Fall Wrap Up

We have had a busy but wonderful 2009.  Some fun things we did in the fall was go hiking with friends from church, wood cutting, host a poker night, watch UFC Fight Nights at Firkin and Fox, attend Street Vibrations in Reno, Youth Night Activities and go to the greater Seattle area for Thanksgiving.  We have much to be thankful for.  A big change is headed in the way of work for Joleen in 2009.  She was offered a job with the Nevada Department of Environmental Protection in the Bureau of Air Pollution Control.  This job is much closer to home and will mean less of a commute.  The next weeks will be a transition as we are wrapping things up in Mono County and heading into the holidays.  We are grateful for the opportunity for the job with the state of Nevada and are looking forward to a New Year!

Please check out the rest of our Thanksgiving album pictures here.  Praying all of you have a blessed holiday season!

Summer Recap

The Guddats at Riverside Youth Conference 2009

Well a lot has happened in the last months so I will just lay it all out:

• Our summer basically got off to a really fun start when my best friend Kathy and her husband Dave came to visit us for Memorial Day weekend. We had a great time together which involved seeing Tahoe, Virginia City, getting awesome Basque food and them teaching us how to mix a mean margarita. Kathy and I have been friends since 9th grade and what makes our friendship so special is that there is no pretense. If we don't talk for weeks or months at a time we fall right back into place.
  
• June was busy. My childhood friend Case came to visit (he grew up on the dairy next door to my dad's dairy). Our good friend Dave married a lovely lady named Tiffanie. Dave's family was able to stay with us during the week and the next day after the wedding we headed down south for the Riverside Youth Conference. For those of you in the know, Eric and I met in 2007 through this event when we were both chaperones. This year we had 35 kids attend from Grace Community! Now that is quite awesome. It was a bit interesting getting the caravan down there but I think DH did a great job executing all the plans, details and cracking the whip (kidding with the last part). Stephen Gambill from Nashville, TN was the speaker and he addressed the kids on "Living Christianly in All of Life." It was pertinent and convicting to all.
• July was visitor month. We had my mom, stepdad and little bro come up 4th of July weekend. More driving around Tahoe and Virginia City with Truckee in the mix. We had a BBQ on Sunday night with Jeff, Harmony and Alicia. We utilized our fire pit a lot over the summer to make s'mores...mmmmmh. We made an incredible 36 hour trip to So Cal for our friend Cameron and Joy's wedding. Adam came with us and it was so much fun. Our friends Dave and Robyn put us up for the two nights while we were there. The wedding was a lot of fun and it was wonderful getting to see our friends down there. Later that month my dad and stepmom came up. Virginia City again, no Tahoe. We went shooting (but unfortunately not long enough). Lots of margaritas (I made sure to put that after the shooting).
  
• We started off August by hosting Newly Marrieds at our house. We had 7 couples, the food turned our great and the discussion/fellowship was really edifiying. August also means that we have been married a year and what better way to celebrate than to hang out with family? No, seriously. My brother-in-law (for lack of a more clear term, maybe I could call him my Mike-in-law?) has been working in Reno a lot lately. He is a professional navigator for trophy truck races. The company he races for sold a truck to a racing company in Reno which means he is up here during the week a lot. Reno is still too far to see him on a regular basis (especially when I work in Bridgeport). All that to say, Mike, Zabrina and the kids decided that they were gonna be here the weekend of our anniversary. Mike was up here already so my dad and stepmom drove up with all the fam. We rented a boat on Tahoe and it was a lot of fun! We also did some more shooting this time. I shot the AR for the first time and I must say that I kind of like that. The following weekend Eric had a bachelor's weekend for his buddy Brandon. He was gone camping and fishing and I hung out with some girlfriends. I played Bunko for the first time and, went to Dawn's bridal shower, exercised, watched movies and stayed up way too late. I eventually got my special date night for our anniversary which included a nice dinner at Walley's (for those that don't live around here please don't think I am talking about Walmart) and a blingy watch as a gift. The next day we went to see G.I. Joe (I know, I love my husband) because I had already seen my girly movie choice, Julie and Julia, with my friends the weekend earlier. Later we went to Firkin & Fox and watched the UFC fights.
  
