Lizette

"Making the most of every opportunity"

2011-06-06T20:38:00.000-07:00

Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. Ephesians 5:15-17

I've read these verses many times before. I had never payed as much attention to them as I did today.

When I woke up this morning I went through the list of things I had to do today. Clean, go to the post office, work out, publish Sunday's sermon on the church website, clean, do laundry, work on potty training Abigail, and do some more cleaning. I was even going to set up a corner of our house as a "classroom" to start "doing school" with Abigail. All my plans quickly came to a halt when Abigail got sick this morning after she ate breakfast. I'll spare you the gross details, but you can imagine. I had already planned to take her to the doctor today because she had what I thought was pink eye, but decided not to because the swelling had gone down and it looked like it was getting better. After seeing her get so sick I decided I would make an appointment anyway. So after Abigail got sick, I had to clean her up and change her clothes and as soon as I changed her clothes she got sick all over again on the couch. So not only did I have to clean her up again, I also had to clean up the mess on the couch. Somewhere in there I put Matthew down for his nap. All the time that it took me to clean up after Abigail, took up the time of all the things I could've done in those couple of hours. Then, as Abigail was sick I now had to make an unplanned trip to the store to get her some Gatorade and crackers so that she could have something in her system. That took another hour or so. Keep in mind that I also have tend to Matthew before leaving to the store so that he's taken care of as well. Also, keep in mind that it's about 12pm and I still haven't had breakfast and Abigail's appointment is at 2pm. So, we get home from the store and I make sure Abigail eats some crackers and has something to drink. After she's done with her crackers she was still hungry so I made her some rice because she can't really eat anything else at this point. While I'm making the rice I begin to feel sick too! At this point all I could think is, "you've got to be kidding me! I have to take Abigail to the doctor in an hour and now I'm feeling sick too!" So finally, the rice is done, I'm starting to feel better and it is now 1:00. I sit down for a little bit to rest from being sick myself and start to debate if I should cancel Abigail's appointment since I probably won't be able to sit in the waiting room without having to run to the restroom myself. Thankfully I ended up feeling better after sitting down for a little and was able to take Abigail to her appointment. At this point I just want to get it over with and see what the doctor says. It turned out that Abigail has RSV which is going to require two weeks of breathing treatments. When we got home from the doctor's office it was about 3:30 (thankfully they didn't take so long.) At this point all I want to do is just sit on the couch and relax. But, with two kids that's impossible. I now need to make dinner before leaving to church for a meeting. I felt so exhausted and I almost called Jr. to tell him to bring some take out home, but I decided not to since I already had meat in the fridge. At this point I just start to feel mad and frustrated and moping and thinking about how much this day has simply sucked! I had so many things I wanted to do, but the day turned out how I least expected it to. The 5 'o clock hour came faster than it had ever come.

After coming home from the meeting at church I put Abigail and Matthew down for the night and finally had a decent meal. As I was sitting at the dinner table I was still moping about my day and this is where I see God working in my life. The verse I mentioned at the beginning just popped into my mind and it was an "aha!" moment for sure. I realized that I was being taught a lesson. Now, I'm not saying God made Abigail sick so I could learn a lesson, but he definitely used it to speak to me. I began to think about all the times my kids have been well and healthy and everything's fine. So many times I have wasted my day without doing anything productive having the opportunity to do something worthwhile. It was definitely a humbling moment where I realized that I need to "make the most of every opportunity," not just in the spiritual sense but in my daily duties as a stay at home mom. Not having to "go to work" makes it very easy to become lazy and do nothing at all, besides taking care of the kids of course. I know that it was not God's intention for me to become a lazy mom and wife when we made the decision of me staying home with the kids. I want to honor Him in everything I do, and that includes taking care of my home, because that is my job after all.

I pray that this is the beginning of a turning point in my life where I do make the most of every opportunity so when days like today show up, I can be at peace knowing that what needs to get done has already been taken care of.

New Blog

2009-08-03T20:20:00.000-07:00

Jr and started our own website through iWeb. I will now be blogging there. In fact I already have a couple new posts. This is the link: http://web.me.com/abdonjr/lizandabdon/Liz_and_Abdon.html

Just because

2009-07-29T10:26:00.000-07:00

I haven't blogged in a while. Not much going on. Well actually there has been a lot going on. I've been staying home with Abigail for a little over two months. It's been great and challenging at the same time. I thought I would have all this time to do things around the house, but boy was I wrong. Abigail is quite the handful. Sometimes two handfuls! I love it though. There's nothing better! We also just got done with Youth Camp. It was great. God spoke to the youth and I believe he also spoke to the leaders. The one thing that stood out was God calling us to loyalty. Also, seeing ourselves the way God sees us. Man, I could go on and on. It was awesome. I know this is one of the camps those kids will never forget.

