An Answer To Prayer! Visiting!~

It's that time of year again! The Sacramento, CA, ATI Regional Conference, is just around the corner! We have been busy getting ready!

Some friends of ours, from church, Jana, and her son Jacob, wanted to attend the conference last year, but were unable to due to transportation. This year again, they wanted to attend and the Lord was opening doors. Transportation again, was needed. We would have been happy to let them drive up with us but, here a problem presented itself. They needed to leave Tuesday and return Friday. Our family is arriving Monday and staying till Saturday. So Jana, called the ATI headquarters and asked if there were any families in their(Her and her son) area, that they could drive up with. The staff at headquarters did, in fact, have a family in Huntington Beach, who were attending the conference! So the family was called and they kindly agreed to bring them up! There are two neat parts to this story. The first is, they were arriving and leaving the exact dates that Jana and Jacob needed to, and the second is, the family just happened to be some old friends of ours!

Moe and Dee Dee Khackbaz, are a family we met through Habitat For Humanity. They live very close to our church and sometimes we would stop by for a visit.( We hadn't seen them recently!)

Mrs. Khakbaz, called Monday and invited us to the park, along with her, her three kids and another family. The purpose was for Jana and Mrs. Khakbaz to meet, as they will be driving up together, and since we knew both families well, we we could help them get to know each other! So we all headed to the park and enjoyed visiting! Jacob got along really well with their two girls, Jovi and Ranna, and he had a great time catching lizards with their son, Abraham! Ryan, Daniel, and Isaiah went along with them and came back with three! Meanwhile, Jovi, Ranna, and I enjoyed a game of chance, with some dice. Later Katie and Sydney( one of the other family's daughter's) joined us with the little ones, Natey and Joshy!

Being at a park, I had to get one portrait.....Mama and Mrs. Khabaz, walking.

Katie and Sydney.

Abraham, Jacob, Ranna and Isaiah, holding lizards and chatting.

Isaiah, Jacob and Abraham...and their lizards!

Ranna(left of me), Jovi(right of me) and I! It was so good to see them again! We hadn't seen each other in awhile!

Since we are on the visiting subject.....

Saturday, one of the families at our church, the Pau's, invited us over for dinner! We had a very nice evening! Mr. Pau, kindly shared his "Wii with" us. I played two games but, not being much of a video game person, I soon found myself in the girl's room chatting! We had great fun together! Ryan and Daniel enjoyed the Wii games with Jason and Justin. They played golfing and boxing.

Katie and Danny, playing the "Wii..."

Joanna and I. She said something here, really funny!

During the boy's game, we girls and the little ones played a really fun game called "Stoner!" Basically, one or more persons get picked to be "it." Then you decide on an object to hide, for example: we used a little toy shovel. Everyone else who is not "it" goes inside while those who are "it" hide the object somewhere.( Had enough of the "it" yet?) When they are all done, they call the other players and give them ten seconds to find it before they start running around tagging people. The point of the game is to find the object before all the players are tagged! (Very fun!) Justin came out later and joined us!

Meanwhile, Natey, Joshy and Josiah Pau enjoyed playing with Playmobile and Legos! The two best toys in the world for boys!

Watching the players....

Soon it was dinnertime! We all enjoyed a delicious meal of Chili, pineapple muffins, chocolate cookies and homemade ice cream! (Thank you so much, Mrs, Pau, Nichole, Sarah, Joanna and Victoria!)

Eating....

After dinner, and the washing and cleaning up was done, we girls trooped upstairs and talked some more.

Us girls, talking.

..."I like this pillow!" "No! It's mine!"

sometimes..."duty calls!"

Ok, now in all seriousness, we did not fight! We had a good time!

Group shot-1 Joanna, Nichole, Victoria, Sarah, Lizzy, Katie and I.

Group shot-2

......."hehe".....

The Boys: left to right: Josiah, Joshy, Jeffery, Isaiah and Danny.

We really enjoyed our visit with the Pau Family! Thank you so much, Pau family!

Praise the Lord for the fellowship that we can have among believers! It is such a special gift from our Lord!

Use hospitality one to another without grudging. (KJV)

1 Peter 4:9

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen. (KJV)

2 Corinthians 13:14

Fishing!~

Last Thursday Uncle Kenny and Auntie Janice took us fishing at Jenks Lake! They had taken us before in pairs, but this time we all went, including Mama, which was very fun!

