Tomorrow is the day!

Well,
Tomorrow Jonathan's parents fly out to California!! They will be staying thru the 23rd, and we are very excited about seeing them, and spending time with them! Now, I've already told y'all how crazy our summer will be, but for us I think that official craziness starts tomorrow. Not to say that the parents coming in is craziness, what I am actually saying is that I know we will be go, go, going just about nonstop hitting tons of places with things to do, and soon after, zero rest time, I turn around and go to camp, then Jonathan goes to camp, and so on...as you already know!

But I just thought I'd let you know that I will try to keep you posted as to how things are going but if it takes a while to hear from me...know that I will just have a very long, long, long, long post the next time I do!

Please be in prayer for Jonathans parents as they travel out to see us and for our time while they are here...that it would be fun, eventful, and full of quality time!


And a special shout out to all my wonderful children that I miss soo much: Faith, Anna, Jordan, and Alex! Aunt Tonya misses and loves you!!! (Jenn and Leigh, please pass on hugs to my kids...and to yourselves) :)

Miss and Love Everyone!!

A BUG IN MY EAR!

Hello Everyone!

Well, I'm going to start out this morning by telling you about my day yesterday. It started in the middle of the night when I had a bad dream and woke up with my ear hurting and feeling like I had swimmers ear or something. So I stumbled to the bathroom to see if there was anything there...obviously I can't see inside my own ear, which proves I was totally not awake at all, and headed back to bed, while my ear continues to hurt. Then I hear Annie getting sick and I'm thinking "oh great, as if I really want to get up at 3am to clean up dog puke!" So I go to stand up out of bed and I have this feeling of scratching in my ear and it hurts, and tickles, and freaks me out all at the same time! Then I start thinking..."IS THERE A BUG IN MY EAR?!?" (when moving out here we were told there are these weird looking pincher bugs that have a tendancy to crawl into your ears) So at this point freaking out, and tried laying back down. (completely forgetting about the mess Annie just made. Finally for a third time around, 6am at this point. I felt like I had to get up and try to pour water, anything in my ear to get whatever was in there OUT!! On my way to the bathroom...I found it...Annies mess, with my foot!!!! Yep, so then I'm ticked at this point. I let the dogs out, Jonathan continues to snore, take care of the mess all the while feeling this thing try to crawl out of my ear, but apparantly having issues. Then I let the dogs back in and my wonderful husband then as I am crawling back into bed FINALLY seems concerned and asks if I'm ok. I tell him whats going on and he turns over and mumbles "its ok, youll be fine, just try to sleep!" REALLY?! I'LL BE FINE! THERE IS A BUG WITH PINCHERS IN MY EAR!!!!! ugh! So I lay back down in a position for it to be able to come out, and then..the movements quit. And I am able to go back to sleep. Jonathan got up about 830 to head into work and looked in my ear and said he couldn't see anything so we were good. Then about an hour later I get up and started washing my face and brushing my teeth, only to find....the scratching start again! And I think..."ok, if I don't do anything to it, maybe it will be able to come out on his own..." THEN FINALLY, BY GODS GRACE.....THE BUG FALLS OUT OF MY EAR AND INTO THE SINK AND DOWN THE DRAIN! There really was a stinking bug in my ear!!! And so now I keep thinking of that stupid new movie that is out where the bug flies up her nose and she apparantly dies...oh lord! craziness! Just thought I'd let y'all all in on that! haha...I have tried time and time again to let y'all know that this kind of stuff really does only happen to me, and here I am again, proving that fact!

And on now, to other things...Well, Jonathan's parents are coming out in 6 days!!! And we are very excited, especially Jonathan..he hasn't seen them since we left...I have. So we are very excited about them being here, and they will be staying with us. They come in on the 15th and are with us till the 23rd. Jonathan has pretty much planned everything he can possible for them to do while they are here, so I'm sure after everythign I will be posting blogs telling you all about it, so no worries!!!


