Reality's a bitch

Im really just fooling myself by posting happy little pictures.
Most things suck right now. (except for my Tahoe vacation and seeing "Rent" on stage) but most things suck, so i often forget that i even got to do that.
Not gonna lie. Just reality.

4 years

Engagement

Marriage

Honeymoon

Building our life


Beginning a Family

Us

This weekend my lovely Bert and I celebrate 4 years of marriage!

first of many pumpkin patch pics

Obviously thrilled about pumpkins

Shout out to Cousin Lil in Canada

Cousin Lil,
Ive been wanting to call you, but my parents wont let me call long distance from their cell phones. While i was out, i found a telephone booth. I wanted to sneak in and call you, however, i cannot even crawl yet! So instead, i got caught and found myself stuck
on this chair!

little man

Forest basically goes everywhere with us. He seems to enjoy himself where ever we go!

being a little man at the coffee shop
Chillin while Robert and I read and talk

Sneaking some coffee (like mother like son)

napping with monkey

Big Boy Now!

Forest turns 3 months old!

We call this his "guardian sloth", because it usually sits on his crib looking down at him.
(this pic was dedicated to Melody)

He also has a forest dwelling creature friend

We went on a family hike yesterday. 4 miles to a waterfall.

As you can see, my dream has finally come true...my child is wearing velour!
I figure, i might as well dress him in velour jump suits while i have the chance.
Now we can be twins. I guess all he needs now is a pair of huge sunglasses....but that could be questionable hahha. (wont happen, dont worry)

Forest is doing great! Hes changing every day. I feel like he'll be 15 before i know it.
He has been talking up a storm (gee, dont know where he gets that from), playing lots, going to the park, taking good naps, and going on random adventures with us. Hes a very happy guy. He also just started laughing. I caught him chuckling with Papa (his great grandpa) the other evening! Turns out he is already teething! Therefore his latest obsession is chewing on his hands. Little guy gets very frustrated though with his painful gums, so hes not always his typical happy little self.

He was so cozy in his velour outfit and snuggling with his sloth, that he fell asleep during his photo shoot....more to come after nap time!

The Bonnie Raitt Secret

While visiting my parents in Alamo this weekend, my mom brought up something I had forgotten.
When i was a young kid, i loved the music artist Bonnie Raite....yes, Bonnie Raitt.
I totally remember my dad making deals with me and using Bonnie Raitt cassette tapes as my incentive. It usually worked. I really wanted those Bonnie Raitt cassette tapes!
I knew every word to every song. I dont remember how old i was, but younger then 10 i think.
Now, here is my little secret. I sometimes listen to "love songs after dark" in my car. (whew, its out in the open now)! Here is my number 2 secret. Now that im almost 26, i still know every word to every Bonnie Raitt song....and she definitely gets played on "love songs after dark". So guess who's in her car belting out a little Bonnie Raite? ME!
Now that im an adult, (hm creepy) i actually take notice of what the lyrics really are and what Bonnie is really singing about. And im realizing how strange it really was for me to be singing some of these songs. hahaha

For example: "turn down the lights, turn down the bed. Turn down these voices inside my head. Lay down with me, tell me no lies....i cant make you love me if you dont. I cant make your heart feel something it wont."

This was always my very favorite song of Bonnie's....still is. But how weird that I was singing those words at like possibly age 7?! HAHA.

Thanks Dad for making Bonnie Raitt deals with me. And thank you for letting me sing all of her songs even though some werent quite age appropriate. And thank you mostly because i can now sing at the top of my lungs every time she comes on radio in my car!

Ok, now im really hoping my favorite song will come on today! And here is the link to it...ENJOY and know that im currently belting it out as i post this.

Shopping with my Dad

This is how I roll.

