Spaetzle and Lentil Soup!

I thought I'd let you all know that there are more pictures in our web albums. This is Happy's first baking experience, or at least his first baking experience as a married man. He made corn muffins and they were excellent!

There are also pictures of me making spaetzle and lentil soup for the first time! Both came out good and I had fun making them. Then again, the lentil soup didn't take much.... I just put everything in the crockpot and let it do all the work. Crockpots are great :-)

The other album that I added is from this weekend when we went to Pasadena to have breakfast with "the guys" and Katie. Then we went to Christie's tennis match. I have a better idea of how tennis works, but I was completely ignorant before. I think now I'd say I can watch a game and sort of understand what's going on. It was kind of cool though since Happy and I will have tennis courts to use at our new apartment! Ok, that's it for this morning. Have a good Tuesday!

Semesters

I've just finished my first semester of teaching. I've never experienced a faster semester. Time flies when you're having fun! I'm taking a class this year through Fresno Pacific University called "Teaching Elementary Physical Education" so that I can become more informed and organized when it comes to planning my classes. I love my job, I love my wife, I love life, and I love my God! Have a great weekend!

The Dentist

Just after Christmas Happy and I visited our new dentist. I found out I had two cavities. Bummer. But, I finally made an appointment to go in yesterday at 4:30. Not only did they drill and fill my two cavities, they also sealed 5 of my other molars and they feel weird. Now all that's left is to get one crown on a molar that has a silver filling. I'm sure that will be fun.

Once the dentist came in my little room I told him my "issues" with needles (thinking of the Novacaine) and he told me that for 99% of kids getting fillings, they don't use Novacaine because the drilling really isn't so bad. He gave me the option of using it or not. I opted not to use it. All in all, it really wasn't so bad (even though he did drill four separate times--he'd drill, rinse, then say "Just a little bit more...") and there was only one point where my eye twitched at the pain. For me, it's well worth it to not have the shots.

The last cavity I had filled was a long time ago, but I clearly remember at least 6 shots of Novacaine and still being able to feel the drill just as much as I did yesterday. Then I had a numb mouth for several hours. Yesterday I didn't! As I was leaving they asked if I wanted to have my teeth cleaned right then because one of their appointments didn't show up. Apparently there's new technology to clean teeth (shows how long it's been since I had my teeth professionally cleaned) which uses baking soda and a high powered sprayer. It tasted kind of gross, but it made my teeth whiter :-D Aside from the baking soda dusting on my face afterwards, I liked it much more than the nasty stuff I used to have.

So, even though I asked Happy to meet me at the dentist and drive me home, I could have driven myself home after all! In light of my exciting evening at the dentist (all of it took less than an hour), I thought I'd ask, does anyone else have any memorable dentist experiences to share?

Bacteria

Yes, that's what's in my sinuses right now. After a couple weeks of fairly regular headaches and fatigue (and at the prompting of my wonderful husband) I finally visited my allergist to see if there was something wrong. He said my ears look great, which I'm very thankful for, but my nose is a mess. Actually, he looked in my nose and said "You have a bacterial infection in your nose." He gave me a prescription for an antibiotic, which I began taking last night. I'm thankful that it seems to be as simple as that. I'm hoping that it is.

I learned last night that most nasal passages are like a maze, designed to keep bacteria from getting into the sinuses where it can cause worse problems. Unfortunately for me, my nasal passages are keeping the bacteria in my nose. Bummer. But, God's design is pretty amazing. He's got great ideas :-)

Mac

My new laptop came! It's a Mac. I like it. It's cool.

BLUE?!?!

What does it say about me that the most exciting thing about my day at work--yes, I was genuinely excited--was the fact that I got to use a blue highlighter on the invoices I code instead of yellow since we need to order more yellow highlighters? Yeah, and to make it even worse... I then started thinking "How exciting would it be to use green or orange! And I could have days... or weeks where I use one color and then change it... maybe I could use a different color for each month!" Ah, the little things in life :-)

Two Quotes

Two quotes from two men who were not Christians. I thought these would be good to help us stop and think for a moment in our busy, busy lives.

"I tremble for my country when I think that God is just."

-Thomas Jefferson

"Most people are bothered by those passages of Scripture they do not understand, but the passages that bother me are those I do understand."

-Mark Twain

The Whirlwind Tour, Epilogue

I know that you're all salivating to hear the story that my lovely wife decided was mine to tell, so here it is.

