Happy Father's Day

May this video encourage you to continue to be a light to those little ones that God has put in your life. You have the special honor of being called, "Daddy". Happy Father's Day to all the Father's out there.

A special Father's Day greeting to the Father of my children.

My beloved, my prayer for you is that you continue to strive to be like Christ to our family. So that one day our son will grow up to be just like you and our daughters will grow up to want to marry a man just like their Daddy. My heart melts when I see you with them. They adore you and I know that you adore them.

Your dedication to provide for our family is seen through your many years of hard work. I praise God everyday for you! I'm so thankful that you are in my life. Happy Father's Day!

Encouragement for Homemakers a.k.a. "Stay at Home Moms"

" You are as much serving God in looking after your own children, and training them up in God's fear, and minding the house, and making your household a church for God, as you would be if you had been called to lead an army to battle for the Lord of hosts."

I saw this quote the other day. I was treamedously encouraged when I read that! It comes from "The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit" by Charles Haddon Spurgeon.

As a stay at home Mom (interesting...didn't that title used to be referred to as a Homemaker?), I would often get discouraged because I wasn't able to be invloved in "the ministry" as much as I was before we had children. Just because I wasn't "in the trenches" I felt unused by God. But I know now that ministry opportunities comes to me everyday when I wake up to pray for my children, feed them, bath them, serve my husband by washing his clothes, trying to keep the house clean, etc. Don't get me wrong, though, we ought to still serve the church body to advance the Kingdom of God. By the way, one of the greatest ways we can serve one another is to interced for one another through prayer. So back to my point, my "missionary field" doesn't start out there, it starts here in our home.

I hope this encourages all you HOMEMAKERS out there. Keep serving the Lord!

Happy Anniversary!

On December 7th, my Beloved and I celebrated 12 years of marriage! It really does not even seem that long. That day is still a vivid picture in my mind.

Honey, I know you're a simple man so I'll make this a simple post....

Y I LOVE YOU! Y

(I'll be posting some pictures soon)

Our Wedding

On December 7, 1996 we became husband and wife. We had planned on having our ceremony at our home church and the reception at another church in Napa. But God had other plans. 1 month before our wedding date, I was notified that we couldn't have our reception at the church in Napa. With anxiety running through my head, my Beloved and I sat down, prayed and asked God to provide a new place for us. Since our wedding day was only 1 month away and it was in the middle of the Christmas season (which meant every reception hall within a 20 mile radius was all booked up for Holiday parties) we decided to change the location for the ceremony and have the reception at CBC. God worked it all out! 12 years later, God still works out every moment of our lives as we continue to trust him. Oh...and we're still deeply in love.

Our Engagement

Before ALB and I started dating, he mentioned to me that his next girlfriend would be his wife. So you can imagine my gittiness when we started dating. When he would take me out to different restaurants and parks I kept thinking was this it? After many dates, I finally stopped being anxious and just waited on the Lord. Then on August 28, 1996 he took me out for a "Walk in the Clouds", a hot air balloon ride over the Napa Valley. Unfortunately our ride was cancelled right before we were about to go due to weather conditions. With his plans foiled, he had to think quickly. We walked over to the Domaine Chandon Winery and walked around for a bit. It was early in the morning so the winery wasn't open yet. He found a perfect secluded area near the bridge, got down on his knee and sweetly asked for my hand in marriage. Guess what my answer was...

Our First Date

After our classes were done at Napa Valley College and we droped off all the carpoolers, ALB asked me if I'd like to get some ice cream at Baskin Robins. He bought me a Caramel Cappuccino Blast and a little foldable Baskin Robin spoon. I asked him what the spoon was for. He said, "So we'll have something to remember our first date." 'Til this day, I still have that spoon.

Our First Meeting

I can't remember the first time we met but I remember very clearly the first time I saw ALB. He was on Youth Staff at Campus Crossroads (our church's Youth Ministry) and I had just started coming out. I was told by a friend of mine, who will remain annonymous, that there was a really "fine" staff guy there. Just like a young teenage girl, I was anxious to see him. BTW, that wasn't the main reason why I was there nor the reason why I continued to go. So the night I saw him, the group was playing a game kind of like sit down soccer but with a beach ball. Well, ALB and our friend Eugene were gripping the ball so hard that it popped and ended the game. That was the first time I saw him. And YES! He was "fine"!! He is and will always be the "finest" man I ever met!

We have SO MUCH to be thankful for!

For our family, Thanksgiving was celebrated early this year. Last night we had a small Thanksgiving dinner with just our family. Since my beloved has to be away at work on Thanksgivng day, we worked things out so that we could celebrate Thanksgiving on his day off.

