Sometimes Life Throws You for a Loop - Thank Goodness the Lord's Holding on to the Rope!!

I have written this blog entry about a dozen times, only to take it off. I'm not good at articulating - without this being a HUGE entry that will take hours to read!! I'll try again and maybe this one I'll actually leave up! Darren and I have a testimony that I want to share!

In the middle of May Darren was flown by his company back to St. Louis (headquarters to Maritz, the company he worked for) for a meeting. A meeting he was told was a budget meeting. He was told that Thursday morning that the company was eliminating his position. So I guess in a way it was a budget meeting - they were taking him out of the budget! He had been with Maritz almost 12 years. He immediately called me and both of us felt like we had gotten punched in the stomach. We were expecting it to happen eventually, just not so quickly and not without some kind of warning. His client - Nissan/Infiniti - moved their headquarters to Tennessee, so Maritz set up shop there too. So Maritz began reworking positions, etc. Darren's position is being redistributed to a few people, some in St. Louis and some in Tennessee. Darren stayed on until June 15th. We only told four people - sorry if you are just finding this out. Darren's pretty private and didn't want a lot of questions.

Instead of a rambling entry, I'll give you the highlights and let you see how God was in control and as always, kept us in his perfect timing.

What I did: 1) Cried; 2) Upset tummy; 3) Had a brief moment of panic; 4) Worried because we would lose our insurance at the end of June. Bad timing because of my pituitary gland lesion. I'm currently still undergoing blood draws, doctor appointments, MRI scans, etc. Cobra was going to cost us almost $1000 a month. Holy Cow! 5) Worried because we still had one large remodel bill to be paid - afraid we'd totally drain our savings; 6) Worried because we still had some small items to purchase for the house; 7) Worried because what if Darren didn't get a job before his severence ran out; 8) Cut coupons (which I do anyway), said we can't do or go anywhere, no more Sunday lunches with the gang, no more movies...no more this and that; 9) Cried a little more; 10) Ate my worries away.

What Darren did: 1) Prayed about it, and left it in God's hands; 2) Told me that we will live exactly as we always have, nothing to change, we'll trust God; 3) Told me that we have been faithful our entire marriage in giving of our tithes, offerings, and missionary support, God will provide.

What God did: 1) Provided us with 3-1/2 months severence; 2) Darren had 4 weeks vacation and only used one at the time, so he got a check for 3 weeks unused vacation; 3) We received a check for about $1100 for overpayment on our escrow/tax account; 4) Our last big bill of our remodel was less than we thought it would be; 5) Darren was contacted by a headhunter BEFORE he knew about him losing his job with Maritz about a different position - it wasn't a good fit, but they had another position for him, he interviewed, he got the job; 6) There is no 60 or 90 day waiting period for medical coverage - that is pretty common - it begins August 1st! Perfect timing as I have more doc appointments/blood work a week from today!; 7) We will be receiving paychecks from Polk as well as still receiving Maritz severence for a month and a half - which allowed us to take a nice week off and enjoy ourselves (aka - shopping!!).

Yesterday was Darren's first day at Polk as a Senior Customer Development Executive. Polk is about 3 miles from our house. No more long hauls to Marina Del Ray for client meetings, commuting to Torrance. I keep telling him he's gained the gift of time as well! Darren was able to be off a couple of months with pay and not once did he look for a job. He was contacted by the headhunter, went through a series of interviews and that was that! How many people do you know that have been able to have a couple months off with pay to do with it what you want - as an adult?? I don't know many. He got to work on the house, relax, have meetings at church during the day for the Sanctuary Renovation team, etc.

I hope you see my heart and not "see how much money we have..." - I just wanted to show that God totally took care of us - even though I continued to worry and didn't completely trust him like I should. Even when we got that surprise check from the bank for over payment of escrow - you would have thought that would have been a big faith boost, huh?!

Darren has always worked in the corporate world and he was always honest and stood up for what he believes. Many times he was standing alone, but he did it! I believe God honored that. He allowed Darren to be off a couple months, regroup, gave him a job without him having to go out and hunt for one, and Darren got a nice boost in salary! Again, I'm not trying to sound like I'm bragging - just trying to show how God honored Darren's faithfulness! I'm really proud of him!!

All these things happened in God's timing!! A quick side bar on timing - My friend Pam Cherryholmes was in the area within minutes of me getting Darren's call - she wasn't supposed to be. Her son had asked her to go somewhere with him, which he usually doesn't do. She went and made her way over to the office, took me to lunch and gave me great words of wisdom and scriptures. A very calming voice for me - I was so appreciative of that! God knew what he was doing that morning 'lining everything up.'

So it seems I have rambled after all and left a LONG entry - sorry for that! But hope you were blessed by what God has done in our lives!

TWO OF MY FAVORITE PEOPLE!!

