Oh, to live in California again :)

This is our forecast for this week, here in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. It was a nice day today, 40 degrees outside. We even went for a walk this evening (all bundled up of course), but tonight and tomorrow we are supposed to have quite a bit of snow and wind and the temperature is going to drop way down. It is the beginning of the negatives this winter. Fun fun! These temperatures don't usually start until January!

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Fireproof is coming to Sioux Falls!

Fireproof the movie is here in Sioux Falls from Friday the 10th through Thursday, October 16th at Century Theaters with showings daily at 12:40pm, 3:30p, 6:25p, 9:20pm.

Gage and I were hoping to see this movie in the theater but it wasn't showing here so we thought we were going to have to wait. I'm pretty excited to see it! I mean a movie about MARRIAGE? What a thought! And of course...The Way of the Master's "little growing pain" is in the movie, which I'm also very excited about because I haven't seen him (Kirk Cameron) in a movie in a while.


This list came from http://www.christianbook.com

12 Reasons to see FIREPROOF:

1. We believe in the mission of the producers, who are trying to influence the culture positively from a Christian perspective through mainstream media.
2. Fireproof reaffirms the sacred institution of marriage in a culture plagued by divorce.
3. The movie strongly advocates faith, family, and Christian values.
4. It dramatically displays the power of forgiveness.
5. The film is a product of Sherwood Pictures, a media ministry that grew out of Sherwood Baptist Church in Albany, Georgia, whose goal is to reach the world for Christ.
6. Fireproof presents God as the source of unconditional love.
7. You can take the same 40-day challenge as Caleb does in Fireproof with The Love Dare.
8. The profits from Sherwood's last film, Facing the Giants, were used to build a sports complex to serve the needs of youth in Albany, Georgia, and to show them the love of Christ in community.
9. No matter where your marriage is, you can relate to the real-life struggles portrayed in this film.
10. Fireproof reminds us that no situation is too desperate for God to redeem—that with God, all things are possible.
11. Filmmakers Alex and Stephen Kendrick credit this film, and its focus on marriage, as being not just a good idea, but a God idea.
12. Any movie that has in its credits a "prayer coordinator," you should see.

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Changing Seasons

Seasons are new to me. I grew up in Southern California where there are basically the Summer months and the non-Summer months. During Fall and Winter in Southern California it rains more (which is hardly any at all) and it is slightly cooler than it is in Spring and Summer. That period of non-Summer was my favorite though. It was never humid, the air was cool and fresh and there was always a slight breeze. A couple of days when I was outside swinging with Zoe as I normally do in the evening, I noticed that the humidity was gone, the weather was cooler, and there was a slight breeze...it reminded me of California weather and words cannot describe how amazingly happy it made me feel. I also noticed one other thing that evening, for the first time in my life I am excited for Fall and even Winter (the first half anyway - winter lasts 6 months here).

For the majority of my life I've never dealt with snow or changing leaves (mostly because of the lack of trees in San Diego), there was no need to buy a winter coat or pack or unpack winter clothes, there were no special recipes we had for the different seasons, I never once carved a pumpkin or picked apples to make Apple pie. I never participated in winter sports of any kind and I never had a garden of my own. I now understand why my Mom always talked about how she wanted to move to a place with seasons (which she did!). Part of me always wished that I grew up in a place with real seasons. There is so much more to life with Seasons! I would prefer it if winter didn't last half the year but I am grateful that we at least have winter here as opposed to no winter in San Diego.

I am so happy that Zoe is going to have the opportunity to grow up with the different seasons! She is going to have such happy memories associated with them. I lived in Kentucky for one year when I was 15 and those memories stick with me more than many others from my childhood because of the seasons. Maybe it'll be different for her because she's going to grow up with them but I don't know... a lot of people I've met here seem to really enjoy the seasons and actually look forward to them.

Rachelle and Josh

A few days ago I decided that I wanted to write about all of my friends individually and how I met each of them. I plan to do this over time though, not all at once.

With the upcoming Lifelight festival this weekend I figured it is fitting to make my first friends post about Rachelle and Josh Brewer. A wonderful Christian couple that we know here in Sioux Falls. They were our first friends here! This story begins with a radio commercial.

