GHFC Staff & Elders

The GHFC Staff & Elder Christmas Party!
With all the staff, elders and spouses, it was a big group and a great evening of fun and food!

Olson Elves

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Elf fun... starring the Olson family!

Three Down, Plus One!

Yesterday some friends (from church) and I participated in a PTA fundraiser boutique at Minnie Gant Elementary in Long Beach (where three of my nephews go to school). There were six of us selling together, and we had a lot of fun again. I'm so thankful for these lovely ladies! Thanks to my sisters, my Aunt Judy, and Miss Pam for coming out to show their support. :) I had a great day of sales. Yahoo!! I've signed up for one more boutique next Friday...probably my last for this season. But ya never know.....I may find another one. ;)


Mishawn, Teri, and Shayleen...apparently having WAY to much fun! :)


Just a sample of the fun stuff we were selling.....

Thanksgiving Entertainment!

The four girl cousins on Thanksgiving!

Here's a video of the Thanksgiving Entertainment... unfortunately it is really dark but you'll get the idea. =) And if you listen at the end, you get to hear TJ talking a little bit.

Give Thanks to the Lord!

Check out this verse about Daniel's commitment to humbly come before God in prayer...

Now when Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened toward Jerusalem. Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before. (Daniel 6:10)

Daniel made a point a connecting with God regularly throughout each day. I don't know about you but I often struggle prioritize my prayer life. Specifically, it is difficult to commit to praying (and being thankful) as often as Daniel did. However, we now find ourselves on the eve of a holiday that reminds us and gives us the opportunity to be thankful, remembering that all we have is from the Lord! Let's not take this Thanksgiving season too lightly.

My desire for the next few days is that I will take some time to consider all that God has done and to recognize His on-going faithfulness to me and my family. Then, instead of getting distracted by all the amazing food (which I am definitely thankful for =), my prayer is that I will be thankful to Him and remember to tell Him so!

Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever. (Psalm 118:1)

What about you...

• What are you thankful for?
• How has God blessed you this past year?
• What are you doing for Thanksgiving?
• Do you have a favorite Thanksgiving tradition?
• What's your favorite Thanksgiving food?

Have a great Thanksgiving!

None the wiser...

Amy had all 3 of her wisdom teeth removed yesterday. The first couple of hours after surgery were a bit rough but once the bleeding stopped and the pain meds kicked in, she's been doing pretty well. =) Here's a pic from this morning... you can see the "chipmunk effect."

Two down...one to go!

These are pics yesterday- my second boutique of the season out at the Dove Canyon Country Club. This boutique was part of a ladies' club holiday luncheon. Unfortunately, the women there weren't really there to shop but rather to socialize and eat. So, most of the vendors didn't sell very well (including me!). In fact, we talked to several who sadly didn't sell ANYTHING. :( Oh well! Live and learn: never sell at a luncheon/boutique...means that the people are mostly there for the luncheon and not to shop. You'll never know if you don't try, right? :)

My next boutique is coming up in two weeks at my nephews' school, Gant Elementary, in Long Beach. I'll be doing that boutique with some of my friends from church (who I did the first boutique with). Should be a fun time!

Speaking of sales, if you're needing to find some fun gifts for the holidays, check out my purse blog- sewonandsewforth.blogspot.com You just might find that something special for that special someone. :)


My mom was a BIG help, and we had such a nice day together. Thanks Mom!! You're the best!! :)

NOTE: Big shout out to my big sweetie for being such a HUGE help to me during this crazy boutique season. Thanks for putting up with the mess, Ols! You'll have the table back soon. :)

Weekend Boutique

Here are some pics from my first boutique of the season (two more to go!). I did this with some gals from our church and their friends. In addition to purses, I also did magnet sets, knit scarves, and some kids' knit hats (not pictured here, but see earlier post by Derek). If you live close by and you missed it this year, you definitely have to come to the next one. Everything was so nice and cute! I wanted to buy (or trade) everything!!! This was a lot of work, but also a lot of fun. Now I have 10 days until my next one. Whew!!!


Magnets and tins

Happy Halloween!!

Our little chef and Tinkerbell


This week has been a ton of fun. We had a MOPS Harvest Party on Tuesday and the kids even got to dress up for their classes at Bible study yesterday. By now, we're pretty worn out! However, I (Amy) do have my first boutique this weekend and set up starts this morning, so I better pep up!! ( I'm selling a few different types of items this year, but if you'd like to see just some of the purses I'm selling this year, go to sewonandsewforth.blogspot.com).

