A Bit of a Holiday

As you know my sister is here from NZ and visiting until August. This last week we had a potluck and I am going to share pictures from it. At work, two of the four hostesses have given notice and now there are a lot of shifts available. I am going to be working Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights for the next couple weeks. Super great for our pockets but I can already tell I am going to be tired. So something has to give and I will say my posting time will be the first to go. Looks like I will try to post when I can and hopefully you all will understand. But for now enjoy these photos of my family and friends.

Friends

Kira

My sister taking a picture of me takind a picture of her

Momma, clean my hands!

It was a little chilly

The girls got into a whipped cream fight but were pointing it up

and not down so it was funny watching them try to get each other! 

Giveaway, Grads and Good Stuff!

 Alrighty folks, today is the last day to enter the giveaway. I realized that I did not put an end date so today will be a week since it opened and that sounds good. Tonight at 8:00 pm Pacific Time I will close the giveaway.

I have been a little busy this last week with work, graduation and family here. So I plan to get back on schedule. Thanks for the patience :)

Last week was graduation for the University and our neighbor graduated! I was so honored when he asked me to make lunch for his family and friends. We have had him over a few times for dinner and he really enjoyed my cooking. So I planned out a menu and we shopped and Friday and Saturday I cooked up a storm. Not to mention I worked a double at the restaurant on Saturday. For the restaurant, graduation is the second busiest day of the year next to Valentine's Day. It was a hectic but fun day! I love having twenty things to do and only a certain amount of time, I thrive on being under pressure.

Here is our menu:
Starters:
Romaine Lettuce Wraps:
 In a large lettuce leaf with a dollup of guac, spoonful of veggies and drizzle with one or all three sauces, wrap it like a taco and enjoy!
Guacamole
Diced Red Bell Pepper
Diced Cucumber
Diced Celery
With Sauces of
Hummus
Roasted Red Bell Pepper Sauce
Cilantro Serrano Sauce

Baked Polenta with Sauteed Mushrooms

Entrees:

Fire Roasted Corn, Bell Pepper and Broccoli Salad
Veggie Burgers
Grilled Eggplant
Sweet Potato Enchiladas

Dessert:

Fruit
Candied Pecans
*I will post the recipes*

I made it for about ten people and everyone throughly enjoyed themselves.
I love cooking and I was so thankful to give a special gift to our Graduate.
Congratulations Robert!!!

Lastly, we had my sister and her family stay the other night on their way up to Northern California. They are staying with Scott's mum and then will visit here for about a week. We all stayed up late talking and the kids just adored New Zealand cousins. Enzo calls the "Museum Cousins". He can't quite say New Zealand ;)

 Good Stuff! I can't wait to spend more time together!

They are Here! They are Here!!!!

Seven years ago in March my sister and her family moved to New Zealand. They are officially Kiwis. I have been over there two times to visit. My sister and her family have been officially in the United States since the 5th. Scott stayed with us that night and talked at our church on Sunday. It was great visiting with him but I still have not seen my sister.

My sister and her husband

However I will see them all today!!!! I am so excited. It has been two years since we have seen each other. My sister is my best friend, an awesome mom, and my shorter but older sister. We have tons of inside jokes and opted to share a room for years. She used to beat me up until I got taller. I miss her and her family. They will be here in the U.S. until mid July.

Yippee!!!

Summertime Plans

 With summer coming up I was wondering what everyone is planning or not planning to do. I love getting ideas for the kids and keeping them busy and enjoying the weather.

I am excited about three major things happening this summer

#1 My sister and her family are arriving on Saturday from New Zealand!!!! They are staying for eight weeks!

#2 We are ALL, twenty of us, going to Disneyland and Club 33 on Fourth of July

#3 We are ALL,  twenty five of us, going on an Alaskan Cruise at the end of July for a week

These are all very exciting events that we are counting down to. This morning Kira asked when NZ cousins were going to be here again and I thought why not make a calendar for the summer and show all of our events. That will be the craft of the day.

With my new job I needed to find a babysitter for the kids for a couple hours during the week when I have to leave early and Eric is not home yet. Through our church I was connected with two gals who are both staying the summer here. One gal came yesterday while I had computer training at the restaurant. The kids LOVED her! It was so nice walking up to the house and watching them playing Simon Says on the lawn. She told me "your kids are really good" with a huge smile. I love hearing that especially with someone new! Then when she left Kira asked if she was going to come back the next time I went to work. It is always good to have a sitter that both the kids and parents like! And she did not break the bank!

