Tuesday, July 29, 2008
EARTHQUAKE!!!
That's right, you read correctly. About 15 mins. ago we just had an earthquake. It's all over the news out here right now. They are saying it was approx. 5.8 on the scale. I was upstairs with the girls. I was sitting down watching Olivia on the computer, and all of a sudden, the windows were rattling. For a split second I thought, "What in the world is driving by." Then when I realized I was moving, and the house was swaying, I said, "GIRLS! Come down with me right now." Emma said, "Are we having an EARTHQUAKE???" Kris was running out of his office (laughing) and said, "Well, how'd you like our first earthquake?" At first he thought the girls were upstairs making some major racket above him, but then he knew what was happening. He was working at his desk and felt the ground shaking beneath him. The tall lamp in his office was swaying pretty good too. After we all were standing in the living room trying to process what happened, I said, "I did not like that!" Meanwhile Kris and Emma are jumping up and down, giving each other high fives. Olivia looked totally scared and not sure what to think. I am still having an adrenaline rush. It totally freaked me out! I must say I had a good adjustment at the chiropractor this morning, but I have never moved that fast down the stairs since we moved in. ha ha The news coverage was immediate. They are getting info. from people over in L.A. and down to San Diego and all the way up to Las Vegas saying they felt this. The proposed epicenter is in Chino Hills, only 30 miles from here. Thankfully this was nothing major and no damage seems to have happened. What an adventure. . . Welcome to California!
Monday, July 28, 2008
Works of God Monday
Well, Monday is almost over and I haven't read my friend Jenny's instructions well (just skimmed) enough to do this "right." Hopefully by next week I'll have it together. Part of the reason I haven't gotten it together is that I have been in really bad back spasms for about a week now. Everything caught up to me--packing to move, the emotion involved, the 2,600 mile drive, etc. With my fibromyalgia and certain other physical difficulties, I don't "hold up" well after all of that.
I have much to praise the Lord for though:
First, I haven't had this bad of a problem with my muscles/back trouble in over 2 yrs. I have my daily fibromyalgia issues, but that can be very minimal, and has been more that way in recent years, thankfully.
Second, I have found a chiropractor here in Riverside who is helping me. I have a story on how that worked out, but it's too late right now to tell. I just want to thank God for the amazing way it worked out for me to get in to see this chiropractor and how meeting him has led us to some other great info. and help in homeschooling and private lessons.
Third, we are in our new home, and we have things situated well enough to function. I have a wonderful husband and two great little girls who help make things easier. We are not set up to feel that "home sweet home" feeling, seeing that we still have lots of boxes needing to be unpacked around here, but we had a couple from church come last Tues. when I was getting really bad physically, and they helped unpack most of our kitchen. Kris has done what we need for our bedrooms/bathrooms to be livable, so we are doing fine right now. The rest will come in time. I have been able to do some as I pace myself.
Fourth, Kris's Aunt Carol, who lives nearby and goes to our church, had a mild heart attack over the weekend, and she is doing o.k. right now. She is still in the hospital, but we think she will be able to go home soon. We thank God that nothing worse happened to her. The doctor's believe the heart attack was due to high blood pressure that she actually didn't know she had. They did a test today that showed her arteries are fine, no blockage.
Fifth, we had a wonderful church service yesterday with 33 people in attendance. We focused on the holiness of our God as we sang and read Scripture pertaining to that attribute of Him. One family visited that lives about 25 mins. away, and then we had surprise visitors from Phoenix show up--Kris's Uncle Bob, Aunt Judy, and his cousin, Carrie, and her children. They were in CA at a vacation spot South of here by an hour or so. They knew we had just moved and wanted to come to our service. We were able to go to Applebee's afterward and catch up with them. It was nice to be with family.
Well, I must head to bed, but I realized that I had never made it up to the computer today to share these blessings. If for no one else, I wanted to review them for myself, as I need to make sure I focus on the greatness of our God, even in the midst of pain. God is good--all the time!
I have much to praise the Lord for though:
First, I haven't had this bad of a problem with my muscles/back trouble in over 2 yrs. I have my daily fibromyalgia issues, but that can be very minimal, and has been more that way in recent years, thankfully.
Second, I have found a chiropractor here in Riverside who is helping me. I have a story on how that worked out, but it's too late right now to tell. I just want to thank God for the amazing way it worked out for me to get in to see this chiropractor and how meeting him has led us to some other great info. and help in homeschooling and private lessons.
