Father's Day and Family Birthday Celebrations

My birthday and Father's Day usually get lumped together in my family.  I was born the day before Father's Day, and my birthday has been on Father's Day at least twice in my life.  This past weekend we celebrated Father's Day on Saturday and my birthday on Sunday.

Saturday evening my parents, brothers, aunt and uncle, and Tad and I met at my grandpa's retirement home to have dinner in the dining room and attend a barbershop quartet concert.  Dinner was nice.  They had done the place settings to look like a suit and tie in honor of Father's Day.  They had a salad bar, tomota soup and rolls, and an option of prime rib or fried shrimp.  The fried shrimp was delicious!  They ran out of cheesecake before we got to dessert, but the brownies and petite fours were very good.  It was a bit of a strange meal thanks to the uninvited guest, a flie that my uncle eventually killed.

The concert was pretty good.  One of the members is a resident.  There were several songs I recognized, and overall I enjoyed it.  Following the concert, my dad and grandpa opened their gifts, and then everybody poofed.

Sunday Tad and I experienced our first Father's Day at Las Flores (we were already attending last year, but were out of town Father's Day weekend.)  They call it "Dadfest".  It is a day complete with classic cars, trucks, and motorcycles, raffle prizes in church, trophies for the vehicles (given out in church), and a barbeque.  A very festive day.

Following the bbq, Tad and I came home for a little bit before setting off for my parents' house.  Since my parents will be out of town this coming weekend (and thus missing my birthday on Friday) they asked if we could count Sunday as my family party.  I said sure. :)  The weather was perfect to have the inaugural swim in my parents' pool.  My dad grilled up kabobs with fantastic steak, tomatoes, mushrooms, peppers, and onions.  Tad made an angel food cake (with strawberries and cool whip) for dessert.  We also opened both my dad's and grandpa's Father's Day gifts: trivial pursuit and a bottle of chocolate wine, respectively.  The game was fun, and the wine was tasty.

It was a great weekend!  My birthday festivities continued today with my Red Robin birthday burger and sundae.  Tad and I met Raelene at NCF for lunch and did some shopping afterwards.  Ah, the fun days of summer!

Dinners and Goodbyes

Day 5 of summer vacation and the latest I have woken up is 7:45.  Sleeping in for a teacher! :)

Saturday evening we hosted Dinner for 8, which turned out to be dinner for 9.  Tad made one of his signature dishes, paella.  The last night of our honeymoon we went to a Spanish restaurant in Carmel.  Both of us were familiar with paella and curious to try it.  It was AMAZING!  A couple months later, back home, Tad began craving more paella.  But Spanish restaurants aren't super common, or cheap, so he found a recipe and made it himself.  His version is also quite delicious.

Our guests were a couple and single lady we hadn't met before, a young couple we regular say hi to, but don't know well, and the senior pastor and his wife (no pressure right?).  It was a delightful evening.  Our guests brought drinks, a salad, French bread, and key lime pie to go with the paella.  Everyone raved about both the paella and the key lime pie (the leftovers to which are currently in the fridge).

Sunday we attended the weekly family dinner at Grandpa's retirement community.  He has a one bedroom apartment with a great kitchen.  The dining room is also fantastic, but they are closed on Sundays.  We had roast, ashed potatoes, and more key lime pie (which Mom had brought).  After dinner we played  arousing game of Trivial Pursuit.

Yesterday I went for another walk and worked on a Bible study in the morning/afternoon.  Tad and I attended a going away Happy Hour for my coworker Diana.  She has been the RSP teacher at my school for the last 4 years and she and I have become close.  I'm very sad to see her leave.  Her husband got a new job opportunity on the east coast, where they are from originally.  The happy hour was at Islands and a number of teachers from our school attended, as well as some of her neighbors and past coworkers.

Today has been a rather tiresome day working on moving and arranging the garage so we can actually park inside once more.  I'm looking forward to the fair and a show at the moonlight amphitheater later this week.

Summer Once Again

Summer vacation has begun, and it would seem that this has inspired me to blog once more.  I have to say that one of my favorite things about working in a school is getting to relive the excitement of summer vacation each year.  As I phrased it on Facebook on Thursday "The excitement of waking up and realizing it's the last day of school is almost like the excitement of waking up and realizing it's Christmas.".

