NeverEndingJoy!

Random Post With Pictures

I’ve been having fun cooking. Last night’s yummy dinner. Chicken parmesan, rice pilaf, and green beans.

Some dresses I made for Anna’s dolls.

My dad, Grandpa M-V, holding little Drew.

My brother Jon swearing into the Air National Gaurd 144th Fighter Wing Unit.

Me and my sweet friend Abby at a hockey game.

Proverbs 3:5-7 “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths. Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the Lord, and depart from evil.”

The End.

An exciting day for our family business!

My dad has been praying for a year and a half that we would be able to manufacture our product and sell it in the well drilling industry. God has answered that prayer!!!!!!!!!

Dad designed it…Tim and Dad machine and assemble it…and now a company, America West Drilling Supply Co., is distributing it for us!

Click the link to see it!!!!

Well Depth Sounder

Kitchen Remodel!

A big THANK YOU to the Dortignac Family (JDC Construction) and to Mr. Paul Fiala (Architectural Interiors) for remodeling our kitchen for us in just six days!!! They have been such a blessing to us with their generosity, servant’s hearts, and joyful spirits. It was so wonderful working with them. If any of you need a new kitchen, I would highly recommend them!

Ok, now for pictures!

Before

After (The granite looks black in most of the pictures…but it is not. The lighting makes it look that way)

Before

After

Before

After

Before

After

Before (We moved the refrigerators before I took this picture)

After

Ceiling Before

Ceiling After (We tore out the soffit to make the ceiling level with the rest of the house)

Before

After

Before

After

Before

After (The granite color name is Ubatuba)

The final product!!! We love it!!!

For more fun pictures of all the constuction, please click here:

Part 1

Part 2

Praise the Lord!!!

Ecclesiastes 7:13
“Consider the work of God: for who can make that staight, which He hath made crooked?”

Psalm 37:7a “Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him…”

Life is full of waiting…here is a poem that I came across. I hope it encourages you as much as it does me.

“Waiting! Yes, patiently waiting!
Till next steps made plain shall be;
To hear, with the inner hearing,
The Voice that will call for me.

“Waiting! Yes, hopefully waiting!
With hope that need not grow dim;
The Master is pledged to guide me,
And my eyes are unto Him.

“Waiting! Expectantly waiting!
Perhaps it may be today
The master will quickly open
The gate to my future way.

“Waiting! Yes, waiting! Still waiting!
I know, though I’ve waited long,
That, while He withholds His purpose,
His waiting cannot be wrong.

“Waiting! Yes, waiting! Still waiting!
The Master will not be late;
He knoweth that I am waiting
For Him to unlatch the gate.”

I just got back from a 3 week trip to Indiana. Our friends, the Forti family, invited me out to help. My days were filled with weeding the strawberry beds and cutting off runners (I found out that I’m allergic to strawberry leaves so I had to wear socks on my arms as I worked around them!), sewing skirts for the girls, mending, cooking, making 30 pizza crusts for pizza night, listening to the girls read, teaching all seven of the kids piano, meeting other families, playing volleyball, and so many other fun things!

Here are some pictures of my trip.

The sky was so beautiful!

Here is part of the Forti’s back yard. They have 22 acres!

Here is their house and the garden.

Russell and Joe

Joe taught me how to shoot the 22

Playing spoons

This is an old gas pump that still works!

Helping Autumn make zucchini bread

Horses on an Amish farm

This is an Amish family at the feed store

We walked through an antique store. Here is Joshua posing with an old hat

They had four kittens and the kids just loved playing with them. If that kitten makes it to it’s first birthday, I’ll be surprised!

Kristen with one of the kittens

On July 4th we went to a high school to watch fireworks. They were the best I’ve ever seen! Here is Rebekah with a sparkler.

Autumn and Promise

Can you figure out what’s wrong?

Milking the goats

Helping Joshua bottle feed the calves

Me with Beef Steak and Mower

Joe at the Allen County Fair

Volleyball at the Lederman’s

Vollyball at pizza night!

“I know the ball is up there somewhere!”

These are some sweet girls that I met. Back l-r: Hilary, Kelsey, Me, Krista, Lydia
Front l-r: Ruthie, Joanna, Sarah

It’s so nice to be home with my family again! Caleb and Anna made this sign for me.

I’m so grateful for the opportunity to serve the Forti family. I enjoyed spending time with them. The Lord has truly blessed me and I pray that I was a blessing to them.

