The Freedom to Forgive

Forgiveness... granting it is liberation, withholding it--bondage.  Asking for forgiveness is not weakness, but strength.  There is such a paradox in the Christian life, but not just for the Christian, for all of humanity.  Through the emptying of self, we can be the most filled and fulfilled.

Happy Mother's Day!

Today is Mexican Mother's Day.  This is the day I usually celebrate Mother's Day with my mom.  In honor of this day, I wanted to share something for newer moms.

For whatever reason, post-baby bodies are frequently included in my Instagram explore feed. Women sharing how they are working out at a few weeks post delivery and sometimes even bragging that they are back on track after a week. Posting photos of their trim tummies—absent of any evidence that a life had just grown inside their wombs. 

Breastfeeding a Toddler: Why I Continue Past the 12 Month Mark

Paul and me at 1 year and 3 months.

Here I am again.  My fourth earthly baby has reached the one year mark.  It has come so quickly that it feels like he was born a mere blink ago!  Celebrating the completion of the first year of his life comes with many exciting milestones from learning to walk, and increase in communication skills, and for many babies, weaning.

Simple Valentine's Day Craft for Young Children

Happy February!  With Valentine's day around the corner, it's a good time to revisit fun activities!

31 Days to Clean - Days 5 & 6

My family and me on our way to church this past Sunday.

As I continue on the cleaning and homemaking journey, I am constantly reminded to why... Why is this important?  Why should I complete this task?  It is easy for me to look at my windows, blinds, carpet, etc and think: I did this recently, there is no need to do it again. Yet ultimately, I do.  Now on the other hand, I am very quick to examine the Mary challenges and "do them in my head" while marking them complete in my mind.  This is not true accomplishment as I am ensuring that nothing changes in my life.  I do not allow room for growth by doing this.

31 Days to Clean - Days 2, 3, & 4

A photo of my fridge, why? Because people like blogs with pictures. :)

Today's challenges were easy, yet difficult for me to complete.  The Mary challenge asked what I can do today to bring my house to life, the Martha challenge was to wipe down and clean my fridge.  Both of these seem easy enough, but they are both things I try to do routinely, so doing them today proved a little difficult.

O Death, Where is Thy Sting?

"O Death, where is thy sting?" - 1 Corinthians 15:55

My husband and I were talking about this verse the other day.  He was telling me that it's one of those Scriptures in which we see the "already, but not yet" as well as a taste of prophecy.  For those who fall asleep in the Lord, they can truly proclaim that death has no sting and hell has no victory.  But for those of us left behind, we feel the sting of death as our loved ones are physically separated from us in the world.

Tonight (10/17/16), my dad's sister, Yolanda, passed into eternity.  Only three weeks have passed since the death of my dad.  I have still been coming to terms with my earthly loss and yet here I am again faced with such a reality of a physical separation of a Tia that I have really grown to rely on in this past year.  She and my dad were very close and my own relationship with her had grown tremendously in the past several months.  She has been retired and I am a housewife balancing life with my husband in a new occupation that takes more of his time than that of his former work.  Although we were in very different points of our lives, we spoke frequently and even several times during the day.

Sweet Dreams

A beautiful photo of my dad.  

Friday the 14th marked three weeks since the loss of my father.  Some days are mostly good while others are extremely difficult and filled with sadness.  I would have never imagined that such a loss could hurt so deeply.

Losing My Daddy. In Memory of Samuel Garcia 02-12-1949 to 09-23-2016.

My wedding day, Dec. 2, 2007.

It's funny, I have found writing to be therapeutic to me since my youth.  I always kept journals either in paper or digital form, but when I got married back in 2007, my "need" for writing seemed to disappear.  Perhaps it was because I had found a new confidant in my best friend and husband, Peter.  

Over the years as we grew I found two new confidants that I had not known before: my dad and my mom.

According to the Bible, I Am...

I saw a photo on Pinterest that I really have not been able to get out of my mind.  It is a picture of a little girl with a hand written poster with two columns.  One column states, "According to religion I am: -broken -flawed -sinful -dumb -weak -nothing" (sic.).  The other column states, "According to science I am: -full of wonder -smart -a great learner -beautiful -potential for greatness" (sic.).

Love Never Fails

One of the most often read passages in weddings must be that of 1 Corinthians 13:4-7.  This beautiful passage, however, cannot be separated from 1 Corinthians 7 and Ephesians 5.  Love never fails, this is true, but when we spot "failed love" in our society ridden with separations, divorce, and adultery we must look to these other passages to see what true love is.