Joseph and Amy Ministry (JAM)

2011 Slideshow, THANK YOU!

2011-12-18T21:31:00.000-08:00

Many great moments with our family and friends this year. You all make this a wonderful life.

Many blessings,
Joseph, Amy and TomTom

2010 slideshow

2010-12-30T19:41:00.000-08:00

Thank 2010, see you all in 2011!!!

A blessed year!

2010-12-20T22:02:00.000-08:00

Dear friends,

A lot of amazing things happened this year. Highlights are: baby TomTom arriving in March, moving to our new house in October and organizing a benefit concert. People have asked how do we do it as a family. Amy and I rely on the inspiration from God and we hear His wisdom through you, our friends and family.

Yes! The biggest part of succeeding in the choices that we make is in our faith not just in God but in people. We have met many new friends this year and we also have been very intentional in keeping our ties with the people closest in our hearts.

We are enjoying the new home and soon we'll have enough furniture to seat everyone. In the meantime, feel free to visit anytime!

We live very near to a park and here's a video of our little wild thing on the swing.

Love from the Laurinos,
Joseph, Amy and TomTom

We Are Priceless Benefit Concert

2010-10-12T12:40:00.001-07:00

10.01.10 -- Thank You to all those who attended! God Bless...

We Are Priceless

2010-10-02T08:49:00.000-07:00

Woke up to the melodies of the songs from last night's benefit concert.
The Newman Center was filled with hope and action.

God is smiling.

quick update

2010-09-21T21:04:00.001-07:00

The family is looking at purchasing a house in Sammamish, WA.

Planned closing date is Oct 15, 2010.

Please keep us in your prayers.

we are priceless updates (5 more weeks until 10.01.10)

2010-08-31T22:55:00.000-07:00

posters are ready

bands are practicing

let's do this!

the coolest thing about the iPhone4 is...

2010-08-27T16:06:00.001-07:00

FaceTime

Mother & Son Dance

2010-08-22T23:32:00.001-07:00

W

2010-08-22T23:30:00.000-07:00

Thomas' Weekend Adventures in Oregon

2010-08-22T23:26:00.000-07:00

Live Loved

2010-08-16T08:47:00.000-07:00

August birthdays 2010 (Tony, Iman and Irene)

2010 Parson's Summer Party (Tukwila Family Fun Center)

I Will Rise -- Sundays at Seven practice

There's Only Grace -- at the T Cafe

Cup of Joe

2010-08-11T06:26:00.000-07:00

photography by Lightphoria

Locations: The Farm, The Capitol (Oregon), Tillamook Air Museum, Lincoln City

Amy and I were engaged a little over 2 years ago on 8.8.08.

sun + fun = smiling fam

2010-08-10T15:19:00.000-07:00

At Floridays Resort in Orlando, FL

Orlando + Tampa

2010-08-10T07:59:00.000-07:00

At the beach where the water was 85 degrees

With Auntie Gayle

NASA store, Orlando International Airport

First plane ride for TomTom

Joseph's High School Reunion

2010-08-10T07:46:00.000-07:00

University of the Philippines High School Cebu

This reunion was in Orlando, FL.
The next one is planned to be in Seattle in 2012.

TomTom's 19 week check-up

2010-08-10T07:30:00.000-07:00

Doc gave Thomas an A+!

He is accomplishing milestones usually achieved by 6 months.

Rollover (check)
Item passing from one hand to another (check)
Scootin' (check)
Nibbling on toes (check)

8 weeks until We Are Priceless

2010-08-04T21:51:00.000-07:00

http://wearepriceless.tumblr.com/

It's all about open communication

2010-08-02T12:30:00.000-07:00

To keep our schedules in line with each other, Amy and I share each other's google calendars. We also make a habit to invite each other to family appointments. Who ever gets to a browser first makes the appointment. Before we commit to a meeting or an activity we first check the shared calendars just in case (a quick text or phone call for verification when needed). This solves the problem of double booking. Another thing that the calendar provides is a quick overview of where we are spending our time: family, work, hobbies, personal growth, etc. It becomes very obvious to see a situation arising where we get too stressed due to lack of vacation/entertainment.

