The Kempner's

Kempner Kid's Video

2011-02-04T12:23:00.002-08:00

Here's a new videos of the kids.

Kempner Update June 28 2009

2009-06-28T20:07:00.012-07:00

Doesn't life get busy. I don't know many people who aren't busy...actually because of all the modern conveniences I think we try to do more things than should hence we make ourselves more busy and more stressed out.

So June 8th our final baby Tyson Kempner came into the world 10 days over due. Here's some great pictures of him.
Oakley started soccer this year and he loves it. While all the other kids are 'resting' on the sidelines or getting the 20th drink of water Oakley is still running up and down the field trying to score some goals.
Ginny had her birthday so I had her friends over...and we had a great time celebrating her bday!
This Easter we had most of the Kempner's come over for dinner for some great food and lots of stories and some really good laughs.
During the Easter weekend my mom and dad bought the kids some kites so we definitely had a great time trying them out at the park.
We went up to Silver Star for the day and it was a great time with the kids in the snow. Our church blessed us with a night near the ski hill so we took advantage of a day together.

Christmas Concert

2008-12-17T00:02:00.003-08:00

My son Oakley is a character (I know where he gets it from okay) but I captured him on video doing something hilarious at our Church Christmas concert that you got to see.

September and October 2008

2008-11-02T00:02:00.013-07:00

Okay so we haven't posted anything on this blog since June. We are sorry...but you know life gets so crazy it's hard to take the time to update this. I have posted 3 new posts (Sept & Oct, August was busy and July update) so check them all out.

October

Halloween is alway memorable in our home. We just go up and down the street and the kids get tons of candy. Rebekah dressed up as a ladybug and Oakley was Ironman.They were adorable as they knocked on the door and said, "Trick or treating!" Hey at least it's better than last year when Oakley kept on saying, "Halloween" instead of trick or treat or Happy Halloween. lol

Thanksgiving was super fun we went to Kamloops (Saturday) and had dinner with Jay and Milissa Ewing and their family. Great food, fun, and video games!!! On Thanksgiving Sunday we had Audrey, Jesse & Desiree, and Jan over for turkey dinner...good job on the food Gin you are awesome!How many families played Nintendo Wii during the holiday? Probably a ton because it's a fun family event.
Oakley started his swimming lessons...our boys is growing up. He loved going twice a week to learn how to swim. Julia Zseder and the Summit Pacific College worship team came to our church and led the music for our preteen, youth and young adults. It was great to see her again. Mikey I missed you I hope you had an amazing time at the Notre Dame - Huskies game...wish I was with you buddy!

September
Gin and I celebrated our 9th anniversary! Wow. We went to dinner at Earl's it was awesome. Honey I am so glad we are married and I look forward to growing old with you. I love you VERY much.Our good friends Hugh and Heather Cyr came to visit with their 3 cute kids. It was a great day of visiting and laughter. Move back to BC it's better.

August

I had missed putting up a picture of our backyard. It looked great...didn't get too hot and we watered it SO much...don't want to see the water bill. In this picture my dad helped us put up the swing set they bought the kids...it's sweet. AND Ginny's dad helped us big time as well with the awesome flower garden to make the backyard look so much better. Both jobs where a lot of work.

We went to the IPE in Armstrong again. Our kids LOVE it there. Tons of rides, games, animals, and people. Ginny's mom and dad came with us and there were a few HILARIOUS moments. Remember the girl on the little motor cross bike who couldn't stop crashing into the bails of hay? hahaha This was the only time Rebekah was not crying on this ride...but somehow she loved it and talked about it for a month about the purple horsey ride.

We had a great summer with tons of family fun and memories. BELOW is more that happen in the summer.

August was busy!

2008-11-01T23:27:00.013-07:00

It was a crazy busy August. Here's the update!

Rebekah our baby turned TWO! Time is flying next thing you know she's going to be graduated high school. It was a princess party and so Rebekah wore her princess dress Ginny got her in Disneyland. She was so cute.My mom made a beautiful and delicious princess cake (thanks mom!). All Bekah's friends were there celebrating.Ginny and the kids went to her parents cabin on Horsefly Lake as I was at Chubb Lake Teen Camp with the youth. Ginny laid on the dock sun tanning every day while my in-laws where dealing with the kids. I missed them all so much and was pumped to come home to see my family again.
Oakley and I went to the new Star Wars Movie THE CLONE WARS. He wanted to dress up like Darth Vader. So I couldn't refuse...he was so cute going into the theatre and getting popcorn with his light sabre and outfit. No I didn't wear the helmet.

Kempner's in July 08

2008-11-01T16:43:00.014-07:00

This is our July where we took a major trip to CALIFORNIA. We hit D-land and had a great time. We went without the kids...woohoo! Would have been way too stressful with them. I have been wanting to take Ginny to Disneyland for years but she keeps getting pregnant I have no idea how that keeps happening...lol D-land was so clean. The fireworks were amazing and music was everywhere. The place is TOP notch .Here we are enjoying each other, freedom, fun and going on rides. Of course Ginny loves rides but I loved being there with her. We took tons of pictures and saw all the big stars (Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, The Incredibles, Alladin, Cinderella, etc You get the point. We loved the California Adventure ride California SOARING...a must see.I can't stand rides. I used to love Splash Mountain but that little major drop was nasty. I look like I am going to puke or die (I didn't do either). Meanwhile Ginny is going on all the rides that have intense drops and getting off then going on it again within minutes with the express lane as I watched her.
This is the McCullah's who I stayed with during my internship in Bakersfield, California in the summer of 1996. It had been 12 years since I was last there. Their daughter Elizabeth McCullah was marrying another student from the youth ministry named Andy Tipton. It was an honour to be invited. We had a great time seeing old people all grown up now and it was awesome to be with my McCullah family. We love them so much. The young lady in this picture is Emily she was Rebekah's age when I was there now she is all grown up and an incredible Godly young lady. She is the reason I wanted to have a baby girl. Lance and Leeta have blessed me so much. Thanks for everything!

Ginny's good friend from high school was out to visit from Florida. We went to Kamloops to meet up with her and her daughter. We went to the Kamloops wildlife park were we saw bears, a moose, wolves, owls, bison, deer, etc. Our kids loved it. It was great to see Tanya and her beautiful little girl. Here's a great pictures of Oakley and Rebekah with the goats. They were petting them and hearing them toot! lol Click on this picture to really see their facial expressions it is priceless.

My parents came to visit and we always love that. My dad brought down his newly purchased boat. There was only one night we had the time to go on the water so we dared the waves and went. Well it was very rocky. I loved it. But my daughter and mother didn't enjoy themselves because it was too rocky. But as you can imagine I loved it. It was quite the adventure loading the boat up and getting it to out house but now we know how to manually bring up the boat motor when the electric lifter is broken. Good memories, right dad.JUNE

Also our good friends the Days from Ladysmith came to visit us. We had a great time together. Thanks for coming to visit guys we love you.

I have the cutest little girl

2008-06-03T23:28:00.011-07:00

I understand that I am her father and VERY biased but I have the cutest little girl in the whole world. She is so precious, cute, and adorable. Check out these pictures...they don't lie.

