Santa Barbara and Family

Brian and I got to do a little exploring this weekend as we headed up the coast to Santa Barbara.  My Grandma Stanfield was there visiting my great Uncle Earl (Stanfield) who lives in beautiful Santa Barbara.  They were awesome hosts, and showed us around to the arts fair, dinner and lunch at beach side restaurants, a tour of the bell tower at the historical court house, and a quick look at a gorgeous Spanish-style Catholic Church.  We had so much fun hanging out with them and talking to them late into the night. Earl is 90 years old and sharp as tack!  He is full of knowledge and energy, and healthy as anyone could hope to be at his age.  And Grandma Carlene is full of adventure!  She is ready to see the world and feels free as a bird.  It was great fun to be with them both and encouraging to see the fullness they live their lives with. 

The View from Uncle Earl's porch. You can see the ocean out there.

Grandma at the top of the Bell Tower

Santa Barbara is a coastal city about 2.5 hours North of us.  It is flanked by the Santa Ynez Mountain range and the beach, and is nicknamed the "American Riviera" by locals. It is much greener than where we live, with trees and plants all over the rolling hills and mountains.  It is a very expensive place to live, and Montecito, a neighboring town, is home to many celebrities including Oprah, Kirk Douglas, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus.

The Catholic Church they showed us. It was too late to get inside, but the outside was very neat.

On the way home we stopped at a fruit stand we saw on the coast on the way up.  They were advertising 10 avocados for $1. We had to check it out!  We ended up with 20 very small avocados (that are delicious!), fresh strawberries, and some delicious tomatoes.  Yum!  We also got to pick lemons from Uncle Earl's tree, leaving us with a huge bag of lemons to think of something to do with.  At a church event last night a friend of mine also gave me pomegranates from her parent's tree. It is so crazy to have so many fruit trees around, with abundance of harvest that everyone is trying to give away.  I love it! 

Who could pass up 10/$1 avocados?

CHOC Walk

On Sunday I got to walk through Disney Land and California Adventure (Disney's second park in Anaheim) with a group of youth from the church for a fundraiser. The walk was raising money  for the Children's Hospital of Orange County.  We walked with Team Natalie, organized by a college freshman from church who has spent a lot of time at the Children's Hospital due to a rare seizure disorder. She is so passionate about the hospital and is energized to give back after all they have done for her.  She is a youth representative for CHOC, and plans to work in the health care field after college.  We had a great time at the walk early on Sunday morning. As you can see in the pics, it was a little overcast and misty again.  The Californians said it was "raining" but I assure you it was not. Just misting a bit :)  Fun times.

I started my job!

You may have noticed that there haven't been many blog posts lately. Previously, I was writing quite frequently since I was waiting around without much to do.  Last Monday, however, I began my job at Crittenton Services for Children and Families.  It is an organization that works in many areas with at-risk children and families, including foster care, Wraparound services, group homes, and therapeutic services.  I work at the Valley View location in Orange County, which is 2.5 miles down Harbor from our apartment.  Valley View campus is four cottages that each hold up to 14 girls and several babies. The girls are there for several different reasons, mostly for breaking laws or having delinquency problems either at school or at home. A small minority of the girls are there for Child Protection cases, meaning there is a situation with their parents or foster parents or they are in a transition between caregivers. 

My job is Team Leader with the residential counseling staff. There are two team leaders per cottage (on opposite shifts) and a unit supervisor, along with 2 residential staff on each shift.  So far I really enjoy all the staff in my cottage, and feel really comfortable with the position.  The group home runs very similarly to my previous job in Minneapolis at St. Joseph's Home for Children. I am so happy I found a job so quickly, and it is in a field I really enjoy working in. I have never lived so close to work either, so I feel that we are just in the right spot at the right time here.

Things are going so smoothly for Brian and I here in California.  I suppose this is a good place for us to be, after a long transition this summer, we are rewarded with a great church, and a great job for me in a great community.  I suppose we were just waiting for everything to fall into place for us, and now it has!  Thank you all for your encouragement and support over the summer as we were waiting to get to where we are now.

Oh, and it's official now: I am a California Resident!

Mom was worried about the safety of my identity, so I blocked cropped out the important information :)

Call Us The Rainmakers

Don't believe the rumors you hear that it never rains in Southern California.  75 degrees and sunny all year round?  Lies.  All lies.  And the So. Cal. residents don't even know the truth.  "This weather is SO unusual for us," they say practically everyday.  When we visited for interviews in July is was a little on the chilly side. "Totally unsual."  When we came back for the vote in August, when it was sweltering in MN, the highs here were just reaching 68-70, and cooler at night.  "Not the typical August heat." Now I know everyone is saying that 68-70 is practically perfect weather, but not in my opinion!  I was visiting California this summer expecting the famed Sunshine and warm beachy weather.  I was hoping to have a suntan and wear shorts year-round. I left Minnesota hoping for hot temperatures!

