As Of Lately...

The holiday time of year is always a busy one for everyone. It can be especially busy for those involved in church and the ministers!

This has been a fun semester for me because I have been a part of the holiday ensemble at church! We've been practicing all semester for Thanksgiving and Christmas and the weeks in between. Music has been a huge part of my life for so long. It was in 5th grade that I tried out for and made my first real choir. Sure, I'd been in church things before but that was the first time I had to try out and got to be a part of the 5th grade Honor Choir at Burlington Elementary. Since then, I've found so much joy in reading, learning, and preforming music. This is the first time I've been really involved in music since we've been married so it's been fun to introduced Tyler to this very serious side of me. I might take church choir a little too seriously, but music is a huge passion of mine that I've been neglecting for years. Anyway, we helped lead worship and preformed some songs for our Thanksgiving worship service. It was exhausting but I loved every second of indulging in this passion of mine! I don't want the holidays to end because I want to keep on singing. 

On December 8th we had the pleasure of throwing a Christmas party for our amazing youth group sponsors! We've seriously been blessed with incredible leaders. They've made this transition so great for us. Not only are they our sponsors but I truly consider them our friends too! It was my first time to throw a party for a group of people like this before. Let me tell you- I loved every second of it! I love being able to devote my time and energy to people who make my life better. When we were doing ministry while I was in school I was not able to devote as much as I wanted to to celebrating people we love... so this was so exciting to me. It wasn't a huge or elaborate party but I loved baking, cooking, and decorating. December 8th was also our 5 year dating anniversary! Our sponsors should feel so lucky to have spent it with us! We also spent an evening with our lovely students for a Christmas party. We ate a lot, had a white elephant gift time, and got to hang out and have fun.

We took another adventure to San Francisco to finish up our Christmas shopping. Last time we drove, parked, and walked. This time we decided to try out the public transportation and let me say, we liked that much better! It was much less stressful and quite a bit cheaper to take the train in from Pleasanton. We did still do a lot of walking, but that was because walking in big cities is one of the best ways to really take it in. There's plenty of easy and cheap public transportation, so I have to say that I think it's the better way to do the city if you don't anticipate doing things in every single part of the city. We did accomplish our shopping needs which was very exciting! We also finally found some good California themed ornaments, which I've been searching for for months!

Now that the parties are done, we've got just a little more time before we head to Oklahoma to see our families for Christmas! To say we are excited is an understatement. We can't wait to hug our parents, siblings, and especially those sweet little kids in our lives that are growing much to quickly! We love Tracy, but I'm excited to be in home, sweet 'Homa so very soon! 

Songs That Take You Back

It's no secret that I love all reality singing shows. Luckily I've pulled Tyler on board and he enjoys watching them now. Last week we even made our list of the order in which we thought XFactor contests would place-now that's a game I can get in to!

There's a contestant on The Voice that has been my favorite partially because of her voice, partially because of her song selections. She sings everything I loved about high school! Her name is Cassadee Pope and I can't wait to someday buy her album. This week I was looking forward to watching her as normal but she sang a song that took me straight back to Highway 169 on April 4th, 2006.

The day before was the day my father had his stroke. I had been at work at the time of that awful phone call, was sent home from work to an empty home and promptly went to stay with my second family, the Killions, as it was too late for me to drive to the hospital in Tulsa. One of the worst parts about that night was that Cathy didn't know what had happened by the time I got there so I had to verbalize what had happened just a couple hours after I found out. There's nothing more awful than saying something painful out loud for the first time.

The next day I went to school as normal and at 1:30 I would have had off season volleyball practice. So I went and told my coach what had happened and asked kindly if I could go ahead and miss practice so I could go to the hospital. He thought I was crazy for showing up and sent me on my way. In school they don't teach you protocol for life events like this. Just a couple days before, the newest Rascal Flatts cd came out. I had purchased it and hadn't listened yet so I popped it in before driving to Tulsa, with the hope that this cd would lift my spirits a little.

