The Wedding

Their story just had to be shared. Last week we had the honor of being a part of the wedding of Jason's sister, Jama, and her now husband, Kar. For those of you who are unaware of the situation, Jama suddenly lost her husband back in October of 2010. It was a really sad time for the family but Jama's faith through it all was just such an inspiration. Since then, we were hoping she would be able to find someone again and luckily at the end of last year she did! She met Kar Singh. Kar had lost his wife and has two kids of his own. Makenna who is 11 and Carson who is 7. Over time they realized there was something special there between them and the rest is history. They got engaged and then in three months they sold both of their houses, started in a new place, and planned a wedding in their soon to be new backyard together. So here is their wedding story:

Ryan Overfield and Kelly Singh 

 

The first part of their wedding was precious and very sweet. They had a reflection time before the wedding even began. Ryan's father read a letter Jama and Kar had put together honoring Ryan and Kelly, and thanking them for being the people they were. And that even though they were starting a new family together, their memory and values would always be remembered.

Kar and Carson

The wedding itself was also just very heartwarming and beautiful. All four kids were part of the wedding party. Kaylee is now 7 and Julianne is 4. The boys were stud muffins and the girls looked like princesses! One of my favorite parts was Julianne running down the aisle towards Kar. He picked her up and gave her a kiss. It just shows how much love there is and it was SO sweet. Jama and Kar gave the usual wedding vows and then they wrote their own vows to each others kids. They told them how much they loved them and that they weren't there to replace their mom and dad but that they would always be there for them. Then they had some matching necklaces made that said "Family Forever" and gave those to each kid. This part was the tear jerker for me. For the last couple years we have always been so sad that the girls wouldn't have a father figure in their lives and we just prayed that that would be filled. And when we listened to what Kar was telling the girls about being there for them, it just showed so much love and was an answer to prayer.

Then they filled up their jar of sand. Ryan's parents poured in white sand and Kelly's parents poured in blue sand before the ceremony. Then each child took turns pouring theirs in and Jama and Kar finished "mixing" the families together. It was a beautiful image.

We could not be happier for Jama and Kar! And we are so happy to have them all in our family now! PLUS... now we get a nephew! YAY. So for those of you who did know about Jama's story, thanks for your prayers along the way and I hope their story shows God's love to you and shows that even through the pain in the world, His love, comfort, grace, and hope conquers all things.

Out and About

 The one good thing about living here at Vandenberg is being able to find new places to explore. Honestly, it's one of the only things that sometimes makes me happy that we live here. Most of the time, I just miss my family and friends back in Vegas. BUT anyway... here's a little taste of some fun and exciting things we've gotten into this month!

Jason turned 30 on the 27th! So I put together a "cake" of his favorite dessert item at the moment: Push Ups. 30 of them! He's still working on them, but is already about half way through. He was a little bummed about turning the big Three-Zero... so I put together a little box of "Things to him hold on to the child inside of him." At least for the time being... then he has to grow up and put on his big boy pants for when we have the baby! ;)

 

Also for his birthday, we found a new hiking trail just off the coast called "The Wind Caves". Up here at Vandenberg, it can be a little chilly and gloomy... so we weren't prepared to be hiking in the sun and heat. So needless to say... I almost died. Hiking when you're pregnant is NOT the same as hiking when you're not! It was a lot harder than I expected and we didn't even make it all the way UP to the Wind Caves. We did find this cave though; and boy was it a life saver! I plopped right down on the rocks and it was cool enough to bring my temperature down! We sat there for a good thirty minutes. Long, and quiet, enough to make some new animal friends. I know you shouldn't feed wild animals, but it was hard not too. This blue bird would get really close to us, just for a pretzel! Then we were quiet enough that a little mouse came out of his hiding place to find some food too. It was pretty fun! 

 

  

Mouse friend

The view from the top of the hill we had to climb!

