February - May 2012

In the beginning of February, my closest friend in Texas had a crisis and left her family.  It’s been devastating on the whole community, but her husband and children the most.  Jon and I both felt torn up over the incredible hurt and loss for the broken family.  We found as many ways as we could to support the family and love on them.  In this process, we’ve really gotten enmeshed into the community here and are walking real life out with our neighbors and friends.  It’s been intense.  But the upside for us is the many new friendships that have quickly moved from acquaintances to deeper friendships through this trauma.  Over the last few months, I am finding my groove here in a new way.  I am hosting lots of meals at my house and am building more depth and closeness with my new friendships.

We are finally no longer cut off from the world of technology.  The local internet company, who denied us internet, got bought out by a bigger company, who had no problem getting us our own internet connection.  So now we have internet again!  Our last internet attempt with burying the Ethernet cable to our neighbor’s house lasted for about 3 weeks before an electrical storm fried that option.  The new connection is good enough to let me check emails and whatnot, but not fast enough to stream anything.  We also have a working land line at home too, thanks to my dad who sent me a Magic Jack.  The Magic Jack gives you a telephone line off of the internet.  It works about as well as the internet, so not that well, but better than nothing.  It’s the price of living in a rural area.  I do like that I can use the data on my phone over wifi now.  It’s much faster than the roaming I was using previously.

Valentine’s Day was low key this year.  In the morning I found some chocolate covered strawberries and my favorite champagne in the fridge. It was really sweet and I was really surprised.

We took a long weekend trip to Missouri to visit my cousin Kara and her son Jude, as well as her parents, my Aunt Dar and Uncle Darrel. On the way we got to stop for In-N-Out in Dallas!  Man, we sure miss our favorite burger stop.  Caleb was excited that he could easily eat it.  He had two loose teeth that have been making eating tricky for awhile, but as of that morning, he had a new toothless grin! Jon had to pull out his two teeth because a collision with Ben left his mouth bloody and painful. They were loose teeth anyway and blocking the new adult teeth growing in.

It's a 10 hour drive to Kara’s from where we live. It's nice that I live close enough to be part of her life again. Her parents live in the house with her too. Aunt Dar was like a grandma to me my whole life, but even more so since my grandma died when I was in Jr. High. My grandma is her sister. She always sends my kids birthday and Christmas cards, plus a gift or money. It’s really sweet and much appreciated.  We haven't really seen them since they moved to Missouri. We used to always do holidays together and have really missed them since they moved. It was really good to see her too! I’m glad Ben, Caleb, and Jude will get a chance to know each other over the years.

While there we went to Fantastic Caverns. I was fine until they turned all the lights off for a full minute to show us what true dark is and how your eyes are unable to adjust in true darkness. I was trying so hard to not freak out. I knew I would have a hard time in the cave, but it was so bad. I am absolutely claustrophobic. I was fighting terror. I didn't fully recover until awhile after we were back outside. Probably only Jon knew the extent of how I was feeling. I'm glad I kept it together. At one point while it was dark, I put my hand on Caleb's knee; to reassure him in case he was feeling scared. He was like, "Mom, why are you touching my knee?" Yah, he wasn't scared. He thought it was so neat, as an experience and as a new science discovery. Ben was fine too. Even Jude, the 3 year old was fine. I'm such a wimp, but not wimp enough to let my fear stop me. Got to be brave for the boys! Want to teach them to be brave in the face of fear!

Kara sent me home with a sprouting jar.  I had never heard of it before, but I love it so much already.  I just put in the alfalfa seeds, soak them overnight in water, and rinse them twice a day. In less than a week I have home grown alfalfa sprouts to eat in my sandwiches and salads!  They are so tasty and I can do it again and again!  I’m itching to start making my own yogurt next.  I use a cup of plain lofat yogurt in my protein shakes every morning.  I would save quite a bit of money making my own, but I want a yogurt making machine to help simplify the job.  I can’t wait!

Shortly after our return home we got to help celebrate the birthday of one of Caleb’s new friends at a roller skating rink.  We all had a blast.  Ben was really shaky and unstable when we started.  We got him this support rail the rink has for young kids to hold on to while skating to stabilize them.  He used that for a while, but it wasn’t too long until he wanted to try on his own.  Each time around he improved noticeably.  We were all super impressed with how quickly Ben got the hang of it!

Jon and I celebrated our 11th Happy Saint Birth-A-Versary (Jon’s birthday, our anniversary, and St. Patrick’s Day)!   We had a full weekend.  We had friends over one night and I got to break in my paella pan.  We feasted on delicious paella, a dish from Spain, which looked as good as it tasted.  Then the next night we celebrated Jon’s birthday with a party at our house, a bonfire, and his favorite meal, chile verde.  Then the next night Jon and I got to go on a date for our anniversary.  It was a really nice weekend.

One weekend we went camping at the Frio River with our cousins Aaron and Andrew, the Ericksons, Jake and Lena Hamiter, and the Rusch family.  I was afraid I wasn’t going to get to go because I came down with a bad cold a few days before we were supposed to leave.  But my fever broke a couple hours before it was time to go, so I decided to go for it.  I didn’t feel very good, but it beat sitting at home alone.  And I’m so glad I went.  It was such a gorgeous place and the weather was perfect.  We went with a good group of people.  Our campsite was right on the river.  It was so nice to hear the sounds of the river while you lay in your tent.  We were right by a perfect shallow area of water, so the kids could play in the river to their hearts content.  I hid in the shade while the other ladies lay out in the sun.  One afternoon, the boys all canoed and kayaked miles down the river.  That was the highlight for Jon and Caleb for sure.  Some of the guys dared the rope swings that were randomly along the river.  Another afternoon my boys paddled me around in the canoe like I was a princess.  That was so sweet.  Caleb is getting to be so big, strong, and capable.  We finished off our weekend by grabbing some tasty Texas BBQ on our drive home with Aaron and the Rusch family.

Our home improvement has been slow going, but we have made some headway on my garden.  First I transplanted my tomatoes to bigger pots and tried some new techniques I learned from a gardener I met at the Farm Patch, a fresh fruit and veggie store. I scratched the stems up with my thumb nail and then planted 80% of the plant under the soil, leaving 20% above ground. This is supposed to promote more root growth. She said to do this process once more and to plant half in sun and half in shade. The plants in the sun will produce until the intense heat of summer, which is when the shaded plants will start becoming bountiful. Great tips for Texas gardening!  Then, we found garden fencing piled up behind a shed on our property, which you need to keep deer and rabbits out of your garden. Plus a neighbor we just met that day gave us wood to build our raised planter beds. I feel like God is totally caring for my wants even though we have no extra money.  So we tilled, built raised beds, and set up one wall of our fencing.  My brother came for a visit and finished putting up the rest of my garden fence!  He is so awesome!  I have roma tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, squash, and a variety of herb seeds planted.  I planted some cantaloupe, but it hasn’t sprouted.  Oh well.  This is all a big experiment anyway.  I sprouted a variety of peppers in my kitchen window until they were ready to be planted outside.  Jon and the boys did a bunch more work on my garden for Mother’s Day.  It’s in really good shape now.

We also got pretty far on remodeling the guest/boys bathroom.  It is transformed!  It previously had mobile home flowered wallpaper and carpet.  The carpet was so problematic with so many little boys coming through my house.  I constantly cleaned, but to no avail.  It always smelled of urine.  So not okay!  I’m so thankful this problem is finally solved!!!  I’m also very happy with how much cuter the room is now as well.  We still intend to replace the sink cabinet, but one thing at a time.

