Where To Begin...

Well, it's been another month+ since the last time I posted, but this time it wasn't my fault! :) Our computer has been on it's last leg for some time now and decided this past month that it didn't like me writing blog posts or emails. Sooo, we upgraded this week and problem solved! However, now I'm stuck with where to start, since this past month has been quite...well, life-changing...
First off, if you notice to the left of the page there is a new gadget I've added. A couple of weeks ago, we got the surprise of our lives....we are pregnant with baby #4! We weren't really planning on having any more, but more than that, we were definitely not planning on having another baby any time soon! After a day of crying tears of horror joy, we accepted the fact that God's ways are definitely not our ways and are busily re-adjusting our lives. I was in the middle of training for a half marathon I was to run in the middle of September, in Big Sur, but upon Doctor's advice to lay off the running and NOT to run the half, we're now looking forward to a relaxing vacay with family and friends. I will be in charge of food of course, and making sure my fellow runners are well fueled, while I cheer them on from the side-lines.
Another perplexing "hiccup", was our recent decision to homeschool...how on earth was I going to be able to do that while my head is hugging the toilet in the throes of my first trimester?! Well, the first couple weeks went by with hardly an hour total of nausea or any other symptom for that matter, but then came week 6...this week. The bad news: Nausea hit full force. The good news: It's mainly an evening ordeal and my mornings remain pretty mild and nausea-free. So I'm praying that remains the case, as next Thursday is the day we officially start school! Aaaaaaahhh! Nervous? Yes. Excited? Very. Ready? Getting there...
Which brings me to my last post and my fervor for re-decorating our house and re-finishing some side tables I promised to post pictures of and never did... whoopsie... Well, the tables have long been re-finished, but seeing as I have yet to transfer all my pictures over to our new computer, a separate post is what you'll have to look forward to on those! :) My re-decorating has also become a much bigger job than I originally thought as we now have to make more room in our ever shrinking 2 bedroom condo for the afore-mentioned new family member. It'll be amazing when it's all done, and it makes me giddy just thinking about it! Our next re-finishing project is going to be our kitchen table, which will hopefully be started somewhat soon...but for now I think I'll take a nap...

Side Tables & Other Fun Things

So I've dove head first into this re-model of my house. Sort of. I'm realizing I have to take it a day at a time and while I wish I could be done with it in one week, it just ain't gonna happen. We are nearly finished with project #1 - refinishing side tables for our bedroom. I found these sad little guys at a garage sale where the lady who was selling them had tried to refinish them. It didn't work out so great for her, but fortunately for me, they are turning out beautiful. I'll have the before and after pictures up this week!
Next project will be my dining table. My husband's sort of dreading this one, it has every possibility to be a pain, but the end result is going to be fabulous, I just know it!! Speaking of my husband, poor guy and soccer just don't get along very well...2 weeks ago he came home with a bashed up toe and had to go get holes poked in his toenail to remove the blood and pressure built up under it. Gross, I know. Then last week he came home hobbling, once again. This time however, it was his good ankle he'd hurt but thankfully it turned out only to be a sprain! Phew! He's able to walk a bit on it already but it looks awful. Sort of wishing he'd break up with soccer, but I'm realistic and know that's not going to happen anytime soon...SIGH.......
Happy 4th of July to everyone!! We'll be relaxing, doing a little bit of re-organizing, and barbecuing of course! Then it's off to the beach on Tuesday as the annual July "beach days" return... SO excited for those. More to come this week and a happy and safe holiday to all of you! XOXO

Goin For a New Look

I know, this is out of control that I'm posting not once but TWICE in a day!! That's what happens when I go for a month without posting, too much to post all at once!
I joined Pinterest on Saturday, sort of randomly, for I had very little idea what it was all about. I then spent the next 2 and a half hours glued to my computer and ready to jump out of skin in excitement, feeling as if my head was going to explode with all the ideas my poor brain was trying to digest. I've had a year+ long urge to repaint my house and an even longer one to decorate every room in stuff I love. I have a really hard time with decorating for a few reasons - 1. It completely overwhelms me. 2. I don't trust my own judgement (I'm getting better on this one) 3. I'm clueless on how to decorate on a budget (getting better on this one too) and 4. It completely overwhelms me. (I put that one twice on purpose. Just in case you were wondering...) I love nicely decorated homes, I love being organized, but when it comes to my own house I tend to hit a wall. I felt like that wall finally moved or was (hopefully) knocked down on Saturday! Because along with decorating, I seem to have the same problem with arts and crafts. LOVE seeing crafty things, love the idea of the whole DIY thing, and I marvel at and am amazed by people who are good at it. Because I SOOO am not! Again, it completely overwhelms me....I can do fine if I have someone or something that directs my every step. But to come up with the idea myself? Pfffff!
In stepped Pinterest. If you haven't joined yet or are still wondering if you should - You must! But I have to warn you: It's extremely addicting and it will take discipline to limit yourself once you figure out how to use it. There's just too much on there and the inspiration factor is off the charts. I soon had Cisco glued next to me on the couch and the rooms and the endless decor possibilities for them had both of us pretty much giddy. Step by step instructions for very inexpensive, yet exactly what we've been wanting, DIY projects. YES!

