Too many goodbyes for me this week.

I know for sure that every friend we have has a purpose in our lives. I have been reminded this week how true this is as we have said goodbyes. While they are different goodbyes, they are still goodbyes and very hard.
On Tuesday one dear friend went home to be with the Lord. After many years of health battles, she took a rather sudden downturn and met Jesus Tuesday night. We know we will see her again.
Today we said goodbye to our dear friends here in Vacaville. They are relocating to DC, and they will be leaving a huge void in our lives here in Vacaville. We will see them again (hopefully many times) I am sure! Now we have a very good reason to visit DC, something we've been wanting to do for a while.
It's hard to say goodbye, but thankfully we have a God who is our common bond and we can rest assured, knowing HIS plans are perfect.
Joyce, we will miss your presence, your laughter, and your spirit.
Adam, Alexis, Nathan, and Bentley we will miss our late nights playing cards, trips to the beach, and camping with you. Lets plan for more times in the future. We are excited for your adventures to come.
I am SO grateful to God that no goodbyes are ever forever. And I am SO grateful for the amazing people that God has given us as friends.

An Hour at the Beach

We decided to take a last minute trip to Stinson Beach (just north of San Fransisco) with our good friends and our respective dogs. We took the same trip with these friends nearly two years ago, and decided it was high time we do it again. Besides, our dear friends are transferring to DC next week, and we want to spend all the time we can with them. Due to the busyness of the day, we only had a limited amount of time to spend actually at the beach, but it was Well worth every bit of the trip there and back.

We took our wonderful puppy, Kona to a different Vet this past weekend. He's been having some issues with his rear knee. Our local vet has not been as helpful and informative as we would like him to be, so we took Kona in to my parent's vet for a second opinion. We are SO glad we did. Dr. Mike sat down with us (on the floor) for 30 minutes to explain in detail what is going on with Kona's knee. We will spare the details, but it turns out that he will be needing surgery at some point, probably on both knees. As it turns out the problem is probably more genetic then injury related, and Dr. Mike suspects that Kona could be a full Rotweiller, instead of part Rott, and part Austrailian Shephard as we were originally told. So it makes sense that he would have genetic issues. The probability of surgery does not surprise us, and we are actually quite relieved to have been given all the proper information. Please pray for our bubba and for us as we will have to wait a while before we can afford the surgery. We could not have asked for a better dog, and we are blessed daily by his presence in our lives!

On Saturday Evening we celebrated Father's Day a week early with my Dad. We were very excited to give him his gift. A couple months ago there was a Mattress store going out of business. They had a neon SEALY sign in the window, so Scott went in to inquire about purchasing it for my dad. Sure enough, a couple weeks later the store manager called to say that they would sell it to us. We were SO stoaked to give it to my dad. (In case you're wondering about the signifigance of the neon Sealy sign, my dad retired from nearly 20 years working for Sealy Mattress company in 2005, so the business name holds a particular interest for our family.)
So we blindfolded my dad, and escorted him into our spare bedroom where we then switched on the Sealy sign and instructed him to remove his blindfold. He didn't really have any words to say, but I could tell he thought it was really cool!
My Brother, Adam, gave him potatoes (for his potatoe gun of course), and twinkies... Dad's favorite.

Sunday we attended my youngest cousin, Brady's wedding in Calistoga. It was a very fun and casual wedding on a large estate winery in rural Calistoga. It was so great to see our extended family and enjoy a beautiful evening.
And I might add that the Doberneck family tore up the dance floor... Scott and my Mom were the first to cut the rug, followed by both my brother's and their girlfriends. Finally my Dad and I joined the mix. Such fun!Jessica and Brady's first dance.
Brady and Aunt Mindy's Son and Mother Dance

Adam and Sarah
My brothers Adam and Bill... so handsome on this day!
Scott was elected to be the video-ographer... He had a lot of fun doing this!

Oh, I made it out alive!

What could be better than spending Memorial Day weekend with the two most adorable twin boys ever? Eli and Josh came to visit us again, this time for two nights! We had a blast!
I love that kids can take just about anything and turn it into a toy. They loved pushing this bicycle, and cracked up as it SCREECHED back and forth across the cement patio.

Eli discovered the doggy door... need I say more?

