. Right now things are so good. Life is really just good.

But that hasn't been the case throughout most of 2007. It seemed that hindsight it ALL ended really well, but with each blessing came a lot of pain/difficulty:

*We had a sweet baby girl (blessed beyond measure in having a healthy baby) but within the month of her birth I was suffering with severe postpartum depression. This illness lingered within me (and my everything) for so long--making for a long and hard road--which is probably why there is even a list below...everything is completely life altering and hard when you are struggling with PPD

*Jeff finished his Master's (yeah !!!) but the getting through it and finishing it was so hard on all of us.

*Adjusting to 2 kids was incredibly difficult for me. Adding a second was so much harder than I ever thought possible. But now that they are both older (Creighton is not a baby and Jackson is talking) things are getting much much better.

*My walk with the Lord is flourishing now (Praise the Lord!), however, to get to this point, lets just say I was definitely at the depths of the pits below rock bottom! I am not proud of where I was, the state I was in, the way I acted/talked/thought, but I am VERY excited about where I am now.

*Things are really good at Grace (awesome!) but we have been through much to get to this point! (enough said on a public blog)

*Having nearly all of my friends leave Bartlesville (or talk of it) was incredibly difficult for me, but now I have double the love, as I keep in touch with them, and have added new ones and am cultivating and cherishing these!

*Some really difficult conversations and situations that have ultimately led to lots of soul searching and refining me---this is so good although pruning is incredibly difficult and hard on the pride :)

I am sure the list could go on...but it is just good to look back and be able to see that although things were really difficult, I can now see the "why" or the "reason" or at least the silver lining in them. I am just glad to be able to look forward to new....a new year, a new outlook. I am not as naive as I sound in thinking that 2008 will be "hunky-dory" and easy for me at all, but I am just in a good place right now. I am excited to see where the Lord leads and what He has in store for us. God is so good. So GOOD.

Happy New Year Y'all!

There is NO place like HOME

This is the way they went to school on Wednesday for their Christmas Party(s)...and if you look really closely you can see that Creighton's hair is in pigtails and she looked ADORABLE!

We are back from a long time away from home. It is SOOOO nice to be back home. We've been gone way too long. Our Christmas was memorable...tonight, however, I am just enjoying finally being in my own home, my element, in my bed!

Merry Christmas (a little late) and I truly hope everyone has been as incredibly blessed as we have. God is so unbelievably good. Hope your weekend is nice. Jeff is preaching tomorrow. So we are off to get some rest for the big day!

Flickr Pictures

You can see lots of pictures here or you can go there often and "we" (Jeff) will update it.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bergcourtney/sets/ (just in case you need the address)

A sad yesterday...better today.

Yesterday was a really hard day for me (and my whole family). I don't even really know where to begin. I was going to write about my time in Houston this past weekend and was still fumbling around with all my thoughts on the details of it and the good and the bad of it all. However, yesterday as I was on my way to bible study I got a phone call from my mom about my Aunt LaJuan. She had overdosed on a lot of painkillers mixed with alcohol in (an unsuccessful) attempt to take her life. It was a bit unnerving and scary and really emotional. It was so hard, because we didn't have many answers at the time. She was a in a coma and the communication with those that were with her was scarce.

She is awake now and doing okay (after lots of crazy tests, a pumped stomach, and other meds to reverse the affects, etc). That is a miracle and a blessing. I hope she sees it as such.

My uncle (my mom and my aunt lajuans brother) has cancer and isn't doing well at all. His wife also has cancer and is doing a little bit better (but not feeling well). They both started another round of chemo on Monday. They are both fighting for life, while someone doesn't want theirs.

It is such a raw thing for me. I have been where my aunt was...different circumstances, but the same hopeless feeling. I know how selfish it seems from this side of it, but from there, there is just no thinking like that. I want to love on her, but I am so far away and the relationship isn't there to really do that. It is so hard. I also knwo what it feels like to be on this side of that kind of hurt and it hurts. Questions like "how can she be so selfish" come to mind quickly. But like I said, I am no one to judge that decision or emotion...I can't.

My family is hurting. Lots of them. My aunt has a husband, 3 siblings, a mother, 3 daughters (2 son-in-laws) and 5 grandchildren...not to mention all of us others in her life (and affected by it). There are lots of raw emotions raging and hiding. Please pray for all of us. Thank the good Lord she was unsuccessful. The ramifications of it all would be endless if she would have been...The whole family just needs a load of prayer and lots of miracles.

