Market

Have I mentioned that my sister made a surprise appearance? It was so funny... I had no idea she was coming until we were driving down the strip in Santa Barbara and she called. Dale played it off, but I had talked to her that morning and couldn't figure out why she kept talking to Dale. So I asked if we were picking her up; there's a train station in Santa Barbara. He fessed up and in five minutes we were loading her bags into our truck.



Right as we pulled off to the side of the road, I said, "Hey kids! Who's that lady?" All of them stared but no one said a word! It was so adorable. Once we had her loaded into the car, they talked and squealed all the way home. It was pretty thrilling.



Being that it was Friday, we dragged her to the Farmer's Market where I purchased these lovely flowers for four dollars. Yep, four dollars. Aren't they pretty?



I read a book a few years ago about how to live a beautiful life and one of the suggestions was to budget in fresh flowers every week. I've never done it; when I learned that we were moving to the flower seed capital of the world, I decided the time was right. And whoever wrote that book was right. They really made an impact on the room. I want to fill the house with them!



Sarah left last week with a terrible stomach virus that I must've passed on to her, but once she got back home I think she was ok. Isn't that just the way it goes? And I am sad to say I didn't take a single picture the whole time she was here. I don't know; such is life. Miss you, Sista!

A Baby!

Meet Max,Maximus, Maximillion, Maxter, our new Boxer, our little gift from heaven. This little guy came to us, after much searching and researching and wishing and hoping, literally by surprise.
Dale works with a guy who is family to a breeder. He had mentioned how much he's always wanted a boxer and low and behold, he brought one to work in a kennel for us. SURPRISE!

Poor thing was in desperate need of some tender-loving care, which we immediately obliged times seven. He apparently had rarely been held, had scratches and bumps all over his neck and belly, and was super skinny. I'll tell you the truth; I was looking for a reason to send him packing from the moment he came into the house, but after I saw how much he needed us, I couldn't turn him away. This is the sweetest little dog!

Scooder, all the sudden, is old and grouchy and looking very fat, but we're trying to dole out the love in equal shares.

It's funny how God cares about our needs and then gives us what we want sometimes too. Having a boxer was never a priority any more than having whipped cream on anything is a priority. But Dale has wanted one for a long time. I have developed an extremely low sensitivity and tolerance for animals; I hear it happens to some people when they give birth to large numbers of children. So, I was never in the cheering section for the dog. I'm only awe-struck to watch this heart-desire of Dale's materialize out of nowhere. So thank You, God, once again, for caring about the little things.

remodeled cottage on the Southside

Looking for Property in the area? Thought you might find this interesting.

This lovely cottage with a white picket fence has recently been extensively remodeled and is move-in ready. This cozy 2 bedroom home offers an additional room t hat could be a dining room or office. The despacious lot offeres lots of pootential for outdoror living activities or possible future exansion. And you can get all this for the price of a condo! Why wait? Make thsi Soutside charmer your new home today!

And you can have all of this for the mere price of $299,000!!! Welcome to California, baby!

Bread

I'm stealing away for a moment from the fast pace of our new life here because I can't bear to be away too long. The days race past and a walk feebly by the computer, gritting my teeth with resolution not to sit and write because there are other things pressing.

I'm baking bread these days. Last week I baked a my first loaf of French bread and it was spectacular. I contemplated taking a picture of it; it was so lovely and delectable, but I decided to do it too late, after it have been torn into.

My idea is, in an effort to save money, bake all the bread and freeze the milk. I have to go to the store every other day for milk or bread. Seriously, we go through so much of both that I can't go two days without going to the store. And I've realized that I spend about $50 everytime I go to the store. Now that's not always, but generally speaking, it's true. I have not disciplined myself to stick to the list yet and here's why. I get there, see fifteen things we might need in the coming days and I buy them all in an effort to avoid coming back. But no matter how much I spend, time or money, inevitably I am back there two days later buy another cartful of foodstuffs. So, instead of buying two gallons of milk I bought four last week. And then instead of buying bread, I baked it. It was cheap and delicious and it took about three hours to make. But it was worth it. However, homemade bread is so aluring that I'm having trouble keeping it out of the snack list. You know how you have a list of snacks that your kids can eat when it's not meal time, and a list of things that you keep stocked that your husband snacks on, and you eat any snack that gets left on the kitchen counter...? So they're all eating the bread, which is nutritious and *almost* all natural, but eating a lot of it isn't good for snacking.