• September and Labor Day weekend mean the end of summer but apparently not our busy lives. Our friends Brandon and Dawn got married Labor Day weekend and it was a great experience with very happy bride and groom. I got better acquainted with Eric's firefighting compadres and spouses or SOs which I enjoyed. Labor Day we actually labored and went woodcutting...all day. I was sore later but it felt good at the time.
• In general, Eric is busy teaching the high school/junior high age at church on Wednesay nights. He tag teams on Sunday mornings. I have started working 4-10s which is fantastic in that I get an extra free day (I am choosing Fri.) but difficult in that 10 hour days are 13 hour days with the commute. Some days go longer and when I leave at 6 something and get back at 8 it's hard physically because the drive really takes it out of me (especially the 300+ mile field days). I am blessed to have a husband who packs my lunch, makes me my protein shake, my green tea and helps get me on the road. He really shows me how he loves me everyday. I am trying to get back into exercising after my back injury which is hard but overall I am feeling better. I had an MRI and I have a disc that potentially is damaged or it might just be degenerating. I was bummed when I was told I couldn't run because that is what I love but remembering I am blessed to be able to exercise in general. Eric's shoulder is doing pretty good. He is going to be going back to the swim center for work outs since that is good for his rotator cuff.

Check out the photos from our summer plus others at the following link from our Facebook album (and if you are on there please add us!)

A Reflection on May 2008

The question may be "Where have you been?" Well as you can see by the dates on the posts I had created drafts for the blog but they never were finished. I hit a tough spot in May. May 2008 had represented lot of change in my life. May 2008 was also one of the more difficult and stressful times of my life. The last couple months have been a lot of reflection on that and while I am thankful that the Lord brought me out of it I would never want to go back there. Physically I am still in recovery mode. I was in a hit and run accident on May 3, 2008, while on the way to see my grandpa Simon who was on hospice care. Due to the circumstances of his death only days later, my impending move, trying to get my condo packed up and leased out, having to move my start date for my new job and and an insurance company that was entirely insensitive to my situation, I never received the treatment and care I needed. That in itself is an ongoing situation. Then not sleeping for months, a new job with a 140 mile round trip commute in an entirely rural community and feeling exhausted all the time was too much. I thank God I finally found a doctor that told me something more than "seizure meds make you tired." I was 26. It was not normal to be that physically exhausted all the time. More than a year later now with the oral steroids and the supplements I am doing much better with the adrenal insufficiency diagnosis I received.

I think about my Grandpa Simon every day but as I was approaching May 2009 and the day that he had passed away I felt it more acutely. I was not in the place to write about it or necessarily even talk about it. I look back and realize I did not get to grieve for him because I was trying to pick up and start a whole new life. In grief you surround yourself with your family, close friends and put yourself in an environment you are comfortable with. Instead I had no family and friends, a temporary living situation and a new job. I had no comfort other than Eric. There were times early in our marriage I would come home crying because I had spent the last hour driving and thinking about grandpa Simon. I am grateful for my faith at that time. I am incredibly grateful in my assurance that my grandfather was a Christian because his death was not the end. I often remind myself that my sadness is selfish because for him to live was Christ but to die was gain. My grandpa no longer suffers. He has no pain. He no longer deals with "quality of life" issues. I am so blessed and privileged to say that Simon Sybrandy was my grandfather. He was a godly and Christ-like man. I am able to say that by emulating him that I can emulate Christ. That is an awesome thing to say about someone. He was quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to become angry, he was incredibly dignified, his yes was a yes and his no was a no, he was loving husband and father, a devoted church goer and member. He was humble and well aware of his need of grace. I will remember the way he prayed. When I cry these days it is because of happy memories. I marvel at the care and attention that my grandmother showed him for more than a decade as he battled cancer that brought on contingent health issues. I never heard her complain just resolutely state what needed to be done. I often did hear her reference her vows and how she wanted to take care of grandpa. I saw her cry when he would be really ill because of her great love for him and her sadness at losing him. I think that is what was the hardest-- seeing my grandmother tell him good bye. Again I am so grateful for such a tangible learning lesson on active, sacrificial love and what real commitment is. When I walked down the aisle and said my vows to Eric only a couple months later I was very cognizant of the long term implications of what my vows were because I had seen them fleshed out in my grandparents. I thank God for the legacy of faith that I have in my family.

