Our Adventure

Here is a story of 14 good friends who planned a hiking trip. . .
We all have been dying for some good mountain time since summer started. Let me tell you, trying to get this many people together all at the same time for a fun event is quite difficult but we finally made it happen this past Monday.

The plan: Meet at the Holderman's. Leave for Big Bear at 4:30pm sharp! Head up the mountain and experience an awesome hike while enjoying the beautiful sun set! Conclude our evening at the Holderman's with a BBQ and games. Sounds great right. . . Here is what actually happened. . .
Left the Holderman's at 5:00pm with 3 cars. 20 min up the mountain, one car realized they did not have enough gas to get to the hiking spot which was about a 1 hour drive from the Holderman's. While that car dealt with their gas situation the other 2 cars pulled over. 1 of the cars that pull over randomly begins spraying a green liquid all over!! 9 of us are now on the side of the road dealing with this situation. Us girls realize that we can drive back the working car back to the Holdreman's and bring back up another car to pick up the guys and reach the hiking spot. So we go get my car. We get there and realize that my car also needs gas. Great. Corie says she know if a place right up the mountain that has gas. We get there-gas station is broken!! Great! While we are stranded there we realize that the little red car next to us at the unusable gas station is our other friend's car. We call them. They crossed the street and began hiking up a random mountain side. The guys with Staci's broken car come and meet us and we join our friends up this trail!!

Wow! it was not at all what we had planned but we had a great laugh and still enjoyed a beautiful hike with a great view(even though it was not of Big Bear Lake) and had an amazing time. We were starved to say the least when we finally got back, all safe-thank you Lord!- and enjoyed an amazing dinner and fun games! I haven't laughed that hard in a while! We didn't leave till 1am.
We are so thankful for our amazing friends who love the Lord and are seeking to serve Him in all they do. It is because of them ans their great joy from God that situations like these are so memorable and fun! Thanks for a great adventure!!


Ready to go!!


Can you tell who is excited to be hiking in this picture?!

These are for you Laura Moore-how bout that lighting!! :)

Fun Family Time

Brandon and I were blessed this week with having my mom and brother come down for a few days to enjoy some summer with us! We began our week with a wonderful day at the Santa Monica Pier. It was gorgeous weather and we indulged in an amazing Bubba Gump dinner!!

We then spent the next 2 days decorating my classroom! It was a lot of work, but I was so thankful that my family was able to help me set up my first classroom! There is still much to do but it looks great so far!

Thank for again Kevin and Mom for coming down, as well as Bev and Chase for helping in the classroom! This was a memorable time and you are already greatly missed!!

New Job!!

Brandon and I are SO excited for a new job opportunity that I will have this coming fall!

I got a position as the new 8th grade English/Journalism teacher at

Riverside Christian Middle School!!

I spent the last year substitute teaching there so I am already very familiar with the students, principal, and the way the school functions. I am so thankful that I believe this will greatly help in getting comfortable with having my own classroom and students.

This has been a goal of mine that I have been working towards for quite some time now and I can't believe it is all coming together.

According to my mom, :) here is one of the best parts of the job . . .

I grew up Blue and Gold and am a proud graduate of Clovis High School.

Our motto at Clovis High is

"Once a Cougar, Always a Cougar"

and surely enough, Riv. Christian is Blue and Gold and their mascot is a Cougar!!!

I am excited to be a part of this school and to be a Cougar once again. :)

9 Month Anniversary

We can not believe we have been married for 9 months already! We have enjoyed every minute of it and we also enjoyed celebrating it Saturday evening!

I picked up a shift during the day while Brandon was at the Angel/Yankee game with his dad and brother Blake and some friends. It was an awesome game and guess who won... GO ANGELS!!

I'm sure you can tell who was most pleased about this win!! :)

After our afternoon adventures we came home and got fancied up and enjoyed a wonderful dinner at The Olive Garden which is always a great treat for us!

When we got home we decided to play Sequence while we let out stomachs settle and look who decided to play with us!

Here is our little Punkin contemplating her move . . .

. . . she did good but her mommy won! :)

We had a fun night!!

Trust

The title of this blog is "Trust," but really it should be "My Lack of Trust"; this is what God has been teaching me (Andrea) lately.

When hard circumstances come our way, as Christians we normally welcome them "trusting" that God is going to work through them and grow us from them. I have realized that I do usually welcome them, but then have a hard time allowing God to work through them. I get too wrapped up in trying to figure it out or work it out myself. We read Psalm 37 the other week at church and these verses greatly convicted my heart:

"Commit your way to the Lord;

trust in him, and he will act.

He will bring forth your righteousness as

the light

and your justice as the noonday.

