I have been struggling lately with change. Over the past year we have made some significant changes in our lives. Ever since I was a child I have feared change, worried about what was to come and just wanted things to stay the same. I know that change can be good and that everything needs to change at one point or another. But lately it seems like everything is happening at once, and I just can't take it all in. I know the Lord is working on my heart and that I need to put ALL my trust in Him, but that doesn't mean that it's easy. Here are a few of the changes that have been going on in my life...
* Daniel and I moved. While it has been an exciting thing and we have truly seen God's hand in moving us out of our condo and into our new home, i have still struggled with being in a new place. I love our home and I am so glad to have all the space. But it's the little things, like being in a different part of town, shopping at different stores and being further away from my mom and our church. I love that we have more room and a yard. But i wasn't really ready to leave our condo and still miss living there sometimes.
* Our friends Jesse and Sherry moved away, far away. Jesse had been the pastor at our church and both Jesse and Sherry were close friends. The lose of there companionship was devastating.
* Also along with Jesse leaving the church there has been many changes to our little church. It is hard to see so much change at the church in such a short amount of time. It seems like a completely different church, and I am struggle to see where I fit in or if i fit in at all anymore. I feel left out and unwanted and am extremely hurt by all the changes that have accrued in such a short amount of time.
* Sienna started preschool, which is a wonderful thing and I have enjoyed watching her get more independant. However it is a reminder that my baby isn't a baby anymore. Man, kids grow up too fast. It seems like yesterday she was just a tiny little baby. But now she is a very independant little girl, who is learning all kinds of new things. I sometimes feel like she doesn't need me anymore.
* I started my own business. Which has been a dream of mine. I love photography and I love getting paid to do it. However it is work and I am adjusting to having to take time away from Sienna to do photo shoots and edit photo's. I love what I do, but the mommy in me feels like I am taking something away from Sienna by starting this business. It seems silly i know, but I want both, to be a stay at home mom and a successful photographer. I just don't know how to completely do both well, I guess.
* This year we will be saying good bye to the majoriaty of our youth group kids. All but two will be graduating and this is heavy on my heart. Although they are not my children, they feel like it to me. I have known most of them for at least 5 years and have gotten to watch them grow in their walk with Christ and become wonderful and generious young adults. With every youth event I am reminded that they won't be here this time next year. And I just don't know what it will be like to come to youth group and not see them there anymore.
* Daniel and I work at a camp every summer with a big group of teenagers. We have loved serving there and look forward to it every year. This year will be a little differnt, because we will be combining our teen camp with a kids camp. I know the Lord is going to do some great stuff while we are all at camp together. But again here is another change! I have been going to this camp since i was in the 5th grade and have loved it just the way it is. And now to be there when everything is changing is strange.
There is a lot more smaller things that have changed in our lives, that I won't bore you with right now. It just seems like everything is changing, and that is a very scary feeling. It seems almost nothing in my life is as it was a year ago, and that is just crazy to me. However I am blessed to still be loved by an amazing man and have my beautiful daughter. But if you could pray for me that would be wonderful. I feel like I am losing my mind sometimes with all these changes and I am hoping and praying the the waves of change will calm down soon. I know it is all in God's hands, I just need to continue to trust Him with my life. Thanks for letting me just get this all out, sometimes just writing it all down helps me to move on and get over thigns. Maybe it's a big step in the right direction. hehe!
Before we did our lesson I had a little game for all of us to play. It's called the human knot, however my version has a little twist. I had two of the kids leave the room, mean while everyone else formed a circle and the held hands with two differnt people across from them, forming a human knot that they needed to get out of. Now here is my twist the two kids who were out of the room return, it is their job to tell the group how to get out of the knot, however one of them would be telling them the right way to get out and the other will be trying to make the knot worse. The group had to deside who to listen to and sometimes it was really hard to figure out who was trying to lead you astray. The kids loved the game and we played it at least 3 times, each time changing the people who gave directions. This game went really well with what we were reading in Ecclesiastes 7, about who we listen to. Satan want to lead us in the wrong direction, it is our job to seek and find God's voice. To listen to HIm as He guilds us the way He wants us to go. Each and every week we are digging deeper into the book of Ecclesiastes and I have to say I am getting a lot out of it. And it is amazing how much the kids are getting out of it and the great questions they are asking. The Lord is good and is blessing all of us as we study His word. Take sometime day and read along with us!