Third, we are in our new home, and we have things situated well enough to function. I have a wonderful husband and two great little girls who help make things easier. We are not set up to feel that "home sweet home" feeling, seeing that we still have lots of boxes needing to be unpacked around here, but we had a couple from church come last Tues. when I was getting really bad physically, and they helped unpack most of our kitchen. Kris has done what we need for our bedrooms/bathrooms to be livable, so we are doing fine right now. The rest will come in time. I have been able to do some as I pace myself.
Fourth, Kris's Aunt Carol, who lives nearby and goes to our church, had a mild heart attack over the weekend, and she is doing o.k. right now. She is still in the hospital, but we think she will be able to go home soon. We thank God that nothing worse happened to her. The doctor's believe the heart attack was due to high blood pressure that she actually didn't know she had. They did a test today that showed her arteries are fine, no blockage.
Fifth, we had a wonderful church service yesterday with 33 people in attendance. We focused on the holiness of our God as we sang and read Scripture pertaining to that attribute of Him. One family visited that lives about 25 mins. away, and then we had surprise visitors from Phoenix show up--Kris's Uncle Bob, Aunt Judy, and his cousin, Carrie, and her children. They were in CA at a vacation spot South of here by an hour or so. They knew we had just moved and wanted to come to our service. We were able to go to Applebee's afterward and catch up with them. It was nice to be with family.
Well, I must head to bed, but I realized that I had never made it up to the computer today to share these blessings. If for no one else, I wanted to review them for myself, as I need to make sure I focus on the greatness of our God, even in the midst of pain. God is good--all the time!
Monday, July 21, 2008
Works of God Monday
I am trying something that I have wanted to do for awhile, ever since my friend Jenny encouraged us to share works of God on Mondays. I need to ask her how to set it up to look like hers though. Technology/computers are not always my favorite to figure out. I am always a little slow on things, but I am now going to try to make this a habit on Mondays now. :-) Seriously though, I could go on and on about what God is doing in our lives. You know a lot of the recent things through the last couple of posts.
Today's blessings though include Kris's Aunt Carol and Uncle Dave helping us out with the kids while we worked on setting up life in CA. Uncle Dave took Kris to drop the van off for a smog check (over $50 for that!:-/ )and thankfully we passed the test. We all enjoyed lunch at their house, and Aunt Carol let the girls go in the hot tub outside, which was very fun for them. Kris and I went and set up our bank acct. here and had a good opportunity to talk with the young lady who helped us about our new church and Kris's taking on the pastor position there. She asked some great questions, and we had some time to share Christ with her. We invited her to come to our church. Pray that God would work in her heart to know Him! We were going to go to the DMV and get our licenses next, but when we saw the line wrapped around the building, we decided against that. There was a sign with the phone # and encouragement to make an appt. Ha ha Who knew you could get an appt.? Well, we called and found out the first available time for us is Aug. 7! Whew--we are getting in before we reach the 20 day deadline after establishing residency here.
Tonight we had a really nice time at the Jensen's house for dinner. They are one of the couples in our new church. Doug is a deacon and Kris looks forward to their working together. Diana is so thoughtful and caring. She baked a cake today and waited for our girls to come and had them frost it, decorate it and serve it. Also, she is a fellow musician that I am looking forward to working with. She has some great recording equipment that she asked us if we wanted to use tonight to make a CD of the girls singing. We played around with it and had a lot of fun doing a couple of songs. Both Diana and Doug have been an encouragement to us, before moving here as well as these last couple of days.
Tomorrow morning the truck is supposed to show up at the new house. We were excited to get the phone call about that today. We went to the house yesterday and were thrilled with the layout. Kris will have an office downstairs behind the kitchen. I will make one of the bedrooms upstairs a schoolroom for the girls. Everything will be happening from home now, at least for a time, so we are happy that it can happen with privacy when and where needed for us to accomplish all these things. Oh, another unexpected blessing we found in going through the house is that we have a washer and a dryer! We saw that that was not listed on the home's info. sheet, and we were planning on looking for a set. Praise the Lord--we don't have to now.
God is so good and has clearly been leading. We are looking forward to what He has in days ahead. Thank you all for your prayers for us as we begin this new chapter of our lives.
