Fun Times in Fall 2009!

Wow! October has flown by like a whirlwind! It was a fun filled month for the DeVries family. Ashley is having a blast being a 1st grader and loving hanging out with all her friends at school. She is becoming such a great reader and writer, its fun to watch her progress in school. Abby is growing up way too fast for my liking and becoming a big girl now. She enjoys playing with her friends too and often asks, "Do I get to play with my friends today?" Mark is crazy busy running One Hours in Bakersfield and Templeton along with his brother. I am still spending most of my time trying to keep up with my 2 very busy girls, doing MOPS and Bible Study at church, and helping Mark with accounts receivable for One Hour. Maybe we'll get to rest in 30 years or so when we retire. ha ha!



Here is Ashley on a Limo Lunch she earned for selling magazines for her school's fundraiser.


Here is Abby on a field trip we took to Murray Farms with our MOPS group.

Here are some more pictures from this fall season:


See you all around Christmas!

DeVries Family Still on the Move??

Well, lots of things has changed since my last post about us moving. The plan was to move over to the central coast this summer after Ashley graduated from Kindergarten. However, plans have changed. It looks like the Lord wants us to stay in Bakersfield a little longer. We have been getting lots of calls for work to be done here in Bakersfield, and since all these calls are coming in with zero advertisement we know the Lord is providing this work for us!! Thank you Lord!!! Although we are sad that we won't be starting our new adventure, we are very thankful to be staying here in Bakersfield with all our friends, family, and church family. Through this whole process we have learned that we need to trust fully in the Lord and live day by day, because we really never know what the future holds. Although we can make plans, we need to be willing to follow His call where ever that may be. We are thankful that His ways are better than ours, and that we can trust in Him with confidence that His plan for our lives is amazing!!! Thanks for all your prayers and support!


Here is what our new company logo looks like, look for our service trucks around Bako and the central coast.

Ashley Is Now 6 Years Old!!

It is so hard for me to believe, but our oldest daughter has turned 6 years old. It seems like these years have just flown by for us. She is a very fun and spunky little girl who enjoys writing, swimming and of course playing with her friends. This year, Grammie suggested that we have a tea party at her house to celebrate Ashley's birthday. We invited all her little girlfirends as well as her favorite little sister Abby and Abby's little friend Hailee. It was a very fun day, Grammie had it decorated so beautifully and all the little princesses were dressed in their favorite party dresses. Ashley thoroughly enjoyed the day!!! The girls got to have their hair done with a princess crown, get their nails painted, and even got to meet a real princess, "Princess Megan." She read them all a story about what God wants His "little princesses" to be like, thoughtful, kind, hard working, etc. It was great, thank you "Princess Megan!" Ashley and her friends all brought baby wipes and crayons instead of gifts, to donate to a local school that is in need. This was a real blessing and we are so grateful to everyone for their generousity!! Ashley and Abby went with me when we took the donations, and the school staff was so appreciative of what Ashley and her friends had done!! Ashley was happy to know she was able to help others and learned how joyful it can be to give to others. All in all, it was another great birthday, and we thank the Lord for giving her another amazing year. We love you Ashley!!
P.S. (Thanks Grammie for all you did to make Ashley's birthday so special)

The DeVries Family is on the Move!

Well after much prayer and listening to the Lord's will for our family, we are moving to the Central Coast! Mark and Jason are in the process of purchasing a business in Templeton that serves the central coastal area. We are very excited to see what the Lord has planned for our families and trust that His perfect will be done! Jason and Angela will be moving over in mid April and Mark will spend Monday to Wednesday over there until our family can follow. We will stay in Bakersfield until Ashley graduates from Kindergarten, and then will make the move sometime in June. We would appreciate your prayers!! Please pray that the Lord paves the way for us as we transition and trust in Him. We look forward to the move, but know that we will deeply miss our friends and family. We look forward already to everyone coming and visiting us for some fun at the Lake and the Beach! There are tons of fun things to do so make sure you come by and visit. Stay tuned for more updates to follow!!

Christmas 2008

Christmas was an amazing time spent with friends and family. We started off this Christmas celebrating with our good friends The Barnards. Us kids have all grown up together, and now it is so fun to see our kids growing up good friends as well. It was a fun night.




















































Then we had the annual Otten Family Christmas at Oma's House. We had over 50 family members there, with only 3 that were unable to come. The girls absolutely loved playing with all the many cousins, and Oma was beaming seeing all her family together again for another Christmas celebrating Christ's birth.
















































We spent Christmas Eve with my moms family and more fun times and good food was enjoyed. The girls enjoyed getting to play with the cousins on that side, and of course enjoyed getting the presents as well. That night we were able to finish the last story in our Advent book preparing us for the arrival of Jesus birth.


Christmas morning was very exciting!! The girls couldn't wait to see whether or
not Santa had come! In fact I think they were more excited that Santa actually came to their house, than they were about what Santa brought!! We were able to spend the rest of the day with family and spent time reminiscing about all that God has so graciously blessed us with. We truly have so much to be thankful for, especially for the most important grace gift of all, JESUS!!!! Merry Christmas

Ashley's Christmas Concert

Ashley's Christmas concert was amazing!! Mrs. Orendorf, the music teacher, did a fabulous job teaching these kids some powerful songs about our Lord Jesus. There were also hand motions that went with every song, and the kids did an amazing job. Ashley sang so well and knew almost all of the hand motions. It was a great to see our daughter offering up Praise to Jesus as we celebrated His birth. It was a great way to start off the Christmas season for our family!!! (I just wish Ashley wasn't always in the back row, oh well I guess that's the price you have to pay for being the tallest girl in the class :)

Abby's 3rd Birthday

Abby knew exactly what she wanted to do for her birthday this year, and there was no talking her out of it. She wanted to have Chuck E. Cheese sing Happy Birthday to her and have her family and friends there as well! She had a wonderful time and absolutely beamed when "Chuck" came to see her!! What a memorable night it was for her. We love our sweet little Abby so much!!! Happy Birthday Baby Girl!