Today I took my sister Cristal out for her Birthday, which isn't until Thursday but it's ok. We always spend Tuesday together, so I wanted to make this Tuesday special. Cristal loves Sushi and I have never tried it before, so I took her to one of her favorite sushi places called Bistro Ka and had her order whatever she liked. Then I would be brave and try something new. By the way I don't even like cooked fish, but i wanted to try something different with Cristal on her birthday. Once we were seated at the table we were given yummy edamame, which were perfectly salty and delicious! We had pot stickers to start, I have had these before, and they were good! Then we ate a Crunchy Roll (sorta like a California Roll), and then something called a Ka Special. Everything was pretty good, I was surprised how much i enjoyed the Crunchy Roll, i would most defiantly get that again. It was so much fun having a new experience with Cristal. I hope she enjoyed her birthday gift and lunch.
Cristal, I love you so much! You are such a fun person to be with, and I love that we make each other try new and different things. You are a amazing person, and I thank God for you!
After the zoo we went out for a late lunch or maybe it was a early dinner, I don't know, but we were hungry. So we went to El Indio an AMAZING Mexican restaurant in San Diego. We had seen it featured on an episode of Diner's Drive-In's and Dives, and knew if we ever went to San Diego we would have to go there. Well the food was spectacular! I ordered carnita's taco's , Daniel got carna asada taco's,and we shared and chicken taquito's. The home made tortilla's were the best ever and the meats were all seasoned perfectly. I wanted to lick my plate when i was done, it was so good!
And the service was amazing. We had the privilege of meeting the owner Ralph Pesqueira Jr., he was warm and inviting and loved that I was taking photo's of the food. He even brought over some more food for us to try, free of charge. I would HIGHLY recamend going to El Indio. You will love it. It is the BEST mexican food I have ever eaten, so make sure the next time your in San Diego, to drive on over to El Indio, you will not regret it!
It was sad to leave and go home. I so wish we could have stayed another day. Our little vacation was wonderful and relaxing. It made me feel refreshed and renewed. I have decided we need to get away like this a little more often. Good Bye San Diego, we had so much fun!
I had forgotten to tell you in my last zoo post that we were given two, two day passes to the San Diego Zoo. So we were able to go twice during our vacation and for FREE! Thank you mom! So today we went to the zoo for a little bit before we headed home. It was much colder and more cloudy today then yesterday, so some of the animals where inside. However we got to see several animals we had missed the first day and were also able to see our favorites one more time.
I have decided to make Sienna a picture book from photo's i took on this trip. It's going to be a guessing book, with really close up photo's of the animals fur or skin and then you have to guess which animal it is. Then on the next page there will be a pictures of that animal. I think I have seen books like this before, but i like the idea of making one with the photo's i took of the animals we saw.
All in all I loved the Zoo, and wish we lived closer, because i would love to have a year round pass to go whenever I wanted. I could just sit there all day watching the animals. But I hope we can make another trip down in the not so distant future. Good bye zoo, we had a great time!
Funny thing, my sister Cristal and her family were also in San Diego this weekend. However they had come down to go to Motocross. We had planned to meet up at least once while on this trip, so today we all went to Balboa Park for the early afternoon and enjoyed the carousel. Sienna had never been on one before and I thought she would love it. Well at first she wasn't super excited about it, but by the end she was having fun. I love experiencing things with Sienna, even though i have been on a carousel many times, it felt like the first time because it was with her. I loved getting to see my big siter while on our trip. It's to bad we didn't get to have more time together. However I know Sienna loved getting to see her Uncle Jeff, Aunt Cristal and her Joshy boy. Love you guys!
