Sunday, July 27, 2008

My Sister is Married!!!!



In honor of the "One week Anniversary" of Sunny & Tim's marriage, while they celebrate away on their honeymoon, I thought I would celebrate by taking time to post some photos! Here in my blog are a few of my very favorites. (Thx Joelle for the great shots!!!) For those that want to see more great pics, just click on the link listed below in my post.

Congratulations Sister!! And Tim, welcome to the family!

Tim & Sunny look to the future with Love & Hope!



The Wedding Party


Waiting to march in...



My beautiful new Sister-in-law, Deborah, all smiles!



Dad Holland and Sunny ready to walk down the isle...

The special ceremony


Our family on the Happy Day!


Mom Holland and her adopted girls



Melody with Bible boy, Zach!


Zach is son of Melody's highschool classmate, Yumee Chendra!

The big day has come and gone...

Wow...where do I begin? How do I re-cap the joy and excitement, love and enthusiasm, bittersweet moments, and sweat of hard work from the last couple weeks??! Sunny & Tim are finally married.... The day we have prayed about and looked forward to for sooooo long has finally happened!!! Praise the Lord!

The week before the wedding was one of the most fun, but busiest, that I've had for a long time. All my and Sunny's close family came out to California for the occasion, and so we not only worked on preparing for the big day, but took some time to hike and enjoy the beach and a few of Southern California's highlights. Especially enjoyable was getting to hang out more with Tim's mom and sister, who we are now priviledged to call "family" as well.

To see my collection of pictures from the week leading up to the wedding, as well as the BIG EVENT itself, just click on the following link: Sunny and Tim's Big Week and Wedding

After the wedding...while Tim and Sunny headed for their honeymoon, I left California with the Hollands and gang as we headed back to Oklahoma. The journey took a couple days, and we stopped at "White Sands National Monument" along the way in New Mexico! It was beautiful!!! Now I am currently back in Arkansas with the Mason family, and am enjoying some clean fresh air and peace. My head is dizzy from all the activity and still spinning from the excitement, but I know the time apart to rest, re-focus and connect with God and those I love will be a huge blessing!

So enjoy the pictures, and I'll be updating this blog more soon, as God teaches me more exciting lessons. I've got like 5 books I am trying to read this summer during my time off....and am already almost through the first one, so I'll definitely have a few insights to share shortly.

"Come apart and rest awhile..." Mark 6:31

Sightseeing on the way home to Oklahoma...



Enjoying the White Sand


The girls...

Mrs. Holland and Sandra dancing...



Rita talking on the phone...

Me in the sand...

Friday, July 11, 2008

Sabbath Rest...


Photo by Stephanie K. from Advent Hope

"Peace be still..."

Ahhhhh......sweet peace! Sabbath is here....the house is cleaned (better than it's been cleaned in months!) and our family is almost here. (They called a few minutes ago and are about an hour away....) Sunny and I are sooo excited.

It's hard to believe that this week of family fellowship and her marriage to Tim have almost arrived. At the same time, it's a bitter sweet time for me, and I've shed a few tears over the last few days as I've been preparing for the big event. I'm really going to miss having my sister as a "housemate/roommate!" She's been such a blessing to share my home and heart with. At least I know my sacrifice and loss is for a "good cause".....Tim's benefit!!! Yes, he's definitely getting a real treasure in Sunny as his wife....

"I will bless the Lord at all times, His praise shall continually be in my mouth..." Ps 34:1

Saturday, July 05, 2008

My life on the GO!

Wow...where do I begin???! As the last post shared, I've definitely had my adventures and answered prayers lately! But just this past Wednesday, I realized it was the FIRST day that I'd been off work AND home, in three weeks! I've had my days off, but I've spent them gadding all about the country.....not at home, so it was nice to have a normal day again. (Now you know why there haven't been many posts lately!)

Anyway, I've put together a slide show of some of the highlights from the last three weeks. These include:
  • A belated Birthday treat of going to the "San Diego Wild Animal Park" with Sunny and Tim!
  • Going to spend an afternoon with my new Muslim friend (a girl I met at work). She fixed a elegant "vegetarian meal" for me and treated me royally. She also took me to the Mosque and helped me understand some of the highlights of the Muslim faith.
  • Celebrating Julie's birthday! We had a small girls party and enjoyed more Ice-Cream cake!
  • Spent a Sabbath up Climbing Mt. San Bernadino with Season, Vanessa & Dave! What a fun group to hike with. (I'm sad I can't do Half-dome with them!)
  • Took a 5 day "girls-road-trip" to Colorado! Camped and hiked in Rocky Mtn Natl Park a couple days, then spent the weekend with Eric and Leslie Ludy at their "Set-Apart Girls Retreat" in Windsor. Leslie's sessions were a blessing, and it was a real treat to meet their new little Korean girl they've adopted, "Harper Grace." Harper is a special needs child and has no fingers, but that doesn't slow her down a bit. She is thriving in the Ludy home! (Watch the video of her home-coming and think of how her adoption compares with what God has done for each of us!! It's a tear jerker!!)
  • Then last, but not least: The most recent gallavant was up to Weimar, CA for this years 2nd "Western Youth Conference." This was also a real blessing and refreshment, and hopefully I'll have more time to share on this later!

As you can see, there's NO MOSS growing under these feet! In fact, I work one more week then am off for the rest of the summer. Praise the Lord! But no time to slumber, because I need to start getting ready for all our family that will be coming out to CA for Tim and Sunny's wedding. (Hollands and gang arrive the 11th!!)

So there's much more excitement ahead. So....stay tuned!!! But also, keep in mind...the next post may be awhile.... ;-)

*When you're done reading ALL this, you might "refresh" this page, so you can see the slide show pictures from the beginning!

Adventures from June...