Our Household is Growing!

No, it's not a baby (praise God!)....not a puppy...

It's a cousin!

Yep, Dave's cousin, Derek, is moving in this Saturday. He will be moving into Jeff's old room. Dave spent about 3 hours last night cleaning the room, moving out the furniture and shampooing the carpets. We are excited for this opportunity to get to know Derek better. Currently he is an EMT for Laguna Hills and works 24 hour shifts so I am not sure how often we will get to see him. But, the close proximity to work will definitely be a bonus for him...Not to mention the joys for living with us (which is a BIG bonus...just ask Cathy)! And with Derek's medical expertise are really going to save on health care costs. I think I will go ahead and cancel my dentist appoint for next week :o)

Help!

Hey, anyone have any idea what is going on with the format of my blog? Why is my picture and stuff at the bottom instead of the top?

Breathing (& Sleeping!) Again

I feel like everything in my life has been on pause for the last week except for what was going on with my mom, which was on fast forward. My mom went into the hospital last Tuesday for knee replacement surgery, but ended up having some heart complications and just got out of ICU yesterday. But, I just got a call from her that she will get to go home today! I feel like I have been holding my breath all this time and now I can finally breathe.

Pasted below are the e-mails sent out to friends and family updating them on how my mom was doing:


From: Kristin
Sent: Tue 1/25/2005 10:06 AM
To: David ;vera; debbee; ldarnall; bill; lettybags@; wka; tricia; thmurphy; Lynell
Cc: Karen; Jenny; Cathy; Eric 2; Straty; Mike; Natalie; Elizabeth
Subject: YEAHHHHHHH

My mom just called me from the hospital....she is going home TODAY!!!!!!!! Last night it looked like she wouldn't be able to leave until tomorrow or even Friday. But, Wendy is picking her up at noon to take her home. Her heart is still a little bit of an issue, but she will be able to have it monitored from home.

Thank you all for your prayers!!!!!


From: Kristin
Sent: Mon 1/24/2005 9:17 PM
To: David ; vera; debbee; ldarnall; bill; lettybags; wka; tricia; thmurphy;
Cc: Karen; Jenny; Cathy; Eric 2; Straty; Mike; Natalie; Elizabeth
Subject: RE: update


Just got back from visiting my mom. She is doing really well. She is still feeling depressed and like she has very little control over the situation, but she is definitely physically healing. It was fun to watch her walk on her new knee and not have any heart problems. Oh, and they moved her to a new room while I was there. She is now in room 428. I am finally feeling like I can breath deeply and sleep well that she is going to be okay :o)


From: Kristin
Sent: Mon 1/24/2005 3:17 PM
To: David ; vera; debbee; ldarnall; bill; lettybags; wka; tricia; thmurphy
Cc: Karen; Jenny; Cathy; Eric 2; Straty; Mike; Natalie; Elizabeth
Subject: RE: update


They have finally moved my mom out of ICU!!! She is in room 429 now. I got to talk to her just a few minutes ago. She sounded really good. She explained that they are monitoring her heart from monitors at the nurses station and will be treating her heart as a separate issue from the knee surgery. I guess her heart is still acting up. I will be going to visit her after work this evening.



From: Kristin
Sent: Sat 1/22/2005 6:38 PM
To: vera; debbee; ldarnall; bill; lettybags; wka; tricia; thmurphy
Cc: Karen; Jenny; Cathy; Eric 2; Straty; Mike; Natalie; Elizabeth
Subject: RE: update


My mom seems to be doing even better today. Her heart rate is now back in the 70s (yesterday the whole time I was there it only dropped below 100 once or twice, but was mostly in the 120s). They said that for the most part her heart is rhythmic now, but when they got her out of bed to do physical therapy it started to get out of sync and flutter again. Not as bad as it was yesterday, but still a problem. She was out of bed for about 2 hours today while Dave and I were there and felt pretty good. Her nurse, Fritz, said that she will definitely be in ICU tonight and then if the heart issue doesn't crop up again tomorrow when she does her PT, then she might get to move into a normal room and out of ICU. They are also starting her on another pill that is supposed to help her heart out. She is starting to get depressed and tired of the whole thing. The thought that she will need to have the other knee replaced in about 3-4 months scary for her.

