A Glimpse of Heaven

Revelation 22:1-5

"And he showed me a pure river of water of life,
clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of
God and of the Lamb. In the middle of its street,
and on either side of the river, was the tree of
life, which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding
its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were
for the healing of the nations. And there shall
be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the
Lamb shall be in it, and His servants shall serve
Him. They shall see His face, and His name shall
be on their foreheads. There shall be no night
there: They need no lamp nor light of the sun,
for the Lord God gives them light. And they
shall reign forever and ever."

Revelation 21:4 "And God will wipe every tear
from their eyes; there shall be no more death,
nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more
pain, for the former things have passed away."

When John was on the island of Patmos, God
revealed to him what was to come in the
end times. He also showed John glimpses
of heaven. These few verses are sharing
some of what heaven will be like, although we
will never fully understand the majesty
we will behold when we see God face to
face! For those who trust in Jesus as
Savior and Lord, we should look forward to
heaven with expectant hearts. There will
be no more pain, sorrow, crying or death!
I cannot wait for that day!!! We will not
even need the sun because God will be our
light (He is the TRUE Light now and forever)!
God is and will be on the throne, and we
will be worshipping Him for eternity! We
need to worship Him daily even now. He is
the Almighty God, the only One worthy of our
praise.

Jake and I will read these verses and just
talk about heaven- I'll say, "In heaven,
there will be the river of life." Jake
will say, "And there will be buildings
with all kinds of jewels on them." And
we'll go back and forth talking about
what the Bible tells us about heaven.
The Bible says that Jesus went to prepare
a place for us and that there are "mansions"
in heaven. But the best part of all, is
that God will be there. He is the focus,
and without Him, heaven would not be worth
spending eternity there. Learn about heaven
in God's Word, and even better, talk about
it- you'll be reminded of all God has waiting
for His children!

Luke's Missing Teeth

Luke had his teeth pulled a week and a half
ago and it went well with them putting him
under. Now we ask him, "Where are your teeth?"
and he responds, "All Gone" and points to
them. He gets his spacers with two fake front
teeth next Monday.

When Drew first saw him, he kept saying, "He
has shark teeth" because his teeth are so
pointy. It was funny.

You know you're a MOM of BOYS when. . .

Your idea of going to a Concert is

STAR WARS IN CONCERT!!!

Drew's 4th Birthday is Thursday and he LOVES
Star Wars, just like Jake, so we took the two
of them to Star Wars in Concert.

Drew and a Storm Trooper




Happy Birthday DREW!!!


We even ran into a college teammate from Arizona
and her family (Michelle (Churnock) Gonzalez!

God is the Best Doctor

I wrote this and posted it on the God's Call
Blog, but wanted to share it here too.

I was thinking about how we go to the Doctor to get help
when we have a sickness that is beyond our fixing. Or we
go to the doctor when we have pain and we don’t know
where it’s coming from. Another reason we go to the doctor
is when we break a bone or to see if it’s broken or not. I don’t
know if you rush to the doctor right away when your little one
gets a fever or a cough (unless it’s your first child right?!), but
after you’ve had more than one child, you “wait” and see how
the Tylenol works. You wait to see if you can keep the fever
below 102˚. At least this is what I do. If I can keep a handle
on it, I would rather figure it out. Get out some cold washcloths,
drink lots of liquids and pray. I only go to the doctor if I can’t fix
it myself.
I started thinking about how this can look in our spiritual lives. We
can tend to think we are doing alright as long as it’s not urgent- as
long as it’s not an emergency and in need of rushing to the
emergency room! We can be hurting, sad, bitter, angry, envious,
prideful or judgmental, but even to the smallest degree, these
are all sicknesses. In fact, we were born sick, and in need of a
doctor- “The” Doctor- The Master Physician: Jesus Christ. This
doctor has ALL the answers to staying healthy, and if we will listen
and learn and remember to come to Him constantly, we will find
healing and stay healthly! My heart is to honor God, and yet I
find that these little sicknesses constantly pop up in my life.
I also find that if I don’t acknowledge my sickness (sin in
my life), then it gets worse. I am only reminded how sick I
am when I have my visit to THE doctor. It’s in this time that
I spend praying or reading my Bible or asking for the healing
medicine (Jesus’ forgiveness through his blood on the cross)
that I remember that I can be healed instantly.
I’m talking about our spiritual lives & we can’t get healthy
on our own,no matter how hard we try. Even with the greatest
intentions and the best effort, we need to be forgiven by Jesus,
the true Healer and Redeemer. Let’s make sure to visit our
Master Physician on a regular basis and we will be as healthy
as can be!