Be still before the Lord and wait

patiently for him;

fret not yourself over the one who

prospers in his way,

over the man who carries out evil

devices!" (vs.5-7)

These verses show us we need to do 4 things:

1.commit our way to Him

2.trust in Him

3. be still before Him

4. wait patiently for Him

God promises that He will act.

I am thankful this week that amidst a difficult situation that God is the sovereign Author and Finisher over it all. Here, David does not say that God might act, he says that He Will. It is no longer in my hands. What an amazing God we serve. We are never alone, He is constant, and we are so weak without Him.

Thank you Father.

To My Sister In Law- Rap at its finest!

I dedicate this post to my Sister-In-Law Kristi Boogaard who has great taste in Music, so here is one of the greatest Songs written for the Rap community of all time! I hope you enjoy and are overjoyed with Christ and giving your entire life to Him and not wasting your life on small, trivial, meaningless things any longer. Don't Waste Your Life!

Don't wanna waste my life

[Verse 1: Lecrae]

I know a lot of people out there scared they gone die
couple of em thinking they'll be livin in the sky
but while Im here livin man I gotta ask why
what am here fo I gotta figure out waste my life/
no I gotta make it count if Christ is real then what

am I gone do about all of the things in Luke 12:15
down to 21 you really oughta go and check it out
Paul said if Christ aint resurrect then we
wasted our lives well that implies that our
life's built around Jesus being alive everyday I'm
living tryin show the world why Christ is more
than everything you'll ever try better than pretty
women and sinning and living to get a minute
of any women and men that you admire aint no lie
We created for Him outta the dust he made us for Him
Elects us and he saves us for Him Jesus comes and
raises for Him Magnify the Father why bother with
something lesser he made us so we could bless Him
and to the world we confess him resurrects him so
I know I got life matter fact better man I know I got
Christ if you don't' see His ways in my days and nights
you can hit my brakes you can stop my lights man
I lost my rights I lost my life forget the money cars
and toss that ice the cost is Christ and they could
never offer me anything on the planet
that'll cost that price

[Verse 2: Dwayne Tryumph]

Armed and dangerous So the devil jus can't handle us
Christian youth them a stand wid us
Livin' n driven/ given a vision/ fullfillin the commission
he handed us London to Los Angeles Da rap evangelist
Ma daddy wouldn't abandon us
"I gotta back pack fulla tracts plus I keep a Johnny Mac"
So are you ready to jam with us So lets go,
gimme the word an lets go Persecution lets go
Tribulation lets go Across the nation lets go
Procrastination bes go Hung on the cross in the cold
Died for da young and the old Can't say you never know
Heaven knows How many souls are going to hell
or to heaven so we gotta go in and get em Whaaaaat!

[Verse 3: LeCrae]

Suffer Yeah do it for Christ if you trying to figure
what to do with your life if you making money
hope you doing it right because the money is Gods
you better steward it right stay focused if you aint
got no ride your life aint wrapped up in what you drive
the clothes you wear the job you work the color
your skin naw we Christian first people living life
for a job make a lil money start living for a car
get em a house a wife kids and a dog when they retire
they living high on the hog but guess what they didn't
ever really live at all to live is Christ
yeah that's Paul I recall to die is gain so for Christ
we give it all he's the treasure you'll find in the mall
Your money your singleness marriage talent and
time they were loaned to you to show the world that
Christ is Divine that's why it's Christ in my rhymes
That's why it's Christ all the time my whole world
is built around him He's the life in my lines
I refused to waste my life he's too true ta chase
that ice heres my gifts and time cause
I'm constantly trying to be used to praise
the Christ If he's truly raised to life then this news
should change your life and by his grace you can put
your faith in place that rules your days and nights

Graduation #4

Brandon and I got to celebrate the graduation of our cousin Jamie and many of the other wonderful seniors that we love graduate from Woodcrest Christian High School Thursday evening.

Woodcrest does an amazing job with their graduations and we were once again very impressed. their student speakers were amazing- I was in tears hearing their testimonies-and their main speaker (a teacher at WCHS) did an awesome job! He encouraged the seniors to "Graduate Down" and take the path in life as Christ-be humble, serve and love one another, and obey Christ above all. It was the best graduation speech we have ever heard and were so encouraged.

Us at the graduation, which was also our 8 month wedding anniversary! yeah!

Zach and Janelle. We love you guys and were so blessed by the relationships we were able to form with you and many others during our times working, teching, and coaching at Woodcrest.

Congrats Jamie! We love you and are excited to see where God directs you in the future!

Well graduation season was fun and now we are ecited to travel back to Clovis together this weekend to enjoy Kevin's graduation party with our family and friends!!