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!