Gingerbread houses with a best friend...

Time to add another 'first' to my every growing list of things I've never done before!
That's right people...I have never made a gingerbread house!


*collective gasp from all readers who are thinking "oh that poor deprived child"*


I had the opportunity to chill with my friend Kelsey and make Gingerbread houses! It's so nice to have college friends home one Christmas Break! We used graham crackers instead of actual gingerbread, so I guess they should be called graham cracker houses...

Now that's what I'm talking about!

Anyway, so we got out all the candy and frosting and were getting ready to start, but we couldn't find the graham crackers! Someone ate them for breakfast!!!!! *gasp* :)
This catastrophe meant a trip to Food Lion, in Kelsey's supercharged Grand Prix jamming out to the Straight No Chasers Christmas cd!! <--yeah we did!

We finally had graham crackers, but then it was time to make supper. And Kelsey had to get Ethan from the barn. Oh will this gingerbread house ever get done!? I started putting my frame up and got my roof on.....then....it collapsed! I think the candy was just too heavy for the graham crackers. I then had to redesign my house and start all over again! This time, I added an extra roof support and used M&M's instead of butter mints(at least I think that's what they were). This one turned out much better! 

House number one - before the roof collapsed and destroyed it!

House number two. The completed project!

My gummy bear family is getting their picture taken by the yellow gummy bear photographer.

Roof number two--blue M&Ms!

I attempted a chimney, but it's not too great...

And here you have it. Victoria's first ever gingerbread...graham cracker house! 

*insert applause*

More important than achieving another "first'', was the blessing of being able to spend time with one of my best friends(ok...and Ethan too! haha). I was thinking about how in high school, I was always so concerned about keeping my friends forever. But now, the majority of the people I spent my high school years with, I rarely talk to anymore. Funny...I remember my parents telling me that. :) However, those 4 girls I call my best friends....I've never ever even worried about losing them. I just knew they would always be there, no matter what. No matter where we are in the country, or world, we're still friends. Yeah, we've all had our ups and our downs, we've gone through drama and the whole high school scene, but ultimately, we've grown in Christ together. We've experienced things together and we've always been there to encourage and listen to each other. And who could forget sharing millions of laughs!

  I am so blessed with amazing best friends and I'm looking forward to seeing just where God takes us and what He'll accomplish through us! 

Before I say Adios....last night was topped off with a very special event.......

MY First cup of Egg Nog this Christmas season!!!!!!!! Gotta love this time of year! 

God Bless!

♥

toeside, heelside, toeside, heelside

Anticipation ran through every vein in my body as I walked quickly to the car to put my snowpants on. 
The red paper in my coat pocket held adventures beyond imagination in its fibers.
I buckled my belt, zipped my coat and headed to get my tickets and rentals.
With boots on and bindings ready, I boarded the lift at Velvet to warm up. As I got off the lift adrenaline flowed freely through my body. I buckled my binding and started to slide. 


What's wrong with me?! What's happening to my board!? 
I fell, I crashed, and I got frustrated! 

I had to figure out why this wasn't working.
I got to the top, sat down in the snow and gave myself a peptalk.
Then I took a deep breath and stood up. 
As I went down the trail I repeated: 'Toeside turn, heelside turn, stay off the back leg, toeside turn, heelside turn...'

It worked! I didn't fall! SCORE! To Sidewinder I went. Once I got on Sidewinder, I realized the biggest reason I couldn't for the life of me go down the bunny slope was because I was turning too fast. :) OOHHH how excited that made me! 

I am ready to advance! And advance I shall! To think that I passed my level of boarding from the end of last season in one simple night!? Thank you Jesus! This will be a fun 3 months!


Hello Whitetail Season!

SNOW, SNOW Beautiful SNOW!

Snow, snow, beautiful snow!
You make my face shine like the sun.
Oh how I wish you would stay awhile!
You make my feet dance with excitement
And my eyes light up like Christmas lights on a tree
Oh beautiful snow!

Ok, I just made that up in the last 30 seconds. BUT I did write a song about the snow while I was cleaning at the Van Kampens today! Surprise snows are the greatest. I walked downstairs at 10:15, sleepy eyed and yawning. THEN I noticed it, I looked out the window and saw snow falling. Just a little at first, so I didn't pay much attention, till I heard Nina exclaim "It's snowing!" This time I ran to the window and squealed as I watched the snow fall....and stick to the ground!!! Everyone in the house knew how excited I was, being that I was dancing around singing about it!
Everything looked so pretty covered in the 1 1/2 inchish of snow we got. The roads even looked nice, until cars drove over them! Haha! The beauty in snow is one of my favorite things to capture through the camera lense and I love walking through the peacefulness of falling snow. God you're creation is so wonderful!

