Home.

Home
is a mysterious place.
Is it
family?
Is it
friends?
Is it
church?
Is it
mountains?
Is it
desert?
Is it
ocean?
Is it
plains?
Is it
canyons?
Is it
rain?
Is it
pines?


A series of homes for a friend.

California

Arizona

Eretz Israel

Washington

Illinois

Late-night visitor

Today, I leave for California and Irene's nursing school graduation.

Last night, I had a late-night visitor.

Amos did the dishes while I picked out some clothes and refilled my travel toiletries, and afterward, I took out the house trash.  I walked down the stairs and along the dim sidewalk, and out in the grass
something
moved.

I jumped.

It jumped.

It was a toad!

I was very excited, so I chased him around the lawn for a bit, trying to work up the courage to snatch him.  I cornered him on the sidewalk between the railroad tie flower bed and my kitchen garbage bag and finally
grabbed.

I tossed the trash and tried to think of what to say to announce our visitor's presence to Amos.

"Look what I found!"

Amos was not as excited as I was, but he did look at Hopper the toad and make some nice noises. :)

I stuck Hopper in an old yogurt container and left him on the counter while I went to get the camera.

Hopper did not like the camera.

As soon as the lens appeared over the lip of the yogurt tub,
he jumped.

I jumped!

(and shrieked)

He jumped again and flew from the counter to the carpet.  I managed to get him back in the yogurt tub and covered him with an Aldi ad while I searched for a more secure prison box.  I found an empty box and asked Amos to unfold some freezer dinner boxes for the bottom in case Hopper...had an accident.

(I hadn't taken out the recycling in a while, hence the available freezer dinner boxes and yogurt container.)

Hopper calmed down in his new prison box and I got some really good pictures of him before releasing him and he
hopped
hopped
hopped away.


Click to enlarge the pictures, and check out the cool pattern in Hopper's eyes.

Yo.  Howdy.  How ya doin.

Check out his crazy eyes!

Cool skin...

Public Frienemy #1  ;)

Jumpy the fishing lure and Hopper the toad...not very original, but fun ;)

No title

Last weekend we had a fun adventure which involved a trip to the new Trader Joe's store, a picnic in the park, a couple's engagement in the park (their friends set up a surprise picnic for them beforehand), a snack of Pinkitzel cupcakes (which were smaller than we remembered), a visit to Bass Pro (where we saw lots of prom-goers...?), and dinner at Oklahoma Joe's.  It was a very fun day. :)

This month has been busy, and next month looks to be even busier!  Yep, every weekend is full...

Church friend's baby shower
Friend's graduation in NorCal
Amos' grandpa's auction in Oklahoma
Cousin's wedding in Alabama

Oh dear, it looks like I had better get started on finding some presents!

Unlooked-for

I had an unlooked-for adventure today.

Before that adventure, I actually had two other adventures.

The first adventure was walking down the road to Target.  I picked out a card for a baby shower, a gift bag, a set of black pens that included a free silver pen, and a few other things.  I called my mom on the walk back home and found out that my brother Luke was headed to the orthodontist to get his gums trimmed.  (Apparently the gums are partially covering his back molars?  Ow!)

I arrived at home, changed into some shorts, grabbed my camera, and headed out for adventure number two.  I walked out to the two ponds that are near the three churches.  I took lots of pictures, watched turtles get stuck on rocks as they tried to fall into the water, scared a huge frog into the pond, and watched a frog and water snake swim.

I had just made it back to our apartment when the Unlooked-For Adventure began.

I didn't have my keys.

Oh dear.  Oh dear.

I hurriedly retraced my steps...back through the field...along the brilliant green algae ditch...across the road...around the first pond...around the second pond...through the woods...over to the doors of the church...back across the road...through the neighborhood...down the hill...up the stairs...the door was definitely locked.

No keys.

I called Amos as I headed back to walk through the field a third time.  As we were discussing asking the office to let me back in, I found them, lying in the field where I had knelt down to take a picture of some trees and the blue sky.

*phew!*

On to the next adventure...

Click the pictures, especially the one with the hidden frog. :)

Near the place I dropped my keys 

What a beautiful contrast!

