Moving!

Justin and I are moving on July 15. I am counting down the days till we get to move! Today we have 15 days to go. It is 15 days too many, though. We live in a nice apartment, don't get me wrong. But, it is not exactly in the nicest area, it is 20 minutes away from everything we do and all our friends. This new apartment is bigger (though, still only a one bedroom), nicer, in a nicer area, has a full washer/dryer, a big bathtub!, and the list goes on. There are so many positives to this new place, that the positives of the one we live in now are almost non-existant.

The only problem is, by moving, our rent will go up almost $200. But, since we both have full-time jobs, that doesn't phase us anymore. The difference between rentals in Illinois and California initially shocked me, but they don't anymore. I most of the time forget that, in Lincoln, we paid less than half of what we're paying now for an apartment twice the size of this one. I think I tried to forget that one so that it didn't bum me out anymore. I have finally come to the realization that Justin and I are going to make it as adults. We are responsible for each other, and our parents have no more obligations to be our sources of being.

Growing up is a wonderful, but hard thing to do.

Dates

All married couples should try to go on as many dates as possible. Even when there are kids. Justin and I try to go on a date every Monday night. Last night was one of those nights. We went to this real cool miniature golf course that is made with real grass. Justin was so excited because he was going golfing today, and it was going to be good practice for him. Plus, this is first real greens course that he's seen. It was funny to see him so excited to play mini golf.

To get to the point, we bet each other on who would win. If I won, he had to take me to get frozen yogurt (which he does not like). And if he won, I had to take him to get Jamba Juice (which I like, but didn't want last night). It was really close on the back 9. I was doing real well, and even got a hole-in-one! I think I even shot par. But, anyways, He added it all up, and he beat me by one stroke. Dagnabit! So close, but yet I still had to get him Jamba Juice.

So, remember, once married, dates are a good thing. It's even okay to make competitions out of your dates, because you're not trying to impress each other as much anymore by letting the girl win. Competitions keep fun in the marriage, if you know what I mean!

What went wrong?

I walked into work today in a pretty good mood. I sat down and started to check my email, when I saw an email entitled "Jim Strange," from my mom. That scared me, because that's my uncle's name and I knew something probably happened to him, otherwise she wouldn't have titled her email like that. So I opened it, and read this,
"The details are lengthy, but would you all pray for and put Jimmy on your church prayer lists, please? He was the engineer on the northbound Amtrak involved in a gruesome suicide train accident south of Champaign at Savoy last night. Sam talked with him late last night by cell. Jim was being sent back to Carbondale on a southbound Amtrak. Right now, Jimmy is in shock. Please keep him in your prayers. Love, Chris/mom."
That scared me to death, so I called my mom immediately to see what had happened.
Apparantly, my uncle was the engineer last night on a northbound train to Chicago. Right before he hit Champaign, he noticed a man standing on the tracks. So, he naturally pulled the horn and the brake at the same time. He said that he made eye contact with the man, and then the man turned his back to the train and committed suicide. It took Uncle Jim 500 feet before the train actually stopped from when he first pulled on the brake, because he was going 79 miles/hour. My uncle is in shock, because in his thinking, he just killed a man. He knows that it wasn't his fault, but there's still that feeling of guilt.

I've been sitting here at work thinking about this off and on all day. I called my mom, and discussed this with her a little bit, and she told me her feelings. She's angry. I SECOND HER ANGER. Suicide is such a hard thing to deal with for families, in the first place. But when you decide that suicide is the only option left for your life and then you decide to make someone else half responsible for it, that's just plain selfishness. This guy probably didn't even think about the fact that he was going to involve someone else in this suicide attempt. Someone who he didn't even know. Maybe if he did think about that, he figured that since my uncle didn't know him, it wouldn't be that bad. WELL, HE WAS DEAD WRONG! Figuratively and Literally. I feel sorry for the family as well, because they are left with all the issues that this guy felt were too overwhelming to deal with.