So the other plan I have for the summer is swim lessons. Since I was on the swim team in high school and love to swim, I thought why pay someone to teach my kids how to swim when I can. I asked our new favorite gal if she would be willing to join us at the pool once or twice a week while I teach one kid and she can watch the other. This will be so much cheaper than swim lessons and so rewarding to teach them one more thing. She was all about it.

That is what we are doing this summer, what are you up to?

Kira wanted to pose too

Cornbread Waffles

To change it up a bit on our Saturday pancake/waffle morning tradition, I thought I would try a different type of waffle. I love cornbread jalapeno waffles with maple syrup. The spicy and sweetness of them is addicting. I knew the kids would not like the spice so I just made cornbread waffles. I used my normal pancake/waffle recipe but substituted one cup of rice flour for one cup of cornmeal. Next time I will probably use half rice flour and half cornmeal. They were good. I overheard Enzo commenting with Mmm Mmm the whole time while chewing. I guess it is definitely grounds for repeating this recipe

My plate with coconut oil for butter and maple syrup and my NZ coffee cup.
I talked with my sister yesterday and needed a visual reminder of NZ.

By the way they are coming out to the states in June until mid July!!!!
I am so excited to see them. It has been two years since we have been there and seen them.
Yeah!!!

Going Kiwi Update

So the title of my blog is Going Kiwi for a reason. No, I am not going to buy a kiwi, but rather in the process of moving to New Zealand. It is funny how our timing and God's timing are two completely different concepts. I was thinking about how long we have wanted to live in one of these houses that we just moved into and it has been close to seven years in the making.

When my sister and her husband announced their plan to move to NZ back in 2003 it was a crazy idea for me to grasp for a couple reasons. At the time Eric and I were newly engaged and I was devastated because my best friend, big sister and matron of honor were moving three months before we were getting married. The three people I talked to daily were Eric, my mom and my sister, how was I going to cope. All things worked out in the end with the wedding, we were able to get her a flight back for super cheap and she was standing next to me on my day. We have bought our phone cards and talk frequently and are definitely on FB to catch up more often than not.

Eric and I started discussing their plans of NZ and wondered if we would ever do something like that. From day one we always had it in the back of our minds that eventually we were to go too. I finally got to visit for the first time in August of 2006 when I was first pregnant with Enzo and my mom and Kira all went. I loved it so much and pretty much had confirmation when I was there.

Eric, Kira, Enzo and I all went as a family in April of 2008 and really feel like at that point it was a done deal. We loved the people and could really see ourselves living there and being in community with these sweet people. But then the next questions were When and How? and How and When?

When we looked at our debt and realized what we owed and needed to do before we moved. We felt like the dog who is running on one of those leashes that is loose and has a long leeway and then BAM the owner locks it and dog is jerked back like five feet. That is how we felt. How could we go over with debt, well, we could not. So we sold stuff and more stuff and moved out of our apartment and in with family to save. Things do not always go smoothly of course we all know that, but here we are almost two years after our visit.

We are finally in the right direction and I feel like we making progress. We have a three year plan to be completely debt free. Whoa! It feels good to say that! Getting the plan out in writing and actually starting it and making it work has been hard. I feel like I am seeing the light. Not the light at the end of the tunnel but rather the light of hope that there is an end of the tunnel.

I have been listening to Dave Ramsey and reading a lot about his Baby Steps to Financial Freedom. I am excited and I feel like we can do it.

There are seven:

Baby Steps

#1$1000 to start an Emergency Fund

#2 Pay off all debt using the Debt Snowball

#3 3 to 6 months of expenses in savings

#4 Invest 15% for retirement

#5 College funding

#6 Pay off home early

#7 Build wealth and GIVE!