Other than that, things are going pretty good. Got some sad news yesterday that my parents had to put down our dog Lil' Bit. He was basically the epitomy of a family dog. He really was the one that didn't favor anyone too specific, except my brother Chris, since he rescued him all those years ago. But he was about 14 years old and it looks like he had a stroke. Not exactly the best thing...but I'm just glad my dad was with him and he knew someone was with him. He was probably one of the most loving dogs ever and loved to play, and so gentle, and I know without a doubt he will be missed.

Well, I have to go...my flowerbed in the front yard is in desperate need of attention, so I need to head out there and get started!

Love and Miss Everyone!


Tonya

New Cat, Beautiful Beaches...

So...introducing: Oscar De La Hoya, The Grouch!!! lol. Just fyi, he's not scary looking, but for some reason...he just doesn't photography well. We think its because he has soooo many stray funky hairs that it looks like he's out of focus, and his eyes always look like he's ticked off...and that may be..but only in photos...weirdo!!

The pictures with the rocks, and beautiful condos, were taken at Corona Del Mar...my new favorite. The rest of the beach pictures were taken at Huntington Beach..the beach were Jonathan and I were SEVERELY burned at our first time when we moved out here..but they have the best waves so thats where we spent Memorial Day Weekend!

Miss and Love Everyone!!!

This is for you Mark Gray!!!!

OK, so here we go!

Lord knows, its been a while! But I'm here, safe and sound...and ready to update you since the last time you heard from me was in February! So...since then I have been back to Texas, as you should know, and stayed for about two weeks. Then flew back to California...obviously. Anyway, in all of that..Jonathan and I were not at our best and started to seek help as to how we could better our relationship...and with that note I'll let you in on a little secret.....JONATHAN AND I ARE SUPER FANTASTIC, and I praise God continually that He is in mine and my husbands life, and so present in our marriage, even when we don't realize it...HE IS. Things are going so good, that we are praying about possibly taking a new step, possibly buying the house we are currently in on a rent to own basis from our Pastor and his wife. We're praying about it, and bouncing some ideas around, so we shall see! As for our little family we have here, we have extended it a bit. We got a cat. His name is Oscar. Originally we had named him Oscar for Oscar De La Hoya, because he was constantly on his back to feet boxing at EVERYTHING...but now we're thinking it might be Oscar The Grouch..he's just a little testy from time to time and not afraid to tell you about it! The funny part is the dogs were actually terrified at first, so we for sure know now who rules in this house!

And I really hate posting this for those of you who...how do I say this, don't have perfect weather...but I'm gonna! IT IS BEAUTIFUL IN CALIFORNIA!! Jonathan and I go to the beach AT LEAST once a week! And a different beach everytime! They are beautiful out here, and have yet to find a bad one! I'm starting to remember what I actually did look like as a child, with this super dark skin again! It's great! We are actually not going to get but about ...2 or 3 days to just us in July, so we are trying to get in our beach time now so we won't be pale later in the summer! LOL.

So an update on our busy schedules! Starting June 28-July 4th, I will be a counselor at our High School Camp up in the mountains, and Jonathan is not going. Then when I get back, Jonathan will fly to Florida to lead worship for a camp on the beach for that whole first week in July. The day after he gets back we will have our middle school camp for an entire week in the mountains, where Jonathan will lead for a guys group and myself a group of girls. Then that weekend 2 guys from Texas will be joining us, both friends of Jonathan's, one will be staying with us. That will be our Middle School Conference, which is like VBS for middle schoolers, and is apparantly the biggest thing that happens for Middle Schoolers at our Church, and that will be for the whole week. Then the following week (the last in July) is when things will START to slow down and my friend, Steph, from Texas will be flying out to see me, and I have a wedding that weekend that I am not only helping to plan, but am the maid of honor. Then....after that on August 1st...WE'RE DONE!!!! OOps, I forgot to add that our church is starting a "no boundaries" thing for the summer, where we are reaching out more to the people in our communities, and so Jonathan and I are hosting a "block party" for our area! and thats on the 31st of July. THEN, August 5-9, my Aunt and cousin are flying out to stay with us and relax...so excited about that, Then nothing in September that I am aware of, but then October is when MY PARENTS ARE COMING OUT!!!! WOO-HOO!!! And, I get bbq, real bbq in California, and..most importantly, my birthday cake. YESSS! And then Jonathan and I will be heading to Hawaii for a few days to celebrate our 2 year anniversary in November! SUPER EXCITING!

