MZ CRUZ

Do I Need To Detox???

2012-01-24T11:25:00.000-08:00

Have you ever wondered if you need to detox? Or even wonder what a detox is? A detox is the removal of all the potentially toxic substances from the body. Just like your house needs a good cleaning to get rid of germs, dust, and dirt or your drains need to be unclogged every now and then so does our bodies need to be cleansed from the inside out. If you are exposed to chemicals and toxins in food, in beverages that you consume pollution in the environment then you are a perfect candidate for a detox. Unless you are pregnant or breastfeeding.

Most people say they feel fine but what they don't realize they are not living to their full health potential that they could be living. And if they were taking in the proper nutrients through a raw whole food diet, their bodies needed after getting the toxins out of their system their bodies would produce new cells every 90 days.

Just ask yourself these questions to find out if you could use a good detox.

- Do you experience fatigue or low energy?
- Do you experience brain fog, lack of concentration and/ or poor memory?
- Do you experience recurring yeast infections, jock itch, or foot fungus?
- Do you have less than two bowel movements per day?
- Do you drink processed coffees and colas during the day?
- Do you take prescription medications, sedatives or stimulants?
- Do you live with or near polluted air, water, or other environmental pollution? (don't forget most tap water we use has been treated with chemicals that even if you don't drink it you most likely bathe or shower in it and what ever we put on our skin goes into our blood stream)
- Do you eat fast food, fatty foods, pre-prepared foods or fried foods more than 3 times a week?
- Do you crave or eat sugar?
- Do you experience frequent headaches?
- Do you have bad breath or excessive body Oder?
- Are you overweight?
- Do you experience depression or mood swings?
- Do you have food allergies or skin problems?
- Do you feel sleepy after meals, bloated, or gassy?
- Do you have arthritic aches and pains or stiffness?

If you have answered yes to three or more of the questions above, it is time for a detox!
I am waiting on my 30 day fit kit from Arbonne to come in and will be starting my journey to cleansing my body and getting it onto a lifestyle change of whole foods. As I am on my journey I will keep blogging foods I am consuming and how my body is feeling. Stay tuned in to hear the amazing results. After the 30 days I'll post a before and after picture.

Promoting Healthy Living

2012-01-04T10:42:00.000-08:00

So it was a year ago in January 2010 I started cutting High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) out of my diet along with pork.

The first 6 months of 2011 I did really well and could tell I was dropping inches. (I lost 12 lbs in those 12 months). The last half of the year I didn't do so well and gained about 2 lbs back. So, I decided once again to cut out HFCS out of my diet and start working out 10 minutes a day to see the weight and inches start coming off again. Once I have the exercise habit back into my life I will up the time at the beginning of February to 20 minutes a day. My ultimate goal is to work out 30 minutes a day 6 days a week. This year I'm promoting to getting healthier and have started a challenge on Facebook "A New You in the New Year". Your more then welcome to join me on this challenge to bettering yourself and your health, just check out my events and sign up to join us for the challenge.

Here is a picture that was taken of me September 2010, 3 months after Marcus was born.

And then here is a picture taken just a year later October 2011.

A Year to Better Health

2011-09-21T06:25:00.000-07:00

This journey really started about 10 years ago but I have strayed off the path of good health. I have decided 2012 is the year to get back onto the path of good health. Not only for me but also for my family. I desire to train up my children to live healthy lives. I just read a quote and absolutely loved it. Deanna Duncan wrote on the Prize 31 blog

Deanna Duncan wrote on the Prize 31 blog "for the first half of our life we sacrifice our time and health to make wealth. The second half of our life we sacrifice our wealth and time to regain our health." http://bit.ly/nY5Ng3

How true this is. So when I started this journey

in January 2011 I was 142lbs (just having my son 6 1/2 months prior)

dropping down to 128lbs by June of last year. Now I'm back up a few pounds to 130lbs. The way I dropped so quickly was just by trying to eat mostly natural foods, cutting out processed foods (especially with High Fructose Corn Syrup). It's amazing how much more energy I had and how better I felt...during last summer I lapsed due to it being so hot....we were in the 3 digits almost all summer long so ice cream was just to tempting to help cool me off...(it did the job until it melted...because it was so stinking hot outside) =}

The last 6 months of 2011 I didn't do so well of staying away from processed food. So now I'm back on this journey to staying strong and I just ordered my 30 day fit kit from Arbonne and I can't wait to see the results of detoxifying my body and putting pure, safe, and beneficial products into my body....(did you know when you eat whole, healthy, non toxic food our body reproduces new cells every 90 days)...that's amazing!!!

Good luck to all who are on this journey to bettering your health.

A Leap Of Faith

2011-08-21T13:07:00.000-07:00

Having children is an amazing adventure and a complete trusting in God that He will take care of them protecting them in sickness and in health. This past week we had a scare with Marcus being in the hospital.

He has been having breathing problems while he sleeps at night since he was 4 months old. They've tested him for allergies yet all the tests came back negative. They didn't know what was wrong with him. Then last Sunday the problem peaked about 11:30pm with him struggling to breath and his chest contracting a lot...we woke him up to see if he was okay and he seemed fine while he was awake then we went to bed and was woken up close to 1:30am with him struggling to breath so Tommy and I decided it was time to head to the ER to make sure our baby was okay. The doctors for a few days monitored him through out the night and the pediatric surgeon was called in to do a bronchoscopy (an exploratory to see inside the airways) to make sure there is nothing blocking his airway while he slept since he was always fine while he was awake.

On Wednesday morning the procedure was done, come to find out that he just has a weak airway that causes him to snore while sleeping but is not life threatening and he will grow out of it.

The amazing part of the whole thing is that God gave us the peace through the whole process and had Marcus in His hands the whole time. He is so good and faithful.

We clung to this passage in the Bible this past week and I like how it is written in the

amplified Bible

James 1:2-4

Amplified Bible (AMP)

²Consider it wholly joyful, my brethren, whenever you are enveloped in or encounter trials of any sort or fall into various temptations.

³Be assured and understand that the trial and proving of your faith bring out endurance and steadfastness and patience.

⁴But let endurance and steadfastness and patience have full play and do a thorough work, so that you may be [people] perfectly and fully developed [with no defects], lacking in nothing.

Our faith can only grow stronger and we can only become more mature in our walk with the Lord when we put our trust in Him and our children in His hands.

THANK YOU EVERYONE FOR ALL YOUR PRAYERS AND SUPPORT. GOD IS SO FAITHFUL AND WE ARE SO GRATEFUL!!!

This Is Your Life, Are You Who You Want To Be?!

2011-07-17T10:20:00.000-07:00

I've heard this song many times but on Thursday night when I was driving to a coffee shop it came on the radio and began really residing with me...this is my life....am I really who I want to be? I began contemplating on the words of the chorus and something inside me began to question my life in general and if who I am is impacting the world around me and the people who are in my life.

Through most of my life there are times when it feels as though I'm floating through a dream, it doesn't seem real. But then what is reality? We are on this earth only for a brief moment and before we know it we are gone. For most people I believe they desire to be an impact in the generation they are in but where do you start?

I heard a great saying today by Charles Stanley "The Impact of you life is the Quality of you life". My greatest desire is that my life draws others to Jesus Christ through the quality/character that I portray! AM I WHO I WANT TO BE?!

Are We Missing It!

2011-06-07T04:49:00.000-07:00

okay this ones a little off track from the health postings I've done lately but it's what the Lord has been showing me and I thought I would share it with you good food for thought =}

About a month ago I was reading in Genesis and came across the quick brief passage about Enoch "Enoch, the son of Jared, a great-grandfather of Noah, and father of Methuselah. This Enoch is distinctive because, as the story goes, he never experienced death. Instead, he lived a life where he "walked with God", after which "he was not, for God took him". (Genesis 5:18-24)" http://bit.ly/tSsjl He walked with God for 300 years...could you imagine "walking with God". I asked my husband if he thought Enoch walked with God in spirit or in the physical realm? God has wired me with a childlike curiosity. =} lol

After reading the passage it just brought me to a point of wondering what Enoch's relationship with God really looked like. He was so close with God that he was taken up to God and never died. I know that we have the opportunity now in our own lives to walk with God having an intimate relationship with Him through the Holy Spirit.

But as I was wondering what his relationship looked like with God I began contemplating my life and my own relationship with God and thought to myself, "am I missing it...do I have a close relationship with God, that would be commended by God, that my faith in Him pleases Him?" Oh how I desire to walk in such a close, intimate relationship with God not to escape death but to have a relationship so close with Him the way Enoch had.

We don't have much to go by looking into the life of Enoch, the Bible doesn't go into great detail about him, but in Hebrews 11:5 it says "By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death; he could not be found, because God had taken him away. For before he was taken he was commended as one who pleased God." Could you imagine being commended by God that you please Him?!

Eating Pork can be Hazardous to your Health

2011-05-09T13:55:00.000-07:00

Paul Wong

When I was studying in England I used to live in a “dig” (rooming house) in Highgate, North London. There were Chinese students from Malaysia, Singapore, Sarawak, Hong Kong and Vietnam rooming in the two houses that faced each other. We were all good friends and we spent the weekends cooking and sharing our favorite dishes. One of our friends called Luk studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland and he would spend his summer vacation in London with us. Luk's special contribution was “Charsiu” the Cantonese barbecued pork. The way he prepared it was just exquisite, much better than those of any Chinese restaurant I have ever tasted. He had been coming to Highgate every summer for three years, and we always looked forward to tasting his “Charsiu.” The summer before his final year in the university Luk also came to stay with our group, but there was a radical change in him. He told us there would be no more “Charsiu” from that time onwards. The real shocker is that he vowed not to eat any more pork dishes and strongly advised all of us in the group not to do so either. He had such a strong conviction against pork that he would not eat with us if we insisted on having it.

Here is his explanation. Luk was with a team of medical students doing a research project on the effects of diet on stomach and intestinal diseases such as trichinosis. The research team’s method was to go to the hospitals and dissect corpses for autopsies. They based their studies on the diets of the various ethnic communities in the region. Their research uncovered the finding of the ethnic community with the highest percentage of cases with the trichinella spiralis worm belonged to a race that had pork as its main staple diet. Their research data showed a remarkably low percentage of Jews and Moslems with the trichinella spiralis worm in their bodies. It is significant that these two ethnic communities exclude pork and other biblically unclean meats in their diet.