When we made the decision to homeschool a few months ago, I knew one of the things that would help me in keeping a level head and enjoy the whole experience all the more, would be to get myself and our house in some sense of order and organization. Nothing too crazy, but I know myself well enough that if my house and life is in utter chaos, my head is too. It's a little tricky trying to organize 3 BOYS and ourselves in a 2 bedroom condo, but I know there are many who have much less space than we do and I refuse to complain. There is much to be thankful for and I know I'm a blessed woman. I just needed a little boost in the creativity department and I've been praying for months for just that! So what happened next??? 
About a week or so ago we got new carpeting in our downstairs living room area, which it desperately needed. This morning, the concrete guy arrived to re-brick our patio, which we've been waiting for since we moved in here 5 years ago. And I now have the complete vision for every room in my house, on how to organize and get it looking not only "together" but fabulous! And the best part: On a completely do-able and low budget! I'll of course be documenting the whole transformation (which will take a few months) and posting "Before and After" pictures and links to the how-to's, so you too can be inspired or read along for the fun of it. But if you want some serious inspiration, you should really go log onto Pinterest... Just sayin. :)

And Another Month Goes By...

Ok, I'm soooo not a dedicated blogger. Obviously... I just happen to be one of  the world's biggest procrastinators. I really do intend to try to blog once a week but a week seems to always turn into a month. It's a hopeless cause really...
So, what have I been doing with my life since the last time I was on here? Quite a bit, actually. (That may be only surprising to me, but I feel it's surprising nonetheless). Not that life isn't normally busy around here, but BUSY has taken on a whole new meaning lately. Let's see, soon after the last time I was on here I took a trip up to see my family. It was a really sweet time with my sister and nieces, as well as the rest of my family, although a painfully long time away from Cisco and the boys. Side note: Cisco gets the husband of the year award for being so awesome and letting me go away for nearly an entire week! The weather up there was randomly cold but that's how I like it. :) There's nothing that screams HOME to me like cool and rainy weather. It makes me downright giddy sometimes.

 Beautiful NorCal landscape

 The sky looked unbelievable

Girls shopping day!! My nieces, Courtney and Carly and their Applebee's Lemonade Slushies.

I got home on Wednesday and late Saturday night Cisco's brother Gabo flew in from Costa Rica for a short visit. He's currently a missionary over there and has been away since December. You should check out his blog  Gabo's Ventures of Faith.

We didn't tell the boys he was coming so they were over the moon when they woke up Sunday morning and found him on our couch! So fun! We really had a great time seeing him and loved hearing all the Lord is doing in his life. Unfortunately, I'm sorta lame when it comes to taking pictures sometimes and only remembered to take one literally minutes before we headed out to the airport. Boo.

Gabo left last week and I spent some time with Kimi wedding planning. Sunday was Father's Day, so we took the kids on Saturday out to Point Loma to check out the tide pools. We had such a great time and it was a GORGEOUS day, the only downside was we got there kinda late and the tide was pretty high. So most of the tide pools were underwater but we still managed to find a bunch of crabs and see the sea urchins and lots of barnacles. Now we know to go a little earlier next time! The boys loved it and luckily I remembered I had a camera this time! 

 Oh! And I nearly forgot...Elias had his 2nd birthday the day after I got home from Paradise. We decided to forgo the birthday party this year and we went to dinner at Wahoos (his favorite rice in the world) and came home and had cupcakes. He loves the Disney version of Robin Hood and his favorite part is when they sing Happy Birthday. I don't think he really gets the birthday thing yet, but he was thrilled to get his own cupcake, hear us sing to him and "bow" out the candle. Kids are so easy to please! :) 

"Happy Birthday to you...!"

My Life: Weddings, Baby Showers, and Homeschooling

I have about 5 different blog posts "in the works", but cannot seem to find the time to ever finish them. I'm just not one of those wonderfully consistent bloggers, at least not at this time in my life! Maybe someday I'll be, haha! Yes, I dream big...
Last week was a whirlwind of baby shower fun, literally planned the whole thing in one week! Of course, my genius friend Ashley over at House of Lovelock helped me and she's insanely gifted when it comes to decorating (which I am not!). I can execute someone else's idea easily enough, but to come up with the "vision" myself, happens to me only once in a blue moon. It turned out beautiful for my sweet friend, she's having her first baby and it's a boy. We went with a rustic, whimsical theme and most of the decor came from our houses or yard (cheap!). Seriously in love with this theme for any type of shower, you can do so much with it!

 That gives you a little bit of an idea how cute it was. Aren't the logs incredible?? I found these pictures online earlier in the week and died.

Like I said, I'm seriously in love... STUMPS... Who knew?!?!

