A Brief Update...

Hey Ya'll -

I'm sorry it's been so long since I've posted anything new. As you all know, the end of the year just seems to creep up on you a lot quicker than you are anticipating. Our lives and daily schedules have been extremely busy and here's an update:

• BOWLING - Andrew and I bowl on Thursday nights with our team "The Fever". We both have slowly improved over the last few months and it has been a great hobby to do together. We have a blast and we look forward to it all week long.

• CHURCH GIG - We have been leading worship at St. Olaf Lutheran Church in Garden Grove since last April. We originally accepted the opportunity only thinking of it as a job, but it has been such a blessing to us and we're so thankful to be a part of that church and a witness to other people.
  

• MATH - Well, I posted a blog a while back about a math class and I thought you may be wanting an update! I FINISHED the course! Not only that, but, I got an A!!!! Seeing as math is my least favorite subject, I was really proud of myself for completing that goal. And the best part is.... I am officially a college graduate! YAY!
  
  
• WORK - As most of you know, I work in our family business as a Business Administrator. My dad started this company over 20 years ago and has seen his dreams come true with the success of the business and having his family work at his side. We have just hired a new employee that we're REALLY excited to have on our team. Andrew is going to work for the company, starting next week. He is going to be our Project Manager which is one of the most important roles in the company. He will be in charge of keeping all of us on task and productive, as well as manage any subcontractors we have and make sure that the client is totally happy. He will be giving us a project plan which will help us stay on time and under budget. I am so very excited to have him working with me and the whole family, but not half as excited as he is!




• OUR FIRST HOME - So since Andrew decided to go to work for Daniel Mackey Construction, Inc. we decided to buy a home in San Jose. We bought a large lot of land directly next door to the business and will be getting ready to build our first home on it. The house that is currently on the lot is a "knock down". It is termite infested and over 70 years old. So, the plan is to move up to San Jose in August. We will live in one of my parents rental houses while we build our house. The process is going to take us quite a while (we're expecting 1-2 years) to plan, design, demo and build exactly what we want, but this is a good time to practice patience. It wont always be easy, but in the end, it will definitely be worth it.





• UNTIL AUGUST - In the meantime, we are going to continue to enjoy living in our cute little house in Burbank and spend as much time with our friends as we can. There are a lot of friends we haven't seen or spent time with in a while and we're going to make it a goal to really cherish the time we have left with everyone before we leave.
  

2007 was a really hard year for us, in a lot of ways, but we are so excited for what 2008 has in store for us. God has so richly blessed us and we're ready for the next chapter in our lives to begin. May it be a wonderful year for all of you!

Southern California is ON FIRE!

We are currently experiencing extremely high winds, high heat and low humidity in So Cal. Yesterday began a long and hard week of fighting fires and I have found myself completely glued to the TV and radio wanting to know what is going on. My heart goes out for the people that have been evacuated from their homes and are waiting with the fear that they may not have a home to return to. Even more, my heart breaks for the people that have lost their homes already! It reminds me, though, that houses and cars are just things, and what is most important is the lives of people (and their pets). I am thankful that so many people have been safe and taken care of so far and pray for the safety of everyone for the rest of the week!

Singin' the Math Blues...

Well, the time has come for me to complete College Algebra. I am completing College Algebra through University of Phoenix, online, and today was my official first day of class. I am dreading taking this class because of my total lack of comprehension of math concepts, yet I am excited to take it because I have an AWESOME math tutor, my hubby. :)
The class lasts for 5 weeks and will be done before I know it, so I just need to try to stay positive. Keep me in your thoughts and prayers, as this does NOT come easily to me!

Thanks guys...

My Trip to the Hamptons...

New York was awesome. I was in the Hamptons for four days on business, but still got to see and learn a lot about life and culture there. I am amazed at how drastically different life is there than in Los Angeles! I thought to myself, "This is an AMAZING place to visit, but I would never want to live here!" I learned that the slums of East Hampton means you own a house worth 2-4 million dollars. Yeah... You read that right... SLUMS = 2-4 million dollars! I saw a 70,000 sq ft home for $100 million, a 100 acre lot of land that was just sold to it's next door neighbor for $60 million (so that he could plant grass on it and not have a neighbor!)

Eating was interesting... It's illegal to have any corporate chains in the Hamptons, so you don't see any McDonalds, In n Out, Dennys, etc... I like that for a lot of reasons, but I DONT like having to pay nearly $70 a plate everywhere you go!
I just found it to be worlds apart from my comfort zone. I loved it that almost everyone knows everyone in town and I loved it that there was so much open space and beautiful green land. It seemed to be a very relaxing place with awesome beaches. For this reason, I would love to go back and vacation there, but residing there, NO!


Check out these pictures!

A BIG DOOR

Andrew and I are finally settled into our new home. We have an awesome backyard that we enjoy every day and a lot more space than our previous place. The dishwasher is probably the greatest invention of all time! So, needless to say, we're very content and blessed with where we are living.
While all of that is great, we feel a large part of us is stuck in the swinging door phase. We are both trying to seek God and hear him... We are in the waiting stage right now. Waiting for answers, clarity and direction. Currently, we are feeling some hurt, confusion, uncertainty, desire and, most of all, hope for what the future might hold. We are having to make some scary decisions about what our schedules and relationships with others will look like for a while. We are given these challenges to help us grow, so we're excited to be able to look back on this phase and understand more about what was going on in our lives how we grew from this situation.
In the meantime, positive thoughts and prayers are appreciated!

A New Door

Hey everyone,

I have been thinking about open and closed doors, figuratively and literally, and what they mean. It seems as though Andrew and I are in a cycle of swinging doors right now. For every closed door we see another one opened and it motivates me to write about it! Please enjoy the first of many door stories to come...

After living here in our apartment for approximately ten months, we were given a lease renewal notice and were going to be required to start paying almost $300 more a month to renew our lease. Unhappy with what we were already paying for what we were getting, we decided to look elsewhere. (I should mention, in the midst of all this, Andrew was job hunting and the answers to where God would have him work were not given to us yet either.) Anyway, as we began our search for a new home, we began to just pray that God would go easy on us and bless us with a wonderful place to move to. Less than three hours later, we found the rental house of our "dreams" about two blocks from where we are currently living. It was obvious that because we had trusted and expected that God would provide, He definitely did just that. We just fell in love with our landlord and the property. We are moving in about three weeks, and we're ready and excited to see what life will present us on the other side of the doors at our new place!

P.S. As you can see, we'll have a GREAT backyard and will be hosting a nice BBQ party, as soon as we get settled!

Welcome

Welcome to my very first blog experience, ever! I have never been a big writer and often wonder how people think of things to say, but I have never seemed to have had a problem talking so I will give this a shot!

Today is my husband's first day of work at a new job. He is entering the world of sales at an A&R Firm in Hollywood. He is very excited about having something new in his life and I am excited to see how much he enjoys it. He is so great at so many things, and I know he'll do great at this too!

As most of you know, for the last ten months, Andrew and I have both worked from home everyday together. It's been awesome to get to spend so much time together and, I must confess, I am not looking forward to the adjustment of being home alone while he's at work. I tend to feel "separation anxiety" from my best friend. But, such is life! The show must go on and I, myself, have a bunch of work to get to. Thanks to those who took the time to read this!