Our Weekend

Friday night Shawn and I got to go to a wedding all by ourselves.  It was at the Ojai Presbyterian Church and the reception was on the grounds.  It was simple and beautiful. They served street tacos, rice and beans for dinner.  Typical for Southern California.

Saturday was Amelia's last game.  Her team celebrated with a pizza party at a local park where they got their trophies!

(Reagan, Adeline, Ava, Amelia, Mia and Mercy - Bella and Lacie missing)

If you are not watching the World Series.....you SHOULD be! 

Every game has been amazing and we all love baseball now!

After church, we went to lunch with some friends to an Irish Pub in Ventura.  Then, since it actually felt like fall, we built a fire and carved our pumpkins.

 Amelia dug right in.

Caleb was a little grossed out.

 Amelia got some help from daddy.

 Caleb drew and cut his out by himself. 

 They are looking forward to trick or treating!!

Sunset At The Cross

Saturday night, we headed to Ventura to watch the sunset from the cross. The Cross sits above downtown Ventura and was the place to be.  Not only were there a lot of other people with the same idea, we had just missed a wedding.  

 Ventura Pier and the Santa Monica Mountain range in the background.

Leaping Lizards

Amelia's 2017 soccer pictures.  

Her team keeps improving with each game. 

Amelia scored her first goal a few weeks ago and it lit a fire in her.

(She's scored 2 more since then!)  Now you can see that she's eager to get to the ball and try to score again!  

Seed Women's Retreat 2017

This past weekend I attended our church's women's retreat titled...

 The verse we based the weekend around was 1 Thessalonians 1:4-6

"For we know, (brothers and) sisters love by God, that he has CHOSEN you, because our gospel came to you not simply with words but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and deep conviction.  You know how we lived among you for your sake.  You became imitators of us and of the Lord, of you welcomed the message in the midst of severe suffering with the joy given by the Holy Spirit."

This was our cabin.  The entire cabin was ours, which had 10 bunks on each side.

 We had been to this camp before for our church's birthday party.  The area is beautiful and even though we didn't have "fall" weather (it was 94 all weekend), we had a great time!

A group of us hiked up to the cross.

 The retreat topic was based on how God has chosen you for salvation, community and culture.  I was one of the speakers, which I thought would be daunting.  It actually wasn't in our small group of 19 ladies and our three sessions sparked a lot of good conversation and new friendships. 

(Katy, April-Lyn and myself)

 A few of us were dead serious about doing the zip line!  

Daisy was first....she chickened out.

(Daisy, Elaine, Elaine, Susan)

I jumped up there to be second - you know, before I lost my nerve - walked all the way up to the top of the stairs......and chicken out too!  Maybe next time!

 It was a super great weekend!  One that I won't forget.  The only thing I hate about this is that the closer I grow to these women (especially over the next 2 years we're here), the harder it will be to say goodbye when we leave again.  

(Kala, Daisy, Laura, April-Lyn, Jen, Katy, Amanda, Arin Joy, Jaime, Susan, Lisa, Loree, Me, Mary, Star, Elaine, Nikki, Erika and Angela)

The Bulls

Caleb's 2017 soccer pictures. 

So far, they are having a great season!