Coxen Adventures

This weekend we drove up to Big Bear, California to celebrate our seventh year anniversary. It was such a wonderful thing to get away from the big city and to stay in an Air BnB (that had a bedroom! what a luxury after living in a studio for 3 years!) in the mountains. Our cabin was walking distance from the Village and a 10 minute drive from local hiking and biking trails. During the day, …

FOUR YEARS. Wow. I can’t believe it! It’s really been four years since we packed up our little Honda Fit with all of our belongings and drove across the country, leaving our friends, family and familiarly behind…? Read about our Two Year Update here –> Life the Last Two YearsIt’s been getting harder and harder to remember all that has happened since we drove up to our new West Coast Home-on-the-Corner that Monday, October 6th, 2014 (photo …

In June, I paused the urban farming and garden education career I’d been passionate about the last three and a half years and — after much prayer and talking through the pros and cons — transitioned into healthcare. This opportunity came about through a friend at church. JL had been looking for an extra hand in the Continuing Medical Education (CME) Department for about a year and, after a lengthy approval process, was able to …

Jan 5, 2018 I miss winter. Real winter. I miss living in our poorly-insulated house. Miserably maintaining the thermostat at 57F from December to March to save money. Closing off all the vents in the parts of our house that we weren’t using and huddling in one room with a space heater and several layers of clothes. At night, cranking up our heated mattress pad 30-minutes before snuggling under the mountain of blankets. In the …

Praise God, he has answered our prayers! Cobalt has been out of work since early October — when he and Joel closed their company — and out of paying work since early summer. But through some really cool circumstances (which Cobalt wants to write about), Cobalt is going to start a new gig early January! We could not be more ecstatic and grateful for God’s provision!  

July 15,17 Life is Full of Unknowns… Yet we live meticulously planning out the finite details of each moment (perhaps not on paper but certainly in our minds) in order to prevent these unknowns from happening. We pursue consistency and stability as if our lives depended on it. On a short term level, we plan what time we’ll wake up. What we’ll eat (or not eat) for breakfast. Our caffeine beverage of choice, if applicable. …

I was pulling food out of Grandmother’s fridge, on Sunday Dec 25, 2016, helping her get ready for Christmas lunch. When all of a sudden, I heard a galloping through the front door, located in the other room. The sound became louder as it continued through the dining room and into the kitchen. With a squeal, Cobalt’s sister (C2) grabbed me around the neck and squeezed me so hard that both our eyes teared as we …

We’ve bought our tickets to Chattanooga for Christmas! We’ll be visiting for two weeks during the winter break. We plan to visit Cobalt’s family and hopefully a few old friends, too, up in East Tennessee and Georgia. Oh, my heart can’t take the excitement! I doubt it’ll snow while we’re there but I am looking forward to experiencing a tender Tennessee Christmas! It’s the only Christmas for me!    

Saying goodbye to the sister in laws on October 4, 2014. Today marks two years since Cobalt and I moved to Los Angeles. Friends have been asking us: “Did it go by quickly?” And my reply would be: they’ve been the shortest two years of my life … and simultaneously the longest two years of my life. Day to Day Life Flies By Since the weather is fairly consistent, I find that the days and weeks go by swiftly and tend …

Gosh – it’s been three months since we moved into our new apartment? With work being busy this summer and my heart as free as a bird, the time has flown by. My bitterness about Los Angeles has completely subsided and I find myself bored because my mind isn’t grumbling all the time anymore. With all the extra mind-time, I’ve taken it upon myself to check out audio books from the library to listen to …

Whilst I was away in Austin, TX, visiting my family, Cobalt gracious moved us into our new home. Check out the slideshow …  

Wowzers! The last two months have flown by! You know the phrase “Time flies when you’re having fun”? Well, time flies when you’re BUSY. And when you combine that with LA weather, which is so consistent that keeping up with the date is too much trouble, the days pass like a blink. While the beginning of the year was adjusting to a new work schedule, currently I am finishing up garden classes for the year, catching up …

I’ve never really cared about my appearance. My dad drilled into me that vanity is wrong; and I heartily agreed. At one point in high school, I cared a little bit about my clothes so I could fit in with my girlfriends; and I thought it was strange that my parents didn’t let me wear makeup until I was fifteen. But rarely did I wear clothes or makeup to impress anyone. I figured if a …

We still haven’t found a place to live yet but we’re still hoping that God has something for us. Gratefully, we know someone who may be able to help us with a place and so we are praying that this situation works out or that he knows someone else who has a place for us to live. Our predicament is that we can’t afford a place on our own, i.e. that’s more than $800 a month. …