My friend had seen such clear evidence in the co-relationship between pork consumption and stomach and intestinal diseases that he could make a determination not to eat that meat again in all his life. That was the first time I had ever heard a negative report on pork, but it has a lasting impression on my mind ever since that summer in London, England.Trichinosis – from Encarta Encyclopedia Pronounced As: trikinosis or trichiniasis trikinisis, parasitic disease caused by the roundworm Trichinella spiralis.It follows the eating of raw or inadequately cooked meat, especially pork. The larvae are released, reach maturity, and mate in the intestines, the females producing live larvae.

(a roundworm)
The parasites are then carried from the gastrointestinal tract by the bloodstream to various muscles, where they become encysted. It is estimated that 10% to 20% of the adult population of the United States suffers from trichinosis at some time. In many people the disease exhibits no symptoms and is discovered only at autopsy. In others it causes diarrhea and other gastrointestinal symptoms as the worms multiply in the digestive tract. When the larvae circulate through the bloodstream, the patient experiences edema, irregular fever, profuse sweating, muscle soreness and pain, and prostration. There may be involvement of the central nervous system, heart, and lungs; death occurs in about 5% of clinical cases. Once the larvae have embedded themselves in the muscle tissue, the cysts usually become calcified; however, the infestation usually causes no further symptoms except fatigue and vague muscular pains. There is no specific treatment.

Bad Effects of Pork Consumption

Pig's bodies contain many toxins, worms and latent diseases. Although some of these infestations are harbored in other animals, modern veterinarians say that

pigs are far more predisposed to these illnesses than other animals. This could be because pigs like to scavenge and will eat any kind of food, including dead insects, worms, rotting carcasses, excreta (including their own), garbage, and other pigs.Influenza (flu) is one of the most famous illnesses which pigs share with humans. This illness is harbored in the lungs of pigs during the summer months and tends to affect pigs and humans in the cooler months. Sausage contains bits of pigs' lungs, so those who eat pork sausage tend to suffer more during epidemics of influenza.

Pig meat contains excessive quantities of histamine and imidazole compounds, which can lead to itching and inflammation; growth hormone, which promotes inflammation and growth; sulfur-containing mesenchymal mucus, which leads to swelling and deposits of mucus in tendons and cartilage, resulting in arthritis, rheumatism, etc. Sulfur helps cause firm human tendons and ligaments to be replaced by the pig's soft mesenchymal tissues, and degeneration of human cartilage.

Eating pork can also lead to gallstones and obesity, probably due to its high cholesterol and saturated fat content. The pig is the main carrier of the taenia solium worm, which is found it its flesh. These tapeworms are found in human intestines with greater frequency in nations where pigs are eaten. This type of tapeworm can pass through the intestines and affect many other organs, and is incurable once it reaches beyond a certain stage.

One in six people in the US and Canada has trichinosis from eating trichina worms, which are found in pork. Many people have no symptoms to warn them of this, and when they do, they resemble symptoms of many other illnesses. These worms are not noticed during meat inspections, nor does salting or smoking kill them. Few people cook the meat long enough to kill the trichinae. The rat (another scavenger) also harbors this disease. There are dozens of other worms, germs, diseases and bacteria which are commonly found in pigs, many of which are specific to the pig, or found in greater frequency in pigs.

Pigs are biologically similar to humans, and their meat is said to taste similar to human flesh. Pigs have been used for dissection in biology labs due to the similarity between their organs and human organs. People with insulin-dependent diabetes usually inject themselves with pig insulin. If you pour Coke (yes, the soda) on a slab of pork, and wait a little while, you will see worms crawl out of it.

Medical and Scientific Reasons for not Eating Pork

This is a direct quote from "What the Bible Says About Healthy Eating" by Dr. Rex Russell. He attended Baylor School of Medicine in Houston, Texas and did his residency at the Mayo Clinic at Rochester, Minnesota.

"One reason for God's rule forbidding pork is that the digestive system of a pig is completely different from that of a cow. It is similar to ours, in that the stomach is very acidic. Pigs are gluttonous, never knowing when to stop eating. Their stomach acids become diluted because of the volume of food, allowing all kinds of vermin to pass through this protective barrier. Parasites, bacteria, viruses, and toxins can pass into the pigs flesh because of overeating. These toxins and infectious agents can be passed on to humans when they eat a pig’s flesh.

In the "Biblical Archeological Review", Jane Cahill examined the toilets of a Jewish household in Jerusalem, finding no parasites or infectious agents, but only pollen from the many fruits, vegetables, and herbs they had eaten. A similar study done about Egyptians revealed eggs from Schistosoma, Trichinella, wire worm and tapeworms, all found in pork. All of these organisms cause significant chronic diseases. [ this is footnoted Jane Cahill and Peter Warnock, "It had to happen, Scientist Examines Ancient Bathrooms of Romans 586B.C." BAR May/June 1991]

In what is probably a strong illustration of the perils of pork, at one time no cases of trichinosis had been reported in the country of Bolivia for several years. [this is footnoted from "Veterinary Parasitology" May 1993] However, 25% of pigs tested were infested with trichinosis. People working on these farms and the population eating the pigs were also found to be positive for infestation with this parasite. The primary symptoms of this infection include muscle pain, headaches, fever and swelling in the extremities.[foot noted Baker, Bryant, Urban, and Lumney, "Swine Immunity to Selected Parasites", "Veterinary Immunology and Immunopathology" October 1994] These are all nonspecific symptoms that do not necessarily indicate any one disease. Although this may explain why the trichinosis had not been diagnosed in Bolivia for several years, it is strong circumstantial evidence that many people became ill because of pork.

Dr. W.J. Zimmerman reviewed the diaphragm muscle from multiple autopsies done in the U.S. in the late 1960"s, and reported that trichinosis was not an unusual finding. [footnoted Zimmerman, Steele, And Kagan, "Trichiniases in the U.S. Population, 1966-70: Prevalence and Epidemiologic Factors", Health Services Reports 88:7 Aug/Sept 1973] It is well accepted that illnesses caused by parasites have a significant economic effect worldwide.

In the U.S., three of the six most common food-borne parasitic diseases of humans are associated with pork consumption. These include toxoplasmosis, taeniases or cysticercosis [caused by the pork tapeworm Taenia solium] and trichinellosis.

In Japan, the source of these infections was traced to the flesh of pigs, bears, horses, racoons and foxes. All of these animals are listed in Scripture as putrid or unclean.

Swine are also good incubators of toxic parasites and viruses- although the animal doesn't appear to be ill while carrying these diseases. A scientist at the University of Giessen's Institute for Virology in Germany showed in a study of worldwide influenza epidemics that pigs are the one animal that can serve as a mixing vessel for new influenza viruses that may seriously threaten world health.

If a pig is exposed to a human's DNA virus and then a bird's virus, the pig mixes the two viruses - developing a new DNA virus that is often extremely lethal for humans. These viruses have already caused worldwide epidemics and destruction. Virologists have concluded that if we do not find a way to separate humans from pigs, the whole earth's population may be at risk. [footnoted Scholtissek,M.D., "Cultivating a Killer Virus" National History Jan. 1992]

The 1942 Yearbook of Agriculture reported that 50 diseases were found in pigs, and many of these were passed on to humans by eating the pig's flesh.

Additionally, just the handling of swine has an element of risk. A large hog-raising facility in the area where I live wisely requires its employees to wear gloves, masks and protective clothing while working in the pig barns. The workers are required to shower each day before going home.

Little wonder that GOD would inspire His prophet to include eating pork among the disobedient acts of stubborn people in addition to idolatry and conjuring spirits of the dead, "a people who continually provoke Me to My face,...who eat the flesh of pigs, and whose pots hold broth of unclean meat" [Isa. 65:3,4]"

"JUST SAY NO TO SWINES’ FLESH"

by Jim Bramlett

(Our note: This gentleman is not a Messianic believer and therefore most likely doesn't understand the spiritual, as well as physical concepts, of following the Kosher laws, but nevertheless this is an interesting article. We believe he may be avoiding pork, right now, mainly out of fear, but that doesn't mean that G-d isn't bringing him to a fuller understanding at a later point. After all you have to start somewhere!)

Dear friends:

(This will make you think!)

On March 15, 2000 I posted a news item saying that "cloned pigs could provide organs for transplants into humans on the NHS within six years, it emerged yesterday.." I commented: "If pigs were an abomination in the ancient Jewish temple, how much more will they be an abomination being made a part of G-d's New covenant temple--our bodies! six years away? For this and many other reasons, I suspect G-d will pull down the curtain before then and say, 'No more.'"

Combining swine flesh with human flesh will not just be a spiritual abomination, there are also extreme concerns physically, no doubt why G-d did not (DOES NOT) allow eating of swine. I used to think that G-d had this restriction about pigs, only to protect those poor, primitive Israelites, from the deadly trichinella worms found in swine. But we modern, sophisticated humans are so smart that we do not have this problem. Yeah, right!

Not true, according to Dr. Gordon S. Tessler, in his excellent book, "The Genesis Diet," He says:

"Obviously, the indiscriminate eating patterns of omnivores like pigs, make them disease carriers. Pigs are known to carry up to 200 diseases and 18 different parasites and worms, including the deadly worm called trichinella spiralis. This worm is commonly called trichinosis and there is no known cure for these spiral worms. The trichinae worms are so small and transparent that only trained inspectors using high-powered microscopes can detect their existence. Trichinosis can cripple or even kill anyone that eats as little as a forkful of contaminated food! Trichinosis can mimic other diseases such as arthritis, rheumatism, or typhoid fever. (NOTE: On his video, Dr. Tessler says that even cooking does not kill the trichinae worm!)

"Pigs have more incidences of arthritis than any other known animals in the world. Arthritis may be a virus or a parasite that is transmitted from pigs to humans as a direct result of eating the flesh and blood of hogs and pigs. Perhaps many other diseases are misdiagnosed and their real cause is roundworms, gullet worms, hookworms, thorn-headed worms, trichina worms, stomach worms, nodular worms, tapeworms, as well as many other parasites found in the flesh of the unclean swine. A person may be committing slow suicide when he or she eats bacon, ham, sausage, or pork chops.

"Even hog farmers who insist that corn fed hogs are safe won't give you a guarantee that their indoor hogs haven't eaten any rats, mice, fecal waste, or maggots within the past few days. The metal doorknobs in pig nurseries, become corroded after a year or so, due to the gases produced by the pigs urine and feces. The same gas and pig dander that eat away metal doorknobs are harming the respiratory tracts of hog farmers. Their unusually high incidences of respiratory ailments, from coughing and sniffles to lung scarring and pneumonia can no longer be attributed to weather and allergies alone. The hog waste spills from hog farms are contaminating our land, our rivers, and our water supply. Pork should be considered a homotoxin (human poison) and the probable cause of many common sicknesses and degenerative diseases.

