McDiffett Family Christmas Letter

Hello, friends and family!
Marry Christmas! Wow, it's already our third Christmas together, after 2.5 years of marriage. Time has gone quickly! For those who don't see us as often, I thought I'd catch you up on our lives and what we've been up to since our wedding (June 4, 2011). I'll try to keep it brief!
We are so thankful to all of you who were able to share our wedding with us--although of course we wish we could have had more time with each of you, it was just so wonderful to have you present! To those we missed on the "big day," we're also so thankful for your love, generosity, and support.
We had a wonderful honeymoon cruise to Mexico, after which we returned to Jessie's hometown of Tehachapi to live (the Lord provided for us shortly before the wedding with a job that Scott loved, supervising at the local pool). Our first two months were spent house-sitting for some thoughtful family friends, before we moved into the little second-floor apartment we rented with our cat Killarney for more than two years. Our favorite things about our apartment were the view, location, price, and the loved ones that have helped fill it.
Just before thanksgiving, though, we moved into our new house! We've been renovating it with lots of help from parents and friends, and it's looking great (though the outside will need a little work maybe next summer). But we're happy to be moved in and starting to get unpacked and settled. Don't forget to save our new address! And we have a third bedroom now, so plenty of room for visitors. ;)
Just before we bought the house, one of our year's big highlights was our trip to Ireland! We visited Jessie's college friend and her family and got to see as much of the country as we could squeeze in to about a week. Our list of favorites (if we had to choose): Killarney National Park, Ring of Kerry, Cliffs of Moher, pub fish & chips, time with our friends and each other, and just the lovely towns and outrageously green countryside. Our only regret was not having several more weeks to spend there!  We also had a fun second anniversary trip to California Adventure in June.
Now that this busy year is nearly done, we look forward to plans for 2014, the biggest of which is to be the birth of our first child, a baby boy! We expect him to arrive at the end of February or beginning of March, and hopefully not during a big snowstorm (though that would be memorable!). We have a few plans to continue working on the house, Jessie hopes (though a little unlikely) to have enough time to do a little gardening this spring/summer, and we plan to make a trip to Minnesota to see family and show off the little guy.

Year Two photobook!

I finally finished and ordered a scrapbook for our second year of marriage. Here it is!

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The First year...or so (photobook)

I just made this, since they were offering a free 8x8 photobook.  Since I've failed to properly document a lot of our first year of marriage, at least here it is in scrapbooked form! Enjoy. :)

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Since I've been gone...

(I know you're probably tempted to hum a Kelly Clarkson song in response to my title. Please resist... You can do it. )

Well, hello, my few-and-far-between (so far), devoted readers!

Sorry that it has been a bit of a break in the updates. I’m sure that you are just dying to hear the rest of the story about “that boy!” I’ve got two excuses for why I haven’t written… one being, of course, the start of my final semester of college (again…so far) and the other perhaps being that on August 24^th, “that boy” asked me to marry him!

I said yes, by the way, and sorry to ruin the ending of a story I haven’t yet told you. I think I better end my short hiatus to give you the story of how it happened.

Well, as God would have it, Scott was able to intern this summer at my home church. A wonderful thing, except that the first part of it was a little bittersweet for both as I was in Albania for six weeks while he lived at my house, with my parents, in my town, working with my church, around my friends and family… and of course, my pictures, if you’ve ever seen my parents’ house. ;) Nonetheless, it was a good time for us both. We had never been apart so long since we started dating almost two years before, so of course we were thrilled and relieved to be together again when I returned and he moved to the house of another friend nearby. It was delightful getting to be so close by, getting those random chances to be together for the average parts of life, just us or with groups (like the youth) or my family. And a wonderful added bonus, many of the important people in my hometown life got to know Scott well, and by the time I returned I think even a few of them had begun to like him even better than me. ;)

Of course that included my parents. I think we were very thankful for the opportunity he had to live with them and for all of them to get to know each other better. Our time apart was a good time as well to continue pondering marriage, if and when God would have it for us. I definitely found myself writing a few journal pages about it while I was gone, in the midst of my free time to think. And I was a little surprised to find that by the time I returned, Scott had already much begun the fearsome task of expressing the notion to our parents. Really, at the end of the day, they were supportive (though no doubt they had or still have a few nerves over their youngest, and still young, children).

Nevertheless my mind was left with a few bits of confusion and doubt. It seemed to me at times an incredible thing that we could even consider marriage in the near future. We are young—and if we admit so, certainly others would too. There were and still are so many questions and things we don’t know. But that’s where we learn to really trust God… not when we have a flawless backup plan. (Not that planning is wrong or bad, mind you, but, as we Americans especially must remind ourselves, not that not having a plan is the worst thing either).