Christmas Letter 2007

Hello Friends and Family! Here is a small update on The Berg Family:

Jeff is in the middle of his 5th year as the Director of Youth Ministry and still loves it. We are all extremely excited about the up-and-coming opportunity this February for Jeff to be ordained as a minister, and will take the title as Youth Pastor. There have been many changes in the youth group this year, from hiring new staff, to a complete new vision for Wednesday nights, and things are going really well! His “sweet sixteen” guys that he led for the last four years graduated in May and that was an adjustment for him! It was really neat to watch them grow so much under his discipleship. Jeff completed his Masters in Youth Ministry in May!! So now, when Jeff isn’t working or hanging out with family, he is definitely in front on the TV watching a movie or playing the Wii.

Jackson will be exactly 2 ½ on Christmas Eve. He is all boy, all the time! Although he is really sweet (and dang cute)! His vocabulary has just exploded over the last few months and he is talking all the time. His motor skills continue to impress me, as he can do things I never expected him to be able to do (yet), such as shoot at a target (on the Wii) and hit it consistently all by himself. He really likes playing outside, running, jumping, and climbing. One of his most favorite things is to swing! He’d do it for hours if someone would push him that long! He loves to watch Bob and Larry (VeggieTales) and loves Curious George too! He absolutely loves music: dancing, guitars, drums, just anything. This brings priceless smiles and laughter without fail. His laughter is contagious and he loves to laugh and play with Creighton. They are so fun to watch together and LOVE being with one another!

Creighton turned one this November and is now 13 months. She is such a joy! Her eyes dance and she smiles with big dimples and lots of teeth showing, a lot. Speaking of teeth, she didn’t have any until she was 11 ½ months old and now she has 6. So its been a big teething session for her lately. She is still nursing and we both are really enjoying that time together. She was walking early and is now pretty much keeping up with Jackson all the time. They love to climb and play together outside. She is full of energy and lots of laughter herself. She doesn’t say many words yet, but she says “dada” and “mama” all the time. She gives great kisses, which is one of her favorite things to do. She plays with her baby dolls and tries to steal whatever Jackson is playing with. She LOVES to dance. Usually there doesn’t even need to be music playing and she’s dancing, but if there is music: watch out! J

Courtney loves being a wife and a mommy. My family is the joy of my heart! This fall I coached the freshmen team at BHS and it went well. It was a good thing for me to ease back into something small (and something I love). I was able to build some neat relationships with my girls, which didn’t end with the season, and that is the greatest things of it all. I am leading a small group of 11th grade girls for Nikao and I love them! It has been so good to get back into that. My heart is there for sure and I love the relationships I am able to make and build upon within that setting!

We hope that all of you have had a great year. Have a blessed 2008 and Merry Christmas!!

Love,

The Bergs

Crazy night/morning for Dad

We are back from Houston. We had planned to go down anyway awhile back, and so we just left a day early. We left early in the morning. On the way down, the kids did great. However, yesterday they didn't (mainly Creighton) do as well, but still were not terrible. We didn't get home till after midnight and I was exhausted. I have a cold and a cough which is NO fun, but I went to the doctor today and she prescribed me some antibiodics just in case and to hopefully speed up my recovery. Jeff slept out on the couch last night because I was hacking so much. It was bad, but I finally fell asleep and slept well (and through) the night, unlike my husband. (sorry honey). He was showering with the kids this morning (with the tub filled too for the kids) when Creighton decided she needed to go the bathroom in the water...so needless to say, in the 8 hours we were with our Daddy/Husband its been a nightmare for him. They are at school and he is at work. I am sure he's exhausted. But we are back and that is nice. (at least for me).

More updates later...

All about Jackson!

This was his first Christmas picture! 2005

Informal Christmas picture *Christmas morning* 2006! (yes, Creighton was born, but was sleeping when we took this picture)

It was more funny to Jeff and I, because you can't tell in the picture, but he's smiling and saying cheese even though we can't see his face at all...but he didn't want to take the mask off even though he can't really see anything.

This is where he likes to "keep" things right now. I don't know why, but he puts everything up is shirt and keeps it there until someone says something and then he'll pull it all out piece by piece and play with it. Some of his favorite things to go up his shirt are kleenex (*as in the entire box) and wipes (*as in the entire tub)...a little crazy... This picture happens to be the nativity pieces...but only "e-sus mommy" "e-sus babee" and "e-sus dada"

He has enjoyed playing with the nativity we got last year but I think he had the story right up until the point he though the camel needed to be the one on top of the stable instead of the angel. I told him the angels were singing over the stable and he said "No, mommy, the "mul" (camel)" I said okay...the camel can stay...

He just got a new Veggie Tale Nativity (from his Grammy Terrie) and he loves it. It is so cute! I just love it and he is so funny with the pieces. I don't have a picture of him with it yet!

Jeff found him sitting in our room holding our picture from our wedding and just staring at it. Long enough for him to have "caught" him doing it, go to get the camera, take the pictures and Jackson never knew he was in the room with him or taking pictures....how intent is that?

