The dorks on the block!

For all of you who have come to our house, you know how ridiculous our fence looks. Since I moved into our little house in March 2007, our landlord has said she would be replacing the broken down fence. But whenever I ask her about it, she gets mad and says when she gets money she will do it. A year ago, a section of it blew away, and her idea of fixing it was to nail a piece of plywood over it.

I thought our fence could not get any worse, until we drove home last night and saw this!


You have got to be kidding me! She attached a new section of fence, that she must have had left over from the front. Besides it being WAY taller than the rest, she didn't even bother taking off the old piece of plywood! I couldn't stop laughing when I saw it because it looked so ridiculous. But this morning it is just embarrassing!

Jose's grandpa offered to help us fix it this weekend, and we said no, it is the landlord's responsibility. Oops! I don't know why after all this time she decided to fix the fence (if you can call this "fixing").

Oh well, hopefully we won't have to deal with it much longer. I'm not going to get my hopes up by telling you about a certain something we may have put an offer in. Nope, I'm going to keep my mouth shut this time and not mention the big, beautiful home we may be the highest bidder on...

Jose's Facial Hair take 2

In January, I convinced Jose to grow out his goatee. In June (see blog post) he had to shave it off for an interview with Santa Maria P.D. He didn't get the job (but he was one of 5 who got an interview out of almost 100 who took the test), so he grew it back out. This past week he decided to shave it off again, and have some fun. Last time he shaved off the goatee part, and left the mustache. This time he did the opposite "Joey Duggan style".

Time has flown and he has grown!

I have long since faced the fact that I am done growing, well at least up. I knew at one point in his life my nephew, Eddie Jr., would out grow me. But at 14 he has already past me! And he gets bigger every time I see him! Not only is he physically growing, he has also grown into a very smart and respectful young man! I am so proud of him! When I was in high school my sister, Emma, would take him and my very beautiful niece Adriana (I am proud of you too) to every one of my football games and wrestling tournaments. I remember this little guy always looking up to me and being so proud of me after my games. He would feel so cool going out onto the field after our games. He and Adriana would always be painted up, wearing blue and gold cheering on their favorite uncle! (For a while all they had was six uncles!)

As the years past and Eddie Jr. was finally old enough to play something other than soccer, I was so anxious to see how he would do. I was so excited for him and a little nervous that he wouldn’t be good the first time I went and watched one of his games. Not that being good and winning is the most important thing, but it sure makes it a lot easier to watch. Did I have reason to be nervous? Of course not, he had watched his uncle play in lots of football games and definitely modeled his game after me! He was good! He was not always on the best team, but he was always a leader on the field.

Now this not so little kid is in high school! Wow how time flies! And things have not changed, I still get excited and nervous before his games. But he continues to impress me and I continue to be proud of him. Yes he is good at every sport he plays; football, baseball, basketball, and even volleyball. But what impresses me most about him is his awesome attitude and how well he does in school. He is a very motivated person and I know he will be great at whatever he does in life.

Emma and Eddie, you guys have done an awesome job raising both your kids. Adriana I am very proud of you too! I can’t believe you are graduating high school next year! I love you guys!

Bring on the rain

“I can count a million times
People asking me how I
Can praise You with all that I've gone through
The question just amazes me
Can circumstances possibly
Change who I forever am in You”

I’ve been thinking about these lyrics from a Mercy Me song a lot recently, and have tried writing this blog for a couple of weeks. As I was wasting time at work, I found a link to a blog (your not surprised are you?) of a family who lost their child shortly after birth. I was amazed, actually in awe, of the strength this family shared through their blog, and their unwavering faith in Christ. Connected to this blog was a series of other family’s blogs with similar stories of their children being born with Trisomy 18, a disease that is considered “incompatible with life.”

Jose was getting nervous with my obsession of reading the stories of T18 because they seemed depressing (and I don’t think he wants me dreading this when we decide to have children). But the truth is, even in these mother’s descriptions of their enormous grief, they are positive stories! The faith they have in Jesus, the trust they have in the Lord’s unfailing plan, and the hope they have in the promise of Heaven is challenging to me!

I am so blessed that I have not had to go through loss like they have. For whatever reason, so far God has given me a life free from huge trial. I am sure that won’t always be the case, but I pray and trust that when I am faced with a choice to give up or look up, I will be able to say “I am Yours regardless of The dark clouds that may loom above Because You are much greater than my pain,” (mercy me says it much better than I could).

In light of reflecting on this topic, we learned yesterday as my mom was waiting for my grandma to come out of surgery, that my grandpa’s kidneys have failed and he will need dialysis if he wants to live more than a year. My poor mom has two parents to worry about! But the weird thing is it didn’t surprise me. I had been praying that when grief hits my family that we would be examples of praising God through the rain. I’ll be more careful about what I pray for from now on!

“And I know there'll be days
When this life brings me pain
But if that's what it takes to praise You
Jesus, bring the rain”

#10 Best thing about working with my husband...

Not having to tell him about my day (because he already knows)!

I don't even know what #1-9 best things are, but I know they exist (like getting to see him all the time!).

Yesterday I was out on an immediate call all afternoon, trying to figure out who made a 1 year old's butt black, blue and green (turns out it may be a sort of birthmark), and didn't see Jose. We went home separately, and he went to his nephew Eddie's football game. We met at 7:30 at his grandparent's house for dinner. It wasn't until we were in bed that we had a chance to talk about the stressful afternoon I had. We were both so tired I think we fell asleep during my explanation. Normally we talk about it when I get back to the office, or on our way home. I didn't like waiting until the evening. And that is why I like working with Jose!