This morning i thought about my current life. What do we really do each day while being unemployed? This is such a weird feeling. I have always worked. But now i find myself in a place in life where im not working. Well, not "working", as in not getting up with an alarm clock, dressing according to my job and heading out the door with my coffee. Now i dont need an alarm clock because my son wakes me up on time every single morning. I still get to drink coffee, i still get up early, i still feel very busy, (most of the time scattered) and i still get tired by the end of the day.
The only difference is, i get to wear WHATEVER I WANT! And im quickly finding that i naturally gravitate towards a great head wrap, huge sunglasses and whatever clothing that is currently on the floor! I get to create my own schedule....kind of like being my own boss...which i hope to really be one day. So instead of meetings, people looking for me and calling my cell, and having a crammed daily planner; I head off to the park to sit in the shade with my little Forest. The only people calling my cell are my friends, and instead of having a crammed daily planner, I dont even own one at all anymore! The only meetings im attending are day trips to Tahoe, drives to secret lakes and woods, and getting to see family and friends that i havent seen in a long time.

Robert is currently unemployed as most of you know. When he's not busy with odd jobs, and/or looking for a job, he gets to spend tons of time with me and Forest. This has also been a wonderful time for Bert to reflect and take some time for himself. He has been loving the fact that he has time to go running each day, and not to mention brush up on his computer "gaming" skills...(Haha) This has actually been quite nice for us as a family. We are currently staying with Robert's fam up in the Foothills....yes, the great outdoors! I love the nature around us, but must admit it freaks me out a little. Going from the middle of San Francisco to here is quite a shock. We are grateful for our loving family and the time we are spending with them.Though we greatly hope for a career to arise, we are enjoying this rare and special time of being the three of us each day.

God has GREAT plans for us.

Business calls

Have you received a call from Forest lately? It seems that he has been secretly making calls on our cell phones when we arent paying attention! He especially prefers when he reaches your voicemail so that he can ramble as long as he wants. If you havent been one of the lucky few yet, just wait!...im sure youre next on his list!

Trip to Tahoe

We went on a quick Lake Tahoe trip with family. Unfortunately it started to rain so we couldnt get the family picture that we were hoping for. But, we were all there...Dan, Thelma, Kim, Jon, Andrew, Ashleigh, and the three of us.

Forest was excited to hit the road!

Robert's first time in Tahoe

Cup of coffee with Dad while staring into the Tahoe view

Morning fun with cousin Ashleigh in Tahoe.
Ashleigh loves Forest. She often cant resist the urge to squeeze him!
Ashleigh has a hard time saying Forest, so she calls him "Baby Bist".
I dont think "Baby Bist" seems to mind!

The Family Bed

There has been a lot of talk about how a "Family Bed" can be a very healthy thing for a young family to do. This is where the entire family shares just one bed. Its supposed to be even more beneficial if you do this with a new baby. Sounds precious, doesnt it? It first appealed to me mainly because it sounds so natural. And im not gonna lie....it does sound pretty hip!
Then, there are the people who strongly warn others to NEVER do a family bed. I can definitely see these talked about cons to having a Family Bed. Could possibly kill your marriage after the cuteness of having baby sleeping nearby wears off. You could end up rolling onto your child, and other horrendous things.
So, i have met the Family Bed somewhere in the middle. Forest goes to bed in his own crib. But most days, when he wakes up to eat in the night (usually 5 a.m) he gets to come in our bed until we all wake up in the morning. I guess you could say we practice having a morning time family bed.
For now, its pretty enjoyable. Who knows how it will end up in the near future.

I have also realized that having the morning all to myself every once in a while, is another VERY healthy thing. This morning my lovely husband used his current state of unemployment much to my advantage. He took Forest out of the room once they both woke up. I kept sleeping and woke up an hour and half later to a HUGE mug of coffee waiting on my night stand! Lovely!
Surrounded by my down comforter, i sipped my coffee with cream, and watched some cheesy morning tv. I soon discovered that a yoga class was about to begin on the FitTv channel. I rolled out my mat as fast as possible and joined the class! Awesome! I never saw my husband or my son the entire morning....a rare and special treat.

please note: the pic i used is not a very recent one. Forest is slightly chubbier now!

a serious bouncer

Forest takes his bouncer very seriously.