So, all of that to say, if we can make it through the summer, THE BEST IS YET TO COME!!! lol

Miss and Love y'all

& Congrats Sheri!!

Tonya

Ready for another Adventure...

Well hello there! So A LOT has happened! We had True Love Waits for the first time in FOREVER! And it was a HUGGEE success! We had 35 out of 37 students make committments on Saturday evening, and the only reason the 2 didn't that night is one girl got sick at went home at 2am, and the one boy had to leave to go home early for something else. The evening that I had been working on went off without at problem, it was simply just a GREAT weekend all around! PRAISE GOD! Jonathan and I were struggling financially and were not getting along in the best sense and with trying to work together to get stuff planned for true love waits, were not in the best of attitudes when around each other, and have learned that we need to work on some things in our relationship when it comes to working well together...especially in our ministry to one another as husband and wife...but we are working on it..lol. Our house did survive the boys staying in it, thankfully nothing even broken. MORE PRAISE TO GOD! lol...

Moving right along, Valentines Day is tomorrow. Now, I know as the girl I should be all excited about this, and possibly feel hurt if I don't receive anything...but this is just another example of how God made Jonathan and I for each other: Jonathan hates the holiday, and I just want chocolate anyday, so thankfully...its an easy out. I don't get my feelings hurt, because...well, I just won't..not a huge deal now that we are married now. I guess back in the day when it was a "take it day by day" kinda thing, then yeah...I wanted presents...but I'm ok now, and thats good because I know my husband hasn't given it any other thought, much more than...he hates valentines day. LOL... We do kind of have plans, but not for Valentines Day. Tomorrow is Awana Games, and we are going to support quite a few of our 6th and 7th graders in their fun! Then we are having some friends over for burgers and games. So I hope that everyone will have a good valentines tomorrow no matter what your doing!

Other than that, our puppies are still great! We still have Gracie, just being the great, amazing dog that she is. And we have our miniature horse/puppie...lol, Annie, who amazes me more and more and how much she continues to grow! She is 7 1/2 months old now, and we are told she won't stop growing till about 2 1/2, and we're already going through 40 lb bags of food twice a month. LOL, but we love our puppies!!!

Coming up we are having GOC in March. Global Outreach Celebration, is where our church will have missionaries from all over the world, come to our church for a few days, and we "spoil their socks off" and they speak throughout those couple of days. Jonathan and I will be having a missionary from Croatia, and his son who is in 6th grade stay with us. We are very excited about them. Please be in prayer as we prepare to have them at our house, and throughout those days...it will be a time of fellowship, fun, learning, growing, and worshipping. CAN'T WAIT!!!

Well, I think thats about it for now! I hope that everyone is doing well..

Miss and Love Everyone!

(btw, I'm posting a few pics of the pups since I mentioned them earlier...keep in mind, these were taken a couple of weeks ago, and Annie has grown even since then...ENJOY!)

WOW, first blog of the new year!

OK, so I realize that its almost February, and here I am just now posting my first post of the new year. Things have been a little hectic, so please forgive me. Finances have been rough, and I have been trying my hardest to get a job, and Jonathan even helping, it just stinks right now...people are getting laid off, and yet more people are still trying to get jobs, its a vicious cycle!!! So please pray to give us patience, and guidance...the last thing we need are sharp tongues towards one another when there really isn't anything more we could be doing towards forcing people to hire..its tough! Anyway, so the other reason I've been busy is that Jonathan is doing the True Love Waits program here with the middle schoolers this year, and it will be the first year in at least three years the program has been done with any age group at this church. At first, we weren't going to do it since Middle school is 6th-8th graders, some of them are just turning 11 years old, and we figured that was too young...until I looked at statistics for our nation. The average age students are becoming sexually active is 11-14 years old....THAT IS ALL MIDDLE SCHOOL. So the whole time we were telling ourselves that they could wait till High School, who knows...could be too late. So anyway, we're having that Feb 6-7th, and the last night....thats what I am in charge of, we're calling it Saturday Night ALIVE, and I've been going crazy trying to get all the entertainment out of the way, and still plan my lesson at the same time. There are four lessons, I am teaching the second one for the girls. The boys will be staying at mine and Jonathans house, and the girls, just down the road at another host home....please please please, be praying for us, as leaders, and be praying for the kids, so that they will take it in all seriousness.

