My Week

Here is the recap for last week...still catching up! :)  This was Sunday evening service at Lancaster Baptist Church.  

 After church, we tried a new place - The Habit Burger Grill.  It was a good place - I do wish I would have tried the sweet potato fries. :)  We had dinner with our friends - Jon and Jami McConkey who pastor in North Carolina.

On Monday, we drove to the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach.  It was a great place and we really enjoyed it. 

 After the Aquarium, we took a stroll on the boardwalk.  Beautiful but windy!

 My husband and I like to try new hole-in-the wall places so we checked out a place recommended by Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives called Schooner or Later.  It was yummy!  I got a chicken pita and sweet potato fries and my husband got a crab sandwich and fries.  We ate on the patio overlooking the water.

 That evening was the first service of the Spiritual Leadership Conference.  The next morning, we enjoyed a breakfast at the church with Krispy Kreme donuts. 

On Tuesdays, they host a luncheon for pastor's wives and missionary wives.  This year was a Baseball Theme.

I enjoyed the most of this conference was the classes I attended taught by Bro. Schettler.  He is a fantastic teacher and I thoroughly enjoyed the way he presented his material and the material itself was wonderful!

Soon it was already Wednesday.  We had dinner with Shaun and Shannon and again tried out a new for us place - Firehouse Subs.  It too was yummy!

 On Thursday, we drove back home.  Here are a few photos along the way.  I love cows - do you see the cows! :)  I love cows.

 This place, again, was a new place for us to try.  It was a little hole in the wall restaurant in the middle of nowhere.  We sat on the front porch, even the owner's dog joined us - LOL!, and enjoyed a delicious lunch of BBQ beef brisket and yummy fries.  Definitely a great place!

 My husband had a wedding rehearsal in Genoa that we had on the way home but we were pretty early so we took a walk around the town and of course, we had to get some hand-dipped ice cream!  They didn't have my favorite butter pecan so I got salted caramel and the hubby got strawberry.

 After the rehearsal it was finally home!  It was great to see our girls and catch up on all their stories.

My tomato plants are getting big.

 Friday was right back to work with cleaning and setting up the church for our Open House Sunday which was our 5th anniversary.  Shopping, singing practices...a busy two days!

Chris Tefft was our speaker for the day.  We also hosted a blood drive and dinner on the grounds with fried chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, corn and mac and cheese followed by apple pie and cake.  As usual, I didn't remember to take any pictures during the action because I get so busy getting things done.  LOL!

On a side note, this makes a gallon of gravy - great for big events!

My secret sister gave me this awesome plug-in - it looks awesome in my kitchen!  Another friend, Becca, fed my addiction and brought me a Vitamin Water. :)

A busy and memorable week!

Friday's Challenge on Posted by Rebekah

Every Friday @ 12:30pm (CST), you can hear a weekly challenge from me on Faith Music Radio.  My podcast is called Posted by Rebekah. You can listen online HERE or download the free app for your smartphone.  I would love for you to join us, listen and take the challenge!
Tune in any time of the day to Faith Music Radio for uplifting Christian music and talk. 


Here is today's podcast in blog post form. :)

Sunday night, we were coming home from church...my husband and I were chatting about the day's events. In the back of the van, the girls were playing and talking. Sierra was pretending that her lip gloss was a princess and she was talking for her "lip gloss princess". She was talking to Addie's lip gloss who was the "prince" and this is what she said... 

"Stop! I am trying to fall in love with you!" 

My husband and I burst out laughing. You never know what kids will say! 

But often, kids can teach you valuable lessons through their actions and words. And this is what I "heard"... 

God is trying to speak to you every day. He is like the spouse that just wants some undivided attention from their lover. He says, "Stop what you are doing! Stop watching that TV show. Stop reading that novel. Stop hanging out with your friends. Stop shopping for that new outfit. Stop talking on the phone to your best friend. Stop chatting on Facebook. Stop listening to that music." 

"Stop! I am trying to fall in love with you." 

God wants that love relationship with us. But often we are too busy to even hear what He is saying to us. You know, like when your husband is playing a video game and you are talking to him...you tell him this long, detailed story and end it with a question and he answers - Huh? Do we do that to God? God is trying to speak to us...through His Word...through his nature and creation...through the pastor's message on Sunday...but we are too busy to hear it. 

"Stop! I am trying to fall in love with you." 

Give God a quiet time. Take away the distractions of your life. And give God the chance to fall in love with you. 

Junior Camp @ SVBC 2015

Tuesday was the first day of our first Junior Camp that our church put on.  We don't have any Junior Camps that are close for our kids so our children's pastor and his wife decided to hold our own.  

Our camp was located at Davis Creek Park in the foothills of the Sierras between Reno and Carson City.

It was a beautiful spot on the top of the hill among the pine trees.  Minus the hike up the stairs - up and down, up and down!  I might never recover! :)

My girls and I and the Moore family were the first to arrive.  We got to work carrying everything up the hill and setting up camp and tents.  Michael was such a big help and I want to say thank you for all he did this week to help and make it happen!