Cue waterworks. The very first song on the cd was called "Stand". I had already begun driving to Tulsa and I'm hearing these lyrics that were way too appropriate for that moment in my life. Cause when push comes to shove, you taste what you're made of. Everything about my life had changed in a moment. When Cassadee started singing, I was taken back to that exact time when I first heard this song, just like every time I hear it. Starting from that day, life changed a lot. I can look back now and see how true that song can be if you choose to not let life smother you and keep you down.

I think everyone has songs that take them back to that date, time, and place that something happened. I love these songs, I love it every time, no matter if it was a painful or a beautiful experience. Honestly, even the most painful ones can be the most beautiful ones if you don't let it ruin you.

I want to say it was some time during my freshman year of college, maybe sophomore. My parents, Lydia, James, and I went to the Rascal Flatts concert in Tulsa. You can imagine the moment I had when they started singing Stand with my father sitting just a few seats down from me, alive, Standing every day and not letting the happenings of life ruin him, along with the rest of our family. Each time I hear that song I am taken back to remember just how far we've come.

Every time you get up and get back in the race, one more small piece of you starts to fall into place.

First Holiday Away

Tomorrow will be the very first major holiday that Tyler and I will spend far from our families. I keep wondering to myself, when will it set in that we won't be with our families when they gather to feast and enjoy each other? Well, I think it's easy for me to look at it differently this year.

We've been experiencing somewhat of an unintended newlywed stage. Since moving into the house here and unpacking and re-figuring life out together, it's really been blissful. Ya know, like those first few months of living with your husband or wife. I've found myself laughing harder in the last month than I have in a long time... mostly at the ridiculous things Tyler says. Our first year of marriage was a blast, and if it was the hardest year of our marriage like "they" say, then we're in for an easy ride. Our second year was great as well, just a little less normal, obviously. So now that we are on our own again, it's like relearning how much we thoroughly enjoy life together while living in a sense of normalcy again.

So here's how it is for me this year: being far from our families this year is super sad and I'm definitely counting down the days til we are home for Christmas (33 days!), but it's quite exciting to get to spend this holiday in our own way. One of the fun things about marriage is getting to establish tradition or even just get to start our things for our own family.

It helps that we have such a great church family here! I love having this family and people are so great about taking care of us! We had so many invites for Thanksgiving, so there was never a chance we'd be "alone". So we will be spending our Thanksgiving with some of our new family, and I couldn't be happier. I'll miss the crazy noise level of my parent's house, all the kids causing pandemonium, and looking around being thankful that my sister's are the ones that get to take them home (the best part of being an aunt right!?).

So maybe later on, after Christmas or some other time, it will hit me how far away we are from our families and how much we miss them... But right now we are still living the life we prayed for for over a year. It really is bliss for us. It definitely helps to soften the blow of not seeing our families very often. But this year, my biggest thanks to God is that he provides time and time again. I never know how he will provide, what it will actually look like, but I know it will happen. He's never let us down. This year he's blessed us big time with our life here in Tracy.

San Francisco!

Something I have wanted to do every since we moved here was go to San Francisco for the day. It's not a long drive (that is at the right time. It seems like half the days here are considered rush hour) so luckily we can take a day to go.

 This past Friday, November 9th, we finally got to do so! Since it was my first time to spend an extended period in the beautiful city we decided to start with the touristy spots. I didn't take a ton of pictures at everything we did, but I did take a lot of pictures at the Golden Gate Bridge. My oldest niece, Grace, learned about the GGB at her school around the time we were moving to California. It was super fun that she would know even just the smallest thing about the area we are moving to. One of the saddest parts of leaving our nieces and nephews is the idea that maybe they won't understand where we are after being so close for awhile. So it brings me a little joy to know she kind of knows where we are. Whether or not she realizes how far away California is, is a whole different question!

We decided we'd choose where to start based on the weather. We knew it could rain in the late afternoon, we also wanted to avoid the fog that we encountered the last time we went to the bridge (on a brief stop in SF). As soon as we were getting in to Oakland, we got a view of the bay and realized it would be best to go straight to the bridge since it was clear.

