My son...the interpreter

Little did I know that my son J.C. had a hidden talent.

As you may know, I am a mama of two little boys. J.C., my oldest, is almost five and Nicolas is two and a half. They're at the ages where they either love each other or hate each other...there's no in between. Seriously, one minute they're giving each other big hugs and kisses (which, as a mom, is one of the best things in the world!) then the next minute they're trying to rip each other's heads off! Fun times.

Well, Nicolas has not yet mastered the art of the English language. I would have to say that I understand about 50% of what comes out of his mouth, which is actually an improvement from a couple of months ago. He asks me questions sometimes, well, wait, I think they're questions based on the inflection of his voice, so I just say "yes" to whatever he's saying to save us both time and frustration. Who knows what I've agreed to with that boy!

Which brings me to J.C.'s talent. About a month ago, Nicolas walks into my bedroom and says, " I want My-ya". At least that was my interpretation. I asked him to repeat himself; once again he says, "I want My-ya!" So instead of going round and round for the next five minutes, I marched him into the living room, where J.C. was playing. I asked Nicolas to repeat himself one more time for J.C. and once again he says very confidently, "I want My-ya." I turn to J.C. and ask him what Nicolas is saying. Without missing a beat, J.C. says, "He wants vanilla mommy." (FYI: that's what they call ice cream) Not believing that could be what Nicolas was saying, I asked Nicolas, "Do you want vanilla?" To which Nicolas promptly nods his head and says "yes, My-ya!" with a big smile.

So there you have it. J.C. is now the official Nicolas translator in our household. In honor of Nicolas, I think I'm going to go get myself a big bowl of My-ya.

Till next time...

April...a crazy month and it's not over yet!

This month has been one of the busiest months of my life, no joke! Some of my closest friends and my husband, all have a birthday in the month of April.

Neya was first. Her birthday is April 3rd. Neya is one of my closest friends. Her and I have one of those relationships where you can spend hours talking or just sit in silence together without awkwardness, you know what I mean? We all wanted to do something special for her. When I say "we", I mean some other ladies at ECCU (my work place) that find Neya just as great as I do. We took her out to dinner at The Old Spaghetti Factory and presented her with a Tiffany's necklace. She was moved to tears and it was such a wonderful night.

Next up was Candace. Her birthday is April 10th. Now Candace is a very unique person. She has the kind of personality that everyone is just drawn to. She can make you laugh until your stomach hurts. I tell her all of the time that she's the female version of my husband, which is probably why I love her so much. So for her birthday, I had to come up with something extra special. After all, she was turning 30! I decided on a birthday scavenger hunt. The planning and execution of this event stressed me out completely! Unfortunately, I wish my mother hadn't passed on her high strung gene to me. Of course, all my worry and fear were for nothing, because the event went flawlessly and Candace had a blast.

Then came Rachael. Her birthday is April 17th. What can I say about Rachael? I secretly call her super mom. She just turned 25 and she is a mother of two beautiful little girls, ages one and three and she's 8 months pregnant with her third child...a boy this time!! She has a lot on her plate, but takes it all in stride. I want to strive to be a mother like she is. She is such a strong woman, but she's too humble to even see that. She had a game night for her birthday and I had such a fun time with her and her friends. We played Pictionary, and let me tell you, they take that game pretty seriously. I brought my son J.C. with me and he had so much fun playing with her oldest daughter Taylor. I hope my sons marry her daughters...that would be "AMAZING", as she would say.

Last, but definitely not least, is my husband Jeff. His birthday is April 23rd. My husband is one of the funniest people on the planet (at least I think so). We've been married going on 8 years, and it's just as fun being married to him today as it was the first day we were married. He's a wonderful father and great friend and I just love him to pieces. I am planning something special for his birthday too, but I can't disclose that just yet, just in case he decides to FINALLY read my blog. Let's just say that he's going to be very surprised at what I have in store for him.

So, there you have it. My crazy month in a nut shell. Even though it's been a crazy, busy, and an emotional roller coaster, I wouldn't have it any other way. I love my life.

Til next time...

Kids say the darndest things...

I have two little boys. My oldest, J.C., is going to be five years old in June and my youngest, Nicolas, is two and a half. Wonderful ages for both of them....(I hope you can sense the sarcasm in that comment). I'm starting to realize what little sponges my two sons are. They soak up so much information; it's quite amazing, actually. There are definitely pros and cons to that, though. It's great that they are learning so much and can remember every little detail of certain things, but when they start repeating or remembering things that might not be appropriate to repeat, here in lies the problem.

Prime example: We have a small white dog (Lhasa Apso) named Max. Both my sons adore this dog, sometimes too much. They are relentless with him...poor dog. One day, me and J.C. were sitting on the couch watching television. J.C. got off the couch to pet Max (for the hundreth time that day). Now you have to understand that Max absolutely LOVES to be rubbed, so whenever anyone starts to pet him, he rolls over on his back to make sure you give some love to his tummy. J.C. starts to pet Max and Max, in turn, rolls over on his back to let J.C. go to town. Right then, J.C. starts to laugh so I ask him why he's laughing and he promptly points to Max's tummy and says, "Look at Max's nuts". I couldn't believe he said that word! I'm going to blame my husband for that one, because I definitely don't use that word to describe anything...By the way, the ironic thing is that Max doesn't have any "nuts" but J.C. doesn't realize that. So, trying not to laugh at what he just said, I did the mom thing and said that it wasn't polite to use that word. He proceeded to ask me how he should have said it, and i just told him that if he must describe something like that, he should just say the word "privates".

I really can't keep a straight face sometimes with the things that come out of that boy's mouth!! I love kids...

Till next time...

My ministry

Besides being a wife to my husband and a mother to my kids, my ministry in life is music ministry. It's still so amazing to me that the Lord chose to use me in this way. I can still remember the first time I sang in public. I was 12 years old and I was with my family at Magic Mountain. Back then, they had these singing booths set up. You could go into your own private booth and pick a song and sing your heart out like a "real" recording artist, while your version of the song was taped as a souvenir. I chose to sing "Anything For You" by Gloria Estefan (I know, I know...but remember it was 1989, so give me a break...) So after you record the song, you have the option of having your song played over the loud speakers for all to hear. So there I was in front of my whole family, scared to death wondering what my parents were going to think of my singing. To my amazement, they had nothing but good things to say. I remember on the car ride home, how proud my mom was and how she ranted and raved about how great she thought I sang. It felt so good to finally feel like I was good at something.

Fast forward 10 years later, I started attending Calvary Chapel Golden Springs with my then boyfriend, later to be husband, Jeff. I was sitting in the sanctuary one Sunday and they made an announcement that they would be holding choir auditions later that day. Now you have to understand, I totally loved singing, but I NEVER did it in public or sang in front of ANYONE. All I can say is that the Holy Spirit totally spoke to me that day, because, even as scared as I was, I went to the audition and made it! I loved being a part of something like that. I was using my talent to serve the Lord. It took me a long time to really see it as a talent and to really believe that I actually COULD sing.

Fast forward another 10 years (Wow, I'm getting old!), now I sing on a small worship team once a month at all three services in front of, at least, 2000 people. I actually don't get nervous when I'm up on that stage anymore. I try to sing every worship song to the Lord and let the audience just fade away. I focus on the words and the meaning of the song and I completely go to another place. It's funny because people who know me, know that I still won't sing on cue when someone asks to hear my voice, but the Lord definitely has helped me realize this gift He has given me. I can only hope that my voice is a "sweet smelling aroma" to Him, because that's all that matters to me. 'Til next time....