Australian Cruise

I just got back from a five week trip from Sydney Australia to L.A. on a beautiful Princess Cruise ship. Our friends Nancy and Virg went with us and we had a great time. Five weeks seems like a long time, but it was over before we knew it. Here are just a few pictures.....

Papeete, Tahiti

Bora, Bora

Wellington, New Zealand

Fiorland National Park, New Zealand

Australia

Sin City

Steve and I just got back from a trip to Las Vegas. He had a 911 conference there, so I went along to do a little hiking and keep him company in the evenings. (Someone has to do do it!)

We visited Jake and Alison one day. They have a beautiful home and now a beautiful family. Coby and Jett are two of the most precious little boys you would every want to meet. Jake is the pastor of the Summerlin branch of Central Chritian Church in Las Vegas and he is loving it. God has really blessed those two for their faithfulness.

While Steve was in classes, I did a little hiking in Red Rock Canyon. Here are a few pics!

Once the conference was over we took a day trip to Zion National Park for Steve's Birthday and we hiked the whole time! His favorite thing! LOL Thank you Steve for being such a good sport!

Now we are in Pensacola with some friends....got to go!

Where Has the Time Gone?

I can't believe that the summer is almost over and I have not blogged but one time in July. It has been a whirlwind that's for sure. Right now I am in Pensacola Florida for several days of R and R with some great friends from church. Most of my summer was consumed by a mission that God put myself and several friends up to. Here is the video to show you what we did....

http://www.onetruemedia.com/shared?p=96c5da83f1331b13030374&skin_id=601&utm_source=otm&utm_medium=text_url

Australian Cruise

We just firmed up all of our plans for our cruise this winter. We fly to Sydney, stay there for 4 days and then board the Princess Star for a 30 day cruise back to LA. There are thirteen stops on the trip. We go to New Zealand ( 4 stops), Tahiti, Samoa, American Samoa, Morea, Papeete, Bora Bora, Fiji, Oahu, and Maui.
Our friends Nancy and Virg are going with us and they are the best traveling companions. We are all choosing what we want to do where so we will not have to think at all once we board the ship.
My favorite part about traveling is the anticipation for months in advance....

Clearwater Beach

I am down in Clearwater, Florida with the family. There are a dozen of us here. Steve and I, our boys, Sheryl and Tom, Chad, Danny and Mandy, Katie and Cory and Kurt. We are in a little dive hotel that just started renovation of the pool area yesterday. )-: The upside is that it has great access to the beach and a beautiful view of the sea oat covered dunes. The weather has been perfect, so every night there is an amazing sunset.... (-:

So far we have had three days at the beach and we went to Universal Studios on Sunday. There was like no one there, so the lines went quickly. We had a lot of fun, but it was a long exhausting day.

Today Janet and Helen are driving down from Tarpon Springs and I guess we will hang out on the beach, take in some eating and shopping....all the thing that I excel at!
Here is a picture of Zac and Nick, on the way to dinner, after a fun filled day at the beach!

The Word of God is living and active; sharper than any double edged sword!

Since January, my friend Janet and I have been memorizing 2 scripture verses each month. She is so good at it. She has it down in just a couple of days and I am struggling to the bitter end. My biggest problem is remembering the reference for the verse. Does anyone have any ideas how to keep those numbers in my mind?

Here is my first verse for June.....I challenge you to memorize it too!

Proverbs 3:5-6 NIV
Trust in the Lord with all of your strength;
and lean not on your own understanding.
In all of your ways acknowledge Him,
And he will make your paths straight!!!

Cert Disaster Training

The other day we had a training for our new CERT team members. It was very realistic. The fire district staged the destruction of an earth quake in a vacant building and parking lot. Volunteer victims were moulaged and placed in areas in and around the building. Our team was deployed to do a recon of the area and then transport and treat patients in the triage area. The group did a great job with all they had going on. I want to thank everyone for their participation! Here are a few pics.....

Someday I will post again.....

.....I promise!

He's alive!!!!

They found Josh Childers yesterday around 5 in the afternoon. A searcher strayed from his team and got lost. He found him with two dogs at his side. It is so obvious that God was watching over that precious baby the whole 52 hours that he was gone. It just gives me goose bumps and tears of joy, to see once again, how faithful our God is......

Missing in Madison County

This morning I received a call from the Search and Rescue team that I am on. There was a little 3 year old boy, Josh, from Madison County that disappeared from his home. I arrived around 7 a.m. and got a briefing around 10. When they showed us the picture of the precious little boy, I about burst into tears. At that point Josh had been missing for about 18 hrs. which is a long time for such a little boy to fend for himself in the woods, but everyone was still very optimistic. They had searched all day yesterday and only found a shoe, no other clues. Today several hundred people armed with search dogs, ATVs, horses, helicopters with infra-red heat seeking devices, coast guard using sonar, local volunteers, FBI and trained searchers all converged on the area with one goal, to find Josh. Everyone searched all day. Calling out his name every couple of minutes for hours on end. Walking mile after mile, to no avail. By the time I left at 6 this evening, nothing new had turned up, no clues, nothing! I left for home with a feeling of complete hopelessness.....

Viva la Mexico!

What a great mission trip we had this spring. It was my ninth, I think, and probably the best. This year we only had twelve volunteers go and we were able to accomplish more than we ever had been able to in the past. We had four days and in that time we built 2 homes for homeless families, repaired a fire damaged home, handed out 200 pounds of beans and rice, blessed several families with food and the doctor treated well over a hundred patients.....

Steve made a set of crutches for a man that had been in bed for a week. He had two more weeks without any weight on his leg...

Steve with the shell of the second house in the background.

Our family...Bertha, Juan Antonio, little Juan Antonio and Linda.

We built this home for Jose and Roland bought him a bunch of chicks and chicken wire for a little chicken farm...

Peggy with a beautiful new baby...muy precioso!

Steve, putting the roof on. I hate it when he does that!

Dinner at the Hotel, El Camino.
Me and my shadow!

Here is a little You tube video if you want to check it out!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THkd61LOK5Y

It Been a Long Long Time!

Since my last post I have been very busy. I love it when there is not a lot of down time. It keeps me out of trouble. The other day Steve and I could not come up with anything to do. No houses to work on, no movies to go see (we have seen almost all of them), the house was clean and I had been up to see my Mom already that day. So I started in on the hall closet. What a mess. I guess I can do the kitchen cabinets today and pack for our Mexico mission trip that we will be going on Saturday. Please pray for our team as we build a home for a family in Reynosa, Mexico (right down the street from the drug related 12 person shooting a few weeks ago) next week.

I want to to tell you about our last trip. My niece Miss Wanderlust and her new husband Adam got married in a tropical paradise. We left Ft. Lauderdale on the largest cruise ship on the ocean, the Independence of the Seas. We headed down to Cozumel and they had their ceremony at Mr Sancho's Beach Resort. It was a beautiful ceremony and the whole cruise was fabulous. We are so incredibly blessed to be able to do such a thing. Check it out!

The Paparatzzi...Adam and his Father...Me and My Man...Proud Mother and Father of the Bride... Shoppin in Cozumel...The Space Shuttle lift-off. A view from the Ship......

The Flow Rider....Caving in Belize....

We had an opportunity to spend some time with our great friends Nancy and Virg at their home in the Keys before the cruise. Check out the pics......