Closing out 2009

For many people, New Year's Eve is a celebration of closing out a difficult year. I can understand that. I couldn't have been more happy to say goodbye to 2008, one of my most difficult years. However, 2009 was one of the best years of my life! Don't get me wrong, there were some hard times, but overall, it was such an amazing year and that's an understatement! At the start of the year, we were only a few months into attending our new church, CCV. God has used this church to TRANSFORM our lives in so many incredible ways! This year, all four of us have grown closer to the Lord more than any other single year. God showed us what it's truly like to live in Christian community with other people. He connected us to an awesome small group where we feel so loved and open to share our lives. The worship team there is beyond anything I've ever experienced in my life! They rock that church and help bring us into the presence of the Holy Spirit. Our senior pastor, Jeff Vines, has truly been touched by the Hand of God with the gift of teaching. CCV is the most amazing place and community to be a part of, again, that's an understatement! God is my everything, the center of my life and I know he brought my family to CCV to teach, show and help me put every single aspect of my life in His precious Hands.

John and I started 2009 by answering the call to baptism. It was an amazing moment, unplanned, that I've already blogged about, so I won't repeat myself, just look back in my blog to January 2009. I just want to add that we were baptized by Pastor David Sill, who we didn't really know then, but now call him "friend" and he's also in our small group.

In February, I turned another year older and also took a little trip that was more like a trip of redemption rather than a physical trip. With only about 2 weeks of planning, I traveled to Ohio to visit family. It was the first time, since my childhood that I had gone there by myself. I spent some unbelievable time with my aunts, uncles and cousins, some of which I hadn't seen in over 5 years. It was during that trip, that I finally felt at peace with myself and my role in my family. I don't know how to explain it, but God transformed me on that trip and now I'm looking forward to going again in just 2 short weeks.

Friendships! God brought me some incredible new friends in 2009. Jackie and Christina, you both are amazing women of God and I'm so, so blessed to know you. I'm a better person because of you. God also took friendships I already had and grew them into even more incredible friendships. Suzi, I've know you for a very long time, but your gift of friendship is so special to me and I'm so glad we've come to know each other so much better. The same is true for Stephanie. We've walked our kids to and from school together for 7 years now and you have TRULY been there for me through so much! I love you lots. I'm also so grateful for all the friendships I've reconnected with through Facebook. I also attended a women's retreat through church where I met some of the greatest women I'll ever know. Katrine, I still want to "wrap you up and bring you home with me." My swim team family also became such a big part of my life this year. I don't just think of them as "people at the pool" but as friends. There's just way too many to list, but you all know who you are. Finally, Derek and Christiana, our relationship has grown so much in 2009 and I'm so proud of the ministry you are doing in San Diego and I'm so happy to be a part of it. I thank God for the way He's carried me through 2009 with my friends!

2009 brought about the start of my new mural business with my best friend, Janet, AKA "Bestie." We work so well together and she is such a gift from God. I love creating rooms with her! Check out our website at http://www.muralyourroom.com/. We are so fortunate to have supportive husbands that want to see our business succeed and are willing to chip in and help when needed.

This was also the year that our friendship with the O'Malleys grounded us in our faith both in God and people. We had closed 2008 with hurt caused by several hard experiences, including hurt caused by people we called friends. The O'Malleys have been with us every step of the way and have been there for us at the drop of a hat. We camp together, worship God together, live life together.... They are great people and we love calling them "family" and together we've become the "Mooralleys."

Healing happened in 2009. God healed us of the pain left behind from 2008, He healed us spiritually and physically. After 2 years of diabetes, I finally tested negative! What a miracle! Although John still feels the physical pain from his injury in the accident, God healed him and gave him peace in his attitude towards the pain. He's learned a lot through the Apostle Paul and the thorn in his side. John's pain keeps him looking towards God.

There's so much I could say about the beauty of 2009, but I'll condense the rest to this list:

* We watched our nephew graduate from high school and go off to college.

* We've seen our beautiful daughter, Kiley, blossom into a sweet young lady.

* We've learned determination from Makenna's drive to be the best swimmer she can be.

* Despite my reservations, I competed AND completed the LaJolla Rough Water Swim for the second year in a row!

* I saw John find that joy in his job again after several years of unhappiness of where it left him after his accident.

* The healing of a relationship with my mother. PRAISE GOD!

I know there's so much that I'm forgetting, but it's time to end this blog and enjoy the last few hours of 2009 with my family. Goodbye 2009, you were a great year and I pray 2010 is just as wonderful!

The Best of Christmas

There's so much to say about our Christmas, where do I begin? I'll just give the basics: we did our normal routine of Christmas Eve with John's side of the family, Christmas day at home and the day after Christmas with my side of the family. Then the day after that, Dec. 27th, was Makenna's 10th birthday. Yes, my baby turned double digits! This was by far the most difficult birthday for me. It was the end of an era of having children with single digit ages.

Favorite Gifts: Kiley's favorites were a hockey stick signed by her favorite Ducks goalie, JS Giguerre and a tennis ball hopper (it picks up tennis balls on the court and holds them nicely inside). Makenna's favorites were a hockey stick signed by her favorite Ducks player, Corey Perry, a new tennis racket and new pink kick board for swimming. John's favorite was glass seats for a Ducks game and mine was an Amazon Kindle (my new favorite gadget for downloading books and reading). The greatest family gift, the new tether ball in the backyard.

I'll let this video I made & posted to youtube tell the rest about our Christmas:
http//www.youtube.com/watch?v=a54rvBIZ2_8

Seussical the Musical!

