Matt and I have decided that this is the way to work on support! We have made a few one-week trips, but they have not been very fruitful in general. Time is so limited, which also limits people's availability. Five weeks is another story altogether. Our kids adjusted to the time change pretty quickly. We have had enough down time for naps, and good visits with family and friends. And because we're here for so long, we are able to work with other people's busy schedules.
In the last 2 weeks we have :
1. Had lunch with my grandparents
2. Spent a day with my Auntie Maggie and Uncle Dave
3. Spent lots of quality time with my dad and step-mom (who are thoroughly enjoying their grandkids)
4. Cleaned out our family's storage unit with my dad and sister. Lots of good memories...and even more trash!
5. Had 2 Sundays at our home church, Santa Cruz Bible Church. Wonderful!
6. Had dinner with old friends Rachel (Witmer) and Kelly (Stanford), and dessert with old friend Jill (Altknecht)
7. Observed SCBC's Awana program after sharing dinner with the children's director, Ani
8. Drove to Los Angeles, via Fresno
9. Had lunch with my childhood piano teacher, Mrs. MacIntyre, who I had not seen in 13 years!
10. Had dinner with supporters Dave and Amanda. Go Claimjumper! Yum!
11. Spent two nights with my Uncle Jack and Aunt Marianne, and one night with my cousin Katie and her family
12. Had an awesome day at Disneyland!
13. Had lunch with Matt's sister Julie, her husband, and her husband's sister
14. Drove back to Santa Cruz
15. Enjoyed a day at the beach and lunch on the Santa Cruz Wharf
16. Spent a whole day with our very best friends, Stan and Noel
17. Scrapbooked with Noel and my cousin Missy
18. Spent three nights with Missy and her family
19. Visited the school we used to teach at, and had lunch with dear friend Julie
20. Spoke at a marriage class at SCBC
21. Had coffee with old friend Robin Patrick and lunch with new friends Tom and Rachel.
Tonight we are going to dinner with old friend Rebecca!!! I can hardly wait to see her! It has been at least 9 years since I last saw her. This weekend will be party weekend, as we spend it with my sis and her husband. We'll be celebrating all our family's January birthdays (there are 5 of them). Sunday Matt is preaching at a church in King City. He has done a great job preparing her sermon. I love seeing him use his communication gifts!
Alrighty, the time has come to depart for dinner. More from me another day.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Friday, January 16, 2009
Childhood Magic
Right before we moved to Arkansas, we took 3-year-old Snapper to Disneyland. We had a great time riding the carousel and teacups and seeing the princesses. But Snapper, being a complete wimpy chicken, would not ride anything without a fuss. Her courage has not improved much since then. She still won't even ride her bike with training wheels on it. So when we planned a day at Disneyland into our trip, I didn't have much hope that we would do much more than ride the carousel and the teacups and stand in line for hours to get princess autographs.
We arrived at Disneyland at 11:30 yesterday morning (confounded So. Cal traffic!). Snapper was literally jumping up and down with excitement. Pepper was completely clueless. We walked into the park just in time to see Mickey Mouse walking down the street. We quickly purchased hats for the kids, and then went to see Mickey. Pepper was beside himself with excitement! He jabbered on a mile a minute to Mickey, hugged him, kissed his leg, it was so cute!
Then we headed for the rides. Snapper saw Star Tours, and insisted she wanted to go on the Star Wars ride. I knew how intense that ride is, but decided to take her on it anyway. I figured it would be a good predictor for the rest of our day. To my surprise, she loved it. Then she saw the Matterhorn and wanted to ride it, too. Again, I was skeptical, but decided to give it a try. She surprised me again by squealing and laughing her way through it. We kept building up, and by the end of the day we were able to ride everything in the park. The capstone of the day was Space Mountain, which neither one of us loved. She decided that Big Thunder Mountain Railroad was her very favorite ride. We went on it 3 times, and she would have ridden it all day if I had let her. When we get back to Santa Cruz, I'm going to take her to the Boardwalk for one ride on the Giant Dipper, a wonderful old wodden roller coaster. I think she will love it.
