The Woodwards

Look Whooos Turning One!

2010-11-03T14:12:00.000-07:00

We had a great time celebrating Dax's first birthday! I still can't believe my baby is one!

The birthday boy with his owl necktie! Thanks Jen Gray:)

The amazing cake that Anne made!

The cake/cupcake table!

One of the many things that Auntie Summer made for the party was this banner!

More decor by Summer

Dax's First Birthday part 2!

2010-11-03T14:02:00.000-07:00

The owl Banner that auntie Summer made! We love her!

She also made these table runners for the table outside!

The bounce house

Dax loved opening his presents:)

Gabe finished off the cake before bed!

Happy Fall!

2010-10-04T12:01:00.000-07:00

It is Fall in our house! Today's weather is making me so thankful for the change of seasons! I know we don't experience it very drastically in our lovely state of California, but when the weather gets cooler and the leaves change color it reminds me of how amazing our God is!
One of my favorite things about the Fall is decorating!! Growing up, my mom always made our house a home! In the Fall our home was filled with warm decor and wonderful smelling candles! So, every year, I look forward to getting out the special decor my mom has given me over the years and going to Michaels to buy yummy candles!
Happy Fall!

Homeschooling Adventure!

2010-09-27T06:14:00.000-07:00

We are officially a homeschooling family. I never would have thought that I would be a homeschooling mom! But this is what the Lord has orchestrated for our family for this year and I am so thankful that He did! Not because it is easy, because it is not. And not because we hate the public school system, because we don't. We simply think it is what is best for our family right now. One of the best things about this homeschooling adventure is the support from our local charter school! Valley Oaks Charter School provides Reese the opportunity to go to school one day a week to take Enrichment classes! This quarter Reese is taking Creepy Crawlers, Campfire Circle, Music and Farm Warriors! Her school is equipped with a farm that has goats, sheep, horses, turkeys, chickens and (her favorite) rabbits. She has wonderful teachers and gets to be in class with many of her friends from church.We are soo thankful for the school and for the privilege of homeschooling her.

Reese's first day of Enrichment classes! She was so excited to go to "real" school and use her princess backpack that her daddy bought her!

In line at Valley Oaks with Jaden and Luke! I am so excited to share all the ways we learn and grow as a family through this experience! Stay tuned:)

Our Summer at the Beach

2010-09-17T09:14:00.000-07:00

This summer we spent alot of time at the beach! Gabe was training for US nationals and we decided to rent a place in Orange County so that the family could join him on his training trips! We made many fun memories and got to spend time with dear friends! I am so thankful for the time we had as a family and the many ways God grew us while traveling every week with three children! It was quite an adventure..

Now we are home and I am determined to keep up with my blog. I love reading so many of your blogs and am inspired to keep my own! I cant believe the last time I blogged was when Dax was two weeks old! He is now 11 months:) We have started homeschooling Reese for Kindergarten..so I am sure I will have plenty to blog about that:) I will post more pics of our summer at the beach! hope to see you back here soon:)

Baby Dax ~ 2 weeks!

2009-11-02T14:34:00.000-08:00

Saturday morning..just hanging out at home:)

Introducing Daxton James!

2009-10-27T16:18:00.000-07:00

Dax's Baby Shower II

2009-10-17T09:41:00.000-07:00

My girlfriends in Valencia threw me a wonderful shower at Mimi's cafe! Which gave some of my out of town friends a chance to celebrate Dax's upcoming arrival! Thank you for such a wonderful afternoon! I love you all!

Becky's adorable diaper cake made a beautiful centerpiece!

Dax's Baby Shower

2009-10-05T15:41:00.000-07:00

Anne and Jen hosted a beautiful shower for me on Saturday! It was so wonderful to be with friends and church family to celebrate the upcoming arrival of Dax! This beautiful cake was made by Jen and Anne and not only was it beautiful it was delicious too!
I love these girls so much. They made it such a special day!

My beautiful sister in law who is due in Feb with another Woodward boy:) I am so thankful for her. She got me a gorgeous necklace with charms that say my kids names! so special>
Thank you all for a wonderful shower! I am sooo blessed!

Friends!

2009-10-02T12:47:00.000-07:00

This is one of my favorite all time pictures! These are children of our very good friends that we are privileged to fellowship with at Grace Bible Church! They joined us this year at the Lake when we went up to visit my parents. It was so fun and we feel so blessed to have such wonderful friends:)

Dax's room!