I just called the ICU unit to get an update and I guess Fritz was working with my mom in her room so he couldn't talk to me, but my mom told the lady that answered the phone to tell me that she is sitting up and feeling great! I am so thankful for all of the wonderful nurses at HB Hospital. Everyone has been so wonderful and attentive.

Thanks for your continued prayers!



From: Kristin
Sent: Fri 1/21/2005 10:38 AM
To: David; vera; debbee; ldarnall; bill; lettybags; wka
Cc: Karen; Jenny; Cathy; Eric 2; Straty; Mike; Natalie; Elizabeth
Subject: Good News


I just talked to my mom's nurse in ICU, Tina. She said that my mom has had a good morning. 3 different doctor's have come in to see her and check on her so that makes me feel good. They got the catscan results back and they were negative, which is actually positive thing :o) They still have no idea why her heart is out of rhythm and are still hoping that the medications will fix it. She will be in intensive care until at least tomorrow. she does have a slight temp, but the nurse said the doctor isn't too worried about it.



From: Kristin
Sent: Fri 1/21/2005 9:07 AM
To: David; vera; debbee; ldarnall; bill; lettybags; wka
Cc: Karen; Jenny; Cathy; Eric 2; Straty; Mike; Natalie; Elizabeth
Subject: RE: update


When I left the hospital last night mom my was doing well, but still in ICU. She was in good spirits and not in much pain. The biggest problem seems to be that her heart is in atrofib(sp?), it is beating without any rhythm. Just before I left they told us that all the test had come back negative for blood clots so that is a BIG relief. They also ordered a catscan for her. I will probably be heading back there in a few hours.

-Kristin


From: David
Sent: Thu 1/20/2005 5:05 PM
To: vera; debbee; ldarnall; bill; lettybags; wka
Cc: Karen; Jenny; Cathy; Eric 2; Straty; Mike; Natalie; Elizabeth
Subject: RE: update


Kristin's Mom is doing better so far but still in the ICU. They are
running 4 tests to try to determine the problem. 2 of the tests have
come back so far and have been clear so that is good news. So far, no
blood clots in her legs or lungs.

-Dave


From: Vera
Sent: Thursday, January 20, 2005 12:40 PM
To: vera; debbee;ldarnall; bill;lettybags; wka
Cc: Karen; Jenny; Cathy; Eric 2; Straty; Mike; Natalie; Elizabeth; David
Titov
Subject: Re: update

We just received a call from Kristin, her mom was taken to ICU because
her oxygen was low and her blood pressure was high. Please keep her in
your prays. Also pray for Kristin, she is on her way to the hospital
now.


From: Kristin
Date: 2005/01/19 Wed PM 01:57:21 PST
CC: "Karen" "Jenny" "Cathy" "Eric 2" "Straty" "Mike""Natalie" "Elizabeth"
"Dave"
Subject: update

I just got off the phone with my mom. She sounded kind of groggy, but I
guess she is doing well. She started feeling itchy today so the nurse
gave her some Benadryl (sp?) and the nurse says that it is the reason
she is groggy along with the Morphine. Physical Therapy came in the
morning and got her out of bed. She said it was painful. She is now on
that machine that will keep her knee in continuous motion. She said
that the machine isn't too bad. While I was talking to her the physical
therapist came is and she had to go. I called the nurses station and
talked to her nurse, which was the same one as yesterday, just to make
sure everything was okay and her nurse said she was doing great.


