Paint!!

The painting in the main part of the house is done and I absolutely love it!! It's even better that I didn't have to paint it myself. We've never hired painters before because I don't think it's that hard to do and I can do a pretty good job myself, but there was so much painting that needed to be done, it would have taken me weeks! It took three guys 2 days. Here are the before and after pictures:

We spent much of the weekend figuring out where to hang things on our newly painted walls. We hung a few things but didn't make much progress. Oh well.

We also had the pool heater replaced last week, a pretty large expense that we weren't planning on. Turns out there were a couple of mice that had built a nest in the old one, and their waste ruined it. Imagine that! So, now we have a nice new mouse-free pool heater that works like a charm. And Brian set a mouse motel next to it to make sure it stays that way!

Friday night, Brian and I went on our first date since moving to Bakersfield. We went to a Bakersfield establishment, Buck Owens Crystal Palace. I wasn't sure what to expect, but it was pretty darn cool. It's a restaurant, dance hall, and museum all in one! The Buckaroos (Buck Owens's band from when he was on Hee-Haw) still play there regularly. Some of those guys have been in the band for over 40 years! We ate dinner and danced a little and listened to the band play, while Sarah babysat Katie for the first time and did a really good job. We were quite impressed with her.

Saturday we heated up the hot tub and soaked for a while. It was very relaxing! We also used the outdoor kitchen for the first time on Saturday. Brian grilled a pork tenderloin and zucchini that I bought at the farmer's market. It was delicious! A pretty good day in my book.

Santa Barbara

Last week began uneventfully, but then Sarah woke up on Wednesday with a stomach bug. Thankfully, it was only a one-day deal and she was back to her normal self by Thursday!

The rest of the week was a little...boring. We are still doing all the little things to get settled here. Like changing our address on our accounts, having the pool heater serviced, deciding on paint colors, etc. Speaking of paint colors, I thought we had decided on them last week, but the more I looked at the samples we had painted on the walls, the more I was unsure. So we decided to get some help. We had the Color Rep from Sherwin Williams come out on Friday to help us decide, and she was fantastic! I am so excited about what we chose. The common areas are going to be Balanced Beige, which is a cross between beige and gray. I think it is going to look great with our brick fireplace and brown granite countertops. The kitchen color I am really excited about. It is called Underseas, a dark blue-green. I plan to buy a few accessories for the living and dining rooms in that same color to give some unity to the space. It should really lighten up the house and make the kitchen pop. I can't wait to get rid of the monotone butterscotch that is currently covering most of our home!!

Here are some "before" pictures:

We decided to go on a little weekend vacay to Santa Barbara. It only took 2 1/2 hours to get there. We went up Saturday morning and came back Sunday evening. When we arrived in SB, we stopped for lunch at a delicious little pastrami deli called Norton's and then headed to the beach, where Katie went right to work on a sand castle and Sarah ran around in the water. 

Santa Barbara is really beautiful with the mountains on one side and the beach on the other.

We spent the rest of the afternoon at the hotel in the heated pool and relaxing around the fire pit. Burgers for dinner and a family game of marbles  (Brian and Sarah were the victors) rounded out the evening.

Sunday morning we toured the Santa Barbara Mission. It was very cool. I learned a bit about California history and architecture. It is still a working mission and they had a mass while we were there, so we were able to hear the beautiful organ music.

Then we went down to Stearn's Wharf and discovered an art street fair. We spent the next hour looking at a lot of beautiful and creative art (some not-so-beautiful) and we ended up purchasing some rings for the girls and one for me too! I was very happy to buy a souvenir that supports a local artist rather than some little trinket at a tourist shop!

After lunch at another DDD restaurant (Mac's Fish & Chips) we headed out of town, stopping at Rincon Beach on our way to watch a surfing competition, the Rincon Beach Classic. There were so many surfers in the water, I don't know how they kept from seriously injuring one another! The waves were huge and the surfers were amazing! Sarah decided she wants to learn how to surf. Except she's terrified of sharks in the water! It was a pretty cool ending to a nice weekend away.

 

Next week is painting week!! I'm so excited to see what the finished product looks like!

Once the painters finish with the main part of the house, I will start on the girls' bedrooms and the hall bathroom. I see a lot of work in my future...

