Happy Birthday My Sweet Annie!!!

I can't believe today is my baby girl's 5TH birthday. My heart absolutely rejoices when I think about the gift the Lord gave me in my precious Anne. My life in the last 5 years has been so enriched by her presence and love. Annie - may you have a wonderful birthday. I love you so much and truly celebrate your life.

(I'll be working on her slideshow today)

So Thankful, But What Do I Do?

Today at the grocery store as I was moving through each aisle, filling my cart I came across a woman who I don't think I'll soon forget. If she was not homeless, she must be close to it. She had on dirty, crusty clothes that looked like they came from a garbage dump, some kind of fabric wrapped as a head covering, and an old bag that was dirty and falling apart. I am glad I didn't have my children with me because if this woman's appearance hadn't caught their attention, the odor permeating her vicinity would have. And we all know kids are brutally honest and rarely think before they speak. My heart broke for her. I casually glanced at her cart. It contained hot dog buns and junior sized franks. She also had a large tub of ice cream which leads me to believe she has a fridge. As much as my flesh wanted to avoid her because of the odor, I would not let myself. This is how so many people live every single day of their lives. I desperately wanted to help her, to share the Lord with her and buy her groceries. I tried to smile at her, but she wouldn't look up at all. I've never been good at starting conversations. I clam up and think that the other person will think "She should mind her own business". So anyway, I felt like it would be inappropriate to offer her assistance in paying for her items since she wasn't even asking. I didn't want to take away any dignity she may have by obviously noticing her plight. At least for myself, I cannot stand for people to look at me and say "Awww, poor thing". So off I went, pushing a very full cart of food for my family, loaded up my working vehicle, hoppped in and immediately turned on the heater, and drove to my comfortable home to the happy and healthy people who love me. I am so blessed and so thankful.

9 Years

Happy Anniversary to my love of 9 married years. I can't imagine my life without you. You are my one true love and very best friend. Thank you for loving me more and more with each passing year. I'm so excited to see what the Lord has in store for us as we keep moving forward in our walks with Him. He truly did give me a perfect gift in you.

"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning." -James 1:17

"Entreat me not to leave you, or to turn back from following after you; For wherever you go, I will go; And wherever you lodge, I will lodge; Your people shall be my people, And your God, my God." - Ruth 1:17

Out on the Town

I got back a little while ago from a little outing with 5 of our Jr. High girls from church. My friend and fellow servant from Jr. High ministry, Lupe, and myself took the girls to see Alvin and the Chipmunks. The high school girls were also invited but opted to see something else on their own (I really can't blame them...I wouldn't have wanted to see that movie in high school either). I love these Jr. Highers. They are so much fun and still are not too humiliated to cruise to the movies on a Friday night in a mini-van. :) After the movie they wanted to get a snack. Now in my pre/early teen days, my friends and I would have requested a slurpee or a coke...not these 21st century girlies. Its Starbucks all the way! No objection on my part. I just hope with all this coffee consumption on their part, they aren't the same height ten years from now. :) I'm looking forward to another outing hopefully soon.

Rebekah's Vocabulary

I wanted to journal a couple of our favorite of Bek's pronunciations.

hane ga ba = hamburger
do a double u = double knot my tennis shoes
I smell the exhaustes = I smell the exhaust from another car

Though we are working on this, all of her l's sound like y's, and she has quite the lisp. Its so much fun listening to her!

The Tender Heart of a Child

I've been meaning to share this on my blog for several weeks, but obviously I haven't been blogging so much lately. Anyway, one day Annie had asked Daddy to do something with her, but he was busy and asked her to find something to do by herself for a little while. So a few minutes later she returned to him with the above picture in hand. She told him, "Its a picture of your family so you can remember them." As many of you are aware, Jose's parents passed away within 9 months of each other when he was 15 years old. We've talked a little about them with the kids, and Annie has seen a couple of pictures, but she totally nailed the details on the picture. Guille (Jose's mom) was ever so slightly taller than Martin (his dad). He has two older sisters, so the height was also correct there. Not to mention his sister, Monica, is pointing at him since afterall he was the spoiled little baby boy of the family and from what I understand there was perpetual sibling rivalry when they were all together. Anyway, it was the tenderness of Annie's heart that touched us so much. She knows Daddy misses his own mom and dad so she wanted to help out in a way she knew she could. That picture is now in a bright red frame in our living room with the word "love" inscribed on the bottom.

