A very few pics

All the ladies (this wasn't the official photographer, so Melody can't really be seen)

The bride and her flower girls

Adriana stealing the bridal bouquet away...

As we saw the bride walk in...

It was a gorgeous day, an amazing setting, a beautiful ceremony... my, my, my... what a great beginning for a new love story!

The Big Day!

Today is the big day we've been preparing for the last few months. Today, two lives will become one. Seasons of prayer, pondering and seeking of God's will are over. Days of planning and preparation have come to an end. Today is a day of celebration! What an amazing gift God gave us when He thought of marriage. And the cherry on top? Today, a bride leaves my home to walk down the aisle that will lead her to her groom. This little home has been a part of it and this whole house is busting at the seams full of people celebrating. All of it thanks to God's blessing and provision to our own lives! Happy day!

This week

• Well, for starters, my Mom is here! She's been here for a week already and the girls are having the greatest time with her.
• The wedding is this Saturday (that is, Dan Wolford and Maria Hackel's). This whole little family is in the wedding, so the week is flying by as we prepare and help with last minute details.
• And that, is pretty much all I have time for as everything else would be way too elaborate to get into, so I'll catch up later!
  

Joining

We are joining in prayer for this little family. (In the pictures: This is only baby's dad, as mom is in another hospital recovering from delivery)

Stretching

It is safe to say that we are being stretched and are also growing, but at the same time we are dying.

I have been reminded afresh of the illustration of marriage being like a bow (as in archery). The structure represents the husband and the string, the wife. When I heard God's whisper in my heart about the hand that is doing the stretching, I could see in my minds eye a bow in preparation for shooting. How much tension goes in the process! The bow gets bent, the string gets pulled and they stay together as the hand pulls. A premature release of the tension would result in an inefficient throw. The mark would most definitely be missed. We do not want to miss the mark, whatever it is God wants to accomplish in and through us in this season, we want to be faithful to reach. So both of us are holding as hard as we can... holding on to Him and holding on to each other. It is definitely not easy but we know that it is for good, for growth, for life! As long as it His working in our lives, however uncomfortable, we say yes.

At a loss for words

I have to say, my writer's block continues. There is so much going on and I truly don't know where or how to focus (in writing). Let's see:
:: My dad is feeling better (or I should say doing better, for what I hear he is not necessarily feeling all that well).
:: My mom didn't come on Thursday. She will try to get on Sunday's plane.
:: We had a great week with them visiting. It has been the longest we've been able to hang out together since we got married. Our house feels empty now that they left... but we did have a wonderful time!
:: Today we are babysitting her.
:: Decisions seem to be the order of the day, some for ministry, some for family, some for finances but all decisions that need careful thought and prayer. I have come to learn that the process of making such decisions is as important as the decisions themselves, so usually keeping to myself keeps me from getting in trouble. I don't want to speak out of time or be led by my emotions. Trust me, they're right there, ready to pop their head in any minute.
:: Remember what I was saying before about coming to the cross? Well, in continuing with that post and as we face decisions and yet more stretching, I did ask the Lord, "How much more are we going to be stretched?" His whisper in my heart was clear... "Don't ask how much but know that the hand stretching you is mine"... That is enough for me to know that this stretching is for growth, for life, for love. It doesn't have to be fun or easy, but it is meant for good and that is all that matters.

Disappointed

My Mom was supposed to come on Saturday night. She is flying stand by, though, so she hasn't been able to board two flights already. Her next chance will be Thursday night. We made a little calendar with the girls, it has my mom's picture and we called it "Days 'til Pita comes". It had a flower and we numbered each petal and we would take one off and count the days left for her to come. At this point, out little flower has no more petals left... and the anticipation and excitement of her coming has turned into a daily prayer with the girls that she'll get a seat on the next plane.

Needless to say, I am so very disappointed and have absolutely no way to change things. The girls are fine... we pray everyday and the motto of our life has become "One more day and Pita comes!" Now, I do need to say that it turned out being ok because my dad hasn't been feeling well and so my mom will be taking him to the doctor today to figure out what's wrong with him and hopefully he'll have some time to recover before she leaves.