Getting Settled

The girls' first week at school was great, at least from their point of view. I still have my reservations, but I'm keeping an open mind. It's hard because the schools we were at in Houston were really top-notch.  I'm sure this is a great school too, it's just different! But, both girls made friends right away and like all their teachers. Katie has some catching up to do in math with her multiplication facts, and she missed learning the entire lower-case cursive alphabet, but she will be right on track in no time, I'm certain. I haven't had much contact with Sarah's teachers, so I guess that means she's doing fine.

The big goals for this week were to organize the playroom (which the girls worked hard at and did a great job) and settle on paint colors for the common living areas of the house. Right now it's an orangey-brown caramel color, which I really don't like. Both goals were accomplished, so I am feeling good!

Next week we will get some estimates from painters and hopefully start painting! I can't wait!!

This weekend went by so fast. We stayed around the house getting things organized, unpacking a few more boxes, getting pool supplies, doing a little yard maintenance, and picking out paint colors. Saturday morning Sarah and I went to our first California Farmer's market. It was small, but had a lot of great stuff! We got an assortment of fruits and veggies, some Applewood smoked Himalayan salt, and some beef jerky. I could have bought a lot more, but I had been to the grocery store several times already during the week, so I had to hold myself back!

While Brian and I were busy around the house, the girls found their own projects to work on...

On Saturday afternoon, they spent about 2 hours on the back patio painting beautiful pictures. They are both very talented. I'm thinking we may need to get them enrolled in some art classes to expand on their natural abilities!

Then on Sunday afternoon, they decided to dissect some owl pellets. Our backyard is littered with them! It was pretty cool. They found skulls with teeth and all kinds of bones. They were going to try to put an entire mouse skeleton together, but it was too difficult, so they just collected all the bones and put them in a ziplock, which is currently sitting on my kitchen counter. Ew!

Our First Week in Cali

On December 28th, we moved to Bakersfield California. It's been one week since our moving day, and I'm feeling somewhat settled but also unsettled at the same time. The thing is, everything is new. Nothing is comfortable. Even going for a run or going to the gym takes extra brain power. For a somewhat introvert such as myself, every time I leave the house, I will be interacting with a stranger (since I know NO ONE in this city), and that's a little nerve-wracking. Every time I drive somewhere, I have to think about which way to go and how to get where I'm headed. Even cooking in my kitchen takes extra brain power because I have to think about where I put the dishes and utensils. It's truly exhausting. But at the same time, it's interesting and exciting.

Yesterday, we went on our first California adventure. First we went to Lake Isabella in Sequoia National Forest, and it turned out to be not very pretty at all, due to the long-standing drought. The lake was very low and the surrounding areas were all very brown and blah. So, we got back in the car and headed north to the Sequoia National Monument. There we found some beautiful scenery including the beautiful Kern River and snow covered mountains. We took Heidi on a little hike, which she loved. Katie found a huge walking stick and a giant Sequoia pinecone.

This morning we went to Crosspoint Community Church, and interestingly enough, the sermon was about loving the city that God has you in. The pastor talked about how each one of us is here in Bakersfield through God's sovereignty for a divine purpose. Those are some of the same thoughts I've been having over the past weeks, wondering how and when I will discover what God's purpose is for me and my family in Bakersfield.

Tomorrow the girls start school. Katie is very nervous. Sarah is probably nervous as well, but she hides it well. Lots of prayers for their first day: new friends, nice teachers, a smooth transition.

What I've Learned

In the last year, I have learned that life with Jesus can sometimes feel like a roller coaster, but you have to be willing to get on the ride, or you will miss the best parts.

Brian and I have been committed to getting on the ride, and since last November, there have been times of excitement and times of great disappointment, times when we were sure about what God was doing, and times that we were very confused. But I wouldn’t change it, because Jesus is on the ride too, and that’s the only place I want to be!

A year ago, there started to be some talk in Brian’s work group about sending us to Australia in the Spring of 2015. I was very excited about the possible adventure that would be for our family. My list-making, always-be-prepared, organized self wanted to start making plans right away, but I felt God calling me to always be present in where He has us today. So, I resisted as much as possible until we got the final word. And several months later, the final word came, or at least what we thought was the final word. So, with eagerness and excitement about what lay ahead, I began de-committing from several volunteer activities, I quit my job, and I starting making my lists. 

