As much as I hate the dentist...

... I will be relieved once he yanks out my wisdom teeth!

Since Monday, I have been dealing with excruciating pain in the lower right wisdom tooth. I literally have been unable to function normally since the pain started. I was taking regular anti-inflamitories but they hardly helped. Ice packs on my cheeks as well as mushy foods were also only a bit of help. I finally decided on Thursday that I needed to see a dentist. I went to my dentist on Friday afternoon and he said, "WOW, that is really bad." I told him that I extremely dislike going to the dentist so it has to be really bad for me to even show up! The quickest they could get me in to do the extraction of all 4 wisdom teeth is August 4th! I have to wait a week and a half in this awful pain! In the meantime the dentist gave me vicadin.... I hate that stuff too. It makes me feel soooo gross, AND it only really relieves a small bit of pain as well! GOODNESS.. this is going to be a long week and half, especially considering that I will be teaching several of those days before the surgery.. :0(

Studying Woes!

I am supposed to be studying!

Instead I enjoy playing with my new quick pop maker!

For those of you who don't know, I am studying for my first of the 3-set tests for the CSET. I am soooo not ready and the exam is on Saturday! I am taking the english, language, and history set of the exam. I studied for several days and then took a few days off. Now I will be getting back into studying today through Saturday! The CSET is for my credential! I am really only about 15 credits short of my Master's of Elementary Education and Teaching Credential. This is exciting except for the fact that there are hardly any teaching jobs in the entire nation right now! :0(... well, at least I have part of a teaching job this year!

Summer Time = Summer Treats

Zoku Quick Pop Maker

I have been looking all summer for well-made popsicle molds! I remember being young and on 4th of July we would always have homemade ice cream (working on getting an ice cream maker as well) and my mom had homemade popsicles made for us all summer long! So as I was continually let down by cheapy Target or WalMart (no offense) brand popsicle molds, I knew there had to be something better out there! Alas! Our cousin Ginnie wrote something on her Facebook about the Zoku Quick Pop Maker and I was thrilled! It wasn't until I actually realized that we had a Williams Sanoma in Bakersfield that I made KJ rush me there and we bought the whole shabang!!! I couldn't wait to get some pops made so this morning, bright and early, as soon as KJ left for work... I began making my first batch of pops! The picture is the OJ-BananaBerry ones I made. They were my first batch and my most successful batch. I made a second batch that were BananaBerry-Vanilla Yogurt-TropiocalBerry... well those ones turned out alright, but the yogurt had air bubbles and didn't form correctly. Then my last attempt to make Kj something that he would enjoy was the layered HersheySyrup-Chocolate Fudgsicle. Well, just so you all know, Hershey's Syrup does NOT freeze... annoying! So anyway, the fudge layers froze lovely, but the chocolate syrup layers kind of just melted right off! As you can imagine they look awful silly but I saved two so KJ would at least be able to eat the fudgsicle part and not feel completely left out of my new pop craze!!!

New Journey in Life!

Again, another several months has passed since I have updated... I promise to get better at this, and you will soon learn why...

Since the new year, we continued to work hard and have crazy conflicting schedules that never really allowed us to have the desired household routine; go to work, come home from work, wife cooks dinner, husband of new wife smiles then says dinner is good and asks for more, lay down on the couch and watch tv together, go to bed.... (that would have been ideal)! It went more like, one of us was still sleeping while the other left for work, and then one of us came home from work while the other had already been asleep for hours :0(. NOT IDEAL FOR GROWTH IN MARRIAGE! However, many wise old timers told us to enjoy it for now.... (ugh)!

So, in the spirit of economical change, we are taking on a new pace in life starting this upcoming September! I had been praying for a while for God to reveal a way that my life could slow down. I was working over 50 hours a week and then coming home to do my own homework for my Master's and Credential (the degree that never ends) until late every night. It was killer! I was miserable and loathed my fast paced, never enough time in the day lifestyle! Needless to say, I was literally begging God to help lead the way toward a more sane lifestyle for our marriage. I have the desire to be at home more, taking care of the house. I have the desire to have the time and energy to make my husband lunch everyday for work just like my mom always did for my dad. I have the desire to look somewhat cute when my husband comes home from work and welcome him home with dinner on the table. And even though I know this is not so much of a reality for dual income households, I still have that desire. I love my husband so much and see his servant's heart and absolutely love all of the ways that he serves me and it just breaks my heart that I feel like I have not been able to fill my days with wifely duties that match my own standards of what wives can do for their families. In addition, KJ and I wanted to be able to spend more time in prayer together. We feel that this is so important for the spiritual growth in our marriage and we really have only been leaving a little prayer journal out for one another to read about the other's prayer requests. In addition, we have recently become members and Valley Baptist. It is our wonderful new church home! We have been praying for a church home and different ministries that we can give to monetarily and voluntarily.

