A Great Weekend!

There were again many fun and fulfilling activities for our family to take part in this weekend! :) On Friday morning, Scott and I headed over to the RCS gym to attend the chapel led by Troy's class. Troy got to pray and help lead songs. It was super cute and a blast to watch! On Friday afternoon we loaded up the minivan and made our way down to Temecula to cheer on the ACA Eagles. It was a tough game with some strange calls by the refs. (Let's just say he threatened to clear our stands!) The girls tied 1-1, but I thought they played pretty well. Saturday morning we woke early to catch the beginning of the second annual "Beautiful Run" put on by our church to support the Beautiful Gate orphanages in Africa. It was a great time with a wonderful turn out. There were some interesting competitions going on between some staff members, which added to the fun. Kam had her softball evaluations in the afternoon and then Sat. evening we had a fun time with friends at a wedding reception. Sunday has been a good day of worship and rest and we look forward to enjoying a day off tomorrow in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr.

Praying

Will you please join us in praying for our friend, Tom? He and his family found out he has leukemia the day before Thanksgiving. He went through chemo and is having a really rough time. We spent several years celebrating Thanksgiving and Fourth of July with their family. We have many special memories of times spent at their house. Tom is very weak right now and the family is having a special time of prayer this Thursday at 4pm. Any time you could lift him up would be great, though!

Tom and Vera leading devotions before dinner on the fourth of July last year.

As this picture shows, they have the gift of hospitality!

Fun Project

This weekend Scott was able to bless his friend, Brian, by being a part of his ordination and installation service as he begins ministry in Austin, Texas. Brian has been a part of Scott's life for many years as he was in his Youth Group in Visalia and then they attended Seminary together, more recently. Scott had a fun, yet quick time seeing a new city and spending time with dear friends of ours. When Scott is gone I always seem to get inspired to tackle a project around the house. (And with this house there are many!) Our friend Julie has a great picture collage on their living room wall. Seeing hers recently and getting some more inspiration on Pinterest, motivated me to put up some of my favorite pictures on a big blank wall that we have. Julie has all black and white pictures, which looks really cool. I decided to stick with some color and put this collage together. It was a no-cost project, too, as I used frames I already had around the house. I'm really happy with how it turned out! (I think I'll add one of those decal sayings over the top yet.)

ACA Soccer

Katie's enjoying her last season of high school soccer. The team is off to a good start and is starting to play together better. I took these pics. at their last game at the AYSO complex by our house. I love the view we get here while watching one of our favorite sports. (Can't beat So. Cal. in January!) Go Eagles!

Rose Parade-2012

I've wanted to go to the Rose Parade for a long time and we finally got there this year! It was a great experience that our family got to do with friends. We bought bleacher seats and a parking spot ahead of time, so it was relatively easy when we got there in the morning. It's so different than on TV because you experience the sheer volume of people all around you. That involves many different sights, sounds and smells! We had a great view from our seats and enjoyed "people watching" before the parade. What an awesome way to spend new year's day-with friends in the sunshine seeing beautiful things! Happy New Year! (The smaller ones are Cindy's pics.)

Walking down Colorado Blvd. to our seats early in the morning. The place looks pretty trashed!

Funny sign.

It was pretty sad how many people walked down the street with signs like these. It just seemed to us that it wasn't very encouraging!

Hanging out before the parade.

This guy entertained us with his superman snuggie. He was pretty proud of it!

The Carl's Jr. employees had a good (dangerous) view.

Luis and Scott people watching.

Showing Canadian pride before the parade.

This bomber flew over at exactly 8:04am.

This lady was selling interesting smelling hotdogs. Luis was trying to convince Scott to get one. Thankfully he resisted.

Our morning ended with lunch at In-N-Out. Awesomeness!

After each entry with horses, groups of these guys would follow. Too funny!

Images From Christmas

It's hard to believe that the Christmas season has come and gone already. This year it seemed that we were especially busy with stuff for the kids and things that were going on within our church family. It's definitely different when you're in ministry and you try and celebrate while "working." Scott did have more time off from preaching this year, but it seemed like so much was still going on that he was busy with. We enjoyed a couple days away after Christmas and do feel blessed as a family. It's hard to believe that this is the last year Katie will be home. Next year she'll be coming back from her first semester at Calvin! She was complaining about our beautiful 75 degree weather on Christmas Day. (She thought it was too warm!) I think next year she'll be thankful to come home to great weather. This year we squeezed in some presents after church on Christmas Eve. Here are some highlights.