 We have recently been trying very hard to find new restaurants to go to instead of just the same old ones we know are good. So we used Jason's birthday as an excuse for going to one. Sadly, his birthday fell on Memorial Day this year and our little towns here seem to close their doors in observation of this holiday! So...... we ended up going to a restaurant we've been to before that's delicious. It just makes us laugh; we don't get frustrated anymore because we have finally got it in our heads that we're not in Vegas anymore and these small towns are different than our 24 hour big city! And boy do we miss our big city and all the yummy food it has to offer!

 The following weekend we took a journey to the Santa Barbara Zoo. It's a small zoo, but it was nice. We were very excited to see the new baby giraffes there. They were born in April and they're SO cute! They were our favorites. Plus the little ones were full of energy and we stood there watching them for like 10 minutes because one of them was scared of this bird that kept pestering him! He would walk up to it and the bird would scare him so he would take off prancing, or running.. galloping? in the other direction! It was amusing.

This just looked like a photo op waiting to happen!

 Other than that; school is out for the summer! It was a bittersweet day. It always seems to creep up on me that I'm saying good bye to them for the last time even though I can't wait for it to be summer! It was a long, rough year for me this year. I'm happy to say that I'll be moving to 5th grade next year. My head is still on school mode and I should probably take advantage of that considering I won't want to come August. I do plan on finishing up another year here, and I'm sure I'll really enjoy my maternity leave. I just feel like that's what is right for me in the now; and next summer we'll re-evaluate everything.

Tuesday we're taking off to Vegas. We'll be dropping off the piggy girls at my parent's house and flying out to Ohio the next morning. Jason is VERY excited about vacation. He's been working so hard lately that he really deserves it.

So when you read this, think of us and say a prayer. It's been a struggle here without things and people we're use to and we often talk about moving back home. We just need some direction of what to do from here. There's not much opportunity at our church here as in Vegas for fellowship, ministry, and outreach, so I think sometimes we both just feel stuck, or useless. I write these blogs to keep in touch because we miss everyone so much. So thanks for being interested in what we have to say. :)

Goodbyes

We've recently had to say goodbye to some friends of ours that we've met here at Vandenberg. Amy and Hayden were really the first people we met here. It was really just such a blessing for both of us couples to meet each other. Without sounding too sappy... they made it bearable to be here; I think moving here would have just royally sucked had we not found them. Hayden came here for missile training and now they're off to start their new journey in North Dakota.

 

For me, having Amy here was perfect timing. Through everything that was going on in my life, it was amazing to have another girl that I connected with so quickly; like my friends at home. So, when I was really missing home; it was super great to have her around.

 

Jason also finished up leading a bible study a couple weeks ago. When we had first started it, we were hoping that it would be a pretty big group. It ended up being just Jason and I, Amy and Hayden, and the Chaplin Matt and his wife Kelly. We went through the Miracles of Christ, which was a great study because it made us really stop and think about the little things of Christ's miracles. In the end, our small group became really close. :) Even though Amy and Hayden are moving, we're lucky enough to keep Matt and Kelly. We all had so much fun together and Tuesday night bible studies were really something to look forward to! I'm going to miss our whole group being together.

 

All in all, I've learned a very important lesson this past year.  The Air Force gives you a great opportunity to meet new people and create life long friendships. But tonight, as we said goodbye to our friends, it also made me a little bitter that the Air Force also breaks us up just as fast. Despite the goodbyes, having those friends around, even for a short period of time, is the greatest. I don't know what we would have done here without them to help us out. I can only hope that we can be that person to someone else who is coming through Vandenberg.

May Update

It's been a while, but we're back on the radar! Jason and I have been busy so far in the year 2013! But first things first... our exciting news! We finally get to share. We're expecting our little baby November this year! It's been quite the adventure the past 13 weeks. When we first found out, we were excited, of course... but since we had lost the last one, we were both just a little hesitant to be too excited this time around. Things went well over the last 13 weeks. If you want to read week by week, you can look at our "pages" to the right of the page and read all about it, starting at week 11, under "The Pregnancy Journey". 

As we approached week 10 and 11, that's when I was a little more anxious. It's when we lost the last one and I just couldn't wait one way or the other. At the beginning of week 12, we had our first ultrasound and the technician was pleased with how things looked. From that day forward... we've both gotten very excited about the whole thing! But, that's pretty much the gist of our pregnancy announcement/update.