For tracking our budget, we use mint.com with our joint bank account. We only started using this service last March and we are very pleased with the analysis tools that come with it. At glance we can see our net income and see how we are doing financially as well as which categories we are spending in. (note that I removed the axis that displayed $ amount for privacy)

Net Income Analysis

Expenses

We are also experimenting with the use of Pivotal Tracker. Tracker is primarily used in software development houses that apply agile development. We are using it to manage our tasks in the home. So far we are liking it. We are also using it track the benefit concert project at Newman.

City Of God @ Thomas' baptism

2010-07-31T23:36:00.000-07:00

led by Rick and Alison Lenhardt

music lessons in the morning

2010-07-31T10:33:00.000-07:00

Saturday morning, time for some music in the house of baby Thomas. We played some songs that were not in 4/4 or 3/4 time signature.

Here's a song in 5/4 -- "When Your Mind's Made Up"

Now here's one in 7/4 -- "7/4 Shoreline"

Lastly here's a song that starts in 6/8 in the intro and switches to 4/4 -- "Where The Streets Have No Name (U2 Cover by Muse with The Edge)"

baptism

2010-07-29T08:57:00.000-07:00

pictures by Gaetano Settineri
soundtrack "Upside Down" by Jack Johnson
post production by Joseph Laurino

nice shots

2010-07-27T08:15:00.000-07:00

Oregon Ice Cream at Alki

2010-07-26T09:50:00.000-07:00

it was a beautiful Sunday afternoon

2010-07-14T15:24:00.000-07:00

Thomas Patrick Lenhardt Laurino's Baptism

2010-07-12T16:34:00.000-07:00

Please join us to celebrate Thomas' baptism. The sacrament will start 11am with refreshments to follow.

Date:	Saturday, July 24, 2010
Time:	11:00am - 12:30pm
Location:	Catholic Newman Center at UW
Street:	4502 20th Avenue Northeast
City/Town:	Seattle, WA
	View Map

If you would like to give Thomas a gift please consider donating to http://www.childsplaycharity.org/

new side project | We Are Priceless

2010-07-02T17:57:00.000-07:00

keywords: human trafficking, benefit concert, seattle area
website http://wearepriceless.tumblr.com/

please pray with us for a clear direction from God...

awesome weekend

2010-06-29T09:15:00.000-07:00

Relay for Life -- drove down to Olympia to support The Connolly Tacon & Meserve team (they raised over $46,000)
Visit Siang and Annie -- drove up to Lynwood and cooked some breakfast
Babies r Us -- got Thomas a playard/crib (finally!)
Drumset move -- from Lish to Matt's then met up with the guys at the U Village Starbucks
Matilda moving Sunday -- stopped by for a little bit to help out with some lifting and see friends
Newman Center -- Amy led the group and I was Mr. Babysitter
Impromptu Mark's birthday dinner -- after church, Mark, Emilyn, Kaya and Khoi stopped by

Father's Day -- joy in the responsibility

2010-06-21T22:55:00.000-07:00

A few people have asked me how is it to be a father. My response has been one of joy in the responsibility.

Faced with the uncertainties of an unwritten future, one cannot guarantee the smooth sailing of a ship in the vast expanse of time. But we are not alone, others have sailed before on the seas of parenthood and we can use the maps and star-charts that they have meticulously made.

Ours is the chance to refine but before we can do that, we must need to trust older wisdom. Of course there were mistakes made in the past but to ignore the whole lesson based on the fear of repeating the same misfortunes only destines us to make wrongs that they have avoided.

-Joseph

Great grandpa don't have food

2010-06-19T18:03:00.000-07:00

Our Father

2010-06-19T17:53:00.000-07:00

This is the arrangement of the Our Father that we do at the Catholic Newman Center at UW.

