Fall of 2010

Fall our favorite time of year! So far this fall we have enjoyed watching our son Christian playing soccer.  He really enjoys it, and we love watching him. The girls started preschool and I am in their classes two days a week, and I really love that time with them. We have been enjoying our time serving in the childrens' ministry, and our learning so much! The Lord is blessing our family and we our forever thankful, and the least we can do is be available to serve when He calls.  We have been blessed to have my sister staying with us and helping us with the little ones, and Zoe has especially loves her time with auntie Shannon.  We have celebrated Christian's 6th birthday and Zoe's 3rd, wow does time fly by!
John has been playing softball with the league from church and is having a blast.  As for me, I love cheering for him on the sidelines.  I was very blessed to attend this years womens retreat, I met a lot of wonderful women and had fun with the girls, looking forward to next years. I know there is so much more that has happened, but I have to go...the kids need me! Oh yeah, we got a kitten, and had to send the puppy back to my brother in law, we just couldn't handle it.  We love our kitten COCO!

Blessings!

We love our new addition to the family!

Our new puppy she is beautiful and Playful! She is only 4.5 months so she is still biting at the kids, but she is making progress. She obeys John and never bites at her and the rest of us are trying to be more consistent. Her name is Kiera, but we call her "girl." She loved going to the creek with us, and swimming in the water! She is going to miss us next week as I venture back to work:( Poor baby!

Well, my sister is almost officially Mrs. Brogdon, I can't believe it!!! Her bridal shower was a success and we had lots of fun. She taught us a dance routine, so we were having fun!

The Lord is continuing to do a mighty work in our family, and I am so thankful to Him. I will continue to pray and look up to the one who is in control. I heard something on the radio from one of the pastors and he said," going to church is so much more then learning about God, but it is about learning to "LIVE and LOVE." I thought that was so simple, yet very profound. It makes complete sense, what is the point of life without Him, so routine, so dull, so pointless, I mean one day the game will come to an end and the only thing that will matter is ones eternal destination...the life that you lived for Jesus Christ! Amen!

Summer Fun 2010

I can't believe how fast summer is going! We have been having such a wonderful time as a family. We got to spend lots of time at Newport Beach, park dates, summer nights in Oak Glen, movies, dinner, hanging out with friends, bbqs and Big Bear for the 4th of July!

JOhn and I are still teaching at church and are having lots of fun with all the kids, we were so excited that we had 37 kids in our class on Tuesday night! Summer Bible Blast was amazing as always and seeing kids make commitments was priceless. Looking forward to seeing those kids go home and minister to their parents:) Not sure if John is going to be teaching a home fellowship in the fall, he is still praying about it, so we will have to wait and see. God is so good and has continued to bless our family and our marriage, He gets all the credit!

We also are super excited that my little sister is getting married on August 8th. I finally have a brother, who happens to be a great guy, who is perfect for my sister! I look forward to seeing them grow in their own personal walks with the Lord, as well as in their lives as husband and wife! And of course, I can't wait to be an auntie!

I also will be returning to work in August. I have a long term teaching position for 1st grade at my son's school and am super excited! It will be a challenge getting use to at first, but then I will find my grove, and it will be cake!

Having fun reading books from C.S. Lewis
" When a man is getting better he understands more and more clearly the evil that is still left in him. When a man is getting worse he understands his own badness less and less. A moderately bad man knows he is not very good: a thoroughly bad man thinks he is all right. This is common sense, really. You understand sleep when you are awake, not while you are sleeping." Just like are walks with Christ, when we are spiritually awake we can truly understand evil for what it is.

God and His Power!

All scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It straightens us out and teaches us to do what is right. 2 timothy 3:16

Mother's Day

Mother's Day was such a blessing! I was spoiled and got to go to Glen Ivy Day
Spa for my very first time, I had an awesome time! I was especially happy because I had such good company my Mom, sister, and friends. Then I came home to a clean house (which I love) and 3 Clean babies! No work for me! Then we went to church and spent time together as a family. I love being a wife and a mommy, I am blessed beyond measure!

