Fifty Two Weeks of Joy

This blessing took place the week of May 18 th – 19 th   I am blessed to have the family I have, I absolutely love my brothers and my sister, well sisters if you count the other Jennifer. I'll save her story for another day. My sister Nicole lives in El Paso and has 4 beautiful children, Malachi, Kiana, Nevaeh, and Marcus all of them Asian and each of them a miracle in their own way. Malachi, brought the family together, Kiana born on her daddy's birthday & 6 weeks early fighting for her life, Nevaeh, was growing in the womb when Nicole had an extensive laparoscopic surgery to remove some endometriosis; hence the name Nevaeh it's heaven backwards, because she truly was a gift from God. Sweet Marcus is the last of the group and I guess the perfect one… They say parents stop having children when they finally get it right. I love all of my sister's kids they each hold a very special place in my heart but I do share a special bond with my niece Kiana.   ...

This blessing took place the week of May 11 th – 17 th . I was beyond blessed this week. I was given an opportunity to go home for few days. I flew out on Thursday, May 15 th . Anytime I fly home I have a layover in Dallas. This usually allows for me to get breakfast or lunch. This being a typical layover I stopped to get some breakfast at McDonalds. Instead of getting my usual, just a breakfast burrito and a drink I felt the need to get the meal. It includes 2 burritos, a hash brown, and a drink. After getting my meal and arriving at my gate. The girl sitting next to me asked where she could find McDonalds. I told her she would need to take the skylink to get there, but she probably wouldn't have time to go and come back before boarding.   I told her I had an extra burrito that she could have if she wanted it. She asked if I was serious, I smiled and said, "Yes, I seriously have an extra burrito and you can have it". I went on to tell her I never get the meal b...

This blessing took place the week of May 4 th – 10 th Twice a year I wear a yellow rose in my hair in memory of mom, May 6 th  the anniversary of her death and then again on August 24 th for her birthday. Like the years before I wore my yellow rose yesterday.   Oscar and I try to do something special every year to celebrate mom's life. This year we decided to go to Olive Garden to celebrate we picked this place for two reasons: first my mom's favorite restaurant was Olive Garden, and second my dad gave Oscar a gift card to Olive Garden for his birthday.   We only go to Olive Garden to celebrate mom and we both always get the same thing. Mom's favorite, the lunch portion of the chicken parmesan with salad and bread sticks, of course. After we finished our meal we realized the gift card had some money left over. We knew we needed to share this with someone else, instead of keeping it for our next mom celebration. We tipped our waiter with cash and asked hi...

This blessing took place the week of April 27 th – May 3 rd   I've tried to be completely honest with myself and each of you throughout this journey. For those of you who don't know this is a difficult time of year for me. Mom got sick on April 23 rd and passed away on May 6 th . I tend to be an emotional mess at different times. Small things still trigger strong emotions. A lot has changed since mom passed away. Not only am I a daughter, sister, aunt, friend, wife, but now I'm a mother. My husband and I joke mom is the reason we are parents; I promise she is the one to blame.   While on her death bed in the hospital, Oscar and I had the opportunity to spend some time with mom, just us. While there mom asked Oscar when we were going to have kids so she could be a Gigi again. Mom always wanted to be a grandma but didn't want to be called grandma; she wanted to be called Granny. My sister wouldn't allow it, but Kenta, my brother in law, called her Goofy Grann...

This blessing took place the week of April 20 th – 26 th Wednesday, April 23 rd , was Administrative Professionals Day. Not only am I, an Administrative Professional, but I work for one. As a small token of my appreciation for her I brought her breakfast on Wednesday. It's not much and it doesn’t even begin to show just how much I really appreciate her but it was a cherished gesture. For those of you who don’t know Rose, I'd like to take this opportunity to share my favorite Rose and Jennifer story. Trust me; this story will make you understand how a simple breakfast will never be enough to show how much I appreciate her. Sometime last year I became very ill. I had a nasty stomach bug and didn't have the strength to take myself to the doctor. Oscar needed to stay with Eli; and because of Eli's health we couldn't expose him to me or to a doctor's office. Oscar's family lives close but they help with Eli and for the safety of Eli we didn't w...

This blessing took place the week of April 13 th – 19 th I apologize in advance this week isn't going to be an exciting read. I unfortunately will be leaving out some of the details of this blessing. I know that makes for a less interesting story but for the privacy of those blessed I need to remain vague. A family very near and dear to me and Oscar is going through a very exciting time in their lives. However, in order to complete what is needed they were in need of some financial assistance. Thankfully, God has recently blessed our family and we were able to give a blessing. We are very excited for the work God is doing with this situation and maybe someday we will be able to share the details. Until then I pray each of you look for opportunities to return what God has given you. He can do more with a small portion of what you own than you could ever do with 100% of what you own. Take the time to bless someone today. You'll be glad you did!