This is Brittany and Brooke Erichsen - two of my favorite people in the world!! They read my blog and I included their dad's name in an earlier entry and they wanted to be on it too - so here you go girlies!! Let me tell you a little something about my friends. Brittany is hysterical, always laughing and has quite the sharp tongue! Brooke is quieter, but has her funny moments! She's got the cutest little giggle. They were at my house last weekend for a graduation party, so we took a few pics. Check out Brittany's huge green earrings - those are mine that I gave to her, without asking mom - oops!! She wore them for the party and Sunday at church - we both have such great tastes!! I love these girls - two of my favorite people!

MORE SAN FRANCISCO PICS!

This is Monterey - Darren took this picture and likes it - and so do I - as it shows so many different blues. The blog pic doesn't do justice.

More of Monterey and seals! I wanted to jump out in the water and swim with them! I even stood on the side of the dock making seal noises trying to get them to come to me. That's probably about the time Darren walked away!! :-)

Okay, so posting pictures is making me crazy and I'm going to stop messing with it - sorry! So don't look at my display of pics, just look at the pics themselves!!

This is one of my favorite places (see the three photos above this) in San Francisco. You need to rent the movie, "The Bachelor" with Chris O'Donnell and Renee Zellweger. It's a few years old, but it was filmed/located in SF and there's a scene in the movie where Chris and a priest are in a boat floating around in this pond and he realizes then he loves Renee - the priest says something like, "Welcome to the other side." So I made Darren kiss me in front of the pond!! It was so romantic, me telling Darren to tell me he loves me and then kiss me!! :-) We walked all the way around and it was so beautiful!

We had a really nice time, got to see Carmel, Monterey, San Francisco and a few things in between. We had about a 30 mile drive to catch the 5 on the way home and it was so pretty - so much farm land. I felt like I was driving through Illinois. Corn and cows!! Boy, I do sound like a midwesterner, huh?! Darren and I felt really blessed to be able to take a few days off and rest, explore and just be together! It's beautiful up there and I can't wait to go back!

OUR SAN FRANCISCO TREAT!!!

We had a great time! I LOVE San Francisco - I love Northern California! I'm so glad we drove instead of fly, which was our original plan. We got to see and do a lot more at our leisure, which is always nice.


We stayed at The Drake, which was just remodeled this year! It was perfectly located in downtown SF. We were able to leave our car and pretty much walk everywhere. We were right in the middle of the action and I loved it! Of course we did the trolly car and buses. While on the trolly we met some people from Illinois, which always excites me. They were from Chicago, but knew the small town where I grew up in. It was fun talking with that couple for a while.

We did a ferry cruise out on the bay and here's Darren with the Golden Gate Bridge behind him. I was actually glad it was kind of cloudy/overcast with the top of the bridge covered - that's what I think SF is, so it felt like we were truly there in their true state! Notice the tourist sweatshirt!! I got one in a different color that matches!! We are such dorks!

We went to Ghirardelli Square and had the 'famous' Ghirardelli hot fudge sundae. It was a really cute area and certainly didn't lack for chocolate - obviously. I love little 'soda pop shops' like this one. I really wanted to sit at a round table and even though I lingered and stared down people who were finished, they didn't leave so we had to sit at a square table. I know that sounds silly, but I wanted to sit in the middle of the ice cream shop at a round table - I was wanting the full experience!! Again - dorky tourist!!

Here is Darren on the 18th hole at Pebble Beach. We had dinner at the restaurant that sits high and overlooks it. The sun was starting to go down, so we got to see the sunset there, very cool. Darren loves golf, so this was a high for him. Plus we had to make the obligatory tourist purchase, a Pebble Beach shirt and some golf supplies!!

This is along the 17 mile drive - a beautiful drive for sure. I went even further out on the rocks - I really wanted to go out almost into the water to see if I could cross over to the large rocks actually out in the water, but I couldn't find a good way to get there. I could have sat there all day and just watched the water. It really does calm me to just sit and look and listen. I want to buy a house along this 17 mile stretch. It's perfect - beach on one side and a wooded area on the other - can't get any better than that!! I'm thinking if we could sell our house for about 12 million, then we could do it!! Know anybody who wants to a buy a house on Hackett for 12 million?! :-)

We went to the Monterey Aquarium. That was very nice. We actually enjoyed learning about the history of the building more than the fishies! We now know everything there is to know about sardines!! We can catch them, prepare them, and can them for you! This is an otter - they are currently having a focus on otters and I love otters. My first high school play was the fall of my freshmon year, I played Portly Otter in The Wind and the Willows - so otters have a special little place in my heart! Plus they are so darn cute and playful!

Here are are along the 1/101. We took the coast route up on Sunday and it was amazing. We got to see the sunset as we were making our way up! So beautiful - how can people not believe in a glorious God who can create such beauty??

I love this picture as it shows the water with the clouds hovering and the sun above the clouds - minutes before it went down. It's worth the drive up just to see a sunset.

TAKING A BREAK!!!

We are currently in Carmel exploring northern California this week!! In need of a much needed break and with Darren starting his new job next week, we decided to take this week and explore! We had dinner last night on the 18th hole of Pebble Beach. Darren was very excited!! It was amazing - absolutely beautiful. I did find some properties within the famous 17 mile drive that I want, we will be going to the bank upon return to see if we can get that 25 million dollar loan!!! Today we are heading up to San Francisco for a couple days. I'll tell you more when we get back and post some of our great pictures! They aren't Dave Peeters quality, but they are beautiful!!! :-)

MORE PICTURES OF OUR HOUSE!!