Narnia anyone?

View from the creek

...and nothings gonna hold me back!

Do you ever have days where you just want to run to the top of a mountain, jump off and say "Jesus catch me!" Flying is something I always wanted to be able to do! :P


Sunday night I went to Keepers of the Flame International Church for their Thrive service! AMMMAAZZZIIINNG! I was looking forward to it all week! To put it bluntly..last week was a bunch of crap. I was so discouraged and worn down, which....when I think back -duah! The devil loves to wear me down and get me discouraged, because then I don't have a worship mindset. And when I'm not in a worship mindset...I'm not a happy person! I gotta work on fighting that. 


I will overcome, by the blood of the Lamb!


Anyway, so I went to church. I love worship there! I knew I needed to have a clear head to enter into worship, so I just kept praying: God clear my mind. Tonight it's all for you. I will NOT focus on those around me, I will NOT worry about anything in my life. I'm alive to worship you.
I think that's a major key to worship. Entering into your time of worship with all the cares of your life behind you. Then you can jump right into the throne room of God and worship your heart out! :) I've been thinking about that alot this week. How often do we LOOK FORWARD to going to church to worship? Like really? Do you come to church on Sunday ready to worship? Are all the things going wrong in your life left at the cross? I had so much going on in my mind last week, lots of stresses and just the things of life. I didn't really care about anything. I just wanted to go to sleep and wake up when the world was right. Then God reminded me of good 'ol Mr. Job in the Bible. Dude that guy lost EVERYTHING and he didn't stop praising God! Could I do that? Would you do that? 
What is our purpose in life? To bring honor and glory to God in everything we do, right? The one thing we can give back to God is our worship! That's why worship is my passion! God has blessed us with so much, he has blessed me with so much and all I really want to do is give it all back to him. I want to become a sweet fragrance in the throne room of God. I want my life to be a life of worship. 
So when we feel like our lives are falling apart and we're going through our "Job" times. That's when we need to worship most! When we DON'T feel like it. When it's the farthest thing from our minds. We shouldn't be complaining and worrying about how we're gonna make it, we should walk(or crawl) boldly in and saying "God, I don't know what's going on. I don't feel you here with me, BUT I'm not going to stop praising you!"


That's my challenge this week. Keep a mindset of worship, even when I don't feel like it.

♫Take me past the outer courts, into the Holy place

   Past the brazen alter

   Lord, I want to see your face

  Pass me by the crowds of people

  The priests who sing your praise

  I hunger and thirst for your righteousness

  But it's only found one place

 Take me into the holy of holies,

 Take be in by the blood of the Lamb

 Take me into the Holy of holies

 Take the coal, touch my lips, here I am♫

Sometimes you gotta see life through the eyes of a child.

8:30am and all I can hear is non-stop talking by 6 year old Kenton(spell check on that) who was downstairs. Oh boy, I'm so used to a quiet house, but needless to say knowing there was someone to play with waiting downstairs, I rolled out of bed.
We played Blokus....in a round about way. Haha. And of course he won both times. :) 
Kenton kept asking to jump on the indoor trampoline....and after having to finish and PUT AWAY Blokus, we donned our hoodies and headed to the "tramp room."
   

For a whole hour all we did was jump jump jump! But fun it was! Kenton liked to scream and make weird faces. While we were taking a bit of a break from jumping, he said "Uh Oh! My silly face is running off. I have to go change faces." He then proceeded to show me his screaming face, silly face, smiling face, mean face, monster face, laughing face and so on. 

This intrigued me so much.

We do the same thing in 'real life'. We change our faces depending on who we're with, what we're doing, where we're at and so on. How often are we hiding behind a 'smiling face', or a 'i've got it all together' face? The masks need to go. 
We need to start being honest with each other. And forgive the wrongs. Forget the past. Move into the future God has for us!

*This random piece of brain food is brought to you by Victoria Utermoehlen*

Who put matches in the dishwasher?

My apologies for not writing sooner, it's been pretty hectic in my mind recently. And alot has happened since the last time I wrote.


