1. Grace
2. Jesus
3. Salvation
4. Friendships
5. Marriage
6. God
7. Imagination

What are you thankful for in your life?

Not only am I able to confide in Anthony but I can just be myself with him.

We are so silly together.

There is no need to put on a front or act like someone I'm not.

We goof around with each other.
We laugh at each.
We just, plain ol', have a good time together.

Even in the midst of intense fellowship, he never fails to make me laugh at some point.

For our anniversary, we celebrated by going to Main Event. We played laser tag, bowling and I did a ropes course. It was a ton of fun! I made a collage of our night for you guys to enjoy.

My husband is my best friend. I can tell him anything without worrying of what he will say or if he will look at me differently.

Anthony is a great listen for when I'm feeling down and out. He also gives me great advice and encouragement when I need it.

He is my support system!

If I have a problem, he will help me solve it. Or if I just need to vent, he is there.

I can truly say, I have married my best friend!!


Father,
What a blessing it is to marry someone that is not only my friend but also my brother in Christ. Our friendship is amazing! Even better is our marriage with You as our foundation! Thank You for blessing us with such a sweet relationship. I pray that we do not set each as an idol but grow together towards You.
Amen.

One of my favorite days of the week is Saturdays. My husband is now off most Saturdays and we are able to sleep in and once we do wake up, we cuddle and watch cartoons together. It's a magical time and intimate time that we enjoy together!

I count down the days till Saturday.

For the day I wake up in my husband's arms and remain there until one of us decides to cook breakfast.

But boy, am I sad to see him leave Monday morning for work. I know he is doing it to provide for me and all but I long for the time we are back together at the end of the day.

I love every moment I have with my husband and I know he feels the same!

Christ has RISEN!!! Praise The Lord for His love and mercy upon His people that He would send His only Son to die on the cross for our sins.

God is so good!!

Happy Easter from my family to yours!



I attached a YouTube video of my favorite song! What a glorious day indeed!!

From the first time I met Anthony, he has always been selfless. When we were dating, we lived in a small town. There were not many food choices to choose from. I loved Whataburger at the time and the closet Whataburger was in another town. No matter the time of day if I told Anthony I was feeling Whataburger, he was always willing to drive me and pay (a plus in today's modern dating).

He puts others above himself in nearly everything.

In a more recent example is something so small. I went to the store and bought two Dr. Peppers, I accidently dropped one of them. When I returned home to let him know I dropped one, he immediately offered to drink the one that was shooken up so I could have the "better" one. However, I am trying to learn to be as selfless as my husband and ended up giving him the one that was not dropped and I drank the one I dropped.

My husband has taught me to be more selfless.

Anthony is not just selfless with me. If anyone ask him of anything, he is more than willing to help or do whatever if he is able to. Anyone who knows him, knows how selfless he is and that he does it out of love for others not to gain anything back.


Father,
Thank you for blessing me with such a sacrificing husband. For being my provider and always willing to serve than to be served. Thank you for using my husband to show me and to teach me how to be selfless myself. You are so good, Father. You know exactly what I need before I even know what's good for me. Each and everyday I see and understand more that you purposely created me to be Anthony's helpmate. You created such a wonderful relationship between us to glorify You. Teach us, Father. Lead us. Guide us to You more and more each day.
Amen.

I have to admit I do not have much patience. I get frustrated too quickly and react automatically. I'm working on it and I have gotten so much better.

No matter how quick I am to anger, Anthony manages to keep it together 90% of the time. I don't know how he does it! I wouldn't have much patience for myself with how I am at times. I quickly speak up before hearing what happens and I get mad even quicker. I contradict James 1:19 and I'm ashamed at my impatience.

My sweet husband still loves me despite my flaws. He has patience with my slow improvements. He reflects Christ in giving me grace continually.

Just imagine how much more God loves me, a sinner!! It is literally breath-taking thinking of it!

But unfortunately, I do let my anger get the best of me and I don't always show respect towards my husband.


This is why I call my husband "my love." No matter how upset or impatient we may get with each other, we always have love for one another. Our marriage is built on something so strong that it can not be broken.

Our foundation is Christ!



