Prayer

"You can tell how popular a church is by who
comes on Sunday morning."

"You can tell how popular the pastor or evangelist
is by who comes on Sunday evening."

"But you can tell how popular Jesus is by who
comes to the prayer meeting."

Excerpt from Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire by Jim Cymbala

Beth Moore Conference

Michele, Kristi, Wendy and me just
before we went in to Sat morning session


This past weekend I took a road trip up
to Stockton, CA (6 hr drive) with 3 of
my friends from our church and my Bible
study. We had a great time together
at Beth Moore's Living Proof Live
Conference. She is such a gifted
Bible teacher and an amazing speaker!
I was encouraged, taught, challenged and also
laughed a lot. I enjoyed the girl time
too. I am so thankful for my friends!
The title of the conference was "From
Bridezilla to Bride: A 7 Step Makeover"
and the teaching was from Revelation 19.
It was all about being prepared for our
Bridegroom, Jesus Christ, and His return!

On Fri we were 8 rows from the stage

Lots of women excited to hear Beth speak



Kristi, Me, Michele, Wendy

Family Time with Nana and Uncle Bob!

Tommy, Bob and our boys


Tommy's brother, Bob, visited us from Colorado.
He was in town for work and stopped by for a few
hours to hang out and play with the boys. They
loved playing in the backyard with their Uncle Bob.
Drew got him to throw bucket after bucket of balls
while he hit. We don't see Tommy's side of the family
much, but we really enjoy it when we get the chance!

Drew Loves to HIT!




Tommy's mom is happy to be with 2 of her sons and
her grandsons!


We have enjoyed having Tommy's Mom, aka Nana, stay
with us this past month. She raised Tommy and his
3 older brothers, but it's been a while, so I'm sure
these boys of mine have worn her out! I'm know they
are loving every minute of having her here. She leaves
in a couple days to go back to Papa in Boston and
she will be missed. Thanks Nana (Mom) for visiting
us. We love you!

The family and Nana

Jake, Drew and Nana

Me, Tommy and Mom

Friends

I love my friends!!! I love making new friends,
but have to keep my old ones too!!! We are getting
older, but I love the idea of being "old" friends.
I love getting together with friends who have known
me for a long time! I recently got together with
one of my closest friends from elementary school
and throughout high school, Pam. I love the fact
that we now all have our own families and we bring
our kids when we get together. It's hard when
we all have our busy lives and we don't live close
by, but there is something special about getting
together and being able to catch up where we left
off last time! It's so funny how many of my friends
have boys too!!

Me and Pam

Drew, Jake, Drew Yuri, Steven Yuri


I also had a great time visiting with my former
teammate (2000, 2004) on the Olympic Team, Stacey
Nuveman. I think Stacey and I could talk forever
if we were given the chance! Her son, Chase, is two
months younger than Luke, so he had a great time
running around with my 3 boys.

My three boys and Chase Deniz (Stacey Nuveman-Deniz' son)



John 15:5: "No longer do I call you servants,
for a servant does not know what his master
is doing; but I have called you FRIENDS, for
all things that I have heard from My Father
I have made known to you."

What do you BELIEVE?

Sometimes when I sign autographs, I sign a person's
name and then I put "Dream BIG" or "Live Your
Dreams" or even "Always BELIEVE". But what does
it mean to believe? I am a firm BELIEVER that
our ACTIONS show what our BELIEFS are. We can
BELIEVE in many things- our abilities, our family,
our friends, our stuff, our knowledge, our strength,
our health, but none of those things will matter
after we die. All that will matter is if we BELIEVED
in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. If we really
BELIEVE in Him, our actions will stand out and we
will be known for that BELIEF! If we aren't known
for that BELIEF and we don't stand apart, maybe
we don't TRULY BELIEVE after all! Let's make sure
our actions speak louder than our words!

Isaiah 43:10-11: "You are my witnesses," says the
Lord, "and my servant whom I have chosen, that you
may know and BELIEVE Me, and understand that I am
He. Before Me, there was no God formed, nor
shall there be after Me. I, even I, am the Lord
God and besides Me there is no Savior."

Acts 16:31: "So they said, 'Believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ and you will be saved, you and your
household."

Romans 10:9 ..."that if you confess with your
mouth the Lord Jesus and BELIEVE in your heart
God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved."

Happy Father's Day to all the Dads out there!

Tommy and our 3 loving, adorable, hyper, funny,
crazy, handsome little boys!

I want to wish every dad out there "Happy Father's
Day!" My husband, Tommy, is an amazing Dad to our
3 boys: Jake, Drew and Luke. It's something special
when people can look up to their Dads and see
godly examples. Here are some pictures of Tommy
with his boys the past few years!

Proverbs 23:24: "The father of a righteous man
has great joy; he who has a wise son delights
in him."


Tommy and Drew (Oct 2008)

Tommy and Jake (Summer 2008)

Tommy and Luke (August 2008)

Tommy and our 3 boys (Oct 2007)
Photo by Josh Menashe. . . www.perfectlypictured.com

Tommy and Luke (May 2007)

Tommy and Luke (April 2007)

Tommy, Jake and Drew (Feb 2007)

Tommy and Drew (Oct 2006)

Tommy and Jake (Oct 2006)

Tommy, Jake and Drew (Christmas 2005)

Tommy, Jake and Drew (Oct 2005)

Tommy and Jake (2005)

Tommy and Jake (2004)

Ministry

Zsanae, Mariah, Alisa and I feel that God has
called us into ministry. We've named that ministry
"God's Call". We have spoken at a one day Women's
Conference at Crossroads Church in Corona. We look
forward to what God has in the future. Through
prayer, we step out in faith and trust what God
has put on our hearts. Below is what my Bible
study says about ministry.

