End of Great Books Week

Well, I skipped yesterday topic as it was what book did I hate in high school but love now. I didn't have an answer for the question since the ones I hated then I still don't like (Lord of the Flies), and all the other ones I had to read I liked or loved then and now.

Today's topic is "When I want to give someone a special gift, I give them [name of book] because…"

This is a bit of a tough question as well since I don't really have a consistent book that I give people, but I can think of a couple possibilities. There are two specific children's books that I love to give to new parents - Guess How Much I Love You and Harold and the Purple Crayon. The first speaks of love and the other of imagination and creativity...all things I believe in and want to share. Most of the time if I give a book as a gift, it's something that I specifically think the other person would like and thus it is closely tied to their personality and/or favorite genre.

I've enjoyed thinking about books this week. I think about them often anyways since I work in a library and love to read...but it was nice to read what others think about books too. Any book suggestions for me?

Great Books Week - Day 3

Today's topic was hard at first since they asked for a classic book and I just couldn't think of one that seemed like my story. I tend to be drawn to characters and people who are more likely to be the opposite of me. But, then I remembered the character I felt the most kinship with and knew what to say. It isn't a classic book, but it's a favorite series of mine.

"I’d write my autobiography, but I don’t need to, because my story has already been told in…"

The Christy Miller series by Robin Jones Gunn

I love these books, and thankfully for me this author just keeps writing more and more about my favorite characters and their continuing story. But it is Christy Miller who I have always felt most similar to. She is the main character of the first set of 12 books which detail her life in high school. My parents got me the series when I was abotu 16 or so and I quickly read through all 12 books and each one seemed to be so like my own life in so many ways. I could empathize with Christy Miller and there were even events that happened to her that were eerily similar to my life experiences. I love that it is a Christian series so God is always at the forefront of the stories, but the author's amazing detail and vivid descriptions and storylines kept me hooked. Christy Miller's story has continued on through other storylines and series which have a different main character, but she remains my favorite and the one I feel most reflects my life.

Great Books Week - Day 2

Today's question is "When I was a child, my favorite book was… because…." and I have four answers.

1. You Shouldn't Have to Say Goodbye by Patricia Hermes. I'm not sure exactly when I read this book for the first time, but it has become one of my all-time favorites. It is very sad and always makes me cry when I read it. The story is about a young girl whose mother is diagnosed with incurable cancer. She struggles to feel normal and resists acknowledging that her mother is sick even though her mother writes her a journal (or letters) detailing things she wants her to know and remember. There are very humorous sections and other parts that just make me weep.
2. Little House on the Prairie series by Laura Ingalls Wilder. I remember devouring this series of books and being so excited about them that I asked my mom & dad to read them too so we could talk about them. I have a much beloved collection of the books and want to reread them soon to see what I can learn from them now as opposed to what I remember. My particular favorites were the stories about cooking, toys, and Almanzo's childhood. And though Laura's life was very different from mine, I felt like her family was very similar to mine and that was comforting.
3. Izzy Willy Nilly by Cynthia Voigt. I'm not sure why I've always felt so strongly about this book as it is not a situation I've ever gone through personally, but it has always resonated with me. It is a book about a young girl who is in a car accident and one of her legs must be amputated. It details the struggles she faces with accepting herself, getting stronger, making new friends and moving on. I often reread this one and really enjoy it.
4. There's a Boy in the Girl's Bathroom by Louis Sachar. I have always loved this book...it's a short read, but meaningful. It is from a boy's perspective which is different for me since I usually feel more empathy for female main characters, but I just love Bradley Chalkers. However, my favorite character is his school counselor Carla and the relationship she builds with him. I also love his imagination regarding his animal figurines. It makes me laugh and it makes me sad sometimes too, but it has stuck with me over the years and I love it.

There really are so many other books I could write about since I have loved reading from the moment I could finally do it on my own and probably even sooner. :) I'm really enjoying this great books week and would love to know what book you loved as a child and why?

Great Books Week

Randomly, I just found out that this week (October 4-10) is Great Books Week through my friend Maggie's blog. Since I do love and adore books I wanted to join in. So here is my first entry:

Day #1: If I were stranded alone on a deserted island with only seven books to read over the next few years, I would like to have…

1. Gone with the Wind - I've already read this one three times and would enjoy the time and opportunity to give it a few more good readings. I love the story and I'm sure that I would discover new things each time.
2. The Post-Birthday World - this book was fascinating and definitely one I'd reread.
3. You Shouldn't Have to Say Goodbye - it's sad and always makes me cry, but an all-time favorite.
4. Bible - it would be good to finally read through all of the Bible
5. The Historian - great book, a little creepy, very interesting and definitely time consuming.
6. Nora Roberts trilogy - either the Three Sisters or Chesapeake Bay Brothers...both are favorites and come three books in one.
7. I can't remember the title, but it is a Heartsong Christian romance novel that is one of my favorites...it's a quick read, but I love to reread it.