Other than all of that, lets see what all has happened...oh goodness, hmmm...nothing too exciting I guess, if its this hard to think of stuff. I guess I'll go ahead and end this one, and get back to my work...so much to do, and not much time left!!!

Love and Miss Everyone!!

Christmas & New Years...

Well, we survived Christmas without family. I will say...I made it through this holiday without crying!! Actually, didn't even really have time for it! On Christmas Eve, we went up to the church, for the Christmas Eve Service, then afterwards went to some friends house. They knew they would have people from a Romanian church coming by to sing some Christmas songs, so they invited us over for desserts, and fellowship. Well, I ended up enjoying the desserts a little too much, and was sick the rest of the night until right after 5am. Then gladly fell asleep, and stayed that way until almost 11am, just in time to get ready and be at our first Christmas Day stop at 11:30 to start the celebration. We enjoyed meeting new people, there were about 20 something all total. We ate, played bingo, watched some funny videos, and opened presents. The family that invited us over bought Jonathan and I gifts as well, which were not at all expected. We ended up staying there till just after 3pm. And then headed for a small drive out to find "gravity hill" which still remains a mystery to Jonathan and I as to why we can't seem to find it. Finally, we arrived home after a long search, and changed into some more comfy clothes, then headed to our next Christmas Day stop. The Kelley family is husband and wife, and six children, had invited us over for their traditional Christmas Dinner, a steak dinner. And although we had eaten sooo much earlier, we still ate, and became more than miserable. We then started to relax and the smaller kids went off to bed, and the remaining adults stayed up to play Clue, which I had never played before, and it clearly showed, but still had a good time. We stayed at their house and visited until about 10pm, and then decided we were EXHAUSTED, and headed home. Only to realize, it had been raining ALL DAY LONG, and along with our two dogs, we were dog-sitting our neighbors dog, so we had to bathe three dogs at 11pm at night, then GLADLY went to bed!!! Barely spoke to our parents long enough to wish them a Merry Christmas, and that was about it. But I hope everyone in the family had a good one, since I didn't even get to speak to siblings this year...but I'm sure it was well.

As for New Years, Jonathan and I have decided to start making our own family traditions, and so as long as we're in California, we are going to drive out to Pasadena and go to the Rose Bowl Parade on New Years Day...and we have a couple of people that are going to go with us this year, and we are really looking forward to it. Should be lots of fun!

On a side note, pray for me. I am going through this very weird phase were I stay up until about 2am, and wake up at 9am totally refreshed and cannot get cleaning off of my mind. I just seem to be in "spring cleaning" mode (in December), and clean all day long. Although, I know nothing is wrong with that...but it is driving me crazy, there are other things to do and I don't think my walls, and floors can take much more...lol. But it is making my mind seem to be on edge, and I can't seem to keep focus because I don't know quite whats going on. I was sick for a few days, but thankfully, am much much better!!!

Jonathan has been leading worship for "big" church for the past two weeks, and has been doing a GREAT job at it, but is excited to be getting back to Middle School. We are about to start painting the entire middle school room, and re-designing that, as well as starting our new curriculum in January. We have a True Love Waits program coming up in February, and a lock-in coming up soon...So when we were hoping things would slow down after the holidays, that was apparantly just a dream..lol. But we are extremely thankful things are going well.

Well, I think thats about it for now...just keep us in your prayers as usual. Finances are a little tough right now with all the holidays, and days off and such..but who isn't struggling in that area with things right now. We love and miss everyone, and hope things are going well!!!!

