A New Year. New Beginnings.

One of my goals this year is to blog regularly. Since, I have left the land of Facebook, I feel blogging will help me to share my thoughts, pictures and stories in a more private arena. So, here's to blogging in the new year.

The Beginning of it All

This month marks 13 years since I embarked on my YWAM journey. Thirteen Years!
YWAM taught me to hear the voice of God. This is the basic foundations to walking with God. We can talk to Him all we want, but if we can't hear His voice, what's the point?

This year, 2010, will be a year of listening, growing, grounding, giving and sacrificial service to honor my God.

This year, my family will come to know God, my neighbors will see the light of salvation, my students and fellow teachers will see the joy of the Lord. This is the year of the Lord's favor!

Proclaim it over your family and life. God promises His favor. Believe it. Greater things are yet to come...

Christmas 2009

This Christmas was quiet and meaningful. We declined many offers of Christmas parties and decided to stay home and do things with each other and the kids. I wanted the month to be celebrated how it should, with reflections of who Jesus is.

When we get so busy and distracted we lose sight of this.

I wanted this Christmas to put my heart and spirit on the right path for the new year.

I pray as the kids get older they will have more of a sense of who Jesus is and what Christmas means. This year they knew it was Jesus' birthday and they made Him a cake. Next year, I hope they will grow more excited about celebrating Jesus' life as they begin to understand more.

October is here?! And nearly gone?!

This year, Claire wants to be a kitty for Halloween. I just couldn't resist this costume with the tutu. She's excited about getting her face painted on Halloween, and so am I!

I love having dear friends like Becca. It's not often we get moments like this, when no children are hanging off of us. Awe, how relaxing...
Tanner and Gabe carved pumpkins, while Claire created a painting masterpiece!
And, this is our newest addition, Kona. He's four months now, but growing so fast. Claire is his master for sure. He completely listens and follows all of her commands. She spends hours each day riding her bike in the backyard with him. I just love watching how she interacts with him. He's a true gem. And, I'm sooooo glad we trained him to be an OUTSIDE dog!

Mexico 2009

We were blessed by my parents this past week when they decided to take us on a family trip. All expenses paid: food and activities, too!
We spent 8 days in Nuevo Vallarta in a beautiful 2,600 sq. foot villa. The hotel was nearly empty, so we had top notch service and attention.
We rode horses on the beach, went on a pirate ship, swam with dolphins and took a dinner cruise to a secluded beach.
Aside from having nasty colds/flu on the trip and when we got home, it was still the most amazing vacation of our lives!

The Return of the Blog: Prepare to Be Amazed!

So...here's what happened in the last year.
1) I graduated from Fresno State in May.
2) We celebrated our 10-year anniversary on June 12.
3) I thoroughly enjoyed my summer by getting in shape. Down almost 20 pounds of fat and 10% body fat!
4) I started back at school, National University, for my teaching credential.
5) We got a boxer puppy. Named him "Kona" after where we met.
6) We're headed to Puerto Vallarta, Mex. for 8 days tomorrow with my parents.

Life is good. I'm more in love than ever with my husband. The kids are growing, 2.5 and almost 5! I'm ready to go to work. Being at home has been great, but I'm getting burned out a bit. I know it's just a tough age, 2, but I think I'm still ready to work.

My goal is to blog at least monthly. We'll see...

Happy Thanksgiving!

Well,
another semester has flown by. I didn't blog. Two weeks til finals!
I registered for my very LAST semester a few weeks back and it was such a relief. Great joy and excitement filled by heart as I punched the final course numbers into the computer and hit enter.
I'm nearly there! I've done it. I've nearly completed the road God set me on almost 5 years ago!

Tomorrow is my 30th birthday. Not overly excited as I've had a bummer week.
Hope it's everything I imagined!

Next week, Tan and I will head to Vegas for 4 nights! No kids! We soooo need this time to reconnect and grow closer. I pray that it is an awesome time and that the kids are good for my parents.
Thank God for my parents!

So, that's the scoop for now.
I'll be posting some new pics later.