Beauty...

My church family gave me these roses in celebration of our church's FOUR year anniversary. I was touched by their thoughtfulness and moved by their kind words.
I can not get over the beauty of these roses. I took a bunch of pictures, but just could not really capture how amazing they are. Made me think about beauty and how this world's view is so twisted sometimes when it comes to what beauty really is...

Proverbs 31:30~"Charm is deceitful and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised."

“Character contributes to beauty. It fortifies a woman as her youth fades. A mode of conduct, a standard of courage, discipline, fortitude, and integrity can do a great deal to make a woman beautiful."

“Beauty is not caused. It is.” ~ Emily Dickinson

“You can complain because roses have thorns, or you can rejoice because thorns have roses."

Before you ever took a breath
Long before the world began
Of all the wonders He possessed
There was one more precious
Of all the earth and skies above
You're the one He madly loves enough to die for...

You're beautiful
You're beautiful in His eyes...
~Mercy Me "Beautiful" The Generous Mr. Lovewell

Today, I am thankful for...Sundays...

One of our Sunday services recently...wonderful people here!

I love Sundays! Did I ever tell you that? Well, I do. For most people it's a day of relaxing or maybe running errands and spending time at home with the family.
It's all of those things for me too - and more!
On Sundays, I get to go to church and see some of my most favorite people in the world! I get to worship in song and praise to my Heavenly Father, I get to teach young people and ladies and share the gospel with them, I get to see my children learn and grow in the Lord and I get to hear my favorite preacher preach.
Sometimes, we go out to eat after our morning service and then we go home and the kids usually play or watch a video or whatever. I like to take a nap! There's just something about a Sunday afternoon nap - know what I mean?
Then I get up and start preparing for my ladies' meeting and evening service. It's a long day - but I need it and I'm thankful for it!
Without Sunday, my week would not ever get off to a good start!

Pastor Marco...my favorite preacher ever! ;]

Sarai and Hannah singing with the Youth Worship Team...

makes my heart happy!!

Love Post #3 ~ My Church...

(Taken at our Luau themed Valentine's Banquet this year)

I know that I've mentioned them before - but I just love my church...and by church, I mean the people that make up the "church". My husband and I have been in ministry all of our married lives. God is so good to bless us with the people that we have in our congregation now. I have made some wonderful friends in my ministry experience, but these people, truly, are like family.

Choosing Joy...Peace on Earth.... December 31st.

Well, maybe not all over the earth, but at least for us. We wanted to have a "Watch Night Service" where we pray in the New Year at church. I know. Sounds boring to many of you, right? You never know with a new church, though. Sometimes we have a sell out crowd and other times you just have the faithful few. Tonight, we went to church and we had about 6 families show. We all brought food for the potluck fellowship and someone brought their Wii. Pastor Marco and I decided that it'd be fun to move the whole party over to our house.

We had the best time. The kids had an abundance of toys to play with and the adults (many for the first time) got to play some Wii. I'm still a little sore in my right arm from the boxing.

Here are some pics of (other than my blood family) some of my favorite people in the world.

Alma and Denisse...going toe to toe in the ring.

Two very competitive brothers - David and Robert

Two more very competitive brothers...Marco and Jaime

Some praise and worship sing time...

Miriam...tsk..tsk...she's so shy. Looks like she still has some moves left from the elf dance! LOL

Happy New Year!

Most of us made it 'til Midnight.... =]
Our church has a theme for 2009: Flourishing in God Our verse: Psalm 92:12 "The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree: he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon."

With 2008 being such a difficult year for many, our Pastor wanted to encourage our church family to believe that they can truly flourish this new year. We can all hope and believe that things will grow and bloom with the nurturing love of God.

Happy 2009, my friends!

Choosing Joy: Making Children Happy...

Friends since the infant nurseries! =]

The church crowd starts to settle in and the children are excited about getting their gifts...Hannah is being silly - as usual!

Every year, we usually do a pot luck and gift exchange at our church. This year, my husband and I really thought that we did not want to add any more stress or strain on any of the families. We were afraid that some of our larger numbered families would not attend because they could not afford the expense of all the food and gifts. We wanted the church family to have fun and fellowship, but not if it was going to put pressure on a lot of them.

We decided that we would find a way to provide food for everyone and a gift for all of the children in church. We didn't know how we were going to do it, but as always, God provided a way. Another family and our family went and bought some simple gifts, candies and goodies for each and every child in our church. We even had extra in case we had visitors. Turns out that it was a good idea to plan for the "extras".

We had a great time. The chicken pozole we had was wonderful and we had more than enough. God is good and I hope that others felt His love through our church family tonight. There is joy to be found when you are looking to do for others rather than for yourselves.

***Reminder!!*** This is the next to the last week to post your Choose Joy blogs. The photo theme for this week is FAMILY and next week's is PEACE. Remember, that it is YOUR interpretation. =]