Backtracking to a couple days before the shower happened, I got a phone call from Sky Mountain Charter and Josiah got in!!!! SO excited (and relieved)! It's a bit overwhelming at this point, figuring out what curriculum to use and all that, but I know it's also going to be a bit of trial and error at the beginning. Plus, I have a plethora of resources in all my lovely friends and neighbors who have all been doing this for awhile & it's just going to be finding out what works for us. The Lord has led me this far and I trust He's not going to stop now. :) Josiah's in his last week and half of school and I can't believe after that I'll officially have a second grader and a kindergartner! It's crazy how much time is flying by and I'm thankful that for at least this year I'll be able to enjoy having all my boys at home and watching every minute of their brains develop. Yes. That sounded weird to me too..
The Bible College had their graduation on Thursday and my sweet friend, who is much like my little sister (I used to babysit her, her brother and cousins ever since I was 12 and she was 5) graduated & got engaged!! It was beautiful and sweet and she is marrying a terrific guy! Check out her STUNNER of a ring

She asked me to help coordinate her wedding and I couldn't be more thrilled! I love weddings, I love planning, and I love her. Spectacular combo.
So today I will be driving up to my hometown of Paradise with her and a couple other friends to see my wonderful family and do some wedding planning/dress shopping (Eeek! LOVE wedding dress shopping!). I apologize for the girly squeal, but it's the truth. I'm a total girl when it comes to this sort of thing...
Two of my nieces are graduating, one from high school, one from the 8th grade. Like I said before, time is flying by! It's strange, clearly remembering and being at the birth of someone and then seeing them graduate high school. Like, really strange. And I'll be seeing my sister Michelle, whom many of you have been praying for, after her accident last March. She is recovering well, but please continue to keep her and her girls in your prayers. There is a lot of emotional trauma that comes along with what happened and while it's hard to see her go through it and not be closer in distance, I have to trust the Lord is working and is going to comfort and heal her in every way. He is good.
P.S. You should check out my friend Ashley's blog, whom I linked earlier in this post. She's one of those wonderful people who blogs multiple times a week, and has really delightful taste in pretty much everything. Plus it's just fun and she has really cute kids.

Weekend Post

Wouldn't you know, I've been working on this post for the past hour and I leave the computer for a minute, Elias comes over and erases the entire thing...Gah!!! So we took a 20 minute break and danced to MJ's "Beat It", just because I can't handle how cute Elias is when he dances to his favorite song, and what better way to cure any type of aggression slightly bummed out-ness.
Sooo, like I said yesterday I had a really great weekend. Cisco surprised me last week with a little getaway to Dana Point for my Mother's Day gift / super belated anniversary trip, for last years anniversary we never got around to celebrating. We stayed at the Blue Lantern Inn and I have to say, it was incredibly impressive. It's definitely a place worth giving a little shout out to! Besides being just downright lovely, it was wonderfully clean and adorable in every way. Even the two ladies who run it were uncommonly friendly and helpful and made you feel immediately comfortable. We went out for sushi that night and I fell in love with it all over again. It's amazing the difference of having "good" sushi and "amazing" sushi, cause there totally is! I've only had "amazing" sushi maybe 3 times, and all 3 times I left convinced I could happily eat sushi for breakfast, lunch, and dinner for the rest of my life.
The next day we went to the San Juan Capistrano mission and then up to The Lab in Costa Mesa for lunch and to do some shopping. While most of it was mainly "window shopping" I did find a few amazing deals at Urban Outfitters on jewelry

Can't beat a dragonfly pocket watch necklace for $10 and a gorgeous vintage looking cuff for $4.99! I also got earrings for $4.99, but those didn't make it into the picture...I was wearing them when I took it!
All in all, it was a great time together and we were excited to come home and squeeze our boys, who were happily having a blast with our friends Carrie and Frances. The perfect end to a perfect weekend: RAIN. I know. I'm weird. I'll be posting more on this later this week. My weirdness and my lifelong love for rain. :)

Where have I been??

I just realized the other day that it's nearly been a complete month since the last time I was on here! My, how time flies! I could've sworn it had only been a week...I'd love to say it's because I've been so incredibly busy and I have all these fabulous stories to write about, but truth be told, I just kind of forgot. Haha! I do have a few posts in the works that I'll get around to finishing up soon, and I promise to try and be better about posting on a more regular basis. I would also like to add, thank you to those of you who have left comments on here, I really do love hearing from those of you who take the time to read this! While I don't want to pretend my life is so awesome that everyone should want to read about my day to day, I do love feeling connected to people I haven't seen or talked to in years, even with my own family I don't get to see very often. And I do really love hearing feedback from all of you! I'll be back tomorrow with a post about my sweet weekend and later on this week with a few other things I've had on my mind lately. Until then, enjoy this pic I took the other morning of my precious boys sleeping. I don't know why, but I really love taking sleeping pictures of my kids...probably because I love watching them sleep and I know that is going to be one of those things I will miss when they get older. They are just so darn sweet...

Laundry Detergent!

Yesterday I made the laundry detergent and so far, I'm sold! I've only done one load with it so far, so I know it's hard to make a concrete judgment call. But that load came out clean, smelling like spring heaven, and super soft. Plus, there's that bit of inner satisfaction knowing that you used an all natural detergent that you made yourself....some may not find that wonderfully satisfying, but I definitely do.

So, I know it looks like a bowl of cheese got mixed into it, but it's actually grated soap. Grating the soap was the most "difficult" part of making this, if you can call it difficult. Who knew making your own laundry soap could be so easy?!
Here's the  laundry detergent recipe I used, which was actually taken from another blog I came across a few weeks ago, The Beehive Cottage. Super cute website! I used the Fels Naptha soap and I also was able to find all the ingredients at WinCo. I wasn't sure where to find Washing Soda, I'd never heard of it before, but there it was, right next to the regular laundry detergents, so you shouldn't have too much trouble finding this stuff, wherever you're at.
Well, I'm gonna try out another Hourik recipe tonight...Chili relleno's! Happens to be one of my favorite things ever and hers are legendary...I'll let you know how they turn out.
Easter is just around the corner, I'm so excited! It's one of my favorite holidays, for many reasons. What are some of your favorite traditions and ways to celebrate Easter?