Caleb got to take a trip to California to visit his best friend Sam and to take the CA Star test, which is the required state standardized testing. We're still homeschooling under our CA school. They've been so generous with us in letting us borrow all of our curriculum, so we wanted to honor their request to have Caleb take the test with his class.  He traveled alone for the first time and was gone for 10 days.  I was fine while he was gone even though it was a really weird concept. Mostly sending him on a plane by himself for the first time was when I was worried. But my brother decided to visit and book his ticket on Caleb's return flight! So I had a little extra peace of mind one way and I saved $100. Each way has an extra $100 unaccompanied minor fee. Ben was having a lot trouble with the idea of his big brother being gone. He didn’t want to go to sleep by himself in his room and was just generally worried.  But we booked a ticket for my mom to come visit us the week before Caleb left for CA and she stayed until Caleb returned.  That way Ben had a whole 10 days of Grandma’s undivided attention.  That made ALL the difference!  Caleb wasn’t homesick at all even though he had never been away from home alone before. Here is what Caleb wrote about his trip.

I took a trip to California to visit my best friend Sam.  When I got off the airplane, I was greeted with a squeeze-the-breath-out-of-you hug sandwich.  Sam and his 4 year old sister Vida were so happy to see me, that they had a hard time releasing me from the hug.  I have many favorite memories from my trip.

I got to see my old school friends at the park one afternoon.  Van turned our imaginary game into a stick fight.  I explored my old favorite jungle area with everybody:  Kaleo, Kalani, Van, Luke, and Sam.  It was really fun seeing my friends again.

The next day Sam and I went to a jump house with Romeo and Natasha since they couldn’t go to the park to see me.  We were trying to take a picture, but Sam kept getting distracted watching a television.  I fell off of a slide the wrong way and skinned my elbow.  Thankfully it didn’t hurt too much, but I did get a big scab.

One day, Sam’s mom took me and Sam to the California Science Center in Los Angeles.  By using a lever, Sam and I got to pick up a 2000 lb. truck by ourselves.  We saw space capsules, learned about deep sea vents, and we learned more about earthquakes.  For a small earthquake, it’s safer to be in a smaller building, but for a larger earthquake it’s safer to be in a taller building.

Part of my time there was testing at my school.  The test was kind of fun.  I liked the science section the most.  It was great to see Ms. Robin and my other teachers again.

Sam’s dad took me, Sam, and Vida to the beach one afternoon.  Sam and I built a really cool sand castle.  We had to protect it from the waves by digging moats and building a giant wall between the castle and the sea.  It was a cool and overcast day.  I liked standing right where the waves crashed against me.  It’s kind of like the meaning of my name, Caleb Morgan, which is faithful, bold, and the edge of the sea.  My Mom says that means I will be steady against the storms in life.  That’s what I was thinking about when I was standing in the waves.

I had a great time in California and I can’t wait to go there again.  I love and miss my friends there so much.

We had a lovely couple of weeks with my mom here.  She and the boys did lots of crafts and read lots of stories.  While Caleb was gone, she made some special art to hang up in the boys’ room.  Super cute art!  Having my mom around was really nice for me too.  I enjoy her a lot.  While she was here we got to have our first crawfish boil in San Marcos with Aaron and his friends. It was really fun and super delicious!  We also went on a tour of the Blue Bell Creamery with the Goyco family. They have four kids and homeschool also.  It's a huge factory and was really interesting. A delicious bowl of ice cream ended the tour. Yum! What a perfect way to entertain Ben while his big brother was gone. And bonus: it totally counts for homeschooling...social studies!  Before we knew it, the trip was over.  We picked Caleb and my brother up from the Austin airport and delivered my Mom to her plane to go home. I'm happy they gave me and Ben a gate pass. We got to go through security with Grandma and find Caleb and David in the terminal.  It’s nice how it all worked out.

We had a great visit with my brother! We had authentic Texas BBQ and he spent lots of time playing with the kids.  One afternoon he decided that the boys needed new yo-yo’s.  So we scoured the town for yo-yo’s capable of doing tricks.  Then he and the boys spent the rest of the day learning and practicing yo-yo tricks.  Such an awesome uncle thing to do!  He and Jon spent all of one night fishing with our neighbor Ron on his boat.  And to top it all off, he finished fencing in my garden for me. He is a blessing and a sweet little brother.  He really blessed us in lots of ways!

I also got a quick visit with two of my childhood friends, Lorena and Sonia.  I’ve known Sonia since kindergarten and Lorena since Jr. High.  Sonia lives in Dallas and Lorena was staying out there interning for a short time before going back home to CA.  They came and spent a night and a day with me.  We had such a good time reconnecting and catching up.  I love those girls!  And I love seeing people I love!

Jon had to switch his driving license over to Texas and had to take both the written and driving test.  He went through some nonsense in the process, so I wanted to do something special to celebrate once it was all over with.  I attempted to make him a knock-off of Cheesecake Factory's Adam's Peanut Butter Cup Fudge Ripple cheesecake to surprise him with...oreo cookie crust, caramel, fudge, butterfingers, peanut butter cups, and peanut butter frosting rosettes.  It was his favorite cheesecake to order at the restaurant, and it was only possible thanks to my awesome Mom.  We were tight on money, so she bought me the spring form pan and the ingredients.  It was evil in a super tasty sort of way.  Not bad for my first cheesecake.  I need to tweak my recipe a bit for next time, but….ummmm!

The night before Mother’s Day, Ben asked me if I would like it for Mothers Day if he does all the work so I can rest, relax, and not have to work like I usually do. He said I could tell him jobs to do. It was all his own idea with no prompting at all. I love seeing him really think about how to bless and love me.  In the morning I woke up to homemade cards and Dutch Baby pancakes.  Then the boys put rabbit fencing around my garden. I'd lost three pepper plants to those wild rabbits. And Jon plans to make me a tiered pot shelf too! I'm very loved and cared for!  I love my boys so much!  I also got a yogurt maker for Mother’s Day.  I’m trying to get my recipe perfected.  I’m excited and enjoying the process.

Springtime is really nice in Texas. The trees are all blooming and the weather is really nice.  Everywhere I look I see fields of wildflowers.  Every week it seems like a new wildflower is predominant.  One week driving to town Texas bluebonnets covered everything, then some gorgeous pink flowers, then big yellow flowers, and on and on it goes.  I had no idea how prolific the native Texas wildflowers are.  It’s stunning! Birds are very busy building nests and laying eggs.  One morning I sat in my garden on my little green bench watching a mama bird build her nest.  Back and forth, she flew.  Finding twigs and fluffy things to make her nest.  I love the simplicity moments like that bring to my life.  And I love my garden…it’s my happy place.

Random Thoughts & Antics:

I'm shocked to discover my feet fit into Caleb's rain boots! He's 10! I had to borrow his bright yellow SpongeBob rain boots to run to a neighbor's on a super wet and muddy day since I don’t own any rain appropriate shoes yet.

While eating cookies, Ben exclaimed, "I'm the first one to be last!" He was so proud he made his cookie last the longest.  This is a feat for Ben.  I’m happy he’s learning to savor instead of gobble.

I'd been a little distracted one morning. So when I came out of my room, I found that Caleb had been teaching Ben chess. They had made it through a whole game. Ben is only 5! Caleb walked him through each move. Ben has no idea how awesome he has it. Caleb is the best big brother in the universe!

That’s it.  Love you all!

Jon, Rebecca, Caleb & Benjamin

Jan 2012

Guess who has working internet after 6 months with none! Thanks Beth, Promise, and Ryan for helping us dig a trench and bury 450 feet of ethernet cable in the dark!  We’re running a line from our neighbor’s house to ours until the local provider can give us our own service.  They are maxed out right now, and probably will be for the next year or so, until they improve the local towers or add more towers.

A week into January I hosted a lovely wine and chocolate girl’s night while the men went camping. We got so carried away with conversation that we never even made it to our chick flick.  The guys came home from camping with lots of stories, including how they saved a baby goat!  They named him Cedric and carried him to the rangers. How awesome is that! 

