Today's Grab Bag of Thoughts

 Over the last few months I have worked almost nightly on making my wedding dress.  I did this so that I could get married  a dress prayed  over, made with love and that included just a bit of those we've lost over the years.  It seemed to me that I could not get married without my little sister and grandparents there.  So I came up with this great way to include them. My Grandma Perkins loved silk pajamas.  I am pretty sure she wore them daily.  When she passed away in 2007, many of us asked for a pair of her Pjs.  I have kept mine with me since then.  When I was thinking about the best way to include her in my wedding dress (apart from using her sewing machine) I decided that I would line the bodice of the dress with her Pjs.  It was hard at first, but then a feeling of love came over me.  It was so great to have her so close to me on that special day. My Grandma Dominguez loved to sew and make things.  She used to...

Let's remember the heart behind Christmas is not about going out and putting yourself in debt to give you children everything they want in life.  It isn't about that popular toy or piece of clothing. The spirit of Christmas, is fast becoming an endangered species in our culture today. We slash at it unintentionally with questions like, “What do you want for Christmas?”  Christmas is the selected date that we celebrate the birth of Jesus and the start of his path to the cross where he will ultimately die for our sins.  Jesus bought us forgiveness and gives us new life  Christmas to me is a way of life.  Christmas symbolized God's sacrifice, love, grace and generosity for us all. It is a time to reach out to one another and be God in each other's lives.  Show love.  Be generous.  Sacrifice for those that are in need.  Give grace where needed.  I truly believe that we should live everyday of our lives this way, but of course life get...

HI Stacy! Hope Heaven is treating you well.  We sure miss you here on earth.  I am sure you are watching us daily, but just in case you are missing the finer details let me fill you in on your kids.  They, just like me, miss you.  We all wish that tomorrow was a day of celebration not a day of remembrance.  But I guess we should celebrate that you are not in pain anymore and that all three of yours children are being well taken care of. Hey did you hear that I am FINALLY getting married?  You would totally like the guy.  He's so great.  He's a big goofball like me but very loyal, caring and helpful.  He treats us all with respect and has only the best intentions when it comes to the kids.  We will rock this parenting thing together.  These kids will have an additional person to fill them up with love. So what have you missed in the last 5 years?  Unfortunately a lot.  It makes me sad sometimes to remember what t...

Well it wasn't more than 13 days ago I finally sat down to write a post and in that post I said "still single"...funny thing is days letter I would fall head over heels for someone just like me.  As I sit and look back on my life and what I wanted and when I wanted them I never really just let God take the reigns when it came to relationships.  Why?  Because it is so much fun to hang out with tons of people that will break your heart.  j/k In all seriousness I have dated some craptastic men over the last X amount of years and each one has shown me my weaknesses and where I wont compromise.  However I have also dated 4 very wonderful, caring and loving men.  Each one of them helped me to see a bit more of who I am and what I want in life.  Each of them helped me to become the woman I am today.  I take away great memories and great lessons on how to do things better next time.  Though God's love and grace did the most.  God's love for me...

I'm alive because these two great men fall in love with two great women.  Both men from two very different backgrounds.  Ray from a fatherless home with a extremely hard working, straight line keeping mom.  Humberto from a high class family in Cuba, whose best friend let's just say climbed to a high place that my grandpa refused to help or be part of.  One served in the Navy, one worked hard to start his life after military school on the USA.  Both men with equally hard challenges some that same and some different.  What they do have in common is that they both raise families of 4 children.  Both worked hard, played hard and loved with all their hearts, even if it looked different coming from either one.  Both men were strong, courageous, loving and faithful.  From these two great men came these 4 great men:  Each of these men have also lived very different lives, even if they came from the same houses. All have seen their struggles, had...

Entitlement: the fact of having a right to something Right:  a just claim or title, whether legal, prescriptive, or moral Claim:  a demand for something as due; an assertion of a right or an alleged right The definitions just keep going around and around, but the FACT is that there is little in life that we are entitled to.  I love how a fellow blogger put it ( www.momonthemove35.com/10-things-you-don't-owe-your-child/ ) " You don’t have to feel guilty for being the parent that says no. There are many things in life that we DO “owe” our children.  As parents, we owe them our unconditional love, respect, and endless forgiveness. They deserve a place to call home, food to keep them healthy, and an education that will help them later in life... We do not need to feel guilty saying, “NO” to our children! In fact, I’m thankful to parents who say no to their children. Sometimes the best way to love your child is to say no!" I love how she p...

Hmm well see that is a really hard question to answer, ok honestly it isn't really but in order to save face I will just say that it may or may not have been my idea.  What might have or might not have been your idea you are probably asking.  Well that would be to watch "A little bit of Heaven" tonight on Netflix.   (Movie synopsis below)  Let me just stop there and say unlike many many people and critics, I actually liked the movie.  Yes there are some people that are all pissed off about the portrayal of a terminally ill cancer patient and yada yada yada but HELLO IT IS HOLLYWOOD! They never said it was based on a true story.  But to those people on the contrary there are people that keep their hair after treatment, that laugh and love their way through cancer and my Grandma was one of those people.      So, no the stupid idea is NOT due to the movie being a waist of my time like the Nicole Kidman/Kate Hudson musical "Nine" which was 2 hour...