Home again, home again!

We arrived early this morning back from California. 4:30 am our time. Even though we were going out there for his grandma's memorial service, we still had such a fun time hanging out with Chris' family. Friday we had Joe's b-day party which you can look at the previous post to see pics of that, and went to Matthew's black belt ceremony. While that was going on Faith and Julie got their nails done, and then Julie went and got her first of three in 'n' out burgers. No disappointments there.

Early Saturday morning Joe decided he didn't like his food anymore and decided to throw it up. But at least it wasn't on his birthday, right? We were going to go to Chad's, Chris' cousin, graduation, but with Joseph not feeling good, it being a two hour drive, and having to leave at 4:30 in the morning, we decided the best thing was for us three to stay home. Then when the rest of the fam got back from the graduation we hung out for a little bit and then went to a party. It was nice to be able to see all of the aunts, uncles, and cousins again. We enjoyed some wonderful Hawaiian food and good cake!

Sunday after going to church at Cornerstone, we went out for breakfast. Everything was delicious, except for poor Julie couldn't eat very much because she caught whatever Joe had earlier and still didn't feel like she could keep a whole lot down. But by the afternoon she was feeling well enough to eat her second in 'n' out burger. Hmm...I wonder how sick she really was? ;~) Then we went to El Matador beach with some of Chris' cousins and had family pictures taken. They turned out really good and as soon as we get them from Ryan we'll post them. While we were at the beach Julie slipped on the edge of some rock and got a pretty good cut and bruise on her knee. We're just thankful that she didn't do it a few feet later because there was an edge there and she really could have been hurt. So she's satisfied with just a little battle wound to show off to people. Matthew also has a battle wound on his back from climbing underneath rocks with Chris' and trying not to get wet. Then we ate, of course, and climbed the huge hill back up to our cars all while our legs are burning from the exercise.

Monday was Chris' grandmother's memorial service. It was so awesome to hear the testimony of a woman who truly loved the Lord. The common theme throughout the service was that you could know Soledad without know Christ. Chris was able to give part of the eulogy and he did such a wonderful job. It made Julie so proud to be his wife. Please be in prayer with us that his cousins will take it to heart how their grandma lived and maybe even get saved. After the service we relaxed a little at home before some friends came over for a BBQ. Dave and Katie came down from Ojai (hope I spelled that right) and the McNiels came also. We had a lot of fun just hanging out and talking. We know that it's going to be a while before we are able to see the Walkers again so it was nice that we were able to see them.

Tuesday was probably the least busiest of all. We all just hung out in the morning, ate some breakfast and chilled until it was time to pack up. This is always a bittersweet time for us, especially Chris. We are so thankful that we were able to hang out with Chris' family, but it's hard to come back to IN when they are not here. After we made one last run to in 'n' out we headed to the airport and said our goodbyes. Our flights went pretty well. Joe did very good, even falling asleep for an hour or so. But when we started our decent he was not happy 'cause his ears were hurting. But nobody was mad because he won him over with his charm.

I know this post has been really long (seeing as I'm the one writing it), but I promise that pictures are coming soon. The last little bit of this post is just what's coming up in the near future. First, a prayer request for Chris' grandma Fennell (his dad's mom) she has recently been diagnosed with cancer and is going to have surgery sometime in July to try and remove it. They already found some cancer in her nose and she is on treatments to get rid of that. Please pray that she will not get wiped out by these since she is the primary caregiver for her husband who is also very ill. Secondly, we are having another birthday party for Joe with Julie's family this weekend, so we will have more pictures from that. Lastly, Julie starts a part time job tomorrow. She is going to be watching Jennifer Pichea about 25 hours a week while Ashley and Jason work. We are excited and praying that this job will allow us to be able to save up money to be able to go on with the NTM training even sooner. If you're reading all of this "Thank You" and now here come the pictures!!



Grandpa Rick and Joe hanging out in the backyard
with Rocky.



Out in the gorgeous California sun with Snoopy
and Rocky.



Joe hanging out with Grandma Faith. I think
he wore her out.



Future Mozart and Uncle Matt playing the piano.



Joe playing on the plane. We were very fortunate
to get the front row on both flights. If you look
carefully you can see his Vans shoes that we
were able to get with some gift money from
Chris' aunt. He really looked like a real Californian
on the way home.

Thanks for taking the time to read this long post. We're hoping to put video up from both Joe's birthday parties up sometime next week.