Honeysuckle; not very fragrant quite yet

Can you find the frog?!  He IS in there!

Irises growing in pond

A large frog, aka, Chub

Irises

Abandoned barbed wire

The second pond; much less algae

Flourishing plants

Nature retakes territory

Natural barbed wire

An abandoned sign

A water snake!

Purple clover picked during Adventure #1

Two years later

Here we are again. April 4th.  A day that will live in infamy, at least for me.

Two years ago, Amos and I arrived in Oklahoma City, full of hopes and excitement.  My hopes were quickly crushed, smothered under homesickness, the ugliness of the city, and a gaping hole that used to be my identity (friend, neighbor, missions coordinator, note taker, needed).

I was miserable.

Two years later, I am doing a lot better.

In the two years we have been here...
I have found some nice grocery stores, especially in Tulsa.  (Hello, Reasor's!  I love your cheese samples! :D )
I found my favorite OK hill, also in Tulsa.  It definitely isn't a mountain, but it's better than nothing!  Sometimes I take a detour, just so I can drive down it.
We have attended two great churches, both with good teaching and friendly community group/Sunday School classes.
We have made some very nice, genuine, encouraging friends, both in OKC and Tulsa.
I have had several jobs: substitute teacher, testing center clerk, and now, administrative assistant at a small corporation.
I have been able to visit California a few times.
We have survived severe weather!
We have so far managed to avoid any collisions.  Seriously, the driving in Southern California is nothing compared to driving in Tulsa.  Who taught these people how to "drive"?!
We have moved four times in two years.  The longest time we spent in one apartment was seven and a half months, and the shortest time (in the drafty bug house with the nutso landlord) was thankfully just three months.

All in all, looking back, it has been tough, but not bad.

Amos and I were talking about our transition last night, and we realized we still aren't used to living here.

We lived in Santa Clarita for almost ten years.  We attended our last church, Crossroads, for almost five years.  We had a routine, and even when we added things to that routine, it was still manageable.

Here in Oklahoma, we are still getting used to living in one apartment for more than half a year.  We are still trying to remember the names of all the friendly people at church.  We are still figuring out where to go to eat.  We are still dealing with weekly headaches for Amos.  We are still wondering when we will have time to fit in our normal California activities, like getting frozen yogurt on Sunday evenings or going on walks.  We are still trying to go to bed before 11:00.  We are still dealing with stress, known and unknown.

Still.

But.

Our second year was better than our first.  Here's to even better things, in year three of this exodus.


"...the LORD will go before you,
and the God of Israel will be your rear guard."
::Isaiah 52:12b

Blooms

More spring!  I found these lovely plants around the corner from our neighborhood, hidden behind a few churches.  Three churches, actually, one right after the other, touching property lines...this is the Bible Belt. I wandered around on the property behind the first church, and here are some of the beautiful things I found.

Click the pictures to enlarge them.

Purple fields forever...

Pale violets, hiding under a few leafless trees

A redbud tree

$1.23

Amos and I went to three book sales last month!  We got fifty books (including six audiobooks) and four CDs, and we spent $66.25, an average of $1.23 per item!  That is a the-garage-sale-is-closing-now-what-will-you-take-for-that-pile-of-junk price!  A quarter of the books will be going to other people, but here are a few pictures of some of my favorite finds.

Click on the pictures to enlarge them, especially the last one.

Streams in the Desert compiled by Mrs. Charles E. Cowman, a devotional that I've seen referenced in several missionary biographies.

Cheaper by the Dozen by Frank B Gilbreth, Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey

More About Boy by Roald Dahl

Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand

The Middle Moffat by Eleanor Estes, my favorite Moffat book!

The Moffats by Eleanor Estes, audiobook

Misty of Chincoteague by Marguerite Henry, illustrated by Wesley Dennis

Homer Price by Robert McCloskey

An unread copy of From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg, complete with real Newbery Medal sticker!

Slowly springing

Spring is springing slowly...In the last week or so the Bradford pear trees have burst to bloom and tiny purple wildflowers have started to carpet yards and the shoulders of freeways.  Soon the redbuds will appear!

Click on the pictures to enlarge them.