"The Great Physician, the Creator of all life, admonishes us to separate the clean animals from the unclean, for physical health and well being. Many faithful church people who would never defile G-d's temple with cigarettes, even though smoking is not mentioned in the Bible, continue to ingest bacon, ham and pork chops which are disease-carrying, parasite-infested unclean foods which G-d commands His children not to eat! It would be futile and absurd to ask G-d to bless the smoking of cigarettes, yet we pray that He bless a pork chop on our dinner plate! Can we expect our Creator to disregard His word to us so we can indulge our appetites?"

Dr. Tessler's book, "The Genesis Diet" and his video, "Eating G-d's Way" are highly recommended.......

sited @ http://bit.ly/kw0Sr8

The Power of a Decision

2011-04-21T14:36:00.000-07:00

It only takes one decision to completely impact our lives... In January I made the decision to stop eating products with high fructose corn syrup "HFCS" (I haven't been perfect) but for the most part I've tried to stick with it being diligent and steadfast to my decision. I also made the decision not to eat pork. I have had pork only 3 times since January 1st and I can say that I'm glad I made the choice to stay away from pork. Because all 3 times I have eaten it I have felt yucky afterwards.

Some interesting facts I found @ http://bit.ly/1qmGUx

PIG & PORK FACTS

THE pig or swine is a very popular food item with most Christians. Yet Christians are unaware that the God they profess to believe in had condemned the eating of swine's flesh. The condemnation was based on some very sound biological principles. Here are some facts on pork that prove it to be a very unhealthy food to eat:

A pig is a real garbage gut. It will eat anything including urine, excrement, dirt, decaying animal flesh, maggots, or decaying vegetables. They will even eat the cancerous growths off other pigs or animals.
The meat and fat of a pig absorbs toxins like a sponge. Their meat can be 30 times more toxic than beef or venison.
When eating beef or venison, it takes 8 to 9 hours to digest the meat so what little toxins are in the meat are slowly put into our system and can be filtered by the liver. But when pork is eaten, it takes only 4 hours to digest the meat. We thus get a much higher level of toxins within a shorter time.
Unlike other mammals, a pig does not sweat or perspire. Perspiration is a means by which toxins are removed from the body. Since a pig does not sweat, the toxins remain within its body and in the meat.
Pigs and swine are so poisonous that you can hardly kill them with strychnine or other poisons.
Farmers will often pen up pigs within a rattlesnake nest because the pigs will eat the snakes, and if bitten they will not be harmed by the venom.
When a pig is butchered, worms and insects take to its flesh sooner and faster than to other animal's flesh. In a few days the swine flesh is full of worms.
Swine and pigs have over a dozen parasites within them, such as tapeworms, flukes, worms, and trichinae. There is no safe temperature at which pork can be cooked to ensure that all these parasites, their cysts,and eggs will be killed.
Pig meat has twice as much fat as beef. A 3 oz T bone steak contains 8.5 grams of fat; a 3 oz pork chop contains 18 grams of fat. A 3 oz beef rib has 11.1 grams of fat; a 3 oz pork spare rib has 23.2 grams of fat.
Cows have a complex digestive system, having four stomachs. It thus takes over 24 hours to digest their vegetarian diet causing its food to be purified of toxins. In contrast, the swine's one stomach takes only about 4 hours to digest its foul diet, turning its toxic food into flesh.
The swine carries about 30 diseases which can be easily passed to humans. This is why God commanded that we are not even to touch their carcase (Leviticus 11:8).
The trichinae worm of the swine is microscopically small, and once ingested can lodge itself in our intestines, muscles, spinal cord or the brain. This results in the disease trichinosis. The symptoms are sometimes lacking, but when present they are mistaken for other diseases, such as typhoid, arthritis, rheumatism, gastritis, MS, meningitis, gall bladder trouble, or acute alcoholism.
The pig is so poisonous and filthy, that nature had to prepare him a sewer line or canal running down each leg with an outlet in the bottom of the foot. Out of this hole oozes pus and filth his body cannot pass into its system fast enough. Some of this pus gets into the meat of the pig.

There are other reasons grounded in biological facts that could be listed to show why pigs and swine should not be eaten. But a true Christian should only need one reason why not to eat this type of food because God prohibited it.

"And the swine, because it divides the hoof, yet does not chew the cud, it is unclean unto you: you shall not eat of their flesh, nor touch their dead carcase." - Leviticus 11:7,8; Deuteronomy 14:8

Those who say Christ abolished the law condemning pork are motivated by their stomach not Scripture. The problems with pork are biological, and Christ never changed the laws of biology."

Can we say scary! Now that's definitely an incentive not to eat pork....that made me nauseous just reading the facts...

Since January 1st, with making the decision to stop eating HFCS and pork I've lost 12lbs. I had Marcus 11 months ago and was 134 lbs when I found out I was pregnant, gained 42 lbs during the pregnancy and now I'm down to 128lbs, if I loose 4 more pounds I will be down to what I was before getting pregnant with Kai 4 years ago. Making the decision to start lifestyle changes to better my health have been so beneficial that I will be able to start improving my family's diet also (well at least impact my children's health, which is important to me personally).

Good luck to all of you who are making life-style changes to better impact your own personal health.

Dangers and Side Effects of High Fructose Corn Syrup

2011-04-21T08:18:00.000-07:00

It's made from corn silly! It's good for you!

Has anybody seen those ads? The ones put out by the Corn Refiners Association? I have.

Not only are there numerous dangers of high-fructose corn syrup, there's actually dangers of high-fructose corn syrup commercials - I laughed so hard when I saw those I nearly fell out of my chair and bonked my head.

The high-fructose corn syrup dangers all stem from the fact that it is completely devoid of nutrients, extremely sweet and addictive, and loaded with an isolated, refined form of fructose that is very difficult for the human body to properly process.

Astute researcher Gary Taubes calls fructose “the most lipogenic carbohydrate,” meaning that it has a tendency to get converted to fat more than any other type of carbohydrate food. This conversion takes place in the liver, where fructose is converted into triglycerides.

No wonder metabolic syndrome, a disease of having too much insulin production, high triglycerides, high blood pressure, and low HDL cholesterol has become so common with the increased use of high-fructose corn syrup. These abnormalities all go together and can be easily traced right back to the refined fructose molecule. Consider simply that to study drugs that lower triglycerides or blood pressure, lab rats are fed enormous quantities of fructose to induce those metabolic changes. Enough said.

High-fructose corn syrup, because it is so highly refined - like cocaine or heroin, has an extremely addictive, drug-like quality as well. High-fructose corn syrup side effects include a common list of opiate side effects, as ultra-sweet-tasting refined substances like high-fructose corn syrup trigger a strong release of an opiate substance known as beta-endorphin.

Beta endorphin, although normally a healthy neurotransmitter that makes us feel good, euphoric during exercise, and free of pain - can turn against us when the ingestion of high-fructose corn syrup, other refined sugars, and any highly sweet-tasting substance spikes endorphin levels far too high. This shuts down receptor sites, creates withdrawal symptoms, and thrusts the naturally addiction-prone people into a powerful addictive trap.

Any number of withdrawal symptoms can develop, such as negative thinking, depression, increased physical pain, and tendency to develop even stronger addictions to even more powerful substances - like alcohol or hard drugs.

Plus, common ingestion of high-fructose corn syrup leads to addictive eating behavior and theweight gain associated with eating a large quantity of fructose, which has unique fattening capabilities, while simultaneously draining our bodies of precious nutrient stores important for the prevention of all degenerative and infectious diseases.

In other words, the danger of high-fructose corn syrup is that it makes us all weaker, more prone to disease, more likely to become overweight or obese, and more unhappy. In no universe can a nutrient-devoid substance be ingested in such great quantities and not have a powerful net-negative effect.

White sugar has these same qualities as well, and has long been known to be the greatest nemesis of human health, but high-fructose corn syrup might just be worse than white sugar. There is an undeniable correlation between its widespread use beginning in the late 70's and the massive rise in obesity, type 2 diabetes, and countless other health problems in the United States, where it is used in greatest abundance.

Join 180DegreeHealth, and you'll never have to drool and nod your head in agreement at the Corn Refiners Association propaganda. Plus, you'll learn many of the great secrets of overcoming addiction - thus not wanting junk food, as well as how to realistically displace all such garbage with your own, decadent home cooking.

sited @

http://bit.ly/9JlbCB

10 Side Effects of High-Fructose Corn Syrup

2011-04-21T07:36:00.000-07:00

You have heard the term high fructose corn syrup if you have spent any time on health websites, magazine articles or television shows. Commonly referred to as HFCS, the sweetener accounts for more calories than any other food option in the entire American diet.

Negative Effects of HFCS

High fructose corn syrup, so commonly found because corn has become one of the cheapest most widely available crops, acts as an alternative sweetener to normal table sugar. The fructose has a much sweeter taste and acts as a much more cost effective option for food producers and manufacturers. Ultimately, HFCS acts as the number one cause for obesity in the world, especially in the United States of America. The sweetener has the ability to decrease metabolism and hinder the natural production of insulin and other appetite controllers, amongst other problems.

1. Obesity

HFCS limits your body’s ability to produce insulin and leptin, making it difficult to metabolize food and regulate appetite. The pancreas remains insulin resistance to all types of fructose, including HFCS, severely hindering appetite control.

2. Diabetes

Due to obesity and an irregular fluctuation of insulin, HFCS leads to diabetes in many people. Continual pancreatic damage remains the main cause of diabetes.

3. Tooth Infections and Decay

Foods rich in sugars and sweeteners like HFCS rot teeth by decaying the enamel coating.

4. LDL Cholesterol and Triglycerides Increase

Sugars metabolize into fat, therefore increasing your unhealthy cholesterol levels along with the fat storages in your body. Since high fructose corn syrup does not cause the secretion of insulin or leptin, foods with high levels of the sweetener become nearly fully absorbed and metabolized into fat and cholesterol.

5. Increased Risk of Heart Attack and Heart Disease

High amounts of HFCS often result in higher cholesterol, which in turn blocks arteries and the flow of blood to and from the heart. This process weakens the heart muscles and the ability for new oxygen to circulate throughout the body. The increase in fat storages also harms heart health.