Today's blessings though include Kris's Aunt Carol and Uncle Dave helping us out with the kids while we worked on setting up life in CA. Uncle Dave took Kris to drop the van off for a smog check (over $50 for that!:-/ )and thankfully we passed the test. We all enjoyed lunch at their house, and Aunt Carol let the girls go in the hot tub outside, which was very fun for them. Kris and I went and set up our bank acct. here and had a good opportunity to talk with the young lady who helped us about our new church and Kris's taking on the pastor position there. She asked some great questions, and we had some time to share Christ with her. We invited her to come to our church. Pray that God would work in her heart to know Him! We were going to go to the DMV and get our licenses next, but when we saw the line wrapped around the building, we decided against that. There was a sign with the phone # and encouragement to make an appt. Ha ha Who knew you could get an appt.? Well, we called and found out the first available time for us is Aug. 7! Whew--we are getting in before we reach the 20 day deadline after establishing residency here.
Tonight we had a really nice time at the Jensen's house for dinner. They are one of the couples in our new church. Doug is a deacon and Kris looks forward to their working together. Diana is so thoughtful and caring. She baked a cake today and waited for our girls to come and had them frost it, decorate it and serve it. Also, she is a fellow musician that I am looking forward to working with. She has some great recording equipment that she asked us if we wanted to use tonight to make a CD of the girls singing. We played around with it and had a lot of fun doing a couple of songs. Both Diana and Doug have been an encouragement to us, before moving here as well as these last couple of days.
Tomorrow morning the truck is supposed to show up at the new house. We were excited to get the phone call about that today. We went to the house yesterday and were thrilled with the layout. Kris will have an office downstairs behind the kitchen. I will make one of the bedrooms upstairs a schoolroom for the girls. Everything will be happening from home now, at least for a time, so we are happy that it can happen with privacy when and where needed for us to accomplish all these things. Oh, another unexpected blessing we found in going through the house is that we have a washer and a dryer! We saw that that was not listed on the home's info. sheet, and we were planning on looking for a set. Praise the Lord--we don't have to now.
God is so good and has clearly been leading. We are looking forward to what He has in days ahead. Thank you all for your prayers for us as we begin this new chapter of our lives.
Thursday, July 17, 2008
A Quick Update
Right now I am in my sister-in-law's kitchen starring out at the Rocky Mtns. How nice! :-) We are so happy to be able to visit with Karmen and her family. It's also wonderful to have a break from traveling. We've driven over 1,500 miles so far on our trek out to CA. Yesterday was the longest, most boring part of the trip--KANSAS!!! If you have never driven the length of Kansas, you are NOT missing anything. The first hour or so in the state is not bad. There's some variety there with towns/cities and landscape, but after Topeka, it's all about the same. It was about 7 hours from the time we entered Kansas until we made it into CO. Kris says that he always laughs because the sign over the border says, "Welcome to Colorful Colorado," and you're looking at the same landscape in Eastern CO as you just did for hours in Kansas. The colorful part of CO is almost 3 hrs. away, when you see the Rocky Mtns. appear. Kris says that Eastern CO is just an extension of the seemingly never-ending Kansas. Well, the point is, we made it! We are thanking God for safety, children who travel extremely well, my body holding up so far, and grace for such a long day yesterday. It was about a 12 hr. day for us.
So, basically, here is what has happened so far and what is to come this week in our travels:
Monday night--Had a very emotional time saying good-bye to the Browns, Poupards, and Muths, as well as our home there in Midland. Emma "lost it" when we closed the door to our house for the last time. Our whole family joined her, and we were all blubbering fools, praying and thanking God for our time in Midland. Then we became even worse saying good-bye to the Muths on our driveway, praying and crying with them before pulling out and driving through the night. Okay, (sniff, sniff) I need to go on. . . .
Tuesday morning--Arrived at the St. Louis Arch around 8:30 AM. We had a great time there. We went up in the arch. Emma was freaked out about this concept, which got Olivia a bit nervous too. Thankfully, they both did fine, and we all enjoyed looking out at the top. Back on the ground, we went to the museum there and the IMAX about Lewis and Clark's exploration to the West--Amazing! We got on a wireless connection and looked up Buffalo Wild Wings for lunch, and found there was one in St. Charles, about a half an hour away. Needless to say, Kris was sooo happy to find his favorite restaurant for lunch. I love it too though. :-)
Tuesday evening--We arrived at our friends', the Spauldings, house just before dinner. We had a great time catching up with them. The girls had a blast swimming in their pool with Tara Spaulding. Brenna and Hudson were away at camp. It was sweet fellowship we had to share with Thom and Layna what God is doing in our lives and hear about their involvement in a young church plant there in Kansas City.