Grandpa Time

Great Grandpa "Papa"

Grandpa Clark

Grandpa Strong


quality time with Ella-Jean (his long distance true love)

meeting Katie

We have been up to a lot lately. Tons more pictures to come!

sneak peek at what Forest is up to!

He has started to smile!

Hammock swing every morning in the mountains before everyone wakes up

nap time with cousin Kaylin

He snuck into cousin Kaylin's crib

A few Pics to tide you over until i get the other pics organized!

We have been all over the place lately. Ill blog soon.

In three days ill be walking away from a community that i fell in love with, became obsessed with, was surrounded by every single day and dreamed about every single night. A community that my brain never stops thinking about even when im removed from it.
Im not sure how to deal with this. Im not sure how to leave the beautiful people of the Tenderloin district behind. Ive seen people walk away before and i have never understood how they can do it.
Now im actually the one walking away....i still dont know how they do it.

Ill be taking a break from blogging while i get settled.

Robert's dream come true.....a miniature of himself!

He's Here!

Forest Isaiah has arrived!

Born Monday, June 29, 2009
6 lbs 6 ounces

Ready to leave the hospital!

Words cannot express how excited we are to have Forest in the world!
This past week has been a wonderful time of hanging out in our robes
and getting to know our son.

Finally a little blogging action!

A few weeks ago i brought my camera to school with me for the day. Its a good thing i did, because that week ended up being my last days of teaching.

It seems like one day i was having fun on the beach and the next day i was in the hospital being told i could not go back to work anymore. Turns out i have a HUGE kidney stone. I spent 4 days in the hospital while they attempted to make me comfortable with i.v's and serious pain killers. Apparently they cannot take out the stone because Forest is still inside me. Instead of getting anything taken out of me, i "got" to add one more thing into me. A lovely stint now sits inside of me keeping things flowable for the stone, until they can remove it after Forest is born. So now im 9 months pregnant with a stone and stint inside of me. After 4 days i was able to go home to my parents house to recover some more. I spent the past week and half at their house while Robert traveled back and forth the work. I will spare you the details of what i have to deal with every day. This is very painful and i basically just have to lay around and keep taking my pain killers while i wait for Forest to decide to come out. Fun.

So here are some latest pics from school and a few other things leading up to my current bed-bound days of pregnancy.

sometimes pals end up looking alike...these two are definitely pals

costume day during spirit week

Cal loves show and tell...he found a decaying bird head and beek
and was so proud!

my tiny class at lunch time

9 months

and now this is my life...

Extremely Thankful

Recently, Robert and I were faced with the fact that we would need to move out of our place at 230 Jones so further construction could take place. The entire 3rd floor will be torn apart and turned into something great! With Forest arriving next month, we needed to get out and get settled in a new place until the construction is complete in a few months or so. This was stressful.
This has actually been a huge stress for the past few months. But to spare you the long story, i will just skip to the ending result (because its the best part!).

Just when we were completely freaked out and unable to come up with a good solution, we were offered something incredible. We recently moved into a semi private wing of a three level house.
We are spoiled with two bedrooms, a living room, and our own bathroom. I would also like to add that we are now living 2 blocks from the beach and 1 block from our favorite coffee shop.

We feel so appreciative and so thankful and so spoiled. Instead of hearing crazy people yelling all night and gun shots, I now hear the ocean when i keep my window open.
We will remain here until our other place is complete and made into a great place for our little family to move back into. For now, we will drive home to the Sunset District every day and continue to be thankful for how God always provides for us.