Father,
You have blessed me with a godly man. A man who is after your own heart. Who strives to be more like Your Son Jesus everyday. He prays constantly for everyone. He is loving and compassionate. I pray that You can continue to use my husband to be the light to others, to point them to You. To keep him on this path of righteousness. That he would continue to pursue You and be intimate with You, Lord. Thank You Father for this man of God to lead me into Your arms. I want to know You all the more Father God. To be sanctified everyday, to glorify You all the days of my life. Thank You for showing Your love for me through my husband. I want to praise You! Lift Your name on high! You are so perfect and Holy Father! Despite my inequities You still look to me as blameless because of the work Your Holy Son did on the cross. I am forgiven and made new because of Your grace. Thank you Father!
Amen.

Sometimes the smaller blessings is actually the bigger blessings. Let's think about this for a minute, when most people say we should be thankful for the little things they tend to mean life, breath, flowers, etc. But imagine how life would be without these little things. For one, without life we wouldn't even be here to be thankful for anything at all.

Life is a major blessing.

Yet, we don't treat it like it is. Majority of us put all kinds of trash in our body like sweets, alcohol or even drugs. If we actually treated our body like a temple the way the Lord commands than we wouldn't have this world epidemic of obesity or alcoholism. But, that is the sinners in each of us taking granted how precious our lives are and how important our bodies, mind and soul is.

Not only should we discipline our bodies but also our mind and soul.

We should nourish our soul daily with the Word of God. And to be quiet honest this is something I struggle on. I struggle with gluttony, I struggle with being too "busy" to sit down and dive into the Word. I struggle a lot.

But beloved, we don't have to struggle alone. Jesus bore our sins on the cross so that we might be forgiven and look blameless in the sight of God. Praise God! I am forgiven. I am able to give my burdens and my weakness to God.

1. Generosity from others
2. Shelter
3. Life
4. Food
5. Family Dinner at the table
6. Late nights with my hubby
7. The Cross


Father,
Thank you for all the "small" blessing in my life. I pray that you can lead me to be more grateful and displined in my life according to Your Holy Word. Father God, thank You for creating me to do Your Will and I just pray that it is glorifying to you.
Amen.



What small things are you thankful for in your life, beloved? How are you using your life to glorify God?

My husband makes me laugh. A LOT. But he may say this to my previous statement: (sarcastic tone) "I was told by one of my professors that the term 'a lot' is incorrect. That it refers to a specific parking lot not as 'many.'" (Insert dorky facial expression)

So maybe I should say my husband makes me laugh very much.

It's comments like those paired with his sarcastic tone and with a facial expression that makes any statement he says very amusing.

When we first met, he said I had a beautiful smile.

So maybe this is why he makes me laugh and tells me such silly jokes. I don't know but either way I love the way he can always make me laugh.

Whether I'm sad or mad, Anthony always puts a smile on my face.

At the bottom of this blog is a video my husband posted on YouTube. It is his personal spinoff of Jimmy Fallon's Thank You notes. I figured its best to hear his weird sense of humor than for me to describe it.

After our first year of marriage, we both started getting tired of the same foods so I decided to venture off and find new recipes to try and even try to create some on my own.

Let's just say the first new recipe I created did not turn out too well. It tasted flat out disgusting!! My sweet husband said it tasted just fine. I threw mine out and prepared something else but Anthony ate the whole thing and kept complimenting on how great it tasted.

My husband is the most sensitive man I know.

He could have been honest on the taste but he didn't want to hurt my feelings. He encouraged me the whole time and to this day, he still does with my experimenting on different recipes.

Another fail attempt was on his birthday. I decided to try to make a homemade strawberry cake. Strawberry is his favorite. I found a recipe on allrecipes.com for a strawberry cake with homemade icing. It sounded and looked delicious! I had to make it for him.

Well I had an idea of adding fresh sliced strawberries into the batter to make the cake more authentic.

FAIL!

The strawberries were not chopped up small enough which caused my cake to fall according to one of my friends who is amazing at baking! Anthony said the cake was perfectly moist and tasted delicious. The cake didn't need to look beautiful as long as it tasted good according to him.

He treats me with such gentleness.

I love this quality about my husband. I can fail at many things but he always finds the positive in each thing and tries to encourage me.


