Big Dalton Park

On Sunday, Jesse and I went to Hope Lutheran Church's annual spring service at Big Dalton Park in Glendora. It was a special service for us, because it was actually the anniversary of the first time we met the congregation at Hope.

It was days after we had found out that Jesse would be doing his internship at Hope, and we called the pastor excited about coming to visit. He told us that they were having their outdoor service that weekend, and that he would love to introduce us there.

Big Dalton is a large park with campgrounds, a dam, and hiking trails. The church gathers in a small amphitheater with a large fire pit and picnic tables nearby for the potluck-style BBQ.

We were nervous last year, and I made Jesse dress up in his nicest slacks, shirt, and tie for the first time he met his new congregation. He still teases me about it, because as soon as we got to Big Dalton last year, Pastor met us at the bridge and made Jesse take his tie off and leave it in the car. Most of the church members still remember how "ridiculously overdressed" we apparently were last year!

Here we are hanging out with some of our friends after the service

Tyler and Stacey Stover, and Jon and Mary Castle. Both couples our in our College and Career Bible Study.


We had a bit of fun before the service, too. Our friend Greg, whom Jesse has known since before high school, needed to do a photo shoot with a couple for one of his photography classes. We volunteered ourselves (who doesn't want free photos?) and had a lot of fun. We did shots on the church grounds, on a cute old fashioned street in Glendora, and at Big Dalton Park hours before everyone else arrived.

Here are some of the pictures to share with you!




































The rest of these were taken at Big Dalton. Isn't it gorgeous there?

Christo Anesti!

He is risen! Altheo anesti! He is risen indeed!

Those were the first words out of my mouth yesterday. It's a tradition in the Mueller family to greet each other this way on Easter morning, and a fond memory of every year of my life. I missed seeing Dad, Mom, Jon, Kate, and Laura on Easter day and getting to greet them with the "good news," but I'm glad that Jesse has learned the tradition too, and was able to respond with a groggy smile "Altheo anesti!" at four o'clock yesterday morning. Yes, 4am! But I'm getting ahead of myself...

The last week has been a very good one. Laura's sixteenth birthday was on Tuesday of last week, and Jesse and I drove out to the Griffith Observatory to spend the afternoon celebrating with the family. Only a true James Dean devotee spends her sweet sixteen at the landmark of one of his famous movies!

We had a wonderful time. Jesse and I prepared a picnic to take along, complete with cupcakes with "16" written on each one.

Beautiful Laura with one of her cupcakes


The Observatory was so crowded that we had to park a 25 minute walk away! Instead of carrying our picnic all the way and back, we had a street-side picnic :)


I worked ridiculously long on this sign. We were supposed to get there before everyone else so that I could tape it onto the statue of James Dean and surprise Laura, but in retrospect, it's probably the sign that made us run late!


All of the siblings :)


Getting in our picture too!

On Wednesday, I got a phone call from the principal at Hope (our church school) saying that a principal in Temple City needed a substitute for Thursday and Friday. I gave him a call, and it was arranged. I loved the people there and enjoyed subbing a 2nd/3rd grade combo class for the next two days. They've also given me a few more dates that they will need me, and I'm excited to be on their list now!

Saturday was a busy day. Jesse and I were at church from 10am-3pm preparing food for Easter breakfast. Apparently, it's a big tradition for the youth group to host Easter breakfast every year. It was fun to be involved in our first one! A looooot of work, though. The youth were there from 10-12, and I had about 5 in the kitchen helping me prepare casseroles and other breakfasty things for the next morning while Jesse had others out in the fellowship hall setting up tables and getting all set. In the kitchen, we made 30 casseroles in 2 hours. I was so impressed by the teamwork and commitment of those young teenagers! It was a lot of fun to work with them, tease, help each other, and get to know them better.

Jesse and I colored eggs on Saturday night.



We were extremely tired, but we had a lot of fun!



I didn't get very good pictures of the eggs, but they were pretty! We had fun experimenting with patterns and designs using things like rubberbands, yarn, ribbon, and crayons.




:)

The Easter service was the first Lutheran one I had ever attended. It was very different from what I'm used to, but that's the way most things are there, and I'm getting used to it! We went to the sunrise service, so we were standing outside at 6am until the congregation processed into the sanctuary with the pastor. I nearly froze :)

The Easter breakfast was held from 7am until 10, and it was very busy! The youth stood behind the buffet tables and served the food to everyone. Jesse and I ran back and forth between the kitchen checking on everyone and doing whatever was needed. Here's a picture of a few of our hard workers!


