Happy Anniversary

Tony and I will be celebrating our 7th wedding anniversary on Sat!!!! Because of his work schedule we are going out tomorrow!!!! It's amazing how fast the last 7 years has gone by. We've had our struggles, learning about each other, what irritates the other, but there are also so many good memories! God has truly blessed us both. And the greatest blessing came last year. I did marry someone who didn't grow up in the same kind of house I did. And so our faith's were really hard for us to come together on. I was young and naive and when we got married I had hardened my own heart due to other issues in my life at the time. But when you know the truth of God's word you can't hide from it forever. And God brought me through my dark time. But when I came out, I had a husband who wouldn't attend church with me unless I hounded him. And finally I had to let go and let God take care of the rest. We've been together for 8 years and last year I finally cut that one string I held onto. You know how you say ok God here this is, but then you still hold onto part of the issue? Well that is what I did. And then I let go and I was so scared at what would happen next. Tony did support me in taking the kids to church and would help them with their verses and explain how important it is, etc but he wouldn't come. And then one day out of the blue he said that he was coming with us that night. And since that day last summer he is always with us unless he's working. I still am amazed at how God took one little thing for so many people as going to church and turned my husband around. I still tear up in church when he puts his arm around me. I truly believe that God allowed me to go through this to grow and learn true faith. And so this year on our anniversary, I am so thankful and so proud of the man I married. That God is in control and anything is possible.

I love the Honor Your Husband 30 Day Challenge!!! What a great reminder to honor a man who was given to us from God. That we were created just for each other! So here are my goals for this week:
1. Pray daily for him.
2. When he suggests for us to watch a movie together even if I don't want to, to at least sit with him and enjoy his presence.
3. Leave a love note in his lunch for him.

Fragile

Our family has been reminded at fragile life is. My husband lost his grandma last week. We had to take a trip to NM for the services. His grandma was such a wonderful women. She always made an effort to remember our children on their birthdays and at Christmas. And it was always wonderful to see the joy in her eyes when they would run up to her and hug her.
And now my grandma is not doing well. She fell a few weeks ago and broke her shoulder. She had been in a rehab center up until last night. She was rushed to the hospital because she went into a diabetic coma. She is now stabilized and is doing a bit better. My mom is out there with her right now and she is very tired, stressed and worried. It's been almost 4 years since I last saw my grandma. Her and my grandpa live in FL and time and money haven't allowed us to visit. We last saw them while they were in El Paso staying with my family. We've been happy that they have met all their great-grandchildren and love them. So I am now in the process of trying to secure a flight to go to FL and spend some time with her. It's very important to me to be able to see her while she is still alive and remember the wonderful memories I have as a child. I think that it's sometimes sad that after the person dies, everyone comes to say goodbye. I do understand it's closure, but I want my grandma to know that I love her and cherish her and to tell her face to face.
This has all been a reminder that we need to live each to the fullest and let our immediate and extended family know how precious they are to us. And every chance we are given to be with them is so important!!!!

Portrait

Here is a self portrait I took of myself. I'm working on a book of me. I wanted to start capturing who I really am. I would like to have something for myself and my family to look back on and see who I was at that point in my life. It's been a lot of fun reflecting and doing some soul searching.

Esther

While scanning the shelves at Blockbuster this week, my eye caught the cover of this movie called One Night With The King. I picked it up and read the back. It's the story of Queen Esther. As a child this was my favorite bible story. As a little girl, the idea of being chosen to be queen is just fun to think about. But now, this story holds so much more for me. God chose Esther for a special purpose. And she was faithful and admist evil and hate, she knew her calling and stood up for her people. What a wonderful reminder that God has called us and has a special purpose and plan for our lives. And when we listen and are faithful, He will pour out His blessings. If you haven't seen this movie, I highly recommend it!!!!

Thankful

I found out last week that my sister was called to go to the Border Patrol Academy. As much as I have my views on women and law enforcement, I pray that this is where God is calling her. She has worked so hard and waited so long for this phone call. She is excited and basically this starts her step to a new chapter in her life. She is single so it makes it a bit easier for her. Tony and I were talking about this, and he said that leaving and having all that responsibility on his shoulders was a lot. But God blessed us with this wonderful job. So I pray for a safe 4 months for her and that she passes everything. Also my dad called today and said that he and my mom are coming on the 9th. We had invited them for Easter, but said they would come the day after. They are coming just to celebrate my birthday. Even though I'm not a kid anymore, I'm excited!!! This will be my parent's second trip to SV since we moved into the house.
I'm also excited because we bought bedroom furniture last week. Our very first set!!! Praise God for a great tax refund! As soon as the repairs are done from the water damage they will deliver it. And then Sat we bought a new mattress. Tony has had our current one for at least 17 years. So we were in desperate need of a new one. So that comes this Sat! Hopefully this will help with my backaches. And we decided on a paint color for our room. Now to convince Tony that we are capable of painting our own bedroom.