It's amazing how quickly events can come and go. Before you know it, all the planning and hard work that goes into an event is suddenly over. In our family, that event was "Seussical the Musical." Makenna rehearsed for this show for over four months, two hour rehearsals, twice a week. The final week before the show had more rehearsals, lasting 3-4 hours a night. This brought about endless trips to and from the church for me! I did use some of the rehearsals as my "quiet time." I would curl up in the car with a book or work on swim team treasury paperwork. I can't complain too much, I did benefit from the time a little. M was cast in the show as a "Jungle Citizen" and she chose to be a tarantula (I think she chose this to freak out her spider-hating sister). This meant lots of sewing on my part to create this costume WITHOUT a pattern. I was fortunate enough to come across a lady's blog from the east coast whose son was a tarantula for Halloween. I felt like I was stalking her blog as I would keep looking at it to see the costume until I finally just printed the picture of her son in the costume. I worked endless hours on that costume, finishing just 1 hour before the first dress rehearsal. Needless to say, I insist that she is a tarantula for Halloween next year.

Finally, it was show time. Her first show was Dec. 22nd and final show the next night on Dec. 23rd. M did a great job! She knew all her songs, dance moves, everything! We were so proud!
The show itself was BEYOND AMAZING! Briana, the shows producer, did such a great job managing 42 kids for a first class performance. The scenery, the choreography, lighting, everything was at the level of a Broadway show. M did a great job and we were all so proud that her grandparents, friends and other family were either able to attend or watch the live feed of the show on the internet. Great job Makenna and thank you Lord that it's over!

On stage performing

M with her sister, aunt, uncle, cousins and me, of course!

Great costume mom!

M and producer, Briana

Mary's Journey

Merry Christmas everyone! As we celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior, I've been reflecting on that moment over 2000 years ago that our Savior came to us as a baby. I've gone to church my whole life, even though I haven't been a Christian my whole life, and have many memories of how the birth of Christ has been presented to me throughout my life. I can still remember my preschool Sunday School teacher telling us the story of Christmas on a flannel board with a little baby in a manger and all the other flannel "characters" in the Christmas story. As I got older, the story took on more meaning. I most certainly had a whole new respect for Mary after giving birth to my own children! Mary had no hospital, no monitors, no doctor and NO DRUGS! This past year I really reflected on the logistics of it all. Mary, a child herself, stands in the presence of God and is told that her virgin body will be with child. Imagine a teenager trying to tell her parents that today. "Mom, Dad, I'm pregnant, but really, I'm still a virgin. Seriously, it's okay, God told me I'm going to have His child." It sounds so absurd! I imagine, that most people didn't buy it when Joseph and Mary told people that all those years ago. If someone told me that, I'd wonder what drug they were high on. Mary's my idol! She trusted God and I'm sure that's why God chose her to give birth to His Son. My admiration for Joseph is no less. He could have easily walked away and gone on with life, but He didn't. God spoke to him too and Joseph's faith in God was stronger than any other outside influence.

Now I turn to the journey to Bethlehem. Mary traveled to Bethlehem on a donkey IN LABOR! I don't know about you, but when I was in labor, one of the last places I would want to be would be on a donkey! I can't imagine the pain she endured and the fear in her heart, remember, she was just a child herself. As if the pain wasn't enough, she had to give birth outside. Anyone who has ever been on a farm knows that it stinks! Not only does it stink, but it's not exactly sanitary. That cute little stable that is part of your Nativity Set at home is everything but the real stable where she gave birth. She gave birth in filth, where the animals lived. Really think about that....seriously think about the details and reality of that. That is how God chose for His one and only son to come into this world. God could have sent His son to be born in the finest facilities, to be raised like a King, to have everything at His disposal. However, what would that have accomplished? God came to save the poor, the broken, the lowest of society. There is no better way to reach those people than to live among them and love them. I imagine that's why the wealthy, the noble people had such a problem with Jesus. They thought they had it all together and God found favor in them for their riches. They couldn't be more wrong. What better way to teach them humility, gentleness, grace, patience, acceptance, kindness, than to come into the world as an innocent baby that would live among the poor.

Christ's birth and humble upbringing is why I love missions so much. It's what I loved about traveling to Guatemala and working among the poorest of people, the forgotten people. What better way to show them love than to invest in their lives. It's why I yearn to go to Africa. God love everyone, especially the poor, the marginalized, those seen as the lowest of society. It's God's call on me to reach them and love them the same way Christ lived and loved the lowest of society. What an incredible love He has for us!

Reaching Gilgal

Last week my incredibly awesome church celebrated "Vision Weekend." There are no words to describe what an amazing worship service we had. Our pastors shared all our church has accomplished this year, where God has lead us, where He continues to lead us and His constant faithfulness and blessings He's poured out on our church. Every second of that service was planned out perfectly, nothing left untouched, perfectly put together by the power of the Holy Spirit. I was moved to tears. If you would have told me a year ago what all God would accomplish that year at our church, I would have been very sceptical, but I have learned to NEVER doubt God! Several times during the service, my "Bestie" leaned over to me to say, "Can you believe this?" It's amazing how much God wants to do in our lives, IF we're just willing to let Him, to surrender to His plans instead of our plans. After the service, Bestie said to me, "What a difference a year makes." That statement is so true that it's an understatement!