Psalm 46:10a “Be still, and know that I am God…”

Proverbs 20:7
“The just man walketh in his integrity: his children are blessed after him.”

I am blessed because of my Dad. He is a man of integrity! I admire his walk with the Lord. He always strives to please the Lord in everything he does, and he continually seeks the Lord with his whole heart. He leads our family spiritually. He is such a wonderful dad! I love watching him play with my younger siblings. It brings back memories of when he played with me when I was younger…daddy diving board, tickle machine, playing outside, and many others. He is also a godly husband. I love the way he treats my mom with such respect. He never talks down to her or makes rude comments about her. He is an incredible genius…a master at fixing things! Anytime something breaks, he is so creative when he fixes it! I thank God for giving me such a precious dad! I couldn’t have picked a better one!

Dad, I love you so much! Thanks for all you have done for me! You are my hero!

WARNING! Long post with tons of pictures from September 06 to April 07.

During these months, the Lord has been growing me closer to Him and showing me His faithfulness. I read this verse this morning: Psalm 24:1 “The earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.” Everything that we own belongs to the Lord. We are just stewards of all that God has given to us. He told us that he who is faithful in little will be faithful also in much. So, take care of what God has given to you!

This update is long over do, so I’ll just start from the beginning…on March 26, 1986, a girl was born into a wonderful family….ok so that’s a little to far back. How about I just start where my last post left off???

The laundry room has officially been finished for several months now. It’s so nice to walk just a few steps from the bedrooms to the washer instead of all the way across the house to the garage! The first load, Mom and I stayed up until 2:00 am watching the clothes wash! Yes, it was fun! We almost got out the pop corn…it was that entertaining!

Here are some pictures of the finished project!

In the animal news, I am down to one horse now. Samson went back to his original owners. Also, Cheyenne had puppies! Two of them were red and white (a male and a female) and the third one was grey and white (a male). They are all sold now and have gone to their new homes. They were so much fun and very cute! I miss them!

Just a few days old

Anna loved holding them!

Red male

Red female

Grey male (he had two different color eyes)

All three of them!

Playing with Allie

Playing with mom

Awwww! Isn’t his nose cute???? Sorry I missed his eyes…he wouldn’t hold still for the camera!

This is what happens when I try to get a picture of them all together

Tim and Carrie’s wedding was absolutely beautiful and Christ-centered! I was honored to be one of her bridesmaids. And now for some pictures!

Allison, Abby, Me, Carrie, Melinda, Bonnie, and Jennifer

Isn’t Carrie beautiful!

Chris, Mr. Johnson, Jon, Tim, Caleb, Mr. Fontes, Joel, and Justin

My brother Tim

Here she comes!

Lighting the unity candle

Their very first kiss!

Mrs. Dicus’ mom made the cake

My favorite picture

My precious family! Jon, Me, Anna, Carrie, Tim, Mom, Dad, Caleb

We were on our feet all day and getting silly! Here we are singing into our bouquets NOT eating them!

Anna Grace…she is soooo cute!

The rings

Leaving for the honeymoon!

YAY! I caught Carrie’s bouquet!

My friend Krista did my hair for the wedding. She did a wonderful job!

Basketball is my favorite sport! Jon and Caleb played with our homeschool group. It was Caleb’s first year and he did a wonderful job! It was fun watching his games and cheering him on! He even made a few threes! Go Caleb!

This was Jon’s second year of basketball. His team won 3rd place in the California Homeschool Basketball Tournament. Most of his games this year were very intense! I usually needed to squeeze someone’s hand! A few times I was able to run the clock and scoreboard. I really enjoyed having that job! There was never a dull moment….one time a player even came flying across the table to stop the ball from going out of bounds….yeah, it was fun!

Jon is #25

Jon shooting a basket

Award ceremony

I’ve been shoveling rocks and getting the ground ready to plant a garden. After weeks of strenuous work…the rocks are gone!

Shoveling rocks

For my birthday, my family gave me gardening tools…and a hat!

Tomatoes and bell peppers

My garden is in a small area…but it’s my cozy little corner of the yard (more pictures to come as my garden grows)

Mr. Gramm came with his backhoe to level out the dirt. He moved one of the sheds and the horse stalls. He did an excellent job! Thank you Mr. Gramm!

Carrie and me taking apart the horse stalls

Me operating the backhoe

Mr. Gramm digging up the tree stump

Jon guiding Mr. Gramm as he moves the shed…um…where is the Safety Inspector????