6. Anemia

In order for your body to digest HFCS and other sugars that contain no vitamins or minerals, you must use other storages of the valuable nutrients, depleting your body of its natural amounts.

7. Poor Immunity

HFCS interfere with the creation of hormones and enzymes in your body that normally defend major diseases.

8. Lack of Calories

Even though foods that contain high levels of HFCS provide a ton of calories, those calories have no nutritional value at all. This often gets labeled as the empty calorie phenomenon.

9. Fatigue

High levels of sugar cause your body to release greater amounts of hormones and endorphins that slow the body down.

10. Mood Swings and Withdrawal

Too much sugar and HFCS will cause your body to crave more, and when trying to cut back, the desire and cravings only increase.

sited @

http://bit.ly/gPythW

How I lost 12lbs since January

2011-04-18T13:29:00.000-07:00

Do you want to shed a few pounds?

Keep reading and see how I shed 12lbs since January.

I've been trying to be really diligent not to eat any products that have high fructose corn syrup (which is found in most processed foods),

no artificial sweeteners,

and I stopped eating pork. You maybe wondering why I have cut these items out...

so let me proceed to explain=}

High-fructose corn syrup

(HFCS) — also called glucose-fructose syrup^[1]^[2] in the UK, glucose/fructose^[3] in Canada, and high-fructose maize syrup in other countries — comprises any of a group of corn syrups that has undergone enzymatic processing to convert some of its glucose into fructose to produce a desired sweetness. In the United States, consumer foods and products typically use high-fructose corn syrup as a sweetener. It has become very common in processed foods and beverages in the U.S., including breads, cereals, breakfast bars,lunch meats, yogurts, soups and condiments.^[4]

The most widely used varieties of high-fructose corn syrup are: HFCS 55 (mostly used in soft drinks), approximately 55% fructose and 42% glucose; and HFCS 42 (used in many foods and baked goods), approximately 42% fructose and 53% glucose.^[5] HFCS-90, approximately 90% fructose and 10% glucose, is used in small quantities for specialty applications, but primarily is used to blend with HFCS 42 to make HFCS 55.^[6]

In the U.S., HFCS is among the sweeteners that have primarily replaced sucrose (table sugar). Factors for this include governmental production quotas of domestic sugar, subsidies of U.S. corn, and an import tariff on foreign sugar; all of which combine to raise the price of sucrose to levels above those of the rest of the world, making HFCS less costly for many sweetener applications. Critics of the extensive use of HFCS in food sweetening argue that the highly processed substance is more harmful to humans than regular sugar, contributing to weight gain by affecting normal appetite functions, and that in some foods HFCS may be a source of mercury, a known neurotoxin.^[7]^[8]^{[9] (http://bit.ly/2tFjog)}

another interesting article I found @ http://bit.ly/4pFeRg

Recommendations from the American Heart Association — not a part of official U.S. dietary guidelines — say that most American women should consume no more than 100 calories a day from added sugar from any source, and that most American men should consume no more than 150 calories a day from added sugar, and that even less is better. That's about 6 teaspoons of added sugar for women and 9 for men.

It's prudent to consume any added sugar only in moderation. Consider these tips to cut back:

Avoid sugary, nondiet sodas. Drink water or other unsweetened beverages instead.
Choose breakfast cereals carefully. Although healthy breakfast cereals can contain added sugar to make them more appealing to children, skip the non-nutritious, sugary and frosted cereals.
Eat fewer processed and packaged foods, such as sweetened grains like cookies and cakes and some microwaveable meals.
Snack on vegetables, fruit, low-fat cheese, whole-grain crackers, and low-fat, low-calorie yogurt instead of candy, pastries and cookies.

HFCS is a chemical that is hard for our livers to break down therefore it stays in our system a lot longer then it should and builds up in our systems. It's just plain ol' not good for your bodies. To say the least I have seen the results in myself by not consuming this chemical...I'm not perfect I have consumed it in a few items since January but for the most part I have done pretty good and have reaped the benefits by seeing the pounds come off. =}

(keep an eye out, I will post more on HFCS in the future and the side effects and how I'm continuing to make life changes that will impact my health and others around me...I'm so excited what the future holds =+}

How's the New Years resolutions going?

2011-01-29T11:44:00.000-08:00

So, since I've decided January 1st to cut out pork and High Fructose Corn Syrup I've lost 5 lbs. It hasn't been the easiest I would have to say, considering it seems as though almost every product out there besides raw fruits and vegetables has it in it. But I do have to say I have definitely seen results and I feel a whole lot better. I've been trying to add to my new year's resolution no Artificial (flavor, colors, or sweeteners) since the 22nd of January...haven't been the most successful there but I'm working on it. I'm trying to add a new year's resolution every 21 days.This week I've been inspired from another blog I follow "Keeper of the Home" (aka http://www.keeperofthehome.org) and on her blog one of her guests from

http://www.thenourishinggourmet.com/ challenged others to try going off sugar for a whole week (you can check out the article on her blog @ http://bit.ly/gTgTBK ) she's been off sugar for 3 years.

It has challenged me to try it out for a week to see how my results might be....which I can already tell you will not be the easiest challenge for me since I love coffee but usually like sugar in the raw in it...but I figured if I take it one day at a time not focusing on the Big Picture (the whole week long) I think I can do this. So starting Monday morning I think I'm going to give it a go and try to go sugar free for the whole. With a few tweaks to it. I will allow myself products that have natural sugars.

For instance: Fruits, Honey, and Stevia (which is a natural sweetener extracted from a plant) that way I can still have my cup of jo in the mornings. I have to be careful I don

't restrict my diet to much from foods because I'm still breastfeeding Marcus. I need food to make sure I'm still producing milk for him. I do have to say though, I've been pleased with the results physically and internally of no pork or High Fructose Corn Syrup, so what can it hurt with no sugar for a week. =}

I can only feel better by going more natural. So, onto this new adventure and I will let you know how it goes.

New Years Resolutions

2011-01-04T12:56:00.000-08:00

Okay one of my new years resolutions was to get my family to start eating healthier.

And one of the ways I intend to do that is to cut things out of our foods that we eat. So, I started with myself and I'm cutting out a few items at a time...I found it's easier to keep good habits if you only take baby steps at completing the big picture. The BIG PICTURE that I would like to eventually see is for us to consume the

"Great Physicians RX for Health and Wellness".

You can check out the diet in this book.

I know I will have a better chance being successful in this goal by changing my own eating habits first and then move onto my children and just have High Hopes for my husband.=}

(he's getting pretty set in his ways, but I figure if he sees how healthy and great I feel...and look, for his eyes only) lol

My High Hopes is he will slowly desire to make the same changes.

So, the few things I have started with this year are a staple for our so called American diet
(pork and high fructose corn syrup). And wow, I didn't realize how much products actually have high fructose corn syrup in them until I started paying more attention to labels so I could cut them out of my foods that I consume. You maybe wondering why I chose these two items to start with, well let me tell you...the pork will be easy for me, even though I enjoy bacon and ham, I don't absolutely love them so I don't mind going without. (Pork is pigs which are scavenger animals that will literally eat anything that comes across their paths...Won't go into any gruesome details, so what they consume is broken down and goes through their digestive system which will excrete from their bodies and when we eat pig we will eventually consume whatever they have consumed...you can read more about pigs if you pick up Jordan Rubin's book) I know it will be easier to say no to pork then it will be to say no to chocolate that contains high fructose corn syrup. But it's a psychological thing for me, if I can say no to pork then I can also say no to high fructose corn syrup...I just have to read labels a lot closer now.
I've been doing good so far, but we are only 4 days into the New Year and I had Trader Joe's chocolate that had no fructose corn syrup that was given to us over the holidays that was AMAZING to say the least, but now it is all gone and I need to find some more.
Because I really enjoy my chocolate! (i will confess i did have 1 m-n-m today...)
So this is my fun new adventure I am on, and I am excited to get completely on the
"The Great Physicians RX for Health and Wellness"
but I'm going to take it one baby step at a time.
Some steps will be smaller then others. =}

New Years Resolutions

2010-12-31T12:26:00.000-08:00

It amazes me how many people (myself included) make new year resolutions every year and maybe make it the first two weeks and then never really stay motivated to actually keep going all year long. How easily it is to make all kinds of resolutions to: loose weight, get in shape, start eating healthier, read and grow everyday (not growing from eating either) :) lol which seems all the growing I'm doing lately:) But every year around new years I usually start the year off with new or repeating resolutions from the previous year yet only to make it to the 3rd week of January (if I'm lucky to make it that far) on my new resolutions... Although if I would actually only start w/ 1 or 2 resolutions for the beginning of the year and keep @ it for 3 weeks "they say, you can get into a good habit within 3 weeks". Maybe that's where I need to start only set 2 goals to start the year off and then once I'm set into those good habits I can always add more resolutions as the year goes on and by the time the end of the following year comes I will have been successful in starting and setting several life changing goals and actually make them stick. Instead of trying to start 10 different resolutions and not even making it to the 1st of February completing and changing my life around only to land back where I started. (that's more frustrating to me to start something and never finish it). So, as I'm contemplating a set of life changing goals I want to complete in this new years I will think through the goals, write them out and then pick two to start the year off with. With all of you ready to start on your new goals and resolutions good luck and I wish you all the best staying commited to changing 1 day at a time!

what's your Perspective on LIfe?

2010-12-26T16:54:00.000-08:00

Awe the joys of life! Or, is it the drudge of life for you?! Life can be exciting, fun, & an adventure just to be alive. Or it can be a drudge?! " DRUDGE: A person who does tedious, menial, or unpleasant work. To do tedious, unpleasant, or menial work." (Just trying to help us expand our vocabulary) :)
a drudge to get out of bed, a drudge to go to work, a drudge just to have to be...be there for others. At times being a stay at home mom can be a drudge, we do tedious, menial, unpleasant work each and every day. But in reality it's all in our perspective. It can be a drudge but it can also be a joy. The tedious, menial, unpleasant work has to be done anyways (like changing the baby's diaper for the 20th time today, but it has to be done). Our babies are only little for a short season. (Just ask any empty-nester). I'm having this reality hit with my baby girl who is going to be 4 in November and my baby boy Marcus just turned 1. Where has the time gone?! Before I know it Kai will be heading off to school. Exciting but sad all at the same time. I have to remind myself when I'm changing Marcus diaper for the 20th time today to find the joy in life when I'm in the trenches of life and it seems like a drudge.

Nehemiah 8:10b

New International Version (NIV)

¹⁰ ..."This day is holy to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the LORD is your strength.”

