9-11-07

Bradley:

How is everything going? I've been thinking about you these past couple of days on your camp out and I hope that you are having fun and that it is going well. Are you in white phase yet? As you know, today is September 11^th. I can't believe that it has already been 6 years since that horrible day. I hope nothing like that ever happens again. I am so proud of you Brad, that you have chosen to protect our country against evil men like those that are responsible for September 11^th.

Today has been a sick day for our familia. Jane and Maren both have fevers. Maren's isn't that bad, but Jane has had a fever of like 102 or 103 degrees all day and she threw up. Luke had a fever and threw up last week so I think that Jane got it from him and I think that Maren just got a mild case of it from Jane. I'm hoping that I don't get sick because that makes it hard to take care of the girls. But with Luke it just lasted like 24 hours so it should be over soon. One thing that is fun about Jane being sick is she is much more snuggly. Like we watched a movie today and she sat on my lap and laid on my chest for most of the movie.

Something that I discovered today that was really funny was that Maren likes TV. Since Jane was sick we were watching The Fox and the Hound and Maren was in her bouncer and she had her head to the side and was staring straight at the TV and she looked at it for a long time. Then later, when my mom was taking care of her back in their bedroom she told me that Maren was glued to the TV for quite awhile. So, unlike Jane who has very little interest in television, it looks like Maren might be our very own little couch potato. Just kidding :)

We have been having a contest with putting down the toilet seats. Girls have to put the lid down after they are done, and boys have to but the seat and the lid down after they are done. Mostly, it's in between me and my dad. We used to have this contest when I was home for the summers in college. The main reason is because my dad forgets to put the seat down all of the time and I think it's gross so we turn it into a competition then he tries harder. The prize for the winner is a pizza, decided after a month of tallying the score. Basically the loser (the gender who forgets to put the lid down the most) buys the winner (the gender who remembers to put the lid down the most) a pizza. Anyway, my dad lost last month so he's buying me a Costco pizza tonight and we are going to rent a movie...we're living it up! Speaking of toilet seats, I want to tell you what a great job you do always putting the toilet seat and lid down. It's not a big deal, but it makes me happy. It's the little things in life, right?

The lyrics for today are “Signed, Sealed, Delivered, I'm Yours”. I wish I could say that line to you, “...here I am baby, signed, sealed, delivered, I'm yours...”:

“Like a fool I went and stayed too long. Now I'm wondering if your loves still strong. Ooh baby, here I am, signed, sealed, delivered, I'm yours. In that time I went and said goodbye. Now I'm back and not ashamed to cry. Ooh baby, here I am signed, sealed, delivered, I'm yours. Here I am baby, signed, sealed, delivered, I'm yours. Here I am baby, signed, sealed, delivered, I'm yours.

I've done a lot of foolish things that I really didn't mean. Hey, hey yea, yea, didn't I, oh baby. Seen a lot of things in this old world. When I touched them they did nothing, girl. Ooh baby, here I am, signed, sealed, delivered, I'm yours. Oh, I'm yours.

Oo-wee babe you set my soul on fire. That's why I know you are my heart's only desire. Ooh baby, here I am, signed, sealed, delivered, I'm yours. Here I am baby, signed, sealed, delivered, I'm yours. Here I am baby, signed, sealed, delivered, I'm yours.

Hold my hand, let me know you can. Hold my hand, let me know you can. Tell me what you want me to do. Hold my hand, let me know you can. Here I am baby, baby. Hold my hand let me know you can. Here I am baby, baby. Here I am baby, signed, sealed, delivered, I'm yours. Here I am pretty baby, here I am baby, signed, sealed, delivered, I'm yours. Here I am pretty baby, here I am baby, signed, sealed, delivered, I'm yours. Here I am pretty baby, here I am baby, signed, sealed, delivered, I'm yours. Sing a little more. Baby, baby, baby. Here I am pretty baby.”

I started to tell you this on the phone, but decided that I didn't want to tell you the whole story then. I want to tell you about the whole ear piercing experience. I decided to get my ears pierced while you were gone as a surprise. That was one of the reasons, the other was that I've decided that I want to be beautiful. I feel very pretty and cute (don't worry, I know you think I'm beautiful and I feel beautiful), but I haven't felt really beautiful for awhile. So, I'm growing out my hair, losing some weight, getting back into my old clothes, getting my ears pierced, starting to wear a little make up again, etc. These are all just little things and I'm not making a big deal out of them, but I'm just having fun. I don't want you to worry at all, I'm still your girl, I want you to be excited because I'm looking hot. The main problem that I'm having is that even though I have lost some weight, I still have a lot of skin that is stretched out from being pregnant so that is just going to take time to tighten back up. Anyway, I got off topic. So, I decided to go get my ears pierced, but, without thinking, I told my dad right before we (me and Erika) went to do it. I forgot how strongly he felt against getting ears pierced and he got so sad that I had decided to do it. Now he definitely wouldn't have stopped me because I'm my own woman, but I could tell that he was just really broken up inside about it. I couldn't figure out why it was having such an effect on him. Erika got her ears pierced when she was 18 or 19 and it didn't seem to bug him too much. Then, I figured it out, the reason he was having such a problem with it was because right now he is my dad because I am living with him under his roof and he is taking care of me and our girls. So I was going to just do it anyway, but instead I decided not to do it right now while I'm living here because he is doing so much for me and our girls that I owe it to him not to break his heart like that. It doesn't mean that I'll never do it, but I think it won't affect him as much if I wait and do it later when we're not living together. Anyway, long story short, I think I will get my ears pierced some day, and I'll probably still try and surprise you, but it won't be while you're at boot camp and while I'm living with my daddy.

Well Brad, that's the end of this letter. I pretty much think that you are the greatest that there is out there. You are perfect for me and I find that so amazing. I love life with you...

Love you lots! Your Jessa Bear

P.S. Here's a joke that Parker likes to tell: “Why didn't the skeleton cross the road? Because he didn't have the guts!” ha ha ha ha... it's funnier when Parker tells it...