Having Faith

Having faith can be very hard.  Trusting that someone has things under control even when you feel like things are spiraling out of control or seem hopeless can be a very hard thing to do.  Even when time and time again things work out, it’s still hard to remember that they always work out, and that they’ll work out this time too.  That’s something I’ve struggled with a lot in the past six months, but everything up to this point has worked out.  It might not have been my timeline but it’s worked out and for that I’m so thankful.  Having faith can be a hard thing though.

I was so excited when we started car shopping before my 16^th birthday.  I had saved money and we had a budget.  I was going to get the most amazing car ever.  Then I saw what my money could buy and my hopes became a little less high.  We looked at so many different dealerships and nothing stood out.  Everything we found was too much or in bad shape or something or other.  I was convinced that I wouldn’t find a car when I turned 16.  I imagined myself an old woman with no car still.  After a couple months we took a trip to a dealership a couple hours away.  I was so frustrated and beginning to think we should just stop looking for awhile.  That’s when I saw it, a purple car I fell in love with AND it had a sunroof.  I hadn’t even dreamed of a sunroof!  I was ecstatic.  We negotiated and long story short, I drove that car to school the day I turned 16 (after I got the license of course!).

A couple years later I was getting ready to graduate and go to college.  I had dreamt about going to AZ for years although I could never come up with a very concrete reason for that.  I just knew that I wanted to leave my little town and Arizona was the destination I had in mind.  I had worked hard through high school and had hoped for a scholarship.  I was ecstatic the day I got a letter in the mail informing me of my scholarship to ASU.  ASU hadn’t been my first choice of schools in AZ but it had some great benefits and in the end I decided it was the best option for me.  Obviously the move worked out great because it’s where I met Mr. C and I honestly can’t imagine my life without him.   My original choice of schools had been U of A, but then I never would have met Mr. C or so many other people that have touched my life.  Everything worked out, and it was even better than I could have imagined.  Clearly someone was guiding me. 

When I approached my college graduation, I job searched for months.  I actually had a white board with every place I had applied at written down.  It began as a way to keep track of where I had applied, however after time I began to refer to it as “the rejection board”.  From time to time, I’d look at that and feel sorry for myself and worry about what I was going to do once I graduated.  I wanted a job in the design field so bad but it just wasn’t working out.  I ended up getting a full time spot at the place I had worked at through college.  I loved the office, the people, and I already knew what I was doing so although it wasn’t the high profile design job I may have wanted, it was a job I enjoyed and I think that’s saying a lot.  I was extra grateful when design studios began laying people off and I knew I was safe in my job.  Again, things worked out.  Not in the way I had planned, but so much better.

I come up with weird, random ideas all the time.  There was the time I wanted to move to Chicago and informed Mr. C. of my plan.  He just went along with it, probably hoping it would all blow over soon enough.  It did once I looked at the price of apartments there. 

Somehow I decided one day that I wanted to be a teacher.  I looked into it and found this program that sounded too good to be true where I’d go to school while teaching full-time.  I found a position after the semester had already started; I would be the 3^rd teacher or so to attempt the position.  Things weren’t working out with paperwork and although the school had offered to guide me, especially in the beginning since I had no training, they weren’t really holding up their end of the bargain and I hadn’t even begun yet.  I felt alone, confused, and had no one to help me.  It was so terrible and over in a second.  I had known that something felt wrong from the beginning but I wanted it so bad.  As it turns out; maybe I should have listened to that little voice.  You can only fight so much.  At a certain point God must figure, ok, I’m running out of obstacles and she’s not getting this through her mind.  I’ll give her what she wants and see how long it takes to realize it’s not really the answer she wanted.

So here we are now, at another crossroads.  Waiting to see what happens.  It’s coming down to the wire and I feel like I’m thinking in terms of maybes all the time.  I’m not sure what the plan is for the future but this time it’s so much different.  I’m remembering the times when things worked out, when someone was guiding me and the path was perfect.  This time I’ve learned to let go and trust that it will all be okay, or I’m trying to do this anyhow.  The answer might not be what I want right now, but it might be the unexpected answer I really need.  This time I’m just going with the flow, something that’s not easy for a girl who likes her ducks in a straight little row months ahead of time.   This time I’m recognizing that if it all falls into place, it’s probably meant to be, and if not then that’s probably a sign.  Either way I’m not trying to be the one in control, and not pretending that I have a clue about anything.  This time around I’m clueless and it’s perfectly fine with me because I know that God has big plans for me and will help me figure out where I need to be!

