I love you, hubby of mine!

My hubby called our friend, Darren. Darren came out last Sunday and replaced a leaky hose on my dishwasher. It's fixed! Well, kind of...

It's old and it still leaks from the bottom but only a couple of teaspoons each cycle. We'll have to replace it soon but I can use it for now until we save up the money to buy a new one.

And no, I didn't nag. (But my hubby did read my blog and felt bad about my back aching when I had to wash dishes by hand. Who knew this blog would come in soooo handy!)

Less than 100 days to go

Ah pregnancy.

I'm getting to the point where I need 4 pillows to sleep on so I'm propped up and can breathe. Otherwise I feel as though I'm not getting enough oxygen. During my nap today I woke up having that feeling. Heck, I even had that feeling during my dream. That's probably why I woke up.

I'm trying to have a good outlook on this pregnancy. Who knows, it may be my last. And really, the only thing I have to complain about is that I need sooo many pillows...

That and it'd really be nice to have my dishwasher fixed. My back is starting to ache after standing over the sink for long periods of time. But I'm not going to nag. I've told him it's broke and that I'd like it fixed. Now I'm leaving it up to the Lord to convict my hubby about it. No nagging! I'm going to see how long it takes to get it fixed this way. (Just between you and me, I'm leaning towards the thought that although nagging puts undue stress and turmoil on our relationship, it does get things done in a more timely manner. I may have to retract that later. I HOPE I have to retract that later. Time will tell, we'll see.)

God is still good!

Yesterday, on our way home from delivering a meal to a mom with a new baby, our car started smoking and overheating. We made it home after putting water in the radiator - 2 different times. We think it's a broken hose. Hopefully that's all it is since we just got our car out of the shop less than a week ago, spending many dollars on it for unrelated problems.

Will you serve and praise God even when trials hit you?

Remember that God is still faithful. Don't confuse your circumstances with God's faithfulness or His ability to come through for you!

Hebrews 4:12-16 (NLT) says this: "For the word of God is full of living power. It is sharper than the sharpest knife, cutting deep into our innermost thoughts and desires. It exposes us for what we really are. Nothing in all creation can hide from Him. Everything is naked and exposed before His eyes. This is the God to whom we must explain all that we have done. That is why we have a great High Priest who has gone to heaven, Jesus the Son of God. Let us cling to Him and never stop trusting Him. This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for He faced all of the same temptations we do, yet He did not sin. So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive His mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it."

YES, I will still PRAISE THE LORD!!!

Christmas Lights at CALM

Yesterday we went to see the lights at CALM. It was a lot of fun. Papa, Bana, my sister and her son went with us.
This year they had a carousel. It spun so fast you could feel the centripetal force push you out. It got me dizzy!
















Then we all rode the train. They had such a cool set up in the field. One of my favorites was the Santa Claus...NOT! I liked the Bakersfield sign:





After a warming cup of hot chocolate we walked through the rest of the wonderland of lights. Jeremiah's favorite was the pirate ship. It even fired the cannon and the cannon ball "splashed" into the water. Here's Jeremiah and his cousin, Daniel, in front of the pirate ship.











We stopped by the reptile room, mostly to warm up. My back was getting tired so I sat down for a moment. My sweetie sat next to me. We are SOOO cute: (I crocheted my beanie.)












We ended out the night by taking a family picture. Too bad Jeremiah was tired and moody because he ended up covering Papa's head.











So I took an extra picture. See, I told you Jeremiah was tired!







It was a another great family outing!

Family Pictures

So for the past 2 years Pascual, Jeremiah and I have gone somewhere to take our pictures together. The first year we went to Hart Park:


Last year we went across the street from Valley Baptist (you know, where the nice park-like setting is on the corner):


This year it was kind of cold outside so we did it inside. (I wish we would've went somewhere else.)

It was hard to get genuine smiles out of us when most of us didn't want to be there. Let's not worry about who those people were. Let it be sufficient to say that 2 out of us 3 wanted to do something else.

So these are our family pictures this year.







They came out ok. I think I would like them more if the background was more earthy and I had more time. Next year I will do a better job planning.. especially since there will be four of us then.

Apple picking and train watching

In October we took a drive to Tehachapi to pick apples. We went to two farms. The first one was...well rustic is a good adjective. We walked out to the trees and picked apples. There were only two kinds from which to choose.


Then we went to a more refined apple farm. They had all the apples picked for you. The bins of apples were labeled by variety with many varieties from which to choose. They even had samples of their wonderful apple cider. Yummy.
There was a pumpkin patch there. Jeremiah picked out his very own.



We left Tehachapi and headed for Keene to see the famous Tehachapi Loop... one of the wonders of the train world. Papa had his radio that he uses for his railroad job. Here's a picture of Banna "using" it to get info on when the next train was heading our way. (She didn't really use it.)




We waited about half an hour and the train came. You can see the train loop around itself in the following pictures.


We went a little closer and saw this train. Pretty cool pictures, huh!



Afterwards we stopped by the little Keene restaurant and had lunch. Then we went our seperate ways and went home...with lots of apples and great memories. What a fun day!

An update

So pregnancy is going good. I've only thrown up once, and that was after eating greasy fair food. I'm nautious like every day but it's really not that bad. I really can't complain. We're just really excited to be having another baby.

On another note: I remember a few years ago seeing kids with their parents and saying to myself, "My kid is never going to act like that." Well come to find out, training a child in the way he should go is harder than I thought. The other day Papa, Bana, Uncle Ruben, Dad, Jeremiah and I all went for a walk. Papa tied a rope around Jeremiah's new tricycle so he could pull him, since his feet won't reach the peddles yet. Jeremiah liked it for about 5 minutes...
...then he wanted out.

After about 10 minutes he wanted back in. Then out, then in. Oh my gosh kid, make up your mind! So we decided that he's going to be in and stay in...no matter what!
It was a battle but even when he didn't want to, he stayed on his tricycle. Yay! Victory! And Papa and Bana were great too. They let us do our thing with Jeremiah and helped enforce it. Have I mentioned what awesome in-laws I have!!!

October looks like it's going to be a busy month. I'm hosting a scrapbooking party Friday, MOPS is on Monday, then going to Dinner My Way (see link on sidebar; some of my favorite sites) on Tuesday. We're going up to the mountains the following Saturday with Papa & Bana to pick apples and to see the train loop. Papa works for the railroads so the train loop is an extra big deal! It should be a great Saturday.

Then Pascual and my birthday is coming up after that. We'll be 32 this year. (Yep, we were born on the exact same day, just 14 hours apart. I know, what are the odds?!) The women's retreat is coming up later in the month. I can't wait for that! Just me and my girlfriends. It's always a fun time! Plus our speakers this year are going to be awesome. It looks like a busy and fabulous month. I hope to share pics with you once the activities have happened. (We'll see, don't hold me to that, though. :-)