From: Kristin
Sent: Tue 1/18/2005 5:10 PM
To: verat; debbee;ldarnall; bill;lettybags; vera
Cc: Karen; Jenny; Cathy; Eric 2; Straty; Mike; Natalie; Elizabeth; Dave
Subject: RE: prayer request


My mom had her surgery today. The surgeon said that it went really
well. He explained that her entire join was totally shot and worst than
he thought including her knee cap. So the new knee should be a big
improvement for her once she is healed. The surgery took 1 1/2 hours.
She was in a lot of pain went she got out of recovery and into her room.
She said that on a scale of 1 to 10 (10 being the worst pain ever) it
was at about 10+. I stayed with her while they got the morphine set up
and got all her things within arms reach for her and then ran some
errands that she ask me to do. By the time I got back her pain was down
to a 5 on the scale and she seemed to be in much higher spirits. I
talked to her nurse, who was really nice, and she was going to keep a
close eye on her. I left her at about 4pm. She was going to take a
nap.

One really cool answer to prayer was that the hospital she was at for
her back surgery faxed in the reports from the scary episode that sent
her to ICU last time this morning and the anesthesiologist was able to
look them over before she went into surgery. He read the entire report
and so did the surgeon. I guess it was an allergic reaction to a
medication they gave her to keep her from being nauseous. So that
relieved a lot of fears for her.

She is at Huntington Beach Hospital in room 108 bed 2. She was the only
one in the room today. They said that she will have to be in the
hospital for 4-5 days. Tomorrow she starts her physical therapy and
they will put her on a machine that will move her knee continually for 8
hours per day. She will have to be on the machine for a couple of
weeks. The main thing now is that she does not get an infection and
that the pain is not too bad as she starts the physical therapy.

Thank you for your continued prayers!

-Kristin


From: Kristin
Sent: Thu 1/13/2005 11:41 AM
To: vera; debbee;ldarnall; bill;lettybags
Cc: Karen; Jenny; Cathy; Eric 2; Straty; Mike; Natalie; Elizabeth; Dave
Subject: prayer request


Just wanted to let you all know that my mom is going to have knee
replacement surgery next Tuesday, 1/18/05, at the Huntington Beach
Hospital. She has to be to the hospital at 5:30am, but the surgery
doesn't begin until 7am. I will be there from 6am till whenever on the
18th. She will have to stay in the hospital for 4-5 days. The good
news is that for this surgery, unlike the last one, she will have use of
her upper body and will be able to do things like feed herself and talk
on the phone which should make this one easier. The only real worry
about the surgery is that they still aren't sure what caused her to have
all the problems with her blood pressure and stuff that sent her to ICU
after the last surgery. Whatever it was we REALLY don't want it to
happen again!

Thanks,

Kristin

A Fun and Relaxing Weekend

Saturday morning I slept in until 11am! It was wonderful! Then Karen called and we decided to go for a walk in the rain while Dave worked on his "water wall" in the garage. Karen and Sam (her lab) picked me up. We hicked for a couple of hours in the canyon behind our house. It was so green and beautiful. There is usually a little stream down there, but that day it was more like a roaring rapid. We hiked up and down it and just enjoyed the beauty. It was great to be outside in the rain and to spend the time with a great friend. Then we went back home to get cleaned up. Dave and I had lunch together. Then I headed over to Karen's house for some quality game time. We had 2 exciting games of Cities and Knight; each of us winning a game. Then Dave came over to eat dinner with us and we all played Sequence. We each won a game, but I can't remember who won the championship game. Then Dave went back home to play X-Box and Karen and I watched a movie.

Sunday PJ decided that sleeping in was not an option. I gave in to her pleeding and went down stairs with her. She and I snuggled on the sofa while watching "Cinderella Story" so that Dave could continue sleeping. We both really liked the movie. Dave finally came down stairs just in time to see the last few minutes of the movie and saw one of his friends from college in the background of the last scene. So then we had to watch the whole movie again to see if we could spy is friend in any other parts of the movie. We couldn't. Then Dave went to work on his "water wall" and I headed to the mall. Oh the sales! I got a skirt at AE for onlt $4.99! Then off to church, to dinner, and then to bed.

Story Time

So I really haven't been doing too many exciting and blog worthy things in this new year yet so I am going to tell you a story.

One time at band camp...Just Kidding.

Okay, for reals this time.