Matthew 9:12: "Jesus said, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick."

Calvary Chapel Chino Hills Women's Retreat

So thankful for my friends!


This past weekend I went to my first Women's
Retreat with my church. The theme of the
weekend was "Blossoming in the Desert" and we
learned that we are either in a desert
experience, have been in one or will be
in one. We learned that desert experiences
(spiritually speaking) can be so hard (dry,
harsh, painful) but there is much to be learned
from them. We also were reminded that God is
the Living Water and wants to pour out His love to
all those who are thirsty. The teacher for the
weekend was Debbie Bryson and she was an amazing
Bible teacher. She knew her stuff, but knows her
God even more! I love that in people!!! You
can tell she is walking in the path that God
has chosen for her.

I was so blessed by the teachings and fellowship.
It was fun to hang out and room with friends, meet
new women and talk about God's truths with eachother.
My wonderful husband, Tommy, had my boys for ANOTHER
weekend while I was away! He is so good about that!!!
I am so thankful for his support.

A few points I want to highlight:
1. A desert is a passage: don't get stuck there.
2. When you're in the desert, look UP. Keep our
eyes on Jesus and our problems will be put in
perspective.
3. Have patience; James 1:2-4 says "Consider it
pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials
of many kinds, because you know that the testing
of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance
must finish its work so that you may be mature
and complete, not lacking anything."
**Remember: Joy is different than happiness.
Happenings are connected to Happiness, but
JOY is disconnected: JOY is much deeper.
4. Trials are called: the testing of your faith.
Faith is what is at stake!
5. Make sure God's Word is ABIDING IN you.
You'll need it.
6. Never forget that you are not the only one
in the desert.
7. Biggest temptation in trials from Satan
will be not to trust in God and to try to take
care of it ourselves.
8. Love is linked to joy. We need love, we
were created to love (God first, then people)
9. It's the pressures of life that PRESS you
into the PROMISES of God.

I could write a ton more, but this is it for
now. God loves us more than we can fathom
and I was so thankful to spend a weekend
learning more about His Word.

God Bless You!



My roomies for the weekend: 6 women in one room!
So much fun!! (Nail our "deserts" to the Cross!)

Fun at the Fair (LA Country Fair)

Last week our family went to the LA County Fair.
It was 102 degrees outside, but luckily we were
prepared this year. We brought a lot of ice cold
water and packed a lunch. We saved room for treats
(the best part of the Fair!). The treats for us
this year were Dippin Dots, a churro, and Fried
Snickers. The kids had a good time and we were
able to see quite a bit. They loved the open
area to run and we had to keep reminding them to
stay within eye sight. The funniest part was when
we were eating our fried snickers and getting
ready to leave. Somebody came up to us and asked
if we'd be interested in being on Super Nanny!
I wasn't sure how to take that- my kids were
actually behaving at the moment, but maybe they
saw the potential for craziness in my boys (or
maybe they saw us earlier when the boys were
running out of control) or maybe they saw that
Tommy and I look tired and thought it must have
to do with raising three boys!!! It was pretty
funny either way!

Here are some pictures of our Fun at the Fair:

Hungry ants

Petting animals

Teamwork: Fishing together

One of the few moments they stood still!

Riding Tractors

Scary Dinsaurs

Luke- 1st pictures missing his two front teeth!

Posing with mom


FAIR FAVORITES:

Dippin Dots!!!!

Everybody has to share

FRIED Snickers!!!! (Tommy's treat that I shared
with him)

Crashed out kids!!!!

Pray, Pray, Pray

Please pray for Daisy Love! She is a 5 yr. old
little girl whose father is Britt Merrick. Britt
is the Pastor at Reality Carpenteria. He is an
amazing Bible teacher and adores his family. I
attended Pastor Jack's (Calvary Chapel Chino Hills)
daughter's wedding last Saturday night and Britt
was the Pastor who did the ceremony. Just a
couple days ago his daughter fell and from what
I understand, they found out then that she had
a nerf football size tumor that is cancerous
in her stomach. She had surgery this morning
and we have been praying and this is the latest
update:

9/24 @ 1:25pm
They were able to remove all the tumor in one piece!
Preliminary assessment is that it is Stage 3 cancer.
Final pathology will not come in for at least 48hrs.
Daisy is intubated and will be kept asleep for a while.

Please keep them in your prayers.