April Update

I have been getting behind again and I am sorry for that. We are doing well and staying busy. The good news is that spring is finally here! Longer and warmer days facilitate activities like evening walks, gardening, barbecuing and of course spring cleaning in the garage! I for one am a much happier girl now that spring is here. It makes my commute easier and I have so much more energy. I know that my husband sees the difference.

As for news in our neck of the woods, as previously mentioned Eric is getting involved with the Youth at our church again. We recently had a group of the high school boys over for a video game-pizza eating-soda drinking fest. Eric and I had been talking about getting a TV for months and with our tax return money (we try to only make purchases with cash otherwise we don't buy it) we found a sweet deal on a 47'' LCD. The guys a did tourney style rounds of some street fighter game (here I display my ignorance) and Halo. I spent that night at Harmony and Jeff's and when I came back the next morning the games were still going! I think they they all had a good time although minimal sleep was had. Eric made blueberry waffles with the supersweet belgian waffle maker we had gotten for a wedding present. Then the hubby did a reading of a Psalm with the boys. Coincidentally Eric and I have just finished reading through the Psalms together which has been a wonderful experience.

Eric has also started physical therapy and is doing well! No more sling which is really nice but he finds himself in pain a lot. His range of motion is actually really good but as you can imagine his arm does not have much strength and it will take a while to build that back up. The main thing is for him to not over do it which is hard because certain activities don't bother him whereas more simple things that have a different motion really bother him e.g. pulling weeds vs. hanging a picture on the wall.

We had an encouraging Resurrection Sunday and a nice time with family. Jeff and Harmony got to celebrate with us this year as well as a friend of Fran. Another big thing for our family is that as of the beginning of April, Adam has been working out of the Bridgeport area. This means we get to have him at our family functions again! I know Eric is happy to have his brother close by.

March Update

So the big news for March was our So Cal vacation and we really had a good time. I think the biggest thing that I am learning as a new wife is that no matter what activity I engage in with my husband, I end up having the best time if I am determined to make the most of that time with him. Case in point: Eric had been signed up for a fire arms class and as it was approaching I thought to myself, "Hey, why not do it together?" I was able to get into the same class as him and it let us spend a good chunk of the weekend together as well as allowing me to gain a greater understanding and appreciation for something my husband enjoys. I walked away from the class feeling more confident around guns. It is easy for people to feel intimidated or scared of something that they don't understand. The reality is that guns are inanimate objects and it is only when a person improperly uses one that tragedy happens. This is where education about fire arms is key. I have been so impressed lately learning how much the National Rifle Assocation (NRA) has done to reduce fire arm casualties through its Eddie Eagle school education program. I am grateful that I have the right to protect myself within my own home and to protect my family (although as it stands now I think Eric does all the protecting). For any of you who have an interest in gun ownership and might not be aware, there is currently a bill being proposed that would outlaw gun ownership by anyone who does have a valid license through a program determined by the Attorney General. This would be a huge infringement on the 2nd Amendment as only those who have been deemed criminals should be prohibited from owning fire arms. To check out the language of the bill, H.R. 45, Blair Holt's Firearm Licensing and Record of Sale Act of 2009, click here.

If you look at the pics you will see that Eric still has a chicken wing. He did really well however despite being a one armed gimp!

