To Cherish

What more can I ask for?

2010-12-10T17:30:00.000-08:00

Hello!

2010-12-10T17:23:00.000-08:00

It has been almost a year since I have blogged. Forgive me! I have actually signed on today thinking to delete my entire blog and here I am, posting!! With the church, the family (a soon to be 5 year old), district duties, etc, I have just been neglectful here!

I decided to go ahead and post because I feel extremely blessed right now! I am sitting in my home, nice and cozy! Cherish napping, which is very rare, my sweetheart is here working on the computer, which is very common, and the two dogs are snoring! I am well, warm and loved! There is a lot to be said right there! I could elaborate about people who are not so blessed in any one or all of those areas!

So, as you think to complain or despair.............count your blessings!

Africa

2010-01-30T10:34:00.000-08:00

Well, my sweet husband and son-in-law are leaving for Ghana, Africa! They are going on a missions trip and I am so excited for them. This is a chance in a lifetime! They will be preaching at two different crusades! One in Accra and one in Cape Coast. It is so interesting because there is another denomination, trinity, that many of their pastors have seen the truth of "one God" and have asked for teaching, several have been baptized in Jesus' name already. The first crusade will be with their pastors teaching them the importance of baptism in Jesus' name and the fallacies of the trinity. Then a UPCI crusade that is an outdoor event supported by the UPCI headquarters church that will reach out to the un-church people!

I want to thank everyone that has been such a support in prayers and finances. God has truly supplied for them. I know that several who sent love offerings struggle to make end meet, then again that is just about all of us these days, isn't it? God will surely bless you for your desire to be a part of this life changing event!

They leave my house at 12 midnight on Sunday night. I am completely DREADING it! Anyone who knows Stephen and I very well, knows that we are always together. He doesn't travel without me, I go very few places without him, ugghh! We have been married 25 years and the longs stretch apart has been 5 days for ladies conferences, or his 1-3 day preaching events out of state. He will be gone 11 days. That is a very long time!

Cherish just made her daddy a bag of goodies for on the plane. In one bag, there are sour gummy worms, licorice, frosted animal cookies, and Cheezits!! Yummy, he will be thrilled.

Please keep them in your prayers, and for my sanity! LOL!

Walking through Obstacles

2009-11-13T10:34:00.000-08:00

15-16 The wall was finished on the twenty-fifth day of Elul. It had taken fifty-two days. When all our enemies heard the news and all the surrounding nations saw it, our enemies totally lost their nerve. They knew that God was behind this work. (The Message)
Nehemiah 6:15

When Nehemiah rebuilt the walls around Jerusalem, it was no small feat. There wasn't any heavy construction equipment to carve the rocks or to move and place them. . . the distance around the walls modestly measured about 1 1/2 to 2 miles in circumference. The people had attempted to rebuild the walls, 90 years and 13 years prior, only to succumb to defeat - now they were discouraged. And yet, under Nehemiah's leadership, the wall was completed in 52 days!

Why was Nehemiah successful, when others had failed? In reading through the book of Nehemiah, I found that he did the following:
He prayed. . .
He planned. . .
And He depended on God.

What tremendous task are you facing? Have you prayed? Have you heard from God? Do you know His plan? If not, get down on your knees and don't get up until you've heard from Him! But, once you know His plan, get going! Make the necessary arrangements, do what you can do . . . but as you work, depend on God. . . believing that no matter the obstacles, if it is from Him, nothing in the world will stop it from being completed! Written by Marji "Mike" Kruger

This was a daily devotional that I felt impressed to send to someone that is looking at rebuilding their life! I thought that I would share!!!

So Blessed!

2009-10-27T23:07:00.000-07:00

I had a lady that I highly respect ask me last night how my daughter, Misti is doing! I just remarked that she is doing great and that her and Adam are really happy and very busy with the church! She just smiled really sweetly and said, "Misti is a very special young lady!"

I know that myself, I take it for granted. She is very godly and has a very sweet spirit about her! What an awesome soal winner she is and a great mentor! However, it just all came to my mind again at how blessed I am that she is grown, almost 22 years old and she has been such a joy to us!

Misti, I love you much and am so very godly proud of you! You are beautiful and don't ever lose the sweet spirit of the Lord that you have. Without Him, we are nothing! Love you much!

It's Fall!!!

2009-10-19T10:40:00.000-07:00

I love it when the weather begins too cool, the leaves begin to change and you can just feel the change in the air! I notice that everyone begins to talk about the Holiday Season, speak of family traditions, and bring out the sweaters and shop for new boots! I've heard several mention that they are a bit nervous for Christmas because of the financial situations this year. Maybe we all need to reconsider the way that we have always done things. Maybe we should focus a little more on quality time then on quantity or abundance of "things!" I have yet to talk to one person, even in the ministry that has not felt the effects of our economy! So, we really need to think about what we will do this year. I think, "But Misti and Adam will be so disappointed if they don't get as much as usual!" Then I hear her say, "Mom, I think we all need to be careful this year!" I also remember each year that Adam says, "You guys always buy too much!" I just wonder, would our love for our children or their love for us change any if we show our love in acts, in deeds, maybe in mom's cooking? I know the answer to this, now, can I actually do it? I'm not saying that we won't buy anything, I'm saying that the stress on all of us would be a lot less if we could learn to have moderation in our buying! Everyone that we usually buy gifts for are in the same situation...............hmmmm, I think we could truly make this a special holiday by enjoying one another and concentrate on what truly matters!

Think upon these things!!!

2009-09-11T20:00:00.000-07:00

We have all heard the following scripture all of our lives! I was recently trying to encourage someone in learning to walk with God, that I know that there will be times that the "old life" or the "dark things" try to creep their way back into minds and hearts. Of this we are all certain. The devil will not ever leave us alone and we know that "an idle mind is the devil's workshop!" I have quoted this sooooo many times and have heard it over and over. But it finally dawned on me that it is actually a way to ward off the thoughts and that if we do these things, we will find as it says in verse 9 "God's peace shall be with you!" KJV In The Message version of the same scripture it says that, "God, who makes everything work together, will work you into his most excellent harmonies."

I really don't know why I felt to post this, however, I do know that there are "silent" watchers of my blog that have told me in the past of troubles, circumstances and things that may drag you down. I'm hoping that you will find the strength and courage to carry on. To do exactly as these scriptures instruct and that you may find "God's peace...." and "God..................will work you into his most escellent harmonies."

Philippians 4:8-9 Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you. KJV

The Message version
Philippians 4:8-9 Summing it all up, friends, I'd say you'll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. Put into practice what you learned from me, what you heard and saw and realized. Do that, and God, who makes everything work together, will work you into his most excellent harmonies.

Too Many Calories??

2009-09-07T10:45:00.001-07:00

For several months now, I have counted calories! First to lose a few pounds, then the last couple have been just to maintain! Last night after a late night with friends, we noticed that, again, our flower beds have snails. I DO NOT LIKE SNAILS. They give me the "Heebeegeebees!" This morning, Cherish put on her rain boots, her daddy got himself dressed and geared to attack the snails! Out they went! Ready for battle! Snail bait in tow! They were strategically planning their course of action! As the war raged, very one side I might add, he wielded his "sword" (cups of snail bait)! Cherish said to her daddy, "Ok, that's 7 calories for those snails!" I've created a monster!!

Cherish is too much!!

2009-08-27T08:49:00.000-07:00

We have been in Texas for a few days. Our niece, Maddie, wanted to be baptized and her parents wanted my husband to have the honor baptizing her! So, we flew out on Thursday morning and back her Tuesday morning very early. It was a hurried trip, but we had a fabulous time with family! It is always so wonderful to visit, but as we all know, it is so nice to be home. We all woke up today feeling human again! Yesterday was crazy, everyone was exhausted and just a little bit cranky!

Cherish has not had the opportunity to ever spend a lot of time with my husband's brother, Kevin. He works out of state and is rarely there when we are. So, since Maddie is his daughter, he was home for the weekend. Cherish went to his house for several hours with Maddie. They had a blast. Maddie even fixed Cherish her own "whole" sprite. She never gets that much!!

Well, later that evening, when they brought her back to my mother-in-law's, she and Uncle Kevin had made fast friends! Misti always loved to hang out with him when she was little because he is "one of the kids!" We were all visiting and he got down and became her horse! He walked on hands and knees all through the house and they visited the barn, the mall, the store and anywhere else that Cherish could think to make the different rooms of the house. That was good and fine! When it was time for Kevin to leave, she went to him and while she was hugging him, she had the biggest whining voice and said, "Mom, I'm gonna miss.............." at this point we were all set for this nice sweet moment that was going to make Kevin feel special for life, and she finished her sentence, ".............my FAT horsey!" It was too much! We were all crying we were laughing so hard. So, Kevin is officially Cherish's "Fat Horsey!"

I'll add a few pictures of the trip. Stephen baptized Maddie's cousins Meghan Cunningham, Lauren Cunninghame, and Ryan Lopez. It was very sweet! We got to see our niece, Becca and her darling baby boy, Bryson! Oh, I could sure steal that child, well both of them. Becca has always been special. We ate at all of the favorite places including Kingwood Catfish House, Pappasitos, Pappadeaux, and Pappa's BBQ! Granny had fixed us her famous roast, my favorite carrots and banana pudding! I just knew that I would have gained weight, but I didn't! We were eating one meal at about 2:00 and then snacking later. So I guess I kept calories down!

Thank you to all of the family for having us! It was a great time!! We love you all!

Campmeeting 2009 Slideshow

2009-08-13T16:22:00.000-07:00

What shoe are you?

2009-08-01T10:06:00.000-07:00

Last year, we were at a friends 50th birthday party! I usually listen in a setting such as this. So, I had my ears on and was chasing Cherish around since we know that most 50 year old people do not have a 2.5 year old running around. Maybe grandchildren, but surely not theirs. So, if you know me very well, you know that I was nervous that she would get in someones way.

While sitting there, I listened to a conversation between two ladies that are in their late 50's. They were showing each other their shoes. They were obviously well made, very comfortable nice leather FLATS, well, they might have had about a 1/2 inch block heel. I looked down at my 3 - 3 1/2 inch heels (that I even wear to the mall) and couldn't help but ponder!

I am 42, it hit me right then and there that I don't know anyone over the age of 50 that wears high heels anymore! I began to think about the fact that when I am at our home church and I know that I am going to be praise singing, that I wear my "most comfortable" Sunday night shoes. Now, those still have heels, but they aren't the toe squeezer type.

I love the gorgeous strappy things like my 21 year old, Misti, wears! I think that Carlos Santana shoes are fabulous. However, I bought a pair, wore them once and gave them away. I try them on every time I see a new pair out, and hurriedly take them off to put them back on the shelf! They kill my feet!

Then today, I mentioned of Facebook that I am packing for camp and the comment was made that we all need the matching shoes to each outfit. That is so true, however, it is amazing how many outfits that I can make the "more comfortable" ones match! Then another dear friend mentioned stretchy waistbands. Now that is another subject altogether, but girlfirends, how often to you opt for the stretchy over the zipper, button...................etc. Me? Stretchy all the way! LOL

Cherish is 3.5 now and has high heel play shoes. When she is home playing, she is in those shoes and has to make a pass by the tile floor in whatever room she is in to hear them "clomp!" Remember those days? Longing for the high heels? Hmmmm, I am real happy in a 3 inch now as long as it passes all of the comfy stretchy flex soft sole............and on and on!

I'm going to add a few pictures of shoes, I wonder which one you are? Which ones you want to be? Which ones you long for or want to throw away? The first ones are my choice! But how much longer?

Why you haven't heard from me.........

2009-07-24T15:56:00.000-07:00

Well, there is really no excuse! I have been extremely busy for what feels like 6 months! But to be really honest, I haven't had an inspiration to write about!! I could probably make one up, but what good will that do? I will say again, though, that I am so thankful for what God is doing in Kerman! We have got so many new people that it is overwhelming! I am taking 6 children to Jr. Camp on Sunday! They are all new convert children! I am like a little mother hen. I am worrying to death about them! They are new and in various stages of "apostolic" growth! I keep worrying how they will be treated, of course I know they will be fine. They are all very good, sweet children and they won't get into any trouble, I know that! I just want them to have a great time and be accepted!