First-it's good to be back in my house of solitude! I was kind of sad that Joel was back for thanksgiving break, because it meant that I wouldn't be at his house! Haha! I know--I can be sooo pathetic sometimes! I was so excited to go back on Saturday, even though it was weird walking in and NOT being able to throw my coat and purse in the guest room, because it was being occupied by Joel's roommate, Tyler, not us girls!  I felt slightly lost. haha.
But not for long, because the dishes needed washed and the kitchen was a wreck. *sigh* yes, i cleaned the kitchen while all the other youth were playing soccer and swinging on the swings. I wasn't dressed to play outside.
Saturday night we went swing dancing! I'm glad I decided to go, much much more fun than the last time I went!! It was sorta beyond words fun. :)


Sunday I went to Pastor Robinson's church in Westminister Md. African church I call it. :) And do they know how to dance! Even makes me jealous.  The speaker was from Zambia Africa, and wow, such a man of God! Church went from 6:30-11:15pm! I don't even know where to begin with the message. It was amazing, but now leaves me with so many questions and wondering where I  really am. UGH! Sometimes I hate my life! The main things I remember are the verse in 1 Peter 1:13- "Therefore prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled set your hope fully on the grace to be given  you when Jesus Christ is revealed. "  The phrase "prepare your minds for action" has been in my head all week. Our minds are a battlefield. We have to fight through all the things of man and the distractions and...well you know what I'm talking about. The challenge to prepare your mind for action has got me thinking...how much am I cultivating my mind with the things of God? So that I'm prepared for action when the battles come? 


The preacher also talked about how there are 3 kinds of relationships:
1-One time meetings.
2- Seasonal meetings.
3. Lifetime.


There are people in our lives God brings in as one time things, like a special speaker etc.
There are people who can be in our lives for a season, then they or we move on.
And there are people who are in our lives for a lifetime. 
  In my sometimes over thinking mind I started going through all the relationships I have and which ones might be which. So dumb I know! 

So that's everything I had in my mind when I went to the Van Kampens this week. And the adventures started. We have a dog this week! Rasko is his name, but I don't know if that's how it's spelled. Anyway, nicest dog ever! Princess the kitty hates him. So funny to watch her go crazy when she sees him! I like taking him out for walks, but sadly was unprepared shoe wise. Sneakers are good for dog walking. :) We really have no problems with him! 
    
Wednesday night, we skipped out on church to have a girls night at Panera with our Irish friend Sarah! So much fun just relaxing! That's one thing I miss....girls nights! So we're having more of them! Next week an ELF date at Kayla's apartment!  
  Thursday evening I began a new adventure. The painting of slate! Sara was working on an art show, painting on pieces of slate from someones roof. I myself do not have any of the artistic ability she has, but I still wanted to paint some slate because it's probably a once in a lifetime experience! I thought about it all day long, while we house cleaned the family room. What should I paint? What did I want to convey through my picture. Perfectionist at work here. I ended up painting a snowman. haha. I also painted a somewhat prophetic picture of fire and water, symbolizing the cleansing and refining that happens in a persons life when they accept Jesus.  Painting is so much fun!
During my painting break, I watched Dan fix the dishwasher! Oh, did it ever bring back memories of chilling with my daddy when he fixed cars and whatever else we broke! 


As this week comes to a close, I'm looking ahead to the month of December and realizing...it's so packed already! Thus begins the snowboarding season, christmas season, winter season, and whatever other season you want to add. I wonder where I'll go, what I'll do, and most importantly what God will teach me.......


God Bless.
♥

Thanksgiving Thoughts

For alot of us, today the love handles are complaining about all the delicious food we enjoyed yesterday. And for some of us, the thanksgiving meals aren't done yet! Note: It's good to have a small family! :)
    I'm going to be honest and say that I didn't feel so thankful on Thanksgiving this year. I did get to sleep in and when I walked out to the kitchen I saw it! A HUGE PAN OF BAKED OATMEAL! I screamed...it's been a couple months since that lovely stuff has graced my plate! Oh was it good! :)
   I really didn't do all that much while waiting the 6+ hours to eat. I played my guitar for a while, which I've realized I've been doing every spare moment I have. It was nice to have the whole family home and I can say that this week we actually sat down for 3 family meals! Wow that's a record! Rarely are we all home to eat together! 
   This year we went all the way over to Cove Valley Camp to eat our Thanksgiving meal with the Eshleman Family. It's been a while since all 14 of us had a meal together! Believe me, it was one loud meal! hahaha! Dad and Allen both mentioned how nice it was for Steph and myself to be there, because apparently it's quiet without us! Now really??? Imagine that?! :P 
  After supper we played apples to apples and hung out. The boys left for a friend's house where they had a sleep over and were getting up really early to go black friday shopping? Since when does Britt wanna go black friday shopping??? haha! I missed playing apples to apples with them!!!! Especially Josiah! I know, I know, it's a sad thing to play favorites, but to be honest, I miss Josiah the most whenever I'm not at home!!
 We finished the night by watching a really old Jimmy Stewart movie called Harvey. 

