California for Stefani

I am going to take a break from the “friends” blogs and just post about the going on’s in our life. We are off on our vacation in 2 weeks. I think I have posted what we are doing before, so I won’t repeat myself. I am so excited about DisneyWorld… it’s my first time there. I have been to Disneyland a few times, but really looking forward to DisneyWorld (and so is Mickey Mouse). Our cruise will be great. It isn’t a long cruise, only 7 days, but that is ok. We are going to enjoy Florida a lot too.

I have met some amazing people so far online that we will be cruising with. Aislinn and Tim are the couple I think we can most relate too and so we are really looking forward to spending some time with them. If all goes well, maybe a trip to Salt Lake City will be in store. I love telling people about my new Christian Mormon friends… wow, didn’t think I could get that many interesting looks from people LOL. It is amazing how people place others into a box of beliefs… Mormons I guess aren’t allowed to be Christ followers? Who knew… LOL Glad I know differently. I have learned in the last few years that there is no box and that we are all unique in our beliefs, even within the realm of Christianity.

My other online friends that we will be meeting are Gina, Bernie, Julie, Al, Mary, Debra, Jan, Bryan, Aonika… and the list goes on. Can’t wait to meet them all. Gina and Bernie have been very loyal Cruise clients and even Julie has booked something with me. I do really appreciate it and hopefully I do a great job as a Travel Agent for them. Most of the people we have been chatting on Facebook for over a year and it will be great to finally meet them face to face. I hope we will be friends even after the cruise. I want friends all over the US so we have people to visit when we eventually see all the places I want to see in the States.

Well… back to the going ons… well… other than getting prepared for our vacation, not a whole lot else. Our plants on the patio are doing well, we are really enjoying our place and the job as Resident Managers is going well. So most of our time is spent working and relaxing. I have everything all organized for our vacation. The vacation binder is all set up, cash is put aside, CC are usable and I am ready to go away to Florida and then the Caribbean. We are Cruising with my cousins and their 2 kids and that will be a blast. The three of us turned 40 this year, so this is a celebration of sorts.

Doug is currently putting movies and TV shows onto the netbook so we have stuff to watch on our flight. We ordered a bigger battery for it so it will last for the whole flight. We are bringing the lap top along too so I can do some bookkeeping while vacationing and upload our pictures to the laptop. I sure love technology. This way we can also keep in touch with family and friends, and work of course too. It’s been a few years since we vacationed like this without my parents. Usually they join us, but it just didn’t work out this year. Next year we are doing a 15 night Panama Cruise together, so that will be fun.

So I was thinking about doing the next “friends” blog on my parents. They are our best friends, so I think they should be mentioned in my blog. So I will work on that and hopefully have the up before we leave on vacation. Just in case you didn’t know, we are spending a week in Florida and a week in the Caribbean… yup… we will be sunning and relaxing in the sun… well… I guess Disneyworld may not be relaxing to some LOL

I would have to go back into my photo albums to figure out when we first met Bonnie & Grace, but I think it’s been at least 5 years that we have known them.  They are good friends that like to go cruising together.  When you don’t have a spouse to go cruising with, you need to rope your friends into wanting to go too so that you can go vacationing for cheaper than paying a single rate.  We met them on a cruise and have been friends ever since.  They live in California which of course is where we want to move to. 

  Bonnie has an amazing sense of humour and she has endless amounts of one liners.  She has suffered with a number of illnesses in her lifetime but through it all she still has a smile on her face.  We got to see her place earlier this year and it suits her perfectly.  She has such a great love of life and wants to try it all.  We had the best time with her a few years ago on a Caribbean cruise out of New York.  What a blast that was and Doug had a great time going Snuba’ing with her.  Maybe someday we will go on a cruise with her again.

Grace is fun to go vacationing with.   We have been cruising with Grace and her friend Ruth too, which was a blast.   Grace loves to organize things and does a great job with lists, organizing and keeping everyone in order.  It was great to have Grace show us Santa Barbara when we went and did our Southern California road trip.  Grace loves people and seems very relaxed with just about anyone.   It has been a lot of fun vacationing with Grace and hopefully someday we will do it again. 