My whole family has had this rotten summer cold! My husband is starting to get better, Cherish is in the very grumpy stage of it, and mine is hitting now. I woke up this morning with a froggy throat! I DO NOT HAVE TIME TO BE SICK!!

Campmeeting starts a week from Sunday! I cannot wait! That is always the highlight of our year! The weather is so wonderful there in Santa Maria and we just get away and relax! Planning Cherish's outfits, much to my husbands dismay! No not really, he like her to have cute things. I just need a whole lot more money than I have to really dress her the way I would like! HA HA! Wouldn't we all?

Ok, this is my first post to just jabber, so I'll take my jabber elsewhere, now! Maybe Facebook!

He speaks to us in different ways!

2009-07-12T15:21:00.001-07:00

My lesson in Sunday School (seesee school as Cherish calls it) was about Partners in Prayer. Teaching my pre-teen class that it always helps to have someone else praying with us for our needs. That God inhabits (or lives in) the praise (or prayers) of His people. That He "hearkens" to our cry, and He hears and cares and is faithful to answer our prayers. We were talking about Jehoshaphat and his enemies the Ammonites, Moabites, and and the others that came against him. II Chronicles 20 About how he was "afraid" of what they were going to do to him and the tribe of Judah. But the Lord sent a prophet, Jahaziel, to speak to him and he sent a word that I know the Lord wanted me to hear today. II Chron. 20:15

"Thus saith the LORD unto you, Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God's."

What do I not understand about that?

Cherish on the 4th

2009-07-07T09:12:00.000-07:00

Even though I didn't get to spend much time with Cherish on the 4th, I did get a few pictures. We were selling fireworks, so my mother watched her for me. She even got to help with fireworks at Misti and Adam's house. She was a little afraid of them, but had a great time! If one scared her, she would scream, "Don't do this to me, Adam!" Too funny! Just thought I'd share! She's turning into a little girl, there is no baby left! Sad in ways but a lot of fun, too!

Freedom.............

2009-07-04T16:36:00.000-07:00

Today I keep thinking of the song, Freedom. We as Christians are so blessed to know so many types of freedom! Freedom from the vices that can attach themselves to lives when one does not have the strength of God to help them live overcoming lives. Along with the freedom that we all enjoy by living in the United States of America! Living here gives us the freedom to worship as we wish, and I for one am so thankful that I know the one true God and am free to "sing a little louder than before!!" (so the song says)

Happy 4th to you all! (And now I am free to go back to our fireworks stand and work another 6 hours! Lord, feel free to send us lots of customers!)

Ever carry a heavy load?

2009-06-30T09:14:00.000-07:00

Ever feel like that? Ever carried a load that heavy? Oh, I have!!

I really do not know what people who do not know the Lord do without Him! There is a situation that I have carried for 6 months now that could surely overwhelm and drag me down! At times, I have been known to let it become more than I can carry! I am so thankful that I remember to turn it over to the one who is big enough to carry it! Just Sunday night and yesterday morning, I picked it all up myself.................I have to tell you, I cannot do it! Only in Him do I find the peace and strength to make it another day! I do know that He is in control, He works all things to His good! What more can I ask for? I so love turning things over to Him! So my prayer today is,

Lord, I know that I am not big enough to carry it, nor do I want to! Thank you for reminding me that You are in control. Help me to have the strength and peace that you promise and to remind all of those today who are trying to do it on their own, that it will sure turn out a lot better if they just let you have it!! Thank You for listening and taking over one more time!

Happy Birthday to "The Love Of My Life!"

2009-06-26T12:17:00.001-07:00

Babe, I cannot believe that you are 45! That hair makes you look closer to..............................LOL!! I hope you have a wonderful day! I love you dearly and I'm sure that you know that you mean to world to our girls and church! So glad you aren't working today with the fireworks stands and we get to spend time with you! Let's Party!!

Happy Anniversary, Misti & Adam!

2009-06-23T08:59:00.000-07:00

I cannot believe that my little girl grew up! Misti you are a beautiful young lady and married a wonderful stable man! I'm so happy that God blessed you both with such a wonderful marriage! Have a wonderful day! Two whole years!!!

Scones and Tea

2009-06-20T08:23:00.000-07:00

I just saw this picture of scones with Devonshire cream and jam. It does so make me want to go to my favorite tea house. I do believe that I will take the time this week and take Cherish to tea. We've gone a couple of time with others, but since my husband and our church men are setting up 70 firewords stands this week, I think I will just indulge! Maybe! I have to check to calorie content first!!! Diets take the fun out of everything! If I'm really careful, I could possibly do it, legally! Oh, I do so love hot tea and scones!

Who are we? What do we believe?

2009-06-08T09:56:00.000-07:00

I am so excited. We have so many new converts and trying to figure out bible studies for them all has been interesting. So after much talk, our Wednesday nights for quite a while will be new converts classes for our entire church! I have been so burdened recently by friends of ours who have always upheld truth in doctrine and holiness have put them all down for numbers. It has caused us to examine our own hearts. Then after talking to a young lady that has been in our church the entire 9 years we have been here, and she asked if we could possibly get information to her on what and why we believe, we are seeing the necessity of teaching all over again. Even for myself, I am so excited because we can all use a refresher now and then. We are apostolic and intend to stay just that! Not rule driven, but relationship driven. If we love the Lord, KNOW His Word, and truly desire to serve Him, rules will not matter, but what He wants does. I truly love my husband and because He loves my hair curled and healthy, I wear it in ways that I know he likes. He loves pork rinds and white powdered donuts, even though I detest both, I joy in seeing him and Cherish indulging in both. I may not think that this or that is important when living for the Lord, however, if He loves it, and took the time to tell us in His Word, then because I love Him and desire to make Him happy and definitely want to see Him, I "joy in seeing Him indulge!" I am so looking forward to seeing the understanding on the faces of our new babies as they see the sweetness of the "white powdered donuts!"

It won't work, Mommy!

2009-06-04T09:22:00.001-07:00

Cherish really does play with her stuffed animals. They are her class at school that she teaches, they are her babies that are sick and she puts to bed, they are whatever she is playing at the time. She has two large drawers full of them and yesterday she had them all pulled out in in her floor. This is fine while she is playing. So there were about 50 large and small animals strung across her room at bedtime. I told her to go put them all back in the drawers. She left for a while and came back to me saying, "It won't work, Mommy. It won't work!" I wasn't paying attention and she kept saying it. I finally walked to her room to get her ready for bed and this is what I found.

She forgot that they all went in 2 drawers not just 1. She had tried really hard and had them all picked up. I just opened the other drawer that was empty right beside it and she started giggling and said, "Oh!" I took the picture with my iPhone and it was pretty dark in there.

Keep Smiling Right Through The "Stuff!"

2009-05-27T09:42:00.000-07:00

That smiley is even waving, hmmmm, maybe not just smile, but encourage others right through the dirt. You know, encouraging others has given me the right perspective when I wasn't too sure about what I was going through!!! Try it, it might just feel good!!

Have A Blessed Memorial Day

2009-05-25T08:00:00.000-07:00

The cutest thing Cherish has done!!!

2009-05-21T21:55:00.000-07:00

Ok, this is what happened! My car is a Cadillac STS, Pearl White.......I love my car, well it is in the shop just having warranty work done, the Cadillac dealer always gives us a Cadillac loaner car, so we have a pearl white SRX which is an SUV. Tonight was the first time that Cherish has seen it, her daddy parked it in the garage, she went out there and saw the front of it, which has the exact same grill as my car, and she said, "Daddy, did our car grow up?"

It was so cute, she thought our car grew up! I'm putting pictures of the two kinds of cars, however, they are not mine or the loaner.

Like mine

like the loaner!!!

It's Hot in Sunny California

2009-05-21T10:12:00.000-07:00

Ok, it is still May and it is HOT! We have had 3 days over 100 already!! I am just not ready for it! I am thankful, though, that we have no humidity! Cherish loves to play outside, so I have to let her go in the morning and then after dark. It's gonna be a long summer!!!

Thankful!!!

2009-05-17T00:31:00.001-07:00

I just feel totally blessed!! I have the most caring husband ever, two gorgeous daughters who love their mom, and a pretty descent son-in-law!! (JK he's a great guy). Great extended family, a fabulous church and friends!! A beautiful home and cars, But most of all, I know the Lord!! What more can a woman desire? Thank you, God!! I am truly blessed!!

Mother's Day Dinner With Our Moms

2009-05-10T17:08:00.000-07:00

We took our mother's out for dinner yesterday at Japanese Kitchen! It was such a wonderful day! Stephen is spending the day with his mom, the first Mother's Day in about 15 years! We are so happy to have her!!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

A day at the park with Cherish

2009-05-04T19:52:00.001-07:00

Is that praise?

2009-04-28T09:27:00.001-07:00

Our son-in-law, Adam and two of his friends from Bro. Rick Keyes' church in Santa Maria! Enjoy!!

Working together!!

2009-04-27T08:18:00.000-07:00

I know, I know, most people think that making peanut brittle is archaic!! But when we came to this church 9 years ago, it was a routine thing! People had set clients who all wanted it. It was an awesome fund raiser! We haven't made it in over a year. However, we took the opportunity last week to try our hand at it again. Believe it or not, people have been begging for it! We have a commercial kitchen in our annex and the perfect space to make it!

We took orders the week before and had 240 bags ordered!! We asked for people to volunteer, and had a great turn out! I was amazed and felt so blessed at the new converts that came to learn to make peanut brittle! It was so refreshing and we realized just the quality of people who God has sent us! They were so sweet and hard workers!! We make 27 batches even trained a new pourer, which for those of you who make it, know that it is tough on the shoulders!! We laughed, visited, worked, laughed, acted crazy, and just worked for God!

On top of all of the great fellowship, we will clear over $700 on that fundraiser! Bring it on, that much fun and that much money, I'll give a few hours of my time!!

I forgot to get pictures, but I will next time! Thank you Pentecostal Tabernacle for showing up and helping in this endeavor! I'm counting on you all next week at our Spring Tri-Tip Dinner!!! Sell those tickets!!! Let's have another good time!!

Say to me........

2009-04-25T09:13:00.000-07:00

Cherish is in this mode of saying, "Say to me..........," and then she tells us what she wants us to say! So we then have to ask her or say whatever she wants us to say. It is a conversation starter for her. Thursday night, one of our ladies totalled her car in an accident, we went to pick her up and help out! One of the policemen saw me in the car with Cherish and he made friends with her! He said, "My name is Dave!" She said, "Me's Cherish Elyse Hill!" He said, "Nice to meet you!" She waited, looking confused and said, "Say to me, How are me?" He got a huge grin and said, "Well, How are you?" She said, "Fine, Me's three! On the twenty-turd!" We were all hiding our laughter by this point! It really is never dull with her around!

2009-04-23T09:13:00.000-07:00

Have a wonderful, blessed day! This is the day that the Lord hath made, I will rejoice and be glad in it!

Sis. Abbey, I choose to not be troubled! Beautiful talk last night to the ladies at Sectional Conference!!! Thank you for being so sweet and gracious to agree to speak! You were certainly speaking to me! See, the Lord knew that it needed to be you instead of me!

What an awesome weekend!

2009-04-19T22:37:00.000-07:00

Our praise team sang, "Let the redeemed of the Lord say "So!" tonight! It was awesome! My husband kept stopping the song and asking if there were any redeemed that would like to say, "So!" A lot of us would take the microphone and basically testify about how the Lord had redeemed us and where he had brought us from or kept us from! It was so powerful, then he would have them sing again, then ask again! There were about 6-8 visitors and it was so awesome watching their faces as you would see that they were so thrilled that some of us had come from exactly where they find themselves!!

A couple of months ago, I mentioned that Misti was really working on people at her work. Well, I told about the waitress that we were talking to and telling her that God cared, and she left the table with tears in her eyes! Guess what!! She's been coming consistent of about 6 weeks now and you would not believe the difference in her looks and demeanor! She has been in the altar several times and is so very near the Holy Ghost! Well, she didn't say anything to the people at work about her coming, and the owner son, Abel asked her, "Are you going to church with Misti?" She asked, "Why?" He said, "Because you look different and you act much more quiet!" Hmmmm, he noticed! Guess who came to church tonight? ABEL!!!! Yeah! I think that we had better reserve a whole section of the church for the restaurant employees!! We are so careful when we go in there to be total Christians! No complaints, even when it is bad! Just being a witness makes all the difference!