Thursday also happened to be Receipt Day at Chick Fil A (which is almost a holiday for Tad and me), so that made for an excellent start to summer vacay.  It really is a brilliant business idea.  Tons of people participate, and for the customers it is the best possible BOGO ever!  I am especially pleased that Receipt Day fell during the time that the peach shake is available.  Yum!

Thus far (you know, less than 48 hours into summer break) I am amused at my body's work sleeping habits.  I was exhausted Thursday and went to bed at 9:30.  I then woke up at 6:15 Friday morning.  Having woken up at 6:15, I went to bed at 9:00 last night and was up at 7:00 this morning.  We'll see how long this lasts. (Probably not very long at all).

With the extra morning time at home yesterday I was able to accomplish a few housekeeping items, thoroughly catch up on email, and go for a walk, all before 10:00 am.  I went out to Panera for lunch with Raelene and then we saw The Fault in our Stars, which I read last summer and loved.  The movie adaptation is fantastic.  As is inevitable with all book film adaptations, there were elements and sections that were omitted.  But, the true integrity of the book was maintained.

This was the first movie I have seen at the Krikorian, which seems strange since "by the Krikorian" is one of the most frequently used phrases when describing locations in Vista.  Raelene and I were both pleasantly surprised at how nice it is.

Right now I am working on tidying the house in preparation for Dinner for 8 tonight.  Dinner for 8 is an event put on by church to allow members and attendees an opportunity to meet and get to know more people from the church.  We happened to get the senior pastor and his wife in our group this time.  It should be a very fun, and delicious, evening. :)

Two Years in a Nutshell

Not long after my last post I made a decision to stop blogging.  I decided I was sharing too much online and becoming too personal.  But as I've looked over previous posts, I realize how much I enjoy having a record of life events and happenings.  Little things that don't always stay in memories.  Thus, I have decided to give blogging a try once more, but to keep things light, and less personal.

So, since fall 2011 what's new?

Tad and I moved from our condo to a beautiful house about a mile away.  We have a big backyard for Valencia, lots of space for us and kids, fantastic neighbors, and I can still walk to work, though it takes me twice as long.

I'm working at the same school, and still love it.  This year I am also at the middle school one day a week.  I don't exactly love it, but I'm trying to enjoy having new experiences.  I am a fully licensed, certified SLP and a permanent district employee.  Like I said, very happy with my job.

My grandma passed away in early 2012, which was absolutely devastating for our family.  We grieved together and have come to a new normal.  My grandpa moved into a Christian retirement community and is happy as a clam there.  My other grandma has recently moved from Nevada to a retirement home in Seattle near my aunt.

Tad and I have done quite a bit of traveling including a trip to visit his grandparents in St Louis, our 1st anniversary in New England, a couple trips of to the PNW to visit family and friends, and a trip to Colorado to visit friends.  We are in the beginning stages of planning an international trip, either to Spain or Japan.

I was elected as CCLVI secretary in Louisville in 2012 and have enjoyed serving in that position for thae last couple years.  I do not plan to run for re-election this summer.

Tad and I changed churches to one closer to home and joined a home group.  We'It's been a blessing having friends in our local area.

And that pretty much sums it up.  Life is going well, God has bestowed many blessings on us.

Round Up at Indian Hills

Part of Tad's and my ministry involvement this year has been with the Caravans program at Mission. Caravans is a Christian scouting organization similar to Awana. The kids earn badges to develop themselves physically (e.g. sports, archery, etc), mentally (e.g. astronomy), socially (e.g. entertaining), and spiritually (e.g. missions). They also learn the Nazarene articles of faith and participate in ministry projects. At the end of the year (the program runs September to May), the kids get to go to camp. They participate in all sorts of standard camp activities, put their memory work to the test, and receive awards for the year.

Tad and I have been helping with the 5th and 6th grade boys group, which has been very challenging at points. But, camp was fun.

It was held at Indian Hills camp in Jamul (east county San Diego). Much of the camp is OldWest themed, and, following in that theme, the kids sleep in cabins, tents, teepees, or covered wagons. This year Mission stayed in the covered wagons. The wagons are a very cool idea, and I felt very close to my pioneer roots, but they were pretty cramped and got cold at night. Oh well, such is the life whilst camping.

Here are some highlights from the weekend.