So after months of praying God has answered my prayers.

I will now only be teaching part time at Heritage. With many changes that are taking place at the school due to the economy, one of them was that Sam and I will now be partner teaching one of the 2nd grade classes. God is good and has now allowed an entire half of a day for me to be at home! What a faithful God we serve! I am so excited for this because I really believe this is God allowing me to fulfill the desires of my heart! And even though our finances are literally chopped up by 1/3, we will make it through! It will definitely be tough, and our diligence will be tested daily, but we are still blessed to be able to stay living under our own roof! I am still praying that this will not allow for more things to come into my life that the things that are here will be less rushed and I can be more relaxed and dedicated/focused on finishing my degree (only 15 units to go) and being more of the wife that I desire to be.

KJ has also made some changes! The Lord opened doors for KJ to be a seasonal firefighter. This allowed KJ to leave Fellowship Baptist and move on from the church in order for us to find our own church together as a newly married couple. However, due to the state of California having a major budget crisis, his crew has still not been brought on and may never be brought on this season. He has been pursuing working with other crews, but in the mean time has taken a full-time job with Killian Pest Control since there are just no gaurantees right now with the fire crew. He is still with CVS and will probably stay on until our finances balance out after September. He has been so blessed to find these jobs as many people struggle daily for employment. I recently read in a news article that Bakersfield was listed as the highest unemployment rate in the nation, as well as the most impoverished city in the nation (not sure what this was all based on, but CRAZY!). So, needless to say, we are thankful for our income, no matter how little it may seem.

Thankfully we were able to meet up with a wonderful couple last night, David and Emily Rimestead. They are friends of KJ's from growing up and now my friends as well! Last night they allowed us to learn more about their upcoming ministry opportunity and have allowed us to join their support team! We believe that they are following God's calling for their lives in fulfilling the great commission! We are so thankful for the opportunity to be giving to such a great ministry. They are a wonderful team and we couldn't be happier for them!

One last tid bit...

There aren't plans for any babies yet. I know so many of you have been wondering and asking, etc. However, it is probably best that I get through my last 15 units of school and make sure that I can fulfill my teaching contract this upcoming school year. (Thanks for your concern!)

We're Back with wedding pics and all!

Hey all,

Sorry it has been soooo long since we have updated you! We have been married a month and a half now and we are loving married life. Everyday has been a new adventure! We usually only have time to take walks together since KJ has been working so much between church and CVS. But we really enjoy our conversation on our walks and of course, Leia benefits from all of this as well... by the way, she loves KJ way more than she loves me now! :0) Anyway, our wedding was absolutely beautiful and wonderfully perfect. I couldn't have asked for anything more. We really enjoyed our intimate setting with close family and friends. However, we did miss several of you. We had a great time in Costa Rica on our honeymoon thanks to Aunt Ronnie and Uncle Bob letting us use their beautiful condo in Tamarindo. We enjoyed the warm climate, rain forest horse back rides, catamaran sunset sailing, snorkeling, surfing, and just hanging out on the beach. Coming back from spending time with my mom in Sacramento this week, we are now looking forward to the rest of the Holiday season. We will be getting our Christmas Tree soon and getting decorated for Christmas as well. It is so exciting to have a partner in life to experience all of our new adventures! We are so blessed!

Romania

I have been back from Romania for just under a month now. I have been wanting to update our blog to reflect my experience, but have started teaching a summer English course and making adjustments to wedding plans so things have been a bit busy lately.

My trip to Romania was an amazingly humbling experience! Our Children to Love (CTL) team spent a full week working in Romanian orphanages and running a youth camp from the Bucharest ministry center (where we stayed). We also spent time getting to know the Romanian CTL staff members through musical worship, daily briefings, and other fellowship opportunities. The team also became very familiar with the city streets and public transportation in Bucharest as we walked and rode metros/buses everywhere we went. We attempted to submerse ourselves in the culture and began to understand the ways of life in Romania.