The finished product! Now I have an area to ride Destiny in our back yard!

The future basketball court

Caleb and Anna enjoying lunch outside next to the garden

May God bless each one of you!

Philippians 4:4 “Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice.”

My new horse Samson!

It’s kind of funny because I wasn’t even looking for another horse and the Lord just dropped him in my lap…not literally! Out of 200 other people inquiring about this horse, I ended up with him! He needs fattening up. Look how big he is compared to Destiny! She is only 15 hh and he is over 17!

The new laundry room is coming along. I primed and painted yesterday. Lord willing, we will get our washer and dryer tomorrow! Here are some more pictures. I don’t have any pictures of me painting or Dad laying the floor down.

Dad soldering the water pipes together

We put in a sliding door to the bathroom

Me and Tim cutting and hanging drywall

Even Jon wasn’t tall enough to screw in the top screws!

The laundry room

Dad and Jon mudding

Tim reading the instructions for the new table saw that we bought for our business

Laying out all the parts

Tim reading the instructions

Dad and Jon putting it together

Still reading

It’s done!

Last week Melinda, Bonnie, Anna, and I went to the LA Zoo. Here are some pictures.

Anna petting a goat

Bonnie, Anna, and me looking at the hippos

These hippos were very interesting! They would come right up to us and open their mouth…it was kind of gross!

Anna kept calling these “Mangos”

Isn’t this waterfall beautiful?

Anna wanted to take a ride on this sea lion’s back!

Melinda, Anna, and me

This is a black swan. He had a red thingy on his nose…we weren’t sure exactly what it was. Reminds me of a funny quote from the Ventura fair…
Tim: Look! This one even has a…
Bonnie: Brain hemorrhage?
Tim: No, temperature gage.

Have you ever seen an albino alligator? The sign said that they sunburn very easily…I’ve never seen a sun burned alligator!

Anna slept on the way home!

I had such a wonderful day with my sisters!

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Last night Dad started tearing down some walls in our hallway to make room for our washer and dryer. Caleb and Anna had a blast helping tear down the walls!

The hallway is quite a mess right now. There is drywall all over the carpet…Dad said that drywall contains some sort of stuff that soaks up dirt and grease…or something like that. So I guess when we are finished the carpet will be sparkling clean!

Isaiah 64:4 “For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside Thee, what He hath prepared for him that waiteth for Him.”

Sometimes when we go through hard times it seems as if God is silent. We think He has failed us or has forgotten us. Maybe we think He failed us because He isn’t answering our prayers how we would like them to be answered. When I read these poems I felt so ashamed for not trusting in Him and my lack of faith in different areas of my life. I’m continually reminding myself that God is working in ways that I cannot see and that He hasn’t forgotten me.

I came across these two poems this week and I thought I’d share them with you.

“It is easy to love Him when the blue is in the sky,
When the summer winds are blowing, and we smell the roses nigh;
There is a little effort needed to obey His precious will
When it leads through flower-decked valley, or over sun-kissed hill.

“It is when the rain is falling, or the mist hangs in the air,
When the road is dark and rugged, and the wind no longer fair,
When the rosy dawn has settled in a shadowland of gray,
That we find it hard to trust Him, and are slower to obey.

“It is easy to trust Him when the singing birds have come,
And their canticles are echoed in our heart and in our home;
But ‘tis when we miss the music, and the days are dull and drear,
That we need a faith triumphant over every doubt and fear.

“And our blessed Lord will give it; what we lack He will supply;
Let us ask in faith believing-on His promises rely;
He will ever be our Leader, whether smooth or rough the way,
And will prove Himself sufficient for the needs of every day.”

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“O thou of little faith
God hath not failed thee yet!
When all looks dark and gloomy,
Though dost so soon forget-

“Forget that He has led thee,
And gently cleared thy way;
On clouds has poured His sunshine,
And turned they night to day.

“And if He’s helped thee hitherto,
He will not fail thee now;
How it must wound His loving heart
To see they anxious brow!

“Oh! Doubt not any longer,
To Him commit thy way,
Whom in the past thou trusted,
And is just the same today.”

He is the one that is in control and He has everything planned for me. I praise the Lord for His sufficient grace! I challenge you to fully trust Him with every area of your life, even when you can’t see Him working.

Psalm 115:11
“But our God is in the heavens: He hath done whatsoever He hath pleased.”