Final Roadblock Removed!

Do you ever feel like God is calling you to do something? Perhaps it's even the worst thing He could ever ask you to do because you don't feel like it's supposed to be you to do it. What if it's repairing a relationship you didn't damage, could you pick up the phone, write a letter or even plan a face to face meeting to resolve the issue no matter how much it hurts?

I find that God can't move forward in our lives to bless us, to help us grow or to push us to become better people unless we are willing to submit 100% to His calling. Like I stated in my post yesterday, I want the 100-fold return. So when I asked God to show me any areas in my life he really wanted me to clean house on, he told me I had to make the first step in resolving the issue with my father. We haven't spoken in 17 years. It's not because either of us had issues with one another, we simply grew apart and for me, I personally believed, it just wasn't the time to have conflicts and unnecessary stress in my life. I also wasn't walking with Jesus back then, I kind of went my own way and resolved to pick God up again when I found the time.

Yet, when a young man I counseled back at the end of the summer just as he was heading back to college, we both had a god-like intervention. It was a tough time for both of us in what started out as simply friends getting together, but with God there are no coincidences. He had a plan that day. A plan to work a miracle of sorts in both our lives and for us both, it was a test of our wills, a test of faith, and a test of our commitment to Him. That was a huge turning point for both of us. We each had to resolve issues with our family. He did his immediately and for me, I did mine today.

The first person I really wanted to share it with was my friend and I got so much love and support from him. I felt it was time to call my dad. He had been inquiring about me and my family through my brother and even though I provided him with all my contact information if my dad wanted to reach out, he felt he needed to come from me. Well now, I know where I get my stubbornness from.

So lately, I've been tackling a study on faith with my husband. We've been learning how to walk closer with God's will for our lives and less than our own will. I've been learning how to put up boundaries to keep my inside and focused on today, learning to plant today seeds, and being a 100% committed to God in ALL areas of my life. Today, God called and said it was time to clean the whole house, including that closet in the back where I've kept it under lock and key.

Today, I refused to listen to all the lies of the enemy, because God said today was the day. Was He making me do it? Of course not! God doesn't force us to do anything. He simply asks. If we're 100% committed, the response should be an easy one, but for me, well, let's just say it was the hardest thing I believe God asked me to do. He wanted me to call my dad today. Why today?

Because (1) He asked. (2) I was willing to go all in, and commit 100% if God saw things that needed to be cleaned up in my life, and (3) it was my dad's birthday. A perfect segue into why I was calling today of all days. I didn't know today would be the day, God would call in His chips for this area of my life, but knowing how wonderful He's been moving in areas of my life, I didn't want this to be the one thing that would hold me back from receiving His best in my life. Who doesn't want God's best?

And let me tell you He has been working in mighty ways, but I can't share just yet. So when God called today, I had no excuse. I had to 100% committed for Him, or I wasn't. He doesn't want anything less from me. So after a lengthy prayer asking for Him to be with me, I rummaged for the phone number my brother gave me a few months ago, and dialed the number. I was kinda hoping it would go to voicemail, but you know God, He had other things in mind. My dad answered.

I don't know which of us was more shocked, me or him. He was surprised, but you can tell it was a great surprise. I had to hold back the tears as I wished him a Happy Birthday and remind him who was calling. Remember he didn't have my number with him, I'm sure. We touched base a little bit today, and I told him I wanted to call over sending a card to let him know I was thinking about him today. We spoke for about 15 minutes since he was heading into work, but I know today was the start of something amazing. I know one things for sure, my dad probably got the birthday gift he's been wanting for a very long time. For me, I was happy to know that I kicked the devil back into his hole, because now, my house is clean. I have 100% assurance I am not holding anything back. I've forgiven all the people in my life I have issues with and for once, I have opened the doors in all my personal relationships!

And you know what?

I feel GREAT!

and the best part?

God's got something coming and it's going to be mind-blowing amazing and I believe it's coming soon!

I hope this message inspires you to open those doors God's calling you to work on. While it may difficult, the enemy will try to remind you of all kinds of ways to avoid doing this, but like removing a band-aid, you just got to rip it off! It doesn't hurt half as much as you think it would, and it's sooooo worth it!

If you want to contact me, leave me a message and I'll respond or you can ask me to pray for you. I know in the last days the enemy is going to seek to divide and destroy our relationships and it's time we got the construction business going and start to make repairs and build bridges. Let's put him out of business!