The couple I told of that got married and baptized the same day, then got the Holy Ghost the next day, she came up for one of the "Say So's" She talked about how much the Lord has given her, the love and joy she has, and how much she loves, "this new family!" and motioned to our church!! You know that Pastor and Pastor's wife are rejoicing! It is so refreshing to be taking calls about where the best place to buy skirts is, or how to get their children to sit still in church, and on and on! I'll answer those questions all day long!

Thank you, Lord, for another awesome weekend!

Family Easter!!!

2009-04-13T10:31:00.000-07:00

What a wonderful day we had! We had a church full of visitors! An awesome service and one visitor told my husband that he had to say that this was the most exciting church that he had ever been to and that he meant that as a compliment! The church honored me for my birthday and gave me one of the Edible arrangements that is the fruit flowers! Yum, we sure enjoyed that!! Then the family came over to the house for dinner, hunting eggs, naps, and decorating eggs! We did it in that order, too! We are eating the decorated eggs and hunted plastic ones! What a wonderful day to celebrate the resurrection of our King!!

May Your Day Be Blessed As We Celebrate Our Risen King!

2009-04-12T08:32:00.000-07:00

Ladies Tea!!

2009-04-07T22:16:00.000-07:00

I am the section 3 ladies leader for our district! Last Saturday, I hosted our first annual Ladies Tea! It was exclusively for the pastor's wives, their daughters, the assistant pastor's wives and daughters, as well as senior pastor's wives! Because of the busy schedule, the turn out was not as great as I had hoped for! However, we had a marvelous time!!!

I want to thank each of the 9 ladies who attended! It was one of the most pleasant relaxing things that I have hosted! We went to a Victorian Tea House and acted all prissy and enjoyed several delicious cups of tea as well as most of us had the "cottage tea" which had the dainty sandwiches, scones, etc!

We sure missed all of those that had other obligations, but we were in full agreement that for the first one, the more intimate atmosphere was so refreshing! There were 4 of us from our church! I had our retired pastor's wife, Sis. Joyce Baglin, which is such an inspiration to me! There has never been a more Godly woman! Sis. Baglin, I do love you dearly! I am so thankful that God has seen fit for you to be a part of our family at Pentecostal Tabernacle! It is so wonderful to look around and find you there, strong and supportive! You are truly my inspiration! Also, our assistant pastor's wife, Sis. Angela Pinheiro!! Of course, you know that you are loved dearly and you and Bro. Jesse's support and faithfulness to pastor and I is such a blessing to pastor and I! AND I cannot wait until sometime this week or next, you little baby Makayla will make her appearance! Nana Hill, I will become!! Last, but not least, I took my daughter Misti, she and Adam are on our ministry team as well as her being my daughter, darling, I love you much and am so glad that you took the time to go with me and enjoyed the day with me!!Misti, Me, and Sis. Baglin

Sis. Angela & Misti

Sis. Pinheiro from Los Banos and a sweet lady from her church attended, and it was so nice to enjoy their fellowship! It was obviously a ladies day, we got off on the funniest "lady" conversations!!

The sweet sister from Los Banos and Sis. Pinheiro!!!

Our presbyter's wife, Sis. Cantrell, who was also one of my first pastor's wives that I remember as small girl, attended with two of sweet ladies from her church! I love Sis. Cantrell so much, her sweet gentle spirit is something to speak of all in itself! Thank you so much for supporting my little endeavor! Sis. Bridget Barker, which is our youth secretary for the district's wife, as well as his being my 3rd cousin!!! Aslo, Sis Jane! I can never remember her last name, as she has been a friend to our family since I was a young girl, taking care of my mother in the hospital soon after a tragic car accident and also my grandmother during the last stages of alzheimers! Thank you, Sis. Jane for being a friend to our family!!

Sis. Cantrell, Sis. Bridget Barker, and Sis. Jane!

I love you all, thank you for such a wonderful time! I cannot wait until next year as we entice a few other's to join us!!

We are going to dye easter eggs!

2009-04-06T22:40:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm sorry if you don't "do" Easter, but we do! We love special family time, I know that Jesus died and rose again, and we are so thankful for that! Of course, we all are so thankful that His dying is what forgave our sins and makes it possible for us to be saved. But He also gave me a wonderful family and we will be spending time together after we worship our savior at our Easter sevice! My Cherish is 3 and will love it this year! We have always hidden plastic eggs for her, but this year I had decided that she would love to dye eggs, and guess what? Her big sissy, my 21 year old Misti, came to me to let me know that she and her husband, Adam, had decided that they want to dye eggs with Cherish! I had to laugh! I'm just not sure if they are really for Cherish, or there may be some special delight in "some others" getting to be involved! I do remember that last year, Adam would hide them and Cherish would search and them Cherish would hide them and Adam would search! I do so love these special moments! I bought the biggest neatest egg dying package I could find today, I'll buy a ton of eggs on Saturday, and watch out, we are going to have one fun Easter egg dying party!!!! Not on my carpet of course!!

Thank you, Stephen, and all my family

2009-04-01T15:21:00.000-07:00

My sweet husband and family helped make my birthday a wonderful day! Misti decorated the table all festive, my sister brought part of the food, we marinated steaks and Adam cooked them, and of course Cherish had a big day enjoying the celebration! Stephen even bought me 42 roses! They are on both sides of the gorgeous arrangement that you see! We partied big and enjoyed one another!!! Of course I had tons of emails, calls from family out of state, cards and presents! It's not so bad turning a year older since we just take one year at a time!!

Another great weekend!

2009-03-30T10:43:00.000-07:00

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???

He is careful of you!

2009-03-27T12:20:00.000-07:00

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.

My sweet husband and daughter

2009-03-26T11:01:00.000-07:00

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

Home Missions Retreat & Kite Slideshow

2009-03-24T20:40:00.000-07:00

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!

Finally Monday!

2009-03-23T09:57:00.000-07:00

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!!

Home Missions Retreat

2009-03-19T09:57:00.000-07:00

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!!!

Ladies Conference Pictures

2009-03-16T17:59:00.001-07:00

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!

Home again, Home again, Jiggidy, Jig!!

2009-03-15T14:56:00.000-07:00

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!

Sunday's Baptisms!!

2009-03-10T14:10:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-03-10T10:39:00.000-07:00

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!!

What an AWESOME weekend!

2009-03-09T18:18:00.000-07:00

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

2009-03-09T09:59:00.000-07:00

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!!

Yes, I'm still alive!!

2009-03-03T16:38:00.000-08:00

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!!

You can do it................

2009-02-27T08:54:00.000-08:00

Glitter Graphics ::: Glitterboom.com

Tea Party Pictures

2009-02-24T18:38:00.001-08:00

Thank you, Andrea for emailing me these pictures! We had a fabulous time!! I'll tell the story about the whip cream later!!!

A Tea Party..........

2009-02-24T10:01:00.000-08:00

Cherish is going to have a dream come true today! Andrea is taking us to a tea house today! The guys are going their own way and we girls are going to be very girly!! It is so sweet that she is taking the time to do this! Tuesday is typically her day to do her secretarial work for the church, but she has rearranged just for this purpose! The Whiseants discovered that Cherish is truly a princess! There is a little alcove area under there stairs and that has become her castle! When we got there after church last night, "Uncle Tim" had made a sign and stapled it to the wall that said, "Cherish's Princess Palace!" He had gone to the store and bought her a princess crown and wand! She truly was a princess for the evening! My camera has gone dead and the charger is at home, so I will prevail upon Andrea today to borrow her pictures of the tea party!!! I have the most darling pictures of Misti and me when Mis was about 5 with Tasha Shoemake at a tea house, I must get one with Cherish!! I must prepare myself now for this royal occasion!!

Have a "royal" day!!

Headed to church, again!!

2009-02-23T18:42:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, we had a beautiful service here in Vacaville! There were several visitors and everyone was obviously touched! There was the sweetest spirit from the very beginning! We felt right at home!! The Whiseants have done such a beautiful job with their sanctuary!! I took several pictures so far and will get some more tonight and tomorrow and share later this week!

There was a sweet elderly couple visiting last night that asked Bro. Whiseant when "Doctor Hill" would be ministering again! That they would love to return when he was there! So, Doc and I are headed out to another service!!

Oh, we are taking Cherish with us! She's so thrilled to be in the hotel! She acts like she's at Disneyland!!

Send down the Holy Ghost, please Lord!!

2009-02-21T21:44:00.000-08:00

We had a beautiful baby shower for our assistant pastor's wife today! Sis. Angela Pinheiro will be a fabulous mother! We cannot wait for our little Makayla to arrive in about 8 weeks!!
While I was helping with the shower, Stephen was at the hospital with the passing of a family member of some of our saints and friends! Elden and Ketarah, we are so sorry about the passing of your grandfather! Our prayers are with you and your family! You know that you are loved!! Teresa, what can I say, you know that your church family at Pentecostal Tabernacle, love you dearly! I know that you haven't attended our church in a long time, but know that we are here for you and whenever you are ready to come home, God is ready and we are expecting you soon! I love you and you know that I am your friend!!! We will be there for you in the next while while you grieve the passing of your father!!
Ok, I was just updating on the extremes of a pastor! We rejoice in the birth and grieve in the passing!!
Tonight we drove over to Vacaville! We will be preaching for the Whiseants tomorrow, Monday, and Tuesday! We are beginning to feel like evangelists again,
Stephen has preached out a lot lately, but God is really using him to minister to others, which he always has!
We are so excited to be with our dear friends, Tim and Andrea!! We are thrilled to become acquainted with their church family! I just pray that God will send down the same anointing and revival that we have been experiencing right here tomorrow as well at home while we are away! Our church knows that we rarely leave on Sundays, but we felt strongly about this! So here I sit, in a beautiful room that they arranged for us at a Residence Inn! Cherish has her own room! Wow, she thinks she's big in that queen size bed!! The refrigerator was full of drinks and a beautiful basket full of goodies! I'm eating popcorn and drinking diet coke as I type! YUMMMM!!
By the way, we had a Sectional youth rally at our church last night, Bro. Sam Emory preached and another young man that has been visiting our church from our town, received the Holy Ghost and then was baptized! That is 19 baptized in 6 weeks!! Thank God!! I'm not sure how many have gotten the Holy Ghost! But several!!!
So, again I say.......................................

Send down the Holy Ghost..........Please Lord!!!

2009-02-19T23:30:00.000-08:00

Glitter Graphics ::: Glitterboom.com
Whatever you may be going through today, there is hope!

Don't give up!! God knows and has not left you alone!

No, I'm not, Papa........

2009-02-19T09:01:00.001-08:00

A few weeks ago, we were with Bro. & Sis. Keyes, over in Santa Maria. Cherish adores them and really thinks that they are her grandparents! We were eating dinner and Cherish did something, I do not remember what it was and Bro. Keyes said to her, "Oh, Cherish, you are a manipulator, do you know what that means?" She looked at him real serious, cocked her little head and replied, "Oh, no, Papa, I not have a nipulator, I have an Escalade!" (her papaw bought her a battery operated Escalade at Christmas!)

Outreach is more than "door to door!"

2009-02-17T09:41:00.000-08:00

Why am I putting this horrible picture of myself eating this hamburger? Well, one of our ladies took the picture because the burger was huge, it doesn't look it in the picture, but it was! Well, I just realized that it fits with this post! Just eat your hamburger, be a Christian, and let God do the rest!!

Yesterday, the Hill household basked in the aftermath of an "over the top" service on Sunday! Every time we spoke of the service, my eyes filled up with tears. We were so tempted to call a prayer meeting just to continue!! As you know, Monday is Family Day for our family! So, we decided to run to town for a few things we need. I say town, because we live in a smaller community 15 miles from Fresno.

We had just been discussing the different people right here in Kerman that we know that we have a huge impact on! We were talking about making sure that we are always above and beyond friendly. Never, even if we are done wrong in our eyes, do we want to offend someone. You never know what is happening in someones life.

