Never Thought Somethings Were Idols

I've been thinking about idols in my life. Some idols are good but still take away from God. For instance family, job, husband or wife are all good things but can become idols. Sometimes those things are idols in my life but lately, my biggest idol is wanting to be someone i'm not. Not that I want to be a certain someone but the vision of that perfect wife and mother sometimes consumes me. When I try to be that person i'm not, I fail then there is disappointment. I need to be happy with how God made me and know that He made me for a certain reason. Now there are things I could work on that would make me a better wife and mother to which would glorify God like working on my laziness or selfishness, having a better attitude, finding good in things instead of complaining and smiling more. Once I work on these things, I believe I become more like the person I want to be and then my focus is more on Jesus. Only through Jesus and seeking him can I accomplish those things. I'm blessed to realize that the Lord showed me that this was...um I mean is an idol in my life. My thought process won't change overnight. Alls I know is that this piece of clay can't mold herself, she has to let the Potter do that.

The Holidays

Well we are in winter now, we've gone through thanksgiving, Giana's 5th birthday, Christmas, New Years and Julian's 4th birthday. I'm probably just going to ramble on but just wanted to make a note of things we did: We celebrated Thanksgiving at home. Josh and Susan joined us. It was a very relaxing thanksgiving. We went around the table expressing what we were thankful for by way of the alphabet. I started with A and had to say what I was thankful for that started with the letter A. Then the next person started with B and so on. It was fun and our time at the table lasted a lot longer then it normally would have.
We celebrated Giana's birthday on December 3rd. She got a Laura dress with the apron that our dear friend Dee made. She also was surprised with Curious George on her cake. I can't believe she's 5. I really want to turn back the hands of time and start all over with her. I want to be a better mommy to her and I just want to share Jesus with her in a loving way. I pray the Lord will work on her heart.
We went to Heritage Village one Saturday to make some ornaments then to Dunedin for their Old Fashioned Christmas. They offered free train rides and free crafts. Christmas carolers walked around caroling. They even had some free old fashioned games to play and snow! Florida style snow but it looked real. It was tiny bubbles but just they way they blew around looked so real. The kids really enjoyed it.
On a Sunday after chruch, we had the pleasure of delivering gifts to Angel Tree recipients. It was a joy to see the kids enjoy their gifts but sad to know the situations.
On a weekday, we spent the afternoon at Melisa's with Sunshine. We made homemade pizzas and hot chocolate and the kids made snowmen out of socks and rice. I really wanted to make my own. :-) but they didn't let me. :-( On another Sunday we went to the Guerra's annual Christmas open house. It was cold but nice and festive.
We went to a live nativity. "Journey into Bethlehem" This was at a church in Clearwater. I'd like to make this an annual thing. They do a great job of recreating the streets of Bethlehem as they take us on a journey looking for baby Jesus. And they shared the gospel at the end and then offered, cookies, hot chocolate and coffee.
We went to Orlando for Christmas Eve because Pete's parents were in town. We ended up stayed in a hotel for the night. It was just about midnight when we got to the hotel and we sang happy birthday to Jesus. The kids loved that we were in a hotel. They were allowed to jump on the beds and have a pillow fight. The next morning we had breakfast with Pete's family then headed on home where we all put on our new PJ's and we made homemade pizzas and just enjoyed our time together and reflected on the true meaning of Christmas. The kids opened their gifts. Giana's favorite: Laura nightgown and sleeping cap. Julian got a 'Pa' gun. They also got new bath towels that they love. One is a monkey and one is a dog. Having Jesus and my family is the best gifts I could ever have.
Pete ended up doing a video testimony at church. They ended up showing it all 4 of the Christmas services. To God be all the glory. I pray it touched a few people.
For New Years, the kids had colds and Pete had to work.
Pete's parents then came to visit us but his dad got sick and had to go in the hospital for most of the days they were here. He's ok for now. I just pray his last years will be happy ones.
On 2 different occasions we were told that we were different (in a good way). We shined for Jesus.! The Lord was glorified! What a great testimony to our unsaved family members.
On January 14th we celebrated Julian's 4th birthday. My baby is no longer a baby. All his baby features are gone even his cute chubby feet. They have now slimmed down. We got him his first skateboard for his birthday. He loves it so much that he wants to sleep with it. He has yet to get a helmet so he hasn't been able to ride it. Grandpop and Linda got him some knee and shoulder pads. He needs those :-)
Thinking back on 2010 it was a happy year. We've grown and learned in the Lord. Financially, it was difficult but the Lord is always faithful. I pray the Lord will show Pete on what area of work to get into. We are at a standstill and don't know what to do. We have a few ideas for some business ventures but it requires money and we just don't have that. I just pray if it's the Lords will, then he'll provide. I also pray for the new year that I can become more of the mother and wife I want to be. I pray the Lord will show me how to be patient with the children. I pray that the Lord will help me with my anger. I pray we'll pick the right K curriculum for Giana. I pray that we'll do what the Lord wants us to do with the children. I pray to get closer to Jesus and I pray for continued health and safety. I also pray that friends and family members will be saved this year and that we as a family will be more bold in sharing the gospel with strangers and may we soak ourselves in the word so that we are equipped.
Well, I guess that's it for now. I do pray I will blog more often. It's a great thing to look back on. Also, I'd love to have it printed out every year. Like having a yearbook.
May God bless us all in 2011. Maybe Jesus will come back this year. :-)

Spring? Summer?