Once upon a time a few years ago it was the middle of the night I awoke and realized that I had a huge wad of Dave's flesh from his side pinched between my fingers. Dave must have had the same realization because he asked, "What are you doing!?” I was still rather groggy and obviously not thinking clearly. Thus, I decided to lie. I replied in the most precious voice I could muster, "sleeping". However, I neglected to actually release my grip. This little detail must have cast some shadow of doubt since Dave grabbed my hand and flung it away from him. At this point I was pretty much awake and hysterical laughter took over.

This story makes me laugh every time and I have told it a lot. It is so funny to think that in my only partially conscious state my first response was to lie!

New Year's Eve

I had a wonderful New Year's Eve! Dave and I went over to Mike and Karen's house for dinner. Then just as we finished up dinner, Eric and Natalie came over. We played a record 3.5 hour game of Cities and Knights ending with Dave as the victor. It was actaully a really close game with all of us within 3 points of each other until Dave pulled out 3 points on his last turn for the win. It was a very exahusting game. After a brief rest we broke out The Newly Wed Game. Dave and I, being the perfect couple, took the lead. Natlie and Eric really came on strong at the end. I am actaully not sure who ended up winning. It ended up being a really fun night with some awesome friends!

Playing Cities & Knights:


At midnight!






Sam wants a kiss too!

10 BIGGEST Moments of 2004

Last night at the Murphy's house we wrote out our top 10 biggest moments for 2004. I thought I should post them, so here they are in no particular order:

1. Becoming Community Pastors
2. Getting the house in RSM
3. Our 4 year anniversary
4. Getting our first income properties
5. Cabo vacation
6. Bush getting re-elected
7. Pastor's retreats
8. My mom's scary back sugery
9. Atlanta Trip
10.The girls (The Dream Team) winning the "winner takes all" final set of Pool Volleyball at my birthday party

Check It Out

My loving husband has finally, after only 4 short years of nagging, updated our website. He did a really good job on it and I totally love it! You should check it out... www.daveandkris.com

Sneaky Sneaky

So Dave and I really never are able to make it to Christmas before opening our gifts for each other. So the Saturday before Christmas Dave and I wrapped all the Christmas gifts. That night we just couldn't wait any longer so we crept down stair, turned on the lights on the tree and handed each other our gifts. I began to open mine first. There were 3 items wrapped separately, but stacked on top of each other. It was pretty obvious that the top 2 items were DVDs so, considering the spending limits we had decided on, I figured it was probably a top of some sort in the larger box on the bottom. As I tore into the top package, I could see that it was in fact a DVD. But, it was Black Hawk Down. My first thought..."this wasn't even on my list" and my second thought..."Don't we already have this DVD". Then I tore into the second one. It was Charlie's Angels. Now I knew we already had this one. My next thought, "Wait a minute...these aren't even sealed....wait...these are OUR DVDs". I looked up and there was Dave with a huge smile on his face; obviously enjoying my confusion. The DVDs were decoys! So I pealed the wrapping off the 3rd and final box. It was a box from Coach. I was getting really excited at this point, but tried to hide it just incase this was another decoy. I opened the box and inside was the most adorable hot pink Coach purse. It was perfect and so totally unexpected. You see, Dave hates purses. His thinking is that he has one wallet; therefore I should have one purse and it should only cost slightly more than his wallet since it is only slightly bigger. I, on the other hand, love purses and love using them as functional accessories to my outfits. I probably have 5 different purses, which Dave thinks is totally ridiculous (and he is probably right). So for him to pick out such an amazing Christmas present for me was both surprising and wonderful.

Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas this year! It began on Christmas Eve at Dave's grandparent's home in Downey. Just about his entire family on his mom's side was there. It was a great evening of family and food.

Then Chirstmas morning Dave's parents and sister came over to our house for breakfast and we opened packages with them. After they left Dave and I broke out the Sequence game that Troy and Tricia made for us. Then my mom and Wendy came over at around 3pm. We opened a few packages and played Catch Phrase and Scatagories with them. After they left we went back to playing Sequesnce. Dave kept winning so I became addicted to the game. I just couldn't stop playing with him winning all the time. Yes, it is a game of mostly luck, but I just had to win before we went to bed. Finially, I won a few and was actaully feeling fatigued from sitting all day playing the silly game.

