This may be the only time I ever see snow in October in Pennsylvania

    It was supposed to be a cold and cloudy day. I was praying for the past week that it would NOT rain on October 29th, because I was planning on taking pictures of the Nauman family. All was going well, until suddenly the weather channels went crazy with news of this huge winter like storm that was going to hit of all days...October 29th! 


Well that is a predicament isn't it? But I wouldn't believe it till I saw it. Saturday morning, Rochelle came into the room and informed me that I needed to wake up and look out the window and see the snow. That got me out of bed, as I was excited to see snow! 


The first snow of the year is always the best, and I was ready to get pictures as soon as I got dressed. And here are a few of them...

I went sledding and had a snowball fight and built a snowman. My words of wisdom---you are NEVER too old to play in the snow! But wearing jeans isn't the best idea. I was cold when we went inside! :) 

you can't sled without screaming...

Enjoy the weekend and God Bless! 
♥

Raiy Day Thoughts

Here I sit on another rainy day. I know why the level of depression is so high in Seattle! I quite enjoyed the week of sunshine we had. The trees are changing color, and the weather is basically perfect, except that it's raining. 






  
 But I'm not here to talk about the weather.....



I've been reading Francis Chans' book "Crazy Love"  if you haven't read it yet-read it. It's been a super challenge to me. I'd like to share a excerpt from chapter 7(which I am currently reading). The chapter title is "Your best life....later". Basically it's about living our lives on earth focused eternally. The author shared a story about his friend...

"A friend was faithfully giving 20% of his income to God, and suddenly his income dropped drastically. He knew he had to decide whether he should continue to give in a way that proved he trusted God. It wouldn't have been wrong to lower his giving to 10%. But my friend chose instead to increase his giving to 30%, despite the income reduction.

  You can probably guess how the story ends. God blessed his faith and gave him more than enough, more than he needed. My friend got to experience God's provision firsthand." Crazy Love; Francis Chan pg. 122

My jaw dropped when I read this. The idea seemed so outrageous! I thought about what it could imply in my life if I started giving more to God. The part- time job I have now, isn't even part time. It's more like 1 or 2 days a week. I haven't worked in two weeks. I get overwhelmed when I start to think about all the bills I have to pay and everything in life that costs money. Such as gas. Not to mention putting in applications and that horrid waiting period for an interview then not getting the job. I don't even have enough money to my name to pay what I owe on my car. When i get paid, I automatically think though all of the things I want/need to spend my money on. The thought hasn't even crossed my mind to give 20% percent of what I make to God. Am I content to give only 10%? How much do I really trust God to supply my needs? Does my trust in God outweigh my fear of the unknown future? 

As I continued to read, a statement stood out to me. The passage of scripture was Luke 9, in specific verse 3... "He told them: “Take nothing for the journey—no staff, no bag, no bread, no money, no extra shirt."

"This place of trust isn't a comfortable place to be; in fact it flies in the face of everything we've been taught about proper planning. We like finding refuge in what we already have rather than in what we hope God will provide. But when Christ says to count the cost of following him, it means we must surrender everything. It means being willing to go without an extra tunic or place to sleep at night, and sometimes without knowing where we are going. God wants us to trust Him with abandon. He wants to show us how He works and cares for us. He wants to be our refuge." Crazy Love; Francis Chan pg 123

 Trust isn't exactly easy. It goes beyond what our minds can fathom. We are looked at as crazy in some cases, laughed at and who knows what else. But as we continue to trust beyond all doubts, God will come through. This kind of trust sounds and awful lot like faith does it not? Maybe the two are more connected than we give them credit for. 

Where does that leave me? Sitting here, wondering how I'm gonna make it in life, but knowing that my God WILL supply all my needs. :) 

I leave you with this verse and a challenge to take your trust to another level. 

The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him and I am helped. My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to him in song.                                                         Psalm  28:7

God Bless
♥

Remembering the Warmth of Summer

   October is upon us and my nose is cold. I've spent the morning going through pictures for our family's Christmas card. So many summer memories I've had! And  being the slacker I am, I did not share even one quarter of my adventures with the internet world. Thus I will share with you some of my favorite pictures from my favorite times during the summer of 2011....