First, though, I had to take a picture while crossing the Bay Bridge. I had a conversation with my mother regarding whether or not all the big bridges here were scary so I wanted to show her how big they are. Driving over the bridges around the bay isn't scary because they are so big, it feels like a normal road! And they are so big you barely see water close to you.

 Here you go, Grace! This is the big bridge you've studied. I can't wait til you come see it for yourself!

View of the bay.

View of San Francisco from the bridge.

Tyler and I on a Pier close to Pier 39.

The famous sea lions that hang out at Pier 39.

Taking a quick break at Ghiradelli Square.

I found some beach area! And there were people swimming in this little area. They were crazy. It was freezing outside and I bet the water was a thousand times worse. They must have been training for something.

View of the Golden Gate Bridge from a pier.

Alcatraz

Last view of San Francisco from a pier.

It was a super fun day of just walking around, being outside, and getting a feel for San Francisco. We did stop and have some fish for lunch. Walking around Fisherman's Wharf with that smell of delicious fresh fish, I could not resist! We drove through some parts I'd really love to go back to! We did drive ourselves. I think next time I'd like to take the train to see if it's less stressful when you don't have to worry about parking or driving in the craziness that big cities can be. I'm known as the long distance driver in the family, Tyler handles the cities. I'd go crazy driving in all that! The downside to taking the train would be a little less freedom. But big cities have such good public transportation, so I don't think it'd be too bad!

Well, that's our latest adventure!

Unplanned Event

On September 21st we encountered something that was not in our plan. We had just moved into our house so we were working on getting a lot of things taken care of like painting, getting bills switched over to our names, and of course the wonderful process of unpacking. So on our way to finally buying the official paint we would use to paint our bedroom, we were in a car accident. 

We were stopped at a stoplight, traffic was backed up quite a bit. The car behind us came to a stop and a few moments later we heard a crash, then heard and felt a second crash. Another car did not see that there was a long line of cars stopped in front of them so while they were going probably 40 miles per hour, they slammed into the car behind us, who hit us, and we hit the car in front of us. I was basically a mess considering this was the first bigger accident I've ever been in, and we had only lived here a month, and been in our own home for just days. 

Our car was pretty damaged but definitely driveable the way it was while we waited for insurance to take care of things. The annoying part about this was that we sold my car prior to moving out west so for around a month we had to drive our poor damaged car around until insurance let us get our car in the shop and get a rental. It took a month for the insurance of the driver who caused the accident to get things to where we could get it fixed. Thankfully, two of our small group leaders for students work at a collision center in town so we knew where we could take it and know it would be well taken care of. This turned out to be a bigger blessing than we necessarily knew it would be at the time. 

This has held us up on quite a few things like getting our car tagged in California and getting some insurance things figured out. That has annoyed me a lot because I am so ready to be all settled and have everything switched over to California! So, that's the story of our car accident. There's a lot more I could tell but it's unnecessary. What is necessary to say is that we finally got our car back yesterday! It only took about 41 days to get it fixed and back to us thanks to how quickly insurance moves (or...not so quick!) But I can't say enough about how well we've been taken care of by the collision center, so for any Tracyites reading, I would definitely recommend Cook's Collision should you ever need it, and hopefully you won't! God really blessed us and protected us throughout the whole situation, leaving us without having to pay a single penny and had great work done on our car. 

Adventures

As I've mentioned many times before, there's so much to do here in Northern California. We've got a long list of things to see and do. Unfortunately these things were put on hold due to getting in to a car accident several weeks ago. Our car is still driveable from it but it's not in good enough shape to want to take out of town at all. We've had to do a lot of waiting while contacting the insurance of the driver at fault to get it all taken care of. We had planned to go to a Stanford volleyball game on one of 2 dates but our car issue kept getting in the way. Finally, we decided to just ask to borrow a car from someone so that we could go. So we finally got to go to a Stanford volleyball game!

I know it's random, but since my freshman year of college (when I finally started keeping up with college volleyball), Stanford has been my favorite team. They are always one of the top ranked teams with a crazy awesome coach. About a week after moving to Tracy, it hit me! We could go watch my favorite team... also a chance to go to a D1 volleyball game for the first time!