Jon's back and sciatica pain are back to normal now, thank the Lord.  We got a memory foam mattress topper and a contoured pillow. Those, plus the stretching, plus the chiropractor, helped little by little.

Not long into January we got back to normal life.  No visitors, no trips, no holidays, no more crippling back and sciatica pain; just normal life.  We got busy and back into the motion of homeschooling, house cleaning, exercising, cooking, and working. And we finally got into full swing on the weekends. Jon was working on finishing the kids loft beds and their room.  I’ve been keeping busy on the weekends cleaning out, organizing, and purging even more of our belongings.  Now every time I walk into my bedroom, I breathe a deep breath of relief, because there are no longer piles of boxes lining every wall.  And every time I walk into the kids’ room I smile to see their cute new beds!  Their room finally looks like a real room.  Not a work in progress with mattresses on the floor.  We are happily tired.  It feels so good to be making visible progress.

The boys had so much fun sleeping in their new beds the first week! I'm really glad Ben didn't fall off; he's such a wiggly sleeper. He ends up in all kinds of positions. Even with the guard rail, I was kind of worried.  Xena now has to deal with being handled more, which is so not her preference.  We lift her up to put her on the top bunk with the kids at night and lift her down in the mornings.  We alternate who she sleeps with each night.  She loves sleeping with the kids, but she hates being “handled.”

Every morning I get Caleb started with his math lesson.  Then I sit on the couch with Ben for his reading, phonics, and language arts lessons.  The instant it’s Ben’s turn to read something to me, he has to arrange, rearrange, and yet again, rearrange his pillows to maximum comfort.  Then he remembers he doesn’t have his special blue blanket, so he gets up to get it.  Then he has to get comfortable again.  Then the stretchies come.  Oh boy, does he get the stretchies!  Then the yawns start in.  Then a page or two might get read before it all starts again.  It’s maddening and hilarious, all at the same time.  I finally wised up and now I give him a few minutes before we start to get it all out of his system.  This drastically cuts down on all the wiggles, stretchies, and yawns!

Caleb is getting more comfortable with math.  He was struggling for awhile there.  But it’s clicking now.  Yea!  Ben is flying with reading.  It was just at the beginning of kindergarten this school year that he was even introduced to a majority of the letter names and sounds.  He’s got all those down and is reading through beginner reader books easily.  It amazes me how different the reading experience has been for both of my boys.  Caleb took much longer to comprehend the abstract ideas, which is what words are.  Ben just soaks it all in and it sticks so quickly and easily for him.  Caleb always excelled at building, 3D thinking, and concrete ideas.  It is so enjoyable to watch my boys grow and develop!

We are having a lot of new experiences here in Texas.  One morning, I woke up to an intense storm, a scared Ben, and tornado warnings. Poor Ben was scared because his PBS cartoons kept getting interrupted by the emergency broadcasting system with tornado warnings. So I got out of bed and we turned on the weather channel which kept saying, if you live in a trailer, get out and find shelter now, over and over. The electricity kept flickering in and out. And the voices on the television kept going into slow motion, all deep and creepy. Crazy! I began packing to go to a neighbor who lives in a real house and not a trailer like us, when the worst of the storm passed by.  While packing, I was thinking that I should probably be panicking or something, but I wasn’t. I remember thinking that I really hoped we didn’t get caught by the tornado because I took the few minutes to brush my teeth and make my coffee to put into my travel coffee cup. I’ve wised up and won’t take any extra minutes for extra’s next time.  I understand the danger level.

The storm passed through pretty quickly though. I am very thankful I didn't have to haul myself, my kiddos, and my dog through the storm on foot since our car battery died that morning. I’m also thankful the tornadoes didn't come into our area after all.  Jon jumped the car battery when he got home from work.  It’s kind of funny that of all the days for the car battery to die, it does so on tornado day.  After the intensity of the storm passed, the boys ran around outside with their rain boots and umbrellas.  They loved it!  I heard excitement and laughter with each flash of lightening and boom of thunder!  

I found myself a little happy spot one weekend, the Brazos County Master Gardeners Agrilife Extension site with demonstration gardens. It has a decent sized demonstration garden with lots of different raised planter beds, a butterfly garden, a rose garden, a composting teaching area, and lots of trees. Another day I chatted with another shopper at the local produce market, the Farm Patch.  She is a professional gardener who is on a local radio gardening program.  She gave me so many tips about gardening in this climate and so much more!  I am just that much more excited to get my garden going here.  So far, I’ve planted a variety pepper seeds in my kitchen window. I had ordered some fun varieties in the mail. I was trying to figure out which species was the yellow chili I found easily in California, that I can’t buy in grocery stores here in Texas. Apparently they're not just called yellow chilies. I deduced it must be the Santa Fe Grande Pepper. My pepper garden will also have Antohi Romanian, anaheim, jalapeno, long slim red cayenne, ancho, & Hungarian wax. So I have about 2 months while these seeds germinate to build my raised garden beds outside & fence them off to somewhat animal proof the garden area. I'm excited!

Our new espresso machine arrived and is working great!  I’ve decided to only use it on the weekends to watch my calorie intake.  Then I’ll have a yummy latte to look forward to on our busy working weekends.  Getting the bathroom in the extra little trailer house in better repair is next on the list for our working weekends. We are looking forward to getting rental income.  It won’t be much, but it will really help!

I’ve been a busy girl in the kitchen.  I really enjoying trying new things; it keeps me interested.  I got my pasta roller attachment for my Kitchenaid.  It was so fun to use.  I’ve made homemade ravioli with two kinds of pasta dough and two kinds of filling. It was all yummy, but some was better than the rest. I love my new kitchenaid pasta roller!  I love discovering how to make meals we love and recipes that I deem “keeper recipes.”

I attempted to recreate my favorite breakfast dish from Ruby's Diner, Huevos Rancheros.  My version is Huevos Rancheros sans Huevos. I would always order it without egg and with turkey sausage instead. And I intentionally use the French for "without" and Spanish for the rest. That's the way I say it.  It turned out delicious!  I think what most excited me about the recipe was how I made ground turkey into tasty breakfast sausage. Yum!

I also attempted a knock-off Cinnabon recipe.  It turned out unbelievably delicious!  Here's the recipe http://allrecipes.com/recipe/clone-of-a-cinnabon/.  I did a few things different and made a few mistakes.  I must have been distracted that night.  I think my "mistakes" made it even better! It was amazing!   I (intentionally) used a packet of regular yeast (not bread machine yeast), which is 1/4 less tsp than you're supposes to have, but it was fine. I put the warm milk, sugar, & yeast in bread machine & let sit for 10 minutes so the yeast was all foamy. Then I added the rest of the wet dough ingredients, then the dry. I used butter instead of margarine. I accidentally added the 2 1/2 tablespoons of cinnamon & 1/3 cup of softened butter to the dough mix, not realizing that it was supposed to be for the filling. Of course I still made the filling. Definitely double the frosting!!!  That night I also made chicken fried steak, bacon, and eggs. Evilly delicious! I ate very small portions, but Jon gave himself a food coma.

Another evening I attempted making Chuy's Chicka Chicka Boom Boom enchiladas. This is my favorite meal from a restaurant we discovered here in Texas.  I couldn't believe I found the actual recipe online, http://treschicorganizing.blogspot.com/2009/02/boom-boom-recipe.html. I did a little research and watched the YouTube of the restaurant's chef making it to learn that they use jack cheese inside and on top of the enchilada. The green chilies refer to New Mexican green chilies. I couldn't find any, so I used poblano chilies. The recipe is written in ounces, so 1 ounce is approx 6 teaspoons, which helps if you’re like me and don't have a kitchen scale.  I made some enchiladas with corn tortillas and some with flour tortillas, thinking we would prefer flour. We all very much preferred the corn tortillas, like the recipe calls for.  It turned out soooo good and I recommend it to you!