Father,
Thank you for blessing me with a husband who reflects gentleness so perfectly. I pray that I can learn from him and have this quality as you have called for. I pray that not only can we have gentleness but that we can bear all the fruits of the spirit and put to death our fruits of the flesh with guidance from the Holy Spirit.
Amen.

I'm so thankful for my legs, I have the ability to stand, walk, jump, skip and run; I can do whatever I want to do instead I waste majority of my day sitting down watching TV.

We take for granted such small blessings like these especially in the more wealthy countries. We like to sit around all day catching up on the latest tv shows or playing video games online when their are people who are ONLY able to do those things. How they yearn to be able to just stand or to run outside in gorgeous weather. However, they can only dream those things due to illness, disability, war and many other reasons.

Yet, we who are blessed with the ability to walk take it for granted and waste our days in front of electronics.

Make a vow, beloved, to move more. I know I plan too. I made a goal for myself this month on my Nike+ app; I want to earn 4,000 nike fuel in 4 weeks.

Also, lets be thankful for not only the big blessing in our lives but also the smaller ones that others only dream of having.

Here is my thankful list for this past week:

1. Friends
2. Family
3. Jesus Christ
4. Scripture
5. Gorgeous weather
6. Legs
7. Education

How do you plan to move it more this month? What small blessings will you stop taking for granted?

I've noticed a trend on Instagram for the past few weeks where people will post this picture:


& the people who like it are judge whether they're "qualified" or not. I'm assuming if you are "qualified" you are considered good looking but if your "disqualified" you are not.

The way the person lets you know what they think of you is by first finding a picture from your profile that they will use to post on their profile with the caption reading your results, either qualified or disqualified.

It amazes me that people would put themselves through this torture and not only that but someone else thinks they have the right to judge what beauty is. God created us each individually. He formed us and knitted us together while we were in our mother's womb. We are "fearfully and wonderfully made." (Psalm 139:13-14)

To disqualify someone, we are suggesting God's work isn't wonderful and we are disqualifying our Creator.

How dare we think we have the right to judge God's handiwork!

While we may not see the beauty in everyone we need to understand that "charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain..." (Proverbs 31:30a) but TRUE beauty emanates from a person who boldly and unabashedly knows who they are in CHRIST!!

Therefore, beloved, do not disqualify God's work.

Let's stop this "trend" before it goes too far than it already has. Many people already suffer enough with body image due to media, why have our peers add to the issues?

Be the change, beloved!!

March 13 was the day my mommy died (I refer to my biological mother as mommy and my aunt who raise me as mom). This Wednesday was 12 years and for the first time I was struggling on how I should feel. When I was younger my mom (the aunt you raised me) took me to Galveston where we spread my mommy's and daddy's ashes on their death anniversaries or birthdays. We would let up balloons that said we missed them or happy birthday. After that we would get a Carmel apple as a dessert while we were in Galveston. We haven't done that in 6 years. This year I decided I wanted to do the same thing again however we weren't able to. So I was pondering the whole day, do I celebrate her death? But, I have no idea where she is. I don't know what my mommy's relationship with God was like when she was alive. However, I didn't want to mourn either. I've done that already and didn't want to restart the process all over again. (Now that I am writing this, maybe it would be a good idea to mourn again or take a grieving class at least).
As the day went on, I thought of how thankful I was for the decision my mommy did make on who was to raise me. I am who I am in part to my mom who raised me as her own. For that I am thankful and celebrate knowing I was loved.

Here is my thankful list for the week:

1. Date nights❤
2. Lazy mornings with my love
3. My doggies
4. Exercise
5. Bowling
6. My mom
7. Walks with my Molly

What are you thankful for this week? How do you use times of mourning to be thankful?

I LOVE The Wizard of Oz so naturally when I heard about this movie I knew I had to see it. However, I thought the movie would be shown from the perspective from Oz, I had no idea it was a prequel! Which is perfectly fine to me, I enjoyed this movie very much. There were no sex or nudity scenes although there were some cleavage shown and two kissing scenes. The only profanity I heard was the "d" word used once. I would have caution taking young children to see this movie as it can be frightening with the wicked witches and flying creatures with the noises they make.