Daniel and I love to watch the show "Diner's, Drive- in's and Dives" on Food Network. So we researched all the places from that show in San Diego. We are only able to go to two, but we hope to check out more another time. Well this morning we headed over to the Studio Diner, to have breakfast. The restaurant is an old train car, so it looked really cool both on the outside and the inside. We enjoyed yummy milk shakes first. I know it's the morning, but hey, we're on vacation! hehe! Then we got our food, I ordered Eggs Benedict, my favorite, and Daniel and Sienna got pancakes. Both Sienna and Daniel enjoyed their pancakes, however i really did not like my Eggs Benedict. The eggs were way over cooked and the hollandaise had no flavor. I was very disappointed. Nonetheless it was a fun experiance, but i wouldn't recamend this place for breakfast, maybe their lunch and dinner menu is better.
Today is Valentine's Day, and it also marks the nine year anniversary of when Daniel and I started dating. I just can't believe that nine years have past. So much has happened and so much has changed. Nine years ago I was sixteen years old and I had a major crush on my best friend. How amazing it was to find out he liked me as well. And now here we are nine years later, married with a beautiful daughter. I love Daniel Milner with all of my heart. He is the man God created for me, I am beyond blessed to have him as my husband and proud to call him my best friend.
Thank you Daniel for always loving me. You are amazing and a gift from God, with out you my heart wouldn't be whole. Happy Valentine's Day my love!
I love animals! And today we all went to the World Famous San Diego Zoo! I had never been there before, and man oh man, it was AMAZING! We had expected rain, however we got a stunning day, cool air and beautiful sunshine. All the animals were out and loving the awesome day. Sienna loved every second of the day spent at the zoo. She would tell us the names of the animals and make the sound that they made. She was also a very big girl, walking the entire day, not needing a stroller at all.
Daniel and I's favorite part of the day was watching the Gorilla's. It was amazing just being so close to them. I could have sat there all day. Sienna loved watching the two baby gorilla's, and thought they were silly. It was extraordinary how many baby animals there were at the zoo. Not only were there baby gorilla's, but two tiger cubs, one baby panda bear, two baby giraffes, and one baby koala bear. Sienna loved the Panda Bears, she thought they were pretty and was proud to tell us that they were black and white. She's is learning her colors and getting really good at it. She also got to pick out a stuffed animal at the gift shop and of course she picked a little panda, she has named it "Pandi", they are very cute together!
The San Diego Zoo is a indescribable place. I have been to the LA Zoo several times and it is nothing like the San Diego Zoo. It feels like you are right there with the animals, like you are watching them in the wild. It really made me in awe of all God has created, and I praise Him for all the diverse creatures He has made! If you ever come to California or live in southern California, you need to go to the San Diego Zoo. It is worth the trip, really! A once in a life time experience. I really really hope we can go back when we have more children.
Today Daniel, Sienna and I left for our first ever family vacation. It is also Daniel and I's first vacation in over five years. Yeah. it's been a long time. We started out our day driving down to San Diego. We were all so excited for a fun and relaxing weekend. Until some where around down town LA we rear ended a truck. It had been raining and the freeway was really slippery and the truck stopped real fast. There was just no where else for Daniel to go. Everything was ok on the truck, but we have a pretty good size hole in our bumper. Daniel and I were fine, however Sienna had been cut on her neck my her seat belt. So she was a little upset and kept telling Daniel to , "drive careful". By the time we made it down to San Diego we all just wanted to spend the day in our hotel room watching movies. And that's what we did. Even though it was a rough start to our vacation, I enjoyed the down time with just Sienna and Daniel. Maybe tomorrow will be better.
