Cape Kiwanda

I spent a few days with the Bower/Ozaine/Jenks family right before the 4th of July. They stayed at the Tosti's beach house for a week.
Here we are setting off on our kayaking adventure...and an adventure it was! But, we had a lot of fun and even more excercise than expected. We kayaked for about 3hours.
Kristine and I: Relaxing on a nice sunny day. We really enjoyed these chairs during the week. :D
All the locals set off there fireworks the night before the 4th. We enjoyed hot drinks (tea/coffee/hot chocolate) and smores while watching and setting off our own fireworks.
Left to Right: Grant, Mr. Jenks, Me and Mrs. Jenks


Best Friends!

New Beginnings

"The mind of man plans his ways,

But the Lord directs his steps."

Proverbs 16:9

As many of you know a lot of changes are up ahead for me. I am so thankful for the time I've had with the Van Voorhis family and helping them out as their Nanny. The Lord has taught me so much in the ways of caring for children and though I know I still have MUCH to learn I am grateful for the experience I had. Not only has it been a wonderful experience but, it has been a privilege to be accepted as part of the Van Voorhis family. I am so thankful for the way the Lord brought us all together. Brian and Meredith have been the best employer's a girl could ask for and the kids have been a joy to watch grow. And grow they did!!! Starting in September Tyler will be a 5th grader, Brendan a 2nd grader and Samantha a 1st grader. As you can see it will be time for me to move on as the kids will be in school and even better for them their Grandparents are in the process of moving up here so they can help out with some of the after school activities. It will be good for the kids to have their Grandparents close by.

As for me...Well, I knew the time was coming for me to move on, however, I still was undecided as to what I would do next. I've been doing a lot of praying and trusting that the Lord would guide me. Many of you know I had my OWN plans for my future but the Lord has proven over and over that His plans are the better way and He will (as He promises us in the Bible) have His way with us, His children. Proverbs 16:9 has become a great comfort to me. So, although I may pursue something I am trusting that the Lord will open or shut the doors as He sees fit. So, as of late my pursuit has been applying for the One-Year-Bible Institute at The Master's College down in Santa Clarita, CA. People would ask what my passion was and what I'd like to do and for a while I would draw a blank. One reason was because my passion was, and has been for as long as I can remember, to marry and start a family of my own. However, it is apparently not the Lord's plan for me at this time in my life. Anyway, as I would pray and talk to others I realized that my passion was Jesus Christ Himself and it has been my prayer to serve Him and put Him first and foremost in everything I do. I can see now that my prayers are being answered. I believe the Lord has been sanctifying me through the trials and tribulations He had ordained for me before time began and I believe these past few years, especially, have been His way of preparing me for His perfect plan in my life. Whatever that may be. I certainly never imagined it would happen in the way it has but then again the Lord knows best and I have found great comfort in knowing He is in control and I don't need to worry about my future.

All this to say I will continue to take the steps in pursing the One-Year Bible Institute at The Master's College and trust that the Lord will provide what ever is needed to get there if that is where He wants me. I did just recently find out I have been accepted and for that I am thankful!!!! So, if you are reading this please pray for me as I continue in the process of filling out the forms for Financial Aid. It is my prayer I will be able to attend without having a lot of debt at the end. Thank you for all your prayers already in this and with my family here at home. May the Lord bless you all.

Late: 4th of July Pictures

The pictures are a bit late but, here they are anyway. We also didn't take very many. My parents, Grandma and I spent the morning at our church's picnic up in Portland. We played a lot of volleyball and some softball and sang some songs together. The picture is of one of the fireworks Steven set off at Cassie's brother's house. We spent the rest of the evening there.

Here we have Uncle Steven pushing Brent on the swing... And me, tired from the afternoon festivities so, choosing to watch all the others play soccer rather than join in. :D They also set off a ton of fireworks on there block

Dad and Son! The fireworks were especially loud this year so to protect Brents ears he wore his Uncle Scott's Ear Muffs (Scott is Cassie's brother.) Surprisingly Brent kept them on the whole time.

Friends Re-United

These are my good friends from high school. Ever since we graduated we would get together and take professional pictures together. Well, it has been two years since we were all together last and life has certainly changed! Ashley (on the Left) is married and lives in Utah, Eryn (to the right of me) is also married and has three beautiful children (her youngest is pictured below.) And Katie just got excepted to OHSU as a medical student. We are thankful we've been able to keep in touch. It seems like these last few weeks the Lord has brought so many people back into my life. Some I never thought I'd see again and yet the Lord surprises us. Only He is able to orchestrate all of that.

...And because he is so darn cute! This is my other nephew, Dylan. He is my best friend, Eryn's baby. He is going on 8 months and crawling all over the place. We think he is going to be an early walker because he has been pulling himself up and standing for weeks now.