On Sunday we had some friends over for a BBQ. Eli and Josh were entertaining us as Scott was taking pictures. They love to say "CHEEEEEEESSSE!!" as the pictures are being taken. Watch the second video first to see how the boys demonstrate the "cheese!!", and then watch the first video to see how we all copied their "cheese!!"

My side of the family doesn't always celebrate special days in the traditional sense. For most Mother's Day would consist of going out to a nice lunch, shopping, buying flowers, and just loving on mom. Our mother's day this year included planting flowers, making a nice dinner, gathering around the fire pit, and lets not forget, shooting the potato gun. The weekend at the ranch (as we like to call it) was very restful and fun. Mom was so happy to be surrounded by all her children and she loved having us there to help in the yard, cook the food, and wash the dishes. We were happy to show love to her. While all the cooking, cleaning, and planting was great, what she especially loved was my brother's new potato gun. Let me restate that... the new potato gun was actually my mom's mother's day present from my brother. She got such a kick watching the boys load and fire the gun. We all had a few laughs. I wonder what the neighbors thought when they heard shot after shot go off followed by eruptions of belly- aching laughter. If you've never seen a potato gun in action, it's really a site to be seen. For those of you who are unfamiliar with this sort of "weapon", it is simply a few pieces of PVC, an ignition switch, and some fancy wiring... oh and you can't forget the flamible gas. I'm sure Youtube probably has a few videos you could check out...
Adam, showing us how it's done.

Scott the happy guy on the tractor!
Kona LOVES it at the ranch.
Happy Mother's Day!

Kona just loves the afternoon sun in the back yard. The warmth of the patio feels good on his joints and muscles I'm sure. He's such a happy boy.
Our backyard is pretty simple. We do not have many flowers, but the few we have happen to be in bloom right now. Unfortunately they are all on the side of the house and aren't often noticed. Since I recently re-arranged my sewing room, I now have the perfect view out the window of these beautiful flowers as I sew. I am enjoying every moment of their bloom as I know they won't last long.
I am also eagerly waiting the blooming of my favorite flower in the front yard. Last year we planted some new plants in the front yard. Two of those plants were Hydrangeas. I LOVE Hydrangeas, and I was so very excited for them to bloom. Because last year was so hot, they didn't get the proper water and the blooms died fairly quickly. I allowed the brown plants to stay in the ground until this February, when I decided to pull them out. Just as I was reaching down to pull out the first dead plant I noticed the tiniest little buds on the brown stems. I quickly pushed the plant back in the ground and got the watering can. The plant has continued to thrive and now it looks as though there will be some blooms coming soon. I will continue to wait. Stay tuned for pictures of the blooming...

13 Going on 30!


Last night a group of girlfriends got together to celebrate two birthdays. One friend was turning 29, the other 30. The Party theme was "13 Going on 30". We were asked to come dressed up like we were 13, to bring a picture of ourselves at 13, and of course we watched the movie "13 Going on 30" It was a hilarious night to say the least. Everyone came dressed in their version of 13. There was quite the span of varying styles and trends represented. Some of us who were a bit older were pegging our pants, others were wearing their hair in pigtails and donning their flowers.
Getting ready for the party I found myself once again attempting to make my bangs do that "thing" that was so popular among all the girls at my school. Of course, my bangs would not fully cooperate with me, so I found myself settling for the style of bangs that was oddly similar to the very same style I had when I was 13. They say old habits die hard, well that is true with my bangs. I also found myself oddly self conscious of my pegged pants... another "old habit" that was hard to shake. It was a bit frightening how easily I remembered how to peg them.
All the reminiscing of being 13 made me very glad to be 30! I look back on those years with a bit of a grimice. They really were not the best years of my life, in fact I feel that they were probably the worst years of my life. Last night at the party there were many comments about how akward we all looked during that time in our lives. Many of us were so unsure, so lacking in confidence. I wouldn't go back for anything.
For a brief moment at the partly last night I saw all my friends as they were at 13.The best part of the night was looking around at all the girls at the party and thinking of how much we had all changed. I couldn't help but wonder if we would have all been friends at the age of 13? Probably some of us would have been friends (in fact a couple of us were friends back then). I'm glad we are all friends now... we're all much better at 30 something! (Or 20 something still for some...)
All I can say is that I am sure glad I don't have to fix my bangs like that anymore!

