May 3rd, 2010 California living

I enjoy writing (although I am no where near the great writing ability of some of the blogs I've read). I've been thinking about starting a blog about our adventures in California since shortly after we moved....but things just never calmed down.

The kids are doing GREAT! I'm doing well! Paul is doing well too! I had forgotten the fast pace of American living (and how much I enjoy it) and, let's be honest.....it does take time to aclimate to a new place. In the last 6 months, I've learned my way around (more or less - a GPS is a WONDERFUL invention!), found activities for the kids (and myself), found baby-sitters, groceries, and made some friends. Simultaneously while doing those things, I kept up with 4 kids, a hard working husband who commutes between 1-2 hours a day and travels as usual and worked on furnishing a much larger house than we had in England. I explored pre-schools, prayed about elementary schools, and learned about middle school.

Although the desire to write this blog was there, it seemed the time never opened up to do so....until a sweet friend encouraged me. I really would like for Paul's family to be able to read about our daily life, and for the kids to read about some of their childhood experiences, through my eyes.

I'm going to struggle trying to catch up with what all we've done so far, so my goal is to start with TODAY, and perhaps do a few back chapters. Maybe. I'll do the best I can. I hope that my kids can read this and be better than me regarding following the path that God has for you. I am NOT a mover, but being in God's will.....it's better than anything. It's worth it to deviate from the path you have for yourself and follow God's path. He will figure out the details.

Here is entry #1.

School was out June 11th, and my sister and my niece arrived on June 13th. The weather turned around (from being chilly and sunny to being warm and sunny) just in time for her visit!

We showed her our new digs, got her settled into the casita and went for ice cream in our cute downtown that evening. The ice cream is a family tradition that is dependent on good report cards. The kids were FABULOUS adjusting back to the American system and performing at their potential. God was all over those details. Truly. The education system is different between England and America, and the kids were behind in some areas, ahead in others, and had to adjust to the differences in teaching. They did great. It was all God. He is good, all the time.

Sunday we took my sister and niece to our new home church. It's a mega church. Have your heard about Rick Warren's church in LA called Saddleback? This is the Northern CA version. It's called, "Cornerstone". We spent 5 months shopping for a church and we think we have settled at Cornerstone. The teaching is good. The core group of leaders is wonderful. The size is rather overwhelming, but we are plugging in this fall and hope to make it feel smaller.

There is so much to do in this area. Everything is an hour's drive away. On Monday, we drove an hour to the beach. The Northern California Pacific Ocean is COLD - it's not for swimming, unless you surf and are wearing a wet suit. Still, the beach is rather fun. The kids love running in the sand, and there are things to build at the beach. The scenery is beautiful - very English looking in spots. The one thing we didn't know was that it could be cool at the beach, even if it's hot in Livermore. It was in the low 80s in Livermore. It was in the mid-high 50s when we crossed the mountains and hit the beach. Brr! We bought some sweatshirts and forged on. From now on, I'm keeping 5 sweatshirts in the car permanently (while we live here). The scenery was still beautiful, the sand was soft, and the setting was perfect. There were some cliffs to climb and explore and some beautiful grass, perfect for taking pictures. Some people before us had built a fort with the driftwood on the beach, and our kids made a bee-line for it.














It needed some nice enhancements.























We relaxed a little on Tuesday - did some shopping and strolled the surrounding towns, which are very pretty.

On Wednesday, we drove an hour to Sausalito and Muir Woods. They are so close to each other that it seemed reasonable to do them both on the same day. Sausalito is an ocean side strip of quaint shops and restaurants with beautiful views of San Francisco, Alcatraz and the Golden Gate Bridge.















An entertainer was doing a "show" with this cockatoo and snagged us to participate. It was really fun!
























Muir Woods is a beautiful National Forrest filled with giant redwood trees,




















little streams, and live animals. We were hoping to see a bear, but we found some deer and baby fawns. John thought they were wolves. He is still young enough to make us burst into laughter, even when we are supposed to be very quiet!


















It was a great visit and we look foward to many more with other visitors (and repeat visitors)!

Since they left, we are having some VERY NEEDED downtime. Some of the kids have crashed hard. We've been going strong for 6 mo. God made us to rest. We're doing that. Stay tuned for more back entries hopefully to come soon!