Pepper enjoyed a lot of the rides, too. He has a cold, so he wasn't feeling 100%. But even so, nothing bothered him in the least. He loved the new Buzz Lightyear ride, Dumbo, and driving his own car in Autopia. He even went on Pirates of the Caribbean! Poor little Pepper, though. He just ran out of steam at dinner time. We watched the Star Wars stage show, and he melted down when it was over. I think he would have watched it happily for the rest of the night. He cried and cried while we waited for our pizza to cook. He was too tired to feed himself, so Matt held the pizza for him. Pepper's eyes kept closing as he ate, and he could hardly sit up. After he finished his pizza, I wrapped him up in Matt's sweatshirt and he was gone. He slept in the stroller until we left the park at 7:30. He slept all the way home. He never woke up when we put him in his jammies. And he slept straight through the night until 8:00 this morning. Never in his life has Pepper slept more than 12 hours! Last night he slept for 14 hours!
The best part of the day for me was seeing Pepper delight in the characters, and watching Snapper make a huge step against her fears. Disneyland may not be full of magic for me anymore, but I get to relive the old magic through my kids. I think it is even more to go to Disneyland as a parent than it is to go as a child! The conclusion of the night was kissing my prince in front of Sleeping Beauty Castle. After all, Disneyland is where our relationship began. But that's a whole 'nother story for another day.
We arrived at Disneyland at 11:30 yesterday morning (confounded So. Cal traffic!). Snapper was literally jumping up and down with excitement. Pepper was completely clueless. We walked into the park just in time to see Mickey Mouse walking down the street. We quickly purchased hats for the kids, and then went to see Mickey. Pepper was beside himself with excitement! He jabbered on a mile a minute to Mickey, hugged him, kissed his leg, it was so cute!
Then we headed for the rides. Snapper saw Star Tours, and insisted she wanted to go on the Star Wars ride. I knew how intense that ride is, but decided to take her on it anyway. I figured it would be a good predictor for the rest of our day. To my surprise, she loved it. Then she saw the Matterhorn and wanted to ride it, too. Again, I was skeptical, but decided to give it a try. She surprised me again by squealing and laughing her way through it. We kept building up, and by the end of the day we were able to ride everything in the park. The capstone of the day was Space Mountain, which neither one of us loved. She decided that Big Thunder Mountain Railroad was her very favorite ride. We went on it 3 times, and she would have ridden it all day if I had let her. When we get back to Santa Cruz, I'm going to take her to the Boardwalk for one ride on the Giant Dipper, a wonderful old wodden roller coaster. I think she will love it.
Pepper enjoyed a lot of the rides, too. He has a cold, so he wasn't feeling 100%. But even so, nothing bothered him in the least. He loved the new Buzz Lightyear ride, Dumbo, and driving his own car in Autopia. He even went on Pirates of the Caribbean! Poor little Pepper, though. He just ran out of steam at dinner time. We watched the Star Wars stage show, and he melted down when it was over. I think he would have watched it happily for the rest of the night. He cried and cried while we waited for our pizza to cook. He was too tired to feed himself, so Matt held the pizza for him. Pepper's eyes kept closing as he ate, and he could hardly sit up. After he finished his pizza, I wrapped him up in Matt's sweatshirt and he was gone. He slept in the stroller until we left the park at 7:30. He slept all the way home. He never woke up when we put him in his jammies. And he slept straight through the night until 8:00 this morning. Never in his life has Pepper slept more than 12 hours! Last night he slept for 14 hours!
The best part of the day for me was seeing Pepper delight in the characters, and watching Snapper make a huge step against her fears. Disneyland may not be full of magic for me anymore, but I get to relive the old magic through my kids. I think it is even more to go to Disneyland as a parent than it is to go as a child! The conclusion of the night was kissing my prince in front of Sleeping Beauty Castle. After all, Disneyland is where our relationship began. But that's a whole 'nother story for another day.
Visit www.moblyng.com to make your own!
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Home Sweet Confusion
Well, well, well! I write this from the couch in my daddy's living room in Scotts Valley, CA. We had an uneventful travel day (always the best kind of travel day) on Thursday. Since arriving, we have enjoyed time with my dad and step-mom, my grandparents, my Auntie Maggie and Uncle Dave, my sister, my cousin Missy and her girls, and our BFFs, Stan and Noel. Sunday was a great church and family day. Yesterday we spent a few hours at the beach. I'm loving being home again.
