Away from Home

This week was another reminder of how difficult it can be to live hundreds of miles away from family and close friends. Dawn's dad was having some back problems and was sent to the ER 2x. The 2nd time the MD's found that he had a herniated disk between his L3 and L4 along with a mass on his L2. They felt that most of his pain was being caused by the disks so they decided to do surgery to fix the problem. His pain was immediately relieved despite some stiff muscles. Being far away while different tests are being done can be difficult but we also felt peace that God was in control and worked quickly to heal his pain. We are very thankful for all our of friends and family who prayed for him as well as us during this time. Thanks for your continued support.

Apartment is finally Decorated!

Right before Christmas we got our last picture framed and hung in the Dining Room. It is our favorite picture from Bryce National Park and fits perfectly. We thought you may want to enjoy it with us! Thanks Bob & Lisa for recommending we go to Bryce and for showing us your picture like ours. This place was breathtaking!

The Holidays

Christmas feels different in California. We didn't see any snow this year except for on the tips of the mountains and we didn't see any family. Despite these differences, we still felt blessed to be together and be showered by so much love from all of you.


Before Christmas we went bowling with some friends from church and wore our ugly Christmas sweaters. Here is a fun picture of Justin with our friends: Dave, Beau, and Nick.


We enjoyed a wonderful Christmas breakfast as usual and then called our families by phone. It was bittersweet hearing that they were having such a great time together. We then opened a few presents and realized that we must have been really good because Santa (the Postman) brought us many gifts this year. Thanks to everyone who thought of us and sent us something sweet to enjoy. We took our usual Christmas nap while watching "Home Alone" and then went to watch a movie at our local $2.00 theatre. Afterwards we spent some time with our friends, Erin & Gabe who live in our apartment complex. It turned out to be a wonderful and relaxing day together.




New Years Eve we spent in South Pasadena along with millions of other people claiming their spots for the parade the next morning. People started camping out at noon on New Years Eve and partied all day/night long. It is pretty crazy. We enjoyed a great sushi dinner and then walked around for awhile before the ball dropped.


In the morning we got up early and walked down to South Pasadena to watch the Rose Parade. It was spectacular. The floats were amazing. Here are a couple of our favorites.

Justin loves bulldogs and thinks that one day we will get one (yea right!) so he loved this float. They even sent bulldogs down on sleds in the middle. It was pretty cool!

Dawn's favorite was this "Donate Life" float. It had pictures of people who donated organs from the past year. It brought tears to her eyes thinking about her Aunt Melinda and her selfless donation. What a beautiful celebration of life this was.