Around Orange County

First on the agenda was celebrating my best friend's birthday! We went to a tea room! Where we ate cute little sandwiches and laughed til we cried.

Then we went to Orange Circle and caught up with our kids who were having lunch and shopping.

They make some large burritos in So Cal! LOL

Then I had a lovely little time in this hammock that I stole from Joy. ;) 

That evening, Andrew's best friend was having a party so we went to get supplies to make our favorite games happen -the Saran Wrap ball game!

Our relatives from Sacramento were in town for a conference during the same week, which was quite amazing and they came to see us that night during the party. So great to see them!

The next day we went to the home of the wonderful P Famiily for breakfast. 

We relaxed during the day, until it was time for the boys to get ready for the winter formal. They were pretty sure they only needed 10 minutes to get ready. ;) 

When a very tall brother needs help with his hair, it requires standing on the toilet! 

 These handsome guys all ready to go!

Family photo before the dance!

The stunning couple! 

While they were at the dance, we went to LA to hang out with all the other kids.

One of many reasons why I wouldn't want to live there! ; )

We had Mexican food, then went to the Griffiths Observatory near the Hollywood sign. We were up on a mountain, so we had a beautiful view of the surrounding cities

and a close up view of how "The heavens declare the glory of God" through two different telescopes! 

Then we went to a donut shop called, Afters and we waited for an hour in line out in the cold for one of these babies!

That is a donut sliced in half, filled with ice cream and sprinkles and then fried again! 

Pretty sure it was worth it! 

~Becky

Hearing the voice I love

I'm taking a little break from the recap of our trip to say that something awesome happened today!

My hubby's company contacted me wondering if I might know his Apple ID number to restore an old phone of his so that they can sell it. And I asked if they wouldn't mind if I kept that phone for a day to see if there was anything on it that he may not have downloaded to our computer back then, but that would mean a lot of us now, in light of all that happened. Of course, they didn't mind at all.

And we hit the jackpot!!!!
: )

But first you have to know:
When Hubby had surgery in January of 2015 to remove the tumor in his esophagus, the doctors told us that his voice might change as a result. So, he decided that he and our kids would sing and play the "theme song" he chose, for this trial in our lives,  (Hello Hurricane by Switchfoot) on their instruments before the surgery, and record it, just in case. They had their jam session on 12/27/14 and since I knew that he was recording it, I just took some pictures.
In addition to that song, the night before the surgery, Andrew had the foresight to record Dad reading some of his favorite chapters in the Bible while he played his guitar softly in the background.

Well, Hubby's voice didn't change and he was cancer-free. So, we moved on with life! Hallelujah!
-Hubby got a new phone and Andrew had 2 different iPods since they made their recording. I had  pictures of the day they sang and played together but no one knew exactly where the recording was that Hubby made. UNTIL TODAY!
He won so many cancer-battles, we never dreamed that he'd "lose the war," so to speak. That was almost 4 months ago.
I just can't even put into words what a blessing it was TODAY to hear his voice singing and playing his heart out on guitar with our kids! It made me so happy!
Then I cried my heart out listening to him read Colossians 3!
No words to describe how special it is to hear THAT VOICE again, that we all loved so much! It seems like its been so long...
Am I ever grateful for that old iPhone and the voice memos we found on it!
What a treasure! The kids and I texted those recordings to ourselves to keep forever!

~Becky

All the fun in Julian

We went to the cute, little mountain town of Julian, during our stay in San Diego and had a great time!

Julian takes their apple pies very seriously 

and apparently litter: 

; )

We were all so shocked that we had to pay to use a public restroom that the thought of holding the door for the next person did not occur to us and we spent 6 quarters! LOL! Such tourists! 

My sweet aunt and uncle met us for lunch and we all chose a cute little place with a gorgeous view of the mountains. They sold an 8 pound apple pie! It was $8.25 a slice and about 8 inches tall! That's some serious pie!
But we held out to eat at the Julian Pie Co.
It was just as amazing as I remembered! My future hubby took me there on our first date.

Dogs seemed to just keep finding Joy.
Here's one in La Mesa

 and this one in Julian found her after we ate:

Too cute!

 Then we climbed up a gazillion steps to a 200 year old cemetery which provided a gorgeous view of the town.

 It looked like something out of a movie and the kids loved it and enjoyed reading the tomb stones for a glimpse of history.

