time to enjoy

My last day of work was last Friday, so I got to enjoy Jesse's day off (Mondays) with him this week! Instead of taking advantage of another day we could spend doing housework, we decided to do something randomly touristy and go to the Los Angeles Zoo. I don't think I've been there since my sister Laura's 7th birthday.
It was a very warm day, and I went through all of the water I'd pack way too quickly, but we had a wonderful time. I took a series of pictures of Jesse imitating the various animals we saw, and that humored me immensely :)






It's wonderful to be able to enjoy times like these. Not to be dramatic or anything, but I feel like we're just about to dive into another realm: student teaching! Right now, all I'm waiting for is a phone call to let me know they've found a place for me and that I'm beginning in a few days. I don't know what life is going to be like when I start my student teaching. I just know that I'm going to be crazy busy, my day off will be different from Jesse's, and life just isn't going to be as simple. I'm going to miss being able to spend half an hour waking up in the morning just because I can, having leisurely breakfasts with Jesse before I either get in the car with him to go to work or stand on the threshold and wave til he's out of sight.

I just pray that as busy as I'll be, my focus won't shift and make me too busy to be a good wife. God has blessed us so much in the love that He has given to us to share...as long as we keep that in focus, how can anything go wrong?

Howdy

So I am sitting in my office waiting for Bethany to be finished up with the day care. Tomorrow is her last day and I know that she is excited to have a small portion of Summer left before Concordia/student teaching. However, student teaching is starting to seem a little sticky. I am sure that Beth would love your prayers for strength and encouragement - not to mention that I wouldn't mind some either ;-)

Thank you to all of our friends and family who have made our first Summer a great one. We thank you for the many blessings you have given us and look forward to seeing you soon, when and wherever that may be. God bless!

-Jesse

coming along... :)

From all of our work on this house, Jesse and I are learning patience, hard work, and the feeling of victory. Things come along a lot slower than we expect them to (like how I thought the blinds would all be up and everything by this time last week) but it's good practice for us to learn to be patient!
We finally got the blinds up today--sheer victory! It made the room (in my opinion...Jesse's differs slightly) about 20 degrees cooler inside (believe whom you may...). I'm so happy to have them up! Keeping that room cooler will be so much more merciful to both of my harps. They haven't quite forgiven me for bringing them to this unbearable climate.
While we were outside today, we met some of our neighbors! 5 year old Shauna popped out of her house across the street to show us the little puppy, Morgan, that her family is babysitting this week. Her mom came outside too, exclaiming how wonderful it was to meet us because we're "never home!" Adriana, the mom, is sooo sweet, and I like her a lot. It turns out she is a kindergarten teacher! She offered to help me with whatever I need, and also said that anytime we feel in over our heads about home maintenance, to give her husband a holler and he'll come over and help us out. (That's nice to know, because our silly drill gave us so much trouble today just figuring out how to get the drill bit in there that the whole thing almost had to be postponed! Why don't tool manufacturers include INSTRUCTIONS???)
Little bit by little bit, this adorable old handful of a house is coming along, and it's so encouraging just to see our progress! (before/after pictures still to come!)

A new month...

It got up to 92 degrees in our house while we were away at church today. What an adjustment for me after living a mile from the beach most of my life! I am doing much better with it now than I did initially when we moved here. Never having lived in a home with air conditioning before, and hearing horror stories of bills that went through the roof, I was terrified to use the AC at first. But another thing I learned here is that heat makes me grumpy...and I'd rather pay a high electricity bill than drive my new husband up a wall our first year of marriage! There has probably only been a collection of about 10 days or so since we've moved here, though, where I've been forced to turn on the AC in desperation. Otherwise, we've learned to manage quite well with our two floor fans and lots of ice cubes (ok...not we...I might as well leave Mr. "I-grew-up-in-the-Inland-Empire" out of this. Except that he has learned to manage with ME!)

Yesterday, we attended the wedding of our pastor's son (who has also been a close friend of Jesse's all through college). It was the third wedding in three weeks for me. I was "Matron of Honor" the last two weeks in a row for my high school friend Alina, and my college roommate Kim. What busy times! It was nice to get to sit down yesterday and enjoy the ceremony from the other side of the pews!

Mondays are Jesse's day off, and tomorrow, we have determined to finish painting the trim on all of the windows in our house. We worked so hard to get most of the painting done before our wedding and the two weeks after our honeymoon, and now that we have taken a well-deserved reprieve, we are back to the brushes again. Painting the window trim is the only thing keeping us from installing all of the new blinds that our landlords have purchased for us (that and probably the fact that neither of us has wielded a drill before!) It's as bit daunting, but I'm certain that the house will be much cooler when we have some way to keep the sun from cooking it inside out!