I haven't decided how to rememdy that. Actually, I won't until I've mastered bread making. I can do it in the Kitchen Aide and my dough is right everytime, it's the rising that I have trouble with now. I can't get it to double. Maybe I need to wait longer- I've been putting the pans on the dryer hoping that would be warm enough to evoke levitation, but it's just not growing big enough. So I'll master the bread so that I can add it to the *foods I do well* list and then I'll decide if I'll keep making it every week. I love the health benefits; you can add flax seed to replace some of the fat, and fiber, and there you have the perfect bread because there are no additives and it tastes really good. Maybe my bunch will get used to having it around and not want to eat it all the time. But if people keep giving me peaches and we have fresh peach preserves in the fridge, I don't know... it could be a bad combination.

I'll let you know how it pans out.

Oh, and the milk, it freezes well, it's the thawing that's difficult. But after you get the ice melted, it really does taste the same. It freaked the kids out to see yellow milk sitting in our freezer, but they never knew the difference. That's a keeper.

Scattered

Here's a blast from the past...Princess Leila on the front porch of our 2nd Street Mansion. She is still royalty around here. We're trying desperately to break her reign, but she's so dang sweet! She rules us all.
Tre and Micah in their Zelda costumes at the kitchen table- which they have almost outgrown already. Sorry Mom, the sunshine and saltwater works like miraclegrow on my kids! They got these on a Monday and I peeled them off of them the following Monday insisting that they be washed.
The last rainy day that the kids were in Nebraska, I was feeling especially nostalgic and decided to let them play in the mud. This is the end of our driveway where they bathed and splashed and screamed for a long, long time. Hahaha. They were so excited. Mr. Fantastic; discovering that he is a real boy with belches and toxic emmissions from the nether-regions. He is still breakdancing and doing life-threatening flips onto his head, no matter how much we discourage them. Crazy kid.

Ever had a skunk? I think we have one living under our shed in the backyard. I don't know how it's getting in and out, but Scooter got sprayed about a week ago. Gag. It was terrible. When he came in, he was whining and wiping his face with his paw trying to get the stink out of his eyes and nose. My eyes were burning, and it wasn't normal skunk smell, it smelled like burnt rubber. Oh it was just awful. Well ever since that night, he's been sitting next to the shed and sniffing around the base of it when he goes outside. I don't really know what to do. Can't I sprinkle something around the yard to ward them off? It's completely fenced in by a tall privacy fence, but there's sand so I'm sure it's digging under the fence.


We are busy, busy, busy. I don't know how our lives fill up. We are still tending to the neighbors dogs twice a day, which occupies a lot more of my schedule than you might think. They are sweet dogs, but they're big and not trained to submit to my commands, so they aren't very manageable. Plus they live in a giant sand box and I walk in and out of a cloud of filth. I feel like PigPen, the Peanuts character, everytime I walk out of there. Poor things. I wish I could be more of a pet sitter, but I just can't sell out to neighborhood animals along with tending to my own bunch. It's more than I have to give.


Something interesting about California, besides the markets on the weekend, every Sunday people set up huge Bar-B-Que tents in parking lots for fund raisers. And they're cheap! Half a rack of ribs for $7.50, a whole chicken, same price. So cool. And everyone eats Tri-Tip steaks and roast. I bought a roast the other day that was pre-seasoned and grilled it real low and it was delicious. It's just interesting that different parts of the country have these normal elements of life that are completely foreign to other regions.



Sundays are always so bittersweet; they always have been. My stomach doesn't knot up when I get up in the mornings, but there is still a battle raging inside me to fight for what I believe the church is suppose to be. Then the pacifist in me says, "don't rock the boat." But maybe that's it; maybe that's my purpose here. To rock the boat. I always look for the good in things, but experience forces me to see everything else and that for what it is. Unfortunately, this one's kind on me because Dale is occupied on Sunday mornings with other responsibilities. He'll let me know what needs to be done and when, but then I'll have to handle it. *heavy sigh* I'd rather just sit in the back row and enjoy what I perceive as the pros and stuff the cons. I've been praying for direction, after making my own observations of the church and now I'm stirring.

I don't know why my life has to be about war, but it is and I have not fully accepted that yet. And you know what I always say about that... no wonder I always have so much unrest. I have not accepted it and so I have no freedom.

