Rebecca's Birthday Activities

Besides being Rebecca's birthday, Tuesday was also Groundhog Day. ;-) Kyle got that day off because of a school flex day. Yay! :-) (But Daddy, Jonathan, and Andrew still had to work.)

The rest of us packed up the breakfast and headed off to El Dorado Park.


First we went on the Nature Trail. Part of it was closed off because of stream restoration.


Then we headed over to the park, and ate our breakfast next to a playground.


That see-saw must've shrunk since we rode on it last time. ;-)

While we were at the park, somebody had a happy thought. Why not ride our bikes down to the beach? So we did. We packed a lunch, waited for the boys to finish their math, and then set off for the beach. (This is not a normal occurance for us on a weekday, believe me. ;-) Birthdays are special days, you know.) :-)


And here we are at our destination. (Kyle took the picture.) We missed the others who couldn't come! Duty was calling to them--and the lack of bicycles also played a part.

The Lord gave us a beautiful, safe trip, for which we are very thankful.

Sometime during the day, as Rebecca, Kyle, and I were talking in the girls'-room, Mama carried in a very fun surprise.


The Stengls sent flowers for Rebecca! :-) They are absolutely lovely, and so cheery. We're all really enjoying them! Thank you very much, Uncle Dean and Aunt Jill. We love you bunches! :-)


Rebecca's birthday set a precedent. Never before have we had only money or "coupons"--no actual presents to open. But I must say, the boys' ingenuity made up for it. ;-) The older boys' poem about their coming gift was hilarious--and naturally, it was full of what they enjoy teasing her most about. And then the younger boys came in carrying a huge box, wrapped in a sheet. Rebecca opened it, and there--lo and behold!--lay our big ol' dehumidifier, with the special envelope on top. That gift brought a lot of laughs as well.

Dessert time. :-)

We went birthday clothes shopping on Wednesday, but didn't actually find anything for Rebecca. :-(

But Timmy found something...a Los Angeles County Sherriff shirt.


The sherriff has lots to do around our house. ;-) Here he is in the office that he and his associates built with their own hands. :-)

Today and tomorrow are regular school days, though they also have their interruptions. :-) Tomorrow, for instance, we have a very fun interruption. Lord willing, Grandpa and Grandma Harrison are coming over for a birthday breakfast. Yay! :-)

"Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures." (James 1:16 -18)

Happy 17th birthday, Rebecca!

Today Rebecca is 17 years old....and how we thank and praise God

**for blessing us with her sweet life

and...

**for blessing her with 17 wonderful years--years packed with joys from the hand of God.

His blessings to her are obvious when you take a look at what fills her days:

1. Happy quiet days at home with her family--one of her favorite gifts from God!

2. Talking and laughing times with her brothers and dad :).

3. Cherished talking/sharing times with Rachel.

4. Spending time at Tom and Katie's house, loving and caring for the little ones, as well as cooking and cleaning and growing close with them all.

5. Reading and studying God's Word on her own and as a family.

6. Worshiping and fellowshiping with very dear believers at our church.

7. Studying hard in order to finish up with high school, focusing right now on essay writing, reviewing algebra, anatomy, and US History.

8. Practicing the piano.

9. Sewing for herself and others.

10. Playing with and taking care of her bunny.

11. Reading--a favorite pasttime! --carefully selected books that encourage her in her walk with the Lord.

12. Taking pictures and looking at pictures--also a favorite activity.

13. Working to serve her family--cooking, cleaning, gardening.

14. And, last but not least, being a loving, encouraging daughter to me,with lots of loving words and hugs, and lots of special conversations---times together to treasure.

Happy Birthday! We love you, Rebecca!!!

A Sewing Week, and a Rainy Week

On Sunday, the 10th, we brought Ashley Sebo home with us after night church. This was sewing week!


We had a wonderful time together, and got lots of sewing done. :-)


Ashley with her "Shark".


Rebecca with her "Viking".

And me with my dear, sweet "Simplicity". ;-)

And what's the name of your machine, my dear fellow?

And, of course, what other activity than "Round Robin"?

And also a hot dog roast. :-)

We had a superbly fun week--staying up a wee bit too late...I mean, early. Ahem.

And then, starting on Sunday, the Lord has sent us what we desperately need--rain!

We didn't get the laundry inside in time for the rain, so come Monday the clothes on the line were sopping wet--and heavy. We didn't think the line could hold them up. So Philip and Timmy ran outside in the pouring rain and unloaded the strained clothesline. (Now we have clotheslines hung in the garage and in the girls'-room.) :-)

"Thank You for the rain, Father in heaven!"