We are working on the first Baby Step and saving $1000 for an emergency fund. God just opened up $100 to start and I am excited. We are having a garage sale next Saturday if it does not rain or the 6th of February. I can not wait to get the emergency fund taken care of and then getting back to paying off our debt. I know Dave says all the time that you have got to eat beans and rice and rice and beans until you get out debt. He also says if your friends start thinking you are weird it is working. Sweet! my already do, just kidding, kind of ;)

I think what he means is you are not living the "Norm". You do not eat out, you are not buying the newest clothing etc, and you do not have the nicest car on the block. Now this was kind of hard for me, I loved my Eurovan, however we were being bled to death by it, so we got rid of it and now we only own cars that are paid for. Wow, what a concept! I love that my car is paid for and that all these little punk kids look at me driving this old car and think I am weird and I love it. I just think to myself, "At least it is paid for".

So in a nut shell, the plan of moving is still there, just delayed a bit. God has His timing for sure. The goal is three years to be debt free and then work on saving for tickets, moving expenses, housing and all that goes with it. Hopefully we can at least make one more trip over there between now and then, well maybe just Eric can go and scout out jobs, because it is definitely expensive for all four of us to fly, about $4000 off season.

There you have it, what is on the horizon. I will update as we move through the steps and hopefully encourage you to live debt-free and to stop being sucker punched into thinking you "need" something.
Cheers

Ooh, just had a thought maybe I will do 28 days of nothing again next month....okay I thought about it and I am going to do 28 days of Nothing, I encourage to do something similar.

So Thankful!

Psalm 107:1-16 (NIV)

1 Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever.

2 Let the redeemed of the LORD say this— those he redeemed from the hand of the foe,

3 those he gathered from the lands, from east and west, from north and south.

4 Some wandered in desert wastelands, finding no way to a city where they could settle.

5 They were hungry and thirsty, and their lives ebbed away.

6 Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble,

and he delivered them from their distress.

7 He led them by a straight way to a city where they could settle.

8 Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for men,

9 for he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things.

10 Some sat in darkness and the deepest gloom, prisoners suffering in iron chains,

11 for they had rebelled against the words of God and despised the counsel of the Most High.

12 So he subjected them to bitter labor; they stumbled, and there was no one to help.

13 Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble, and he saved them from their distress.

14 He brought them out of darkness and the deepest gloom and broke away their chains.

15 Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for men,

16 for he breaks down gates of bronze and cuts through bars of iron.

What an encouraging Psalm!

I have been feeling like those wandering in the desert with no place to go.

But God found them a place and He has found us a place as well.

I would have put the whole thing in bold because it all spoke to me but the part I put in bold is especially true. We have been crying out to Him and He has answered our prayers, maybe not how we thought He would but He answered.

We are moving as you know but after this last weekend up in SLO county, we feel that God is leading us to the Central Coast. Eric's parents live there, that is where we met, I went to school there and we love it up there. I have been a bit frazzled about the decision because we have lived there before. I have been reluctant to tell people because I feel like we are being back and forth about it. However if I think about it we have moved each time following God's direction and then circumstances out of our hands change and we need to move.

Eric and I feel confident that we have everytime prayed and sought out God's will and have peace about that. But realize that things out of our control change and the plans change and then we have to seek His will again. So we are there again, at a crossroads and needing direction. We know with the way the economy is we are not able to live in Orange County with the cost of living. I mean if most people looked realistically at the cost of living in Orange County and the choice not to use credit to survive, they would realize that they can't afford to live here too. However I think people do not live realistically and spend unrealistically using debt, just to keep up with the Joneses. I know I used to do that. I acquried the debt that I had because I had a empty spot in my life and I tried to fill it up with things. As soon as I came back to the Lord, I stopped feeling the need to spend aimlessly. I definitely still struggle with spending but more out of habit not out an emptiness. God has filled that void in my heart and I am so thankful.

God has provided in so many ways for us and He is continuing to provide. We are blessed and excited for new opportunities. Thanks for your prayers too. We are still not quite sure when the moving date is but it will most likely be in a month or two.

Then you might be asking well how does this effect our move to New Zealand. Well, we have known for six years we are supposed to move there, but last year we actually started talking about it with family and friends. We started to pay of debt when we moved into my parents house. With the way the economy turned my income decreased about 30-40% and we were no longer paying off debt at a higher rate, we have been keeping a float. With all of the changes in our income we knew we needed to live in a more affordable area. So we have actually been praying about our living situation and jobs for over six months and God has answered with this new living situation and new opportunities.

Exciting times!