Assignment

So my Annie just gave me a homework assignment. She drew the entire page herself, complete with instructions - cut, think (I love that one), glue, and paste. When did I become the student?

Could A Girl of 29 Years Feel Any More Loved????

First of all, thank you to my most awesome husband for that last post. He knows if I had caught him typing it, I would have put up a stink...so he had to be sneaky and did it when I took Annie to school in the morning. I agree with the comments...he is such a sweetie...actually in my eyes he is just the plain old best. He has seen me at my best and at my worst, yet he chooses to focus on the better.

Guess what else he did to surprise me? This may not sound like a big deal, but he shaved off his beard! A month or so ago I had asked if while on vacation, he might shave it off and leave his glasses off a little...to look like when we first dated and were married. Yes, this sounds selfish of me, and it is since I look far from what I did 9 years ago, but he did it! Thanks Babe! You look so great! He also bought me the the book Having a Mary Spirit in a Martha World. I enjoyed my last book so much (see my post called "Excerpt") that Jose got me the sequel. I can't wait to dive in.

Thank you for all of the special birthday greetings on my blog as well as cards, ecards, and phone calls. I truly am blessed by amazing family and friends. I thank my God for each and every one of you.

Happy Birthday Laura!!!

As you know I don’t normally post on Laura’s blog. However, today is a very special occasion and I wanted to just take a little space on her blog to mention this special day.

The girls and I are so blessed with Laura’s unending love for us. She is so patient with us and always is showering us with her love. Whenever we feel the smallest illness coming along she gets so concerned and begins trying to care for us even before we are bedridden. She sacrifices so much for us.

Laura has great love and concern for her friends and those in need. She would give up our clothes (that’s where I come in to make sure we keep our clothes!) to help a friend or person in need. I am always challenged in my life by her example of compassion and the way she displays Christ’s love for others.

I could go on and on but I know that even the simple post will embarrass her and that is not the goal. The goal is to celebrate this wonderful woman of God! I know that she is who she is because of the work of Jesus in her life. Yet, we get to reap the fruit of her relationship with Christ and it is indeed a blessing to partake of it.

Happy Birthday Precious! We love you!!!!

José, Annie, & Bekah

Excerpt

Currently I'm reading a wonderful book that my husband gave me for Christmas. Its called Having a Mary's Heart in a Martha World by Joanna Weaver. I wanted this book for most of 2007 and it was worth the wait. I haven't finished it yet, but be looking for a raving review on my blog in the near future. In fact, I think I'll start making a list of my favorite books soon. One thing Jose and I have shared in common from the beginning of our relationship is our love for books. When we were married and combined our collections, we immediately formed our own little library, even containing duplicates.

Back to my current reading. Here is a little excerpt which actually is from J. Sidlow Baxter, found in my book. Its a little illustration of re-establishing a consistent and meaningful daily devotion life. I hope you enjoy it!

"As never before, my will and I stood face to face. I asked my will the straight question, "Will, are you ready for an hour of prayer?" Will answered, "Here I am, and I'm quite ready, if you are." So Will and I linked arms and turned to go for our time of prayer. At once all the emotions began pulling the other way and protesting, "We're not coming." I saw Will stagger just a bit, so I asked, "Can you stick it out Will?" and Will replied, "Yes, if you can." So Will went, and we got down to prayer....It was a stuggle all the way through. At one point...one of those traitorous emotions had snared my imagination and had run off to the golf course; and it was all I could do to drag the wicked rascal back....

"At the end of that hour, if you had asked me, "Have you had a 'good time'?" I would have had to reply, "No, it has been a wearying wrestle with contrary emotions and a truant imagination from beginning to end." What is more, that battle with the emotions continued for between two and three weeks, and if you had asked me at the end of that period, "Have you had a 'good time' in your daily praying?" I would have had to confess, "No, at times it has seemed as though the heavens were brass, and God too distant to hear, and the Lord Jesus strangely aloof, and prayer accomplishing nothing."

