In love with a 44 year old . . .

This beautiful lady is my new wheels. Darcey and I have yet to name her but she's already a member of the family. 1965 was a great year for the Volkswagen Beetle. It was the first year the defroster was added in the dash and the front axle was improved. The innovative designs and features on the car were both classic and timeless. It's arguably the best selling car of all time after the Carolla. But the Toyota has gone through way more changes and upgrades. The VW has been almost the exact same over the more than 40 years it was produced. I hope this car will be with us for a long time. We'll slowly restore it back to it's original condition with some modern upgrades like better brakes and a bigger engine.

We are going to be moving within the next two months and that means the start of paying a monthly rent bill again. In order to continue saving for a house we've decided to sell our 2006 Honda Element. After the payment, insurance and everything else it was costing us up to $400 a month which is a lot of money for us right now. Darcey can drive the Jetta when we have the baby. It's a very safe car and reliable too. But first things first for the new . . . old bug. I have to install seat belts. Maybe I'll get a fire extinguisher too.

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch

I'm feeling preachy today so here we go.

Yesterday I was at work early so I could sit in on a training session for a new home filtration system made by 3M and Body Glove. You know those guys. They invented those sweet wet suits ocean goers love so much. They are introducing one of the first fully recyclable filtration systems that could soon be used in almost every new residential and commercial system in the US. This led our presenter to mention that this is important because unrecycled plastics are causing massive damage to the ocean by what is call "The Great Pacific Garbage Patch" or "Pacific Trash Vortex" as it's sometimes called.

I can't believe I've never heard of it. Apparently, there is a gigantic mass of trash floating in the pacific ocean that covers an area . . . (and I'm not mistaken) twice the size of Texas. Texas is 268,820 square miles. I'll let that sink in.

Trash that goes into land fills near the ocean don't stay in the ground. The go into a water shelf and float out to sea. The swirling current pushes it all together somewhere in between San Fransisco and Hawaii where wild life eat it. This is the point where trash enters the food chain. I've read that because of this patch, eating one steak fillet from a sword fish in the Pacific contains your entire year supply of mercury. Looking at the pictures make me feel ashamed. I can't think of a better word. Luckily there is an organization called the Environmental Cleanup Coalition that is trying to put together a fleet of ships that will clean a large amount of the trash and recycle it.

I recommend seeing what you can do to avoid letting your trash end up in the ocean. One tip I've heard is to take the cap off of you plastic bottles. Most but not all cities will not recycle your bottles if the cap is still on, even if you put it in your blue recycle trash can!

I sound like one of those green hippy activists. I guess I'm concerned that I've never heard of this problem and it seems so huge. We've been blessed with a planet that holds so much beauty that I know I take for granted.

This will end up on my list of things I'd love to fix in this world. Along with the children soldiers in Africa, the awful sport of bear baiting in Pakistan, and the lack of investments our own country makes in it's schools.

Measuring the Reach of Forgiveness

The last few months I've been kicking around an idea that hasn't really gone away. It's not something that concerns or excites me either way. I'm just curious.

What if, in the end at the final judgement, Satan falls on his knees and begs . . . and God forgives him?

I think about what a great moment it will be when victory over death is declared by God like I've always been taught, but then I think that an equally, if not greater moment it would be when the ultimate display of love's victory is to forgive the unforgivable and to love the unlovable. This can be opening a gigantic box of messy theology questions and debates, but part of me kind of finds the idea beautiful. I realize the arguments that "Satan doesn't want to be saved!" and "he'll just try to be like God again!" but when it comes down to it, I'm not his judge and either way shouldn't affect the way I live or decisions I make. If it is possible, I have a funny picture in my head of the devil sitting on a bench thinking to himself, "to perish in a burning lake of sulfur and fire or not to perish in a burning lake of sulfur and fire?" I guess we can take bets and split up the winnings when we get there.

At the Crossroads . . .

The days are rolling by pretty calmly right now. As the time comes closer and closer for our baby to be born, a pretty large decision looms over our heads. "Where are we going to live?"

When Darcey and I first married, we lived in a nice little apartment in Riverside. It was an awesome place to live since it was smack in the middle of a mall, a theme park, a hospital, Target (Darcey's favorite), and work. Plus it was cheap so we were able to pay rent and buy food. Imagine that. In January of 2005, a storm rolled into Ojai that kept the rain pouring for almost three weeks straight. In the time this was happening, a large landslide got a lot of media attention in nearby La Conchita where several homes were destroyed and one man lost his entire family. Back in Ojai, my in-laws were putting sand bags around the property trying to keep the water out. They ended up losing almost everything. It's a long story but you can read it on my brother in-law's blog here. Darcey and I bought a trailer and moved up to help get the house rebuilt and back in shape. Sean and Randi have been in their beautiful home for around two years now and Darcey and I are still in the trailer.