Home. Or is it? Coming back to where I spent the first 26 years of my life has been different this time. As soon as we pulled out of the airport, I felt like I had never left. The highway over to my dad's house has not changed. The city of Scotts Valley is mostly unchanged. The road up to my dad's is the same. His property has lost a few oak trees, but is essentially the same. It wasn't until the next day that reality sunk in. We were headed over to San Jose to see my Granny and run some errands, and I totally drew a blank on how to get where we were going. Streets and stores I've known my whole life, missing from my memory. I was thinking of Walgreens and could not picture where any Walgreens locations were. All I could think of were the 2 Walgreens in our Arkansas town. It was the eeriest sensation.
In the past 3 years since we moved to Arkansas, life has continued to happen in my hometown. It's kind of like when a child sees his teacher in the grocery store on a Saturday and can't figure out why that teacher isn't at school. For whatever reason, I guess it never registered with me that a lot changes in a place in 3 years. Kids grow up. People pass away. Businesses close and are replaced by other businesses. Homes are remodeled. New roads are built. As we drove around on Friday, I realized just how much HAS changed here, and it threw me for a loop. I was not expecting the changes, and I was definitely not expecting to have lost a lot of my familiarity with this area. All day on Friday and Saturday, I was totally weirded out. I found myself homesick for this area--not for how it is now, but for the way it was when I left. Is it weird to be homesick for the place where you are? Yeah. I'm totally confused.
I also have done a lot of thinking about Arkansas. Our town in Arkansas is my home, my present, my reality. I have a great life there. I know where the stores are, the great restaurants, my friends' homes. I have learned the shortcuts, the back roads, a lot of the insider spots. I have established lots of nice friendships, and a few close friendships. My kids don't really know any other place. Arkansas is my home. California is not anymore.
I'm not sure how to feel about all this, so I'm focusing on everything that is ahead of us these next 4 weeks. Our schedule is filling remarkably fast, and I'm so excited for all the people we get to see and the great things we get to do. I love how bright the sky is, how much richer the colors are. I'm CRAZY about 75 degrees with low humidity in the middle of JANUARY! This is a great place to visit, and I'm going to enjoy it.
I'm feeling kind of weepy, probably because I'm tired. So I'm going to go ahead and sign off here. I have to post a couple of my favorite beach photos for you before I go, though.
Home. Or is it? Coming back to where I spent the first 26 years of my life has been different this time. As soon as we pulled out of the airport, I felt like I had never left. The highway over to my dad's house has not changed. The city of Scotts Valley is mostly unchanged. The road up to my dad's is the same. His property has lost a few oak trees, but is essentially the same. It wasn't until the next day that reality sunk in. We were headed over to San Jose to see my Granny and run some errands, and I totally drew a blank on how to get where we were going. Streets and stores I've known my whole life, missing from my memory. I was thinking of Walgreens and could not picture where any Walgreens locations were. All I could think of were the 2 Walgreens in our Arkansas town. It was the eeriest sensation.
In the past 3 years since we moved to Arkansas, life has continued to happen in my hometown. It's kind of like when a child sees his teacher in the grocery store on a Saturday and can't figure out why that teacher isn't at school. For whatever reason, I guess it never registered with me that a lot changes in a place in 3 years. Kids grow up. People pass away. Businesses close and are replaced by other businesses. Homes are remodeled. New roads are built. As we drove around on Friday, I realized just how much HAS changed here, and it threw me for a loop. I was not expecting the changes, and I was definitely not expecting to have lost a lot of my familiarity with this area. All day on Friday and Saturday, I was totally weirded out. I found myself homesick for this area--not for how it is now, but for the way it was when I left. Is it weird to be homesick for the place where you are? Yeah. I'm totally confused.
I also have done a lot of thinking about Arkansas. Our town in Arkansas is my home, my present, my reality. I have a great life there. I know where the stores are, the great restaurants, my friends' homes. I have learned the shortcuts, the back roads, a lot of the insider spots. I have established lots of nice friendships, and a few close friendships. My kids don't really know any other place. Arkansas is my home. California is not anymore.
I'm not sure how to feel about all this, so I'm focusing on everything that is ahead of us these next 4 weeks. Our schedule is filling remarkably fast, and I'm so excited for all the people we get to see and the great things we get to do. I love how bright the sky is, how much richer the colors are. I'm CRAZY about 75 degrees with low humidity in the middle of JANUARY! This is a great place to visit, and I'm going to enjoy it.
I'm feeling kind of weepy, probably because I'm tired. So I'm going to go ahead and sign off here. I have to post a couple of my favorite beach photos for you before I go, though.
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