Uncle Kenny had told us to be ready to leave at 6:30, which meant we would have to get up around 4:30-5:00am! We had SWORD the night before and so we did not get to bed as early as we should have. Nevertheless, morning came, as always! Mama was hurrying around trying to wake those still asleep, like me. (I wasn't feeling to great and my stomach hurt awfully bad!)The younger ones were bright and excited as they talked of the out come of the future fishing trip! Older boys were grabbing poles and vests to put in the van. I hurried to shower and dress and soon we were piled in the car!

Here is the parking lot of Jenks Lake! I have no idea how the trip went on the way up, because I fell asleep. (It was a 2 hour drive!) I felt much better once we got there though, and grabbed my camera to take some pictures of the lake and it's surroundings!

Our car, parked.

Jenks Lake is a beautiful place and being there reminded me of camping trips our church had taken before! I love being near the mountains and in woody areas! The trees covered most of the land except for where asphalt guided cars. It was so peaceful up there and I could hear all sorts of different birds singing!

A fallen tree....

This duck saw me coming down the path, he came out of the water, waddled straight for me, stopped and turned for a picture!! It was the funniest thing I'd seen a duck do!

I can honestly say, the animals at the lake were very friendly! This squirrel posed for me!

Once we had found our fishing spot, and prayed over the day, it seemed everyone was in motion! Uncle Kenny, Ryan, and Katie were setting things up and making trips back and forth from the van and jeep. Aunt Janice was preparing and casting poles into the lake. Mama pulled out some sugar cookies and the little ones were soon munching!

Cookie watchers....

Timothy, enjoying the remains of a sugar cookie......

Ryan, Daniel Isaiah and Katie soon had cast out there poles and were waiting patiently! meanwhile, Aunt Janice went out in the "float" to see if she could catch anything out there! Later, Uncle Kenny went out too. Unfortunately, I could not fish this time, because I am sixteen and I don't have a license. Uncle Kenny and Aunt Janice felt really bad, but I assured them I would survive. While the others fished, I enjoyed a hike around the lake, reading, taking pictures and talking with those who were around! Although we only caught two bass and Aunt Janice caught two, it was a very nice, slow, relaxing day! We did however have some excitement! During the first part of the day, a helicopter needed to pull some water from the lake! There was a fire nearby and Jenks was one of the nearest supplies of water. It was so neat to watch the water being sucked up!

That was about the most excting thing that happened, that day! We really enjoyed the fishing trip!

Here are some pictures from the day.

Another friendly duck.....



Natey and Joshua, visiting with Mr. Duck!

Uncle Kenny, the fisherman.

Katie and Isaiah, waiting.......

Uncle Kenny and Aunt Janice...waiting.

Wouldn't be much of a post without a decent portrait.
Katie, looking cute....

These three gentlemen went on the hike around the lake with me.


A classic picture.



This is the fallen tree I showed earlier. The boys decided to be brave, balance their way and pose for a picture! They are towards the top of the tree where the trunk is very narrow. The water on either side of them is VERY deep.



Then we challenged each other to run from where the boys were to the trunk. It was kinda scary but we all made it! (Ryan said I should go out onto the tree where they had been so I could see what it was like to pose for a picture out there!) Danny here, is enjoying this challenge!

our site from across the lake...

Last week in Sunday School, one of the verses we were studying was 1 Peter 5:7. I think this verse really fits. It reminds us to give our fears and worries over to the Lord and He will take care of them! In the same way, while one is fishing, he does not spend his time worrying about what he will catch or if he will catch but leaving that to the Lord he patiently waits to see the results. What a relief, to think that someone is willing to bear our burdens and resolve our problems for us!

Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.

1 Peter 5:7

A Special Evening!~

Last night, was our SWORD, end of the year, presentation, which Justin led! (Thank you, Justin!) The children sang two songs for their parents, which I had the joy of accompanying!! They did a great job! The buttons on their sashes represent all the goals they accomplished!


We really enjoyed this last SWORD year and the leaders are planning another one, Lord willing!


We also had a special speaker! Maria Istoc, origially from Romania, now a missionary to Paris, France! It is always so great to hear the missionary reports and we all really enjoyed her testimony! She had not visited for 5 years, so it was great to see her again!

Below is a video of the children's presentation! (All the "Sebo Boys" are wearing suits...Just in case you couldn't find them! Also, there is a slight pause in the video, for a picture...)






Here are some better sash pictures, with the exception of Ryan, and Natey.

WACA 2009 Graduation!

Five of our Students graduated Sunday night, from the Warner Avenue Christian Academy!

Much planning and preparation had been done, and our family was very much involved, even though no one from our family was graduating! (This has got to be the LONGEST post ever!)

