In Honor of My Family

My Friday Photo Flashback is to the year 1994 (I think) to my Grandma and Grandpa´s 50th Wedding Anniversary. This was such a wonderful time for our whole family. I look at it now and it gives me such a nostolgic feeling. I had just come home from my first year of college and was feeling pretty grown up. The timing is kind of fuzzy in my mind. Maybe I should call my Mom and see what year it really was. Hey, It wasn´t that long ago. Why can´t I remember better?

My Grandpa went home to be with the Lord three years ago and my Grandma just turned 84. My mom and dad just retired early and have moved to be with Grandma. My brother is doing really well, too. I have much to be thankful for!

Come and join us on our flashbacks with Alicia.

The Crew is Coming to You

My bloggy friend, Julia, who is from around the corner from where I grew up, and even went to the same college as me, but we never met till bloggyland, has done this montage just for me!

Thank you so much, Julia!

You can find her blog at...

I just love this montage so much. Not just because they are my boys, but because it describes us so well. We do get around the city alot going to people´s doors inviting them to church. It´s so great that the boys want to have their bilingual Bibles with them and display them too.

That is Gijón behind them. It´s a wonderful city, but it is in great need of the Good News!

Schoolroom Fantasy

Fade in ... music from Enchanted.

Fade out...

Shocking Announcement over broadcast...

"Our schoolroom is a fantasy."

However, I didn´t lie. It is our schoolroom, but I feel I must explain and be honest with you all. Yesterday, I posted pictures of our schoolroom but, it is also our guest bedroom, our library, our zoo, our storage, our clothes rack and it´s official name is the STUDY. It is the darkest part of the apartment. It is the room we go in least when it is not school. We often do our reading in the livingroom and I have had to separate the boys on many occations, saying...

"You kitchen, you livingroom, you the study."

Well, you get the idea. We get it done and that´s what matters, but this year, I want it brighter, bigger, and better!

How many of you homeschool Moms are like that? We just hope and pray for the better and best every year. Who is happy with just status quo? I don´t want to be.

That´s why I am praying over my schedule and getting the "schoolroom" ready.

There you have it. I don´t live in a fantasy. I just like to paint a pretty picture for our homeschool years.

Extra Arm Workout Family Time

That´s right! We all got an extra arm workout today. We did it together. We scraped, pulled, squirted, then scraped and pulled all over again. Some of it wasn´t so "sing songy", but we all worked together. The boys did a lot of the pulling and squirting. They actually really got into it.

Remember this...?

Our school room for the past four years.

This is how we got our arm workout today. Scraping the wall paper off half of the school room.

Now for the paint and new desks, Lord willing. Also, boxed up old books to storage. I can´t wait! Can´t wait to start school in a new fresh classroom!

I love participating with Nan in her meme, Making Your Home Sing Monday. Even if I can´t make my home sing with a perfect attitude all the time,(well, in fact, this is something I have to work on a lot) this meme helps me to realize the things that do go right in our home and give thanks.

Airstream Dedication

I still have a couple of hours to post for our Friday Photo Flashback with Alicia @ More than Words. We all love this meme so much, because it brings back so many memories and allows us to share them with the rest of you all!

This picture is so dear to me. It was 1999. My oldest was just born. For Isaiah´s special appearance my mom,dad and grandparents came to El Paso, Texas to be with us. Here they are right after Isaiah´s baby dedication at the church we had been working at.

A really funny thing about our time there is where we lived. We had bought a 1970 something Airstream trailer and placed it next to one of the church buildings. (look at that interior) So where did my parents and grandparents stay? Another airstream trailer right along side, lent to us by one of the church members. It was like Camp Sun Valley Baptist Church, but oh, the sweet times.

Miss you Mom and Dad so much!

Shredded and Birthday Gifts

Many have been asking what is this Shred? And how are you shredded?

I am not an advocate of Jillian Michael´s bad mouth or her lack of upper body clothing, but her workout methods are proven and tried. It´s her exercise DVD that is called the 30 Day Shred! It shreds your muscles. Rips them up!

Since ordering the dvd and the book "Making the Cut", I have put myself on a 30 day program to lose these last few pounds and tone up. Praying daily for strength and doing it to glorify God by taking care of this temple, my body.

So, for my birthday, guess what my dear husband thought to get me? An exercise mat and new Nikes! I am so happy with both and it makes the 20 minute high impact workout so much more "fun". Now there is really nothing fun in feeling like I am having a baby again, but knowing that I will feel great afterward is keeping me going. (That´s exactly how the last abs workout feels on level 2 on this DVD.)

Here is my most recent outfit. It was a need because since January, I have lost a total of 25 pounds. Most of my skirts have to be altered. I am waiting to take them to the tailors till I get the last few pounds off. And don´t talk me out of losing them either. You didn´t know me in college, and for those of you who did, you know what I am capable of.

This is for life! This is not a diet. For all of you, that are trying to diet or are thinking about dieting, I highly encourage you to forget the diet and just change how you eat and live for life. A diet will just have you right back where you started from. It´s a Fitness Journey! Pray and ask God to give you the strength to change your habits and to depend on Him and not the food. Don´t get me wrong, I love food. I just have to look at it differently now.