This is Darren's bathroom - he tiled the bathroom himself - even the shower. This was his first time and I was very impressed! He did a great job!

Darren picked out the colors and tile. When he first mentioned brown I wasn't sure, but I love this bathroom! It's a small bathroom, but now we have two and that's a good thing!

We have been trying to find pictures, or something to put on the wall, but my metrosexual husband is being picky!!

I tried the frame without pictures or glass thing. What do you think? You can't tell by the pictures, but they are different colors of gold, different textures, etc. I need to play with it a little more. I'd like to find some round frames.

This is what we did with our chest - put it in our closet! It's a great piece, but it's just too big with all the pieces in our bedroom, so we reworked the closet. It's not that bad. Maybe someday we'll have a master bedroom where we can have all our furniture out!!

A different view of our bed - in the corner you can see a picture that needs to be hung - it's a really pretty picture - can't wait to see it on my wall, it's going to go great!

A different view of our bedroom -The frame thing, too many, not enough, where should I add more??

A little darker view - sorry - I'm not too good at picture taking.

The baseboards are down now, just one more room to go - the guest bedroom. Then we'll begin the job of putting up the crown moulding. Darren is finishing up retrimming all the doors in the house. We are hosting a graduation party this Saturday so it's been our kick in the butt to get the house done as much as we can!! I've been playing in the backyard - I'll take pictures there when I'm done. Again, trying to do a Home and Gardens kind of backyard on a Wal-Mart budget, but it's not looking too bad!

TOO MUCH PIZZA HUT!!!

We were busy working on the house tonight, so instead of stopping to cook (which I had a meal planned out already) I just decided to order pizza! It was easy, didn't have to stop and cook and clean up and I had a coupon. The Pizza Hut delivery girl shows up and she was talking about the progress we have made on our house and how from the outside it looks beautiful. She said, "I have been here many times over the past few months and you guys are doing a wonderful job."

OH MY GOSH!! Apparently we have ordered a little bit of Pizza Hut pizza over the past few months. So much so she has slowly seen the progress of the remodel. She remembers "when you didn't have any walls and your house was empty."

So once we are finished I'm thinking of having the Pizza Hut delivery girl over for a home cooked meal so she knows that I can cook!!!

THIS MAY BE MY LAST BLOG....

...because when Darren comes home tonight he's going to kill me!! He went to see a boy movie tonight, so I decided to clean my stove. On one side of my stove top is a grill - which I love because I can cook meet the healthy way, make paninis, etc. I disconnected the burner part of the stovetop and it slipped from my damp hands. There are two pointy, prongs that fit into the gas line that gouged my knee....my bad knee. OUCH!! I couldn't grab hold of the burner and it fell to the floor. On my new hardwood floors - not redone, not resanded, not restained - new ones, courtesy of Dan Erichsen (so don't tell him!). I bend over to pick up my piece of stove top and what do I see...a chunk...a small chunk of my floor. The pointy prongs not only gouged my knee, but my floor too. I'm thinking I'll run to Target before they close and get me a kitchen rug for in front of the stove!!! What do you think??

Actually Darren doesn't get mad. He may get frustrated, but not mad. He's been putting down baseboards today...maybe I'll blame HIM!!!

UPDATE: Darren comes home, I start out with "I have to show you something, but it was an accident." I showed him and he goes, "it's going to happen, the floors' going to get wear and tear marks." Then he proceeds to show me three places where there were scratches. I don't know why I thought he would get angry - Darren doesn't do that! All is well!! Although I may still go buy another kitchen rug!!!

APPARENTLY I'M OLD!!!

Last night was my first night working with Pastor Matt and the junior highers. I recently stepped down from Kids Church and since I can't not work in church, I decided to assist Matt when he asked me to come on board with the Junior Highers.

I was standing there listening to the girls talk as we were hanging out before service and they are listening to music. I asked who they are listening to, "You won't know them, it's a group for people our age." Then another says, "Yeah, for our generation." I made the mistake of asking, "Do you think I'm old?" Five girls all looked at each other with a smirk, "well, yeah, kind of." So I thought I was still young and hip, but apparently not. They named half a dozen groups and I didn't know any of them!

I did learn....
*It's cool to walk around with your friend listening to your IPOD - sharing earphones. You can't hardly walk and keep bumping into each other, but it's so cool.
*The words "my bad" are so last year.
*Swweeettt is on it's way out as well.
*Christian punk music is the best music EVER.
*Boys with long hair swept to the side - like Zac from High School Music - are so hot.
*Starbucks coffee is so 'whatever' - but "Frappicinos rock."

I also learned...
Some things never change! Girls still giggle together; boys still act like they don't care yet can't take their eyes off the girls!!

I had so much fun last night - we are having a big sleepover at my house in September to kick off the new year, I'm sure I'll learn a lot more then!!