I had never heard about LifeLight until 2006, a few months before I moved to Sioux Falls. I was sitting in my car in San Diego and I heard a radio commercial for this LifeLight music festival in SIOUX FALLS, SD of all places. I was amazed! I had never even heard of Sioux Falls before 2006 and then all of the sudden I was going to be moving there (well, here...) and then I heard about it on the radio in San Diego! We did not attend Lifelight that year though because we didn't arrive in Sioux Falls until September 30, a few weeks after the festival.

Right after we moved here I was browsing on MySpace and I saw one girl in a Wedding dress who lived in Sioux Falls. I saw her profile and I found out that she had just gotten married 6 days after we did! Her name was Rachelle. I sent her a friendly message introducing myself and saying congrats on her new marriage. We became MySpace friends and within a month, after a Bebo Norman concert, she invited us to come to Perkins to hang out with her, her husband, and her friends. As we are sitting at the table, she asked if we had ever heard of Lifelight. I then remembered the radio commercial I had heard a few months before and so I said, yes! I had heard of it. Well, it turns out that her parents are the founders of Lifelight - The Greenes. They then tried to describe to me how big and amazing and fun the festival is and I got very excited. I had always wanted to go to a big Christian music festival but never could afford it!
So all year I very much looked forward to Lifelight. It finally came and it was exactly as I had pictured it :) It was so much fun. However, I was pregnant and not feeling well and my back hurt VERY bad that weekend so that did put a damper on things.

We hung out with Rachelle and Josh quite a bit when we first met - we went to a Bible study at the Greene's for a few months but the study ended because they got so busy with Lifelight. Rachelle & Josh got involved in missions and so we didn't really see them much this past year unfortunately. However...Rachelle is expecting a baby now! So this means they will be in town for at least 9 months, haha. I'm so excited for them! I hope they have a girl. Zoe needs more girlfriends! Rachelle's best friend Rachel is also pregnant and expecting a little boy! I think they are due the same month. I'm so excited about all these babies due next year!

Both Rachelle and Josh share a strong desire for reaching the lost. In the past year they have been in missionary boot camp, they went to Mexico, and to Haiti. They are currently running the Lifelight Missions, and Josh is starting a street team this year that will be going around Lifelight sharing the gospel to whoever needs to hear it. (Gage was going to be part of that group but unfortunately Gage has to work on Sat and Sun.)


Rachelle will be performing at this year's Lifelight in the Coffee House on Sunday at 6pm I believe. Josh is speaking on the Souled Out stage (I think) on Saturday.

The Butterfly House

Zoe and I went to the Butterfly House a couple of weeks ago with some new friends. It was my first time being there. For the past few years I've kind of disliked butterflies because I looked at one too closely one time and realized just how scary looking they really are (the bug itself, not the pretty wings) haha. I got over my "fear" though and really enjoyed the Butterfly House here in Sioux Falls! A couple even landed on Zoe :)

She really seemed to enjoy herself! She looked around at all the butterflies and tried to grab them.

We went there with my new friend Anna and some of her friends. I met Anna at the New Baby & Me class that I attend nearly every week at the hospital where Zoe was born. She has a daughter, Kj, who was born 10 days after Zoe. When I arrived at the Butterfly House she introduced me to a couple women from her church home group and their kids. Tracy - who has 3 children, and Breanna who also had 3 children.

There were SO many butterflies! I didn't even know there were blue and black butterflies, pink and black butterflies, neon GREEN butterflies!
After the Butterfly House we went over to the park and had a picnic lunch.

Every week during the summer they get together and go to a park or do some fun event with the kids. This past Wednesday we went to Brea's house for the day. We just hung out, talked, played a fun game, and ate M onkey Munch! I haven't had that since I was a kid!
You know, the chex cereal with chocolate, peanut butter, and powdered sugar. Yummmmm! I should try making it later this year sometime.

Breadsmith

If someone were to ask me to create a list of my top 10 favorite scents, freshly baked bread would absolutely be one of them! We have a Breadsmith here in Sioux Falls, and nearly every woman I have met here has raved about how amazing their bread is. Recently I started buying this bread. It really is *awesome* bread! This morning I was the first customer of the day and my loaf of bread was super fresh out of the oven! My plan is to buy this bread more often than the store brands. It is a little more expensive though and you end up with less bread, but I think the quality and the nutritional value is way worth the money. All Breadsmith bread is hand made with no additives or preservatives. Check to see if your city has a Breadsmith (www.breadsmith.com)! They are in some states but not all states. If we ever move out of this city, this is one place that will be greatly missed.

-Shaina