The Gabbing Gerdes Gang: November 2009

Thursday, November 12, 2009

We made it to San Diego, California!!!

We finally made it to San Diego, California!! This is Jeremy's third voluntary shipyard transfer this year (first was Georgia, second was Washington state). We had such a blast together in Washington state and are really looking forward to making memories here in California, too. The west coast is so beautiful! Our flights went well and we had no major glitches, which was a nice surprise, compared to our very "eventful" flights to and from Washington this summer. God is good! Jeremiah was very excited to see his daddy again!! It feels good to have all of us back together, as our little family of three. While we are here, the shipyard is paying for us to stay in a fully-furnished 2-bedroom, 2-bathroom condo, at a complex called Portofino, which also has a pool, hot tub, and fitness center. Our condo is a few hundred square feet bigger than our house back in VA, so it feels very roomy to us! We're just right across the street from Costco and Ikea, so of course we had to get a Costco membership!! So fun! We are thankful for the friends we have already made here. Our new friends, the McKinneys, are also here on a shipyard transfer from Portsmouth. Matt and Rebecca have a 2 1/2 year old son named Matthew, and so far the boys love playing together! We are looking forward to making many great memories with them, and also hoping to meet lots of other great friends along the way. My childhood friend, Britta Pearson, lives here, so it will be fun to reunite with her soon, too. As our Christmas presents to each other, we hope to purchase season passes to SeaWorld, the San Diego Zoo, and the Wild Life Park, so we can attend whenever we want to. All of those places, along with the gorgeous beaches, are just 8 miles away from where we are staying at Portofino! How cool! So far, we are loving it here!! More details and pics to come soon, so keep posted!

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Jeremiah and Sierra: Play Date at Princess Anne Park & Z Pizza with M4C Playgroup / Our Last Day Together :(

Sadly, the Adventures of Jeremiah and Sierra have come to an end. :( It has been a huge blessing to be able to watch Sierra these past two and a half months while her mom, my good friend Karen, has been student teaching. I wish I could keep watching her until Karen finishes student teaching in December, but that is not possible, since we leave for San Diego next week. Today was a bittersweet day, as we were very sad to say goodbye to Sierra, Karen, and Brian, and also our Moms 4 Christ friends. But even through the sadness of saying goodbye to great friends, we take joy in knowing that soon we'll be in San Diego with "Daddy." We miss him so much! We will always treasure these precious friendships that we've been blessed with. As a tribute to the time we've had with Sierra, I'd like to share the short letter that I wrote to Karen and Brian, thanking them for the honor of caring for their precious little girl. (see below)

Dear Karen and Brian,

Thank you for giving me the wonderful opportunity and honor of watching your precious little girl! Sierra is so special to Jeremiah and I, and we are so thankful for the adventures we had together and the memories we made. It's been a blessing to hear all her words, see her many expressions, and watch her grow over time. I wish you all the very best and pray that God blesses you tremendously as you transition from a family of 3 to a family of 4!! Way to go with student teaching, Karen! You did it!

Love,

Courtney