I just wanted to go to bed so bad. I didn't feel like this was what thanksgiving should be like. And going to bed, I had the hardest time as I thought through everything. WHY! What was wrong?! I don't really know when exactly it came to me....sometime while I was asleep...but the answer came.
We're going through transitions in our families. This might very well be the last time all of our families are together for thanksgiving. That thought makes me want to cry. I will always try to be home for Thanksgiving with the Eshleman family!
As we grow up and move on with life, we need to be thankful for the moments we have together, because you never know where you'll be next year. And once dating comes into the picture it's really not the same at all! Then you get married and have your own family and in-laws and all sorts of thankgiving stuff. Oh joy. 
For me, being someone that likes to have things different and enjoys the adventure in life. I have found out how hard it is for me to let go of things and embrace NEW adventures in life as I grow into who God wants me to be, even if it means feeling slightly left out at family get-togethers, because I'm still single(and I'm thankful for that!), or not having anyone to hang out with over the holidays, because they all have a ton of things to do and I don't. It's ok to be alone, because I am NEVER alone. God is always there and as I find things to do by myself, I'm realizing that I get to share that time with God instead of people.

And on the other side of things, I'm just in a manic anxious state waiting for Whitetail to open so I can go snowboarding. Then I won't care about hanging out with anyone, unless we're on the slopes together! haha! :D


God Bless!
♥

Here I raise my Ebenezer...

Don't judge! I can be really slow sometimes! 
I've always loved the hymn "Come Thou Fount"...or as I would call it "the Ebenezer song". I never really understood why in the world the Ebenezer was there, because the first thing I think of is Ebenezer Scrooge! Haha! So this morning I was googling the passage I'm using in this post(because I could not remember what chapter it was), and the first website on the list talked about Come Thou Fount and Ebenezer and it all made sense. I didn't even have to read it. It just clicked! :)


Sunday night, I had the privilege of attending Grace Baptist Church's Thanksgiving Service...and meal. ;) Basically they preached a little, then left it open for people to publicly say what they were thankful for. I told my mom when I got home that I thought about standing up, but they only had an hour and I didn't want to take up half of it! And you know I would! :)


The passage used was 1Samuel 7:2-12
 Then all the people of Israel turned back to the LORD. ³ So Samuel said to all the Israelites, “If you are returning to the LORD with all your hearts, then rid yourselves of the foreign gods and the Ashtoreths and commit yourselves to the LORD and serve him only, and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines.” ⁴ So the Israelites put away their Baals and Ashtoreths, and served the LORD only.

 ⁵ Then Samuel said, “Assemble all Israel at Mizpah, and I will intercede with the LORD for you.” ⁶ When they had assembled at Mizpah, they drew water and poured it out before the LORD. On that day they fasted and there they confessed, “We have sinned against the LORD.” Now Samuel was serving as leader of Israel at Mizpah.
 ⁷ When the Philistines heard that Israel had assembled at Mizpah, the rulers of the Philistines came up to attack them. When the Israelites heard of it, they were afraid because of the Philistines. ⁸ They said to Samuel, “Do not stop crying out to the LORD our God for us, that he may rescue us from the hand of the Philistines.” ⁹ Then Samuel took a suckling lamb and sacrificed it as a whole burnt offering to the LORD. He cried out to the LORD on Israel’s behalf, and the LORD answered him.
 ¹⁰ While Samuel was sacrificing the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to engage Israel in battle. But that day the LORD thundered with loud thunder against the Philistines and threw them into such a panic that they were routed before the Israelites. ¹¹The men of Israel rushed out of Mizpah and pursued the Philistines, slaughtering them along the way to a point below Beth Kar.
 ¹² Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen. He named it Ebenezer, saying, “Thus far the LORD has helped us.”


Samuel set up a monument, naming it Ebenezer. Thus far has the Lord helped us. We were challenged to set our monument saying "Thus far has the Lord helped me", realizing that this past year, and even this far in our lives is only possible with God's help. We were also challenged to think back over the last 12 months and meditate on just how God has helped us, and thank Him.