The dramas of shopping with men

Mr. C and I recently took a trip to The Container Store.  If you haven’t been there, The Container Store is simply amazing.  It’s super organized and has the most beautiful closets ever.  Well, they aren’t real closets…they’re samples of how great your closet could look if you shop with them.  It’s almost like heaven for me. 

Mr. C and I talked about selling some of our bedroom furniture we’ve outgrown and getting new stuff that fits in our house when we actually buy a house.  I figured that we should start finding something to keep our clothes in during the transition period between dressers since it’ll be a good 6 months, if not more.  Enter The Container Store. 

We walk into the store and I can already tell that Mr. C is not as excited as I am (shocking I know).  As I begin pointing out all the amazing products in the store he shoots me a look of boredom before asking me to focus and reminding me why we’re there.  What he doesn’t understand is that there might be some amazing product out there I didn’t know about that I could discover on this trip!  We finally find the plastic drawers I had been looking for.  As I examine them and decide which color would be best, he looks at the price ($16.50), gasps, and asks me if I’m crazy.  He then proceeds to tell me that he is NOT paying that much for plastic drawers and he will find his own storage.  To his credit, they were pricey, BUT I checked Target and those were just as bad (Yes, I do know there are more stores than Target)!  We walk down the aisles and search for other options.  Upon finding none, he proudly tells me that he’ll just keep his clothes in crates.  I figure I’ve got him now because I know he is clueless about the price of crates in this store.  I happily offer to walk him to the crates where I point out the $10 price tag.  He does something dramatic again and then turns around to find a $5 tub.  He tells me that he will use these tubs because they’re much more realistically priced.  Unfortunately for him he had failed to realize that those $5 tubs had no lids.  Well, they didn’t have full lids anyhow.  They had little flaps that really only functioned for stacking purposes.  He practically yelled at the top of his lungs, “where’s the rest of the lid?!?”.  At this point the sales people really thought we were weird….and probably figured we were not buying anything.  This conversation officially ended when Mr. C told me he had decided to use the floor because it's FREE.  I'm super looking forward to living in an apartment where the floor is the only means of storage.  Score for me.

We wandered down some more aisles and he stopped to play with the trash cans.  I found one that was motion sensored and told Mr. C that mine was cooler than the one he was currently playing with.  He walked over to argue with me, realized that it was motion sensored and his eyes lit up.  I think he even gasped again.  Every single time we walked by the trash can he had to wave his hand over the motion thing. We walked by at least five more times.  I think three of those times we were walking by just to visit the trash can.  I felt like I was with a toddler.  At least it would be acceptable to put a leash on a toddler though.

I realized then he was not only a lost cause but he was also totally embarrassing me.  I figured it was time to leave and we began walking towards the door.  That’s when I realized he was no longer next to or behind me.  Of course he wasn’t, he was in the bungee chairs bouncing up and down with a huge grin on his face.  Awesome.  I should have known.

Sedona in the Spring and #58

It’s so sad that as I’m writing about our last Sedona getaway I’m thinking that we need another!  Life has been so packed full of things lately that I haven’t had much time for relaxing or even packing for that matter!   Our weekend was wonderful though and I’m so glad we somehow fit it into our packed schedules!

I’m very stingy with my vacation time.  Usually I save it all up for something important, like visiting family in the summer or Christmas.  I have so many people that I miss seeing during the year that I figure if I’m going to go to the work to fly back and spend time with family and friends, I better have lots of time to do it!  I think I can count on one hand the number of days I’ve taken off when I wasn’t going home or to California for an actual vacation.  Mr. C and I picked a weekend to go to Sedona (this time when there would not be snow).  I was so excited and even had it written in my calendar – in permanent marker!  Then I realized that I hadn’t booked the room which was pretty important because I’m not the camping type.  Mr. C called to book and found out we had waited too long because Saturday night wasn’t available anymore.  Eventually we decided to go Friday instead which meant that I’d have to take Friday off (gasp!).  Although I felt guilty since I didn’t really NEED the time, I did it anyhow and I’m so glad I did!

We had a plan this time around and it worked out perfectly!  We drove to Sedona in the morning and arrived around 1, just in time for a picnic!  We had stopped at AJ’s on the way up and picked up a few delicious things which tasted even better than they looked.  We drove up 89A which is a scenic drive along Oak Creek with tons of trees and red rocks in the background.  We got lucky and even found a table for our picnic.  This was very fortunate because I forgot to bring a blanket in my Sedona/picnic excitement.  The food was delicious and we got to enjoy the sounds of the creek as we ate.  Mr. C’s favorite was the mini fruit tarts which he scarfed down pretty quick.