Here is a trailer for Oz the Great and Powerful:

For almost six months now, I have seen people struggle in life and endure hardship after hardship. I wonder if it ever crosses their mind about the lifestyle they live and just maybe their actions and the way they choose to live their life are the reasons for these constant hardships. What if God is putting them through these situations to show them something. To show them they are trusting in the wrong things or relying too much on people instead of Him. (I am in no way saying being born-again means you do not endure hardships because we do and Jesus did!)

What I am saying is this: when my husband and I are having hard times in whatever, we do not overly stress (we still stress but not as much as most people). For, "a Christian is one who's MORE bothered by his sin than his suffering." (Burk Parsons)

We know whose hands our future lays in.
We know who our Provider is.
We know who carries our burdens when they become too much for us.
We trust in God.

For the people, who consistently look to other people to provide for them, look to others to care their burdens and trust in themselves and others are the people who overly stress. Why? Because people are not perfect and they WILL disappoint you.
God WILL NOT!!

Trust in Him, beloved.
Hand over your burdens to Jesus.
Praise God during your good and bad days.


I noticed I missed last week's thankful list so for this week, I created a list of 14 items I am thankful for instead of my normal 7.

1. Life
2. Salvation
3. Sanctification
4. My husband
5. My husband's job
6. My job
7. Shelter
8. Transportation
9. Church home
10. Blessings
11. Breath
12. Sun
13. Wind
14. Butterflies

My husband and I have seen all the Die Hard movies. We LOVE action movies. So when another Die Hard movie came out we planned to watch it. Compared to the other four "Die Hard" movies, there was not as much cursing in this one however it was still quite a bit for us. The action was okay in this movie and the plot was not as good as the other "Die Hard" movies. I would suggest waiting until this one comes out on Netflix, it's not worth the $20 to watch in a movie theater. The movie is also not suitable for children. Adults should have caution as well with the profanity.

Here is a trailer:

I am a huge Rock fan, I always have been since my grandmother first introduced me to the than WWF. When I heard the Rock was in a movie, I immediately told my husband I wanted to watch it. I didn't need to see a trailer. While I enjoyed the story line, there was far too much vulgar language. God's name was taken in vain at least 6 or 7 times. And multitude of profane words were said as well. It was hard not to wince as each curse word came flying. The closet thing to sex or nudity was mild kisses and an implication of rape. The plot of the movie is about the drug cartel, one scene is shown with a man doing cocaine as a means to prove himself. There is also a lot of uses of guns and killing. This movie is in no way appropriate for children, heck I could barely stand it to be appropriate for me on the language alone!

Here is a trailer from the movie:

The days approaching Valentine's Day, I had many thoughts on how my day would go. I imagined coming home to a beautiful bouquet of red roses, I would be overly smiling and kiss my husband. He would than tell me to get dressed because he is taking me out to eat. Where? To be honest, I did not care where we went to eat. Normally, we go to Olive Garden for Valentine's Day but I was okay if we didn't. (I was mostly excited about spending time with him and receiving the gorgeous flowers.) Anyhow, this was my daydreaming of how the day would be.

Here is how the actual day went:
Before heading to work, my grandmother asked me yet again if Anthony and I had plans to do anything. I told her like I said many times before, "I am not sure what Anthony is planning. I don't want to ask him because I am hoping he will surprise me." So I headed off to work. When the time started getting closer to me getting off, the more excited I got over trying to figure out how my love would surprise me. I finally got off and rushed home. I walked in the house and found my husband in the kitchen cooking. At the time, I was not sure what exactly he was cooking but I did have an idea. He told Babcia and I to sit down at the table and he would serve us shortly. We both sat down and my husband showed us the menu for the night:

Appetizer:
Salad with homemade Italian dressing

Main Course:
Spaghetti
Perogies

Dessert:
Chocolate covered Strawberries
Molten Chocolate Brownie with Vanilla Ice Cream

All this was homemade by my husband except the Perogies. He created each meal with the thought of my grandmother and me in mind. In the beginning, I was bummed because I did not receive the flowers I had been dreaming of the whole day but my love greatly exceeded my expectations for the dinner. I loved how he wanted to incorporate my grandmother during this holiday. I admire my husband all the more seeing his compassion towards Babcia. I am truly blessed.