We were going to go to lunch in Fresno, just has we were leaving the house, I reminded Stephen of something that we needed to take care of. Here is the story on that; We never put Cherish in a highchair anymore. She's too long, it's hard to get her out! Sunday night after church we went to Perkos which is a Cafe & Grill Diner. This is where our daughter, Misti, works! Several of our young pre-teen girl were sitting together and one of them put Cherish in a highchair. This was fine at first, then one took her to the restroom and didn't put her back in the chair correctly! She was stuck half in and half out. Two men tried to get her out, she was screaming, I ran over, she was screaming for her mommy, of course, I still don't know how she was wedged like she was, but one foot was caught in the strap that goes between the legs, twisted! Finally, her daddy grabbed his pocket knife and cut the strap! We pulled and tugged and out she came!! Whew.....Relief for mommy and girl! LOL Everyone was just staring at me! Note: It was ALL our people eating there, so no others did we disturb!

We have had many of the employees join us in service. Some, numerous times, I have mentioned before that the owner visited on an Sunday about 2 months ago and he loved it! He mentions regularly that he wants to come again and that he wants his 18 year old son and a nephew to attend our youth functions. There are several that we know are very drawn to us. So, at 5 am on Monday morning, I woke up worried because we hadn't told Mr. B, the owner because he was not there. He must be told of the highchair episode as we would never want to lose our testimony with him. So, as we were leaving to go to Fresno, we decided to stop and make Mr. B aware so that we could purchase whatever it took to restore or replace the highchair!

The next comment was, you know, we could just eat there, Misti is working, we get a discount, the food is good, .........................yes, let's do that! So, we did! The cooks try to spoil us by outdoing themselves on what we order, in fact, our favorite cook, Juan promised me that he is coming to church!! Well, Mr. B found the whole high chair episode humorous! He can just replace the strap and he says he will let us know the cost! He didn't seem to be to honest about the fact that he would let us know!

We always have Misti for our waitress, in fact until 11:00am she is the only one on duty, but this time we went at 12:00 which we never do. For the first time ever, she assigned the other waitress! On purpose! She knew what we would do! Of course we worked in the conversation that we would love to have her visit! Her eyes filled with tears as she told us that she was raised Spanish Apostolic and knows and loves God, that she wants to do right but it is just so hard! Oh, my goodness, were we connected! She almost ran away from our table, straight to the computer and Misti said that she was smiling so big as she keyed in our order! Hmmmm, you never know, maybe those girls wedging Cherish in may lead to another precious person visiting!

Mr. B was so impressed that we were honest.................. The cooks were going out of their way to play with Cherish and get her to talk to them.............The waitress was so happy to know that God still sent people to speak to her.......................And the other waitress, well she always loves us! (Misti)

So, you never know, what just being a Christian is doing! Who it is reaching, who is watching!

We had a wedding on Saturday, Valentines day. So there wasn't a whole lot of time for our sweethearts! Perkos had a special steak and lobster meal for the day. We typically would not go there for romance. Because of the wedding, my husband told the church that Perkos was offering the special if anyone wanted to go there instead of driving to Fresno since our day was so full! A lot of them did, including us! Mr. B was so impressed and also thankful that Misti and I worked on the flier for them on my computer, that he has asked us to come in tomorrow with Misti and Adam so that he can treat us to a Steak and Lobster meal, on him! Of course, we are happy to oblige. So you see, be a Christian. Let your light shine and let Him do the rest!

...............I failed to mention the sweet Sunday night waitress who visited church a couple of weeks ago, sought me out Sunday night after the restaurant closed just to chat and we stood for quite a while just discussing children, age, etc! You just never know!

Ok, I'll tell you.........

2009-02-16T09:17:00.000-08:00

We have been in continuous revival at Pentecostal Tabernacle for several months. I have mentioned that we have had a lot of visitors EVERY service. They just come! It is amazing! And really refreshing after what felt a LONG season of draught!

A sweet couple about our age (you can figure that out yourself) came a couple of months ago! They neither one had the Holy Ghost and they obviously were falling in love with God and our church! David and Gloria! Well, we noticed that they couldn't find victory when seeking, then they told us that though they had been together for almost 5 years but were not married! David said, "I want to do this right, I have to be married before I can be baptized!" So, we put a wedding together in 2 weeks! This was the most unusual wedding, they were insistent that their wedding was going to also be a baptismal service because they might as well get it all right at once, no waiting until Sunday! It was incredible! What a beautiful couple, so happy to be free from the vices that had attached themselves! Oh, yes, I forgot, David's son, David Jr. decided to be baptized at the wedding, too. He is 12 years old! So we had a wedding/baptismal service on Saturday!

So, Sunday morning, was a beautiful service, and I had a migraine! Uggggh, I went home after service, took 3 Al eves and went to bed. I had to praise sing last night, and because of Presidents day, our other 4 soprano praise singers were out of town, so I HAD to be there. Thank God, I did! We were into about the second song, and boy you could feel the Spirit starting to really work an undercurrent, my husband was near me and I told him, "Look back there at David and Gloria, they are going to get the Holy Ghost tonight!" They were smiling, both had their hands up and were just lost in the knowledge that they were forgiven! Well, things exploded! There went Misti, flying off the platform, the keyboard player jumped the altars, here they came and there they went! ALL of the praise singers abandoned the worship leader, then the worship leader just gave up and danced! (Ok, if you are not apostolic, you really need to visit one of our services! God is so wonderful!) I came back to sanity for a little while and thought, "I need to go get Gloria and bring her up to the front!" I looked up and there she was, dancing near the altar! I ran over took her hand, rejoiced with her for about 2 minutes and the Holy Ghost took over! I don't know that I have ever seen anyone ENJOY it any more! She just basked in it for probably 30-45 minutes, I looked back and David was just smiling and worshipping, I motioned for him to come up there, he stepped into the aisle and RAN to the front, he no more than looked at his new wife, threw his hands in the air, the ministers laid hands on him and he received the beautiful power of the Holy Ghost immediately, STOP, another time for rejoicing, the church took off again!! It was pandemonium for a while!

Of course, by now, faith is high! We have a new family, the Garcia's, the adults are Spanish speaking only, their beautiful teenage daughters are bi-lingual! Well, within minutes, our teen girls were praying with the girls and Sis. Garcia went to help! One of the girls recieved the Holy Ghost and then so did "Momma" Garcia! We had 4 receive the Holy Ghost in that service, and I think the other 100 of us were all refilled!

"100? A few months ago you had about 75!" Yes, even last Wednesday night, the former pastor and our pastor amaritus was in service and preached for us and he was astonished! God has been so awesome!

So, we had another lady to baptize last night, who had not been baptized yet, that leaves us with 4 receiving the Holy Ghost this weekend, and a 4 being baptized, however, those 4 are not the same 4! 2 of the 4 are the same! LOL

Then after the baptismals, on a Sunday night, which we NEVER do, we had a child dedication! The grandson to the lady baptized! Estevan Molina! His mother attends our church and the father was in the church many years ago, elsewhere! He received a refilling about 2 months ago and we are praying that he really gets in there and lives for God! We love the Molina family! So, we had baptizing, the Holy Ghost and dedications all in one service!

THEN, my husband started passing out baptizmal certificates from the past couple of weeks, there were about 15 of them! Thank you, Jesus!

We had a visiting minister, Bro. Trent Gilliam, who has preached for us many times over the years, we were looking forward to his preaching, but we never got that far into the service. Several years ago, when he was preaching for us, God gave him a vision of a banquet table spread across the front of our church and angels were filling it up with fruit that was overflowing to the floor and that God was telling us that He was sending a spirit of healing! Healing of the soul, spirit, body, etc. That we must be ready to partake when it arrived. I had forgotten, so had he! When God was moving so awesome last night, Bro. Gilliam stepped down into the altar area and the vision returned to him and he felt God tell him that it was time, that we were to partake now! He was feeling ill at the time and left the service feeling refreshed in body and in the spirit! I BELIEVE! I WILL PARTAKE!!!

I'll attach pictures of David and Gloria and also the Garcia's with some others in the picture!

I know, God probably moved just as wonderfully in your service, but anyone who knows, KNOWS the work that God has done in Kerman! Victory is so sweet!

David and Gloria Valdez AFTER they received the Holy Ghost!!!!

Kimberly Garcia, the first on the left and her mother, Sis. Garcia the third from the left both received the Holy Ghost! The second from the left is my sweet friend, Sis. Teresa Guteirez, another miracle that God sent us! She is the sales manager for 5 hispanic radio stations in the central valley of California! God has brought her so far!! Oh, by the way, until a few months ago, we had about 5 hispanics in our church! Now we have about 40! Thank you, Jesus!

Estevan Molina was dedicated to the Lord!!!

Our pastor, my sweety, passing out batismal certificates! He had shed his jacket during the outpouring!!!

Me and my girls, (Cherish with a goofy grin!)

Wait until you hear..........

2009-02-15T22:47:00.000-08:00

I cannot wait until tomorrow when I have time to tell you how wonderful the Lord is! Just wait.....I'm gonna tell you the whole story about what God did at Pentecostal Tabernacle today!!

Happy Valentines

2009-02-14T13:05:00.000-08:00

Sending a little love from our home to yours!

Happy Valentines Day!!

Happy birthday, Dad!

2009-02-13T17:28:00.000-08:00

Today is my Dad, Ron Hopper's, birthday!! Sending you lots of love Dad and Misti's birthday dance!! Hope your day was wonderful!! I won't post more because I'm doing this from my phone!!

To my sweet hubby, my valentine, my love!

2009-02-11T23:05:00.000-08:00

As the week goes, our schedule gets busier and busier! So, I do not know if I will get time to post again, if I do, that's great, but I don't want to leave the love of my life out!

I know, the ones of you who know him as Pastor, are thinking, "Oh, gross, Sis. Hill, I don't like to think of you guys like this!" Well, honey, our lives, our marriage, our love takes nurturing! A rose does not grow, bloom or become gorgeous all on it's own, it must be nurtured with the very tedious detail! That is the case with a love, a marriage! You must take care of it! So, humor me and let my darling husband have a moment!!

A dear sweet lady in our church whose husband is not in the church came to me the other night and said, "Sister Hill, I want you to know that I love you so much! That you are such a wonderful example to us all, and I pray that someday, my husband will love me as much as yours loves you!" I was taken aback for a moment! What? We don't spend a lot of time with this precious lady, how can she know? I do know the answer, it is obvious that he loves me! In the things he says, the way he looks at me, the way we communicate! Is it all mush and gush, no, it is just a true love that works together in unity! We have truly become, in our 24 years together, soul mates! Has our marriage been perfect? By no means, but together, we have kept God in the center and I think we have done pretty well! Who else is brave enough to have a second child in their 21st year of marriage?

Babe, I want you to know that I thank God for such a wonderful husband! You have been the man of my dreams! You have been there for me when life seemed to hard to carry on! You've put up with me "need" to be organized and a planner, when you are an off the cuff person! Together we get things done! LOL Can you tell that we had a discussion TODAY about not waiting until the last minute?? We sure make each other look good, don't we? Your love for me is unconditional! You take too good of care of me! I'm spoiled rotten, but at least I know it! Oh, and thanks for cleaning out the dishwasher, this morning! That's something my dad did while here on vacation and you saw that I loved that being done in the morning! And you've done it a couple of times in the last couple of months and I have noticed!!!

Ok, I understand that we are supposed to make sure to ask the person that we want to be our valentine before someone else does. So, I'm asking, "Will you be my valentine?" You know, let's just make that a standing invitation! Will you forever be my valentine?

I lift up my eyes.......

2009-02-11T09:38:00.000-08:00

Psalm 121 (New International Version)

1 I lift up my eyes to the hills—
where does my help come from?
2 My help comes from the LORD,
the Maker of heaven and earth.

3 He will not let your foot slip—
he who watches over you will not slumber;

4 indeed, he who watches over Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep.

5 The LORD watches over you—
the LORD is your shade at your right hand;

6 the sun will not harm you by day,
nor the moon by night.

7 The LORD will keep you from all harm—
he will watch over your life;

8 the LORD will watch over your coming and going
both now and forevermore.