Here's a link to the Great books Week facebook page for more info if you want to join in.

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=148413758577&ref=mf

What seven books would you bring?

Mamma Mia! It's my big fat Greek 30th Birthday and Housewarming!

Well, it appears I've made a habit of being late on this blog, but better late than never! :) On August 29 we celebrated my 30th birthday and our housewarming with a Greek-themed open house. Over the course of the day (from 1-9pm) we had 93 family and friends join us in our double celebration. We felt so blessed to see so many loved ones and to share our joy with them in our new home. I've included some pictures of our house and the party.We do have photos with every guest, but that would take too much space...but you can check out the photos on facebook if you'd like.



The house is no longer empty - our furniture is there! It's feeling more like home, but sometimes I still get the sensation that we're somehow on vacation yet we brought everything we own with us! :)






Our living room has since changed due to the wonderful addition of a large entertainment center - a hand-me-down gift from Uncle David and Aunt Rasa - thanks! :)

Birthday balloons leading up the stairs, and looking through the living room into the dining room.

Another view of the stairs, this time looking through to the kitchen past the bathroom.

The extra part of the living room...will eventually hold a nice desk and a large shelf for the stereo.

The kitchen is mostly moved in we're just still trying to find the best location for some items with less cupboard and drawer space than we had previously.

One half of the dining room - one of my favorite rooms in the house

The other half of the dining room - the loveseat is under the window and since the ceiling fan is just above it's one of the coolest parts of the house. :)

Our Greek extravaganza - Kelly cooked Greek chicken and soup and hot diggity dogs, Mom cooked more hot diggity dogs, and we made Greek meatballs, hummus layered dip, Greek roasted potatoes, Greek salad, watermelon feta salad, and pasta salad.

We also had flavored hummus, pita chips, tzadziki, fresh pita bread, marinated olives, Mediterranean salads, fresh fruit, veggies & dip, marinated peppers, fresh tomatoes and homemade vinaigrette. Kelly was our living menu and showed every guest the bounty of the table. :)

My wonderful friend Mandy made two cakes which were themed from the movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding. The lamb cake was red velvet and represented Tia Voula's decision after hearing that Ian "won't eat no meat"..."that's ok, I make lamb!" :)

Mandy also made a lemon bundt cake which was also in the movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding..."Bun, no a bundt, bung, no a bundt...it's a cake...I know" :)

Later in the evening our wonderful friend Gracie from church showed up with this beautiful and yummy cake version of our house. We hated to cut it up, but it was quite tasty. :)

It was a great party and we felt so blessed to have so many wonderful guests in our new home. We look forward to having people over again individually so that we'll have more time to chat with them personally.

It's hard to believe that we are now homeowners and we still have a garage full of boxes to unpack! :) We are so grateful that God has blessed us with a lovely home, wonderful friends and family, and so many other amazing blessings. Thank you God!

Homeowners!

I'm a little delayed in posting the good news...but as of Friday, July 31 Josh & I became homeowners for the first time. Hooray! We had spent the day in great anticipation of when we might officially get the keys but did not get the call until after 5:30pm when we hurried over to our house to meet our wonderful realtor and friend Rob May. We took the obligatory photos and were just so excited to be able to say we own a house! :)

Saturday was spent scrubbing every surface and cupboard and wall with some wonderful friends. Angela and Robin showed up first thing along with my sister Kelly. Kelly, the queen organizer, had made a detailed two-page list of everything to be cleaned and her housewarming gift to us was all the cleaning products we could possibly need. We worked on the kitchen first - Angela stretched to reach the highest shelves and even got just about right into the oven in her goal to scrub it clean. Kelly scrubbed walls and shelves so she could lay lovely fruit-themed shelf paper in all my cupboards, drawers and pantry. Robin patiently scrubbed walls, windows, and even crawled almost completely into huge dark cabinets. I cleaned out drawers, scrubbed cabinet doors, cleaned all three bathrooms, including all the toilets and also wiped down walls.