2009-09-27T20:29:00.000-07:00

This weekend Jen and Anne (two of my dear friends) painted my sons room for me! For those of you who don't know... I hate to paint! and these two knew it! So they did it for me! What a blessing. I am so thankful for them! love you girls:)

It Has Been Way Too Long!

2009-09-24T16:36:00.000-07:00

Soo sorry for the long neglected blog! Wow, it has been awhile!
Here is a quick look at our Summer:) Enjoy
The Huge Waterslide in our backyard! This was fun, but it broke on 4th of July and we took it back:)
Both kids swam alot this summer and improved so much!
Trips to Pismo were a great break! This time we went with the Karrers:)

Fun Pics!!

2008-11-10T15:36:00.000-08:00

Flying Hudson!

He is sooo happy!!

This is their favorite game:)

A sweet moment!! Right after this she picked him up

by the neck and he screamed for help:)

Fight On!!

2008-11-06T14:11:00.000-08:00

It has been so long since I have blogged I do not know where to start! USC football is in full swing so here are some pics from the two games we have been to so far! We love going to games and we love watching the Trojans win:)

USC vs. Ohio state! Big game!!

Auntie Summer watched the kids all day so that Gabe and I could spend the day in Santa Monica before the game!! We love Auntie Summer!! Thanks Sum!

The Grays joined us at the game!! They are such wonderful friends and we had a great time!!

Hudson fell asleep like this on the way over to the game!

Fun family day! Gabe swam in the alumni relays and got to see some old friends from his college swimming days and then we headed over and watched the game!

We miss you, Kanna!

2008-09-27T12:27:00.001-07:00

Doing her homework for her English class.

We had a picnic at our friend's house in the mountains.

Family Pic!

Just the girls.

Kanna and her friend Ayako playing with Reese!
Kanna went back to Toyama, Japan on Thursday. We had so much fun getting to know her and learning about another country. She was a sweet girl and we would love to visit her someday in Japan!! Thank you for coming to our home Kanna. We hope you had a wonderful time! WE love you and miss you!

Kanna!

2008-09-18T20:30:00.000-07:00

We are honored to have an exchange student in our home. Her name in Kanna and she is from Japan. We are having so much fun trying to communicate with her!

A Wedding!!

2008-08-20T16:21:00.001-07:00

Reese had the pleasure of being a flower girl in Courtney and Kevin's wedding a few weeks ago. She absolutely loved it! She loves Courtney and Kevin and she had been looking forward to this for many months. She did a wonderful job!!

Courtney was such a beautiful bride!!! This was a wonderful wedding and we are so excited that we got to play a small part in such a special day! I am making an online album of all the pictures and will post the link when I am done.

This is Reese dancing the night away!! she loved the dancing part:)

Daddy's girl!!

A few Pictures from Omaha!!

2008-07-12T14:00:00.001-07:00

Leaving Bakersfield! Gabe has these funny socks on that help his circulation while flying:)
The amazing pool in Omaha! It was so awesome to see 13,000+ people gather to watch swimming! It was so fun..
Gabe trying on his supersuit:) and getting pumped up the night before his race. He is listening to "Mighty to Save" by Laura Story. A favorite song of ours while we were there!
A "weak" moment:) I ate that Ben & Jerrys ice cream all by myself. Gabe just laughed and said "Wow, you are on vacation:)"
A fun day for me was when I got to spend the whole morning by myself in SuperTarget:) What more could a girl want?

Gabe getting ready to swim in the 100 freestyle final! He swam in the fastest heat ever to swim this race. And he swam his fastests times ever and missed making the team by .04 seconds:) Praise the Lord! It was an amazing ride:) and we pray that we glorified Him every step of the way:)

Our wonderful friends Kristin, John, Nick and Tony who came to watch and support Gabe! We had so much fun with them. Before every race we would meet with them and pray. It was so encouraging to have them there! And of course so fun to be with such fun friends:)
Lunch at our favorite restaurant, Upstream Brewery and Bakery! The food was amazing..I think we ate there 5 times:)
This is a fun ice cream place we found that made homemade ice cream. different flavors everyday! It was really yummy:)
Gabe and I visited the Omaha Zoo on our last day there. This is the Desert Dome. The largest indoor desert in the world. Pretty cool:)
This is Gabe on our last night in Omaha with his weight coach Rick and his good friend Jason Lezak! These two have been great friends to Gabe and have offered great advice during his training.

