One month...

We have been here for a month now. Our days are good! I am meeting people and get lost a little less these days. Although just yesterday I found myself in the town of Strathmore, population 4,000. Of course I had left the iPad at home so I didn't have the GPS with me. My only saving grace were the mountains. Our city is located in a valley so the mountains make for great landmarks. Around here they put the letter of the town on the side of the mountain, so I just have to find the big P and then I can find my way home. They must do that for special people like me. I did make it home safely and all the girls had a good nap while I was navigating my way home.

Today is very unusual. Yesterday it was 103 degrees and today it is cloudy and 65 degrees. Very strange weather for the summer here. We woke up to clouds in the sky, which we haven't seen here since we arrived a month ago. The girls are doing well and growing so fast. Both of them can swim without their lifejackets now. Mya treads water and can swim all the way across the pool without our help. Just last night she figured out that she can jump in the water and swim to the side of the pool without her lifejacket. Sara is a fish. She does all of her swimming under water. Even Chloe likes to be dunked under the water. We have had some great family swims in the evening. Because of the cooler weather, Dan and I both were able to go running last night in between making dinner and giving the girls a bath. We just take turns with the chores and with exercising.

Yesterday I had my first play date with a girl that I met through Dan's work. A play date for the kids and for the moms. I was so happy to have adult conversation. It was a wonderful afternoon spent with a very nice family. Tomorrow we have another play date with a mom from the MOPS group in town. She saw me on their Facebook website and invited us over. I am so grateful that the Lord is bringing people into my life here. The mom that I met yesterday has a 15 year old daughter who is very willing to babysit our kids. So I already have her scheduled to watch the girls on Dan's birthday so we can go to dinner. It will be nice to go on a date together.

That is about all that is happening right now in Porterville. Towards the end of July we will start looking at where we will go next for our second contract.

Monterey Bay

For the weekend, we decided to take a drive to Monterey, which is about 3 1/2 hours from our apartment.  We got on priceline.com and negotiated for a cheaper price at the Hilton resort for two nights.  If any of you readers are golfers, you would be a little jealous of the golf course that we stayed on.  And the golf courses that we drove by on the coast.  It was beautiful!  The only problem occurred when we arrived here on Friday night only to discover a drastic drop in temperature.  Oh my!  We went from 100 degree weather to 55 degree weather.  We are freezing!  I packed the whole family in tank tops and shorts.  So as you browse through our pictures, you will notice that we all have on the same clothing all weekend.  We had to buy sweatshirts for everyone.  Enjoy the pictures!

Here are the girls in a seafood restaurant on Fisherman's Wharf in Monterey.  They ate calamari for the first time and loved it.

And here is precious Chloe with pasta sauce all over her face.  She doesn't care for baby food anymore.

The girls actually went swimming outside in 55 degree weather...thank goodness for the heated pool.  I bought them Hello Kitty swim goggles for our trip so they had to try them out.  Both girls are learning how to swim underwater without their life jackets.  It is so fun to see them learn this skill.

Our first night in the room, Mya discovered the shower cap in the bathroom and thought it was pretty neat.

Just a cute picture of Chloe smiling.

And here she is doing the splits.  Actually, this is her attempt to crawl but she hasn't quite figured out how to propell forward yet.  I am okay with her staying in one place a little longer.

Me and the girls at the Hilton resort.

We took a drive along the coast to see the Pacific Ocean.  That is what you see in the background.

And here we have Sara choking Chloe for a group shot.

And then we have a nice shot with no choking.

A sweet, sweet picture of baby and daddy.

Me and Dan (the camera got a little too close to Dan's face, but turned out cute anyway)

The travelling family.

The travelling mommy with kids.

We visited the Monterey Aquarium and the next four pictures are courtesy of Dan's photography skills.  He took pictures all afternoon to get these good ones.  I was impressed!  I think the turtle shot is the coolest.

The rest of the pictures of of the coast.  It was a great trip for us all, except that we really really miss the sunshine and the warm weather.  We are looking forward to returning to our apartment.

Oops!

Apparently in California you can't talk on your cell phone while driving your car. I found out the hard way while I was talking to my dad, who happens to be my insurance agent too. I had to ask him if I could call him back because I was getting pulled over by a policeman. The policeman was very generous and gave me a warning. I just thought I would share this tidbit of information in case any of you happen to be driving and talking on the phone while in California. Not a good idea!

Obedience

Psalm 30:5
"For His anger is but for a moment,
His favor is for a lifetime;
Weeping may last for the night,
But a shout of joy comes in the morning."

I have been meditating on this verse as I continue on this great spiritual journey. Each day is new and different. I never know what the day will bring when I wake up in the morning. But I do know that the Lord always brings joy...even to a tough day. If I obey Him, I find that the blessings are numerous. Being a stay at home mom with no extra things going on is a challenge for me. My kids have my complete and full attention. I have been able to study them and pay attention to them and their needs. What an amazing gift for someone who would have lost out on these precious years because I had too much going on...too many commitments. I almost made that mistake. But God brought me here and I have a second chance to really pay attention and interact with my kids all day every day. They needed me and I needed this time with them.

I dove into the second parenting book, Raising Godly Tomatoes. The author talks about tomato staking your children, which means keeping them close and doing obedience training with them. The idea is that once they demonstrate obedience with little things that you can give them a little more freedom as they grow and develop. I have had to release All of my old parenting habits and try out the new ones. I am amazed at the changes already. Today we spent the entire day home so I could practice tomato staking with Mya and Sara. What a rewarding day! They are picking up quickly that I will not give them any warnings and that I do not get angry when I discipline. My stress level is completely different. Although this is hard work right now, I know that God's joy will come in the morning as I move closer and closer to demonstrating Godly parenting with consistency.