Summer Camp at Cove Valley camp started off with a scream and a squeak! There was a mouse in the girls cabin during Staff Orientation week. Some of us spent the first night holding out in the bathroom, where the nest was, in order to catch this mouse. Stephanie Burt named him Walter, but alas we could not catch him. Yes, we are using an Apples to Apples box cover. It brought for tons of laughs though and Walter made it almost the whole summer, until one of the male staff members killed him. RIP. Walter.

Baseball. Baseball.....more Baseball. Yes, baseball is a major part of my summer. This year, I tried to make as many games as I could to support....but  more so...to take pictures of the games. Here are JUST A FEW of my favorite Baseball pictures.....

Mercersburg Colt Team

Britt(18) pitching for St. Thomas Legion

the up and coming baseball star

One of Josiah's teammates at bat

In between when we HAD to do things....there developed a 'club' so to speak. We called it the "no life'' club. This resulted in thrift store shopping one random day in Waynesboro....and purchasing water guns from the Dollar General which ended up in a huge water pistol battle through the streets of the town......

In July, Josiah had a baseball tournament by the beach!!!!! Once I knew about this tournament, I made sure I had the whole weekend blocked out, because I love the beach and it's been 5 years since I've played in the waves. We brought our friend AJ too, since he and I needed to be at Cove Valley Camp Sunday at 2pm. For the record it's about a 3 1/2 hour drive from Rehoboth Beach to my house driving 85mph average with two 10 minute stops. But it was totally worth it. 

 My aunt and uncle have a house by the beach that we got to stay in. It was great playing in the water! Rochelle wouldn't get in for a long time and I asked her why. She said "The last time I was at the beach, I was too little to get in the water." Once she got in, she loved it! I forgot how much sand gets in your swim suit at the beach! Sheesh, I probably had enough to fill a sand box!!

Well, I need to get back to business. I'm designing our family's christmas card and I gotta get this finished so I'm not last minute. 

God Bless! ♥

Greetings Cyber world! Victoria is back! I've been neglecting sharing stories from my life with you guys, and for that I apologize! 


 My story for today comes from my morning adventure. CLEANING MY ROOM. You all know how that goes...painful. I was picking random papers off of a shelf and came across one that said "Technology for them country folk". It was one of those email type things... I have NEVER SEEN THIS ONE BEFORE IN MY LIFE(and have no idea where it came from, unless an angel delivered it for my reading pleasure...or my parents thought I would like it), and after reading it I thought it would bring a good laugh to anyone who knows even the basics of computers. So if you're reading this-THAT MEANS YOU!


Enjoy!
And Remember to SMILE!
God Bless♥  

Technology for Them Country Folk

1. LOG ON: Makin a wood stove hotter

2. LOG OFF: Don't add no more wood.

3. MONITOR: Keeping an eye on the wood stove

4. DOWNLOAD: Gettin the farwood off the truk.

5. MEGA HERTZ: When yer not kerful gettin the farwood.

6. FLOPPY DISC: Whatcha git from tryin to carry too much farwood.

7. RAM: That thar thing whut spits out the farwood.

8. HARD DRIVE: Gettin home in the winter time.

9. PROMPT: Whut the mail ain't wen it's cold outside.

10. WINDOWS: Whut to shut when it's cold outside.

11. SCREEN: Whut to shut wen it's black fly season

12. BYTE: When them dang flies do.

13. CHIP: Munchies for the TV

14. MICRO CHIP: Whut's at the bottom of the munchie bag

15. MODEM: Whut cha did to the hay fields.

16. DOT MATRIX: Old Dan Matrix's wife.

17. LAP TOP: Whar the kitty sleeps.

18. KEYBOARD: Whar you hang your dang keys

19. MOUSE: Whut eats the grain in the barn

20. MAINFRAME: Holds up the barn roof.

21. SOFTWARE: Them plastic forks and knifes.

22. PORT: Facny Flatlander wine

23. ENTER: Northerner talk fer "C'mon in y'all"

24. RANDOM ACCESS MEMORY: When ya cain't 'member whut ya paid fer the rifle when yore wife asks.

25. MOUSE PAD: Hippie talk fer the rat hole. 

Oatmeal and more oatmeal

  Last night was a special night. I got to go to the projects in Hagerstown. Scary place right? Not so much actually. 

The evening went like this:

3:30pm -Text from Hannah "hey wanna go hand out oatmeal in the projects around 7?"
Me: - sure why not. I just have a few places I need to go in Hagerstown. 


  We met at Lowe's  and to our astonishment the oatmeal we were handing out was in a MASSIVE skid. The size was what watermelons are in in the store. You know, those big cardboard things? Yeah, one of those...filled to the top with packets of instant oatmeal. We put handfulls of packets into plastic bags and filled up the trunks of vehicles.  Then we drove to the projects. 

A trunk full of oatmeal bags

That's me..cheesing while bagging oatmeal(*photos credited to Molly Lake)

My first thought when I heard projects was rundown houses and trash everywhere.... That's not what we saw. 

Actually the houses were in a little better shape then my grandma's neighborhood in California.  Basically it's a development of townhouses/apartments set up into courts. We arrived at the first one and went around to the houses and handed out oatmeal, potatoes and spinach. It was actually a lot of fun! I was apprehensive at first, being all the stories and movies you see about the projects, but it ended up being pretty amazing. When I got out at the first court, I felt like I was in Africa or the Dominican. There were children running around outside, dressed kinda shabby. They were so cute! I just wanted to hug them! I loved seeing the expressions and reactions when we told the people that the food was free. :) It was WAY more rewarding than going shopping! 

My favorite story was of this little colored girl, maybe 5 of 6.  She came up to the trailer and got a 5lb bag of potatoes. She took off, hugging the bag and yelling "Momma! We got potatoes!!!!!!" while skipping back to her house. It was so precious! And the thought crossed my mind of whether she actually had food to eat...? Seeing the smile on her face made the whole night worth it. :)


  Half way through our trip, we needed to bag more oatmeal. I hopped in the back of the pickup and bagged and bagged oatmeal. When we started it seemed like God just kept multiplying as we went....meaning we weren't making a dent in the box. I did find the bottom and we DID run out of oatmeal at the last court! Praise God! 

I got to ride around in the back of the pickup too. That was fun! :P


By the end of the night I was covered in oats(from the packets that were ripped) and smelled like rotting potatoes(since the food was from a food bank the potatoes were getting a little old). Natalie said we smelled like the towns in Africa.




We all agreed that it was so awesome to be able to go on mini missions trips in our own back yards. They're cheap too, just costs the gas to get there. While I would love love love to have tons of money so I could go all over the world, I am learning to look for the mission fields in this area, until I have the funds and opportunity to go international.  In Mark16:15   says "He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.."  Hagerstown...and even where you live is part of "all the world"....and they need the Love of Jesus just like starving people in Africa. 


My challenge to you as I look back on last night and look ahead til the next time is to look for the "mini mission trips" around you. You never know when God is going to use you to bless someone. :)





God's Blessings to all of you!
♥

My hat goes off to anyone who farms by hand!

Peppers & Tomatoes in 2010

Wow. I fail at updating this thing! 

Right now, my arms feel pretty numb and like they are going to fall off at any second! Oi oi! The reason.......today...I became a 'tomato farmer'. Well maybe not a farmer farmer....but I planted a garden 3/4 full of tomatoes and 1/4 of peppers. 

Salsa garden we like to call it.

We usually try to plant one every year, but it didn't look like it was happening this year. I did not like this idea, because I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE tomatoes. And not being able to eat them all the time when they're in season did NOT appeal to my mind one bit. I mentioned it to dad yesterday and he thought it was a good idea to get the garden ready and the tomato plants in ASAP. There are VERY few things that will get me up early, especially on a Monday! Tomatoes must be important enough that I was up and back from H&M Greenhouse with tomatoes and peppers ready to be planted before lunch time. .....but first....the garden had to be turned over and weeded.



by hand.




As I swung the pick ax(because I didn't want dad to hurt his back) my mind went to my trip to the Dominican when we walked by people working entire fields by hand. And I'm complaining about a 10 ft little garden! HOW IN THE WORLD DO PEOPLE FARM BY HAND???!!!! We are so spoiled in America!! 

ouch

It took about an hour or two to get the ground ready then the job of planting. By then I just sat down in the garden and planted everything. Phew! 

