My One Word

I have been hearing about "My One Word" for the last week on KLOVE as I drive to work in the morning. Basically the concept is you choose one word that you want express what you want God to do for you and through you in the new year.

The DJ's words were dream and present. I had been praying for God to show me what I should do this year as my word. What did God want to show me this year? What did God want me to learn this year? The word came to me pretty quickly and was confirmed by the song that played after God revealed my word and the scripture verses that came with that.

MY ONE WORD FOR 2010: TRUST

While I was hoping for a more creative word or something totally different from the norm, the more that the day went on, this word was exactly what I needed. Trust ... that is a hard concept sometimes to learn which is probably why God has chosen this word to signify what 2010 is going to be for me. Trusting others, trusting God, trusting myself...all things that God will be showing me.

I have to admit I am a little scared at this endeavor. Trust...what is God going to bring for me that I have to trust totally on Him? After all the stuff that happened in 2009, I thought my trust in Christ was pretty strong. Who knows? God knows and all I have to do is trust that He will not give me more than I can handle.

The scriptures God gave me on that day are found in Matthew 6:25-34 which speaks about not worrying about where our "things" come from. We are to trust in Him because He is the one who takes care of us. The song is Lincoln Brewsters "Today is the Day." I have attached the video for you to hear the song. This was just such confirmation to me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B300gQkgDS0

So, what is God saying to you? What is your word? I would love to know so I can be praying for you this year as God reveals Himself in a way that you may have never seen before.

I will TRUST in HIM.

2009 Year in Review

Well...2009 has truly come and gone. I can't say that I wasn't happy to see it leave. Don't get me wrong, we had some great times in 2009, but there were lots of changes.

Here are some of the highlights/changes that happened

January - Mr. A out on sick leave as doctors are trying to figure out what is going on with his hips and back. Months of injections, scans, x-rays, PT still ultimately lead up to surgery (see December for more details)

May - Mr. A and I celebrate 14 years of marriage. Still love the guy as much as I did when we started dating if not more.

June - Ky graduated from 8th grade. AJ graduated from 5th. Both are moving into new adventures in their academics while mom and dad struggle to figure out how we got here. Went on a vacation to San Diego to visit with family. Able to meet both "new" additions to the family, nephews E and J. Had a great time eating at our favorite dives while doing things such as the fair, going to Julian and the beach.

July/August/September - Get some disturbing news about nephew J. Has a genetic disorder called Denys-Drash syndrome . Wishing we could be closer to help the family as we all learn to deal with the new reality. Many surgeries to come but always hopeful. God is in control

August - Our new reality hits - Ky is in high school and AJ is in middle school. Where did the time go?! Ky's schedule as a freshman in high school looks like something I had while in college. AJ having to set her own path not to live in Ky's shadow. Luckily she doesn't have any of the same teachers until second semester so she will get to prove herself on her own.

September - Thanks to FIL, we are able to get away for a couple of days over the Labor Day weekend. Headed to Asheville and bummed around the area for a few days. We were able to do some gem panning/mining which we love and found some awesome stones including rubies. Still didn't make it to Biltmore - cost too much for this budget group -but it is still on our list to do one of these days!

November - Had a quiet Thanksgiving with the four of us plus Mr. A's dad. We went and watched Blindside in the morning then headed back for our small feast. We were thankful for all the blessings God gave us especially the ones sitting around the table.

December - Hit like a ton of bricks. Just the season alone is enough to drive some people clinically insane, but we had even more to add to this season. Our nephew J had his kidneys removed on December 1st. This is done to ensure that he won't get cancer in his kidneys (a side effect of his condition) A week before that we found out Mr. A's mom lost her job. She had worked at this place for a long time. She was a very loyal and devoted employee. As of today she is still looking for a job.

Ky and the band from the youth group were a part of the Battle of the Bands in honor of a student who was undergoing a bone marrow transplant to help with Sickle Cell. The band placed 2nd and Ky's confidence went through the roof. She is a singer while the rest of the guys play instruments and some sing too.

AJ turned 12 the same weekend this Battle of the Bands and the church Christmas production were happening. Talk about crazy...but wait...that Monday, December 14th Mr. A headed into the hospital for spinal surgery.

After months of back and forth with doctors, almost an entire year out of a job on short and long term disability, the doctors decided that the original fusion that happened in 2003 needed to be repaired. Surgery lasted about 3 hours and he was in the hospital for 4 days. We are so thankful for our church family who provided meals, visited Mr. A in the hospital and called to check up on me. We are truly thankful for Celebration Family Church. They rock!