One year ago, I was closing out a year that had been filled with change and disappointment. Then something amazing happened one year ago in November. That was the month we began to call CCV "home." That was the month Pastor Jeff preached a life changing sermon, "Divine Interruptions." It was then that God spoke so clearly to me that He was about to deliver me. He was going to move me beyond the uncomfortable changes He was making in my life and lead me to the "Promised Land." Now, here I stand, one year later, overwhelmed with joy for all God has accomplished in my life through the last year. Everything I had to go through, every battle I fought, my struggle to bring justice, my grasping on to God's promise for me, has now come full circle.

This reminds of the Children of Israel. After suffering in slavery in Egypt, God promised His children that He would lead them to a "Land of milk and honey," the Promised Land. It most certainly didn't come quickly or easily. They wandered in the desert for 40 years! When they finally entered the Promised Land, they came to a place called "Gilgal," meaning "circle" or "wheel." The Israelites had come full circle. God moved them from slavery to victory. God has moved me from "slavery" to victory. My slavery was a different kind of slavery though. My slavery was settling for comfortable, the mundane, in other words....boring. God used hurt and pain to move me towards change. That bold step of faith I made into change lead to PURE JOY! I too, like the Israelites, have come full circle, I have reached my Gilgal!

As I look ahead, only two weeks away from a new year, 2010, I'm so thankful for God's redemption and so excited to see what He has for me next. God has taught me a lot about embracing change. Change is God's way of growing me and molding me for good, to empower me to serve Him and live out His purpose for me in life. I am choosing not to settle, to believe that God is capable of doing what may seem impossible in the earthly realm. I'm believing God to work miracles in me just as He has at my church, because God can do more than I could ever imagine!

Swim Team Awards Banquet

Last weekend we enjoyed one of my favorite events of the holidays, the swim team's Annual Awards Banquet. This year the board decided to take all the work off of ourselves, THANK GOD, and hold it at a restaurant. The past few years we've held it in a banquet hall and all the board members had to do the setup and cleanup, at least we hired a caterer! We held the event at a local pizza place, and although it was louder, it was so much more relaxing for the board members. There are so many things I love about this event. Seeing the swimmers get awarded for all of their hard work brings joy to my soul. Many of these swimmers, including my daughter, swim 4-5 nights a week, 1 1/2 hours each night and travel near and far to compete in USA sanctioned swim meets. These are some incredibly disciplined kids! I also love interacting with all of the families. I see parents on the pool deck and there's always a little talking between events at meets, but I rarely get to socialize with the other parents and get to know what's going on in their lives. It's also a special time that I don't have to talk money with parents! (I'm the treasurer.) Makenna was awarded the "Persistence Award" for her hard work in the pool, her constant drive to do better and doing it all because she LOVES it! Years past, she's won the "Encouragement Award" for her encouragement to the other swimmers and her greatest award, "The Coach's Award" two years ago. That's the award of all awards for her overall hard work. We are so proud of her, proud to serve as board member for this swim club and proud that it's truly a family event with Kiley as Makenna's biggest (and LOUDEST) fan!

Makenna, Kiley & Alyssa with Coach Sharayah

Makenna wins the "Persistence Award" from Coaches Wade, Andrew & Sharayah

All the Board Members & Coaches

Thanksgiving isn't over yet.....time for the Stuters!

Thanksgiving didn't end with the Moore side of the family, Thanksgiving Day was spent with my side of the family. We packed the family into the car and braved the terrible traffic to travel to Wrightwood where my side of the family lives. We had a delicious meal at my parents' house, joined by my sister and her family. Over dinner, we laughed a lot as we shared stories from the past that have somehow grown into much bigger stories now. Of course, the infamous "coffee creamer" story from Thanksgiving several years ago was repeated over and over again. K and M had a great time playing with their cousins (both of which are about the same ages as my girls). The girls put on lots of shows, made up jokes and wrote stories. Everything they did HAD to have a very ATTENTIVE audience! My niece, Julia, performed her gymnastics skills, which eventually lead to memories of how I used to be able to "roll on my face." My niece later told us that the proper name for the trick is "The Scorpion." It was decided by all that I should attempt this very limber stunt again, thus began an hour long session of stretching. Jokes flew around that I wasn't allowed to perform until we verified that the paramedic that lives across the street was home. The big moment finally came that I had to perform, but after several attempts, I found I just wasn't as limber as I used to be, so I couldn't get the needed momentum to roll by body over. Julia, however, performed it perfectly and made us all cringe at her EXTREME flexibility.

My niece, Julia
My niece, Courtney & Makenna


My failed attempt at, "The Scorpion"

Crazy Moore Thanksgiving

With marriage comes the merging of families and since John has 3 siblings, that creates a lot of schedules to coordinate for holidays. When it comes to Thanksgiving, the Moores always celebrate the weekend before, which was today. We tend to be a crazy, fun-loving group with no shortage of laughter, food and some sort of injury each time we get together (however today we managed to escape injuries). There's always something crazy going on with the kids, due to the broad range of ages of the cousins. My nephew, Dustin is the oldest at 21 years old and my niece, Emily is the youngest at 2 years old with many more cousins of all ages in between.

The Christmas Costume Group

As with most holidays, we gathered at John's brother's house since it is ginormous and has an indoor and outdoor kitchen that can accommodate the mass amounts of food we prepare and devour. For the second year in a row, the turkey was cooked in the wood-burning pizza oven. Other regular food staples included grandpa Roger's home-made bread, cheese & crackers, baked potatoes dripping with butter, a fresh baked pizza from the pizza oven, a to-die-for dessert chocolate pizza also from the pizza oven and lots of wine. Needless to say, we ate well!

Ryely gives Kiley a piggy-back, while Kiley gives Collin a piggy-back.

Ryely with Kiley & Makenna.