Here are some fun pics from last night. We went to Biola to trick or treat at a dorm there. The school puts on a community outreach event. The dorm, Alpha Chi, was completely decked out as "Candyland." They had a bounce house, tons of games in the lobby, tons of food, dressed up students in GREAT costumes, and of course, TONS of candy (Trevor ate 2 lollipops in about 1 hour!). Before the event, I organized the first ever Talbot Family Costume Party and Parade. We had about 50 people (Talbot couples and families) show up to eat pizza together and parade over to the dorm for the festivities. Definitely a tradition we'll keep up every year!






My new friend, Christine, who just moved here for the UK to start Talbot with her hubby this semester. These are some silly cookies I made. People either LOVED them or couldn't stomach the thought of eating anything that even looked like a bloody eyeball. Kill joys! :)


Lining up for the Talbot family parade over to the dorm!

A Great Weekend Retreat!

Amy and I just returned from a great weekend retreat! Talbot hosts a marriage retreat each semester for a very reasonable price... so we took advantage. We are very thankful for Amy's parents, who stayed with our kids for the weekend to make our getaway possible. The weekend included two nights in a nice hotel (the Ayres Hotel in Costa Mesa) and some great seminars on conflict resolution taught by a Biola professor and his wife. However, the best parts of the weekend were the opportunities I had to just hang out with my best friend Amy! We enjoyed being able to chill together, go out together, have fun together and really talk with one another!

Here we are eating breakfast in the beautiful courtyard

Boutique Season is Coming!

Amy will be selling her magnets, purses, scarves and more at three boutiques this fall! Here's some info about one boutique where she and some friends will have all kinds of "crafty" stuff for sale. Check it out for all your Christmas shopping needs!

Click on the picture to view it full-size

Light of the World Boutique - November 2nd from 3-9pm & November 3rd from 11am to 4pm.
Location - 14862 Starbuck, Whittier, CA

Pumpkin' Patchin' at Riley Farms in Oak Glen

We drove out to Oak Glen (near Yucaipa, CA) today to get out of the city and do something fun with some new friends. Too bad we never found our friends! =) There were multiple places called Riley farms and we didn't have any cell coverage... too bad... but we still had a good time as a family!

"Bost Family Traditions," a family bluegrass band and our lunchtime entertainment. We had a fun day!

Handmade By Amy!

I'm posting these to show off one of my amazing wife's many talents... knitting cute holiday season hats for the kiddos! Just email her if you'd like to purchase one. =)

Germs!

2,561,580How Many Germs Live On Your Keyboard?

Kaylin Turned 4 Today!

Today was Kaylin's 4th birthday! We celebrated with a friends and family at Chuck E. Cheese's! Here are some pictures...

Olson Family Travel Services!

Who needs Expedia, Travelocity or Orbitz?
You can make your travel arrangements through Olson Family Travel Services!

We'll post more details on this soon! Plus, we might email you more information... but until then, here's the quick version:

Do you ever use the internet for...

• buying airline tickets?
• booking a cruise?
• renting a car?
• reserving a hotel room?
• planning your vacation?
• ordering flowers?
• getting concert/sporting event tickets?

We thought so! Please check out www.olsonfamilytravel.com ...and be sure to bookmark it for future reference!

Using our state-of-the-art website and travel search engine, you'll have access to the sames flights, the same hotel rooms, the same cabins on the cruise ships, etc. Plus, most likely our prices will be the same as or cheaper than other online travel sites. If you find that to be true, who would you rather have benefit from your purchase... those huge companies or... the Olson family! =)

So there you go... an easy way for you to support our seminary and ministry endeavors! You're gonna make those travel plans somehow and you're gonna spend the money somewhere. Why not go through Olson Family Travel? And please, spread the word! If you have friends or family members that travel frequently, please send them to olsonfamilytravel.com

Or... if you're interested in owning your own online travel business, check out this website to learn more about YTB. You can be a travel industry "insider," getting better deals than ever on your own vacations. Plus, you can earn commissions when friends and family members book their travel through your site!

Uncle Chops & Auntie Kerstin

The newlywed Gotholds, aka Uncle Chops and Auntie Kerstin came to visit! We had a fun dinner together at B.J.'s and then some good hang time at our house!