Zonked

2010-06-06T22:21:00.000-07:00

Well, it's been a BUSY couple of weekends! We spent Memorial Day in Oregon with our family and music ministry friends. Then after a whirlwind week, we met up with a bunch of friends and their babies for a sunny potluck lunch. Today was a birthday party, and then ministering music at mass (thanks Auntie Mae for babysitting!)... You can see Thomas is partied out! Enjoy the video :)

back in Music Ministry

2010-06-02T20:13:00.000-07:00

Amy with Sundays@7

Amy and I figured a system to still be able to participate with Sundays@7 Music Ministry at Newman. If we are in Seattle during the weekend, we will alternate playing our instruments or in Amy's case, lead the group during mass and practice. The call to serve our community is vital in our relationship with God and with each other.

We pray that we can continue doing this as our family grows.

Peace be with you,
-Joseph

Healthy, Happy Baby

2010-05-27T15:23:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Thomas saw the doctor for his 2-month checkup... In 9 weeks he has grown to 23 1/2 inches, 13 pounds 2 ounces, and he's in the 75th-ish percentile. Growing boy!! We rearranged the condo to make room for the crib we're going to need soon, as Thomas is outgrowing his cradle.

Joseph's cousin Mark and his wife Emelyn brought their daughter Kaya over to visit Mr. T this week. We're so glad Thomas will have a cousin nearby!

Thomas and Amy trekked to the library on Monday and discovered THOUSANDS of new books to explore! Thomas and Joseph enjoyed some happy reading time together :)

We are looking forward to taking our little road warrior down for a weekend in Oregon with Grandpa & Nana and our music ministry friends!

And finally: big news from grown-up land... Amy and Joseph made the final payment on Amy's student loan this week!!! As Joseph says, she now owns her education! It's a great feeling :)

Lauren's Birthdaypalooza

2010-05-22T19:27:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we hosted a birthday party for Lauren. Amy and the gals had a surprise for her and they put on a skit to deliver it.... Watch and enjoy!

Update on Thomas: He found his thumb! He is now one thumb closer to independence :)

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Parenthood is the Best Thing EVER :)

2010-05-10T19:56:00.000-07:00

We joyfully welcomed home Thomas Patrick Lenhardt Laurino last month! March 24th at 11:36pm he entered the world: 21 inches long, 7lb 15oz, and sunny side up.

Today is his 7 week birthday... it's hard to believe how quickly the days go by. He continues to eat, poop, and grow at an amazing rate, and his character is already emerging. Determined on tummy time, inquisitive on walks, overflowing with love & joy when he smiles - we just delight in him. Thomas has been fighting the sniffles for well over half his life now, so we're praying he'll feel better soon. Despite that setback, he rolled over on Day 17 (which blew us away), and he is doggedly working on his crawling skills every chance he gets! We definitely got a mover :)

Amy celebrated her first Mother's Day with her first RUN since the birth - it was exhilarating!

Then Joseph bravely allowed her to experiment with cutting his hair!! Joseph celebrated the day playing guitar for mass, and singing too, which was a first! Amy & Thomas would like you to know that he sounded fantastic :)

We have been so blessed by all of our friends' and family's generosity! We have loved spending evenings with friends who prepared meals for us :) Thank you!

Seattle has been celebrating this season of new life with gorgeous,sunny days. We are out with Thomas in the front pack (aka The Snugli) every chance we get. Lots of love to all of you. We keep you in our prayers.

Preparing for the baby

2010-01-16T11:12:00.000-08:00

March 17th is fast approaching and Amy and I are busy getting our condo ready to be listed on the Seattle market. It is our hope that we can sell our place and move to a bigger space as soon as possible.

It's amazing how much time one can spend on Redfin.

We have also started taking classes for labor and delivery at the Evergreen Hospital and got a stroller for baby *ping* :)

Thank you 2009!

2010-01-16T10:41:00.001-08:00

Many memorable moments from the wedding, the honeymoon, Hellen and Karlen's baby shower, etc...

PE Exam

2010-01-16T10:39:00.001-08:00

Amy received word late last December 2009 that she passed her PE exam. She is now officially a professional engineer!