Where Are We Now?

Just hangin out in sunny Pleasanton! We are down to less than 5 weeks...but who is counting, right? The weather has been beautiful here and guess what??....I finally met a dear friend. Right before it is time to leave, but I am so thankful for this. Patience is such a virtue..one I am constantly working on. I went to the final MOPS meeting and heard this amazing testimony from a girl who was to become the new coordinator for the upcoming year. She talked about how she and her husband got saved a couple years ago. Her story was powerful and genuine. I didn't meet her that day, but the next week I attended a book study and she just happened to be the leader. And there are only three of us in the study...the other groups have at least 10 people in them. The book we are reading is called Real Moms Real Jesus...side note. So the day after our first book study this friend calls me up and asks if she can take me and the girls to the Oakland zoo for the day. She has a Suburban so we all got to ride together. It was a beautiful day and my girls and her two boys had so much fun together. We rode a train at the zoo and were able to see a view of the bay area from atop a large foothill. It was breathtaking. This friend and I enjoyed a great day of talking and learning about each other. It was SO what I needed! This week I showed up for the book study and it was just the two of us. We had a hour and a half to just talk about life, Jesus, struggles, hopes, dreams, etc. without our children. It was refreshing and definitely by design that we met just weeks ago. Each week until we leave she is taking me and the kids on some sort of adventure. On another topic...I am reading a new book. Well, actually Dan and I are going to read it together but I got a head start. Before we moved you never would have seen me pick up a book and actually finish it. I was so busy I didn't even have time to really learn my children. I have learned some great lessons while being away...and one of them is to put my kids first. But aside from that, I have had extra time here so I have enjoyed reading. I always loved studying in school so it has been fun to read about topics that interest me. So our new book is called Grace Based Parenting. We kind of wore holes in the pages of the Raising Godly Tomatoes book and I think I have it memorized. We know what strategies work for our family from that book so it was time to put that book on the shelf and read a new one to help us continue to evolve as parents. There is always something to learn, right? This book seems to focus on the concept of communicating grace in your home. I am all about that so bring it on! And in the back of the book are study questions if you want to read it with your spouse. I am excited to start this new adventure and learn how to raise our kids with grace as they are getting older.

The Zoo

We had extra energy after church on Sunday so we decided to go to the zoo.  We drove the car instead of taking the train and the traffic wasn’t bad.  The San Francisco zoo is located right on the coast….so the beach is across the street from the zoo.  We had a great time at the zoo.  When we were done, we crossed the street to the beach and spent a little time there too.  Of course, in northern California the weather is a bit chilly so we didn’t stay too long. 

11, 12, 14, 21, 24, 29, 30, 37, 38, 47, 52                         

The Back Door Approach

We have had victory with Chloe saying the word “please”…..sort of.  But we had to go a back route to get there.  I started by having her sign the word “please,” which she has been doing since she was very little.  The trick with this was for me to NOT verbally say the word “please.”  I just had to say “do this” and demonstrate for her to sign the word for please.  Once she was doing that for me, I was able to reintroduce the word “please” with the sign.  She doesn’t say the word yet, but she signs and allows me to say it. And voila!....you have a toddler who is using her manners again.

Cultured

We have been cultured! We thought we had experienced the culture of San Francisco the first time we went, but….oh no…we saw a lot more of it today.  We woke up Saturday morning thinking we would most likely go to the zoo, but en route to the zoo in the rapid transit (i.e. train), we changed our minds.  We had gotten a late start to the day and found out how long the train ride was to the zoo, so we got off in the city instead.  We have wanted to ride the bus that takes you through the city and allows you to sit on top of the bus….in the wide open air.  Since the weather was warmer, we went ahead with this adventure.  We saved the zoo for another day.

The train ride to the city went just fine, but when we arrived at our train stop we decided to ride the elevator because we had two strollers with us.  Upon entering the elevator, we were greeted with a foul odor, which left us wondering in our mind what caused the smell.  The other elevator riders explained to us that frequently people urinate and defecate in the elevators (in fact, there was a sign on the wall in the elevator stating that it IS against the law to urinate and defecate there…really???).  And that is what we smelled and stepped in.  Oh my goodness!  We got off the elevator quickly, walked to the nearby fountain where Dan took both strollers and immersed the wheels in the water to clean them.  As we were doing our business at the fountain, we looked up only to see an older gentleman in the distance, standing completely naked for all to see.  Yep, just standing there watching the traffic go by.  Of course, he was wearing a cowboy hat…like that helps!  And the worst part was….Mya happened to look over and notice him herself.  So we had to explain that one to her.  Then…a policeman walks up to the man and decides to have a half hour chat with the guy.  I’m sorry….isn’t it against the law to go naked on the streets?  I am not certain what the two were talking about, but it didn’t lead to any arrest.  So we took the long way around to Fisherman’s Wharf so we could avoid the other kids seeing the man expressing his freedom. 