Resting in His perfect Will

We finished our Home fellowship on the book of Philippians. We read Paul's letter to the church at Philippi, and the "Joy" that He had in his life despite his circumstances. This "Joy" that Paul wrote about, the joy he lived out, was based not in his heart, but in his mind, not how he felt, but how he thought. Just is true in our own lives, how we think affects how we feel. Who and what we put our trust in determines what kind of Joy we will have, either the joy that comes and go depending on ones circumstance, or an everlasting Joy that can only come from Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We learned the importance of being single minded, and how true and everlasting Joy comes form the Lord. Through the life of Paul, we learned that the true spiritual man is one who worships God in Spirit, Rejoices in Christ alone, and has no confidence in ones flesh. We learned or shall I say we're learning to be content no matter what state we are in...Yes were going to take some major hits, hurts, setbacks, and disappointments, but in the end He has purified our souls and made us more like Him.

Beyond Rubies....

Oh the Lord is doing a great work in my life! I am so excited to meet with my friends and share my heart with them. This journey of becoming a virtuous woman is going to be an exciting one, but very challenging too! Looking forward to our first meeting March 14th!

Valentine's Day

Had a great day with my first Love John and my other loves Christian, Faith, and Zoe! We went to Church, then breakfast, then the park, read some scriptures, John made candlelight dinner and I surprised him with sending our picture in for the song Happily Married:) Very blessed! Oh and he bought me some pretty earrings!

Today's devotion

Psalm 3:3
If He allows difficulty, setback, or tragedy to come into my life, He will also be my Glory and the Lifter of my head. The Lord is my ROCK and I am so thankful to Him that I never have to be alone. Faithfully praying that the next moment might bring me a miracle for someone I Love dearly.

Beyond Rubies....

Had an awesome time with my dearest sister Sarah. We had girl time talking about God's call on our lives, and getting ready to be used for His Purpose and Glory. Were calling our ministry Worth Beyond Rubies, still praying...still waiting..For now we have 2 titus, Proverbs 31, and colossians 3:16. Thank you Lord for working...more to come

Welcome 2010, Please Slow down!!!

It has been forever since I last updated, so long that I even forgot my password to sign in! We can't believe 2009 is over already, and 2010 is here. We are excited to see what this new year will bring us. We don't really make New Year's Revolutions, but always start the New Year holding hands and praying. Mostly just thanking Jesus for Saving us and blessing us in so many ways. Praying for Him to complete the work that He has started in our lives, strengthening our marriage, keeping our focus on Him so that we can be the best spouses, parents, children, siblings, and friends we can possibly be. Chris Tomlin's song I will rise has got to be one of my favorite songs for 2009, listen and worship our Loving God:)

There's a peace I've come to know Though my heart and flesh may fail There's an anchor for my soul I can say "It is well" Jesus has overcome And the grave is overwhelmed The victory is won He is risen from the dead [Chorus:] And I will rise when He calls my name No more sorrow, no more pain I will rise on eagles' wings Before my God fall on my knees And rise I will rise There's a day that's drawing near When this darkness breaks to light And the shadows disappear And my faith shall be my eyes Jesus has overcome And the grave is overwhelmed The victory is won He is risen from the dead [Chorus:] And I will rise when He calls my name No more sorrow, no more pain I will rise on eagles' wings Before my God fall on my knees And rise I will rise And I hear the voice of many angels sing, "Worthy is the Lamb" And I hear the cry of every longing heart, "Worthy is the Lamb" [x2][Chorus:] And I will rise when He calls my name No more sorrow, no more pain I will rise on eagles' wings Before my God fall on my knees And rise I will rise....

June is here:)

I can't believe June is here! Summer, its one of those seasons that we love, but hate too:) We love it because school is out and we can sleep in (not really), trips to the beach, ocean breeze, swimming, vacations, fruit, vegetables, bbqs at mom's house, golden tans, longer days, deep cleaning, house projects that you keep saying you'll get to soon, naps, and because it feels like a time of rest and slower pace. We hate it because sometimes it feels like you just can't cool down, $400.00 electricity bills, bugs & flies, lazynest, sweating and thighs skicking together (speaking of myself), using the heat as an excuse to not go to the gym, and loading up all 3 kids in their carseats while working up a sweat!

For the most part I would say there is more to LOVE about it:)

Graduation is done! Yeah, so I have given myself 6 months to decide if I will go back to school...