By the way, Happy Birthday again Dad!!!

Morning!

Good Monday Morning Everyone!

Here is hoping that you all had a wonderful weekend. For those of you snowed in, frozen solid or simply too cold for words, I hope you stayed warm, in front of a toasty fire and really enjoyed some quality family time.

Today is a simple update post since I have so much going on, I want to update all of you on everything.

1. My Health ~ I was great for about 5 days, no pain, no pain meds and then low and behold on Friday just after someone called and inquired and I actually told them I was doing better, come Friday afternoon, the pain came back. Thankfully I have an appointment today at 4pm PST and hoping to see just what my options are and what is really going on inside.

2. I want to congratulate Chel from Abiding Branch for winning the One Day Way Diet book. If you email me, I can get that off to you as soon as I can. Look for another giveaway this week for Where Is God? once I post that. Great book. I'll probably post it later today so make sure you enter to win.

3. Mea, my niece goes in this week for her eye exam and with so many of you praying for her, we are hoping that God blesses us with some wonderful news. We will know on January 13th, Wednesday so keep lifting her up in your prayers.

4. Steve's Mother is back in the hospital, her third time since I've first blogged about her for her heart arrhythmia again. Since she has diabetes, the doctors have been unable to perform an angiogram to detect what is going on with her rapid heart rate because of her kidneys operating at about 30%. Please pray that God will make this possible so they can figure out just what is going on. For now she remains in the hospital.

5. Kailee's birthday is coming up in about 2 weeks if any of you would love to send along a Birthday card to her, I know she would just love to get something in the mail. Simply email me and I'll send you our address. She is turning the big 11 on January 28th.

Thanks for you many continued prayers for our family and for me. I've definitely felt it over the last few weeks and know that even in the middle of the storm, God's healing waters are still washing over me.

16 is Sweet!

July 24 th seems just like every other day to most people. It’s just another day right smack dab in the middle of summer. Today it’s just a Friday and for most of us, that alone is a great thing in itself. However for one person in this household it is much more than just an ordinary Friday in the middle of summer in July. It is her birthday! She has no completed 16 years of experience in a short time she has lived. She has had to grow up much to fast for most teens her age.

She was born at 6:03AM and weighed the average 7 pounds and 8 ounces, like most female babies. We were super lucky she was born healthy! Isn’t that what most parents wish for when their baby is being born? Please let the baby be healthy! She was!

She was the perfect first born for me. As a first time mom, I was looking for easy in raising a baby and that is just what I got. No real crying except for the usual, diaper change, hungry or overly tired. Other than that, perfectly content.

That lasted way into her toddler years. Everyone who met Caitlyn fell in love with all her super cute charm, and she could charm them all. Never had a lack of babysitters or people wanting to take her off our hands for a couple hours or even a weekend. She was fine with commuting long distances and kept herself busy in the car without fussing.

She lived through a divorce but doesn’t remember most of it since it happened when she was 3. For that alone I am thankful. I made a vow that I wouldn’t stand in the way of her happiness ever, as long as it was something she wanted, no matter how much it hurt. For 5 years, I watched her leave every summer, and fly home to her dad in Rhode Island, ripping my heart out each time, but hiding it until she was safely on a plane. Never did I ever let her see how much pain a mother goes through when her daughter leaves. I thought I wouldn’t experience that until she left for college.

However, in her 9th grade year, her dad finally agreed to let her make the decision to move where she wanted and the heavens rejoiced that day, when she chose us. We have been so blessed to have had her these last 2 years. Now she flies home to Rhode Island for the summer and returns to us before the start of school.

She is turning into an amazing woman before our eyes. She has maintained a 4.0 throughout High School and has a life goal of being valedictorian for her High School class within the next two years. She has participated in Track and Field and made it to CIF’s while maintaining all her academic levels and being on the Principal’s Honor’s Roll. She is planning on attending some college classes while completing her Junior year to get her started in her college classes early.


Friends ~ From left to right ~ Heather, Caitlyn and Samm!


She has volunteered at our church with Leaders in Training which helps out the Youth Groups. This summer she is attending a Leadership camp at the UC of Santa Barbara for her ASB class this year as Activities Commissioner. She has also completed 2 years of community service as a Mentor in her school helping developmentally challenged kids with their schoolwork. Their parents have sent glowing letters to the school and us!