Prior to going to the game I looked at the roster for Stanford to get an idea of their players. There just so happened to be a girl listed from Tulsa! She played for Bishop Kelley, so I wasn't surprised she ended up somewhere good. She is a freshman so initially I didn't anticipate seeing her play a whole lot. But I was very wrong. She and one other girl ran the court for Stanford. She was outstanding- so fun to watch! So that was a lot of fun to get to watch her play and have a little bit of Oklahoma in Cali!

Before the game started though we did some exploring. Stanford is located south of San Francisco. Silicon Valley is near this area too, so the headquarters of Apple, Facebook, Google and some other big technology companies are located here. So of course, we had to go to Apple Headquarters. Now there isn't a lot to do there besides go to the company store, but they do clothing at that store unlike the usual Apple Stores, so Tyler got a t-shirt like he has always wanted! We asked if we were able to go to any other part of the building and they told us no. But I noticed a restrooms sign... so I decided to ask if I could use that restroom and I'm glad I did! I decided it would probably be the only way to see a little more of the facility. Thank goodness for glass walls everywhere! I got to walk back and see a little of the courtyard area and some offices along the way. I quickly texted Tyler to tell him he should "go to the bathroom" too so he could see a little more of the facility. Of course we didn't get to see much.. but if you ever go there, at least ask to use the restroom so you can see a little bit!

We also went by the Facebook headquarters. Here we did not have such luck of using the restroom. They, too, did not allow visitors in the facilities. After this we went to Stanford's campus and took a tour! It was only a little bit awkward being on this tour with a bunch of high school students and their parents. Just a couple of young adults taking a college campus tour for fun! It was a beautiful campus with a lot of history!

So, like I said earlier there were a couple of dates we thought about going to Stanford to watch some volleyball. The first day was the week before we actually went. I wanted to go to that game because they were playing Oregon. Oregon is ranked high plus I have personal connections to Oregon so I thought that'd be fun. Well, like I said, the car kept us from going that week. I was bummed, but I knew we could maybe go the following week. And boy was I glad we did. After the 2nd game, they started playing this montage of Kerri Walsh-Jennings and her time at Stanford. This was fun, but I had no idea they were playing it because she was there! They retired her jersey during the middle of the game and brought her out for a presentation! It was so exciting to see one of the greatest volleyball players of all time, and my personal favorite! She's incredible, I hope she really does come back for the Olympics in 2016!

We also got to use this day to eat at Tyler's favorite restaurant, Chick Fil A! There was one in San Jose that was just on the way to Palo Alto. All in all, it made for a really fun day adventuring Northern California. We have much more to see and do, but we've got this one crossed off the list!

Why I Love Tracy

In another post, I mentioned doing a post about why I love our new home. So here goes nothing!

1. The weather. For the first two weeks we lived here, I did the same thing everyday. I walked outside and said something like "Wow it feels so good here." While everyone here was complaining of heat, Tyler and I practically ran to get our sweaters. There are so many things to love about this weather. While we have only been here long enough to experience one season, I can tell you some specifics that I love. I know I complained about how bright it is, but I also have to mention how much I love the sunshine. It's hardly every cloudy and when it is, it's not dreary. I love how much it cools down at night. It's so refreshing to wake up and open windows rather than turning on our air, and opening them again in the evening. Or like today- windows open all day. I'll probably need a winter post to comment on my feelings about the "winter" weather here.

2. The scenery. We live in the valley. This is cool for two reasons: 1. You can't live in a valley in Oklahoma, so that's a change of pace. 2. This means non-valleys... or mountains. We live on the very western edge of the Central Valley. From Tracy, we can see mountains from pretty much anywhere in town. Coming from the lovely flatness of Oklahoma, I find a lot of pleasure in simply looking at the different scenery.