We were all so happy that my nephew, Ryely, was able to fly home from college in Indiana to join us, it just wouldn't be the same without him. We were also thrilled to have John's Uncle John and Aunt Barbara join us from Northern California and my niece Piper's boyfriend, Jon. Yes, lots of Johns in this family. They got a taste of our craziness when half the family put on Christmas costumes and paraded around. They also joined in on a wide range of conversations including, spiders, morphing cockroaches, the amount of tissues it takes to kill a spider, Facebook quizzes, calculus, physics, public stupidity, who's the crazy aunt, Italian irons and mastering wine tasting. Yes, another Moore Thanksgiving has come and gone, but with Christmas just a month away, it won't be long for the craziness to begin again!

Go Away Flu!

Flu season is upon us and it chose to peek its sneaky head in our home. I already endured 2 kidney stones in just a 3 week period of time when just 3 days after passing the second stone, the flu hit and knocked me out for a good solid 9 days! John was it's next victim, but fortunately he had a much lighter version of it. Makenna was next with a real knock-out like mine. It probably didn't help that she competed in a swim meet the day before it hit her. To make matters worse, she competed in 2 long events, completely exhausting herself. Because of the weekend, she only missed 3 days of school, but unfortunately, one of them was the annual school Walk-And-Roll-A-Thon. :( For me, all this flu meant nearly 2 weeks stuck in the house! Now, I know I needed rest and some time to catch up on a few things at home, but God really knocked it to me. I spent 4 solid days in bed unable to do anything but sleep and catch up on everything on Tivo. Yes Lord, thank you for the rest. I then had lots of time to organize my office, do laundry, iron and everything else I needed to get done. I may have gone a little crazy while in confinement, but God reminded me that He's provided me with a home to live, a family to love and care for and friends that helped run the kids around. I am blessed!

Grace & Redemption

My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. 2 Corinthians 12:9

Grace is a word I've used to define my life. By "grace," I mean God's unbelievable gift of forgiveness despite my unworthiness. It took me a long time to truly wrap my mind around God's grace. It wasn't until my early 30's that I completely let go of the guilt and shame I'd carried with me up until that point. Although I had been a Christian for awhile at that point, I hadn't released everything to Him. As much as I loved the Lord and had faith in Him, I was still holding onto several aspects of my life; I went with His Will only when it was my will and for some unexplainable reason, I just couldn't let go of that guilt and shame. Although the circumstances that caused that shame were so painful, I'd lived with that pain so long that it had become a part of me. It wasn't until the months following John's accident that I poured myself into prayer and scripture in a way I never had before. During that time, God convicted my heart so much that I slowly released my firm grasp on my guilt and shame. I AM a child of God and God loves me NO MATTER what. My sins died with Christ on that cross and I've been washed white as snow, as long as I'm willing to receive it. Wow! How sweet it is to rest in His grace!

In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace. Ephesians 1:7

Around my mid 30's a new word started to define my life. That word is redemption. God's redemption didn't replace His grace, rather, it complimented it. As you see from the verse above in Ephesians, grace and redemption go hand-in-hand. I know God's redeeming love has always been with me, but around that time in my life, the circumstances of that period of my life gave redemption a whole new meaning to me. I was walking through another "growth spurt," in other words, I was going through a difficult time where God was molding me and growing my faith. Some of the things I had began to "expect" to always be there for me, were being moved around and even some were being completely removed from my life. I'm sure many of you can relate to how uncomfortable it is to be removed from your "comfort zone." That's when God's sweet redemption was poured out on me. Our God is a REDEEMER and whatever He takes from us is for our own good and He is ALWAYS faithful to redeem and ALWAYS gives back in great measure. In my case, I count everything I lost as well worth all He gave back to me because of my faith and obedience to His call on my life.

Now, back to my early 30's, as I accepted God's grace, I made a decision that marked me permanently......literally! I had the word "grace" tattooed on my abdomen. So, now the question lingers......do I now add the word "redeemed?"

Labor Pains

Where has all the time gone??? I'm starting this entry like this because I want to see how many times I can say it in my blog. :) This is a phrase that I heard a gazillion times growing up and even more after I became a mom. Everyone would say, "If you think time goes by quickly now, just wait until your kids start school." Now here I am, saying it ALL too often. Tomorrow is Kiley's birthday and, are you ready for this? She is turning 12! Next year she'll be a teenager! At this time 12 years ago, I had been in labor for 21 hours, and little did I know then, I still had 11 more hours to go. Now flash forward to today. Did I blink and 12 years passed by?


Last night we were at the Duck's game with a couple of the pastors from CCV. One of them works in youth ministries. I hear John from behind me say, "Our daughter will be in jr. high next year." I think my heart skipped a beat before I started to feel light-headed. Then it hit me: next year I will be a parent of a jr. higher! I wanted to fall to my knees and beg God to have mercy on me and turn back the clock. I thought about that statement all the way home from the game and all night until I fell asleep.

It was the first thing on my mind this morning when I woke up. As I worked through my morning routine, I started to become at peace with it all. After all, she has grown into such a kind, beautiful young lady with a heart for the Lord. She is this way because of the circumstances of life and how we have raised her. If we turned back the clock, the outcome could be disappointingly different. She is still the shy girl she's been since she was in diapers and has some social issues, but she's perfect to us and we LOVE the person God made her to be.