Thanksgiving Tradition

2010-11-22T11:46:00.000-08:00

For some reason even though I have spent 4 Thanksgivings in Texas and 3 in California it just for some reason doesn't quite feel like the Thanksgiving season I'm use to.

As you can see to the right a picture of Washington State in the winter...this is more so what I grew up with by the time Thanksgiving rolled around. We would have the big feast around the table with family and friends and then after the feast and saying what we are grateful for we headed out to the sledding hill or drove up to the mountains further to get some great tubbing in. They say that as you get older and you have kids of your own that holidays feel like holidays when you were a kid but to be quite honest the 7 years I've been away from home and family, even though I have a wonderful family of my own it just doesn't feel the same. Maybe next year I'll take my husband and kiddos up to my family I grew up with to enjoy a snowy, wintery Thanksgiving tradition with them (which by the way, they have about 5 inches of snow as I write this blog...wishing I was there with my kiddos). In the meantime this year will be spent with probably 70 degree weather, football and the feast which has become my new tradition with my immediate family now. For everyone out there travelling and going to enjoy a special Thanksgiving with whomever may you have safe travels and an enjoyable time of giving thanks for what God has given you.

This year I'm thankful for having my husband and kiddos to celebrate this holiday season with.

The Biggest Loser‏

2010-09-24T14:22:00.000-07:00

I really enjoy watching the biggest loser. They just had the season premier this past Tuesday. It's very inspiring seeing people beginning the journey to completely change their life. I have to give it to them for the courage it has to take to stand up before all of America to do their weigh ins, just in their sports bras and spandex shorts for the women, and for the men just in their shorts. It would be extremely difficult to get up their to bare it all like that...although the grand prize might be tempting enough:) (A quarter of a million) hmmmm, I still think it would take a lot of courage to do what the contestants do. For me the reason I really enjoy watching the show is because it inspires me to get out & go for a run, hit the gym, just try to get back to a healthy weight and being all around healthier so I have the energy to play with my kids and be a good example for them and my family.

That small little place I can call my own‏

2010-09-24T14:04:00.000-07:00

That Small Little Place

As a mom, whether you have a career you go off to everyday, or you're a stay at home mom like myself it seems as though everyone that exists in our world (whether it maybe @ home or @ our job) seems to clamor for our attention. Even that small little voice inside that says "don't forget about me". If only there was that small, quiet, little place we could escape to for at least one hour a day just to be by our self.

Whether it's to go for a run around the neighborhood,

go to the gym workout those frustrations, our local coffee shop-just to sit in that

big comfy chair with our favorite cup of yumminess...

YUMMINESS

or even the thought of being able to hide out in our closet (is quite a nice thought right about now) ;) Yes, these all at once use to be my small places at one moment in my life that I called my own small place {even hiding out in my closet} I use to have a hard time with confrontations plus I hated crying in front of people, (just ask Tommy...while we were dating he found me in my closet a few times).lol I had the false belief that crying is a sign of weakness. I use to also just take off for a run to clear my head (which is a great way to clear your head, but definitely don't advise you to go on a run when you're in the middle of an argument with your husband, they don't really appreciate that). FUNNY STORY: or, at least, I maybe the only one who finds the humor in this story, but just bare with me...when Tommy and I first got married I had a hard time disagreeing with him or actually talking calmly through our disagreements and so I would take off in the middle of our arguing and would go for a run, well Tommy would call me over and over and I would just push the ignore button...now I can see that definitely was not the best form of communication :)
Luckily as time has passed I've been able to face confrontations and our disagreements a little better.
Back to that small place we can call our own would be nice to have just so we don't have to do anything but think, ponder, even dream about our future...That still, quiet place we can get lost in, away from everything, and all responsibilities and call it our own space. Oh, just the thought of that place I could call my own, daily, just for one hour each and everyday...now that would be a dream come true:) I've read so many books, article, blogs, statements that say "in order to be able to take care of the ones you love you must first take care of yourself". Which is great advice, but when do you find the time to actually be able to do that?!
JUST THE THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK!!!

The Challenge

2010-09-22T20:50:00.000-07:00

I challenged myself one day to send one encouraging text every hour to my husband to help build him up and make his day better. One of the reason I decided to challenge myself to encourage my husband is I'm the optimist and he's the realist in our relationship. He can be very hard on himself and just needs to have an encouraging cheerleader behind him cheering him on. I believe that is one of the reasons God put us together, He thinks the world of my husband and my husband just needs to be reminded of that every now and then and I don't mind being the vessel used by God to let my husband know how special he is in God's eyes. So as the day proceeded on I began to wonder if I could do it for a full week. (Everyday, send an encouraging text every hour while he was at work) just so I could see how it impacted him by the end of the week. At the end of his work week I could definitely see he acted more confident at the end of the week. So I began to wonder if I could do it a full month... We'll see what happens ;)

Draw Strings and Elastic Wastebands

2010-09-11T14:54:00.000-07:00

What line do we cross over in life as we get older as women that draw strings & elastic wastebands become a main part of our wardrobes? I use to be able to wear cute jeans that fit great on me, or slacks & button up shirts that made me look more sophisticated & pulled together. Yet only 4 years later plus 2 kids during the time that has passed, my husband's elastic draw string shorts seem to be the most comfortable & have become my staple daily wardrobe.

(sorry not brave enough to show you how stylish I look these days) lol
With still 27 lbs to loose from both pregnancy I'm a bit disappointed in the way I look & dress...(feeling quite a little frumpy if you ask me). I don't really want to go clothing shopping b/c I have a lot of cute clothes to wear, they just don't fit right now. Plus I know I will loose the weight, I've lost it before when I was about 25lbs overweight I can do it again... It's just more of a challenge with two little ones @ home. But I am determined to get back into shape. So, I've joined a community Get Fit Program that last 8 weeks which will help me with my jump start that I have already started. One of my motivation to get into shape is in February my husband & I are looking forward to running a marathon together...

Onto my adventure in loosing these extra 27lbs & a more fit me...

I'm definately looking forward to getting back into my cute clothes.

(my beautiful kids are oh so worth the extra pounds but I'm ready for the pounds to come off and be back to my normal self)

The Roles in life we get lost in

2010-09-11T14:39:00.000-07:00

I decided to write on this subject because as a woman we can relate to each other in the different areas of life in some point in our lives. We all have our ups & downs & sometimes the ups & downs hit us all in one day of our lives. As each day passes & I inevitably get a day older it seems as though I have lost myself in the roles that I play in everyday,

a wife, (a pastor's wife @ that, which I do love but that even adds more roles to play)

a mother (a nursing mother @ that of a 3 month old),

.....a daughter, a sister, an aunt, a friend... The list can seem endless yet as a woman we have a tendency to please everyone else & put ourselves on the back burner. So, in the midst of all our roles we play in, it's so easy to loose ourselves. There are so many things I use to love doing yet I seem to have less time to do them or the convients of those activities are not so convient. For instance, I use to love to go hiking but living in West Texas that convient is more so about 4 hours away from us...not that convient. I use to love running (which I still love to do but with much less time to do it). But one thing I'm learning is that you really have to be intentional if you still want to enjoy life & do the things you love doing. Even if that means getting up before the whole family & before the sun even gets up to do those things...it maybe less sleep but it's also taking care of yourself so that you can take care of the ones you love so much.

The In's the Outs of womanhood

2010-08-21T14:01:00.000-07:00

Life can be complex at times...as I reflect on my everyday life what I have struggled with as being a woman and a mother of 2 young children is "I want my body back, and energy back that I had when I was 26... you may think that is a strange age but if you knew me back then you would understand. I was training for a marathon and I was in the best shape of my life. or even a few years later...pre-pregnancy...

Granted back then I did not have a 2 1/2 year old and a 2 month old at the time and was not married (don't get me wrong I love being married and being a mother...I have the most amazing husband in the world and the most beautiful, smartest, funniest kids. I love my life....I just don't care for the shape my body is in). When I was 26 I was single, had plenty of time to run, exercise, my time was my own. It's no longer my own and it's spread out between my family and sleep. It's hard to get up early in the mornings when I have adorable little ones to snuggle with in the morning. Plus my body is trying to tell me I'm not as young as I use to be. My heart and mind tell me I'm still in my young 20's but my body says I'm definitely older then that. I'm not ancient, but my body has aches and pains where I use to not to have....What's up with that"?! =] lol

I only have 24 more pounds to get back down to pre-pregnancy weight (where I was at in the picture above). I know life isn't about what size you are but as a woman it does help you feel more comfortable in your own skin.

Just a little snip nip of my thought on life for today.

Knowing the love of God

2010-07-24T11:56:00.000-07:00

Having kids have helped me understand the love God has for us. As a parent I fall in love with my children more each day. They are so much fun and with my little girl as she gets older her personality comes out more. She has a very intellegent side to her but she also has a very

goofy side to her as you can see below.

She brings so much joy and laughter into my everyday life. As a mom I'm so proud of her and I love to just hang out with her because she is so funny and entertaining.
My relationship and enjoyment of just being around my 2 1/2 year old daughter and my 6 week old son makes me heart sing and dance at just the thought of them. Now how much more God our Father who is perfect in love must enjoy us as His children. He must just love sitting back and watching us in our goofy silliness at times and smile. I wish all parents could see how beautiful and fun their kids are in who they are as little people.
To all parents "enjoy every moment you have with your kids because they grow up oh so quickly and before you know it they are off into living their own lives."
I try to remind myself to enjoy each season I have with them and to see how much I enjoy them how much more God enjoys us as His children.

Love is not proud or rude

2010-04-26T14:29:00.000-07:00

God is all powerful, mighty and glorious, there's no other that can compare...