The day after Christmas began with some grocery shopping and then some cleaning. Dave and I made a lasagna (well he cooked up the meat and I did everything else). My dad, step mom, and grandmother came over at around 3pm. My grandmother lives in Arizonia so it was her first time to see our house. After the tour we opened gifts. Then my mom came over and we all had dinner. It was so great to see my grandmother and also be able to spend time with my parents. Parents...seems weird for me to call them "my parents". Growing up it was either "my mom" or "my dad and Lanell". It was cool to have everyone there together enjoying eachother.

Catch up

Well, it has been awhile since my last entry. Seems like I have been really busy, but haven't really done much that seems exciting enough to write about. It suddenly strikes me that this could be a problem. Am I getting so bogged down in the day to day that I am missing out on the fun? Or, is it that I am just not seeing the best in the things that I am doing? Is it a true void or just a matter of a lacking in luster?

Looking back in my calendar here are some of the things I have been doing outside of work since my last blog entry:

11/23 SCU and Sakred Feast - It was potluck style. First we loaded up plates to take to a shelter and then ate the left over ourselves.

11/24 Shopping with my wonderful sister-in-law

11/25 Thanksgiving with Dave's family

12/1 Addressed Christmas Cards with a group of friends from SCU. It made a usually mundane job fun!

12/4 JP Jones spoke at SCU. I mustered up the nerve to do the announcements. Funny how singing is so much easier than talking when it comes to a large group of people. I did okay, just forgot to pray at the end and said "ummm" about 100 times (I think Dave was actually counting).

12/10 A big day for Christmas parties. First was the Barbeques Galore Christmas party which I was ultimately responsible for. It was at Dave & Busters and was a huge hit. My team, The Regulators (yes, the teams were named after barbecue parts), came in 3rd place out of 10 teams. Then I raced home and changed into my party dress for Dave's company’s party. It was held at a cute little Italian place in Irvine.

12/11 Dave and I drove to USC to take a picture of a "water wall" and then went to the Annual Hobby Horse Christmas Party. They showed the "Mockumentary" of the photo shoots done this year. Both my mom and I were featured in the film. They are supposed to send me a copy soon. It was hilarious.

12/13 Had dinner with our dear friends, The Johnson’s. It was a wonderful and encouraging evening.

12/14 Got sick. Stayed home from work. Had a Stewardship meeting that evening.

12/15 Had to go to work even though I still felt sick. Had a 6am unemployment phone hearing that I was the star witness for since I was basically the one the fired the guy. It went really well.

12/16 The Cleary's came over for worship and prayer, but we really only had time for prayer. Still a cool evening.

12/17 7am emergency Stewardship meeting. Don't they know that stewardship is more of an evening team? I don't join morning teams! That night we went to a Christmas Cocktail Party. It was fun to enjoy friends and dancing.

12/18 Sang at church with the Worship team, but wasn't fully recovered from being sick and lost my voice on the 3rd song. Luckily it came back for the last songs. I just sang some low harmonies and soft echoes. Then went to dinner with The Smith's and Cathy after.

12/19 Karen and Lori came over and we baked cookies together. I made 3 different kinds of cookies. It was totally exhausting, but really fun! We packet up plates of cookies to give to our neighbors.

12/20 Troy and Tricia had the Community Pastors over to their home for dinner. It was a wonderful evening of friends, encouragement and really good food!

Okay, so this exercise has shown me that it is a matter of luster. These have all been really cool things that I have been doing. Just about all of which could have been blog worthy if I had truly appreciated them. Alright, lesson learned...Don't get so busy that you start just going through the motions. I'll have to remember that...

It's the Little Things

Have you ever noticed that it is some of the simplest gestures that make you feel the most loved?