In case you were wondering, Jon’s beer making was a big success!  He is enjoying his homebrewed double stout beer.  Now we have to get some to Aaron since he spent the day with Jon brewing it up.

Random Ben Antic:

Ben was dramatically "being dizzy" in the living room one morning. I couldn't help but think that it looked very much like a dance Mia Michaels would have choreographed on So You Think You Can Dance. Seriously.

December 2011

December started with a visit from Granny. She finished her training to open her Kumon center then flew to see us on her way back to CA from her training. The kids were so glad to get a whole week of Granny time. She made everyone’s tummy happy with her famous chili and lots and lots of treats. Then she was off to CA for only one day before her big move to Kauai. She’s staying with Uncle Pete and Tia Val until her home right below them is ready for her. Then she’ll be below Pete and Val and across the street from Grandma Jean. Jeremy and Julie are just around the corner too. Now we have to figure out how to get enough mullah to visit them all.

Then it was time for my quick turn around trip to California to be on Ellen’s 12 Days of Christmas TV taping. Don Jenkins picked me up and promptly delivered me to his wife Amber. Tracy came over and then we had a nice night in, just us three girls, to celebrate both of their birthdays and being together again. We had Thai food (my first time, yum), had Amber’s homemade sangria (double yum), lovely conversation, and watched a movie Amber had been looking forward to, The Help. Those girls have a big piece of my heart. Then I made my way to Jenny & Dan’s home. They graciously hosted me and Laurie again. I spent Monday shopping and hanging out with Laurie and Kat. We spoiled ourselves all day and ended up at The Melting Pot, our favorite fondue restaurant, to celebrate Kat’s birthday. I’m glad that Dan and Jenny were able to join us for the dinner. It was heavenly and perfected by the treasured company. I love that I got to see all my college girls again! And I’m glad that I got some really good quality time in even though it was such a quick trip.

Tuesday was the big Ellen day. The four of us girls who went to the taping before Becky’s wedding all made our way back again. Laurie had to fly in from Washington D.C., Kelly from Northern CA, and me from Texas. Becky was the only local. We were so anxious to know what day of the 12 days we were. Typically the prizes get better the closer to the end of the 12 days you get. Sometimes Day 12 wins all the prizes from the previous 11 days. We were pretty sure we were day 10, 11, or 12. There happened to be a double taping the day of our show, so we were able to find out that we were going to be day 10. We saw the prizes from the audience before us and were so glad that we weren’t in that taping. It was all a fashion theme; a designer bag, designer sunglasses, etc. We finally made it into the studio and were having fun. Ellen called a man on stage from the back to propose to his girlfriend. She was two rows ahead of us in the audience and so surprised to see her boyfriend. Everyone was so excited and in such suspense. He walked over to her, got down on one knee, and gave a touching proposal. She buried her face in her hands and denied him. The audience was shocked! But I knew all along…it was a fake. Ellen’s sneaky way of introducing the prize portion of the show usually starts with a fake emotional joke that pulls on your heartstrings and then shocks you. I was on to it, but most of the audience around me wasn’t. It was entertaining to watch their faces through the whole thing. Then the prizes were rolled out and the audience went nuts jumping and screaming! It was so fun and exhilarating! What were we going to get!?! We got so much! I feel so blessed! We each got a $250 Tivoli speaker, which I love because I can plug my phone in and stream Pandora music while I’m cooking. This speaker puts out such a high quality sound. We got a $600 Dyson vacuum. I’m trying to sell it in CA, but no luck so far. We’re down to asking $400 and still no bites. We got a $100 Target gift card, which helped us finish buying the kids Christmas gifts. We got a $500 Breville espresso machine. I always wanted to get Jon a fancy espresso machine, but it is such an impractical splurge that we never would have gotten one. We got a few delicious espressos and lattes out of it, but it worked inconsistently, so the company is going to do an exchange with me and give me a new one. We got a $300 World Market gift card and I’ve already spent most of mine. I got a gorgeous lamp, a shower curtain, 2 couch pillows, a cast iron griddle, a paella pan, and other odds and ends for the kitchen. We got a $500 Hilton gift card that I was able to sell for $360 on Craigslist. And the best is the Calphalon pots and pans set. My non-stick frying pans had just died right before I left on my trip and I wasn’t sure what I was going to cook in when I got back home. And voila! I now how a beautiful bronze set of oven proof and hard anodized pots and pans!

We had a lovely holiday season. I got a phone call from my parents saying that Mom’s doctor said she’d be fine to travel for the holidays. I was so happy. I didn’t think Mom would be able to travel until January at least. Mom finished up all her radiation treatments, YAY!!!! Then they drove out here for Christmas. They got to stay with us for about 2 weeks. Aaron and Andrew also joined us for Christmas. We maxed out our little house, but in a cozy Christmassy sort of way. I really enjoyed my first Christmas living in Texas and I’m so thankful for all the family we got to spend time with.

The kids had a way more merry Christmas than we anticipated. There was an avalanche of presents under the tree for them. My parents got Jon set up with all the equipment to brew his own beer. He and Aaron already did their first run at brewing a stout beer. It’s fermenting now in a big container on the floor in my bedroom, covered with a jacket for darkness. Jon’s excited to taste the final product.

With the money we got from selling the Hilton gift card Ellen gave me, I bought a Kitchenaid stand mixer. I love it! I can’t believe I’ve gone all these years without such a useful tool. It made prepping the Christmas meal so much easier. It shredded all the chicken for my flautas in under a minute. That saved me so much work! And it whipped up the meringue and whipped cream for my pavlova (our new Christmas dessert tradition) in no time. Aaron brought a super yummy buttered pecan quick bread that we enjoyed Christmas morning along with our traditional sausage balls. Yum! The Kitchenaid made mixing both a breeze. I love it!!! Did I mention that already? I especially appreciated the reprieve from hand mixing/shredding all that because I was fighting off a cold and didn’t have any extra energy to spare. I’m still waiting on a pasta roller attachment I ordered to arrive in the mail and then homemade raviolis are next on the agenda. I got impatient waiting and tried rolling the pasta dough out by hand, but it turned out way too thick and not so good.

There were a couple bonfires enjoyed by all the neighbors out here. I was too sick and missed the first one, but was happy I was well enough for the New Years Eve bonfire party hosted by Beth & Jay Erickson at the Hamiter’s home. We had a fun night with family and friends! We shouted and cheered and choruses of Auld Lang Syne broke out to ring in the New Year. Only a couple people actually knew the words and everyone else just hummed with exuberance. Ben came up to me after the New Year’s countdown, shouting, kissing, and merriment. It took him by surprise and he was a little troubled for a few moments. He wondered why everyone did that. It was cute.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! We love you all!!!!

Family Updates: Sept, Oct, & Nov 2011

We added 3 photo albums to our Photo Gallery. Click on the photos at the right to view them.

September concluded with Caleb’s Lego Mindstorm arriving in the mail. He was so excited as he unwrapped each separate component in the package. He wanted to jump right to the hardest robot in the instructions manual, the cool one on the cover. But of course, he is just like me, and decided to start at the beginning of the manual and work his way through. Which I know is smart and sensible and right and what I would do, but sometimes I want to see Caleb be more childlike and impulsive. Sometimes we’re both too logical and practical. We have to work a little harder for whimsy. We loaded the software on the computer. Caleb assembled the basic robot setup. He learned the beginnings of programming on the software. He hooked up his robot to the computer and sent along the program he wrote into the robot. And voila! His robot can move, and talk, and even sing! So cool! He loves it and he has so much more to try and learn!

