Nate and Christiana

My parents have generously allowed us to live with them until we move to Cambodia in January. It’s been a bit of an adjustment for everyone, especially my brother Johnny, who graciously surrendered his kingdom/room to us. We are currently occupying my parents’ original master bedroom (before they added on the second story), which has been Johnny’s room for the last several years. We are blessed to have our own private bathroom, as well as another room that serves as our “den”. When Johnny moves to Berkeley in August (to attend Cal!), the smaller room that he’s occupying will become the nursery. We couldn’t ask for a better situation and although we miss certain aspects of having our own place, we are extremely grateful for this gift!

Our bedroom, formerly known as Johnny’s room. We haven’t disturbed his precious poster collection, since he’ll be moving back into the room when we leave. While it doesn’t match the rest of the decor, I suppose it beats staring at a blank ceiling!

Our bookcase – the one piece of furniture that we kept (and it even matches!). We also kept our wall decor, which helped to make the rooms feel more like home.

Our den/media room which includes my parents former TV, taking up a quarter of the room and placed on a family heirloom dresser. Johnny is letting us borrow his “modern” couch and Nate is using the old Oak roll top desk for his computer. It’s eclectic, but it works! It’s so nice to have a little place where we can hang out, work on our computers, watch movies etc.

Now that we’ve moved back to the Bay Area, we are quickly adjusting to our new life here. We were fairly busy our first two weeks…here are some of the highlights…

Nate’s brother Jason and his family invited us over for a BBQ and to visit with the Becks, who serve with Athletes in Action. Chris Beck is also the brother of Daren Beck, our team leader in Cambodia. After a delicious meal (including s’mores!), the guys and the kids played soccer in their newly-landscaped, BEAUTIFUL backyard. I was sad that I couldn’t play…no contact sports for pregnant ladies…

Our dear friends, Tirzah and Todd, were moving to Oklahoma, so we were blessed to enjoy time with them before their departure (We were able to see them once more at Resolved!). As customary, they concocted a scrumptious meal…both are amazing cooks. They are also pregnant with their first, so it’s been nice to compare and contrast our pregnancies. We will miss them greatly!

Nate and I had a great time babysitting Justin, the son of my dear friend, Christi. Here Nate is teaching him how to make catapults out of lincoln logs…Boys will be boys!

Justin and Nate discussing current events while taking a break from catapult production

Nate was trying to convince Justin to give into his destructive nature and knock over the tower. It was cute watching his mental battle…”Am I allowed to make a mess? Will Mom get mad at me? I really, really want to knock over the tower! Will Mom get mad at me? I’m confused…these Big People WANT me to make a mess!?” He actually wouldn’t do it (even though you could tell that every fiber of his being wanted to crash it to the ground), so Nate did it to demonstrate how fun it was. Justin immediately asked Nate to build another tower, so that HE could knock it down, which he then proceeded to do with great gusto and triumph. It was fun watching Nate and Justin play. I hope that we can have a son of our own some day.

Family Work Day. My parents were hosting my brother’s Rehearsal Dinner the week after, so the boys helped my dad beautify the backyard.

Moving Day! It seems like I’ve had a lot of those recently, with more to come! It definitely helps with downsizing and reducing excess junk. On May 30th, several of our So Cal friends graciously helped us pack the U-HAUL (which, interestingly enough, had gone up 100% in price from when we moved a year ago…hmmm). In addition, Vanessa and Priscilla were kind enough to help me clean the apartment and assist with various moving details. After enjoying a pizza lunch and saying goodbye to our dear friends, Nate and I rested a bit and then took our final walk to downtown Burbank, including a yummy Greek dinner. We then returned home for our last evening, watching a movie on Nate’s laptop and sleeping on the cushions from our couch, since the bed was already packed away. We then headed off early the next morning (left at 6:00am), after a Starbucks and gas stop. Nate drove the moving van and I drove his Honda Civic (Nate’s sister and brother-in-law had kindly driven my car up earlier that month). We took 101 (or THE 101, in SoCalian) to San Luis Obispo, where we dropped off our furniture to my brother David. He and Shannon were to be married on June 20th, and needed to furnish their own apartment, so it was perfect timing! After enjoying a delicious lunch (courtesy of Shannon), we hit the road again, and finished the drive up to San Jose. After resting a few moments, my family helped us unload the rest of our earthly possessions into my parents garage. It was a LONG, but productive day.

Just a little note about our moving van…We had reserved the same size van that we had used for our initial move to So Cal, forgetting that we had acquired a few more furnurture pieces since moving last year. We were a little worried about everything fitting, especially since we had to pack all of the furniture at the back (because we were dropping it off to David). Well, God answered our concerns by providing us with a HUGE moving van, at no extra cost. Basically, U-HAUL had messed up and didn’t have our truck available when we needed it. To compensate for their mistake, they upgraded us to a 26-footer. It ended up being the perfect size for us, with room to spare. The only downside to the huge truck was that it was scary to handle. My skillful (and cautious) husband managed to safely take the monster the entire way, without sideswiping anyone, much to his relief.

The So Cal moving crew enjoying some nourishment after several hours of hard labor

Resting after the van was packed

Thanks, Guys!!!

Fill ‘er up!

Some of David’s friends unloading the van in San Luis Obispo…Thanks for the help!

Nate and David – They managed to fit most of the furniture in David’s little room. At this point, they hadn’t secured their apartment yet, so the stuff had to hang out a few weeks with David and his room mates.

Nate and a few of David’s room mates

Playing catch after unloading the rest of the boxes at my parents

Filling up my parents’ garage with our earthly possessions…Sorry!