So this doesn't sound like much, but it is one of those "little" things that makes true love so amazing. Dave just got home from work. Yes, it is after 10:30pm and he just got home. I guess a server went down or something; who can really understand computer talk anyways? Though it is obvious that he has had a long stressful day. When he gets home I am already in bed just catching up on reading a few of my favorite blogs. I mention to him that my knee is hurting again. Then he turns around, after just reaching the bedroom only minutes ago and goes back down stairs and returns a few minutes later with my heating bag all warm and cozy for my knee. What a thoughtful wonderful husband!!!!

It is funny how a gift of a trip down stairs when your knee hurts can be more precious than some crazy expensive gift.

Trip to Atlanta

So this is going to be a rather long drawn out entry. It is the blow by blow of my trip to Atlanta. I was sent with a team of about 9 other people to help open the 2 new Atlanta stores for Barbeques Galore.

Monday - The shuttle picked me up at 6am to take me to the OC Airport to hop on a 7:55am flight. I got on the plane and got all settled in. Then as they went to close the back door of the plane the inflatable slide that is only supposed to inflate when you make a crash landing in the ocean inflated. We all then had to deboard the plane. I was of course in one of the last rows and therefore was one of the last off and the last in line to get a new flight. I stood in line for 2 hours. After an hour and a half they announced that the 11:45am flight was not full and my only hope was to get on the 1:40pm flight. Considering the 4 hour flight and the 3 hour time change this would put me in Atlanta pretty late. By the time I reached the front of the line I had pretty much resigned myself to the fate. I handed the guy my driver's license and a copy of my original itinerary. A few moments later he handed me a ticket for the 11:45am flight. I couldn't believe it! I began to thank him profusely. He got this concerned look on his face and told me to "shhhh". Whatever, I didn't care. I raced to the same terminal that I had already used once this morning. I finally arrived in Atlanta sometime after 8pm. Elizabeth (Trainer) and Lisa (Auditor) came to pick me up. We met the rest of the BBQZ team for dinner and then back to the hotel for some serious sleep. However, when I went to check into the hotel they didn't have my reservation. I'm telling you...this is the LAST time I let a VP make my travel arrangements! They only had 3 rooms available and they were all handicapped. Once I got to my room all I wanted to do was fall into the bed since I was exhausted from the long day for travel and had to get up at 5:30am (2:30am in CA) the next morning. Unfortunately the first thing I did once in the room was proceed to drop the coffee pot leaving shattered glass all over the floor. It was 11pm by the time the guy finished cleaning up the glass.

Tuesday - This day was spent at our store on Roswell Rd on Sandy Springs. In the morning I conducted an orientation for all of our newly converted employees. The rest of the day was filled with cleaning, organizing and filling out forms. We left the store at 8pm and went to dinner at a wonderful Italian place. This time I was able to get to bed by 10pm.

Wednesday - I had 3 interviews in the morning. All three were totally atrocious. Then I called Lisa to pick me up for lunch. This was my first chance to see my surroundings since I arrived since all other traveling had occurred in the dark. I was really impressed. It was really beautiful! Lisa, me and Michelle (Trainer) spent the rest of the day at the Duluth store reskuing and pricing. We worked really hard and were totally exhausted by 8pm when we finally got to leave the store. It was Elizabeth's birthday so we went to Dave and Busters for a dinner celebration. Everyone was so exhausted it was difficult to convince people that it was time to celebrate. There ended up only being 6 of us that had enough energy to go; me, Michelle, Elizabeth, Lisa, Monica (Auditor), and Dale (Store Manager from VA). It was a great group. We all squeezed into Lisa's Buick. By the time we finished dinner and got in the car to go home we were all so tired we were delirious. I car ride to the hotel was filled with nonstop laughter.

Thursday - I had 8 interviews scheduled, however only half of them showed up. It was the longest most boring day. I couldn't go anywhere or do anything because I never knew when one might actually show up. I filled the hours by watching TV in the lobby, making phone calls, and collecting pretty leaves for Dave. Yes, I later got made fun of extensively for the leaf collecting. Everyone got back to the hotel around 8pm and then we went to dinner followed by another laughter filled car ride. I love these people!