So as people were shopping and getting things ready for Thursday, we sat down and enjoyed a yummy filled dinner. We choose not to have a whole turkey since it was just the five of us and the children and I were still going to have dinner with our extended family on Thursday. We bought a delectable turkey breast that was so juicy and just enough for our family. I made my "famous" garlic bacon mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, stuffing, corn muffins with honey butter and for dessert the girls and I made pecan tarts. As with every Thanksgving there were lots of leftovers. We packed it up so Daddy can bring it to Manteca with him.

Before we filled our tummies, we went around the table and said what we were thankful for:

Daddy: I'm thankful for Christ and His provision for our family.

ALW: I'm thankful for playing video games and being born.

MJ: I'm thankful for Mom and Dad.

CL: I'm thankful for Mommy cooking dinner and for my family.

Me: I'm thankful to God for my wonderful husband who works so hard for us.

We had such a wonderful time together! Thank you, Lord for your goodness to us!

May your Thanksgiving be filled with joy as you celebrate the many blessings that the Lord has given you. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Happy Birthday to the Man I Love

To My Beloved, My Best Friend,

This song says it all...I'm crazy for you!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Handsome! I LOVE YOU!

Moving On

It sure seems like the past few months things have been so busy and there's no letting up in the near future. Many of you know that God provided a new home for our family. This move was somewhat unexpected but something that my beloved and I have been praying for. Is that an oxymoron? I don't know...anyway...

For a few months now, he and I have been praying for wisdom regarding our living situation. We were renting a huge house that had enough room for everyone and everything we had and then some. Our landlords were wonderful, in fact, they are very close friends of ours and we love them dearly.

So why would we ask God to provide something different?

Well, during these difficult financial times we were going over our budget and after cutting back on everything, except for our giving, there was only one other area where we could cut back. That was our rent amount. So we started to pray. We prayed for God to give us wisdom and for Him to give us direction. Oddly enough, I can only remember praying one time for a certain amount. But my beloved kept on praying for that amount.

A few months had passed when we received word of a house that may be available for us. It was still in the remodeling phase but it would be ready a few weeks later. So again, we got our knees. We asked God to close the door if this is not His will for us. We informed our future landlords of our budget and I was sure that they would say "Sorry, it's not going to work out." But to my surprise, they came back to us and gave us a new number. Guess what that number was...the exact same number we prayed for! WOW! Even then, we wanted to make sure that this was exactly where God wanted us to be, so we asked them to give us a couple of days to pray and we'll give them an answer. By this point I was excited and ready to say yeah, let's do it. But thankfully, my beloved wanted to pray and make sure this is where God is leading us. To make a long story short, we thought God had closed the door but He didn't. He opened all the doors for us to move into our new home that's more within our means. The new house is much smaller than the other house but it doesn't matter because I know what this house means. It means that God is providing for us.

I unintentionally tested my husband during this time. I didn't meant to but with my urgency to make a decision I tested his patience without knowing it. I praise God that my beloved wanted to pray, seek counsel and just be still to hear God speak. We've made too many rash decisions in the past and this time, he wanted to make sure that it's where God is directing him to lead our family.

Thank you, honey, for being an example to me of what it means to "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God" (Philippians 4:6). Because of that you helped me to experience the next verse, "And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 4:7). I love you for leading me to to seek Christ!

So now we embark on new adventure....unpacking. We're so blessed, we have so much stuff!

Wet Wednesday

Today my beloved took the whole family to the Antioch water park for some wet fun in honor of Sunshine's birthday. This was our second time there. We had such a great time. Since today was the first day of school for alot of schools there weren't too many people there.

They have an area just for tots to play in but we moved on to the bigger part of the park. To my surprise Sunshine loved going down the waterslides by herself! She's so brave. Princess on the other hand was so scared to even try once. Then I showed her the double innertube that ALW and I just rode and she agreed to go down, just as long as I went down with her. To my surprise, she really enjoyed it. We ended up going a few more times then she went down with Daddy a few more times too. There's this one tunnel slide that we all liked but Princess was too afraid. After she tried the innertube one, she gathered enough courage to go down the tunnel slide. What happened after that? She loved it.

Now ALW, he just loves swimming. He would go down all the slides by himself with no worries. Did I mention that he's never taken a swimming class his entire life. He just goes and starts swimming under water!

BTW, did I mention that I forgot to bring my camera? So no pictures to share but that's OK. Here's a picture of the crew the last time we were there:

Afterwards, we were suppose to go to the Concord drive-in to watch Clone Wars but just as we were going to exit, I looked back and everyone fell asleep. Best thing to do now is just go home and rest.

Can't wait for Sunshine's party on Saturday!

Answered Prayer

For the almost 2 years now we've been praying for God to provide ALB with a new job. Praise God! He answered our prayers in His perfect time. Today is Al's official day at his new place of employment. He is now a Kaiser Permanete employee.

This has been a long trial. And even though there were times that our trust in God seemed to slip a bit, the Lord continued to be faithful to us. He kept reminding us that He is our Great Provider.

Thank you to those who've kept us in your prayers. The Lord has heard you!

