Hello again! My, my! …life has changed quite a bit since our last post, hasn’t it? Lots of good, lots of erm… changes : ) Greg and I celebrated eight months of married life recently and can I just say, I have the most amazing husband! I can’t imagine going through any of this without him.. I’m sure I’d melt into a little puddle of despair : ) We kicked off our last week in the Bay Area by finally making it over to a Giants game.. Greg had never been to AT&T Park so I was excited to show it to him. Unfortunately, one block from the park, in our attempt to find parking, we went down one wrong street which took us right onto the Bay Bridge headed in the completely wrong direction. Needless to say, we arrived a little late and one might say, not in the best mood. But, on the bright side, we did get to see a beautiful sunset from a different bridge ….aaaand since this wasn’t the first time I had made this obnoxious mistake, I knew about the left lane Treasure Island turn around so we didn’t have to pay a toll (hip hip hooray!) and I didn’t end up on an island like last time. These are improvements.

Plus, the Giants won. So there.

^^this is us attempting to look like we were having a great ol time

^^just kidding. It was fun… eventually.

The next day, the Lord sent us a miracle! ….my dad. Friday was packing day and I was so worried we would have to do it all ourselves which would be fine except our mattress is very very heavy. Plus my dad is the king of making things fit and although our truck was ginormous, when all was said and done, there was not one more thing that could have fit in there. We seemed to have acquired quite a few things at our short little stay in this house.

We celebrated the end of the dreaded packing day by sipping the champagne our landlords gave us for our wedding, while sitting on our little stone path, looking out at that heavenly view for the last time. And thennn we went for one last dining experience at our favorite sushi restaurant in town. I was so happy – I’ve always wanted to share our findings with someone and finally my dad (who is the best to share food findings with, as he is a savorer down to his bones) was able to finally enjoy it with us. Plus they were having a killer sake tasting which was a wonderful surprise. It was a wonderful night. So, one more BIG thank you to my daddy. We couldn’t have done it without you : )

Saturday we meant to leave real early, but cleaning the place took much longer than expected and we finally hit the road at noon. But the drive was quite pleasant and we made it safe and sound rolling in around 7. The landlady came to give us our keys and ask us about a dozen times if everything was good (she tends to like to repeat things..) We started to unpack a few things until we heard the clip clop of horses coming down the street with authentically dressed cowboys on them, listening to Mexican music. That made us smile. Lots of things are making us smile for different reasons. Like, I wonder why the door is made from three different types of wood? *smile* I wonder why there are explosives in our backyard.. *smile* I wonder why when you turn on the disposal, water shoots everywhere.. *smile* You get the idea. I think both of us have been having a hard time for different reasons.. Me because I’m a big baby and am away from my family and friends in an icky house where nothing works.. and Greg because I know he feels a tremendous amount of responsibility for the move and for the house. But it’s been a wonderful experience to band together and keep our heads in the game, knowing this is just a transition period where we get to rely fully on God and His provisions and remember to be extremely grateful for EVERYTHING He has given us. Things are getting fixed little by little and we are still so so blessed. It’s been a good reminder that there will always be things to complain about and that there will always be things to be thankful for. Our attitude depends fully on where our focus is : ) That’s been a day by day lesson : ) And as Greg says, if anything, it will help us appreciate the shiz out of our next place! : D

One thing that has made it easier to remember this lesson is this guy:

Oh my golly gee. This guy melts my heart. He is a cuddler and a lover and has made our lives incredibly more slow but hugely more blessed : ) His name is Bentley and he is good. He is going to be a big dog which I can’t wait for but I’m also treasuring being able to carry him everywhere cause he just melts when you pick him up. His favorite spot is under the bed and he loves when you get on your hands and knees to call him out from under. He does a squirmy little army crawl, hitting his head on each bed slat as he wiggles his way over with a big smile on his face. Then he stops and lets you pull him out by his paws and rolls over on his back while trying to bite your hand. Everything about that experience is good and makes my heart fuzzy except the hand biting. That must stop. He’s the sweetest most mellow little guy and ahh I just love him.

Yesterday we had Mr. Klein and the lovely Dr. Claudia over for a mini Octoberfest celebration which was ridiculously delicious and fun. It’s been good for me to learn to be okay with having people over when our house looks like crap. I’d normally be so embarrassed but this is teaching me to stop caring : D I’m actually quite thankful for that since it has always been one of our goals to have an open, welcoming house no matter what.. and let’s just face it.. no one has a perfect house all the time, and if they did, well… that wouldn’t be a very fun house to be in anyways. : ) Well, I’m rambling. Until next time, we love and miss you all!