It's Begining to Look A lot like Christmas!

Unfortunately I have not been keeping up with my blog for a while now. Though I hope to continue keeping freinds and family updated more so in the coming year. So, because of my lack of dedication to my sweet, beautiful and crazy blog I am going to bring you up to speed on my beautiful, crazy life in a sort of holiday newsletter.

I think this is a great idea because, a) I'm not "actually" sending out a holiday newsletter; b) I can fill you in on all accounts of our happenings; and c) I save on stamps.

So....Let's begin...

Greetings Family and Friends! (Those of you who know me well will appreciate the fact that I am cracking up right now thinking about that FRIENDS episode where Ross talks about his "Geller Yeller!")

This has been such an amazing year of blessings. After two years of waiting on God, throwing all things aside and really placing our trust in Him, He as always came through in awe and wonder.

As most of you know 2008 was a very difficult year, a year of loss and pain that ended with the beautiful blessing of the sweet birth of our baby girl. She is constantly a reminder to me of the fact that I can trust Him to do amazing things. As we moved into 2009, we faced a year of insecurity when it came to Orlando's job situation and again we trusted the Lord as He continued to close doors when it came to transferring to another city. Praise God for a Husband who waits on the Lord!

And so we waited. And again, He did the unthinkable.

In February this year Orlando left banking after 12 years and began a new career in chemical importing/ exporting and drawbacks. I can't really even tell you what that all entails, but I can tell you that it was what we had been praying for and desiring and it is more than what we imagined!

The company is relatively smaller, though large in the industry. It was nothing He had ever done, but he is doing great and has been such an asset to them and I am so proud of him. The people he works for are amazing men of God with integrity and generosity and Orlando is learning so much more than just about the industry. And the best part is that he is again 10 minutes from home (if he catches the lights!).

He gets home early, is able to go to the kids games and school activities and though he travels a little bit more, he gets to go to fun places like New Orleans and New York City and I get to tag along and have fun while he works!

The kids are growing too fast!




Sammy is so fun. He has a great sense of humor and likes to play jokes and kid around. He is still in love with his sister and takes pride in teaching her so many things. They have so much fun together.




He is in his last year of preschool and will be starting Kindergarten in the fall (more on that later). He loves his teachers this year and has had so much fun and is learning so much. He is into science and dinosaurs and superheros. All boy.

This is also his first year in a children's small group at our church and he has been doing so well. Each week he has a lesson with homework and a scripture to memorize. Up to date he has memorized 10 verses and still remembers most of them! The most exciting news was that in October as we were doing his homework together he asked Jesus to live in his Heart. It was an amazing, sweet moment for me and we celebrated by making a birthday cake since he was "Born Again!" He told everyone that he was "a Christian now." Our prayers that he would seek the Lord at a young age were answered!
This year was our first year of sports. The craziness has begun! Our Saturdays were filled with t-ball and soccer. He enjoyed both, but LOVED soccer. He was quite a little stud, scoring many of the goals at each game. He put a lot of pressure on himself to score and it was difficult when he didn't. Orlando was a very proud dad and was glad Sammy tried so hard. It was a lot of fun. He had a whole entourage at his games, for both our parents came each time and we, to say the least, were loud. You would have thought it was the World Cup instead of the YMCA!


Sammy winning the MVP Ball



Emma cheering on her "Babba!"

Emma is becoming the prettiest, sweetest girl. Her blue eyes have stuck which constantly amaze me! She is such a joy and this year has been so much fun with her. Having her home while Sammy is at school twice a week has been so great. We have so much fun playing and singing. She loves to sing. She is a big fan of Barney, Elmo and Dinosaur train! She sings herself to sleep, she loves to dance around and she is so girly! After my own heart! She comes into the room when I dress her and tells her daddy, "See daddy, I pretty!" It's the cutest thing.

She loves her my little ponies and her baby doll, "Shoo shoo." She's already a little mommy! Her favorite thing to play with is her stroller and she sets the doll in it and pushes her around the house all day waving and saying, "Bye mommy."



Emma with "Shoo shoo," and her "Bie."

They are both such fun and such blessings and there is no better sound than to hear them playing and laughing together.



As you can imagine, two kids can keep you pretty busy. Sometimes I don't know where my head is, but we have so much fun together.


This year has been enlightening for me as well. It has been a year of complete, sweet joy that I haven't had in a while. You know that deep within Joy from the Holy Spirit. I spend my days enjoying my kids and my husband.

Earlier in the year a friend was unknowingly used by God to give me a book that has and will change our lives! It changed they way we think about raising our kids and about our priorities. And in the spring we made the decision that we will be homeschooling the kids. The thought of starting this in the coming year is a little scary and exciting at the same time! About 90% scary and 10% exciting!  The great thing is that we will be surrounded by a few other families who are also begining this journey and who have the same goals and desires for our kids. God is moving in ways we don't even know yet.

Last year I started a small little business of embroidery and children's clothing. I added some accessories and some women's clothing this holiday season and it has been pretty successful. It keeps me busy, but I feel like I am doing my own part and being a Proverbs 31 woman.

The Lord has also been showing me how to be a keeper of my home in many ways. He has taught me how to create a sweet atmosphere in my home, to make him the center of it and to keep it orderly and homey. At times I struggle with this especially when the laundry takes over or the kids drop crumbs everywhere! But it is a discipline that I have enjoyed striving towards.

We are very excited to be ending 2010 with a trip to Guatemala. We know we are going to have an amazing time with our family there and showing the kids where we come from. I hope it will be a wonderful experience for them filled with memories.

And so to 2010...It's been a blessed year...but I have a feeling that 2011 will be a year filled with many wonderful, new days!

Blessings to you all!