10 years ago today

2009-06-26T13:48:00.001-07:00

Today I celebrate the 10th year anniversary of my high school graduation. I remember it like it was yesterday. I was so excited to finally be getting out of that school. I was pretty much a loner my senior year do to the fact that my friends were all seniors when I was a junior and they had all graduated the year before. I found a couple of friends in christian club, a freshman and a sophomore. I didn't care though, I new the end was near for me! As graduation day approached I was especially excited because the first day of youth camp was the same day I graduated. I remember my youth pastor, Nate V., came to my graduation and after all the pictures and hugs, we drove off to the camp sight with a few other friends. I was so happy. That is what I remember most, I was happy. At the time it had been a year that my parents had divorced and somehow, through God's love, I was able to enjoy that day and what I felt was more important, camp.

Looking back, I don't know if I pictured my life the way it is now. All I know is that God has blessed me and he has me here. In his hands, for this time with a purpose. My desire as it was 10 years ago, is to do my Father's will and to live a life that is pleasing in his eyes.

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to proper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11

I could get used to this....

2009-05-22T12:46:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I took a day off. Just because I could. Also to meet with Pastor Debbie and talk about VBS. I was amazed at how relaxed and calm I felt the whole day. I got up, ironed a shirt for Jr. I put some clothes in the washer. Abigail woke up a little bit later. I took her out of her crib, did all the morning things we do with her. I ate breakfast. Then I gave Abigail her breakfast, after she watch Arthur on PBS. I got ready to go to my meeting. I gave Abigail a bath. Then I went to get some shopping done. Then to my meeting. On my way home from the meeting I thought to myself, I could get used to this! A little anxiety is starting to creep in though, but not bad anxiety, the "I wish it was June 8th" anxiety. I'm almost there.

This is how I feel today

2009-05-14T14:42:00.001-07:00

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH Schools should have a sound proof room where teachers are allowed to go in and just scream! Some days are great, some days are good and some days are just down right BAD!

God is funny

2009-05-13T19:50:00.000-07:00

God has funny ways of doing things. I hardly ever listen to podcasts, as compared to Jr. who listens to them almost daily. Today on my way home from Luv It(only the best frozen custard ever!) the Family Life Today show was starting on SOS and it caught my attention because they were talking about the feminist movement and how it has affected the family. So I came home and asked Jr. to show me how I can listen to the podcast on my iPod. So I start listening to it and towards the end they start talking about how there are women who want to do it all, have a career, family, community service and whatever else they think they need to be doing in order to feel valued or accomplished. They also mention how really in the end one of those things ends up being neglected and damaged while trying to do all those things, and it ends up being the family. So basically, you really can't have it all. There has to be a priority. Of course not everyone is able to stay home with their kids but, he mentioned the importance of moms staying home with their kids and how critical the first 6 years of life are. I might not be expressing myself the way I would like to in this post but what I'm trying to say is that I listened to this podcast not by accident. God used it to give me a reassurance that we have made the right choice and that He IS going to take care of us. The lady that was speaking on todays show shared a story on how a lady who was trying to do it all was extremely stressed and her family was suffering because of it, decided to quit her job to take care of her kids and her mother-in-law and the result of that was that she was not stressed out anymore and God blessed her husband with a pay raise! Now I know that this isn't necessarily going to be exactly what God is going to do with our family but what I do know is that he's going to take care of us. Jr. may never get a raise or get a higher paying position with the school district but we will be taken care of and we will have the things we need to survive. Or who knows maybe God will bless Jr. in his job who knows! Whatever the case ends up being, God isn't going to leave us, and the greater reward will be to watch Abigail grow and the memories that we'll create during our time together. By the way did I mention that I'm only 17 days away from becoming a stay at home mom? :)

Frustration

2009-05-13T13:09:00.000-07:00

I've been trying to set up a substitute for next week to take my last day I have available to take off of work. I kept typing in my password and it wouldn't work. Now mind you I have forgotten the password in the past or reversed numbers and what not. So I'm thinking to myself, I've done it again, I've forgotten that darn password!!!! Nonetheless I keep trying different order of numbers and just trying and trying, no success. I finally call the help desk and ask them to give me my password and it turns out they had already taken me out of the system as if I was no longer teaching! Do these people not read the end date on the paper we sign? The same thing happened to me with my work e-mail after spring break. I know I'm whinning, but I was going crazy!

