Joyce Meyer Conference

Thank You to all of You who donated for my trip to the Joyce Meyer Conference!  I had an amazing time.  I went not knowing anyone really well, but had the opportunity to meet a lot of the woman, and interns and get to know them. I had so much fun spending time with them.  Joyce Meyer brought the word!  Pressing in and Pressing on was her message, and oh how it ministered to me : )  It went on Thurs. night, Fri. Morning, Fri. night, and Sat. Morning.  On our drive there we took the 1, so I had a beautiful view of the ocean the whole way there, and got to pass through Malibu for my first time.  Everyday, us ladies went to eat together, and oh that was so much fun.  I did not know almost all of the ladies beforehand, but we had so much fun! I am so thankful that I know all of them now, they were all so wonderful.  Pastor Becky is absolutely amazing,  she is so much fun and I am so, so, so thankful to have her in my life.  That wasn't the end of my weekend though, it continued to be amazing.  It was members Sunday where they welcome all the new members and have you go up to the front and cheer.  Felt so loved with all our screams (Thanks Interns : ) )  What followed that?  YES! AN AMAZING MESSAGE BY PASTOR JUDE!  After that we had hot dogs outside and Pastor Jude came and hung out with a few of us at our table, and well, lets just say  Adam and I feel incredibly blessed to have such amazing Pastors!  Funny, and full of Wisdom.  Oh I almost forgot, we led Worship at GC last week.  GC stands for (Generation Church)  the service for ages 12-25. It was such an amazing service.  As we were praying for the service I felt the Lord say "I will move"  and Wow!  It was such an amazing time,  people were staying just wanting to continue worshipping and I think they would have stayed for a long time, but I had to go pick up the kids, and Adam had to go to work.  God is so good!  So yes I have had an amazing week, ( oh except for my nightmare coming true. I double scheduled 2 jobs on the same day and had to be at 2 places at once : (  and yes I had really had a nightmare that I did that and than I really did haha)  It all worked out though : ) Oh did I already mention that to you all that I got another job?  If I did not, well than here it is, I got a job cleaning a Yacht.  When people check out I clean it and change sheets, towels etc...  It is really nice so if you ever come visit you can rent it.  Ok, well I am tired after my wonderful weekend so I am going to go get ready for bed.  Thank You again to all of you who blessed me with money so that I could go.  I couldn't have asked for a better birthday weekend.
Courtney Rivera

Katy friends heres an update...

Ok, So I know It's been a long time, and I know I never spell check these before I post them, but I am just gonna give you a quick update.  Adam found a job at a steakhouse, he has been working for the past 3 weeks.  I also got a part time job about 2 weeks ago cleaning at the church.  I also just started on Wednesday Nannying for a few hours.  Praise the Lord that we have some income now!  If you want something to pray for, pray for full time hours for Adam.  We are thankful to have income, but could use more hours.  So rewind a few weeks.  The girls started school at College heights, the private school at the church, and I have to say ITS THE BEST SCHOOL EVER.  Joy is memorizing scriptures, reading her Bible, and Praying everyday.  Oh and on her own, because she wants to!  Faith loves school as well, she is learning so much, sings us her songs, and oh so amazing to see her lifting her hands and dancing in Chapel.   About 2 weeks ago we got the opportunity to lead worship for Chapel for the school.  It was so amazing to see all of the kids worshipping.  Oh and what a blessing that they get to hear at Chapel about messages of the Love Jesus has for them.  I am so blessed by our school, and church! Last Sunday we went through members class,  we had encounter this weekend, and are also doing disciples class on Wednesdays.  We also had the opportunity to lead for Encounters Saturday Morning!  We are so blessed by The City Ventura!  We have made so many friends and are loving it!  So I'm sure you all know how much I love Joyce Meyer!  I am so excited that the women from our church are going to the Joyce Meyer conference October 13-15, with worship by Phil Whicham.  I really, really, really want to go, I think it would be a great opportunity for me to meet more women and further deepen the relationships I have made.  Plus I love Joyce Meyer, and really want to go : )  Did I mention my Birthday is in October haha.  Basically I would love to go, but it is an hour and a half away so there is a $75 cost for the hotel for 2 nights, plus gas money, and I would have to take 2 days off of work.  If any of you decide you would like to donate towards my hotel room, that would be a huge blessing.  Our current address is
Adam and Courtney Rivera
2180 Wankel Way #2115
Oxnard, CA 93030