Shirts of where our family is from. Jason from Ohio, Melissa from Arizona, Baby from California!

Jason started a new job this year. He is temporarily working for the Readiness Center as a Unit Deployment Manager. It's quite the change of pace, and also a change of work. He basically works with getting the airmen ready to deploy and gets them the equipment they need. He's a perfect man for the job and he really is doing an excellent job. He likes to tell me that he likes the job because you can see the whole picture of the Air Force from this position. He gets to see how things are ran, how things are put together for their deployments, and he gets to see the MANY different things that are bought to help equip our military do the job they need to. It's definitely a little more stressful for him, more hours too... but I am very proud of him!

I can't believe I have almost made it through this whole school year. I have grown to love these kids. After everything... they really are a cool bunch of kids. After I told them I was pregnant, they were so excited. The questions they ask and the names they want to name my kid is VERY amusing. This year has been bumpy, but only 18 days left! Tomorrow we're going on a field trip for three days to this outdoor science camp. It's pretty cool that these kids get such an awesome opportunity! The rest of the year includes: Paper roller-coasters, poetry,  a beach day, frisbee golf, and our promotion celebration! I'll be happy when this year is over; as for next year, I'm planning on sticking it out the whole year... minus the maternity leave. We still have plans to iron out for all that.

This weekend, Jason and I were able to attend a Marriage Retreat put on by the chapel. Three couples we have been hanging out with here at Vandenberg were there too. The retreat was great. It was nice to just reconnect as a couple and kind of refresh on things we have forgotten about each other. Plus, we got to have a weekend get away for free! Saturday we were able to hang out with our little group of friends. We went to a winery for a vineyard tour and some of the other couples did the wine tasting... minus the pregnant folk! We did some olive oil tasting and then dinner! We are very blessed to have made some life long friendships, but we're sad because two of those couples are leaving in a few weeks. :(

Keep checking on here for more updates and to follow our pregnancy journey!

Twas the Season!

This Christmas was a little bit different for us. It was our first Christmas at our home by ourselves and it was the first Christmas I have ever been away from my family at Christmas. Even though we missed both of our families, our Christmas day was peaceful and fun. We opened presents in the morning, enjoyed our day, took a trip to the beach, and then cooked a yummy pot roast dinner in which we enjoyed in our PJs. Along with Christmas, we had a very busy time visiting with a load of family and friends.

First up was my good friend from High School, Whitnie. She was passing through town with her family and it was awesome to be able to show her my own house and the area here. 

  

 The Friday Christmas break started, my three BFFs made the long trip up to our house. We had so much fun together on the beach, sight seeing, and we even created our own wine tasting! Having them here definitely made me miss home. 

Then came my parents! Bringing more presents with them of course. :) We did a lot of sight seeing on the coast, up North and down South. This picture was at a Mission we took them too.

My parents bought us a ride on the Condor Express to go Whale Watching. It was a very fun experience to share with them as well as Jason's parents too. We saw a pod of 6 whales and some seals. But the best part was enjoying our parents all together. I think we got pretty lucky to have two sets of parents really like each other! :)

Jason's parents were our next guests! We tried to take them places we hadn't been yet. We had to take them places we had just been days earlier because they were just that cool, but we found some cool things to show them that were our first time seeing too. The coolest new thing we did was go Olive Oil Tasting! Who knew that would be so much fun!?

Our final guests to stop by were Megan and Nathan who were road tripping down the 101. Even though it was a short visit, it was nice to see our friends from Vegas. As you can see... we always take our guests to the beach! It's just that awesome having a beach all to ourselves!

Jason is back to work this week. I still have another week off! It's a little unbelievable! I spent the day doing nothing really today... but I hope to use my time more wisely the rest of the week. It's hard to believe it's already 2013. Who knows what the year will bring us this year? But we're looking forward to the short time we have with our new close friends here, as well as the bible study we'll be starting up soon. Then there's always the rest of the year with the 6th graders, TWO weddings coming up, our very exciting Spring Break trip to San Francisco, and who knows... hopefully a little bun in the oven soon! Lord willing. 