We had a fun evening celebrated Jude Rusch’s birthday pirate style. We had a great time and enjoyed time getting to know our neighbors more and more. I especially enjoyed chatting with Lena, Jake Hamiter’s wife.

October was great. Fall weather came suddenly and reprieved us of the horrible heat wave. I finally got to enjoy sitting outside on the porch with my toasty coffee in the morning. It wasn’t too long until it was too cold for that, but I’m really enjoying this area now that it’s crisp and refreshing. There is still a burn ban in effect because of the drought & heat wave summer brought, but I look forward to enjoying evenings outdoors by a fire once that burn ban is lifted.

One night Jon & I went out on a date. We found a new wine bar in the historic downtown area of Bryan. It was calm, spacious, and very suited to relaxed conversations. We talked for hours. We discussed how a big part of why we’re here in Texas is because God is taking Jon through the process of learning how to desire/want and to do something about it. Jon’s 2 years of college credits won’t transfer to Texas because after 10 years they expire here in Texas. Jon doesn’t want to repeat 2 years of general education. I feel like God was leading us to the conclusion that God is going to honor that desire. We began rethinking our original plan of Jon doing the traditional 4 year college thing. We began discussing what Jon enjoys and wants. We came up with a modified plan that is a much looser plan, but it gives a lot of room for God to do His thing. We’re slowing down our pace and going to take one thing at a time. We’re first going to focus on fixing up the little house to rent. We haven’t had the funds to fix up the bathroom in the little house and make it livable. So that’s first on the agenda. Then, once the little house is rented, we’re going to work on fixing up our house to make it cozy for us. We need the rent money from renting the little house to help us pay for fixing up our house. Then Jon will likely take classes to get his pilot’s license. He’ll enjoy that and it will increase his skill set and make him more employable in whatever career he ends up pursuing. He may possibly take classes to get a boating/captain’s license too. We are praying that God puts people in Jon’s path, and opens up doors in unusual ways, to get Jon’s foot in the door for some type of job that will lead to a career that will provide stability and retirement possibilities for our family, but that will also enliven Jon. We’re hoping that he will only have to take relevant classes at the university and that maybe he can work his way up in the job world. For now though, Jon is really enjoying working for Ron Rusch’s cabinet shop. He doesn’t have all the self-employed pressures any longer and he loves it. We really have no idea what’s going to happen, but know that God put us here and is leading us. God will open up the right doors at the right time. We’re following His leadings and we’re having a good time while we’re doing it.

We celebrated Halloween by going to a Harvest Festival with the Rusch Family. Ben dressed up as a leopard. I’m so happy he got to wear the costume Aunt Laura made for her kids 25ish years ago. Caleb didn’t want to wear a costume he’d worn before, so he mixed it up and wore a little of this and a little of that. He called himself “Captain Random” and he ended up winning the costume contest for his age group at the Harvest Festival.

November started with Jon’s drive out to CA for his friend Curby’s wedding. Jon made arrangements with his boss to buy some of Jon’s machinery that had been left in CA. This funded Jon’s trip and allowed him to also retrieve his table saw, band saw, and a few other things we thought we had to abandon in our move to Texas! I’m so thankful and see the Lord’s hand in working this all out. It was a hard trip on Jon though. He did a straight through drive both ways by himself. His back went out the day before he left and he had to endure the drive and the days loading the machinery in terrible pain. All that he put his back through on the trip greatly increased the damage to his back/sciatica problem and he ended up missing a lot of work once he was home. He’s visited a chiropractor a couple times, used his inversion table, and spent countless hours stretching. After a month of unending pain, we bought him a memory foam mattress topper and contoured memory foam pillow. Now he is able to get some sleep at night and with everything together, his back is back to normal and his sciatica pain is very slowly improving.

At that same time, we had a visit from Anna & Roland Peterson and their two kids Eli & Lila. Anna is one of my dear friends from college. They’ve been living in Colorado Springs for the last few years and have been preparing to move their family to Tanzania to work with Wycliffe as anthropologists. They leave the beginning of January. I love that they made the effort to come see us and our new Texas life before they left. It will be at least 3 years until they get a furlough back in the United States. I cherish my time with Anna and love getting to catch up with her. I love that our families got to have so much time together. It’s a rare thing. We even got to celebrate Eli’s 7th birthday while they were visiting. And what great timing for their visit; Anna was such a help to me while Jon was at the peak of his pain and unable to move much. The kids all played and kept each other busy having fun. It worked out so well. Since Jon wasn’t able to, Roland even drove me to the airport for my trip to California to watch my dear friend Becky Fulford become Becky Kapanka. Then they moved on to visit some of their family in Dallas. Their family watched their kids and then they got to fly out to California too, sans kids, for Becky’s wedding. It was so funny to have our families together in Texas and then a week later to be visiting in California with no kids.

Roland dropped me off at the Austin airport. And then I was all alone. I didn’t have to multi-task. I was left with my own thoughts. It was blissful and bizarre! Times like that stand out to me because they are so few and far between in my world. Usually I’m focused on my agenda for the day. Mix into that a full day of engaging my two sweet children, including the attention, conversations, corrections, and instructions they need throughout the day and I have don’t have room for spare thoughts. When I find myself in a place of quiet stillness with no to-do’s or distractions I’m surprised by the sensation of my own wandering thoughts. I loved traveling alone! It was so wonderful.

Then I landed in my beloved California and got picked up by Kat and her husband Craig. It was sooooo good to see her! We dropped Craig off at home and we spent a lovely evening our favorite fondue restaurant, the Melting Pot. Kat and I have lots of special memories there. The next day we ran errands, ate In-N-Out Burgers, and loafed on the coach in the daytime to watch TV…In The Daytime!!!! Again, not part of my normal world. It was wonderful!

That evening we got ready and met up with our other girls for Becky’s bachelorette party. Everybody (but Anna – who made it out for the wedding, but not the bachelorette party) flew in for Becky’s wedding! We had such a good night and I loved seeing all my dear college friends! We started off at Amanda’s house and had such fun catching up and watching Becky open her presents. Then we moved on to a dueling piano bar. It was a first for me and so, so, so fun! We walked in wearing goofy cowboy hats and made an impression on the pianists. They highlighted our group a lot and made the night even more fun. We danced in the aisles to everything from Johnny Cash to Irish jigs, plus so much in between. Becky had a great night, which is the most important part. I love my girls!

Dan & Jenny Sumner and their little 2 year old Emma hosted Laurie and I for our trip. I’m so glad for that time getting to know Jenny in her family setting. I usually only see her at girl’s reunions. She and her family are so enjoyable and her daughter definitely steals the show. She’s adorable! We were so comfortable and cared for. Jenny even put mints on our pillows at night and had a little chalk board in a photo frame on our nightstand wishing us sweet dreams. I’m dying to recreate the homemade roasted butternut squash ravioli with browned butter sage sauce Jenny made us one night. It was heavenly! I’m itching to get the Kitchenaid mixer I’ve wanted for years with the pasta attachment so I can easily bust out awesome pasta on my own. Our car rental turned out to be a little mint green Volkswagen Beetle and Laurie and I had a good time driving that around all week. I love that Laurie and I got a week being roomies. We had so much time together and I cherish her friendship.

I got to spend a day with Tracy Flores & Amber Jenkins. We had a full day of long conversations, quality time, and a good dose of tasty treats. Those two girls are really close to my heart. They will forever be in my life and I’m so thankful for them. I can’t wait until our families can all be together again. Our kids are all each other’s best friends and I miss those relationships and dynamics in my family’s life. We’re plotting to get Sam a plane ticket out here so he and Caleb can have a week or two together. Hopefully soon.