 Soon the other workers and campers begin to arrive.  We had hamburgers for dinner then chapel service, singing around the fire with Bro. Josh and his guitar and s'mores.

 Summer and I came home Tuesday night and I had roses and a card waiting for me from my husband.  So nice after a long day of camp!  

Wednesday, I took my husband to the airport at 5:30am and then it was back to camp for the day.

They had breakfast, morning chapel for two hours, a horseshoe competition, lunch, the Amazing Race activity, free time, horseshoe championship, dinner, chapel, ice cream and s'mores.

I took the teen counselors off for a treat to Starbucks in the afternoon.  They did a great job this week.

Summer and Abigail got to hang out while their moms worked.

There's something special about a campfire.

Sometimes the best singing is hanging out. :)

I headed home Wednesday night to a beautiful sunset.

One of the blessings of the week is Lyberty received Christ as her Savior!  Praise the Lord!

It was a good three days of fun, fellowship and growing.  

Our Story

Happy Anniversary to my love of 14 years!  

My husband and I knew each other in Bible college.  I was a senior - he was a freshman. :)  We worked in the same ministry - the Chicago bus ministry.  We picked up kids and families and brought them to church on Sundays. 

BTW...The BEST place to find a spouse is to find someone serving God.  

The captain of his route, Marco Lariviere, told him he should ask me out.  He did for a ministry party at Connie's Pizza - downtown Chicago.  Our first date was January 23, 1999.

That night, he was typical Eric - life of the party - making everyone laugh.  I have always loved his ability to make me laugh but as a senior in college - that isn't all I was looking for in a guy.  After the party, we got back to campus and we sat and talked.  He told me about himself and his desire to be a youth pastor after graduation.

It was then that I said to myself, This guy is going to do way more than just be a youth pastor.  (No offense to youth workers. :)  I just could see in him more.

We were married June 23, 2001.  One of the best days of my life.

Fast forward 14 years.  We just celebrated five years of pastoring the church we started.  

Our journey is special.  I'm thankful for this guy.  I pray we get to grow old together.  (OK...we are already getting there! HA!)

My Week

Here I am...two weeks behind on my weekly updates.  I have been away from home quite a bit and don't have a portable laptop so I better get with it now that I have a minute to sit while the laundry is going. :)

And just as I typed that, the dryer went off!  LOL!  I am a daily laundry kind of person so having to catch up of a week of laundry after a trip is not my style.

Tuesday, I spent a little time in my garden.  I harvested a big bowl of lettuce in which we made taco salads for dinner. :)  Yum!

Summer helped me do the fertilizer to the plants.

Then it was piano lessons at 1pm...early dinner and clean-up...a softball game for Sierra.  The skies were SO stormy...we really thought we were going to get dumped on!  

I left from the game and headed for my Tuesday night shift...and bam!  Lots of rain!  

Wednesdays are a little slower for me.  I don't get home until 8:30am and it seems like my mornings aren't as productive.  I did get to my husband's office and recorded two podcasts for the radio.  Then our meeting at 4pm at the church then off to softball games!  

Thursday, I got shopping done for the girls when they went to Josh and Jenny's.  

New pair of sandals for the summer. :)

Love my day lilies!

Thursday was a "we are going on a trip and I don't want leftovers in the fridge so let's get pizza" day. :)  

I earned a gift card through My Points!  Yay!

Then...have you guessed it?  More softball games Thursday night. :)  Actually, both girls played on fields next to each other so I got to watch both back and forth.

Friday was full of packing and preparing to go!  To leave for a weekend when you have kids and church responsibilities and so forth...I know it is more work to leave than to stay!  It was definitely a non-stop day.  I am very grateful though that my oldest packs entirely for all our girls on trips.  She is definitely a mini-me with her lists and organization!  She's only eleven but she does excellent at helping me in all the household chores.  I went with my husband to get our rental car and then off to a graduation party and to our last softball game. ;)  It was the last tournament game for Autumn.  I have to say even though it is a busy schedule, I will miss spring ball!  

It was a beautiful night and a great game.

Then it was off at 5am to Cali!  The way down was pretty quiet - I think I was a little worn out and mentally tired.  My husband calls it shutting down.  LOL!

We drove straight to Los Angeles and had a wonderful time at the zoo. :)

I have always loved zoos so I loved it!  And I love food - LOL!  We had cheeseburger and fries at the cafe and of course, we HAD to get some kettle corn!  Yum!

 Then it was to our hotel in Palmdale.  

Sunday dawned beautifully in the desert.

I thought this was interesting...a bullet hole in our hotel window?  Hmmm....

Sunday morning, we went to Victory Baptist in Burbank, CA.  The temp was 85 when we left Palmdale and 65 when we got to Burbank.  That is so crazy!  We enjoyed visiting a new church.

 Then we had lunch at this cool little place with our friends - Dave and Danisse - who pastor in NC.  I got the spinach ravioli with pink sauce - delicious!  It was definitely a neat place!

 Due to some technical issues...like a shower head not staying put and falling on your head!  We changed rooms on Sunday.  Ha!  Then off to the evening church service at Lancaster Baptist.  It was a nice ending to the week. :)