Latest update.  Tim Key was here last week, and we had so much fun getting to see someone from home.  We went to Tim Keys Dads house and got to hang out with his family, went to eat with them, the beach, and just had a great time.  What a blessing it was.  We also went hiking and got to see a waterfall.  Our kids got a little tired, but they did great.  They were sad when we told them it was time for Tim to make his way to Bethel.  This week we registered the girls for school.  On wednesday they had a uniform exchange, and we were so blessed to be able to get almost all of Joys uniforms for free.  Our little Faith was too little for most of them, but we did find 2 skirts that I think we can take in.  That was so awesome that they had Joys perfect size.  We are so blessed to have a pool at our apartment also.  We spend a lot of time there.  It has been 2 months since i have been in a mall, last time i went was with Chelsea right before we left.  I miss all of my girls so much, love you all : )  I have made some young friends here to and we are going to have them over for a game night like we used to do with our youth back in katy! I can't wait.  We feel so blessed to be a part of our church family here.  Adam has made so many connections with men his age who love the Lord passionately.  I have met some wonderful ladies as well that I have plans to hang out with.  I am so excited for what the Lord is doing here in Ventura and Oxnard.  I do miss my friend Bobbie: )  Miss meeting at Chick fila and having our play dates, talking about motherhood, and sharing all the things going on in our lives and encouraging each other.  Well what else is new.  Joy turned 7! We had a birthday party for her at our pool, and we were so blessed to have everyone she invited show up!  The people are so loving and caring, and I am so excited to be a part of their lives.  I applied at starbucks in Vons (Its like a Kroger) and will start putting my application in more places since the girls start school in a month.  Faith will be entering jr-k, not to be mistaken with preschool, and Joy will be entering 2nd.  The school is intense, they said Joys may be a little behind, but should be fine as long as we work with her before school starts.  They have amazing teachers, and we know they are going to get an awesome education. We received a word about by our being obedient moving here our children will be blessed.  I know it true.  Pastor Jude and Becky are amazing, and just to see how their children love the Lord and passionately pursue Him is so encouraging. We have been wanting to know how our cd is doing on itunes, but still have not heard anything.  Just yesterday we received a card with some money from one of you out there : ) Thank You!  It is a huge help.  Ok, well thats about all I can think of right now.  We are getting ready to go to youth tonight, can't wait!  Love You All!

California

Let me start by saying, sorry it has been so long. I know many of you dont know any of our journey for the last month, so just to catch you up.  We left Katy Tx, on Monday June 13. It took us 14 hrs to make it to El Paso where we stayed with Adams Dad.  The next Morning we went to my Grandmas to visit, and after that we drove to Chicos to meet my sister for lunch.  On our way to Chicos we were sweating and it was so hot because our air stopped working.  We took our car to a mechanic after lunch, and sat there for 3 hrs to hear that it would cost $1100 to fix.  I suddenly remembered we bought the warranty when we bought it, so we called the Ford dealerships, and sure enough we did have it under warranty.  We were planning on leaving in the morning, but... they had to order the part from Phoenix, and so our 1 day El Paso trip, turned into a 3 day El Paso trip.  100 dollars vs 1100, I think it was worth the wait : ) We got our car back around 5pm and headed straight out to Tuscon where we stayed the night with our friend. The next morning we ate a great breakfast and headed to Indy? California I think, well What can i say about that trip, but due to our car being towed, the bumper was practically about to fall off lol.  Saturday rolled around and we headed to our new home.  Oh how I had been waiting, we were supposed to get here thurs and it was already saturday!  We made and it is so beautiful.  Cassia stopped by to visit us.  Our apartment is on the third floor, and there was NO WAY we could move our stuff up, so my wonderful husband found and add on craigslist and got us movers for $180 to move all our furniture up for us, when it was all moved in it was 6:30 pm so basically we opened up boxes just to find towels and clothes for sunday morning!  IT WAS WONDERFUL, I LOVE THE CITY CHURCH!! They were all so friendly, and after church Pastor Jude and Pastor Becky invited us over for lunch.  Oh yes, this Sunday was also Fathers day : ) Faith just fell in Love with Pastor Jude and his boys haha. They mentioned they were going to Disney Land the next day and invited us if we'd like to come, so we did.  It was Adam first time that he remembers, and the girls first time ever.  It was a wonderful time!  It is so big I'm not even sure we got to see a quarter of it but it was sooooo fun! The first week consisted of unpacking, hanging pictures etc... The next week consisted of Adam job searching and me helping with City Kids camp! There was 88 kids for there first camp ever!(Joy was one of them) It was perfect timing because they got to make some new friends. We went to the beach everyday of camp.  We also have a pool at our apartment so I think I have gone swimming and to the beach more this past 3 weeks than I have in the past 6 yrs. We have been changing our registration and plates, insurance, and all that other stuff that goes along with moving.  Looking forward to being completely settled in.  Monday we have to take our California Driving test, AHHH!! Just saying, they have weird roads over, you have to turn on a loop on the right to go left on the freeway? Doesn't make since to me.  Oh ya, and I really miss our Katy Walmart : ( Just wanted to give you all a quick update : ) Love Yall, The Lord is good all the time!

