Thanksgiving

We got a wonderful surprise when GFA had offered to help Dave get home for Thanksgiving - we were soooo excited!! Of course there was much preparation to be done and the kids were very willing to help, well at least at first :)

Dave came in on Wednesday night and spent the whole Thanksgiving holiday with us. He left again on Monday to head back but we were so happy for the special time we had. Of course as the man of the house, he had to carve the yummy turkey ;)

We enjoyed a super yummy homemade dinner with a turkey that I brined which in my opinion is the best way to prepare a turkey!

We also enjoyed some family time which we so desperately needed!!

And we even were able to get a quick family photo - our first one in almost 2 years!! Crazy!

14 years and counting....

Dave and I do not really get to go on a date very often. As a matter of fact, the kids and I were talking about it the other day that it has been over 2 years since we have hired a babysitter. Crazy, I know!! We decided that for our 14th anniversary (which was September 6th - yes, a very late post, I know) that it would be wonderful to do one last little getaway before we headed to GFA (which happened a lot sooner than we thought, more on that later).

We have been blessed with a couple of wonderful neighbors here and they were very willing to watch our kids over the long Labor Day weekend while we went away.

We decided to rent a cabin in Tennessee which was gorgeous! It truly was an amazing time together and something we so desperately needed :). Little did we know that it would last much longer than a weekend. About our 3rd climb up the mountain our lovely powerful GMC Yukon XL would struggle to make it's way up. I remember Dave saying that all these little tiny cars were passing us to go up the mountain and how he felt so silly that here he was in the big truck and it couldn't make it ;).

Well, if you remember earlier in this post, it was Labor Day weekend. Yep you guessed it - not a mechanic in sight (or for that matter out of sight) was open. I had a friend in the area who I had not seen in years but was thinking it would be nice to stop by - A huge thank you goes out to Tanya and Dave for not just allowing us to stop by but for them helping to try and get the truck fixed since by this time, it could not even make it up a driveway :(. Unfortunately after some work by Dave and Dave, the truck was still not working correctly. We decided to say thank you and head on our way to try and rent a car and wait to take the car to a mechanic on Tuesday since there were none open until then.

Dave and I traveled about 25mph in the truck to the nearest rental car place but wouldn't you know it? They had closed early for the holiday. By this time, we were at a loss - the closest rental car place open was at the airport and that was over 45min away and that was traveling the speed limit. Sweet Dave and Tanya got a phone call once again and they were more than willing to help. We dropped the truck off at a shop to sit until Tuesday and Dave drove us to the airport to pick up our rental.

But wait, the kids????? and the dog????? Since the kids were staying at a neighbor's house, they were coming home to take care of Samson. What now? Pat and Kim (our neighbors) had to work on Tuesday and their kids had school. Another phone call to our friends who we know homeschool and our kids were taken care of. And the dog, another call to another neighbor and Samson was all set too.

Oh, there was still this little problem of where we were going to stay since we were supposed to leave the cabin Monday -- another call and a huge discount and a couple more days and the our cabin remained ours!

In all of this, I struggled. What was God doing? Were we wrong in being selfish and wanting to spend time together? As we sat and prayed, it wasn't about us (and I thank my husband of 14 years for showing that to me). God had orchestrated all of this for something He had planned, something we would have never known about if it were not for our truck breaking down. He allowed me to have a friend in the area that even though we had not seen each other in over 20 years, they were willing to show love and friendship to us. He gave us neighbors and friends that were selfless and willing to help. He did not allow the cabin to be booked for the extra days that He knew we needed it. It is in these times that we need to know, none of this happend by coincidence - we know and serve a God who is sovreign in ALL things!! A lesson I for sure needed to learn and realize it's not always about me!

In the end, it wound up being the catalytic converter that broke on the truck and it was fixed and we came home on Wednesday - 2 days later than planned but I praise God because those 2 days mean the world to me now and God knew it and why we needed it even before we did! As it turned out, just 2 months later Dave would leave for GFA without us (more on that later).