Jesus came to rock. And yet, when everyone around him was in chaos and panic, he was completely controlled and at peace. Because He accepted it. He knew the mission of seeking and saving would also involve kingdom warfare. Maybe I feel unprepared for the battle and so I'm quaking in my boots. I know what's not right, but I can't fully articulate what is right because my knowledge is so flimsy. Driving home from mega-church every Sunday I would rant about all the things wrong with the teaching and philosophies filtering out of the pulpit, and one day Dale said, "You know what looks so wrong about this, but what is right supposed to look like?" I was floored. I never tested well, still don't. So when it comes to accessing knowledge, I am a floundering idiot and had no answer. I can process and study and find answers, which I did, and now I know what I'm looking for, but the ducks are still scattered.

So, it's Sunday, and I have a new game plan *getting a jump start on the week*, which I will not be sharing at this time because my faith in the plan is still weak, but pray for me to get my legs under me. I am praying for you, my friends and my precious family, when God drops you into my thoughts. I miss you... and I know it could be awhile before I see a familiar face in my end of the world, but I'll wait patiently. Anticipation makes the reality of you at my front door so much sweeter.

Stop This Train

John Mayer wrote this song that goes...

Stop this train
I wanna get off and go home again
I can't take the speed it's movin in...

I'm sure he wrote it at that crossroad, the first time you realize how fast life is going and you think, "Man, I wish I could just go home." This song always blasts me back to mornings when I was in grade school and I'd wake up before the sun. My mom would already be fully dressed making breakfast and slinging sandwiches into sandwich bags. I loved that time in my life, it was so predictable.

Needless to say the train is picking up speed. We were talking about Dale's friend at work being 45 years old and expecting his second child soon. I said, "You know, I can see us being in our thirties, it wasn't difficult for me. But I cannot imagine us being forty-five. *which makes Kennedy 20*" I know, it's a long way off, but it's coming. When do you get to an age that feels right? Maybe you grow each age as it comes.

What is shocking to me is how days can pass that I replay in my mind and cannot remember accomplishing a single thing. Then other days, I can do a weeks worth of work in a matter of hours. Weird. I've been evaluating what I really want to do and be in my daily life and it never changes. The things I want to do, I don't do and the things I don't want to do I keep doing. The list has been the same since I was 19. They're so simple, your list is probably the same as mine. But I never quit trying. Kathy H used to call me every Monday and say, "What's your new game plan?" Because every Monday I had some new gig that was going to revolutionize my life. a schedule, a diet, a new book. It's not that I don't still do that, I just don't tell everyone anymore so that when Friday comes and I've ditched it, I haven't failed anyone but myself.

While writing tidbits and snippets of my life here is something I really enjoy doing, it's just not a high priority like I had hoped it would be, so forgive me if I'm a here today gone tomorrow, I'll be back again. If I can't be what I want to be to myself, I want to at least be something to my family. Right now we have all this time together so when Dale's home, everything in my routine goes to the *sit on it* file. And it seems like he's around a lot.

The Fourth of July came and went, and somehow we survived being away from home on a major holiday; we didn't buy a single popper or sparkler and we still had a really fun day. But God does not let our goal of coming home get far from my mind. I'm loving life out here while it's mine and I'll have no regrets when it's over.

I had this great idea...

My reading is slow and it doesn't produce a lot of sharing opportunities. When I was working nights and had four hours to read at a time, usually more than that, I could really digest a lot of information quickly and formulate a nicely rounded opinion or theory from what I had read. Now reading one chapter a day, it's like the thinking happens in spurts after I've gathered enough information to make a collective thought throughout the week.

Everyday I sit in this room and type various items that may be of interest and I'm surrounded by books. Chuck, my personal carpenter at one time, built me these fantastic seven-foot shelves that require several burly young men to lift, and we've managed to fill every shelf including the very top that really isn't a shelf at all, with books of all genres and themes and generations. I really toil over whether my simplistic writing is of enough value to sacrifice the time when I could be reading. And indeed, I believe it is- maybe more for me than you- because it keeps me connected and leaves a trail of breadcrumbs that brings me back to square one when I've lost myself. But with that said, I've read a lot of these books and I want to share something from some of them so that those of you that do not read or have a difficult time finding time to read can take something out of these meager morsels and be inspired somehow.

