The Biggest Looser

Did you see the finale? I did an ex-coworkers wife was one of the contestants. All I can say is wow, all those people lost alot of weight. I'm so motivated now.
I bought the Quaker Oats Weight Control oatmeal, a banana, and a chicken ceasar salad to eat today. I eat oatmeal in the morning anyway, ok well not every morning, but I try. Ok, I can at least control what I eat, so I can't really blame anyone for that one. I just need to find a way that I can go work out. It's hard to go to the gym with two kids. Workout videos are boring. Mom, I you don't use your gazell, I want to use it. I can throw it upstairs and watch TV while I work out, and the kids can play in their playroom. Perfect!

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Life Questions

This week's question is "Who is a mentor you have had? - taken from A Proverbs 31 Woman

Irma Fisher - Got herself through college, became a programmer, favorite aunt, (well only aunt). She gave me my first computer, a TI-994A. And I still call her for programming advice every now and then.

Harold Freeze - Supervisor at Bell Helicopter (5 years), took me under his wing. I was his right-hand lady. Taught me that even the higer-ups put their pants on one leg at a time like we do, and they are no more special. Taught me how to say "no" when my workload is full. Taught me that if you ask someone to do something, be able to work along side them. Then in the future, they can do the task by themselves.

Playback Time

Remember those rectangle tape recorders. Before the days for double tape players, I would play the radio and have the tape recorder nearby to record the music onto cassette. Then I could play back an entire evening of songs.

Well, I think Isabel has a tape recorder under her shirt somewhere. Yesterday she was very clingly. And eventhough Emma walks now, I still carry her, cause she's alot slower than the rest of us. Isabel kept asking me to "hold you". Of course her dad can hold both of them in his arms at the same time, but I'm not her dad. So everytime she'd ask, I would reply with "I'll hold your hand".

Last night as we lay in bed, I said "Isabel, I want to hold you". As she grabbed my hand she said "I'll hold your hand". I just laughed.

The Voice of God

God's speaking to me, I just haven't been still enough to listen. I got pulled over twice this pass weekend, and got off with warnings. What have I learned from this experience.

1. Put my insurance card in the glovebox
2. Use your signal light.
3. If you can't make the turn, you can't make the turn.
4. There are merciful people out in the world.
5. When you screw up, some people give you breaks.
6. Be more careful.

Questions...

1. Am I taking a turn in my life that I shouldn't be taking?
2. Do I need to be more forgiving when people screw up? YES

Thanksgiving

Good food, alot of crankiness from everyone (even me). Glad it's over.

The mind of a 5 year old boy

"Hey Jacob what's your girlfriend's name?"
"I don't got a girlfriend"
"Didn't you have one?"
"yeah, Olivia, but I changed my mind"
"That's good, cause girlfriends are too expensive. You have to buy them presents for their birthday and Christmas"
"She's got her own Mama"

Thank Him

Thank Him today because-
He formed you and made you.
He has given you the breath of life.
He has given you this day.
He is working in you to become all that He has intended you to be.
He is working everything in your life together for the good.
He is using your difficulties and trials to conform you to His image.

Thank Him today for-
The forgiveness of your sins.
The peace that passes all understanding.
The smiles that have come to your face because His joy is in your heart.
The comfort of His presence that has quieted your heart and calmed your fears.
The hope that is in you because He has promised to always be with you.
The place in heaven that He has reserved and has prepared for you.
Thank Him today with-
Words of exaltation.
Songs of celebration.
A heart of strong devotion.
Thoughts of deep reflection.
Acts of admiration.
Claps of loud ovation.

By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.
Hebrews 13:15 (KJV)

Not a shy bone

Isabel had the opportunity to sing in front of the congregation. She stood there with the rest of her class, singing "He's got the Whole world in his hands" She did really well. She was not shy at all in front of the mic. I can't wait to see her in the next year singing her first special in front of the congregation. Speaking of specials I need to sing one for Christmas, just don't know which one. My favorite is a medley of "Oh Holy Night, Holy Holy Holy, and Agnus Dei". I wanted to do "Mary did you know", but in spanish. I've got to see if there is a translation out there somewhere.