And now, here we are, with rumors of outrageous 117 degrees while we were away for ordination, it is all clouds and rain. Highs reaching only 60 with rain falling steadily for 3 days in a row. We even had a couple days of patchy rain and lightening at the end of last week.  "Lightening" meaning an isolated wispy cloud situated directly over Fullerton, releasing bolts of lightening onto our high school and college campuses, while the rest of the sky was bright blue and sunny.  The bizarre storm left me scared for my life while out on a run on the trails through town. I thought I could predict the weather here.

On Monday we went for a day hike, hoping to reach the top of Chino Hills to see a spectacular view of the San Bernardino Mountains and Santa Ana Canyon.  The usual morning fog never burned off, and we proceeded to hike steadily into a thickening cloud.  Constant mist, mud, and wind was not what I had in mind for the day.  The "view" consisted of a small radius of our immediate surrounds: hiking trail and hillside. Beyond that was thick clouds and fog.  Brian's laundry that he insisted would dry that day once the "marine layer" burned off is still hanging outside in the rain. Did I mention he is a tad stubborn?  He insists the sun will burn the clouds off one of these days. 

Just call us the Rainmakers.

Bountiful Generosity

We have had quite a weekend full of church activities!  Friday night I joined the women of St. Paul's Lutheran Church for Ladies Night Out.  I was very impressed with the turn out, and had so much fun getting to know more names and faces of the wonderful people from our new church home! 

Saturday we were up early and off to the 2nd Harvest Food Bank distribution that St. Paul's puts on once a month in Fullerton.  A truck load of food was delivered, sorted, and distributed to around 150 families that morning! We helped with sorting the many different foods and produce, including onions, potatoes, strawberries(yum!), cantaloupe, and even buckets of hard boiled eggs! The families carried home quite a load of food.  It was impressive to see the St. Paul families who are dedicated to this ministry out there early on a Saturday . Next month I will try to remember my camera :)

On Sunday the women of St. Paul's threw me a wonderful welcome party! Everyone has been so welcoming to me since the very beginning, so the party was really unnecessary. But holy cow are these people generous!  I was so overwhelmed with their generosity and hospitality.  The party was just wonderful, and another great time to get know people better and to know more names and faces.  They are truly just a fun bunch of people to hang out with.  They spoiled me with grocery gift cards to Sprouts, Trader Joe's, and Albertson's.  As well as LOTS of cleaning supplies and pantry items like zip-lock bags and paper towels.  And many other wonderful things: hiking books, cook books, spices, bowls, flowers, an herb planter with herbs, homemade chocolate sauce, fresh eggs from their own chickens, fresh avocados from their own trees! 

And to top it off, a group of them bid in a recent church auction for a homemade quilt from a member, and also gave that to me!  The quilt is entitled "Minnesota Seasons," and is absolutely beautiful! How wonderfully thoughtful of all of these women to welcome me in this way. We are very happy here and excited to build deeper relationships with the people we are already starting to know. 

Country Crossing Re-cap

Minnesota to California, back to Minnesota, back to California...Let us quickly re-cap where we have been and what we have seen in our cross-country travels. 

After the ordination in Minnesota, we spent a few more days with the Wards in Mapleton. In Minnesota it is apple season, so I got to join Annette in preparing apples for applesauce. And of course with all those delicious apples around, we decided an apple crisp would taste good too!












Also taking place in Minnesota over the weekend was Shannon and Alex's wedding.  We were happy to be in town in time to celebrate with them in a beautiful setting at the Semple Mansion in Minneapolis. What a wonderful couple and spectacularly beautiful wedding!

We left Minnesota on Monday morning following the wedding, and headed straight to Wheat Ridge, CO.  A quick night with my parents, complete with cheese enchiladas and chile rellenos for dinner from mom!  Thanks mom!

Then back in the car and off to Vegas for a night with dad and Cindy.  We didn't rush the next morning, and it was wonderful to spend some time with my dad before getting back on the road.  Here's the sunset in Vegas as we were arriving.

We have returned "home" to California, and are settling back in, once and for all (for now). Exhausted from travels and overwhelmed by all that has transpired for us in the past several weeks, we have agreed to stay put for a while and get acquainted with our new community.  We have rested and caught up now with our weekend duties and chores, and are ready to take in all that California has to offer.