At our house Fridays our Family Fundays, and this Friday we went camping in our backyard. John bought a tent and set up the air mattresses in the tent and made it nice and cozy for us. However, at about 1 am I secretly went back inside because Zoe was in between us and I was falling off the bed! Then John woke up and the next thing I knew he was back in bed with me! heheehe
So, we did have fun we roasted marsh mellows on our BBQ, made popcorn, and listened to the radio. The kids loved it! It was there first time and they all wanted to sleep with us (which was annoying). So John called it our "dry run" for our camping trip to the beach he is planning. So the only thing we need is another air mattress and the portable crib for Zoe.

We also had a great date night for my graduation, we went to the Cheese Cake factory(which seems to be our tradition) with our friends Kim and Melanie. We ate, shopped, and sipped on coffee. They made us laughed so much, we almost peed our pants!!! I have known Mel since the 8th grade and John has know Kim since JH, so we go wayyyyyyyyyyyy back! Lots of fun!

Summer here you come, opps...here you are!!!

Wow its been awhile!

Well, I have been totally slacking on my site, sorry! Life has been crazy busy, but I guess that is nothing new. Easter was awesome and we were blessed to have spent it with both sides of the family. The kids dyed Easter eggs at YiaYia's and grandma's house. They even got to have their first communion at grandma's house, it was awesome! Grandma had a church service and her house to celebrate our Savior and King. She surprised us with a church service, and read John 13. It was amazing and it is so awesome to see the Lord working in our family. We also had "Greek Easter" at my grandparents house which was really fun, the kids love playing outside at their house. Of course we were busy with Christian's Tee Ball, which was fun. The kids were so cute and they all learned a lot, but most importantly had a lot of fun!

The last couple of months have been challenging, and doors have both been opened and closed in our lives. John got a new position as an official bailiff, and is enjoying his new position. As for me, I lost my job; which was shocking at first, but definitely has been a blessing. Before I had lost my job, and all the talk with teacher layoffs and cut backs; John and I were praying and talking about me not working and staying home with the kids until Zoe starts Kinder in 3 years. And although I wanted to be the one to make that decision, God had different plans, and as we all know HIS PLANS are always BEST! So, I am thankful for the decision and JOHN is so excited it was just getting to crazy with me working so much. So now its count down...15 more school days:)

And then there was...Another little scare with Zoe, she had been sick for a couple of days and on the third day she was not looking too good and was having trouble breathing. We made an appointment with urgent care and she was not going to be able to get in until 9pm, but when John got home from work, he was worried and decided that she needed to go in earlier. He went down and about 45 min. after he left he called me and said that it didn't look good. Of course I panic and said WHAT, he said that they wanted to transport her on the ambulance to the hospital. So, we ended up spending the night at the hospital with her, and she had pneumonia starting and they think possible asthma. She is okay, and we are following up with our pediatrician. With her being sick; it has really opened up my eyes to how precious life is, and if we can make it work on one income then to do it. We are going to have to cut some extras out of our lives for sure; but it will be well worth it!

I also finished my masters and graduate May 22, 2009-I am really excited about that! Now that I am going to be home I want to look into writing children's books. This is something I have always wanted to do, and my dear friend Sarah is knowledgeable in this area, so I will be getting some advice from her. I will finally get to get caught up with scrapbooking, friends, teaching Faith how to read, working out, but most importantly being used by God and serving in HIS ministry!

The LOrd is soooo good, and we are so thankful for the work he is doing in our lives, and look forward to seeing his Plans unfold in our lives and the lives around us!

The Last week, was very exciting and busy! We went to the Palm Springs Air Museum, and on the way stopped at our family's restaurant for lunch, we have not been there since Faith was a new born. The food was good as usual, and unfortunately we didn't see any old customers
:(maybe next time.Then we headed to the Air Museum, and we had a blast! John was just so excited ( I swear he was acting like he was just a little boy), sound effects, and to say the least we were all fighter pilots for the day. Christian, Faith, and Zoe had fun running around and painting the plane, coloring plane pictures, and learning about different planes. I tell you Christian and Faith asked a lot of questions and wanted to know the whys and whats of everything. My response, ask daddy!

