Old News

This is probably old news to you, but we are moved into our new house! We are so excited and stressed and exhausted. We figure that we will just feel that way for awhile. We have moved everything over but still have so much to unpack and organize. The more we pull out and go to put away the more work we see that we want/need to do on the house. That is where the stress comes in, we can't do it all soon enough and we just don't have the money to do what we feel needs to be done. We have decided that we need to just unpack everything and put it all away to the best of our abilities and then make wish lists of what we would like to do to the house. We will prioritize those lists and as we have the money we will accomplish those things. It is really hard to wait though, when you are excited and you have a vision of how you want things to look. It is such a cute place and I am really excited as I watch things come together. It is still way more cluttered than I can handle so my stress levels are pretty high but we will get there. We do a little bit at a time and we see things form. I think one of the first things we will do is paint the office and then the baby room. We need a closet organizer also so that should happen pretty quickly. I will post pictures when we finally have things arranged. I am excited to have people over and have get togethers.

Keys...

We should have keys tonight! Everything is signed, money has been wired, so all we are waiting for is for the docs to be filed. Yahoo! I am relived and excited and tired and and and. :-D This means that we will be moving this weekend and cleaning out the apartment and moving away from El Cajon Blvd. That is one street that I will never miss. I won't miss the police helicopters circling at night, or the howling dog in the complex over, or the sound of aluminum bats on Saturday morning, or the school bell or alarm going off, or being able to hear everything my neighbors do. I am so excited to be moving into our first home. I am looking forward to the nice neighborhood, having a yard, having my own bathroom, having cabinets and counter space, making friends, and having room to have people over. I am looking forward to the newness and the changes and the freshness of things. I am looking forward to making the place our home with our touches. I went and saw the movie "The Women" last night with my friend Lyndsie. It was a fun movie to watch - definitely a chick flick! The more I thought about the movie though - the more I realized I didn't like the moral of the story. Yes it was about friendship, love, and forgiveness, but it was also based on the idea that if you are selfish and put yourself first that everything else will fall into place and be great. Just because you are a good person and look out for the interests of others does not mean that your life is going to fall apart and leave you with nothing. True happiness and peace comes from a relationship with the one and only God. It comes from loving him first and then loving your neighbor as yourself. You don't need to neglect yourself to put others first. You still need to take care of your body and hair and priorities. You just are not first. Which is a much happier place to be. The more I think about myself the more depressed I get and the more I just lose all perspective. I have noticed that I am really cheerful when I am thinking about ways to encourage someone else or cleaning things or making dinner for my husband or buying gifts for someone etc. I find joy in doing things for others, when my focus is not on myself at all. Just some food for thought.

Anniversary

Today is my one year anniversary of being married to Dan. It has been such an amazing and full year. Saturday my parents took us out to dinner at an Italian restaurant to help us celebrate. The food was delicious! It was a beautiful and relaxing evening. Sunday evening, Dan took me to dinner at the Prado in Balboa Park. We took out wedding pictures at Balboa park last year, some of which were taken in the garden outside the Prado. I have been there 3 times now and have had a spectacular experience with each. The food is always excellent and the service is superb. Thanks to Uncle Bill and Aunt Ginger we were able to go out to dinner at the Prado. Thanks! Today Dan is golfing in Rancho Santa Fe for an Amor fundraising event. This is the 3rd or 5th annual tournament. I hope he is up there having fun. I spent the morning looking through our wedding pictures and laughing and crying and remembering. It was fun!

We still have not signed loan docs and we are so stressed and frustrated with the whole process. It is expensive to close late and what is worse is we have no control over the timing of things. We just have to bite the bullet, so to speak. I am ready to be done with this process and start making our new house a home. I am ready to be settled and be having friends and family over. I am ready to have my own bathroom and to have a yard and neighbors and no more police helicopters overhead each night. I am ready to not be in limbo with so many things. I am ready to move on and focus on the next thing - what church we will attend, what small group to get connected with, start shopping for Christmas gifts, etc. I am ready to get this boot off my foot and be free. I am ready to get out and exercise and like the way I look again. I am ready for fall and winter and fun. I am ready for freedom. I think I am going crazy! Pray for us and this whole housing process, we would really love to move in this weekend. Thanks

Unplanned...That;'s life!

Well, as usual in life, things didn't go the way we had planned. We have not closed escrow yet so we will not be moving this weekend! :-( Sad news, I know. With the economy the way it is, lenders are much more cautious and they have gone over everything with a fine-toothed comb. We are hoping things go forward now and we will hopefully close next week. We are soooo ready to move. Our things are packed away and we have not done any grocery shopping - therefore their are slim-pickins for food. I had a bowl of veggies for dinner the other night. Maybe this process is helping me eat better. :-D Disappointment is so hard to deal with. It adds stress to your life that you really didn't need or want to add. Stress adds knots to the already knot-filled back.
On to bigger and better things. IT'S FRIDAY PEOPLE! I love Fridays, we get off work an hour earlier, we know that we can sleep in the next morning, and we usually get to spend time with good friends. Maybe we will go help some friends to work on their kitchen. Who knows what this weekend will hold. I am serving in the nursery at church on Sunday, which is great because I love to hold babies.It holds me over while I wait a few years to have little ones of my own. I had a dream last night that scared me away from wanting kids any sooner. It is funny how God works to help your husband out. Dan wants to wait at LEAST two more years and I was wanting to wait no longer than two years but I think I can wait now. :-D Happy Friday everyone!

