from city to sticks.

It’s time for a new page. This one is going to be amazing. The last one was amazing. This one is sure to be beautiful as well!

And the story goes:
At the end of March (yes, just 3 months ago), Erik and re-signed our lease for the little apartment we made home in Sacramento. We loved it and we will always remember it as our first home together. With the full intention of spending one more summer downtown, we proceeded with signatures on contracts … until the phone rang. The phone call was one sweet grandpa with an incredible offer at hand. He asked Erik and I if we would be interested in moving to The Ranch. He had since bought my grandma a beautiful, one-story home closer to town and to the family, fulfilling one of her greatest dreams over the last 10 years or so. Much to our delight, he was not quite ready to part with the 10-acre homestead he had spent 25 years creating. Yes, this is the site of most of my childhood adventures, the place I met my husband, and the place where we said “I do”. How could we say know? Well, there were so many reasons why we should say “no”, but alas, God’s plan came to light. We talked and prayed and drew the scales with pros and cons in our heads. We slept on it and we sat on it. We did it all. And we decided. To move. On Memorial Day, we loaded up the trucks with the assistance of some truly cherished friends, and we drove the contents of our one bedroom apartment to the old farm house in Placerville. It’s bigger (I’m not used to cleaning more than one bathroom anymore), it has a deck, it has deer, it has a work shop (Erik’s favorite feature). We are no longer from the city. We are now from the sticks.
All of our stuff

Our first home together!

Although excited about the move, I was dreading the 1 ½ hour drive I was going to suffer to work every day … until the phone rang, yet again. We prayed about the commute and we knew if this was HIS plan, it would somehow work out. The second phone call was the Vice Chairman of Gun Owners of America. He was offering me a job. A big job. AND, it is only 30 minutes from our new home. WOW. I don’t believe in coincidences. This is the organization my grandfather (the home-lender) began over 30 years ago. This is the organization that employs my dad (love that!). It was the head hancho that called me. BIG DEAL. My grandpa didn’t even know about it … and HE says it’s a big deal. I don’t mean to brag … it’s more intimidation that I am currently expressing. But excitement is overcoming the intimidation. God is GOOD.... Yes, this is what I work with now ...

Did I mention that we got out of our lease too? Someone rented our apartment relatively fast, so we only had to pay one month’s extra rent … this praise resulted in very loud screams and jumping for joy. It was THAT big of a deal! We are blessed.

Living on so much property is so much fun! Now I get flowers all the time!

I'm turning into a farm girl ... I've planted squash (if only I liked to eat it! It's a good thing my husband loves it) and pumpkins!And I get to eat fresh berries (yay antioxidants!) every day.
#8 on the Bucket List. check.

Life is Beautiful.

adventure. it's a requirement.

I think Bucket Lists are fabulous ways to encourage, inspire, promote, and REQUIRE adventure. Too often, we live our life saying “someday”; but by creating a list, that “someday” turns into something that must happen. It becomes “someday soon” and “ifs” turn into “whens”. I love that. I have a list of dreams {thank you Dream Manager} that I like to think of as my bucket list. Recently, though, as I was perusing the blogs of my friends, I found a “pre-baby bucket list” and a “summer bucket list”. Why not break them down into things of the NOW {not just things for 20 years down the road}.

So here goes … our immediate, near future, Summer 2010 bucket list: (In no particular order)

1. Go camping: one date already set!
2. Go boating on the lake (it’s rained so much recently, it must be full and ready for boating!)
3. Move to Placerville
4. Go to a concert in the park
5. Go on a few Mountain Biking Adventures {hopefully without damaging the face ... like last time}
   
6. Go hiking as much as possible
7. Visit a waterfall {a big one}
8. Spend Saturday mornings picking berries {to be done once moved to Placerville}
9. Spend a day in Tahoe
10. Spend a day in San Francisco {maybe walk to Golden Gate Bridge (??) & definitely eat dessert at the Ghirardelli Square}
11. BBQ’s and summer parties
12. Shooting adventures with friends at the parentals
13. Invest ourselves into IMPACT
14. Meet our niece
15. Build a bed
    
16. Entertain the brother-in-law when he visits {he said he will and I believe him}
17. Make a Mexican feast and eat left-overs for a week
18. Go to a baseball game {major league &/or minor} & eat lots of hot dogs while watching
    
19. Much more to be added later ...

**Italicized Items: Completed or In Progress :)

i'm allergic.

They say, even if you have never had allergies before, once you move to Sacramento, you will. Well, I have lived here my entire life, and I'm still allergic to this place! All those little pollen flowers that dance in the breeze with such ethereal grace, while beautiful at times, are really quite mean. They find it fun to redden my eyes to the point of tears and to make me itch all over.

