Two of a kind

A thoughtful gift to hold our memories, a sister VW for our beloved Olive. I am not sure what we'll name our new addition but it is a cute little guy, don't you think? Thank you Erin, Laura and family. :)

If you click the photo to enlarge it, you can see that the headlights come on our new flash drive when you plug it in.

I thought this would make a nice picture.

You can also see a wedding picture of us on the facebook page for California Import Parts...
https://www.facebook.com/CaliforniaImportParts

The time had come to leave Kelowna once again. This time instead of heading east across Canada, we are heading south through Washington State and Oregon into the sunny hotspot of Redding, California.

We decided to cross at the Osoyoos border crossing on a warm summer evening with the full moon rising over the hills, the clear moonlite penetrating the still blue sky.

Twisting our way along the mighty Columbia River we are treated with some landscape we haven't seen since Arizona and New Mexico.

I never would have thought that such rough terrain would be featured in Washington State. Following the twists and turns of this surprisingly mighty river was a real treat. We'd be driving, riverside through lush orchards and next be driving through dusty fields elevated above the river as it carved it's way through the rock, etching out valleys below.

Dirt devils twisting up in the dry fields to our right as we followed highway 97 south through small towns that captured the heart of the real America. I would highly recommend this drive if you have the time to avoid the speedy decent on Interstate #5.

As we left Washington State we wound our way around lakes towards the coast again to hook up in Portland Oregon to make our way south to Redding.

Oregon is a absolutely beautiful state and is a real attraction to both Tracey and I. After a night in Portland we continue our drive, leaving Oregon, driving through mountain passes we find ourselves crossing the border into California and are immediately hit with the heat. It was very surprising how quickly the temperatures rose. The distant horizon was opaque with the smoke of many fires, obscuring our view of the mountains around about us.  We never actually saw the fires but we given the treat of the smoky drive.  The heat was intense as we began to experience 95+ degree temperatures, less as much as we climbed to heights in the passes and more so was we descended into the valleys. A couple of times we were concerned for our air-cooled bus, as I would stick my arm our the window and feel the hot arm moving over it. But faith-fully our beloved Olive made the drive without difficulty and we arrived once more in our RV park in Redding. The rushing creek that was the home to hundreds of frogs when we were here in the spring, was now a dried up bed of grass and rocks waiting for the spring thaws to once again be a torrent of water bringing life to so many.

Thanks for reading. We'll keep this more up to date moving forward.

Kelowna - part two

Our time in Kelowna included time spent with our lovely nephew Ethan and niece Olivia. Luckily, I remembered to finally bring out the camera for some quick shots on our day in the park with Tracey's sister Laura.

We were able to take in Laura and Olivia's birthdays as well as precious time spent with our kids. 

Kelowna

Excuse me... privacy please!  To continue with the animal theme we find Oz, our daughter Haley's cat, doing a free table dance for us. It was an awkward moment for all involved.

Batman is the name of their massive Great Dane, who we spent some real quality time with, considering he is our only grandson. Not that we are complaining at all. He is a large sap and loves being with people.

It seems funny and somewhat sad that all this time spent with our family and kids we managed to get pictures of the animals and not the family... what's wrong with us???

Goodbye Vancouver Island

Although it was so nice to be back on the island visiting our kids and folks again, along with Diana, dressed in her summer digs. (The barber and Diana have a fight every summer and the razor wins out.)

The time came too quickly for us to move on to Kelowna and a visit with the rest of our family. 

Firstly, we stopped in Duncan to spend a day with Uncle Mark and his crew of animals. I suppose we could call this the 'Cat Post' - here is a picture of his Fat Cat. The name of the cat... is actually Fat Cat. Do you suppose she has a complex?

We were blessed with a wonderful time in Victoria with our good friends Luke and Erin. They recently purchased a very large heritage house just a couple of blocks from the Parliament Buildings. It was nice to stretch out in the King size bed in their garden suite. After our visit we said goodbye to Vancouver Island, heading up to Kelowna.

On the road again...

Well, after a year driving from coast to coast over the great land of Canada.... driving down the east coast of the US to the Florida Keys and around the Gulf of Mexico, and down the Baja to Cabo. Back up to the Grand Canyon, Las Vegas, LA ---- driving up the famous #1 hwy to San Fransico - to Redding California and then back to Nanaimo, British Columbia (pictured here).

We are now in Kelowna BC for August, enjoying the heat and clear skies.

Bountifully Blessed at Bethel

Olive at Bethel, Redding CA.

We have been very tardy in updating the Blog since we got back to Canada. But wanted to back track a bit and share our experience we had spending 6 weeks at Bethel Church in Redding CA. 

When we arrived it was a Sunday night service and the place was rockin' Sunday evening worship was in full swing and you could feel His presence in the room. It is really amazing to be in a service where everyone's heart is tuned into the Lord. After service was over we found a place to boondock for the first night. The next day we booked into the Premier RV park for a month, which is about a 5 minute drive to Bethel...very clean bathrooms and friendly service. We headed back up to the church to work in Hebrews Coffee Shop and soak in the atmosphere... it's like a spiritual hot tub....without the pruning of your fingers! The first week we met the most amazing people from all over the world and spent time talking to them about their experience attending Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry. All the comments were positive and they couldn't say enough about how blessed they were to be going there and how it has changed their lives. We met an older couple in their mid seventies that were in first year, very sweet, and they said Mark and I should check out the school…well we did and we are enrolled for this fall 2012 and really excited about what God has in store for us in our first year.

God will knock your shoes off!

For the past year I had also been praying to feel the weight of the presence of the Holy Spirit upon me. I had seen others tremble and go down under His presence but I had never felt that before. Well while we were at Bethel we attended the “Dream Conference”, which was great! Well just before we were to take a break from the conference Andrew (one of the organizers/speakers) said that the children from the school were all in the sanctuary and were getting “whacked” by the Holy Spirit…prophesying, getting “drunk” (not in a consuming liquid form but drunk in the presence of God). He asked if we would all like to go through a fire tunnel that the kids were setting up (this is where there are two rows of kids, one on either side, and you walk down the middle). Sure we all said, there was about 70 - 80 of us.  Well as we walked into the sanctuary I could feel a weight in the air, it was warm and peaceful. As I entered the fire tunnel the small children from kindergarten to grade 8 were speaking words over us and all of a sudden I was finding it very hard to stand, my knees were getting wobbly. I managed to walk through the tunnel and take about 4 or 5 steps out of the tunnel and fell to my knees. I just couldn’t stand under the weight of His presence. It was so amazing…and with His presence came such a feeling of peace that filled my entire body. After a while I thought I would be able to stand and managed to walk half the way across the sanctuary, although very wobbly, and a young boy came over to me extended his hands said a few words and down I went again. I sat there laughing and thanking God for showing me what being in His presence, in a small way, feels like. It is a feeling that I never want to loose and will press into Him to carry His presence with me.  To be able to show others what being with God is like….well that is a gift to be shared.

Ever since that time… the minute I turn my focus to Christ I feel His presence, it is amazing.

We spent ever chance we got fellowshipping with the wonderful people we met there, and can’t wait to get back to see them again. Love to you all!

I also have to share one of the many encounters we had…besides, people having extreme pain from cancer and walking out with no pain at all, a tumor on this ladies ankle disappearing, surgical metal plates disappearing… Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. John 14:12

One evening during worship the Holy Spirit showed up…and worship continued for two hours…it was like a spiritual rave for the Lord. Mark and I looked up towards the ceiling and said to each other what is that floating in the air. The whole front of the sanctuary ceiling was shimmering with gold dust. We were singing and watching it and it would get bigger and smaller but it never fell to the ground it just hovered above. I know some would try to explain this away, with one logical reason or another but Mark and I both believe that is was the presence of the Holy Spirit, a Glory cloud. It was wonderful to experience. It happened again on another night and spread almost to the back of the sanctuary again nothing fell to the ground. When you experience things like this how can we not have faith that our God is bigger than anything we can imagine. And what is even more indescribable is that He loves us and wants to have a relationship with us. Bountiful Blessings to you.