There were a few lulls during the Easter breakfast, because there were three church services on Easter morning. We had mad rushes before and after each service, but pleasant peacefulness for the most part in between. I was able to take one of those quiet moments to excuse myself and call the Mueller house and wish them a happy Easter. It was the first holiday that I've spent away from them. I got to spend a few minutes talking to each of them, and after that, my Easter seemed a little more complete.

Jesse and I stayed and cleaned for two hours after the breakfast was over (with the help of two of our amazing youth!) and then we drove out to San Bernardino to celebrate Easter at Bianca's house. We were there a bit early, so Jesse and I had just enough time to catch a bit of a nap before Jesse's godparents, Jan and Robert and their son, Matt, arrived. We felt much better after that, and enjoyed fellowship with our family. We had a lovely afternoon!



Momma B holding her beautiful fruit tart with Jan.

The whole gange:


Enjoying dessert!

We were supposed to drive out to Redlands in the late afternoon with Momma B to see the house she's moving into in a few weeks, but we were so exhausted after our big weekend at church that we didn't make it. Jesse and I will be spending Thursday-Saturday with her this weekend, though, helping her pack up and also fix up her new house! I'm excited to see it. Jesse already has, and he says it's so cute it's going to make me jealous. I haven't lost any love for this precious little home of ours, so I'm not worried about breaking tenth commandment, but I do love looking at cute houses!

This picture makes me smile...Jesse passed out on his mom's couch after dinner. Someone didn't tell him that there's no tryptophan in Easter food!

A Bit of Catch Up

Jesse left this morning for a week long trip with the 6th grade class at our church school. The number of sweet ladies who came up to me yesterday at church to ask how I would get along without Jesse (and let me know that they would be praying for me this week!) made me smile. Right now, I'm not really sure.

I'm excited that Jesse gets this opportunity. They're going up to a christian camp up near the grapevine and are going to get to do some rock wall climbing, group activities, camp songs around the fire, everything that is right up his alley! Jesse worked at a christian camp up in Arrowhead for years before we got married. I know he missed it last summer. It will be good for him to be able to be around all of that for a little bit again. I know that he'll be singing all of those silly camp songs for months as soon as he gets home! ("Hip-hip-hip-opotamus, hip-hip-hooray God made all of us!"....yes, I definitely leave it all for him!)

Knowing that I would be without him for a week really made me fully appreciate and enjoy being near him for the last couple of weeks. I love laughing with him, playing cards late at night, the way he pulls me to sit on his lap after breakfast, praying together and holding hands, reading a book together in the warmth of candle light, the pure exhilaration of waking up in the middle of the night with his arm strong around me. The last couple nights, I've stayed awake on purpose just to enjoy being near him while he sleeps.

My friend Emily is coming tomorrow to stay with me and keep me company while Jesse is gone. I'm looking forward to having her! We were planning on getting together a few weeks ago, but then we both managed to make trips to the hospital that week and decided it would be best if we both stayed put where we were!
When I came home this afternoon (I had to leave early this morning--before Jesse did--to substitute a 5th grade class), there were two notes in the kitchen: one for me, and one for Emily. What a guy!



Have I told you that I love him? :)

Things are going well for Jesse at Church. Everyone loves him, and although we have not been given the official word, everyone acts as if he will be the DCE there forever. Technically, his internship is up in July, and from there, the church can ask him to stay on or not. We are feeling confident and blessed.

His Jr. High youth group put on a Soup Supper last Wednesday for the whole church. It was quite an ordeal! 20-some 6th-8th graders scuttling around the kitchen trying to cut strawberries with butcher knives and play basketball with bread rolls! It was fun to watch Jesse be in charge of such a crowd and handle it with the ease of a pro. I love watching him with the kids...and they love him!

I don't think I've mentioned my near-death experience (said with a smile!) in our blog, so I'll catch you up.

Two Sundays ago, I went to bed feeling perfectly fine other than a somewhat dry throat. The next morning, my throat was so swollen that I could barely swallow, and it hurt to breathe. Above all of that, I think that what alarmed Jesse the most was that I didn't put up a fight when he said he wanted to take me to the doctor. He packed some gatorade for me, and a deck of cards, and whisked me off to Urgent Care. We spent about an hour playing Gin Rummy (and getting cute looks from older patients there). When they called me in, Jesse came with me and kept me company in the room while we waited for the doctor to enter.