Katharine and Amy, Birthday Girls!

Rachelle and I... Friends at 13, Friends still! And Our hair looked pretty much the same as it does here... AHH! (Ignore the wrinkles, and we would be 13)

If you have known Scott and I for any length of time, you would know that one of our favorite things to do is to go camping. We especially love camping with our friends. Last week we were able to add Adam and Alexis to the ever-growing list of camping friends. They invited us to join them for three days in the beautiful Northern California Redwoods. It was Beautiful! By far, my favorite Northern California terrain is the Redwood forest with the ferns covering the ground. LOVE IT! What a great time with great friends. The doggies had a good time too. They were able to wear themselves out playing in the water. Kona even put himself to bed by scratching at the tent door. He was pooped. Baby Nathan had a blast and it was fun to watch him explore and experience camping for the first time. Thanks for a great trip guys!

The newest addition to our household! I LOVE this machine. It's been great so far, and I feel so blessed to have it!
For all you who care to know... it has many wonderful features that make my job a lot easier and a lot more fun! I won't bore you with all the details of the many wonderful features.

My dear friend Jessica had a beautiful baby boy this past weekend. We are so excited to welcome little Isaac into the world. Jessica had some complications and we were very worried for her. But God was gracious in sparring her life. I am in awe of how Jess and Jon fully trusted the Lord through it all. Their peace and rest during the ordeal was remarkable, and I am thankful for their amazing testimony. It reminded me that in ALL things, God is in control. We can rest in That!

Finally on Etsy!!
Many of you know that I have been making bags and purses for a while now. Until recently I have sold them to friends and family. After many promptings, I have finally put my items on Etsy! If you have not discovered Etsy, check it out! It is a website to buy and sell handmade and vintage items. It's fabulous! my site is: www.mycreativethreads.etsy.com I'd love to hear your feedback. I'm still working on a few things to make the site look better, but it's a start.
THE other BIG news... I have a new sewing machine. I feel like such a sewing nerd, but this is the most exciting thing for me! My parents lovingly helped me to purchase a new machine. My old machine just wasn't cutting it any longer, and needed to be replaced. While I LOVE my old machine, this new one is pretty darn cool!! I can't believe I haven't taken a picture yet... I'll have to do that!
God has been providing for all our needs lately, not only with a new sewing machine, but our basic needs as well. He is faithful!!

Proverbs 3:5-6 says: "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your path."

This has been my "life verse" these past few weeks as our life has been up and down, uncertain, and at times, very trying. I began to really study these two simple verses. It's often time easier said than done to trust in the Lord, and not lean on my own understanding. But as I began to think about what this really meant for me, I began to realize that my own understanding is often clouded by emotions and feelings (which cannot always be trusted). I was also reminded that God IS trustworthy. He is the creator of ALL things, and He definately knows the plans that He has for my life. While I get caught up, and at times overwhelmed, in the tiny details, He sees the bigger picture. I also know that when I am walking in obediece, acknowledging Him in all my ways, He does direct my path.

Most of our blog followers know that Scott was laid off from his job in early January. Since that time he has started working for a friend in Colorado Springs, who owns his own website design business. Scott is working at contacting businesses that may be looking for a website, or looking to upgrade their current website. The business is Colowebo.com, and they design professional websites for small and medium sized businesses. Colowebo.com boasts, "Get a Fortune 500 Website, without paying a fortune"!

We are asking friends and family to keep Colowebo in mind if you know of anyone who may be interested in a website, or already has a website that might need updating. Please contact Scott for further information. Thanks so much for your support!!
Jen and Scott

Over the weekend we were privileged to watch Joshua and Eli. While we were doing their parents a favor, we were really the ones who were most blessed by the presence of these two dear boys. We had a full weekend which included hiking, playing at the park, and fun with Kona.

Hiking is fun... especially when you are being pushed in a stroller!
Eli decided that his socks belonged on his hands during his nap time.
Watching Uncle Scott clean mommy's car "Dirty Mommy car, Clean mommy car"
Getting the mail with Uncle Scott
Eli saying "cheese" as he poses with Kona
Eli saying "cheese" as he slides.
Eli trying to use a fork to eat his cherrios...
Reading Time.
Josh and Auntie Jen cuddle