Jeff downloaded a Veggie Tales song (the main intro song to all their movies) but it has "Jackson" in it (if Jackson likes to talk to tomatoes etc) and EVERYTIME it comes on and says his name he goes nuts over it and smiles and giggles for several minutes! I LOVE IT!

I just love this little man. He is growing so fast and getting so big. I just had to share some of my newest favorite pictures of him! He is so precious!

Its Been A Little Cold and Dark Around Here

It has been a crazy couple of days around here. Here is an update on what I can recall :)

**Random: Creighton is 1 year, 1 month, 1 week and 1 day old TODAY! :)

Friday:

Jeff had a long day at work! My mom came to get Jackson for her toddler cooking baking ("bate too-eys wit rends (friends)") extravaganza. They had a blast and Jackson's cookies were very festive! He spent the night with them and they took him to Silver Dollar City in Branson all day on Saturday. Jeff and I had "Elder/Staff Christmas Party" that night and it was fun but long. The food was good this year (because it wasn't "fancy" food, but rather just normal and really good)! I had to leave early to go get Creighton from the church and then we came back and it finally ended at 10:30ish or so. But it was fun and I ended up with movie tickets ($20) and Jeff ended up with Williams Sonoma peppermint bark (which he wasn't happy with, but I LOVE)...so it all works out, because I am sure he'll steal my movie tickets.

Saturday:

I had a volleyball tournament from 9a-4p in Bville to help raise money for the YMCA. It was really fun and my team ended up winning the whole thing! It was funny because it was a co-ed tournament but our team consisted of only women playing on a men's net...but it apparently didn't stop us! I am SOOO sore from this day! That evening Creighton and Jeff and I hung out and had a good time. It is amazing the difference in only having one kid to care for! Man...it was so much easier! Her personality just is so fun (most of the time) and sometimes that gets overshadowed by having both of them...a good reminder to (even now) start spending one-on-one time with them regularly!

Sunday:

Our power began to come on and off throughout the early morning and then went off completely for several hours during the morning through afternoon. Jeff was at church and I was trying to keep Creighton busy and warm. Thankfully we have a gas water heater and a gas stove so I was able to still put some soup on to warm and Creighton and I took a hot shower (but i forgot I wasn't going to be able to dry my hair :( which was maybe not the smartest thing afterall). The power was on and off throughout the afternoon/evening but mostly on I think...its hard to remember. My parents brought Jackson hom that evening which was good to see him. He is so fun right now. He talks constantly and is getting so helpful and big! It was so icey at that point. My dads car (huge heavy Tahoe) slide OUT of the driveway in park with the Emergency break on! That night was quite the crazy night becasue the power kept going on and off and finally we just got both of them in bed with us and that was better because I wasn't worrying about them being cold. But I didn't sleep much at all and I truly thing Creighton nursed for like 9 straight hours...or used me as a pacifier, one. We woke up to crazy crazy ice everywhere...

Here is a picture Jeff took. I love the details that the ice formed around. It was so funny...like every blade of grass has its own ice surrounding it. It was cool looking...except our tree in our backyard fell on our house!Monday:

No school...pretty bummed about that, but then again, Grace closed the offices so Daddy was home with us, so it worked out! Our power was out for a majority of the day though so we made a tent and built a fire to stay warm (in our living room). It worked except the kids didn't want to stay in there for anything...unless of course we wanted to the to do something outside of the tent nad thats all they wanted to do was BE IN the tent...it was a crazy day trying to keep them occupied and warm and me not go totally stir crazy!Brittany, Jeff's associate, didn't have power either and doesn't live very far so she came over for a bit and by the time she got here, we ended up getting our power back on. Then some of our other neighbors came over and that was fun. We played games and stuff till like 1am. They all went home and thankfully had power. We lost power a few more times that evening/night, but after 1am it has been on since! (Praise God!)

Tuesday:

We all slept really well! I think we were all so tired, finally warm, and I wasn't worried for once about them, that we all slept till 9:45! Creighton finally slept through the night for me! Jackson came and got in our bed at 7, but went right back to sleep! IT was fantastic!!!! However, Jeff just assumed the roads would be bad, but they weren't this morning and everyone was at the office and he'd missed his 9am meeting...oh well. He went in for about an hour and then came hom and we've had youth over ever since. Creighton and I went to Walmart--um...seriously...you'd think it was Black Friday or something....there were a million people there and the lines were SO long. If I didn't desperately need bread and diapers, I would have ran out the other door and never turned back, but luckily I remembered a little "trick of the trade" and checked out in the garden area and was out in no time at all (there were only like 3 people in line down there). I am hoping to get out and go to the YMCA tonight to workout and let the kids get some social interaction with other kids (just in case they dont' have school tomorrow). My parents have been without power for since Sunday night and they aren't expecting it to get back on till next week becasue there are so many outages all over Tulsa and the surrounding areas. I am so thankful that ours is on! I pray it remains on throughout the day and night (and forever, I guess !) :)

We're Back from cali...things are good

Here are some pictures of our stay in California:

here is Jeff when he was called up on stage to do sound FX for Universal Studios. I just love the picture because I captured his REAL smile (too bad his eyes are shut though)...still had to post it
here is the picture of Jeff and I near the only water (ocean) that we saw on the trip and this was unexpected as we were detoured way off our track on the way to the airport (suppose to go to Burbank and ended up in Santa Monica on the pier off of Santa Monica Blvd.) But it was a good thing! I loved the view!