Getting my nails done

2009-04-29T08:20:00.000-07:00

So yesterday I went in for a fill and also to get my nails trimmed, they were a little too long for my taste. The funniest thing happened when the guy, (yes a man did my nails) was almost done. He starts saying something that I totally can't understand. After saying "I'm sorry what?" like three times, he says "You will see." So I'm like, ok, who knows what this dude is going to show me. Next thing I know he's drawing a flower on my ring fingernail. Then my response was, oooooooooooo. I'm totally NOT into having designs painted on my nails. I'm totally not into getting my nails done often. The last time I got acrylics was two years ago! So in order not to make the guy feel bad I don't say anything. When he finished he said, "See, a present for you!" I was like "oh thank you." So now here I am completely embarrassed that I have a flower on my nail and I feel compelled to tell everyone the story, just so they know I didn't do it on purpose!

5 weeks and four days to go

2009-04-27T12:59:00.000-07:00

I'm sitting here in front of my computer with a huge headache at work with only one thing on my mind: June 8th, my official last day of work. It couldn't come sooner. I don't know if it's the fact that I know i'm not coming back or what, but I am hating being here. I feel very irritated at my students and my fuse is very short. I really want to have a better attitude about this but, I just want it to be over! I wish tomorrow was June 8th.

Free to be me!

2009-02-05T21:06:00.000-08:00

Since becoming pregnant I knew I eventually wanted to quit my job to become a stay at home mom aka SAHM. I'm happy to announce that beginning June I will be staying at home, officially! What makes it official you ask? I signed my resignation papers at work about two weeks ago. My administrators are approaching the time of allocations and would rather have people leave voluntarily than to gave to tell people to leave, and I am happy to help! So with that said, I am extremely excited and cannot wait. Please pray got us as we go forward with our decision. I know that God is faithful and I am trusting that he will provide. Abigail is more important than anything else and I am confident that we have made the right decision. PS to see videos of Abigail visit YouTube.com and search abdon7

2008-11-19T20:20:00.000-08:00

This is me on my sixth birthday. We were in Ensenada, Mexico. My mom and dad got me a coconut cake. It was good. A photographer actually came to my aunts house and took this picture. I think it was just some guy walking around the neighborhood asking people if he could take their pictures. But at the time all I could think was "COOL!" Anyway, all this to say, This picture was taken almost 21 years ago! I say almost because my birthday is in a week! I'm almost 30, oh jees! I remember making fun of my sister and Nate when they were going to turn 30! And now I'm almost there. ay ay ay!

why does it have to be so hard?

2008-09-01T18:09:00.000-07:00

i dont understand why i cant get along with my mom. when i think about it really does make me sad. i wish things would be different.

Bad hair day....the story of my life

2008-08-30T17:14:00.000-07:00

This is me in Fourth grade! This picture was taken for a project. We were supposed to interview a friend and write about them. I think we were studying biographies. Anyway, the teacher took a picture of each of us so our partner could put it on the back of the paper. We read our papers in front of the class and they had to guess who the person was.

Blast from the past

2008-08-17T20:32:00.001-07:00

I was looking at some old pictures from my childhood, adolescence and teenager years and I decided to post a picture once a week, and blog about what the occasion the picture was taken. I want to see how much I can remember. So here's the first picture. I remember this like it was yesterday! It was my fourth birthday (as you can see with me holding the four fingers up). My dad kept trying to get the perfect picture of me holding my fingers up. He must of taken like 20 pictures. Right before he would snap the picture he would ask me "Cuantos anos tienes?" And I would say "cuatro". I remember thinking to myself, did he not hear me I already said it! lol

Jr's Nose Surgery

2008-08-17T20:27:00.000-07:00

Jr. had a nose surgery last week to open up his nose. He was always very congested and this made him get really sick when he got a cold. So finally hopefully this will alleviate this problem. It's also supposed to reduce snoring, but so far it's not working. He's still recuperating, he talks funny right now because he can't really move his upper lip because it hurts. He also can't laugh because it hurts, so it's been pretty funny watching him try not to laugh, which makes him laugh even more and it makes me laugh which makes him laugh even more, you get the picture. Poor guy. Hopefully he'll be himself completely soon!

The First Turn Over

2008-08-14T21:04:00.000-07:00

Today Abigail turned over all by herself! We saw her do it three times! It was a bit of a struggle at first but third times a charm! She finally was able to get her other arm out from under her chest! I'm so proud! The pictures are a bit dark, but I just had to post them!

?????????