It seems that whatever I had was a mystery. The doctor assumed it was some kind of allergic reaction (to WHAT?) and gave me 3 different prescriptions to help me get over whatever it was. In two days, the swelling was completely down and I was feeling much better. We're not sure what it is, but I guess I'm going to have to go about some sort of allergy testing. I told the doctor that I have done allergy tests before in Ventura and the results hadn't come up with anything. He laughed and said that of course I wouldn't have any allergies in Ventura--according to him, it's the best place to live (I agree!). Apparently, anyone that has allergies has a lot more of them here, living at the foothills and in a valley and all. Phooey.

I'll keep you updated if we ever find anything out!


Substituting has been blooming lately. Since I'm subbing tomorrow, that will mean that I have subbed six of the last seven school days. That's alright by me!

I'm praying that God will keep the sub jobs coming, and help me find a permanent one soon! There is a slight possibility of an opening that would be the most perfect position I could think of. I'm struggling between the negligence of setting my cap for that one and forgetting any other possibility, and "preparing for rain" (as in the parable of the two farmers who prayed for rain. One prayed, and that was all, the other prayed and then went out to his field to prepare it for rain.)

Please keep the whole situation in your prayers!

I've subbed a few times in the last week at our church/school, Hope. 3rd grade last week, and 5th grade today and tomorrow. It's fun to be there with so many of the kids that I know from church and also from the summer program that I worked with last year (that I'm directing this year!). It cracks me up, because most of the kids know me first and foremost as Jesse's wife, Bethany. Others know me as a summer camp leader whom they all called "Miss Bethany." It's funny to watch them stumble over what to call me, because the moment I walk into a classroom, I have to be "Mrs. Brubaker." (Not that that's a bad thing--I love being Jesse's Mrs! It's just funny to go from Beth or Bethany to MRS. BRUBAKER with kids I see casually every other day of the week!)

A couple of the school girls today wanted to know that I'd be ok without Jesse this week. It's sweet that at 8, 11, 13 years old, they seem to understand. I had four of them volunteer to come stay with me!

I'm really looking forward to my time with Emily, though. It's such a blessing to have such a close friend of 17 years! We're looking forward to some shopping, cooking, possibly baking a cheesecake for the first time, and many, many hours of crocheting! It will be a wonderful time :)

Our Valentine Weekend

Jesse and I had a wonderful Valentine's Day this year. It's about time! We spent our first Valentine's Day in the emergency room when Jesse had a fever of 104*, and then last year, we were both either at work, or in classes or meetings until nearly midnight, after which we weren't allowed to be in each other's rooms because of "privacy hours!" I was determined to set our first married Valentine's Day on the right foot.

Jesse was gone at a DCE Midyear Retreat from Wednesday thru Friday last week, so I took the opportunity to go down to San Diego to visit my friend Emily (I'll work on writing about that on my own blog) I had a wonderful time with Em (my friend of 17 years!) and Jesse was refreshed by getting to be with all his friends from his DCE graduating class, swap stories and share ideas.

Since I dropped Jesse off on Wednesday and took the car down to San Diego with me, I got to pick him up in Irvine on Friday. I arrived in Irvine just in time to join all the DCEs for dinner at Steelhead (which I'd never been to before but is a brewery much like BJ's).It was so good to be near him again! It was hard to resist the urge to cover him with kisses at the table!

We hadn't planned anything in advance for celebrating Valentine's Day together. I'm against any restaurant that jacks its prices $30-60 just for a holiday, so we had talked about putting together a picnic basket and taking it to the park or something (great plans when the weather forecast rain all weekend!)

Little did he know...

Before I drove to Steelhead, I popped into a Cheesecake Factory in Irvine and picked up our favorite cheesecake. Then I drove to the Fairmont Hotel in Newport Beach and set up the room I had booked days ago with cheesecake, wine, candles, and a basket of gifts. (Don't worry, I didn't spend an exorbitant amount! There was some huge deal going on last week, and I got a great bargain).

Here is our beautiful room!




My valentine basket for Jesse full of corny gifts/notes (Hershey's Kisses with a tag that said "I love your kisses," Fruit Gushers "you make me gush," Moon Sand--like playdoh--that said "you're outta this world!" etc)




Wine and cheesecake!



Jesse was so surprised! It worked out perfectly, actually. While we were at Steelhead for dinner, I whispered that I had special dessert reservations at a nice place at 7:45 (totally the truth!). I drove there, and he was so engrossed in telling me everything that he had done that week that he had no clue where we were until I pulled up and a valet opened his car door! That was when I handed him our room key too. It was perfect!