Oh well... hopefully we will finally see her on Thursday.

Writer's block

My apologies to my faithful friends who still visit this site, it has been hard to keep up with it lately. This has been an interesting season, to say the least. This season I have learned a lot about myself, my little family, and the calling we have to serve. Between not feeling well, the busy-ness of the summer, and trying to keep up with life alone... Let me put it this way: Have you ever seen the palm trees during a hurricane? I've only seen them on TV, but that is close enough for me to get the illustration. I find it so interesting that they're shaken by the winds that seem to be hitting them with all they have and the palm tree bends, and bends, and shakes, and bends a bit more. It may loose a coconut or two (ok, it looses all of its coconuts) but in the end it is still standing. Beat up, shaken, but standing and holding on to dear life with all it has.

Well, that is how I feel right now, emotionally, spiritually and physically. I am tired. I know I've said that before. I actually have thought I felt tired before, but now I am truly feeling it.

So, what do you do when every single aspect of your life seems to be acting up on you? Go to the cross... I'm definitely not done with what I want to say here, but this is the third time I attempt to finish this post, so I'm going to stop here and hopefully later try to catch up again.

Prayers will be highly appreciated, for wisdom, for grace, for energy, for solace and every other thing that comes to your mind!

trial

trying a new twmplate

I know, it´s been a while

But here I am,

after two months of planning,
hunting for teapots at garage sales, thrift stores and anywhere we could think of,
borrowing enough tea cups and dessert plates to serve around 70 people,
making 80 "empanadas" and baking another 80 almond crisps,
spending two days setting up...

I can officially say I am exhausted and very, very slowly trying to get my house back to normality. But it was totally and absolutely worth it! I enjoyed every minute of it, from the preparation to the actual delivery. I didn´t take very good pictures because I was caught up hosting the event, so my pics don´t do it much justice. Enjoy them, anyway!

The teapots were our centerpieces and we used mismatched china in every table.

The place were we had it was once a small theater, so we used the stage and the backdrops for the opening of presents. These pics were taken before the guests arrived, but you have to believe me, there was hardly any room for the bride on this stage once all the gifts came in!This water jug was also a loan, so I perpetuated it in my memory with this picture... I totally love it!

This was the view as you came in the door (before I finished dressing all the tables with the centerpieces)

The happy bride and me (oh yeah, and my Adriana squeezed in between)This is also the unfinished food table, all the food is still missing...
by the end it was lovely full with great baked goods that so many people brought!


I had so much help, I can´t even begin to tell you. I would have never pulled it off without so many people "chasing after my grandiose illusion". Thanks to all that helped!

What can I say!

The paragraph below was a posting I began writing on July 25th. I hadn't realized it's been so long since I last sat in front of this screen! I hope it's ok, as I don't think I had time to proofread it!

"You don't want to be her pacifier" were her words as we talked about my little Adriana's frequent and sometimes (ok, often) prolonged nursing sessions. We were at Adriana's one year appointment at the doctor's office. The P.A. was responding to my report on how hard it is to say how many times she nurses a day because it varies according to the day's events. If she falls and gets upset, she'll nurse, even if only for 5 minutes. She nurses for comfort a lot. I wished I could have poured out my heart to this lady... I couldn't. I'm not sure whether I should have said anything, really. Sometimes I have a hard time determining when a response to such a comment would be "witnessing" or simply "casting my pearls out." All I said was "Well, I really don't mind." The truth is, why should I?

I truly think of it a blessing to be able to soothe my little girl. I try to use this times to tell her how the Lord can help us cope with our every day frustrations and how much He loves her and wants to soothe her. I tell her she can always count of me and I love her dearly but there is one love that is far better than mine and it is His perfect love.

This season, in hindsight will be so short in comparison to all the years she'll be away from me. So much to my doctor's disappointment I won't be looking to wean her sooner than she is ready to...

