Happy Birthday, Gravity!

It has been almost 2 weeks since we celebrated Gravity's birthday. (That is the name of our college and career ministry.) What a great year it has been! God has again been sooooo good to us and allowed Gus and I to get to know some incredible people. When the idea to take on the college and career ministry at FWC, Gus and I were bombarded with a multitude of emotions. The idea was an abrupt surprise to us both. We begin to seriously consider that God was shifting our ministry focus. Under all the questions and all the emotions regarding the college ministry, there was an immense peace. I knew that our focus needed to be on the college age and young adults. From there God took over and just began to "wow" us! Let me preface my next few sentences by saying that Gus and I LOVED youth ministry. We absolutely loved our students and ministering to them. However, with Gravity I feel home. I know that this feeling is due to God's amazing love. He has used our Gravity students to show ME his love in an overwhelming way. I constantly thank God for allowing me to know them and love them. I am thankful that he has allowed me to show His love to them. Their passion and total authenticity is exciting and contagious. I cannot wait to see what God is going to do through them! How awesome that I get to go along for the ride too. Lives are going to be changed! Wait and you will see.

In other news, I think they deleted the pic I had of those shoes! Funny!
Elias' newest phrase is "I am that hero!". Again this one is from Larryboy. Just when I think that kid can't get cuter, he goes and learns something like that!

Check out Elias' new shoes!

Okay, so NOT REALLY! I found these today and seriously cannot believe they market these shoes for baby boys!!!! Are you kidding me? Wow! Starting a little young with the sexual images, you think? How is this considered cool or cute? Would it be "cute" to put a pair of shoes on a baby girl with a sexualized (not sure if that is a word) silhouette of a man on them? I think it is pretty obvious that a man designed these shoes. Sad!!

In other (real) news this week:
Our anniversary trip went great! We stayed in Chattanooga and went to Ruby Falls and Lookout Mountain! It was a wonderful, refreshing weekend.

Elias' new word of the week is "mom-is" which translates to Thomas, as in the train. He has also started calling Gus "Dus" instead of Daddy. He told me the other night, "I want Dus". I said, "You want Gus?" His reply, "Day" (yes). We realized he constantly hears people calling his daddy Gus at church. Someone is always looking for him! The cuteness never ends with this kid!

5 years ago....

Five years ago today I married the most wonderful man! I love thinking about our wedding day. On that day I experienced one of the greatest feelings of peace I have ever had. I had spent 11 months planning EVERY detail of our wedding. If you know me at all you know that I have a tendency to really stress out about things, especially big events that I plan or am in charge of. Everyone (including Gus) expected me to be a total Bridezilla that worried and stressed over all the details on that day. However I still remember the overwhelming sense of peace I woke up with that day. I knew that everything was perfectly in place. I don't mean the details such as the flowers, decorations, or food, but our marriage, our union was all that mattered. I could have cared less if the church looked perfect, my hair was in place, or everyone thought it was a beautiful wedding. All I cared about was becoming Gustavo's wife. If that was the result of the day then everything was PERFECT! God filled me with such a joy and peace. I was 100% sure that this was exactly God's will for my life. I have questioned God on many occasions. I've asked questions such as why? Is this really what you want for me? How can this be right? Are you sure, God? But not on July 19, 2003. I never questioned, never doubted, never hesitated. It was the perfect day because we were joined together. We made a covenant to God and to each other. We became husband and wife! I still feel that peace when I think about the man of God I call my husband. Thank you, Lord for blessing my life in such an incredible way! Thank you for that day 5 years ago and every day since that we have served you together. Thank you for the many, many more we have to go!

New Job!

I finally have a (actually a 2ND one) work at home job! I think this one is going to work great for us. It is not a ton of $$ but gives us a little "breathing" room if you know what I mean! It has so many perks to it. First of all the schedule is entirely up to me! I can work WHENEVER I want for HOWEVER long I want! That means I can work around my family's schedule and my other part time bookkeeping job! It's actually a lot of fun too! If anyone else is looking for a fun way to make a little extra loot let me know. I would love to help sign you up on my team. Just call me or email me. If you don't have my # or email, leave me a comment and I will get back to you. By the way you do not have to sell products, buy anything, or call people.

