Christmas is Coming!

Christmas is 9 days away.  It hardly feels real but I'm sure that once the van loads of Midwesterners arrive it will all be verrrrrryyyyyyy real.  Ha, no, I really am looking forward to it.  But lately as I've realized that my 'normal' days here in California are few, there's been a little ache.  A hint of that fear rising up because more transitions are coming.  Due to the death of my great uncle, Mom, Aunt Kathy, Danny and Edie are driving out early and will arrive on Thursday.  By the time the rest of the family arrives on Saturday I need to be packed up and ready to move around because Dad and Mom will be using 'my room'.  I have no reason to complain because everything is going to work out wonderfully, it's just that lasts are so bittersweet.

Before I get lost in nostalgia I'd better switch topics.  There's been a lot of rain, which is the California equivalent of snow in that it gives you a warm fuzzy feeling to be inside while it's cool and damp outside.  The waterfall has gone from a trickle to a gush and although I haven't been going back there near as regularly these past two weeks, I did take a walk in the rain this morning (I think it was worth it).  The cool thing was that I only saw about half dozen other walkers out from the time I left the house til I got back.  And it felt like an adventure, just a really wet adventure.

The 'spring green' that rain brings to a drought-spelled land. 

Loving the contrast of the wet ground and these leaves. 

Besides rain, the days have brought attending cousins' Christmas programs and singing in the church program, gift-buying, Starbucks and hot chocolate (lots of it!), Christmas music and caroling, card making, an advent study, and another night hike to watch a meteor shower.  I had my last day with Jordyn a week ago and we went to Starbucks for coffee (me) and a scone (her...and me).  Thankfully I've been able to see her twice more in the past week and will get to see her more with the family celebrations coming up!

Ugh, I'm running out of things to say and this isn't working because I'm procrastinating. Yah, like a college student studying for finals except I don't have finals.  I'm in the middle of making a Christmas gift (it's a surprise that I'll share later on) and the fact that I need to hurry and finish is the only thing that's going to press me forward at this point.  So, I'd better get back to work.

Thanks for reading my procrastination ;)

Have a safe and blessed CHRISTmas! 

Special Saturday



Yesterday I was privileged to join the Christmas decorating and first birthday party for sweet Edmund Jon at Aunt Jody's home.

 

Eddie more than just enjoyed it the spaghetti dinner--he had noodles in his hair and a streak of sauce above his ear by the time we were finished.  Although his birthday is actually today, we celebrated it yesterday making it the third celebration already so he should feel quite loved :) He's still a little unsure about this whole candle idea.

 

After supper the decorating began!

 



Photo credit: Joey

Photo credit: Joey

We all had a grand time together with Christmas music, a cozy fire, the warmth of family and friends (well, Kailey is practically one of us by now ;D), anddddddd church lunch prep!

Aunt Jody served lunch today so I baked a few sweets Friday and yesterday. (Eggnog lovers, have you ever tried eggnog cookies? I'm not a fan of drinking straight eggnog but in cookie form it's tolerable and if you really enjoy that holiday flavor I'm sure you'd find them delicious!)  For the meat we assembled some delectable hot ham and cheese sandwiches last night.  Who knew something so simple as cutting bread could be so technical?

Steven thought this was the most efficient way...

And Jonathon thought laying the knife on the table and pulling the bread through it was a better method.  Well, it was argued that the latter method produced a straighter cut but took longer and therefore was less efficient.  Then things went to the next level.

And that didn't last long.  Back to method #1.

Once the bread was cut things went pretty quickly.  As we were standing in our assembly line casually chatting the time away, I mentioned going for an evening walk back to the waterfall with Kailey.  Pretty soon Steven and Joseph were game to go and we wrapped up the last of the sandwiches.  What started out as a 20 minute walk to the waterfall ended in an hour long hike to the top of Echo Mountain.

And that's LA.  Except it sprawls even further on both sides, the lights only stopping where the ocean begins.

At first we took a few pictures with the timer setting.

And then there was this random guy, by the name of Jim M, who was up there taking photos as well and he offered to take several for us.  Thanks, Jim!

'I think all of you standing would be better.'

'Maybe spread out a little.'

Hmmm, we kind of lost Joey in that picture but the lighting was tricky.  So thanks again, Jim.

After soaking up the view and being reminded of how big God is, we headed down the mountain and went home to bed.  And I won't mention what time that was :) I'll just say that although I'm tired it was completely worth it and a wonderful way to end the evening.