Today, I'm not thinking of myself, yes, I have been looking to the Lord a lot lately for answers, help, strength, peace, etc. He has proven himself one more time! He certainly has watched over me and has been my "shade!" I started this post out of concern for so many who have picked up their burden today and are trying to carry it on your own! You feel alone, so you are trying your hardest to work it all out, remember, it is not yours to carry! Look to Him! He knows and cares! He created me down to the tiny mole on my right hand! Did He not bring me the perfect mate for my life? He knew the perfect timing for my two daughters to come into my life! Can He not watch over me now? He will not let me slip, I must hold on tight and let Him carry what is becoming too heavy for my weak self.

Many of you know me and think, she's talking about her burden, nope, He's carrying it today! I'm not saying that I might not try to take it back tomorrow, as we are all apt to do just that! But I talked to someone yesterday who told me they they were so bad about laying things out before God, only to pick them us again! We all do that! But those of you is great financial, physical, mental, and/or spiritual distress, lay them down, don't look back! Yes, the way may be dark today, but the sun will shine again!! Look for it, don't doubt it!!

Boys Slideshow!

2009-02-09T14:59:00.000-08:00

As you guessed, we are exhausted today! I don't have much inspirational to say today! But I will tell you that God really moved in our services yesterday! What a refreshing weekend! Both of our worship leaders yesterday did an outstanding job and sangs songs perfect for the given service! Sis. Nancy, Great Job! Jesus, we are depending on You!! He has truly walked with me this past couple of weeks, He will not leave you in your time of need either! We must TRUST Him!

Hope you all enjoy my pics of the boys?? I sure miss them today! It is really quiet here!!

He knows my name!

2009-02-08T15:22:00.000-08:00

It's Sunday afternoon and I just returned from taking my nephews to meet their mother! I was so thankful that she agreed to meet me about 40 minutes before her house!! It saved me over an hour of time this afternoon! So, after church, we ran to Burger King, used coupons and had burgers with the boys! Took Cherish and my mom to my house so that Cherish could get a nap, and my sister and I jumped in the car and drove an hour each way!! The boys were bummed the closer we got to having to leave! But what a great weekend! Someone commented that I would probably sleep all day on Monday, I do believe that I will try to sleep at least half of it!! The boys were so excited to get to go to our Sunday School, it has been a year and a half since they got to go with us! Our church was so surprised at how much they have grown!

We sang such a fitting song today that has stuck with me all day! On the way to take them home, I was singing it and Joshua said, "Aunt Susan, you, Misti, Adam, and Aunt Candi all keep singing that now!" I laughed and asked if they understood what the song meant, they said they didn't so I explained and made it very relevant to them! It was so sweet! I had forgotten this beautiful song! Maybe it will mean as much to you today as it has to me!

He knows my name,

He knows my every thought,

He sees each tear that falls,

And he hears me when I call!

So simple, but there are days that we think that no one has a clue! I was able to tell them that He knows each one of them individually, that He loves them and knows their every tear and that that they can call on Him! They were really listening! Of course I had to throw in there that we all love them too and that we are there for them, too. But that wherever and whenever, they can call Him!! Thanks Sis. April for leading that song!!!

Yes, I took pictures! Lots of them! I'll try to get them on tomorrow!

If you look for me, I'm busy with a house full of boys!

2009-02-06T23:51:00.000-08:00

We are absolutely thrilled to have my brother's boys at my home this weekend! They are so happy to be here! We'll see how Aunt Susan holds up! I'm not used to boys AT ALL!!! Mark is 14 now, Joshua will be 12 in just a couple of months and Jacob is 9. LOTS of food has been devoured! Cherish is running along behind them jabbering about whatever she thinks they might want to hear! She told them a while ago that her "monster" hit her! Wow!

I'm getting tons of pictures and will update soon! Can you believe it's a rainy weekend? No parks, bikes, football, nothing like that.......Hmmmm. Any ideas? They are thinking John's Incredible Pizza which is a huge pizza experience with games, bumper cars, etc. Gets pricey with 4 darling children who will "eat up" those tokens! LOL We shall see!

One great thing, Mark wanted to go with our youth department tonight to hear Bro. Jonathon Stringfellow preach! We are thrilled!!!

Talk again soon!!

I got my new camera!

2009-02-05T10:12:00.000-08:00

Remember that Cherish broke my camera? We have been in a quandry, I could buy a new camera for the same cost as fixing the old one! It was an 8 pixel Canon Powershot S8O. So, after much deliberation, we decided to put the same money and a little more to a Canon Powershot 990. If you can believe it, it has 14.7 pixel! Now we are all afraid to have our picture taken, it's so accurate that we are afraid that it will show every flaw! I played with it some last night on willing and a few unwilling participants! I've got to figure out the settings! Sometimes to bright, sometimes not, sometimes takes the pictures very quickly, sometimes delay! Sounds like the operator to me!! What do you think?

Smile, it really doesn't hurt!!!

2009-02-04T09:22:00.000-08:00

The day isn't over yet, you still have time

You can find a smile even when you don't feel one!!

I'm going to make it my day's project to give a smile!

We Never Know Who God Is Touching!

2009-02-03T10:36:00.001-08:00

The Lord does move in mysterious ways! Beyond my mortal understanding, so often! Yesterday, I posted a scripture yesterday that gave me hope that my family would be saved and that God is working His devine will! Romans 7 in the Message version is in yesterdays post, if you care to read it! It is beautiful! It has been a wonderful inspiration to me over the last few days! I always enjoy the comments that people leave and look forward to receiving them! Last night, I was just about to head to bed when I check my email and I had received a new comment! I sat there crying, amazed at how the Lord works! I will share the comment and then I will comment to this dear person. I encourage all of you the leave comments to this dear one! This is our opportunity to be an encouragement to someone who is obviously reaching out! So often, people hide their true feelings inside because of pride, etc......But today we have the opportunity to be a life line! Let's be just that! Here is the comment ( I just copied & pasted):

Anonymous said...
You don't know me personnally, but I know who you are and read you posts often. The scripture you quoted in your post is EXACTLY how I have felt my whole life! I know and want to do what is right in Gods eyes, but find it so difficult when I am constantly faced with weaknesses over and over. Thank you for giving me hope and making me feel I can go on no matter what or how many times I fail. You are an awesome lady! Thank you!

Oh, dear one, I know that at different times in our lives we have all felt this to some degree! The hopelessness hinders us more than anything! Only with God is there hope! We cannot make it on our own! I, for one, would not even want to try! We all have a base nature that is not good! But, through God, we are saved! Therefore, we MUST stay close to him! If we find ourselves not leaning on Him, then we are walking on our own! Then we do things our way! Picture yourself literally leaning on him, his arms are around you and you are walking WITH Him! How can you stray? You cannot for HE is guiding! Now picture that you have taken a few steps away, He is pointing in a direction where He wants to go, BUT your eyes are turned in the other direction, you cannot even see the hand that He is pointing with because your gaze has strayed! That is where you find yourself tempted with your weaknesses, because your are not focused! I keep wanting to be very southern with my roots in Texas for many years, I want to just say, "Oh, Honey..........!" However, I don't know your age, male, or female........ So I won't make you feel like a child because all of us, no matter the age find times that we have started doing things our way and what a mess we make! I have to refocus, turn my eyes back where they belong and tie myself back to Him!! I just saved this post to get my Bible! I asked the Lord for a scripture for you! This is where I opened my Bible to! I use the NIV Women's Devotional Bible for my daily reading! Here is the only scripture I read and began to weep when I realized how God is moving for you through this passage! I feel that when it speaks of "those" against you, that it is referring to your core weakness that satan uses that are againt you, not actual individuals. Psalms 142

1-2 I cry out loudly to God, loudly I plead with God for mercy.

I spill out all my complaints before him,

and spell out my troubles in detail:

3-7 "As I sink in despair, my spirit ebbing away,

you know how I'm feeling, Know the danger I'm in,

the traps hidden in my path. Look right, look left—

there's not a soul who cares what happens!

I'm up against it, with no exit— bereft, left alone.

I cry out, God, call out:

'You're my last chance, my only hope for life!'

Oh listen, please listen;

I've never been this low.

Rescue me from those who are hunting me down;

I'm no match for them.

Get me out of this dungeon

so I can thank you in public.

Your people will form a circle around me

and you'll bring me showers of blessing!"

Continue to cry out to Him! Remember to Praise His Name!! Praise will bring peace! God will not fail you! Hang in there and let Him set you free!

Ok, blogger friends! As Veta McLaughlin said, "Sister Chicks!!" or brother ducks! Let's encourage! We are counting on you! Let's all keep this dear person in our prayers!

Jesus, I Love You!!

2009-02-02T10:10:00.000-08:00

We had a fantastic service last night! The praise team had practiced all fast and peppy worship songs, then, as the Lord does so often, everything changed as soon as church started! He moved in in a beautiful spirit of worship! Before it was all said and done, we had everyone up around the altars, and we saw so many people receive direction and answers that have been looking for a very long time! It was so refreshing to just lay our burdens and cares on the Lord! There were new converts kneeling in the middle aisle weeping out loud before the Lord and it was so precious to see other new converts knelt beside them praying for them! It was so awesome, the sweet worship! We were singing the beautiful song, Jesus, I Love You!!

Jesus, I love you,

Because you care,

I couldn't imagine,

If you weren't there,

You are to me my everything,

and that is why I sing,

Jesus, I love you.......

This past week I have been overwhelmed with the hopelessness of sin in lives that do not know God in the power of the Holy Ghost! I am so thankful that I know Him! Not just an acquaintance but really know Him!

At the end of service, Sis. Nancy Oliver, our ladies director and musician, began to sing, He's an on time God, yes He is!! That is an old black gospel song that was so fitting to end what the Lord had done!

He's an on time God,

Yes, He is!

He's an on time, God,

Yes, He is!

He may not come when you want Him,

But He's always right on time,

He's an on time God, Yes He is!

I have prayed for my family all of my life and have felt promises from God many times that they would be saved. A recent situation has devastated me and I have been in one of the darkest valleys of my life, however, because of different scriptures that I have been impressed with certain scriptures and through counsel, I truly believe that the Lord has worked His timing! There are people who want to do good, but cannot do it on their own, this is found in Romans 7! I will borrow a version that my friend, Tracie Smith had on her blog, thanks Tracie!

Romans 7:17 But I need something more! For if I know the law but still can’t keep it, and if the power of sin within me keeps sabotaging my best intentions, I obviously need help! 18 I realize that I don’t have what it takes. I can will it, but I can’t do it. 19 I decide to do good, but I don’t really do it; I decide not to do bad, but then I do it anyway. 20 My decisions, such as they are, don’t result in actions. Something has gone wrong deep within me and gets the better of me every time. 21 It happens so regularly that it’s predictable. The moment I decide to do good, sin is there to trip me up. 22 I truly delight in God’s commands, 23 but it’s pretty obvious that not all of me joins in that delight. Parts of me covertly rebel, and just when I least expect it, they take charge. 24 I’ve tried everything and nothing helps. I’m at the end of my rope. Is there no one who can do anything for me? Isn’t that the real question? 25 The answer, thank God, is that Jesus Christ can and does. He acted to set things right in this life of contradictions where I want to serve God with all my heart and mind, but am pulled by the influence of sin to do something totally different. The Solution Is Life on God’s Terms

I find hope today that God has to take certain people to certain places to be able to talk to them. I spoke with Bro. & Sis. Rick Keyes over the weekend and they too feel that there are people who know and want to to right, but there is a core nature inside that cannot do it on their own! I am taking refuge in the fact that God knows our every prayer! He may not come when I want Him, but He's always right on time!

God, I thank you today for knowing and caring! I cannot imagine if You weren't there! Because you are to me, my everything. So, today I will sing......................!!!

My help comes from Him

2009-01-29T21:22:00.001-08:00

I lift up my hands,

My help comes from You

I lift up my heart,

My help comes from You

I lift up my eyes,

To where my help comes from.

A beautiful worship song that reminds us where our help does come from! Today, I will lift up my hands, heart, and eyes to where my help comes from!!

Praise is what I WILL do!

2009-01-29T12:06:00.000-08:00

We have all heard about the proverbially phone call that turns our world upside down! Well, yesterday, I received that call! It is of a personal manner with my extended family that I don't feel to share at this time! Not all of my extended family is in the church, hell reaks havoc anyway he can! However, I do want to show you how God works!