Wow it is September. Where did the spring and summer go? It went by in a blink of an eye. I can't say I did much in those seasons. And now I regret not doing enough. I will no longer get that time back. I will just have to strive to make the most of the new time the Lord has given me. I think it's time to sit down and write down some goals and seek the Lord for direction. Also, I need to schedule more. I find myself running around too much. I also want to start a journal for each child and journal every night about their daily activities. Discipline that's what it boils down to. Discipline! It's so hard when my B.C. days were so undisciplined. I never had to answer to anyone, I could do what I wanted, I had no real responsibilities except paying bills.

A new season is approaching, Fall! A time to harvest my heart. Pluck out the selfish things in my heart. And pull out the good things that were planted and learn from them and grow in them.

On another note, i'm excited to decorate for fall. I can smell the pumpkins and apples already. I feel so blessed to have been able to grow up in a place where I did experienced each season. I can actually close my eyes and feel the crispness in the air and picture all the leaves starting to change color and actually smell fall. But there was always a little sadness of summer ending. I am grateful for each season I am in. Praise the Lord for He is good!

Christmas Decorations

Here is chalkboard that I made with my dear friend Monica. It used to be a mirror with a natural frame. I picked it up at Heritage Villages's yard sale for $3.50 www.pinellascounty.org/heritage/ We painted it burgandy and spray painted the mirror with chalkboard paint. Half of it already had some chalkboard paint on it's a little bumpy so, I may need to redo it. I also need to get some chalkboard markers and take some chalkboard art classes...LOL. Looking forward to changing it from season to season.



Here is a banner that took me hours to do. Again, my friend Monica inspired me to do this. I couldn't get the whole banner in the picture. It says: Happy Birthday Jesus



This is the end of the banner (Jesus). Thank you Monica for the help, the idea and supplies. Love ya!

Some decorations around the house....

As for me and my house we will serve the Lord

Ok, some people are asking why we don't do santa. Here is why our family doesn't.....

We are christians. We weren't always christians but we are now. We are born again or other words, saved. The bible states in IICorinthians 5:17 that anyone in Christ is a new creation. The old has gone the new has come.~ Since we are a new creation in Christ we want to do whatever possible to bring glory to God. We wouldn't have Christmas if it wasn't for Jesus. So to Him be all the glory. So, we celebrate it for what it is, Jesus' birthday. We don't want to bring honor to anyone else but Jesus himself. Our children aren't going to miss out on anything. Infact they are learning the truth. Proverbs 22:6 states: Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it. ~ We are teaching our kids that Jesus is the reason we celebrate Chrismas. No other reason. Santa is a tradition based on man not God. The following verse confirms our decision: Romans12:2 - Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. ~ We sure have changed the way we think towards a lot of things. Sant is based on Saint Nick who was a real person that loved Jesus and gave gifts to people in secret (God's work) but he is in heaven now with Jesus. And really, what does santa have to do with Christs birth?? What role did he play when Jesus was born? We call santa the Christmas clown because he resembles a clown. Julian states he doesn't like him because he's afraid of him just like he's afraid of a real clown. As far as the kids getting gifts, we want our kids to know that we are the ones giving them gifts. Their father works very hard in order to buy them gifts and why should some make believe man take the glory? We are trying to teach our kids not to lie and if we were to do santa we would be lying to to our children. How do you think they would feel when they find out the truth? I know I was pretty upset when I found out the truth. Christmas wasn't the same after that. We as their parents need to be the example. Do not lie is the 9th commandment. How about commandment #1...have no other gods but me. I'd say santa is a god to a lot of children. How about commandment #2... don't worship idols. I'd say most of the world makes santa an idol and where is Jesus in all of this? It's very sad. Our eyes should never leave Jesus and make someone/something else an idol. We also teach our children that God loves us soooo much that he gave us the ultimate gift, Jesus John 3:16 states: For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. ~So since God gave us a gift we want to give the kids a gift to show them that we love them and to celebrate Jesus' birthday. We don't buy the kids a lot. Maybe 3 presents each (Jesus got 3 gifts from the 3 kings) and we probably only spent $20 on each. It's not about getting presents or having the best toy. It's about Jesus coming into this world and saving us. Oh my gosh!!! What a gift!!! It brings me to tears to think about it. Christmas is magical! Not because of santa but because a perfect baby was born who turned into a man that loves us so much that he suffered and died for us and saved us from going to hell. To those that don't know Jesus and would like to, you need to sincerely accept Him as your Lord and savior in your heart and repent from your sins and start a new life in Christ. This is the only way to heaven. You're not going to get into heaven just because you're good and just by saying, I believe in Him. Ephesians 2:8-9 says: God saved you by his special favor when you believed. And you can't take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a rewared for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.~ Jesus also says in the bible in John 3:3..I assure you, unless you are born again you can never see the kingsom of God. ~ Accepting Christ was the best decision my husband and I ever made. It is all about God and to Him be the glory. Everything exists because of God. And this is why we don't do santa. We do what we feel is right for our family in the eyes of God. Joshua 25:15 For me and my house, we will serve the Lord ~ At least we try to. We are still sinners but thanks be to God there is grace and mercy. Merry Christmas and love to all.

