"I'm going on an adventure!" Bilbo Baggins. Day 1 California

Every other year, we make it back to California for Christmas. This was the year. The day before our flight, we had snow. The kids had fun outside while Alex and I packed up.

Ok, I have no idea how I made that picture snow, but I'm a genius.

We had a 6:30 am flight, so this meant we had to get up at 4am. Yikes! The boys were so excited, they were pretty easy to wake up. We had the minivan loaded up, and pulled away from the house by 5am. The check in line was long, but it moved fast. We made it just in time for boarding. Phew!

It's just a 3 hour flight to LAX. What a nightmare that airport is. But one nice thing about it, is that it has See's Candy. Yay!

I resisted the urge to buy, and we headed straight to the shuttle pick up area. Although the airport was pretty busy, our private van picked us up in no time flat. Before I could say "andele", we were on the freeway, with Santana blasting on the radio. We're back!

We always stay with my in-laws. We got to their house in less than an hour. We were so happy to see everyone. We spent time just chatting and enjoying the sun. After a few hours, we headed over to see my mom. By that time, we were all hungry. Where else could we eat, but In N Out, of course! No visit back to California is complete without a stop here. So we picked my mom up, and headed to In N Out. I miss In N Out, but I miss mom more!

"I am king under the mountain!" - Smaug

Last week was Hobbit week in this house. What is Hobbit week? A completely made up week long celebration of all things Hobbit. We are big Hobbit/ Lord of the Rings fans. So for the five days leading up to The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug, I did little things to build up the excitement.

Day one: a gift of hobbit slippers
Day two: another gift, Gollum winter hats
Day three: The Hobbit illustrated movie guide
Day four: Movie release day t shirts
Day Five: A home made Hobbit cake, then we went to see the movie.

Noah waiting for the school bus Friday morning. Decked out in his Smaug shirt.

Alex ended up taking Friday off, so he could help with the cake. I think we could have done a better job, but black ice in the morning made shopping for cake supplies impossible.

I'll forgive you if this picture ends up on Cake Wrecks.

We went to an IMAX screening, and loved it! We can't wait for the last Hobbit movie. The kids handled the crowd great. Here are the kids wearing their Hobbit gifts.

"I find your lack of faith disturbing."

Another great quote from Star Wars. Faith is a word that gets thrown around quite a bit, both by the religious and not so religious. I have faith that we have enough gas in the car to get home. I have faith that I can squeeze into these jeans. I have faith that I can get two kids off to school every morning. See? That's allot of non religious faith right there. But there's so much more to that word.

I experienced true faith last week. It blew. Me. Away. I met some pretty awesome people. I took a trip down to Joplin to pick up my brother for a weekend visit. While there, I met James and Marsha, a couple that run a shelter in town. Their work is truly amazing. They founded a mission which serves the homeless and impoverished in the city. They not only take in people off the streets, nourish and provide clothes. They minister to them in a more meaningful way. They give them a purpose.

You see, in order to sleep in the shelter, a person must be 1. sober, and 2. agree to pay it forward at the shelter. They have something that they call Project Worth. In Project Worth, residents of the shelter do various jobs. It can be anything from gardening to creating jewelry to be sold at their store. As their website so eloquently put it, "The purchase of Worth-Shop items in our community are reminding 'the least of these' that they have something to offer, that they have the ability to earn and that they have worth."

 What an amazing place this is. There are so many stories of redemption in this building. Now I'm not totally naive. Not every story is a happy one. Not every one of these residents makes it out alive. But souls are saved at Watered Gardens. Because of the hard work and dedication of people like James and Marsha, people are given opportunities for a better life.

I imagine that James and Marsha's jobs are very difficult. There must be quite a bit of heart ache. But in that heart ache, must come immense joy when they see one person saved. So when you see a homeless person on the street, remember that person matters. He/she is someone's child, sibling, aunt/uncle. And think of people like James and Marsha, who do so much to help them. Donate to their wonderful ministry in any way you can.  http://wateredgardens.org/