He has all the reason in the world to boast about Himself and be prideful...but pride is a sin and there is no sin found in God. He doesn't have to brag on Himself to prove how amazing He is, if we really look into how He moves in our lives everyday we can be absolutely awed by His abundance of love for us. From the simple little acts of kindness others do for us or even the simple little delay in traffic. We never know what is going on ahead of us but just maybe God uses that delay to help us avoid being in an accident.
(Historic Earthquakes

Klamath Falls, Oregon
1993 September 21 03:28:55 UTC Magnitude 6.0
1993 September 21 05:45:33 UTC Magnitude 6.0

The Klamath Falls earthquakes caused two deaths and approximately 7.5 million U.S. dollars in damage. One person was killed when the car he was driving was crushed by a boulder in an earthquake-induced rockfall and another person died of a heart attack. More than 1,000 homes and commercial buildings were damaged. Maximum intensity VII in downtown Klamath Falls and at the Oregon Institute of Technology about three kilometers north of downtown. Three highways leading to Klamath Falls were temporarily closed because of rockfalls or concern about possible damage to bridges. Rockfalls and rockslides occurred in roadcuts and on steep slopes throughout the epicentral region. Ground cracks in fill material were observed at several locations in the area. Felt in southern Oregon as far north as Eugene and in northern California as far south as Redding)

I remember back in 1993 I was driving with my mom back home from Klamath Falls, OR to Chilliquin, OR (about a 30 minute drive). While we were driving a rolling earthquake hit (which if you've ever been driving during a rolling earthquake you don't really know it's going on...we just thought the wind picked up and was blowing the car back and forth). We found out the next day that there was a couple who drove the same road we were driving on only 10 minutes behind us and a 14 foot boulder came down off the cliff and landed on their vehicle killing the driver and the passenger got a scratch on her finger. That made me sad for the wife's loss of her husband but grateful at the same time because that could have been my mother and I who could have been hit by that 14 foot boulder, killing me and sparing my mother but at the loss of her youngest daughter. God watches over us in so many different ways.
He loves us so much that He is never rude or demanding. Even though He just desires to be in relationship with us He would never force us to be in a relationship with us. He draws us to Himself and calls us oh, so gently.

He whispers to us that "He loves us and wants to be a part of our life"

Are you open & willing to answer that calling?!

God's Love does not Envy or Boast

2010-04-18T08:42:00.000-07:00

Just the thought of God ever envying us makes me Laugh Out Loud...what a joke. What would He envy us for?! There are so many others who may envy our lives or we may even envy their lives...I know so many who would love to have the kind of money Bill Gates has

or the fame of Tom Cruise, neither of those can buy happiness or true joy. Bill Gates is so wealthy he could buy anything he wanted. And it seems Tom Cruise has it all...money, fame, good looks, a beautiful wife, beautiful children (what more could a man want). But whose to say Bill Gates or Tom Cruise has a true joy deep down in their souls? The only ones who know the answer to that question, is themselves and God.
To be quite honest with you I don't envy either one....who would want the flip side to their fame> the paparazzi, news media up in your face all the time, no place to go to get your own privacy...definitely not a life for me. But to each his own, there's a cost for everything. God's been there, done that. He's came to us in human flesh and bone. Been tempted like all of us (but never sinned) Been persecuted, beaten beyond recognition, suffered even death on the cross through His son Jesus Christ. "For even I, the Son of Man (Jesus Christ), came here not to be served but to serve others, and to give My life as a ransom for many" Matthew 20;28. Now why would He ever envy doing that all over again. But you know the reason why He did all of that, was because He loves us so much that and doesn't want to have to spend eternity seperate from us and if He had to do it all over again He would. God doesn't boast of how powerful or majestic He is. Or brag of all that He has done

(we can just look around and see the vastness of His glory). All He desires is to whisper in our ears...

"I love you so very much"!!!

Never the Same

2010-03-07T16:26:00.000-08:00

When we encounter God's love we are never the same!!! How big and vast is His love for us. How many of us have really taken a moment to contemplate how much God loves us? It's so amazing when we take time out of our busy lives to meditate on God's love for us...

John 3:16 says "for God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life."

He loves us so much that He gave up His one and only Son to come die on a cross, suffering a horrific death.To see how muchg Jesus loves us Check out "See His Love" by Kim Walker video

www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMoSyqMEbIk&feature=related

just think, how much Jesus, His Son loves us, that He would give up His place in heaven to come down and share His love with a condemned and dying world. God is perfect and therefore loves us perfectly.

1 Corinthians 13:4-8 tells us what perfect love looks like.

"love is Patient, love is kind, it does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails..."

WOW! that's how God loves us... Now, some of you maybe saying "yeah right...there's no such love as this"...because in this world filled with sin and our human nature we are not perfect and we have never experienced that kind of love from another human being but God is perfect and He is patient with us...I know, because I've made plenty of mistakes and tried to do things on my own and He waits so patiently for me to return to His open and loving arms, to just hold me as I cry out to Him repenting and turning from my sin. He is so kind in His actions toward His people even when He has to discipline us to get us to turn from our sins because He knows they only lead to our entrapment and hold us captive not being able to live a free life He has called us to.

The list goes on and on how He loves us but I will stop with the first two and come back to the rest of the list on how God loves us so perfectly. But I want to leave you with one of my favorite songs... go check out the video on youtube...

"Oh How He Loves us" by Kim Walker

How Great Is Our God!!!

2010-01-04T07:53:00.001-08:00

"God is so GREAT, STRONG and so MIGHTY there's nothing my God cannot do, for you"!!!

It amazes me how true this Sunday School song rings...if you have had a relationship for any length of time getting to know Him and what His word says about Him then you would know that He is GREAT, STRONG and most definitely MIGHTY...that's there's nothing He cannot do...I feel that there's so many of us (me included) that with our feeble human minds that we try to shrink God down to our level

yet if we take a step back and look at all His creation and the vastness of the universe,

there has to be a Creator who made it all...

"When I consider your heavens,

the works of Your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which You have set into place."Ps. 8:3

We didn't just "BANG" or explode into what we are today or even evolve into who we are as human beings...the intricate, little details of the mass cells we are made up of (there's no way we evolved to that)! Being pregnant and reading how we are put together as babies there's no way we evolved from monkeys or even a ghoulish piece of slime... He intricately forms and puts us together in our mother's wombs

Ps 139:13 "For you created my inmost being, You knit me in my mother's womb."

Ps 139:14
"....we are beautifully and wonderfully made..."

God's promises are so amazing about us!!!

He watches over us,

He loves us so much,

He desires to have a relationship with us.

Ps 8:4 "what is man that You are mindful of him,

the son of man that You care for him."

I love how much He loves us and how much He wants to be in an intimate relationship with us...oh how I hope everyone can grasp ahold of His love for us.=}

It's the small things!!!

2009-12-14T10:42:00.000-08:00

"Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her..." Ephesians 5:25

It's definately the small, little acts of kindness that are the

glue that helps hold our marriages together.

My husband lately has been doing the small little things for me which in turn makes me want to serve him all the more. He's dropped what he was doing the other day and went to lunch with me. Then the very next day after going to a women's banquet he came out to carry the decorations I had to bring into the house from the car and brought them in for me and even grabbed the last box that was in my hands and carried it in for me. Then a few days after that it was freezer cold in the morning and I just asked him to bring the car seat in from the truck so I could put it in the car since I had another 2 year old I was picking up and he put the car seat in the car and buckled it in...which if you knew how cold it was here (it felt like 10 degrees that morning) now you can understand how much that meant to me=} And then I stopped at the store to pick up some dinner for us and our little one fell asleep before we even got there so I put her in a snugly pack and on our way back out of the store my husband surprised me by meeting me at the store and carried the groceries to his car and then carried them into the house for me so I could get our little girl to bed... Oh, if I could put it in a picture of how much I feel so loved and it's more then words can describe.

When the sun sets each and eveyday I love my husband more that day then the day before...he is so amazing and loves me in spite of my flaws=}

(thank God for that)!!!

Oh how lucky I do feel that God has blessed me with the husband that I have...there's no one else who would better fit for me...I thank God He brought us together.=}

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

2009-11-25T16:20:00.000-08:00

Can you believe it...tomorrow is already Thanksgiving!!!

I just love the fall season...it's so beautiful with the different color leaves, change in weather... and you know that it can be a season of hope, gratefulness, and filled with many wonderful memories.

I know my family's tradition was simple but rather very memorable. We usually had our immediate family get together with one of our great friend's family. Wewould have dinner, watch the Macy day parade, watch the football game, play football after turkey dinner in the afternoon. The most memorable thing we use to do was share what we are thankful for. I think that's such a great traditions for families to do...parents teaching their kids how to be grateful and thankful for what God has given them....even if it's not much. I miss my family and being able to spend the holiday's with them. This will be my 7th year away from them (and I'm grateful for the years in between that my parents have been able to be with us) but I truly miss my brothers and sister. I also miss my sister in laws and niece and nephews. I have an amazing husband and his family is wonderful. But the holidays aren't the same as what I grew up with...I hope that as Kai gets older she will get the privilege to experience with my side of the family our traditions we use to have. I know not everyone had a great upbringing as myself and oh how I wish so many would have had that, even though we didn't have much growing up we did have each other...(an irreplaceable family)!!! To all of you out there I wish you a great Thanksgiving filled with wonderful memories. May God bless you with a special Thanksgiving a day to give Him thanks for our breath of life and one more day to celebrate of being alive.

I finally got my business up

2009-11-09T17:18:00.000-08:00

I'm so excited to say the least...It's amazing how fast time passes and before you realize it it's been about 3 weeks, or longer since I announced that I was trying to get my business up and running... Well for the long awaited virtual store has been set up. My hope is to help bring in a income into our home yet most of all help all those amazing mothers out there who could use a helping hand...or should I say, a baby carrier=) When I first had Kai she was a very needy baby who always wanted to be held. (that was the only thing that really comforted her) ....I know some just say cry it out, but I just could not bring myself to just lay her down and let her cry it out yet for about the first 3 months I didn't get much done except carrying Kai around. Then I received the best gift ever. A friend of mine gave me a ring sling that changed my life forever and the way I mother. I could actually get things done around the house and help comfort my precious little princess. Oh how it helped make my life so much easier. The benefits of baby wearing have rung so true in my life...

Baby wearing is convent
Baby wearing promotes physical development
Baby worn in slings/carriers are happier & cry less
Baby wearing is healthier for mothers
Toddlers appreciate the security of the carriers
Baby wearing helps you & your baby communicate better
Carriers are a bonding tool for all who use them
Carriers are a safe place for baby to be
Carriers are economical
Baby wearing make your toddlers more secure & independent
Baby wearing is fun

Sighting of the full definition of the above is found @ http://www.naturalchild.org/

I found many of the above to ring so true in my life...especially for baby wearing make your toddlers more secure and independent. I've seen it in my own little girl. If you need a baby carrier to help you out or a friend out please feel free to come check out my store @ www.mommysbestfriend2009.etsy.com

I try to keep my carriers at a reasonable price so that many who are on a budget can afford them and reep the benefits of baby wearing.=} I look forward to serving you and even if you are not in the market for a baby carrier and know someone who is please pass this on to them. I will be giving a 20% discount on all carriers ordered before November 30, 2009. Thank you so much for helping me kick off this business and to be a blessing to so many mothers out there.