What I Love about my Church

A fellow blogger inspired me to right this.

Only about 100 people.
I'm close to the pastor and his family. We're their children's god-parents
Everyone fits in the fellowship hall.
I know everyone by name.
I have a voice on certain matters.
It's a billigual church.
We have a praise band.
Humble members, who are generous.
We call each other Hermana and Hermano (Brother and Sister)
Fellowship cookouts are the best.
In the summer we play volleyball and basketball after evening service.
and last but not least....
God continually uses us for his purposes.

Dating

The daughter of a friend of mine is starting to date. The guy went over to their house last night to meet her parents. He so did not make a good impression on the parents. He was a nice kid, but when he and his friend arrived, they went straight into the girl's room. Strike 3, we're not even going to give him strike 1 and 2.

I'm so glad that I have 15 more years before my girls start dating.
Words that I will pass along....

Give them the Jesus test.

"When you first meet, if you can both talk about your love of Jesus, then the guy may ask our permission to date you.

2 Dogs and a girl

I'm in my van at RandolMill and Fielder. The light turns green so I take off. Wow the road sure is bumpy. I go a little further, and then it hits. I've got a flat tire. I guess ignoreing my low tire pressure light for 2 weeks wasn't smart. I pull over and makes some phone calls. I go to the gas station to try and put some air. 75 cents, I have no change and only a debit card. The gas attendant is nice enough to turn on the pump. I start to fill up the tire, or so I think. Jesus, (pronounced Hesus) gets there. He offers to take the tire off to go get a new one.
Take my truck he says. Ok, I take off and a mile down the road I notice something moving in the bed of the truck. I turn around and low and behold there's a dog. I bust a u and to go back. "Hey I'm going to take your dogs back to your house." "No they are fine, they stay back there to protect my equipment, go to work in peace". Wait "they", of my there are two of them back there. Ok, I can't argue at this point. I take off to work, praying that these dogs won't fly out of the truck. I've gone out to check on them like twice now, and they are just laying back there. I sure hope he gets here soon. And I have no idea what kind of tire I'm going to have and how much it's going to cost me. Oh well, it's a good day.

Santa just another character

Christmas is around the corner. My kids are 2 1/2 and 1. We havent' jumped into the whole Santa Clause thing yet, don't know if we will. It's not like I will ever go to the mall durning Christmas time and bump into him, since I try to do all my shopping on-line. This year, I'm not even going to shop. It's homemade gifts for everyone. Isabel did take a picture with Santa one year. It was cute. If they ask who he is I'll tell them "Santa Claus". He'll be right there with Elmo, Oscar, Big Bird, Dora, and Diego... all the other characters they watch and love. But they won't BELIEVE in Santa Claus. We are going to teach our children what Christmas is all about and that is the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ. We'll limit the presents to 3.. One big one, 1 little bitty one, and a biblical one. And we'll show them about giving to those who aren't as fortunate as they are.
We'll also sit around the living room watching all our favorites. "A Christmas Story", "A Charlie Brown Christmas", and "Elf". I used to open my presents Christmas Eve, but I'd like my kids to go to bed with something to look forward to getting up to. Running down the hall to the living room, to open their gifts, and going to Church. I love Christmas, and hope that my kids will have memories that they will eventually share with their kids.

Goals

Need some. For work. We are going to this new bonus program, and I need to come up with some goals for next year. Can't be so easy that I fly through them, and not so hard that they are unattainable. I have to prayerfully think about this, and come up with some by the end of the week. Lord help me.

It's in there somewhere

I know this verse... "I will hold your truths in my heart, so that I will not sin against you.".... For the life of me I can't remember where it is in the bible... Proverbs... something... That is proof that I need to memorize scripture more. Whenever I go to my friend Noemi for advice, she can always give me advice straight from the bible.
I want to be able to do that for my girls. I want to be able to give them not my opinion, but what God says on the matter. I guess my next step would be to get more into the word and memormize scripture.