Caitlyn in the brown top and her circle of friends!


When you ask her what she sees her future job as, it’s an easy choice for her. She wants to work with children. She sees the future for what it can potentially become and she never harbors grudges even when others have betrayed her trust. She sees things through those proverbial rose colored lens and always sees the best in others no matter what others say.


Caitlyn at Sea World working with Dolphins!


She is the daughter that everyone wants to be best friends forever with, all the guys want for their girlfriend and ever parents perfect daughter! She makes being a parent so easy even with all her teen challenges; we wouldn’t change anything about her.



Caitlyn and Kailee at Knott's Berry Farm!

Her favorite colors are purple and black. She loves God with all her heart and found salvation early on in her childhood. Her best female friend is Samm Lillard. She loves to run track. Is super excited to be planning most of the activities at her school this year. Hates most math classes. Loves History!



Her first real love was Quinn but now is sharing her love with Jordan for a second time.


Her favorite food is Salmon or Chicken Fettuccine Alfredo. She loves Dark Chocolate, especially from See’s Candies, or even Hershey’s Special Dark Chocolate. Her favorite season is Fall. Her favorite place to buy clothes is Forever 21 and Aeropostle. Her best male friend is Mikey! She loves horses. She spends all of her time, MySpacing, emailing her friends, hanging out at the mall with Mikey, Jordan and Samm. She loves roller-skating. Her dream vacation would be Italy! Her favorite flower is a red rose!


Caitlyn at Magic Mountain with Samm, Mikey and her cousin Josh!


So I would ask one small favor of each of you visiting my blog today, to please stop over at her blog, Dear Craisin and wish her a very Happy 16th Birthday!


Happy 16th Birthday, Caitlyn!!

Pictures of Wonderland

If you followed my blog at all last week, you knew that our oldest daughter was planning her 16th birthday party this last Saturday. She had it a week early due to so many of her friends leaving for summer camp or just having things planned this weekend.

What were we thinking? We gave her all kinds of options for a party, but then came across an idea on the internet for an Alice in Wonderland themed party! She fell in love with it since it is her favorite Disney movie.

We changed the title to Caitlyn in Wonderland and designed two party rooms. One decorated all in playing cards, red, white and black streamers, and a huge 10 foot banner than we all painted for 5 hours one night for the game room. This is the room where we hosted all the games.

As you can tell, there I am in black with blond hair reading the instructions for the Amazing Race challenge game that all the teens loved. We divided them into two teams, team red and team black. We created 10 tasks for each team to complete. They were sealed in envelopes with clues to what task they might be faced with. We even had roadblocks and detours. Everyone on the team had to participate and they couldn't have the same person complete tasks until everyone else had gone.


The first task was that they were guess the flavored jelly belly's blind folded after you successfully found 2 green, 2 yellow, 2 white, 2 red and 2 speckled pink jelly beans with the help of one of your team mates. They got points for each correct color found and bonus points for the flavors. Not many got the flavors correct.

Then we had them designate two people from their team that had not participated in the jelly bean game and one was blind folded and the other stood at the top of the stairs and tossed filled balloons to the blind folded person below. I think we had more laughs from this one because the first team caught none and the other team caught 2.

Then we had them blind fold one of their team mates and scoop up cotton balls with a serving spoon and drop them into a bowl.



They actually did this one pretty good because we timed it. They got points for every cotton ball they received.

Then they had to paint white silk roses red with marker. We awarded the team who colored all their petals, points for each petal painted.

As you can tell, this one was almost completely red. I mean what would the queen say?

We also had them scrabble tiles over and spell "Caitlyn in Wonderland." Here my youngest, Kailee was even able to participate!

Then we also had them sort Roman Numeral Letters in order from the highest to the lowest. As you can see here. The only thing we would tell them is how many they had in the correct order, not which ones were correct.

There were more challenges and if you want you can email me and I can send you all 10 tasks and the clues we used if you want to do this for your party.

We completed her party with her cake, which we did at Costco because I didn't want to try and master a fondant Alice in Wonderland cake like the one pictured below. I know I could do it, but the costs to complete this would have been more than I wanted.

So I opted for a Costco cake with roses and we added the colored hearts to it. Caitlyn loved it and said it was her best birthday ever.

After the cake was finished the kids played Catch Phrase which they all loved. Great game that is passed around much like password. Definitely a teen game. Then because we had a 110 degree day, they all went outside at 8:30pm and played Hide and Seek until everyone had to go home.