I was debating whether or not to share some of the things I'm thankful for.  Two years ago I wrote out 100 things, and last year I did 200! This year I was going to do 300, but I decided not to. Rather, I challenge you, my reader to think back over the last 12 months and see just how much God has helped you. Raise your Ebenezer and say with thanksgiving "Thus far has the Lord helped me". 


Have a Happy Thanksgiving!


God Bless
♥

Laughing is good. And adventures at Pap and Grandmas are even better!

Sometimes we just need to be crazy. For me, this usually has to happen AT LEAST once a week or else I start to get depressed almost. haha! :)
I love doing random fun thing and when a trip to Pap and Grandma's comes along....you never know WHAT you'll get into! 


Pap and Grandma. My grandparents of no blood relation, (but just as close to my heart as family) live in the beautiful Fulton County Pennsylvania. In the sticks! They have pretty much any farm type animal imaginable, except a cow and horse.
Saturday morning, I found some work clothes...and headed over to help 'Uncle Robin', 'Aunt Linda' and the Brant family cut and stack wood for Pap and Grandma. There is NEVER a dull moment with this family and I'm so grateful for all they have done for me!
Lunch. Glorious lunch! Grandma always has a ton of food for us to enjoy and I finally got to eat her slippery ham pot pie!!!! DELICIOUS! But I will not rave about the food.
After lunch we had 2 loads of wood to finish, then clean up the saw dust and we could 'play'.
I found a sled and thought it was a perfect time to try it out on the hill....

 Didn't work too well. I guess we'll have to wait for actually snow! We went to the barnyard where we petted and fed Jenny the donkey. The nicest donkey I know...until you try to ride on her. :)

Pap has lots of sheep and goats as well. Natalie decided that she would like to pet/hug a sheep. The next half hour was quite humorous as we ran around chasing the sheep, trying to catch one to hug. 

At last we succeeded! The sheep apparently give up if you grab their tails then their neck. It worked for Chevy anyway...he even picked one up. 

With one crazed adventure over, we headed back to the house to eat pie. BUT WAIT...the goats! We wanted to feed the goats too. Pap told us we would have to climb over the gate, because the goats would run out otherwise. Being the impressively graceful and balanced person that I am, I leaped onto the gate, attempting to get a foothold in the chickenwire......didn't work too well.....

Yep. Victoria flipped over and got stuck like this. Below my head/hands was a pile of goat crap...to which I didn't want to fall into! In the midst of laughing really really really hard at the situation, and unaided by my friends who were also laughing really really really hard, I managed to roll back up and swing my legs over the gate to straddle in...then jumped into the pen. 

The goats are so cute! Toy was even there...although much much bigger than when I held him at 2 days old in June. The goats were much easter to feed and hold than the sheep.

I'm not sure if this is Toy or his sibling

Saturday was an epic day. I can't help but sitting back and saying "Thank you God for making life fun and full of new adventures everyday!"

May your week be filled with adventure!

God Bless

♥

Photo credit goes to Hannah Brant of Rejoice Photography

It's 11:11-pray for revival!

11/11/10
What a day!
It started out much earlier than I like. 5am I rolled out of bed and into the shower. To be honest, when I went to sleep last night I didn't want to wake up this morning and drive an hour to visit my friend Laura at GSSM in Mechanicsbug, but I had the day off and I knew I would enjoy it.
That sick to my stomach with fear feeling was the devil trying to discourage me, because God had so much in store for me today!
I got there only 5 minutes late. Not even late enough to miss worship!! This week the students at GSSM were learning how to use the Arts in ministry, a topic of great interest to me as well, which was one of the main reasons I wanted to go up this week. :)
Totally amazing!! It was one of those "you had to be there" things. But I'll try to explain anyway.
First off, I love worship. Hands down. Worship is a passion! And I love worship time. I wish it could go longer some days. :)
My favorite part of the 'school day' was breaking up and going to different 'stations' where they focused on a specific "art".  Dance, song, and digital art were among the ones Laura and I took part of. We got to create a dance, sing songs and learn some cool ways to use media to minister to others. I think I found the digital media one most interesting, and wish I could have spent more time on it. Being a 'tech savvy' person and living in a 'tech savvy' generation, media and technology can be a great way to minister and share God's love with others. They even touched on photography and photoshop which I was soo excited about! Two other passions of mine! :)
We had a break then we got to share what we learned in the workshops. Laura and I even got to dance on stage and teach the rest of the students our dance! That was so amazing for me, because I've been to GSSM many times already, and to be able to be looked upon as equal with the students and interact and share my passions with them, on stage and over the internet....dude it was cool!