"Yet something was happening. For one thing, Will and I really taught the emotions that we were completely independent of them. Also, one morning, about two weeks after the contest began, just when Will and I were going for another time of prayer, I overheard one of the emotions whisper to the other, "Come on, you guys, it's no use wasting any more time resisting: they'll go just the same,"...

"Then, another couple of weeks later, what do you think happened? During one of our prayer times, when Will and I were no more thinking of the emotions than of the man in the moon, one of the most vigourous of the emotions unexpectedly sprang up and shouted, "Hallelujah!" at which all the other emotions exclaimed, "Amen!" And for the first time the whole of my being--intellect, will, and emotions--was united in one coordinated prayer-operation. All at once, God was real, heaven was open, the Lord Jesus was luminously present, the Holy Spirit was indeed moving through my longings, and prayer was surprisingly vital. Moreover, in that instant there came a sudden realization that heaven had been watching and listening all the way through those days of struggle against chilling moods and mutinous emotions; also that I had been undergoing necessary tutoring by my heavenly Teacher."

Snowflakes

Thank you for the compliments regarding the falling snowflakes on my last post. As I'm sure you've suspected, it is the creativity of my in-home computer expert. He gets all the credit. Thank you, Honey!

Catching Up

I realize I've been absent for a week and a half...we've been a little busy. :) Christmas Eve started out fabulous - got the girls all dressed up and excited for our festivities. They looked beautiful in their dresses. At Steve and Sue's, we enjoyed a tamale dinner and entertainment provided by my daughters. Bek is quite the little showman as she took it upon herself to gather each family member together for a singing/piano show. It was lots of fun to watch. But not much later Annie approached me complaining of a sore throat and tummy trouble. And sure enough within 20 minutes, her dinner was lost. :( I'm not feeling so great at this point either - maybe my jeans we too tight. So we decide it would be best to pack up and go home. We were so sad as we had only begun to do stockings and had to leave so abruptly. On the way home I had to ask Jose to speed up a little...my jeans were not too tight. I had what Annie had. So Annie and I were up all night, purging. Bekah joined us around 1am which led us to our not-so-merry Christmas morning. We were miserable all day long. Both of my parents and Jeff and Amie were kind (and brave I might add) enough to come over and exchange presents. The saddest thing was that my kids didn't even feel like opening gifts. It took until Thursday morning to unwrap everything. Thankfully our stomach flu was a 24 hr. bug and we were feeling much better by late Wednesday. Unfortunately it was Wed. evening when Annie came down with a raging cold. So on to urgent care with the rest of the Inland Empire for two hours Thursday morning to hear Annie has bronchitis (thankfully a mild case). Annie passed her cold to both Jose and I which we're still trying to get over. Annie is much better now. :) Let's see, what else has happened? Oh yes, on Tuesday we had dinner at Auntie Leti's house and somehow Bekah slipped, dove, leaned or something off of her chair and smacked her head on the hard floor. She scared us pretty bad as for a few seconds she acted strange in Jose's arms...so off to the ER we go! Thank the Lord she is fine and just got a nasty bump on the back of her head.

At some time through all of these events there were fun things that happened too! I got to visit with my friend, Janine, who is visiting from Minnesota. She kind of chuckled at my coat and gloves as we walked from the car to Red Robin...I know I don't know what cold really feels like. She said she was the warmest she's been in months! I don't know how you do it, Janine! Also, I got to visit with my friend, Tami who I haven't seen in few months. We always have the best conversations and never want to end our visits. I also was able to take Fatima, a girl from church, to breakfast and on a nice walk through Victoria Gardens. Jose has put in a few trips to the driving range with Joser...and now they're introducing Jaime to their new pastime. Also, they are progressing in their skills as another fellow golfer asked for some advice from them at the driving range! Way to go Jose's!

We're starting our new year off the way I like...with some re-arranging of the furniture and getting everything organized. Jose moved his desk and bookshelves to the garage as an office and now we have an actual bedroom again! I like our new setup and am excited to use my vanity as it was meant to be used. It belonged to my Aunt Terry growing up and I'm honored to have it in my care now. I just need to find a stool and mirror and I'll be all set.

That's about all for now. I'm sure I'll have more to write. Thanks for reading and Happy New Year!