Then back to my college girls. We spent such a wonderful week together. Becky had set us up to go to a TV taping of the Ellen DeGeneres Show. We thought the guest of the day was going to be the cast of the Twilight movies. So Laurie thought it would be a good idea to watch the first movie to acquaint herself with the characters before she saw them live. Laurie, Dan (Jenny’s husband), and myself spent a morning watching the teen vampire/werewolf love story unfold. It was hilarious. I’m a fan, but Laurie and Dan are not Twilight material, so it was an amusing morning. Then it was time to go to the taping. We ended up with different guests on the Ellen show, so watching Twilight was for naught. Ha ha! But, we did end up being given a $100 Groupon gift certificate, a CD of the musical guest, a box of Jelly Belly candies, and tickets to come back for the taping of Ellen’s 12 Days of Christmas Show! Those are incredibly sought after tickets! Ellen gives away thousands of dollars of prized to each audience member on the Christmas shows!!! I was in such a position. I knew I had to figure out how to make a way to get back to California to go to that show. It took some doing, but we worked it out. I have my plane ticket purchased to go back. Of the four of us girls that went, only Becky lives locally. Laurie lives in Washington D.C. and Kelly lives in Northern CA. They’ve both worked it out too. We’ll be on the December 13th taping, which will likely air on the 14th, so set your TV’s to record. It will be a quick turn around trip, but how fun to see my girls again and get prizes!

The day before the wedding was great. Anna had arrived and our close group of college girls got to spend the last half of the day enjoying each other and celebrating Becky. We got pedicures followed with dinner & sangrias at Habana, my favorite Cuban restaurant. There is something irreplaceable about this group of girls in my life. I’m thankful we’ve gotten to see each other about once a year over the last ten years.

Becky’s wedding was perfect! She was gorgeous and she picked a great guy. I wish them so much happiness.

I returned home looking forward to seeing my family after a whole week away. My whole family loved on me so much the first couple days I was home. I ate it up. Then it was time for Thanksgiving. Jon’s cousins Aaron & Andrew came to stay with us for the holiday. I’m so glad Andrew lives here now. He recently moved to San Marcos from Kauai. The senior Rusch’s hosted Thanksgiving and I couldn’t have asked for a better first Texan Thanksgiving. We had the tradition food plus smoked brisket and sausage. It was amazing! The weather was ideal and the people felt like family. I love that feeling. I love that I felt like I was at home. We played Bocce ball and the kids played ping pong and ran around having fun. It was a perfect day. Maybe next year we’ll be able to have our family come too. Then it will be an even more perfect day.

Texas Beginnings – July to September 2011

It is the middle of September and I found myself sitting quietly in my brown leather chair. It’s tricky for me to find those moments. The kids are both fighting colds so I canceled school today. They’re working on a new puzzle Caleb got for his birthday yesterday. So I had a few quiet moments to pray and listen to the Lord. And I was surprised by what He told me. He saved us! He sent us to Texas, in His perfect timing, to avert financial disaster for our family. He got us out in time! Our business would have hit hard times and we wouldn’t have been able to pay our rent. We would have become desperate suddenly. He saved us from disaster by moving us to Texas, and I wasn’t even aware of it. And not only that, but He started us on a new path to breathe life into our family and begin a new career path that would enliven Jon and provide more financial security, now and for the future. What if we hadn’t listened?!? What if we hadn’t obeyed the Lord immediately?!? How can God save us if we don’t listen and obey?

I really thought that obeying God and moving here was just about walking Jon through having desires and hopes and reaching for them; about learning how to live. It hadn’t even crossed my mind that God was saving us from disaster! I’m so thankful and feeling a bit overwhelmed with the goodness of our Lord. I would have never even known what we were spared had the Lord not shared that with me. How awesome is our God!!!

July was a crazy month. Jeremy, Julie, and their 3 kids arrived around midnight our first day here, after we unloaded our moving truck. It was chaos, stuff everywhere. Julie was a huge help to me! She took care of cooking duties so I could focus on unpacking. That was huge for me! And she helped unpack so much! Thank you Sister!!!!!! Jeremy was traveling all over playing shows. A few were more local and Jon played with him, along with some of our new neighbors. The kids got to really get to know each other, which was so needed. That’s the downside to family living in Kauai, you don’t get to see them as often as you would like.

Right off the bat being here I was invited to a Mary Kay party at one neighbor’s house. Another neighbor invited me to a girl’s night birthday celebrate in town. A few weeks after moving in we had a fun Mexican food night. One of my new friends decided she wanted to cook with me, so the girls took me to the grocery stores and we cooked together. Then we had a Mexican food party, played games, and had a great night. It feels good and normal to have a full house of friends. Yay! It was a nice way to break in the house.

Cousin Aaron came for a visit and took us hiking around the woods we live in. He is really good at identifying all the plants, animals, and evidence of animals out there. It was fun; hot, but fun!

My cousin Kara came for a visit and it was so nice to see her. Years seem to pass between visits. I’m glad I live so much closer to her now! We’ll get to do holidays together even! She and I had a nice girl’s day in town. We got pedicures (in massage chairs – the best!), shopped for jeans at the consignment shop, and caught up on life. I really needed that girl’s day. She got the kids gift cards to the toy store and made cake balls (cake in bite size form, rolled in chocolate) with the kids. It was a very merry un-birthday for them and they loved it!

September is our first month here in Texas of regular life and daily routines. We’ve been fighting cold after cold after cold, especially the kids. We’re just getting used to a new set of bugs and I’m sure we’ll develop immunity after awhile. Our house is functional enough to live in, although we have many corners filled with stacks of boxes and toys overflowing. We’re close to getting the boys rooms done and then the toys will have homes again, instead of being and endless messy pile that engulfs the entrance way into the house. We’ve got moulding up and painted. The bunk beds are almost done being built and are about ready to be painted. We plan to make a little stage in the room for the kids drum set that will have storage space underneath for toys. We also plan to build a wardrobe for the room since we had to knock out the closet to make enough room for their beds. It will be a really fun room when we’re done.

We’ve been enjoying our neighbors and getting to know them better. We’ve gone swimming, had BBQ’s, had date nights/babysitting trades, and the boys have gone fishing. Jon even canoed down a local river with our neighbor Justin. He took his gun because apparently there are alligators in the river. Ahhhh! No sightings though, so that’s good (if there were any sightings, Jon wisely didn’t tell me, so I’m at least under the impression they didn’t see any). We went to a get-together to watch the first game of the college football season. This town goes into crazy football frenzy mode! Just part of our new Texas life; Might as well embrace the culture :) I’m so thankful for our friends here welcoming us into their lives, including us, and making us feel at home. The Ruschs, Hamiters, Ericksons, VonGontens, & Rhodes rock!!!

The more things have started falling back into place, the more peace I feel. I’ve gotten back into the habit of cooking weeknights, except Tuesdays. Tuesdays are our go into town, deposit Jon’s paycheck, eat dinner out, and do our grocery shopping nights. I hadn’t been able to wrap by brain around cooking while our house was in chaos with unpacking and company and all. But we’re feeling much more settled, in routine, and peaceful. Right now I am on a quest to recreate Trader Joe's Chimichurri Rice. It used to be a staple in my freezer, but now I don't live by my beloved Trader Joes. I found a recipe online that will at least start me off in the right direction. I even ordered a 1 lb. bag of dried Peruvian aji panca chiles to give me the best chance at an authentic taste.