A great web site is http://www.realage.com/. I really like this one because I can track my weight loss for free and they have some really good low impact videos that helped me in the beginning.

Now, to leave you with a funny picture from last Saturday´s fair.

***These gifts are also thanks to my wonderful family back in the States. Thank-you . Love you and miss you guys so much!***

Photo Journal ~ Making My Home Sing Activities

Photo Journal

ON

Activities that has made our "home sing" this weekend.

Dog sitting

(our dog is the one on the left, Emmi. The Yorkie is our friend´s dog, Dior.)

The boys loved taking care of Dior. They did a great job!

Fireworks

Here we are waiting for them to start. We had a picnic supper and ice cream.

Saturday Activity

Guess what we got to do?

It was hot and we couldn´t go to the pool or the beach sooo...

Hoping you all have a lovely week. My goals this week are to get to bed earlier, start easing into a better schedule to make our first week of homeschool go smoother, keep up with my 30 day shred exercise DVD and keep eating for Making the Cut and of course spend time with my Lord first and formost!

Back Together Again and Then "Babywise".

I have been wanting to post about my hubby´s return from California. He went away for a week to be in his youngest brother´s wedding. We were so happy he could be there but it´s always hard to be apart. It sure does make being together sweeter.

Here is Michael our youngest with Daddy on Tuesday night when we picked him up from the bus station. He had had a full day flight and then a 6 hour ride in bus to get home.

Here we are enjoying the Meatloaf, rice and corn on the cob welcome home dinner.

Ahhhhhh!!!! A week is a week and I won´t ever like being away from him.

and for


This is then.

2001



Three under the age of three. Three in diapers! Three sets of everything!
THREE!!!!

I thank the Lord for the book "On Becoming Babywise".

Click on book to purchase at Amazon.com

My mom and grandma were thousands of miles away and this book helped me schedule my babies´ metabolisms so that they all were taking naps together and going to bed together by the time the youngest was three months of age. ( a week of his second month was spent in the hospital undergoing tests for his extra large heart murmur which was later operated on when he was a year old.)

Every baby is different but every baby has a metabolism. The theory behind Babywise is a Christ centered home, not a baby centered one. So we schedule the baby. (with flexibility of course. This took me time to learn)

The key is this...

Baby eats

Baby has wake time

Baby sleeps

And the cycle repeats, but the importance is the order. The happy wake time. Not too much not too little. The goal is a happy baby who sleeps well. Sleep is of utmost importance to a baby, because it is when a baby develops most.

The milk the baby gets is important too. Which the book explains in detail as well. It explains why a baby who falls a sleep nursing is not getting the full milk necessary. The baby should nurse for the full nursing period and then have wake time. I stress this because this is what regulates their metabolism.

Of course, I am summerizing a whole book in one paragraph. My reason in doing so is, I feel, a strong burden to share this, not because I was perfect at it, but because it was a blessing for us, for our marriage and our family. It was a base that we could build upon.

I rarely give advice on my blog. I rarely get preachy, ( I hope I don´t anyway) but I pray this can be a blessing for those of you new mommies out there or those veterans who maybe wondering why "this" baby is so different or for those who have multiple babies.

I enjoyed reminiscing with you all today.

God bless you and your little ones!

Kreativ Blogger!!! Love IT!!!

I have to admit it. I can´t deny it. I know it maybe a sin but well, I hope this is the sinless type but, there is no getting around it.

I am proud of this award.

Thank you, Pilar! It´s so sweet!

The gag is I have to write 7 things you may not know about me. Don´t you know everything already???? If you know these things just pretend you haven´t heard them before. Ok?

1. When I was born I had colic for the first three months. I think the way the story goes is that I cried so hard I herniated my belly button. Maybe, I was born that way, I can´t remember. My mom cut all my baby pictures just above that point so I have no idea what it looked like. She said she didn´t want to remember it. Needless to say, we got it fixed, but you ain´t ever gonna see it!

2. I like animals but I am not a total animal lover. They are here on earth for our enjoyment. Right? When I was about my boys age, I had hamster babies. Well, not me, my hamsters, silly! You know how you aren´t suppose to touch them because the mama hamster will eat them, well, my mama hamster was different. We could play with the little "jelly beans" all we wanted. They had little peach fuzz and they would get all confused when you put them in the skirt part of your nighty. We (my mom and I) would toss them up and watch them fly and then gently catch them again in the lap part of our nighties. It was so funny!

3. When I was in highschool, I played soccer on the Jr. Varsity and Varsity levels. It was so hard for me at first. I was so uncoordinated and out of shape. My first year playing, I had shin splints so badly that I hobbled when I played. I played defense so this wasn´t a big problem till one game a big girl bullied me and kicked me you know where. Right in my shins!! I was out flat! All I could hear on the sidelines was.."Get going, Dani! Get Going!" I was so frustrated that year. Finally got the hang of soccer by my Junior year though.

Is this sort of like seven confessions?