Tad and I were able to (just barely) snag rides with others headed out to camp. I rode with one of the missionary families currently on furlough. It was neat getting to chat more with the dad about what they're up to and where God is leading them in the next year or so. There was a bit of time to settle into our wagons once we arrived and then evening worship. I absolutely love worshipping outside. I feel it really adds to the experience to be looking at GOd's creation while worshipping him. Pastor Bev from our church was the speaker for the weekend. Her message centered on being "Ferocious, Fanatical, Faith-Filled Followers of Jesus Christ" taken from the story of Jesus healing the paralytic man who was lowered through the roof. Following the service there was hot chocolate and cookies and it was off to bed.

Saturday was a full day, started out with pancakes and eggs for breakfast and a morning worship service. The majority of the day was filled with rotations of typical camp activities. Our boys started out with archery, which Tad and I eagerly participated in. From there we moved to the derby car races. This was a little disappointing for our kids because their cars weren't waited, but everyone else's were. A lot of the Mission kids won prizes for design though, which was nice. Arts and Crafts followed derby cars. Tad and I took that opportunity to introduce Valencia to the tire swing on the playground. She wasn't really a fan. As soon as that rotation was up, it was time for lunch (chips and sandwiches). The boys had swim time next. Considering it was only about 70 outside, Tad and I skipped the pool, but the weather didn't stop any of the kids. Once they were dried off, we took them to the obstacle course and then to recite their memory work.

My favorite rotation of the day was the zipline. I had only once before gotten the opportunity to go on a zipline, and I chickened out. But not this time. It was a very scary feeling at first, but the second time was much more fun. The boys' last rotation of the day was soccer and sharks and minnoes on a sports field. Dinner was a bbq complete with burgers, hotdogs, and potato salad. The evening finished out with worship and awards for the drby car races and obstacle course and roasting marshmallows over a campfire.

Sunday we had cereal and pastries for breakfast and one last worship service. After the service they gave otu the memory awards and the completion of badges etc. Lots of our kids got memory awards. After that it was time to pack up the cars and head home. It was a long couple of days chasing after kids, but I think it was a great way to close out the year. I'm excited to start out our second year as Caravans leaders :)

Post Graduation

Easter Weekend 2011

This year, since I didn't really get a spring break between SDSU's schedule and my internship schedule, I decided I would once again have an Easter break and spent a 5 day weekend at home in PQ.

Friday afternoon Tad drove Steve and myself up to PQ and we spent the afternoon hanging out. I was unable to attend the Maund Thursday sevice at Mission because of class, which was unfortunate because it sounded like an amazing service. Tad described it to me and walked me through the prayer and meditation points. They had done it in a stations kind of manner with a station for communion, foot washing by the pastors, and writing your sin/burdens on a paper and nailing them to the cross. Though I wish I had been at the actual service, Tad helped me gget int he right mind frame to be ready for Good Friday service.

My family hasn't been to a Good Friday service in at least 10 years. The first two or three we went to at PLC were comrpised of dramatic monologues and no real scripture readings. Thus they left us feeling very depressed and wondering where the scripture was. Tad felt very strongly that we should go to Good Friday, and since I wanted to stay in PQ for the weekend, I comprised to going to PLC. Since the two of us were going, my parents decided to come along, and we were all very happy to have gone.

There were no dramatic monologues. Instead it was alternating scripture readings and wroship songs, accompanied by the Easter choir. It was the right kind of somber that Good Friday is supposed to be.

I spent Saturday morning hanging out with Raelene. We got breakfast at Golden Bagel and ran into a friend from band in high school. We then ran a few errands, picking up an Easter basket for Nate and a portfolio for me to use at job interviews. I used the rest of Saturday to catch up on some homework and compile my portfolio.

Easter Sunday this year was disappointingly gloomy. It was mostly cloudy all day, and I don't think the temperature got above the mid 60s. But, Easter is Easter. My dad and Steve played in the brass ensemble for both the 8:00 and the 9:30 services, so Mom, Tad, and I drove separately and went to the 9:30. It was a nice service, though the sermon seemed very odd to us for Easter. As I put it, it would have been very uplifting for a memorial service, but was quite depressing for Easter.

Back home, my grandparents joine dus for Easter lunch, which we ate in the dining room with the furnace on since it was to cold outside for our usual picnic style. We played a couple rounds of Word on the Street and enjoyed watching a dog show on TV. After they headed home, Tad helped me with a bit more of my work, and then drove Steve back to State.

Monday morning I had my first CFY job interview. It was at a private practice in Rancho Bernardo, and I'm really hoping I get the position. I think I'd be a good fit for them and vice versa. I'm hoping to hear back next week, so we'll see. Prayers are appreciated.