Our mornings were dedicated to visiting orphanages! That was a wonderful time for all of us. Our first day, we had no idea what to expect. It was a bit intimidating showing up to an orphanage for the first time. Almost immediately the children began to hold our hands, hug us and were speaking so fast and passionately, you knew they didn't even care that we could not understand them. Our initial nerves and fear of the unknown were washed away and replaced with joy, peace, and love. We were there to love on the children, however, I believe God led us there to be loved on as well! It is so humbling to see how much love these little children, who have no parents, no toys, nothing, can show to a complete stranger. It is amazing what we (you and I, the privileged) sometimes take advantage of! ....We continued our day with superhero costumes, dodgeball games, tug-o-war, a giant parachute, and two skits. I fell in love with a little 13 year old girl named Carmen on this day! As the day drew to an end I was beginning to feel heavy hearted as I was sure I would never see her again! As we were giving out candy and saying our goodbyes, Carmen disappeared into the orphanage and I was tearing up for fear that I couldn't tell her that Jesus loved her and so did I. We began to walk away from the orphanage, out the gates, and I turn around to see her running towards our team. It turned out that she had been chosen to participate in our youth activities every afternoon for the entire week! I was elated. God is good! I immediately grabbed her hand and we walked and rode the metro/bus together all the way back to the ministry center. I was so thankful that I would have the opportunity to learn about her and share my heart and love for Jesus with her all week.

The afternoon youth program was great! The girls and boys were split up. The boys spent their time doing sports camp and devotions all afternoon, while the girls stayed cool in the ministry center doing crafts, and learning about God's love. I was responsible for leading a devotion with the girls and through prompting from the CTL staff and God, I changed my lesson last minute and did a lesson for the girls on prayer. It was a very rewarding time for me.

As the week wore on, seeing Carmen every afternoon was the highlight of my day. She was with me during small group time as well. After feeling discouraged about her knowledge of Christ, I went to her mentor (CTL Staff member) and asked what her story was so I could understand her better.

Carmen's story: While most kids in the Heart-to-Heart mentoring program have been with their mentors for several months, Carmen had just been assigned to a lovely woman, Denisa, only a week prior. Carmen had never worked with Denisa formally and didn't know many of the other girls that attended the program, yet many of the other girls already knew each other. Additionally, many of the girls were fairly solid Christians, and Carmen had barely started learning about God. Having never had any formal teachings about Jesus Christ, it was obvious why an entire week of constant bible lessons was very overwhelming for her and very hard for her to understand. She seemed very distant during some lessons, and so overwhelmed tears came to her eyes. Throughout the week, I grew to love her even more. Her innocent and loving heart needed some tender love. I prayed that she would grow to understand and see God's love. Yet, was worried as she never bowed her head and closed her eyes during prayer, and never really participated during small group discussions unless a question was directed towards her intentionally. However, by the end of the week, on the last day, for the first time, Carmen bowed her head, closed her eyes, and folded her hands to pray. It was an awesome moment for me. On that same day I gave Carmen my silver ring that I had worn all week on my ring finger as a momento of KJ and my engagement (I couldn't take my diamond engagement ring with me). It was really hard to let go of it because of what it represented and what it meant to me, but I felt God really encouraging me to give it to her. I was really hesitant and scared to give it away, but remembered that I had a conversation with KJ the night before I left that once I returned I would never wear the silver ring again, as I would put my engagement ring back on and wear it everyday along with my wedding band once we were married. So I gave the ring to Carmen after-all. The only finger it ended up fitting on was her ring finger as well. It was such a blessing and confirmation that the ring should belong to Carmen so she could always remember me. I made a promise to God that every time I was missing my ring or looked down at my finger and it was gone, I would pray for Carmen... and I did, and still do.

Other than growing my relationship with Carmen, my relationship with God also grew throughout my time in Romania. I often felt that the purpose for me being in Romania was entirely different then it was for most others on the team. I was in constant prayer for certain illnesses I was dealing with and also for the Lord to really work on my heart. As the week went on, God started revealing things to me that have changed me completely.

For one, God really has started preparing my heart and mind for my marriage to KJ. I feel the Lord was really showing me the transition that I would be going through as I will be moving on from my single lifestyle to my married lifestyle. He began to work on my heart and show me through scripture and other things that my role as a wife will be very different, yet rewarding. I began to really understand that some things that I value in my life now, may change as my role in my marriage changes, and I felt at peace and even began to get excited about the changes that will be taking place.

In addition, KJ and I have talked about adopting a child after we have a couple of our own. However, I always said that I could only adopt an infant because I would be able to feel like it was more my own than someone else's, and the bonding experience would be better, etc. I quickly began to realize that all children, no matter what age, need love and want to give love. My views on adoption have changed. I feel the Lord wanted to show me how much love I could have for a child that I hadn't known as an infant through letting me get to know Carmen. What an amazing experience!

Thank you to all of you who have supported God's work! As you have read, so many lives have been changed through this trip!

"Save The Date"

We recently asked, Mo, a friend of Sam's (and now ours) to take some photos of us so we could put together a "Save The Date" for our wedding festivities! We are very happy with the photos! Hope you enjoy...