And oh, the sneezing! If you have ever heard me sneeze (more than likely), you know sneezing for me is not a brief experience. No, rather, sneezing is an exercise. It takes a lot out of me, as each sneezing session includes, on average, 6 sneezes. (Personal record: 13 ... all the way back in junior high) Thanks to my mom and her mom, the hereditary "repetitive sneezing gene" was passed down to me ... and during allergy season, it's rather entertaining (to some) and annoying (to most ... including myself!).

Oh, sun, I beg of you ... please let your heat penetrate through that complicated atmosphere down here to little old Sacramento. Rid us of this rather energetic pollen and let us welcome summer. Now, if you could do that while leaving the beautiful colors and fragrance of the flowers and grass, I would love it. But if not, I'll sacrifice the green fields for crisp golden (dead) grass, if it will mean I can stop sneezing. Thank you.

extra pulp please.

I am not much of a coffee drinker ... unless it is sweet, creamy, and absolutely yummy. Chocolate, caramel, vanilla, and all other sugary additives are welcome. When asked how I like my coffee, I would respond, "white" instead of "black". It's just how I roll {although I occasionally enjoy a small cup of black coffee after a delectably rich dessert}. Erik is my morning-coffee-drinking husband. Since being married, my coffee consumption has increased due to the yummy concoctions he creates for me in the morning, usually including a scoop of ice cream in place of creamer {it's heavenly, unhealthy, but heavenly}.
However, we recently ran out of coffee. OH NO!!! Well, that wasn't my reaction {more of a shoulder shrug}. Much to my surprise, my coffee drinking husband didn't ask if we could refill our coffee supply ... instead he asked for orange juice. I gladly responded with "let's go get some!". It was late at night {maybe even after 10pm} and we made a trip to the store {I love late night spontaneity!}, purchased cereal, milk, toilet paper, and orange juice. Mmmm. We both agreed that we LOVE the pulp as it tastes more like an actual orange that way. {Another reason we were meant for each other? I think, yes} The next morning, we filled our glasses and realized what we have been missing. Why has it been so long since I've purchased orange juice? I am embarrassed to say, I don't know. {My sister would have a heart attack if she knew it had been months since I've purchased her early morning life-line}

Today, I started off my morning right, with a good morning kiss from the cutest man ever, and nice tall glass of extra pulpy-orange juice. MMmmmmm!

Precious

I had to steal a picture from my sister-in-law's blog to show off our little niece ...
She is beautiful!

Shalom, your Uncle Erik and Aunt Julie are very excited to meet you! We have been praying for you every day and we love looking at the pictures we get from your Aunt Sarah. We will see you soon!

Call Me Auntie

Yes, it is true. I am an aunt. I have a new little tiny niece and a young little nephew. I have yet to meet the two little people that make me an aunt, but I can't wait until I get to hug them and love them like only an aunt can. Come to think of it, I have yet to see pictures of my little niece, that's how new she is! I don't really know anything about being an aunt, but I am certainly excited to learn. Now I really need to start remembering birthdays, as I would like to be the kind of aunt that remembers important things like that. I want to be as involved as I can from a few hundred {if not thousand} miles away. I will always pray for their lives, that they may grow and live in the Lord.

I can't wait to meet them.

Someday, little ones, someday soon!

{The Lord at Work}

It was quick, it was short, and it was unplanned. It was emotional and it was uplifting.

We saw the Lord at work.

Last Monday, Erik and I boarded a plane set for Kentucky, with heavy hearts and intense emotion. We were on our way to a funeral, to bury not one, but 9 members of our extended family. We had only seen them once and only met them briefly, but we felt the overwhelming need to be together during this difficult time.

On Tuesday, March 30th, 2010, 8 members of the Esh family, along with a fiancé and a family friend, were celebrated, honored, loved, and buried after being called home just a few days earlier in a car accident. They were a family dearly loved and it was truly incredible to see the Lord’s work through their lives.

They were family to us as in-laws (it was our brother-in-law’s dear family), but much more importantly, they are family to us through Christ.

Families opened their homes to strangers, cooked food for thousands, and loved as the Lord’s calls us to love. It was remarkable to see the outpouring of compassion from such a beautiful community.

The Lord was truly at work.

Our flights were yet another example of the Lord’s provision as they were given to us by my dear sister and her husband.

Again, the Lord was at work …

Our love and prayers are continually with the Esh family as they are truly dear to our hearts.

{P.S. We also can't wait to meet the newest member of our family, due to arrive any day! We better get a phone call when the arrival is made!}