As for other news, Eric and I have been praying for some time regarding involvement in the Youth program at our church. The gentleman who currently heads it up will be heading back to seminary in the fall. After some discussion with the elders it was decided that Eric would shadow Josh Harmon, the current Youth Program coordinator in these next months. Eric can learn Josh's curriculum and be better prepared for the transition. So we get to go to the Youth Activities, Wed. Night Service and Sunday School. All that to say, we are very excited and grateful for this opportunity. Eric and I met through the Riverside Youth Conference so it is a great joy to be able to continue this kind of ministry through our married years.

March Vacation

Eric and I were thrilled to get away recently for close to a week. Our friends Matt and Tiffany got married on March 14th so we combined attending their wedding with seeing friends, fam and going to the happiest place on earth...Disneyland! We headed down after work and did the night time drive again. I think we are pretty committed to doing the drive down south at night now. It makes it go by real fast when you don't have to look at the desert. The sunset driving out of Bishop was lovely however. It got dark just outside of Lone Pine and by then it gets pretty boring. Sand and Joshua trees. We got to spend some time with the nieces and nephews, Grandma Ida, my Grandpa and Grandma Dykstra and my parents.

Matt and Tiffany's wedding was beautiful and we really enjoyed getting to be at a Christian wedding with so many mutual friends. For pics check out their photographer Marlin Munoz's blog. Robert Elliott, the pastor who performed our ceremony, also officiated the ceremony of Matt and Tiffany. It is wonderful to hear people say their vows when you know that they are committed to the mutual foundation of Christ being their Lord and Savior. Oh, and there was a sweet party afterward as well.

We headed to Disneyland with some good friends: James and Michelle Elliott and their adorable kiddos, Dave and Robyn Lamberth and Dave and Kathy McGuire. Eric and I had not been to Disneyland together since our engagement (Eric proposed to me at The Vineyard Room In CA Adventures). It was fantastic weather and we thoroughly enjoyed catching up with our So Cal friends. The new Toy Story ride is our latest favorite.

TOTUS

That's right, TOTUS as opposed to POTUS. The Teleprompter of the United States of America. Recently as I was in So Cal for a friend's wedding and visiting family (more on that later), the topic of how our president cannot seem to actually speak without the use of teleprompter came up. Seriously, on St. Patrick's Day we saw that the man cannot even act candid as the host of his own party without a teleprompter. It was kind of a Wizard of Oz moment. All that to say a very witty and anonymous individual has started a blog writing in first person as TOTUS. You honestly just have to check it out for yourself: http://baracksteleprompter.blogspot.com/

And while I am not a fan of Rush Limbaugh per se, the transcript in which he dissects the St. Patrick's Day debacle with Ireland's PM is hilarious.

May I venture so far to say that at least Bushisms were original material even when they came out jumbled and unpolished sounding? It sure beats the umms, uhhs and errs when impromptu speech is forced upon Press Secretary Robert Gibbs and President Barack Obama.

I better watch what I say now, huh? This So Cal transplant is still trying to break "like" out of my vocabulary when not used as a simile.

Our Country is Addicted to Corn

I enjoy food. I do not like being enslaved to it however. With the increasing obesity epidemic not just here in the United States but all across the world (and yet we have a global food crisis, mmmmh) I often ponder what is making us all so fat. Well the reality is that calories are not created equal. Even food banks in this time of economic duress have begun to kindly refuse high calorie but nutrionally empty foods laden with saturated fats and/or high fructose corn syrup. Can a person be nutritionally deficient but still obese? Yes. As a person consumes food that does not have the micronutrients (or sadly even macronutrients) they need their hunger mechanism will not be satiated telling them to consume more in hopes of meeting their nutritional requirements...in a word, nutritionally starved but obese people.

The Western diet is largely based on corn and meat raised on corn and we banked our hopes on cleaner environment with corn based ethanol. I sure wonder why food prices have gone up so much? Type II diabetes used to be known as adult on-set diabetes but with the prolific "fast-food" culture we live in we now see public service announcements to address the prevention of this disease in children.

