Understood

It’s a BOY!

Grant will have a baby brother in September and I will officially be outnumbered! We are so excited we will have two little boys so close in age who will hopefully grow up to be best friends.

In other news, we’ve lived in California for over three months now. Although my view of it has definitely been colored having been sick with nausea for 11 weeks now, each day I grow more and more used to my surroundings.

I am still trying to get used to have to go 3 or 4 different places to get groceries. Things are so expensive here, and there is no Walmart, so I have to shop the deals. I miss Publix. Oh, I miss Publix. Someone tweeted a picture inside of one recently, and I about cried at one glance of the terrazzo floors.

We’ve settled on a great church right on Hollywood Blvd. It’s in the heart of Hollywood just down the street from the Kodak Theatre where the Academy Awards are held. It’s called Ecclesia and meets in an old movie theatre.

The sidewalk outside our church's doors. Hollywood Boulevard, baby.

I think one of the most fantastic things about living here though is the validation and realization that the film industry is indeed an industry with real people who work in it who are just like Josh and me. Before we were out here, I think the tendency was to think that it was this mysterious, elusive industry where only the elite work. But it’s not. We’ve been to these people’s homes. They have kids. They have worries. And they have blockbuster films coming out to a theater near you. They work hard and come home to their families at night – just like everyone all over America.

It’s been so cool to connect with other Hollywood wives who aren’t in the industry but have husbands who are — who get this incredibly hard transition and understand what the loneliness and isolation of LA feels like. Who know what it means to sacrifice and risk everything in a place where everyone else is doing the same thing – fighting for a shot and someone to believe in their work. That has truly been life-breathing for me.  In that sense, I feel a sense of belonging and I feel understood.