So as you can see I am very blessed. I love you Rebekah!

Mommy away the kids will PLAY!

2008-04-30T18:36:00.010-07:00

My wife went on a weekend away to go shopping in the States for her birthday. Meanwhile we had a great time. We found a huge garage sale and found some sweet stuff. Look what we found! He's a tad bit excited about this discovery. This Darth Vader helmets talks from Darth's voice & yours and does his famous breathing. It's sweet. It even fits dad. Light sabre $3 Darth Vader helmet $8 Spending time with the kids: Priceless.

It's not really Darth Vader it's Darth Oakley!

Rebekah loves the park so in two days we went to 2 different parks. She loved this slide.

What out Oakley! Yep that's right he nailed his head on this bar...so did Rebekah actually. Have no idea why they made this bar right at a kids head hight???
At the other park, they also get to see the ducks and geese. They come up to the kids and everything.

Bekah's favourite thing at the park is a swing...she goes crazy for it.

Oakley really like this one but he couldn't go up it all the way and he needed lots of help. Wait till he gets older and he will be owning this climbing wall.

As much fun as it was with the kids, we were all happy to see mom when she got home. We missed her so much. Glad you had a good time mom but we love you too much for you to be away from us too long. It would have been a more fun weekend with you.

Happy Easter

2008-03-28T19:11:00.011-07:00

Happy Easter Everyone. We hope you all had a great long weekend.
Remembering the reason we serve such a GREAT God!
We had the privilege of having Trevor's parents & brother Benn with us for the weekend. Of course our kids were completely spoiled - Nana & Zeida LOVE their Grandkids...

This is Oakley posing with Uncle Benn & Ali. Oakley wants to box like Uncle Benn when he grows up!

Oakley & Rebekah after their Easter Egg hunt in our backyard. They LOVED it!

Here's Nana & Zeida - still in love after 35 years.

Oakley rode his quad all the way to the park.

Oakley & Nana on the slide

Oakley LOVES Transformers. He got Iron Hide & Blackout in his Easter basket.

This is a random pic of Uncle Shane & Auntie Sarah. They couldn't spend the weekend with us, so I posted this pic just because.
Shane & Sarah - we missed you!

The Watoto African Children's Choir was at our church on Sunday night. They were AWESOME!!

**Tonight Oakley was trying to teach Rebekah how to do
"Ring Around the Rosy". Here is Oakley's version:
"Ring around the Rosy
Poca Roca Rosy
Splish splash! Splish splash!
We all fall down!

The mind of a Three year Old Boy

2008-03-09T22:54:00.005-07:00

It's Happened... Oakley is officially a little boy. He has now reached the stage where he loves what we have started referring to as "Toilet Talk". For those of you who don't know what toilet talk would be, here are a few examples:
-"Poo poo & Pee pee & my Butt Hole!!"
-"Poop on your head!"
-"Oh - he tooted" (this phrase is usually followed by a farting sound)
He loves to make his GI Joes, Army guys, transformers Rebekah's dolls, basically anything he plays with either toot or poop.
At times it is funny, but of course other times it is completely inappropriate... like in Sunday School, or at a play group, grocery line ups, etc. Needless to say, we have been trying (rather I have been trying as Daddy likes to toilet talk right along side Oakley) to put a damper on the potty mouth.
After a long day of reminding him about a thousand times, he finally looked at me & said,
"Mommy, can I PLEASE talk like a toilet??"
I don't know what it is with this infatuation, but I am slowly learning that there is more to come in this department... God help me!

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year???

2008-02-05T14:31:00.000-08:00

Okay - It's February & I'm just sitting down now to update our friends & family on how our Christmas break was. Now that's just sad. But we really can't believe just how fast these past 2 months have FLOWN by!! Life has been good. We spent 2 weeks in Squamish over Christmas. It was great to spend time with family & relax. Trevor would argue this point as it seemed we had some kind of family dinner or activity planned every one of the 14 nights we spent there!! Our kids had a great time & were completely spoiled.

This is Rebekah & Oakley getting ready for our church Sunday School Production. Aren't they cute?? Trevor & I feel so blessed that we have such awesome kids. We can't get over how cute they are. What a blessing they've been. Oakley & Rebekah bring a smile to our face daily.

Rebekah loves to dress up & look pretty. She already has a shoe fetish (a girl after my own heart!!). She loves to sit on the floor of her bedroom & examine her shoes!! Too cute.

We love this picture of Oakley. It was taken on Christmas Eve at the Candle light service. What a precious boy he is. (most of the time!)

Best cousins goofing around. Oakley, Ryker & Rebekah had a lot of fun together over Christmas.

Oakley turned 3 years old on January 1st! We had his birthday party at the play place in McDonalds. He currently LOVES 2 things: Transformers & Ketchup! He can name EVERY transformer & is quite obsessed about it. He also requires ketchup at the table for every meal. A few nights ago he even ate ketchup on his salad...

Our handsome 3 year old.

Trevor & the kids at SilverStar.

Our gorgeous girl!

We think that Rebekah looks like "Boo" off of Monsters Inc. in this picture.

We hope this Blog post finds you all well...

Love,
The Kempners

Snow Days

2007-12-08T22:47:00.000-08:00

Winter has finally visited the Okanagan & Oakley has been ever so anxious to build his first snowman. His wish came true this past Monday. Trevor the superdad came home on his lunch break to build our backyard companion.

Isn't she cute??

Any of you that visit our home on a regular basis know that it is a rarity to actually see Oakley wearing anything but his gonch...

Rebekah, Brody & Oakley (Brody is a little girl that I babysit).

We hope that you are all enjoying the "hussle & bussle" of this Christmas season.
May each of you have a great Christmas. We are counting down the days to our "Christmas Vacation". We will be spending two weeks with our family in Squamish.
We pray that you will take time over the next few weeks to remember the reason why we celebrate. We are so thankful that God sent his son Jesus - He truly is the best gift ever given.

October at the Kempner House

2007-11-10T15:31:00.000-08:00

We've had a fun October.

Can you believe that Christmas is next month??

Oakley wakes up every day and asks, "Is it Christmas yet??"

Meet Spider Man & the Pink Poodle!!

Oakley & Rebekah were very cute on Halloween. We would knock on a door & Oakley would say, "Halloween!!"

After Rebekah was given a candy she'd say, "Dank Doo!!"

We spent Thanksgiving in Quesnel & had a blast! It was our very first road trip with our children where the actually DIDN'T cry. This is a huge milestone for us as our kids are BRUTAL in the car!! We gave Trevor's dad a suprise 60th Birthday Party while we were there.

This is Trev's brother Shane & his girlfriend Sarah.

The Jersey boys.

Oakley gearing up for a Vernon Vipers Hockey game.

Rebekah has started wearing her hair in pigtails - isn't she cute!! It's so fun having a girl!!

So far Rebakah has taken 15 steps!! She's getting so big!

An overdue update on the Kempners

2007-10-02T20:34:00.000-07:00

Hello to the 2 blogging friends who actually still read our blog... this one's for you!

