Fifty Two Weeks of Joy

This blessing took place the week of January 26-31 Currently my family is homeless. We had to be out of our rental on January 28 th and don't close on our home until February 3 rd . So, we are currently living with Oscar's parents, which is a HUGE blessing. I can't say this enough, you have no idea how blessed I am to be a part of their family. They love me as if I was their own daughter and they spoil me as much as my parents spoil me. However, Eli is a creature of habit. He likes for us to pick him up from Norma's, go home, play, and then go to bed. However, with us having to stay at Norma's for a few days it's been a little frustrating for Eli. So the other night we decided we would take him to Fun City to play for a few hours. For those of you who don't know, Fun City is a pizza place with arcade games, and a play area for kids. Eli LOVES this place because he can play basketball there. https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10151913704415630...

This blessing took place the week of January 19-25.   Let me start by apologizing for the late and short post. Our life has been pure chaos for the past few weeks. We are in the process of getting our first home, which means moving!   Well over the weekend we finally finished getting our house packed, it was harder than I remember. The last time we moved I was pregnant with Eli; I didn't have to help as much. I probably should have planned this better. Ha! (Insert smiley face here)   Anyway, while packing we discovered we had several things we don't use anymore, but that were still in good condition. So our blessing this week was donating to Goodwill. I realize this isn't a BIG blessing for some but you never know my old treasures might become someone's new treasure! Oscar and I could have sold most of what we donated and we could have made a little extra cash but instead we decided we would give back to the community. Something we should all d...

This blessing took place the week of January 12-18.   My sister-in-law Ivone is pregnant with her second baby. Ivone and Jeremy had a few things they still needed to get done in the nursery before baby Eva gets here. So, Oscar and I volunteered to take JD, their little boy for the evening, to allow them sometime to focus on getting things ready for Eva.   We had a great time we took the boys to the mall and let them run around in the play area. They got to ride the toy cars and throw money in the water fountain. Best of all though, the boys shared some M&M's. All in all, the boys had a great time playing together and we loved watching them interact with each other.   After we wore the boys out at the mall we went to drop off JD. When we got there Abuelo was hanging a light fixture in Eva's room. Naturally ,both of the boys wanted on the ladder to help. Eli and JD tyring to climb up and help.       ...

Thanks to some friends who came and picked me up in the middle of a blizzard, I was able to volunteer in the nursery last Sunday at church. Before Eli got sick I use to volunteer regularly to serve in the nursery, I loved working with the little ones. However, with Eli being placed in isolation we didn't expose him to kids very often, we were advised to keep him away as much as possible, because kids tend to be germy. Now that Eli's numbers are higher and we don't have to be as cautious with him, I agreed to start volunteering again. I'm also hoping that he will become more comfortable around people; his isolation has hindered his socialization skills. I'm hoping the kids in the nursery will help him adjust. Unfortunately though, Sunday morning Eli woke up with a low grade fever and there was a blizzard outside, not really, but there was snow. So I phoned a friend, and they came and picked me up, so I could still help and Oscar said he'd stay with Eli. ...

This week rang in the New Year!   This weeks blessing allowed me the opportunity to bless someone who recently lost a loved one.   However, this time I've decided to not go into detail about the blessing, but instead offer some encouragement. Death has been heavy on my heart these past few weeks. I have several friends and family members struggling with the loss of a loved one, and I feel like I need to share some hope in the midst of darkness.   People say it's hard to lose someone who's young, or to lose them during the holidays, or to lose them unexpectedly. Here's the thing though, regardless of the amount of time, you could've had 20 years, 50 years, or 70 days with them and it still wouldn't be enough.   Maybe they died Christmas morning, or on your birthday, or on a random Tuesday in July, no matter the day the holidays are still hard without them. Maybe they died from old age, a random illness, or in a car accident, it's still hard...