One of the Greatest Men I've Ever Known

Tom Brokaw called them the "Greatest Generation".  I just called him Papa.  Grandparents always hold a special place in our hearts and I was truly blessed to have four wonderful ones.  My Papa was a great man.  There are so many stories I could tell of how I will remember him. 

From having popsicles stocked in the freezer non-stop for all of us grandkids to passing out packets of Teddy Grahams that he got from the Wilkinson Center, my Papa was a very giving man.  He would do about anything for us grandkids.  I loved sitting and listening to his stories.  He was a paratrooper in World War II and was awarded a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star for his service.  I've always wanted to skydive, just so I could experience the same feeling that he did, minus of course, the getting shot at while you float down.  He never did speak a lot about what happened in World War II, but the little that he did open up about, I knew he experienced much more than I can ever imagine. 

He also was a great father and husband. Papa and Mema set an amazing Godly example of what a marriage and family should be like.  I'll never forget when my grandmother died.  Papa stayed by her bed at the hospice house day in and day out.  The staff took good care of him during that time, bringing him meals (even though they weren't suppose to) and checking on him almost as much as her.  In a way, I think it is fitting that Papa passed away at the same hospice facility. 

Papa lived a full life. He served his country as a soldier.  He worked for the U.S. Postal Service.  He was married for over 50 years and had three children.  He was a grandfather and a great-grandfather.   He was kind and loving.  He was funny and always had a joke and would try to make you laugh.  

Tonight, my Papa is having a reunion.  He has been reunited with his beloved wife.  He has been reunited with many members of his family.  He has been reunited with his fallen comrades, who served with him defending this country on the battlefields of France. 

Papa, you will always be my hero, and I hope that I can become half the man that you were.

Rest in peace, J.T. Brown and enjoy the celebration.  Oh, and I bet he is passing out those packets of Teddy Grahams to any angel that passes...

Thanksgiving

Over the Thanksgiving break, Megan and I originally were trying to figure out what we were going to do.  For the past few years, we had always hosted our families' thanksgiving dinner at the parsonage.  Throw in the traditions that we had with the youth, I think I can say we were both not looking forward to a Thanksgiving without a big meal and spending time with family. 

When we first moved out here, Megan mentioned that she had some "family" that lived out in California, but more central/northern California.  When they found out that we were not going back east for Thanksgiving, they invited us up to spend Thanksgiving with their family.  Now, even after hearing it explained several times, I'm still not exactly sure how Megan is related to the Bell's... but we will just go with the fact that they are somehow related.

We decided to make a trip out of it, instead of just going up for Thanksgiving dinner.  The Bell's live in Galt, CA, which is like an hour and a half from San Francisco.  On the way up, we were going to stop at Sequoia and King's Canyon National Park.  This is where the huge redwood trees are, and there is a connecting road that makes it a three hour drive.  We headed off, and as we approached the park, we found out that the connecting road was closed due to snow.  We also didn't have any tire chains, so we couldn't even go into Sequoia at all.  The trip was not getting off to a good start. 

Thanksgiving at the Bell's was great.  The food was great, the fellowship was great.  There is nothing like a holiday get-together spending time with new people and enjoying each other's company.  Megan got a chance to catch up with some of her "family" that she hadn't seen in almost ten years.  I'm glad we had the chance to go, and who knows, if we can't go back east next year, maybe we'll get the opportunity to head back up there.

After we left the Bell's, we headed to San Francisco for three days.  San Francisco is a very cool city.  We tried to cram as much in that short time as we could.  Friday we got up early and rode the trolley down to the Fisherman's Wharf.  We walked around there and went to Ghiardelli Square.  We then took a bay cruise and rode around Alcatraz and under the Golden Gate Bridge.   One of the most memorable parts of the day was at lunch.  We ate at one of the seafood stands at Fisherman's Wharf.  Megan must have been waiving her shrimp around a little too much, because a sea gull came down and stole a shrimp right out of her hand! Very funny for me to watch, probably a little scary for her... when SEA GULLS ATTACK! 

