Our Humble Abode

We took a few pictures of our house here in the OC.  This is our family room and dining room.  You can't see the kitchen table, but it fits in this room too if you can believe it.  We were just amazed that both our couches fit!

Our kitchen and view of the living room.  Notice there is no dishwasher by the sink - that is taking getting used to, but I think we are doing pretty well!

The view of our kitchen from the living room and up the stairs in the back.  We haven't had stairs before so that has been fun!

The kitchen with the electric stove and oven - also a new 

challenge, but no burnt dinners yet!

 

The bedroom - you would never believe all the stuff we were able to store under that bed!  It is the hall closet we don't have.

The next two are "The Pentagon" named by our friend Austin T. Duncan.  This is our office with desks on either side.  With me working from the house and Matt having all of his work to do at the house, we decided to make the second bedroom an office.  We have our desks set up on either side with our backs to each other so we won't be distracted (haha).  This first picture is Matt's desk and mine is below. I know what you are thinking - they invited us down and there is no place to lay our heads.  Don't you worry - we have it all figured out!  Just let us know when you are coming and we will have a nice cozy place for you to sleep!  

And here we are... loving life in the OC... and silly as ever

A word from the Matthew

(Matt)
At The Merage School, orientation is an opportunity for school administrators to give new students a small taste of what we're in for over the next two years. In a word: YIKES!

I've decided that international students will be the source of quite a bit of comic relief and learning here at business school. We have about 40 people from India, China, Taiwan, Japan, UK, and a few others. They've already created stereotypes for themselves: The Indians are always late, the Chinese don't work well in groups, the Japanese are always interested. I don't know that these stereotypes are actually true, but I do know that I've already come to love them all.

Our first exercise as a group was to complete a ropes course. When discussing our fears (ie: heights, small spaces, etc.), Aki from Japan announced that he is deathly afraid of ducks. DUCKS? Yes, ducks. So, Jenny and I have decided we will not be taking him to visit the duck reserve in Santa Barbara. So what's your biggest fear? Take our poll and let us know!

Courtesy of Michelle

Gymnastics - weird! Again we have a different outfit involved and young people running around a floor doing flips and turns, standing a beam that is 6 inches wide and doing to same flips and turns. Twirling around bars and jumping off of springboards. Then there are the men - the rings, parallel bars. Who thought up this stuff? They train for years and years with the hope of one Olympics because by the time you are 18 you are too old! Think about it - weird...

A Little Update

I guess it would be important to tell you where we are! We have moved into a great two bedroom apartment in Palo Verde on the campus of UC Irvine. What? You are thinking - two working professionals living on a college campus. Well, it wasn't the loud, most likely intoxicated, people below our window at 3 am or walking 32 flights of stairs just to do laundry that drew us here. Matt has gone back to school to get his Masters in Business. You'll hear from Matt every so often - he'll give you an update on the happenings at the Merage School. I'm still a working professional though. I have been hired by a charter school that works with home schoolers. Not quite sure about it yet, so I'll tell you more later.

You can use the same cell numbers to reach us - and our home phone is the same too.

New Address:
7624 Palo Verde Rd
Irvine, CA 92617

Once I figure out the picture thing I'll put some up :)

Oh yeah - one funny thing about living on campus again. Everyone rides their bikes - so every so often you have the chance to see someone fall off! I think I was fortunate to see this happen within two weeks of living here. The funny thing is the guy was just standing on the corner with his bike. He wasn't riding or moving at all and he just fell over!!! After making sure he got up and was fine - I burst into laughter. He was kind of laughing too and probably wondering how many people are going to tell the story to all their friends and family. Well, bike rider, thanks for giving me a laugh and a post all in one!

The Excellent Wives Club

A few of us got together to read through Martha Peace's book The Excellent Wife. We appropriately named ourselves the Excellent Wives Club and of course have reached our full potential as wives. Just kidding - that is why me meet - to encourage and exhort each other to honor God and our husbands. I love this group! Moving makes it hard for me to join them on a regular basis, but I soak up whatever moments I get with them.

I was able to have dinner with them last night and talk about what the Lord is teaching us through the new book, Calm My Anxious Heart. Linda Dillow, the author, encouraged us to think about "being content with me." Psalm 139 reminds us that we are fearfully and wonderfully made and the works of the Lord are wonderful! Oh how I need to remember that often throughout the day. It is easy to slip into "if only..." and wish something we different about me. I'm thankful for the humility in this group in and the willingness to share how the sin of anxiety manifests itself in our lives.

So who are these fabulous ladies?!? Melissa Matthews - my sweet sister, Michelle Gutierrez and Stacy Kalub - treasured friends. I love you all and look forward to being able to spend time with you again!

If you think about it for too long...

Things become strange and weird if you think about them for too long. Take for example swimming. Some, my husband included, look at swimming pools with longing to get in and swim around. I watched hours of swimming during the Olympics and enjoyed it. But think about it for too long and it becomes weird. It is a big hole in the ground filled with water. We change into different outfits and get in. You'll notice that a lot of weird things involve changing outfits. We can sit in the water for a whole day: talk with friends, swim from one end to the other, jump off the side...weird.