I just you would like to share a few of our experiences in Omaha. We are so thankful for our week there and all that the Lord did!

An Amazing Week!

2008-07-05T08:53:00.001-07:00

God is so good, ALL the time. We have had such an amazing time at the Olympic Trials. Gabe swam his fastest times ever! The venue and the crowds were incredible. And the times of fellowship we had with friends was so encouraging! And all of you who were watching, cheering and praying with us made it such an overwhelming experience. Thank you all so much. I think the thing that is standing out to me so much this week are the opportunities God gave Gabe to be a light to others. Gabe really tried to take hold of every opportunity to share Christ with others. This is the mark that the Lord has allowed him to leave on the swimming world. I am so thankful to be his wife!! This has been an amazing week and we are so grateful! Today we are going to relax, enjoy Omaha (which has actually become one of my favorite places:) and go watch the Trials tonight together:) We can't wait to see all of you when we get home! Love you all!

The Finals!!!

2008-07-03T08:06:00.000-07:00

WOW! We are so in awe of the Lord this morning, (as we should be every morning:). By His grace Gabe made the finals in the 100m freestyle at the US Olympic swim trials!!! He swam a best time at 48.85 and got 8th...talk about nerve wracking. I was standing up screaming at the top of my lungs while crying! It is a crazy experience. The Lord has been giving Gabe such tremendous peace. We are heading off to the pool for Gabe to stretch out a little and then back to the hotel for some rest before tonight. Gabe has to finish in the top six tonight to make the team. Please pray that the Lord continues to give him peace as he prepares today for his race. The pressure is like nothing I have ever experienced and it is so amazing to see the Lord's peace working in Gabe. Continue praying, it means so much to us!! WE love you all and I'll write more when the results are in:)

On To the Semi-Finals!!!

2008-07-02T13:59:00.000-07:00

This morning Gabe swam an awesome time 49.1! His personal best in the 100m freestyle! We are on to the Semifinals tonight which take place at 6:45 Omaha time, which is 4:45 in CA!! You can watch live online at nbcolympics.com! Gabe is at peace and focused for his race:) and I am at peace too! It all comes from the Lord as we trust in Him. I will update again after tonight! To God be the Glory, He is Good ALL the time:)

TV Correction

2008-07-01T06:31:00.000-07:00

I guess they are tape delaying the live coverage of the Trials in CA. So I believe it is on everynight at 8pm on USA!!

Omaha is not my Favorite!!

2008-06-30T15:25:00.000-07:00

I keep trying to download pictures of the Qwest Center for all of you to see and it will not work!!! After our 7 hour delay in Denver and our fiasco getting to our hotel last night at 3am(they closed the freeway without a detour or alternate route:) Omaha is turning out to not be one of my favorite places:)!! I do have to say that the Qwest Center is amazing..They did an awesome job. And there are tons of people here. Swimming is not a sport that draws huge crowds to most meets so to be at a meet with all of these people and see World Records broken is amazing!! Gabe and I are both having a great time and praising the Lord for the opportunity to be here. We are humbled by His grace!! WE love you all and I will keep you updated and try to post pictures:)

Watch it Live!!!

2008-06-29T06:47:00.000-07:00

Here is the television schedule for the Olypic Trials. Gabe will swim in the semi-finals for the 100 on Wednesday and the Final for the 100 on Thursday. He will need to be in the top 6 of this event to make the team. He will swim the 50 on Friday and Saturday and would have to be top 2 to make the team in this event! Have fun watching !
U.S. Olympic Team Trials, Swimming Wednesday, July 2 5:00-6:00 pm USA
U.S. Olympic Team Trials, Swimming Thursday, July 3 5:00-6:00 pm USA
U.S. Olympic Team Trials, Swimming Friday, July 4 5:00-6:00 pm NBC
U.S. Olympic Team Trials, Swimming Saturday, July 5 5:00 -6:00 pm NBC

Off to Omaha!!