We can't believe that summer is over & fall has started. Where does time go these days?? We enjoyed a beautifully, sunny summer in the Okanagan. We honestly didn't know just how great it is here in the summer. He is a quick recap:

(Mommy & Rebekah)

*We had about 30 nights of people visit & stay with us throughout the summer months. I have never changed so many bed sheets in my life!
*We spent one week at Chubb Lake Teen Camp & it was awesome. The speaker was totally hot!! God really moved. It was great to have the time to get to know the youth from Vernon.
*While at Chubb Lake we received the awful news that our good friend Mike Marshall past away. Mike was one of our Youth from Ladysmith... we miss him greatly & feel privileged to have known him.

(Daddy & Oakley)

*The 2 weeks following Chubb Lake were absolute Mayhem... We had booked 5 days of camping in Penticton with our family. We were blessed with an RV & were pumped to enjoy a week of rest & relaxation... After spending one night at the campsite, we packed the kids in the van & headed down to the Island to attend Mike's funeral. 15 minutes outside of Penticton we were stuck in a 3 hour hold up on the Hwy. Once in Westbank we had to pick up a vehicle & drive it to the island for a friend of ours. With both kids screaming & still in the Okanagan we hopped into separate cars to drive.... Oakley SCREAMED the entire drive. At one point we actually considered the fact that he could be demon possessed. We finally made it to Horseshoe Bay - dropped him off with my parents & waited for a ferry. Our day started out at 8 am & we arrived in Ladysmith at 12am that night. After attending the funeral the next day, we arrived at the ferry 2 hrs early only to find that we would have to wait 4 hrs... We caught the ferry, drove to Squamish & then got stuck in another Hwy line up for 1 hour & arrived in Squamish at 1:30am. Only to get up the next morning & drive BACK to Penticton for our LAST night of camping. What ever happened to the rest & relaxation??
*Life has some what returned to normal (as if life is EVER normal!?!?!) I have started babysitting kids & daily Oakley says to me: "Mommy - I just want it to be me & you & Beka!!" He's having a hard time adjusting, but I know he'll come around.

This Picture captures the highlight of our Summer... Trevor & I spent 2 full days & 1 night away from our kids!! This is the first since Oakley was born. We spent the weekend in Seattle. Enjoyed lots of shopping & caught a Seahawks game.

Check out our new family pictures! Simone Wittenberg came to the beach with us this past week and took these pictures of us. It was so windy... poor Rebekah's lips were blue by the time we were finished!

I will leave you with a cute conversation that took place in our van this week:
Oakley: "Daddy, I can't see all the cars"
Trevor: "That's because it's dark outside"
Oakley: "Can God turn the light on??"

Fun Summer Days

2007-08-01T20:02:00.001-07:00

This is Trevor picking Cherries at my cousin's house...
He loved it so much that I told him he should do it as a part time job!!

Isn't he handsome??

Our beautiful Rebekah turns 1 year on August 3rd. I can't believe how fast this past year has gone by. I was just looking at our blog post from when she was born... She has turned into such a pretty girl. We are so blessed.

We enjoyed an awesome visit with the Chapman's. It has been too long since we last saw them.
Shawn, Lisa, Jachin, & Annaya Chapman

This is Baby Annaya & Rebekah enjoying the sun together.

What cute little cousins!! (Yes, we are related to the Chapmans!!)
Jachin & Oakley had a blast together.

Jachin - we will miss your happy feet dances!! You are such a cute little man!

THE BAD GUY BOYS....
We had a fun evening with the Chapmans, Toews & Kempners.
We missed you Mike Voll, but caught this picture of the boys.
Left to Right:
Oakley Kempner, Ethan Toews, Jachin Chapman, Brayden Toews

This is me & my good friend from High School. Jen & her husband Sean & children stayed with us over this past week as well.

So far we are having a great summer. We have had tons of company & lots of good laughs. Thanks to all who have visited.

Trevor is speaking at Chubb Lake Camp & then we are on holidays for 2 weeks!!
Hope you all are enjoying your summer as much as we are!

Horsefly Lake

2007-06-25T12:13:00.000-07:00

My parents have a cabin on Horsefly Lake. They purchased the property before they had kids, & we spent every summer on the lake as a family. We have made so many special memories there. This past week Oakley, Rebekah & myself had the priveledge of spending 4 days at the cabin with my parents. It was so special to watch Oakley making the same memories that I had as a child. Here are a few shots of our special time away:

Rebekah & Papa

Oakley loved Uncle Bill's boat

I love this picture of my Dad & Oakley having a moment together

Oakley's first fishing trip with Papa... he caught these fish & was VERY scared of them!

Bath time!

What happened to the Kempner Family??

2007-05-26T18:05:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure if it's the Okanagan air or what, but we all seem to be changing our looks...

We think Trevor looks like "Beeker" in this one We think Trevor looks like "Sloth" from the movie the Goonies

Hope this put a smile on your face...
Love,
The Kempners
iPhotoBooth rocks

Happy Mothers Day

2007-05-13T21:24:00.000-07:00

Today is Mother's Day. To all the moms out there I honour you. It's a tough job and I don't think you get enough credit. One day is not enough for hours, weeks and years of service. I want to honour 3 incredible mother's in this post. My favourite 3 mothers.

Let's start with my mother: Cindy Kempner
I have been blessed to have Cindy has my mother.
Not only has she given me life but a great up bringing.
My mother has poured out her love and energy on me.
She raised 3 boys...all you mother's who have raised boys understand we are a hand full.
I will never know how many times she prayed for me, washed my clothes, or helped me but I appreciate it.
She brought me to church. She supported me in my career. She loved me to be who I am today. She's supportive and encouraging.
I love her cooking especially her spaghetti.
My mom has been a spiritual example to me.
My mom loves kids but I know she loves us 3 boys the most.
Mom can you believe your little boys are now all grown up.
I love my mom.

Next I let's go with my mother-in-law: Glenda Bouwman
I believe Glenda is the best mother-in-law a man could ask for.
She is loving and supportive.
I am so grateful she carried and cared for my wife.
The way she brought up Ginny was awesome.
She is a great cook.
She gives and gives and keeps on giving.
I have appreciated her prayers and spiritual example.
I love my mother-in-law.

Finally I want to talk about my newest favourite mother: Virginnia Kempner
Not only has she given me both of my beautiful children but she's an incredible mother.
She loves those kids. She feeds them, hugs them, changes them, and provides for them.
I value her time, energy and strength she gives every day for our 2 precious children.
She is a Godly, Spirit-led mother who will be a huge help to our kids spiritually.
I love it that she loves me too.
I am absolutely in love with my wife, the mother of my children.

To my favourite 3 moms thanks for being you. I want to leave you with this Scripture.

Proverbs 31 says Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised. Give her the reward she has earned, and let her works bring her praise at the city gate.

God provides

2007-05-09T00:10:00.000-07:00

As we have moved to Vernon we have noticed a bit of a problem...we only have one vehicle. In Ladysmith this wasn't a problem because we always lived 3 minutes or less from our church. In V-City we live 10 minutes away which isn't bad except I have to cross both major roads (one being the major highway) and both ways it takes 20 minutes. So a quick run home to get something takes 1/3 of a hour. The greatest difficulty we were facing was Gin was feeling house bound. After a few long days with the kids it would have been nice if she could take them out and do something or go visit friends or whatever.

