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Monday, March 30, 2009

Another great weekend!

We were so thrilled to have my nephews with us again this weekend! We played and ate the whole time! It was 80 degrees so the boys felt that it was time to swim! So, we bought a small swimming pool and there they went! Cherish followed along, did whatever they did and I hardly heard a word out of her!! It was really cute! Crashed on Saturday night!

Church was fantastic yesterday morning, Bro. Rick Teal, preached and the Lord really moved! We saw people rejoice and refresh in the Lord! Then, last night, Bro. Trent Gilliam preached an awesome message! I was had a special treat in the middle of the service, I looked back and there sat my Uncle Dale and Aunt Carolyn Hopper! We are so happy that they are in the state right now! Headed back to Florida real soon!

Today is Family Day, and we haven't decided yet what or if we are going to anything!! My house looks like 3 boys and a little girl were here for a few days! Anyone want to help get it back in shape???

Friday, March 27, 2009

He is careful of you!

My sister-in-law wanted me to see this scripture, that we are all so familiar with in "The Message" bible. Which is a great version for daily devotions! I thought that I would share with you! We all get overwhelmed with trying to prove ourselves in situations or to fix things to "Our" best ability! These two scriptures definitely tell us to trust in Him!! Living carefree in Him, does not mean to just live carefree in life, but to live without care while living FOR Him. When we are careful of something we love we take extra special attention and are very delicate with it! How much more would God be? He careth or is careful of us! Thank you, Jesus, for knowing and caring!

1 Peter 5:6-7 (King James Version)
6Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time:
7Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.


1 Peter 5:6 (The Message) So be content with who you are, and don't put on airs. God's strong hand is on you; he'll promote you at the right time. Live carefree before God; he is most careful with you.

Thursday, March 26, 2009

My sweet husband and daughter


Thank you, Sis. Ronda Hurst for your beautiful photography! I "borrowed" this from your blog!

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Home Missions Retreat & Kite Slideshow

I told you that I would have some pictures of the retreat, then we went to the park yesterday and Cherish (with Adam's help) flew her elephant kite! We had a really nice Family Day and are settling back into our home!! It is so nice to NOT be packing a bag!! I'm going to put the pictures all together! Enjoy!

Monday, March 23, 2009

Finally Monday!

It is the week off!!! All of the retreats and conferences are over! I'm not repacking!!!

What a wonderful opportunity to be involved in the two occasions, however, I am so happy to be home! Cherish is playing in her PJ's right now and asking to fly her kite that her brother-in-law got her. I am very suspicious that he bought it more for himself then he did her, but she was a great excuse!

It's Family Day and I plan on doing just that, spending quality family time!! It looks like Adam and Misti may be coming over since we plan to break out the kite AND I mentioned my meatloaf! They conveniently come around when that is on the menu! LOL Of course, there is no complaint from me!!

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Home Missions Retreat

Yes, I'm gone, AGAIN!! Am I tired of going, Yes, very much so! Stephen is the promotions director for the Home Missions Dept. and this is one of the highlights of the year for the Home Missionaries! The Dept. pays their way for 3 nights in a hotel in a selected city, which is Santa Rosa this year, then pays all food and travel! We went to a wonderful Mexican restaurant last night and there were about 40 of us. Today is classes until 1:00 and then Clam Chowder by the Sea, dinner later and then a service with Bro. Dannie Hood speaking. It has the potential of being a wonderful day!!

It is 10:00 am and Cherish is still asleep! Stephen was a good boy and took Bro. Flowers, the Home Missions director on to church! Well, his wife, my friend, Saprina and I decided last night that we both NEED rest. So, we are going at 11:30 just in time to hear her husband speak and go for Clam Chowder! Sound like a plan? We both have had some overwhelming events in the last few weeks and decided that our husbands could hold the fort for a while today!! LOL

The Flowers rode with us last night to dinner, we got lost! 15 miles the wrong direction! We were all talking and guess what? Where are we? Then afterwards, they needed a store open late (after 10) so that caused another huge ring a round the rosies tour of Santa Rosa, but at last, Safeway!!! We laughed and had a great time.

I knew my husband was relaxed when who should appear, but his long lost character, Boudy Boudy Bougewah! The camel man!!! Complete with the story of Omar and Clyde and the fleabitis!!! It's a long story! His fun in the evangelizing days! Thank you Tim and Saprina for enjoying a moment in the past! It was so good to laugh together!!!