2008-06-28T16:30:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we had a wonderful send off lunch for Gabe at Luigi's!! (everyone's fav restaraunt in Bfield:) It was soo wonderful to be together with our friends and church family! We love all of you, thank you for a great lunch and for all of your prayers and support! Here are a few pics of our party! I will be blogging from Omaha with updates, so stay tuned and keep praying:)

One More Week!!!

2008-06-25T10:59:00.000-07:00

This is Gabe's last week of training here in Bakersfield before we head off to the Olympic Trials!! It is so exciting and nervewracking all at the same time:) WE so appreciate all of the support that all of you have given to us these past few years. This Olympic Trials is so different than 2004, our lives have changed alot. We have made many new friends and have a new church family. And of course many of our old friends and family who were there in 04 are still supporting us and cheering for Gabe now! It is such a blessing to look back at all of our swimming experiences and see the Lord continuing to work. Thank you for being such an integral part of our lives. We love all of you!

Although many things have changed since Athens, one thing always stays the same, God is Soveriegn and God is good ALL of the time!! We are so excited going into this knowing that God's will be done! Gabe is so faithful to use his God given talent to glorify the Lord. That is our prayer for next week..To trust the Lord and lean not on our own understanding! To be humble and allow Him to work through us. I know that if the Lord wills Gabe will make this team! He has put in the work, he has been disciplined and he trusts the Lord. We ask for your prayers as the Olympic Trials approach! We want the Lord to be our focus, we depend on Him for EVERYTHING. We can do nothing good on our own.. We are so grateful for this opportunity and we want to make the most of it! Thank you for your prayers!

Haircuts!

2008-06-23T10:51:00.001-07:00

Daddy, Reesie and Hudson all went to have their haircut on Saturday by our wonderful friend, Jeannie..She does such a great job! This was Hudson's first official haircut and he was not very thrilled, but he got through it! Reese on the other hand had a blast:)

Happy Father's Day!!

2008-06-14T21:24:00.000-07:00

Happy Father's Day Daddy!

We Love You Sooo Much!

Amazing pictures!!

2008-06-10T10:17:00.001-07:00

My wonderful friend, Stacey Bishop, who is actually my sister's sister-in-law:), took these amazing pictures of my kiddos! I am so excited to put them in my house:) Stacey thank you so much for allowing us to take advantage of your talent. We had so much fun visiting with you and Adam and your wonderful kids. Gabe especially enjoyed all the cookies he ate over the weekend:) Thank you for your generosity and friendship.

April Re-cap!!

2008-05-01T20:48:00.000-07:00

I am sooo sorry to all of you faithful people who check my blog. I have been so delinquent. So here is our April re-cap:) We have alot of b-days in April, both of my kids and two of my sisters. So we got together early in the month to celebrate with all of the kids!! It was so fun! They each got their own individual cake~ Thanks Sissy!! My sister is the best:)

On Reese's Birthday we took her to Disneyland..and we had a blast. She loves princesses and got to have her picture taken with many of her favorites. And we had dinner with the Grays, which is always a great time!

And on Hudson's Birthday we had a breakfast play date party at our house! With donuts for the kiddos and coffee and pastries for moms:) My wonderful friend Anne made Hudson an adorable cake!!

What a fun month..I have so much more to share, but I will post more tomorrow!! I promise.

Thank you Grays!!!

2008-03-08T13:08:00.000-08:00

The Grays are our wonderful friends who we met at church when we lived in Orange County. Over the years our friendship has grown and even though we moved (twice) farther away from them, our friendship remains strong. They are amazing friends and we are so thankful for them. Whenever we have a swim meet in Southern California they graciously open their home to us. They are also so willing to come and visit us all the way in beautiful Bakersfield!! We are staying with them right now so that Gabe can swim in a meet in Mission Viejo. When we got here on Wed. (my bday) Jen had a big banner on the garage that said "Happy Birthday Auntie Staci" She had balloons all over the house and signs that she and the kids had made. And she decorated the table just for my special bday dinner. So thoughtful!! Thanks you guys..we love you and have soooo much fun whenever we are together. Thank you for loving the Lord and sharpening us and spurring us on to love one another.

