Vegas Vacation

No, Vegas is not my favorite place to go. But when someone says they’ll pay for it, why not? Of course we had to sit through 3 hours of someone trying to get us to buy into their timeshare, but it was worth it. We hit a lot of buffets and walked the strip during daylight (as it is not so nice for kids after dark).

As part of the deal we got tickets to go see the American Superstars show. They had several impersonators including Rod Stewart, Celine Dion, Randy Travis, Elvis Presley and of course Michael Jackson. We even got to take photos with them afterwards.

Kim & Miah with Elvis

Femi & Miah with Showgirls

Joshua Hangs with Elvis

Joshua with Michael

We also got to travel to the top of the Stratosphere tower, at 866 feet above the ground. The elevator ride is the fasted in the world travelling at 3 stories per second. You felt like you had sea legs by the time you got out of it. The view was spectacular. The thought of how high we were freaked the kids out a little.

Get me out of here!

We also were able to hear Obama speak at a local highschool which you can read and see in the post below.

We visited the M&M world where we got to see how many thousands of products you can slap and M&M logo on and make money. We also watched a short 3D film “I lost my M in Vegas”.

Overall, we all had a good time and had fun spending time with each other.

Obama Rally in Las Vegas

While we were on a family vacation in Vegas, Obama held a rally in a local highschool. We may have had to stand in the sun for 3 hours to see him, but it was worth it! This was an experience of a lifetime! Here is a snipet of the speech he gave that day. You can also see the size of the crowd and how close we were to the platform.

Kim Gets Buddy Buddy with Obama

While at her job’s annual covention, Kim got a chance to snap this pic with Obama. He didn’t talk much considering he was made out of cardboard! But you have to seize these opportunites while you can!

Kim With Obama

Sadie gets her first haircut

Ain’t she cute? She is now 5 months old.

Sadie is growing

She is now 4 months old and weighs in at 21 pounds. She is very smart with a lot of character. She loves to walk with the kids to school and chase around the house.

July 2008 Family Vacation

We did it! We managed to take our first family vacation! I know, long overdue. We went camping for 6 days in Idyllwild at the 1000 trails preserve. We escaped the triple digit heat of corona for 77 degree weather. It was absolutely beautiful. We spent a lot time in the pool, though painfully cold!

Both the kids also got to try a pee-wee version of a horseback ride.

We then proceeded on to the church’s family getaway at Mandalay Beach Resort in Oxnard. The grounds and the beach were absolutely beautiful. It was a wonderful time of rest and fellowship.

Visit to the LA Zoo

We celebrated our country’s independance by heading out to the LA Zoo. We had a grand ol time looking at all the animals they had including the gorilla habitat, giraffes, zebras, monkeys and many more. The kids learned all about mammals from one of the zoo’s docents.

Joshua Celebrates 10th Birthday

Can you believe it? Our young man is already 10! Standing at 4 foot 11, he is one of the tallest kids in his class. We celebrated his big day by going to an indoor karting track with his friend Alyssa and Grandma and Grandpa. We then went out to eat at one of Joshua’s favorite restaurants, Red Robin. We later opened presents and had ice cream cake at home. Happy Birthday Joshua!

Kids Win Awards for 2008 School Year

Another school year is over already. Miah will move on to the 1st grade and Joshua on to the 5th. Miah took home the Most Improved Student of the Year award as well as Excellent Attendance and a 100-mile award. (Students had the whole year to complete 100 miles on the school track.)

Joshua received High Honor Roll for his Straight A’s and the Perfect Attendance Award. That’s right, he NEVER missed school the whole year! He also took home a 100-mile award for the 226 miles he ran in the school year. Track star, here we come!

We are very proud of both of them!

The Favor of God

On Sunday, March 23rd, we came home from morning church service to find water dripping from the ceiling in our kitchen. We immediately checked for the source of the leak. When one could not be found, we turned off the water to the house and called a plumber. I had no idea who to call, but a local newspaper was sitting on my desk. I found a list of over a dozen companies but kept being drawn back to the first name on the list. It was Easter Sunday, so I did not expect to reach anyone, and just left a message. I felt an incredible peace at that moment. I walked away from the phone and continued about my day.

About 30 minutes later I received a telephone call from the plumber. After explaining what had occurred he offered to come that afternoon. He was in an adjacent neighborhood to our own with his family. Thoughts began to immediately run through my head of events that were to happen that day. We were to be at church that evening for their 11th anniversary service. Not just that, but the newly formed choir for which both my Husband and myself had joined, were to debut that evening. If I chose to have the plumber come then, we would be unable to attend the service. The enemy was tempting me to say yes, come fix it now and not go to church. I said to him “Come in the morning, I can be without water for 24 hours,” and chose to put God first. Little did I know how important that decision was!

