Hope your Christmas was a merry one. We had a very quiet one here in our new home. We have been playing games and watching movies and just having family fun together. It is great to have all the kids together. Tori is home from college. This has definitely been a Christmas to remember. So grateful to the Lord that our family is okay.

By God's amazing grace and protection over us we survived an extremely bad car accident on Friday Nov.7th. We hit a concrete barrier at 70 to 80 miles a hour .Our car flipped or rolled at least twice and slid a very long ways. All 6 of us were in our car, Mazda CX9, we thankfully walked away from the scene with minor scraps and bruises.Look at the car!!!! We are all very shaken by this but have all witnessed a great miracle and are drawing closer to each other and Jesus! Thank you for your love of support through emails and cards. It was Ian's 8th birthday and I'm sure it will be one he won't forget soon. Please continue to keep the family close in your thoughts as it has been hard not to re-live it ,very terrifying. We are so thankful to Jesus for His rescuing hand over us. We love you all and are so glad to still be here!!!!!

S'mores Anyone?

Ian having the best time getting those marshmellows roasted perfectly. He enjoys making s'mores more than he enjoys eating them.He is so cute the way he offers to help you roast your marshmellows as well. As luck would have it Daddy loves burnt marshmellows. Ian sure doesn't! ;)

Chelsea @PLNU for camp

Here is our goofy girl waiting for a ride home with her tormented fellow campers. I'm sure they were after spending a week with this crazy character...LOL No really, Chelsea had the privilege to serve as a Camp Counselor this year. She had the most amazing time drawing closer to God and leading a group of freshman girls at camp. Her highlight was baptizing a girl ,in the Ocean ,that had redirected her life to Christ. Also Mitch and Chelsea had an amazing time on the streets of San Diego ministering to the homeless. Thank you Lord Jesus for working in the hearts of your people!

Nighty Night

After a long afternoon for Ian,playing with the slip and slide and swimming in the pool. Red and Rocky decided to join him in his quest for rest... a nap! Such super sweet boys ;)

Loving our place...

The house looks much better with fresh paint! We are excited about getting everything done and the house looking like we live here. Pictures on the walls, new lighting above the stairs,entry way, and dining room. Love to see all the finishing touches coming together. Hoping to put in new carpet soon.

Swimming at The DeRoest's...

Ian catching air and staying cool over the pool.....

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Tori, Mitchy, Chelsea & Iannie

1...2...3...

Jump!

Cooling Off and Making New Friends

Ian is having a blast playing in his pool.Dad hooked up the hose to the shade cover and Ian is thrilled with his waterfall ! LOL

Ian has made a new friend across the street. CJ is 3 and adores Ian. Ian enjoys being older and kind of being a leader type friend so he doesn't mind the age difference to much.They are 2 crazy kids!

Oh dear! We have puppies....

Meet the newest members of our family,Red and Rocky Ness. Also known as :"The Boys","Dumb and Dumber" and "Frick and Frack".They are very cute and already protective of their new family.It is so fun to have pets again. The kids are learning a lesson or two in responsibility in caring for them- so thats a plus! They are about 7 and 8 months old , both rescued, so they have been through alot. Still teachable and seem to be learning the rules. We think they are perfect dogs for us ,they are adjusting great and very sweet!

Home

We are little by little making this house into a home.We have done alot of painting and had to replace appliances.A new stainless steel double oven we found brand new on Craigslist. What a find! Only $500 and the exact one in the stores was $3000. We also replaced the dishwasher and microwave both were unfortunately not working. We also took out the old sink that had holes in it and put in a beautiful black one.

We're Moving!!!

God has blessed us with the opportunity to buy a home in Murrieta, California. We are going to be moved in by May! This is so exciting and we just want to share our happiness with all our family and friends. Here are some pictures of our new home!!

Staircase

Our New Home
Stairs
Master Bed



Dining Room

Living Room
Kitchen
Family Room

God answers prayer!

Just wanted to thank all of you who might have prayed for Tori in getting the Resident Assistant job at school next year.She got it! This will be a huge savings and great growing time as well.She has changed her focus to psychology and plans to go on to graduate school after she finishes up at PLNU next spring. We are just so proud of her and how far she has come.Please join me by thanking and praising God now for this much needed chance and opportunity to use her spiritual gift of mercy...
Praise and thankgiving to You Jesus!

Scrooge 07'

Happy 2008 everyone!
We just enjoyed a wonderful Christmas season. GrandmaD was able to come spend Christmas with her CA kids. We all enjoyed having her here. Thank you for the wonderful memories Mom and your yummy fudge and chex mix!!! What a gift in itself!
Chelsea, Mitchell, Ian,and Shel all decided to participate in CAST's "Scrooge the Musical". It was truly a gift to have gotten to do this.Chelsea played our Mrs. Fezziweg and was a great one at that! She is so cute and fun to watch on stage. Mitchell got the part of young Ebeneezer Scrooge in "the past" and in the present day and future he played his nephew. He was great! Ian got the part of the beggar child and also a school boy.This was his first show and he was quite the professional. We were all impressed by his eagerness to perform. Shel played the beggar woman and also was party guests. This was her first show and what a memory with her kiddos!
We also had guests from OR to watch the show. Ken's family(Grandmas,cousins) all were here for the big event of Ian's debut. He was truly excited to have them in the audience!

This year Chelsea is already in the drama scene again. She has been asked by our UCLA graduate cousin,Jenn Hornsveld, to help co-direct the school shows of "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory". What a privilege for Chelsea to get to work with such a talented group of people. She has been very busy this week choreographing some dances and helping to cast the shows.We are very proud of the grown up girl she has become.She is a Jr this year at Fallbrook HS

Tori is doing great back at school (PLNU). She is currently trying to get a Resident Assistant position for next year so that she will be able to live on campus for free next year which we will be her senior year. Prayer needed! Can you believe she will be a college graduate next spring!

Well everyone we can't wait to hear from some of you so let us know how you are all doing!