Chuck E Cheese

Jose and I love spending time with Jose’s little cousins Anastasia and Danica. They are the sweetest little girls, and I think they like us too! For months Anastasia has been talking about her birthday and party at Chuck E. Cheese. I kept feeling bad for her because the day was so far away and she had a long time to wait. I can’t believe how fast time flies (probably not for her) because now the day has come and gone.

She was very happy and excited, but I think the whole thing kind of overwhelmed her! So much attention!



Jose's niece and more second cousins doing the robot with Chuck E.

Starting to Love the Fall!

I always thought fall was my least favorite season. Mostly because I love spring colors and the clean, cool air, vacations and tans in the summer, and Christmastime and cold weather much better. And since I hate the color orange I sort of assumed that meant I couldn't like fall. But I have realized in the past weeks that an orange t-shirt is not the same as a big orange pumpkin or orange leaves on the ground. I can still dislike the t-shirt, but the orange in nature is beautiful!

So with my new discovery of liking orange (at least for some things), I realized I love the fall! In fact for the first time I have decorated my house with fall colors and spicy scented candles. I even changed out our Glade plug-ins for a fall-ish scent of apples and cinnamon.

Last year I dreaded the fall and the cold weather that was coming, because I was worried about our November outdoor wedding (seriously, who plans an outdoor November wedding?!), but this year I say bring it on! I’m ready to bust out my sweaters, turn the fireplace on, and cuddle on the couch with a blanket, book, and my husband!

In keeping with my sudden love of fall, Jose and I went to Avila Valley Barn. We only stayed long enough to pick out our cute, tiny pumpkins, buy fresh squeezed apple juice, eat homemade pumpkin ice cream, and walk through the hay maze.(By the way, I won’t go through the maze ever again. Thank God for the kid who helped us get out because I thought I was going to have my first ever anxiety attack if I didn’t get out of the stuffy, claustrophobic nightmare soon!).

To complete our Fall weekend, we (at least Jose) watched football (GO CHARGERS!!) while I made two kinds of pumpkin cookies. Yum! In case I haven’t mentioned it, I love the fall!

Jose's Wisdom Teeth removal

This past week Jose took his turn to get his wisdom teeth pulled. Our experiences couldn’t be more different! When I awoke from the anesthesia, all I wanted to do was go back to sleep. I was compliant and calm. Jose on the other hand, greeted me with a funny smile and a thumbs up when I walked in to the operating room.



Apparently he asked the nurse for a piece of paper to write the question “Did I say anything dumb?” but instead only wrote scribbles. He then attempted to tell the nurse that he didn’t need a wheelchair. They forced him to be pushed out in a wheelchair, because even though he thought he was fine, he was wobbly and unsteady! I couldn’t stop giggling when I saw him! Part of it is I giggle when I’m nervous, but the other part was he was so funny!

We drove off to get his medications, and he attempted to talk to me the whole way. I felt bad laughing at him, but I couldn’t help it! His mouth was stuffed with gauze so everything sounded like he was saying “Waa wa, waaa wa, wa wa.” I dropped him off at my parent’s house so I could go get the prescriptions. Once there he insisted he needed to drink water. His mouth was very numb and stuffed with bloody gauze, so the majority of the water (if not all) proceeded to come out of his forced open mouth. His shirt was soaked, water (bloody water) was on the floor, and then he coughed and sprayed water everywhere. You would think he would learn the first time, but he tried it again in the bathroom. I had just finished wiping up the living room water mishap, and now I was doing the same in the bathroom! (And I left out the kitchen sink incident too!). I don’t do to well with blood, so this was a challenge.

The funniest thing is he thought he was completely lucid and capable, but he was bumping into everything. As I was walking out the door he begin making weird burping noises, so we gave him a trashcan (in case he puked) and left him to sleep.

When we returned, his burping noises had not stopped! Turns out they were hiccups, and would stay with him for FIVE days! I don’t know about you, but I hate the hiccups even if they last for 5 minutes. Imagine four days of incessant hiccups! Poor Jose got the ab workout of his life, and also a raw throat and very swollen face (from clenching down).
On top of that he couldn’t sleep for days (except for short times when the Vicodin overcame him), and I couldn’t sleep either because he shook the bed with each hiccup. We tried every remedy we could think of. Even his family tried helping. His grandpa came over and out of nowhere tried scaring Jose (I was the only one who jumped), and his sister called asking Jose about a made up conversation she said they had in attempt to distract him. It only made him think he was crazy for not remembering, and did nothing to help the hiccups.

One night when we couldn’t take it anymore, I searched the internet and found that hiccups are a rare post operative, an effect of inflammation in his throat. His doctor didn’t care, and said to wait until they go away. Finally yesterday, five days after surgery, the hiccups went away.

Joey and Katie

I recently wrote about checking out blogs all the time and reading their friends blogs. I'm not the only one! My husband does the same thing (come to find out), and in a series of following links, found a blog of some great friends of ours. In his words this is how it happened:

"Look what I found! I went off the Connely's blog to another one then saw a name I knew and clicked on that blog and on that page there was a link to the Hill's blog!"

Tell me that we are not crazy!

But crazy or not, I am so happy that we have found the Hill's blog because Joey and Katie have played a HUGE role in our lives, and in Jose coming to know the Lord. As we were reading their blog, we came to their November post and it was about us! Check it out
http://joeyandkatie.blogspot.com/2007/12/marlene-jose.html

It is a funny, exciting feeling to discover a blog that we are mentioned in. But it has only reinforced my love for blog stalking.

It also definitely reminded me how much Jose and I need to make an effort to keep in touch with Joey and Katie.

By the way, my wedding flowers were AMAZING, and exceeded my expecations. And I didn't know the large vine ball that is still in our house used to be a pumkin!