Upon arriving home from my interview, I was delighted to see that the wedding favors had arrived. I'm very excited about them! When Mom got home from volunteering at Braille, we went up to Hallmark to pick up mor ethank you cards, and I worked on the notes from my bridal shower.

Tuesday was wedding planning details day. Mom and I went to Joann's and Michael's to find a few things for my veil and for tags for the favors. We got quite a bit done. Then Mom dropped me off at the condo, and thus ened my long weekend.

I'm down to less than 3 weeks left of the semester, and could not be more relieved. This next week will be tough with my last week of internship and running two IEPs, but I know God can lead me through it.

Meeting the Family

In almost 5 years of dating and engagement, Tad's and my families had not met (with the exception of my Aunt Diane who met Tad's paretns when we were in Seattle). We all thought this was an important fact to remedy prior to the wedding.

Tad's parents and sister made the three day drive down from Tri Cities, spent the weekend enjoying the beautiful San Diego weather we were blessed with, and left Sunday to make the drive home. They were able to see some of Tad's and my favorite SD spots, meet my family, and participate in the first of the wedding events: my Biola bridal shower.

The Tildens arrived Thursday afternoon. While I was working on a group project and then in class, Tad helped them check into their hotel and unload the "treasure" his mom had brought down for him. I got out of class early and was able to go with them out to dinner. Upon Tad's prompting and recommendation, they decided to try the fondue place in La Jolla called The Melting Pot. Tad's whole family loves fondue, and Tad has been dying to go there since he first heard of it. The food was absolutely delicious! We shared three pots of fondue (one classic Swiss, one cheddar, and one spicy Mexican style), two different entres with shrimp, chicken, steak, vegetables, and a wide variety of sauces, and two pots of dessert fondue (bananas foster and dark chocolate with amaretto). Tad had thought it might make a nice rehearsal dinner location, but we decided it was not the best option based on time.

Friday was our fun in the sun day. Mrs. Tilden had requested going to the beach, and it was perfect weather. So first stop was Ocean Beach. There were surprisingly few people there and it was beautiful. Valencia had the most fun I've ever seen her have jumping in the waves. We might actually get her into my parents' pool this summer. ;)

Tad's dad requested taking the driving tour of PLNU and since it was already lunchtime, we stopped by Point Loma Seafood. Great choice, they absolutely loved it, which was not too surprising. It's been a family favorite since LONG before I was born.

Our final destination on the San Diego in a Nutshell tour was Seaport Village. Tad and I split off from his family for some just us time and explored the hot sauce and pet stores. His family enjoyed the specialty shops and picked up quite a few items, especially at the hot sauce store, lol. From there we met my parents and Steve at Marie Calendar's for the initial family meeting. It went rather well, slightly awkward as things like that usually are, but not bad. Stephen was the life of the party and kept us entertained. I love that kid.

After a light snack there, my family and I zipped down to University to meet Steve's astronomy club at a Chinese place called Wong's Golden Palace. Steve got to mingle a bit with some of his classmates and we discovered the best potstickers any of us have ever had.

Thus ended day one of my busy, crazy, fun weekend. I got back to my parents' house, went to bed, and then came day 2.

Tad dropped his mom and Jeana off Saturday morning and then headed off with his dad to a job fair for General Atomics in Poway. Raelene arrived shortly after and the five of us (me, Mom, Raelene, Mrs. Tilden, and Jeana) piled in my mom's Highlander and set out for La Mirada. It was a bit squishy, but we had an enjoyable car ride discussing a lot of "favorites" of everyone. :o)

Becky and Krista threw a beautiful shower for me. It was so wonderful to see so many of my close Biola friends. They had prepared so very delicious treats: pineapple and double chocolate cupcakes, macadamia nut kisses, strawberries, and hazelnut chocolate espresso beans, plus several kinds of delicious punch and iced tea. They started out by having everyone say their name, how they had met me and a favorite memory. This was really fun for me. Amanda talked about our crazy experiences on Winds tour junior year, Diana talke dabout going out for Thai food, Jennifer talked about Biola graduation and Narnia in December, Raelene talked about going home for Christmas our first year away at college, Becky talked about our crazy train trip to Tri Cities, Mrs. Tilden talked about going to Newport for Thanksgiving, and Krista talked about my first trip to Berry Cool.