My weee little tomato farm

I don't even know HOW long we were out there, but finally it is finished and all we have to do now is wait. Believe me-I had the best cold shower of my life! And I feel extremely accomplished right now. Accomplished and tired. I'm going to bed early that's for sure!




But I still can't get over the fact the people do that every day, all day, wow....


So, if you're ever wondering why Victoria hasn't posted words of wisdom or the hilarious adventures of my life in a long time......between baseball season, trying to get ready for the summer, editing photos/video, and just not feeling lead to write....I haven't been on here! :)

Have a Blessed week!


Dios te bendiga ♥

NOTE: When sleeping on a plane, be aware of your surroundings- you might wake up with your head on some black guy's shoulder

Finally, some time to blog.

Currently, I"m sitting on the couch at my Aunt house, watching Psych on Netflix and hearing screams coming from the cousins playing Wii upstairs. It's 10am and breakfast is finished.
I still haven't adjusted to Cali time...it's so weird being 3 hours behind the majority of my friends. I always have to think about what time it is in PA if I want to text someone.

The weather...chilly! It hasn't even hit 80 degrees! The day we arrived - it was warmer in PA than it was here! WHAT?! Usually it's in the 90s by Easter!

Wednesday...our day of travel started out early. 2am early. We boarded our plane at 6:30 for the bumpiest ride of my life. I have never felt so sick! I almost barfed...yeah...it was bad. When we arrived in Chicago, we were informed that our connecting flight was delayed for an hour. What better way to pass the time then to sleep on the airport floor. I've wanted to do that, and now I HAVE.
9:30am central time we got on the plane for a 4 hour flight to Sacramento, CA.  A much smoother flight than the previous one. BUT this flight was completely packed! The downside to flying Southwest is that you don't have assigned seats and every open seat happened to be the middle seat by the time we were allowed to board(for future-they board business class first). I chose the middle seat between a middle aged lady with an amazing smelling salad for lunch, and a man about 30 bald and dark skinned. I never got to ask him what nationality he was, but he had somewhat of a Spanish accent. Quite the character. I didn't have much space to move around, or even write in my journal. I did however somehow find someway to sleep the majority of the flight. The only problem...although...it is the highlight of my flight.....is that there isn't much space for sleeping and SOMEPEOPLE.....just might wake up with their head on a tall, dark man's shoulder.  :) Yeah..that'd be me..and it was pretty embarrassing, awkward..and hilarious!

We arrived in California around 12pm pacific time, were picked up be grandpa and headed to his house. Finally a bed, my legs and body was so sore...and grandpa's bed was just perfect...with built in massage. :) :)

We've spent the majority of our time here hanging out with our family. LOTS of walks to the park and school and anywhere really. I do enjoy walking everywhere! I've played Tennis for the first time in real life! Pretty fun, except I hit the ball too hard and it flies out of the court completely! Haha!
Yesterday, we got to visit mom's old neighborhood and a friend of hers from high school. I quite enjoyed the trip and hanging out people I've only heard my mom talk about. The houses in North Highlands reminded me alot of houses in the Dominican....and alot of the landscape around here does as well. No banana trees, but lots and lots of palm trees. I even found a BRIGHT yellow plastered house! I was so excited! I even cooked a Dominican style meal for my family last night and need to get some more plantains so my cousins can try them. :)
The most exciting thing around here.....OH MY GOODNESS...they have ICE CREAM TRUCKS!!! I was beyond words excited about this, that I stalked outside GG's(mom's friend from H.S.) house until they came down the street the second time so i could get a picture. The one-a dark grey/black, old van...no way would i buy ice cream from that....it looked way to sketchy! The other one is a big white van that doesn't look as scary, BUT the guy driving looked like Osama Bin Laden!  I don't know if I'll get ice cream before I leave or not.

Well, now that I have actually updated ya'll, I'm gonna go. Photoshoot time for my cousins! :) And more walking!

Till later....
God Bless!
♥

What starts as a passion, can become a ministry.

Britt pitching at a JBHS Varsity game vs. Northern 3/30/2011

With the grass beginning to turn green...


Actually yesterday as I was driving, I smelled that all to lovely smell of fresh cut grass! I was so excited! 
But grass is not the topic of this blog entry. Baseball is - sort of.