I have been so blessed...

2009-10-29T09:01:00.000-07:00

My life @ this moment in time is what I dreamed about growing up. Being married to an amazing husband, whose a great provider, fun to hang out with, and just all around great company to be around. And I get to be @ home with a beautiful girl who is just outrageously funny and who makes my day. (right now she is walking around with one of her cloth diapers in a grocery bag carring it like a purse) lol... I always wanted to be a stay at home mom being able to raise my children...and that is what I get to do...God is so good to me, "oh how He loves me"...and I just feel His love so much...He has spoiled me and oh how special He has made me feel. I would not ever want to trade my life in for anyone else's, I have my own problems, my own personality quirks but God knows them all and cares about them all, He helps me work through the problems and even probably laughs @ the personality quirks...I believe He has a great since of humor...that's why He made us all different...and we are all made in His image. ;) We are so blessed. THank you Lord for my life!!!

"Love Never Fails"

2009-09-21T08:00:00.001-07:00

Oh How He loves Us...

The past few months I've been blogging about what I've been learning on how to love my husband. I've also been learning during this time how much God loves us. His love never will fail us. In His perfect, infinite love He will always lavish it upon us.
I heard for the first time the song "Oh How He Loves Us" by Kim Walker a few weekends ago and what a powerful song. (you can follow the link below to check out the video..enjoy)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GFIJXWXiyI
Here's the lyric so you can see what I mean how God lavishes His love out on us..
"He is jealous for me Love's like a hurricane,
I am a tree Bending beneath the weight of
His wind and mercy When all of a sudden,
I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed
by glory and I realize just how beautiful
You are and how great your affections
are for me. Oh, how He loves us so

Oh, how He loves us How He loves us so.

Yeah, He loves us Woah, how He loves usWoah,
how He loves us Woah, how He loves.So
we are His portion and He is our prize,
Drawn to redemption by the grace in His
eyes If grace is an ocean we're all sinking
So heaven meets earth like a sloppy wet
kiss and my heart turns violently inside of
my chest I don't have time to maintain these
regrets when I think about the wayThat he
loves us, Woah, how He loves us Woah, how
He loves us Woah, how He loves us"
His love truly will never fail!!!

There's so many scriptures in the Bible the just jump
off the page and tell us how much God loves us...
on of the most common ones is John 3:16
There's even a whole chapter in Psalm that talks of his steadfast love endures forever
Psalm 136
1O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever.
2O give thanks to the God of gods, for his steadfast love endures forever.
3O give thanks to the Lord of lords, for his steadfast love endures forever;
4who alone does great wonders, for his steadfast love endures forever;
5who by understanding made the heavens, for his steadfast love endures forever;
6who spread out the earth on the waters, for his steadfast love endures forever;
7who made the great lights, for his steadfast love endures forever;
8the sun to rule over the day, for his steadfast love endures forever;
9the moon and stars to rule over the night, for his steadfast love endures forever;
10who struck Egypt through their firstborn, for his steadfast love endures forever;
11and brought Israel out from among them, for his steadfast love endures forever;
12with a strong hand and an outstretched arm, for his steadfast love endures forever;
13who divided the Red Sea in two, for his steadfast love endures forever;
14and made Israel pass through the midst of it, for his steadfast love endures forever;
15but overthrew Pharaoh and his army in the Red Sea, for his steadfast love endures forever;
16who led his people through the wilderness, for his steadfast love endures forever;
17who struck down great kings, for his steadfast love endures forever;
18and killed famous kings, for his steadfast love endures forever;
19Sihon, king of the Amorites, for his steadfast love endures forever;
20and Og, king of Bashan, for his steadfast love endures forever;
21and gave their land as a heritage, for his steadfast love endures forever;
22a heritage to his servant Israel, for his steadfast love endures forever.
23It is he who remembered us in our low estate, for his steadfast love endures forever;
24and rescued us from our foes, for his steadfast love endures forever;
25who gives food to all flesh, for his steadfast love endures forever.
26O give thanks to the God of heaven, for his steadfast love endures forever.

His love does endure forever and while sharing about loving, cherishing, & honoring our spouses I can only think of what a perfect example God has given us to follow. There's no greater example of how to love someone whole-heartedly & unconditionally then the way God loves us...
He sacrificed being with His son and willingly gave His one & only precious son Jesus Christ just so that we can live eternally with Him...
That's true, unfailing Love

Now that's the perfect example of how to love our spouse. There will be times we have to a give up our own selfish desires and make sacrifices to show how much we truly love them. It's not always easy loving our spouse but then again I'm sure it's not always easy for my husband to love me at times either.
Thankfully our Heavenly Father is perfect and know's how to love us perfectly. Let's follow our Heavenly Father's example and love our spouse the way He loves us!!!

love, honor, and CHERISH

2009-09-06T13:23:00.000-07:00

What does it really look like to CHERISH our spouses. Probably the majority of us said in our wedding vows that we would love, honor and cherish our spouse but have we really lived up to cherishing them each and every day? To be honest, I know I haven't cherished my husband each and everyday. I'm trying to learn what cherishing really means so that i can "love, honor and CHERISH" him the way God intended me to do.
CHERISH: [Verb] To care a lot for something or someone, treat with tenderness and affection; to nurture, hold dear, be fond of; be attached to; to embrace with interest; to indulge; to encourage; to foster; to promote; to protect and aid; To value something or someone; To retain a memory or wish in the mind of a source of pleasure or as an ambition; to feel love for.
I know that I definately care alot about my husband but I haven't always treated him with tenderness or affection...the everday grime gets in the way all to often. I definately can be a better nurturer if I really am honest with myself. Tommy does such an amazing job at nurturing me when I'm sick. There was only a few times when I got really sick while we were living in LA and Tommy called into work to stay home with me (since we didn't live near family) and had no one else around to take care of me...yes ladies he is very sweet and he is all mine=}. I need to learn from his example how to be a better nurturer when he gets sick. I do hold him dear to my heart but I know that I need to show it more in my actions to him. (I need to be a doer not just say "I love you" I need to show him how much I love him. For instance, by doing more special things for him, maybe take him to the park spend quality time with him, go to Barns and Nobles (one of our favorite date places...it's free to read there)=}
I also know I am fond of my husband but I defniately am no where near showing him how fond of him I am. It's so easy when we are first start dating our spouses to show them our fondness. (We're constantly thinking about how wonderful they are, so the actions just come naturally) I know I use to make Tommy a card almost every week, and a special scrapbook full of all the things I use to give him or make for him....oh how easy it is to let the daily grime get in the way.
={ sad to say it's oh so true!
And how many of us know that when we first started dating our spouses no one could pull us apart...we would go kicking and screaming before you could get us apart, but as the days go by after marriage turning into years passing it's good to get space every now and then from our spouse but we do still need to make sure we are coming back together, spending that quality time together to make sure we have the glue that keeps us attatched in the long run (when we cherish our spouse and think possitivily about them not allowing the wrongs to build up...that is the glue that will keep us together.)
When we embrace with interest we are truly listening to what our spouses are talking about, whether it's the most borring thing in the world to us but they maybe totally over-joyed about the subject and we are showing them we are interested not only in them but also in their quirks that make them up to be the person they are. So "be slow to speak and quick to listen"=]
When we indulge we take in fully, savoring the moment...so when we cherish our spouses we are fully taking them in and savoring every moment we have with them

for we don't know when our last one will be.

Are we fostering, promoting and protecting who our spouse is or are we going around complaining who they are not or who we wish they would be....remember the reasons why you married them, they are unique from who you are and that's why you married them (who would want to be married to a person just like our ownselves... I would definately get bored) My husband is definately a true gift from God, a special gift from above!!!
I most definately can improve on showing my husband the true value he is....he is a child of the Almighty God, the Creator of the universe, he has the favor of God upon His life and I just get to be a part of that blessing b/c I'm married to him.

Oh, how I know what the word CHERISH means on paper, now I need to put it into action and CHERISH Tommy the way God intending for me to.

May all of you been blessed and challenged by the "LOVE, HONOR AND CHERISH" series. I know that I sure have been. I truly look forward to God showing me more of how to Love, Honor, and cherish my most amazing husband for the rest of my life.

BLESINGS

2009-08-13T16:05:00.000-07:00

Have you Blessed your Spouse Today?!

I know in my series it would be to write about cherishing our spouses but I just had an epiphany. This past Sunday I visited my parent's church (since I'm away from my hometown visiting family) and there was a gentleman, young at heart but was in his 80's who volunteers at the "Healing Room" in Spokane where they pray for people and then see God's hands at work at healing them. (I've heard amazing things about that place). Anyways, the epiphany struck me when after we were done chatting right before he left to go sit down with his wife he spoke a blessing over me... what I really started contemplating was what if as fellow believers in Christ and a part of the church if we spoke blessings over everyone we talked to before we left chatting with them. How would that really effect our lives, their lives and bring us together in unity...

Now lets take this epiphany a step further... what if we spoke a blessing over our spouses everyday before they left for work? Think about this for a moment: How would speaking a blessing over our spouses impact our relationship with them and how much would our love for each other grow? Our focus would be on positive things for them and how we would focus on how we could be a blessing to them instead of filling our minds of negative thoughts and complaints about them. Oh, I think how different would my marriage be if I did this every day for my husband?!

I have the most amazing husband ever and he is a true treasure from God. If I blessed him everyday for the rest of our lives he would feel like the true treasure God has made him.

*"Tommy Cruz, my beloved, you are the head & not the tail, you have the favor & anointing of God upon your life, you are blessed in the city & in the country, you are blessed in your coming & in your going, I am blessed because I married to you. Thank you for being my most amazing husband!" I LOVE YOU!!!

I will love, HONOR, & cherish

2009-08-08T11:29:00.000-07:00

How do we HONOR our spouse throughout our lifetime together in Marriage?

Honor is: dignity, high regard or great respect given, enjoyed, given glory or a good reputation, to give credit to, a keen sense of right and wrong, done or given as a token, acts of respect, respect greatly, regard highly, esteem, treat deference and courtesy, to do or give something in honor, to accept, to accept as valid.

So when we tell our spouse we are going to "love, HONOR, & cherish" them we are stating to them that whether or not they deserve to be honored we are going to honor them. That's why love is a commitment we have to stick to. B/C we all know that after awhile of being married that our spouse may not always deserve to be honored but we gave them our word at the alter we are going to honor them...(plus if we really think about it how many of us deserve to be honored all the time) I know for me that I have some not so beautiful days and I don't deserve the love, honoring, and cherishing my husband gives me....thank God for His grace that flows threw my amazing husband.=} I think Romans 12:9-21 speaks so well on loving & honoring others even when they don't deserve it.