We played several fun games including a "how many of these items do you have in your purse?" game, guess the famous couple who's taped on your back game, and guess how many kisses are in the jar. Mom won the purse game, and I came in second. In the famous couples game, I had Tarzan and Jane. They were very cute and included Valencia who had Pongo and Perdie from 101 Dalmations. A few of the other couples were Cinderella and Prince Charming, Adam and Eve, and Romeo and Juliet. Mrs. Tilden guessed hers first (after Mom) with Lucy and Ricky.

I received some wonderful gifts from the girls, and opened all of them without breaking any ribbons. They have warned me to beware of their gifts at the San Diego shower, lol. The girls closed with a time of paryer for Tad and me. I cannot say enough how blessed I am to have such wonderful friends.

Witht he guys waiting for us at home, we said our goodbyes and made a quick drive through Biola to show Mrs. Tilden. The menfolk plus my grandparents were waiting for us when we got home. We bbqed burgers and enjoyed a nice meal together. I accompanied the Tildens back down south so I could go to Mission with them on Sunday. Palm Sunday was the day that the licensed ministers served communion, so both Tad's family and I were able to be there for that. After church we went out for lunch at Anthony's in La Mesa before the Tildens hit the road for home.

It was a very crazy weekend, filled with a lot fo fun things. It's also a relief to have had our families meet. We ask for continued paryer for Tad's job search, for me to finish my semester strong, and for the wedding plans to continue falling into place.

Halloween 2010

Though I didn't have any major plans, this year's Halloween was quite fun. The Sunday beforeHalloween, Tad and I volunteered at Mission Church at the Harvest carnival. He dressed up in his white mage costume from last year, I dressed as a pirate, and Valencia went as a ninja (to her delight, no extra items where required for her costume, lol) At the carnival we manned the train bounce house for kids under 4. EASIEST JOB EVER!!! We had under ten kids the entire hour we worked, and all we reallyhad to do was tell the parents to take the kids' shoes off. In exchange for our work, we were given free dinner. We also got to hang out with Tad's aunt, uncle and cousins for a bit, as well as one of the new guys in the college group.

Halloween weekend itself was crazy. Friday and Saturday I spent basically all day at the CCB convention at the Marriott in La Jolla. I got a lot of good information there, especially on public transit in SD that I either didn't know, or kinda of knew but wasn't sure. Tad was wonderful and drove me home Friday and dropped me off Saturday. Saturday evening we hung out at his place with Anja and James. We made Philadelphia rolls and Miso soup and played Mario Party. Sunday we had the opportunity witht eh college group to serve communion in church, which was a really neat experience. After church we had lunch at Chile's with the other college people and then headed up to PQ to spend time with the fam.

My cousins Jennifer and Matthew and their little boys Jason and Cory came up from Santee and my grandparents came. We had pumpkin carving, the traditional chile and cornbread dinner, and pumpkin pie. Tad and I went the nerdy route and carved a Mokona pumpkin. No one in my family knew what it was, but we were proud of ourselves nonetheless. Jennifer and Matthew brought their jack-o-lantern with them. They had tried to grow their own pumpkin and it had turned out green. So, what else do you do with a green pumpkin? Make it into Kermit the Frog! Dave carved a classic scary jack-o-lantern, and my dad went for a remake of "The Scream". Tad and I took the role of the main candy-passer-outers, until Kim, Jordan, and Maddie arrived. Then Jordan took over.

It was a really fun evening, but the best part was getting to spend it with Tad. Even on holidays that aren't really important, like Halloween, its fun to get to spend them with him :)

Walking with Jesus

I have been going through a lot of spiritual transitions over the past year. Last year was very difficult for me and only through the summer did I start to feel "normal" again. Recently, God has been working in me through the college Sunday school group at Mission, and I now feel that I am in a place where I can put this working into words.

We wen tthrough a unit talking about the passages surrounding Jesus walking on water in Mark. The passage immeidately before walking on water is that of the feeding the 5000. The disciples are grumpy during this miracle because they thought they were going to have a rest. Jesus performs the miracle and there are 12 baskets of food left over. They then get in the boat and are supposed to go to Bethsaida. It is while they are on the lake that they see Jesus walking on water. They don't recognize him and are afraid. Jesus had meant to pass by them, but since they are afraid, he gets in the boat and they don't end up at Bethsaida. The next passage is feeding the 4000. This time there are 7 baskets left over. Again afterwards they get in the boat, and the disciples have a conversation about not having any bread. They reach Bethsaida, and Jesus performs the miracle of healing the blind man where at first he says he sees people but they look like trees.