Memories from Mexico

Whew, feels so good to be out of the car, although I do enjoy a good road trip. Just a few hours ago we rolled in from our trip to Mexico and since I have to do laundry tonight and will be up until that's done I figured I might as well write a blog post.

The past week has been a wild ride.  If you've never been to CVE then now is the time to go!  I've only been there three times, including this trip, but something about the place makes it just feel so good to be there as though I've been there many times before.  Although I knew very few people in the group at the beginning of the week, by the end of the week I knew most people's names and had made some great memories with new friends and old friends alike.

You probably don't want a detailed, chronological report of everything that happened so I'll just share a few of the highlights...

Sunday bus ride in the morning to pick up town people for church.  Such a neat experience.

A heart to heart with one of the newer missionaries on a hike up to the cross. 

Yesssss. A Mexico sunset 💜

Serving food with these crazy fun people. 

Making large quantities of food for Thursday night dinner all week long. 

Sneaking away to Cafe Sed with Kali, Eddie, and the Zobrists. Okay, so I had permission from the head chef (Aunt Jody). 

Tori Wulf enjoying some coffee. 

Eddie playing in the bookshelf. What a cutie. 

A huge highlight was when somebody arrived on Wednesday. 

Chelly!!!

Pies ready to go for Wednesday night pie night! Yummmyyy. 

 

Thanksgiving dinner with 400+ guests from town.

Hot chocolate in coffee. Warming up by the fire. Good company.

Dutch Blutz!

Building and strengthening relationships. 

A little bit of background for the next picture...
In 2011 when I first went to Mexico and road the bus Sunday morning a little girl in a pink tank top with a tube of Mascara got on the bus and sat with me.  She took pictures with my camera, sat by me in church and smeared mascara all over her and her friends' faces during the service, and worked her way into my heart.

 

 

When I went back in 2012 for Jon and Kali's wedding I got to see her living at CVE!  She had blossomed into a beautiful girl!

I can't clearly remember why or when, but one random winter evening, I typed out a little story about how God had touched me through this sweet girl.  And now over two years later when I returned there she was.  She didn't remember me but by the end of the week we were friends again :)

A less fuzzy-feeling highlight was watching a pig get stunned, killed, and butchered Friday morning. I didn't watch the whole thing since I needed to finish packing but it was pretty intense!

Fun times on the ride home. 

And now I get to catch up on all the sleep I deprived myself of all last week :) It was soo worth it :)

To end the post I'd just like to say thanks first to God for His Unspeakable Gift and also to all of you who read this blog and pray for me.  One of the many things I'm blessed with is a wonderful support group and too often I take it so for granted.  So thanks for sharing these tidbits of life with me.

Days with Jordyn (and Jenna!)

I have an hour to kill while I wait for Joey to pick me up because today we leave for Magdalena!  Ever since I went to CVE in 2011 and heard about the big Thanksgiving celebration they have there I've wanted to experience it at least once.  What better opportunity is there than when I'm living in Altadena which has a group that goes down every year?  We're driving to Tuscon today and staying the night there before heading into Mexico tomorrow.  I'll be sure to do a post when I get back :)

This past week I watched Jordyn on Thursday instead of the normal Tuesday because her older sister, Jenna, got off school early and wanted to hang out.  In the morning the house cleaners came so I took Jordyn to the mall and we walked around and she napped in the stroller while I browsed the sale racks.  Then we got home a little before Jenna's friend's mom dropped her off. 

Jordyn wanted yogurt for lunch and she also wanted to feed herself! Imagine that :) I will say it was much cleaner than when she feeds herself spaghetti-o's.

After we were home and ate, Jenna arrived and things livened up a little!  She had to do homework first but part of her homework was drawing so that inspired Jenna to a draw-off, or a drawf, as we called it.  Once Jordyn was down for her second nap we got to work.  First we drew girls on one side of the paper and Jenna drew a fabulous portrait of Rapunzel that Disney would be jealous of.  Then on the other side we drew babies--check out her darling baby drinking a bottle on a blanket on the grass.  Kids' drawings are just the cutest!  Needless to say, Jenna won the drawf.

The day ended with a light saber war and Jenna the ninja won the tournament of that as well.  It was great to have the afternoon with her :)

As far as a normal day with Jordyn...
She usually naps a total of 2.5-3 hours while I'm there, sometimes it's one long nap and other times it's two shorter ones.  When she's awake she loves to spend time outside and the great thing about where they live is that there's a park and a cute little village within walking distance so we take the stroller out and about.