Today it was close to 100 degrees, which we aren't used to. And the pool was closed due to cleaning. So the neighborhood kids did not know what to do with themselves. Their parents were inside all day, which frustrates me. The kids are starving for attention and structure in their lives. And it is summer so they don't have much going on. This afternoon we had four additional children in our house for six hours and their parents never came to check on them. As I am doing the tomato staking with my kids, I see the other kids want the same attention from me. Although I am sad for them, I am so grateful that the Lord put us here so we can provide a comfortable place for them to be. The kids stayed until bed time so they could hear me read stories to Mya and Sara. I want nothing more than to stay attentive to my kids and make sure that I tomato stake them with love and obedience.

Sacrifices

We are on our way to paying off our debt as we made our first big payment to the bank on Friday. It felt good! We have committed to living below our means this year which means no shopping for Julie. The most I have bought so far was a $9 shirt from Target. That was pushing the budget. The other major sacrifice that I decided on was eliminating a hair cutting/hair coloring bill. You are all my witnesses that I made a bet with Dan and I will stick to it. I made the bet with him last night so here it is....on June 19, 2012.....if I have not had any hair appointments, which means growing my hair out, then I will get to go on a mini shopping spree by myself. He agreed to it and since I have posted it then I must make it happen. I have not had long hair for 15 years and I have tried to grow it out over the years but could never follow through. This time is for real!

Father's Day Weekend

Let me just start this entry by saying that if I could pick a father out for my girls it would certainly only be Dan.  He loves those little girls in a way that is awe inspiring.  I have no doubt that they know with all their heart that their daddy loves them as unconditionally as a human can love another human being.

I asked the girls today why they love their daddy.  They answered with these responses:

“Because he’s my favorite boy”

“Because I love him”

“Because he’s a handsome Prince”

“Because he’s my girl” (let me explain…..Dan always tells the girls that they are his girls and Sara gets it a little mixed up sometimes)

We celebrated Father’s Day weekend by giving Dan his presents in the morning.  I took the girls to the dollar store to get presents for him.  The majority of the gifts were candy, of course.

The best gift was the "wobble goggless" from Mya.  She picked them out just for her daddy.

I got him a shirt from Abercrombie, but took a chance and made him wear pink.  I think it is very becoming on him!

We took a day trip to the Sequoia National Forest.  We went up to around 6,000 feet and enjoyed some scenic views and walked on a trail to see the Redwood trees.

Blueberry Picking

We have found some great things to do in the community while Dan is at work during the day. There are so many unique places to visit. Today we went to a park in a town about 15 minutes from our apartment. In the middle of the park they have a wading pool for kids 7 and under. It kind of looks like a mini lazy river. It even has a lifeguard. The kids swam for two hours. All of that fun for $2!

This morning we went blueberry picking. The girls and I picked 3 pounds of blueberries. Sara and Mya each had their own baskets for picking. Mya did great with filling up her bucket, but Sara had some trouble. Every time she put a blueberry in the bucket she would pull it back out and eat it. I finally decided to scare her into not eating anymore because she was quite counter productive. I told her that if she ate anymore she would have diarrhea. Next thing I know she was standing in the middle of the field, with very wet pants from peeing herself, yelling, "Oh no...I am having diarrhea!"

Tonight we explored the town of Lindsay and experienced their version of a Farmers Market. Their version is more like a street fair, which made it fun for the kids. It happens every Friday night through the summer. The best part is the Mexican food. I had a burrito that was huge and I ate every bit of it. The girls and Dan enjoyed a grape shaved ice. They have a fountain in the center of the square and for whatever reason a group of young kids decided to go swimming in it. It was an odd sight. I couldn't help but think that my husband probably would have joined them if he was a kid.

Vanity

Psalm 119:37 "Turn away my eyes from looking at vanity, and revive me in your ways."

I have tried so very hard to not focus on vanity when it comes to the bulging veins on my left leg. They are just plain ugly. When I am at the pool, I see people's eyes wander there first before they make eye contact with me. I rarely wear shorts. They hurt a bit after I run. I was supposed to have surgery on them in July, but cancelled the appointment due to traveling out of state. I actually became okay with waiting until the time was right for the surgery. My heart started to release the focus on vanity. It is almost like God wanted my heart to be at that place before I had them taken care of. So I felt encouraged when I got a phone call from a girl named Summer tonight. She lives in this town. She just happened to be visiting her grandpa in the hospital while Dan was doing physical therapy with him. They started chatting and Dan told her that I was home all day with the 3 kids and didn't know anyone. So that day he came home with her business card. She wanted me to call her to set up a play date if I got lonely. Well tonight we finally connected. During the conversation I found out that she is a runner. And she told me that she is having surgery on Friday so we could set up a play date for next week. Later in the conversation she shared that the surgery on Friday was for her varicose veins. There is a vein specialist in Visalia, which is a city about 20 minutes from us. Her veins buldge and she is having them removed. She described the procedure that is being done and it is the same thing I was going to have done in Ohio. So now I will wait until hers is done and she can tell me all about it. If she is pleased the we will consider having mine done while we are here at this site. Wow.....I will keep you posted on that.  It would be exciting to have them fixed, but I will wait patiently if need be.

And now, some random photos........

Mya enjoying our first package that we received at the apartment.

I came home from a Target trip one night to this cute sight.

Mya learned how to jump off the side of the pool into the water. 

Sara just enjoys swimming leisurely around the pool by herself.

Yesterday was Chloe's first time in the water.  It was finally warm enough for her.