"Receiving" a ministry may begin with a sense of
calling to a particular type of service, but we
cannot truly say we have "received" a ministry
until the Lord opens that particular door. Desire
must be met with opportunity.
-Using Your Spiritual Gifts

I also have been sharing my faith through the years
around the country. I completely believe that
God is the one who "opens" doors and "closes"
doors, but we are the ones who need to be
prepared when He "opens" a door.

Do you feel God "calling" you into a ministry?
Ask Him to reveal to you where He wants you
and what He wants you to be doing. Our focus
should be to "join" God where He is working.
That was what Jesus was all about- His Father's
business! He is not only our Savior, He is our
example. Let's Follow Him!

What is Prophecy?

I have been doing a Bible Study called "Using Your
Spiritual Gifts" by Eddie Rasnake and it is so good.
It teaches about spiritual gifts as you pull Scripture
apart and see what the Bible says about each gift.
I loved the part about the gift of Prophecy. Whenever
I hear prophecy, I think about the predicting of events
before they happen. That is what prophecy is. But there
is also another very important aspect of prophecy that
I did not understand. Prophecy is also forthtelling.
Forthtelling is speaking the mind, will, and perspective
of God to His people and pointing out deviations from
His way. The Bible as a whole has mainly forthtelling
as it's exercise of prophecy (along with foretelling, of
course). 1 Corinthians 14:1-5 talks about the ministry
of the gift of prophecy and tells us that is results in
"edification and exhortation and consolation". The
prophets and the disciples were very bold in foretelling
the will of God and pointing out those who turned from
His ways. Just a little thought to ponder. . . prophecy
is foretelling and forthtelling.

Daniel Study- Completed!!

We did it! We finished the Beth Moore "Daniel"
Bible Study. We meet every two weeks, so instead
of 12 weeks, we finished it in 24 weeks. This
group was committed! We made it to the finish line.
I am so blessed by this group of girls! Last night
was our final night in the study so we had a pot
luck (mexican food. . .yummy!)We also celebrated
and surprised our friend, Jaime, expecting a baby
girl in early September. It was a great night with
the girls.

My Sisters In Christ

Pink Cupcakes for a Baby Girl (I'm obviously not used to pink in my house)

Congrats Jaime, we're so excited for you!

Contenders for the Faith

Jake finished his year with a group of friends
in Contenders for the Faith. It's similar
to Boy Scouts. Some of the things they
did this year were: made kites, learned
to cook, learned about birds and wrote to
friends who are in Germany as missionaries.

The WHOLE Gang: Lots of little boys!

Teachers: Mrs. Miller and Mrs. Kenny

Jake and his cousin, Taylor

Jake and proud mom

Cousins: Taylor, Micah, Luke, Drew and Jake

There was also a girls group (Taylor was in) called
Keepers at Home.

Hartsville, South Carolina

Pastor Gary, Courtney, Bethany, me, Lindsay and Flora


This past weekend I spent time in Hartsville, South
Carolina. It was my first time to Hartsville. I
had a chance to speak at a softball tournament with
14&U and 16&U teams in it. Ray Morrell runs tournaments
in the area throughout the year and is a huge fan
of softball, but he's also a Christian and has made
an impact by allowing devotionals to be done on Sunday
mornings at some of these tournaments. I love the idea
because when you have games on Sunday, it's hard to get
to church. The parents, coaches and girls were fun to
be around. I also had the priviledge of speaking at
Emmanuel Baptist Church. Pastor Gary Colboch teamed
up with Ray to bring me out. I spent time with Gary and
his family (unlike me, he has 3 girls). His wife, Flora,
even gave me an adorable apron (I'll have to get pictures
and show it off) as a gift. Everybody at the church was
so kind and many came up afterward to say hi, shake my hand,
check out the medals, get an autograph, and even give
me a hug! I love the fact that as children of God, we
are brothers and sisters in Christ. I definitely felt
like I was around family in Hartsville, S.C.!

After the service: Bethany, Courtney, Me and Flora


This is Ray Morrell's daughter, Brandy Morrell.

I told her I wanted a picture with her because
two years ago she won a contest and was named
South Carolina Idol. She has an amazing voice
and I know because we asked her to sing for us
on the spot and she belted it out!

Crazy Love

I read this book this weekend on my trip out to
South Carolina. I highly recommend it to
everyone. It is challenging and encouraging
at the same time. It makes us evaluate
ourselves and see if we are really living
the Christian life out in our lives. Many
people can say it, buy how many people can
"walk" the "talk"? I personally believe that
if you are truly a follower of Jesus Christ,
your life will look different from those around
you. The Bible tells us that we are to be a
light in this dark world. There is no more
important time than NOW to be reading our Bibles,
knowing the TRUTH, living it out and allowing
God's will to be done in our lives. Read "Crazy
Love"! You can also check out Francis Chan on
Youtube.

Another hitter in the family?

Drew has been saying "Can we hit today Mommy?"
almost every day lately. Of course my answer
is "YES". So we have been hanging out in the
backyard and I throw some balls to see if
he can hit them. He does pretty well, but
of course I'm going to challenge him. It's
fun that he likes it and he's pretty coachable
for being only 3 yrs. old. He was taking a few swings
and in one of these pictures he even rotates
on the back foot! Pretty impressive!