Jazmine

  Another amazing niece.  Another blessing.  More Family.  More love.  In case I forget how blessed I am I can look back on these pages and see the help I recieved from my family and all the things I have to be grateful for.

    Jazmine is doing a great job.  I am so proud of her maturity.  She is very focused.  One day I came home to find her playing monopoly with the kids.  I asked how long she had been playing and she said an hour.  To most that may not seem like much, but it is very hard for Ignacio and I to play monopoly that long with little ones and we are adults!  She reads a lot to them.  Both her and Myriam (my mother in law) are respectful to all my wishes like not giving them many sweets or let them watch too much TV.  I am so appreciative.  Also Myriam speaks Spanish too them.  How lucky am I!  Not only do they get to be taken care of by family but they get to be exposed to spanish. 

    When Gabe was smaller he spoke spanish, but once I started working full time and he went to daycare, he stopped speaking spanish, but still understood it.  Now he is speaking it again and it is like music to my ears.  I love the spanish language.  So to hear my sweet babies speaking it is like the most beautiful musci to my ears.

Worship

This is my song to You

A melody of thanks for You

An expression of wonder

At Your beauty and Your splendor
No other cry have I

Than to know You more and lift You high

Oh, God of infinite glory

Above all You are worthy

What can I bring to You

Simply a song of love

And boundless, gratitude

My whole life, for You

You've rescued me from death

Given me Your kingdom

And blessed me with Your love

Countless mercies from above

This is my song to You

A melody of thanks for You

An expression of wonder

At Your beauty and Your splendor

No other cry have I

Than to know You more and lift You high

Oh, God of infinite glory

Above all You are worthy

What can I bring to You

Simply a song of love

And boundless, gratitude

My whole life, for You

You've rescued me from death

Given me Your kingdom

And blessed me with Your love

Countless mercies from above

Had I riches, I would bring them

Had I kingdoms, I would lose them

Had I the world, too small a gift

Would it be for You (2x)

What can I bring to You
Simply a song of love

And boundless, gratitude

My whole life, for You
 by Jeremy Riddle

Athena

The picture above is my niece, Athena. She took it one day on my iphone.  I left my iphone laying around my sister Jessi's house and what a sweet suprise to see a dozen goofy pictures of my nieces.

I am so thankful for my nieces and nephews. (Picture above is Athena with Marisa) There is not one that isn't special.  Both on my husbands side and my side.  I thank the Lord for helping me to see their gifts and beauty.  Last year I was blessed to have my niece, Marisa, care for my kids.  This summer my kids had a wonderful week with their cousin, Athena.  She took such good care of them.  They loved every bit of it. I hope Athena, Luna, and Gabriel will keep the memory of her visit forever. 

I often struggle with working full time and not being with my children. I often wonder if they are getting are the love and attention they need at their daycare and school.  I know for me I experienced a great amount of peace during Athena's visit because she had so much fun with them and loved on them so much.  She truly loves kids.  In fact she wants to be a mom when she grows up! Anyways knowing my children where taken care of like that was sucha great feeling.  The only sad part was that I personally didn't have much time to spend with her, but my kids did and homefully they will remember it.

Stories from Alisa's childhood

    This is a story about Alisa, my oldest sister. When she was little she picked up a brick it. It was not a red brick it was a big grey one. She accidentally dropped it on her toe and hurt her toe really bad.  Her toe got big and swolled.  It also turned blue and it hurt her. I think she even lost her toenail.
     That's one story about Alisa.  Another is that when Alisa was about five years old she went to look at our horse that we had.  I don't remember his name but Alisa must of got behind it and it's never good to get behind a horse because they kick back and they must they kicked her and she must've flown through the air, far from the horse because and lost consciousness or got the wind knocked out of her (that means that you're not breathing)  My mom and dad found her laying on the floor.  The called an ambulance.  The parametic, the people who come in the ambulance lifted up her shirt and she had a horseshoe print on her chest.  They helped her get better and she was fine but I don't think she ever walked behind the horse again. 
      The last story about Alisa takes place in my grandmas pool.  We sent our summers at my grandma's house.  We loved swimming in her pool.  We especially liked our dad to throw us up in the air because it was fun to be thrown up in the air and then fall into the water and make a big splash.  Well one time my dad, that is your grandpa, threw Alisa high up in the air but when she landed she landed on this little floaty thing that we used to put the chlorine in.  It was a hard container and it hit her in the face, the eyebrow to be exact.  There was a lot of blood and she cried.  From then on my dad was very careful to take out the floating chlorine container before throwing us in the pool.  To this day Alisa has scar on her eyebrown from where she hit that clorine container.
- told to Luna by Mommy

I can't do this alone

My mission field is my home and my family. 
Do this job well. 
A marriage the way God intented. 
Break the cycle of divorce that my husband and I grew up with.
We cannot achieve this without Jesus.
I don't want my kids searching for love in the wrong places. 