Amy's dad drove us to Logan International Airport in Boston early in the morning, so we arrived plenty early. After printing our tickets we joined the already backed-up line to make sure that Amy could get in because of the ongoing Godwin/Gilmore dilemma. We stood in line for about 20-25 minutes before getting to the front of the line and finding out that we did not need to wait in that line. Then we pushed, pulled and carried our baggage to the security checkpoint. And here's where things started to happen.

Amy and I both got out our wallets to show the kind man our ID.

Horror of horrors, Batman!

My driver's license was gone! I stared at my wallet with a dumb look on my face as my mind raced through all the other places it could possibly be. Unfortunately, the only thing I could come up with was that I had accidentally thrown my driver's license away with my boarding pass and ticket upon arrival in Boston.

So, I jogged back to the ticket counter and cut in front of at least 100 people waiting for their boarding pass. I told the kind lady my predicament and she reprinted my boarding pass and added an extra security code and warned me that I'd be searched. I thanked her and ran back to the line for security. Halfway there I realized that I wasn't tugging my carry-on behind me. All I had with me was my backpack. I had left my carry-on in the line when I took off to the ticket counter.

I looked all around as the line moved forward. I couldn't see my bag anywhere! I finally reached the front of the line. The airport employee checking ID was a new guy so I asked if someone had found a bag in the last few minutes. He said, "Oh, you're that guy." In case you're wondering, this did not bolster my wavering confidence in actually catching up to Amy (by this time, she's already waiting for me on the other side of security) and making our flight.

He told me to go back to the restaurant halfway to the ticket counter and ask the state troopers with the dog, because they had my bag. I thanked him and ran back to the state troopers. I interrupted their conversation, identified myself as the guy who left his carry-on by the line and asked if I could have it back. They all gave me a condescending look that I tried my hardest to ignore. One of them pulled out his walkie-talkie and called a fellow trooper who had my bag. The trooper told me to go outside and find the all-black truck. He also added that it would be $100. I was pretty sure he was joking, but I didn't think it was that funny. Once again, I thanked him and ran outside the airport where I saw an all-black truck just stopping. The state trooper stopped the car in the morass of traffic, got out, walked all the way around the back of the truck, gave me a look of disgust, opened the passenger side door and handed me the carry-on. I thanked him and ran back inside the airport and got back in the security line for the third time!

When I reached the front of the line I told the man checking ID that I had lost my driver's license and had already talked to the people at the ticket counter. I showed him my credit cards and my bank card. He examined them quickly and let me through. I put my carry-ons through the X-ray machine and had to be taken to the little area where "random" searches are made. A kind sir searched me and then searched my carry-ons. Everything was fine until he unzipped one of the outside compartments on my suitcase. I had forgotten that that's where I had placed the ice pops that my mother-in-law had put in my stocking on Christmas morning.

"What the [heck] is this?" he asked.

At this point I'm completely embarrassed because this obviously doesn't look good. These could be bombs, drugs, etc. I sheepishly told him that I got them in my stocking for Christmas. He grunted something about it being okay and then continued searching. He then asked me why "that girl over there is staring at us." "That girl" happened to be my wife, who was patiently waiting for us to finish. He finally finished and let me go.

Amy and I then literally started jogging to our gate. We heard a final boarding call and they announced that they needed "Andre and Amy Gilmore to come to" the gate. We made it on the flight but couldn't sit together.

So, all in all, it wasn't a bad day. Just another fun day in this post-9/11 world!

More pictures?!?

Even though I have nothing interesting to post about, I thought I'd mention that Happy added the second half of our Honeymoon photos to our Web Albums. It features Virginia City (home of the Mark Twain Bookstore, pictured below) and our day in Yosemite.



By the way, at work we got a new Pitney Bowes machine. It just so happens that I'm the one who usually puts postage on any mail that's going out. I'm SO excited!

I did it!

Yes, that's right, I finally posted the pictures of our trip to the East coast. I must warn you though... I was pretty terrible at taking pictures while I was there. Perhaps it had to do with the fact that we were never in one place for very long. By the time I remembered that I had brought my camera, we were leaving. Some of the pictures are because Happy took the camera. He's much more diligent with taking pictures. But I did get some good Christmas morning pictures, which is very important!

Today is a very quiet day at work and there was minimal traffic on my way to work. I'm guessing it's due to the fact that many people have today off as it is Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Bummer that we don't have it off, but it's not a big deal. Happy has today off and still had practice with his guys because they'd be able to use the gym (as opposed to the parking lot where they usually practice). Such dedication!