I was on the praise team at church last night and I had to stay very focused to sing, I just wanted to hang my head and weep! I had to ask my husband to pray for me that I would sleep and have peace last night! God did that, in fact I slept late today! I'm at home alone with Cherish and am keeping busy, for an idle mind is the devil's play ground! I came to the computer, turned it on and felt that I was to read my dear friend Sis. Tracie Smith's post for today, link Tracie Smith ! I knew immediately that I had felt the right thing! She spoke of another friend of ours, Sis. Veta McLaughlin's post for today! http://mclaughlinmelodies.blogspot.com/ Both were about praising Him through our disappointments, trials and dark times! Sis. Smith reminded me of the song that we sing so often at our own church, Praise is what I do!

Praise is what I do
When I want to be close to You,
I lift my hands in praise.
Praise is who I am,
I will praise Him while I can.
I'll bless Him at all times.
I vow to praise You
Through the good and the bad.
I'll praise You,
Whether happy or sad.
I'll praise You
In all that I go through,
Because praise is what I do,
Cause I owe it all to You.
Praise is what I do
When I want to be close to You,
I lift my hands in praise.
Praise is who I am,
I will praise Him while I can.
I'll bless Him at all times.
And I vow to praise You
Through the good and the bad.
I'll praise You,
Whether happy or sad.
I'll praise You
Praise is what I do,
Even when I am going through,
I've learned to worship You.
Know my circumstance doesn't even stand a chance,
My good outweighs the bad.
Now somebody lift your voice
And just go to praising him right now
Somebody lift your voice in this place
Lift up your voice in this place.
Praise is what I do
Is what I do

Thank you, Veta and Tracie! You have both reminded me today, to look up to where our help comes from!

So, as I go through my day, hopefully keeping busy and getting a lot accomplished, I WILL PRAISE HIM!!

I thank God today for my husband, daughters, and son-in-law! A wonderful loving family is so important!

My actual first knowledge of my trial came through a comment to my post yesterday! To who ever left me the sweet message that I was in their concern and prayers, thank you so much! I took the comment off only to protect the privacy of the person concerned! Your intent was very kind and appreciated!

Family Day!

2009-01-27T09:15:00.000-08:00

Monday in the Hill household is always family day!! We learned a long time ago that the family is of the utmost importance! Every Monday we spend quality time together! It is almost forbidden for my husband to make other plans or appointments! Sometimes, we do fun things like go to Chuck E Cheese, go to the park, the zoo, the mall, etc. Sometimes we just have dinner, play games, read books, or things like that! The trouble is that almost every Monday, I have my horrible headaches! You say, "What?" Well, I am a stress driven person! No, you didn't know that did you? I really am growing up and not letting as much get to me, but I do love to please and in the occupation that God has placed us, it is impossible to please everyone!! Therefore, with the responsibilities of Sunday, I praise sing, I teach the 9-12 year olds, as well as all of the other duties of a pastor's wife, oh, don't forget that I have Cherish in the mix, too! A three year old all day in and out of church, keeping her sweet, quiet, etc. Well, even when all is wonderful on Sunday, for some reason, I must be tense because of the responsibility! Therefore, my "Monday Headache" as we call them! Yesterday was a "Doosey" of one! So we have to have our family day around those!

Even with that, we would not leave Cherish out! We just played with her around the house, she made us pretend ice cream with her toy ice cream set, ate soup and grilled cheese for lunch, then she took a nap with her mommy afterwards! When I woke up, my headache was much better! So we quickly through ourselves together and ran to Rite Aide! What is Rite Aide? If you are from California, you will know that they bought out the old Thrify Drug Stores! Thrify always had a little stand at the front of the store that had hand dipped ice cream for about $.69 per scoop! Well, Rite Aide kept the Thrifty Ice Cream, but it is $1.19 per scoop now! I got my favorite, Black Cherry with huge cherry halves in it! Cherish got strawberry! Daddy got rainbow sherbet! It was about 50 degrees outside so we were laughing because we were shivering getting in our car with ice cream! It was so funny, we got home set down at our bar and Cherish looked at her daddy's sherbet, took a bite, then pointed at the strawberry and said, "Dat is yours now, daddy!" Thus, Daddy has strawberry and Cherry has rainbow!!! Mommy sure enjoyed her original Black Cherry!! Now that is a sweet daddy! He would have done that even if it wasn't family day!

Later, there was dinner together, and a quiet family time around the house! No interruptions!

You might consider this for your own family! We all get so busy that we tend to forget those that we hold near and dear! Pretty soon, we are all living our own lives and doing our own thing! We wonder why it is so easy for some families to permanently separate. I think that I will add to the old quote, so here's my new one...................

A family who prays and plays together, stays together!

Lord, don't let me ever forget to pray and play as a family! You are the center of all WE do!

We always did this with Misti, too! Guess what Monday is designated as in her house? You guessed it! It is just her and Adam, but rarely do they include anyone else in their Monday evening! I do believe that a little time together will lead to .............A Long Time Together!!!

Another Awesome Weekend!

2009-01-26T11:18:00.000-08:00

It is monday morning and we are rejoicing in another awesome weekend! We again, had several new visitors! The manager of Sweet Tomato restaurant come yesterday, loved our service and was really moved in the altar! He received the Holy Ghost, we just aren't sure what his background is, it may be a refilling!! Whatever, we are so thrilled that God is moving so greatly!

Last night, we had 2 more baptized! It is becoming a habit around here! I can't remember the last Sunday that we didn't have someone baptized! Thank you, Jesus!! It has become so common that Cherish said last night before church, "Gonna have somebody batize, Mommy?" Lord, please don't ever stop this wonderful common occurrence and help us to teach, maintain, and disciple all of these new people!

I was praise singing last night and was overwhelmed looking around at the "miracles!" There are so many people that the Lord is working on in various stages! Thank You, Lord, for each miracle both great and small!!

To all of you from Pentecostal Tabernacle, we love each of you so much!! We are so excited about what God has in store! He is "God of this city!"

Taking Time to Replenish

2009-01-21T17:41:00.000-08:00

Last Friday on the way to Hollister for Bro. Hurst's birthday party, I started feeling pretty yucky. By the end of the evening, I was certain that I was getting the flu! Sure enough, I was down on Saturday, and Sunday! I missed the morning service and went on Sunday night with a terrible headache, I mentioned that in another post! By Monday, Cherish started getting sick! Mine has just changed problems each day! I don't feel up to par yet and am really tired of laying around! I've been trying to get the laundry I washed the day before yesterday folded, between my own lack of energy and helping Cherish, I am just now getting it done!

Today, Cherish is really sick! I took her to the doctor! The doctor said that her left lung is really congested, has me patting and rubbing that side of her back, giving her breathing treatments, and started antibiotics! It is a virus, therefore, we are missing church tonight! Of course, her Daddy is there preaching, but I'm home AGAIN!

I sat in the recliner a few minutes ago and prayed! I basically told the Lord that I am really tired of feeling bad, I want to get better, have some strength and want Cherish better. I feel drained spiritually because I'm so tired and achy! I had my ladies devotional bible in my lap and prayed that the Lord would speak to me through His word since I was missing church! Over the years, when I have been seeking something from Him, he just plainly speaks through His word to me! So I knew that He would not fail this time!

I opened the bible to Luke the 5th chapter! There was a separate devotional written by a Joan C. Webb there! I want to share it with you! You will find it amazing, knowing what I had just asked the Lord for and feeling guilty for missing service again!

Taking Time to Replenish

Verse: Luke 5:16

But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed! NIV

So He Himself often withdrew into the wilderness and prayed. NKJV

Jesus' days were filled with counseling the confused, encouraging the disappointed, hugging children, protecting the abused, feeding the hungry, questioning false teaching, challenging the weather, crusading for justice and fair play, withstanding ridicule, teaching his staff of apostles and loving his opponents. Increasing crowds clamored around Jesus daily.

Jesus was extremely busy. Yet He knew the limitations of the human body and soul. He realized he needed to separate himself from the day to day demands. Although Jesus acknowledged the people's tremendous need, He did not call Himself selfish when he often withdrew to replenish his mind and spirit.

Learning to take care of ourselves is worthwhile and nurturing. Jesus did it; so can we!

Who will be glorified if I were to go to church this evening with a sick child? Myself? No, I am miserable! Cherish? No, she is beyond miserable! Those around me? No, we would be infecting them with whatever bug we've contacted. God? He would love my praises, but he himself had to take time to replenish!

I decided to write this blog, as a simple lesson to myself and to you who are on your last leg! We will be no good to anyone if we completely diminish our health! So, tonight, I will take a little time to spend time with Him, to replenish my spiritual self! I will take time with Cherish to help her replenish her health! I'll take a little time and drink some hot tea and read a book to replenish my own body! And, If I get a chance I'll take a little time and fold the laundry to replenish my cabinets and dresser!

So............examine yourself, take a few minutes, hours, or days, replenish your body and spirit so that this weekend, we can be at 100% giving Him our all!!

Something you might enjoy: If you have not ever tried cream in your hot tea, you owe it to yourself! I learned to drink it that way in London, and a cup of tea is a delicious delicacy now!!! I personally like french vanilla and a little sugar!

Well, it's been two hours since I posted this! I enjoyed a sweet time with the Lord and it is amazing how He can reach down, wherever we are with the same gentle touch! Thank you, Lord, for the replenishing in you! I got all of the laundry folded and put away! Yes, that is finished! And I just had to add here that Cherish just said to me, "Mommy, I want hot tea, pweez!" I said, "Ok, I'll get you some!" She said, "I want 'nilla pweez!" She loves the cream in it, too. She doesn't need it with the congestion, but I sure did get her a tiny bit in there!! Yummm!

The Revival Continues!

2009-01-19T15:40:00.000-08:00

I've mentioned recently about the way that God has seen fit to send revival to Kerman! We are so thrilled! It is interesting every service to see how many new visitors will be there! Yesterday, several of us were sick! I stayed home from the morning service but made myself go in the evening! My head felt every pounding beat of the drum, thank you very much Adam!! That's my son-in-law who does an awesome job on them! We still had a house full of people!

Stephen is making sure the baptistery is full each service now!!! At the end of service he said that he would be remiss in his duties if he didn't ask if anyone wanted to be baptized. Well, we didn't see anyone and we shortly ended an awesome service. Well, about 3 minutes later, he was grabbing the microphone! One of the young boys that is 11 years old that is from one of the new families had been praying in the altar. Well, none of us saw him raise his hand. Upon questioning him, he had received the Holy Ghost, too! Thank you, Jesus! It has become so common that a service with no one receiving the Holy Ghost and/or being baptized seems to be odd!

It is so cute, it has become so common now, that Cherish, who is princess Sleeping Beauty today, said that her pretend friend, Gavey, got baptized last night in, "Jesus Name, Amen!" and she lays down on the floor and shows us! It is so cute.

Now, before you think she is getting too spiritual, she also says that Santa Claus preaches at her church. When I tell her that I don't think that will ever happen, she tells me that it is a different church and it is pink! So, there you have it! She goes to a pink church where Santa preaches and baptizes imaginary friends!! At least it is in Jesus Name, Amen!!

Our weekend this far!

2009-01-17T16:27:00.000-08:00

We took the opportunity to spend some "friend" time! Today is Bro. Nathan Hurst's 50th birthday! Stephen serves on the Home Missions board with Bro. Hurst and we have really enjoyed getting to know them! We were invited to his surprise birthday party at his home last night in Hollister! The Keyes were going to go and spend the night, too! So we had a couple of meals together!

Cherish and Grandma Keyes sharing a milkshake!!

Both the above and below pictures are of all the "girls" at the party with Bro. Hurst in there, too! Sorry for the grainy picture, but as I stated before, my camera is in the shop!

Todd Johnson and Stephen being serious! Seriousness did not last long with Todd around!

Me, Cherish, and Sis. Sharon Keyes

When I asked Sis. Hurst if I should bring Cherish or not, she told me, "Absolutely, she'll be the star of the show!" Cherish sure did her part in attempting that title, even if I was a nervous wreck that she would bother someone! She loved the Elmo singing balloon sent by Bro. Randy Keyes!!

This was taken this morning at The Black Bear Diner! We enjoyed a delicious breakfast with the Keyes before we came home!

Thank you Ronda for inviting us! We had a great time!

Praising Him!