I wasn't praying about it but I think Ginny was. Then BAM! Out of the blue Ginny's parents offer us this old school car for the summer and they would take care of the insurance ... woohoo! Thank you God! This car was mean too...major horsepower and beautiful to look at. Okay maybe not but a blessing is a blessing and beggers can't be choosers.

Then our friends Milissa and Jay Ewing were able to purchase a new car and offered us their old car. WOW! A 1990 Volkswagon Golf. The body is in great condition for being 17 years old. The odometer stopped at 185,000 but they figure it has 270,000 kms on it. Not bad. Also Ginny's parents said they would help us with the insurance and which helped us afford a years insurance. Did I mention it's a 5 speed standard? We LOVE standards. Sun roof and it goes faster than 60 kms/hr actually I got it going 160. (Young people don't try this at home) AND Jay gave me a Canucks flag for my birthday. Go Canucks! (next yr) Of course it's got some mechanical problems but hopefully we can fix them. HERE it is in all it's glory.

Thanks God!
Thanks Jay and Milissa!
Thanks Mom and Dad Bouwman!

Gas Problems

2007-05-08T23:53:00.000-07:00

Okay what is going on with the gas prices??? I still remember the day I was driving my 1980 Honda Civic (yes the really rusty one) and I saw the ESSO sign that regular gas was 58.9 and I thought, "That's it this is not worth it."

This last week our gas prices in Vernon was 110.9...definitely upset I waited. The next day it dropped to 105.9...Woohoo! Let's fill up. The day after the prices rose to 115.9. WHAT! Good thing I am going to conference in Victoria because I can fill up in the cheapest place in the province ABBOTSFORD. But to my surprise two days later Abby was 117.9. Then I got to the island and in Nanaimo it's 120.9 and Victoria is worse 122.9. Wait a minute, in Vancouver it went to 127.9. Fortunately coming back to Vernon it's 113.9 and I get 3.5 cents off of that.

Can someone explain to me what is going on? It doesn't look like it's going to slow down either...why do we have gas problems?

Brothers Mothers Day Picture

2007-04-19T11:49:00.000-07:00

Anyone with a brother might enjoy this especially if you come from a family with only boys.

Hospitality House

2007-04-09T22:55:00.000-07:00

Okay, Ginny and I love having people over. That's why we bought a 4 bedroom house especially living in the B E A utiful Okanagan. In the last 2 weeks we have had a ton of people come over and we want to highlight our friends and family who came to visit. (By the way those who came to visit...we had a blast with you!)

This is Jay and Milissa Ewing. Milissa is Ginny's best friend who is pregnant in this picture. One wk after visiting us Milissa delivered their first baby 3 weeks early. Okay all women deserve amazing credit for child birth but Milissa was super woman because she had HARD labour for 3 hrs. That is crazy. They had a girl named Aida...keep this little precious gift from heaven in prayer because she has had some medical difficulties.
Jay is an awesome guy who I really enjoy hanging out with. Solid follower of Jesus who is perfect for where God is leading them in ministry. You guys keep going strong it's a great idea even if lots of churches aren't "getting it".

We got blessed to have our L-town homies come to V-city for a visit. It was Ginny's birthday weekend so we had a birthday party. George, James, Garrett, Kaela and Amanda crammed into a little car and took a road trip to hang with us. It was super fun too. I made everyone wear those stupid birthday kid party hats...Ginny was the guest of honour.

Uncle Bill and Auntie Barb came down from Quesnel Lake/Horsefly. We had an awesome time with them. Usually we see them at all Bouwman - Squamish parties with tons of others. It was nice to have them all to ourselves. We love them so much. And I got to learn how to play skip bo the card game. Fun times...Barb who one the last game? That's right Bill and Trevor. Oh yeah!

We had a going away party for our new friends the Richmonds. Such an incredible couple. We called tons of people the day before and almost every one came! We found out that Vernon people want to do the last minute partying. We had like 30 people over.
Kyle and Liz we are going to miss you. We know God has great plans for you in the metropolis of Houston, BC. Call and visit anytime.

Our good friends from the Island Scott and Jen Ciccone came up for a wedding and we got to meet the newest addition to their family...Arel. Cute kid. They were able to stay with us for longer than planned which was awesome. We miss our dinners together and ball games.

This Easter was great because of Jesus most of all. Without His resurrection have zero hope and are still in our sins. Thanks for coming Jesus YOU the God-man!
Besides Jesus, it was great having the Kempner clan here for the weekend. My mom and dad from Quesnel came down and my bro's Shane and Benn came across the province from the island and lower mainland. We had a blast at the neighbourhood easter egg hunt and I enjoyed watching the UFC with my bros. Benn who is the video game champ of the fam? Me! lol. Shane we missed Sara but maybe we can see her soon.

Dad thanks for loving us with fixing the van and chopping down that tree. It was fun. TIMBER!
Mom - Happy Birthday! Hope you can figure out the new computer ... once you get the hang of it it's pretty basic (after a few yrs haha).

On the Saturday night we had a big dinner with the whole family. My Uncle Lyle and Auntie Oudie came from Armstrong. It was good times with family and Ginny and my mom put on a stellar meal. Yeah turkey and dressing...did I mention the mash potatoes and gravy...yummy!

Tons of people...tons of fun!

Who's next to come for a visit? Come we will feed you and give you a suite at the Kempner resort!

Oakley - Mr. Smarty Pants

2007-03-22T21:05:00.000-07:00

Story #1
So I was enjoying a peaceful morning with my children. Oakley & I were baking a cake, & Rebekah was having a nap. Still in my baking apron I gathered up the garbage, threw on Trevor’s slippers & went outside to dispose of the bag in our garbage cans. Upon arriving at the garbage cans I heard our front door close behind me. The thought did go through my head – wouldn’t it be awful if Oakley locked me outside?? Talk about your worst situation.
~~ As I continue this story, please keep in mind that I am sporting an apron & Trevor’s slippers that are 3 sizes too large for me. ~~
(yes, I do have clothes on underneath the apron).
Upon trying to enter back into the house, I turn the door knob and…. you guessed it – I was locked outside by a 2 year old boy.
Immediately I started to panic. What am I going to do?? I looked in our front window & there was my boy smiling & waving at me, “Hi Mommy!!” I guess he thought it quite comical that he was in & I was out. “Oakley!” I yelled, “Come to the door & open it for Mommy”. No matter how hard he tried, the door was not opening. Okay – so what was I to do next? I could just picture me knocking on my new neighbours door: “Hi! You don’t know me yet, but my 2 year old son just locked me out of my house. Can I use your phone??” And then what? My kids would be alone in the house until dad arrived with the keys??
Of course there was not one window open in our house, but I thought just maybe the back sliding glass door would be unlocked. No such luck. As I arrived at the door I could see Oakley watching TV, totally oblivious to the fact that I was panicking & locked outdoors.
“Oakley!!” I yelled, while knocking on the door, “Please come here.”
After about a minute of calling him, (he apparently was more concerned about his TV show than mom), he finally sauntered over to the door. He was able to flick the switch & unlock our back door for me… whew!!