It's also SUPER windy and really cold in this front lobby where I sit. I have the heater on my feet and it's making my hair more static. Sigh. Oh well. Now I'm going to code invoices so when they come in the mail I'm not left with such a huge stack. Have a lovely Monday and enjoy the day off if you have it!

Done

That's right. I finally finished the Thoene series I've been reading for quite a while. Despite my first reaction to Happy ("I'm mad at them. What a terrible ending!") I would highly recommend the series because it helps you to have a better understanding of what so many families went through in the years leading up to and during WWII. Then again, the books can't do justice to what it must have really been like to live it. As for me, I'm still very interested in learning more about the Holocaust, but I think I need a little break. I'm thankful I can take a break from it if I choose to. Still, I highly recommend the series.

Next on my list of books to read is Love that Lasts: When Marriage Meets Grace by Gary & Betsy Ricucci. I'm only 20 pages in, but I like it a lot so far, and I like where they say they are heading.

Since we're moving in a month or so, I've been collecting boxes from work (there's a warehouse in back and lots of boxes available). Right now, they are still all empty and sitting in a large pile in our apartment. I've never packed up an entire apartment before so I have no idea how long it will take, but I could usually pack up from college in one evening. I'm thinking that I should spend the two Saturdays before we move packing boxes. Anyone have any advice here?

That pretty much sums up the excitement in my life. I would like to post about Happy's jr. high boys' basketball game yesterday, but I'll leave that to him. I got to go and I'm glad :-) But now I'll get to my invoices. Oh, and I'm putting a reminder on my phone so I post pictures on our blog. That means that as long as our internet cooperates, expect pictures this weekend!

French Toast

Last night we had breakfast for dinner. I had planned to make eggs, bacon and toast; but things changed... I made FRENCH toast! It's strange to me how easily I have forgotten the food I loved as a child, such as french toast. And it's so easy to make. I called my mom for the recipe: beat an egg, add some milk and cinnamon, dip the bread in on both sides and cook it like you would an egg. It came out great!

Ok, that's all for now. I want to finish the book I've been reading for way too long. Oh, and I know I keep forgetting to put up new pictures, but I'm halfway there--they are on my computer at home. Now I just need to upload them to our blog. I'll be sure to tell you when I finally do that :-)

The Whirlwind Tour

As planned, I brought my camera to work today so that I could transfer all our "Christmas" pictures (including the pictures we took on the East coast) into a web album. Unfortunately, I arrived at work and searched my camera bag to find that my USB cable (I think that's what it's called) was not there. Sigh. So, hopefully I'll find it at home somewhere and there will be new pictures tomorrow... if our internet connection decides to play nice.

Since Happy didn't share any of the stories about our vacation, I'll just give you a rough outline (with stories along the way) of our "whirlwind tour," as he so aptly put it:

Friday, Dec. 22nd – Our assistant pastor (and Bible study leader) Ron picked us up at 7:30 am. We shoved, literally shoved, our bags into his Sebring and made our way to LAX. We were VERY thankful to have him cart us to and from the airport. We got on our plane with minor difficulty since my ticket said "Amy Gilmore" and my IDs all say "Amy Godwin." I had our marriage certificate, but still got patted down. But, we did get on the plane.

Our connecting flight was out of San Francisco. After arriving at our gate, getting lunch, and sitting for a while, I realized that we needed to get our boarding passes for this flight. Apparently they don't give you boarding passes for your whole trip? Anyway, Happy got in line for about a half hour before I joined him because our flight was already halfway finished boarding. After another ten minutes or so we were at the desk waiting for our boarding passes. Anyone who has ever traveled during Christmas knows the excitement this can include. Well, after a short while a woman came up carrying her 2 year old daughter. She said she had a ticket, but needed her seat assignment (the same predicament that everyone in line was facing). Of course, we had already been told at this point that our flight had been overbooked and 7 people were requested to give up their seats. As this lady interrupts our ticket guy, the woman who had been standing behind us in line comes over and says “Excuse me, but I’ve been standing in line for 35 minutes and I need my seat assignment as well!” She wasn’t exactly rude, but irritated that she’d been cut in line. To this the woman with her daughter responded, “Well, I guess you just have to be aggressive!” I’m not sure if there was more exchange between them, but I certainly was shocked by that. A little while later the aggressive lady said “Merry Christmas” to the other lady in a nasty tone. Yuck. After a little more confusion, we got our seat assignments and boarded the plane. We were in the very last row and got more than a few dirty looks as we walked past everyone. When we got to our seats (the window and middle seat) there was a rather large girl conked out in the aisle seat. The flight attendant said he’d take care of it. He said “Ma’am…” “Ma’am!” “MA’AM!!!” She drowsily awoke and got out of our way, not noticing the people around her who were stifling laughter. Minutes later she was snoring loudly. The family across the aisle was laughing, as were we. The dad said “Anyone have a bucket of water?” Happy held up a water bottle. So went the flight. With the snoring girl, the fussy screaming toddlers a few rows ahead of us, the consistent turbulence and no food, I was ready to get off the plane the second it landed.