2009-01-14T22:16:00.000-08:00

I have to give God the praise today! We have been in Kerman for 8 1/2 years, and we love this city and the people here! It has been a long road of challenges! We have followed God with His truth and had many days that were more than disappointing! I do not come today to be sad or woe-be-gone! I do come, however, to bring a praise and victory report!

Several months ago, an obvious turn came!! It was like a breath of fresh air and we are basking in it! We have had every kind of outreach that you can think of here and would have an occasional visitor, now with no obvious reason, there is absolutely NO service with less that about 10 visitors! We are baptizing almost every service! People receiving the Holy Ghost in their pews! Unbelievable. About a month ago we had over 40 visitors in one service. 18 on a Wednesday night.

Last night, there was a young man named Robby! We started service, I was praise singing, so I had a great view of the happenings, and we were part way into our 2nd song and realized that he was just sobbing on the 3rd row! You guessed it, God took over and we had church! On a Wednesday!! We typically have bible study, which is always fantastic, my husband is a very interesting teacher, but last night, God did the teaching! Now, as a praise singer, I was exhausted! LOL We sang non-stop for an hour and a half, didn't even stop a song, we would transition straight over just to keep from distracting! I am not an accomplished singer! LOL But it sure was a lot of fun!!! Well, we had filled the baptistry about 1/3 full before service just in case, well it was an in case service! Robby wanted to be baptized! (James was baptized Sunday after he received the Holy Ghost in the Youth Class!) So, we started the water again, Robby got in one of our jumpsuits, and my husband had to put one on too because the baptistry was not full enough to baptize him standing up! They both got in, Robby sat down and there he was baptized in Jesus name! It was fabulous! (We will have the baptistry FULL from now on!)

We all were laughing, though, we only had one towel at the church, so of course Robby got that, there was a sheet used for drama props, my hubby used that and couldn't get his feet to dry, Robby needed the room to dress, so out comes my well put together husband, onto the platform, with bare feet! He had tried to put his socks on and they would not go over his wet feet! LOL Misti, who was praise singing, too, had her camera from the baptism, she got an up close picture of her Dad with bare feet at the pulpit! (We are going to buy several towels for the church today!)

What at awesome time we had! We give God all of the glory! A precious young lady that we love dearly sent me a text and told me to listen to the song by Bluetree called God of this City!
It was yet another confirmation that we are on the right track and this is the promised revival! It says that God is the God of this City and that He isn't finished with it yet! You should listen to it and receive a new vision for where God had placed you!

Oh, by the way, after church, Robby said, "This is awesome, I will definitely be back and bring my kids with me!!!" Thank you, Jesus! We give you all of the praise!!!

Our Christmas Pictures!!

2009-01-13T16:33:00.001-08:00

I realized that I never showed our pictures of our Christmas! I had both girl's birthdays in the middle and skipped right over it!

We always have our immediate family Christmas separate from anyone else so that Cherish will enjoy our gifts to her and we can concentrate just on her! It was a lot of fun and we just spent quality time! Then on Christmas day the kids and my mom and sister spent the whole day here! After a fabulous meal that we all pitched in and prepared together, we all found rooms and took napes, arose and ate some more!

I told you that my Dad visited earlier in December. He bought Cherish an Escalade!! It is too big to fit through the doors into my house! It will hold to children and up to 135 pounds! It goes 5 mph!! It is too cute! We have taken a few days here and there and let her drive it to the park down the street from our house! All of the other children stop and stare! We have even had a few cars stop to watch and the drivers just smile and wave! Needless to say, she is much too young! All she does is pushes the throttle full blast and looks around! We have to steer or it would be a disaster! I have included a few of those pictures!

Speaking of pictures, Cherish broke my camera yesterday! It is a Canon Powershot S80 which is the step below a professional camera! Her daddy bought for me for her birth. It was extremely pricey!! Well, it has now been shipped to Canon! She dropped it with the lens out! It will not retract and the shutter won't close! She will not be playing with it again!! So if you notice a lack of pictures over the next while.....................that's why!!!

Much is required!

2009-01-10T20:05:00.000-08:00

Lord, Let my heart be pure!

I have thought a lot recently about the scripture that talks about that the person whom much is forgiven, much is required!
Luke 12:48 ...For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required

I have found it so amazing that the very ones that receive such mercy and forgiveness are the very ones who seem to be the hardest on offenders! It is so disheartening. I always wonder just how God will deal with that?

God has been so good to me and my family, therefore, we strive very hard to let the same mercies flow to those around us! With this way of life, we find that God truly seems to restore and do a great work! We know that not one of us is free from shortcomings, therefore we judge as we would be judged.

I was familiar recently with a situation with and individual whom MUCH had been forgiven, and when the tables were turned and someone else needed mercy, WOW.....did the feathers fly!

Today I am saddened by the lack of mercy by humanity! I pray that I will always show mercy and kindness! Life is short, troubles come and go, but the final goal is making it to Heaven. I pray that if you have been forgiven of sins of the flesh, financial situations, or whatever the weakness that you experience, that when the tables are turned, you too will strive to be a Christian in all of your ways, guarding your thoughts, feeling, words and actions.

Moral Character is defined as: one of the attributes or features that make up or distinguish an individual who is conforming to a standard of right behavior.

The United States Air Force Academy relates moral character as: the sum of those qualities of moral excellence that stimulates a person to do the right thing, which is manifested through right and proper actions despite internal or external pressures to the contrary.

God let my character be moral! No matter the internal or external pressures! I want to be distinguished and have a reputation that my attributes and features conform to a standard of right behavior. Holy and acceptable before you!

Home Sweet Home!

2009-01-09T08:45:00.001-08:00

I have rested up a little now and am settling back into my world! After the travel on Wednesday, then meeting for Misti's birthday, as usual, I had a migraine yesterday! I was thrilled this morning when I woke up and feel fine!

We had a great time in Houston, but I have to say that it is so nice to be home! There really is "No place like home!" I had to make a grocery store run, yesterday! My cupboards were bare!

If anyone is wondering, we did not bring Misti her crawfish!! She agreed with us that it might not be good when we got it home. We didn't want to freeze it because then it would not be fresh anymore and were just afraid that the fried crawfish would be way to soggy, the crawfish etoufee probably would have been fine. With the 45 minute drive to pick it up (one way) we decided against it! Sorry!

Believe me, she is still spoiled rotten! We took her out for lunch on her birthday and I am cooking dinner for her tonight! I typically cook a nice dinner for our families birthdays, so she chose tonight to do just that!

I took a few pictures while in Texas. I told you before that we got to see Bro. & Sis. Clark, which were our pastors that we assisted for 7 years when we first married starting 24 years ago. I am so glad that they are getting to know Cherish. We also got to see Stephen's brother, Kevin and his family. He works out of state and we don't see him but about once every two or three years. It was so good to see them and spend a little time! Of course we spent quality time with Stephen's mother, his sister, Michele, and his Grannie. They all had minor damage from the hurricane but everything is back to normal! Grannie basically had her house remodeled from her more substantial damage! It is beautiful! I'm so happy for her!

And there is "Baby Bryson" as Cherish calls him! Our dear neice, Rebecca, and her husband, Brandon, had their bouncing baby boy, Bryson, just before Thanksgiving. He is a little doll! Aunt Susan hogged him the whole entire time. Well, that's when he wasn't getting changed or needing his mommy! He is a gorgeous or rather handsome little man. No mistaking him for a girl! We are so happy for you, Becca! You obviously love your son!

Happy 21st, Misti!!

2009-01-07T13:48:00.001-08:00

Above: Bridesmaids

Above Picture: Today at Lunch

Today is my little girl's birthday! Not, my Cherish, but Misti! We just flew in from Houston and are going to meet her for a late lunch before church, so I'll be quick here!!

Misti is a wonderful, godly young lady that has been the joy of our life!! Misti, I cannot believe that you are 21, I'm sure that you were just born! Where did the years go? I hope your day is wonerful! I love you dearly, sweetie!!

I am too tired to deal with a slideshow, we've been up since 2:30am here for the flight, so I'm just adding pictures! Sorry, but I know you will still enjoy!!

Houston!!!

2009-01-06T08:36:00.000-08:00

I know, everyone is wondering where I have been!! My mother-in-law got to missing us last week and wanted us to fly to Houston to see her! With much deliberation and contact with the airlines, that was made possible in no time!! So here we are!

When we left Fresno, it was 43 degrees in the afternoon! It was 2 am when we got here and it was 65 degrees! I brought all sweaters, turtlenecks, and boots for both of us girls!! Well, the next day was 79 degrees and the next 83!! I was burning up! I had Cherish in boots with bare legs because I had no regular shoes for her!! At last, it turned cold yesterday! 49 degrees, today is 53 and raining! So I am finally comfortable!!

I know, there are blogger friends here in this area that are saying, "What? Why didn't you call me?" Well, it is so difficult when we come so seldom to schedule time away from family! So, please forgive me!

We fly home tomorrow morning because my beautiful daughter will be 21 and I don't want to miss her birthday! I'll try to post about her tomorrow evening!!

Yes, I have eaten catfish, crawfish, Pappasitos, and black-eyed peas! I have loved every minute of it!!! Cherish, too! She said, "Catfish is my vewy favowit!"

We ate lunch with our pastor, Bro. and Sis. Clark, yesterday! They took Cherish too Toys R Us and bought her a huge bag of toys! She was so excited!!! Thanks so much Poppy & Nanni for spoiling my new little girl!! She said that Poppy is her fwiend, fwiend, fwiend! We left them and she started saying, "Mommy, Mommy, Mommy! I needa call Poppy and say thank you vewy much for all my babies!" So we did just that!

Well, I'm getting ready to head to DSW shoes and to Grannies in a little bit! I just wonder what everyone thinks, tomorrow being Misti's birthday, she is insisting that I drive way out to the Woodlands almost to Conroe to Pappadeaus, from Humble, to pick up a crawfish platter, and take it on the plane for her? What do I do? Hmmmmm, shall I?

Why "Old" People Break Their Bones!!

2009-01-01T09:08:00.000-08:00

I recieved this clip this morning! We enjoyed it and were laughing and discussing it, Cherish said, "Dat's funny, need to put it on de bwog!" I do believe that she was correct, you will enjoy it and it will bring a few smiles into your new year!

This is why old people break their bones!!

A "BWOG" from Cherish

2008-12-29T21:34:00.000-08:00

This morning , Cherish put on her grown up voice and said, "It's a very nice day, Mommy! Can you put that on the bwog?" So this post is for Cherish!

No matter what today holds, no matter what yesterday brought your way, or what tomorrow may have in store, it truly is a very nice day to be alive, have God in our lives, and to know that there is hope in our future. There have been many days that I quoted to myself and others that, "This, too, shall pass!"

Pentecostal Tabernacle is a witness today that you can make it through and come out victorious! Thank God for true revival, orchestrated by God!!!!

This truly is "a very nice day!" Thank you, Little Miss Cherish for reminding us all!!

Dancing to the Chipmunks???

2008-12-26T09:11:00.000-08:00

I was baking on Christmas Eve and had our stereo blaring with Christmas Cd's. Cherish was playing and having a good time, I heard giggling and moved a little to peek around to the living room, I grabbed my camera and captured part of the moment! Be sure to keep your eye on Annie, the dog, just after she jumps on the chair!! Enjoy my 3 year old's adventures!! Sorry, I was holding the camera crooked!!

By the way, she loved the doll house!! She had a wonderful birthday and Christmas. Yesterday, I reminded her that it was Jesus' birthday, here came the tears again! "No, pweez, I wanna open pwesents, too!" A little hard to understand, I think!!

We had one of the most relaxing Christmas's ever! No running from house to house! Misti, Adam, Mom, and Candi all came at 9:00 am and stayed until almost 10:00 pm last night! We ate, opened gifts, ate, all found bedrooms and took naps, ate, played, etc. How much better than that?

Pictures of Cherish on her birthday!

2008-12-23T21:52:00.000-08:00

We had a small party for Cherish tonight! It was just family here, and Cherish was definately the queen for a night!! She was very gracious and told us each, "Thank you very much!" with every item that she opened!! What a sweety!!

My Cherish is 3 years old today!!! Happy Birthday!