2008-08-02T23:09:00.000-07:00

Well I haven't blogged in a long time. There's not much to blog about these days. I just stay home with Abigail all day and feed her every three hours. Change her diaper, I don't know how many times, it's hard to keep track of that. I also play with her, sing to her, read books to her. I think her favorite is "Owl Babies." It's a book about three baby owls who's mother left and they don't know where she went. So they think-because"all owls think alot" "maybe she went to get us food." Then they finally close their eyes and wish their mother would come back, and she does! I read it to my students at the beginning of the year. It's really cute. So anyway, right now that's pretty much my life. The only other thing is that I'm going to start teaching in the bible institute, which I am VERY nervous about. I don't know what I got myself into. Hopefully all goes well. I'll be teaching Old Testament I this semester and Church Administration in the spring. I've also been thinking about things I could do at home, eventually when I become a stay at home mom, to bring in extra income. I stumbled upon a lady that blogs for a living. I wanted to find out more about it but then it said that it was only available to residents of Canada. So I'm wondering if there is something similar to that here in the states. Although I don't know how good I'd be at that since I don't bog regularly now. Maybe I would though if I got payed for it. I don't know I have to do some more research. Anyway, I'm also very excited about a dear friend who will be getting married very soon! I am hoping to be able to make it to the wedding in November. We'll see what happens. That's it for now!

Baptism Service

2008-06-02T19:31:00.000-07:00

Last friday we had a baptism service at church. There were 16 people that got baptized. Among them were 4 middle school kids! It was so awesome to see these kids deciding to live for Christ. One of them is the youngest of three who is being raised only by his mom. His older brothers aren't serving the Lord. What a testimony to his brothers and faith builder for his mom! I was so happy to see him get baptized. It was also such a great thing to see that middle schoolers got baptized having started the middle school service at the beginning of this year and we are already reaping the fruits. It definitely served as a faith builder to keep doing what we're doing. The bible is so true in saying that our work in the Lord is not in vain! This is what it's all about, seeing kids get saved and deciding to live for God wholeheartedly.

California

2008-05-26T09:50:00.000-07:00

This weekend I visited my hometown, San Fernando Valley, CA. It was Abigail's first road trip. Which by the way she slept the whole we here, except for when we stopped to eat, we woke her up so she could eat too but when we got back on the road she went right back to sleep. She's such a good baby! I was expecting her to cry at least once, but didn't happen, Thank God! My husband and my mom, AKA babysitter (Thank God for my mom!) also came. We came for my good friends baby shower. She is due in July and is also expecting a baby girl. We are so excited for them. It was great to see a lot of people that I hadn't seen a long time. It definitely feels great to be here because it brings back so many great memories and it is definitely very nostalgic, but it definitely is not home anymore. It's crazy, I thought I would never say this, but I don't think I would ever want to move back here, at least not the Valley. There are SO MANY people here! We were stuck in traffic on a SUNDAY! This rarely happens in Vegas. Nonetheless it's always nice to come back for a few days and experience the moister in the air, something else we don't have in Vegas. My hair definitely feels the difference. This was also the first time we left Abigail with my mom overnight, it feels weird not to have her around. I think it will be a while that we go anywhere without her again. Jr. and I took the opportunity to spend some time alone since our Anniversary is coming up on Wednesday. I thought I wouldn't worry so much about Abigail, but I did. Now I'm just waiting for Jr. to get out of the shower so we can go to my mom's house so we can see Abigail and get on the road to head back home.

The very first blogger????

2008-04-26T23:07:00.001-07:00

I was on hulu.com and was watching the Pilot for "Doogie Howser M.D", I use to watch the show all the time as a kid and totally had a crush, and then I realized, oh my gosh! He was the first person to blog! Well at least on T.V. WOW! Technology sure has advanced! Imagine blogging in front of a huge monitor and a blue screen with white block font! Crazy!

I'm a mom!

2008-03-26T20:34:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I posted a blog and since then things have changed! Abigail was born on March 19 at 4:17 am. She weighed 7lbs 12onz and was 20in long. The doctor decided to induce my labor due to my high blood pressure and also because he was going to be out of town this week. I'm glad he did! I got in at 12:00 and by about 12:30 the induction began. Boy was it painful. Since I had not even started my labor they thought it was going to take a while for me to start contractions with the initial medicine, but they were wrong! I began contracting to close together and the nurse had to stop the initial medication and let me rest so that they can begin pitocin(spelling?) which REALLY gets the labor process going. So eventually contractions started spread apart enough and they began pitocin. After that contractions started to get stronger and I was given some kind of medicine that lessens the pain but does not work as well as an epidural. I was given this medicine twice and by the time the second dose was wearing off the anesthesiologist finally showed up. Thankfully I had a great epidural experience, not having any contractions while i was getting injected. A few minutes after the epidural I felt a lot better! I didn't feel a thing! Except the medicine took a while to get to my right side, but eventually it got there! After that it was just a waiting game. Finally I was ready to start pushing and it took about 30 mins and she was out! The weirdest part and I guess it was a blessing at the same time was that I didn't feel the time. I thought I would get bored waiting but I had to keep asking what time it was because I wasn't feeling the time. The whole time I was basically out. I didn't talk to anyone. I was just concentrated on labor. Overall I can say it was a good experience. I thought I would be screaming my lungs out but it was the total opposite. Somehow I was able to breathe through each contraction and stay relatively calm. The most difficult part has been recovering. I had no idea what to expect and I did not think I would react the way I did the first couple of days. But thankfully every day gets better. I am now starting to feel like myself again. Now I just need to get used to Abigail crying and try not to get stressed cause I have to figure out what she wants or what's wrong. Thankfully she's been a really good baby. She's only had a few episodes where she cries hysterically and it has taken a while to get her to calm down. But other than that she sleeps all day and all night! What a blessing! Of course she wakes up to eat every 3 hours but as soon as she's done burping she falls right back to sleep. I also need to mention that my mom has been staying with us since Abigail was born and she will be staying for another week! Another blessing! She's been extremely helpful! I couldn't thank her enough!