Actual Valentine's Day was pretty perfect, too. We slept in since we had stayed up late enjoying the pool/spa that was on our floor, and then when we woke up, we checked out and headed to Corona Del Mar.

Corona Del Mar has been our favorite beach forever (ok, except for the one Jesse first asked me to date him and then proposed to me at!). We went there all the time while we were at Concordia. I loved going because I reeeeeeeeeeally miss living near the beach, and Jesse was always happy to take me there because it made me happy. If I took the time, I could probably find 15+ pictures of us there over the past 2 years, but Lost is on in a little bit, and I don't want to miss it :) Anyway, here are pictures of our Valentine's Day at the beach!


On the way to the beach, we stopped by our old haunt, Bruegger's Bagels and bought bagels and smoothies to take with us to the shore. We sat up here on this bench to enjoy the view with our breakfast before going down to the water.




Gorgeous Day!




Happy feet :)



Ok, and this has nothing to do with our romantic weekend, but it cracked me up and I had to share it! Jesse and I were relaxing on the sand, and this guy in a wetsuit walks by with his dog. As we talked to him, we found out that he doesn't surf, he just loves his dog, and his dog loves the water. "But it's too cold for me," the man told us, "so this is our compromise!" I really thought that it was funny that he would go through the effort of walking around in a wetsuit just so he could follow the rules and keep his dog on a leash while letting his dog surf the waves! Talk about devotion...


We enjoyed laying out on the sand, and also walking along the jetti. It was such a beautiful day (forget the weatherman!), things couldn't have been more wonderful.

So happy, so in love!

Time Flies

I know the saying goes "time flies when you're having fun," but it seems to fly pretty well enough when you're sick, too!

It's been an interesting couple of weeks. I finished student teaching on January 16th, but spent the majority of that week sick (teaching with no voice is not fun!) and passed it on to Jesse too. We've both been pretty under the weather ever since.

In the past week, we've both made trips to the doctor to try to find out what's going on. I had very swollen lymph nodes around my neck, a terrible cold, and Jesse and I both have sinus infections. We're on the meds now, so hopefully will be on the mend soon :)

I got frustrated yesterday about being sick for nearly three weeks now, and complained that I had been hoping to use this time when I don't have a job to get a lot of things done around the house. Jesse agreed with me that of course it's not fun to be sick, but also reminded me to be thankful for having this time to allow myself to be sick--instead of trying to keep going while I'm feeling this way.

It's a wonderful feeling to be free from student teaching. I loved the experience and the opportunity to learn, but it's so exciting to realize that from now on, whenever I work as a teacher, I'll get paid for it! After four months of full time teaching with no pay, this is an exhilaratingly wonderful feeling!

It's been a long four months. It took a lot for me to be able to let go of being self-supported (I've worked full time since I was 17) and to trust that God would get us through on Jesse's earnings. I've learned a lot about trust lately, and a lot about letting go! I'm so thankful to have Jesse as a husband and know that I can trust in him to provide for me. God does an amazing job of that for both of us, too!

Since I am without a job right now, I will be working very hard in the next few weeks to find positions as a substitute teacher. It's not the most thrilling idea to me, but that's pretty much all that's available this far into the year. I have sent my resume to a couple of private schools, but will also be making trips to different public school districts to get my name on their lists too.

Anyway, please pray that positions will open up for me! Also, please pray that whatever big, bad sickies Jesse and I have will go away soon!

Happy New Year!

Don't think we're crazy, but....we camped out at the Rose Parade this year!
When we found out that we only lived about 6 miles away from the Rose Parade route, we decided we had to do it at least once! Most people we talked to before going laughed at us and told us that it was kind of a one time thing--like we'd get it out of our system after this. We weren't sure what to expect, but I'm so glad we went!

Our friends Kelly Warneke and Jesse Sipan joined us for the celebration, and we all headed out to the route to claim our spot around 4pm the day before. We came equipped with sleeping bags, jackets warm enough to weather a blizzard, hats, gloves, and tons of food. Here's a peek at our car if you didn't believe me!


It was especially fun to be at the parade in person because we actually helped out with a few of the floats! Jesse and I went with a group from church to Pasadena Sunday before last to work on floats. It was a lot of fun. I had never done it before, but Jesse's been doing it for years, so he's a pro!

Here we are working on floats!

The Alhambra float

Jesse and Jesse grilling our dinner

The girls set up camp

Jesse and Kelly

Us


Our front row seats! We were right on the curb and had a great view of the whole parade.
It was so much fun to be there!

There it is!