I am still here...

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. I didn't think that the library computers would let me on because I tried my first day here and it didnt' come up. Now it is working so I guess I can start posting again.
I won't take the time now to post much. I will try to catch up tomorrow or some other time. I am getting settled in. Everything is going pretty smoothly. I am still missing everyone at home, of course!

My First Sunday in California

I missed posting yesterday. It was quite a busy morning. The nurse came and a physical therapist. It was so funny because I found out that the PT was from Kokomo, IN. That is SO close to where I live. She said she had cousins in Logansport. It is a small world. I never cease to be amazed at that.

Rob and Chrissy drove up to go to church with me this morning. We went to a church not too far from here that Rob has preached in several times. It was a Reformed Baptist Church. The service was really good. The sermon was really good. But the whole service was SO different than I am used to. There was nothing wrong with it. It will just take some getting used to if I keep going there. I really liked the pastor and his wife. They were very friendly. It is nice to know someone in the area now. The pastor gave me his number and kept telling me if I needed anything to just call. He said if I got lost just to call him. That was really nice to hear. One of my biggest fears out here is getting lost and not knowing anyone to help me. He reminded me (like I needed reminding) :) that there are places out here that you DON'T want to get lost in.

Rob and Chrissy came back to the house with me after the service. We visited for a while before they had to head back to their church for the evening service. It was nice to get to see them. I hope to see them a few more times while I am out here. We will see how it all works out.

Day Three

Just a quick over view of today. I am far too tired to tell too much about the day. I am not even close to being on California time yet. My body is telling me it is almost 1 in the morning.

Joanna and I cleaned the kitchen and both bathrooms today. They really needed cleaning! We used a lot of cleaners and a whole bunch of paper towels! Everything looks a whole lot better!

The nurse came today to get her set up with home care. She has to come do the evaluation for the physical therapist, occupational therapist, bath aid, and nurse to come in. She was very nice and so helpful. She helped us set up her medication. It was in such a mess. We couldn't figure out the paperwork that the people at the hospital had given us. We were very thankful for the help.

Tonight a friend of the Portukalians came to visit. He is Armenian and was raised in Lebanon. I really enjoyed his visit. He was very interesting, and very funny! I always enjoy hearing about other cultures.

Arriving in California

I have been so busy getting ready for my new adventure I haven't been able to post about what my new adventure is! A few weeks ago a friend of ours called and said he needed someone to take care of his aunt in California when she got out of the hospital. He was asking if one of my older sisters could do it. They obviously couldn't because of their work. I kind of off handedly said I would do it if it was only for two or three months. Careful what you say - you might have to stand by it. I will skip all the details of how things worked out, but here I am, sitting in California! I left Wednesday. I will just kind of skip over having to say goodbye to everyone. That was not easy on any of us. I did do better than I expected though.

We had to get up FAR too early in the morning to head to the airport. Dad and Mom drove me down. We got there later than we should have been but thankfully the airport wasn't crowded and I made it through in plenty of time. Security in the airport is insane. I hadn't been through our new airport yet. Crazy!

The weather was kind of stormy so the ride was pretty bumpy. Thankfully turbulence doesn't really bother me. There were no big drops just a lot of bouncing. I wanted so badly to be able to sleep on the flight but unfortunately, even with a row all to my self, I did get much sleep. I landed in Denver for my layover about 8:00 local time. I was there for about two and a half hours. One more airport I can add to my list. :)

We flew over the Rocky Mountains as soon as we left the airport. They were SO pretty. Thankfully I slept more on that flight so I didn't get to see much of the scenery. I again had a row to my self so I got to have plenty of room to stretch out. That makes flying much more enjoyable. 

When I landed I met up with Bro. Jim (the nephew of the lady I am going to be living with) and his daughter Joanna. They landed just a little while before I did. Some friends of theirs picked us up from the airport. We went back to the house where I will be living and dropped off our luggage. We had an appointment in the afternoon at the hospital so I could be shown how to work with (I guess it is about time I mention her name) Dorothy. I pretty much knew it all already from working with Fran. It never hurts to refresh stuff though.

From the hospital we went to a taco place to eat supper. Bro. Jim said he has been eating at that taco stand for over twenty years. They had really good tacos! They were a lot different than what I would consider "normal" tacos. 

Then it was off for grocery shopping. First we went to Cosco. I have never been shopping like that before. It was kind of strange. Most of the time when you go grocery shopping you pick up what ever you are out of. Here we had to start from scratch. We got tons of stuff. After we came home and dropped all that stuff off went to Trader Joe's to do some more shopping.

When we finally made it home for the evening, Joanna and I decided to clean the refrigerator before we put things away. That way we didn't have to take everything back out the next morning. 

By the time we got done with everything it was 10:30 here. That means I had been up for over 20 hours. I was SOO tired. Thankfully I got to sleep for a long time!

We did some cleaning and sorting here at the house this morning before we went to get Aunt Dorothy from the hospital. We went to lunch when we left the hospital.

This afternoon we did more sorting and cleaning. Her house has a whole lot less paper sticks now. Did anyone no paper shredders can be really fun? ;) Joanna and I had tons of fun feeding all those papers through that thing.

This evening I am here with Aunt Dorothy alone. Bro. Jim and Joanna went to visit some friends. Here is my first taste of what it is going to be like here. I had better get a bunch of books to read or this is going to be a very long three months. I am sure I will get used to it. It will just take some time.

I will keep everyone posted as to how everything is going. There is a good side to this and a bad side. I am sure I will be posting more often - but I have a feeling it probably won't be very interesting to anyone. :)

Adventure in Holland (MI that is)

Now that almost a week has gone by I figured I should finally get around to writing a post about my adventure.
Last Wednesday my parents and I set out on a 150 mile trip across terribly snowy roads. Well... I can say that the entire 15o miles was snowy. The first half was pretty bad but after we got into MI the roads cleared up. Now what are the odds on that one???
I guess I should get around to explaining the point of the trip. My dear friend Bethany and I had been scheming for a while trying to figure out how to get together. We finally worked it out. We were going to meet half way between her house and my house and spend a while together.
We met at Perkins restaurant for lunch. We all enjoyed our dinner and laughed and talked. Dad said you could tell who was doing the talking because I was the last one eating. :)
When we were done Bethany and I decided to walk back to the row of stores that were across the parking lot. We walked the stores and did some more talking. Does that come as a surprise to any of you? We found a Christian book store. That is where we spent most of our time. We walked through the store discussing different books, authors, etc. Then we found the comfy chairs that book stores have and sat down for more good chatting. :) Our dads came in after a while. They did the same thing we did. The walked through the store looked at books, discussed some authors, and then went and sat in the chairs Bethany and I had been in when we got up to go look at some rings. My dad even sat in the chair I had been sitting in and her dad sat in the chair she had been sitting in.
Bethany and I picked out these neat rings that we really liked. We had looked at all the rings in the store (more than once!) and this one was our favorite. After a while Bethany just grabbed two of them and went and bought them. Isn't she sweet? ;)
All too soon our day came to a close. I was sad, of course, to say good bye but I was ever so thankful for the time we had gotten to spend!

Paul Washer and Joel Osteen