Avila Valley Barn- Take 2

We made a second trip to AVB this month. This time Adriana and Grammy (Jose's mom) joined us. It was during our heat wave, so the pumpkin ice cream was very much needed. I crack up every time I look at the pictures because Aubriella's hair was looking so different in the dry heat. Her hair seems to change day to day, and just when I think I 've learned to tame it she wakes up and it seems to be growing in a different direction!

Here is an overload of pictures from that day.

BTW, even though I still think she looks adorable, Aubri was not as smiley as she was during our first visit. I think there were so many new things to look at that she was too distracted!

I wanted to take a picture of Aubriella in the sunflowers but there were so many bees in the flowers!

Aubri was actually nervous of the pumpkins at first! It took her awhile to get used to them.

Her cheeks were rosy from the heat!

This is not the best picture of me, but I love it of Aubri becasue this was the weekend she really started taking steps. She did not want to be held and kept squirming until we let her stand up! She looks so big and independent in this picture!

Waiting for the hay ride!

Cutest pumpkin in the whole patch!

Aubriella is so lucky to get to spend so much time with cousin Adriana! Adri has been such a good sport joining us for fall outings.

I LOVE white pumpkins!

Aubri loves to make the wrinkly nose face. I kept waiting for her to smile "for real" all day, and finally Jose told me to just take the picture. If you can't beat them, join them!




We've promised Danica a trip to the pumpkin patch, so stay tuned for AVB take 3! It will be fun to compare her this year to the pictures we took last year.

Do we do Halloween?

A couple of weeks ago, one of my favorite bloggers Christine on Smiles and Trials asked the question about whether or not as Christian's we should celebrate Halloween. She said it perfectly HERE, so I almost don't even have a need to respond, but to say "I agree." But for the fun of it, here are my thoughts...

Growing up, I don't think I even knew what Halloween was until about age 10. Really. My parents took us to the movies or out to dinner I guess and we never even saw trick or treaters. They didn't take us to our church Fall Festival because they didn't see a need to give us an alternative for something we shouldn't care about missing. I would even miss the day at school when they have Halloween parties and costume parades. I appreciate my parents doing this. They had done their research (I can picture the book perfectly "Halloween and Satanism") and they felt that as Christian's they were taking a stand against the pagan, evil rituals.

About the time I was 10 or 11, I remember getting ready to go out to dinner when the doorbell rang and all of our neighborhood friends were dressed up and yelling trick or treat. My parents looked at each other, smiled and asked if we wanted to dress up. In 45 seconds (maybe less) I had donned my Bride dress up clothes and Jesse was in full camo gear (complete with machine gun amo around his chest).


I should probably ask my parents to fill me in on their thoughts during that time, or what changed so the following year we could attend the church Fall festival (me in my Miss America/princess/80's prom dress I had convinced my grandma to buy at a yard sale). Jasen was born the following year and he was always allowed to dress up- funny enough that silly kid choose for himself several years not to participate, much to Jesse's and my dismay. He was our only chance at candy!

I know several years later my mom read another book about Redeeming Halloween, and for the first time we carved pumpkins. This time instead of fearing the old pagan ritual of scaring evil spirits away, we talked about Christ coming into our hearts, cleaning out the junk, and shining through. Brilliant!


Even though my parents attitude changed toward Halloween and we minimally participated, I still hate the holiday and decorations. But I love candy and dress up. So in the end I really don't see a problem with doing either.


If we avoid the holiday at all costs for fear of the evil origins, we might as well skip Christmas- not the focus of Jesus' birth, but the gifts, Santa and Christmas tree (which I know has pagan orgins too, but I can't remember accurately right now, and don't have time to look up because I hear Aubri waking from her nap!). As a side note, Jose and I are in agreement about letting Aubri dress up for Halloween, but we are leaning towards not teaching about Santa.


When I spent a semester at Focus on the Family Institute, I got the opportunity to go on the air with Susie Shellenberger. It was the day before Halloween. I was prepared to share my anti-Halloween attitude, and then was shocked when she opened up the Life on the Edge show with Dobson's position of redeeming the holiday. Instead I spoke about the wonderful opportunity church's have to host outreaches and Fall Festivals!


As a Children's pastor, I've been dreading Halloween, especially since it falls on Sunday! I know there are families who feel strongly against it- and I understand, I've been there- and there are other families asking if their kid can wear their costume to church! Now I'm so looking forward to the day and the Sr. Pastor's wife and I picked out the greatest goodies and lessons. We are going to teach the kids how to Light the Night for Jesus (made easier with their glow stick cross necklaces), we are dressing up in crazy clothes to copy our favorite Hillsong worship leaders, and there might be a certain pumpkin carving lesson. I'm spending the week contemplating what slimy junk and seeds need to be removed from my heart so that Jesus' light can shine through me.


One final thought. How horribly unfortunate would it be if I wasn't okay with dressing up for Halloween? We would miss out on seeing this BEE-utiful Snow White!