Monday, March 16, 2009

Ladies Conference Pictures



I mentioned yesterday that we had a wonderful conference! From the first word spoken, God moved in! I was amazed as each speaker and each song wove together! My friend, Debbie Saiz and Sis. Donna Linvill were our speakers. What an awesome job they did! Another dear friend, Sis. Rhonda Hurst was the worship leader and had put together a fantastic worship team! I had no idea that Danell sings like she does, wow! Beautiful!!




I'm on the district ladies board, I've been on the team for 5 years and since that time, we have had a lot of new ladies come on board. It is primarily a new board! I really felt that we worked together well, and what a dynamic conference we put together! Thank you, Jesus, for showing up and blessing it!!




Ok, here is my story............By Friday night, I'm exhausted! Of course, you know that I've had a lot going on, then tons of work preparing for the conference, and then sitting up on the beds with the ladies until 1-2 am each morning just giggling and having a great time! Well, we had sang and danced in worship service, I had on a new gorgeous jacket that is WAY too hot for spring, so it will be put away until winter, so I sat down for the speaking of Sis. Linvill and I have to tell you, I'm hot, tired, and settling in.................Well, I see mickey mouse or a flower in the clouds sometimes while we are driving, things in my granite counter tops, you know what I mean? Like there is a raccoon on one of the wooden doors at the church, the stain and grain of the wood at one spots looks like a raccoon to me. Ok, if this doesn't make sense, just ignore me, but I'm leading up to something! Well, because I'm sitting on the platform, of course I should be dignified, correct? Sister Linvill is speaking about 5 feet from me, we are sitting she is standing, therefore I am eye level with her beautiful skirt! Olive green with a lighter green design! All of the sudden, I see something, I get tickled!! I tell Sis. Amber Gilliam what I see, she gets tickled, it is hilarious by this time and Sis. Jana Allard asks what is so funny! She gets tickled! By now, I am crying I have to stop, however, I cannot look up at the speaker as I will lose it again! I took a picture! I will put the full skirt first and then it zoomed in! You will know why I lost it!!!

Yes, these aleins were staring straight at the board! Everytime she moved, they bobbed their heads! We got our composure and Sis. Amber Gilliam said, "Oh, my God, they keep staring at me!" LOL, it was too funny at the WRONG time!

Here are some more serious pictures!



Sunday, March 15, 2009

Home again, Home again, Jiggidy, Jig!!

I'm home from Ladies Conference! My little princess was so glad to see me, she kept hugging me and then she would lean back hold my face, giggle and hug me again and say, "I missed you so much!" It was too sweet, I had to tear myself away to hug my big honey which was very glad to see me! He had vacuumed, cleaned showers and toilets! Washed, folded and put away their laundry and cleaned windows and mirrors! Wow, what a fantastic husband!! Poor Cherish was so glad to get her hair combed! She wore her hair in hats for 4 days! Well, Ketarah, a girl from our church did keep her for a while on Friday while Stephen had an appointment to keep, so she put pigtails in for her! Then Stephen took Cherish to Chuck E Cheese and Build a Bear! What a fantastic date for a daddy and little girl!! I've got great pictures of Ladies Conference that I will share in a day or two! It was absolutely awesome! I do not ever remember one being so dynamic! Thank you Lord for your continued blessings! Can't wait for church tonight!

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Sunday's Baptisms!!

We had anticipated the baptism of my nephew, Mark this past Sunday. We had a Family & Friends day and packed the house! Well, my nephew, Joshua had decided to be baptized along with Mark! God moved in a miraculous way, and a visitor, Michael, which is the boyfriend of Misti's friend, Kim, decided to be baptized, too! God had remarkably moved on him during the altar service and he was very responsive to being baptized. You will remember that I have mentioned that Kim is one of the girls that Misti has brought to the Lord while waitressing at Perkos! She has come a long way and is so happy that her Michael is showing interest! I had to share his pictures right along with Mark & Josh because we are so excited about what God is doing in Kerman! Please be sure to see the below post about our Family Day!

Hopper Family Weekend!

