Christy's Diary Entries Diary Navigation: Choose A Diary Entry -------------------- Latest Entry: 1/7/03 -------------------- 11/11/02 10/27/02 10/25/02 10/19/02 10/7/02 10/1/02 9/20/02 9/11/02 9/8/02 8/24/02 8/1/02 7/20/02 7/6/02 6/24/02 6/13/02 5/17/02 5/13/02 5/8/02 5/4/02 4/28/02 4/19/02 4/8/02 2/23/02 2/10/02 1/24/02 1/11/02 1/4/02 3/13/01 -------------------- Christy's Introduction

Introduction

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALYSSA BROOKE!

Alyssa turned one on November 5th and we celebrated yesterday with a party! It was fairly smallish - 12 people - but we had fun! Since Alyssa had decided she was getting sleepy, we opened gifts first! She got so many wonderful things! Clothes and toys and books and dishes… and even a feather boa! It was like Christmas! I think her favorite thing is her Chicken Dance Elmo! LOL Next Alyssa dug into her cake (literally!) I had made her a 6 inch cake and it had a little Pooh candle on it. She made a royal mess and enjoyed herself! The rest of us had appetizers and then at the Pooh cake that I had stayed up until 1am decorating! It was Pooh holding a “1”. Chocolate cake with raspberry filling and butter cream icing. YUM! Then Alyssa went down for a nap while the adults enjoyed socializing. Quite a bit of activity for my girl!

Alyssa had her one year appointment on 11/6 and weighed in at 19 lbs, 12 oz. She is 29 ¼ inches long. I have quite a petite girl it seems - which is no wonder considering there isn’t a woman in the family taller than 5’ 3”! Fortunately she seems to be taking after her daddy weight wise and she now has ELEVEN teeth! She is wearing a size 9-12 month in most things and size 2-3 shoe. She still enjoys bouncing in her exercauser and watching videos. She cruises the room and is into everything and I think walking is not far off. She identifies the cat with “te” (kitty? Who knows!), the dogs are “daw”, duck is “duh” and everything else is “DADADADADADA” - including me! She loves going to the library and reading books, as well as going to the playground and swinging. Next summer we will definitely have a little playground area in the yard. My baby is a toddler - watch for our move to Toddlers Today soon!

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“Now unto him that is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us” Ephesians 3:20

It is absolutely impossible to deny that God is actively at work in our lives. In the past, when I read the above verse, the part that would pop out at me is that God is able to do EXCEEDINGLY ABUNDANTLY - He is Able. After the past two weeks, the part that I am totally blown away by is “above all that we ask or THINK”. God knows what I need and can provide it - beyond my wildest dreams or imagination! What an incredible realization.

So what am I getting to, you ask? I’m sure I am going to leave parts of this out and I wish I would write things down as they happen, but here goes (condensed version!) ~

We have found a buyer for the inn! We signed a contract about a week ago and close in early January. Some of you may remember that we are unable to put a septic in out in California until after May 1st. This must be done prior to opening the new inn. The timing on the sale here has to be just right so that we don’t have six months with no income. The buyer cannot take possession of this inn until April 1, 2003. She wants to close in early January and have us run it until the end of March! This puts us in California at the first of April, gives us time to do our minor renovations of the guesthouse and carport, sink the septic May 1st, finely tune everything and open for business on June 1st - and be open for the busiest time of the season! Does God have perfect timing or what? If we had found a buyer and closed this fall or winter, the timing would have been way off. This timing could not be better.

Our hearing for the major use permit (which has been 4 ½ months in the making) is next week. Earl has to fly out to attend. Airline tickets were running upwards of $400 and we are fairly broke right now. What to do? We just prayed! Lo and behold, after a call to Delta, we were able to get his ticket for $75 plus taxes and fees! He had frequent flier miles from our gas bills last year that we didn’t even know about. 22,000+ miles. All we had to do was purchase an extra 3,000 miles at $25 per 1,000 and he got a free ticket! Next comes the hearing. We have seen the staff report and county’s recommendations and they are all positive! We are 99% certain that the permit will be approved - which is a big deal. They had to do an archeological study, an environmental impact study, do a fish and wildlife report - all those typical California things! LOL No negative impact was found! WHOO HOOO!

All along the past couple of weeks, we have had questions and couldn’t find the answers. God has placed people with knowledge in these specific areas in our path and we have gotten our answers. We are seeing specific answers to our prayers and I cannot even begin to tell you how awesome God is! We are excited because only God knows what He has in store for us - it is beyond what we can ask or think!

I have less than 5 months to sort, declutter, organize and pack! We have a lot of work to do; grants to apply for, décor to decide on, marketing to put to work. Yes, we took a huge leap when we bought The Village Inn - and we succeeded far beyond what we thought we would. We know that the sale is not a “done deal” until closing, but we have faith that God knows what He’s doing and if He “undoes” this, He knows best. But I believe that He has very clearly pointed down the path that He wants us to travel and when you are traveling a road with God, you cannot fail.

This is a most appropriate ending to my BabiesToday diary! I hope to see you all at ToddlersToday so that we can continue on this adventure together!!

Until then,
Christy and Alyssa Brooke 11/5/01


“He is able, more than able, to accomplish what concerns me today. He is able, more than able, to handle anything that comes my way. He is able, more than able, to do much more than I could ever dream! He is able, more than able, to make me what He wants me to be…”