Levi

On Saturday, Cisco and I drove up to Modesto (a good 6 1/2 hour trip each way) to pick up Levi. We told the boys we were bringing them back a "surprise", to which they quickly responded, "CANDY?!" Hahaha. Apparently they spent the day guessing as to what their surprise would be. :) We left around 7am that morning and it really was a beautiful drive. We had considered leaving Friday night, to break up the trip, but decided not to...good thing. While watching the news that night we discovered that they'd closed the Grapevine due to snow, so we would have either spent the night in LA or been stuck in a not so great predicament. Here's a picture of the big snowfall they had

Yeah, it was definitely a mere dusting, but it was beautiful nonetheless.

Road trippin!

The whole drive was incredibly green and thanks to all the rain California has had recently, even more so than usual this time of year. So, back to Levi, he's an adorable Yorkie and we pretty much fell in love instantly. He's such a mellow dog and while small, he's not "yippy" or cranky.

So we ended up getting home around 1am and the boys were all fast asleep. They woke up the next morning and the first thing out of their mouths was, "What's our surprise?" We did videotape their reaction, but honestly the initial reaction wasn't exactly climactic or anything. We took him into their room and they calmly observed that their surprise was a dog and that it was Levi, the little dog Aunt Kim and Uncle John had sent pictures of. Seriously. Calm.
Don't be too disappointed though, I believe their initial lack of excitement was due more to the fact that they weren't fully awake as opposed to them not being excited about the dog. Once they got up and moving they were definitely excited and couldn't stop saying how cute he was and how he was "the best dog ever!". It was more than satisfying to see how happy they were. :)

We had a little scare with him yesterday and had to make a trip to the vet, but it seems everything will be ok with him and I really hope so. He's pretty much the perfect dog, adores the kids, and we're all very much attached to him. When we brought him home from the vet Josiah was snuggling next to him and kissed his head. He looked at me and said, "Mom, you know why I kissed his head? Because I love him so much." Ugh. Heart melt...

Here's a picture of Josiah's play he had at his school on Friday. It was "Once Upon a Lily Pad" and Josiah was a snake. He had one little line he had to say, which he did very well at! :) I'm definitely gonna miss those little plays next year, they really are a joy to watch. The kids are HILARIOUS!

I know, it's not the best picture ever, but all I had was my phone and no zoom. But you get the idea.

I'm going to attempt to make my own laundry soap this week, I'll of course be posting on how that goes! I'm oddly excited about it though and have been looking forward to doing this ever since I came across the recipe. Which was a couple weeks ago. I know, what on earth has come over me lately???

Puppy Love & What I made this week...

Beignets. Delicious, incomparable beignets. If you've never had the pleasure of eating one, here's what they look like:

 

They are basically fried  doughnuts covered in powdered sugar, but fresh and hot, they are seriously amazing. And they are probably the most requested item I make! I'll add the link to the recipe I use, which is Paula Deen's, from Food Network. They are the best. http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/french-quarter-beignets-recipe/index.html 

I would also recommend using Grapeseed oil and a deep fryer if you can get your hands on one. I used a deep fryer & the Grapeseed oil for that matter, for the first time this week and the oil made them very light and crispy (didn't seem as fatty as canola) and the fryer just made the whole process that much easier. Don't feel daunted by the recipe! It's seriously SOO simple and worth every minute of the effort!

I plan to write another blog, hopefully Sunday. I'm very excited to write this one, and will maybe include a video! Cisco and I are meeting up with my sister tomorrow to pick up our new little family member...a 5 year old Yorkshire Terrier named Levi. He's seriously the cutest thing! The boys don't know we're getting him yet (they caught on to the fact we're getting one, they just don't know when...I guess the leash and dog bed gave it away...), so I hope to videotape their faces when we come home with him. Can't wait!!!

Remodel

So today I came across the best website ever and the Graphic Fairy is now on my ever-growing list of heroes! I came across her website while reading through a bunch of blogs this morning...I think the original reason I was doing this was for creative ideas for decorating eggs...which turned into how-to's for cooking German food...which turned into redoing my blog.. If you have a blog, you've GOT to check it out, she has all kinds of adorable, vintage-looking graphics. Here's an example, a super cute picture of these birds that I'm in love with. How cute is this?!

I'm not naturally a graphically gifted kind of person, so if you're like me you'll love what she has. I'm helpless when it comes to "creating" a website, but if I have step by step directions and graphics already done for me, I'm good to go! :)
After reading/looking through a good handful of blogs I came to a few conclusions:
1. There's a lot of people with a lot of good ideas who happen to have really cute blogs.
2. My blog is so unorganized.
3. It seems there is a sudden trend of putting all your things in storage and moving your entire family to go live in Paris for a year. Seriously. Three, count 'em 3 different blogs all apparently got the memo and I'm just wondering what on earth is the deal? Is there something I'm missing? If any of you know this super secret, please, fill me in! Not that I don't think moving to Paris isn't a fabulous idea, I just don't get why everybody's doing it....
4. I"m moving to Paris. Just kidding!
 Hope you enjoy the remodel! I'll admit I'm a little in love with it. I know it feels like I just re-did my blog, but I just never fully felt it was "home". I definitely feel this is more me. I'll leave you with one last picture from the Graphic Fairy. Have I mentioned how great she is?