As any of you who are my friends on Facebook have by now realized by the abundance of pictures of my brothers caught in random sports like poses....Baseball season has begun! Baseball has been part of the family for about 7 years now. From Little League to High School  ball, we've done it all! I find it fascinating that the boys can still vividly remember a game from 5 years ago. Right down to the pitches and where they came across the plate, how they swung at it, and what went right...or wrong...in the seconds after it was thrown. Sheesh! I can remember a couple games, but nothing like that. I just remember being there and that they won. The score or how they won I do not recall. 

When I say Baseball is a FAMILY sport - I mean it. I remember last summer, coming home from working a tiring week at camp and finding out that I had to bring Daniel to Smithsburg, MD at 9am Saturday morning. And on a day that I just wanted to sleep and prepare for the next week at camp. Everyone in the family does their part. Making sure the boys have enough water and carbs. CLEAN uniforms. And of course...support on the field and personal photographer(even if it's 30º outside with blizzard like conditions).

Josiah batting in at JBHS Varsity game vs. Northern 3/30/2011

Until a few weeks ago, I saw baseball as a passion, but my view has since changed.


 Sometime in the past month I had a crazy dream where my family met a MLB player and started a baseball clinic/ministry type thing in a 3rd world country as well as here in the states. We got to travel ALL OVER the world doing what the boys love most...playing and coaching baseball. Naturally, I told my family about this and we all got a good laugh.


   But it's not too far off actually. Last night I went to practice for the team dad is coaching, which also happens to be Daniel's ball team. I was getting video footage of the boys batting so they could pick out what needed improvement. As I sat there listening to the boys chatter both behind me and on the field, I was struck with an overwhelming sense of the ministry opportunity my family has in this sport. 
    When you have a group of 13 boys ages12-14, you can imagine the conversations that go on. I was so proud of Daniel, who always seems to be the quiet one at home that nobody pays attention to, unless it's to yell at him for coming in the house covered in mud(which I for one am trying harder to always be encouraging to him). Quietly, but sternly, he kept telling the boys that what they were talking about was inappropriate. I sat there smiling, and so proud of him for standing up for what's right! :)
  
   I also got to watch dad as coach. What patience it takes with boys that age! Boys of any age for that matter. Mom kept rolling her eyes at how embarrassing he was, making corny jokes and doing the dumbest things to keep the kids focused on practice. The kids love it! But at the end of the day- he is just as real with them as a coach should be. Most of these boys, we've watched come up through Little League. Daniel's played with them and against them. We know most of their families at least by sight. You can tell which kids come from families that are closer knit, whether christian or not. It was interesting as I watched each boy come up to the plate. Body language tells so much and to see all the insecurity they have made me think twice about just blowing baseball off as only a 'sport'.  It is a ministry. Dad has the opportunity to encourage and strengthen lives of all those boys. Who knows, they might always remember him as the one person that showed them Jesus, whether it was by a smile, or taking time to listen to them. 


Britt, Josiah and Daniel have a different, but similar ministry. The teammate ministry. They play, practice, breathe the same thing as the other players. They see the game from the players perspective, they are looked at, not as a coach, but a brother. A Teammate. They have the opportunity to minister right where they are on the bench, in the field, stealing second base...who knows how God is using them this year as they use their passion as a platform for their ministry.




So what's your passion? What do you love? Because that can very well be the platform to your ministry.


Dios te bendiga
♥

Sometimes Titles are Useless.

It's the beginning of a new week in the life of  Victoria. Everybody cheer! 

Last week, like I mentioned, I had the opportunity to help out with the Outrageous Love Conference in Hagerstown, Md. In one word it was AMAZING! Coming out of such a spiritual high I have to remind myself to get into the Word of God myself and not expect to be fed everyday....3 times a day...by the speakers.
The title - Outrageous Love - pretty much explains itself. God's love for us is completely Outrageous! And we are called to show his Outrageous Love to the world! 

The time we spent worshiping God was outrageous too! My legs are still sore from jumping and dancing all around, but it was totally worth it! This is where the main idea for this post came from:

Yesterday during worship, we were singing a newer song called Dove's Eyes. The chorus goes like this:

I love your face

I love your kisses

I love your embrace

I love your presence

 Right in the middle, Shaun(the worship leader) stopped the song and said "You know, we sing this song to God, but why don't we let Him sing it back to us?" It was such a beautiful moment for me as I let the revelation that God loves my face, my kisses, my embrace....my presence....sink in.