3. Friendly. I did not anticipate Tracy to be such a friendly town. Tracy is quite a bit bigger than Owasso, Joplin, and Stillwater, but it feels a lot more like a small town than those towns. For example, I finally found a good place to run in Tracy. There were many people running or exercising, just like the park I ran at in Owasso. In Owasso I'd receive the eye contact or casual wave from other runners, but here it is like we all know each other. Everyone was quick to smile and say "Good morning!" I had to try to avoid laughing. The last thing I do while running is smile. Anyway, there's a general friendly factor around Tracy that a lot of towns don't have.

4. Location. Our location in the western edge of the Central Valley puts us within a few hours of a lot of pretty cool things. We haven't gotten to see or do a lot yet, but we've got a long list. For starters, we have San Francisco, and all that comes with the Bay Area. For instance, we are planning a trip to Stanford to go to a volleyball game as it is my favorite team. We've also got good beaches not far from here. East of us we have Yosemite National Park and Lake Tahoe. North of us we have Sacramento and then Napa Valley. The possibilities are pretty cool, we can't wait to go exploring! 

5. Our church. Moving to a new town is pretty intimidating. Not just a new town, but a new state, new climate, new area of the country, etc. It's a big change. Something else that is intimidating is moving to a new church. Our transition at the church as a couple has gone so well. Everyone is so very welcoming and inviting. We have had several people invite us over for dinner, offer their services to the youth ministry, and make sure we are settling alright. I think we've even begun to make some friends! I am volunteering with the high school students and involved in the Thanksgiving/Christmas vocal ensemble. So I'd say we are settling in nicely and finding our place at Journey Christian Church.

I learn something new that I love just about every week. I'm sure there will be many posts in the future about likable and more weird things about this interesting state. In the mean time, I'll keep you updated on other life happenings!

Surprises

Over the last week, we finally moved into a house! I use finally so emphatically not because it's been a month since we moved but we've been waiting for it for over a year. A month I can handle. 13 months is a little much!

It's been approximately 405 days since I've seen all of our belongings besides clothes and a few daily needs. It's been that long since Tyler and I have lived - just the two of us. I counted up the times that we loaded and unloaded all of our boxes in vehicles to be moved from one place to another. It all started last July when we moved most of our stuff from Webb City to Owasso. Then a little over a month ago we moved them from Owasso to a garage in Tracy. Finally last week we moved them in to our house. I was very thankful when I realized I don't have to stare at the boxes anymore wondering what's in side of them.

Yes there have been a few surprises, random things I forgot about. One thing in particular I have to mention specifically. These gloves:

Not very long ago my sister (Lydia) surprised me with these gloves. One thing my family learned about me over the last year is that I cannot stand for my hands to be wet. I hate the feeling of it- even worse I hate how dry my hands feel after. So I used gloves for dishes...but also for laundry. The transfer of wet clothes to the dryer or to hangers to be hung, drove me crazy. So she bought me these super cute gloves! I finally opened them up today to start using. This is the biggest and best surprise because of this:

That's right- no dishwasher. It wasn't ever something I considered not having, it just so happens the house we ended up liking most just didn't have one. So thank you so much Lydia, you win the prize for best idea: cute and fun gloves! Because boy oh boy, am I doing a lot more dishes than normal.

Another great surprise I had was this:

Last fall/winter, I searched everywhere for my scarves! I was just so sure that I clearly labeled the boxes. I could picture the boxes with labels in my head but could not find them anywhere. We even went to our storage unit once and looked at every single box because I was so sure that we could find them since it was labeled. Well. Clever me, I then put these shoe boxes into a bigger box. Not labeled scarves but simply "storage". So I have been waiting for this day for a long time, to finally find my scarves! I can now wear them with more joy than ever before.

So far those are the highlights of my unpacking. I have made a ton of progress but still have a ways to go. We are only painting one room in this house and it happens to be our bedroom so right now I am at somewhat of a standstill until we paint and get moved in. Only having one car and then the fact that we have youth events on Tuesday and Wednesday has hindered us from getting all the paint stuff figured out. So once we've painted and I get this house all put together, there will be a post dedicated to the house and all it's glory and quirks! 