With all the struggles and frustrations that go with living in a camper, there's also many benefits. We've been able to go on a few sweet vacations, buy a new car, and save a bunch of money. The trailer life is not going to work any more since the family is growing so we're on the look out for the right opportunity to move up in the world. Option #1 is move to Ventura. It would be the most expensive choice and it's hard to spend a lot of money with the way the economy is right now but it's a nice safe town to be in and everything we need is near by. Option #2 is to buy in Ojai. It would be great to stay close to Darcey's parents while the baby is small but there is nothing in this freakin' place! If you want to do anything entertaining or need to buy a specialty item, chances are you're making a 30 minute drive. Option #3 is to move back to Riverside or Corona. My family is mostly within 10 minutes and there's the most amount of stuff to do. It's also the cheapest but there is a massive work shortage. If I'm able to find a well-paying, steady job I think this is the best choice, but only if I find that job does the plan work. Pray for us. It's a huge decision to make while our family is going through so many changes.

Baby Update: 14 weeks

Darcey and I headed down to the doctors office yesterday for the second appointment in our baby adventure. Other than having to sit in the hallway because it was so packed in the office the appointment went pretty good. Now that I mention it. I forgot to ask the doctor something while we were there . . . and now I can't remember what it is again. Dang!

What I do remember is that we heard the heartbeat again. I could listen to that all day. The doctor mentioned that the beat was a little below the normal. It was nothing to worry about at all but it usually means it's a boy. I tell myself not to get my hopes up as if I'd be disappointed with a girl. A girl is really what I hoping for. Don't ask me why. I wish I knew.

Bitter Sweet Home Coming

I can't exactly say that if we got stuck in Maui for a few more days I would be too bummed out about it. After all, I was getting a sweet tan finally and my stress from work wasn't even a daily thought. What I can say is that when we came home it wasn't too soon. It was just right.

I thought this would be what my view would be for the 11.5 days I spent on the beautiful island in Kahana, Kapalua and Lahaina, but it wasn't. It ended up being even better than I expected this vacation to be.

The afternoon we arrived at Kahana Sunset, I watched the McAfees run to the beach just at sunset as if it was the baby Jesus. The days were full of snorkeling, frisbee, swimming in the pool, laying out, sleeping in, scuba diving, shopping, kayaking, rock jumping, road tripping, site seeing, fine dining, home cooking, movie watching, visiting family, making friends, hiking, photo taking and most of all, enjoying quality time with my wife.

It was some much needed time off. The whole family had waited a long time to get away and spend time together.

The Perfect Day

The perfect day starts by waking up with a smile on my face and then looking over at Darcey and she's smiling too. "We're going to Hawaii today."

Darcey and I sold our scooter to some friends in Corona so I drove it down after work the day before to drop it off. It was a long day. After sitting for 15 hours straight, I was surprised that the idea of sitting on a plane most of the day didn't bother me one bit. I could sit next to Darcey in a small space for the rest of my life.

The day continued to be perfect because the airline played "The Office" which the entire family is a big fan of. The flight went by fast for 5 1/2 hours. We ate lunch on a short lay over at the Honolulu airport.

By far the best part of the day for the family was while we were renting our cars. Most of the deals Matt could find on the internet were about $20 a day for an economy car. Being the cheap skates we are, we managed to find a better deal on priceline.com for $13 and $15 a day for two cars. The guy working at the counter wasn't too happy with us laughing at the fact we didn't want an upgrade for double what we're paying in the first place. When Matt asked how much it was to add another driver the response was, "If you're not going to pay 10 bucks for a jeep, you're not going to pay for your wife to drive." Matt and I managed to not burst out in laughter as the clearly on-commission salesman printed our receipts. Once we made it out to the parking lot we walked past the luxury cars waiting in the front while jokingly saying, "I'll take that one." We quickly realized that there was only one economy car left. A red Toyota Yaris. Thinking he's going to have to upgrade us to a slightly larger car like a Accord or Seabring, the guy noticed that all eight of us were together he said the most beautiful words a person in his position could ever say. Pointing at a Black Lincoln Towncar and a Black Chrysler 300 he said, "You guys just take these two." I wish I had a camera on our faces. We put our luggage in the cars in record time hoping to jet out of the parking lot before the guy realized what kind of a deal we were getting. It was one perfect thing after another. We needed to find a Costco and it was the first store outside of the airport. The drive and weather were perfect. The condo with the ocean view was perfect. The fresh pineapple we had for dinner was perfect. The bedroom view is even more perfect than the other one. Being with family makes it amazingly perfect. That's it. We're moving.