But never mind, it was only August. Though Scott was pretty secretive about his plans, even to my prying as to what groundwork he had laid already (Had Dad approved? Had he looked at or purchased a ring?) I figured we would still have at least a good month or so to figure things out, before he proposed. So on one particular Monday (August 23) after Scott had gone back to Santa Clarita before school started again, I went to bed with a few lingering questions in my mind as to just how far we really were into where we wanted to be with the process of planning to get engaged and married. I knew I had very little reason if any to doubt, but it was still just a little hard to believe we’d ever get there.

Ah, dear reader(s?). J Perhaps by now you know me enough to realize that a flaw in my storytelling is that I’m a bit heavy on the exposition. My apologies. Tomorrow, the real proposal story. ;)

That Boy, Part 3

I guess Scott finally decided he needed to jump the gun. Just as school was starting up again, it was back to the usual hang-out night with Scott and company. He walked me out to the car again, as usual, afterwards. It almost seemed like he had something he wanted to say… but I had all but given up that thought. I left for my dorm and went straight to sleep. Apparently, Scott didn’t. He kicked himself for dropping another chance to talk to me about his feelings. He had reason to be nervous: he was risking a humiliating rejection by a college girl and the loss of a good friendship, for a chance at a relationship that was and would be against the rules for several more months, and to top it off, he had never done anything like this before!

Finally convinced that written words would be better than an incredibly awkward spoken conversation (keep in mind that, whether he knew this or not, I was at least as awkward as he was about this stuff), he made his most romantic, charming, smooth, and manly move yet—he confessed his feelings over a Facebook message. Now, before you hurry off to give him flack for it, I’ll admit that I think it was a decision that we were both quite thankful for. (That day together he could have told me, I had been feeling queasy already, and quite possibly may have thrown up from nerves if he had told me then. Which, no doubt, would have at least made for a good story).

So at one in the morning, five months from the day we met, he wrote that fateful message—expressing his thankfulness for our friendship, apologies for potentially ruining it and for doing this over Facebook, and his feelings that he felt God had prompted him to finally go ahead and talk to me about. Unfortunately for his nerves, I didn’t check it that night and slept in the next morning, then rushed to meet a friend for lunch—but just before leaving, decided to do a quick check, and there it was. I was totally stunned (and characteristically awkward). I was actually quite thankful that I was even able to drive safely that day, as my head was quite distracted. ;) Before leaving, I quickly typed back that I had been praying for a chance to talk, and that he was very special to me too, and that I would respond more later. To which he simply responded, “K sweet, this has been the most nervous 10 hours of my life! ha talk to you later.” (Adorable? I know.) Our awkward, delightful, blessed journey had only begun.

speaking of which, I was quite determined to finish these stories of our history before he proposed to me.... but, looks like he beat me to the punch. ;)

That Boy, Part 2

The group of us continued to hang out often, and Scott and I quickly found ourselves in the realm of good friends—thanks also in part to our many Facebook messages and even a few lengthy phone conversations (unfamiliar territory for both of us, I think). He was always eager to talk to me (I noticed this first at youth group) and we never seemed to run out of conversation—only time. I enjoyed watching him interact with the youth group kids (cliché? But he wasn’t) and by November I could hardly shake the feeling that something was bound to happen here. But… was that what I wanted? Typical girl, it was hard to know. I had already quite convinced myself that life was better for now without a “love interest.” But, maybe God had a different idea after all.

The big chance to end some of my confusion came in mid November, when Allen decided to have a youth group staff retreat in our quaint, pretty home town that he often told the others about. Finally, a chance to at least get my parents’ opinion of the situation! But Scott had a football game that Saturday… Tragic. But on one of our customary conversations as he walked me out to my car after we all hung out, he promised he would do his best to make it. Indeed, he somehow convinced his parents (perhaps something I should still be surprised about) to let him drive out two hours for the remaining 15-ish hours of the weekend retreat at my house. Not surprisingly, my mom took note of this fact. I was thrilled, of course, which mom also took note of, and two of us met him in town in my jeep and we all spent the rest of the evening playing games and baking cookies (the two of us—also customary). By the time the group left the next day, my mom didn’t hesitate a moment to ask her usual, “So, are you two kind of an item?” I said I didn’t know… a state that would continue for us for a while longer. ;) But at least my parents thought he was a good guy.

Over my Christmas break at home, he came to visit me twice—once with his brother and again by himself. At this point I think we can now agree that it was pretty obvious to almost everyone but ourselves that we both liked each other. But, I guess we were naively oblivious. …Although, there had been many a conversation—out at my car, the times we had to ourselves when he visited, over facebook…even a time when we talked for three hours on the phone!—when I had wondered whether he would finally confess his obvious undying love for me. ;) There was of course the fact that we wouldn’t be allowed to date anyway, since I was on youth staff and he was a student (completely understandable in pretty much every other situation)…but come on. I was dying here. But, our day together passed, at times in awkward silence as I waited painfully for him to give me some sort of clarity. Nope! It was certainly on his mind, but the timing wasn’t right (or… he was too chicken to lose my friendship… either way ;) ). Fine, I thought. If he hasn’t said anything by now, he probably never will. At least we had a great friendship.

