It's Been Busy Around Here

I wanted to just update everyone who ever reads this goofy thing just all that has gone on here in Los Banos. Linda has just concluded an awesome Luncheon for the Ladies titled "Oceans of Emotions" by Karin Kyle of Modesto Calvary. The women had a great time

Yesterday we had our Men's "Steak & Study" with Al Garnica coming out to do the bbqing for us it was out of this world. The Men enjoyed it and were blessed to hear Ken Graves. We are attempting to pull off a "Night of Worship" which will include a chili cook off as an outreach to our community here in L.B.

I will be taking a group of Men to a Pastors/Leaders Conference this month and am looking forward to the rest. I am looking forward to Linda and I having some time off real soon so I will keep you posted of our schedules.

May the Lord bless you as you pray for us cause we need it ha ha

Love to all AL

A Day in the Life of Nevaeh's Summer

THE BIG DAY HAS ARRIVED

The smile tells it all!

"Here we are at Angel Acres"

Getting some expert tips from Ada she's the best @ horses!

Nevaeh is a fast learner and absolutely loves doing this
"Do we need de-tangler for their tails Ada"
"A good cowgirl carries her own saddle Bapa don't you know that?"
Next comes the blanket
Then the saddle
Have you ever seen a brighter smile I think she is happy what say you?
A little final instruction
"Ok, Nevaeh off you go remember your the boss"

If her dad could see her on this big beast he would flip

"Come on Star lets get going"

"Heck I ain't afraid of no Horse I'm gonna stand right on this fence"

"Yikes here they come"

"Seriously Bapa, you think I am just gonna sit here and look cute?"

"This is what I'm talking about food baby, food"

Nevaeh on day 3 going in and out of poles

It was just weird watching my lil grand daughter ride away on this big ol thing

I don't see what all the fuss is I don't need no stinkin lessons Bapa
just open that gate and let me at this"

Linda and will treasure this week with Nevaeh & Charlotte. They had so much fun getting to run around the house hanging with Bapa & Ada. We miss them so much thank you Lord for the time

In His Grip
AL

A SON & HIS FATHER

I can't even begin to tell you about the fantastic time I had this past weekend with my Son and his family. Linda and I got a chance to stop in Carpenteria on our way back from the Pastors Conference. Even though we were only there for 24 hrs it was just a blessing to see all that God is doing in their lives. My Grand daughters have the best parents. I thank God for them.

Reality set in when we had to leave but I do know this, God will allow me more time with them some day soon. Linda got to see her Daughter & Her grand kids as well so all in all it was a great week to be away.

blessings
Al

Thank You Jesus

He crossed the path Home
How I thank all of you for the massive prayers that went out this week in honor of my Dad going home to be with the Lord. With complete assurance my Father is now where he needed to be, W/Jesus!

I cannot begin to tell you how the Lord held up all of my family and especially my brother Robert both yesterday & Today. We are finally at the end of the ordeal and now will begin down a New Journey in the quest of seeing our loved ones again.

May God richly bless your efforts for standing in the gap with us.

In His Grip
Al

WITH A HEAVY HEART

ALBERT ABDULLA SR. 4/01/33 - 5/22/10
It is with a heavy heart that I share with all of you the passing of my Father. Known as "Grandpa Dulla" to his grand kids, Dad to my siblings, and just plain "Pop" to me. My sister Linda and I have spent the last week doing 24 hr care for him at his house with my Brother Robert & Sister Juanita coming during the day to assist us. No doubt it has been a very long 2 weeks and needless to say I am very tired. Thank you all for your prayers for us and most of all thank you for being you. MY brother in law Richard and I will be conducting a "Celebration Service" Wed Night in Fresno & then taking part in the funeral in a Catholic church on Thurs. Pray that the Lord gives me EXACTLY the right words to share. I was blessed to lead my Father to Jesus about 3 yrs ago and even though he did not live a life of service to the Lord I know that He is with Him now. I will probably no doubt write a book on the last 2 weeks of my life and share all the joyful and bizarre happenings and how God took care of all of it.

In His Grip
AL

My Family Needs Prayer

Pray for my Dad Albert
I will no doubt be away from the ability to post anything for awhile so please know I am thinking of you all. I have been going back & forth to Fresno as my Dad is in literally his last hours here on this earth. My Brother Robert & I my sisters Juanita & Linda have been giving him around the clock care so he does not have to be alone when it happens. We are going through a lot of mixed emotions for sure. I know that God is and will continue to lift me through this.

I am asking a special prayer for my Brother Robert who is taking this EXTREMELY hard. I had the pleasure of leading my Father to Jesus about 2 1/2 yrs ago so I do know his future. My Brother in law Richard and I were reading the bible to him yesterday and it was the only peace he could muster up. I love my Pops, but I know its time to say goodbye and its not easy. How I thank God for all of you who have been my supporters in all we have done here. I will depend on your prayers and am so thankful for them. May the Lord bless you and I will be back soon!

In His Grip
AL

How Did This Happen?

A THING OF BEAUTY

I woke up this morning with this cool looking car on my mind.

I thought to my self "WOW what do me and this car have in common?"

1. Were both pretty beefy

2. we both like the same color
3. There is a lot of power under the hood still
4. We both shine
5. We both have seen many presidents
6. We both made it through the gas rationing days of the 70's
7. We saw the age of the hippie
8. Vietnam
9. Gulf Wars (2)
10. Loser presidents (Clinton & O'slama)
11. got saved (me in Jesus and it in the auction)

The list went on & on but then I realized really the only thing that we actually had in common was we both turned:

How did that happen?
Why does it happen?