correction

2008-02-07T20:39:00.000-08:00

i did not mean to use the word "scold" in my previous blog. i used that word not knowing exactl what it meant.

The things kids do! and Say!

2008-02-07T18:48:00.001-08:00

We've been learning to spell lately and I've been having students practice independently to spell words. Today I let the students use the white boards and draw whatever they want. Suddenly I hear the kids spelling words and I think to myself, well that's good! Then I hear a kid say "it's spelled P-O-P!" and another kid says "NO! it's P-O-O-P!, POOP!" and then the giggeling follows. Of course I had to tell them not to spell that because it's gross and what not. But I was pretty impressed that this kid knew that you needed two O's to make the sound in the middle. And of course I laughed cause in the end it's just plain funny!

The many hats of a teacher

2008-02-07T18:43:00.000-08:00

You hear about people say that teacher's arent' just teachers, they wear many hats. Nurse, story teller, even mother (if it applys). And so many other nice things that people like to tag on to teachers, but I never imagined that I would have to play the role of a cop! One of my students keeps bringing little toys and trinkets to school, which he plays with all day instead of not doing his work. And he also spends the day showing his things to the other kids which then cause them to not do their work. So I scold him and tell him not to bring anything from home anymore. Of course he doesn't listen and he keeps bringing them. So now every morning I have to check his pockets, pants and jackets to make sure he didn't bring anything.

Baby's room's coming along!

2008-02-02T17:08:00.001-08:00

Well, it's been a long wait for the room to be semi-finished but the end is near! Today it got painted and the new carpet is being put in! I was going to post pictures on here but it was taking too long so I posted them on myspace. What are you still doing here! Go look at the pictures!

Let the countdown begin!

2008-01-30T18:39:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was officially the mark of two months to go! I can't believe it. Although it's only two months to go, I feel like these last months are the longest months of my life! I'm getting nervous for sure and excited and every other emotion available to human kind! The baby's room is coming along. The workers were working a bit slow, but now it'll be done hopefully in a couple of days! I can't wait. It's just so overwhelming. I can't express it with words.

Bed rest update

2008-01-15T10:31:00.000-08:00

I had my appoinment with my doctor today. My blood pressure looks good so I can go back to work now. He still wants me to take the medication and "take it easy." Unfortunately taking it easy means I can't travel which means I wont be going to L.A. for the baby shower my mom was planning. So I'm bumbed about that. But I guess that's what's best for me and the baby. I'm just glad i dont' have to stay home anymore. I can finally go get a hair cut! I need it baaaaaaadly!

Bed Rest....:(

2008-01-13T09:36:00.000-08:00

Bed rest is no rest at all! Sure I'm not doing anything and not going anywhere, but my body hasn't ached this much ever! I really hope the doctor tells me I can go back to work. This is no fun! Another thing is that I probably wont be able to go to the baby shower my mom is having for me because of all of this. I really hope my blood pressure stays stable so that I can go. My mom is totally excited about the baby shower, and I was excited about it too. But now we'll just have to wait and see.

