Thankful Thursday

It's been so hot here in Southern California and the truth is that I love it. I hear so many people complain about it and it's a good reminder to just be thankful in all circumstances. Which brings me to.......
1. We are praising God this week because Jon has started working with a financial planning firm. After weeks of praying and waiting on the Lord we're thanking the Lord for this opportunity. Sure, the next few months won't be easy since he has several exams to take to get licensed plus he needs to build up a clientele in order to bring in income but he finally is able to get his feet wet. We now have a little more sense of being able to settle. For now we continue to live with my mom for which we are extremely grateful. Of course it's not ideal but it is working out just fine. I'm also thankful because Jon's job is only a 10 minutes drive from where we are living. Have you seen the price of gas lately? YIKES! One little way we can save some money.

2. I'm also thankful for the children's ministry at church. The boys are really enjoying Sunday school and Discovery Club (Sunday night's children's program). Josiah especially can't wait until Sunday.

Josiah even got to go to Summer Camp with Jon! I was extremely grateful because it was a one day camp..........not quite ready to send him away for a few days!

3. And lastly I'm so thankful for all that the Lord has been teaching me the last 3 months since we returned from Russia. One main thing He has taught me is to wait upon Him. Waiting on the Lord has really been a lifelong lesson for me. Patience is a characteristic that I have a lot to work on yet the last 3 months I've learned to come to the Lord through prayer anytime I felt anxious. I also chose to think upon how God has always taken care of me and our family.

The Japanese Garden

It's been a while since I've blogged but we've been busy anyway. Last week a friend of ours from Russia was in town and I had the opportunity to take her out somewhere. I really didn't want to drive too far and I also wanted to be considerate of funds. Plus, she has a bad back so I didn't want to push it and take her to a ton of places.

I've always wanted to go to the Japanese Garden near Balboa Lake in the valley but just never got around to it. So, that's where we headed. Even though the day was pretty warm, well hot, we still had a real nice time. I took Jojo along with us and he did great. The entry is only $3 per person and $2 for a child under 10. The garden is only open Monday - Thursday. It's closed on rainy days and the day after a rainy day. Best bet would be to go online and check it out further.

It's really quite a peaceful outing! I would recommend it for a date or just hanging out with a good friend. There are places to sit and relax. It may even be a great place to just go by yourself and "think" or meditate on God's Word.

 Here's Katya and I. She and her husband are here taking the Biblical counseling summer session at the Master's College. I had a great time catching up with Katya and hearing how I could better pray for her and her husband as they minister in a church plant in Moscow.

I love Weeping Willows. According to the Japanese these trees represent women.

The tea house is in the background.

The garden is actually watered by a water reclamation plant which is right next door to it. It's actually quite interesting. You can go up to a tower and watch a video on how the plant works. All of Balboa Lake, the golf course there, the huge park, and the garden use the reclaimed water.

The Nethercutt Museum

There are really so many things to do in Los Angeles, but when you've lived here pretty much most of your life you become pretty oblivious to all the places to go and see. The other problem is that everything costs money......yes there are a lot of "free" museums but you have to pay an arm and a leg in parking.

When we returned from Russia this year, my sister mentioned a free car museum in Sylmar. I had never even heard about this museum!So, yesterday we headed to Sylmar with the boys for a little afternoon outing.

If you are a car enthusiast you will love this museum. If you aren't a car enthusiast you will love this museum simply for all the history. Admission is free and there is no parking fee. Plus, it was only 10 minutes from where we live!

There are actually two museums. We went to the Nethercutt Museum which houses over 120 classic and antique cars. They are open Tuesday - Saturday from 9 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.  The other museum is called the Nethercutt Collection but entrance is by a reserved guided tour only and no kiddos under the age of 12 are allowed.

These are some pretty classy vehicles! I can't even imagine the worth of all the cars we saw.

The cars kept the boys' attention but towards the end they were a bit bored. They were also so tempted to touch the cars so we had to really keep our eyes on them.

Out in the back there is a restored 1937 locomotive. You can actually walk through it but only twice a day at 12:30 and 3:45. We weren't there at those times but may try again in the future. It was so hot yesterday so the boys didn't want to hang outside too long.

At the Nethercutt Collection museum they hold musical concerts since they have antique organs and pianos. Jon and I plan on getting free tickets for their Christmas concerts.

You can get more information about the museum on their website at www.nethercuttcollection.org

Nathan Turns 6

Last week our Naynay turned 6! I can't believe it.......time won't slow down and it's making me so sad. He's also impossible to keep up with. He has one speed and that's fast! His current favorite things are cars, Legos, and cartwheels. And if he could eat hot dogs every single day for every single meal he would! He's also asking us to put him into gymnastics class.....we'll have to see about that though.

So sweet and innocent here!

Rosy cheeks from being outside in the freezing cold.

Always on the g-o!

So cute!! 

And here's the big boy at 6 years of age with his Batman cake!

The X-wing Fighter

While we were in San Diego we had the opportunity to go see a life size Lego X-wing fighter at Legoland. It was quite a sight!

At first, Nathan was a bit scared so Jon

had to hold him.

 

 

Before heading in to see the X-Wing we take some fun shots with some "characters".

 

Probably the only time we'll walk the "red carpet".

It was really quite amazing and we were all impressed. I definitely would not have had the patience to work on a project this size. 

San Diego Zoo Safari Park

Since our passes also included admission to the Safari Park we headed there on our 4th day in San Diego. Right of the bat I can tell you that the Safari Park is not nearly as big as the zoo so it's definitely feasible to see the whole Safari Park in one day.


The funnest part of the Safari Park is taking the safari tour through Africa.  It's about 25 minutes long and it's really amazing to see the animals in an "almost" natural habitat.

 

After the safari tour we went to the lion exhibit. It was so cool 

to get so close to the lions. I remember years ago, the lions

were never visible but now they've built a great exhibit for them.

 

 

My favorite......the gorillas. I was really disappointed at the zoo because

the gorillas were hiding most of the time so it was so much fun to

watch the gorillas at the Safari Park because they were super active.

 

 

Jojo loves taking pictures and he especially loves taking like 20 

shots of the same thing....so here I am telling him, "just 1".

 

Lorikeet Landing was also a lot of fun. I would definitely buy the 

nectar they sell to feed the birds but next time we'll go first thing

in the morning because by midday those poor birds are too full

to eat.

And I can't forget about the bats which happened to be Jon's favorite exhibit at the Safari Park! He stayed several minutes just watching those ugly bats! The boys and I were grossed out.

As you can see, Jojo looks thrilled!!!

 

Eeewww........just eeeewwww!!!