In other news, Gus and I are like little kids waiting for Christmas morning just thinking about our upcoming anniversary trip! Cannot wait!

FINALLY Some Pics from Texas!

Girls are rare in this family.
Isaiah, Alexus, Elias, and Nana

Elias and Abuela

Elias and his new baby cousin, Josiah. He loved that baby!

This is not in Texas, but it is cute! This is how he prays.

Cousin Zack rocking Elias (Nana is in the background). He did not want anyone but Zackary to rock him that night!

Last Week in Review

-Gus and I are actually going away on a very short trip for our 5th anniversary, which happens to be the 19th. It is the first time we are going away together (just the 2 of us) since Elias was born. We have secured great babysitters and are super excited!

-Elias continues to learn new words all the time. The latest "big" word is "dyn-O-mite"! He pronounces it just like that and learned it from the Larryboy theme song. This song is one of his new obsessions, and he requests that I sing it 10-15 times each day!

-At the park the other day he found a locked door that went to some mechanical room. Upon finding the door was locked he ran over to me and said "I nee tees" which translates to "I need keys". I gave him my keys (because who could resist that sweet request) and he tried to unlock the door. I am still shocked when he uses complete sentences even though he does it quite frequently. However the sentence ALWAYS starts with "I nee" or "I want" and ends with one of the following: "Bob, Boz, cookie, cup, daddy, choo-choo, meow, tees, wawer, bubbles, ball, dis (paci), Bri-Bri, or eat-eat".

-At the same park he went to the picnic table climbed up and sat down. He then folded his little hands, closed his eyes, said some gibberish that I could not translate, and then yelled out "Amen"! I almost started crying in the park!

-I've been looking for a part time job. I need something super flexible and low to no stress. Seems like a tall order, but we are praying about it and know that God will work everything out!

One of those nights

Tonight's service was so great! Well, actually it is always great (I mean how can it not be great when your in the very presence of God?!), but it was so encouraging for Gus and me. During the worship/prayer time a group of our Gravity people (that's our college/career ministry) gathered around us and said they felt led to pray over us. About 5-6 gathered really close, laid their hands on our shoulders and begin speaking words that brought me to tears. I could not believe the things they were saying. I actually thought, "Are they really talking about me?" They were thanking God for putting us in their lives (which is funny cause I always thank Him for putting me in theirs), thanking him for all we had done for them, and just going on and on. I was humbled, which is not unusual around such awesome people, and I began to thank God for what he has done in and through me. If anyone sees anything good out of me it is because of HIM. If I do anything good for anyone else it is because of HIM and what HE has done for me. HE has made me everything I am and continues to use me despite my many faults and shortcomings! It was a very touching moment.

Later I was able to talk to one of our students about a lot of stuff she is struggling with and all that's going on in her life. In situations like this I always think, "OK God you are going to have to help me out because I really don't know what to do or say." I just listened to her and shared some of the same struggles I have had. She then gave me one of the greatest compliments I have ever received. She said, "You are just so real!" I guess I am, NOW. I've done the fake stuff. I've put on a smile and told everyone it will be okay and no big deal. "Just walk in faith" I would say even though I found it difficult doing this myself. It is hard when people expect you to always have it together and to always have the answer. I really struggled with this in the past, and it continues to snare me sometimes. However the past year I have felt such a freedom to just be "real". That is what people want more than anything: from themselves and from others. It is also what God wants from us! Faking it only brings more grief and guilt.

God reminded me again tonight what a privilege it is to serve Him and to be called to love and "be real" with these students of Gravity!

And just to make you smile I added this pic! It is my very favorite of Elias! Man, this kid is cute!