Meanwhile, Josh and his parents got to work on the yard. His parents had offered to do our landscaping and share some of the lovely plants from their backyard since they will be moving later this year and hated to leave them all. His dad quickly dug up the ugly cactus front the front walkway and his mom pruned our hugely overgrown rose bushes. They weeded, raked, and basically made the front yard so much lovelier. Josh was able to mow the lawn, clean the garage and thanks to our friend Jerry, was also able to trim the edges of the yard with a weed whacker.

Soon after Josh's parents headed home, our dear friends Melissa and Alicia arrived with little welcoming gifts and were prepared to immediately get to work helping us clean. They even took some time to run get lunch for everyone and decided to bless us even more by paying for it themselves, even though we had planned to pay. With their help added to everyone else, now also including Angela's husband Jerry and their son Michael, we were able to clean the entire house. Michael helped by scrubbing the banisters and some stariway walls, then protected us from the bad guys with a Star tours play gun we found hidden in a cupboard. Melissa and Alicia helped me to completely scrub the upstairs bathrooms along with mopping high walls and scrubbing windows. By 4pm, we had accomplished everything on Kelly's list - we were tired, sore and sweaty, but we were finished. On the way home, I had a bit of an emotional breakdown and just sobbed happy and thankful tears thinking about my wonderful friends who were willing to give up their day off to help me clean my beautiful, once dirty and now clean, house.

Saturday evening we celebrated our becoming homeowners with a big dinner at our favorite once-in-awhile restaurant Outback Steakhouse. Since my grandparents are visiting to help Mom & Dad while Dad is recovering from his surgery they were also able to join us along with my parents, and Kelly & David and the kids. We had a wonderful dinner (I sure do love their steak, bread, and broccoli) with wonderful fellowship. What an amazing God we serve!

Then Josh and I decided to head to PetSmart to buy a new kitten. We had always wanted another cat, but in our apartment we were limited to just the one. We really wanted an all white kitten since our cat Cyrano is all black and we were trusting that God would provide just the right pet for us when we were able to get one. Well, we got a bit more than we bargained for! :) There were two all white female kittens - littermates, about 9 weeks old and one was deaf. The pet adoption lady really wanted her to find a good home and though we intended to get just one, we decided why not? So Talia and Marilyn Monroe became part of our family.

Talia (closer to me) loves to snuggle and bite my chin (why?), loves to eat and often pushes her sister aside to have the food to herself, and can be a little whiny when she wants attention.

Marilyn Monroe is deaf, wears a pink collar with a bell, is curious and fearless, loves to attack her sister and has a loud purr which she does the minute you pay her any attention.

They have not been properly introduced to Cyrano yet, but they currently live in my closet and bathroom at the apartment so he can hear and smell them through the door. Once we are moved into the house, we plan to introduce them to him while he is in his carrier and then let them roam the house together. We will leave the kittens closed up in a room when we are at work or out of the house until we can trust them all together.

After church on Sunday, we were able to borrow a power washer from our realtor Rob and Josh spent the afternoon cleaning the outside of the house. I spent that time playing with the kittens and snuggling them so they could get used to me. This week we have spent time in the evenings packing more boxes, loving on the kittens and trying to get prepared for the big move on Saturday.

On Tuesday, we had the carpets cleaned. Though they ended up coming much later than expected, and it ended up costing more than we thought due to some very tough stains, we now have clean carpet throughout the house and it looks so much better than it had. Wednesday, Kelly helped us by packing all the guest bathroom and our Tupperware cabinet in the kitchen. I also packed everything else non-breakable in the kitchen and we took a load over to the house and spent some time putting it all away. So part of the kitchen is done, and Kelly got the upstairs guest bathroom completely decorated and pretty. Josh spent that time placing our computers, TV's and phones around the house in preparation for the Verizon guy to connect our phone, internet, cable and DVR throughout the house on Thursday.

We still have so much to pack and it can seem quite overwhelming to me at times. But, I spent yesterday afternoon packing the pantry and was able to put 4 bags of food aside to take to our church pantry and unfortunately had to throw away a lot of past-expiration date food (even back to 2005) as well. Josh worked on the kitchen making sure all the dirty dishes either went into the dishwasher, or he hand-washed it. Kelly came over and we took down all the pictures in the hall, dining room, living room and office and packed those up. Then we packed all the breakables from the curio cabinet in Josh's dresser drawers, using his clean clothes to cushion them.

Today we plan to pack up my bathroom and closet, the china hutch using my clean clothes in my dresser drawers, and at least the rest of the kitchen. His parents are coming over to help take loads of boxes to the new house and put things away. Josh will pick up the U-Haul truck this afternoon and our apartment neighbor Robby, who is a handyman, is going to help him fix some little issues around the house - replacing acrylic panels from the kitchen and bathroom light fixtures, buying new lightbulbs, fixing the downstairs toilet and some faucets that leak. Tonight our Bible Study group will help us with more packing, taking stuff to the house and putting it away.

Tomorrow is the big move and we should have 7-10 people there to help out. Due to prior plans, I will not be able to be there the whole time, but thankfully Angela has offered to take over for me and direct the movers as to where furniture and such will go in the new house. Josh will pick someone to direct movers in the apartment so he can pack the truck which he is very good at using the space wisely and efficiently. We hope to get it all done by the afternoon. We will spend our first night in our new house tomorrow and I'm looking forward to it finally feeling real...we own a house and we live in it, you know? :)

I'm sure over the next few weeks, months, and years we will find many things that need fixing, replacing, redecorating, etc but I still can't believe how quickly we became homeowners. Just 6 months ago I was so dead set against buying a house and didn't think there was any way we could afford it and why did we need to even try. But God spoke to my heart at a little church in central CA and reminded me that I needed to put all my trust in Him and that if it was time for a house then He would make it clear to us and He would provide a way. And oh how He did! We have been truly blessed and it's been so clear from that moment that this is what God had planned for us - every door opened and everything came together to become this miracle of a new beginning for us. I am so thankful and grateful and happy...God is soooooo good, all the time!

Almost there!

It had seemed like nothing was ever going to happen with the house. For the past month we hadn't heard much except what financial paperwork we needed to get to our mortgage guy Brian. I admit I was getting impatient and a little frustrated by the seeming lack of forward movement with the house. But...that has changed!

Last week we found out that our loan was approved and the loan documents were being sent to the escrow company. We called them repeatedly on Monday hoping to be able to get in to sign them. Finally around 2pm they were finally ready and so we stopped at the bank to get a cashier's check for the remainder of the down payment. It ended up being almost $1000 more than we had expected, but God provided and with us needing to only pay half our rent in August, not having our first mortgage payment until September, and the fact that we had started saving up some excess money we were able to handle the surprise. After getting the check we drove to San Bernardino to visit the escrow company.

We met with Linda, the notary public, and spent just over an hour signing and signing...and signing :)...our names. It was quite a stack of documents, but we got them done. We were told that the next step was to find out if the two broken windows had been fixed. They had not, so both Brian and Rob called the seller to make sure they were on top of getting it done this week. We've been told that the window will be fixed today, so that hopefully it can be appraised this afternoon. Next we make sure everything is signed and that the money is transferred and then hopefully by Friday we will get the keys and actually be homeowners!

Though it seems to me sometimes that this process has taken a long time, I can look back and see that it really happened so quickly. We began looking in March after God spoke to me in late February and let me know that He would provide a house for us and that I needed to trust Him. We found several possible houses in the next few months, and then on June 9 our offer on Via Apolina was accepted. And by the end of this week we will be homeowners...just 5 months from when we began! What an awesome God we serve! He is so worthy of our trust and adoration...what a blessing He has provided for us.

We began packing a few weeks ago, but as we are both procrastinators, it is of course no where near being complete. Our goal is to have the big move-in day of Saturday, August 8 when we hope to get all the furniture and all packed boxes moved into our new home. We will still have our apartment until at least August 15, so we have some time if there are a few things left over. If we do get the keys this Friday, then we are hoping to have a cleaning weekend on Saturday and Sunday, August 1 & 2. If any of you reading are willing and able to help with either cleaning or moving - or even packing! :) - ...please let us know as we would greatly appreciate it!

Thank you for your prayer and support as we've gone through this process. We look forward to celebrating with you at our housewarming/Mamma Mia, It's my Big, Fat, Greek, 30th Birthday on August 29!

Prayer requests:

• Pray that the window will get fixed, the appraisal will go well, and that everything is complete so that we can get the keys on Friday
• Pray that cleaning will go well prior to moving in
• Pray that we get packing and have most, if not all, accomplished by moving day
• Pray that we have lots of energy to pack after working all day and that we get enough sleep as well
• Pray that moving day goes well with nothing broken, lots of help, and no complications
• Pray that we are able to get our full deposit back from our apartment and that move out goes well
• Pray for patience, kind words, and peace as we go through this major change in our lives - I have been very stressed about much of it and worried about many things
• Pray for anything I can't think of that I'm sure will pop up unexpectantly :)

Love you all! *hugs*