So todays snippet of knowledge is a summary of Stormie Omartian's "Greater Health God's Way". This book I picked up from the Calvary Temple library back when they were purging the shelves and sending us home with boxes to sort and toss. I laughed when I saw it but then read it anyway. I think about it, six or seven years later, almost on a daily basis which is why I believe it may be of some value.

There are seven very simple steps that she expounds on one at a time and they are as follows:

1. Peaceful Living- Be honest about your life and live for real. Minimize stress, deal with your demons, and laugh and cry when you need it.

2. Pure Food- Start weeding out processed food and move toward the fruit (and vegetables) of the earth.

3. Proper Exercise- You know all about this one; move everyday.

4. Plenty of Water- You know all about this one too; 64 a day. (I've read recently that you don't have to drink all of that in water, but at least half of it water and minimize caffine.)

5. Prayer and Fasting- (and let me add Bible study) These are critical spiritual disciplines.

6. Fresh Air and Sunshine- There are countless physiological benefits of getting each of these on a daily basis. Ever met someone battling depression? Ask them how much fresh air and sunshine they get in a normal day. Seriously- it's good medicine.

7. Perfect Rest- Establish good sleep habits.

It's simple, but profound. I am constantly checking the list. I think it's amazing how all of the steps really work together. When my life is disfunctional, I can almost immediately pinpoint why because one of the steps is missing.

Let me say that time with family and other believers is a vital part of good health too, but when everything else is lined up in your personal life, those things seem to naturally fall into place. Happy Fourth of July and shoot something off for me!!! (We can't risk another Lake Tahoe here in Lompoc!)

Ahhh...

Thank you, my friends, for being so honest. Sometimes I live under the heavy blanket of guilt over all the things I should be doing and am not doing... the person I should be by now and still am not. It's difficult. But a longtime friend revealed this crucial err in my thinking and reminded me that in Christ we are no longer condemned to live life like that. It was a perspective that had somehow escaped me for a long time, that has now given me a little freedom.

Knowing your thoughts and struggles are so similar to mine gives me some relief, like I can keep going because we're all in the same boat.

These were taken in Solvang, the Dutch community that I raved about early on in our adventure. It's about twenty miles from here; along that road is an ostrich farm which you can see from the road. We stopped to get a closer look and in order to go to the viewing area, you have a pay per person. We laughed about that, at how we could stand at the pay counter and watch then for free! The lady seemed a little strange, maybe overly protective of her business. She was selling strawberries too, which we gladly purchased before sneeking a closer peek at her *exhibit*.
So my children have long lists of things they need to buy in order to camp out in our backyard; things like lanterns, sleeping bags, canteens, you know, the important things. And they don't have a lot of money at their disposal, so they've been asking for ways to make money.

I have decided that hard work should be rewarded monotarily, but not chores. They are necessary for daily living and they should learn that responsibility is not always compensated in obvious ways. However, education is and so Dale and I both like to put challenges out there with dollar signs attached. For example, I offered the kids $5 to learn all the planets, $5 for all the continents, and then $5 for all the states and $5 for all the presidents. If they get all four, a total of $25. So far I've only paid out $15.

So anyway, today Jasmine asked if she could copy "The Princess Treasuries" long hand and get some money. I laughed, but then said, "If you copy the whole thing and can read it to me as you go, I'll give you $100." Now, you think that's steep, but it's 566 pages long, it takes about 30 minutes to READ the stories, so I figure it's about a years worth of writing, but if she finishes, she'll have perfect penmanship and a high school reading capacity. Besides, I can pay her off in recycling money at the end of the year.

Then Kennedy's ears start to perk up, "Mom, can I do it? Can I do it? I'll do it for $50!" I didn't see any value in the Princess Treasuries for Kennedy but we have a great kids' dictionary that has over 8oo pages of definitions in it, right? So I gave her the option to do 5 per page for $100. It's a great deal for spelling and learning word definitions! She is going to spend the rest of her free time, she says, working on this job. It's just like a job! she says. I am laughing and saying, "You know it's going to take a long time, right? It will be hard work." And they are already chattering excitedly about how rich they're going to be! It's so cool. I really hope they finish it. Kennedy will no matter if it takes her till next summer, but I wonder if Jasmine will still be working at in by the end of the week. She's not as determined as her sister; she'd rather be doing other, more fun things like *getting crunk*.