My Wonderful, Cuddly Dudes

 

Elias has become obsessed with having his "bape" on every day... LOVE it!

My kids crack me up and make me melt, all at the same time... all 3 of them, in different ways. If someone would have tried to tell me how life with 3 boys would be, I don't think I ever would have fully understood until I lived it. It's funny when i think back to before I had kids and when I thought I wanted to have all girls & how I would always say how I was "afraid" God would give me all boys. Truly though, I can't imagine my life any other way now and I absolutely love my little men! Their little personalities are all so very different, their sense of humor is wonderful, even little Elias. I think it really amazes me how downright FUNNY a 1 & 1/2 year old can really be! Even the energy and chaos boys can have, I really wouldn't trade it for anything. I still sometimes finding myself dreaming about having a little girl and if God ever chose to give us one I'd be over the moon. But if He didn't, I can truly say I've embraced the life I was once so afraid  terrified to have. He truly knows best what's good for our lives! :)

Snakes and Marathons

So, this week has been a whirlwind of activity, I'm pretty sure every day was packed full! But I do enjoy weeks like that, so no complaints here. Yesterday held a meeting with some of the Bible College women, planning events for this semester for the students. Always a good time and I love planning events for them! Home group resumed last night as well, another thing I absolutely love about my weeks! I know Thursdays were going to be my "cooking blog" but I made a recipe I can't take credit for, since it was from someone else's blog! I think however, you all should take a look at her blog and all the AMAZING things she has on there! Her name is Hourik Kazarian and she's the lady who taught the Cooking workshop I went to. My new hero. :) Anyway, her blog is www.hourik.tumblr.com. and I made her "Nobel prize winning" cookies, which were pretty much awesome. I'd post a picture of them, but the app I used to take the picture won't post on here. Boo.
In other news and weather, I signed up for another half marathon, I'm so excited!! We were planning on doing the Disney half again, but literally the week we were going to sign up for it, it filled up! So bummed. Apparently it became extremely popular in a years time. Anyway, so we were kickin around a few other races and then we found the perfect one last night...The Big Sur Trail race! It's September 17th and runs along the coast on the "Old Coast Road". It looks like it has a couple pretty gnarly hills along the course, but the scenery will doubtless be nothing less than breathtaking and I am so excited to run along the coastline, ESPECIALLY in that area! So, now that I'm committed it's time to get to running! It's been awhile....WAY TOO LONG....
Well, I'm off to finish Josiah's snake costume for his school play next week! I have to admit, I really do love the school plays and performances, they are so stinkin cute and hilarious. Cisco's sewing some horribly shiny fabric onto his outfit and I need to go add some eyeballs and a tongue...teamwork! :) Pray it comes out half decent, I'm a little scared...

A Small Novel...