Not Megan...just a representation of the "attack".

We then decided we would walk around the city and see some of the other sights.  Word of warning for those who might want to do that... San Francisco is EXTREMELY hilly.  We walked forever trying to find a street up to Coit Tower, only to find out when we got up there that it was closed for maintenance.  We then walked over to Lombard Street. ("the crookedest street in the world").  We then hopped on a trolley and headed back to the hotel.  We decided to drive over the Golden Gate Bridge and head over to Sausilito.  A very cool little town right on the other side of the bay.  Great views of San Francisco at night.

Saturday was a rainy day, so we tried to do things that were more indoors.  In the morning, we headed out to the Golden Gate State Park and went to the California Academy of Sciences and the DeYoung Museum. We then drove around the park for a little bit, and then the sun came out surprisingly.  We then decided to drive down the Pacific Coast Highway and "beach hop".  There are some stunningly beautiful beaches all up and down the San Francisco area.  Once we returned to the hotel, we decided to walk through Chinatown and headed to eat at a GREAT restaurant, the Franciscan down at Fisherman's Wharf.  It is a little pricey, but the food was amazing.

Sunday morning, we got up and headed out for our trip to tour Alcatraz.  Alcatraz was an interesting tour, partly because of its place in American lore.  There is just something about Alcatraz that forces everyone to think of something.  Once we got back to San Francisco, we headed back home.  What should have been about a six hour drive, turned into a nine hour drive.  However, it was a great trip, and we can cross off one of the places that we wanted to go while we are on the west coast!  Hopefully, we'll be able to cross a few more off in the upcoming year.

Huntington Dog Beach

One of the advantages of living in Southern California is the weather.  Even into November, we were still averaging mid 70s and still relatively no rain.  We heard a lot of the beaches around here were dog friendly, and since Mo had never been to the ocean, we figured this was an experience that we had to try.

From my perspective, I wanted to see how Mo would act, not only around a lot of other dogs, but with the waves.  I thought it would be a fairly humorous experience at the least, and was willing to tag along.  The beaches in general are only about 30-45 minutes away, so it's not too bad of a drive.

When we arrived, Mo was so excited, but you could tell he wasn't sure how he was suppose to handle the sand.  He loved seeing the other dogs, but there were some HUGE dogs there, and while he loved looking, he wasn't crazy about getting too close.  Most dogs there were off the leash, but being Mo's first trip, we decided to leave him on.  He loved running around in the sand, but wasn't crazy about the incoming waves. 

After some time on the beach, we walked along the beach for about an hour and watched the sunset.  It was a great trip, and one hopefully we will make again in the near future.  Maybe this time we will let Mo off the leash.

Apartment Photos (Before and After)

BEFORE THE UNPACKING

Kitchen

Office/Dining Room Area

Megan hard at work.

Bathroom Sink Area

Closet Area

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Bedroom (Wall of Boxes)

Bedroom (Obviously)

Balcony

Other half of the Balcony

Middle of Balcony (It really is huge... we got lucky in that aspect)

AFTER THE UNPACKING

Living Room and Office

Kitchen

Bathroom

Living Room (TV looks good...too bad we still have no cable)

Bedroom

Bedroom (Other Wall)

Balcony

Pieces Coming Together

Friday was an all around good day! Chris had his first job interview with Vineyard Christian School and has another interview at Riverside Polytechnic High School on Monday (I’ll let him give you the details). We also, finally, got our IKEA items (see the pictures below) and our fridge (pictures also below)! And we were finally able to do some grocery shopping!

Here are all the IKEA boxes...I like their stuff, but be prepared to spend "hours" piecing it all together!

The completed sleeper sofa.  The bottom pulls out to make a full size sleeping area.  So we now have a place for visitors to sleep.

The completed bookshelf and desk.  We turned the dining room into an "office", since we don't have a table of any kind.