Friday - We went supposed to work this day, but Mark (District Manager) called in a panic needing help at the Duluth store. So Michelle, Elizabeth and I backed up our stuff and went to the store to help. We cleaned all morning and I scheduled interviews for Mark. Finally at 1pm Rod (Assistant Manager from NC) drove us to the MARTA station in Sandy Springs and dropped us off. It cost $1.75 each to ride the MARTA all the way to airport. MARTA is like a mostly above ground subway. This was my big chance to really see Atlanta. I was in awe. Everything was so beautiful. There were trees everywhere and lush foliage. All the buildings are totally beautiful too. The rich brick and white of the buildings against the shades of green, orange and red trees and then the blue sky; It was just breath taking. There was so much history too. I would really love to go back and be able to explore. The rest of the trip was smooth sailing; or I guess I should say "flying". I got home around 9pm, hugged my husband, checked my e-mail and then off to bed.

It is so good to be home!

I Went on a Date Last Night

Yep, I went on a date with my husband. It was really fun. His idea was to go to the Irvine Spectrum, have dinner at Cheesecake Factory and then walk around looking at the shops. Well, the rain kinda messed that up. So we just adjusted the plans slightly and went to the Mission Viejo Mall instead and ate at P.F. Chang's. It was such a wonderful evening. I love hanging out with my husband.

Seems like lately we just haven't had very much time together and the time we do have together is usually shared with other people too. I just haven't had enough "Dave Time". So Dave had the great idea of implementing a once a week date night. So far so good :o)

There is nobody in the world that I love hanging out with more than my husband! Once again, I feel so lucky :o)

Pool Volleyball: My New Favorite Sport

Last Sunday I invited our community group and former community pastors over to my mom's house to celebrate my birthday with a little lasagna and pool volleyball. The lasagna was perfect, but the pool volleyball was stupendous! It was Me, Karen C., Lori S., and Cathy G. (aka - The Dream Team) against Dave T., Jeff S., and Mike C. (aka- The Boys). We had a blast! It took The Dream Team a little while to warm up, but we pulled it together when it counted. The Boys had won the first few sets, but we were really beginning to pull together our team work and strategy so we challenged The Boys to a "for all the marbles, winner takes all" final set. And...We WON 15-8! There was such a celebration that an onlooker might have thought we had just won an Olympic Gold. It felt extra great because each of us on the team had each made a number of awesome plays and it really felt like we won as a team.

Still hungry for competition we moved it into the garage for a friendly game of darts. Yes, the girls prevailed yet again! This time I got to make the winning throw that put us at exactly 701 to win the game. Karen told me to aim for the 11 and then seconds later I watched the dart leave my hand and travel directly to the 11 square for the win.


Thank you all for making it so special!

I talked to Jon!!!

Yesterday Cathy and I went to the Switchfoot concert at The Grove in Anaheim. It was so awesome!!!! The tickets were standing room only so we got there two hours early to make sure we had prime viewing. It worked!!! We were in the first row of the second tear; only about fifteen feet from the band! We were so close that we could see every facial expression. Let me just say that they are even better live than on the CD. They ROCK! They played almost all of my favorite songs and then even played some new ones that they are working.

Our friends Conner and Dianne are really good friends with Jon (the lead guy) so they had special VIP passes. So after the show we waited, as instructed, hoping that Conner could hook us up to meet him or his brother (backup vocals & guitar guy). Conner called and told us to meet them at the back of the venue and he would bring Jon around to meet us. We waited and waited and finally just started walking to the car. I had a 7am flight the next day and didn't want to wait around all night for something that might not even happen. The night had already been amazing enough without meeting the band. As we were getting into the car my cell phone rang. It was Conner. He told me to hold on and then another voice came on the phone. I said "hello", then he said "hello" and back and forth like that until I asked, "Who is this?" He replied, "Jon". I told him who I was and then we citchated from maybe 2 minutes (this may not be anywhere close to an actually time fame...1. I don't have a watch, and 2. I was talking to the lead singer from my favorite band). Then he told me to take care of Conner and Dianne and we said good bye.