Thankful List:

1. My thoughtful husband
2. In-laws
3. Lunch with family
4. New opportunities
5. Prayers
6. Cooking
7. Pictures

How was your Valentine's Day? What are you giving thanks to God for this week?

When I first heard of this movie, my husband asked me if I wanted to see it. Looking at the poster made it look boring enough (at least to me) without ever seeing a trailer.

While I was babysitting a 6 year old, he asked if we can go see this movie. I didn't really want to but if it kept him content for about an hour in a half than so be it. We watched the movie in 3D, which to be honest was not needed. The movie had a lot of cute jokes however I doubt many kids would understand them. I barely understand what Area 51 is, do kids?
However, I did really enjoy the movie and would recommend it as a family outing.

Here is a trailer:

I have had this mind frame for a while that the more I know, the more I will be on the same page as other believers but the more I love and use my gifts to further the gospel the more unity there is with other believers. As Paul said to the Philippians, "complete my joy by being of the SAME mind, having the SAME love, being in full accord and of ONE mind." In the ESV Study Bible, the notes suggest Paul was not speaking of "intellectual uniformity" but speaking of using "their diverse gifts in an agreeable, cooperative spirit, with a focus on the glory of God." I'm so used to being the smart one and I am struggling with that in my walk with Christ. In school, sure fine I can be smart but in Christ I need to love Christ and to love others more than loving the knowledge of Him. I pray and use the Word to pursue God and know Him but the very fire of me pursuing him is out of love for my Creator. And ultimately, "We love because he first loved us." 1 John 4:19

Here is my thankful list:

1. The Gospel
2. Relax
3. Church home
4. Life
5. Breath
6. Food
7. Wisdom

What are you thankful for lately?

This week has been a very challenging week for me physically, emotionally and spiritually. It was quite hard to keep up with my thankful list and some days I struggled with even being thankful for anything. I got through the week though and intend to reflect on this past week on areas I need to grow in the Lord.

Therefore, instead of my normal ranting I would really love to hear from you guys. How has God encouraged you this week?

Here is my list for this past week:

1. Date night
2. Intense fellowship with my husband
3. Breath
4. Insurance
5. Love
6. Church Camp
7. My sister

What is your thankful list? How do you deal with challenging weeks or days?

About a year ago, I was losing inspiration in the kitchen. I was cooking the same things quite frequently as I was discussing with my cousin. She told me a few recipes she does and the one that stuck out the most was the bacon wrapped pork loin.

Ingredients:

Pork Loin
Maple bacon

That's it!

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Lay out four pieces of the bacon spread out on a pan.
3. Roll the pork loin.
4. Cook for 45 minutes.

I don't season the pork loin because using the maple bacon is seasoning enough for my hubby and I. The taste is so great because of the type of bacon we use. However, I'm sure it would not hurt if you would like to add extra seasonings to fit you and your family's taste buds. I served this dish with broccoli and mashed potatoes. Enjoy!

In July, my husband was transferred into a different department to train for a promotion. The company said they could not give him the position right away because it would not be fair to the other employees who may be qualified for the position as well. The solution would be to train him for the position and once they put up the posting for the position, he would be the most qualified and was guaranteed the position. (I found it very sketchy this entire time of how they were going about giving my husband a promotion). Yesterday, we got news my husband did not get that position after all. Another person who was already in the department got the title of supervisor. However, my husband would have to continue doing the duties of that position but be classified as a normal employee. I was furious with how his bosses were going about this entire ordeal. I knew it was strange to begin with but never did I imagine they would pull this. My frustration with his job continued until I was speaking with one of the parents from my job. (I work at the local YMCA as an after-school counselor watching children).

In early January on a Friday, her job told her she was getting a promotion. That following Monday, she was laid off. She explained to me her devastation and how she was scared, being a single mother of two boys and having no family to turn to for help. "Who was [she] to ask to help pay [her] mortgage?" she said.
However, her fears were washed away within a week. She was blessed with a new job, who gave her a two week advance check on top of receiving unemployment for that week she was out of work. Hearing her story of what she went through and not sulking but giving thanks to God for the new job, made me examine my reaction to my husband's situation.

I should be thankful my husband still has a job! Yes, he did not get the promotion he has been working for but he is able to provide for me all the same, thanks be to God and God alone.