This post would not be complete without a huge thank you to our neighbors and friends -- The Johnson's, Mrs. Cookie Lindsay, The Henderson's, and of course Dave and Tanya!

Playing catch-up...

Well, I will try to compile a post that incorporates the last few weeks of October as well as the beginning of November (I mean I cant rightfully start the New year without finishing up 2011, can I? :P)

We did not expect the call we got in October to put the house on the market and get ready to come to GFA. In a matter of a week, the house was up for sale - crazy, I know but we had been landscaping and preparing knowing that one day this would come :)

The rest of October and November consisted of a bunch of meetings for us for support-raising. We spoke at our own church, traveled to a church in Seabrook Island, SC, also spoke at a church in Aiken, SC, and went to Tennessee and spoke at a church there. We were also thrilled to be a part of a large missions conference in Myrtle Beach as well. I think it was more of a blessing to us than we were to them ;). God is good and has continued to raise our support and we give Him all the glory.

A few weeks after the first call to put the house on the market, we received another call from our mentors and leaders at GFA that they really needed Dave there to help in the IT department. After much prayer and consideration, we knew this was God's leading. On November 9th, without me or the kids in tow, Dave made the long 17 hour journey to Carrollton, TX to work in the home office at Gospel for Asia. The kids and I wait here for the house to sell and then we will join him there. I resigned from my job in the neonatal ICU on November 17th and now am a stay at home mom to the kids. I continue to seek out churches and pastors and schedule more meetings for support since we are not 100% supported yet.

Please continue to pray for us as it is hard being away from each other but we know this is God's calling on our lives and we just want to do our part to help bring others to Him even if that means a small sacrifice on our part.

So as you can see, it has been a whirlwind the last few months and that is why this blog has suffered. For the one or two of you that actually may read it, thanks for being patient with me ;).

A special visit to our door!

We love homeschooling - sure it has not been easy at times but we have had a lot of fun this year doing it. There are some great benefits that can occur when you homeschool, like having the kids be able to go to the door one special morning (note, Kira is still in her pj's) and get a surprise visit from some of the locals in the area. It was great fun and the kids had a blast feeding the baby ducks. Who needs textbooks when you have a whole world of learning right outside your door? (Actually, I desperately need the textbooks, just was having some fun with ya :P)

Has it been this long?????

Yes, I know the blog has been severely neglected for quite sometime but I can guarantee there have been a lot of fun and crazy stuff going on that I will post about soon! Check back later for the latest and greatest in the Bernetich happenings.

Homeschooling in the morning, Fun in the afternoon...

I cannot begin to tell you how much I love being with my kids and being able to have the privilege to homeschool them this year. The neat thing is that we do have a rigid yet flexible schedule that we can tweak to fit our needs. It's great because we have been able to show the kids that they can work extra hard during the week and then have a "free treat day". It has worked wonders for their work ethic :). I decided to take them down to a new park and pier that was recently built to just enjoy the sunshine and warm weather, especially since the kids were excited and started school in July.

This was kind of crazy and fun. There was a woman fishing off the pier and caught a shark - yes, a shark. It was just a little one but was a really neat treasure to see. Of course she released it since it was not a tasty treat for her family but it was still a pretty cool thing to see :)

And this one is just one I love of the 2 of them - just them being them :)

Beach Trip

This summer we made it to the beach a number of times and truly had a great time. I love the beach - there is something about the salty air, the warmth of a summer breeze, and jumping into the waves. I love it and it seems we have passed on the love to our children. We were able to be blessed and go to the beach with a number of families from our church and had a blast! The moms chatted and laughed while the kids ages from 6-17 played in the sand. I think the highlight of the day was playing football in the sand with all the kids and adults. Andrew was a stinker - that little kid can dodge in and out of people so quick, maybe we do have a football player on our hands. By the end of the day, everyone was telling me we have to get him into football :). Anyway, enjoy the pics - none of the adults, not really sure why, but a few of the kids. Oh, and check out Andrew's mermaid - cute :)

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