Books and ponds

Last February, I visited the Friends of the Library annual book sale at the Oklahoma City Fairgrounds, and I came away with a ton of good books.  Amos was off at a men's retreat, so he didn't get to go, but this year, we made a weekend of it!

On Friday, we woke up, had breakfast, and headed down the turnpike to OKC.  We ordered sandwiches at my favorite deli and took them down to Lake Overholser, one of the reservoirs that provides water to OKC.  We ate our sandwiches, watched the pelicans float up and down the lake in the wind, and endured the breeze.

Next we headed for the outlet mall.  Tulsa doesn't have any outlet stores, so we made a point to visit these in OKC.  We bought socks, replacement lids for our glass dishes, a rice cooker (the old one was ancient and would flood the counter with murky rice water), jeans, and a few other things.

Voss was up next!  We visited Amos' old office and spent some time talking to his friends and old coworkers.  Most of the guys are pretty nice, but Amos is quite happy with the Tulsa office. :)

Our next stop was our hotel, the same hotel we stayed in when we first moved to Oklahoma (they have a really good breakfast).  We hauled our bags up to our room and watched a few episodes of House Hunters before we went to dinner at Texas Roadhouse.

After a restless night of too few blankets, searching for the fan button on the thermostat at 2:00 in the morning, and trying to relax on the hard mattress, we got dressed and hopped down to a breakfast of bacon, biscuits and gravy, hash browns, eggs, fruit, coffee, orange juice, and yogurt.

We arrived at the fairgrounds and started looking!  I headed to the cheaper book room first, straight for the audiobooks.  I don't know where Amos went. ;)  I collected a stack of paper books and audiobooks and left them in the holding area.  The second book room held nicer, rarer books, and I was looking for a specific set as a present for someone.  I found several copies of the books, so I picked through them till I had a full set, complete with crumbling dustjackets (at least the covers underneath the jackets won't be too faded).  I chose a few more books, paid for all of them, and checked my bag in at the rare books holding section.  Back to the first room to pick up my selected books and see if Amos had discovered any treasures.  He came up with four CDs!  No books!  Out of 600,000 tomes, Amos didn't find anything.  Whoa.  I poked around a bit more, paid for my cheaper books, CDs, and audiobooks, and went back to the other holding section to pick up the special books.

They couldn't find my bag.

They checked through the shelves, they rechecked my number, they let me search through all the bags...

My books had vanished.

Nooooooooooo...

I was reminded of what Amos prays every day, that we would glorify God in what we say and do.  He had prayed that at breakfast that morning, and I had thought, "And let me be patient with all the people at the book sale, because there are a lot of people and they are annoying."  (The rooms are packed with people, some of whom think they are the only ones at the sale.)

With that in mind, I was able to stay calm.  The head cashier took my name and number, refunded my money, and even offered to meet up with me if someone returned my books, since I had come two hours from Tulsa and wouldn't be able tor return for them.

Disappointed but resigned, we went to lunch at Earl's Barbecue and discussed what to do with the rest of our day.  Suddenly I had the idea that we could go back and re-purchase some of the books I chosen, since there were multiple copies in the piles of books.  Amos and I headed back to the book sale, and I ran in and chose a few books from the ones that were remaining; the complete set wasn't available anymore. :P

Our next adventure was visiting the Hinky Pond.  (That isn't its real name; we used to live near a small park and pond, and we would often see the same limping goose.  He always made a strange "hink hink" sound, so I dubbed him, and the pond, Hinky.)  Amos and I collected our library books (brought down from Tulsa), folding chairs, and sweet tea, and trundled around the pond to a small spot of shade.

The great Hinky, himself

We read and drank our tea for a few hours, and then...

My phone rang!

Someone returned my books!

Yeaaaaaaaaaa!!!

Amos and I popped over to Walmart for some snacks and toll money then returned to the fairgrounds.  Someone had taken my books home, realized she had the wrong ones, and returned them!  She got her books and I got mine.

Overall, it was a very nice weekend.  Amos and I had a good time hanging out, shopping, reading, and visiting a few people, I didn't go crazy on the people at the sale, and we got a lot of really good books.

Let's do it again next year! :)