7 Quick Takes Friday

Happy Friday everyone! Here's what's been happening around here these days.

**1**

I know it was only a 4 day week, well for me it was actually only a 3 day work week because I have today off as well to travel, but I gotta be honest, the week felt like a year! It was a long and stressful 3 days! I'm not even sure exactly what it was that had me so stressed, other than having a lot to do in a short amount of time, but it wasn't a fun week. I felt like I was being asked to do things for one of my jobs but wasn't given the proper tools or information to be successful, which is a terrible feeling. I am more than happy to do various tasks, but give me a shot at being successful! I know that was aggravating, and we also had an extra planning meeting for our youth staff, which meant Wednesday I couldn't work in the afternoon, I was at the church from 2-9. So that probably didn't help either, even though it was a good meeting!

**2**

Last weekend was awesome though! We definitely had a relaxing 3 day weekend! Saturday we went with Ryan and Alethia to a town about an hour east of here called Yucaipa to pick fresh fruit (we thought we were going to pick apples, but the apple fields weren't open. The raspberries were though!), eat apple pie, and enjoy a new landscape. It's crazy this place is only an hour from LA, it doesn't feel like part of the city at all!

We ended the day by eating Ryan's delicious salmon burgers (seriously, they are incredible), and playing a round of Cities and Knights (an expansion of Settlers of Catan). A great afternoon/evening with great friends!

**3**

Monday afternoon Charles and I went to the beach about 4, and he surfed for awhile while I read, and then we drove to a cliff overlooking the ocean and ate a Trader Joe's picnic dinner while watching the sunset. It was a great time together thinking about and preparing for these upcoming weekend interviews.

Yum! A Trader Joe's picnic :) A sushi sampler (cooked, and no I'm not pregnant, I just don

't want to eat raw meat!), hummus, and a salad with goat cheese and red peppers.

**4**

Last night our girls group did happy hour at The Melting Pot to celebrate Tera's birthday! A dinner of cheese and chocolate--seriously, what could be better??

**5**

Youth group started back up for the fall this week which was very fun! I know I've seen these kids all summer, but it felt good walking back into our youth room, playing silly games, and enjoying good conversations. I love these girls, it will be so hard to leave them one day!

**6**

A few weeks ago we were invited to a Friday night family dinner at a church family's house--a family who doesn't have kids in the youth program yet. We had been saying we wanted to get together with these guys for a year, and finally made it happen! The joke is that she hates cooking but has a huge kitchen and I love cooking but don't have space. So she went grocery shopping for me and I went over and cooked for all of us in her great kitchen, it was so relaxing and fun! They have 3 beautiful girls (1st grade, 3rd grade and 6th grade) and we had so much fun playing with them, watching their parents do such an incredible job of parenting them, and eating delicious food. As we left Charles said "wow, that's the kind of family I want to have, that's the kind of dad I want to be." It was really fun watching, as John asked his daughters to think about their words and their actions, asking them "honey if a person who didn't know you heard what you were saying right now about your friend, what kind of person would they think you are? Lets think about what our words communicate about us." Instead of "don't say mean things. That's not nice." It was really beautiful to watch such a hands on dad with his three little girls! We loved our evening, it was one of the best Friday nights we've had in awhile!

**7**

We head to the airport in 2 hours to fly up to Seattle for a quick weekend. It'll be an intense weekend though! My husband is being interviewed by a church there to be their middle school & high school youth director, so the whole weekend is being spent with the search committee. They're housing us, feeding us, giving us a car to use for our free time, and of course, asking a lot of questions. Which is what we'll be doing too--asking questions. Is this a community we could see ourselves in? Is this a church that seems like a good fit? Do we click with the senior pastor? Is this a job description that will allow my husband to fully utilize his strengths? I anticipate having a full and tired mind come Sunday!