Wednesday morning--We left the Spauldings after breakfast and started the long trek across Kansas (which you read about above), but not before finding a Starbuck's and getting a grande white choc. mocha with raspberry! :-) Thanks to the Poupards for a Starbucks gift card before I left. They know Kris doesn't like putting his money there. Ha ha
Wednesday evening--We arrived safely at Karmen and Terry's just after 9 PM, Mtn. time (3rd time zone now for us on the trip). We enjoyed a little time with them before putting all the kids to bed, and then we stayed up until I was falling asleep in the recliner. :-)
Thursday morning--Here I am updating my blog after breakfast. It's fun just hanging out and hearing the kids play right now. It's a welcome break from the travel. We are thinking of fun things to do with the kids today. We do know we will be going to see the addition to Front Range Baptist Church and Academy (the church and school Kris's dad started) and going to Mom and Dad's graves today.
Friday morning--We will leave and start our beautiful drive across the Rocky Mtns. tomorrow, to the other side of CO, into Utah and to it's other side. Another long day of travel, but I am sure much more picturesque and beautiful!
Friday evening--We will arrive in St. George, UT and stay at a fun hotel.
Saturday morning--Hopefully we can go to Zion National Park for awhile and see more of God's beautiful creation. We aren't sure what all we will be doing yet. We will only be about 5 and a half hrs. from our final destination.
Saturday evening--We will arrive in Ontario, CA at our hotel. Sunday is Kris's first day as pastor at Heritage Bible Church, and Mon. or Tues., our moving truck should arrive in Riverside at our new home.
Well, that's the plan, if the Lord wills! Thanks for your prayers for us.
So, basically, here is what has happened so far and what is to come this week in our travels:
Monday night--Had a very emotional time saying good-bye to the Browns, Poupards, and Muths, as well as our home there in Midland. Emma "lost it" when we closed the door to our house for the last time. Our whole family joined her, and we were all blubbering fools, praying and thanking God for our time in Midland. Then we became even worse saying good-bye to the Muths on our driveway, praying and crying with them before pulling out and driving through the night. Okay, (sniff, sniff) I need to go on. . . .
Tuesday morning--Arrived at the St. Louis Arch around 8:30 AM. We had a great time there. We went up in the arch. Emma was freaked out about this concept, which got Olivia a bit nervous too. Thankfully, they both did fine, and we all enjoyed looking out at the top. Back on the ground, we went to the museum there and the IMAX about Lewis and Clark's exploration to the West--Amazing! We got on a wireless connection and looked up Buffalo Wild Wings for lunch, and found there was one in St. Charles, about a half an hour away. Needless to say, Kris was sooo happy to find his favorite restaurant for lunch. I love it too though. :-)
Tuesday evening--We arrived at our friends', the Spauldings, house just before dinner. We had a great time catching up with them. The girls had a blast swimming in their pool with Tara Spaulding. Brenna and Hudson were away at camp. It was sweet fellowship we had to share with Thom and Layna what God is doing in our lives and hear about their involvement in a young church plant there in Kansas City.
Wednesday morning--We left the Spauldings after breakfast and started the long trek across Kansas (which you read about above), but not before finding a Starbuck's and getting a grande white choc. mocha with raspberry! :-) Thanks to the Poupards for a Starbucks gift card before I left. They know Kris doesn't like putting his money there. Ha ha
Wednesday evening--We arrived safely at Karmen and Terry's just after 9 PM, Mtn. time (3rd time zone now for us on the trip). We enjoyed a little time with them before putting all the kids to bed, and then we stayed up until I was falling asleep in the recliner. :-)
Thursday morning--Here I am updating my blog after breakfast. It's fun just hanging out and hearing the kids play right now. It's a welcome break from the travel. We are thinking of fun things to do with the kids today. We do know we will be going to see the addition to Front Range Baptist Church and Academy (the church and school Kris's dad started) and going to Mom and Dad's graves today.
Friday morning--We will leave and start our beautiful drive across the Rocky Mtns. tomorrow, to the other side of CO, into Utah and to it's other side. Another long day of travel, but I am sure much more picturesque and beautiful!
Friday evening--We will arrive in St. George, UT and stay at a fun hotel.
Saturday morning--Hopefully we can go to Zion National Park for awhile and see more of God's beautiful creation. We aren't sure what all we will be doing yet. We will only be about 5 and a half hrs. from our final destination.
Saturday evening--We will arrive in Ontario, CA at our hotel. Sunday is Kris's first day as pastor at Heritage Bible Church, and Mon. or Tues., our moving truck should arrive in Riverside at our new home.
Well, that's the plan, if the Lord wills! Thanks for your prayers for us.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)