Today is my day to catch up on some blogging, since I have been MIA the past 2 weeks. Now that I'm home and FINALLY feeling better and life is getting, for the most part, back to normal...ish... Anyway, I've been procrastinating on sharing what I'm about to share, but I'm gonna put my big girl pants on and just move on with it. Don't be scared! It's probably really not that big of a deal to anyone other than me! :)
But before I do, I'm gonna back up a wee bit and tell you about my amazing weekend. I attended the "When Leaders Lead" conference here at the Conference Center and I can't even try to tell you how blessed, inspired, motivated, and moved I was by it. Remember how I said a couple weeks ago, in my "Hello World" post, how the Lord was doing a lot in my life and I knew it was about to be a year of change for my family? Well, let's just say that work is continuing. I feel like I've stepped into a tornado that I have no idea where it's going to take me or what it's going to pick up along the way, but I'm in and there's no looking back now. Exciting, terrifying, exhilarating, and maybe even a little ludicrous to some. But that's just life.The main "theme" of the retreat was on Deborah, someone I've grown up hearing about but never actually heard a lengthy teaching on, sad to say. Until now. I could try and regurgitate the message, but I know that would be rather pathetic and couldn't do it near the justice it deserves. Plus, it would only be my version and what the Lord showed me, which may not be the same thing He'd show you. My only advice would be to get a group of friends together and get the cd's of the conference yourself. It's $25. And it has a message I believe every Christian woman in America needs to hear right now. Plus, recordings of all 40 something workshops are included and there's something for just about everybody in those. I attended a workshop on "Those Who've Gone Before", where my friend Jasmine shared on 5 missionary women and their ministries. Women who left their families and all else behind to serve the Lord and saw Him do amazing and miraculous things. I also went to  "Cooking as a Ministry" and "Balancing Motherhood and Ministry" workshops. The cooking one was so great and I was incredibly inspired by this one. I love to cook, have people over, and there's definitely much opportunity here where I live to do that! The lady who taught this workshop was a pro at this, and had great advice on how to feed 30+ people, how you don't need a lot of money or a big house, just a willing heart and a few great recipes. I'm so excited to put the things I learned to use! :) And of course, you all will be hearing about it when I do.
The Motherhood and Ministry workshop was excellent and confirmed many things the Lord has already been working in my heart for the past couple months. Basically, it was a great encouragement to us mom's with little muchkins, to keep on keepin on. Our kids and families are our greatest ministries here on earth and not to let the other, smaller "building projects" of this life distract us away from what is directly in front of us and so much bigger. So, overall, and with MUCH left unsaid, it was an incredible time. I also have started reading the book "Radical" by David Platt, and I can tell within the first 2 pages it's going hand in hand with all the Lord is showing me. Exciting times for sure! There's NOTHING on this earth that will ever satisfy or bring fulfillment such as serving and obeying the Lord will do. We can learn so much from history and missionaries and those who surrendered everything to simply say "I will" to Jesus. We can learn that their legacies were one's worth writing about. We can learn that they entered and will enter heaven hearing "Well done, good and faithful servant." And we can learn that giving up everything and following in Jesus' footsteps may seem to others foolishness, but we can rest assured when we look at the Bible, it's the only way to truly live. I want, more than anything, to be one of those people, in whatever capacity the Lord sees fit.
That was my weekend. :) And again, I can't encourage you enough to buy the cd's, grab some friends, listen to them, and be inspired! I'll stop procrastinating now and get to what I was talking about in the beginning of this post. I'll come right out and say it and then I'll give a brief history of how I came to this place/decision. Deep breathe, here it goes: We've decided to homeschool next year.............
I can hear the gasps of unbelief. I think I just did one myself. Ok, brief explanation (or at least, my attempt to): As many of you know, while I haven't at all been opposed to homeschooling I haven't felt it was for me either. I never wanted to do it out of pressure and I never wanted to do it unless I KNEW I was supposed to. A couple months ago I got to talking with my friend who started homeschooling this past year. I for some reason, just started asking her a bunch of questions and realized that many of my perceptions about homeschooling and what I thought it was, were just plain wrong! By the end of our 15 minute conversation I was pretty jazzed about homeschooling and found myself seriously considering and praying about it. Cisco and I discussed it a lot and I spoke with a few other friends to see what they did for homeschooling, expecting at any moment to suddenly be like "What am I thinking?!?!" and run the opposite way. But I was definitely surprised to find the opposite to be true, that I was getting more and more excited about it. You see, a large part of why I've never considered it is because there is a lot of fear involved here. I'm not the most structured, organized person, and I strongly believe those are both very important things to be if you are going to homeschool. Not that I CAN'T be, mind you, I'm just not in every area right now. I know that will have to change. But this is also something I've desired to change in myself. Will I??? This is where the knees start knockin... Our childrens' education is something that's very important to us. I DO NOT want to fail them. Or us. Or God. My thread of hope that I hang on to here is that I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that the Lord is leading me in this direction, at least for now. My thoughts on schooling have not changed in the least. I don't believe homeschool is the "spiritual" way to go, or the only way to educate our kids. I don't believe public school is evil and you're "feeding your kids to the wolves" if you send them there. I had a lot of fear when I put Josiah in public school. I bit the bullet and did it and found that it wasn't all the horrible scary things I'd heard it was going to be. I found that he survived in someone else's care and he didn't come home spouting off curse words or teaching his brother about the birds and the bees. It's been a fantastic and rather pleasant experience actually. I hold no other feelings but love for Alta Murrieta and the lovely teachers and principal he's had while there. We're simply trying something new for next year and the way I choose to look at it, conquering another fear. At this point, it may just be for a year. It may be for two. It may be for 10. I don't know. But seeing as we've always gone by the belief that the Lord will show us what He wants us to do, year by year, nothing's changed in that. And if, for this next year, we need to learn a whole new way to have dependence on Him, all we can say is, "we're willing". Yes, there's fear. A whole lot of it. But I have a God who loves to conquer fear. :)

Random Pictures

I was just about to blog about these photos last week, when I got an awful phone call from my sister. We pretty dropped everything and went up north to be with my family, and when we got back I was sick with the worst flu I've had since I can remember. So, needless to say, my blog got left unattended and the two random pictures got left here without explanation. I posted them in celebration of Cisco and my 11 year mark of being together as a couple. On March 7, 2000 we had "the talk", and exactly one year later on the same date, he proposed to me. I said yes. And here we are, 11 years later, and probably the only couple in the world who celebrates our "anniversary" of when we started dating. This November we will be celebrating our 10th anniversary of being married, and wouldn't you know, it falls on Thanksgiving day. Boo. So you see, perhaps it's not so silly of us to celebrate our dating anniversary, since we just about NEVER get to celebrate our actual wedding anniversary at the proper time. So my advice to those of you reading this, who haven't gotten married yet, DO NOT even think about getting married around a holiday. Because you will never be able to celebrate your anniversary on your anniversary. :)

11 Years Together

All in a Good Weekend....