The night was practically perfect (with the exception of sore knees and feet from standing 6 hours straight). I got to hang out with a good friend, see an awesome show and talk to Jon. What more could I ask for?!?!?

Older, but Blessed!

Well, I am officially 27 years old now. Funny how 26 seemed so young and now 27 sounds so much older.

I had a great birthday weekend! Friday the HR Department took me to PF Chang's for lunch. Then Friday night Mike and Karen invited us to play tennis with them. It was an awesome impromptu evening. (By the way...Karen and I call a rematch; we will definitely take you guys next time!). After tennis we set up a gigantic screen and projector to watch Home on the Range in life size (the ONLY way to watch this action packed flick!). Then Saturday morning we totally slept in, which was much needed. That night Debbee came to The Gathering with us and then afterwards about ten of us went to Chili's for dinner. Sunday Dave and I went to Oak Glen to pick our own apples and stroll around the shops and museum. This weekend was so wonderful and relaxing.

I definitely feel older, but also feel appreciative of the many blessing God has provided. First of all, my husband. He is my best friend and perfect mate. Then my awesome friends and family. I feel so loved! And then countless other blessings like SCU, our home, my job, ect.

Older, but so blessed!

Instructions

Okay people...Let me explain to you how this blog thing works.

Step 1- I write something
Step 2- You read it
Step 3- You make a clever comment

Now I think we are doing pretty well so far with steps 1 and 2, however, it seems that step 3 is tripping us up a bit. Now it seemed like we were really on a roll for my first entry, but since there has been some loss of momentum.

So let's give comments a try! What do you say?

The Neighborhood Potluck was a HIT!!!

We were a little worried at first though. At 7:10pm the Cleary's had arrived, but no neighbors. So we left the front door open so it would look more inviting and the next thing we knew there were 15-20 neighbors in our house! It was awesome. There were so many people that it was difficult to really get to know everyone. I definitely felt a little awkward at times, but it was so reassuring to have Mike, Karen, and Straty there with us. In fact, the night ended with me over at our next door neighbors house having a glass of wine with another neighbor and Mike, Karen, and Cathy in a house across the street. I feel like we have really made some connections and am excited to pursue these relationships. Thanks Troy and Jenny Hadj for giving us the extra push :o)

Oh yeah, and the neighbor that was putting the notes on our cars for parking in front of their house was there. We found out that she didn't even know anything about it. It was her teenage niece that was doing it and just signing her aunts name. Can you believe that!?!?

Nervous, but Encouraged

So I am supposed to share deep thoughts and feelings on this thing. Alright, lets try feelings. I feel...Nervous. Nervous because tonight we are having a party at our house to get to know our neighbors. We have lived in this house since March and only know two neighbors. Now keep in mind that this has not been all our fault. Between nasty grams left on our cars for parking on the street in front of another house (mind you that it is a public street and we have 4 cars in our household and a red curb infront of out house), getting toilet papered, and being flipped off by young children, the neighborhood has not exactly seemed to have open arms. So last Thursday night Dave and I walked around our street and placed an invitation on the door or in the hand of every neighbor on the street (22 houses in all). At first people were stand-offish, but I once they figured out that we weren't selling them anything they seemed very friendly. But, the most encouraging thing happened last night as we were cooking and I was writing out Col. 4:2-6 on a card (I'll explain later). The doorbell rang and it was a neighbor. When I opened the door she handed me a box wrapped and tied with a bow. She said that she would not be able to make it to the party, but wanted to drop this off for us. It was a gift! A gift for us! Once she left I tore into the wrapping to reveal the most adorable ceramic salt and pepper shakers adorned with fall leaves. I felt so encouraged. I still feel encouraged!

So back to Col. 4:2-6. I love these verses and they have been a focus for the last few weeks since the Pastor's Retreat.

"Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. Pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should. Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; making the most of every opportunity. Let your conversations always be full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone." Col. 4:2-6

I was trying to memorize it, but it hasn't quite happened yet so I jotted it down on a 3x5 card so I could read it throughout the day today. Pray that our household is able to live out these verses tonight at the party.