But please don't take my word for it. Michael Pollan, a respected writer when it comes to American eating habits and our agricultural history, has written two well known books, An Omnivore's Dilemma and In Defense of Food. A brief synopsis of In Defense of Food can be read here. People have no concept of how much corn they eat (a starch), that fortified foods are not insurance against nutritional deficiency and that food manfacturers pay for the labels like "American Heart Association Approved." The "whole grain, heart healthy" Pop-Tarts are not good for you regardless of whatever the package says.

I think the key here is that the maxim, "You are what you eat" resonates with me. If I eat processed foods that bare no resemblance to the original counterparts that helped create them, a list with things I cannot pronounce then I am not a healthy, well balanced person. If my bread has more than six ingredients, why in the world would I want to put that in my body? I will be honest in saying that I am sugar/bad carb addict that is constantly in the process of reformation because my body feels so much better when I do eat well. Even the aisles at Trader Joe's with their convenient frozen food options call my name but they add so much stuff my body does not need.

I have some food books on my list that I want to read and can hopefully post some more stuff down the road. Let me know if you want some recommendations on other foodie books.

Adoption Part One

I have been thinking about adoption a lot lately. Parenting. Getting exciting for the future but seeking contentment and finding delight in the present. I have never really discussed this before but those close to us can most likely tell that we love children. I feel more comfortable with children most times than I do adults.

When I was single and contemplating that I would want to be married I actually developed a list of the qualities that I would want in a man. That list represented the non-negotiables for me. A very important item was that any potential suitor would love children, desire to be a father and I could envision him being a good father. The first time I came to visit Eric in Gardnerville he took me on a motorcycle ride around Lake Tahoe. We stopped at Emerald Bay, sat on a rock under a pine tree and talked about what we wanted for the future. Eric talked about wanting to be a dad. He then told me that he wanted to have his own children if it was the Lord's will but that he also wanted to adopt. I was taken aback a little. I had always inwardly had a desire to adopt as well. I knew then that God had put someone very special in my life. It takes a special man to love a child and make that child his own in the same way as if it came from himself. For a man to make a conscientious decision to make a fatherless child his own is the most beautiful thing I can think of. I knew that week I wanted to marry him. I am not sure how long it took him =-)

Now that I am entering into my late 20's (yikes), I have friends and acquaintances who are entering this wonderful stage of life for themselves. It is a indescribable heart filling thing to watch as they wait with joyful expectation for their new little ones. These children have been conceived in their hearts long before they were ever conceived physically in a womb. We live in an era that through social networking and blogging that despite not knowing the ins and outs of their individual processes, it is a privilege to a take an occasional peek and remember to pray based on what I am reading at the time. Some days are a call for patience and endurance for the waiting period and others a revelry in God's faithfulness in providing a child for them in His perfect timing. I find it amazing that I know of four couples that are waiting to or have brought a child(ren) into their home. Is that not just such a wonderful thing?

Adoption is beautiful because God created it. It is what He has done for us.

February Update

Well first off, yours truly turned 27 on the 6th. My husband was super sweet and started celebrating my birthday a little early. I came home from work one evening to find a bouquet of flowers and a new rug! The back story on getting the new rug is that our previous brown wool one shed little hairs everywhere and I became this compulsive, angry sweeper/vacuumer due to the constant little bundles of wool developing in areas on the hard wood floors. In other words the Dutch genes were being expressed. I now know why that rug was such a great deal at Pier One Imports. My husband did a great job picking one out! Birthday night we went to a local Italian eatery called Saletti's. Eric says they have the best Chicken Marsala he has ever had. The next night we had the Guddat fam and our friends Jason, Alexia and their little girl Maria over for a dinner party. I requested smoked salmon for my birthday dinner and the hubby delivered (for those of you who knew I was a strict vegetarian, I am eating some types of meat again).