As you can tell, there isn’t as much I can write about Bonnie & Grace as we don’t live close enough to each other to really get to know each other that well.   Even so, the vacations we have done together have been so much fun.   I hope our friendship will last a long long time and so that we can travel together until we are all too old to leave our old folks home HA HA HA.

Thanks for being such great cruising friends. 

We met Kraeg and Anna in May 2009 when we moved into the condo at The Morgan. Kraeg was on the strata at the time and he was as frustrated as we werewith what was going on there. At least we had the option to move if we wanted, as we were only renters, but they were owners and didn't have much choice but to stay. With some encouraging of the strata, we decided to apply for the job as Resident Managers and I think within a few weeks, we got the job. If it wasn't for him and Anna, we would have quit that job a lot sooner than what we did.

It was really cool living that close to friends. When we would go over to their place, I was able to go in my slippers and not even have to put shoes on. They have an amazing looking place and everything is so neat and organized. Not that I think our place should look like that because I can't handle living in neat and organized. I don't mind organized, but I like the dorm room look. Pictures all over my walls, crazy things hanging in places (my Furbies in the bedroom) and of course my Mickey Mouse themed bedroom. Anyways... I digress... I love their place and how they (I mean Anna though) decorated. They had the same configuration of a condo as us, but they took out a wall and made their 3 bedroom condo into a 2 bedroom. They had a unit facing the opposite direction as us, so between the 4 of us, we had a good view of the goings-on in the condo area. It made for some late night meet ups outside in the courtyard LOL. There was never a dull moment living at The Morgan.

If you look at the 4 of us, you will notice that we are the polar opposites. They are tall, slender, beautiful people, and well... Doug and I are not 2 of those three LOL. Our homes are polar opposites too... we have the dorm look, and well... they don't. Even when getting to know them I kept thinking that we just were mismatched for friends. I kept waiting for them to stop doing stuff with us because Doug and I are a little off the wall. Another big difference is that Doug and I are Christians, and they aren't and in fact Kraeg is very skeptical about Christianity (don't blame him) and so sometimes that isn't a good mix. But we are all ok with each others beliefs and don't try to convince each other that they are wrong. Just thought of another difference... see... we have a lot... they love outdoorsy, exercisy stuff and well... we don't LOL

As time went on, we needed each other to vent about the stuff going on at the condo, and along with that we became good friends. Granted, I don't know how good of a friend we are since we still haven't heard the story of why Kraeg spells his name the way he does. Anyways... I digress again... back to the story... The Morgan... that place brought us together. We needed each other to vent about the crap going on and we also got to learn about each other. We found out that Kraeg and Anna like Scotch that is hard to find in the states and when we do find it, we can't buy it for them because we have no way to get it on the airplane. Rarely did we watch tv or movies together when we visited. It was always chatting and getting to know each other. We loved that and felt very safe at their place. They were not judgmental about our choices at all. They were the second people we told about our decision to move to Mexico (my parents where first of course). They were very supportive of it and were even excited for us. They were the first we emailed when we found out we had to come home without the job. Because they lived so close, they were the ones we got comfort from when we needed shoulder to cry on.

Again, other than my parents, they are the only ones that know the full story and heard all the cries of our hearts when it came to Mexico. They supported us in ways they can not imagine and we are forever grateful for that. Even though I figured in the beginning of our friendship that it wouldn't last because we were so different, it has turned out to be a great friendship. It hasn't been as close as it was before because we moved out of The Morgan, but they have been busy with opening up a new business too, and I know how much work that is, so hopefully when it gets more routine for them, we will get together more. Kraeg and Anna have been great friends and it has been great getting to know them in the last year (and a bit). I do hope it will be one of those long time friendships and even with our differences, that we will be forever friends.