Today was a total "God moment" type day. And it lined up so much with alot of things I've been thinking about recently. Looking back, I think the biggest thing God showed me today is that he's given me gifts and tons of creativity to use for His glory, now it's my turn to be creative and use them to change the world! :)

When school was over, we ate at the lovely McDonalds. First time I've had fast food in weeks! Trina and Andrew came with Laura and I and enjoyed some chill time....if you can chill at McDonalds that is?? We decided to go into Harrisburg and walk around City Island, because I had never been there. Wow...talk about fun!!! It was such a beautiful day! I jumped up on so many benches and sang at the top of my lungs "it's a beaaaaaaaaaauuuutttiiiifffulllll ddddaayyy!" The trash cans were painted with designs too:

The sun was shining and I didn't need a jacket and the wind was blowing and I just loved every minute of it! Seriously! I felt so alive and so full of energy and joy! :)
We even got to pray for some guys who started talking to us. The one..his girlfriend had breast cancer and was really depressed and stuff so we prayed for her too! For me, this was a huggeee stretch out of my comfort zone, but I think I might like it...?? I defiently felt awkward, but this is good.

When Laura and I got back to the apartment, we decided....lets highlight her hair. Blonde. OHHH this was fun! Poor Laura ended the process with a huge bleach blonde streak in the middle of her bangs. We left the color in too long! haha! So in the midst of laughing our heads off, we decided- run to CVS and find a new color! Currently we are waiting for it to set. I have confidence that it will be a good color however.

Today has been a great day. I'm kinda sad for it to end, but at the same time....I'm looking forward to the future of seeing how I can use my gifts creatively to serve God. We shall see where my adventures take me next...

God Bless.
<3

Revalations from computers and the stress of family pictures...

Broccoli chedder bread bowl at Panera Bread and some free wifi is the perfect way to spend a day off. With pandora's holiday...CHRISTMAS station in my headphones. *sigh* Life is good.

It's been a stressful week, but God is faithful! I guess the biggest thing that I'm sorta...kinda really excited about at the moment is that the computer problem at work is FIXED! OH thank you Jesus! Last week, I got to the point of completely giving up, but God came through. I guess I should give you some background...
So I'm a video editor intern. Working on a couple projects. Well for some odd reason we couldn't get the final video burned onto DVD. We wondered why Avid(the video editing program we are using--oh how i wish we were using final cut) didn't come with a program to do this. We hit stone wall after stone wall with Roxio(the other program we bought to hopefully stick movie onto DVD). It told us our video card wasn't updated enough, stupid because the computer is under a year old. *Random note: even if it is cheaper...NEVER EVER EVER Do video editing on a PC. It's a total fail.* 
We spent weeks going through all the red tape to order new parts and update/upgrade everything! And Roxio still didn't work! I should mention that this has been going since June. 2 weeks ago we decided to buy the new version of Roxio(which I still want to learn because apparently you can make 3D movies and I wanna try this!). We installed it and waited.....to no avail! Talk about the pits! I started looking around for other jobs. :) My boss....thank the Lord...is also a christian, which is totally awesome because we can talk about God while we want to burn the computer! We decided to pray every time we got together that God would give us wisdom and fix the computer! Well right after we did that, I'm getting ready to leave the office and I look on my desk and there's a cd sitting there, still in the wrapper. Avid DVD??? I looked over at Tom and was like...Um...is this what we're looking for?!! It was! Oh God! Haha! I didn't know whether I should laugh or cry! I came into work the next day with high expectations of finally being able to finish my project, but......when I installed it....I got an invalid registration error. So frustrating! Turns out Roxio and Avid DVD conflict with eachother when installed on the same computer.

But not without revelation. :) I started thinking about how true the situation was if you put it into real life. Think about it, how often in life do we look for the solution to a problem and get all frustrated and wonder why we can't find it, so we "go out and buy something else". We find something else to "fix it"....but in all reality it just makes it worse. So many times it isn't until we reach rock bottom that we think it would be a good time to cry out to God for help. And we find that the solution to it all has been there in front of us the whole time! :) But we still have to deal with the consequences from the "other solutions" we tried. Which can lead to more frustration, but in the end...God works everything out. 