Our walk to the beach from Pastor Judes house on Fathers Day

DisneyLand!!

Its a Small World

Our couches fit!!!

Gorgeous

4th of July

Fun in our pool 

BIG NEWS!

This past Monday marked 2 weeks till we leave.  "Two weeks till we leave and we still don't know where we are going?".  I'm sure you can imagine that it was a pretty busy week apartment searching, and how difficult it is to find one.  Apparently you have to have a job to get an apartment or something, haha.  It was so busy, that I wouldn't have gotten any packing done, if some wonderful people hadn't come and helped me.  I would be sitting here, and still not have any boxes packed, but I had wonderful help. Melissa, Morgan, Charity, and Joy, were such a huge help. Well back to the apartments, our search was narrowed down to only one option.  The thing was we had never seen it in person, and didn't really know where it was or anything.  Turns out Tim Keys sister lives over there, so another huge blessing, we got her number and asked her if she could be our eyes and go check it out for us and take pics.  It all checked out, she sent us pics, and it was the nicest apartment we had seen, for the best price ( It was on special).  It is a lot bigger than we thought we were going to get, the kitchen is still big so i can fit my cake stuff, and it has 2 bathrooms.  Oh and did i mention it has a pool and gym in it too : )  The special only lasted until June 5, and than the price went back up by a lot, so what do you think we did.  Its officially ours tomorrow, even though we wont be in it or see it for 2 more weeks.  So 1 week and 3 days till we load our truck, we officially got an apartment!!!!!  As soon as we settle in I will get pics up, I am new at this so i don't know how to put pics on my blog, but I will make sure I figure it out.  Another blessing is since we are paying double rent for a while, we found out how to save on the drive there.  We will drive to El Paso and stay with Adams dad, and just recently had a friend move to Arizona who said we could stop there and stay also.  So our driving schedule will look like this, drive to EL Paso about 10 hrs, stay the night, spend the day visiting my niece Mercedes, my sister, and Adams dad. Stay tue night.  Wed afternoon drive to Tuscon Arizona a little less than 5 hrs i think, stay the night, and than wake up early and drive 8 and a half hours to get to our new place!  See I told you it was big news!