Fun at the park!

She's not afraid of much. I have to slow her down halfway down the slide so she doesn't fly off the end!

This is from one of our walks to the village. As you can see, she's a pretty easy kid and I love that smile!

At the house we do things like color, read books, play with the doll house, take care of baby, etc.  It's been a blessing to have this opportunity to get to know Jordyn better and have a little variation in the week.

Hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving!  Don't eat too much turkey ;)

Do Not Fear

Be strong and of good courage, do not fear nor be afraid of them; for the Lord your God, He is the One who goes with you.  He will not leave you nor forsake you. –Deuteronomy 31:6

Fear.  It’s paralyzing.  It’s false evidence appearing real.  I’m sure I’d cringe if I knew how many times I’ve acted out of fear of any kind.  I’m afraid to speak up because what will people think?  I’m afraid of doing something wrong that sometimes it’s paralyzing and I don’t do anything at all.  I’m afraid of trusting God with my future because He’s led me into some places that have stretched me and it hasn’t been easy.  I’m afraid of expecting good things because in the past it’s set me up for some big disappointments.  I’m afraid of the persecution that God has promised will test the believer.  Will I stay true?  I’m afraid of posting my thoughts this morning because sometimes when I share I feel vulnerable and sometimes when I encourage I find that the very subject I was encouraging on becomes a challenge for me.

To all this God simply says: I am the LORD your GOD.  I go WITH you.  I will NOT LEAVE or FORSAKE you.  He tells us to be strong and of good courage and not to be afraid.  And being strong sounds frightening—I’ve tried to be strong before and push through but it doesn’t work.  So why is He telling me to be strong?  2 Corinthians 12:9.  His strength is perfect in our weakness.  Maybe putting those two verses together it would go something like this: Admit your weakness and emptiness so I can fill you.  Then be you will be full of good courage, because where I am there is not fear!  There is no reason to fear because I go with you and I. Will. Not. Leave.   

2 Timothy 1:7.  God does not give us the spirit of fear but of power.  Our power comes from Him, it is of Him, it is for Him. 

I can testify that it's so freeing to give my fears over to God, but of course because I'm human I will never perfectly grab a hold of this and I find that sometimes I lay something down before God only to pick it up again.  It’s so human nature to want to be in control but often that leads me to fear because I find out that I’m not capable of fighting the giants on my own.  And then it comes around full circle and God reminds me again that He is with me.  He is my strength.  So whether this means not speaking when I’d really like to give somebody an earful, speaking up when I’d rather remain in silence, rushing out to fight the giants, or staying behind to care for a wounded fighter, God says that He’s here for me.  And guess what?  He’ll be with you too. 

Have a wonderful day!

Winter Plans

I'm not sure how to title this post or exactly what to say as there's still a lot unknown but I'll share anyway. For a few weeks I've been given a little bit of direction for when to move on and what to do.  At the beginning when people would ask how long I was in California I'd say, 'at least til Christmastime and after that I'm not sure' and that was okay for a little bit but soon before my visit to Indiana at the end of September I started seeking for more specific direction and felt a peace about staying here until Christmas and going home after that.  To what and for what I wasn't exactly sure.  Then during my time up in Michigan out of the blue Maria asked me my plans for after the New Year and so I started going into some things I was thinking about and she patiently listened to me ramble and sort things out.  Since it was obvious that I had no set plan, she asked me if I'd consider moving in with her and Jim to nanny Calvin for a few months since they both work and go to school. 

A year ago I never would've guessed I'd become a nanny.  There's a lot of things happening in my life I never would've guessed, but anyway, nanny-ing is just one of those things that never really appealed to me.  Don't get me wrong, I like toddlers and young kids, but all day every day is not my idea of the perfect job. Also I had been picturing myself moving home not just to the Midwest. Yet God has given me an excitement for this next phase and I'm looking forward to the time I'll have to nanny my darling nephew.  I mean, who wouldn't want to see this happy face every day?

What a ham. Oh, but how I love that ham. 

There are two cons: it will be winter in Michigan (coming from winter in LA) and I don't know how long I'll be there except that it will be between two and four months.  After all this you're probably thinking, that's it?  And yep, it is.  I can assure you that at times it could really stress me out that
once again I'm a frog just hopping from lily pad to lily pad.  Sometimes I want to just find a job and be a 'normal' working person while other times it scares me as change has become normal and I wonder if I could adjust to so much responsibility and not so much variation. But God is not the author of fear, and He has showed me in incredible ways this past year that He has a plan for my life.  A good plan.  Also I've had to remember lately that His ways are different than ours and so many times I think I know what I want but really it turns out far from what it appeared to be.  The fact that God knows me better than I know myself and is in control is such a comfort that I keep going back to.  There are moments when I think forward to March or April and think, 'what's my plan if Jim and Mia don't need me anymore?'  But then I can relax knowing that God has provided in the past and will continue to provide even when I don't know how.  After all, aren't we asked to walk by faith?