California Is Weird

I guess it's all relative, right? In comparison to where I spent the majority of my life, life out here is pretty weird. So today I will share with you the top "weirdest" or most interesting things I have learned about California so far.

1. I can't say this with enough emphasis - It is BRIGHT here. It is seriously painful to go outside without sunglasses. With sunglasses it is hardly bearable. Let me tell you, that 5 o'clock sun is brutal. I seem to find myself traveling to Walmart between 4-6 a lot of days which is on the west side of town. Who cares about traffic, that sun is the worst part of driving around here. Also, an interesting fact I learned... Because of the humidity in the midwest, your skin is more protected than it is here. As if I needed to have less protection for my pasty, sunburn-prone skin. Thanks, Cali! And I thought little humidity was going to be a good thing...

2. U-Turns. Here's the thing- I am sure many of you were raised in places that u-turns were acceptable. But I wasn't. In Owasso and Joplin- the two places I have driven most of my life- you don't pull u-turns. Whether it's illegal or no one does it, I'm not really sure. But by day 2 living in Cali, I am a u-turn fanatic. Especially when I am learning a new area and driving down wrong roads daily. Quick u-turn at an intersection and we are good to go! And trust me, it's not like you just pull it once in a while because you have to- it's a daily, almost encouraged move. Weird, but I am kind of liking it.

3. Sometimes people think we moved to a different country because California is this foreign, strange land no one understands. Well it's true, it's a weird place. Sometimes it feels like we are in a separate country. For instance, when we crossed the border in to California, there was an inspection station. For every single car. Most cars were waived through, but with our Penske truck, we were stopped. This inspection consisted not of anything you would expect- drug check, suspicious items... no. It was a check to make sure we didn't bring any plants from Oklahoma. Why? To make sure we didn't bring any flies that would ruin vegetation out here. Because flies would naturally want to hide in our truck to sneak across the border. They probably need to build a wall higher than flies can fly because hello- they can fly. They can cross the border if they'd like. I get it, here in Cali, they are growing a lot of food that can't be grown elsewhere right now because of the drought... They don't want their vegetation ruined... But come on. What's stopping insects from just waltzing on over? (If you ever feel the need to tell me the scientific process or reasons of why insects wouldn't come on their own but only come on plants from Oklahoma, don't bother. It completely ruins the humor of that inspection station. I prefer humor to boring answers.)

4. Texas Roadhouse is all the rage. Believe it or not Californians, Oklahoma has those too! Seriously, I've never heard a restaurant mentioned so much- albeit, a chain restaurant. It's pretty humorous every time someone asks if we've been there. Many a time, my friends... many a time.

5. I really can't think of a 5th one, but I don't like ending on 4. So again, I declare it is really bright here. Please do not forget your sunglasses when you come visit =)

While it's a weird (relative) place, I really do love it so far. Perhaps soon we will have a top 5 best things about Cali post soon!

Again, it's all relative to where I've been before. I'm sure as time moves on we will discover more and more strange aspects of living in Cali, and don't worry I will be quick to tell you all about them. But for now, I leave you with a concept to ponder: The Dry Bean Festival. You can't make these things up, people!

The Lanes: West Coast Edition

When Nightly News comes on here in California, it's got this little area of the screen that says "West Coast Edition". Growing up on east coast viewing times (although I grew up in the central time zone), I never noticed or thought of how there are two different productions in some shows. West coast time didn't exist. Well, here I am living on west coast time.

As a new chapter of our lives begin, so does a new blog. This is the west coast edition of our lives. We prayed for a new place to live, an adventure to take on together and here we have it. I need this to capture our daily stories, and maybe relive the stories that got us here. We did a lot of waiting. Each second of waiting and pursuing God's plan provided us with another story of how faithful God is. I long to share those stories too.

So if you will, accept this invitations to remain a part of our lives, though we are around 1700 miles from home. Do know that we long to remain in the thoughts and prayers of each reader and friend, as our journey has taken us here but it is hardly the destination!

Sidenote: Special thanks to Tyler for giving me a pretty sweet blog!