1st Quarter Round Up in Pictures

I have not blogged in so long, here are the pictures on my computer that show what we have been doing this year so far.

We started 2011 with our friends, the Baldwins, beating on pans outside at midnight.

On Friday, January 7th we celebrated Rachel's 9th birthday at Disneyland.

We also celebrated little Joshua's birthday (he shares Rachel's birthday).

Rich with our beautiful girls at Disneyland.

The girls in Long Beach in January.

Bekah at Fort Mac in February.

Abby and Emma at a tea party in February.

Hannah at the tea party.

We were able to help Nathaniel celebrate his 5th birthday in February.

Abby going after the piñata.

Hannah after trying to hit the piñata.

Rachel with the piñata.

Bekah after she won musical chairs.

The kids at the party.

My first Valentine's Day gift from Rich.

We made waffles and chicken the next night for dinner.

Richard also surprised us and took us to San Diego for a night.

Rich's Mom also joined us for our special night in San Diego.

We stayed in Little Italy. What a wonderful place with so much to discover.

Rachel, Hannah and Bekah at a park next to our hotel.

Abby being Abby at the park.

Rich and his Mom at the park.

The next morning we had delicious bagels in Little Italy.

Nana and Rachel at the bagel shop.

Abby at the bagel shop.

Hannah and Abby collecting sticker balls in Heritage Park.

Rich and I in Heritage Park.

In front of the Mormon Museum.

Nana panning for gold at the Mormon Museum.

Hannah panning for gold.

Bekah and Abby panning for gold.

A lizard Rich caught outside of Old Town Cafe in San Diego.

On March 3rd I was able to celebrate Tanya's birthday with Linda and Ruby too.

Not wanting Tanya's tiara to go to waste, I took her to Sam's for some more pictures.

She was a good sport.

She has adapted well to California weather. Boogie board and flip flops.

On Friday, March 4th

Richard and I were able to attend

the 25th Anniversary Banquet for

The Master's Seminary.

This is the only picture of us from the night. Unfortunately, it is blurry.

Air Force One above the tables (1000 people were there to celebrate this milestone).

Marine One (Our table was right next the nose)

Ronald Reagan's grave.

Rich next to a piece of the Berlin Wall.

Just a random squirrel I took a picture of at home.

Well, that is the highlights of the last three months in our lives. Hopefully, I can keep up with this in the future.

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.