Then we had our first out of town house guests. Eric's cousin Jason and his wife Rachel stayed with us for a couple days through Valentine's Day weekend. Jason and Rachel were married in September in Hawaii. Being that Eric and Jason have a million stories from childhood, both of us couples are newlyweds, honeymooned in Hawaii and most of all are believers in Christ, we had a lot to talk about! We decided to beat the Valentine's Day crowd and have dinner out the night before at, you guessed it, Saletti's. The next day we drove up to Tahoe and had breakfast in Tahoe City. We drove through Truckee and then to Squaw Valley. It was beautiful but oh so cold. We just enjoyed the scenery and people watched. Later that night we had pizza night with the Guddat fam. Eric and I had a lot of fun with Jason and Rachel and look forward so much to hopefully hanging out with them this summer if we get to make a WA trip.

Valentine's Day weekend was also our six month anniversary. We are so grateful that the Lord has continued to deepen and mature our love for another. The last six months have been chock full of learning and growing experiences in our new marriage and I know we will look back at this early period in our marriage with great fondness.

Eric had shoulder surgery on the 19th to remove hardware from his previous shoulder surgeries (2). Eric's surgery ended up extending past the time they scheduled him for, 3 hours, to nearly 6.5 hrs. His surgeon really wanted to remove the screws and wire but Eric's bone had fused completey around the threads. To remove them would have compromised the integrity of the small bone, the acromion, his orthopedic surgeon had worked to fuse using a bone chip from his hip. So the surgery did not have the results we were hoping for but we trust there is a reason God did not want the hardware to come out. We are thankful knowing Eric's os acromiale has been adequately repaired and he has a functional shoulder. We at least got to learn how strong Eric's bones are! I will not worry about my husband developing osteoporosis any time soon =-) Please remember to pray for his continued healing and that with another round of physical therapy he will gain strength back in that arm. My husband has displayed incredible patience in what could be a real frustrating circumstance but he continues to be his wonderful, encouraging self.

My Hubby is 29!

That's right....one year away from the big 3-0! Or as Eric also says, "I will continue to celebrate the anniversary of my 29th birthday." I think he had a pretty good birthday. His birthday was on a Sunday so we had church that day and then came home and he started prepping food. I cleaned and napped (uggh that cold and flu season). Eventually I was awake and mobile enough to help him some more prior to our guests arriving. We had Brent, Fran, Alicia, Jeff, Harmony, Akiya and Jessica over, which to date is our biggest dinner party yet. We had so much fun. Eric's baked beans were a hit. Can I just tell you that my husband is in love with his dutch oven and it really does make some pretty good baked beans. We also had BBQed bacon wrapped sirloin, chicken, salad, sourdough baguette, green salad and a blueberry cheesecake (compliments of Fran).

On a sentimental side, this was the first "birthday" Eric and I got to share together so it was really special. It's not the same when you are wishing your significant other "Happy Birthday" over the phone. So it was a good day for both of us and I am so grateful for the companionship of marriage. It is truly so much fun!

Starting the New Year Right

I have been a bit behind on the blogging as you can see but that I will try to get you up to speed. We are having a great start to our New Year. For New Year's Eve we had dinner with one of Eric's childhood friends, Chris, his wife Natalia and their new baby Nastasia. Dinner was awesome as Natalia made some traditional Russian cold salads common for holidays and Chris had gone pheasant hunting. It was so nice getting to spend time with this couple I have heard a lot about through Eric and seeing their joy at being new parents. I got to meet them for the first time at our wedding and Natalia was radiant with pregnancy. Later that night we headed to Jeff and Harmony's house for a small but intimate New Year's Party. Jessica and Akiya came with their little girl Indie as well. We played games, had a champagne toast, talked about what were thankful for in 2008 and the guys lit up a lot of fire works. Fortunately no wives were harmed in the taking of the photographs but as you can tell they had a lot of fun.