A Few of my Favorite Things:)

2008-02-26T13:20:00.000-08:00

I have a few things to share today:) I want to tell you all about a few of my favorite things! First is my sling:) Many of you have seen me carrying Hudson around in this adorable sling that my sister in law made me. Everytime I go out someone comments on it! It has been a staple for me when I am out running errands and Hudson loves it! It is my new must have gift for all of my friends having babies:) You can order one by going to the link on the side of my blog for Beau and Jennifer Woodward. www.doctrineanddiapers.com She is very gracious and always has one for me whenever I need it! thanks Jen:)

Next is the Women Discipling Women Conference taking place July 18 & 19 2008! This is my favorite on so many levels:) This is the third annual conference and I have been to the last two. Biblical Counseling is a passion for me. I love to learn about it and learn how to apply God's Word to everything in my life. If you go to one thing this year it has to be this. Last year I attended with my wonderful friend Jen Gray and we loved every minute of it. My church had a large group of women go and many of us are planning our trip for this year. This week is the last week to get the early bird special! So go to the website and sign up..You will love it!

www.wdwconference.org

Another one of the many reasons I love this conference is because it is completely planned and put together by one of my favorite people Summer Martin (aka Auntie Summer). She does such a wonderful job and I am soo proud of her:) Love you Sum!
Last but not least are my favorite bags. My friend Cheryl makes the cutest bags!! I love all of the bags that she has gifted to me! She is so talented and creative! Check out her blog www.lulaballou.blogspot.com! I am so glad that she moved to Bakersfield! She is such a blessing to me!

I hope you all have a blessed day!
love ya

2008-02-15T21:38:00.000-08:00

Our wonderful friend Piotr took some fun pictures of our family in San Clemente last week!! This is my absolute favorite picture of Hudson and daddy!! This is definitly getting blown up and put in the house!

This is another favorite picture from that evening. We were able to get a great "family" picture with our wonderful, dear, best friends The Grays!! And everyone is sortof looking:)

Happy Heart Day!!

2008-02-14T15:35:00.000-08:00

I love valentine's day! I know that it is just a lame holiday created to make people spend money:) but I love it for many reasons. I used to love v-day for the wrong reasons. I was selfish and wanted Gabe to be romantic and when we were first married I had many expectations that were not met:) My husband is sooo wonderful but at first being romantic was not his specialty and my expectations of him were way too high...poor guy!
Now I love V-day because it reminds me of how blessed I am to have so many people who I love so much in my life. I also love it because it is a day were so many people are focused on others instead of themselves. It is a day where giving is encouraged and appreciated!

When you look around at v-day decorations there are always hearts so today I did a word study of the word HEART during my quiet time. Our heart is the center of our relationship with the Lord. Others see our actions but the Lord knows our hearts. I love knowing that the Lord knows me intimately and cares for me deeply. We can give so many aspects of our lives to the Lord but if we have not truly given our heart to Him we will never know Him! I want to always be crying out to the Lord, "Search me, O God, and know my heart!! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any greivous way in me and lead me in the way everlasting!" Psalm 139:23-24
Search your heart today on "heart" day...better yet ask the Lord to search your heart and be willing to do the work that He has for you to do today!!
love you all
here are a few pics for our V-day morning!
Our heart shaped pancakes and beautiful red tulips !!! I love tulips!!

Reese and Daddy eating heart shaped pancakes!!!
Heart on heart!!

Disneyland

2008-02-01T15:09:00.000-08:00

Wow! I can't beleive it has been a whole month since I blogged!!! I am so sorry! Reese, Hudson and I met my parents at Disneyland on Wednesday!! We had a great time! Reese loved meeting Ariel and all the princesses. Here are some pictures of our fun day!
Reese and Mimi at ToonTown!
Mom and Dad with the trailer!! They live in their 5th wheel RV from Dec-April!! So fun!

Reese with Mimi and Papa at the Playhouse Disney Show!

Thanks for a great day Mom and Dad! WE love you!

Happy New Year!

2008-01-02T20:26:00.000-08:00

We had a wonderful New Year! Our dear friends Jen and Shannon came from Orange County and auntie Summer came to visit. On New Year's Eve our friends John and Kristin joined the party! We cooked dinner, played games and ate dessert! It was a wonderful night with great friends!
We are so thankful for Jen and Shan and their willingness to drive so far to visit us. Jen is such a kindred spirit and a wonderful encouragement to me. We spent the night of the first discussing goals that we have for the year ahead. It is so wonderful to have a friend who spurs me on toward righteousness! love you Jen!!
here are the cute kiddos. Reese and Noah are two weeks apart and Hudson and Jordan are 6 months apart. It is so fun when we are all together! I hope all of you had a wonderful New Year. We are all well around here now so I should be able to start blogging again :) I will see you all on Monday for Extreme Makeover Monday!