I know that I will calm down in a couple days, but right now, all I feel is pain for my uncle. He was put in one of the most difficult situations that I could only imagine being in. Please, help me Lord, to forgive this man.

I'm sorry, Uncle Jim, that this man dragged you into his unsatisfied life. I will pray for you, that you will come to a peace about this situation. I will also pray that your life will go back to normal soon. I love you!

Not a lot to say

I don't really have a lot to say today, but I do have a lot of time to kill. How to do this, I'm not real sure, but I thought I'd maybe blog for a few minutes.

I had a good day today. When I got to work, Alina brought me a dozen roses with some gerber daisies mixed in for my birthday. They are from her and her boyfriend, who is one of my other managers. Then she took me to lunch at any place I wanted. And then my brother called me when we had gotten back from our 2 hour lunch! I have had a pretty good day, so I can't complain too much!

Well, Justin did good with his presents for my birthday! He got this swimsuit I've been wanting for a while, but it was way too expensive for me to just buy it for no reason. He also got me the new Norah Jones cd. It's good, but not as good as her last one. I also got a new camera from my parents! I've been wanting it for a while because I want to start taking photography classes. I also got a gift certificate to our mall from all the other pastors at our church. That was mainly because I've hooked them up with hotel rooms and banquet rooms a lot in the last month.

So all in all, it's been a good day!

Happy Birthday To ME!

Well, today is my birthday. I'm officially 23 years old. This is a hard one, though. I stated earlier in another blog that my dad and I have the same birthday. Well, this is the first one where we haven't been able to see each other. All of our traditions just go right out the window. No movie/dinner together. No angel food cake with sticky icing from Grandma Norma. No call from the Kascel's with the Happy Birthday song to both myself and Dad. As happy of a day that this is supposed to be, it's kinda got a sad ring to it as well.

I would like to say Happy Birthday to my dad. I miss you, Dad!

Okay, God just amazes me...I've been feeling kind of down today, and I had just gotten done writing that I didn't get my annual birthday call from the Kascel's. Well, as soon as I got done writing that, my cell phone rang and it was Jenni and Jewels singing Happy Birthday. I started crying! Thank you God! That just made my day so much better!

High School Girls...how annoying!

When Justin and I came out here, he was the Jr. High intern. Then, once he was brought on full time, we became just regular old Jr. High sponsors. I used to not like Jr. Highers, but since we've been out here, I've learned to love them dearly.

Now I have a hard time dealing with High Schoolers. Especially High School girls. I don't know what it is out here, but girls are idiots, and the stereotype "Valley Girl" is not just something that is in books or movies. It's real. There really are girls like that in this state. Especially here. The term "Valley Girl" is usually used for a girl from the San Fernando Valley. They really do say "like" every other word. They really are really dumb. And they really do dress very slutty.

But anyways, my point of this blog is not about how I don't really like High School girls, but it is about my day on Sunday. I was a sponsor who got to take some High Schoolers to Knott's Berry Farm (which is this semi-cool amusement park next to Disneyland). I was dreading it, and actually thought I had gotten out of it. But to my dismay, the other female High School leader backed out and they had to call me to go. I just didn't want to go, but I was praying the whole time that God would help me to have fun. As it turned out, Kelsey, one of the girls that I thought I couldn't stand was one of the few girls going. So I was even more put-out because I didn't want to deal with her.

The irony is, I had a GREAT time. I just put aside my own desires, and let God lead me to be a fun leader for the day. We had a blast, and I really got to like all the girls that went. Even Kelsey. I actually got to know her a little bit more, and she's a pretty cool girl. I'm sorry that I put an initial "dislike" label on her. I wish I could tell her that, but then I'd have to admit to her that I didn't like her at first.

I just want to say that God shows me new avenues every day to go down. I usually don't like to try new things, but He's shown me time and time again, that he is the one in control, not me!

Family holidays

It's a weird phenomenon in my family, having similar birthdays/anniversaries/other holidays. We obviously didn't plan it, but apparantly God thought it would be cool.