I’ve really been enjoying school with the kids. I was a little intimidated by the idea of homeschooling two kids at the same time. I thought that it would be a big process with a lot of readjusting and tweaking to make it work. I was so wrong. I did no preparation. I hadn’t even cracked open Ben’s books to see what they were like. I had no plan. I didn’t have the time or brain space up till then. I was just trying to get through our move and getting settled. I just jumped right in on our first day of schooling. I opened all the books. I made a schedule and a strategy. And, thank the Lord, it worked beautifully! We had a very successful 1st month of homeschooling 2 kids!!! I was thrilled it went so smoothly! We were organized and we had fun. Ben and I still are really enjoying learning his letters and reading books together. We've been playing all kinds of games to help lock the letter names into his brain. I'm really cherishing this time with him. There's something especially sweet about this stage. I have lots of fond memories of Caleb at this stage too :)

Caleb’s 10th birthday has been great. It started off slightly bittersweet. Both kids woke up a bit sick and he was missing his friends more than usual because of his birthday. He wasn’t really up for a birthday party because of that. We all got up early so Jon could make Caleb a special birthday breakfast and so he could open his presents. It was a nice time. We laid low most of the day because the kids were fighting little colds. Our neighbors asked Caleb over so they could give him a present. Legos and a singing card! It made him feel really cared about. Thanks Rusch Family! Then we went out to dinner at Caleb’s choice, Chuy’s, a Mexican restaurant. We let him open all the cards he’d received. He kept getting more birthday love and money as he opened each card. Thanks everyone! That was really special and meant so much to Caleb! He felt loved! He has been saving for about 2 years for a Lego Mindstorm, which is a toy that incorporates robotics and computer programming with Legos. It is $300 at the toy store and, before the birthday money he got for his birthday, he was halfway there. He was thankful that he was getting closer to his goal. And then he opened up the last card from Grandpa Artie and Grandma Cheryl. He admired the card for quite awhile. Grandma Cheryl is really good at making special cards. It even had a picture of the Mindstorm in it. Then Caleb found the check folded up in a slot in the card. There was enough money to put him well over the amount he needed! His mouth fell wide open. He was stunned; frozen in shock! We could see his wheels turning as it slowly began sinking in…he would finally be able to buy his Mindstorm after 2 years of hard work doing chores to earn money, careful saving, and lots of patience!!! We had seen one at Toys R Us, which is where we headed directly after dinner. He didn’t even want to order birthday dessert because he was too amped about getting his toy. To our disappointment, Toys R Us no longer had any in stock. But it was okay, he was a trooper, and we ordered it on Amazon from my phone as soon as we walked out of the store. He saved at least $40 by ordering in on Amazon. We got it for $270 plus a great book that will teach him how to use the toy for another $19, no tax and no shipping fees. Yay! We topped the night off with frozen yogurt and thank you calls to the Grandparents.

We decided a special family day was in order for Saturday in lieu of a birthday party. Caleb was too sick for any of our plans though, so we played Monopoly, watched SpongeBob, and made birthday cupcakes.

Just a few days ago the boys and I were sitting in the living room about ready to home school. Suddenly there was a wonderful display of birds out our front window. I’m really thankful for the big picture window that takes up quite of bit of our living room wall. We’ll have to get a good bird identification book. We’re pretty sure we saw a blue jay, a cardinal, and 2 or 3 other species. They were flying, perching, playing in the bird bath, and sharing their different bird sounds with us. It was spectacular! I haven’t witnessed anything quite like it since we’ve moved here. It was just a really special moment that captivated our attention. I’m really enjoying the nature of where we live. It’s impossible not to see life all around you here. We constantly see deer families (there’s probably a correct term for that), squirrels, and a variety of birds. Our first few weeks here were filled with the evening sounds of the cicadas. That was cool. But it wasn’t cool that they would bash themselves towards any light source, so trying to get into the front door at night was pretty freaky. Those cicadas are very large and very strong as they thrash and bash themselves around the porch light and front door. And there are so many of them. But that only lasted for a short time. I guess the cicada season is short. There’s so much for us to learn about the new environment we live in; plants, animals, and the ever changing weather. It’s almost impossible for me to not start singing praise songs to the Lord walking the quarter mile walk to the mail box. I like that.

Below is Caleb’s poem for one of his weekly writing assignments.

I Want to Invent a Machine

I want to invent a machine…
That can fly.
I want to invent a machine…
That can jump high.

I want to invent a machine…
That can run.
I want to invent a machine…
With a tongue.

I want to invent a machine…
That won’t lie.
I want to invent a machine…
That won’t die.

I want to invent a machine…
Who has a lot of fun.
I want to invent a machine…
Who gets my homework done.

Farewell California – July 2011

At the end of June we said our farewells to Hanford and our family. We headed down to Orange County for a final week with our friends. I expected to have a calm week with nothing to do but lounging with friends and with Jon who was done working. I was wrong. Jon’s back went out right at the beginning, and in a really severe way. I had felt like I had been a single mom for 4 months and I had to consciously adjust my expectations, because I thought I was going to have a reprieve, but Jon was laid up for most of the week. Once I adjusted my expectations, I did a lot better. We had our farewell party the day after we arrived, so we got ready for that as soon as we arrived. The farewell party for me was anything but simple. Aside from all the work to be done in preparation, it stirred up a lot of emotions for me: it was taxing to fit all of my visiting with everyone from all walks of my life into a few hours, it was extremely heartbreaking to say my good-byes, and it was super joyous to get to see everyone after 4 months away. It was a very mixed bag of emotions. The rest of our week was good; tiring, but good. It was very busy, full of activity, kids and dogs everywhere, late nights working on wedding invitations for a friend, final outings with loved ones, and long talks. Thank you Tracy & family for putting us up and all the work you put into blessing us! Thank you Amber and family for letting us use your home for our good-bye party, especially when you are such a sick pregnant lady right now! Thanks everyone who came out to see us before we moved! We love you all so much!

Both boys had taken all of the changes in our family in stride, up until our Orange County week. Ben, all of a sudden, needed lots of extra reassurance, which expressed itself in more clinginess and whininess, but also more affection and snuggles, especially with Jon.

The next day was the BIG day. The day we were going to drive away. We impulsively decided to not get an early start, but to have one final hurrah. We went to breakfast in the park with dear friends and I’m so glad we did. I needed that more focused and peaceful time with my friends! I thrive on peace. I can’t hang for too long with hectic craziness. The kids got to run around in the grass while we adults got to lounge and sip our coffee. I was really sunburned from the day before, loading the moving truck. I hadn’t planned on staying to help with loading, but I did, and I got really burned. We had a lot of help loading all of our stuff from our storage unit into our moving truck. Thanks all you burly dudes for your manly help, it meant a lot! Anyway, we lingered at the park as long as we possibly could. But then it was time to go. Bye my beloved California (which really means bye my beloved friends and all that I know and am used to and am comfortable with)….ahhhhh….I can’t believe I’m moving to Texas. I’m crazy! I’ve never lived anywhere but California! I love it there! Ahhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!! And I’m sunburned.

So we pulled out, Jon and Caleb in the moving truck, pulling our car behind them, and me and Ben in Jon’s van. We had to rig the van’s floorboard by putting a phone book under the gas pedal. My heel didn’t touch the floorboard otherwise. And off we went!

We had 3 ½ days of driving. I’ve never driven that much by myself. I did though! Yay me! Our days were full of ups and downs. I decided that it’s okay to see the ups and the downs of things. It’s part of the charm of the adventure. I tried to write down what I could in the moment. Here’s just a glimpse of our few days.


DOWN: My guts weren’t working right all week in Orange County, stress or whatever. So much so, that I had to take laxatives. And of course, the laxatives didn’t hit until we were on the road!
UP: We made it to a McDonald’s in the middle of nowhere, just in the nick of time. And bonus, I got to see my first awesome Midwest hairstyle of the trip – a combo mullet with rat’s tail :)

UP: Kids enthralled and completely entertained for 3 days with the car kits Granny put together.
DOWN: Melty crayons all over everything.
UP: Ben, a five year old, entertained himself so well the entire trip. He poured over books, worked on an alphabet turtle puzzle, and colored picture after picture. I was so impressed by his focus, perseverance, and newly acquired longer attention span. He was really developing a want to learn, so much so, that he got very disappointed that he didn’t know how to read, but I got to encourage him and tell him that was what I was going to teach him to do in kindergarten.