Ok, perhaps there won’t be too many more stories included in my outline, since that story was pretty long.

When we arrived around 10:30 pm in Boston, Dad picked us up and we drove around Boston to look at lights. We got dinner and made our way back to his place. I think we finally got in bed around 1:30. We slept in late the next morning :-)

Saturday, Dec. 23rd – Dad took us around Derry and Happy got to see more of where I grew up. We walked around my high school and even checked out the football field and track. Later in the afternoon we had pizza at Sal’s (the BEST pizza I’ve ever eaten) and then went back to Dad’s so I could make my mom-in-law’s salsa for him to try. We had to modify some of the ingredients, but it still came out pretty good. Dinner was at the Bollywood Grill and it was excellent!

Sunday, Dec. 24th – Dad dropped us off at the Crabb house so we could get a ride with them to church and Dad could still go to his church. We had breakfast there and then went to Fellowship Bible Church. It was SO wonderful to see everyone and I was especially thankful that the Hastings were there visiting from Guatemala! We had a hard time leaving, but did have a long day ahead of us. Back at Dad’s we packed our stuff into his car, ate a quick lunch and got on the road to Mom’s (about 3 hours away). Once at Mom’s our stuff was unloaded, we took a bathroom break and got in Mom & John’s car to go to Pop-pop and Patty’s (in CT) for a visit. We had pizza from Antonio’s there and chatted for a couple hours before heading back to MA.

Monday, Dec. 25th – Merry Christmas! Dan woke us up around 7 am to open presents (that’s 4 am in CA for those who were wondering). It was wonderful, even though we were missing some people we like to celebrate with. We had a big breakfast of fresh eggs from Mom’s chickens, bacon and fruit. Then I got to go with Mom to get more eggs from her chickens! I even got one that was warm—a little creepy at first but still pretty cool. We got a tour of the new house and enjoyed our time with my family.

Tuesday, Dec. 26th – Up around 9 am to do laundry and pack our stuff to go back to Dad’s (a much shorter drive to Boston for our early morning flight). Mom & John were headed over to North Andover (on the Eastern side of MA) to celebrate Christmas with his family so we left around 11:30. We met up with Dad, transferred baggage, and got a quick bite to eat before going back to Dad’s. We watched The Sixth Sense and then ate Turkey pot pie for dinner. Yum!

Wednesday, Dec. 27th – I woke up at 5 am (that’s 2 am in CA) to take a shower before we left around 6:00 for our 8:30 am flight. Despite my great desire to tell you more about that adventure, I’ll refrain since this post is practically a novel already. Perhaps my wonderful husband will relay that story at a later point. We arrived home around 4 pm and went to bed early. We slept for 10 hours.

I’m sure you can imagine that there are many more stories I could share and will hopefully do so at some point. But, if you get impatient for stories, feel free to give us a call and we’ll elaborate more than this! I hope you had a blessed Christmas and had some time to relax and remember the purpose of Christmas—to celebrate the birth of our Savior!

Sniffle, sniffle

Happy Hannukah, Merry Christmas, Happy Kwanzaa, and Happy New Year!

Yes, it's been that long since we last posted. Christmas was a whirlwind tour of New England and we have lots of stories to tell and pictures to share . . . but not yet.

Things are just beginning to get back to normal here in Stanton. But in a month and a half, we won't be reporting from Stanton anymore. That's right, we're moving! Again. We found a nice apartment complex a little more than five miles away in the city of Westminster. It's much quieter and a little bit off the closest main road (Brookhurst St.). It is directly across the street from an Sarah McGarvin Intermediate School, meaning we have easy access to a huge field, a playground, picnic tables, basketball courts. The rent is a bit more than we'd like to have paid, but it will significantly reduce the commute for Amy as it is four miles closer to her job. It is two miles closer to Liberty Christian School, so I have decided that once we move I will no longer take the bus to and from work. My bike will do just fine and we will save $45 a month that way. We are very excited about moving into a new apartment and thank the Lord for the way he quickly (again!) led us to this apartment. I'm sure you'll hear much more in the weeks to come!