Christmas Decorating

I really enjoy this time of year, despite a lot of negative feedback from some Christian circles. It is a time to remember the birth of our Lord, to get together with family and give each other gifts to show them our love and appreciation for them over the year gone by. LA becomes very festive here, many people decking out their homes with lights for the benefit of everyone else, and carols get played to the general public that are filled with the Gospel Story. It is truly a unique time of year!

Discovery Kids

For one of Andrew's classes, he had to have two preaching opportunities during the semester and these are hard to come by here at Grace Church! But Children's Ministries is always looking for helpers so we signed up for two weeks for us to take the 3 yr olds for two Sunday evenings. I love kids and so does Andrew, and we are always learning so much from seeing how this big Church does things, and this is one thing I have not had much exposure to here yet! Last Sunday we just attended to see how things were done, but this week we were on our own! We did have a little helper though, Jeremiah, who knew the kids well and kept them occupied during the play times! Andrew did the 10 minute message on Noah and the flood, we played with them and took them to the restroom, fed them cookies and signed them in and out! We had one or two problem kids that I would handle while Andrew carried on, but all in all, I built some really sweet relationships with some of the girls, learned a bunch more kids songs and had a great time! Looking forward to next week!

Vegas Baby!

Andrew and I have wanted to do some traveling wile here in the States so whenever we get a chance we try to go somewhere we have never been before! This time we decided to drive a little further than usual and took off to go to Las Vegas! It is in the state of Nevada which means that I get to add another part of the US to my "Places I've Been" and I was excited to check out the architecture there! To get a place to stay is really cheap so we headed off to stay the night and then come back the next day. Starbucks in hand we ventured through the desert!

A Night out with SOS

This evening our Bible Study had a night out on the town!!! We all came out for dinner to the Galleria, a super sleek new Shopping Center, and our plan was to go and eat at the Cheesecake Factory, the best place ever!!! Unfortunately, the center gets extremely busy on Friday Night so we ended up taking a table outside at the Townhouse Restaurant. We all had a great time hanging out and getting to know each other better, and made a quick stop to the Takeaway section of Cheesecake Factory on our way out! Andrew got a Banana Cheesecake slice, and I got a Chocolate Mousse Cheesecake one! Yummy!

The Botes' Break-in...

We were so sad to hear that the Botes' home was broken into today while the family was out for a few hours and their electrics and jewelry among other things was taken... The family is a little shaken up but the church has really come round them to help with the basics, and the police took fingerprints etc. Please pray for them and let them know you are thinking of them!

This sort of incident really is an important reminder that even if all we have is taken from us, the Lord is faithful and will provide for us all we need! Trials are designed, among other things, to make us long for our "treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal" (Matt 6:20). Often we can be so focused on these earthly treasures that we lose sight of our abundant inheritance as joint heirs with Christ! Come, Lord Jesus, come!!!

Lunch with the Riccardi's, and Important Lessons on Gas Ovens

Mike and Janna Riccardi are a new seminary couple who live just down the street from us and have started attending the same Cornerstone Bible Study, so naturally we have been getting to spend some time with them! We had them over the one Sunday between Church services for a pizza lunch that I don't think I'll ever forget!!! So I learned a major difference between the Gas oven and the Electric one! Where the electric one has a warming drawer to keep the first pizza warm while the other one is cooking, the gas one has what they call a broiler (fancy name for a grill... who knew!) which makes pizza's black after a few minutes!

The Women's Fall Event 2009: Spread the Glory

Today, 900 women gathered to enjoy an afternoon hearing from our keynote speaker, Chelsea Cameron at Grace Community Church. What a gifted speaker and godly woman Chelsea is! When I arrived I found an abundance of lovely South African ladies to sit with, and we got seats in the third row for the seminars!

Congratulations Josh and Michelle!

When I heard the news I was ecstatic! Michelle and I go way back to the first STM from Grace Church to Hillcrest Baptist, she was right with me the first time I met Andrew, and she was an integral part of our dating relationship! While all of this was going on I heard about a guy that she really liked but he was just laid back and a good friend! But now look! Congratulations on your engagement at Disneyland (good choice of venue, Josh!)!!!

Painting our Apartment

What do you do when you are given a $50 gift voucher for Home depot, Your house has been packed up for bugsprayers and the weekend is here? Well, that's easy! You go paint shopping!!!

The house is ready to be prepped!
Masking tape? Check!

The Bug Ordeal...

These are the little guys that we have been struggling with... They don't get much bigger than this, but try as we have, we haven't been able to get rid of them... It hasn't always been this way...


A few weeks ago, our neighbors moved out from the apartment right next to ours. We are assuming that they left a bit of a mess behind, and while the place lay empty... they began to plot... and build their forces...

Brian Biedebach's Birthday!

We were so excited to hear that the Biedebach's were coming to town! Brian recently had his 40th Birthday and they had an open house after church to celebrate with all their friends. This was the first time I got to meet them, but Andrew has known them from their South Africa days... Happy birthday Brian! Naturally, there were an abundance of South Africans at this party...

Helping out at the Iversons!

The Iverson's are moving in a few weeks and are having a massive giveaway in their back yard to all friends from Grace Church tomorrow. They also needed some help packing their boxes onto palettes so We decided to go over there this afternoon to help them sort everything out. I was put in charge of organizing the goodies outside on the tables and there was so much great stuff there!!! While the boys did the palettes, I sorted through everything, grouped things and laid them out nicely, and had a great time getting to know Dawn a little before they left...

Date Night in the Park

Since we now have a gas BBQ, I thought it would be a perfect time to do a date night where I don't have to cook! So I went to the store, got some steak and snacks, and then waited for Andrew to come home. Then I drove him to the park where we had some of our engagement pictures taken and we set up our first private American BBQ! We were just in time to catch the most beautiful dusk sky...

Daylight savings time ended on November 1st, which means that the sun sets a whole hour earlier now. This means that by the time Andrew gets home, the sun has already set! Although we expected the dark, we did not anticipate the cold! The wind was icy and Fall is definitely giving way to Winter here! Nonetheless, we had a great time!

Visiting the Van Straatens in Napa

 

We really do miss our dear friends, the Van Straaten's, since they completed seminary and are now at a church in Napa Valley.  But it is so great to know that they are only 5 hours away and we occasionally go up and visit them.  We decided it would be fun to spend halloween with them and their girls, so we made our way up there for a few days.

The first day, Anton took us for a tour around some of the local wineries and showed us the sites.  Napa valley has to be one of the most beautiful places in the whole world!

Andrew and I also took a few drives around the area to see what we could see.  Such breathtaking beauty in God's creation and man's subduing of it!

On the Saturday morning, Marietjie got Andrew and I out of bed super early to hit the streets looking for bargains at the garage sales!  She even gave me a $20 dollar allowance ;)  I got a lamp and Andrew got a little gas BBQ!  It was so much fun!

On Saturday night, Grace Church Napa Valley held a Halloween Fair and we all dressed up!  It's been years since I've done that!!!  I went as a pumpkin and Andrew as a Scarecrow, however he was promptly titled a farmer when people eyed him out.  My favorite memory from the evening was when a little boy came up to me saying "You're a pumpkin", but as he saw my "insides" (Balloons!) he said "Hey!!!  You cheated!!!"  lol.

 

 One afternoon we went to the Woodlocks, friends of Andrew's from the first time he came up here for a wedding, and enjoyed one of his gourmet cappucinos!

  

 Later that evening we went out to a pizza place with the Van Straaten's and had ice-cream after!

 

The next day we ventured home, taking the pacific coast highway as the alternative route which we thoroughly enjoyed!  Thanks for a great weekend!!!