All these thoughts rush to me head when I hear the song "Lead Me" by Santus Real.  But the first time I heard this song I thought, "if only my husband could hear it". However after listening to it many times I started applying it to myself.  I am the leader in our home too.  I am the mom.  I am teaching them and guiding them. Then yesterday I heard it again in the car and the words were like what I wanted to say to God.  "give me the strength to be everything I'm called to be"

LEAD ME by Sanctus Real

I look around and see my wonderful life

Almost perfect from the outside

In picture frames, I see my beautiful wife

Always smiling, but on the inside

Oh, I can hear her saying

Lead me with strong hands

Stand up when I can't

Don't leave me hungry for love

Chasing dreams, but what about us?

Show me you're willing to fight

That I'm still the love of your life

I know we call this our home

But I still feel alone

I see their faces, look in their innocent eyes

They're just children from the outside

I'm working hard, I tell myself they'll be fine

They're independent, but on the inside

Oh, I can hear them saying

Lead me with strong hands

Stand up when I can't

Don't leave me hungry for love

Chasing dreams, what about us?

Show me you're willing to fight

That I'm still the love of your life

I know we call this our home

But I still feel alone

So Father, give me the strength

To be everything I'm called to be

Oh Father, show me the way

To lead them

Won't You lead me?

To lead them with strong hands

To stand up when they can't

Don't want to leave them hungry for love

Chasing things that I could give up

I'll show them I'm willing to fight

And give them the best of my life

So we can call this our home

Lead me 'cause I can't do this alone

Father, lead me 'cause I can't do this alone

Answered Prayers

My Dad, being goffy.  My two older sisters, enjoying his company

Today I am so thankful. The Lord is so quick to answer my prayers.

1-I was discouraged and hopeless. I prayed. My father called and was very positive and uplifting. We had a great conversation. Also it just warmed my heart to see my own father being used by God. I am so thankful he has a relationship with the Lord.  Although the Lord can use anyone not just people who are in close relationship to him for some reason I think my father being able to be respond to my need through God has something to do with his growing relationship with the Lord.

2-My dear girlfriend who is suffering terribly. I have been praying for her daily for weeks. She is in immense emotional pain. I asked if the Lord could relieve her of even a small fraction of her pain. Then last night at 4:30AM she called and shared with me. We talked for 2 hours. Just by being available and listening she said she felt better. I am so grateful that the Lord has removed some of her pain. I promised her I would not share her story, so her name and issues will remain anonymous.
3-Future answered prayer: I get excited thinking about this. To see my dear girlfriend completely healed, restored, and living a godly life. I am praying she will know and feel how much God loves her.

What is God's will for me?

                                                       What is my life dream?
        I have a full time job.  I work Monday thru Friday from 9am-3pm. It is easy. The hours are good and the company is highly sought at by many. It has nice benifits and pay.  My boss is cool and so are the people I work with. 
       Despite all those things I don't really like it. It is not my calling.  It doesn't fullfill me.  It does not satisfy me.  I've spent a long time wondering and praying what is it that I am suppose to be.  I am constantly praying, "Lord what is your will for me?"  "What profession should I pursue?  I don't feel that my true talents lay in being a mom, so that's off the list.  I have a wonderful husband, but I don't think my calling is a homemaker.  God knows how much I stuggle with keeping the house clean and organized.  Rather than helping my husband, I feel I often make more work for my husband.  Just a few weeks ago I sent him and the kids to our friend's child's 1st birthday.  I had the present ready and sent me husband on his way, feeling proud of myself for being so organized.  My husband called me 20 minutes later.  He made it on time all right.  He was a week early!
     Especially after quitting Jazzercise (it's been 4 months now)I have been wondering what is my thing.  Sometimes I am jelous of those people who always new what they wanted to be when they grow up.  I never knew.  I new knew what career I wanted, or if I wanted to marry or even if i wanted kids.  I am very glad I got marry and had kids, but I never was like 100% yes I know for sure that was my life calling.
      I spend a lot of time praying for family, neighbors and even strangers.  I put a lot of worry and energy into them;  I encourage them, invite them to church, worry how my actions effect their faith and so on.
Then I thought (God put in my heart), What if your mission field is your home?  What if your husband and children are the ones who you need to encourage, evangalize, pray for, and set a christian example for?  What if all that energy went toward them?
      I still am not sure if this means being a stay at home mom.  The money I bring in really encourages my husband.  Also he says I am more productive working.  So if it's good for our marriage, that's important.
      Then the most amazing thing happened,  God answered me and told me that his will for me is to be joyful, thankful and to pray.  I saw it one day as I was reading the bible. Thessalonians chaper 5 verses 16 through 18 say, "Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus." The coolest thing is that God's answer had been there in the pages of the bible all this time and I never knew it.  I bet there are even more answers there.  The Bible is so alive with God's word's.  I love it!  Clear as day and right there under my nose the entire time!