Back to Work

Sorry for the lack of updates the past few days. I’ll do my best to summarize the past five days.

SUNDAY was such a blessing! We both were excited because we got to visit a new church – but this wasn’t just any church... On my last Sunday, at FBCPC, Pastor Sterling announced that it was my last Sunday and that I was leaving for California. Well, in the congregation that morning were a group of visitors. They approached me after service and asked where in California I was moving to. I told them Ventura County and that we were thinking of living in a city called Camarillo. All of them, with a big smile on their face said, “We’re from Camarillo!” At that point I was speechless. All I was thinking was how amazing God was to put these people in our path at the perfect time. This was not a coincidence. So, I got in touch with Jennifer and she invited us to Bethany Chapel, which is only a few miles from where we live. We were both encouraged by the message and by the members, who were very genuine and friendly. You just knew they loved Jesus. After church, we visited Uncle Wally, Aunty Carol, Kerry, David, Tyler, and Trevor in Simi Valley. I got to spend the afternoon playing with Tyler, their grandson. We had dinner at a Japanese restaurant where I ate sushi for the first time since I arrived. It hit the spot!

MONDAY meant that the “vacation” was over and the reality of work was going to begin…at least for me. Rae got the day off. She couldn’t do any work since she hadn’t gotten sworn in and didn’t have an ID card. The great thing for me was that I could work from home this week.

TUESDAY was inauguration day for Rae. We woke up early and drove down to Sepulveda where the main headquarters is for Rae’s job so that she could get sworn in by the director. Needless to say she was pretty nervous. All these new and unknown situations put her stomach in knots. I found a Starbucks in the area and got to work. I must say, the Starbucks here are really tech-friendly. They have long padded benches with a row of small round tables evenly spaced out and they have power outlets built into the benches so that each table has access to power. I already had my morning coffee, but felt bad for using their Wi-Fi and not buying anything so I got a short coffee to keep me going. After a few hours of work, Rae called to tell me she was ready to be picked up and then we drove back to Ventura which took about 45 minutes. Since it was time for lunch, we grabbed a bite to eat at Chick-Fil-A. Yum. Apparently this is the only one in Ventura County.

WEDNESDAY we officially became residents of California. I got my new license plates on Tuesday (it was sad taking the Hawaii plates off my car). I was planning on keeping my Hawaii license for as long as I could, but was told that I needed to get a California license because if I got pulled over with my CA plates and HI license I would get fined for not having a CA license. So, we crammed in some study time to review the CA laws and had to get used to the road signs here since a lot of them don’t exist or are ignored back home. After taking a few practice tests I felt ready, but Rae didn’t. Again, her stomach was in knots. She was starting to make me nervous. The written test consisted of 36 questions and this being our first time getting a license here we were allowed six incorrect responses on the test. Thankfully we both passed (that’s all you need to know...haha).

THURSDAY was the first normal day we’ve had since we arrived. I dropped Rae off at work in Port Hueneme which is about a 25 minute drive each way and then headed back home to start my day. I had a productive day since it was uninterrupted and didn’t have errands to run. I picked up Rae from work and then we went grocery shopping at Albertsons. There are three big grocery stores nearby our house – Von’s, Ralph’s, and Albertson’s. We’re still trying to figure out which will be our go-to grocery store. Any suggestions?

Since the weekend is right around the corner, we’re trying to figure out what to do. The trouble is narrowing it down. I’m leaning towards something that doesn’t involve too much driving since I’m the only one who can drive (Rae can’t drive manual). Maybe we’ll explore Ventura’s Main St.

Well, that’s all for now. Have a great weekend everyone!