Unknown

I guess my title is unknown today, because I basically have no idea what I am about to write.  Its been a while, a lot longer than a week : )  The past few weeks have been incredibly full.  We have had about 6 things going on at the same time.  One being that we had our garage sale and have sold half our furniture.  Going to a place half the size of our house, we realized we couldn't take all of our furniture.  Boxes sitting in the attic and garage since my parents passed away have to be organized. The hard thing is, that there is so much old stuff, history, but I cant keep it, i wont have anywhere to put it, so yes i have spent about the past 2 weeks working in the garage sorting through things, deciding what is necessary to keep and what is not. I am so thankful for wonderful friends who have helped me sort through.  Julia found love letters from my great grandparents from 1904 and 1905.  Once the garage is done, than we can start with the normal packing.  We load the truck up June 12, and head out on the 13.  Still don't have a place to go, but I know the Lord has something planned for us.  I heard Joyce Meyer talking on tv about how the Lord called Abraham to go to a place unknown and I thought "That's what is happening with us".  A few days later while visiting with our amazing friends the Halls, they gave us some papers they found from David Wilkerson where he was talking about the same exact thing. Genesis 12 "Leave your country, your people and your fathers household and go to the land I will show you" It went on to say how Hebrews 11:8 says that Abraham was called to go to a place and obeyed and went even though he didn't know where he was going.  That is exactly how I feel.  I know He has said to go, so we will go. Like I heard it explained once "GPS are like God, all you have is the next step, as you follow it, He will give you the next step, and you just trust it will get you to your final destination".  I trust in the Lord!  It reminds me of 6 yrs ago when we moved here.  Adams work would not let him off to come interview, so he had to quit.  We believed this is where the Lord had us to go, so we went a few weeks without a job believing this was it.  We had to be out of our apartment in about a week and a half, and still didnt have a guaranteed place to go.  About a week before we had to be out, we got the call that we got the job here : ) As soon as we do find a place I will let you all know.  So excited for the move, but right now I AM SO EXCITED OUR CD IS ALMOST OUT!!!!! Pre orders at adamandcourtney.org.  God is so faithful.  A dream He birthed in our hearts is now coming to pass.  Ok yall, I can still say yall cuz I still live in tx for 3 more weeks haha.  I don't think I am going to read this over or do spell check so I am sure there will be tons of mistakes : ) I'll check it next time I write a blog, just got to go get my kiddos in bed.  If any new updates happen I will blog and let you know what they are.
Courtney

NO TURNING BACK!

This is the first time I am ever blogging, so forgive me if I don't do it properly lol.  I was telling my neighbor about everything we are getting ready to do, and she seemed so interested in knowing what was going to happen with us that she asked me to keep her informed through emails.  I figured if someone who just met me thought our upcoming journey would be so interesting, that many of you out there may think the same.  So here I am, drinking my caramel frappe from McDonalds, (which is absolutely amazing by the way) ready to share with you what our new journey is.  If I gave all the details today, this would be a pretty long blog, so i will keep it short, and in future blogs fill you in on the details of the past yr and a half.  There is No turning back now, this morning I woke up, brushed my teeth and got ready for church, but I knew today was different, today was The day.  "I've done this before, Saturday, and Wednesday" but today was the day that i knew everyone would know.  Once everyone knows, there is No turning back.  As the song says " No turning back, I've made up my mind, I'm giving all of my life this time. Your love makes it worth it, Your love makes it worth it all." (Kim Walker-Smith)  Some people think we are crazy, (well a lot of people do) haha, but when you know its God, you do it!  So here it is, after 6 yrs. of being the Youth Pastors of Life Church in Katy Tx., we are moving to Ventura, Ca.  Exciting huh?  So the next question people have been asking us has been "so you got a Youth Pastor position there?", and here's the even more exciting part, NO! We are going in Faith trusting God every step of the way.  No job, no house, but we know there is a reason we are supposed to go.  We are leaving our house, family, job, and if you look at it through the eyes of the world, than yes some may call us crazy, but when you know its God, YOU DO IT!  Yes, I must admit, it's a little scary, but just as my husband preached this morning, You keep your eyes focused on Jesus and you can't be shaken, and thats exactly what we plan on doing.  Lord, Your Love makes it worth it all.  I know the Lord called us for a purpose, and I know that though the next year may seem hard and not always make sense, that in 2 yrs we will look back and say " Oh thats what You were doing God" and I am so excited to see what He has in store for us.  So there it is, we are moving to Ventura, California.  Many of you know how we got here, but I know some of you out there don't, so keep checking my upcoming blogs and I will share the story of how we found out we were supposed to go.  By the way, we still need someone to buy or lease our house, so if you are interested just let me know : ) I am going to try to put up a new post at least once a week, maybe more, we will see, but I am pretty sure this is gonna be an interesting blog to follow, full of adventure : ) So did i do ok for my first blog entry?

Courtney Rivera