"But as for me, I would seek God, and to God I would commit my cause--who does great things, and unsearchable, marvelous things without number. He gives rain on the earth, and sends waters on the fields." (Job 5:8-10)

The Wilds Music Conference

The Wilds Christian Camp is located in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. This was Jonathan's second, and my first time attending the music conference. It was also my first time flying and of being out of state. :-)

After we arrived in Charlotte, NC, we had to drive 3 more hours to get to the camp. Our drive took us through a tiny bit of South Carolina.

We stopped at a rest stop, and took each other's pictures next to the South Carolina sign.

After we arrived and signed in, we were assigned our rooms. My room was in the dorm (pictured above) and Jonathan stayed in a duplex.

The camp is lovely! It is surrounded by beautiful tree-covered hills, and you can hear the river as it rushes by.

This actually isn't snow--it's frost. :-) But on Thursday, our last full day, it snowed. I loved walking outside with the snow falling. That evening we went inside the Lakeside Center for the evening sessions with the pavement still looking black. When we went back outside a few hours later, everything was covered in white.

The main speaker was Jim Binney, but there were other sessions led by Mac Lynch, Tim Fisher, Ron Hamilton, and Matt Herbster.

The sacred concerts were a blessing. And the sight-reading sessions was both challenging and fun. We brought home a lot of music.

On Thursday we were all divided up into parts and given four new difficult songs to sight-read through and then try to "smooth out". Russell Shelley conducted--and it was hilarious just to watch and listen to him. It was very challenging, and we laughed a lot over our confusion.

Jonathan attended some of the conducting workshops, and I tagged along. Even though I'm most decidedly not a conductor, I enjoyed it, and learned from it. Jonathan has been trying out some of the new principles on our church choir--fun, fun. ;-)

The fellowship at mealtimes was one of the biggest blessings of the conference (to me, at least). :-) It was a privilege to meet so many people from all over the states (though I think we Californians came the farthest) who share our views on godly music and are serving the Lord in various ways.

On Thursday night the roads froze over, and we had to leave early the next morning. Praise the Lord, we received the "all-clear" on Friday morning, and were able to leave as planned. We had a layover in Cleveland, Ohio, where everything was covered with a blanket of snow. They had to "de-ice" the plane so that we could leave--on a snowy, icy runway. We arrived at our destination without incident, and Daddy and Paul picked us up. It felt good to be home again. :-)

Thank the Lord for safe traveling, fun brother-sister time, good fellowship, and lots of lessons.

January 2010

What have we been up to since Christmas?

We were expecting company on the Monday after Christmas, but they were unable to come. So, while Mama took Philip to the doctor for his broken arm (yes, I know...two boys with broken bones in one year!) and Daddy and Jonathan were at work, Kyle, Andrew, Rebecca, Paul, Timmy, and I went off on a bike ride...all the way down to the ocean. :-)

Starting from our driveway, with a slight excursion in El Dorado Park, we followed the river all the way down to the beach. I loved the waterfront--it seemed like what I would imagine Holland to be like. :-) We played in the water for a little while--but brr....it was cold! :-) Then we rode back home. In all it was approximately 22 miles. We were all pretty tuckered out. And no, we didn't bring a camera along. :-(

The following day we picked Ally and Samantha Townsend up, and they stayed with us until Saturday morning. We had a wonderful time with them. :-)

We went hiking in the San Gabriel Mountains on Friday, New Year's Day. We stopped by this beautiful falls....and then kept on hiking. :-)


In all, we hiked around 10 miles. Though it was tiring, it was also a very refreshing and enjoyable time! And the scenery was beautiful.



We played Round Robin that night, and even Daddy and Mama joined in. :-)


We dropped the Townsend girls off on Saturday morning, and then went to Grandpa and Grandma Harrison's for the Harrison get-together.


Here's a group picture that I stole from Marcia's facebook. ;-)

The next day, Sunday the 3rd, Jonathan, and I went home soon after the service so that we could pack for the Wilds Conference--and Mama came along to help us. After everything was ready, we tried to sleep, because we had a red-eye flight that evening/morning. :-)

Christmas--Part Two

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Advent Candles--our special family devotions time during Christmas focusing on Christ and the true meaning of Christmas.

The boys playing football in the street one (very) cold night.