Discussion with the group is where things really fall into place for application. The disciples missed the whole point of the feeding of the 5000. Jesus can provide everything a person needs in abundance. This is even demonstrated by the fact that there was a basket left over for each disciple. He wants them to understand that he, as God, provides for them. But they don't get this, which is why they are terrified when they see him on the water and don't make it to Bethsaida. Jesus does the feeding of the 4000 to try to tell them again. This time the 7 baskets symbolize completion and wholeness. It seems that the disciples still don't quite get it, because they complain about not having bread. There is more conversation int eh boat that we don't know about, but Jesus must decide that they are ready for Bethsaida, because that's where they end up. With the blind man, Jesus makes it a point that it isn't enough for him to see, but not see clearly. Jesus wants him to see everything in perfect detail as it is.

So, summary of application, God can and wants to be our provider. He provides abundantly for us both with physical and spiritual needs. When he teaches us something, he doesn't give up if we don't get it the first time. He works to show it to us in different ways so we understand and learn more about him. And even when we think we see something (like the blind man seeing people as trees), he keeps working to make it perfectly clear for us. There is always something new for us to discover about God.

Now personal application to my journey. The trips int he boat that the disciples and Jesus mke made me think about the Footprints poem. Graduating from Biola, Jesus and I were walking along the shoreline together. Then grad school and roommate issues hit, and I feel flat on my face. I spent quite a while lying face down in the sand. At first I cried out and began to reach for God, but the pain overwhelmed me, and very quickly i dropped my hand and resigned myself to lie there. I felt alone and abandoned and felt as if I were drifting from God. As soon as I realized this consciously, I reached out to God and he picked me up. Throughout the summer he carried me, and I clung to him. I was terrified of falling on my face again. At the same time, I felt ashamed that I wasn't walking, simply being carried. But the suppor tof others, and God's reassurance made me understand that it is ok to let yourslef be carried for a time.

Now, entering year 2 of grad school, and with a better elader of college group, I feel ready to walk on my own feet again. I am stillleaning heavily on God, but this is a good thing. He is more than able to support me and provide for me. And I realize now, tha tthough I was walking on my own, yet next to Jesus, when I graduate drom Biola, I believed that I had learned everything about him.

I see now that I am only seeing trees when I want to see people.

I pray that he continues to show me more and more of his character as I walk with him.

Kids, Clinic, and Weather oh My!

The summer is chugging along, slowly but not. I suppose it's slower since I still have coursework. I have two more weeks of clinic/diagnostics. Clinic has been going well, both of my clients will end up meeting/surpassing their goals, which is great. I'm always keeping busy during the week by helping with Summer Camp at church. Since I came in after the summer had started, I basically do odds and ends things (make sure the kids stay where they're supposed to be, help with assorted random games, keep order, etc).

This past week was extra fun for me though. Most of the kids were at camp, so there were only 7 kids, and very little structure. We let the kids play with water guns and sponges in the parking lot, fly kits, do sidewalk chalk, etc. Then once we got them dried off and changed out of their swim stuff, we gave them otter pops and watched an episode of America's Funniest Home Videos. I got ot actually interact more with the kids, especially the little girls. They were very inquisitive about Valencia, and shared with me all about their own pets.

The other fascet of church life I've gotten involved in at Mission is teaching Sunday School. Technically it was Tad who volunteered/was asked to teach, but he asked if I would help him. Last Sunday was the first week. We had 7 1st and 2nd graders to teach about God calling Samuel for the first time. The highlight of that was watching them (in re-enacting the story) trying to wake up "Eli" (Tad).

Amidst all this time with little ones, we have had some crazy summer weather! The first week and a half of July was oddly cold. It was like May Gray or June Gloom all over again. Lots of people were begging for the hot weather, I just wanted to see some sun. Well, be careful what you wish for! From last Wed on, it's been getting progressively hotter. Friday and Saturday it got up to 97 at my house, which is ridiculously hot for coastal San Diego.