We can finally buy groceries..which we did.  Megan has turned into quite the bargain shopper.  Even though we went to four total grocery stores, we saved around $100 total!  Gotta love coupons!

As if that isn’t enough good news . . . We also received our first package today (see photo’s below) from our favorite group of teenagers and their leaders (i.e. Dena and Jenna)!

The box was a little beat up, but Mo knew right away that something in there belonged to him.

The package included a homemade card, Blitz Week video, some cute decorative items: a door hanger, tea light holder, and tea lights (from my favorite: Yankee Candle). There were also t-shirts for Chris and me: pink Carolina Girl for me (glad to know it is official---the South Carolinians will claim me), orange Clemson for him! And there was even a little something for Mo! He sniffed it out WAY before we opened the package! I just assumed he smelled familiar people on the box . . . Wrong.

We miss you all too!

We all LOVE, LOVE, LOVE our surprises! Thank you so much for thinking of us! We definitely did not expect it! It topped off an already fabulous day and made me think of and really, really, really miss you all! Now, if only our other belongings would arrive!

All of our great gifts!  Thanks everyone! And Mo loved the bone...

P.S. I loved the Blitz Week video! The carousel pictures on bowling night were fantastic and I cannot believe McKenlee got in the big ball spinney-thing at Funtasia (I must know--did he throw up)?

--Megan

Back to the Future

Today, Megan and I finally returned back to the future... well, at least the present day.  We have been without Internet/TV for almost a week now.  It is extremely weird being in a new place, with no access to any news, information, etc.  It is easy to forget how much of a luxury the Internet has become for us in our daily lives.  If we need an address, phone number or directions, most of our first thoughts today is simply to "Google" it.  After much trouble, we finally have our Internet installed and operational.  We have decided to forgo cable, at least for the foreseeable future simply to save money. 

We have moved into our apartment, which would have been much more exciting, except our stuff still won't arrive until Friday or Saturday.  That is also the day that our fridge and furniture from IKEA that we ordered will arrive.  So until then, we sit and wait in our empty apartment.  I have been flying through the seasons of West Wing, since there was little else to do, and Megan and I have watched a few movies as well.

We visited a new church on Sunday, Green Hills Baptist Church in La Habra, CA.  It was nice, and much bigger than Redeemer.  With the size, you lose the friendliness that Redeemer had, but I think Green Hills has a youth department.  It feels so weird to go to a church on Sunday and not be involved with youth.  To add to that, Chesnee started back to school. 

I miss interacting on a daily basis with teenagers. 

As weird as that may seem to some people, for the past three years teenagers have been my life.  I interacted with the students from Chesnee from Monday to Friday, and a lot of Saturdays, and the youth from New Pleasant on Wednesdays and Sundays, and during the summer, a lot of other nights too.  It is a hard void to replace.

Megan and I also joke that this whole area looks like it was built in the 1970s.  Many of the buildings and houses look like they came off an episode of That 70s Show, just a version located in California instead of Wisconsin.  We are still trying to get adjusted to the differences in lifestyles.  We thank everyone that has continued to pray for us.

Here are a few specific prayer request that we have for anyone interested:

1) A job opportunity.
2) Make friends with other young couples.
3) Megan's course work starting next week.
4) Finding a church home.

I'll include pictures of our apartment below... Love and miss everyone from back home!

Our Kitchen... Gas Stove, Dishwasher, and a big Pantry cabinet.

Having to do without a fridge for a week is harder than it may seem.

Sink area of the bathroom.  Right around the corner is a pretty large closet.

Shower and toilet... the vent in there works great! No steam at all after showers.

Bedroom empty with access to the large balcony.

Bedroom with our air mattress that we purchased. Notice Mo has no trouble sleeping on the air mattress.

Megan in the living room sitting in our "softball chairs".  The coffee table is something we bought at IKEA.  We had to purchase that at the store... they wouldn't ship it with the rest of the order.

The large balcony.  It really is huge.  As nice as it has been, as soon as I get a job, we'll get a table and chairs for out here, and this will be our dining room.