This morning my phone was ringing off the hook while I was doing my hair and make up. Tom got Avid DVD installed and working. Apparently the O in the serial number was an O not a 0. That's the only reason he could think of. I practically flew to the office just to make sure it was real! SCORE! :) :) :) When I walked in, and saw it working I said "You know what Tom, God fixed the computer!" To which we both decided was the only explanation we had! Thank you God! 
So I guess what God's really been teaching me through this experience and recently in general is that I like to "do it myself".....true story...haha.....but I need to remember to do it with him! :)

 This past weekend was a stressful, but fun one. I went ice skating on Saturday! Oh my...I'll state again that I love ice skating so much! And now that I'm getting better at it, it's much more entertaining! I can go backwards and skate on one leg!!!!! Of course the people you go with are the best part! Never a dull moment when I'm with the Brant sisters!  :)

 The stress came as I decided we were getting our family picture taken by Rejoice Photography(You can find her on Facebook). With 7 people in the family, it's a pain to get everyone, especially Daniel, to agree to get their picture taken. Then there's the matching clothes part. AAAHHH! This time, however, I found colors that matched the season, that went together, and everyone had something around the same color! Thank you Jesus! We didn't even know when we were doing it, Sunday afternoon or Monday. Finally we decided on Sunday afternoon. So all the clothes needed to be washed and matched and I had to make sure that everyone wore what they were supposed to. Ok, I'm very OCD and a perfectionist when it comes to photos!  But in my defense, we haven't had a family picture in 10 years. They need to look good, because who knows how many of us will be married by the time we get another one! haha! 
   It turned out quite well. We had a great "make them smile" person and a very patient photographer. The weather even turned out pretty much perfect with hardly any directional lighting and just a little on the chilly side, but not too bad! And the pictures....priceless. I have one crazy family! :)

 

Phew, what a week! But I can't help but thank God for continually being faithful and always working things out to His glory! :) 

May you have a blessed week and may the glory of the Lord shine upon you! :D

God Bless.

♥

For those moments when we need refreshed

We all have days where we just need refreshed, amen?  Where our minds are so clogged full of the stresses of life and things of this world that we almost feel like screaming!?


Tell me I'm not the only one! :)


For me, there comes a point of desperation. Where I CANNOT go another minute until I spend some time just soaking in worship. Usually I lock myself in my room block out everything and play every single worship song I can on the guitar until my fingers bleed. Painful I know, but refreshing. Psalm 144:1 has really begun to speak to me on what I can do when I praise: "Praise be to the Lord, my Rock, who trains my hands for war, my fingers for battle." My hands and my fingers are trained for battle? To think that when I'm playing guitarra with mis manos y dedos(I'm practicing for the Dominican), I'm fighting a war. A battle not against flesh and blood, but a spiritual battle. I think it makes the devil mad when we praise God, duh, that's kind of obvious...why else does he cloud our mind with so many distractions to keep us from praising God? :) And you wanna know something, when I'm 'in the zone' I get such an inexpressible feeling of accomplishment knowing that with every note I play for God, with every chord change, with every word that comes out of my mouth in praise and worship to God, that I'm showing that little bug of a devil who really is in control of my life!


Sunday was one such day. I just got so irritated with life and all the frustrations of the week that I played..and played...and played. But somehow it wasn't enough. I had been debating all day whether or not to go to Keepers of the Flame that night. I didn't have enough gas, I didn't want to leave the kids at home, but they didn't want to come. But finally I realized how pathetic it was. God will fill up my gas tank AND take care of Daniel and Rochelle. So off I went. 
   I got to M-burg, and realized what day it was. Halloween. And trick or treat night. AAHH. I had to drive 25 through town because of all the people! :(  Although I was in a hurry, and not too happy of being slowed down, I got to look at all the people walking around in costume. I about got sick. So many monsters, and ghosts, and demons, and zombies. Why? Growing up we never celebrated Halloween,  because it's a satanic holiday, celebrating the occult(that's how it started anyway). And looking back, I'm glad(and I mean no offence to anyone. It's a personal conviction of mine).
Suddenly, I got so mad! And downright disgusted at how commercial we've made holidays in America. It was almost like torture to drive through town. But at the same time I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt and with 10 times the amount of resolve than when I left my house, that going to church was the BEST thing I could do on halloween! What better way to spend a night like that then by worshiping God for hours, undistracted!!
And how refreshing as well. There's something about worshiping to the point where you don't think you have anymore left in you. To just lay it all before God and say "even though this is how I feel, and how I see things. You ARE God and You ARE in control!" :) And just spend time soaking in His glorious presence. *sigh* 
INDESCRIBABLE.