Happy Birthday Anne

2007-12-30T21:42:00.000-08:00

I know I said that I would blog more this week and I didn't!! We all got sick right before Christmas and are finally coming out of it!! This is my friend Anne! She was one of the first friends that I made in Bakersfield and she has become such a dear sister in Christ to me. This week was her birthday (she is much younger than me:) and our celebration was squalched because she got sick!! Such a bummer. There are so many things that I love about Anne and since it was her birthday this week I thought I would tell you about a few!
A animated~ Anne cracks me up all of the time. She is one of the funniest people I know!
N nuture~ Anne takes care of her friends! She feeds my belly with yummy food and she
nurtures my soul with biblical love!
N no nonsense~ Anne tells it like it is and I love that about her. If I am having a bad attitude
she lets me know! and she never forgets to say everything with love!
E encourage~ Anne is an encouragement to me everyday. She truly seeks to be a godly wife
and mom and encourages me to do the same!

Anne thank you for your friendship. Bakersfield would not be fun without you! love you girl!

Happy Birthday!

Aaron at Christmas!

2007-12-28T14:20:00.000-08:00

Many of you know how much I love my brother-in-law. He and my sister started dating when I was still in high school. He has been a part of many growing events in my life and I am so glad to call him family! We were able to spend christmas day at his parents house with his whole family and my whole family! We had the greatest time! Check out this post by my sister-in-law-in-law:) It is just one of the reasons Aaron makes us laugh soooo hard! He is crazy! Go to this website and scroll down to the video of Aaron. Enjoy! www.bishopbrigade.blogspot.com

I am still here!

2007-12-16T19:59:00.000-08:00

I am so sorry that I have been lagging in my posts. I have many excuses and all of them are good :) I am hoping to update all of you on a few things this week so stay tuned!! For now here are some pictures that didn't quite turn out for the christmas card this year:) Oh the joy of family pictures! love you all

Another Extreme Monday

2007-11-12T14:08:00.001-08:00

I am sorry that I have been so delinquent in blogging this week. The kids have been a little sick and we have been loving just hanging out as a family! It is such a blessing to look back on the bible study I have been doing and revisit what was taught. I am truly convicted about how few of these things I have actually applied to my life. I love learning about the practical ways to live out God's Word, but unless I am really studying it, memorizing it and meditating on it day and night it will not be evident in my life!

So last week we talked about the beginning of the study ( A Heart Consumed with God). Kris spent two weeks on this topic and the homework was awesome! It was such a reminder of the Soverignty of our God and how awesome His love is for us. It was also a wake up call to what we are called to as Christians. She goes over verses that explain what a true Christian is and how this affects our daily priorities! One of the key verses in the section on priorities was Mark 8: 34-37. In these verses Christ says to the people and his disciples "Whoever desires to come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me." MacArthur says this about this verse "No one who is unwilling to deny himself can legitimately claim to be a disciple of Jesus Christ." If we are truly devoted to Christ we will give up the comforts of this world and the acceptance of this world and seek after Christ with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength. What does my "to do" list show about my priorities?

On the last day of this section of the study Kris assigned verses that were penned by Paul. In these verses he describes himself as an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, a prisoner of the Lord and he states that he is not on earth to please men but to please God. At the end of these verses she asks "how should I describe myself?" I really thought about this question for awhile. How often do I describe myself to others as a wife, mom, daughter, sister, friend. These things are all true, but the fact that I am a child of God is more important that all the rest and it defines how I fulfill all of those other roles.
So that is a small summary of the first two weeks. Stay tuned next Monday when I will go over what we learned about "A Heart Prepared to Serve"
love to you all
In His Strength
Staci

Extreme Makeover Monday!