I do want to mention one thing that we do have in common... we don't have kids (by choice). It isn't as if we don't like kids, but we just don't want them 24/7. It is always cool to meet others like us in that way. One of the things that I will always remember about them is the Christmas card they gave us (I still have it). They considered not giving it to us because they had done it up before they found out we weren't moving to Mexico, but they decided to give it to us anyway. It has some peso's in it for taco's on them, and also a great note about how they will miss the blondie and the red head, along with the condo that had the most Christmas lights. Oh, and and it was a Mickey Mouse card... it didn't take them long to figure out who we liked LOL. We will keep that card in our hope chest and will treasure it always.

We are wishing them all the best in their new business venture and hopefully it will become so successful that they can retire and buy a place in Mexico and they will hire us to be the caretakers LOL. We do wish them all the best though in the business 4 cats

Here is to many breakfasts together and many late night visits again when things settle down for you guys. We love having you as friends and I hope our relationship keeps on growing.

I am thinking about doing a series of blogs about friends. I think that not enough time is spent on encouraging each other and maybe if I do a series of encouraging blogs, that will help a person appreciate each other a bit more. Our lives get so busy with stuff that we forget about the people around us. I find people focus on each others negative qualities and not always the positive ones. I think as adults we are quite aware of who we are and don’t need constant reminders of what we do wrong. Lets focus on what we do right and encourage those things in each other.

What I plan to do is write a blog on each friend and describe how I know them and what they mean to both of us. Might turn out interesting and I won’t tell any family secrets LOL.

My friend Shauna posted this on her facebook status and that got me thinking about my next blog post.  The term “way” is what got me thinking. 

God created us and he loves us unconditionally.   If that is the case, then why do we think that God is “way” to good to us?   Our original creation was for communing with God on earth.  Other than the silly sin that makes this life rough, we are still around for that very reason.  We are friends with God and a part of friendship is giving to each other.  Considering that God has special abilities (he can perform miracles, etc), then why wouldn’t he use those abilities for his children?

I am very grateful for how good he is to us, but “way” to good?  Not to sure about that.  I guess there are many people who believe that they aren’t good enough for God, so maybe that is where that thinking comes from.  I guess my belief is that God is “perfectly” good to me.  He loves me no matter what I do and he forgives us when ever we ask, so why wouldn’t he be good to us?   I don’t think it’s about deserving the goodness in our lives, that is not what I am saying, but if God loves us as much as he says he does, why wouldn’t he be good to us.  Would be kinda stupid to say, “i love you” and then pummel us with disasters all the time. 

We were created by God and he loves us so very  much no matter what stupid things we do.  I think that love is what allows him to do good things for us.  Yes, life throws us curve balls at times, but that isn’t God, that is living on this sinful earth.   Obviously this is my opinion, and I am sure people will differ.  This is just the way I think. 

So the above is my thought for the day.  It’s the beginning of the week and every day it gets closer to our holidays in September.   Our weekend went well and we got to see a bunch of Christian bands at a day long concert.  It did rain a lot, so we didn’t stay right until the end, but we still had a lot of fun (it was an outdoor concert).  We got to spend time with my parents who also enjoyed it.  Gotta love parents who still will go to those kind of things even though it is geared for teenagers.  My parents have always been very supportive in that area.  They took us to Petra concerts and White Heart concerts… gotta love them for that.  Not many parents encourage their kids to listen to hard rock like that.  Even though they weren’t a huge fan of it, they still supported us in it.  Yup, I think my parents are a keeper LOL.

The ocean beach living has been GREAT.  I love living here and I hope we can stay here for awhile.  We are currently the resident managers of our condo complex, so that has been interesting too.  Our car has had a few additions too it and so for now, I think the car will be happy with all it’s little upgrades until we get new tires.

It may not be California, but we are living in the next best place (in Canada).  Yup, God is good to us (just a perfect amount LOL)

"Because real body life isn't built on accountability. It's built on love. We're to encourage each other in the journey without conforming people to the standard we think they need."

The above is a quote from the book I just finished reading. 

