The Halloween Visitor

I've heard so many conservative Christian groups say that Halloween is evil and now I know it is true. About midnight last night, as soon as it became Halloween, the stomach flu hit our house, namely Jake and Danny. Jake is winning the "Who can throw up the most war" with a current score of 6 to 4, at least 3 of those on me. Needless to say, long night. They have some really cute costumes and I hope we can get them dressed and make a brief appearance tonight but we shall see.

Jacob, Micah and Riley's 3rd birthday party was a blast! The boys loved the cake because I bribed them by putting Hot Wheels on it. I know the way to little boys' hearts!

Here are all the little boys eating cake on the back patio. I think they like it...

Erik picked out a little remote control airplane set for Jake's present, I think it was really Erik's present but the boys liked it too.

We had a fun day of fingerpainting last week. They have watched us paint so much it seemed time for them to get to paint.

Birthdays and Bunny Chases

I am still in shock that Jakey turned 3 already! He had a pretty normal day since the big party is this coming Sunday but he did get a really neat present from "Grandpa Sue and Uncle Brad," as he calls them. They brought a little tool set with included a picket knife and power drill that actually works, all plastic of course. He has had so much fun watching Erik work on the house and now he has his own tools.



Last night we went on our first walk around the neighborhood. We came around the corner and a fluffy white bunny was sitting in a yard at a very busy intersection. Obviously, it wasn't a desert bunny so Erik had to investigate. We met a little girl who was trying to round up the bunny, whose name is Maya, but the bunny did not want to go inside. Erik, Jake and the little girl chased to bunny all over the neighborhood for 15 minutes and finally wore her down and trapped her. What excitement for the boys, Erik included!

This is just a cute picture from a couple of nights ago. We bought The Jungle Book and sit in the play room every night to watch Mowgli. Dan decided Libby couldn't have Daddy all to herself during the movie so he crawled up too. We got up this morning and got our flu shots. We thought that if the boys watched our brave faces as we went first it would help. Nope, just made them start crying sooner since they saw what was coming. They survived though.

The house is slowly coming along but I don't know if we'll ever get it all done! Come see it anyway!

Pumpkin Patch

This morning, the boys and I visited a local pumpkin patch with our Mothers of Preschoolers group. Jake and Dan were amazed at the enormous pumpkins and had to touch every single one!

Farmer John read a story about the Native Americans and how they would grow hardy vegetables like gourds and Indian corn that would keep all winter. Jake really liked the Indian corn and didn't want to give it back.

Then we went on a ride. I thought Jake would cry and Danny would be happy but I was mistaken. Dan didn't scream but he was pretty nervous and Jake loved it!

Next we were off to see the animals in the petting zoo. Dan was excited to see chickens, which he believes say "a-doodle-doo," and one very large pig.

Overall we had a great morning and left with two cute little pumpkins! We are going to a fall harvest festival on October 31st and Libby will be a pumpkin (thanks Mimi and Sam) and the boys will be cowboys.

Jake will be 3 on Sunday! On the 28th we are having a party for him and some other little boys with close birthdays. It may be at our house if our furniture arrives, please pray for that! Happy Halloween!

The New House

Well, here it is! The boys have officially dubbed it "The New House." We will move in as soon as our furniture arrives. Why is that many people feel the need to tell us all the horror stories of moving trucks crashing and burning and thus destroying all of a family's possessions? We called the moving company today to check on our furniture's progress across the U.S. to no avail, hmmm...

We have employed an army of slave laborers from church to complete the majority of painting. Erik is about 99% done with constructing the fence around the pool and the new carpet went in two days ago. It is coming along well! I am anxious to get in since we have been living in other peoples' home for two months now. We put an ad in the church bulletin shamelessly begging for free pub equipment for the house (pool tables, dart boards, fooseball, etc.) It's a tough life!

On a different note, Erik lead our first Saturday night college/career group (called Crossroads) last Saturday and it went really well. He put together a multimedia bonanza that covered our testimonies and discussed cultural Christianity. Good job Erik! He has started his own blog for the group so check it out! There are quite a few students still here from our last tour in Lancaster and a ton of new students too. As soon as we get our home set up we will have everyone over after Crossroads to hang out and on Fridays the girls will come over for lunch and Bible study, I am ready to get started. We should be able to move in just in time to have Jake's 3rd birthday party along with two of his friends who have close birthdays. It will be nice to have our old friend group back together after two years. Friends are such a blessing!

The Daily Grind

We are settling into a strange routine these days. We get up each morning, Erik goes to work and the children and I go to the rental house. The kids and I "renovate" all morning and then come "home" to the H.'s house for naptime. Erik arrives at the rental house during lunch and works all afternoon. We get up, have a snack and head back to the house to work until bedtime.

The boys are becoming overly frustrated with us because there is a perfectly good pool in the backyard and they haven't gotten to swim in it yet. The first time we walked through the house, Jake saw the pool and said "Get naked! Let's go swim!" and started stripping off superfluous clothes and galloping with his cast to jump in. They certainly took to the water this summer!

Libby celebrated the new rental house by learning to roll over there yesterday. I explained to her that she is not allowed to become mobile until we are set up in our home and not living in someone else's house while renovating another. She is a sweet baby!

Anyway, please pray for me. I'm feeling the strain of the last two months of traveling with three under three and my nerves are unraveling. I guess I had some unrealistic expectations for how things would unfold once we got out here. It is going to be a couple more weeks before we get into our house, my friend group from when we lived here has dispersed and I am feeling a little lonely and couped up. The head pastor's wife holds a monthly Bible study for all the church staff wives and that was really refreshing to able to identify with the other ladies and have someone to unload on. I also went to MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) and met a few ladies. We have a playdate scheduled for Monday with a family with two boys the same ages as Jake and Dan. Erik has strep, hopefully the boys won't catch it and force us to stay home from church and the playdate! I need adult contact!!!

Great Expectations

Howdy! As we begin this new stage of life I greatly desire to keep in touch with all of our family and friends scattered across the U.S. We are starting a new career in a familiar but far off place and we have so many expectations and hopes for this next stage of our lives. We are still in a bit of shock at this new turn but excited to see what God has is store for us Texas transplants. I hope you all enjoy checking in every now and then to see what our little crew is up to.
As we begin to get settled in I have been reflecting over our "little journey" quite a bit. It has been long but filled with plenty of little blessings from the Lord along the way. We were so excited that we got to spend some extended periods of time with various family members so that our children could really get to know y'all. Thank you to everyone who took us in and especially, thank you to Nana for inviting us back even though Jake broke his leg in your living room. That one has been a long time coming...little boys!

We left Odessa, TX at 8 am (Central) and arrived in Lancaster, CA at 2:30 am (Pacific) and within 12 hours we had 2 rental houses offered from folks in the church at very reasonable prices, for Southern California. We have chosen a house and will call the moving company tomorrow to have everything delivered. With three days left on our insurance we took Jakey to a pediatric ortho specialist and he chose a traffic cone orange cast, which he says is "beautiful!" Erik started his first day in full-time ministry by playing a gold marathon. He had to be at "work" yesterday at 6:45 am to play 100 holes of golf. It's a tough job huh? We have begun meeting college students though and are really excited to get started.

You are all always welcome to come out to the beautiful Antelope Valley any time. We love you!