Technical Dificulties

2008-01-10T23:09:00.000-08:00

Today I went to the hospital to have that shot taken. I had to go into the Labor and Delivery place to have it done. So routinely they checked my temperature and my blood pressure. Turns out my blood pressure was too high. The nurse had to call my doctor to have him come and check it out. I was doing 140/96 and higher, it varied for a while. Turns out the doctor was in the building delivering babies. So he was able to come and see me. He decided to put me on medication to have the blood pressure go down and also to have me on bed rest, so I can't go to work. While I was there there was a shift change so another nurse came and saw me. She put me and the baby on the monitor. Out of nowhere my blood pressure dramatically goes down, where it should be. By the end of the night my blood pressure was down to 104/cant' remember over what, but nevertheless a lot better than when I got there. I almost forgot, because of my high blood pressure they needed to get some blood samples and take them to the lab to make sure it wasn't my liver or anything else. Those results came back good. So after the results was when the nurse called the doctor. We waited for about 1/2 an hour for the doctor to call back. When he finally called back the nurse told him about my change in blood pressure. She came back and said that doctor was completely shocked and that he said to her "I can't believe that I saw those high numbers with my own eyes!" He ended up still keepin my on the medication and not working until I see him some time next week. So if anything I just got a few days off out of this whole thing. I'm sure everything will turn out to be fine. As a very wise man once said "that's all I have to say about that." But actuallly one more thing, PRAISE THE LORD!

28 weeks

2008-01-07T21:21:00.000-08:00

I had an appointment today on my 28th week. Everything is still going well. My blood type is O negative so I have to have a shot. I really don't know what it prevents but it prevents something in case the baby turns out to be O negative as well. The rule is you take it at 28 weeks. So today I had some blood drawn for my antibodies, which I guess determines whether or not I can have the shot. I'm not to sure, they really didn't explain it. But anyway, I have to have the shot at the hospital and not at the doctor's office. Before I can do that I have to be pre-registered which is good because I was planning on doing that before actually going into labor. It was nice to go to the hospital and see where I'm going. I had never seen it from the inside. I didn't see any of the delivery rooms or anything, but it was still nice. We are going to go on a tour of Labor and Delivery on sunday though. Man, it just feels like it's getting closer and closer! The custodian at my school asked me if I was ready today, I was like NO! Which really I think it's kinda like marriage, you can plan all you want, but are you REALLY ready????? It's definitely exciting! I can't wait to have this little girl in my arms!

My dad's visit

2008-01-03T22:28:00.001-08:00

My dad came to visit for the first time since I got married. He wanted to see me pregnant so he decided to make a quick visit. It's nice to have him over. Tomorrow we'll have a father-daughter day out cause Jr. has to go over to the church and work on some sound stuff, it'll be nice to spend some more time with him. I guess it is true that things change when you have a baby.

YES!

2007-12-29T21:30:00.000-08:00

Today we finally insulated the attic. We've been wanting to do it for a long time. Our house is pretty old and the insulation was practically gone so it was very difficult to keep the house warm and cold. So now that the baby is coming it gave us a sense of urgency to have it done. The reason I'm excited is because Jr. wanted to have that done first before starting on the nursery, which makes sense I guess. So now this means that the next step is to start working on the baby's room! I can't wait to go and pick out paint, and the flooring and all the other fun stuff! AAHH I can't wait!

Christmas

2007-12-27T20:45:00.000-08:00

This Christmas was our first time hosting for our family. My mom and brother were here for the weekend and Christmas. On Christmas day Jr's family came over. Jr. prepared the traditional portorican lechon or pernil (sometimes they call it lechon, sometimes they call it pernil, I guess it depends on the mood their in). It turned out really good. His family really enjoyed it. It was nice to just have family over. All the kids running around, the adults sitting around talking about whatever. It was a good time. My mom and my brother had to leave though because my brother had to work the next day. But I was still able to enjoy having them here for four days. On Christmas eve we just hung out here at the house and my mom made pozole, it turned out really good too. I'll try to post some pictures of the weekend as soon as I figure out how to post them on here. I'm not as skilled as Dawn yet. but anyway, it was a good time.

Winter break!!!!! (finally!)

2007-12-21T17:36:00.000-08:00

Man it feels good to be on vacation! I'm so glad that we get two weeks off. The nice part is that we don't have to go back to work on the 2nd this year! For some reason I prefer it better that way, than getting a whole week before Christmas off and then having to go back right after new years. You know, people might say that we're underpaid, but I think it evens out with all the breaks we get, not to mention all the single day holidays! I love being a Teacher!

So,

2007-12-07T22:26:00.001-08:00

I just read my last blog and I notice that I say So a lot! I said it three times consecutively(is that spelling right?) at the beginning of three sentences. It's like when people say like every other word. Like, Like, like, so, so so. I need to expand my vocab.