Please pray for little Dylan Davis, too. He is a 3 yr.
old boy of a friend who is going through cancer
treatments for tumors in his body as well.

Brielle Murray is another young girl fighting the
battle with cancer. I am amazed when I read what
these parents post as they walk this hard journey.
They cling to the Living God- He is their hope and
strength. They are amazing witnesses for Jesus in
their struggles. We need to continue to lift them
up in prayer! I know they feel it when we pray!!!

Every day and every moment is a gift from the Lord.

Isaiah 41:11
Like a shepherd He will tend His flock,
In His arm He will gather the lambs And carry them
in His bosom; He will gently lead the nursing lambs.

Just an Update

The One Year Devotions for Boys
(Great for ages 6-12)


Well, we have now officially been back in school
for a month now! Wow- time flies when you have
a million things to do!!! There is never enough
time in the day to get everything done. As a
homeschooling mom, I've already discovered that
there are going to be many different responsibilities
and emotions happening ALL the time. Being a mom
alone is the busiest job there is! There is always
something to clean, wash, brush, clothe, and change.
Then you add full-time teacher to the job description
and wow, you wonder how to make it all work. Some days,
I don't know how it all works, but it does.

One thing I am thankful for is that I can choose
what curriculum my child uses. I have only been
homeschooling for 3 years now, but have found that
it works best for Jake to pull from different
curriculums for different subjects. We are
doing Math U See for Math, A Beka for Language
and History and Geography, using Science Kits and
different books for Science, Story of the World for
History too, Notebooking for Bible and The One
Year Devotion for Boys, as well. I have the picture
of the One Year Devotion because I love this book.
I've picked up devotional books in the past, but
this one has great stories that my son can relate
to. It has a few verses each day to read that
teach a truth from the Bible and then it gives
a story that shows an example of that truth being
lived out (or not). He looks forward to reading
his devotion every day. Some days we read it
together and others he reads it alone. I've seen
that they also have them for girls (see bottom of
this post).

We have also been reading another Trailblazer Book.
In fact, I bought two big books that each included
5 Trailblazer books in them. As we read these
stories, Jake is learning more about Christian Heros
throughout the world from the past. I am also reminded
through these books that being a Christian means
being a servant and am praying that God will
continue to show us all areas we can serve in. The
book we are reading is:

The Queen's Smuggler: William Tyndale


So it's been busy, but it's been good. It's
been challenging at times, but it's worth it.
I have really been enjoying our co-op every
Tuesday, and Jake is in Friday school every
other Friday.

On a personal note, I'm excited to be starting
another Beth Moore Study (David). We
had our first meeting on Monday and after
doing the first day of our study, I know
I'm going to learn so much about David. This
weekend I'm also attending our Women's Retreat
for Calvary Chapel Chino Hills. It's my
first one and I'm excited for this experience.

The One Year Devotions for Girls
(This is the same, but for girls)

More Than Conquerors: New Shows

More Than Conquerors:
New Shows featuring. . .
Kurt Warner; Tom Osborne; Amber Neben; Freddie Scott II


5 new shows will be coming soon on More Than
Conquerors, a Sports Show on TBN that I co-host
with A.C. Green (Lakers) and Frank Pastore (KKLA
Radio Host, Cincinatti Reds). The show airs
Monday mornings at 8:30am Pacific every week
nationwide. We feature athletes and coaches
from all different sports. Through their
stories and interviews, we see how to live
a life of faith while competing to be the
very best we can be. From the Director, Randy
Clark, to the camera crew to A.C. and Frank,
everyone is so great to work with! I enjoy
the time on the set and am always encouraged
by the athletes and coaches that we feature.
Check out our page of Facebook, and become
a fan of MTC! You can see extra footage and
up and coming stories that we will be covering.

On Set: Hosts and Crew


Prep Time

Trying to be as tall as A.C.! I'm barely taller than
him on a chair!!! He's 6'9" tall!!!

Frank Pastore (Host for KKLA Radio)

Director, Randy Clark

Me and A.C.- working hard

Tandi (make-up artist and stage manager)

The make-up required to make me look good!!!

Hard working camera crew

Friday School is back in session!

School is back in full swing and I homeschool,
but we are also part of Western Christian ISP,
and every other Friday Jake attends Friday school.
He has friends from church in his class and many
other new friends through this group. We start
the morning out with worship where the kids and
siblings and parents sing praise songs. Then
the kids each go to their own classes for their
different grades. This year, Jake will be learning
about character, science and art. He is excited
to be back in Friday school.