While Mr. A was in the hospital, Mr. A's dad was rushed to the VA hospital on the other side of town with mysterious symptoms. At this point, I just wanted my parents there. Luckily they arrived on the 19th and stayed until the 26th. We didn't do much as Mr. A was still recovering but I was so glad to have someone else there to help take some of the pressure off of me.

Christmas was quiet and small but sweet. My family around me was enough. We had made it through some trials in 2009 but to have my family safe, secure and a little weathered was still priceless.

I know it may look like I hit some pretty low points, but looking back they are what got us to where we are today. We are still thankful that we have a God who provides. We may not have a lot materially, but we do have Him and each other. That's a lot in my book.

We are so looking forward with anticipation to see what 2010 brings.

Well, better late than never

I say it every couple of months, but here I go again...I am here! Really I am here. I check all my friend's blogs and try to keep up to date but life happens. I am trying to be more disciplined about taking the time and writing down what is going on with our lives.

Here are some updates on the family:

Mr. A is doing pretty good. We are in a holding pattern currently for his back. He meets with the surgeon again on Friday to see where we go from here. He had a procedure a couple of weeks ago that was pretty brutal called a discogram. You think that with the word disco in it, it would be fun! That couldn't be further from the truth. They literally insert needles in to the discs of his back from his hip and then begin to fill it with fluid until he couldn't handle it anymore. It was basically to see what the pain level was. Again..not fun!

KA is thriving in high school. We couldn't be more proud of how easily she has adapted to the new environment. At her six week progress report she is averaging a 96% in everyone of her
classes. Now here comes for the really bragging part...the list of my 9th grader's classes in which she is holding a 96% - Intro to physics, Intro to biotechnology, Honors world history and honors English. I don't even think I was taking some of those classes in college let alone my first semester of high school! I am so proud of her!

AJ is doing pretty good in middle school. She is still adjusting to the work load and trying to balance different teachers. She isn't doing bad but it has been fun trying to get all her projects completed. Literally the first night of school she had to do a project that was trying to identify the socioeconomics of the city we live in along with the cultural and religious diversity of our neighborhood. ARE YOU SERIOUS??!! Really for a brand new 6th grader on the first day...why don't you just send all the parents homework because we are the ones who have to explain all of those terms in layman's terms so our children could even do the homework! Other than that she is doing well. I think we will be in a better groove come second semester once we help her establish new study habits.

Other than that, we have already had the flu hit our house! The girls both got the flu a couple of weeks ago. AJ tested positive for the flu and KA was told that she had the symptoms even though her test came up negative. Once the girls got better then Mr A who took care of them got bronchitis. We are finally doing better. I had a head cold, but luckily I didn't get anything they had.

Well I guess that is a quick recap of what has happened with us recently. I am off to help AJ with her latest project - a 3-D structure of the moon due tomorrow.

My new reality - I am getting old

I had a new reality tonight - I AM GETTING OLD or should I say my kids are making me feel old!

Tonight was freshman orientation at KA's new high school. Yes you heard that right...high school. I can't believe I have a child who is entering high school. We made our way into the auditorium where they were handed a t-shirt and told to sit in the bleachers for further instructions. We watched as the cheerleaders tried to get new the students to participate in a school cheer while dazed and confused parents, much like myself, sat on the bleachers trying to figure out how in the world they got there. Wasn't it just a few years ago that I was sitting at some pep rally watching some cheerleaders do the same thing at my high school. How is it possible I have a child sitting next to me who is now venturing off to this same adventure called HIGH SCHOOL?!

We took the tour of the ancient school located in rural suburb. It is like a school that I have never seen. The schools in the San Diego area where I grew up were fairly new at least by comparison to this school. This high school was built in the early 1900's. It is three stories tall with all sorts of scroll work and marble floors. It is like all those schools you see in the movies. We walked up and down the stairs through these old hallways in an attempt to figure out where all of her classes will be. One of her classes looks like it is in the basement of the school. Like I said crazy!

I had to just stop at times and just look around. I am here with my child who is wearing a t-shirt that says "Class of 2013" on the back of it. I will only have her around with me for four more years. Time has flown by. You always hear people tell you that when you have a baby and you look at them lik they have lost their minds. How can that be when I am standing in pajamas that haven't been changed in two days, which was the last time you took a shower by the way, smelling like baby puke and poo as your child whom you carried for the last nine months is totally inconsolable in your arms. Time fly by...yeah right?!

