It's About Time...

To the many people we promised to keep in touch with, we didn't forget you! We're just... a little lazy, and for this, we apologize! :-) . We'll try our best to update this as frequently as we can.

So as of now, we're renting a farmhouse in McFarland, California! The town isn't all bad; in fact, I just had the best (and cheapest) Chinese food I've ever had right here in McFarland! Other than the Chinese food, we have a McDonalds, a Subway, two pizza places, a few gas stations, some Mexican restaurants, and a bunch of small stores.

For other cravings and random needs, there's a KMart, a Starbucks, a Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, KFC, etc..., Radio Shack, and Payless Shoe Store in Delano, which is about 5 minutes from our house. The nearest supermarket is also in Delano and it's called SaveMart, although the cheapest one is called FoodsCo (associated with Kroger for all of you Carolina people). I'd go to FoodsCo all the time if I could, but it's 25 minutes away in Bakersfield, as opposed to a 5-minute drive to Delano. With the gas money we're saving, I'm sure the few dollars equals out.

We do make that 25-minute drive to Bakersfield every Friday, which has been established as our Date Day! Date Days are devoted to shopping, eating, and having tons of fun...and have not disappointed us yet. :-) . Bakersfield isn't very close, but it isn't very far either, especially considering all of the businesses that are there. All of the major chain stores and restaurants, as well as the mall, movie theaters, and all of the fun stuff, are in Bakersfield so going there is always a fun time.

Unfortunately but expectedly, Bakersfield is missing a bunch of things that we love, among them:

The Cheesecake Factory
Bahama Breeze
New York bagels
New York pizza
DEB stores
Panera
Friendlys
White Castle
Flashback
...and our family & friends.

I realized just now that the list is actually quite small, which concludes that Bakersfield is a pretty decent town, with the exception of it missing the people we love & care about.

Anyway, I'm pleased to report that Jonny's job is going VERY well!! Currently, the Church of the Living Savior has youth programs for three different age groups: The Pioneer Club (elementary school), Junior High, and High School. Jonny's super blessed to have a group of great people to help him with those programs. We've had so much fun already, playing games with the kids and then teaching them relevant lessons. It's a blast!

Here are some pictures of the church and some of the youth programs:

... Some of the HS kids with Jonny, Cindy, & Karen

... Our Church
... Kiley & me
... Junior High Youth
... more Jr High Youth

As you can see, we love our new church family. It's so hard to move out here where there's no blood-related family, when everyone's on the whole opposite coast, but we're honestly doing just fine with the people out here. They are wonderful!

We even had our first Super Bowl party for the HS Youth and for some adults! Here are pics of that:

... evidently, we put children in dog crates. ;-)
... half the room.
...our corner in which we hid the cheesy bread from everyone (lol)... Maria (the pastor's wife), Kiley, Eric (our pastor), and the pastor's youngest son, Logan.
...relaxing on our comfy couch!
...Maria, me, Kiley, & Chris

I didn't think we could fit that many people into our house...but we did it...and BOY was it fun! :-)

Now I think you're all caught up to speed. We'll be updating soon when some more things go on in our lives, haha! :-D

<3,
Jillian