After lunch we continued driving down the windy 89A and found a great spot to stop.  We walked awhile and came to this beautiful spot on the creek.  The water was crystal clear and all we could hear was the sound of the creek. 


Mr. C got a little crazy with the camera and took about a million pictures.  I got a few in :)

We headed to our B & B and checked in so we could wander around for awhile before dinner.   We stayed at the same one as last time and it was just as nice as I remembered.  We sat outside for awhile and had planned to watch the sunset but the clouds apparently didn’t agree with our plans.  We were able to spot some ducks though and enjoyed the creek.  Here’s the beautiful view we saw from our patio. Unfortunately I couldn’t capture the sound of the creek to put online! 

We had another delicious home cooked breakfast the next morning and after checking out we spent some time at the art galleries picking out the art we’d buy when (not if, WHEN) we win the lottery someday.  We finished our trip uptown at the ice cream shop where we were mistaken for locals.   We were both pretty excited we didn’t look like the fanny-pack toting tourists! 

Now I’m just dreaming of going back…  Fall would be beautiful but we’ll see what’s in store for us in the next few months!

The Science Center is NOT just for nerds!

While we were taking the S’s to the airport Monday night, our next set of guests arrived!  My aunt and her 2 grandsons came to stay with us for a few days.  We hadn’t actually seen them since our wedding over three years ago so it was a great surprise that they were able to visit.  Coconut loves kids and was excited too but she looked pretty worn out after playing with the kids all day!  I worked Monday while Mr. C entertained our guests a little bit, but mostly they entertained themselves.  I think they were about the easiest guests we’ve ever had actually! 

I only worked a half-day on Wednesday so we could all spend the afternoon together.  The gang picked me up from work and we headed out for some delicious pizza.  Getting off in the middle of the day is awesome in itself and adding a great lunch of pizza to that just topped the day off!  Might not have been the healthiest choice but it's not like I ate a whole pizza!

Mr. C LOVES the science center but a lot of the exhibits were broken the first time we went.  With the boys here, we thought it would be a fun place to go.  As an added bonus, we were excited to learn that one of the boys especially loves science.  Unfortunately we didn’t really think about the fact that everyone else was taking advantage of spring break and exploring Phoenix’s sights as well so there were a few more people at the Science Center than we had planned.  Even with the crowds we had a wonderful time though and I think we all learned something!  Plus, we got to play around all day and that’s just always fun.

There were a few highlights of the trip and I actually have pictures of most of these!  First up - the planetarium.  I always learn something new and it’s just cool!  Mr. C pretty much always falls asleep during this part and he didn’t break his routine this time.  He probably needed a few minutes of shut-eye though.  There was this little boy during our planetarium show that kept asking (yelling) questions and it would have been annoying but he was just soooo cute!  He was entertaining enough alone to make the planetarium great though!

Mr. C coming out of the slide that made farting sounds...it took a lot of work to talk him into this!

Next would be the exhibit in the body section of the center that looks like a huge nose.  You throw these spongy balls in the nose and it eventually sneezes on you.  That is by far my favorite exhibit in the whole place!  I know sneezing on doesn't SOUND fun, but it really is!  My aunt and I laughed like little girls when it sneezed the balls (buggers) all over.  Mr. C and I need to get one of those for our house!

I'm not sure if this last one was interesting or just weird but we all tried lying on a bed of nails.  It felt….well, weird, but not painful. 

We spent a large majority of our time in this room.  There was a tug-of-war thing going on but the ropes were at two different heights so one side was almost always guaranteed the win.  When we got there, there were 2 little girls competing against a few boys and the girls won.  The girls had no idea it wasn't an even fight, and thought they were so amazing.  Of course we weren't about to burst their bubble.  At points there were kids against adults and it got very serious and competitive!  Mr. C got in there a few times, usually on the side that was slated to lose.  I think he's a sucker for the underdogs.

We finished the day out with a game of Clue which I LOVE but NEVER win!  Per my usual, I lost but it was still fun!  All around we had a great time though and we were pretty lucky to get to spend our spring break with so many people!  Thursday morning our guests continued on their way and that evening Mr. C and I worked super hard at vegging out on the couch.   I can't remember the last time I was so unproductive, but it felt sooooo good!