Things that Make Me Smile

Yesterday God blessed our family with a new GE oven. It was something I wanted, but I didn't expect. It is another tool to make things easier and more fun in the kitchen.

So last night Elisabeth and I broke it in by making My Granny's Chocolate Cobbler from the Tasty Kitchen website.

My new Oven

My Granny's Chocolate Cobbler

An oven window with a bright light:)

A serving of the delicious cobbler. Notice the thick chocolate sauce. Yummy!!!

Hello World

I was looking back at my blog and realized it was a great way to journal with pictures. So I will be attempting to rejoin the blog world and share what is going on in our part of the world.

Resolved 2009, Pt. 2

Saturday morning the conference was started off with a great time of worshipping God in music. The music was amazing and seemed to fit perfectly with every message all weekend long. I am so thankful to Enfield for leading our music for the whole weekend, they are a truly gifted group.

Resolved Session #2 (Saturday morning)

Dr. Steve Lawson
Message: Blessed Bankruptcy
Reference: Matthew 5:3

5 Keys to Truth

1. Priority- All the beatitudes come after, being poor in spirit. We can't be merciful, a peacemaker, etc. unless we are poor in spirit. In order to have riches in heaven, we must file bankruptcy on earth.

2. Promise- Blessed is the opposite of wrath. Blessed means happy now, Heaven later. Blessed is deep seeded joy. Psalm 1:1.

3. Paradox- Blessed are the poor in spirit, the world just can't understand how you can be poor and blessed.

4. Picture- Being poor in spirit doesn't mean being financially poor, a poor personality or having self-pity. Being poor in spirit means coming empty handed to God.

I have nothing

I am nothing

I can do nothing

5. Pronouncement- Theirs (those poor in spirit) is the kingdom of Heaven.

What a great sinner I am, and what a great Savior He is.

As I review this message, I am taken back to the statement that, being poor in spirit means coming empty handed to God. I can't offer Him anything. Everything I have and am is because of God. I am a sinner saved by HIS grace.

The carpet in the convention center.

Photo by: Camilo

Our group from GBC.

What a great weekend to spend with such special friends.

The Baldwin's hands.

Messing around with my wristband at Del Taco.

Lord willing tomorrow I will post about session #3.

Resolved 2009

Tonight, as I sat down to do my quiet time, I decided to not only do my daily Bible reading and prayer. I also decided to review a message a day from the Resolved conference and think through the message and take away at least one thing I can be working on in my life. Resolved was such an amazing blessing for me, I don't want it to fade with time as just a good memory. I want to be able to go back next year a changed person from all I learned at Resolved 2009.

Resolved Night #1

Dr. Rick Holland

Message: The War Against Your Soul

Reference: 1 Peter 2: 11-12

The greatest danger in warfare is underestimating your enemy.

We are in a war (whether we know it or not) and I am the enemy. Ouch

Three mistakes we make:

We humanize God.

We glorify ourselves.

We minimize our sin.

Being a christian citizen demands the fight. If we are not fighting against sin we are dead.

Do you know the associates of Satan in your heart? Which is the strongest?

This last question is the most important thing I took from this message. I don't want to have anything of Satan's in my heart. I need to look at my heart and the sin I struggle with and understand if I am not fighting that sin, I am giving Satan a spot in my heart.

"Be killing sin or it will be killing you" - John Owen

Along with a review of the messages I wanted to include pictures from the weekend.

Here are the pictures from the first night.

The mountains outside the Palm Springs convention center.

Kathy and Valerie enjoying Sherman's sandwiches.

Our wristbands to get in.

The crowd waiting to get in. I must say this is the only part of the weekend

I did not like.

The stage. It is hard to see but there are lanterns hanging above the

stage with flickering candles (artificial). Amazing something so

simple could add so much beauty.

Tomorrow I will post about day 2 at Resolved.

Here are some links to see a lot more about the weekend:

You can download the MP3's for free at Resolved.org (you just have to sign up for a free account). Hit the media link to find all the messages from this year and 2007 and 2008. This is a treasure chest being offered for free.

You can also go to Resolved's Facebook account and see pictures from each day.

Harvest San Diego Spring Retreat

Last weekend we had the pleasure of joining Harvest Church at their Spring Retreat in San Diego.We truly enjoyed the time we were able to spend with this young (in age) church. The fellowship was sweet and their desire to hear God's Word preached was great. Here are some pictures from our time there.

My favorite picture from the weekend.

Rachel is such a good big sister.

Aren't they cute. I love this picture too.

Daddy helping Hannah.

Bekah just released an arrow. She did a great job.

Daddy helping Rachel.

My baby having a special moment with the horse. She loves horses.

Look at that smile.

The helmet is a little big.

She isn't smiling in this picture, but she had a great time.

Heading home after a busy retreat.

I can't believe her neck wasn't sore after she slept like this for over an hour.

Awe, QUIET!!

Sewing with Grandma

Grandma Baldwin has been very gracious to help me and my girls learn to quilt. Here are some pictures of Grandma working with Bekah.

Cutting her squares

Measuring before cutting

Grandma had soda, cookies and fresh fruit for all the girls.

Earthquakes and Friends

Today, Bekah asked if we could go to the Baldwin's to see Gracie, Abby said, "No, I don't want another earthquake." 

Let me explain:

Over the last few days, we have experienced a couple of earthquakes here in Southern California. It is quite humorous to me that both of the earthquakes (the ones we felt) occurred when we were at friends' houses. We were walking in the Baldwin's house on Sunday night when the first one happened and we were sewing at Grandma Baldwin's house yesterday when the second one happened. 

Here is God's grace, when in front of friends you don't let your fear show (you have to be cool you know), so I have not panicked once. The important point to note here is I haven't freaked my kids out yet. Yay!

God is so good to give us friends for the good times and the bad ones too. Love you Baldwins.

I must also mention we were spending the night at the Caballero's the night of the Lander's quake ( '92). It was a 7.3 and I was not calm or cool after that one. But, we are still friends.