Here is my thankful list for the week:

1. Education
2. Our home
3. Babcia
4. A great workout
5. Bible study with my husband
6. Jocelyn's hugs
7. Our jobs

What are you thankful for this week? How has God used people in your life to show you your blessings?

I was driving down the long country roads to pick up my grandmother, Babcia. I saw a deer crossing sign. Therefore, I began to drive very cautiously in fear that a deer would jump out and I would have to either slam on the brakes and the car behind me would hit me (since they were following too close) or I could hit the poor deer. With those two scenarios on my mind I reduced my speed hoping 2 things: the car would pass me up and I would be ready to safety stop if a deer did appear. However, a deer didn't appear, a hog did with her piglets. She was getting ready to cross the street with her young. So I pressed my breaks to slow down to a stop to allow them to cross but she ran away from the street and her piglets were quick to mirror her actions and stayed close to their mother for protection. This moment was amazing to witness and it made me think what if we mirrored Jesus in such a way? How amazing would it be to quickly mirror Him in our lives with no question about it? I'm so thankful for God teaching me things through His creation. On that note, here is my thankful list for this past week:

1. Jennie Allen giveaway by Lore Ferguson
2. Wildlife
3. My pastor
4. Time with family
5. Cooking for others
6. Babcia
7. My husband's cooking❤

What has God shown you this past week? Are you grateful for His providence in your life?

I served this dish with baked salmon and white rice. My husband loved the taste of these green beans and he isn't much of a vegetable lover. I have to find* or create ways to make them tasty for him.


Ingredients:

1 1/2 pounds green beans, trimmed and cut into 2 inch pieces
1 1/2 cups water
1/4 cup butter
1 tablespoon sugar
3/4 teaspoon garlic salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons chopped fresh basil
2 cups cherry tomato halves

Directions:

1. Place beans and water in a large saucepan. Cover, and bring to a boil. Set heat to low, and simmer until tender, about 10 minutes. Drain off water, and set aside.
2. Melt butter in a skillet over medium heat.
3. Stir in sugar, garlic salt, pepper and basil.
4. Add tomatoes, and cook stirring gently just until soft.
5. Pour the tomato mixture over the green beans, and toss gently to blend.

*I found this particular recipe at allrecipes.com

1. New opportunities
2. Showers
3. Dancing with my husband
4. Friends
5. God's provision
6. Workout buddy
7. Soap

What are you thankful for this past week?

In the midst of frustration, fear or even anger, God does not abandon us. We, as humans, tend to focus on what's going wrong in our lives but if we could focus on what's good in our lives maybe, just maybe, we could see how blessed and beautiful our life is thanks be to God.

Each Thursday I will share my list and declare Thursday "Thankful Thursday". So here is the list I compiled starting from January 1st to today.

1. Loving husband
2. Kiddos from work
3. Life
4. Generosity of my sister Rosanne
5. Friends
6. Church Family
7. Quality time with my hubby
8. Having a job
9. Great workout
10. Conversations with my husband

Try this experiment with me and let me know how much of an impact it's made on your life. What are some things you are thankful for?

I made this recipe* for the first time for my Heart and Home group with two other couples. When preparing I was a little hesitant to use the (heavy cream) ingredient because I thought it would be too sweet however it complemented the other ingredients very well. And everyone thought it tasted great!! I was overall satisfied with this recipe and plan to use it again in the future. We paired this pasta with steamed broccoli and bruschetta. Enjoy!


Ingredients:

1 Box Bow Tie Pasta-cooked
1 pkg Italian Sausage
1/2 Cup Onion-chopped
1/4 tsp Red Pepper Flakes
2 Cloves Garlic-pressed
2 Cans Italian Stewed Tomatoes
1 1/3 Cup Heavy Cream (I used Kraft cool whip)
1/2 tsp Sea Salt
1 TB Fresh Basil-chopped (I used dried)

Directions:

1. Boil Water & Cook Pasta
2. Saute' Onions
3. Add Sausage and Brown
4. Add Red Pepper Flakes and Garlic
5. Add Stewed Tomatoes
6. Add Heavy Cream- Simmer
7. Add Fresh Basil
8. Add Pasta
9. Top with Parmesan Cheese


*This recipe was acquired from Hospitality at Heart.