Twelve years may have flown by before our eyes, but they've been a great 12 years! We've experienced the death of loved ones, illnesses, John's accident, deep sadness and much more, but more importantly, we've experienced the love of our children, constant hugs and kisses, "I love yous," first steps, school plays, church programs and way too many blessings than I could ever list. Most importantly, we've all grown together in the love and joy of the Lord. We are living in the happiest days of our lives and all we can do is embrace the joy and grace of each day, no matter how quickly the time passes.

Facing Off at Face-Off Fest

One of the highlights of hockey season has come and gone. Face-Off Fest is an event put on by the Ducks to thank all of their season ticket holders. They have free food, tours of the locker room, skating on the ice, autographs and interacting with the players, bounce houses and much more. For our daughters, it's the best part of hockey season! Once again, we had a blast! The highlight for Kiley and me was skating on the ice. It's amazing how big of an area it is once you're standing on it. Kiley is still learning how to ice skate, so other than one lap on my own, I skated with Kiley to keep her from falling. We loved standing on center ice, right on the giant "D." John and Makenna watched and cheered us on from the glass and Makenna was more than happy when I went to one of the camera holes in the glass to hand her my sunglasses that were still on top of my head. Makenna's highlight was getting her favorite player, Corey Perry, to sign his trading card, she already has his autograph on her jersey and then bumping into him later on the elevator. Johns highlight? Having a trading card made of him and his girls. It was a great family night and we're already looking forward to next year! GO DUCKS!!!!

Divine Design - Reflecting on the Path God Put Me On

What a weekend! I returned Sunday from a weekend retreat in Costa Mesa at the Wyndham Hotel and Resort. It was the first retreat I went on through our church, CCV. Wow! They really know how to inspire, teach, love and care for the women of our church. The hotel was beautiful, but most of all, the Holy Spirit was present and working in my life and the lives of the other 160 women that were there. I shared a room with my Bestie, Janet and our friend, Christina. We enjoyed the fellowship with other women, laughing and crying with each other as new friendships were formed. I pray that these new friendships will inspire me for a lifetime.

I’d like to share a story I wrote during a workshop I took at the retreat called, “Seeing God in Your Story.” While writing out this event from my life, I was able to reflect on how much God has done in my life as a result of this powerful experience I went through.

Several years ago, I considered my life to be fairly ordinary and not really exciting. All of that was about to change. John often worked nights, so it wasn’t unusual for me to lay asleep alone in my bed. Although my girls were asleep just down the hall, I felt alone in our big house. Finally, I drifted off to sleep around 1am. John would be home soon, then I'd sleep more soundly knowing he survived another dangerous night at work.
Startled by a sound, I awoke and smacked the alarm clock, but the noise didn't end. It was the phone and little did I know, my world was about to be rocked. "This isn't good," I thought as I searched for the phone. I looked at the clock and it read 3:10am. I looked at the empty bed space beside me. Where was John? He should have been home an hour before. Fear set in. A ringing phone at 3:10am is usually not a good thing. I answered the phone to John's voice. Relief, he was alive. My mind began to fill in all the questions that raced through my mind. He was probably calling to say he'd be really late and didn't want me to panic when I awoke in the morning. If only! If only that was what he was about to tell me. Instead, I heard these words, "I'm at the hospital. I was in an accident. A stupid drunk hit me head on. You stay put at home, let the girls sleep and I'll call you later. Love you." Before I could even process what he'd said, he hung up. Wait! What just happened? He couldn't tell me something like that and then just hang up! By then, I was very much awake. As the grogginess wore off, questions raced through my mind. What hospital? How bad? Was he okay? I had to talk to him again. I dialed his cell phone, praying he would answer. I got his voicemail. No! I didn't want voicemail! I dialed again and that time he answered. "It will be okay," he told me. If only that had been true.

We live the rest of the story every day of our lives. John had a serious injury to his spine. A piece of his spine launched itself against his spinal cord. His neck was a mess and major surgery was required to repair as much of the damage as possible. After a titanium plate and screws and over a year of physical and occupational therapy, J made a very good recovery for his injury, but nothing ever was the same again. He did beat the odds and was able to regain 67% of his mobility and returned to work 14 months later, but he lives with pain, unable to participate in many of the activities he used to love. Although the entire experience was beyond difficult and I had to care for my husband in ways I never thought I'd have to, we are at peace with what happened. God did some amazing things through that accident. He drew us closer to each other and best of all, He drew us closer to Him. I don't think we could have learned to completely lean on God, even when we don't understand what He is doing, if we hadn't lived through that event. God tended to our every need, providing friends and family to support our physical and emotional needs. God taught us the importance of community, letting go of control and taking one step at a time when we can't see the path in front of us. God taught us that He is faithful and all things are possible with Him. Amen!

Opening Day for the Ducks

Last night was the first official game of hockey season. If you don't know, we are "Die Hard Ducks Fans." We have season tickets and love going to the games. John had to work last night, so it was just myself and the girls. We arrived at the stadium at 4pm so we could see all the players arrive and walk the red carpet. Much to our surprise, we ended up getting a handful of autographs, including Andrew Ebbett, Bobby Ryan and George Parros. The absolute highlight for me was that George, at my request, drew his mustache on my sweatshirt under his autograph. :) After the red carpet arrival, the girls and I headed out to pizza. It was such a fun time to talk about all the players and text John about all the players we saw and met. We then headed back to the stadium for game time. Opening Day ceremonies were awesome with Wild Wing taking to the ice with young hockey players skating circles around him with Ducks flags. After the introduction of all the players and National Anthem, the game began! The first period brought a devastating 4 goals in a row by the San Jose Sharks. The Ducks FINALLY scored a single goal in the third period, but was such a sorry loss for the team. There was no shortage of fighting though with the first fight breaking out just 2 minutes into the game. Parros was on his best behavior with no fighting, but he didn't disappoint us by shouting at the Sharks as he leaned over the bench motioning his arms all around.

Despite, the disappointing loss, it was a great night for me to have time with the girls and bond with them. I am so proud of my little hockey fans!

LaJolla Rough Water Swim

This last weekend marked the 79th Annual LaJolla Rough Water Swim and our 3rd year participating in this great event. Makenna competed in it for the 3rd time and I competed for the 2nd time. Kiley chose to "opt out" after her first swim last year. This event is also a fun social time for our swim team. We all traveled to LaJolla on Saturday and met at the cove for a practice swim with Coach Wade. We all stayed at the Sheraton and then enjoyed yet another great dinner at TGIFriday (which of course included their yummy Vanilla Bean Cheesecake). Although only about 10 families from our team participated, we enjoyed getting to know those families better and then cheered each others' children on the next day at the event. The current in the water was quite a challenge for all the swimmers this year. It was truly a Rough Water Swim! Just about all the swimmers had slower times than years past, but since my goal was just to complete it, I reached my goal! An added bonus this year was that my parents came down to cheer us on and our "front row friends" Bill and Janet surprised me by showing up too. It was a great weekend and we definitely earned our medals!!!

First Day of School

What a day to start school, 09/09/09! Claremont was one of the last districts in the area to go back to school. Some districts have already been back for a month! You might say the day was bitter sweet. I was looking forward to having a quiet house again, but wasn't ready for all of the chaos that comes with school: huge packets of paperwork, homework, projects, lunches to pack, etc. The hardest part though came a few days before school started. We were walking back home from the school after checking the class postings and Makenna said, "We're both upper graders now!" I about collapsed into tears. How could they both be upper graders? Where had the time gone? Weren't we just here for kindergarten orientation a few days ago? Yet, somehow, the years passed because Makenna started 4th grade and Kiley (are you ready for this?) started 6th grade!!! It's her last year in elementary school. Despite the lightning speed passing of time, I'm proud to be where we're at. Our daughters are GOOD girls! We couldn't be more proud of them! They both do very well in school and are such giving, polite and sweet children. Okay, they do have their bad days, but overall, I can't complain!

Of course, John was at work and wasn't able to walk them to school on the first day, but he surprised us in the morning, by getting up extra early to buy donuts and left them in the kitchen with a nice note for the girls. Can you say "sugar rush" on the first day of school? Oh how happy they were though. Both girls got their first picks for teachers. Kiley has Ms. De Leon and Makenna has Kiley's former teacher, Mrs. Douglass. Both are excellent teachers. :) As we walked up to the school, Kiley's best friend, Amanda, found us just before we were going to cross the street to the school. We barely made it on campus when Makenna found her best friend, Brooke. All 4 of them acted like they hadn't seen each other forever even though they were all just at Adventure Mountain together 3 weeks before! They lined up in their proper lines, got greeted by their teachers, followed by a greeting by their principle. Before I knew it, their teachers were leading them to their classrooms. I had secretly (it's really no surprise, I do this every year) packed notes in their lunches reminding them how much we love them and how proud we are to be their parents and of course a Bible verse for encouragement. I smiled at lunch time knowing they were reading their notes. It's official: summer is over and we now have 2 upper graders!

Summer Winds Down to an End

It happens every year, despite my attempts to stop it, summer winds down to an end. We love summer at our house. It means lazy days relaxing in the pool, camping at the beach, summer camp and time with family. Best of all, it means no homework, no packing lunches and no hurrying out the door in the morning. It does have it's drawbacks though, triple digit temperatures (heat is good but baking is not), the girls getting sick of each other and fighting and oh how I miss my quiet house during the day. We started the summer with a camping trip at the beach with the O'Malley Family, there were visits to Mamaw & Guga's house in Wrightwood, playing at the lake with cousins, several trips to Laguna Beach with the O'Malleys and a week at Adventure Mountain at Forest Home for the girls (quiet house for John and I). It was a great summer! We enjoyed every moment of it. Now, here we are, the start of a new school year......I guess all things must come to an end. I've posted some pictures taken throughout our wonderful summer.

Saying Goodbye to Ryely

This last week we said goodbye to our nephew, Ryely, as he headed to Indiana for college to attend Rose-Hulman. We are beyond proud of him to be attending the second best engineering school in the nation. Ryely, the son of John's brother, Bob and wife, Kristin, has always been bright, driven and hard working. I'm overwhelmed with pride when I speak about him with my friends. With his positive attitude, friendly personality and drive for success, I know he will be successful in life.


We celebrated Ryely just a couple of days before he was leaving for college with a barbecue at his house. The entire family was there, along with some of Ryely's close friends that have grown up with him. His parents presented him with a book of "Words of Wisdom" that had been written by his family and friends. This incredible 55-plus page book was filled with lots of pictures, funny stories and lots of advice for Ryely to read through during those difficult, stressful college moments. As I flipped through the book to see what others had written, I was overwhelmed by all the people that love and support Ryely.


We invite you to pray with us for Ryely as just months before graduating, he was diagnosed with a rare neurological disease called PANDAS. This rare disease is caused when the body inadvertently begins attacking parts of the brain during a Strep infection. PANDAS has left Ryely with body tremors and cognitive inflexibility, along with some other problems. We know that despite this unfortunate disease, Ryely is success-driven and capable of doing anything he sets out to do. We love you Ryely!

There's a Smell Coming From the Refrigerator!