On our way to Fisherman’s Wharf, we stopped to buy the bus tickets.  While Dan was buying them, the girls and I noticed that we were a few feet away from a homeless guy who decided to get creative with earning money.  On the sidewalk, he was sitting beside a trashcan.  He had two large branches in front of him…covering his whole body.  Every so often he would part the branches and scare people walking by.  It was extremely funny watching people get scared.  And the guy got such a kick out of himself.  I didn’t see anyone putting money in his bucket though. 

We finally arrived at our bus stop and got on the bus.  It was so much fun for the kids to be on top of the bus.  The tour was about 2 hours because the bus made stops throughout the city.  All three kids fell asleep on our laps and Dan and I had the chance to just sit back, relax and enjoy the ride.  The only uncomfortable part was the ride across the Golden Gate Bridge.  It was very windy…and extremely cold.  But well worth the ride!

Here is a picture of the guy scaring people.....

And here are our other pictures from our adventure....

The Ballet

An opportunity came up for me to take Mya and Sara to a ballet.  I wanted to make this night real special for the girls so I told them about it last week and we counted the days.  They were so excited.  I took the girls to Old Navy to pick out a dress to wear. Thank goodness all the dresses were on sale!  And the night of the ballet we left a little early so I could take the girls to Starbucks to get a hot chocolate.  And then we finally made it to the ballet performance.  It was very nice, although the girls got pretty sleepy towards the end so I took them home before it was over.  Mya is very excited about taking ballet lessons when we move home.  This performance only made her more excited.

Chloe didn’t come with us, but she wanted to wear the girls’ headbands while they were getting ready for the evening.

The girls modeling their dresses

My two ballerinas

Sara dancing for us

Mother's Day

It has been a very nice Mother’s Day!  On Friday night, Dan took the girls shopping for me.  They came home with some wonderful things.  The girls each picked out makeup for me.  Sorry Aunt Jen….it wasn’t Mary Kay.  Dan let them purchase the one thing that they wanted to get me so I got some pink eye shadow in the shape of a cross from Mya and Instant Age Rewind makeup from Sara.  Apparently my age is showing at 35???  They were so proud to give it to me.  And then Dan was super excited and couldn’t wait until the actual Mother’s Day to give me my present from him.  I was okay with that!  He bought me a beautiful teal dress to wear on Mother’s Day.  He picked it out by himself and got the size just right.  So fun!

I really wanted to go to the beach today (Half Moon Bay), which isn’t very far from us.  But the temperature on the beach is 50 degrees.  Yikes!  That is too cold for me to enjoy it.  So we went to church and then Dan took us all out to eat at P.F. Changs for dinner.  He told me he would cook a meal for me, but we both decided it would be safer for us to go out to eat….ha ha.  We are a bit tired today too.  Dan and I discovered the TV series Lost for the first time a few weeks ago.  We have been watching the episodes at night and recently headed into season 2.  Both libraries around here do not have that season so we had to rent from Blockbuster, which is 15 minutes from our place.  So we have been doing marathon nights of watching Lost, trying to get through season 2 and not racking up big late fees.  Needless to say, we were up late last night finishing a disc.  But it is so worth it!

Church today was another gift for Mother’s Day.  The sermon was fantastic.  The pastor focused on the life of Paul and how God saved him despite his rebellious life.  He took the sermon from 1 Timothy 1:12-17. He focused on how much we need a savior and presented the gospel in a heavy, wonderful way.  Dan walked away from the sermon with tears in his eyes and a lot of conviction.  He said it was made clear to him why we are at this particular place.  He realizes how important paying off debt became to him…the sole reason for moving out here… and then God put us here in Pleasanton….not saving any money….to teach us that money is not to be worshiped.  We came here kicking and screaming, not wanting to pay for this apartment…I guess it is time to quick kicking and screaming. It was a powerful message! 

Here is my make-up from the girls....

And here is the reason I love being a mommy!

The dress!

Day Hike

On Saturday we took a hike to a place called Little Yosemite.  It is in a national park only 15 miles down the road from our apartment.  A resident of our complex told me about it and said that her family had a wonderful time there.  What we didn’t consider was the temperature difference from the weekend she went to the weekend we went.  When she went it was in the low 70s and when we went it was close to 90 degrees.  We went early in the morning, but the other thing we didn’t know was that the path on the hike was full sun.  We did go prepared with packed lunches, hats and sunblock, but it was a rough hike with the little ones.  The hike was an easy path, but too hot for the kids.  However, we trudged on and made it to our destination….a beautiful waterfall with swimming holes and rocks to climb.  Once we got there we were happy we made the trek and the kids had so much fun.  But getting there and going back home were a little tough on us all. So what did we do when we got home….all 5 of us took a nap.  It was a very nice afternoon of rest.

Here are the girls all ready to hike.....in skirts.....with Keen shoes.....

Starting the long trek to the waterfalls......

This is Dan trying to motivate the girls to walk a little faster.....

Our little snake friend that crossed our path.....

The girls acclimating to the cool water and rough terrain.....

Chloe discovered the fun in throwing rocks in the water.....

The Keen shoes after the hike.....I love my girls to have muddy shoes!