Girl's day out

2007-12-06T17:20:00.000-08:00

Last saturday we had a girl's day out the girl's from the youth group. Beside me and one of the leaders only four girls showed up. But it was still a very fun day. We started the evening by having a video scavenger hunt at the mall. Then we came back to my house, had a small bible study and then we watched the videos. It was pretty fun. The girls really enjoyed it. What really added to the day was the mishaps that we ran into at the mall. One of the things that needed to be accomplished was to to go to the curling iron booth and get a sample hair curl. So my team goes over to the booth and asks if we can get a sample. So one of the girls sits down and I start video taping. So the guy starts telling me that I can't record and then goes on rambling about the product. And I continue to record. Then he continues to tell me that I can't record it's against the rules of the company, blah blah blah. So then I was like ok, never mind. So we take off and the guy goes off on us. "That is ridiculous! Blah blah blah, you are stupid, that is ridiculous." in some accent I don't know where the guy is from. so then we continue with our hunt and we happen to pass by the booth again. When the guy sees us he starts going off on us again! "That is ridiculous, you need new brain" I looked at him and said, THANK YOU! This is totally a you had to be there thing, but it was the funniest thing ever! It totally made for one of those inside things and I think it actually brought the girls closer. So now our favorite thing to say is "YOU NEED NEW BRAIN!" We also found out that you're not allowed to video tape in the mall because it's private property. Good thing when the security guard told us we were on our last thing on the list, phew.

What I did for my b-day, Another reason to feel old!

2007-12-01T10:42:00.000-08:00

Well for my birthday Jr and I went to the Cheesecake Factory, just the two of us. Then we came home, oh wait, first we stopped at Walgreens to get some birthday candles, then we came home. Jr put the candles on my cake, he sang happy birthday and I blew the candles, and he took a picture of me cutting my cake. Then we each had a piece. After that I wrote a paper that was due the next day. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!

Time to grow up

2007-11-27T19:50:00.000-08:00

So today is my 26th birthday. Man, I'm getting old like Nate! lol jk.
Growing up I would always make a big fuss about my birthday and I would get all excited about my birthday. I would cross out the days in November and wait anxiously for the day to come. My family had a tradition of waking us up very early in the morning on our birthday to sing "Las mananitas" to us and to give us our birthday gift. It was very exciting. But I realized this morning that this year, I didn't even mark it on my calendar. I wasn't even making a big fuss about it. Jr. kept asking me what I want for my b-day (which I prefer that way I dont' get some silly socks, or an undersized shirt) but I didn't even know what I wanted. So I have come to the conclusion that I finally grew up. I think I've grown out of the making a big deal out of my birthday. It's just another day. Now don't get me wrong, I am extremely thankful for the life I've lived and all the blessing I've recieved from God. But I think as we grow older our priorities change and our mind is set on different goals and expectations. Not to mention I'm having a baby. I guess it's the beginning of my motherly instict to not be selfish. Nonetheless, I'm thankful to God for everything that he's done for me and everything he has in store for me and my family in the years to come.

HAHAHAHAHAHA

2007-11-16T17:38:00.000-08:00

Get a Cash Advance

I'm also at grad level! Funny! I do ruons all the time, or do I? I gotta check. But i definitely use gotta and the other otta's.

I need to start reading

2007-11-15T19:39:00.000-08:00

In the last year i've purchased two books. Both about weight. Well one is about keeping your heart healthy, phisically and spiritually. Both books i've started and never finished. Maybe i'll finish the heart one and then buy the one Dawn recommended. I feell like I'm missing out on something knowing that my friends are readers and I'm not. I also find that my vocabulary, eventhough i'm a teacher, isn't very rich and I've heard that people that read have rich vocabularies. I need to start reading!

Abigail it is!

2007-10-30T20:51:00.000-07:00

First of all I have to give credit where credit is due. I got the title for this post from Nate. There. lol Anyway, As most of you know, originally we were going to name the baby, Abigail Elizabeth. But then I wanted Abigail Victoria, for my grandma. But the more I hear Abigail Victoria, the more i'm not liking it. So for now she'll be named Abigail. That's it! lol But we still have 5 months to go so it might evolve into something else next week or the next. So I'll keep you updated. The madness!

Bon Apetit!

2007-10-29T16:46:00.000-07:00

At the beginning of my pregnancy, I wasn't really eating. My appetite just wasn't what it usually is. Chicken would gross me out and I'd only eat the rice, beans, or vegetables. But now that I'm at the beginning of the second trimester, the tables have turned! My appetite has returned, and with a vengance! I'm way hungry all the time. At lunch, I eat school lunch sometimes and I'll have two little trays instead of one, plus the cookie, or fruit or whatever else they're serving. Then during prep I have a snack. But, I need to watch out, I really don't want to gain too much weight. So far I've only gained about 5 pounds. I have a feeling the weight gain is going to speed up in the next few months. Now for dinner I can usually have two servings, mind you we eat dinner pretty early, around 5 or 6. So at about 8 I'm hungry again! But I'll just eat some cereal or some yogurt. So in a way I am eating for two, but not intentionally. I'm just hungry! lol

It's a girl!