Happy Birthday Jesus!!!

An online sister made this point that I never thought of. I just added it to my list of why we don't do santa. Thanks Kat!!.....

With santa, kids are taught that they recieve gifts IF they are good boys and girls. That santa is watching all year long, and so they should be good if they want gifts. Many parents even use this as a way to threaten their kids when they're being naughty. On the total OPPOSITE side of the spectrum, we find Jesus, the FREE GIFT of God--not based at all on works that we have done. God gave His only begotten Son to sinners, because He loved us even while we were yet sinners.

Look Who's 4

My baby girl turned 4 years old on 12-3-09. Where does the time go? I know it's only been 4 years but I remember being pregnant with her and praying for her. I had a few miscarriages so when I became pregnant with her I cried out to the Lord to let me have her. And the Lord answered my prayers. I'm also grateful that the Lord showed me how she should be born. I had her in a birthing center with assistance from a midwife. Everything was natural, no drugs, IVs or monitors of any kind. I was able to eat, drink, and move around if I felt needed. When she was born she, she entered into the hands of her father. He 'caught' her. From there she was placed right on me and then she started nursing immediately. We waited till the cord stopped functioning till we cut it then a little bit later we weighed her and took her measurments. Not once was she out of my sight. Pete laid in the bed with her while I took a shower, then he ran out for some food and then after some paper work and my vitals we went home. All in one day. She is a true blessings. She is funny at times and she's full of love. She loves animals and babies. She loves dressing up. She is very girly and she always has to pick out her own clothes. Purple is her favorite color right now. She is a little mommy. She's already demonstrating great traits of a helpmeet. I pray I can guide her into the will God has for her. I pray I can teach her everything she needs so she's equiped to do Gods will. We love her very much. Happy Birthday Giana! Here is how we celebrated her special day.......
We started off by going to Pete's work to have breakfast. When we arrived, Pete had the table decorated with candy, a balloon, a present, stickers and cute little smoothies. Of course everything was purple.

Then after breakfast we were off to my bible study at Melisa's house. She wanted to go because she got to play with her friends. I had to take this pic of her. When I turned around she was just sitting there looking at me.

Then when we got home Pete suprised her with Pizza (it's what she wanted for dinner). Then we had cake that her father made for her. You got it right, a purple cake.

Present time. She got her GiGi God princess dress up kit which she's been praying for. By the look on her face she was happy.

Blowing out the candles.

I can't wait to see how she grows in the year to come. May God bless her and watch over her!!

THANKSGIVING

For Thanksgiving, we made our first lapbook. It was fun and the kids learned a lot about thanksgiving.


Inside we included, a picture of the mayflower, some paper pilgrims and indians that we dressed, bible verses on giving thanks, colors that we eat on thanksgiving, a menu of what our family eats on thanksgiving, a memory game, leaf stickers because thankgiving is in the Fall, T is for thanksgiving and there is a big turkey on the back and on each feather is something the kids are thankful for. Examples: Lions, toys, their drinking cup, and Papi (they never did say mommy..LOL). I really like doing lapbooks at this age. I've been a little stuck on what to do with them lately but I think I found it. I'm also in the middle of doing Before Five in a Row but it seems a little slow so I want to add some stuff to it and I think a lapbook would be a great addition. Maybe I'll do a lapbook on each book that we read.

Here is the kids table on Thanksgiving (Clayton is missing). Literally, it was the kids table, us adults sat on the couch or stood. There were only 7 adults compared to kids. We enjoyed our holiday by celebrating it with good friends, The Teels and The Moellers. We are truly thankful that the Lord blessed us with Godly friends. How important it is to surround yourself with people who love the Lord. It was a nice day and I thank God for everything that is in my life.

Look what I made at my dear friend, Monica's house. It's the official, Rivera Thankful box. Every year we write what we are thankful for and place it in the box. It's going to take a bunch of years to fill up this box and I can't wait till I am old (God willing) when I can sit down and go back and read them.

This is just the side view of the box. I want to thank Monica for opening up her house to a bunch of us girls so we could do some fall crafts and for supplying the supplies. I also want to thank her for the laughs and her friendship. She is dear to my heart. I pray the Lord blesses her beyond measure. It really was a nice day and a nice time of fellowship. We even got to make some fall wreaths. I'm already looking forward to the Christmas Craft Day. Thank you Lord for all your blessings. Thank you for this season so we can look back and reflect on all you have done. For you are always faithful and I am forever thankful!!!