Guessing Games

It seems lately that I find myself trying to find into this pre-determined mold. Being Coordinator of our local MOPS group I have seen how far I've come and how much I've grown as a wife, mother and woman. I use to think of myself of this very young mom who has 3 young children. I love MOPS for everything it stands for. I've been that mom who has felt totally alone not knowing another mom to relate to. I have met so many wonderful ladies who have blessed me greatly. Plus I've found many new friends. There are so many moms in our group who are either pregnant or just had their new additions to their families. The one thing that I never thought I would feel is being the odd one out. I'm not old at all and don't think I will ever feel like that. But I am soon to be 28 and have older children. My youngest is going to be 4 soon and only has one more year before going to Kindergarten. My oldest is almost done with 1st grade and growing bigger everyday. The moms in my group are all older than and still growing their family. It seems that as each year passes I find myself outgrowing the preschool years and moving towards the next stage of life. But the thing I hate is that I have no idea what that next stage is. What do moms do who have children in school? All that I seem to meet have gone back to work. But Tony and I have decided that for as long as God calls me, I am to be home. Yes I do plan on helping in school, having lunch with friends and more time to scrapbook. But what else? Tonight I told Tony I almost wish that we had decided to start having kids two years ago. He kind of looked at my like I was crazy, but I explained that 99% of my friends are still adding to their family. They may have a 5 year old, but also an infant. After my kids are in school all day, how do I relate to these friends who have toddlers getting into everything? I don't want to become that person who is hardened to moms who have little ones around. I always thought I would never see this stage pass, you know where you don't have a diaper bag, stroller, and tons of extra clothes for accidents. I have to remember that for a reason, God planned for me to be 27 and be almost done with the preschool years. What is next I have no idea, maybe that is my calling, to help the moms move to the next stage and find purpose and fullfilment in being a SAHM even though there are no kids home most of the day. I have always know that I do make a difference in my families' lives and that is why I love MOPS because every mother does make a difference in every area of their children's lives. And as I see this area of my life and calling coming to a close I pray that moms of preschoolers know how very important their job is. How they impact the lives that God has entrusted to them. I pray that as they sit crying amid toys, screaming toddlers, and home items always needing tending, that their blessing will beyond what they imagine. So hold your babies close as they won't always want to be held and where you are today is right where God wants you to be!

Light

Yesterday I had a water restoration company here. They sucked out the last bit of water out of the carpet. Then they put enzyme treatment on all the water areas. Now I've got fans and a dehumidifier in here till Thursday morning. The guy said that water will go up the wall about 16in and that is about it. He brought all his tools in here and did like an infrared camera. You could see where the water damage is. It did go up the wall in some spots. And it also tests how wet the wall is. The closet walls were on at 40% and the half bath wall. The garage wall was at 65% so he cut the drywall out there and there are fans blowing in there. They also had to pull out some wet insulation. It smells so much better in here already. The adjuster comes Thursday morning to inspect everything and finish up my claim. But basically once the claim is finished, this company can start work on getting up back to predamage mode. They will come treat the carpet, clean it all, repair the drywall, insulation and whatever else needs to be done. I really liked this company that came today, so nice and explained everything. He did suggest that if we could hold off on bedroom furniture to do that. But if it's something that we have to have, then they'll work with moving it all when they need to clean the carpet. I am just so thankful that this can all be fixed and we didn't loose anything that can't be replaced.

This morning I had bible study. It was really good and even though I didn't feel like going, I'm glad I did. It's amazing how God reveals just the item that you need to hear and when. This week is going to focus on being set apart from the world and how that can be very hard esp. in today's society. I have been convicted lately on either music or tv shows that I watch. My mom always use to give advice or teachings whether we wanted to hear it or not. Being a mom now, I so understand why she did this. But she would always advise us to watch what we say or what we're doing because if Jesus comes back, would be be ashamed in that moment. I still struggle with this as an adult. It's hard to do the right thing sometimes. I am excited to see where this bible study will take me this week!

Cleaning Up

We were in NM this past week for spring break. We had a pretty good trip. Just long enough. We got home late afternoon yesterday. We thought all was well till we opened the garage. Our water softner was leaking. At first we thought the damage was just a few boxes most of which was garbage anyway. But then we went into our room to find our carpet soaked. Our closet backs up to the garage and the water leaked in there and 1/3 of the carpet is just completely wet. Thankfull everything can be fixed and replaced, which we think will just be ther padding and carpet. It does appear to have leaked into our half bath and gotten the cabinet where the sink is, so hoping worst case is replacing that. We have a claim into our insurance company and just waiting for Monday and a phone call to come inspect the damage.