DOWN: Sunburned shoulders don’t mix with seat belts and sun in the window
UP: Jimmie rigging a sunshade in the driver window to protect my sunburned shoulders

DOWN: The A/C in the van only blows air when I take my foot off the gas pedal and it stops blowing when I press on the gas pedal. It’s a very hot summer so A/C is very important.
UP: Jon’s moving truck that I’m following goes really slow, so I get to take my foot off the gas pedal a lot :)

DOWN: Missed a photo opportunity with a really cool cactus (for some reason I was bummed about that – so say my notes – weird how you feel in the moment of something, but looking back seems kind of ridiculous)
UP: Found a giant dinosaur in the middle of nowhere – great photo

UP: Free library audio books that I downloaded in the hotel room onto my iPod and unlimited music on Pandora.
UP: Caleb and I listened to “Inkheart” for hour upon hour when it was his turn to ride with me.
DOWN: I couldn’t keep listening to “Inkheart” when Caleb was riding with Jon. I didn’t want him to miss any of the story.
UP: Bob Marley’s “One Love” song played and it resonated with me in that moment.

One Love (Oh, Lord!)
One Heart (Wo-ooh!)
Give thanks and praise to the Lord
And I will feel all right;
Let's get together and feel all right.
Give thanks and praise to the Lord
And I will feel all right;
Let's get together and feel all right.

DOWN: Blown tire on a busy road in Arizona
UP: God’s hand of protection! God miraculously kept us from an accident even though my van swerved severely into the other lanes on a busy road when the tire blew!

DOWN: Severe traffic due to a flash flood in Arizona
UP: We finally got to the front of the line of traffic and got our turn to drive though the flooded out road after a very long wait. It was kind of fun :)

DOWN: Having to find a pet friendly hotel, late at night, in whatever town we landed in after a full day of driving. One night was especially bad because we had to drive way past the point of tired, in the dark, in a storm, until we even found a town. I’m terrified of driving tired because I know I’m not immune to falling asleep driving (I did it once a long time ago)!
UP: Always finding one despite the odds. Yay God!
UP: Ben was ecstatic with the continental breakfasts at the hotels. He was in snack heaven!

UP: Writing these notes while driving the van on a deserted long windy road in Texas.
DOWN: occasional veering off the road due to writing while driving.
UP: glad for wake up tread to help me notice I’m veering off the road.

UP: Our new Texas neighbors called while we were in a hotel the last night and they said they put food in our fridge and will assemble a team to help unload our moving truck. I can’t wait to get to know these loving and generous people! I’m very excited!

We finally arrived late evening after 3 ½ days of driving. It was a long journey. We were met by two different neighbors, a stocked fridge, a nice note on our counter, and a crock pot of stew. The next day a crew was ready and unloaded our moving truck in the crazy Texan heat! What a blessing! Especially since Jon’s back was in horrible condition. What generous, kind, and wonderful people! Thank you Hamiters!!!! And thanks Tellors for the soup, it was tasty!

Hanford - June 2011

June started off with Ben’s 5th birthday. We had a fun little morning with Ben opening presents in his pj’s. He thought it was funny that Uncle David’s present was wrapped in a sock. Caleb spent the rest of the morning building all of Ben’s new Cars Lego sets for him so that Ben could play with them. Then we got a surprise call from Uncle Jeremy and Auntie Julie. They just arrived in California from Kauai to start off their summer music tour on the mainland. They were in the Bay Area and wanted to meet in the middle to celebrate Ben. We waited for Jon to get to Hanford from Southern CA and then we drove to meet up with the rest of the Hartshorns and Granny. We ended up at a little BBQ restaurant and had a fun night. We had cupcakes and the kids ran around and played out front for a long time. Then we went over to Target to spend the rest of our evening and to pick out some presents for Ben. It was great to see everyone. It had been about a year and a half since we last saw them. Those Bubbas (the twins Ethan & Shepard) have gotten so big. They were babies last time we saw them. Love you guys! Thanks for celebrating Ben with us!

May was filled with cleaning out and organizing my Mom’s house. So in June I decided to refresh my Mom’s house. I also got to help my brother check out homes to buy. He found a gorgeous 1902 Victorian house, put an offer in, and his offer got accepted. We had a little dance party and I got special bubbly in celebration. No one else wanted to share the bubbly though, so I was stuck with the whole bottle by myself :) Now I had a second project, to help my brother furnish his house and get the basic necessities. We scoured thrift stores and antique shops for furniture. We stumbled onto so many quaint little downtowns in the CA Central Valley and left with some of their treasures. I did a lot of sewing. I got David and my Dad to help me with sanding the furniture and Jon was our painter. Between all of us, Mom and Dad ended up with a cheerful and newly refreshed room with new couches, new lamps, and a refurbished coffee table, end table, bookshelf, and rocking chair; Plus new handmade pillows, a lap blanket, and valances. David ended up with a pretty good setup too. Sadly, I had to leave Hanford before I got to see everything put into his house. I’m sure it’s cute though. It was fun to have a blank slate to work with. It opens up such a broader range of possibilities.

We had a fun day outing in San Francisco with the Flores Family. I was glad we got to go there before we moved away from California. Juan was working at a convention, so we met up with Tracy and the kids in the morning. It was adorable when the kids all saw each other for the first time in months! Sam and Caleb were so happy to see each other. They were beside themselves with joy. Ben and Vida were stinkin’ cute. I got to sit on a bench with just the two of them for a little while and listen in on their conversations. They were just radiating joy being together again! We checked out Pier 39 and a magic show in the promenade. After Juan met up with us we explored the Aquarium. Ben and Vida loved when they got to touch the rays and starfish. Caleb and Sam were too cool to do that this time. We found a tasty place to get some famous clam chowder sourdough bread bowls and relax with a harbor view. It was perfect. We explored the Golden Gate Bridge and the kids got to let loose. They ran and chased and ran some more. Then we drove over to check out Ghirardelli Square at dusk. We wandered along the water front before we made it there and the kids had a blast running around at the shore. We were tired are ready to relax when we finally got our desserts. Tasty heaven! I’m so glad we got to have such a fun day with our closest friends before we moved! We love you guys so much!

Back in Hanford, Grandpa gave Caleb a science challenge to make a suspension bridge like the Golden Gate Bridge. He gave Caleb a bunch of parts and set him to work. Caleb did a great job and got a really good understanding of the science behind suspension bridges. Another time Grandpa taught Caleb about hovercrafts and they made their own version with CD’s. It was really neat.

Caleb spent a good week or two taking things apart to see how they work. Thank goodness he got everything put back together and working again, all by himself too. I'm very proud of my smart & inquisitive boy. He and Uncle David decided to tackle Uncle's CD player/radio. They didn’t get too far before they got tired of it though. I’m not sure if they even put it back together.

One night, on the goodnight phone call to Daddy, of which I can only hear Ben's side on the conversation: "Where's your bed Daddy?" "What? You have a car bed Daddy?" "Is that for real Daddy?" "I never knew you had a car bed Daddy." When we were finally back in Orange County and Ben saw that Daddy’s car bed was just Daddy’s suburban with blankets and a pillow in the back, I think he was a little bit disappointed. He had imagined something much more fun :)

Thanks for having us Mom and Dad! I truly know the Lord ordained this time for our family. The Lord wanted to refresh the people and the place. He drew us closer together. He re-established bonds and healed more than we probably know. I’m so thankful for you guys and love you fiercely!