Home Sweet Home...

So, here is our home as settled as its gonna get for now! It's definitely starting to feel more like home every day that passes. God has truly blessed us with a great place and filling it with His peace. Hope you all can come and visit sometime. You are welcome anytime!

Falling In Love with Pasadena...

Well, we made it! Saturday was quite the long day with five hours of loading up the U-Haul, a nice lunch at Islands, and then five more hours unloading (not to mention there's no elevator here, so yes, stairs it was!). But, God was so faithful! Thanks to Karin & Bob's endless help that whole weekend and the surprise help from Alayne & Scott, I don't think we could've done it in one day. Although Val was one-armed, she was a huge help! Also, just when the sun was about to set and everyone was exhausted, my friend and colleague Jennie, along with her husband, came over to help us unload the last of our furniture up the stairs. That was such a blessing! Plus, they are a couple I've been excited to get to know better living now only three blocks from them. So, their help motivated us to the finish line!

Thanks to my wonderful husband, who loves having our home organized, clean, and a refuge...we are practically unpacked and situated already, only 4 days later! So, here our the 'before' pictures taken on Saturday after everyone left for the evening. The 'after' pictures are coming. I want to first hang our pictures before I blog those. We are also looking to get a TV as well as a cat in the next week or two. (I want to be able to watch the Olympics and we're excited to have a pet bigger than our rats or beta).

God is so Good! The first night we were here, He led us to a great Italian restaurant in walking distance on our street that reminds us so much of our favorite in Long Beach, The Garden Cafe. The next morning, a woman at Starbucks led us to a family diner called Fox's that makes all home-made food. It was delicious! When any of you come to hang out, we'll have to take you to one of these two new-found places. We love the feel of Pasadena already, we've already taken two nightly dips in our pool to cool off from the heat, and just signed up for a gym membership at Phoenix Fitness Center which is also in walking distance! We better be careful, or driving the 10 minutes to Target might start to feel like our old commutes. =)

Thanks for all your prayers through this journey of ours in moving from Long Beach. We look forward to sharing more of Pasadena with you as time goes on!

Game Night #1 (Build Your Own Pizza!)

This is our first official Game Night, and our last night of having friends over to our place in Long Beach. As you can tell, we had a little fun. Jud joined us ladies here for a game of Taboo where the 'Bomb Digitty' group became unbeatable for 'Salt n' Peppa.' Well, there's always next time. We'll have to have a rematch in Pasadena soon! 'Bomb Digitty'....watch out! I have to say there are two very important friends to me that I wish were there last night...Carolyn and Kathy. We miss you both and it wasn't the same party without you!

3 Days To Go!

If this doesn't say we're moving, then what does?...sitting on the couch and being surrounded by boxes, wanting to have a bagel with a friend but the toaster already being packed, drinking orange juice out of a coffee mug, and adding a can of diced tomatoes to the rice cooker because the casserole dishes are packed. Well, we definitely are moving. Thanks to all of you who've contributed boxes over the past few weeks, all of you who've prayed for us in this transition, and Karin & Kellie who came up last Friday and packed up almost 30 boxes, we are officially off to Pasadena this Saturday morning! I am really looking forward to the adventure, this new chapter of our marriage. I'm excited to ride bikes together around town finding new favorite places all over again. I'm looking forward to living close to our jobs which will change our lives drastically. Instead of Jud getting home from work just in enough time to eat dinner and then go to bed to do it all over again the next day, we'll actually have time to watch a movie together (on a week night) or have people over! We are excited to check out a couple churches near our new place, possibly in walking distance, so please pray for God to direct us in that and that we would get connected quickly. Well, just wanted to keep you all updated. I love how people are hoppin' on the 'blog train'...more of you should hop on! It's a lot of fun.

Rats' First "Bath"...

I just had to post this because, how cute is that? If you haven't met our most recent pet rats, meet Monty! Isn't he adorable? According to the textbook, rats never need to be bathed. They do a great job cleaning themselves and each other. However, we were told that it doesn't hurt to wipe them down with a wet cloth every once in a while, so here Jud is washing Monty for the first time...!

The Shirey Wedding...

In the words of the best man, Nick Seedorf, "Jud makes that pink tie look tough!" Doesn't he look handsome?! So, here we are at Ian & Candice's wedding at the Island Hotel in Newport Beach. The wedding was beautiful with a steel drummer and an unforgettable 9-year-old's speech to the bride and groom. Congratulations to Ian & Candice! We will miss living in Stoneybrook near you.

I finally made it!

Yay! I finally reached the finish line. I completed my credential. It's been a long but rewarding two years of writing papers after getting home from work. Although it was challenging to go to school while teaching full-time, I wouldn't trade the experience for anything! It was a hands-on experience that I needed and learned so much from. I am so thankful for God's help through it all and for the opportunity to do it through National University. Great preparation for teaching! So, here Jud & I are celebrating at El Torito, so I could have my favorite...a good 'ole blended margarita with salt on the rim!

God chose a place for us!

We are excited to say that we are moving to Pasadena in two weeks! Jud and I have been on this long journey for almost five months wondering where we would move to. We knew we needed to move up closer to our jobs but it was challenging to know where. It's been hard to see our friends Adam & Amy and Carolyn move away this past week. And now, we're moving. We are definitely are sad about leaving Long Beach, a city that has become so dear to us with college, meeting each other, our favorite date spots, and our wedding location at El Dorado. We have so many memories here and it's hard to leave a place that it so familiar and "home" to us. But, God IS good and He has been reminding us of His righteousness and how those who trust Him will be blessed. So, as God revealed our next apartment for us this morning, we are excited but sad all at the same time. However God leads, could you pray for us through this transition? Thank you for all of you who have prayed for us in finding a place....praise God!! It was definitely all Him today. It was definitely worth waiting on Him as we've had to. A verse of David's we've held onto these past couple weeks is Psalm 25:12, which says, "Who is the man that fears the Lord? He will instruct him in the way he should choose." So we took a step back and decided to let God choose where we should live. And this is his choice! So, may He give us hearts to believe Him in His decision and trust Him for this next season that is unknown and hard to visualize. May God be glorified!

Inspired by Last Weekend

So, as our dear friend, Carolyn Miller headed off to Nashville last weekend to pursue song-writing, she said to us..."we all need to have blogs, so we can stay updated on each other's lives." That same day, our dear friends, The Downings (Adam, Amy, & Emily) moved up to Rocklin, CA to help plant a new church with a pastor from Bethany. We miss all of you guys so much, already! So, here's to you all, inspired by you all moving last weekend...we don't want to lose touch or stop being involved in the adventures God writes for you! Moral of the story...if you don't have a blog yet, create one...like we just did!