"That Boy," Part 1

As it turns out, I should not have underestimated that high school senior from church. I met him on the second day of WOW week, August 19. He was a good friend of a guy I’d grown up with, Allen, who also went to Master’s and lived in Santa Clarita with his wife Vicky and was a youth director at the same church. It was Allen who asked me to consider helping with their junior high program… which, by chance, Scott also helped out with. I would later learn that my graduation announcement photo on Allen and Vicky’s fridge was the first glimpse Scott ever saw of me—as well as that Allen and Vicky had indeed had thoughts of setting us up before we even met. Foreshadowing!! ;)

One of the first times Scott and I began to converse, we started out with the usual topics I’d been well-rehearsed in from WOW week, including the never-relenting “So what do you think you want to do with your life?” (a question better phrased by Pastor Mike as “So what are you hoping God does with your pathetic life?”—either way). It happened of course that Scott told of his hope to be “either a pastor or a missionary.” As my friend Genie once put it, “Oh! Hey, what a coincidence—I want to marry one of those!”

Another interesting tidbit is that we both at one point or another had a sneaking suspicion that the other might be taken. During one of my first group lunch times at his house after church, his brother told a story mentioning “my brother’s girlfriend.” Being somewhat confused at the time as to which people in the house were his brothers, I sorta assumed that Mark meant Scott’s girlfriend. “Ah,” I thought to myself, “what a shame… that is, he seemed wiser than that. I’m sure she’s a nice girl.” I will confess that I was thrilled later to hear the same brother tease him when bowling, “Ah! Scott. That’s why you’ve never had a girlfriend.” Yup, my ears perked up… I’ll admit. And Scott of course (aside from thinking it possible that one of my friends he met had a “thing” for me) assumed in his classic pessimism that he would no sooner like me than be beaten up by some college boy who considered me his territory.

Another point was won by Scott on the night (I believe, once again bowling with the gang) he asked when my birthday was. “Oh, November 20^th? What do you know?! Mine is right after that, on December 7^th… that makes you only like two and a half weeks older than me!… you’re young!” He had noted my birthday before, of course. He just wanted to make sure that I noted the two. Nice work, Scott, nice work.

Out of the old; into the new!

And so, I figured, I had not only survived, but thoroughly enjoyed, my very first little mini-taste of international life and ministry (by myself, that is). It was a great trip—short, but packed in with thoughts and learning. I loved it! That little post-high-school week long trip gave me the mental “okay” to continue to entertain the thoughts of such things for my own future. Incidentally, it was also perhaps around this time that another godly young person first saw a picture of me on a friend’s refrigerator. He will come into the story later (and can now be happy he has been given his deserved mention in this blog ;) ).

I continued on to start college that fall. I was thrilled at the opportunity to go to my school of choice, The Master’s College. The first few weeks were a delightful whirlwind! So many new friends and wonderful people (not to mention MANY new facebook friend requests from people who’d just barely stepped out of the realm of “stranger.” Haha). Now, I’m going to go out on a limb and say that probably most, if not all, incoming students to TMC (and probably many other solid Christian schools) can hardly help but entertain at least SOME thoughts of “I wonder if the next person I meet of the opposite gender may be my future spouse?!” (Really, I think even those who try to avoid those thoughts will not get away with it for long, as our “W.O.W.” orientation week is always well known for its plentiful supply of marriage references. ;) I don’t really resent that, just find it appropriate to enjoy a laugh at.

So, now that I’ve qualified and excused myself (just kidding) I will admit that there were some of those thoughts in my girlish mind. Really, how can one not consider the reasonable possibility? “W.O.W. Week” (whose acronym makes little sense) is great fun, and one of the entertaining parts is to watch young students get into “introduction overload” mode. Seriously, by the end of the week, nearly every freshman feels that they must introduce themselves to, chat with, and subsequently add on facebook each person they meet at the pool or in the food line. It’s awesomely, hilariously, ridiculous—though certainly not bad, and again, not something I resent.

So of course I met and conversed with many great young people, and perhaps I should not mention that I would often check off in my head the guys I knew would not match well with me. And there I found myself, several weeks into school, and hardly a single potential guy on the radar. There were a few guys who I knew would be good friends, a few who’d probably be nothing, and one potential good friend from church, but he was still only a senior in high school. It wasn’t really a big disappointment. I decided that was exactly where God had me, and exactly where I wanted to be. My life should never be defined by liking some boy. I would enjoy the beginning of college with my head free of such concerns. I was content.