Wow.

We're always singing and telling God how amazing He is, which is the total truth! God is beyond human imagination! He is totally otherwise. But we walk through life not realizing how much He loves and adores us.  He created us. How can you not think that he loves you?! 

As I was letting God sing back to me, I thought I would write it down...

Victoria,

I love your face

I love your kisses

I love your embrace

I love your presence

I love when you smile at me

I love when  you worship me

I love when you're quiet and enjoy my presence

I miss you when you're too busy to take time for me

I miss making you smile at the little things, because you're so concentrated on the big things

I miss the way you make me feel when you're standing in my presence

All I ask for is time with you.

I love you. 

♥God

Now it's your turn. Place your name there instead of mine. Then take a few moments in your busy schedule and spend it in the presence of the One who created you to worship Him. 

That's my challenge to you. And my challenge to myself.

God Bless

Dios te Bendiga

♥

Laptops Can be a great thing...

Greetings Friends!


Right now...this very moment, I'm sitting in a conference room in Hagerstown, Pa after typing up a million worship songs on Power Point for Brian Lake's Outrageous Love Conference. It's been a hectic day getting everything ready, packing up all my clothes, getting my car and getting ready to leave. Between my brother, Josiah, and myself- we are tech teaming, helping with video, sound, and all the odds and ends. I was so excited for this opportunity and I have a feeling it may just be the beginning. 


Getting my car...I'm sure you were probably thinking "Well didn't she just get it from the shop a couple weeks ago?"


Wellllllllll....dear Riley started making a weird noise. Kinda like an old man trying to get out of bed in the morning with creaky joints. Dad said it could be something with the power steering pump or torque converter in the transmission. With a slightly heavy heart, I brought him back to the shop. Jeff, our mechanic, said he would look at it right away. Less than five minute later he walks back inside and asked "Do you put power steering fluid in it?" I replied that I don't know where it goes(haha...I still have some to learn about under the hood). He wanted to know why dad hadn't put any in..and preceded to tell me that all that was wrong was I needed power steering fluid. And a couple small tweaks. PRAISE GOD!!!


Today when we went to pick it up, mom wanted to check to make sure the bill for replacing my engine was correct. It said I owed a little over $100 on it, which was just the taxes. My mom was convinced that there was a mistake. I on the other hand, have been believing God for a miracle. He gave me an engine with 39,000 miles and I knew he could pay for it too. :)
Sure enough- I didn't owe anything extra!!! Just the taxes which ended up being a little over $100!!! I wasn't worried whatsoever...cause the God I serve is a God of miracles! We also checked my overall balance(We found out in Nov. that I didn't pay one of my car bills and owed over $800). AGAIN God is proved gracious in that I have less than $400 to go!! My goal is to have it all paid off by the summer. That way if I go on any short or long term ministry/missions trips that I will not have any debt in the states. 


It's been so cool to see God continually provide for my every need. The more he does, the more I am amazed at His glory. And as I keep surrendering things to him, he showers me with more love. I may not know where God's gonna lead me or what my future holds, but I know the One who holds my future! :)


I hope in someway, this has encouraged you to trust the God that holds your future. He will never leave you, nor forsake you. 


Well...church is starting...and I don't wanna miss it.


God Bless
♥

Never Leave a Project Unfinished

 With everything I've been catching up on since the beginning of February, I failed to update you on the finished projects!!!!

Lo siento!!

Kevin and Jen Sheeler stayed in the Dominican a few weeks after the rest of the group returned to the states. Thanks to them, I have pictures of finished projects!

The progress on the house when Kevin and Jen returned from bringing us to the airport.

plastered and finished walls and floor.

Almost done!

Broulio filling in the septic hole 

Finished! Muy bien!

The family standing on their new porch!

The addition at Juancito's:

The white windows are in the new section

new white back door

The family L-R: Juan Samuel, Joel, Josue, Dominga, Juan Cito, and Jamie

And there you go. It is finished. For now. I'm looking forward to seeing what God does in the lives of these people and in our lives as we continue to be a blessing to others. 

Dios te Bendiga! ♥