4. When I was 7, we went camping up in Canada. We were having a grand ol´time until one evening my mom and I were playing around, and she had me sitting on top of her feet in the air. You know a reverse airplane ride. If you don´t know what I am talking about, just play along. She then decided to throw me through the air. A real live airplane ride, right? Wrong. Remember, I just said I was clumsy? I was so clumsy, that what my mom thought an innocent toss ended up putting me on my hind end landing on my hands and breaking my elbow bone. What a memorable vacation that was. (of course no one believed me when I told them it was broken.)

How many is that??? pheww this is hard!

5. My mom and I have a special talent. We don´t have to announce it, for it happens with out us knowing it. We speak our words mixed up and backwards. I wanted to write some of them but alas I can´t think of them now. They just come out at the funniest moments.

6. I love the fact that I taught my boys how to read. I love ABEKA phonics!

but

7. I get nervous every school year because I don´t stick to my schedule and end up getting too flexible. I rebel against my own schedule. Go figure.

Ok, there ya have it, but I don´t know if I feel better getting all that off my chest or not.

Now to nominate 7 other kreativ bloggers. As, Pilar said, it´s so hard to pick but here goes. Oh, and if you received one from Pilar, I think you are awesome too, just want to get someone who hasn´t received one yet.

Rachel @ Smith Family of Six

Amy @ Daily Pleasures

Julia @ Amazing Love

Laura @ Capturing Life´s Moments

Joye @ The Joyeful Journey

Jennifer @ God´s Been Good

Veronica @ Luv My Quiver Full

Now girls, your turn! Thanks for being so fun and creative that I keep coming back for more!

Curious about Spanish Living?

I just posted over on the KJV blog about our Spanish Home, Sweet Home. Wanna check it out? Go ahead and comment on one of my posts below and head on over by clicking on my dream home. (jk. I am really content with what God has provided. go see)

I love hearing from you!

To the Rescue

This came to my rescue today! My stove top short circuited the other day so...

Electric Griddle to the rescue!

Saturday pancake and egg brunch is saved!

(not the most attractive choc. chip pancakes and eggs but at least they were yummy. )

Dummies in the Baptistry!

You are going to look at this picture and probably ask

• "What am I looking at here?"
  

Right?

Can you see the dummies? Oh, I mean the puppets? Yes, you guessed it! We are doing a puppet show in a baptistry in Mexico City!

What? You can´t see that? Well, that´s what we are doing. Of course we hardly knew enough Spanish at the time to do a puppet show, so it was all done by a recording and we just moved the mouths. The kids loved it!

It was my first missions trip. The year 1991. I was 15 and the youngest on the team. It was my first time out of the country. My first time to do a puppet show. My first time to use my Spanish. (the little I had studied in school) My first time to know God was calling me to the Spanish speaking people. I fell in love with the culture and the people!

Just in case you can´t find me, I am second from the back of the picture looking up with a cheesy grin.

I have lost touch with everyone else in this picture. Maybe, I ought to try to Facebook them.

The impact of this trip lingers with me still today, as God has called me to be a missionary wife to the least reach Spanish speaking country in the world.

Happy Friday Foto Flashback! Link up with Alicia!

I saved it!

Quick, quick! Before I forget! You gotta hear this conversation between me and my boys. Yes, that´s right a "real-live" conversation! We had a blast today at Mc Donald´s. We went to get these really pretty Coca-Cola glasses. The boys even got into it too.

Oh yeah, back to the "real-live" conversation! You´d be so proud. I saved in my memory for life. OH now what was it?





Right. Are you ready? All this build up. Well, here it goes.



Mommy:

"Isaiah, please stop staring at that other table it´s rude. Staring can be considered very rude in most cultures."

Isaiah turns around and there is a pause.


Michael (our youngest, age 8):

"So why do people who are in love stare?"

Mommy:

"Weeeellllll, Michael, that´s another story."

End of conversation.

Now, that was a first around the board for us all . I am sure there are so many more great conversations really. Just come night time they all fall out of my hard drive memory, somehow (aka: my head).


Here is a picture of our Mc Donald´s lunch. Living proof we are having fun!

Summer Fun to Summer Separation Anxiety

Nothing like exploring the rocks on the coast. We opted to stay out yesterday for some playtime. The boys and I had a blast! Here are some pictures of our adventures.

What in the world are they looking for?

OOO.... Creepy Crawlies!!!

I actually saved a baby crab! He was flailing on the rocks. The boys all lifted up a cheer for me.

Ok... in this picture I was just calling the dog. I wanted her to look up.

They were all daring each other.

Guess who went first? The youngest! I missed his picture, though.

Now for Summer Separation Anxiety! The head of our home has gone away. He is in his brother´s wedding in California. We have to say goodbye for a week. We are happy for David and Cori but we are really spoiled as we don´t have to be away from each other much. I told the boys it´s just like Daddy´s going to camp. That seemed to help.

All is well on the home front as long as the boys get along. We hope to go for bike rides, play some B-ball, and read some good books to help pass the time.

"We miss you already, Daddy!"