That's right you heard me I turned:

I guess the greatest thing I have going for me is

1. My Salvation

2. My lovely wife

3. My beautiful grand babies

4. That I can still see to type this

and to tell you thank you all for putting up with me for all these years!

"Happy Birthday To Me"

Cant you just hear the joy in my voice as I sing it?

blessings Al

Worshipfest in Sanger

Out Reach in Sanger

Jon, Jorge, Brian & Rene

The Ladies Hopie, Olga, Juana & Deb

Jon, Jorge & Nacho

Madera faithful Rick & Paul

I got a chance to do some percussion with Tony again (its always a blast) and i got to hang with some old friends from my Fresno day's Jim Chaffin (drums) Alex Gonzales (congas) & Curtis Suderman (bass) and of course my brother Tony on the acoustic playing "The Lord is good"

In His Grip
AL

HAPPY RESURRECTION DAY!

HAPPY EASTER
Linda & I want to wish all our Family & Friends a very Happy Easter. We wish we could be with all of you but unfortunately we are serving the folks here. We miss you all especially our Grand babies. May the Lord Bless your day this Easter Sunday!

all our love
AL & Linda

IT IS OFFICIAL !

"CALVARY CHAPEL LOS BANOS "

THANK YOU JESUS

After 9 months a new baby is born!

It has been 9 months now since we have filled out paper work for the Affiliation process to "legally" fly the Calvary Dove as our own entity here in Los Banos and it is finally born! We have been an "Outreach Fellowship of Madera" for the entire 21 months since first arriving here in Los Banos to which we thank Pastor John Reyna and all the folks at Calvary Madera.

Linda & I want to express to ANY & EVERYONE who still reads this blog our deepest thanks for all your prayers & support. With out you all we would never be where we are today. I definitely want to write a book about the process and all the "God things" that have happened along the way. Again THANK YOU for laboring with us.

Always In His Grip
Al & Linda

Church Planting 101

OUCH!
I saw this pic and I thought to myself "That's how I feel some times"

No matter how hard you try to communicate something it just seems like your slamming your head on the board or against the wall ha ha! It is no particular thing its just that is the way life is. Once you do this you land in the water, get rescued, resuscitated and then go back at it again.

Linda and I are looking forward to a break here soon I just don't know exactly when. With Rene & Deb here with us it makes it very possible. We love what the Lord has done & are blessed to be used by Him but we are both missing our grand kids immensely!

Keep us in your prayers and I will update you on some great news regarding the Fellowship.
Oh, Linda is now planting her second season of veggies.

In His Grip
AL

A Little Cold Stuff

We took a 2 hr trip up to Shaver Lake for some Ministry prep for the upcoming Women's Retreat. I have not been to Shaver in many years and was blessed to see the area again. Rene & Debbie had a blast getting a chance to see the mountains again after being in the desert for so many years.

A couple of Happy People

More Happy People

3 more Happy People

Linda & Debbie had a great time scouting out the Retreat site

Debbie pointing out where the dance floor would go (just kidding)

Linda is so excited to put on her first Women's Retreat

She is thinking "we can do this and we can do that, I am sooo excited"

We all had a great time taking the trip up it was a full day trip. May the Lord receive all the glory for the plans He has for the Women!

In His Grip
AL

The Life of being a "Bapa"

My Grand daughters Neveah & Charlotte sent this Valentine Card to Linda and I along with heart book marks made from felt. Hey it don't get any better than this folks!

There is just something it does to your heart when you open a package from your
Grand Children and you see their tiny hands traced out giving us the "I love you" sign.

Girls, Ada and I thank you both and love you bunches!
(also Nina)

Love Ya Bapa & Ada

Finding my Grip

I thought this was a crack up! You know how I am always signing my letters "In His Grip" well Linda snapped this photo of my Bud Mike who was in our attic fixing our kitchen lights. The lights in our rental would come on sometimes but only 2 or 3 of the six. Thanks to Mike the kitchen is too bright and I cannot turn on those lights in the morning ha ha!

We have been very, very busy trying to get everything lined out for the church. We are greatly thankful to Rene & Deb for their help and helping to take over some of the responsibility of some of the work. Sooner or later Linda and I will just leave for a while and "hang out" with each other.

It has been a great blessing to serve the Lord here in L.B and the people are very loving to us. It has been awesome to see Rene & Deb step in and love on them as well. We have a busy year ahead of us so please keep praying for us and again we say THANKS!

In His Grip
AL

"Together Again"

WELCOME HOME

That title sounds like a good title for a song. Oh wait a minute there is already a song out like that. Bummer I was going to write a new hit!

Rene & Debbie have arrived here in the big town of Los Banos and I think they are wondering where the rest of the town is!

Our first adventure and what an adventure it was as we went to So Cal to a book store conference in Costa Mesa. We got to drive in the snow to get there and boy did it rain.

We are looking forward to opening our new resource table here in Los Banos for the folks to enjoy. I will be updating this blog to reflect that so until then Sianarra!
blessings
AL

The Time of My Life

Linda & I got a chance to have a delayed extended Christmas with my Grand babies
Nevaeh & Charlotte while Mom & Dad were doing some Ministry in Frisco

some presents were opened

some sippys were drank

Some Bible bedtime stories were read

and they both got to go to church @ CC Los Banos. Linda made our days very special
as she is the best wife ever. I caught a terrible cold after they left and passed it on to
my dear sweet wife so pray for her now. I will be posting about 2 more miracles that
happened in our home this week tomorrow.
In His Grip
AL