Story #2
Tonight Oakley was having a bath and daddy was watching him. Oak was playing with his cars in the water having a great ol’ time. Then he paused and said, “Daddy what’s that?” Trevor didn’t hear any thing and said, “Is it Rebekah?” Then all of a sudden there was a rumble and gas bubbles surfaced. Oakley said, “art”…and Trevor said, “Gas?” “No daddy FART!” Oakley answered.

Oakley had a fun time at the Vernon Vipers hockey game with Daddy

"Princess Rebekah"

Daddy & Oakley are stoked for the big game!!

Get out of my dreams.... get into my car...

Star Wars

2007-03-19T18:31:00.000-07:00

Check these guys out they should and could be on the next Star Wars movie...Oakley loves this video and so do I.

Silver Star Mountain

2007-03-01T23:11:00.000-08:00

Today we went to Silver Star mountain for a little Day Off trip. Mom and Dad Bouwman, Ginny, Rebekah, Oakley and I walked around the village. There was a lot of snow...it was beautiful. Oakley wanted to snowboard really bad. Here are some pictures of the day.

This is Oakley and dad having some hot chocolate. Mmmmmm Chocolate!Mom and Becca looking B E A utiful as usual. Love this picture of the two of them. We had a great time up on the mountain with the whole famn damily. Here's Ginny pushing the stroller through the snow while Oakley wouldn't leave my side (it was a daddy-Oakley day off day).

This week we bought Oakley an old school hockey game. I loved playing this as a kid. Hours of entertainment...Oakley plays with it every day. He saw one at Braydon and Ethan's house and wouldn't stop playing with it. In this picture he is playing with his friend Tristan Cyr. Go Canucks go!
We had a really rough 2 weeks with Oakley infected with sickness. He had strep throat, thrush, and impetego. The only way we could get Oak to show us his tongue to us was to ask him to show us his "bubbles" on his tongue. It was really gross as you can see. It was a very stressful time for the family as it was hard for him to sleep and eat. Praise the Lord it's over.

He HASN'T been sick for at least 2 weeks.

1st week in Vernon

2007-02-07T21:27:00.000-08:00

I have just finished my 1st week at the office. It's been a good week. And tons of stuff to update you all on (hence this post).

Our church blessed us this Sunday with an induction service. Pastor Eldon introduced us and they gathered around us and prayed. They had 3 people pray over us it was a special time for our families kick off service. They also had a luncheon after the morning service for us AND they had a grocery shower as well. We got so much stuff it filled most of our downstairs pantry.

I definitely got thrown into the fire but it's a good thing. This week I preach 3 times in 8 days. But I know what I am preaching on...Monday I spoke on "True Love" Sunday I am speaking on "Living life to the FULL" and Monday I speak on "How to live in a sexually sick world"

My first AMPLIFY went well. It's a preteen, youth and young adult service. The theme is to Live Life Loud. Pastor Jesse lead the worship team and they rock. There was 21 people there and it was a good night overall. Then we all went to this sweet cafe/restaurant called the Talking Donkey to hang out. It was fun.

Also this weekend Ginny's family came up to help us renovate our new house. It was the weekend work bee. Ginny's parents, sister, bro in law, and 2 nephews came to help. We got SO much done. Paint was the primary thing as the main bathroom, Oakley & Rebekah's rooms and the living rm/dining rm/main hallway was finished. Plus all the white trim was painted and nailed on. I had the beautiful task of installing the faucets. As you know I am definitely not a HANDY man...it took me like 20 hours to install only 2 faucets. I can't figure out the "lefty loosy righty tighty" slogan. Oh yeah and we installed new light fixtures and pull ins. I just want to say a BIG Thank You to our family for all their help and hard work. We really appreciated it. Here's an updated picture of the living room. Also we got the furniture like half a month early it looks sweet with the new paint job.

Here's a sweet picture of Ginny getting in a fight with the paint. I think the paint won. Ginny you are hilarious.

As you many of you know we love having people over to our house. So this week we have had Jesse, the Price family over and on Thurs it's the Toews & Richmond families coming to party. By the way Michelle is not impressed that in my previous post they were not mentioned about people we are excited to be moving closer to. Sorry Michelle it wasn't on purpose and we are stoked to be close with your family in Winfield.

We have been having a hard time with Oakley sleeping in his own bed for about a month now. So after last night's terrible sleep for Ginny and I we had enough and he's only sleeping in his bed from now on. And as you can see the Oakmiester is NOT happy about it. Too bad son, in life you don't always get what you want.

Ryker and Oakley had a great time together while all the construction was going on. These 2 are hilarious.

Adventurous in Vernon

2007-01-31T23:05:00.000-08:00

Moved off the Island (sob! sob!) successfully…thanks everyone who helped us move you were such a HUGE blessing to our family.
Since we have arrived in Vernon on Saturday we have been unpacking like crazy. But we have found some time to observe our new place of residence. I hope you enjoy.

- SO many people have skidoo’s. It feels like the majority of people have these beautiful snow machines and every time Oakley sees one he says “MINE!”
- Snow is normal here. Not too cool yet but the island barely gets any and here it’s absolutely normal.
- Our house is 3 minutes (Gloria 3 minutes!) from a 7-11/Esso Gas Station (George!), The Brick, a grocery store which reminds me of the 49th, a bowling ally, 10 show theatre, Rogers Video, Earls, Little Caesar’s Pizza, and a Tim Horton’s.
- Going home at 8:45 PM needing to stop at Staples and thinking it’s closed but finding out we now live in what they call a “city” and it’s open till 9:00 PM. WOW!
- Enderby has been a retreat place for us. A metropolis of 3,000 people we have amazing friends there who we can laugh our heads off with.
- Got a Pizza Hut and we had the family dining for 2 which feeds us for 2 meals. Reminds us of the Pizza Hut dinners with the Zseders and Boomers.
- Went to Caleb and Brayden’s marital arts class they are little ninja’s in the making. Speaking of which, have you seen askaninja.com?
- Bought new furniture from Ashley Furniture it’s a sweet brown leather sofa & love seat and leather recliner (Thanks Kenny). But it doesn’t come until the Feb 16th. www.ashleyfurniture.com/Showroom/LargeProductImage.aspx?PageId=Showroom&SetDomTab=2&ItemNo=4850338
- Also got a washer & dryer from The Brick (Thanks Scotty). It will be ready on Feb 9th so we are in the process of finding a laundry mat. Don’t have a phone book so we have been searching ton for one close by but our industrial park doesn’t have one yet…arrrgghh!
- Got invited to a Superbowl party already on a BIG screen TV…sorry Rick but it’s not going to fly asking for my first Sunday off to be at The Best Dang Superbowl Party Period in Sunny Saltair. Thinking of you as the Colts win and you ponder “if Brady didn’t throw that INT it would have be the Patriots again”.