2 Timothy 4:2
Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction.

GH Junkie

My name is Michelle, and it had been 9 months, 3 days, and 4 hours since I had watched an episode of General Hospital. I took one day off last week and watched it, and now I'm hooked again. And since I have DVR, I am now recording it. I love General Hospital, I've been watching it since I was a kid, because my mom has watched it for as long as I remember. The Spencers, The Quartermaines, Luke, etc... But my all time favorite was Jagger (Antonio Sabato Jr), last seen in 1993, when he married Karen after they graduated from High School, which happens to be the same year I graduated. And there's Sonny, who is the type of character that makes it seem cool to be married to a mob boss.

Oh well, I've fallen off the wagon. It's not the first time and won't be the last.

C is for Cookie

This was my favorite Seasame Street song growing up. It's so cool to hear Isabel sing it and Emma too. They also both immitate Cookie Monster eating cookies. The cutest thing ever. But it is embarrasing when they do this in front of others, because others think that I'm not teaching my children how to each properly.

Listen up everyone....
If you see my kiddos shove a bunch of cookies in there mouths and make alot of noise while doing it. They're just doing it like the pro, Cookie Monster.

Future Worship Leader?

Today in my mission friends class I let my assistant kind of take over so that I could take care of some other things in another class room. Each Wednesday I lead the class in songs, mostly English and some spanish. Well when I walked back into the room, Isabel was the one leading everyone in the songs, it was so cute. It's amazing how these kids pick up these songs really fast. With that being said, I think I'm going to ask our worship leader if my mission friends can sing their 5 songs for the special this Sunday.

Song Line Up:
Bubbles
He's got the whole world in his hands
Twinkle, Twinkle
I Love You (from Barney)
Here and There (Aqui y Aya)

Too Busy to Blog?

Never thought that'd happen, but it has. See I normally blog in the morning when I get to work. But I've been super busy this week. It's my own fault, I told Jeff, my boss that I'd have something done by this week, and it's proving to take a little longer than I'd plan. Not that I can't get it done, there have just been other issue that have come up that superceed this project. So I find myself getting right to work when I get in, in the morning. I even contemplated working from home once the kids got to bed, but by God's mercy, I couldn't remember my VPN login, so no working at home. I did get alot accomplished, at least what I needed to. And tomorrow is a new day.

My God is an Awesome God

Bless the Lord O my Soul and all that is within me bless His holy name. Psalm 103:1

God you are so good. Please forgive me when I don't recognize that. Thank you for always keeping your promises. Help me shine your light today.

Finally, brothers, we instructed you how to live in order to please God, as in fact you are living. Now we ask you and urge you in the Lord Jesus to do this more and more. 1 Thess. 4:1

Amen

Fear Not

Sometimes, when Eddie's on shift, I get scared in the middle of the night when I'm in my big house out in the middle of no where. (Well at least it feels that way).
Last night was one of those nights. I've been wanting to watch that movie "Saw", Eddie says it's like "Seven". I haven't even seen it yet, but I have read up on it, and I'm already getting freaked out. I contemplate in my mind what I would do if any one were to ever break into the house. It's kinda hard getting 2 toddlers out of the house fast.
Last night was one of those nights. I couldn't go back to sleep, so I opened my bible to the Psalms. I read Psalm 56:3-4 over and over until I feel asleep.

3 When I am afraid,
I will trust in you.

4 In God, whose word I praise,
in God I trust; I will not be afraid.
What can mortal man do to me?

This morning I woke up and someone who is facing a difficult situation came to mind. I knew that was God telling me to pass the word on. So I called her and gave her the same verses. God is so good.

Learn to Read

Great website for anyone with kids
Starfall.com

Final Count

73 people made decisions to accept Christ into their heart this past Halloween.

Judgement Day haunted house was a great success. It was a success the minute the 1st person accepted Christ.

Can't wait until next year. Hope I get my voice back by then. :)