2007-11-05T10:43:00.000-08:00

This is a picture of Kris Goertzen. She is a pastors wife at a Bible believing church in Kansas. Her husband attended The Master's Seminary and we have a few mutual friends from Grace Community Church. I met Kris in person at The Women Discipling Women conference this past summer and she is a wonderful women who truly lives her life for the glory of God. She has a DVD/Workbook study titled Extreme Makeover: Spiritual Edition. A group of ladies from my wonderful church here in Bakersfield have been doing her study on Wednesday mornings for 8 weeks now and I just wanted to tell you all about a few things I have learned through this study. I am making my Monday posts about this study for the next few weeks. I know it will help me to process what I am learning and I would love to share it with all of you too !(whoever "all" is :)

I first want to say that it is somewhat difficult to find solid biblical women's bible studies and so I wanted to tell you all that this study is awesome. A must have for churches who are looking for a study to do with women (wives and moms especially). Kris is truly seeking to encourage women to live biblically and have right priorities and a right view of God in this study. The byline of the study says: Reflecting the Heart of Christ in My Priorities. While being very serious about what she is teaching she is also fun to listen to and makes us laugh at times!
The study is set up so that we watch the DVD and then have a weeks worth of homework in the workbook to complete before our next meeting. The first few weeks of the study focused on "A Heart Consumed with God". Her first "project" for us to set up a quiet time. She really drives home this point saying in the DVD that we need to put "first things first". She encourages women to "wake up early and be with the Lord". This is the only way that we can lead a "God Saturated" life. We need to be filled with His Word before we can ever pour ourselves out to our husbands, children and church. This was really crucial for me. I love to spend time with the Lord in the morning, but it is hard to wake up, right?? But if I am giving up my time with the Lord so I can have an extra hour of sleep what is that saying about my relationship with Him?! I love this quote from Kris in the workbook.
She says "We assume too easily that we KNOW God or LOVE God. Those words come rolling off our tongues without the slightest awe or reverence. The most strenuous effort of our lives must be to know God. This goal, this lifelong passsion must become increasingly more evident in our lives. Knowing and loving God is our highest endeavor. Often in counseling, women try to assure me that they love God and that He is their priority, but those are vain words unless there is some glimmer of His reflection in their lives. If we chase everything but God we will learn the difficult lesson that there is no happiness apart from Him."
I believe that for many years in my life I really thought that I loved God but my life did not reflect Him. In the last seven years the Lord has taught me so much and has drawn me to Himself. I am truly striving to make Him THE #1 priority in my life and this study is encouraging me on that path.
Oswald Chambers has said
"My goal is God Himself, not joy, nor peace, nor even blessing, but Himself, my God." I pray that this is my goal and yours too!

Hoe Down

2007-11-02T11:50:00.001-07:00

The Collins Family, a wonderful family at our church, had an amazing hoe down on Wednesday. We had a blast!! Gabe and I competed in the donut eating contest..I won!! Shocker:) Reese wanted to play musical chairs with the rest of the kids but didn't really understand the concept. She just sat in the chair and watched everyone else walk around to the music! She also loved jumping on the trampoline. I was so excited about the cake walk and the square dancing but we had to leave a little early because the kids were ready for bed:) It was a wonderful night of fellowship with our wonderful church family that we love!!

Beautiful Bakersfield!

2007-10-30T11:49:00.000-07:00

We went on a family walk after dinner the other night and it was an amazing reminder that Bakersfield can be beautiful!! What an awesome sky! Hudson loves to ride in the stroller in the evening and watch his crazing sister on her new wiggle car! Here are a few pictures of our family walk.

A Date With Daddy

2007-10-26T14:43:00.000-07:00

Gabe took Reese to her first football game this season against Stanford. A memorable day for many reasons:) Reese loves to be with her daddy and they had so much fun. She came home and told me all about the flying flags and balloons which apparantly were the parachuters that came in at the beginning of the game with flags on their backs! And Reese was on the jumbotron at the game cheering on Traveler the horse (or Neigh as Reese calls him). Hudson and I stayed home and had some mommy and son time. It was a great day!

Fall is here!!

2007-10-22T15:27:00.000-07:00

Fall is here and I am so excited!! Football season is in full swing and so is our family schedule! Our weeks are full of fellowship with our church family, gabe's swim training, playdates and a few quiet nights at home! Reese is 2 and is so fun. she is talking all of the time and most of the time we can understand what she is saying:) Hudson is 6 months old and is a dream of a baby! God is good!

2007-07-16T08:52:00.001-07:00