Guess I'll be talking to y'all NEXT YEAR!!!


Happy New Year!!

"yay, no KID injuries"

Saturday night was our last Christmas party!! YAY! We took our middle school kids up to the church and had a White Elephant Gift Exchange, and I must say...I was frightened..especially with that age group! But, they honestly surprised me!! The gifts were MUCH more clever than I would have expected, and the other kids seemed to be all around pleased with the results that they got to take home. After all the gifts were opened, we took them on the bus for about a 40minute drive to Rancho Cucamonga. There are a couple of streets in this one sub-division where they go all out on their Christmas decorations. Now when I say they go all out...I mean so much more than what your probably thinking. I have NEVER in my life, seen so many lights. It kind of reminded me of the newer Christmas movie called, Deck The Halls, Danny DeVito's house is like what we saw...ALL OVER THE PLACE!! Several were even selling hot cocoa, tamales, nachos, etc. (we joked and said it was to help pay for the electric bill, since they most likely tripled it this month). But it was gorgeous and fun, and the most important thing was the kids loved it and had an absolute blast! One of our greatest achievements at the end of the night is to always say, "yay, no injuries", and this time we got to say "yay, no KID injuries"....but yes...we did have two injuries, they did include our leader Sara (the one who takes all the pictures...) and..myself. You see, Sara and I got back to the bus before everyone else, and of course...we had a plan. We wanted to scare everyone since it was so dark. So we got in the back of the bus and her and I shared a seat (why we didn't split up with a completely empty bus is beyond me..but whatever). And she leaned forward and crouched down and I slumped backward....and we waited. Finally, some came on the bus, so we listened for them to get closer and closer to us..once they did I jumped up and started screaming, and Sara, expecting me to jump higher than I did, stood up and started screaming too...only my teeth and the back of her head....came together...I grabbed my mouth INSTANTLY and felt something....odd. And looked to Sara only to see her holding the back of her head. So we rushed up to the front of the bus to look in the mirror, since it was so dark, only to find out, somehow a good piece of my lip was now detached and dangling...not so pleasant, and it started to bleed and swell...but we couldn't do ANYTHING about it. So of course, I was just TICKLED PINK! Anyway, when we finally got to the church I pulled the extra piece of my lip, and my lip was fine, but now it is a lovely green color everyday trying to heal, and Sara's head had a little bump for a couple of hours, but all in all...we survived. LOL.

Tomorrow is Christmas Eve, Jonathan and I don't have any plans that I'm aware of. We had talked about maybe going and seeing a movie, but not sure that there is anything we haven't seen at the moment, so maybe we'll just go rent some classic Christmas movies and curl up and eat popcorn! Now, for Christmas Day we do have plans, so no need to worry. I'm hoping I can sleep in till its time to go to our friends house, and then I'll be so side-tracked I won't have time to think about what I would usually be doing....lol. And, we have decided one tradition we are going to start will be to go to the Rose Bowl Parade on New Years Day...so we are going to take some friends and drive there, its only a couple hours drive, so not a huge deal, and its only once a year!! We're pretty excited about it!!!

So, after that day in the park with the great pictures...Sara and I decided that we really really wanted Jonathan to come with us so that she could take some pictures of us. Jonathan and I had been talking about just having some others done, but just for fun..not for anything specific, so we went Saturday..and they turned out soooo good!!! WE LOVE THEM, so I decided I would, of course, post some up!

Well, I hope that everyone has a great Christmas!!! I honestly miss every single person I know thats not in California, so just give yourself a hug...its from me!

Love and Miss Y'all

Random, but fun...

OK, so one of our girl leaders for Middle School is in the process of graduating from College, and is doig a minor in Photography...and she comes over all the time to just chill at the house cause she loves our dogs, basically. So anyway...all the snow is on the mountains here..just about all of them..and so it was a BEAUTIFUL day yesterday when she came over and we randomly decided to go to the park with the dogs and take some pictures. Well, I wanted Jonathan to go with us..but Thursday is his day off and he really just likes to lay around and take naps..BUM! So just Sara and I went..and she took some GREAT pictures of me with the dogs, and some of just myself..but I thought I would share some on here..just cause I like them and they were soo good!!