So I'll go by month.
March: Casey and Jeremy (my brothers) have birthdays 2 days apart, and my Grandma Strange's birthday is the same as Casey's (and it just happens to fall on St. Patrick's day). Jeremy's wife's birthday is 8 days before his.
May: My mom's birthday is at the end of May, just 3 days before my wedding anniversary, and 2 weeks after Mother's Day. My niece has a birthday at the beginning of May.
June: My 23rd birthday is next week. My dad also shares that day as his birthday. And so does my great-uncle (who is not with us anymore). And mine and my dad's birthday always falls on or very close to Father's day. My brother-in-law and sister-in-law have their wedding anniversary today! My Father-In-Law's birthday is 5 days before mine. And my parents-in-law have their anniversary 3 days after my birthday.
July: My brothers got married 2 weeks apart in July, so their anniversaries are very close together.

We'll skip a few months here.

October: My nephews share the same birthday, mainly because they're twins. My Grandpa's birthday is at the end of the month.
November: Justin's birthday is usually on or right before or after Thanksgiving.
December: My mom and Dad's anniversary is a few days after Christmas.

It's this thing my family does...we celebrate everyone's birthdays or anniversaries or holidays with one big party a month. We make sure, though, to recognize each individual birthday or anniversary or holiday. I would feel horrible if we didn't recognize each one, because then someone would feel left out, and that they are not as important as that holiday. This is a good practice, and ALL people should take note of it.

She's Precious!

I miss my niece! Her name is Abbie and she's 2. We were very close before Justin and I moved out here, but I was scared that she would forget us or something like that. But, luckily, that hasn't happened. She knows exactly who we are, and I guess she talks about us all the time. She is so very cute. I might be biased, but she is by far the cutest little 2-year-old I know. She is absolutely beautiful, and way smart! She's memorized her bedtime story, to the point where her mom, Katie, says 3 words in a row and Abbie finishes the sentences. What 2-year-old can do that? Man, she's smart!

Last night we got on our webcam and talked to her. I have this nickname that I call her, and I'm the only one who calls her that. So, last night, Jason and Katie (my brother-in-law/sister-in-law) were prompting her by asking her what does your Aunt Hillary say to you? She answered correctly..."Hi Love!" That's my nickname for her, "Love." It was so funny, because she kept getting real close to the camera. Maybe she thought that we were in the camera, but I don't think so. She's so smart! She knows we live in California and the only way to get here is by plane. I wish they would all get on a plane to come out here!

I think the only point I'm trying to make is that I miss her (and all of my family) and I'm glad she didn't forget me. I only wish I could have had the same chance to get to know my nephews, who were only 3 months old when we left. They will most likely have no clue who we are. That makes me sad. How do I fix this? I don't know.

I swore I'd never be like my mom, and look what happened!

Well, my mom is quirky! I've had good times and lots of great times with her, and I've had bad times with her. I love her with all my heart, but when I was younger, I always swore I'd never be like her. Isn't that what all kids say? It's because when we're kids, we didn't know what was best, as much as we'd like to think we did. Unfortunately, she did. She always knew what was best. She did have my best interests at heart.

Unbeknownst to me, I grew up exactly like her. I'm neat and clean. I say quirky things A LOT! I like to be in charge. I am a faithful wife (though, in my case, it's only been for a year and for her, it's been 33 years). I like things done a certain way, and if they're not, I'll change it later. I like to read. I like the quiet. I look a lot like her. I even find her humor funny when noone else does. And the list goes on and on. I don't exactly find these qualities to be bad, but the more they get pointed out to me, the more scared I get. Not really scared because I don't want them, but scared because I am turning out to be exactly like her.

Justin is always telling me to stop picking on him about cleaning up after himself. I think I do it because I grew up with the idea that everyone is to fend for yourself, but make sure it's done neatly. He laughs at me all the time because I have to have the bed made a certain way, and the towels folded just right. Those are all things my mom instilled in me a long time ago, and I guess I just forgot that it was her that made me do it this way when I was a kid.

