A Tree of Hope to Me!

A Tree of Hope to Me!

Faith, Personal Testimonies
Recently I have had my share of times to cry, with personal struggles and some emotional days. A lot of people ask me how things with my book are going and I seem to have lost enthusiasm to even talk about it.  Yet, I want to remember that GOD gave me all the ideas for the book that I wrote entitled Mommy's Inspirations.  I started writing it when my oldest was two and finished after he turned three. I didn't have any plans to publish my writing until I got further along and God took me all the way to 52 chapters. Once I finished this weekly devotional, I literally stopped writing for four years, and the book "sat." All I can say is that I had a God-given push to…
Read More
WHY “Trees of Hope?” Read about our daughter to find out….

WHY “Trees of Hope?” Read about our daughter to find out….

Personal Testimonies
Our little girl, Laurelle Esperanza, turned four a few weeks ago! Having two older brothers and one younger brother, she got stuck in the middle and has changed our lives. Princess power!2017 My baby girl and I!What is this princess power you may ask? Let's start from the beginning: when she was born I literally saw and felt myself in her. I have heard others say, "Newborns are newborns," or "Babies are babies," but it was a unique experience from the get-go to have a girl in my arms this time around. As Laurelle grew she also began to resemble me more physically. My dad has commented to me, "You're back" when looking at Laurelle. How cool, right?!Being a girl myself, and a mother to my children, I have discovered…
Read More
An Anxious Heart Lacks Peace

An Anxious Heart Lacks Peace

Faith, Personal Testimonies
It's been a few weeks since I've shared, which feels weird because of having gone through a summer where I plunged through writing one or more entries each week! This post will explain why.I recently met with some faithful women who intentionally followed my blog this past month, and I asked them to write down what word encapsulated their last four weeks. I myself wanted to have a happy, uplifting one to describe my month, but I was honest and wrote ANXIOUS; that was how I had felt more often than not.ANXIETY in the dictionary reads, "a feeling of worry, nervousness, or unease, typically about an imminent event or something with an uncertain outcome." WORRY and UNEASINESS were overtaking my spirit and ultimately  my ability to not only enjoy but to…
Read More
Learning from the Latinos.

Learning from the Latinos.

Personal Testimonies
We had a lovely visit over a week ago now with some of my husband's Latino family: his sister, her husband, and his brother. I was reflecting on the first time I went to their home in New Jersey and the difference I felt.Our Wedding Day December 15, 2007We were newly-weds and Jorge wanted to take a trip to see his family after our honeymoon. One of the main surprises I found was how instantaneously we were welcomed. I also never expected to feel so comfortable in their kitchen of all places! We were given full-access to the refrigerator in a way that was authentic, not just polite or courteous. As a new sister-in-law at the time I was still a bit nervous, not wanting to overstep and offend. But it…
Read More

Confronting FEAR: Who Do You Run To?

Faith, Personal Testimonies
Today was a scorcher, a whopping ninety plus degrees Fahrenheit! My children and I headed to a splash pad by 10 a.m. to meet some friends and stay cool. After all the water time, we made our way over to the adjacent playground area for awhile. All seemed well, until I noticed someone was missing. I was pushing Laurelle and Davin on the swings; Bennett was with us at times too, and then would go to the park to climb and slide. My oldest son Luke, on the other hand, was out of sight. At first, I assumed he could have gone to the bathroom and just didn't tell me. This tamed my fear a bit, although my heart still lacked peace.Finally, I couldn't take it anymore, and rounded up my three…
Read More
God is Taking Care of YOU

God is Taking Care of YOU

Faith, Personal Testimonies
Our family (my husband and children), visited my twin sister and her husband this past weekend. They live a few hours away, and a month ago now my sister delivered her first baby, a girl they named Kadence Marie. It was our first time meeting this little miracle! We brought a meal to share, and spent the day at their house. I was going to pack a game to play or some blocks for the kids, but in the end I didn't. It wasn't necessary: the new baby was entertainment enough!The moment we arrived and saw precious Kadence, we were enamored. She is a preemie, so tiny, just over four pounds now. I had never seen a baby so pint-sized, and our children were in awe. At home, all of…
Read More

Time to Speak DIRECTLY!

Faith, Personal Testimonies
Recently in a few of my friendships, in my marriage, and with my children, I have seen the benefits of intentionally speaking words of affirmation. What I mean is instead of waiting for a "special day" such as Mother's or Father's Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas or a birthday to express how much I care for and appreciate someone, I do it when life is ordinary, when people least expect it.In my marriage, I have found that with the stress and work it entails to raise four young children, I need to be particularly intentional. Before I started homeschooling, I had the habit of writing sweet personal notes to my husband and sticking them in his lunchbox on random days. A few times the kids and I have blown up balloons, put…
Read More

~Practicing Hospitality~

Faith, Personal Testimonies
My husband is from Ecuador, his city in the mountains. There, as in other places around the world, you can visit your friends' houses without calling beforehand! Yes, you can simply go, and as long as someone is home you will immediately be invited in for coffee or tea and bread, which lends itself to conversation and wonderful fellowship.As a whole, Ecuadorians practice hospitality. They don't hesitate to let others in for an unexpected visit, taking time out of their day to listen to and bless another. While in Ecuador, my husband and I made "surprise" visits to many families from our church in the evenings, and we were never turned away. How would we react to an unplanned visit? If you live in the United States as I do, the…
Read More

Memorial Day–A Day to Remember My Testimony!

Faith, Personal Testimonies
Yesterday we celebrated Memorial Day and it was a sunny, gorgeous, and patriotic time. Attending a parade, cheering for service men and women, and celebrating with a cook-out and family time made our day joyful and meaningful.Memorial means "remembrance," and just as we remember those who served and are serving our country, I was remembering how I came to faith in Jesus as my personal Savior. I would like to share my story with you.My first remembrance of beginning my journey to belief in God was when I was probably only four or five years old. My family and I attended a Christian church, and in my Sunday school class one morning the teacher shared that Jesus loves me, died for my sins, and wants to come into my heart…
Read More

Less is MORE!

Personal Testimonies, Teaching Your Children
I have come to love and embrace the saying, "Less IS more." I never knew exactly what that meant completely until I came to experience so much busyness as a mother, wife, friend, daughter, person, that I had to find a better way to survive and THRIVE.LESS is MORE means saying NO to many GOOD things. NO to a mom's group that I had served in for years and wished I could continue in many senses. NO to extra-curricular commitments and activities that initially seem exciting until you are living and breathing the day-to-day of the burdensome schedule. Having four kids in four years did it for me. It forced ME to SLOW DOWN and do LESS. Because I'm the one that would have been doing a million things, and then…
Read More