This past weekend was our Hopper Family Day, here in Kerman! What a wonderful time we had! All of my Dad's brothers and sisters were here! My Aunt Jeri Wilkenson came from Washington, my Uncle Dale Hopper came from Floriday, my Uncle Harold Gene from Nipomo, Ca, Aunt Shirlene from Arroyo Grande, and my dad, Ron Hopper, from Ohio. We ate, then we ate some more! We laughed, and as you can see, Cherish entertained us all! We had a fantastic service together on Sunday, I will make a seperate slideshow of that! Here are some of the pictures of the fun!!


Cherish & Stick horse from Papaw




Cherish & Uncle Harold Gene arguing about the Dogs & Cats!

Cherish walking like sissy!!

Monday, March 9, 2009

What an AWESOME weekend!

I don't have time right now to explain the whole weekend, however, I will tell you that the Family Day was fantastic! And there is no way to explain our Sunday Service! Just AWESOME! We baptized three, 2 of them being my nephews!!!! Thank you, Jesus!!

I'm at ladies conference

I'm in a room with Misti and having a great time!! Cherish is with Daddy so pray fir him!!! Misti is the hostess for Sis Donna Linville and she was so impressed with Sis Linvils sweet spirit!! Poor Mis, my being on the Ladies Board gets her into more jobs!! Oh well, it's good for her!!


Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Yes, I'm still alive!!

Sorry to have been so long between posts! I can't even begin to tell you how busy I have been! I want to start by asking you to see my daughter, Misti's blog! The link is http://adamandmisti.blogspot.com/ ! She will explain the miraculous happenings in our family this week! Many of you have been praying for my family due to very unhappy circumstances with my brother! We had the pleasure of taking his oldest son to our winter camp last weekend and I would love for you to read the story on her blog! Oh, I just have to tell you, Mark received the Holy Ghost! I am so thrilled! His Dad called me and he was thrilled, too! We are going to baptize him this Sunday!! She has the full account though! If you would like to comment on my blog about it, I would love to hear from you! God can take a really bad situation and turn it for good!! I'm adding a picture below of Misti and Adam still praying with Mark just after he recieved the Holy Ghost!! It is so precious! Of course, Misti loves her cousin, but it is so sweet to me that Adam loves him like he does! Mark really looks up to him and as you see in this picture, they both carry a burden for him! The other boy there is Bro. Darin Sargeant's son! Bro. Sargeant was the speaker and Mark loved him!


Ok, I may not be able to post for a while, I am scrubbing my house today because I have around 40 family members coming from all over the country and some from Canada to be with us for a family day that I am hosting this weekend, then on Sunday, my cousin's husband, Rev. Andrew Dillon, who is the district superintendent of British Columbia, Canada will be preaching for us and a lot of my family is staying for that service! We will have camp Kerman! I will have a house full here, even air mattresses! Misti will have some, one of the sweet ladies in our church will be hosting a few, some are with other area relatives and on and on..................... They start flying in on Thursday! I cannot wait! We are so honored to be hosting this for my dad and his 4 siblings and their children/grandchildren/great grandchildren etc. We have such a wonderful apostolic heritage that I am so grateful for!



I'll take lots of pictures of the family and of Mark being baptized!!



They are mostly leaving on Monday and then on Wednesday morning, I leave for Ladies Conference. I am our sectional ladies ministries leader and am in charge of the brunch on Saturday! I have to transport the decorations, and by the way, the centerpieces this year are beautiful apothecary jars filled with beautiful fruit! I have to take all 53 of those jars that I've obtained over the past few months, and take them out of their jars, make sure they are fingerprint free, that their lids fit, put the fruit in them and then put them all back in their boxes for safe keeping! I have to transport them to Sacramento with me (safely) and be prepared bright and early on Saturday morning! Most of my work is pre-conference! All of the place cards, table numbers, reserved signs, programs, coordinating table linens with the hotel, etc. But it is always so beautiful! A highlight of the conference!! Then after the brunch, I sell the centerpieces and the ladies are always so happy to take a memento of the conference home with them!



I'm so excited! We have 14 women going this year! In the past, there has not been much enthusiasm from our ladies, so it has just been Misti and I! By the way, you young ladies, Misti LOVES it! It's a great time away from pressure and we just love the Lord and stay up late eating snacks on the beds and laughing and laughing and laughing..........................



So, as you can see, I just a little busy! I just took a moment away from scrubbing to catch you up!! So if you miss me, I'm either thoroughly enjoying my family or I'm off to Sacramento!!