Pictures coming soon

roughing it

Over the past two weeks City Impact hosted many (and i mean tons!) youth groups and schools as their Spring Break missions trip destination. Though its busy for Robert during this time, its also a lot of fun! We got to see some people that come every year and catch up a little, and also met many new people. Due to the current unrest in Mexico, a lot of youth groups were forced to cancel their usual Mexico missions trip....which led them to an Urban missions trip instead...which brought them to us. This was a great thing for our ministry, and also comical. Comical because our building is under construction and we had to some how fit all these people into our building to sleep each night. These kids were roughing it. I heard one jr. higher comment that sleeping here was worse then sleeping in Mexico! haha! Hundreds of kids slept on the dusty ground of our construction zone, and were all expected to use one bathroom....which does not have a shower!

Here is my main point....i had to rough it as well!!!!! This was not really in my plan. I love having all these kids around, but i mostly love having them around when i know i can go home upstairs and get away from them every night and use my own bathrooms that are only used by us staff.
Well, shortly after their arrival, the one and only bathroom they had, BROKE! This sent hundreds of kids jr high-highschool-college running up the stairs to the "staff only 3rd floor" to use OUR BATHROOMS! EVERY DAY! ALL DAY! I spent two weeks fighting off these kids just to take a shower or brush my teeth. I will always remember the bravest girl i have ever met.
Brave because she was bold enough to piss off a 7 month pregnant woman....ME! When i told her i was waiting to use the bathroom next and alone (many of them pile in together) she wished me luck as she ran ahead of me into the bathroom with her friends and shut the door in my face!
And that is when i lost my mind. Those details will not be written.

I am happy to inform you that all groups are now gone. Our bathrooms are finally dissinfected and clean and i can take a shower without little boys knocking on my door telling me to hurry.
P.S I threw away all their boxers every day they would forget them in the bathroom.

Here is a lovely story that made me laugh that happened to one of the kids staying here.
Enjoy.

A kid found a dollar on the sidewalk and picked it up. With much excitement, he held it in the air to show his friends. At that same moment, a random person ran by and snatched it from his hand and kept going! Guess "random person" decided it should be theirs instead!

hahaha

Enjoying the weather and a 3 day weekend

Next week i will be 7 months pregnant! My last trimester will already be here....so scary.

We have been enjoying about 70 degree weather here in the city, so we spent most of Sunday with our friend Chris who was able to get some great pics for us!
Since Forest will be a city kid, I thought i should expose him to some beautiful
graffiti sites around where we live.

Red Envelope Day

Please note: This might offend you

I'm sure most of you have heard of "Red Envelope Day" by now.
Please check it out if you dont know what it is. However, in a nut-shell, on March 31st people will
be mailing empty red envelopes to the White House as an abortion protest. Each envelope will represent a child unborn due to abortion. Like I said, if you want the details, just google it.

Now for my possibly offensive part

Why do people insist on waisting time and money to mail in empty red envelopes to the White House? An empty envelope will not stop abortions from happening and will not help change the minds of the women who are choosing this for themselves and their unborn child.
A red envelope does not offer a second option to women faced with this decision. Why spend the time to send envelopes if we arent going to actually offer a solution/alternative option? What youre basically saying by participating in this is, "I dont want abortions to keep happening, but i have no ideas on how to get to the root issue. I just want them to be stopped".

It sure is easy for people to put a stamp on an envelope or ridiculously hold a sign outside an abortion clinic. But who is going to go to these women and actually offer them a different option?
Who is going to go along side them and help them make a different path even possible?
Who is going to sit down and actually ponder the root problem? Who is going to come up with an actual solution? Who is offering to help women make the better decision? We tell women to keep their baby, but are we helping them to make that option possible?

Perhaps the root issue is not the fact that abortions are so easily happening; but rather, why are they happening?


How are we going to put a stop to why? When we are able to put a stop to why, we will then in hand, naturally be putting a stop to abortion.

Now, think about it again. How is "little Susie" really going to put a stop to the "why" by mailing in an empty red envelope on March 31st?