In the meantime, I've come to really appreciate this time I've had in Altadena growing, learning, being part of a small church, and strengthening relationships with family that I never spent much time with before. God has definitely had a purpose for this time here and I'm grateful for the blessings I've experienced so far.

Hopefully that catches you up a little on my journey. And that's exactly what it is. A journey. Sometimes I get too focused on the destination as I mentioned with fears of not knowing what's out there, but it's about the getting there. Aren't we blessed to have God as our guide???

Grammy's Birthday Visitors

Today Grammy and I took my mom and Aunt Kathy to the airport.  It was so much fun to have them here, but it wasn't me they came for...on Thursday Grammy had a birthday! Aunt Kathy got in Tuesday and Mom came Thursday.

On Thursday morning as I thought of how excited I was to see my mom I knew she also was excited to see her mom and having that double reunion was really fun.  We all agreed at the end of the trip that the time went so fast, not because we were always going here or there, but because just being together felt so good.

We went together to pick up Mom around 12 and since the airport is by the beach we all thought it sounded nice to go eat there and take a stroll on the pier.  It couldn't have been a more beautiful day!  First we stopped for lunch at The Kettle which is just a few blocks up from the strand.

Good food, good view, good company :)

Then we went out on the pier.  You'd think that in November it would be cool and only surfers would brave the cold water in wetsuits.  Well, not that day!  Families were there with children, people were soaking up the sun on the sand, and surfers were hanging out on their boards in swimming trunks.

Look at that sunshine!

I love my mom!

In addition to being warm, the water has also seemed quite clear this year.  We could see little fishies down below.

Missing the other sister, Aunt Heidi. 

Then there was this really cool thing I don't remember seeing before.  The sun was sparkling on the water and twinkling like those fireworks that crackle after they boom. It was more magical than the shooting star over the Disney castle in the movies. 

Although the picture doesn't capture it, it's pretty, huh?

After enjoying the sunshine and view we headed up to Altadena to get ready for a special dinner.  Since Grammy didn't feel like she needed anything for her birthday, her gift was dinner at Steakinstein, a family favorite 'special occasion' restaurant, with all of her children and the spouses that could make it.  I was graciously invited to tag along with the siblings and their spouses and it was just a really blessed evening. 

The birthday woman and Aunt Kathy

Have I mentioned that I love my mom?

Friday and Saturday mornings Mom and I went to the waterfall.

Wow, we look tired. At least Mom can blame it on jet lag.

Saturday morning Mom and I took another walk and she took me down Homewood where she grew up and told me who lived in what house.  Although I've walked by those houses multiple times, all I knew is which one she lived in.  It was fun to hear about her childhood days and how things went for her with friendships, growing older, who she's stayed in touch with, what challenges she faced as a young Christian, and other things.

Friday we lay pretty low and just enjoyed being together.  Saturday mid-morning we went to a wedding shower for my cousin.
This is Anikah, the bride-to-be's niece and Jordyn's older sister.

Wow, I look tired there too.  I promise I got sleep!

Sunday we went to church and afterwards I went to Uncle Tom and Aunt Jody's to hang out with Sauder cousins while Grammy and her children had some time together.  Then a big group of us went for dinner together at Stonefire grill and literally went out to eat cause we sat outside. Oh, the perks of living in California!

And all of the sudden Monday morning was here.  Mom and I went for an early walk this morning and instead of going to the canyon we went up some streets by Homewood where Mom used to walk and I saw the school where she went to Kindergarten through 2nd grade.  Another trip down memory lane :) We got back just in time to load up suitcases before the cleaning lady came this morning.  To stay out of her way we all went out for breakfast with Aunt Heidi, Paula and David (my cousin and her husband) then headed to the airport.  And then came the goodbyes.  Ugh.  Goodbyes.  Yet while they aren't easy and it's sad that the trip went so fast, it helps that I'm content here and know I'll see Mom and Aunt Kathy in a few weeks.

Now it's back to routine while cherishing those special memories!  Hope you all have a blessed week.