We went to the evening service that night, and God did a mighty work through the people that evening. When we returned home, there was even more water dripping from the ceiling. There were puddles on the dining table and on the floor, and the ceiling was becoming very mushy. Despite the looks, I still had an incredible peace. I knew God was going to take care of this. We mopped up the water and set out buckets to catch the drips and went to bed.

The plumber arrived the next morning at 8am. After hearing what had happened he grab a device that measured moisture. It looked like a barbecue fork with two prongs at the end. He started poking around with it in the master bathroom, which is above the kitchen on the second floor. A little alarm started to beep everywhere it touched. Just in the preliminary examination, he said there was about $10,000 in damage. Upon hearing that, we decided to file an insurance claim. We were told that we would have to pay our deductible and the cost to repair the broken pipe, but that the insurance would pay for the rest. He then went on to do a more extensive examination and found water damage in several other areas. A few hours later we had holes in our kitchen ceiling, kitchen floor, master bedroom floor and wall and half of our master bathroom was gone completely.

Even seeing all this damage, I knew God was going to provide and felt an incredible peace. The plumber left and told us to await word from the insurance company. About seven days later we received a phone call from the adjuster with a date and time for the inspection.

On April 2nd, the adjuster arrived and started his inspection. At this time, I had heard from family and friends what to expect to receive. But I knew God had more for us. I sat quietly and watched him move about the house, touching and measuring. When he was done, he started to give me a list of what they would cover.
1.    They would paint the ENTIRE interior of the house with the exception of the kids’ rooms and the two smaller bathrooms.
2.    New laminate flooring fro the ENTIRE lower level.
3.    New carpet for the master bedroom AND hallway and stairs, but not the kid’s rooms.
4.    New flooring in the master bathroom
5.    New cabinets in the master bathroom but we had to use the old countertop.
6.    Money for damaged furniture.

Just from this list we knew we already had supernatural favor from God. But I had expectations for more. The plumber called the next day and said he was sending a paint crew that Friday. He required us to have our deductible of $500 for the crew upon arrival. We were never asked for another cent. They did all the work out of their pockets, while they waited for the insurance to pay them! This is highly unheard of. Contractors will normally require massive deposits before they begin work and let you get reimbursed instead.

The crew arrived promptly and explained everything they were going to do that day and I was given formal introductions to every member of the crew. This continued every day they worked and different teams arrived. They would occasionally stumble across things in the house that needed repair. Without even asking, they would fix it. They even brought treats and toys for the dog when they came. Upon learning of my Husband’s current health condition and allergies, they bent over backwards to make sure that the work they did was clean and free from dust. They went as far as using hand tools instead of power tools to minimize the dust.

As the days progressed and the construction moved forward, we started to get phone calls every few days with upgrades and additions to what we were to receive.

First, we were told that we could have 18” marble tile for the entire lower level of the house for the same price as our laminate flooring.

Then I was told they were going to upgrade the quality of the new carpet for us, but that if we wanted to add the kids’ rooms to the new carpet (which would complete the entire upstairs) it would cost us $800. I informed him we were not prepared to pay that at that time and to just go with the lower grade of carpet. Our phone call was briefly interrupted, and when we reconnected, I was told “don’t worry about it, we’ll take care of it.”

A few days later I received a call from the plumber saying he was going to comp us a new granite counter top for the master bath with fixtures included.

Yet a few days after that, I was asked if we had access to our kitchen. We had not been able to cook in our kitchen for over a week at this point because of the construction. I was then informed that I would be reimbursed for all our meal expenses for our time which we could not use the kitchen. It ended up being three weeks worth of meals!

The Lord had been speaking through our Pastor earlier in the year about recompense. And how there were always great transfers of wealth during times of famine in the world system. The total amount of checks received for the re-construction was $26,000. I was informed that if we had not gone through the insurance, that the work that was done would have cost over $50,000!

The entire remodel of the house was done in less than 30 days! We left the experience with cash in hand that exceeded our original deductible. Just as our Pastor had said, when the recompense happened, people around us would become jealous. I had two of my neighbors say to me “I want my pipes to break!” I said to them, “I can’t guarantee you will have the same results! This is a result of the covenant that we have with our God!”

Here is a video showcasing the restoration: