First full day

Thanks so much to all of you who are supporting us through your prayers and good wishes!!!

Things are going well, although Jenetta and I are completely exhausted. I gave her a little bit of a break today and took the girls to the park. We had a lot of fun together.

Last night was tough. They were really wound up and it took us until 10:20 to get them to finally fall asleep. We can tell they are very tired today because of it. Hopefully, we will be able to get a nap in this afternoon.

We are quickly learning what works and what does not work.

O told us this morning that she was sad because she misses her mommy and daddy. L just seems to go with the flow better, but we can tell she is confused by all this. Please pray for them during this adjustment.

Here is us playing and picking wildflowers at the park.

Things are going to change!!!

Here is O & L's bedroom. We are about as finished as we are going to be for a while.

We are both very tired. Today was an amazingly awesome day!

Our friends and family poured out so much love and blessings on us - I am still overwhelmed by it. They were so generous with their gifts and their support!

David took a bunch of photos that I will post later this week when I get some time...

In the meantime, here are the results of the bedroom decor project. Thanks so much to everyone who helped out! We could not have done it without you!

We pick them up at the airport tomorrow at 1:55 pm!!!

Helping Hands

Ok. I need to brag a little bit about our home group. What an awesome group of people!

For homegroup tonight, they came over and helped us clean and paint and finish some construction chores.

Thank you very much!


I think that on Saturday, the only thing we will need to do is unpack all the gifts and then rest for a while. So nevermind about helping on Saturday afternoon...

The Garage

I am starting to understand why so many people have a two car garage and yet park both of their cars in the driveway. That always bugged me. How could people have so much stuff?

I am starting to get it.

We have been so blessed by the outpouring of support (and stuff) from so many people! (And we haven't even gotten the stuff for the girls from the shower on Saturday!)

We've gotten some really cool furniture items that we hadn't even considered before. All this means more painting, more organizing, and more storage in the garage!

I'm determined to park at least one car in the garage, but that may be a losing battle too. Part of the stuff is a number of large items we are helping someone else sell on Craigslist. That all takes time, but eventually, most of it will be sold and moved out (hopefully).

We've had contact with O and L's extended family, and they plan to drive down in a month or so and deliver a bunch more items that can't go with them on the plane on Sunday because they are too large.

I may never see my garage floor again :)



Oh, and so many people have been asking if they can help. If you are in the area, we'd love some help for a few hours on Saturday afternoon after the shower. There are some last minute construction things I'd like to finish and some touch-up painting that needs to be done. Jenetta and I are working late into the evening, and I was up before 5 am this morning working on things, and there is no way we will get it all done without some extra hands on Saturday...

Thanks!

Big changes coming ...

We found out yesterday that we will be parents in just over a week!

Two little girls, aged 4 and 3, are moving to our home on Sunday, 3/29. They will be foster children until the adoption is finalized.

As you can imagine, our heads are swimming with all kinds of thoughts.

Jenetta is springing into action and the back room is being decorated with all kinds of pink stuff.

Just fyi, due to the fact that they are not "ours" yet, we won't be putting any photos of them online, and we will never use their full names in any posting.

We will refer to them as "O" and "L". O is four and a half, and L just turned three a few months ago.

I think one of the coolest things about all this is that we are discovering how huge our support network is. We are so blessed by your prayers and calls!

Another busy/great weekend!

I think my job is turning us into weekend warriors! With the marathon training and other stuff to do during the week, we are finding the only time to pack in everything we want with our friends is the weekend. This makes for very tiring, but really awesome weekends.

We had the pleasure of having our friends from Arizona stay at our home from Wednesday through Saturday. They went to the beach one day and the Wild Animal Park another day, so mostly we got to hang out with them in the evenings.

They added an amazing amount of life to our home. It was an adventure having 8 people here!

Our friends have four kids aged 16, 7, and two 5 year old twins. Out of respect for their feelings on internet privacy, I will not use their names. But it was fun taking family photos of them in Coronado on Friday. I'll let Jenetta show the pretty finished images. Here is what most of it looked like from my perspective :)


Seriously, it was so much fun to have them with us! I think it confirmed to us even more that we are very ready to interact with children of our own. The energy/joy/craziness/drama started from the moment they got up until the time the kids went to bed and their parents could take a deep breath and just chat with us. It was good. It made me wish they lived in SD.


Then on Saturday morning, we went to Temecula to watch Jake Pavlovics ride in a bike race up there. Jake is a strong competitor and he really enjoys racing!

It has been a while since we have supported the Pav kids in something extra-curricular. I remember going to the boy's basketball games at the Westwood club years ago. We miss spending time with them the way we used to so frequently, but it makes the times together now more special. Here a few pictures of the morning with them:


Then we got a call from our AZ friends who were heading back home. We met up with them in the old part of Temecula and we attended the "Rod Race" which was basically like Escondido's Crusin' Grand, but much larger. It was packed with people there to see the restored cars. My shoulders ached from all the piggy back rides with the kids :)

As we ate lunch at one of the restaurants there, a really terrible band took to a nearby stage and started their set. They played "Suzy Q," "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" (the GnR version), "Tell Me All Your Thoughts on God" by Dishwalla, and "Shine" by Collective Soul while we were sitting there. It was like they couldn't figure out what kind of cover band they were as every song (regardless of decade) was laced with mind-bending 1980's hair metal guitar solos. But it made for a funny lunch. Here is a video of the girls rocking out:

Then we checked out some more cars and said goodbye to our friends. We hope to be able to visit with them again very soon.

Then we drove back home, I ran 14 miles in 2 hrs. 21 min, and got cleaned up before heading over to Blake Gallion's 30th birthday party. Here is Blake serving his massive Claim Jumper birthday cake:


It was great to be able to hang with most of our friends over a great dinner and to meet Blake and Rachael's family.

We are so blessed to have so many great friends!


Sunday has been busy - but not quite so fully packed. I played guitar for three services at church. My friend Geoff was the guest speaker, and I really enjoyed what he had to say. Geoff is a real student of history and his contextual understanding of the scriptures is so helpful as he teaches. Later, we went to Chipotle with friends after church for lunch.

Then I came home and took a nap! It was very necessary!

Now we are headed out for some shopping and we will probably recover with a quiet evening at home before next week starts another crazy, busy week at work.

Awesome Friday!!!

We had a very unusual day on Friday. My cousin Luke Penner was working on some aerobatics training at an airport in Orange County. He took a day to hang with us. We got the opportunity to fly with him in a Diamond Star to Catalina Island. The flight was amazing - it was such a beautiful day, and it is really awesome to be able to travel to a place so close yet so uninhabited. We had been to Catalina before, but only to the town of Avalon. The airport is about 10 miles from town and is completely secluded. We had a good lunch at the cafe at the airport and then spent some time hiking around the island before we flew back. On the flight back, we were able to circle around the island and fly along the cliffs along the coastline. It was really special.



Then we went to San Onofre state beach for some surfing. The waves weren't very big, but the wind had died down enough that it wasn't too choppy. Luke discovered that it isn't as easy as it looks, but he made a really good effort and managed to get to his feet for a brief second. He was a good student and would probably grow into a very good surfer if there were waves in Steinbach, Manitoba.

One of the coolest things about all this was the opportunity to get to know Luke as an adult. He was always the "little kid" when I hung out with my cousins. He is a good guy and we look forward to hanging out with him more in the future!

It would be sweet to see him compete in the Red Bull air races someday! Representing the Harv's Air team... Luke Penner!

More random cell phone photos

Here are some images that have caught my attention lately:

On Friday, I was on my way to work when I passed an F-18 on the freeway. Whipping out my cell phone camera was probably not the safest thing to do, but it struck me as interesting.


Yesterday, I went with Jenetta to Fullerton. I was tired from my run, but she wanted me to go with her to scout a wedding location with one of her clients. They are getting married at the Arboretum at Cal State Fullerton. What an amazing oasis in the middle of the city! They have all kinds of produce that made California famous as well as demonstrations about California native plants and water-friendly landscape. Jenetta was busy for quite a while, so I had a great time walking around and looking at and touching the plants and fruits and smelling all the spring blossoms.


We had a really full day yesterday, and I am still recovering from it! Today we enjoyed being with our friends Robbie and Nikki Morales as they dedicated their daughter Abby. I'm sure they will put photos and video on their blog later, but it was nice to be able to share with them in their special family time. After church, we went to Pat & Oscars for a nice lunch outside on the patio. It is kind of a treat for us to be counted in the inner circle with Robbie and Nikki. Their parents Ken and Donna Kalla and Steve and Debbie Morales treat us like part of the family and make us feel so welcome when we are with them.



Some other quick things:

Work is going better. I have a full week under my belt now and I am starting to get the hang of things. I will do my best to help Kiwaii become a successful company, but in the meantime, I am so grateful to have a job! Paying the first of the month bills felt good today.

Jenetta is continuing to see higher than normal traffic on her website. We are grateful for the Redbook article and the buzz that it is creating.

God is good. Our spirits are good. This has been a very good week for us and we are giving credit to whom it belongs!

I'm tired!

I am starting to realize the cost of training for the marathon. Today on my schedule was a 12 mile run. Prior to this, I had never run farther than 10 miles. It was kind of warm even this morning, so by mile 8, I was pretty much over it. By mile 10 I had rubbed my chest raw and the front of my shirt was bloody. Afterward, I could hardly lift my legs to do my post-run stretching.

But I completed it in under 2 hours. I averaged about 9 min 15 sec miles, although at first I was under 8 minutes, and I slowly took more time each mile as the pain increased.

We had a ton of stuff to do today, and I am exhausted already. We have friends coming over for dinner, but I'm ready for bed now.

Dang this is hard!

Amgen Tour of California

Something kind of cool happened today in our neighborhood. The Amgen Tour of California bike race concluded in Escondido. The finish line is about 3 km from our home. We drove by the downtown area after church and it was already packed! We decided to just enjoy our afternoon at home and walk down to El Norte around 3:00 to watch them ride past. It was fun hanging out with some of our neighbors and talking photography.

After the inital 2 leaders passed by around 3:40, there was a huge group of racers following about 2 minutes behind. I'm pretty sure Lance Armstrong was in that group. But I'm having a hard time identifying him in any of these photos.

The racers passed by like this: 2 leaders way out front, a huge group of racers together, followed by a lone rider, and then 8 minutes or so behind the leaders, the final group of racers passed by.

It was really cool to have all this international attention focused on our hometown!

Good things keep on happening to us...

I've been thinking all day about how we have seemingly had a really long stretch where things just didn't go our our way. This blog is full of the thoughts we have learned along the way including the struggles we have faced financially, spiritually, and emotionally.

This week seems to be moving us in the opposite direction. Our financial situation is still exactly the same, but the opportunity for growth now exists with my new job starting on Friday. Jenetta's website is still slowly moving forward, but we finally got news about something that will definitely increase her readership.

The online version of the Redbook article came out today. You can read it here. And YES! The author plugged the website. I probably would have written the article differently and emphasized other things, but people are already clicking the link from the Redbook site and we imagine many more will visit Jenetta's site as the magazine is received by subscribers. Here is the photo we went with: Kind of serious for my taste, but...


I've spent a lot of time praying today and being thankful. I must confess that I like the good stuff a lot more than a lot of the negative things we have been experiencing! But my prayer is that we won't forget the lessons we have learned over the past three years.

Thanks so much to the friends and family who have been there for us as we complained and struggled. Thanks for your prayers and your support. Your love and friendship means infinitely more to us than financial stability or business growth.

New Job

Today was a whirlwind of events! Let me back up a bit. Jenetta and I sat down last night to watch an episode of "Freaks and Geeks" and I received a voice mail about a job I'd applied for a few weeks ago. I was thinking about blowing it off until the morning, but I decided to call back. We spoke for about an hour.

I met with Derek today at a co-op deli in Ocean Beach. We interviewed for about 2 hours. He answered all my questions, and I learned a lot! After that time, it was clear to both of us that I was the perfect match for the position. I was offered the job and I accepted right away. We talked for another half hour about specifics, and then I returned to catch up on the rest of my Sony stuff.

I start on Friday as the executive assistant for Kiwaii. It is a startup water company that will be delivering product directly to consumers and sold at high-end and health specialty stores very soon. The website is not where it needs to be yet, but it gives you an idea about the concept. Check it out.

I am very concerned about the quality of food that I put into my body. If we could afford it, we would eat locally produced organic food for everything. But prior to last night, I hadn't really thought much about what kind of water I put into my body. I think that will drastically change. Derek gave me a case of the water to try out. I'm excited to learn more about what unpolluted water means and to contribute to making the company a success.

What I am most thrilled about though is that I think I've finally found a position that is a perfect fit for me. I will be doing organizational things, everyday stuff like book-keeping and filing, preparing power point presentations and written materials for investors, and supporting the sales efforts of Derek. I'll be using the skills I've developed as a teacher/stage manager/photographer/office worker/marketer/writer/production coordinator, etc.... It was clear through our time spent together today that I bring to the company exactly what he is looking for. It's nice to feel needed! It's nice to feel like the weird path I've travelled is seen as an asset and not a liability!

Here are some specifics: I start at an hourly wage that is slightly more than I earn at Sony, but the commute is almost 60 minutes each way. So that is definitely a downer. I start at 10:30 am so I can wait until the traffic rush is over, so that helps somewhat. I will work at Derek's home office, but he plans to relocate soon to Encinitas. That would help cut the commute time in half (and make surfing before or after work a lot easier!) After a trial period, I would transfer to a salaried position which eventually would include stock options. So this definitely allows for the career growth I am looking for. It will involve some travel as we finish production details and meet with investors. Someday, I hope to travel to New Zealand and check out the bottling facilities.

I had been praying that if I were to find something, it would begin before March 2 so there would be no layoff time. Well, I start on this Friday!

There is no doubt in my mind that this is meant to be. Thanks for your support and for praying with us. I'll let you know when the product will be availble for you to try out!

Valentine's Dinner Party

Last night, we enjoyed hanging with our friends at Crystal and Brandon's new apartment. We had a really great meal and had fun just being together. Sadly, four of our group are missing from the group photo because they were sick :( But those of us who were there enjoyed the evening. After the kids went to bed, we got really crazy playing Wii Fit.

We found out that Crystal is an awesome ski-jumper and that I am absolutely terrible at Wii Yoga. :) And nobody rocks the marble balance game like Robbie!

Hope your Valentine's day was special!

What's up

Here is what has been going on with our family in the past few weeks:

- Running improving.
I am finally starting to adjust to the running schedule. I ran 8 miles on Saturday and was able to actually pick up the pace on miles 6-8. My knees are still very sore afterwards, but it is slowly getting more manageable. Stretching has improved my ankle pain problem. It sure is different doing this level of training at 36 than it was at 18! :)

- Latest on employment.
I have a few leads and another interview scheduled for Wed. 2/11 with another placement agency. I'm not too confident of a position through them, but I am doing my best to cover my bases. We'll see where the other leads take me, but I am starting to get my head around the idea of being unemployed after 2/27. We are starting to talk about what that means and how I can take advantage of the time. One thing that excites me is contributing to Jenetta's online businesses. I think that with the organization and writing skill I can bring to the table, we may be able to increase her growth rate substantially. She has been doing a great job building readership at FF and D. We are just getting rolling again on the revamped version of Bridalscoop, and we have some good ideas for going forward on this.

The good part about all this is that we will be working together and bringing our strengths together on the project. It will also allow me to transition back to the lifestyle I enjoyed so much in the past - specifically surfing more and having more time to invest with friends.

The bad part about this is that our income will be slashed again. Right now, Jenetta is earning about 1/3 of what I earned at Sony on her one site. We have seen steady growth and feel the opportunity for significant growth is there. Still, it will be a good stretch before it grows enough to replace my Sony income. I'll still keep looking for another job, but it is nice to have a focus at home if nothing works out for me in the corporate world.

- Adoption update:
Nothing new to report here. There was a child that sparked our interest and we communicated that to the right people, but there is a relative in the picture, so it's not looking very likely to happen for us. We are attending a monthly support group filled with other waiting couples. We actually will attend that again tonight and the special guest is a family that adopted two 9-year old twins. That should be interesting. But in the meantime, we wait, knowing God has what is best for us.

- How we are doing:
Jenetta and I had a nice evening yesterday. We did a photo shoot for a family at the beach in Del Mar. They were very nice and it went well. Then we went for a mini date at Peet's Coffee and Tea on the way back. I think we are both communicating clearly right now and enjoying the time we spend together.

- Other Stuff:
Our pastor is preaching on Haggai. A friend of mine challenged me to memorize the whole book with him. Getting sick put me a bit behind, but I've still been able to memorize all of Ch. 1 and have started working into Ch. 2.

This obviously isn't my most introspective (or even interesting) writing. It's been a while since I've posted, and I wanted to let you know what has been going on with us lately.