I can tell the difference in my personality this week too. My focus is reset. :) 
Sometimes we just need to get away and spend quality time with our Savior. I challenge you to do that this week. MAKE TIME to worship God. 
Think of it as a rehearsal for how we're gonna spend eternity. 


God Bless
♥

Life has it's ups and downs.....sorta like a roller coaster.

  Most of you know that I, Victoria Utermoehlen, will find something to smile about in every situation no matter how discouraging it might be. 
  
   I'll be honest-this week has been hard! It was almost like I was on a spiritual high, maybe even a mountain top experience over the weekend and by yesterday I was in the pits!

    It was so nice to get away from Pennsylvania for 4 days! And even with the whole "check engine" situation, it was totally worth it.
....Did I mention that Monday I tutored 3 kids in Latin, baked cookies, jumped on the trampoline, had a tea party while wearing a lacy old lady hat, and finished my first ever friendship bracelet and enjoyed one of the prettiest sunsets I've seen all month(bad thing when you're driving).  I even made it home the back way, in the dark, without getting directions?! Thank you, God for a decent sense of direction!
    Tuesday dawned and Victoria was not ready. Chasing 9 kids around all weekend and staying up till 2am and driving over 8 hours works on one's body when they have to get up for work. GGAAH! Then computer problems at work made it worse. And I almost forgot to turn in my check for the missions trip to the Dominican Republic in January!
Wednesday morning I forgot my house key! Left it in my pants from the night before! Seriously!! I was locked out of the house for an hour and by the time I drove to MennoHaven, waited for Stephanie to get off break to bring me her key and drove back to the Van Kampens....they were home! Haha! Gotta love it...I should have just played on the swings. 
Thursday-the final straw. I overslept. And actually got into a FIGHT(yes, things like this actually happen) with Steph....over when to do the chores! Seriously! How stupid can we be!?!?!? I was so frustrated and tired and irritaed that my plans were not going the way I wanted them to. I went to the office. My mom texted me and wanted me to check my email, because it was urgent. YEAH IT WAS! My sister Rochelle got shot in the eye with an airsoft pellet and was in the eye docter getting it checked out. Apparently she couldn't see much out of it and stuff. I don't really know all the details yet, but I about collasped. What else could go wrong!? I could have a half blind sister! <--ok I was overreacting just a little.
    Ever get to the point where you feel like your whole world is spinning and crashing around you. So overwhelming that you start to shake? Yep that was me. Do you also ever notice that it's usually not till we can't do it on our own that we decide it would be a good time to pray. Haha...I wonder why I can be so dumb somedays?!

Let's change the mindset here. PRAYER. Surrender. Two things essential for a 'christian's' life!

Turns out Rochelle just has bascially like a bruise on her eye. 2 kinds of eye drops, cool compresses, NO PHYSICAL activity till Tuesday. Guess that means she'll be vegging in front of the TV this weekend.

Steph and I are back to being attached at the hip. Nothing that a good talk at C&C Coffee Company whilst enjoying mochas and latte's couldn't fix.  And I'm glad we got it worked out, because the rest of the day would have been crap.

So lets end this by saying all the good things that happened this week(so you can thank God with me)....

*The check engine light turned off! haha.

* I'm going to the DOMINICAN REPUBLIC in January!!!!!!!!!!!!! And I ended up only having to pay half of it! YAY JESUS!!!!!!!

* Six games of pool later and you really can't think of anything else except the 8 ball! haha! I am inproving my game....sorta...

*  "What a friend she is, making me talk to myself......heh heh...I crack myself up..." -Steph Eshleman folding her clothes while I was trying to sleep.   [We're making a quote board next week]

* Things like apple crisp, ice cream and cool whip! 

* Laughs. Sunshine.

* The supper table conversation Thursday night. <--somethings can be left unsaid.....:)

..............

* BLOKUS! Oh my goodness!!! I Love this game so much I want it for Christmas!!!!!!!! I think we played 10 games last night. I even stayed up late to keep playing!!!!!!!! AHHHH!!!! SO much fun!!!!!!! Steph randomly asked if I wanted to play, because neither of us had played before....saying Yes was the best decision of my day(well maybe 2 best, after deciding to give my frustration over to God)!!!!!!!!

*And tonight I'm actually having a girls night! It's been a while. A long while since this has happened! I'm excited!

In ending, my advice....don't get so caught up in the frustrations of life. They're like a roller coaster. It lasts maybe a minute. It's not worth the stress of worrying about it. It'll be over sooner than you think.  Let go of the bar, stick your hands in the air and enjoy the ride!

God Bless

♥