2008-12-23T10:26:00.001-08:00

In May of 2005 we recieved the shock of our life!! There would be a new baby coming to the Hill family! Misti was one month from graduating from high school and I was 39 and Stephen 42! We were delighted, but in denial! I took 5 tests before I would believe!!

Here we are, 3 years later and I could not imagine life without her! She is a joy to us that I cannot even begin to explain! "Thank you, Jesus, for our little miracle, Cherish!"

Today we will PARTY! It is 10:30 in the morning and she is asking for chicken nuggets, so she will get them now! I never let her eat like that before noon, but today is her day!! Tonight, her Sissy and Adam, Mamaw and Aunt Candi are coming over and we are eating PIZZA, of which her Daddy strongly dislikes!! Cake of course, to go in the princess party! She is asking for a doll house and that alone, so her daddy and I bought her the doll house at Costco with the elevator! She'll get it tonight!

We took her to Build A Bear yesterday, we waited for this birthday to do her first one so she would understand! We have a very cute dog named "Princess Daisey!"

Here is a clip of her from Sunday in a kids program!! She's a mess!

Cherish, darling, your mommy loves you with all her heart!! Happy Birthday, doll!

Happy Birthday to my favorite sister!!

2008-12-19T09:06:00.000-08:00

Today is your Birthday,

Happy Happy Birthday!

Today is your Birthday,

So have a Happy Day!

Yeah!!

Today is my only sister's birthday! Candace is such a caring and sweet lady! She is so quiet that we take her for granted! Today is our day to let her know how much we love her!

Candace, you are 39 today! I hope your day is filled with love and happiness! It seems strange not partying today for you, but since you chose tomorrow, we'll just party extra hard then!! I love you dearly and do so appreciate all of your help! Have a great fantastic day!!

Your "little" Sis!

P.S. For anyone who feels offended by the "Little" remark. I'm older than Candace by 3 years but she introduces me as her "little" sis just to see people's reactions!! You are crazy girl!!

The Candace part.....that is her name but she goes by Candi, I love her given name and like to see her reaction when I use it! I was always jealous of her beautiful name when I got stuck with plain old Susan!!! LOL!!!

Ladies Party 2008 A Huge Success!!!

2008-12-18T23:55:00.000-08:00

It was a fabulous party!! Tons of food, lots of presents, and a great turn out! I had 37 ladies in my home! We had a table in the office, a table rounding the corner from the living room to the kitchen, the dining table extended to seat 10 and my bar seats 5. So there were still about 10 of us holding our plates, but we sure weren't complaining!!! The visitor ladies came and loved it! We laughed so hard! It was a wonderful time and I feel fulfilled this night!

Thank you to all of you who brought desserts! They were delicious!! Sis. Lois for the deviled eggs, Misti for the Hill Salsa, & Sis. Angela for one of the Pampered Chef wreaths!!

Misti, your help today was unbelievable. I could not have made it without you and Dad helping out! I know you are exhausted but I do appreciate all of your hard work! It was fun working together, but we were under the gun getting it all done, weren't we??

Stephen, what can I say, I have the best husband in the world! He was right there working himself like crazy! I know that you are exhausted, but the ladies of Pentecostal Tabernacle had a wonderful evening while you guys met at the pizza place with our kids! Cherish loved it!!

Oh, to Tracie Smith, the game from your hospitality blog that you pass the gift RIGHT and LEFT was a great hit! We had two circles and we had one gift in each circle that went around! Thanks so much for your site! I love it! Oh, yes, we loved the cranberry iced tea, I made a variation on it for a lemonade!! I used some of the cranberry and a little of the orange juice in the lemonade and added sliced lemons and oranges in the top! It was beautiful and delicious!! 3 gallons of each were all gone!!!

Hello to my blogger friends!

2008-12-16T19:27:00.000-08:00

Where have I been? I have had company! My Dad and his wife have been with us for a week and we have partied the whole time!!! We just returned from the airport, I'm exhausted, and have 2 days until the Christmas party at my house!! So, rest tonight, make 3 centerpieces and clean house tomorrow, decorate, set up, cook and have the party on Thursday!! I can't wait!! (Stephen is taking Cherish out for pizza while we party!!)

Oh, I had a call today from a new lady at our church, we have had 20 visitors consistently in the last month! 5 families all connected to each other, never had the Holy Ghost and really hungry for God!! This lady that called is one of them, 4 of the ladies are coming to the party! I'm so excited! I already had confirmation from 5 of the other new ladies that have been coming! So, move over Pentecostal Tabernacle ladies, let's make room, overwhelm them with our love! Let's let God do His work!!

So, if you don't hear from me in a while, I have the church dinner on Sunday Night! Busy week!!

Who's birthday are we all preparing for??

2008-12-07T14:41:00.000-08:00

I'm sorry but I found this so cute! The man who cleaned our carpet this week said to Cherish, "Oh, your birthday is almost on Jesus'!" She looked at him really odd and said, "It's the twenty-tird!" So after he left, I tried to explain that we celebrate His birthday on Christmas and that hers was only 2 days earlier, etc. That was all fine! The next day, when I was decorating the house and setting the tree up, I was telling her that it was all for Christmas and for Jesus' birthday, and so on. Well, that did it! She cried and cried. Broken-hearted for life! "No, dis is my tree, not Jesus'! Pweez mommy, it's for my birfday!" So, I believe that we must decide here, who's birthday we are preparing for around this house!!

While typing this, Cherish just walked in from a 2 hour nap, she said to me, "I waked up from a wong (long) nap!" I said, "You did?" She said, "Uhh-huh, for my Cwismas twee!" Hmmmm.....maybe she'll understand next year!

We are all very tired today, so we ran through Burger King (not my favorite) and grabbed lunch. Oh, yes, a paper crown for Cherish, too. That is her "pwincesss cwown" today! I was getting ready to lay down, she came into my room and said, "Mommy, wisten!!! Dis is bery 'porant stowy!" (mommy listen, this is a very important story!" I said, "Oh, OK, Daddy let's listen to this very important story!" She said, with her crown on, "You sing Pretty Princess Tweeeel for me so I can Tweeeel!" (Tweeeel = Twirl!) So we proceeded to sing the song I made up for her two "Tweeeeel!

Maybe we will all just have to "tweeeel" on Christmas in front of HER tree!!!!

Oh, I do love this season!!

2008-12-06T09:57:00.000-08:00

I may be extremely busy, but I love it! I'm preparing for the ladies dinner at my home and the church dinner on the 21st, buying gifts, preparing my home for my father's visit this next week, gearing up for Cherish's birthday on the 23rd, and of all things, we had our carpets cleaned, so we emptied the house the day before yesterday! Uggghhh, bad thing to do right before Christmas! But it sure looks nice!
Misti and I took the opportunity while the carpet was wet, to run errands for Christmas! I finished Stephen's gifts and a couple more! It was so nice spending the time with Misti! We always have a great time and she spoils Cherish to death!
Adam spoke at a youth service last night about an hour from here and it was all guys going from here do to the busy season, so Misti stayed behind! We enjoyed her here with us! I was decorating for Christmas, Wow, that is such a job!! Anyway, that is finished and beautiful! She was going to help, but she got to enjoying her sister and that was it! She goes to work so early in the morning that she is so tired in the evening, so it was so nice just enjoying them enjoy one another! Cherish got in trouble from her daddy a couple of times and Misti could not stand it! I found it amusing!
Well, today..............there is a home missions church in San Mateo (outskirts of San Francisco) that the pastor is very ill and they have to be in their newly rented building by the 1st. 3 walls have to be torn out an the main sanctuary rebuilt! So, guess where my husband and 4 of our guys are? They left at 5 am and drove 3 hours, they are now demolishing walls, oh guys love that!! LOL I don't expect them before about midnight tonight. So my day? Laundry, finishing the last touches to the house before my dad's visit, preparing my lesson for the pre-teens tomorrow, and guess who is coming over as soon as possible? Hint: Adam went with Stephen to San Mateo! You guessed it! I'll have both of my girls all day today! How blessed am I? I've had Misti 3 days in a row! Ha, I haven't even spoken to my son-in-law in those 3 days! I'm not glad he's so busy, but it sure nice to be with Misti!
By the way, this is the first time in 3 years that Misti will be home for Christmas! The schedule finally allows her to be here this year! We are so thrilled!
So as you can see, we are enjoying every minute of this crazy time! Don't tell anyone, but we had the Chipmunks Christmas blaring through our house yesterday! Oh, Cherish loved that! We all had to sing and dance a little! LOL No, our house is never dull!

Vacation Slideshow!

2008-12-01T10:56:00.000-08:00

I promised a slideshow of vacation pictures! We had a fabulous time in Oceanside, at Sea World, and at Disneyland! Enjoy!!

P.S. I don't know what Cherish had in her mouth on "It's A Small World" but it must have tasted good!!

Cherish learns her Alphabet

2008-11-29T10:46:00.000-08:00

Cherish is still 2 years old but will be 3 on Dec. 23. ( I know, not a great birth date! She was 5 weeks early) She has been learning her numbers, 1-10, and usually gets them perfect, so now we are working on the alphabet. It is so cute, because several of the 3 in a row letters come out like a word like "teeyouvee!" She loves to sing the end of it! Well, yesterday, she kept saying them on her own all day. So I grabbed the camera and got this really cute clip!! I know it will be one that I'll keep forever! Oh, she asks for a doll house for her gift, that is what we got her!! First, she says spoons, then napkins! She's talking about her party not her gift!!

We did a very brave thing yesterday, the day after Thanksgiving! I have always said that I would NEVER go shopping on "Black Friday!" Well, I did, but in the afternoon! We went to a favorite restaurant first, Japanese Kitchen, then we hit Target, Costco, and Stein Mart! It really was fun, not too busy! Poor Cherish, we pushed her so hard that while in the basket at Target, she laid her head over on my hand and fell asleep. She is very nosey, so that NEVER happens! By the way, if anyone still needs gifts, Stein Mart is having their 75% off and then 25% off of that! We bought Stephen slacks and casual pants for $3 - $4. Jackets for myself for $4 - $5. Just thought you might like to know!!! Anyways, had a great day and came home and enjoyed leftover pie!!

Oh, on the pie note, Stephen's favorite is always the lemon meringue! I make it extra tart and he and Misti always fight over it. I don't bother, I like the pecan best! Well, guess what? I ask Cherish what kind she wants? You guessed it! "Wemon Pweez!" Ha Ha, Daddy and Sissy!!!

My Thanksgiving Day!!

2008-11-27T18:30:00.001-08:00

I did not have to eat all 5 pies!!! My brother and his boys, of whom we have not seen in a year, came!! We were so thrilled! Mark, is the oldest at 14 years old next month, then Joshua, who is almost 12, and Jacob is 9. It was so cute because Cherish brought out her tent right away, all three boys looked at her like, "No Way!" It wasn't very long until all three boys and Cherish were all in the tent! I hardly knew Mark, he went from being an boy to a young man! It didn't take long to see that Mark was still in that body that towered over me! I really knew it was still my boys, when it was time to leave and they all asked if they could raid the pantry for candy! I am putting these pictures on for my relatives and friends that know and love the boys! Please keep them and their daddy in your prayers! They lived her near us and I taught the boys in Sunday School for almost 2 years, so I know they heard the truth! They are very close to this aunt's heart and I would love to see them saved!!

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!!

2008-11-26T17:48:00.000-08:00

I have baked all day, and then baked some more!! A little sad this year, Misti and Adam went to Adam's parents! I am thrilled they went but will miss them! I love the holidays! We may or may not have my brother and his boys here, so it very well may just be my dear husband, Cherish, my mom & sister here with me! I made 5 pies, cookies, and brownies today, along with tons of "real" food! If they do not come, 4 adults have 5 pies! Ha! I'll be HUGE by Sunday!

I have so much to be thankful for!!! God has truly been good to my family! I hope that each of you have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

May it be filled with lots of love, laughter, and lots of yummy food!

I told you we were going to Disneyland!!

2008-11-24T10:04:00.001-08:00

I am working on a slide show of our vacation!!! Several are asking for pictures, so I am putting these on until I get the slide show! We got home Saturday night and had church both services yesterday, it is now Monday morning, I have not unpacked, so we dug through the luggage to get things that we needed yesterday! So we have vacation hangover and a mess!!