John was outside helping our neighbor learn how to skateboard, and commented to me that he misses skating and wanted to buy a skateboard, so I decided to surprise him and buy skateboard, so he could teach buddy to skate. Anyhow, he did not do to much teaching Christian, but he did get to play on his new skateboard. I even joined him, it was fun; but I was making him very nervous!!!hehehe

We also had Opening Ceremonies for Christian's T-Ball, it was fun and exciting to see my son all dressed-up in his uniform. He looks so cute, and loves to play baseball! He is #7 and on the Braves team, and is blessed to have some awesome coaches Jamie DeLand, Chirs Hardin, and Daddy:) Our banner came in 1st place and credit needs to be applauded to our friends Jamie and Holly DeLand they did a great job! It is really cool that Christian knows so many of his team members form church and school! His first game is this Saturday at 9:00 am and they will be playing the Pirates! YOHOYOHO... Baseball is HERE!!!

Not too many words...But many thoughts...

I heard on the way to work 107.9 of course Brian B. say "Everything NEW will become OLD" applying to things on earth. So very true, reminding Christians to keep their perspective and eyes on heavenly things, investing in God's Kingdom and not our own.


Having unhealthy relationships with others is a sign of an unhealthy relationship with Christ. Be careful not to judge others with a critical heart, instead examine your own heart.

How can anyone survive without a relationship with Jesus Christ?

Each and everyday I see people who don't have a relationship with Our Maker Jesus Christ, and I can't understand how they can live in this word without a relationship with Him. He is my everything, my breath of life, my peace, my strenght, and my HOPE. I like what our pastor was preaching on a few weeks ago about HOPE...
People can live up to 40 days without food
up to 7 days without water
But not 1 day without HOPE

My HOPE is in Chirst, where do you put your HOPE? I continue to pray for the Lord to guide me and lead me to put my HOPE in HIM and not the things of the world-they will fade away, there is no value in them.

Do you know what the shortest chapter is in the bible?

Psalm 117

"Praise the Lord, all you nations.
Praise Him, all you people of the earth.
For He loves us with unfailing love;
the Lords faithfullness endures forever.
Praise the Lord!"

We fail but He never FAILS us!

Today

Wow-The Lord really spoke to me at lunch today as I looked to seek Him, and Hear from Him.
I was reading Philippians...

Instead of saying or thinking about someone who is on your "nerves" take and replace that with putting that person on your "heart."

Who's on your nerves?
Who or what is robbing you of joy?

Pray for them!
Pray for God's blessing upon them
Pray for God's work in their lives
Pray for good things to happen to them

Most importantly know that God will change them, and He will change you!

So with that I will be busy praying:)

New Year 2009

We can't believe how fast time goes. 2008 was a great year, and we were truly blessed!!! This year we look forward to seeing what the Lord has planned for our lives. Our biggest desire as a family and individually is to make sure we are living our lives for Jesus Christ, and to not be consumed with earthly things that will fade away, but storing up treasures in heaven. Giving to the Lord, with a pure and true heart, not holding on to what belongs to Him, but embracing what He has planned for our lives. His plans are so much bigger than our plans, and we look forward to seeing where He takes us, and continuing praying that we don't get in the way.

December 29, 2008

The year is almost over, I can't believe how fast time goes by! I am looking forward to another blessed year, and seeing what the Lord has planned for us. My prayer is that I would grow into a deeper relationship with Christ, that I would not be comfortable with who I am, but rather continuing to be all that the Lord wants me to be. John and I were praying together last night and just asking the Lord to open up doors, and to use us for His purpose. Just praying for us to not be clouded with material things, but to be focused on spiritual things. How can we be used for your Glory? Directed us, lead us, use us, and guide us to your will and not our will. I also pray for my family that they would continue to grow in Christ, looking to Him to direct them and change them.

When I was reading the book of James last night, I was encouraged to not just have faith, but to be a doer of my faith. Faith without work is dead, and a dead faith is worse than no faith at all. Faith endures trials, Faith understands temptations, Faith obeys the Word and does not just hear, but does. This is the kind of Faith I want and will continue to seek...

We're on vacation, yeah!! No work for 2 weeks!

Today we were playing on going to the snow, but Christian and Faith have an ugly cough, so we decided it would be best for them to rest and get better. Well, we started going a little stir "crazy," and out of no where John decided that it was time for the Mr. Chin act. I guess him and his sister use to play this when they were kids. It was really funny and the kids LOVED IT!