So...

Let me ask you a question, and I really want a response because, honestly, I don't have anyone to talk to right now. There is something about the phone that inhibits conversation with everyone I talk to. It's so strange that distance automatically changes things. And so when I think about things I don't have anyone to bounce them off of. I miss my sister and I miss my friends. I'm not necessarily lonely, it's not something that I fret over most of the time, but when I'm sitting in church and these thoughts tumble through my mind, I want to hash them out with someone over a grilled cheese sandwich in my kitchen after the kids have gone out to play. I really just want to be apart of something and have someone that I can be myself with. I know it takes time, it just makes me miss home.

WOOHOO!!! On a sidenote, I have just successfully loaded the FIRST EVER blog photo of our family since we moved to California! And here it is! We drove out to Pismo beach *all the clams you can eat* and were not wildly impressed, although you can park right up on the waterfront and just go straight into the ocean. That was cool, because we don't have good beach chairs yet and I was freezing, so I sat in the back end of the truck, snuggled up in beach towels, and watched the kids play in the sand and chase waves. Up the road a littleways, we happened upon a little looky-loo where we saw probably fifteen sea lions lying on rocks, taking in the sun. It was just spectacular: the view, the wildlife, the pelicans. Then we went on to Avila Beach where there was a really lovely beach, parts of it less trafficked, and a long pier lined with fishermen and fish markets. We stopped at a little taco stand for a fish taco and one of the cooks came out, lifted my camera from the cupholder in our stroller, and snapped this picture for us. It was very cool. Just three tables away, a mother and her three boys were banging away with mallots and picking out pieces of crab on a table covered in newpaper. It was all very California-esque.
From the pier we saw this sea lion gliding along on his back, eating a live crab. We also saw starfish stuck to the posts of the pier beneath the water, buried by seaweed. When the water moved the seaweed away, we happened to pass a man pointing them out to his wife. There was an orange one, a lavendar one, and a yellow one; they must have been twice the size of Dale's hand.
I spent a good twenty minutes trying capture the essence of a pelican to no avail. Kennedy insisted on having a shot at it to which I conceded. I wanted to catch them right over our heads, they are not shy of people. And they're giant, regal birds, swooping, and diving, and flying in formation from one location to the next. She managed to catch this guy right before a dive. It's a ways off, but you can see how powerful they are by the wingspan and the length of their beaks. I never paid them any mind until I saw one in real life, and now everytime we go to water, I can't take my eyes off of them. They are amazing creatures, just amazing.

These little buzzards, however, are greedy scavengers, worthy of no respect no matter how proud or docile he looks standing on the post.

I made the mistake of tossing out a crust of bread on Pismo beach and within seconds, we were surround by sea gulls snapping at each other, and staring at us in hopes of another handout. Tre was scared to death they'd carry him off.

Which brings me back to the question I want to ask. What do you think about? I mean, day in and day out , what occupies your thoughts? This morning in church the pastor talked about emptying yourself out so that God can fill you. Simple, right? And so I really probe my heart on this, who can I serve. I could offer to help with the music, I can go to the ladies' coffee and be a listening ear and laugh and connect with other women, I can help with the kids' program coming up next month, there are lots of opportunities to serve. But I am certain it was the Holy Spirit that brought my children to mind, the way I hold them off all day while I accomplish my list of things to do, which inadvertently benefit them, but generally I am busy, too busy to play or "watch this" all day until Dale comes home, then I clean up after dinner and we all go to the park across the street. They have my partial attention for a little while after the day is done, and then I'm tired and if they don't go right to sleep after I tuck them in, I become irrational and harsh because that's when I clock out. Haha. I clock out from my day job at 9:00 when the kids go to bed. Haha. My head is not right.

I'll think about it all week: it would be easier to pour myself out to total strangers, then to really truly serve my family. But what are we admonited to do from the Bible??? Seriously, to love our husbands and children, be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, kind, and subject to our husbands. It's right there in Titus if you need a reference. So how is my thinking so off that I put those obligations last? Oh, I am taking care of the necessities: cleaning, cooking, tending to drinks and diapers, but I've lost track of what really matters- and honestly, I am rarely kind. Believe it. I smile a lot, but it's like a default expression for me. I have so far to go in my faith; these simple things that are fundamental Christian values aren't even in my thinking.

Anyway, I really want to know. What do you think about?