Before our guest left, they all signed her banner with well wishes and comments. We also gave them a treat bag filled with "Eat Me" cookies and a tea bag wishing them all, " A Merry Unbirthday!" Thanks Samm for the bags and cookies.

One key detail I left out was when each of Cait's party guests arrived they had to pop a balloon with a task inside. For example, each time you hear the word "Caitlyn" you must yell, "Happy Birthday!" We had a grand total of 14 of these going on with phrases like "Off With Her Head!", "Long Live the Queen!", "Has Anyone Seen the White Rabbit?", "I'm Painting the Roses Red! and "It's My Unbirthday Too!"

When I asked Caitlyn what her favorite part was, she said either the Amazing Race Game or the Catch Phrase game. Go figure, teens love games!

Weekend Memories

Sorry, I haven't written for some time, I think Friday was my last blog. We had Kailee's official party on Saturday so we were busy from sun up til sun down. Lot's of friends and family for all ages. We had all 10 of Kailee's friends, about 4 of my teenage daughter Caitlyn's friends, and then of course our friends and family. It was a gorgeous day out, plenty of sunshine, no clouds. Almost seemed like a summer day in January. Now how odd is that?

We played limbo, broke the pinata, poor little turtle. I think we packed him with so much candy all it took was one good hit and he fell apart from where he was tied to the rope. Note to self: Don't load it with too much candy! We had a luau themed party so we played Hawaiian music while the kids finished up their games. We got pizza from Little Caesars, because with 22 people, food can get expensive. We had chips and homemade salsa, thanks Steve, as always people rave over your salsa! We had veggies, fruit and of course cake and ice cream.

Presents came next, and Kailee did something unusual this year, she asked for gift cards for Target and Game Stop. She was going to save them all up along with any birthday money and then go buy some Wii games she has wanted since Christmas. Poor thing didn't want to spend any of them. At least she didn't get presents that parents often look at and think, "Great, what are we going to do with that?" Nope! Good choice Kailee.

The evening ended when most of the guests left at 4:30pm, so we cleaned up with the help of our teenagers who stayed til 6pm. They really helped alot. Seriously, they did!

Next day, we woke up and headed to church and it's funny. I remained in this weird mood for most of the day. Melancholy almost. Even my husband, seemed to notice. I guess I needed to recommit my time and start spending it with God again. Since the weekend, I haven't finished my nightly studies or even blogged. Funny how that really affects your mood.

So we took Kailee shopping to use her gift cards, she bought a couple of games, Super Smash Bros and My Sims. We dropped Caitlyn off at Sean's to watch the Superbowl with his family and friends, and I went to lay down in bed since I was feeling so blah! Funny thing was that they had an I Love Lucy marathon on the Hallmark Channel and I watched several episodes while switching to the Superbowl every now and then to see the score. I was rooting for the Cardinals as Kurt Warner is a Christian and we prayed for his team to win! Sad to see just how close they came!

Well back to school today and another week looms ahead. Time to get back on track!

It's Today! Double Digits!

It's today, it's today!! Kailee finally is turning 10 and as she calls it the "Double Digits". Funny how I don't see that as a huge turning point. I see the 13, 16, 18, and 21st birthday something to really celebrate, but never thought that "double digits" was something amazing! So here is how the day turned out.

Last night, I secretly dropped Kailee off at a friends under the guise of shopping for her birthday. In the meantime, I drove down to Ontario Airport to pick up my hubby Steve that I haven't seen for three plus weeks. He has managed to arrange to fly in for her birthday as a surprise!! So I pick him up and we head back up the hill so as to not arise suspicion in my daughter about what could be taking mom so long to shop since the mall is only 5 minutes away!

When we arrived at the door, Steve hid and then we waited til Kailee came to the door. My husband came out of hiding and the look on her face was priceless!!! She started crying and saying, "you came home for my birthday?" and then hugged her dad and cried!

That was worth everything money could never buy! She wouldn't let go of him until bedtime, when he tucked her into bed one last time at 9, and kissed her goodnight.

We took her out to breakfast this morning and let her open a few gifts from us today, since her party isn't until Saturday! It was a moment we could never forget. To one little girl, God truly answers the prayers of the faithful!

Happy 10th Birthday Kailee! May God bless you with all the good things in life He has to offer you!