Saturday, Daddy and I were asked to come to the rehearsal, as Daddy is the "School Principal Substitute"(Our principal is travelling right now and couldn't make it.). We were originally planning to come at 4:00pm because I had been asked to take portraits of the graduates. So we jumped into the car and headed for the church.

When we arrived, we were greeted by Mrs, Girkins and Rebecca, her oldest: one of the graduates. (The Girkins used to attend our church util they recently moved to Colorado.) Their family had flown out for the graduation. Rebecca was very excited, as she was going to be graduating with all her old friends! We exchanged hugs and headed for the sanctuary.

Practicing the ceremony....

Rebecca and Sarah.....

"You will be giving your speeches from the pulpit..."

The rehearsal was quick and easy! We had a great time teasing and recalling different memories! After that, we headed to the park around 4:15, or so, for the planned portraits.

Sarah, on the way to the park, with Rachel next to her. Mrs. Iorga drove us. Thank you so much, Mrs. Iorga!

It was a very windy day and I remember thinking, Oh no, this wind will not make for good or professional looking pictures, but the Lord was gracious, as always, and the pictures turned out decent. We had a lovely time talking and sharing! We all grew up together in the same church, which made it a really special bonding time.

Sarah

Rebecca

Rachel

Kendra

Emily

So good to have Becca with us again! She insisted on having a picture with me, even though I wasn't a graduate!

The pictures were soon done and we headed back to the church. Mr. and Mrs. Girkins invited us to stay for pizza, to which we readily agreed! The rest of our family joined Daddy and I, for dinner! Ryan, Daniel and Isaiah, had a great time with Nathan and Trenton Girkins, rib-sticking, scootering and heeling! Katie was thrilled to see Victoria again and they were soon off playing together!

We all agreed that the graduates should get a good night's sleep and so we headed home early.

Sunday night came all too soon, and I felt like I was attending a wedding, watching the graduates get ready! Nervousness, filled the room. Each girl was curling, pinning, or fussing with her hair. Two big mirrors adorned the little room we were in and made it look twice as big! A few of the girls asked me for some water, so as not to faint, and before I knew it, I was carrying a pitcher and five cups back over to the little room!

"Lady Lois", helping Kendra curl her hair....

Adjusting Caps....

Sarah, fixing her collar

Pastor, explaining last minute details....

Two of the graduates with their Mommy's:

Above:
Rachel and Mrs. Stevens

Below:

Rebecca and Mrs. Girkins

"Ready, Kendra?"

Just before the ceremony....



After ensuring the girls had enough to water and were all ready, I headed out into the sanctuary to get into my "photographer" spot. (Emily had made asked me to take pictures for the evening.)The room was filled with family and friends and I'm quite sure Pastor would have been very happy to see that many on a Sunday morning!

The ceremony opened as Pastor welcomed those attending and opened with prayer. Next, the moment everyone had been waiting for: the procession. Each of the graduates seemed to float down the isle and their faces beamed with a lovely smiles! After they were all seated, a hymn was sung. A slide-show was shown with sections of each graduate and then the graduates played two special numbers. Speeches came next, which went very well and I personally enjoyed every one of them in a different way! The Girls did a very good job and no one fainted! Then Pastor Steve addressed the graduates, encouraging and challenging them to serve the Lord faithfully! After Daddy had presented each girl a diploma we arrived at that most important moment: Graduation itself. Each girl took hold of her tassel and switched it to the left! Done! (Our mission was completed!) Pastor ended the ceremony with prayer and invited all to join us on the other side for refreshments.

Rebecca Ann Girkins

Kendra Jayne Iorga

Sarah Anne McIntire

Rachel Beth Stevens

Emily Anne Weston

Singing a hymn.....

music...

Speeches...

I already have SO many pictures, but I had to post this one of Daddy handing Kendra her Diploma!

Congratualtions, girls! We are very proud of you and we love you very much!

Pastor Steve, with the graduates.

I just love this one of Kendra and her Daddy.....

Just before the girls could escape, I asked them for a few more pictures! Here is one....

Over on the other side, in the Fellowship Hall, two beautiful cakes awaited the graduates along with many family and friends wishing to congraulate them and visit! The reception was quite long and very enjoyable! It was nice to see old family and friends again!

I had to grab the girls for one last and then I let them go....

Dear Rebecca, Kendra, Rachel Sarah and Emily,

It really was a very neat experience and I am so blessed to have been able to grow up with you all! I thank the Lord for all the memories and special times we've had, and for blessing me with friends like you!

The Lord bless you all as you embark on this next road, following Christ wherever He leads! I can't wait to see how He will use you all!

Like the words to that old song..."If Jesus goes with me I'll go anywhere!"