Here is a picture in the same location of Becky and I!

Here is a picture of the Colaws and us. I thought it turned out nicely.


Here is Curious George...I saw him and HAD to take a picture with him for Jackson! And someone pointed out to me that Jackson looks like him...I agree...but I think it just the nose (not to mention the fact that Jackson is VERY curious like CG too though ;))

Here we are with Shrek...as if you didn't know....

Yesterday we spent the day in Owasso to finish our "vacation" family style. It was nice being able to relax and play together as a family. The kids were excited to see us. I got the BIGGEST hug from my little man that there ever was! Creighton was just excited to nurse again, and I'll tell you...so was I. (*a) because I hate pumping and b)because I truly do enjoy that time I get with her!)

We came back home last night and ate at Taco Bueno (which has officially been promoted in Jackson's vocabulary to "tock payo" instead of just "payo" now *which I LOVE). His vocabulary has just exploded and he is speaking in long sentences now and for the most part I can understand him about 80% of the time. It is so incredible. I love it! He is the funniest guy. And he is SO sweet too!

All day today I kept myself very very busy without really a moment of stopping! The day went by SO fast. It always seems to do that on Mother's Day Out days unfortunately. But it was good. I went to see my friend Melissa and her sweet baby Avalynn today and she is SOOOO tiny and sweet. I went to get all of our mail (which was a ton!) and then went to the bank and to walmart! The ever love-hate relationship I have with that place....but it wasn't too bad. I came home and put away all the groceries and did LOTS of laundry. I ate a few bites for lunch, checked my emails and it was off to get the kids. When we got home we played hard for 3 hours until we had to leave for church. Nikao/small group went well and we made it home by 9:30 and the kids went to be late like around 10 or so.

I had so much fun with my kids today. I was intentional with them and I had energy and I was just refreshed from my time away with them. It was truly (as much as I can remember) the greatest I have felt in a long time (since Creighton was born anyway). I am just at peace with where I am in life and the stage of life that I am in. I found myself humming and singing a lot today. We played music and colored and cut out Christmas trees and snowflakes and played in their rooms and read books and did A LOT in only 3 hours. I had FUN with my kids in a way I have not ever been able to experience. I am so so thankful for my vacation, if for that reason alone. Life is good and I am so blessed. *now lets see if I feel that way on a day where I have my kids for more than just 5 or so hours total of the day :)...but that was a good way to start it off....even though I could tell I was different even yesterday. I love productive days...

Oh yes, and if you don't know about being elfed...check out our version of it! Haha

California

We are in California with Becky and Brent. Today was the preview launch of the new church Kaleo Fellowship. It went well, although it seemed several times Satan was trying his darndest to keep us from fellowship with each other, with God, and for it to not work out/work well. But, much prayer went into it and it was evident. I am so glad to have been able to be a part (however small) of this great calling of the Colaws. I am excited for them and to see what God has for them. It was neat to hear and see the vision in real life, to see the progress that has been made and all the hard work and effort come to fruition. It was hard work to get it all ready on Saturday and Sunday was hard work getting it all back in order (the place where they are meeting is a gymnastics facility with LOTS of equipment), but I am glad to have been able to serve alongside of some of dearest friends and to be able to be there with them/for them at such a neat time in the process/journey of their dream and calling. Not to mention to just be able to see them in person and laugh and cry together...its been really good.

We leave tomorrow which I am ready to see my babies (I miss them so much) but being away has been nice and coming back to reality is never as easy as it feels it might ought to be, and I don't know the next time I will see the Colaws either...:(

Two of my Bville friends had babies while we've been gone and I am excited to see them though too. Congrats Christy and Melissa! (and Kara's was right before we left, so congrats to you too!).

I'll post more when I get home, but probably not till Tuesday or Wednesday since we don't get in till Tuesday to Bville and it will be crazy to catch up...but I have a few pics of Jeff and I and our adventures at Universal Studios. We had such a great time!

I am so thankful for Becky and Brent and the vision that they have and the obedience that they have had to God in following the calling to plant this church...its so very exciting to see it all happening!