StretchyChurch

So we made it to California in one piece! Let me give you a run-down of everything that happened in the past week.

Wednesday, September 12 – The packers arrived and packed up our house. That night, we took Micah to Chuck E. Cheese because we knew this was gonna be a rough week for him.

Thursday, September 13 – The moving truck arrived, and by the end of the day our house in Union was 99.5% empty. In the evening, I ended up going to The Lube one more time with Ryan and Micah (and I gotta tell you, Micah has never been as good at a restaurant as he was that night—he sat there pleasantly and ate his food calmly for about 45 minutes!). After The Lube, Ryan, Micah, and I went to Bruster’s for some ice cream—I’ve never seen Micah with that much ice cream on his face. That night we spent our first night in the La Quinta Inn in Florence, Kentucky.

Friday, September 14 – An exhausting day! Dropped Micah off at school in the morning and then rented a Rug Doctor from Kroger. Then I headed over to the house to mow the lawn and trim the yard. Had lunch with D.G. and Aaron one last time at Potbelly in Kenwood, Ohio, after which D.G. followed me to the car transportation terminal. I dropped off Robin’s car to ship it to San Diego and got a ride back to Florence with D.G. Then I headed back to the house where I carpet cleaned the whole house while Robin mopped the floors and kept Micah from using Macy as a trampoline. We finally finished at about 10:00 p.m. Like I said…an exhausting day…

Saturday, September 15 – I said to good-bye to my 1996 Nissan Sentra. I think I’m really gonna miss that car—it served me well for seven years! Had lunch with the family from Union Pres. that bought the car. After lunch, we headed back to the house one last time for the very final touch-ups to cleaning the house. Also, handed off our lawn-mower, weed-whacker, leaf-blower, and other yard stuff. At around 3pm we got on the road with another family from Union Pres. who gave us a ride to Indianapolis. Stayed at the Quality Inn near the Indianapolis Airport.

Sunday, September 16 – A loooooong morning. We woke up at about 4:15 and started getting dressed and ready for our journey. Got to the airport at 5:30 and in the air by 7:00 a.m. The most stressful part of the trip was having to lug around 4 suitcases, 2 car seats, 1 garment bag, 3 carry-ons, 1 stroller, and 2 small children. But we made it! And once we were on the plane we could breathe a little easier. The coolest part of the trip was getting off the plane in L.A. (y’know… huge metropolitan Los Angeles) and running into some friends from our time at Glenkirk Church. We had just gotten off the plane and suddenly I heard Robin say, “Oh, my gosh!” and there she was hugging someone. It was our friend Chrissy and her husband Chris. They said they saw us, but at first all they noticed was Macy, saying to each other what a cute baby she was (who can blame them?!). Then they noticed how much stuff we were carrying around and felt sorry for us. Then they saw our faces and said, “Oh, my gosh! That’s Markus and Robin!” Anyway, what a great way to be welcomed back to California. My brother, Jonathan, picked us up from the airport. We had In ‘n Out for lunch and then spent the evening with Robin’s folks.

And there you go! We are now officially once again residents of the great state of California!

Finally, one final bit of good news. The Presbytery of San Diego voted me in on Tuesday afternoon! The final hurdle has been jumped and I am officially a member of the Presbytery of San Diego. Mission accomplished!

Except that now the real work begins….

Guess what! I’m in California! And I’m posting from my brand new MacBook Pro!

Ok, it’s technically not mine, it’s the church’s. But what a blessing that the church has provided me with such a great computer to work with!

I’ll tell you more about our journey over here (it was a doozy!) a little later, but I’m quite sleepy right now….

Today was a day for goodbyes. How did I say good-bye? Let me count the ways:

1. I said good-bye to The Lube today. It will likely be a long time before I once again enjoy the best wings in the world. *Sigh*
2. I said good-bye to my Tuesday-afternoon-coffee-at-Barnes-and-Noble-with-a-dash-of-theology buddies. At times known as the “Justice League of Pastors” (because we all wanted to be superheroes), at other times known as “The Suckers Club” (because whoever didn’t show up on a given Tuesday sucked–Russell and Aaron sucked a lot… Heh heh, love you guys!), these guys were my salvation for the past two years–well, them and Jesus. Today, instead of having coffee at Barnes and Noble, they honored me with lunch at The Lube! Thanks guys! Here are a few pictures. Pictured in the group photo are Russell, Benji (poor Benji doesn’t have blog…), Steve, Markus, and D.G.
3. I said good-bye to my car today. Well, actually I only said good-bye to my title. The guy I sold it to is letting me hold on to it till Saturday. Thanks, Bryan!
4. I said good-bye to my cat, Fozzie. Robin and I have had Fozzie for six years–since shortly after we got married. We decided to give her away because it was getting harder to have her with two kids, and moving with her would have been way too difficult. So we found a older lady that wanted her, which is perfect for Fozzie because she’s so mellow. She just needs someone on whose lap she can sit all day long. I’m sad to have said good-bye to Fozzie, but I’m so glad we found a good home for her.

Tomorrow the packers come, which means that the chances of me posting between now and Sunday are slim. Not impossible, but not likely.

If you’re reading this in Kentucky or Ohio, I’ll miss you! If you’re reading this in California, I’m looking forward to seeing you soon! And if you’re reading this somewhere else… well, maybe I’ll meet you someday. I bet you’re a nice person.

Hard to believe. This is our last week in Kentucky…

Got a call this morning that the packers are coming on Wednesday and the movers on Thursday. That’s a day earlier than we anticipated–and it means we’ve only got a day to get everything ready for the packers! Yikes!!

On Saturday we head up to Indianapolis, and at 7:00 a.m. Sunday morning we’ll be on our way to LAX–for good!

Three cheers for Macy! Hip-hip hooray! Hip-hip hooray! Hip-hip hooray!

It’s official. Macy has taken her first post-birth step toward personal independence.

Yes, the umbilical cord is gone and Macy now has a belly button!!

Macy is almost two weeks old! So hard to believe!

Anyway, I figured it was time to share a few more pictures and videos. Pictures include Micah helping change Macy’s diaper and one of Macy in mid-sneeze–pretty funny! The videos include a couple of Micah playing baseball and boxing on our Nintendo Wii. I love watching him play that!

Micah can’t stand getting his nails cut.

Tonight Robin was trying to cut his uber-long fingernails, struggling to hold onto him while Micah fought her tooth and nail (ha ha!). And then I discovered a rather effective way to distract Micah.

Two words: burping contest.

I know, I know… I’m his dad and I probably shouldn’t be teaching him to burp on command. But not only did it allow Robin to finish the job, watching Micah laugh every time I burped was priceless!

A friend just e-mailed this to me. Crazy…

It’s strange being a family of four–especially since Robin and I both come from families of four. And now we’ve got our own family of four. And tonight was a first for our family. Here’s what happened:

After coming home from the open house at Micah’s preschool, we all got out of the car. I had Macy’s car seat and Robin had unbuckled Micah. Robin started walking toward the curb, so I asked, “Whatcha doin’?”

Robin said, “Getting the mail.”

I said, “Ok, I’ll let the kids in the house.”

And then I stopped and said to Robin, “Whoa! That was weird!”

I guess this won’t be the last time I ever talk about “the kids.”

It almost makes you wonder if Macy and Micah were twins separated at birth…