Psalm 34: 17-19

"The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears them; He delivers them from all their troubles. The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. A righteous man may have many troubles, but the LORD delivers him from them all."

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!!!!!

Taken during our mini vacation at Pier 39 (June 7, 2008)

Happy Father's day to my beloved, the father of my children, their hero....ALB! Most of you who know us, know that Al is a ham. He enjoys making people laugh. But what most of you don't is that Al has a really shy side. WHAT? How can a man who does the helicopter with a 103 fever be shy? Well he is. He's also very sentimental. He used to have 5 boxes labeled "Al's Sentimental T-shirts". He has most (if not all) of the song books, music sheets and notes from when we were serving in the Youth Choir (Battle Cry), Adult Ensemble (Joyful Sounds) and the Adult Choir. Not to mention birthday cards from years ago! He just can't find it in his heart to let those things go.

Another "gettin' to know you" fact about my husband is his gift of singing. He may lead vocals in rock songs during Youth Ministry events but my most favorite is when he sings slow, yet powerful songs like "My Redeemer is Faithful and True" by Steven Curtis Chapman and "I Bowed On My Knees And Cried Holy" by Michael English and the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir . God has definately gifted Al with strong vocals. Ooohh, have you ever heard him sing "Music of the Night" from Phantom of the Opera or "Who am I" from Les Miserables? He's awesome!

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To my love, I am so thankful to our Lord for blessing me with such a loving, kind, sweet, handsome husband like you. You are a wonderful father to our children. I love how you are their best friend and hero.

The Lord sees all the sacrifices you have made for us Al! I know that these past few years have been tough on our family, especially for you but you kept pressing on! Thank you for not giving up, for reminding us that our dependance is in God's provision. Thank you for constantly reminding me to love. Thank you for loving me and the children when we are unloveable. Thank you for being the peacemaker. Thank you for always putting a smile on our faces. Thank you for being so patient (he is one of the most patient people I know). Thank you for always reminding us that all things are fleeing and to keep our hearts focused on Christ. I can go on and on.

So my love, I'll leave you with this..."Did I thank you? I will..."

Your rib, Chone

Belated Mother's Day

My beloved gave me a gift for Mother's Day to support my latest hobby, baking cupcakes. Since he ordered it online it took sometime to get here. Today it came! Here it is...

"What is it?" Well, it's a Cupcake Courier, of course! I've been transporting my cupcakes in the foil pans with lids, that you get at the supermarket. Those worked fine until I had to bring lots, and lots of cupcakes. With the fear of having messy cupcakes, I would often frost them when I arrived to the location. With these, there's no need to fear. These are great. Here's a description from cupcakecourier.com, "The CUPCAKE COURIER is a rectangular, translucent plastic container that holds three stackable cupcake trays. Each tray has 12 deep cups to hold each cupcake secure. It has a comfortable handle, and 4 bottom latches that hold the base securely."

Yay! Thanks honey! I love you!

The Flu Bug

Earlier this week my throat was starting to feel really itchy. I just figured allergy season is approaching. So I took some allergy meds but the itchiness wouldn't go away.

I woke up Wednesday morning with my throat sore and burning, feeling chills and sweating like a bulldog. What happened? How could I possibly have gotten sick? My immediate prayer was for God to protect my family from catching the flu bug. We all know how tough it is when the whole family gets sick.

So Wednesday, I pretty much stayed in bed. Everytime I tried to get up I'd get so dizzy. The children kept asking me what was wrong and why I'm sick. They quickly offered to help out... how sweet! "Can I make you breakfast, mom?" Even though it was the afternoon, I said, "yes". After about 30 min or so, Alrick and Chloe came upstairs and surprised me with a special breakfast, a bowl of cereal and popcorn. Even though my head was pounding I got up and shared that special breakfast with them.

We've been teaching Alrick different ways how he can help around the house. One of the ways is showing him how to make food for his sisters. Wednesday was a wonderful day to observe the fruits of our labor. He gave them milk and cereal for breakfast (even gave Mara Jaden milk in her sippy cup), PB&Js for lunch & popcorn for snack. I was in and out the whole day but when I was awake, I kept telling Alrick how thankful I was for him. How God is pleased when we help one another. He gently replied, "I know Mom, I love you."

Thursday and Friday morning I was still having dizzy spells and migraines so Al decided to stay home from work. I'm so thankful for him. We all know the amount of work it takes to keep a house running. Al took care of it all so graciously and without complaint. He continually wanted me to just lay down and rest. Thank you, Love, for taking on all the tasks for the past few days, I love you!

By Any Other Name

Of all the beautiful flowers that God has created, my favorite are roses. Any rose, I love them all! Al would sometimes buy some "just cuz'" roses, just because. These are the most recent ones. Only God can make something this beautiful!


Now, I'm no photographer but I did try my hand at taking some artsy shots. Myra, what do you think? The pan-out inspiration was from you.