time away

We are having a nice time here in Southern CA...time is going by quickly though! We've done lots of swimming, and not much else!

Tuesday we drove into LA and went to the Griffith Observatory. Very neat; made me realize just how TINY we are in the scheme of God's entire creation!! Wow! All I kept thinking was "what an amazing God we have, that created such a vast universe!!" And just think, He is concerned about the little things in our lives! We all decided that we'd like to go back there again at night, when the big telescope is open!

Kenny and I went there about 20 years ago when we were dating...must has changed since then. It's well worth a visit for anyone who is down in the LA area.

Today we are going swimming again at some point, and now I think I'm going to go work on my CM album finally!

Hope everyone is enjoying their summer! :o)

busy week....

This has been a busy week...lots of good stuff going on, but the time has just flown by! Most of our time has been occupied with getting Kenny's Mom moved up here to Brentwood! She is living in an assisted living place about 5 miles from our house. It will be great to have her close by! Thanks to those of you who have prayed for the move; it has, so far, gone very well! :o)

Check this out!!!

This looks like FUN!! We want 6 of them...way too expensive though!

Check out - TRIKKE

It's HOT!

But not as hot as yesterday...the highest I saw on my home thermometer was 107 degrees! And it was still in the high 80's at midnight! Lord willing, it will cool off more tonight.

We had a very nice 4th of July...spent most of the day at home, just doing stuff around here. Then we went over to the Matt's house (HI SUE!) for a yummy BBQ dinner. The kids had a blast on their trampoline and Kenny and I got to relax with our friends. We got to see lots of fireworks in their neighborhood, despite the fact that they are illegal in Brentwood. I guess people don't care about that! We watched anyway. :o)

Kenny and Nathan are gone right now, in Santa Barbara packing up Kenny's mom to move up here. Things are going well for them so far! I've enjoyed a couple of quiet days here with the kids, swimming and just hanging out. I started scrapbooking our cruise pictures today too!

A few of us in Brentwood (from my home school group) are reading through the book "A Woman's Walk With God" by Elizabeth George on the fruits of the spirit. I wanted to share something I read from the book that really spoke to me.

"...we must acknowledge that true, spiritual joy is NOT happiness. Happiness is a state of good fortune and prosperity related to and dependent on our circumstances. If all is going well, we are happy' but as soon as some dark cloud or irritation enters our life, our happiness vanishes. Happiness can be a false joy and since easy circumstances are not life's norm, happiness is elusive. "

She goes on to say "our joy as Christians is not dependent on circumstance, but on the spiritual realities of God's goodness, His unconditional love for us, and His ultimate victory over sin and darkness. It is not based on our efforts, accomplishments or willpower, but rather on the truth about our relationship with the Father through the Son. Joy is not merely an emotion, but the result of choosing to look beyond what appearts to be true in our life to what is true about our life in Christ."

I really like the way she puts that. Our JOY as a Christian should come just from the Lord. I realized when I read that, how dependent I can be on my circumstances to be "happy" and how easy it is for me to forget that my true joy is in the Lord.

Just thought I'd share that! :)

Stay cool and have a good weekend!

And the summer flies along...

Time sure goes by fast, doesn't it?? Here we are in July already, and looking forward to celebrating our nation's birthday tomorrow! We are getting together with our Brentwood friends tomorrow for a BBQ!

The kids went to VBS here in Brentwood last week and they had a fantastic time! I asked the kids what their favorite part of VBS was: Lizzy's favorite part was the singing and getting to see Mrs. Betti and Mrs. Arnold and Dan's favorite part was snack time. haha! That doesn't surprise me, although he did enjoy the crafts too.

Nathan and Kenny are leaving on Thursday to go to Santa Barbara to move Kenny's mom up here to Brentwood, so we'd appreciate prayer for that trip and all of the logistics involved. We are looking forward to have her near us and having the kids get to know Grandma better! :)

We haven't really had a relaxing time yet, even though school is done. Seems like our days get filled up quickly with activities and such. It's all fun stuff, but makes our time go by quickly. We'll be traveling in a week or so to go down to my parents' house for 10 days.

We are enjoying our new kitty Louie. He's hilarious to watch and he harasses poor Belle until she can't stand it anymore. He seems to think that her tail is his own personal toy to grab at. He also thinks that she wants to be pounced on, chased and that she wants to share her food with him. Belle is rather grumpy about the whole ordeal, but she tolerates him as long as he doesn't get too close.

We wish everyone a blessed and happy 4th of July! Remember to put your flag out and thank God for our freedoms that we enjoy in this country.