Fortunately there are outlets available to escape the heat. Thursday Tad and I had planned to go to the beach, but thanks to a bad headache in the morning he wasn't feeling up to it. Instead, we headed the opposite direction into La Mesa to take advantage of the dog bed sale at World Market. They were $10 each, so I got one for at home and one for at Tad's. That World Market is right next to Grossmont Center, so we explored there for a bit. I assumed after that we'd come back to my place for lunch, but Tad went into surprise mode. He started driving even farther east. After a few wrong turns and some dodged questions from me, we arrived at Sonic in Santee.

That's the only Sonic in San Diego county, and we had talked about driving out there before, but always thought it was too far of a drive just for fast food. It certainly was quite a ways out there, but Tad felt bad that we hadn't gone to the beach like I wanted to. We were there a little early for Happy Hour, so we just waited and talked in the car for 20 minutes. Precisely at 2:00 we got a cherry limeade and a watermelon slush to share. We spent the rest of the afternoon flopped on the couch in my living room with the windows open and fans on to stay cool.

My mom picked me up Thursday after dinner to come home, and we've pretty much spent the entire weekend in the pool. Friday I did an afternoon swim AND a night swim. It certainly also helps that with the solar panels we can run the AC more. Plus the fact that this week will be a lot cooler, oh the ins and outs of summer weather.

Random unrelated side note, this is my 100th blog, woohoo!

Recent Life Happenings

Life in grad school is always busy (as demonstrated by the fact that I started this blog over two weeks ago and am just now getting back to it), but I do find time here and there to have a little fun.

The weekend after Valentine's Day, Tad and I joined the Mission Nazarene college group to make the communion elements for the week. We hung out and had Pat & Oscars for dinner, and then set to work making grape juice and bread. Yes, that's right, we made grape juice. We squished up the grapes, added sugar, boiled them, and then strained out the skins. I certainly wouldn't drink a whole glass of it, but it wasn't bad. It was also nice getting to know some of the others a little bit better.

The following weekend I spent at home, partially to celebrate Dave's birthday, and partially to go to Elizabeth's bridal shower. It was a beautiful shower, at the Grand Del Mar hotel. I got to meet and chat with friends I hadn't met as well as some of her family and family to be. We had a wonderful lunch, played a couple fun shower games, and watched her open gifts. I can't wait for the wedding next month! :)

the beautiful bride-to-be

After the weekend, Tad moved from the room he'd been renting to his own apartment. It's a one bedroom in a gated community several blocks from SDSU. It isn't the area he'd wanted, but it's affordable rent, and I can walk there from my building. We've spent quite a bit of time over the last few weeks gathering furnishings for the apartment. I've spent enought ime there that I'm starting to feel like I'm moving in, which makes it hard not to take over ont he decorating! haha

I went home again this past weekend, and did NO homework, whatsoever. It was glorious. I spent time in our now complete jacuzzi in the backyard, cooked with my mom, and went out to lunch with Raelene. I love my weekends at home with my family.

And now I'm home sick. On one hand it stinks being sick, on the other, I don't really enjoy Tues night's class, and being sick now will hopefully mean I'll break my streak of getting sick in April :o)

Son Rock Kids Camp

I just completed 6 days of Vacation Bible School at church. I promptly dubbed myself in "VBS recovery mode", but it was definitely a great week.

I led a group of 5 pre-kindergarten boys with the help of my VBS partner Jarin, who's going into 8th grade. Our theme this year was Son Rock Kids Camp: Where kids learn to build their lives on the Rock. It was most definitely crazy at times, and I was glad I didn't have more than 5 in my group.

The kids learned that they are: accepted, protected, forgiven, saved, and living for Jesus. I learned that I'm glad I'm not going to be a classroom teacher :)

The low for me for the week was seeing some of the attitudes of some of the high schoolers, who wree clearly only there to be with their friends.

My high for the week was on the last day when one of my kids, without help from me, said word perfectly one of the Bible verses, not just the simplified kinder ones we'd been teaching them, but the whole thing. :)

I think next year, if I'm feeling brave I might teach 1st and 2nd grade. If I'm not feeling brave, I might just go back to teaching music, but I'm glad I did kinder this year.

5-31 Alfa & Omega Church

Sunday was a nice restful day for us. The service at Alfa & Omega didn't start until 1:00, so we had some chill time in the morning. After breakfast Matt led us in worship and Alan led a short devotional. Then we loaded up and drove into the city. Bucharest is a lot calmer on the weekends. There aren't people commting into the city for work, so traffic is a lot lighter. The church meets in a building they rent in a multipurpose type room.

