Happy Leap Day!

Enjoy the extra day this year! Do something extra nice for someone =) That's Abby and me having a great time and enjoying the California wildflowers two years ago.

Happy 100th Birthday! Today marks the official 100th birthday of Biola University. We were encouraged to wear red to work today to celebrate. I am thankful to the Lord for having the opportunity to work here and for having such great colleagues.

A whirlwind weekend in Yuma, AZ Friday I left work a couple hours early to give me an early start on my drive down to Yuma. I made good time and the drive was not too bad. I hit some rain showers as I drove through San Diego and even saw a rainbow! On Saturday we had planned an early start to get over to the base for the annual MCAS Yuma Air Show. Greg had to be there at "zero dark thirty" to get through security and set up the KCFY booth. Have I ever mentioned I love airshows?! I always feel like a kid in a candy store =) The day was sunny, clear and beautiful. Donna, Josh, Alyssa and I walked around for a bit. Took our astronaut pictures and built some wood toys with the kids. Pretty soon it was time for the show to get started. My friend Frank joined us and we spent a wonderful day together. He did a great job at being my official "aircraft guide". Thanks so much Frank! One of the Golden Knights jumped out of a plane and descended with the flag as the Marine Corps band was playing the national anthem. (That always makes me cry!) The rest of them did their jumps and landed right on the spot... and so the show began. As always I took a bunch of pictures. Later we walked around looking at and getting in all the aircraft that were on display. Frank and I had a lot of fun riding in a F-16 flight simulator. The last event of the day was the AV-8B HARRIER, my favorite. I never get tired of seeing that amazing machine! All in all it was a wonderful day!!

Check out all the pics here: http://chiarapics.spaces.live.com/

Last night as I was out walking on the track after work I was able to enjoy the lunar eclipse. I thought about how small we are and how big the universe is. And yet, our amazing God and creator is infinitely greater!

"Lift your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one, and calls them each by name. Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing." Isaiah 40:26

We are in the midst of a book study of Romans at church. It has been a real growing experience for me to think about and try to understand the aspects of faith & redemption. Erik spoke on Romans 5 today. These are some of my favorite verses. "Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Just to think about the immensity of God's love toward us when we have done nothing to deserve it is amazing and fills my heart with gratitude.

This past week came and went in a blur! Monday at work we had a baby shower for Holly who is due in about another month or so. She is the cutest pregnant lady I have ever seen. She and her husband are waiting to find out if it will be a boy or girl... we are also anxious to meet this new little one soon! Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday I began my first of many weeks of technical training as we begin preparations to do a software conversion. It will take about 18 months or so to complete. Training was all day long and very technical. Hours and hours of learning about Banner, PIDMS, SPAIDEN, etc. etc. it is like learning a new language! Our trainer was very good and had a lot of patience. By the end of each day my brain was pretty overwhelmed. Friday I spent catching up after being away from my desk for three days. Lunch time was the "secret sweetie" reveal time where we found out who our secret sisters had been for the week. It was a nice opportunity to bless them that week with little goodies and verses. Then the party continued in the afternoon as our office celebrated Kevin's birthday. I was so ready for the weekend! Weekends since Lent began have been quiet and simple as I read and focus on Christ's ultimate sacrifice that we will celebrate on Easter. It has been a growing and refreshing time for me spiritually. I am thankful for the ability and opportunity to do this.

Happy Birthday Abby!

You are growing up to be so beautiful and smart.

I'm so proud of you!

Love, Aunt Ruth

Today we celebrate Lincoln's birthday. I remember back in elementary school memorizing these historic words written by him. Today many years later we are engaged in another kind of war and we need to continue to support and pray for the brave men and women who daily serve so courageously.

Lincoln's Gettysburg Address
Delivered at the dedication of the cemetery at Gettysburg
November 19, 1863
Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate - we can not consecrate - we can not hallow - this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us - that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion - that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain - that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom - and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

Remember to VoteAs I voted this early this morning I was reminded that regardless of the outcome today,

our hope and future rest in our Lord Jesus Christ.

"He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross." Colossians 1:15-20 (NIV)