My baby is one!

Can you believe this? It feels as though just yesterday we brought her into our little home and then again, I can hardly remember life without her! She is so precious. I have told before of her strong determination. She is not the type of baby that can be distracted away from the object of her attention so easily. However, there is one thing that delights her little heart enough to hold her attention away from "trouble", at least momentarily, that is music. Whether it is a song on a worship CD or just a partial tune on a toy, she will stop on her tracks, look up at you, smile and start dancing!

Being an early walker, she is of course, an early climber. Still it is hard to keep up with her quick pace. It may take her a bit to learn a skill, but once learned it doesn't take her long to master it. For instance, Ben figured with her adventurous nature it would be wise to try to teach her how to climb up the stairs. We had caught her attempting to do it before, so he walked up the stairs showing her how to move her little arms and legs to climb up. He did it only once. The very next day, she sneaked out on us for a couple of minutes and climbed the whole flight of stairs on her own. All I know is that Ben said: "Honey, I hear her on the stairs," and much to my dismay I found her all the way up, holding on to the gate at the top! Our whole flight of stairs in just a minute or two I can't tell you how far down my stomach dropped.

One of her newest discoveries has been the computer keyboard. Her face lights up when I sit her on my lap. She immediately sticks out her little fingers and goes for the keys and if she sees my hands anywhere near hers, she'll quickly (and decidedly) push them away to keep it to herself.

And so, her determination and her ability to focus lead her to solve problems rather quickly. Her adventurous nature keep her discovering new things constantly. Her independent spirit takes her beyond her limits and yet she is still so much of a baby that can't be away from this proud and happy mom for long. For the first time ever she slept last night (or should I say this morning) until 4 a.m. (I am not holding my hopes high, this may be a one time thing more than a page turner in the life of). I cannot imagine where God will take my little girl, all I know is that my life is ever richer and happier by her presence! Happy first birthday, sweet girl!

To train or not to train

Potty train, that is. After my two bathroom adventures yesterday I am beginning to think that I do not want to take the girls into a public bathroom until they are old enough to be disgusted by public bathrooms themselves! I was happy to read that I'm not the only one facing such dilemma, though. I mean, really, how do you convince an almost-one-year-old that the fact that the toilet is at the height of her mouth doesn't mean she actually has to put her mouth on it?! And then, how much soap do you use to try to wash them clean? ...and then there's the crawling on the dirty floors, the pulling of the toilet paper a sheer fear of the hand dryer... it was crazy enough to leave this mama wanting to let them wear diapers until they're about 10!

My Dad´s Birthday!

Feliz cumpleaños, Papi... ¡Lo amamos!

Keepers at home

Yesterday, Ben and I were watching this show. I am always curious to see the stories behind families and pick up on some ideas for shopping, organizing, etc. I was amazed at how clean her house is and how organized her life seems while she has so many more little ones than I do. One thing led to the next and before you know it, my sweet man is holding my hand, trying to encourage me and stop my tears as I pour out my frustrations at being unable to keep up with the house lately.

If you have been to my house in the past couple months you know what I mean!

Probably one of the reasons why this woman's immaculate house brought me to the breaking down point is because I have been asking the Lord for supernatural strength, ability, ideas, or anything that will help me keep this house the way I envision it without lashing out at my husband and children when the chaos of everyday life simply cannot be contained. At least I can say for myself that I have been able to avoid the lashing out part.

My little mental notebook goes back to all the wise advice I've heard from amazing godly woman but nothing seemed to give me a satisfactory answer. If I am called to be a keeper of my home, doesn't that include making it a clean and orderly environment for my family? And while the answer to that question is a "yes", there is also the fact that the house in and of itself does not make the home. The house is a tool... a tool to keep my family happy, healthy and together.