- Oakley is having a tough time sleeping in his bed saying it’s SCARY YOU which in proper English means he’s afraid. So he’s sleeping with us which is cool until he gives us a kick in the kidneys.
- Home Depot loves us because we spent a WACK load of cash on paint, light fixtures, ceiling fan, heater register covers, blah, blah, blah.
- Tomorrow is my 1st day in the office it’s been 2 ½ months off so I wonder how I am going to do. But in 8 days I preach 3 times…nothing like getting thrown back into the fire. Time to sink or swim.
- Rebekah is being her gorgeous adorable self. Always smiling with her big bright beautiful eyes.

New Year Pictures

2007-01-16T08:39:00.000-08:00

With a New Year here are some new pictures of the family. What will 2007 hold only the Lord knows.

Our family in 2006 went from 3 to 4.

Oakley in the mall during the Christmas season did alot of running. We had to teach him to stay close or face the music.

Our little girl looks so cute in this beautiful outfit. (Thanks Auntie Larina)

Daddy and his little precious princess.

Rebekah makes the Canucks look good.

Oakley gets jealous of Rebekah in the jolly jumper. She gets all the fun until now!

Mommy and her precious pain in the butt kids.

Oakley is the little drummer boy on Christmas morning.

PURCHASED a house in Vernon

2007-01-10T15:17:00.000-08:00

Ginny and I have found that everywhere except Quesnel and Winnipeg housing prices are WAY higher than Ladysmith. It's hard to let our new home go but obedience is better than sacrifice. We feel God totally helped us purchase this home. We found a home in 2 days!

Our home is on 11th Ave in Vernon. Not much available but we definitely bought the best house available in our price range. It's 4 bedrooms, with an ensuite bathroom off the master, 3 full bathrooms, downstairs is partially unfinished, on Middleton Mountain, dishwasher, fenced yard, built in Vaccum, laminate floors upstairs, Central Air (aka air conditioning), 1,700-1800 sq feet, etc.

You should of seen the other houses available...unbelieveable that people don't clean up before they show a home. We got the house that when we drove up Ginny felt, "This is our new home." I don't mess with her because the last time she said that we were on the plane to Edmonton for an interview and Ginny said to me, "I think we are going to end up in Vernon."

The house needs LOTS of paint and a new kitchen, we need a washer/dryer and hopefully we can get new furniture but who knows. But get this, with the unfinished part of the basement I am going to make it into a sports room. Canuck blue walls with massive Seahawks, Chargers and Canucks symbols and one day a massive HD LCD TV.

Hoping to move in on Feb 1st. Depends if we get the people who bought our home in Ladysmith to move up the deal to the 1st.

We video taped what the home looks like inside and out and if you stop by we would love to show it to you.

MOVING to Vernon

2006-12-28T21:46:00.000-08:00

Yes it's true we are moving to the metropolios of Vernon (50,000 compared to Ladysmith's 8,000 is big time...right everything is massive compared to L-town except Chemainus [3,000].)

On Feb 1st 2007 I will beginning as the Associate Pastor at Alexis Park Church in Vernon, BC. My main responsibilities will be Youth and Young Families as I help with the direction and vision of the church.

I am excited to be working with Pastor Eldon Schultz and his wife Marilyn. He was at Elim Tabernacle in Saskatoon, Sask for 8 years (working with Shawn Chapman). Eldon is 60 years old and perfect to help rebuild this church. I have heard nothing but great things about him. Ginny and I are also very excited to be working with Pastor Jesse Vandermeulen who is the music pastor at APC. We all went to Bible College together and we know Jesse is a humble, kind hearted, and very talented man who loves God.

We are excited about moving to Vernon and nervous at the same time. We desire to see great things happen in our church and in our community. We desperately need the Lord to do His work. Without Jesus we can do nothing of significant value.

We are going to miss all our youth, friends, and church family in Ladysmith. We will come and visit. We know that God has great things in store for all of them. And with our youth we are pleasantly pleased to announce that Pastor Kevin Jansen will be the new Youth Ministries Pastor @ Bethel. Kevin is a friend of mine (whom I did recommend to Pastor Rob) who will do great things in our church. He's about 26 yrs old, single (calling all single, normal, Christian women), and originally from Winnipeg (don't hold it against him). He just resigned at Elim Tabernacle in Saskatoon Sask working with Shawn Chapman. Wierd PAOC circle eh? Kevin starts Feb 1st. Go Janzen you are going to be great!

This new adventure for our family has lots of great perks. Living in the Okanagan ...hello! It's going to be nice to be near two amazing lakes and eating fresh fruit. We have incredible friends in the area like the Rakoczy's (Kelowna) and the Toews (Enderby...bad guys living in the same area, Lord help us all). Great golfing...Kenny let me drive the golf cart (ask Chapman I am really good at it - 4x4). We are looking for a home that has 4 bedrooms so many people can visit. One thing we learned with selling our house is God has our new home in mind and we do not have to worry.

Larry Bouwman - Thank God for a miracle

2006-12-09T10:49:00.000-08:00

This week has been an emotional roller coaster ride. Ginny’s dad Larry went from being totally fine to being rushed to the Intensive Care Unit at Lions Gate hospital in Vancouver over the span of 1 week. With over 15 tubes running into his body, a ventilator machine, and being watched 24 hrs a day, it didn’t look good. We were definitely preparing for the worst but hoping and most of all praying for a miracle. Ginny, her sisters, Uncle Bill and Auntie Barb and of course Ginny’s mom stayed in Vancouver most nights.

Seeing their dad like that was so difficult. It was hard not to think of the worst. Lots of tears, concern and, thankfully support. This is the reason for this posting, we just want to say a HUGE Thank You for all your love and most of all prayers. We needed a miracle. And I am so thankful to God that He answered a big Yes to our prayers.

I know God is able I just wasn’t sure if it was in His plan. Today they are talking about sending him back to the Squamish hospital to be monitored. The antibiotics are finally working. Ginny’s dad is not only awake but sitting up and joking around. He’s still on the road to recovery but things are super positive. And when you are walking in the valley of the shadow of death positive is life giving.

We just want to give praise to whom praise is due and that is Jesus Christ. We had people receiving visions and words of encouragement. One said they were reminded about the creation of the world where the Holy Spirit hovered over the waters and that the Holy Spirit was hovering over my father-in-law. Another had an image of Larry with family at Christmas. And another in the middle of the night felt God speak to her, “I am the Lord that healeth thee. By My stripes you are healed.”

One thing I do know is my mother-in-law will have the best Christmas ever.

Here is a quick explanation of what happened to Larry: An infection started in a disc in Larry’s lower back. We don’t know how the infection entered his body, or why it decided to manifest in his back. The staff infection became so strong that it entered the blood & was circulated throughout the entire body. It started attacking organs & deteriorating his lungs. (hence the reason for the breathing machine). We are so thankful that the infection did not attack the heart or brain. Throughout his sickness my Dad’s vital signs were always strong. The Doctor told our family that if he was not such a healthy man, we would have lost him. They were able to fight the infection with VERY strong doses of antibiotics. Dad will be on these drugs for another 6-8 weeks.

House is SOLD!