5 months!

It's a little hard to believe that we've been on our own here on the Central Coast for 5 months! Despite our rocky start, things are starting to be better. Both of us have really started enjoying our jobs a little bit more. I know that I have begun to really just change my mind set about the new place and have started making more of an effort to involve myself and become part of the Manzanita Family. I'm one of the Student Council advisors, and teaching these 6th graders has become more fun as of lately too. Although, despite our liking our jobs more, we are so happy to be on Christmas break!

We've also been getting ourselves involved at our Base Chapel. It's not the perfect place we would like to be, but we seemed to have connected with people there better than other places. The Lord also answered our prayers and we found a really awesome couple, Amy and Hayden, that we've been able to really connect with. In February, we're starting up a bible study at our house for couples in the church. Jason volunteered to lead a study on the miracles of Jesus at our house. We're both really excited to get involved in this way. God has really provided for us in the ways we really needed. :) 

Overall, we seem a lot more content and happy with everything going on in our lives. It's not easy, but it's definitely not as hard and emotionally draining as it was a couple months ago. 

Amy, Hayden, and us at the Santa Barbara Christmas light festival.

Christmas Card Picture

Buffy, Jetty, Moo Moo

My co-teacher and I dressed up for our 6th grade Egyptian Museum. 

Over Thanksgiving break we were able to hangout with my family and take some recent family photos. They make me happy. 

Thanks for your thoughts and prayers. They mean a lot. 

Pickle.

I didn't want to write about this until I was ready. But a week has passed and it's time. The morning gets re-played in my mind constantly. The horror, the trama, the scared and terrified feeling I felt rush back to me several times every day. I won't ever forget how it felt to loose my little baby.

Not many knew that we were 11 1/2 weeks pregnant, because we had literally been telling people last week. The excitement was fresh and it was great to finally tell people about the new addition to our family. It was a huge change to add to our lives; on top of our new home, new people, new church, new job, new everything. And now it has all changed again.

The cramping had started in the middle of the night and since I found out I was pregnant, I was always just reading about miscarriages and how they felt. That morning I was terrified because I was feeling everything that I had read so casually about. I tried to just brush it off and got myself ready to go to work, but I just couldn't do it. My principal, who cares A LOT about me (and the rest of her teachers) rushed me to the hospital. The doctor told me I should be ok with some rest and that it was just a threatened pregnancy. On the way home is when it happened. The cramping got worse and then just suddenly stopped along with a rush of blood. Without expressing too much of what happened next, you can only imagine. I will never forget the pain I felt, and the feeling of loosing it. It was so sad because I knew what was happening and couldn't do anything at all to stop it. I was just sitting in the restroom, crying my eyes out, until I heard Jason's helpless and scared voice outside the door. He knew what was happening too. Together we just grieved.

But I'm not writing this little blog to tell you how sad we are. I'm writing to share my experience because so many other women have shared theirs with me the past week. Knowing that so many other women have been through this has made it a little easier to cope. It also really reminds me that it's NOT my fault that this happened. Most likely our little Pickle wasn't developing correctly and my body knew I should not hold on to it. Jason and I are very hopeful for the future because a lot of the people who shared their experience told us about all the wonderful children they went on to have. We trust that God has already planned out what our family is going to look like in the future and that we will have kids and each will be a wonderful blessing. Even the one we lost was a blessing, even if it was only for 11 weeks.

So yes, what happened completely sucked. It has already been a pretty tough couple months with moving away from my family and really close friends for the first time, starting a new job, moving to a new state, being pregnant one day and then not the next... But we choose to focus on the blessing little Pickle was for the short time we had him/her in our life. We praise God for giving us that time and we just remember to thank him for the sucky days in our life as well as the wonderful ones.  Our God has been our comfort, and even if we don't understand why exactly this happened, we believe that our Father is giving us the strength to get through it and that we really have to trust Him always.

But we want to thank all of you who supported, loved, and prayed for us during this difficult time. We really appreciated it and feel the love all the way from over here on the coast.