Today

Do you ever have those blah days? Today is one of those days for me. My head feels full and heavy and the hours seem to stretch by. I feel like things just refuse to go right. I was late to work this morning - meaning that I walked into a meeting late - a meeting that I was supposed to be taking notes for. I started the day with a headache and really can't shake the feeling. It is weird that when you feel blah that your eating habits go south as well. You want to eat to match how you feel so you eat comfort food that in the end really does not comfort anyone, it just makes you feel more blah and guilty for eating so poorly. Do you ever have those days? Today is one of those days for me. After my poor lunch choice, I thought I would shut my eyes for 20 minutes - you know that thing they call a power nap - there was no power in that nap. First of all, I fell asleep for an hour and 20 minutes, not good when you have already used up 40 minutes of your lunch hour. Second, I woke up more tired and feeling even more guilty. Guilt is not a fun emotion to carry and it is really hard to dispel. I don't mean to write such a depressing blog but today is just one of those blah days. I guess in a sense I want you to know that I am just like you and experience my ups and downs like you all. Despite the blah day, I have to say that I know God is faithful and His love endures forever. I know that He is with me in spite of my poor attitude. His arms are open to love me and comfort me in my dark places. Thank you Lord for loving me when I don't deserve it!

The Weekend!

It turned out to be a great weekend, despite the stress with not having things secure with the house. We started packing on Saturday and oh what a mess. We realized quickly that we did not have near enough boxes. We got as much done as we could before it was time to get ready for Air Supply!

The concert was so much fun. This was my third year going and it is a blast everytime. I don't really go for the music but for the fun with my friends. We all sing along very off-key to the music and drink the infamous Mai Tai. When they play the last song we all rush to the front to get a closer look and listen. It is crowded and hot but hilarious and awesome at the same time.

Sunday we went to church, and I was so relieved to be a part of the service. I have been traveling and working in the nursery, so I have missed many services. It was so nice to worship with the body and fellowship and hear the word preached. Pastor Mike is talking about VISION. What is God calling you to? How does He want to use you in the environments you are already in? I am looking forward to delving more into this series. We learned about the church we are starting in Santee, so we have more information when we go to figure out where to go to church when we move.

Sunday evening, my parents threw my birthday dinner. Yummy steak, veggies, fruit, corn on the cob, and mandarin orange whip. MMMMMMMMM! My brothers girlfriends came over and we had dessert and played bowling wii. It was so fun. My mom bought me this new devotional called "A Call to Die". I read the prologue last night and I am really interested in diving into it. It will be a big commitment though. It is a 40 day devotion and I will need to fast from something during that time period as well. It is always hard to give up something you really enjoy for something you know will benefit you but may not be "fun". I think I will start the book after our move and things have settled just a bit. I will let you know when we have the house and have moved in. Still waiting....I

HOUSE!!

We are doing our final walk-thru on Sunday! I can't believe how fast time has gone by. The work that needed to be done before we move in, is complete. We are so excited about moving and setting up our home. Escrow closes next week on Wednesday, can you believe it?! We will be signing our lives away and then we will officially be home-owners. In two weeks we will also be celebrating our 1st anniversary, and of course our gift to each other is a house. :-) Here are some pictures of our house.

Team Retreat

As a staff we have just had two relaxing days of time together. Our first day is always the same. We get together at a hotel and play games, meditate and pray together, review the core values of Amor and talk about the theme verse and vision of Amor. Sometimes we have a movie thrown in for variety. This year we watched "Chariots of Fire". For all of you who like that movie, I am very sorry but that movie really is very boring. I am glad we took a break for ice cream but I really didn't want to come back to the movie.I wrote about our theme verse in my last blog. We are looking at ourselves and at the ministry to see where we are lukewarm. We want to be HOT! On fire for the Lord and the mission He has called us to. Renew the passion and zeal of His people and our love for them.

Our second day has evolved to the perfect day! We went to Mission Beach from 10am to 2pm for fun games and chillin' on the beach. It was fantastic. I have learned that I am pretty good at Ladder Balls when teamed with Kellie. We ruled all three games we played. We even beat the boys. It was awesome. I took a nap and we had bbq chicken. It was splendid. I love that it is so important to the leaders here at Amor to treat us to time away from the office, to reflect, recoup and to unify and enjoy each other. It has turned into one of my favorite things of the year.

"I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot - I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm, neither hot nor cold, I am about to spit you out of my mouth!" Revelation 3:15-16