Check it out!

Our wedding photos are here and lookin' fabulous! Check 'em out at:
http://shaythomason.com/clients/hobbs/

If you're looking for a lighter dose of photos but still want to see some great shots, check out:
http://shaythomason.com/clients/hobbs_preview/

Don't Mess

That's right, keep your distance, ladies and gentlemen, we mean business!

This shot was taken the other night at Disneyland's California Adventure, which now features the coolest ride ever. Actually, it's not really a ride, more like an attraction, and boy were we attracted (and attractive, if you don't mind me saying).

Back to the attraction itself, "Toy Story Mania"--it's like a 3-D carnival in there, complete with plates to throw virtual baseballs at and aliens to throw virtual rings around.

We played it twice with our friends, the Blakeys, who--incidentally--were there to snap the shot of us in our 3-D spectacles. We won the first game by a hefty margin, but then they snuck in under our radar and picked up the victory in game No. 2, a stunning upset.

So, we have unfinished business with the Blakeys, which I'm sure we'll take care of soon. But for now, we're going to play some tennis, which could end up ugly like our last tennis date in the Summer of '07. But then again, you never know...

Home, Sweet Home

Well, we're finally home and getting settled into our humble abode here in Corona. Our travels have taken us to Banff National Park (Canada), Clear Lake, Greenwood, and Big Bear, but we're finally home.

God has been so good to our little family in the past month (i.e. the only month we have been a family), we hardly know what to do with ourselves. In the midst of all the blessings we're constantly surrounded by, we're striving to view God Himself as our reward and treasure, and it's so incredible to exalt our King together as the Hobbs family!

As I said in our last post, I found out about a Sports Information Director position at Concordia University the day before the wedding, and after a couple of interviews and plenty of prayer, we accepted the position earlier this week. It's going to be an interesting adjustment for me after taking a year off to pursue seminary education, but I stoked about the job in every respect and I'm looking forward to working hard for the glory of God wherever He places me.

It's been cool to look back and see the Lord working in my life over the past year, working at the Macaroni Grill and going to school full time. Somehow, I feel more like my most important education came at the Macaroni Grill, fighting to live a life worthy of the Gospel and learning what it is to battle against pride and selfishness on an everyday basis.

With the Mac. Grill training under my belt, then, I feel armed and ready for battle at my new job at Concordia. There's plenty of minutia to get lost in and discouraged by, because sometimes you feel that nobody notices your work and effort, but what God has been in the process of teaching me is that friendship with Him and fellowship in the type of humility that caused Jesus to regard equality with God a thing "not to be grasped" is far more important and satisfying to the soul than a sturdy pat on the back could ever be.

That "well done" is best to be communicated by Jesus in the Kingdom He has purchased with His own blood--I can more than stand a little non-recognition here on earth.

Plus, things are so much different now that I have a wife. Janelle came out with me on my first two days of work this week, and let me say that literally having her at my side is such a motivator and adds a satisfying element to life. I wonder how much more Adam knew the same phenomena when God presented him with bone of his bones and flesh of his flesh?!

On that note, how much more complete is Christ along with His Bride, the Church? His union with the Church is something so astounding that we'd never begin to understand it without all the models and pictures He has placed all around us.

I just pray that God would mold Janelle and I into one of those models of His redeeming love for the Church, His Bride who was purchased with His blood.

Pronounced Mr. and Mrs. Jay Hobbs

Wow! For five and a half months, I'd look at the ticker on our blog, moving steadily closer to our wedding date--"three months left", "two months left", etc.--but now, I'm looking at the same ticker telling me "eight days since the event." That is insane.

Our wedding and honeymoon were absolutely spectacular, complete with breathtaking view after breathtaking view in Banff National Park (in the Canadian Rockies). We'll get some pictures up later this week, but I don't want to spoil the surprise and the shock and awe that my family will feel when we show those pictures to them this week up North.

God has been extravagant in giving us all things throughout this time, through our family and friends' generosity, and He's making Himself look great through working in our financial situation via one great job opportunity that's on the horizon. Our friends, the Fishers, wrote us a card for the wedding that contained this blessing--one of my favorites from those cards--"We're looking forward to God doing violence to the gates of hell through you guys." That was a great blessing, and God is working to provide for us in great ways while accomplishing His purpose through us.