2007-10-27T09:55:00.001-07:00

Oct. 24th I went in for an ultrasound. The technician asked us if we wanted to know the gender if she could tell. I was like YES! So she's searching and searching. And I was just like, man I hope she can tell! so then she looks at us and says, "I can tell what it is.." Then she was like, "are you ready?" YES!!!!!! Then she says it, It's a girl! The feeling after hearing that was just out of this world! I couldn't believe it! And Jr. was so funny, he kept asking all these questions. "So, you can see her from both side?, How can you tell it's a girl?, So when you have a baby, you can do the ultrasound on yourself?" I was like Jr. leave the lady alone. It was funny though. So we are very excited! Little Abigail Victoria will be here in 5 months! We were going to name her Abigail Elizabeth, but I had been thinking about using my grandmas name but I just wasnt' sure. But when we found out for some reason it just felt right to name her Abigail Victoria. We'll save Elizabeth for the next girl!

Romans 2:28-29

2007-10-21T18:30:00.000-07:00

A man is not a Jew if he is only one outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical. No, a man is a Jew if he is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a man's praise is not from men, but from God.

I'm not as far as I thought!

2007-10-18T17:18:00.001-07:00

So, according to the date of my last menstruation (trying to keep things in medical terms) I would be 19 weeks. But according to my first ultrasound, I'm 17 weeks, which is what they go by. So I'm due March 29th and not March 11th. Which is still fine. I just thought that I was almost half way there. Now I'm two weeks behind, well according to what I thought. Which kinda sucks cause I was really excited that we'd find out the baby's gender next week, but now we can only hope to find out. We'll see. I'm crossing my fingers though! But each time is such a great experience at the doctor's office. Jr. and I had huge cheese faces when we heard the heartbeat. It's like each time it gets louder! It's so cool! I can't wait for this baby to be here. And about my glucose, everything's fine. Only one of the test of three came back high and it needs to be two high results to be considered diabetic, so thank God for that! Oh, also because of the confusion of my due date, the downsyndrome test for the baby came back abnormal because I took it too early. So they had to draw blood again just to make sure. So I'll find out the results on monday. Which I'm not worried about at all.

I chose the better part...

2007-10-17T22:03:00.000-07:00

This past weekend I went to a local ladies retreat. The theme was "Una Mujer ante el Rey". (look it up! ;) Basically they featured different women of the bible and they're attitude toward Jesus. One of the stories they talked about was Mary and Martha. The one were Martha's in the kitchen cooking and staying busy and complaining that Mary wasn't helping her. And Mary was at Jesus' feet listening to his teaching. This took me back to when I was younger. My mom always said that I was her Mary and my sister was her Martha because I would always want to be at church and almost never finished my chores. She would even threaten me that if I didn't wash the dishes or clean whatever it was I had left for the last minute, that she wouldn't let me go to church. This really made me think about where I am now in my walk with God. I have definitely strayed from my "Mary" status. The Lord spoke clearly and he wants me to be that Mary that I was before. I don't know at what point I began my downfall but I definitely became mediocore in my walk. My hope is that I will seek God like I use to and that I will again become a Woman at the feet of my King! Please continue to pray for me as I journey forward in the Lord.

I'm pregnant, ok!

2007-10-17T21:30:00.001-07:00

It's true you do lose your memory! hopefully I wont forget my what e-mail I used for this one! Thank God I have like 5! lol

This time it's for real!

2007-10-17T21:24:00.000-07:00

I've wanted to start blogs for a while now, I think this is my third on on blogspot. But of course I can't remember my password, so I start this one. I hope I can keep this up from now on. Especially with the baby coming I'm sure there'll be tons to share! For now, God has been so good! Since finding out that I'm pregnant so many thoughts have come to me especially of doubt, I know not good. But through and through God reminds me that he is in control and that the baby is in his hands. In the past month our faith was tested, I guess you could say. I had recieved a call from the doctor's office saying with urgency that I needed to call back. So this was on a friday, I didn't check the messages till saturday, the doctor's office is closed on the weekends. We had to wait till monday to find out what was up. On that friday Jr. had spoken to the youth about Joy and how we need to being joyful in the Lord in every situation. So this was definitely a test of our Joy. So we prayed and we called the "elders" of the church to join us in prayer. The result: JOY! At first I was on the verge of tears not knowing what the heck was up! But as we prayed and put our trust in the Lord it was as if nothing was going on and we truly experienced the Lord's Joy that weekend. So once more God has proven that all things work together for good to those who love him and have been called according to his purpose.