Considering the amazing weather we had this weekend, we decided to make the most of it and took a little trip to San Diego on Saturday. We went to a favorite spot of ours, Balboa Park, and the boys had a blast climbing the incredibly perfect climbing trees there. We then finished the day off with some Chinese food (the boys fave!) and a little trip to Sprinkles cupcakes (my fave!). All in all, a pretty awesome day. :)
Today we had our Ladies High Tea, our first event of the semester for the female students here on campus. It was a super fun night and definitely one of the nicest events we've put on so far. I just love being a part of doing these events for the girls and look forward to them each semester. I came home and Cisco and I watched this new show called Secret Millionaire. By far one of the best shows I've seen in awhile, had me in full on tears in the first 10 minutes. Cisco and I have been praying for the past couple months about ways the Lord would want to use us in our community here. We have a few ideas, but no clear direction yet, and seeing this show tonight just gave me such a renewed excitement in it. We may not have millions (or even close to that, ha!) but we have the Lord and the lives He's given us. There's so much need in every community, and so many areas to help..so many precious people who need Jesus!
Lastly, a close friend of ours who is a young, local Senior Pastor here in Temecula and a teacher at the Bible College, was diagnosed with a brain tumor this past Friday. He has 2 young boys and I would ask anyone and everyone who reads this to pray for him and his family. He's waiting to get surgery to remove the tumor, but is in much pain and suffering in the meantime. I can't even imagine the intensity of this trial they are going through right now yet I know the Lord is near to those who call upon Him. They're names are Brent and Andrea Yim. Thank you for praying!

Recipes!

Cinnamon Biscotti

Ingredients:
3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar, divided
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
3 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon plus 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, divided
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup chopped pecans
semi-sweet or milk chocolate, melted

Preparation: 
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a large baking sheet. In a medium bowl, using an electric mixer set on medium speed, beat 3/4 cup sugar and butter until creamy, about 3 minutes.  Stir in eggs and vanilla until smooth. In a small bowl, combine flour, 1 tablespoon cinnamon, baking powder and salt. Using an electric mixer set on low speed, beat flour mixture into butter mixture until a dough forms, about 1 minute. Stir in pecans. 
Divide the dough in half. On the prepared baking sheet, shape each half of the dough into a 9x2 inch log. Flatten the tops of the logs slightly. In a small bowl, combine remaining sugar and cinnamon; sprinkle mixture over the logs.
Baking the logs for 20 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes. Cut the logs diagonally into 1/2 inch slices.
Reduce heat to 325 degrees. Arrange biscotti slices flat on 2 baking sheets; bake until dry, about 20 minutes longer. Cool completely. Drizzle melted chocolate over tops of biscotti, and let stand, about 15 minutes.

Cream Scones

Ingredients:
2 cups all purpose flour
1/3 cup white sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/8 teaspoons salt
1/3 cup chilled, unsalted butter 
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup whipping cream (can also use light or heavy cream, or half and half)

Egg mixture for top of scones:
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon heavy cream or whipping cream
Beat together egg and cream

Preparation:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees and place rack in middle of oven. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Cut the butter into small pieces and blend into flour mixture with a pastry blender or two knives. The mixture should look like coarse crumbs. In a small measuring cup combine the whipping cream, beaten egg, and vanilla. Add to the flour mixture and stir until just combined. Do not overmix. 
Knead dough gently on lightly floured surface. Roll or pat dough into a circle that is 7 inches round and about 1 1/2 inches thick. Cut this circle into 8 triangular sections or cut into rounds with a cookie cutter. 
Make the egg mixture for top of scones and brush over tops. Place on lined cookie sheets and bake for 15 minutes or until lightly browned. Transfer to a cooling rack and cool. 
Variation:
Add 1/3 cup miniature chocolate chips to dough before kneading for a chocolate chip scone.
Add 1/3 cup blueberries (fresh or frozen and thawed) to dough before kneading for a blueberry scone.   

Biscotti & Scones

So here's a picture of the biscotti I made Wednesday night, the scones didn't quite make it into the picture...they were long gone by the time I got around to taking a picture, I'd say they were a hit..  :) I'll make a separate post with the actual recipes as blogger seems to be giving me a hard time right now. Still trying to figure this thing out, grr...

 

Wednesday Home Group

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Wednesday nights we have a home group at our house with around 15-20 students (it varies each week) and it has easily turned into my favorite day/night of the week. I usually end up in the boys' room (during the teaching) hangin out, reading books, and having "Angry Birds" tournaments. They are the joy of my life and such fun kiddos. Next week, we're gonna build a fort so pics of that will be posted for sure!

Fear Pt. 2

Ok, so wow, my mind has seriously been blown away today. I debated back and forth in my mind whether or not to post that yesterday, as I didn't want it to be like some "self help" thing or something, but I'm so glad I did. I really was puzzled by the whole thing and those who responded, as well as the Lord just speakin like the dickens this morning, I just am so encouraged and really excited to see what He's going to do. I've been reading "Lies Women Believe and the Truth that sets them free" with a friend these past few weeks, and it's seriously been kicking my butt. Such a good book. Anyway, I was reading the chapter on priorities and she was talking about giving our best to God. And I came to realize, that when being gripped with fear we cannot give our best to God. And He deserves no less than that. It's about giving glory to Him and how can we glorify Him if we are withholding ourselves or parts of ourselves? We can't! Whew. Really got me. If I'm worried about what others are thinking my motives are in something or whatever the situation may be, it cripples me and causes me to fail. (Not passing the blame AT ALL, it's very much a CHOICE I've so unfortunately been making). Poop. I've been seriously praying for some time that He would show me what my deal is, and Praise Him, He just did!
Like I said a few posts back, this year is a year of change for me. I've known that since January 1, no kidding. Not in a "New Year resolution" kind of way, just something I've felt very strongly in my heart. And as the weeks have passed I've seen even more that the Lord is requiring a lot from me. I'm extremely excited but at the same time, very afraid. The things I know He's wanting are things I cannot fail at in my life any longer. I desire so much to rise to the occasion but honestly, didn't know if I could. Will I? Only time will tell...but I know I want to give Him my best.
"Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation. The Lord God is my strength; He will make my feet like deer's feet, and He will make me walk on my high hills." Habakkuk 3:18,19.