2006-11-23T17:30:00.000-08:00

You are going to love this story. We decided to put our house on the market. No problem right? Well on our 2 streets there are 10 houses for sale every where from 2 yrs old to brand new so it is definitely a BUYERS market right now in L town. The day we listed our house, our realtor got a call from the realtor who is representing the house 3 doors down across the street asking what our listing price was. It turned out it was the exact same price as theirs and that house has been on the market on and off since June so they immediately dropped the price by $15,000. Not only that but there is a brand new house on the other street for only $5,000 higher than ours (bigger and nicer). So here we are in November trying to sell our house having no ministry position to go to just options. A few people come and look at the house but zero offers.

Then one morning Ginny knew some people where going to look at the house. She was tired and didn’t want to clean the house to perfection but she felt God say to her, “Go and clean the house you are going to sell it today.” So instead of going for a nap she cleaned the house and baked cookies (mmm the smell of fresh baked cookies). The people came through and made an offer that day. It was for only $2,000 less than what we were hoping for. Our realtor (who is a Christian) said he felt it was a God thing. We accepted and the subjects came off yesterday. Praise the Lord!

I was thinking about it last night. I have been praying that God would direct us and give us peace about the right church for us. As my thoughts were directed at the selling of our house after only being on the market for a week and a half (the only one to sell so far)…it was like God said, “See I am taking care of you.” I know he’s got a place for us it’s just nice when he speaks and reminds us he’s in total control.

Look What I Can Do!!

2006-11-11T16:00:00.000-08:00

Stuart. I’m sure you’ve all heard of him. He’s the funny character who acts on “Mad TV”. His famous line is: “Look what I can do!!” Well, Stuart has arrived at the Kempner household only it sounds something like this:

“Watch! Watch Mommy, Watch!!” this phrase is usually followed by Oakley pushing a car on the coffee table, or waving his arms in the air, or jumping on the spot, or hitting a puck with a hockey stick, etc. He does nothing special. It’s actually quite boring & extremely irritating.

Yesterday after hearing for the One hundredth time, “watch mommy, watch” I finally snapped. I did the unthinkable. I was a horrible mother & said, “Oakley, I really don’t care if you can crash two cars together. I don’t think it’s exciting & I’m tired of you making me watch you do stupid things”.

As soon as I said it the thought came crashing into my brain…. Is this what God thinks of me? How many times has He heard, “Watch God - I’m making dinner for the family down the street” or “Watch God - I’m teaching my kids about you, aren’t I great?” Or how about, “Look at me God - I’m leading worship & it sounds really good – people are even raising their hands!”

What does God think about these “extra special” tasks we think we’re performing? Is that what we’re doing? Are we performing? Am I looking for recognition? Do I want Brownie badges, stars on my sheet, a special scratch ‘n’ sniff sticker that I used to get in Kindergarten for doing a good job?

We all crave attention but making dinners for families in need, teaching my children to know Christ, or using my gifts are what is required of me as a follower of Jesus Christ. These responsibilities don’t call for recognition from God, although honestly, I do crave it.

Thankfully we serve a God who looks at us like I look at Oakley. Deep down inside I am proud of him even if he is irritating. I’m thankful that he loves me & wants me to be proud of him.

Jesus loves me the same way & he responds to me the way I usually respond to Oakley when he asks me to watch:
“Yes, daughter, I see that. Great job! You’re amazing….”

Here's a little update on what Oakley can do:

Look, I can get my hair cut!

Look! I've peed on the potty 3 times now!

Halloween Chaos

2006-11-08T09:51:00.000-08:00

Oakley, stop crying & put on your costume. It's Halloween & we're having fun... ...this is a picture of Oakley (the elephant) & his cousin Ryker (the spider) on Halloween. As you can see they were both so excited to wear their costumes. We were able to get this one quick photo before they both fell to the floor screaming "OFF!!!". "If you keep your costumes on we can go get candy!!". My sister & I desperately try to convice the children of the benefits to dressing up. Unfortunately we are both so anal that our kids hardly know what candy is.
All the while sweet little Rebekah sits there with her cute bunny hat posing for pictures.
We eventually did get Oakley outside (Ryker opted to stay home). Once on the street we couldn't get Oakley to come back home. He finally caught the jist of this trick or treat thing. "Oakley - are you ready to go home now?"... "NO!!". Of course it was freezing & windy (Rebekah got wind burn on her little cheeks). Once at home Daddy had the great idea of letting Oakley suck a sucker on my side of the bed. I think the sucker went everywhere except his mouth!

The next morning I woke up soaked from leaking breast milk. I brought Rebekah into bed & she peed through her clothes. I desperately wanted to change our sheets, but had an early morning showing (as our house is for sale), & didn't have the time. I quickly made our bed & left the house thinking I'll have to change them later. That night I crawled into bed at 12am so thankful to finally catch some sleep when I realized I forgot to change the sheets...

"Welcome to motherhood" I thought, I'm sleeping on crusty breast milk, baby pee, & sticky sucker - nice.

Ever been NERVOUS, SAD, & EXCITED at the same time?

2006-10-22T23:07:00.000-07:00

As you may or may not have heard. I have resigned as the Assistant Pastor at our church in Ladysmith.

We have had 8 fantastic years here. We are sad to go. We are going to miss our youth, friends, and church family immensely. My last day in the office is on Thurs Nov 30th. We could be in Ladysmith till the end of January or until something comes up.

We are nervous about what is next. But God knows and we fully trust Him. We have had some decent options but haven't had God's peace about them yet.

We are excited about the new adventure God has for us. Please pray for us during this time of transition.

We will definitely miss our young people. It's been a pleasure to be apart of their lives. Some of the greatest people in the country live in Ladysmith.

There are moments

2006-09-20T23:13:00.000-07:00

After reading the Cyr's blog and laughing so hard (entitled Why my kids will be guests on Dr. Phil ). I wanted to share this story with you.

Honestly at night after a long day with the Oakster I miss Oakley. I want to wake him up and start to play with him. He's just so cute and fun to be with. I felt that way until last night when Oakley decided to wake up @ 1 AM and wants to go downstairs...so being a dumb dad here we go. He doesn't want to sleep on the couch as usual he wants to eat yogurt, watch Tree house, and take out the cars to play. It felt like it was 10 AM FULL of energy. Every time I said Oakley it's nigh night time and daddy’s tired and wants to go to bed, let's go...he starts flipping out (like temper tantrum). So I bring him upstairs and he's just losing it...wakes up Ginny and she asks "What's wrong?" and I am explaining how he's going nuts and I am exhausted as I lay him on the bed and he stops crying and puts the covers over himself and wants to go to sleep. AHHHHHHHH. I would never hurt him but sometimes as parents the thought crosses your mind.

4 NEW pictures

2006-09-13T12:32:00.000-07:00

We haven't updated our pictures in quite a while. So by popular demand (cough Ronnda & Larina) and threats here they are. So for the safety of my life and no one looking at our blog any more...here are our amazing children. We aren't biased are we? Every parent is irrational about their own kids. Proven fact...I just proved it.

Finally Ginny captured this picture of Rebekah smiling. At this age people (Marvin Dynna) say that it's only gas but we captured it and nobody will ever know...dang! I just told the world. Forget the whole gas comment I was just kiddin.