The job I'm talking about is the head SID job at Concordia University, which is one of Cal Baptist's rival schools and one that it'd be super easy to transition to because of their reputation for doing things in a competitive, respectable way. I'm interviewing with the Athletic Director this week before we head North, so be praying for us this week and keep checking our blog for updates--I'll be posting.

Striving to please Him in all that we do,
J&J

A few more happenings in the Jay-nelle world...

Some photo updates on the fun happenings in our lives...

A few days ago the nursing school at CBU had their dedication cermony, where Janelle,
along with all her classmates, lit candles and dedicated themselves to serving the Lord as
the future nurses of the class of 2010.

As mentioned before, we went on a little picnic outing to Yorba Linda for Jay's birthday last week. We had so much fun spending time together, eating some delicious sandwiches (as you can see) , and having ducks visit us for most of our time there. :)

We've also made our way to Hollywood, where Janelle's parents took us to see Wicked for Janelle's birthday. The play was amazing, and it was great to spend time with family. Thanks Chad and Teresa!

Damaged Bimmer, Thriving Relationship

Yesterday was date day, and it went out almost without a hitch. I say almost because on our way back from the date, a picnic outing to Yorba Linda Regional Park, we were struck--not by a thought or idea, but by a Peterbilt big-rig.

So, the Ultimate Driving Machine has a dent in the rear-quarterpanel fender, big deal, right? At least we're still getting married June 7th--plus, we're still covered by the blood of Jesus and restored to a relationship with the living God--good news all the way around!

Our wedding plans are going great, by the way, Janelle and I went and worked on our invitations with the great Peter Ross last week, where my genius idea to include the Hobbs family crest on the invitations themselves was unceremoniously shot down by my beloved. But, here's what it looks like, as prominently displayed on my grandpa Hobbs' gate in Newcastle, CA.

Here are some more engagement pics, courtesy of the great Bill Blakey, photographer extrodinaire. Enjoy them!

(And, as a side note, in case you saw the article in the trustworthy Auburn Journal, you can go ahead and utterly disregard all claims that it makes, besides our wedding date and the photo, which are both uncharacteristically accurate).

*If you're looking to kill another couple of minutes, check this article out too, which was found by Dusty (or Dustin, depending on who you talk to). This one's for free!

Pink is the New Black, So Get off My Back, Jack!

Saturday was the big day! Sorry, I know we told all of you that June 7th was it, but we figured, "What's 2 months and 3 weeks anyhow?"

Just kidding, we didn't actually move up the ceremony, even though Ken Flower would have us move it to align properly with his birthday, so you can put down that phone, mom.

But what we did do was pretty cool in its own right: we busted out a trip to scenic downtown Riverside, which actually has a ton of nice spots to offer the newly engaged couple.

It wouldn't have been anything more than a trip for two downtown had it not been for our friends, the Blakeys--all three of them, including the camera. Billy and Cory took some amazing pictures, which you can check out the best of them at their blog.

Saturday was a pretty busy day all the way around. I finished a paper for school (about the Ephesians 5:24-33 analogy of Christ and the Church) at about 2 a.m. Friday night, and Janelle and I met for breakfast the next day a little before 9. From breakfast, we went by Bed Bath and Beyond and Target to register for the wedding, which took about 4 hours altogether.

I can't say that it was the greatest idea to register and take engagement photos on the same day, but we survived without really arguing about anything, although both of us were a little bit cranky in the middle of the day.

Another thing that's new in the life would be the free trip to the Bahamas that Janelle won for us at a bridal expo the other day. We had to cross a great wilderness called shameless sales pitch, but we made it across that burning wasteland with no monthly payments, no timeshares and no sheers that were so sharp they could cut a penny in half--although that was pretty tempting, I admit.

So, it's Banff for honeymoon, Bahamas for 1-year anniversary. Boy howdy, we're stinkin world travelers!

Finally, we're both super thankful to the Lord that he's teaching us to trust in him in an uncertain time, with trying to plan out our lives together, especially the next year. There's that big challenge in James 4, where he calls such talk as, "Tomorrow, we will go to such and such city..." "boasting" and all such "boasting" as "evil". In short, his will is going to be accomplished, and our attitude needs to be, "Your kingdom come" rather than, "Here's my plan, Lord, now stay outta my way while I do it."

Thanks again to the Blakeys for capturing the future Mr. and Mrs. Jay Hobbs' in action.