I need to remember that the people in it are more important than the things in it. I am more responsible for the souls that it helps me nurture than anything else. And in the quiet place I hear a still voice that tells me that more than anything my home needs to be inviting. Inviting to the outsider who should feel welcome when they come in that door, but above all things, inviting to those entrusted to me. I am doing my job well if my husband and my children long for home, if I attach enough strings to their heart that home is a place they like to be at. And I look around and pray that I may not see a day when my children are desperate to leave my home...

Cailen Miner and Adriana

Little girls

Quickly

I quickly touch base to report that all is well with this little family. I am recovered from the cold, feeling much better and with a bit more energy to live life. I still can´t seem to manage through the day without falling asleep at some point, but have considerably recovered some energy. Life will soon get back to normal, hopefully. I´ll soon write a little more.

Love to all!

Continuing...

Our date was great. It was a much needed time alone to remind us of the very basic things of love and life. It was good. Oh yeah, and the food was also amazing!

Now, as goes with everything else, I had hardly heard of mononucleosis before and this week I have been bombarded with all sorts of information about it. My doctors' instructions have been to eat well, take a multi-vitamin, drink plenty of juice and rest as much as life (a.k.a. two little girls) allow it. I can't tell you how hard it is to draw the line and stop myself when the past few weeks I have been pushing through the exhaustion. I sort of conditioned myself to live with this tiredness and still function 100%.

I am blessed with a wonderful natural and church family who have pitched in to help even more than I thought I needed. However, after having this cold on top of everything and nursing the girls through the cold, sleep has been very elusive and light and the help has been more than welcome.

From a wonderful sister-in-law who, with her own littles in tow came to sow a morning of her already busy life to relieve me from my house duties, to a great friend who delivered the best home made pizza I'd ever had, to even more friends who have made themselves available "on call" to come to the rescue as needed. How good it is to dwell in harmony with our brethren, indeed! The body of Christ is an awesome body to be a part of. And of course, I could never leave out my sweet man who is trying to cover the rest of the meals and needs of the girls.

The funny thing is that besides the cold, I don't really feel all that sick. I am mostly tired... I had never felt this tired before... I can't even describe it. I'm zapped of all energy by mid morning! I can take many naps during the day and still fall asleep at night! I don't even know how I have managed to stir out of my slumber to take care of little girls who have needed soothing through the night. And so goes our little life.

When it rains...

Boy, does it pour! The short version:

**Tuesday, I find out I have "mono" and I have been living with it for the past few weeks. We are relieved to know the reason behind my excessive fatigue and hopeful that enough rest should have me on the bend in no time. Ben needs to go to the doctor for some digestive inconveniences.

**Wednesday, Adriana didn´t sleep very well, therefore I didn´t either. Hopefully I will catch up on sleep through the day... (yeah, right!). By noon, I realize I have a massive cold and with the lack of sleep the night before I feel even more run down. And, of course, the girls have the cold as well.

**Thursday, 2.30 a.m. No, we didn´t get up this early. We just never went down last night in spite of multiple attempts. Now we have both girls in bed with us, they can´t sleep because of all the wonderful sneezing and running of noses. Ben needs to leave by 7.00 (or some insanely similarly early time) for some test scheduled as a result of the earlier doctor´s appointment. I have a pounding headache because of my own maladies. Stop to think/pray: "Ok, Lord, where is the grace for this? I´m for a hefty serving!"

8.30 a.m. Girls and I wake up from the slim rest we got last night. Ben is gone to his test. **sigh of relief** She is coming over for some help and company (both for me and the girls!). Looking forward to that.

12.30 p.m. Ben is not back yet from his appointment. However, the girls and I have had a lunch and are now watching a movie (the girls, I am obviously getting some computer time) in preparation for nap time. I know Ben is due home any minute so I´m giving him some time that we can see him before naps. Thanks to our company I can now see my floor AND it is clean! (Thank you sooo much, Dee) and we also got to visit and chat a little bit.

Now I am looking forward to a special date we were planning on having for some time now. We didn´t expect to take it in the midst of all this sickness and exhaustion but will probably still benefit from the time together (not to mention the food!). Somehow we will find the energy to pull it off... don´t you think?