Well, we had our first experience living in "fire territory" yesterday. The hill up behind our apartment caught on fire and ended up burning about 80 acres before the fire department was able to completely kill it. I was driving back home from Costco and a friend called to ask if we were o.k. or if we had to evacuate.  I figured that I had better hurry home and see what was going on! While I was on the freeway we had to drive through an area that was being targeted with the water dropping helicopters. Of course they weren't dropping water on the freeway but around it. My car was getting drops of water and ash on it as we inched our way up the 101. Anders was pretty excited about all of the "moke!" and whenever a fire truck would wail by he would say "mmm help". He did think that the smoke had something to do with choo choo's as most of his life revolves around trains right now.

From my patio we can see the hill where the fire started. It's right above the park that we walk to.  While we stood outside watching the fire fight we waved at the big helicopters that were flying over so low that we could almost see the pilots inside. It was quite dramatic and it made me extremely thankful for the fire department! It was amazing to see how precisely they hit every little spot of flames that would pop up. It was an incredible effort and the fire was out by mid afternoon. Impressive!

Here is link to sister Heidi's blog regarding Todd Bentley and the cacophony surrounding his public humbling. The reason I am posting this is because I want to encourage other Christians to pray for Todd and his wife as well as any other believers that are struggling with public consequences. I know from experience the power of love, acceptance and the healing that comes from prayer and restoration.

Thanks to Aunt G. Here are a few moving pictures from the crazy week before we moved. My mom was a great help and Aunt G. came over a couple of days before the move and worked her magic as well. It was one of the most crazy things I've done. It was the first time I had had to pack up a whole house not just a room. 

 

We are officially in the new place and are starting to feel settled. I'm hoping to get my camera up and clicking soon to show what it's like out here.

This past week was really stressful and last night Chris and I finally re-configured our bedroom and unpacked a few more boxes. We are almost done! This apartment is quite a bit smaller and has a lot less storage than the old place so it's been interesting to try and tetris everything into place.

My only moving war wound happened last night when the paper shredder fell on top of my foot and it hurt so bad that I immediately burst into tear and hobbled out to the living room. It would have ended there except that when I get hurt I also get kind of angry so.... I karate chopped the padded desk chair out of frustration and anger and I think that my wrist hurts more then my foot..... It was a pitiful sight and it put me out of commission for about 20 minutes while I iced my wrist.  Now I understand where Anders gets his hurt/angry reactions from!

Chris was really sympathetic and didn't laugh until I felt better and then we both were able to laugh at the ridiculousness of the situation.

I'm sitting here in our "old" apartment taking a break from packing.  It has been a stressful job and I realize that I've never really packed up a whole household before. It is a big job!  When I get stressed my body starts warning me to slow down by swollen tonsils, canker sores, headaches and such.... yuck. So I'm taking extra vitamins and drinking lots of water and of course not slowing down!

Chris hired some guys to move us on Saturday so we just have to make sure that everything is in boxes and easy to get to. I'm looking forward to seeing someone else do a lot of work.  Next week will be filled with some unpacking but I'm hoping to take a couple of Chris' vacation days to drive up to Santa Barbara and Solvang. I want to at least enjoy some of his time off not just spend it all slaving away!

I'll blog again as soon as we are sort of settled. Maybe I'll find the cord that enables me to add some pictures as well.