Here is Oakley mowing the lawn with our next door neighbour Carl. He LOVES lawnmowers (loves is an understatement).

I love this black & white picture of my two favourite girls. My lovley lover Ginny and my little princess Becca.

Ginny took this awesome picture the other day. His hair is wild and we love it. He's been a blast and a pain in the butt lately. So blessed to have these kids...especially when they sleep.

Does God still heal today?

2006-09-03T01:54:00.000-07:00

This summer our friend Trisha Gieni had been diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis. Rheumatoid Arthritis is when your body’s immune system is attacking your joints and doctors don’t know why it does that. Usually this condition happens to older people and being 20 yrs old the doctors were shocked and really concerned. She visited two doctors and one specialist. They took test after test. She thinks she got 16 blood tests.

The doctor’s solution was that Trisha would just have to live with this condition. They put her on medication just to help with the pain and gave her some exercises to do.
Trisha determined that God would heal her. She talked to and emailed her friends and let them know what was going on.
People responded well. People emailed prayers, prayed with her over the phone, prayed over her during the prayer ministry time here at Bethel, our worship team prayed over her, she went forward at Teen Camp for prayer and of course her family gathered around her at home for to ask God for a healing.
When this condition came upon her she would have pain in her wrists, fingers, hips, knees, shoulders, toes, ankles, etc. There was one time where she couldn’t walk for 2 days. Another time her body was embodied for 3 hrs straight. She couldn’t work. Even in the midst of her toughest days Trisha just felt that it wasn’t going to last and she would be healed. She said there was so much prayer that it was evitable that she would be healed.
One day she just felt better even healed. She went to the specialist and told him she didn’t feel pain anymore. She professed that she was now pain free and hadn’t been taking her medication for 2 weeks.
Of course the specialist sent her for some more tests. All the tests came back negative to RA and she has been healthy ever since. So of course the specialist thought maybe she had picked up a bug overseas. Trisha had been in England during the last school year and her ministry team went to Malta (where Paul was shipwrecked in the Bible) doing missions for a month. And somehow Trisha had gotten a bug.
But when you ask Trisha, “So what do you think happened?” she responds, “Something was obviously wrong with me. Either I had RA and was healed or had some kind of bug and was healed.” Trisha really feels that God has touched her life and brought a healing to her body. Praise the Lord!

Black & White Picture

2006-08-22T09:15:00.000-07:00

This is a picture of Oakley and I at Gavin and Becky Brisco's wedding. Oakley was the ring bearer. He carried a bear bigger than him down most of the aisle before coming to dad. My eyes have been coloured but the photographer said, "those are Oakleys natural eyes". We love his eyes and this picture. Thanks Brian you the man and a great photographer!

Children Resting With Dad

2006-08-11T18:45:00.000-07:00

Here's a new picture of our family. Just resting from a LONG night after Rebekah was up. Of course I was sleeping. Hey I don't have the baby equipment needed in the night. Okay I was still up just playing Halo 2 with Andrew and John. On my holidays too.

***Oakley update: He just loves his baby sister. He can count to 6 sometimes. He knows what babies say "Gaga Googoo". Pee's on the floor not on the potty. He loves to dance to most music always loved Manafest (check his website out www.manafest.ca). In his daily sports quiz he still knows every sport (learned that from his mom...jj). In the above picture doesn't Oakley's diaper look huge?

Perfect Family?

2006-08-09T01:49:00.000-07:00

I have heard this term given to our family about 10 times since Rebekah has been born...you have a PERFECT FAMILY.

Really? We have reached perfection! Finally we reached Nirvana. See this is where the Mormons have gone wrong it's not how many kids you have as long as you have one boy and one girl. Does it have to be in that order? So are you telling me that since Ginny came from a family of 3 girls and I came from a family from 3 boys we weren't perfect? Or am I just reading into this statement too much?

I know I am striving for perfection and will become perfect like God is perfect when I get to heaven but it feels good to reach perfection so early in our earthly life. For all you imperfect people out there...sucks to be you! Just joking.

Want to read something God wrote to us?

2006-08-06T08:39:00.000-07:00

God wrote:
"For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb.

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.

My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place.

When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body.

All the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be."

Psalm 139:13-16

BIG BROTHER little sister

2006-08-06T08:28:00.000-07:00

We are pleasantly surprise that Oakley loves to hold and kiss his little sister Rebekah. He points and says, "Baby."

We are finding Rebekah to be adorable. So tiny but just precious.

Ginny is doing great. A little sore of course but in great spirits. She is an incredible mother. Sometimes we think this is the dream child so far. When Oakley was 3 WEEKS he slept for the 1st time 3 hrs in a row! Rebekah did that the first night sleeping 6 hrs straight. She sleeps a lot but we don't mind because we had our share of late nights with Oak. Rebekah is a little nocturnal sleeping a ton in the day and up hanging out after midnight. I guess it's all apart of being a parent.

It's a GIRL!

2006-08-03T16:36:00.000-07:00

We are proud to introduce to you our beautiful baby GIRL:

REBEKAH JOY KEMPNER.
Born in Nanaimo, BC
August 3rd 2006 2:15 PM
8 pds 2 oz 21.5 inches long

We arrived at the hospital at 4 AM and Ginny was amazing...if you want more details about the delivery just ask us later. My wife is such a strong woman. She's feeling great. We are so pumped we finally got a baby girl. The heart rate was so low we were thinking it's a boy.

Rebekah has blue eyes...dark hard and she looks just like Oakley did. Not as big of a cone head but eyes wide open and so cute. We are truly blessed by God. 10 fingers and toes and completely healthy.

We had the whole gang in the delivery room. Me, Glenda (Ginny's mom), Larina & Ronnda (Ginny's sisters), Milissa Ewing (Ginny's best friend since 3), and Larry her dad was in the lobby sleeping.

Ginny will be in the hospital tonight and will probably be released tomorrow afternoon.

What an phenomenal experience...there is NO way someone can say there is no God. God your a wonderful maker and we are amazed by you. Thanks for everything. We love you.

Water Broke!

2006-08-02T22:23:00.000-07:00

Okay so tonight at 10:10 PM Ginny's water broke! BUT she isn't having contractions. SO tomorrow at 10:45 AM she already has a doctor's appointment. So if she doesn't get major contractions tonight or early morning the doctor will diagnose her.

I am SO excited maybe a little Rebekah or a little Jacob! Can't wait to see you little one!

Pray for us eh?

No baby yet

2006-07-30T14:11:00.000-07:00

Here we are July 30th the due date of our new baby and Ginny is still prego. Will the baby come today? Will it be in a week or will Ginny be induced on Aug 9th? Who knows. Babies come when they are good and ready. Only God knows for sure. Please be praying that this will be a good and healthy delivery and of course a healthy baby. But most of all pray that our children would grow up to love God with every part of their lives and that they would love others. Thanks.

Welcome to The Kempner's Blog

2006-07-23T21:10:00.000-07:00

Since it's the summer we wanted to show you our great little sports fan OAKLEY. He loves hockey and football the most. We will let you know when #2 arrives.