San Diego Trip

This past month Jose was assigned the San Diego rotation for work (each month he has to travel to see kids in group homes out of our county). Not a bad place to be sent to! He set it up so that he would travel on days Aubri and I could go with him, and to coincide with St. Joes' Chula Vista football game.

I'm not ashamed to admit, we always pack a lot in to our business trips! After making several stops along the way so Jose could visit the kids, we made it to Matt and Amanda's and had fun catching up and seeing their new home.

The following day we went to Belmont Park. Aubriella was so excited and happy to see the Merry Go Round so Jose took her on the ride. She was SOOO excited! Silvia and I were laughing that she would be asking to ride the roller coaster next.

Getting buckled in

Starting to move...still excited

First time around...not to sure about this anymore.

Second time around....can't breathe....too scared...but she still waved to me (she couldn't even see me) when Jose told her to say hi!

Daddy took her off and the rode the rest of the time on the chair! Haha, it was a little sad to see her get so scared, but so funny to see the progression of fear sink in!

After the ride, we went to the wave restaurant (I don't remember what it is called). Grammy noticed Aubri's tooth popped out!

Just in case her tooth bothered her, Grammy bought her a frozen banana!

Everyone kept commenting on her Charger jersey, and all day she kept wanting to do "touchdown" so I was trying to hold her hands together for a family picture.

She loved playing with the sand, and surprisingly didn't try to eat it!

Later that night, we watched St. Joes beat Mater Dei in Chula Vista (by beat, I mean creamed them, and maybe one little actual punch ;-).

The following day, Matt and Amanda gave us their free guest passes to the San Diego Zoo! I didn't know how much Aubri would be able to appreciate the animals, but she loved them and it was the perfect day! We had a good time hanging out with Matt and Amanda again, and all the animals (except for the panda and polar bears) showed off for us.

I wish you could see the hippo clearly. He was swimming right against the glass. Aubri didn't really notice him, but loved the fish!

The gorillas kept hanging out and fighting right in front of us.

Whoa, who let these crazy animals out?

She had no problem napping in her stroller.

The only thing that could have made this San Diego weekend better was if the Chargers had a home game!

Savannah's Luau

Our niece Savannah turned 10! I can't believe I met her when she was only 5. She is growing up into such a beautiful girl, and I love seeing how sweet she is with Aubriella.

For her 10th birthday, Savannah wanted a Hawaiian Luau/pool party. It was the perfect HOT day. Silvia just went to Hawaii and brought back outfits for all the kids (and adults but we didn't dress up!).

We didn't get to many pictures of Savannah because she was too busy having fun! They were running back and forth between the pool and dunk tank.

Savannah helped make and decorate her cake.

Someday we will get a picture of all the little kids looking!

Gulliana had on the cutest swim suit and matching sandals!

"My kids"

It is so easy to post a ton of pictures of Aubri (I took 672 last month!) and write quick little updates, but I've realized that I have not talked much about my other children. In fact I don't even know if I've mentioned that I have about 50-60 additional kids.

It's true. Since May, Jose and I have been serving as the Children's pastors at Five Cities Vineyard. While we aren't responsible for their physical care, we do have a responsibility (in addition to their parents) to teach them and lead them to the Lord. How humbling! Just the other day I was reflecting on my past experience of Sunday school and youth group, and I realized I can name many Sunday School teachers and all my Children's pastors. I can even remember lessons they taught, activities we did, and things they said. It hit me all over again what a huge responsibility-and great privilege- it is to be entrusted with this position!

In the few months we've been the Children's pastors, I've been rewarded with witnessing so much growth and understanding in the children. I've shared with several people already how amazing it has been to hear the children excitedly recite to me week after week the Fruit of the Spirit or the books of the Bible, or be able to tell me what they learned the previous week. I've even been blessed to see new teachers join our ministry team, and to witness the effort they put in to preparing their lessons.

I'm reminded right now of Matthew 18:1-5.

"At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, "Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?" He called a little child and had him stand among them. And he said: "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. "And whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me."

WOW! What a picture of Jesus' heart for the children! It is tempting for me to stop there, but I got to share the next important verse.

Verse 6 But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.

YIKES! Not much could be worse than drowning to death, yet that is considered a better option than what is in store for someone who leads His children astray. Again what an eye opening responsibility.

Being the Children's pastor is a dream come true. It has been a passion burning in my heart for years. I honestly never knew if it would happen for me, but years ago I received a prophetic word about teaching and serving children. To see that playing out in my life is a testimony to the power of the Holy Spirit. The story of how we were led to this position is long, but to sum it up Jose and I had nothing to do with it! God ordained every little step so that in the end I can look back and see how the position came to us at the perfect time.

So now for the best part...a look at a few of "my kids".

Pre-K kids were learning about Joseph. What a creative project the teacher planned! They colored coffee filters, sprayed them with water, and made Joseph's colorful robe!

Kindergartners also learned about Joseph- in jail! They LOVED getting locked up in jail and handcuffed!

Good looking kids, huh?