In other news and weather, my next post will be my first cooking post! Woo hoo! :) Most likely to come on Thursdays. Still trying to think of a clever lil' name for these segments, if anyone has any suggestions, pass 'em along! We have a home group at our house Wednesday nights so I'll most likely be sharing whatever concoction I've whipped up for the students. Wednesday has most definitely become my favorite day of the week, LOVE our little home group!
Well, I'm off to pick up Josiah from school and enjoy this beautiful afternoon with my little munchkins!

Fear

I'm very curious as to what others think about this, so please comment if you have anything to share or add. I realized something the other day (about myself) and after talking to a close friend who has the same "issue", I believe it's actually a pretty common fear among Christians. I've thought for some time now, that I have a fear of failure. There's a few areas in my life that I've tried again and again to make consistent or overcome in my life and have had rather disappointing results. Bottom line: I give up. Soooo, I've just always thought I must not be able to do this because I don't want to fail. Um, yeeeeeah. Don't know why it hasn't hit me sooner than now, but I realized my fear isn't so much failure (been there, done that, definitely not afraid of it!) but of SUCCESS! It was seriously an "aha!" moment for me. Once I start really succeeding at something there's like this switch that goes off in my brain where I suddenly think "I can't do this" (even though I've been doing it just fine) and I quit. I feel that to be good or successful in something will draw attention to me or make me prideful or something. I just don't get it and how to overcome this. Any thoughts??

The Thoughts I'm Kickin Around..

I've realized why it's so difficult sometimes for me to blog. I'll think of 20 different things to write about, at times I'm unable to sit down and actually write it out. But the second I find the time to do it, I can't think of one thing or, if I can, I can't think of how to start. And so I sit here, staring at the screen, wondering why on earth I thought this was a good idea. Grr. On the other hand, once I start writing even if it's about nothing, I realize how much I enjoy it. I suppose that's the way I am in conversation as well, so that only makes sense. Many times I don't know how to start talking about something but if I just start, then the rest comes to me. So I guess you should just prepare yourselves to read through a scattered first paragraph in all my posts!
So I have a few ideas and directions I'll be taking this blog to. Not all of which I'm prepared to share about just yet. But one thing I am going to do is a weekly segment about food, particularly something I've made that week. I would not say I'm some crazy good cook, but I do love cooking and more so, I love finding an incredibly good and easy recipe. "My friends say" I have a knack for it. (Jas, that quote is for you! haha)
So I figure I'll post a lot of my tried and true favorites, as well as some newly found winners! And if any of you attempt to try them at home, please let me know how it turns out and if you add a "personal" touch/spin on them!

Last year I ran my first half marathon with Team in Training, which was an incredible experience. I'm excited to say that I'll be running the Disney half marathon again this year, only this time without the fundraising (i.e. not with Team in Training)! I'd encourage anyone who even has the slightest desire to do it, you should! I can't say enough how amazing it is. Unfortunately, after I completed the marathon last year I did exactly what I said I wouldn't do: Stopped running. However that short, (ok long) break from running is over and one thing I know that motivates me in running, is having to blog about it.
So, those are two things I can guarantee you will hear about every week. :) As for the rest...well, you'll just have to stay tuned...

Hello World!

After a year plus hiatus from writing on this blog, I've decided to return! I've thought about it a few times, but seeing as I've been hardly what you'd call "consistent" at blogging, I'd always talk myself out of it. But so far, this has been a year of change for me (yes, I'm fully aware it's not even March...but still...) and while talking to a friend yesterday who's also gone back to blogging, I came to the conclusion that this would be as good a time as ever to give it another shot. My awesome husband also bought me an iPhone for Valentine's day this year which will make it much easier to post pictures and updates while not having to be glued to the computer.
I also haven't blogged in awhile because frankly, I didn't really know what to blog about! Blogging while pregnant is a no-brainer, of course my family (all of which live quite far from us - on both sides) would want to hear about that! But my day to day life?? Probably not so much. However, I have been thinking in these past few weeks, as life as I've known it has received a good shaking that it would be beneficial for me to write some things down. So while I'm fully aware not everyone may want to read about my day to day life, someone may want to and either way, at least our family whom we rarely get to see, will maybe get to know a little more about who we are as a family and I can satisfy my urge to write things down, all in one shot! Multi-tasking! Gotta love it. :)
The more I think about it, the more I realize how much I could blog about and most of all, how much I'd love to hear feedback from anyone who bothers to read my potentially painful boring posts. I figure that most of the people who will wander on here (besides family) either are or were close friends at one time. Facebook helps me keep in touch with a few of you, but truthfully there's just a lot of stuff I don't want to post to all my 500 "friends" on there! Anyway, I'm excited to get started and we'll see where it goes from here! I suppose I'll start with all the changes...slowly and drawn out of course, to keep you all reading.... ;)