We went to Manning Park this weekend and there is no internet up there.  Unless you like fishing or hiking, there isn’t a lot for me to do, so I did some reading.  Doug read this book awhile ago and has been asking me to read it.  He put it on the netbook and so I sat outside reading the book on my netbook.  We had a GREAT time visiting with my family and even though I suffered without the internet, it was still worth going.   We enjoy just sitting and chatting with my parents.  My sister and her family came up too, so that is always a great way to know them better too.   My sister always brings some kind of craft along, so we got to do some crafty things.  She made a Mickey Mouse bean head… very cute and it might land up being my Christmas present.  There is a swimming pool there, so we got to do some swimming too.  Doug caught a few fish and my dad fried that up and they ate fish fried in butter.

So back to the book.  It’s a book about why so many people don’t like the “institution” of church.  It makes total sense and if you are one that is trying to figure your way through what church looks like, you might want to pick this book up (or download off the authors website for free).   It helps one look at what we are being taught and why so many people get burnt out in church. 

I agree with the above statement and have tried to live that life as best as I can.  I think we lack the ability to encourage but excel in the ability to criticise.  Instead of telling someone what you think they are doing wrong, how about you tell them what they are doing right.  I figure that God can tell them what they are doing wrong.  Why should we be the ones that do stuff like that.  We all have a journey in our walk of faith, and I think it looks different for every person.   Maybe it’s why I have no issues with gay people being a Christian or that other “religions” could also be Christians.  Who am I to judge the journey of ones walk in their faith.   It’s all about loving each other and that is the main focus of what Jesus talked about when he walked this earth. 

The book focus’s on ones journey with Jesus.  Not the church, not the elders, not with being accountable to each other, but our accountability to Jesus and him alone.  If we are following the path of what Jesus wants, don’t you think things will fall into place?  Sure life throws us curve balls, but it’s our walk with Jesus that matters.  How do we love others?  Criticising in “love” is not love.  Encouraging is love.  Accepting each other is love.  Not judging the actions of others is love. 

I have no desire to conform others to my way of thinking anymore because it just isn’t worth it.  People will figure it out in their own time and then someday they will come to me and we can go for coffee and discuss it.  I will walk the journey with Jesus next to me.  I will take comfort that he is encouraging me and helping me learn along the way.  I will learn to encourage more whenever I can. 

The book doesn’t say church is wrong, but it says many of what goes on in church is.  I totally agree and obviously I am not the only one that has issues with the institute of church.  It’s about community and loving each other where ever we are at.  Sure a church can be healthy but usually it doesn’t stay that way.  How many times have we been guilted into going to church?  How is that godly?  There is so many other examples that I can come up with that I have come across in our dealings with church, but what is the point in dwelling on it.  It’s the past and I want no part of those things in my past.  I want to work on my friendship with Jesus and I want to see how that looks in my future. 

The sales of this book just shows that there are many out there that are having troubles with church and are searching.  Your search will end when you seek that relationship with Jesus.  Enjoying time with others talking about the love of Jesus and what he has done in our lives.  It can look like a barbeque with neighbours, with family and friends.  It can look like a quiet time with a friend at a coffee shop just talking.  It can look like sitting at Manning Park enjoying the smell of the trees and the company of friends (also known as my parents).  Those are all examples of the church that Jesus meant for us.  It doesn’t have to be structured, have an outline or have a purpose other than being together, to encourage each other and to relate how wonderful Jesus has been to us.  Sure a meeting is ok every so often, but why all the time… why can’t we be casual and just visit and have no agenda?   That sounds like heaven to me ;)

It's not about teaching, it's about living. Learn to live this life and you'll find no end of folks to share it with. Teach it first, however, and that will be your substitute for living it

Another quote from the book (above in bold).  I totally love this.  I have lived this concept all my life… it’s about living it and not trying to teach it.  So I will keep on living my life with Jesus walking side by side (or he carries me every so often) and I will learn from  his love and give that love back to others.  I need to keep my eyes on Jesus and what he has to teach me.  Only through him will I manage and only through him can I be someone who can love others for who they are.

To end this blog, I want to say this book didn’t have much new that I learned, but it put words to my thoughts in my head.  It makes a lot of sense and makes me feel secure in the fact that I am not a bad Christian.  I am loved by Jesus and that is all that matters.  If I am walking the walk with him, who care what others think.