SO...ENJOY!!!

The last one is my MOST FAVORITE!!! And I know I look like I'm glowing in some..but we thought it was kinda cool..thats just the way the light was hitting me...we didn't do ANYTHING TO THESE..it was just how she took them...AMAZING!

FINISHED WITH THE PARTIES!!

OK, so obviously everyone is always a little busier during the Christmas and New Years Holidays more than any other time of the year, so it wouldn't be out of place for me to say..."WE HAVE BEEN SOOO BUSY..." So, I thought I would just get that out of the way..It's been great being out here for Christmas as far as everything that is going on. The only new part is that this is my first time to be a staff wife during this season, and our first time as a married couple to go through all this...and especially in a LARGE church..It seems like every other night there are christmas parties for some group at the church or at a random restaurant going on, and us beign the newbies...we're not too sure which ones we really HAVE to go to, versus the ones that...lets just say, their being nice by inviting us to..lol. So we have had LOTS of food already to eat, and plenty of places to go, and concerts and plays to watch...and still planning our own special activites for our middle schoolers! So...after all that, you might be wondering "well then why are you sitting here typing this if your so dang busy..??" And my simple reply would be.."last one was last night..YEA!!" We do however, have our own christmas party with the middle schoolers on Saturday, but after that...DONE! I'm pretty excited actually...we are all meeting at the church to worship and have a white elephant themed christmas party...which should be interesting with that age group. Then, we are all loading up and going to this one specific area, that is supposed to be INSANE with Christmas decor, so we will get to get out of the buses and run around like crazy Indians for the duration of the evening, which oddly enough...excites me!

LOL, OH MY...so beyond all this craziness...things have been good. Jonathan and I are loving each other more and more with everyday, and getting closer to each other knowing we will be missing our families this Christmas. It was a little different last year, we had only been married about a month when Christmas hit, then 2 days after Christmas flew to Greece and stayed there till after New Years, so this year...we get to lay back, relax, and soak it all in..not too sure if thats what we wanted..but thats what we get!! We have been invited to spend Christmas day with a couple of families so we will gladly take them up on those offers, in an attempt to not have a minute to ourselves to realize that we're not with family...like I said.."ATTEMPT"!!

OH..almost forgot...Jonathan and I had our Christmas "family" portrait taken a couple of weeks ago by one of my friends, and we sent it to Leigh..knowing she would make it into a Christmas Card for us, and she did and both of them were amazing. We then realized..."crap...postage for all these we want to send out is going to add up...hmmm" so Jonathan took the liberty of emailing it to a couple of people, and we sent some out to family..but if you didn't get one...please don't be offended we thought of EVERYONE...just couldn't afford it for EVERYONE...but I am going to attach the one that we chose to send out to everyone so that y'all will get a chance to see our..family! And thanks, Leigh, for taking the time to make those for us...we did appreciate it and we love them!!!

And, last but not least...I hope that everyone has a Great, and happy Christmas!!! I wish I could see all y'all and hug your necks and celebrate this year with everyone...but...maybe next time!!!

Love and Miss Everyone!!

Vegas Pictures!!

OK, so I told you I would get the pictures up, and look it hasn't even been 2 hours!! Geesh, I'm improving already...LOL. OK, so I'm going to just give you one little tid bit of info on one of the pics, then I'll post them..The one that looks like the New York skyline..those are all actually connected and are all of the hotel that we stayed in..The one "tower" as they called it that we stayed in was the 4th building from the right...on the 36th floor..I think. It was unreal, the elevator ride from the instant the doors closed to open was exactly 17 seconds...UNREAL! The pics that look like your walking down a crowded street were actually all the famous eateries in New York and then they had the Dueling Piano's in one bar..but if you read the previous post, we were out by 11...and thats usually when those places open...But very cool, and a good time....ENJOY THE PICS!!!

Miss and Love EVERYONE!