Of course I do have a lot of different qualities that she doesn't have, just like she has qualities that I could only wish for. I just think it's weird how God creates us. I bet He's laughing right now as I'm writing this blog because I'm shocked to find out about this phenomenon. I hope you're having fun, God, because I'm gonna take this issue up with you when I meet you someday, hehehe!

Am I weird, or what?

Christian...To act like one or not to act like one

The one thing I have tried to do since I got out here to California and started working, was portray Christ in my life. I long to have someone ask me why I don't get upset at some things, or why I don't drink alcohol all the time, or why I am nice to everyone. Every once in a while do I get someone who will actually ask me about myself and Justin. I then tell them that Justin is a pastor, and that sparks about a 5 minute conversation. I hope someday that conversation will be longer. But working in a non-Christian environment is totally different/harder than I thought.

So...from that, I get this next emotion!

I'm going to kill Alina. Alina is my manager. I work directly with her day in and day out. She is a very cool and intelligent person. She's from Romania, but speaks 5 different languages, not including uding Romanian. From what I can tell, things are done differently in her country. She says all the time how nobody in this country does anything efficiently. Well, she and I both know that's not totally true, but a majority of our country does just loaf around to the point of major frustration. Anyway...sometimes she just pushes my buttons, because she's so abrupt. She continuously gives me things that need to be done in a fashionable manner, but how can I get them done when 5 minutes later she gives me another thing that needs to be done ASAP? A lot of the time, the things she's giving me are things that she has more time to do and just doesn't want to because it's "easier" for me to do it. And then when things go wrong for her (even if I had nothing to do with it) she yells at everyone. She does apologize from time to time for being a jerk to me when she is mad at other people.

I am always trying to portray myself in such a way that she will notice I'm different from everyone else. How can I portray a Christian attitude when she keeps testing my spirit! I just don't know how to act like it doesn't bother me when she expects/demands me to do things right at that moment and I have a lot of things on my plate. There is not one bone of patience in her body some times. How in the world do I portray the image of Christ, when all I want to do is yell at her?

And so goes the saga of working in a non-Christian environment...

Forgive me Father, for I have sinned. It's been 7 days since my last blog.

Well, a lot has happened since last week. It seems like it was a long time ago, but yet it was only 7 days. Who knows...time sure does fly, but sometimes it seems like it's walking very slowly.

Memorial weekend was a good one for me. Friday I got to take a half day, and saw "The Day After Tomorrow." It was OK. It was a good movie, but there were some things that I really questioned.

Saturday, I went shopping and had lunch with my good friend, Angel. We had our last Saturday night service at Real Life Church!!!! I am so happy about this one, because now I get to have a husband on Saturdays! (Someday I'll write about our awesome church, and let you all know what we're up to!) But anyways, our leadership chose to get rid of our Saturday night service, and add one more, making that 3 services on Sunday mornings.

Sunday, Justin and I went to San Diego with our friends Dan and Angel after church. We got 2 hotel rooms (one for the girls, one for the boys) at the Hilton. Sunday was just great, because we got to talk a lot, and we went down to the beach so Justin and Dan could do a little night surfing. It was very nice! Then we went to Benihana, thanks to Grandma Dottie (who is this older lady who has taken the four of us in and takes us to dinner all the time), and enjoyed the funny chef.

Monday, ah, Monday...what a day it was! We got up and went to one of Camp Pendleton's beaches (Camp Pendleton is a Marine/Navy Base), since they are private and Dan (a Marine) got us on. He wanted to take us there because there wouldn't be a lot of people out, and he and Justin were going to teach us ladies how to surf. Well, Angel didn't want to, but I did...so I did! It was hard, but it's really fun. I did get up 3 times, and so I feel very proud of myself. I will become good at it eventually, but I will need to practice a lot before that time. The only downfall to Monday was the fact that I got VERY sunburned. I got burned so bad, that I had to call in sick on Tuesday because I had a fever from the sunburn. Oh well...I learned how to surf! It was awesome!

Since then, it's been just mundane days. Nothing real special to write about.