This picture requires an explanation. Rebecca and the younger boys had gotten down the doll stuff from the attic for the Johnson girls to play with. A lot of the clothes needed a good washing before they were played with, so I washed them, and then Rebecca and I hung them out to dry. And yes, on a very cold night. Go figure. ;-)

Hanging laundry is fun, even in a big coat. :-)

The boys playing "Settlers of Catan" on Christmas Eve. day.

Hmm...

We had our annual Christmas Eve. hot dog roast. Such fun! :-)

Brotherly love. ;-)

We played a big family game of Uno. (Paul and Timmy joined us later. And Mama was in the kitchen making doughnuts.)

Andrew creamed us all. Plain and simple.

Getting the fire going. The pine cones eventually succeeded when all else failed. ;-)

After dinner all of us chilluns went carroling. :-) It was unplanned. You see, we wanted to drop Grandpa and Grandma's gift off at their house. So while Mama made doughnuts and Daddy stayed with her, we drove off.

We really surprised them. And it was great fun. Then we decided to surprise Daddy and Mama. So we made new words to the second verse of "We Wish You a Merry Christmas". We heard recently that the reason for the real second verse of the above song: "So bring us some figgy pudding" was written because long ago the poor people would go caroling at the rich people's houses and not leave until they were paid (often with food treats).

Here was our rendition:

We wish you a merry Christmas,

We wish you a merry Christmas,

We wish you a merry Christmas,

and a happy New Year!

Now give us a lot of doughnuts,

Now give us a lot of doughnuts,

Now give us a lot of doughnuts,

For you and your kids.

We won't go until we get some,

We won't go until we get some,

We won't go until we get some,

So bring them on out.

That was fun! We all got a good laugh out of it. Mama ran into the kitchen to bring the doughnuts out, and Daddy pretended to shut the door in our faces. :-)

Yum, yum, Mommie! Your doughnuts are the best.

The work in progress.

Mmm...yummy.

We were serenaded with Christmas music as we ate our doughnuts.

And here's the adorable cook! :-)

~Christmas Day with Grandma S.~

Some of the boys helping in the kitchen.

Kyle and Grandma talking...

Making the enchiladas...

Family talk times are very special!

The dinner was very yummy.

Then we sang Christmas carols. :-) One of my favorite parts of Christmas.

"'And she [Mary] will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins.' So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, 'Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,' which is translated, 'God with us.'" (Matthew 1:21-23)

Christmas--Part One

Our first Christmas celebration was last week--Saturday, the 19th. The Johnsons came over for the day. We spent the afternoon with Grandma Stevens, and then went over to Grandpa and Grandma Harrison's house in the evening.


This is something the Lord provided recently--rain! Praise the Lord.


Fun conversations...


Yummy food...

Mommie, or Grandma, :-) hard at work.

Daddy, or Papa, playing with the little ones and Timmy...

What a good little mommy. :-)

Looking longingly out into the cold darkness.

Now jump ahead...to Grandpa and Grandma's house for the evening.

Grandma and the nativity figurines that her children made nearly 50 years ago.

They're still holding together after all those years. That says something about the recipe Grandma used. :-) (Grandma has had to use the glue gun on a few of them, but still...)

A (Harrison side of the) family tradition was started 22 years ago:

~The Christmas Pageant~

We haven't done it every year, especially recently, because we outgrew it. But now Katie's children can start it afresh! :-)

Bethany was the new Mary.

Julie was an angel.

Timmy was Joseph, Michael was a shepherd, and Ruthie was another angel.

Here's group shot #1. (Notice the very cheerful angel in the corner.) ;-)

Now the cheerful angel is flying in the sky! Everybody look.

Oh, but here's a truly cheerful angel. :-)

Ruthie just wouldn't cooperate before, so we decided to just go ahead and get the picture without her. But then when she saw the fun they were having, she decided to join in, also. :-) Yay!

The (very abbreviated) play began...

"Is it time yet?"

A sweet, serious little mommy. It was a good role for her to play.

Julie, as the head angel. :-)

Time to leave!

Michael was also very well suited for his role. He loves lambies!

Good job! That was special. :-)

Hurrah! I'll be cheerful....now that it's over.

The shepherd soon looked like normal Michael again.

Ruthie had a lot of fun putting the string from Andrew's hood into his mouth and then trying to pull it out through Andrew's clenched teeth.

She really enjoyed it. :-)

While they ate their dessert, Michael and Julie could watch as pictures of our family slid by on the digital picture frame.

Ruthie trying to take a drink out of Andrew's (closed) water bottle.

And now...the Christmas Pageant video! :-)