Blessings

Some of you may know that I am a firm believer in storytelling. I believe that God gives us good stories in our lives so that we can share them, so that they might serve as testaments of His love and presence in the big and small moments of our lives. With that said, and with Thanksgiving right around the corner, I thought I'd share our most recent story about what we are most grateful for. It is a good one indeed!

When Neal was told that his company wanted him in the L.A. office by Labor Day, we put our house on the market almost immediately. May 1st was the official day the "For Sale" sign went in the front yard. During the first two months we had some activity but nothing that seemed very promising. In July, it seemed like the market virtually froze, and we had zero activity on our house for weeks. As our move date continued to approach we considered all of our options, the best of which was to sell our house and make a clean break.

As we entered mid August, we still weren't getting any prospects (though I had even put a picture of St. Joseph inconspicuously on our flier) and on top of that I still hadn't found a job in California, though I had flown out twice for interviews. With the move now being just several weeks away, we didn't know what else to do, except the one thing that is often the hardest - letting go and letting God.

We decided to focus our prayer and say a 9-Day novena (there is a beautiful one dedicated to St. Therese of Lisieux, the "Little Flower of Jesus"). Prayer is a funny thing in that the longer we do it, the more at peace we feel about everything in life, especially when the prayers are truly heartfelt. As we continued to pray each day we continued to feel more at peace, not knowing how it would work out but somehow feeling that it would.

The week after we finished our novena, we suddenly had four house showings after six weeks of no activity. We were thrilled, and waited patiently and see how things progressed.

That same week, I received a call from a school that I had applied to and interviewed with, and found out that I got the job. I would be working in the Development office at Thomas Aquinas College in Santa Paula. Words can't describe how happy I was to receive this news and how incredibly blessed I felt not only to have found a good job in a struggling economy, but at a Catholic college none-the-less. It was solely by the grace of God.

As we packed up our house and headed west, we still hadn't sold our home but had one interested buyer - one of the four who came to look at our house that week after our novena. After spending a week in California Neal had to fly back to Houston for three weeks to help train the person who took his place. During that time, our one interested buyer came to look at the house several more times, and two days before Neal moved out for good, we got the offer. After one month of escrow, we officially closed the deal on October 22nd.

We have often found in life that putting things in God's hands generally works out far better than putting them in our own, and this experience reminded us of that. We are very grateful for what we've been given and will continue to ask for the Lord's guidance as we build our new life here.

Fall Fest 2010

Fall is in the air

Every year a local farm puts on a Harvest Festival, complete with

hay ride, corn maze, pumpkin patch and even pig races. We

took advantage of the reprieve from the rain, and spent the

day outside.

Hanging Gourds

Central Coast

Living the SLO Life

Neal's first trip to San Luis Obispo (SLO)! Before all of the fog came along we were lucky enough to squeeze in a beautiful weekend along the Central Coast. The hills were still mostly brown from the summer months, but picturesque none-the-less.

Headed north on the 101, just past Santa Barbara

We took scenic route 1, through Pismo Beach, Lompoc

and other small towns.

The central coast is all about the vineyards - to look at,

to drive through, and the fruits of which to enjoy. We,

therefore, had to partake in a little wine tasting excursion.

Choosing from the dozens of wineries was difficult but we

lucked out with a good one - Talley Vineyards.

The tasting room was phenomenal, with views of their

rolling hills. The wine connaisseur gave us some delicious

samples and then took us on a private tour of the vineyard.

Pinot Noir

The Oak barrel room where the wine is kept until ready

to be bottled

Later in the afternoon we drove to Morro Bay along the coast.

Returning to SLO we walked the town and ended up back

at our weekend home - The Apple Farm - for dinner. Old

Victorian style buildings, homey gift shop filled with fall

and Christmas decor (and even a giant checker board, which

we took advantage of), and farm-style recipes that grandma

might have made in the restaurant....I loved this place!

The next day we made our way further up the coast to

San Simeon and the famous Hearst Castle.

William Hearst, though he may have been a bit of a

controversial figure, did build an amazing palace on an

impossible hill. The design of and views from the property

are so impressive.

On our way back from the Castle we drove through the

small town of Cambria and popped into a local fall festival.

We then drove another route to SLO that took us through

some more wineries.

We found what looked like another good winery to stop at

and enjoyed another brief wine tasting. "Castoro" means

beaver in Italian, hence the "Dam Fine Wine."

Fall at the vineyard

Back to the Apple Farm

As the last stop on our trip we walked through the small

town of Solvang. Located in the Santa Ynez Valley

(another popular wine tasting region), this Danish village

is charming as can be.

Taking the windy but scenic highway 150 back towards

home, we had great views of Lake Casitas.

Ojai Valley

Settling In

Our first month in California......

"Conejo" in the Conejo Valley

The first week we arrived Neal took his favorite hike

up Mt. Boney

View from the top

Family Time

Fondue and wine on the balcony

Brother-in-laws

Sunset over the Ventura Harbor

Pool Day

To celebrate our 4th wedding anniversary, the family took

us to Mediteraneo at the Westlake Village Inn, the hotel

where we spent our wedding night.

Here's to another 50!