Kaylin, who loves to admire long, straight hair, was delighted to play with Kirsten's hair.

Recent Pictures!

The whole family had lunch in the "fort." Albertaco's... yummy!

Brutha & Sista playing with Play-Do!


TJ, the smiley boy!


KK, the curly girl!


just a picture that amused me... =)


A new lamp with dress-up shoes on it from Gramma Darlene!

What?! No posts in almost a month? That's outrageous!

The title of this post might win the award for the longest post title in the history of OlsonWeb...

Friends, Neighbors and Countrymen,
Sorry for the lack of blogging. I have some excuses:
- I'm married
- I have two kids
- I'm working two jobs
- Fall classes started 1o days ago

I know, I know... excuses, excuses! You don't want excuses... you just want pictures of my kids and perhaps a bit of news about our family. Well, hopefully this post will break the ice then and you'll get those things soon. Speaking of ice, I'm gonna go get a drink of water. It's BLAZING hot in SoCal these past few days... 104 today! Completely ridiculous, unnecessary, ludicrous, infuriating and whacked out. But I digress....

For now, the only somewhat newsworthy item that I'll pass along is my class list for this semester. I'm excited about these classes but a huge prayer request would be that I'll be able to manage these 7 units along with all my other roles (mentioned above). I'm excited to be back in ministry and I'm lovin' my classes... but of course, my family is my first priority and I'll need the Lord's help to balance all these things effectively.

Beginning Greek I (2 units) - I can write the Greek alphabet so far... but other than that, I'm a bit freaked out.

Genesis to Malachi / OT Survey (3 units) - same prof that I had for NT Survey

Intro to Field Education (1 unit) - great prof that I had for Pastoral ministry over the summer

Theological Research Methodologies (1 unit) - yawn. required.

Spiritual Mentoring Group (0 units) - chance to check-in with my peers, continue to learn or develop spiritual disciplines and be encouraged spiritually. some work, no credit, but that means no $407 tuition charge... so whatever.

So... that's a lot of things to attend and complete work for... and it's only 7 units. I'm gonna try to press on and make it work... but dropping something hasn't been ruled out yet.

That's all for now...

In the News...

My friend and former co-worker Bill Walton (aka "B-dub") at Mission Springs put an update about us on the Mission Springs website. The article introduces Brian, the new Director of Frontier Ranch, but also gives an update on our family... click here to read it.

Also, here's the article that ran in our church newsletter this month:

Our new Minister to Young Adults is Derek Olson. He and his family recently relocated to Southern California from the Santa Cruz area. Derek and his wife, Amy, met while working on summer staff at camp during college and just celebrated their 8^th wedding anniversary on July 17th. They have two children: Their daughter Kaylin will turn four in October and their son Trevor (T.J.) is 15 months old.

Derek has lived in California since he was five years old, spending his early childhood in San Pedro and Long Beach before moving to Northern California just before junior high. He graduated from Escalon High School in Escalon, CA (near Modesto) and then later from the University of the Pacific in Stockton.

Amy is a native Californian, born in Downey and raised in Cypress. She’s a graduate of Cypress High School and California State University, Sacramento. Prior to her current role of stay-home mommy, she was a recreation therapist and a schoolteacher.

The Olson’s moved to this area in January so that Derek could begin part-time coursework in the Master of Divinity program at Talbot School of Theology. Derek comes to GHFC with ten years of ministry experience as a youth pastor, schoolteacher and camp director. Having enjoyed ministering to and serving the college-age summer staffers at camp over the past few years, Derek and Amy are really excited for this new opportunity to live life with the young adults here at Granada.

Avalanche Ranch!

Kaylin just finished her 2nd week of VBS this summer. This past week she went to West Cypress Church where 3 of Amy's siblings and their families go to church. She had fun being in the same group with her cousins Jenna and Dylan! Cousins Garrett and Joshy also participated. The theme was "Avalanche Ranch: A Wild Ride Through God's Word." Today was the big finale... BBQ, live music, petting zoo, pony rides, bounce houses! Here are the two "ranchers"...

Trevor wasn't so sure about the animals in the petting zoo!

Trevor and Kaylin went on a pony ride together!

Kaylin & Jenna bouncing!

Cool Dudes!