But it does...time flies so fast that one day you are crying because you haven't slept in days and you can't make the child go to sleep and the next day you are standing at freshman orientation realizing you have four years left to "hang out" with them.

Don't get me wrong, I am so happy for KA to go to high school. She is going to learn so much and do so much. I don't want her to miss out on anything. But I don't want to miss out on anything either!

Oh well, enough sadness for tonight. The sun will come up tomorrow.

Never mind...tomorrow is middle school orientation with AJ. This year is going to be one roller coaster of a year!

Jehovah Jireh - Our provider

We really do serve a miraculous heavenly father! We were singing today in church, "How great is our God," and I found my self just thinking how that statement is so true. Our God is so great there are really no words that I know of to truly describe how great my/our God is.

Our family had and is currently having some miraculous things happen that can only be described as a God thing. There is just simply no way to have these things happen other than with God's hand leading and moving through the process. I can't go into full detail yet as we are still awaiting true confirmation, but what has happened so far and what we think will happen next is truly an answer to prayer! There is no logical reason for it to be happening. We were hoping and believing for it to come true but realistically the world's answer would have been a resounding "NO!"

But we serve a BIG GOD who holds us in the palm of His hand. He is Jehovah Jireh - Our Provider.

Let me just say this as encouragement to those who are going through financial trouble right now...God is faithful. God will provide. It may not always be in the way we think it will be, but He is faithful. Trust God to open doors that seem to be closed and to close doors that need to be forgotten. Trust, believe and have faith that what He says He will do.

Hebrews 11:1 (NLT)- Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see.

Happy Birthday, Babe!

Today is Mr. A's birthday!

Just a small shout out to the man I love. Today was a quiet day with church, lunch out and our little family playing cards and watching movies.

I know you probably long for the days when you went out splunking in caverns, hiking up mountains or riding your bike up and down the coast. I know this injury has not made it easy for you as you are such a go-getter, but I really do appreciate the times where we can just hang out and relax.

I love you lots and treasure the day you were born, even if you don't like to make it a big deal! You being born is a big deal!!

May God bless you this day and the rest of the days of your life. I look forward to celebrating many more birthdays by your side.

Our So. Cal Trip

We were able to go out and visit family for the first time in over 3 years in the middle of June. We were so thankful to Mr. A's father who helped finance the trip. We couldn't wait to meet our nephews who were born in the last year and see the rest of the family whom we miss like crazy.

We left after work on June 16th and arrived in San Diego late that night. You gotta love the time change leaving from the east coast to the west coast. After a good night sleep and a lazy day catching up on a few zzz's, we hit the ground running.

The first major stop was the Del Mar fair, which is now called the San Diego County fair. Most locals still call it the Del Mar fair. You really can't change tradition. While we were there we met up with both sides of the family. Mr. A's family met us along with my parents. I felt like a cruise director or a travel guide with a huge crowd following us. Literally there were 11 of us in total trying to stay together as a group. We had a ball...fried food, games, rides and beautiful weather. We finished the day with a bite to eat with Mr. A's immediate family where we were able to catch up with each other and discuss plans for later in the week.

The next big event was my sister and her family coming down for the weekend. We were able to hang out with my nephews and take family pictures. This was a production with 2 small children under the age of 5 around lunch time. They were both well behaved just a little antsy. We got some great shots even with fidgety kidlets.

On Sunday, we were able to celebrate KA's birthday and Father's day as a huge family. KA only birthday wish was for everyone to be together at the beach. We went down to the bay and did a bbq and bonfire...a great San Diego tradition. We had a blast roasting marshmallows and hot dogs. KA was able to have both sides of the family with her on her 14th birthday. That was the best gift she could have ever asked for.

The last week as more of just running around trying to hit up the restaurants we love and seeing familiar spots that we love. We did a small trek up to the local mountains for apple pie and bread and a day at the beach. All in all we just hung out with family and enjoyed just seeing people face to face vs. phone calls.

At the end of the week we headed home on the red eye. We ended up with a layover in Newark, NJ and were able to watch the sunrise over NY city. That was awesome! We had a fabulous time with family unfortunately there wasn't any time to hang out with friends. I suppose we could have made a bit more time in our schedules, but it was so nice not having to run around like crazy people all day every day.

To our friends...we sincerely apologize. We love you all very much and appreciate you allowing us to take the time with family that we needed. It was a great time to just love on the people who love us unconditionally.