Then things changed. Oil prices dropped and the Australia project was put on hold. We weren’t moving after all. We were so disappointed, and confused. Why would God set us up with such excitement and anticipation just to take it all away? What was He doing? I felt lost for a while, but then I again felt God calling me to be present in where He has us today. So we decided to go ahead and grow our roots in Houston a little deeper, since we obviously weren’t going anywhere anytime soon. We started a new study with our small group and invited several new couples, we continued our work in the KidZone, I began volunteering with Young Lives and re-committed to Carenet, and Brian decided it was finally time to start playing the drums with the worship band. We felt good. We were committed to being where God had us, and although we were still disappointed about not going to Australia, we knew that God had a purpose in all of it.

Then, a couple of months later, Brian asked me what I thought about moving to Bakersfield. And my response was “Are you kidding me!?!?” I turned to God and asked “What are you doing?” But the real question for me was “Are you going to get on the roller coaster ride or not?” So, now we are moving to Bakersfield. And again, we are excited. Not because Bakersfield is a beautiful, adventurous place (not hardly!), but because we know that God has a ministry purpose for us there, and we are committed to keeping our minds and hearts open to the good works that God has prepared in advance for us to do (Eph. 2:10).

John 10:10 says: “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” For my family, that means that sometimes we will feel so full of life and love, surrounded by friends and community, thankful for our many blessings, and other times God will pick us up and put us in the middle of a dry dusty oil field where we don’t know a soul, where we will start over making a new community, where we will face periods of loneliness and longing but continue to be thankful for God’s blessings. It’s all part of the roller coaster ride. And we will stay on this ride so we can experience the best parts!

Take 2

Well, never mind about that Australia thing. Turns out, we are not moving to the other side of the world after all. Not yet anyway. The project has been delayed 1-2 years. So potentially, we could be moving down under in another year or two, but so much could happen between now and then, I'm not going to get my hopes up. Actually, it will be really difficult for me to get my hopes up about any future opportunity after the hit my heart took this time.

So, now what? I've been in a difficult place this last month, trying to figure out the purpose in all this. I know that God always has a plan and a purpose, but He doesn't always share it with us. I've quit my job (which I wanted to do anyway) and de-committed from all my volunteer roles, so now I have a fairly clear schedule (as clear as it can be with two busy girls and lots of great friends) and I'm wondering if God has a big thing that He wants me to do. I hope that He does, because honestly, I was all set and ready for a big change, and now I'm not really content just going back to the same stuff I was doing before. It was good, don't get me wrong. But I was looking forward to something different, and now I need something different. Does that make sense?

Hopefully I'll have some ideas and answers in the next couple of months. My mind is open and searching for what God has planned for me and my family, but my heart is still a little guarded. To be continued...

Telling the Girls

We found out on Tuesday that the transfer to Australia was official, but we kept it our own little secret for a few days. We didn't want to start telling friends and family until we had a chance to talk to the girls. And with our busy after-school activities, we waited a few days until it was a good time to sit down with them and talk. So, on Good Friday afternoon, we called a family meeting.

The girls could tell that we had some exciting news to share and they immediately started trying to guess what it was: "Are we going on a vacation?", "Are we getting a new pet?"

Brian said, "Well, we are sort of going on a vacation...a really long vacation. We are moving to Australia!" At first both girls were excited! In fact, Katie jumped up and screamed, and then ran outside so she could scream some more! Sarah jumped up with a look of elation on her face, but that quickly turned into sadness when she realized what was actually happening.

Then she looked outside and saw that Katie also had started crying. Katie came back inside and, through her tears, cried "I don't want to move!"

I knew it would be a hard pill for the girls to swallow. Everything they know is here: their home, their friends, their school, their family. Brian and I are very excited about this opportunity, but change is always hard. I know the girls will be just fine, and even better than fine, in the end, but I can't discount the challenging road it will be to get there.

We will have many more tears in the next several months, and much joy too I hope. We have already begun to cherish moments with friends and family, and we are making plans to fit in as much time with people as possible before we leave.

I know it will be difficult, but I plan to continue relationships with our friends here as well as we can while we are gone. Through skype and facetime, we will have monthly appointments with our firends and family to keep that connection. And I really hope that we will have some visitors. I hope I hope I hope!
We have already started praying for friends to be waiting for our arrival in Perth as well, people we don't know and haven't met yet, but who will be an immediate easy connection with our girls. We are praying for a like-minded family there to connect with and a church to attend and get plugged into.

Brian and I are confident that this is God's plan for our family and that he will provide everything we need to live an abundant life in Australia, including sweet friendships! 

John 10:10 "I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly."