30 Glorious Years

Michael Paine turned 30 today!  He was born on 8:47am in Culver City weighing 4lbs 14oz.  He had big blue eyes and blonde hair.  He hasn't changed a bit, well maybe besides weighing 4lbs 14oz!  I can't describe how heavy the Lords presence has been on the planning, preparing and executing of Michael's birthday celebration.  This process has reminded me of our Heavenly Fathers desire to be involved in the details, even silly birthday scavenger hunts.   I really cannot take credit for the events that have involved his birthday I would like to think I am really creative but I have to give the person who knows Michael the best the credit, his Abba.  One afternoon it was particularly clear in Shell Beach and I felt this pull to hike the ridge.  As I was climbing higher and higher I began to pray for Michael and intertwined with prayer and holy spirit ingenuity ideas began to come for Michael's birthday, thus leads me to his birthday.  Come along with us as we take you through senior Michael's big day! 

Friday evening I planned a romantic five course meal titled Michael's Birthday Specials for two.  Under a starry filled sky and the glow of candles around us we satiated our palettes into the night.  Later in the evening a few friends came over and we all lifted up Michael in prayer covering him in the Lords blessing and praising the Lord for this life he has made.  There were several things the Lord really spoke to my heart about Michael when I was praying.  One was Michael is a picture of David in a lot of ways.  He is a warrior, a leader, a freedom seeker, joyful like a child, extreme, and a man after Gods own heart.  I am honored to be Michael's provision in this lifetime:) 

Saturday morning we woke up to some home cookin french toast.  Michael wanted to open one of his gifts, a book with over 50 people who love Michael with written memories, encouragement, prayers, and pictures (Thank you!!)  We brought it on our Scavenger Hunt to over 30 places on the central coast from Orcutt to San Luis Obispo.  I chose some of my favorite photo's of the day.  The Hunt ended with Michael putting a puzzle together (30 pieces) of a photograph from his brother and sisters laws flat in Hong Kong.  The last gift a surprise plane ticket to Hong Kong to stay with some of the people he loves the most Jason, Christine, and Josiah!! 

Birthday Dinner at our House 

Our Romantic 5 course Meal

The Menu

Set the Mood 

"The Book" thank you everyone for writing such beautiful messages!! 

The first Paine residence on the central coast

the old AG pharmacy 

Oceano Sand Dunes

Michael has spent many times out on the dunes running and praying

Bernardos now Doc Bernsteins 

New Mascot, "Michael Paine" 

He worked here when he was 17, new poster child for Klondikes

Judkins Middle School, trying to break into his old locker

Our morning bible study stomping grounds 

Pismo Heights Star Gazing hill

TJ's where I knew I wanted to marry Michael 

Sea Canyon 

Shell Beach

the end of the scavenger hunt Michael had to crack the puzzle

Hong Kong here he comes!!!

Christmas

Daley Ranch, Escondido

Matt gave me the honors of blowing the flowers for our photo shoot

Lucky Lady

Paine Boys

Grandma's 90th birthday lunch "she insisted on the gyro's!"

the birthday girl, going strong

We had a full two weeks in Southern California this Christmas and New Years. We spent a few days with my family before christmas tying last minute details together for the holiday while avoiding the crowds at the malls. One of my families traditions is to go out christmas eve for a fish dinner and to come home and open one gift. Of course one gift usually leads to a couple more as my excitement heightens as I see each expression of gratitude and surprise as each gift is open. Michael and I usually try and bless my parents with a date they have never been on before, this year we got them tickets to Cirque De Solei! Christmas morning we enjoyed homemade cinnamon rolls and had brunch with my family. We ended up bringing in the New Year with my parents as well and of course Michael ran outside at midnight with the rest of the high schoolers on the block, hooing and hollering :)

The second week of our trip was with the Paine's in Oceanside. Michael's oldest brother Matt flew in from Denver and we pretty much harassed him the whole time:) Matt has a witty and sarcastic sense of humor which I play off of a lot! We enjoyed a lot of family time together and had several classic moments.
-singing Happy Birthday to Jesus & fighting as to who would blow out candles

-gerry decking herself out in her biking gear for our bike ride along San Luis River to Oceanside Beach

-the Paine's overtaking the Flores's on our Sunday Soccer Tourney

-Matt always having an opinion about the movies we watched (he actually left one time because he thought it was so bad, lol)

-the Paine boys devouring an entire cake, 2 dozen cookies, and a 9x12 pan of gerry's jello dessert

-grandma turning 90 and still being as feisty as ever. At one point this very handsome elderly man came into her party and I asked her if that was her boyfriend. She looked over yonder and said, "which one?"

-scrabble slam most nights

-Hiking Daley Ranch

Thank you family for being such a blessing in our lives. It never feels like quite enough time together:) The Paines were missed in Hong Kong this year!

Majesty

Cozy

the storm

morning after the storm

holly berries 

our drive down the mountain

Our friends invited us back in June to go to Lake Tahoe with them over December.  But because of the packing and unpacking of our lives for five months we decided it wouldn't be the best time.  Yet when they asked us again four days before they were leaving the spontaneous species that Michael is could not say no.  After rearranging some plans and Michael looking over his work and school responsibilities we decided why not go to Tahoe when the first storm of the season rolls in.   Warm fires, Good Earth Tea, scrabble, weight machines, sleds and tubes, snow boots and mittens, and of course an all you  can eat sushi dinner occupied our attention for the five days.   We are grateful for their friendship and love that we share the common bond of Jesus.

Tahoe snowed over 2ft while we were there and in the evenings would drop down to the single digits.   The heater was cranked to 70 degrees the whole time and I would have to look outside to remind myself where we were.  Being surrounded by snow capped peaks and forests satisfied my reverent heart towards the King and it seemed like all else slipped away amidst the white wonder.  Praise Him for his creation! 

Thanksgiving

Homemade Stuffin

The Cooks

Buffet Line

Dried Cranberry Sausage Stuffing, Green Bean Casserole, Mash potatoes, Yams

Turkey Secret: Cook it with the breast down so the white meat is more moist

Dining 

Last Day at Gopher Glen

the branch was longer than him! 

Stanley, our special thanksgiving guest

Michael, Mom, & Dad in Avila 

Traditionally thanksgiving is celebrated on Thursday, as a student you love the fact this  means more days off and more free time with friends.  As I have grown older I have began to appreciate more quality time with family, maybe it is the mere distance that makes me press into our short lived hours together as well as the paradigm shift from 'its all about me' as a teenager to the reality of my parents as humans having needs and desires just as I do.  Thanksgiving came to us this year in Shell Beach, which has always been a little dream of mine to host the family holiday, cooking and decorating to create the perfect cozy atmosphere.  Both sets of our parents came up from So Cal, but unfortunately the Paine's were sick the whole weekend so they didn't fully get to enjoy the holiday:( We were glad you were here though! We spent a lot of time enjoying the outdoors on several walks nestled in the oaks and along the beach.  We had dessert around the bond fire on our patio and watched Stanley as the entertainment while he got into mischief.  My goal was to cook everything from scratch and not be in the kitchen all day on Saturday.  With my moms help we managed 4 1/2 hours in the kitchen and I have to say I was very proud of the end result.  Sharing our thankful hearts this past year with over stuffed bellies ended the evening on a good note! 

If you are interested in any of the recipes I used, go to Real Simple Thanksgiving Recipes.   Looking forward to another Paine-Devlin Holiday!  

Jen's 24th Birthday

Let the party begin...

Our Patio

my friend Stephanie made this beautiful cake as a gift for my birthday

gorgeous

Jess & Angela both came up for my birthday, Thanks girls!

the day of my birthday, Santa Ynez river

Vineyard Adventure

Our Dinner

My Birthday was on the 18th and I because my husband is self-employed I got to spend the entire day with him! I woke up to some great surprise gifts from family and a note from Michael explaining how every hour I will pick a new note with a 'pet' name he calls me and why. By the end of the evening I was amazed and how he wrote out 20 names he actually uses (of course they are all edifying:) Our Bob Jones bike ride was not too inviting as the wind was swaying our palm trees from side to side. We opted to stay cozy indoors and enjoy blueberry coffee cake and coffee. On a whim we drove down to Santa Barbara to spend some of my birthday $$$$ and decided to add an adventure in the Santa Ynez vineyards. At one point we were running on the freeway overpass to take a picture of the Santa Ynez river (Michael's idea). The vineyards are a gorgeous warm yellow in the fall, and the picturesque rolling green hills add dramatic views on the 101. We enjoyed some planting in our front yard and then set off for a Thai dinner (it was quite the treat since we have only gone out to eat twice in the past two months). I felt truly loved and blessed by the Lord, my husband, and family and friends that day.

To add to the festivities, my friend Tara who also shares the same birthday, had a joint birthday bash on Saturday night. The theme was a night in Spain, and we enjoyed Tapas and Sangria. It was a great turn out and we all had a lot of fun. Michael put in some serious man hours on the patio before our guests arrived, so we all fully enjoyed the outdoor ambiance.

Friends

formally known as Brunette Brigade/ Ironbark Girls

the ranch

The beauty of prayer is we are praying to a God who hears us 1 john 5:14 And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us.  And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.  The difficult part in prayer is discerning what His will is for our lives.  As I search the scriptures more and more, observe the life of Jesus, and quiet my heart before the throne I can began to understand His good, perfect, pleasing will for my life.  

I believe the revelation of Christ in our lives has all been received in varying ways.  Some people accept Jesus in their heart as a young child who has grown up in the family of believers while others may be on their death bed contemplating the eternal happenings of their afterlife. For some they may have to wrestle with reason and logic while others simply embrace what is unseen and immeasurable in the heavenly realm.  Some may have exhausted all other life solutions finding themselves desperate for more, while others may quickly leave their fishing boat and follow Him.  None have an excuse Romans 1:20 For his invisible attributes namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in things that have been made.  So they are without excuse.  The revelation of Christ's, love, grace, and forgiveness came through four fifteen year old girls in my freshman English Composition Class.  My faith was simple to me, my friends did not seem of the world, they had a joy I had not seen before, and I wanted to be apart of it.  So for four years I had provision after provision in the family of believers encouraging and loving on me as I explored what it meant to follow Christ.  

My independent and passionate spirit soon led me on a journey away from everything that was familiar and comfortable, commonly known as college.  I knew before I left home I would need similar relationships with other sisters as I had before, in a sense even more so now as I was truly facing an Ungodly Culture.  I prayed every night in bed starting winter of 2004 of my senior year before I knew where I would go to college, "Lord please provide me girls I can connect with, encourage, love on, and have fun with in YOU."  I did not doubt it would be easy to find friends in general but to find the prayer I asked, would take the Lord. 1 Thess. 5:17 ...pray without ceasing. So I started my journey of 1 Thessalonians 5:17 until winter 2006 two years later.  

Meagan, Angela, Alexa, and Lauren the women in the photographs above are truly the faces of this prayer.  Amazing, He heard my cry, and answered in His time.  Patience, long suffering, and loneliness, were all things the Lord tested and tried me in and finally after seeming like centuries I entered into the blessing of friendship with these women.  Proverbs 17:7 A friend loves at all times could not reflect our relationships any better.  We have walked through some of the most painful and challenging times in our lives, worked through conflict and communication with one another, and spent some of the most memorable moments of college together.  But what I appreciate most about these friendships are we are bonded by the blood of Jesus.  We can come together, pray, admonish one another in truth and love, share our inmost thoughts, and find refuge. This was our second annual Brunette Brigade get together since we have been out of college. I love you ladies:) 

Friends & Fun

Knee-high white boots meets an melody  of daisies

Beckoning the young hipster blonde towards peace and love

Walking through the age worn ocean streets

Caught in a whirl wind of chocolate coated peanuts and carmel

Palettes satiated with all forbidden things

Garlic Chicken and white sauce, a Klondike Classic

 The race against time as oodles of synonyms fill the room

Refreshments of Pinot a top a Pint of German Beer

Dancing to ACDC and Michael Jackson

A las our phony identities fall asleep once again for the year