The service started with our first concert as Symphonic Winds in Romania. In this way it felt a lot like a typical Winds tour, except all of Mr. Feller's program notes had to be translated :o)

Abe and Rachael Mitchell gave their testimonies and then the sermon began. I really liked the pastor. If I could always have a translator with me I would totally go to that church. He spoke on James 1, which can be applied in any culture. It was definitely interesting on this trip being on the receiving end of translation. After the sermon was worship, and oh my goodness. I wish every worship session I was in was like that. There was so much passion for God in that place, and so much community.

It kept striking me, as we were singing the English words to worship songs they were singing in Romanian, that that is a small glimpse of what eternity will be like with all nations together. There was even one song that I happen to know the words to in Spanish, so we had some trilingual action going on there, haha

By the time the service ended it was almost 3:00, so we skidaddled over to a mall (different from the one on Saturday) for lunch. The clarinets shared a margarita pizza from "Springtime" in the foodcourt. Apparently in Romania they eat ketchup on their pizza, because they were automatically giving it to everyone, but they asked us if we wanted it.

I also took advantage of the gelato stand nearby and tried chocolate and watermelon. I would for sure have both again. yum!

There was time upon return to the team house for a quick nap before heading out to fellowship with the church members at a local park. Parks are very important in Romania because most people live in block houses with no backyards. Their parks are enormous and quite beautiful with lakes and trees and lots of roses. Most of the fellowship time was playing volleyball and soccer, neither of which are my forte in life. I sat and watched people's purses and chatted with Brinn and Krista.

Brinn is a veteran H2H team member. She and her friend Katy were on their 8th trip to Romania. Krista is a new H2H staff member who just began a 2 year stay in the country.

We left the park around 9:00, had a driving tour of "Bucharest at Night", and returned to the team house for a light dinner of pasta salad and homemade chocolate donuts, lol! We had nightlight, skipped hot seat, and went over job assignments for the children's day carnival.

5-29 Oldtown Bucharest and More Lessons at Peris

Morning devotionals Friday were appropriate for the work we were doing (not that there wouldn't be a devotional that was appropriate) "Found, Called, Adopted" Important thing to remember when working with orphans, we're all adopted. Jim mentioned that some of the older orphans have expressed a deeper understanding of faith because they can more easily make the connection of being adopted than we can.

Explorations of Bucharest continued with the oldest standing section of the city. We saw St. Anthony's church, the oldest church in Bucharest. The architecture in Romania is incredible. It's quite unlike anything I'm accustomed to; "beautifully unique is how I've been describing it. There are intricate paintings that cover the ceiling depicting Bible stories and beautiful stained glass windows. Something cool about all Eastern Orthodox churches is that they have 3 domes on top to represent the Trinity.

We walked through a town square where there was a statue of Dracula, after all, Transylvania is a region of Romania ;)

Around the square were a number of shops, which meant some souvenir shopping time. I bought three beautiful painted eggs and some postcards from one and then went to the glass shop up the street. Romania is known for their glass, crystal, and porcelain. I would have loved to buy some crystal, but even with the exchange rate in my favor, it was too expensive. I did buy a small braided porcelain bowl. It has small pink flowers painted on it and says "Made in Romania" on the bottom.

Lessons at Peris were made interesting thanks to a sudden rain shower that sprang up as we arrived. Most of us and most of the kids were mostly wet, lol. That didn't matter too much though, plus, it was an exciting day. The queen woke up. That was really exciting, seeing how happy the kids were. We played some humns for them, taught them how to play "Hot Cross Buns" on mini recorders, and gave them paper crowns to decorate.

Play time Friday was slightly gross thanks to a lot of wet dog poop on the play area. Pretty sure everybody changed clothes as soon as we got back to the Team House

Dinner was a cheerful affair, thanks to the return of the brass from Rossiori. We had a much more lively night light, hearing about some of what the brass had been up to, and then moved quickly on to hot seat.

Two favorite hot seat moments of the night:

*Abe's Turn*
Matt Fell "If had to marry someone in this room, who would it be?"
Abe "Erin or Andrea"

*Andrea's turn*
Matt Fell "Would you marry Abe?"
Abe "Hey! You have to at least let me ask myself!"
Matt "So ask her"
Abe "Andrea, will you marry me?"
Andrea "yes Abe, I'll marry you."

And

Stephen "I can be decisive, sometimes."

Goodness I love band people :)