For several days, we noticed a little smell in the kitchen. We couldn’t quite place where it was coming from, I thought perhaps the garbage disposal, so I did what I spend way too much time doing and cleaned, putting bleach down the drain. Slowly the smell got a little worse and we narrowed it down to the refrigerator and freezer, but only when we opened the doors. I obsessively clean all the time, but I decided on my next free day, I would do an extra thorough cleaning and check expiration dates on everything. Then, I got some ice and water from the door dispenser and the ice had the taste of the horrible smell. We couldn’t wait, the cleaning needed to happen immediately! I had to go to swim team practice to be the “board member on deck” so John removed everything from the refrigerator, completely cleaned it with bleach, threw anything that wasn’t purchased that week away, but the smell remained and was getting worse. Next, we pulled out the fridge and took apart the back, looking for anything that could be the source of the now HORRIBLY ROTTEN smell. After some investigation and research, we discovered it had a very “rare condition” that was only going to lead to more smell, which I couldn’t imagine since I was already gagging and starting to vomit every time the thing had to be opened! The repair? Replace the leaking, dying fan, tear our all the insulation and replace it. The cost? Pretty close to the price of a new refrigerator. It was only 5 years old, but it had to go, so we kicked it to the curb with a free sign. I guess that stainless steal, bottom freezer refrigerator that we had always wanted was now going to be a reality.

Here is where God’s humor comes into play. Just several days before, I was trying to figure out what I was going to do with that extra money I had earned from taking a little, part-time, summer job as a Chapel Director. I couldn’t decide between splurging on something or the practical decision of saving it for awhile. Well, God answered that for me! When you’re responsible with your money and give as God calls you to give, He will ALWAYS provide!!! I have experienced that time and time again. He provided! My new stainless steal, bottom freezer with water and ice in the door refrigerator is now sitting in my kitchen, paid for by my summer job. As an added bit of humor by God, after most stores told me it would take about 2 weeks for the model of refrigerator I wanted to come in, we discovered Costco was the only store that had 1 in stock (not counting the floor model)! His timing is always perfect!

Camp, Get-Away & Time with the Rices

Ah, the long awaited week of summer camp is here! The girls are currently at Adventure Mountain at Forest Home and I pray they are having a blast and growing in their love and knowledge of our Lord. This is their second summer at camp, but their first time at Adventure Mountain. Just like last year, I click through the pictures Forest Home puts online each day in hopes of seeing the girls having a great time. We have seen one smiling picture of Kiley in the pool, but none of Makenna. I admit, it's so discouraging not to find lots of pictures of them. At least we got to see Kiley, as she is the one that has the hardest time being away from us. So far, Kiley has sent 2 postcards and Makenna has sent 1. All say they are having fun, making friends and enjoying the adventure. The highlight for Kiley is that Miley Cyrus' sister is there. As much as I enjoy the peace and quiet at home, I am missing them.


Just after dropping them off at the church to leave for camp, John and I headed to Oceanside with our "front row friends," the O'Malleys. We enjoyed our time there laughing, relaxing, laughing, shopping, laughing, eating and did I mention laughing? It was a great time and the 2 days went way too fast!

One of my favorite moments in our quick trip was meeting up with Derek and Christiana Rice in San Diego. As I've posted before, they are dear friends of ours that moved there as missionaries to reach out to the community living in poverty there and show them the love of Jesus by befriending them and living in community with them. We feel so blessed to come along side them and sponsor them in this ministry. On Monday, we went to visit them and have lunch with them. It was wonderful to see where they are living, learn what they are doing and catch up with them. Their daughter, Naomi, is growing so quickly and so is Christiana's belly as she is coming to the end of her first trimester of pregnancy. I know Naomi will make a great big sister, even though she will be not quite 2 when her sibling is born. As we spent time with them, I became more and more determined to make visits with them a regular experience. I feel so strongly about the ministry they are leading there and I want to be a part of it physically, not just financially.

I would love to write more, but now I'm moving onto another project that I hope to finish before the girls return.

In Giving, I Received

I have often found that when I set out to do something for someone else, to bless them by serving them, I am often the one that walks away blessed. For example, several summers ago, I went to Guatemala to build a cistern in a small village called Santa Maria de Jesus. I went there with the mindset that we were going to help them so much. Not only would we give them constant access to water, but this gift of a cistern would change their lives. I had this image that as we dug this giant cistern, we would be teaching the villagers about Jesus and how His unconditional love inspires us to serve others selflessly. My group did do that, but what I didn’t expect was how blessed I would be by them, how it would be ME that walked away forever inspired by the Guatemalan people.

The same came true this past summer. For the past 6 weeks, I’ve taught chapel for 4 year-olds through 6th graders at a summer day camp. Most of the children at this day camp come from unchurched families even though it’s a Christian day camp. Again, I had this idea that I would come in and teach these children about Jesus. My goal was not to teach them just about Jesus, but how a relationship with Christ would be the most life changing decision they could ever make. For the younger children, I suppose I laid the foundation for their future experiences with Christ. For the older children, who knows! Most of them look like they’re listening. I pray that I got through to them that they would desire to know more. Now here I am, the last week of my time with them and only one session left with each age group and I am the one who was blessed. They touched my life is so many ways. Each day that they entered the sanctuary with eager smiles and excitement to see what I had for them that day, I felt God warming my heart. It’s as if God has told me, “Well done, my dear daughter, you doing as I’ve taught you, to love others and share the gospel with them.” I came into this job knowing that there was no curriculum and that I would have to write my own lesson plans. Each weekend as I sat down to plan, God always inspired me and guided me to the perfect lesson. God is so good!

God never ceases to amaze me and teach me something new. He is always at work in my life and giving me so much more than I could ever give. Through this job, He also blessed my daughters. They served along side me as my little “assistants.” I watched my shy, socially awkward daughter, K, blossom as she lead the children in song and dance and both K and M made sure I had all I needed each day. Thank you Lord for this gift you gave me this summer

My Daughter, Kiley, the Giver of Advice

Kiley may only be 11 years old, but there's a lot of wisdom in those 11 years. She sure knows me well. She knows I'm constantly pushing the limits on how much I can get done in as little time as possible. So it didn't surprise me the other day when she begged me to listen to her. It was 10 minutes until 8:00pm and with probably only 10 minutes of decent sunlight left and maybe another 20 minutes after that of fading sunlight, I decided I was going to try to hurry and mow the front yard. If you've seen our front yard, you would know that this is a much longer project than 30 minutes, our front yard is one giant area of grass! As I'm rushing to change into my "lawn work clothes" and grabbing my ipod, Kiley says, "Mom, please don't! You don't have enough time and you need to slow down and relax this evening." She stopped me dead in my tracks. She was right and was thinking more logically than me! I would have never finished it in the daylight and what was the hurry? I could easily do it the next evening when I could start on it earlier. Perhaps I should listen to this wise young lady more often!

Celebrating 15 Years of Marriage

It's hard to believe, but just a few days ago, John and I celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary! It's amazing how the years have passed so quickly. Even more amazing is that we started dating 4 years before we even got married. I have spent more of my life with John than I lived before I met him. I feel so blessed that God chose John to be my husband. As far as marriages go, I feel like I hit the jackpot! We almost never fight and we tend to always be thinking about the same things without even saying a word out loud. It's like we have that "twin thing" going on.
God's Hand has always been on this marriage. I'm amazed all He has done for us and through us. We have been blessed with 2 beautiful daughters that we praise God for daily. Our prayers are that God will provide K and M with Godly husbands and that they'll have a strong marriage like ours. God's given us the ability to buy, then sell, then buy another beautiful home. The last 15 years haven't all been easy, we've had our share of medical scares, surgeries and difficult recoveries, the loss of loved ones and other hard times, but we count those all as building blocks to get where we are today and be the people God wants us to be for Him, for our children and for each other. We look forward to another 15 years and beyond as we continue to grow old together with God as the center of our family.

My New Website

Mooralley Custom Room Designs is up and running and we finally have our website up! It took a lot of work, many hours of wanting to scream at the computer, but the new website is just what Janet and I wanted. We get to show off our work and hopefully bring in some new business. We have our next job this Friday at my parent's house. It will be a relatively small job compared to our last job! I will post those pictures once it's complete. For now, please check out our new website at: www.muralyourroom.com.

My Summer Job

By the end of this week I will be half way through my part time, 6 week summer job. I am teaching chapel to 4 year-olds through 6th graders at a summer day camp. The greatest part about this job is that I'm working for Estina Schrock again! She was my babysitter when I was little and I also attended her day camp as a tween when she first started it 27 years ago. Then, in my mid teens, I worked for the day camp as a teen helper. After all these years, she thought of me when her regular chapel director had to go on maternity leave. I have really enjoyed teaching again and best of all, there is absolutely no curriculum, so I have the opportunity to be creative, write my own curriculum and run chapel how I want to do it rather than being told how to do. So far the kids have been great and my daughters have been great helpers! I don't know what I would do without their help. I only teach a total of 3 hours a week broken up over 3 mornings. Does it get much better than this?

The gift of Father's Day

Unlike Mother's Day, John didn't have to work on Father's Day. I guess it's better that he didn't have to work on his day if I had to pick from the two. We went to church and I made him one of his favorite meals, chicken tacos made in the crock pot. We enjoyed a nice family day together and John spent much of the day setting up and playing with his new computer.

The funny thing about Father's Day is that I received a very special gift that day when I called my dad to wish him a Happy Father's Day. Now the ironic part, he said he received a special gift from me during church that morning (my parents live in Wrightwood, therefore we go to different churches). He said their pastor spoke on standing up for what's right, even when it's not popular. You see, I recently did that very thing. Last year I stood up for what was right and it came at some cost (the loss of a couple of friends and some other issues), but what I lost was absolutely nothing compared to all I GAINED. My father went on to say that his pastor talked about how when you stand up for what is right in the eyes of the Lord, you will be richly rewarded. He said that all through the sermon he thought about what I had done and the outcome of it all. He said it brought him such pride that he raised a daughter that was bold enough to stand up for what was right. Those words from my father meant so much to me that I was practically speechless. I felt as though, once again, the Lord confirmed to me that I was a faithful servant who is richly blessed.

So, it seems, Father's Day was a special day for both John and me!

Mooralley Custom Room Designs

Janet and I have tossed around the idea of starting our own mural/painting/room design business for awhile now, but we finally got it off the ground and completed our first job. We created a baby nursery for a sweet little boy named Elliot, who is the nephew of our dear friends, Derek and Christiana Rice. His family was moving into a
new home so we had a completely blank canvas to start with. We painted the room, did a full wall mural, a partial wall mural, painted a Bible verse, built a custom changing station in the closet and much more. We went with a sailboat theme and named one boat after Elliot and paid a tribute to Elliot's uncle's first cd on the other boat. The results were simply adorable! Sabrina, Elliot's mother, teared up when she saw the finished room. Now we're working on marketing our business and praying that more jobs come our way. Anyone need a custom room?