After Julian, we had dinner in the home of a dear friend that I'm so grateful for.
This dear man was the one who shared the gospel with my hubby 27 years ago before we met and it changed his life! He always referred to him as his Father in the Faith.
And whenever I read 1Thess. 2:8, I think of him.
"Because we loved you so much, we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well."

He's always been so hospitable and this night was no exception. He also invited a big crowd of our friends and relatives. We had quite a loud, fun night full of fellowship. 

And now we all know that bison is quite tasty. LOL

~Becky

The three things I love most about being in San Diego...

Being with my precious family,

 eating these as often as possible  ; )

and seeing mountains again!!! 

If you live anywhere without them, then I'm sure you know what I mean.

It will always be one of my forever-favorite places!

~Becky

Wednesdays in the Word

The account of Jesus feeding the 5,000 with 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish from a little boy's lunch, is a popular one.
The feeding of 4,000 is less popular for some reason.
You can read this account in Matthew 15 or Mark 8.

But what I got excited about is what happened before that miraculous picnic!

It says that as Jesus sat on a mountain,
"Great multitudes came to Him, having with them the lame, blind, mute, maimed, and many others; and they laid them down at Jesus' feet..."

Imagine this scene. He's sitting there and huge numbers of people help bring all of those they know who have physical needs of every kind and they LAY THEM DOWN next to Jesus.
What a beautiful picture that must have been.
Imagine the determination and strength it took to even get some of them UP that mountain in the first place! I bet the ones with the ailments weren't the only ones who needed to lay down after that trek!

Now, get this!  Every single person's faith was rewarded that day. How amazing. It says "He healed them." Every. Single. One.
Quite possibly, thousands!

The mute started TALKING. And the lame started WALKING. And the blind started SEEING.
And the maimed, well, I had to look up the exact definition and it is: To injure, disable, or disfigure, usually by depriving of the use of a limb or other part of the body.
How glorious to see those folks healed! Verse 30 says that they 'were made whole.' Whatever was missing, damaged or immoveable was made whole once again!

It says that everyone "marveled" and they "glorified the God of Israel." -I bet they did!
I bet there was shouting by the mute and dancing by the lame and all manner of cheering by every able-bodied person there as well. It was a 3 day long praise party!

AND it was in this atmosphere of celebration that Jesus says He wants to feed the people.
 I don't think they had even noticed how hungry they should or would be. They were too excited.
But He noticed and He "had compassion on the mulitude" and said "I do not want to send them away hungry, lest they faint on the way."
I think that's so sweet. He saw their need before they did and He made a WAY.
It would have been so anticlimatic if the lame and maimed who were now healed,
 FAINTED from hunger. How lame would that be? ; )

The disciples came up with 7 loaves of bread and "a few little fish." -I love that it doesn't matter what we give to Jesus. He can do anything with it!
"So they ate and were filled..."
"Now those who ate were four thousand men, besides women and children."

As awesome as the feeding of the 5 thousand was, my favorite is now the feeding of the 4! : )
~Becky 

C.S. Lewis on grief

If you ever know someone grieving a spouse, I recommend sharing A Grief Observed with them. The great thing is, they certainly won't come away from it thinking that he doesn't relate to the extent of their pain!
He also viewed the loss of a spouse like an amputation.
 -I compared it to the loss of an arm the other day, and he compares it to the loss of a leg. I felt so understood when I read this and that was fun!
But I hope for all the world that you don't relate to it at all and never do! : )

"Getting over it so soon? But the words are ambiguous, to say the patient is getting over it after an operation for appendcitis is one thing, after he's had his leg off it is quite another...
Presently he'll get back his strength and be able to stump about on his wooden leg. 
He has "got over it." But he will probably have recurrent pains in the stump all his life, 
and perhaps pretty bad ones; and he will always be a one legged man. There will be hardly any moment when he forgets it. Bathing, dressing, sitting down and getting up again, even lying in bed, will all be different. His whole way of life will be changed. All sorts of pleasures and activities that he once took for granted will have to be simply written off. Duties too. 
At present I am learning to get about on crutches. 
Perhaps I shall presently be given a wooden leg. 
But I shall never be a biped again."  ~C.S. Lewis

Gotta love Lewis!

P.S. Please, don't be that friend that says "It is time to get over it."

~Becky

Wednesdays in the Word

Just this today:

"But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 
Therefore, my brethren, be steadfast, immoveable,
always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord."  1 Cor. 15:57-58