"love must be sincere. Hate what is evil, cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share w/ God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn w/ those who mourn. Live in harmony w/ one another. Do not be conceited. Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace w/ everyone. Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written "it is mine to avenge; I will repay, says the Lord. On the contrary: If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head" Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil w/ good."

If we don't allow evil to overcome us in thoughts and actions but instead do good for our spouse and honoring them then I believe God will honor our marriage & bless it tremendously, beyond our wildest dreams...more then we could ever imagine possible for our relationships. May this bring you hope for your marriage and a challenge in the same way it has for me to honor your spouse in front of others and in front of them even when you don't feel like it or they don't deserve it...just remember how many times we don't deserve to be loved yet how much our spouse does love us even at times they may not show it... So, let's have the courage and strength to be the first to step out and HONOR our spouses setting the standard for our marriages & our relationship.

LOVE NEVER FAILS

2009-07-20T12:50:00.000-07:00

Last but definately not least...

as we are coming to an end of 1 Cor. 13:4 - 8a this statement of "Love Never Fails"

ties all the rest of the words describing love together

(Love is.... patient, kind, does not envy, does not boast, is not proud, is not rude, is not self-seeking, is not easily angered, keeps no records of wrongs, does not delight in evil, it rejoices with the truth, always protects, always trusts always hopes, and always perseveres)

this statement brings all of the words together to the full impact of what love is stating that when you truly love your spouse in these ways your love for them will never fail and will always come through for that person...they know they can always count on you.

"Love Never Fails" !!!

I started this journey out with Love and what I believe love really is, because most of our Marriages start out with us falling in love with our spouses...that's why we married them. We have hopes and dreams we share together and desire to share our lives with that other person for a life time.

That's why Tommy and I got married...we had hopes and dreams we desired to share together living them out together for a lifetime... I'm sad to say I haven't always loved Tommy fully in the ways 1 corinthians describes love. After 5 years of marriage I have really taken a look at this passage of scripture and tried to love Tommy in each of these 15 ways. It's not easy but the results are definately worth it. I figured, Lord willing I have another good 40 + years I get to keep on loving Tommy in (patience, kindness, not being envious, not boasting, not being proud, not being rude, not self-seeking, not easily angered, keeping no record of wrongs, not delighting in evil, but rejoices with the truth, always protecting, always trusting, always hoping for the best, and always persevering).

Baby, I'm looking forward to kissing you & loving you for another 40 + years. ;} you are the love of my life, and a dream come true. Thank you for loving me, for me!!!

(I'm the luckiest woman on earth to have such a great husband like you)!!!

Love Always Perseveres

2009-07-12T11:05:00.000-07:00

Oh, this is a good one!!! It's not always easy to persevere through

hard times. I love running, and I hope to run a marathon someday.

I trained back in 2003 with Team in Training

(which is an organization that raises funds for children and adults who have leukemia) they train people to run marathons and triathlons.

My first marathon was going to be in Anchorage, Alaska but 3 weeks before we were to fly up there to run I got in a car accident and sad to say, was unable to run the marathon. Although I did complete a 20 mile run before the week of the car accident, so when I say I know what it means to persevere through long runs (I know what that truly means.) Through our long runs I really experienced what physical perseverance was. You keep pushing yourself to keep running to reach your goal. This only makes you grow and strive for so much more, you learn so much about yourself and life in general along the way. When you push through the hurt and pain and keep striving and persevering you become a better you and you reach more of you potential then you could have ever imagined.

My amazing husband running the Long Beach, CA marathon....I'm so proud of him!!!
(you can ask him what it means to persevere physically

and he can tell you 26.2 miles is not a cake walk).

The same is true when we persevere through the hardships that life brings us. They are difficult to go through but the end result is oh so worth it. You become a better person and in marriage a better spouse and your marriage grows from your willingness to persevere. Keep holding onto the hope and truth that you are becoming a better person and better spouse that is going to reap the reward of your perseverance through the hard times.

Love Always Hopes

2009-06-29T13:22:00.000-07:00

Hope is a great thing... it brings life to our dreams and allows us to look forward to the future.
I know that many of us on our wedding day we were all filled with lots of hope.

You can always see it in the bride and groom's eyes...the excitement and life they are both looking forward to sharing together.

But how many of us allow the day to day grime to get to us?! I know that it takes an effort to keep that hope and dreams alive. It's part of the commitment we make to our spouses on our wedding day. It's a choice we make on a daily basis to keep that hope of a life long love growing.
The day I got married brought alot of hope for my future.

I looked forward to the many years ahead I'm going to spend with my husband.

It's hard to believe that this Friday we will be celebrating our 5th Anniversary. We always try to plan something fun to do on our Anniversaries. We had the privaledge of our first 3 years to spend our Anniversaries in California, so we either went to the mountains

(which are kind of hard to find here in Texas)=}

or we would try to get a hotel on the beach...

(which was usually a little over an hour drive depending on traffic...

now it's over a day drive for us) ={

So we have to go with what we have within a few hours drive this time around.. Most likely we will be going to Dallas this year. I love just hanging out with my husband, we have so much fun. We are actually are having 2 little get aways for this anniversary. Just a week ago we were blessed with a condo for 2 nights in Ruidoso, NM and had a great time

going fishing and just hanging out with each other. And then this weekend we are headed up to Dallas...WOW, WE ARE SO BLESSED!!! The best part about the trips is that I will be with the greatest man in the whole wide world...

and I look forward to many more Anniversaries we are going to be able to spend together!!! Anniversaries have brought hope to my life in looking forward to special trips with the man of my dreams but the every day life just getting to know my husband more and more brings hope to me. He is so amazing there's so much more I look forward to getting to know about him!!!

Love Always Trusts

2009-06-27T09:07:00.000-07:00

WOW... how many of us can really say that we ultimately trust our spouse with everything? Trust has been a process for me. My husband was the first guy I dated for a long period of time (which I'm totally grateful for....there was no one else who could compare to him, he's the most amazing man ever!!!) although I have had to learn to release things slowly to build my trust in my spouse. It has been a sacrifice of self and a willingness to put myself out there. I have learned it takes faith in my husband that he would not abuse or use anything I've shared with him against me. I couldn't have been blessed with a more perfect husband for me (he's not perfect in himself, but he is definitely my soul mate and is perfect for me). I can say I definitely know that I can put my trust in my husband and his love for me looks over my faults and knows I'm not perfect but that he truly loves me for me.=}

I THANK GOD FOR THE MAN IN MY LIFE!!!

Love Always Protects

2009-06-10T08:53:00.000-07:00

Protects means : to shield from injury, danger, or loss, defend, to guard, to set aside.

If we are doing everything in our power to protect our spouse we will stand up for them and do whatever we can to protect them...which may not be easy to do when we are in a disagreement with our spouse. But the way we can protect them is to take the issue to our Heavenly Father who loves our spouse more then we ever possibly can and He will direct and lead us how to work out our disagreements and issues with our spouse in a loving and respectful way. He is so faithful to show us how to Love our spouse the way He loves them.
This has not always been an easy thing for me to do... but I am a work in progress and I'm learning how to take my own personal issues to the Lord and He is showing me how to work things out and bring to my husband's attention in a respectful and loving way to work on our disagreements together...

Love us definately a commitment

2009-06-01T15:27:00.000-07:00

It amazes me....as each week passes and a new word from 1 Corinthians 13 comes up to work on for the week...it seems as though every week the word I'm working on really plays a role in that week.... for instance the week of "Love is Patient" it seemed like my patience was being stretched to it's limits..

Or when "Love is not Irritable/ Easily Angered" I'm usually not that irritable but that week I was so irritable and all I could account for is that's what I was suppose to work on for that week....And this week I've been working on "Love rejoices in Truth" and oh man, has it been a tough week...due to some circumstances not completely in my control....thank goodness God knows what I can handle and gives me the strength when I need it the most.

The Love Dare challenge out of 1 Corinthians 13 has been great for my marriage but to be quite honest has been tough on and off through out the weeks... But most definitely worth the pain. Keep up the good work everyone who has taken on the challenge, God will give you the strength to make it through. And bless your marriage in the process=}

Love does not delight in evil

2009-05-28T15:21:00.000-07:00

Love does not delight in evil...what does that mean to you???

What it means to me, is that we don't hold onto our spouses faults and keep bringing them up over and over and over again until we beat it or them into the ground. It is so easy to look at our spouses faults again, and again, and again replaying it over in our minds but all that does is lay out a path of destruction to the end of our marriages. I have been guilty of replaying what I feel are my husbands faults over and over in my mind, but what I might consider is his faults could actually be the very tools God is using to shape, and mold me into being a better person that He knows I can be. God knows my full potential and who I can be in this life and He will choose many tools throughout my life to help me reach my full potential. So, what I may think are Tommy's faults could very well be the iron that is sharpening the iron in me. Helping me to become a better wife, mother, daughter, friend and servant of the Most High God.

So, I challenge you with this....instead of looking at your spouses' faults look to yourself for your own faults which God may want to get rid of and turn you into the best person you can possibly be...Your the only one that can be you, so you might as well be the best you that there ever was. I join you with this challenge and let's seek God out to help mold and create us into the best Lauriena's and yous that there ever was or ever will be...

LOVE KEEPS NO RECORD OF WRONGS

2009-05-11T12:21:00.000-07:00

Enjoy the ADVENTURE OF Loving your spouse

& not trying to find every fault they may have...

(don't forget we all have our own faults too.)

My husband sent this great quote and it made me think if I took this approach to my marriage and life in general where would my relationship with my husband be at today...

"Quit living as if the purpose of life is to arrive safely at death. Grab life by the mane. Set God-sized goals. Pursue God-ordained passions. Go after a dream that is destined to fail without divine intervention. Keep asking questions. Keep making mistakes. Keep seeking God. Stop pointing out problems and become part of the solution. Stop repeating the past and start creating the future. Stop playing it safe and start taking risks. Accumulate experiences. Consider the lilies..

Enjoy the journey. Find every excuse you can to celebrate everything you can.

Live like today is the first day and last day of your life. Don't let what's wrong with you keep you from worshipping what's right with God. Burn sinful bridges. Blaze new trails. Criticize by creating. Worry less about what people think and more about what God thinks. Don't try to be who you're not. Be yourself. Laugh at yourself. Quit holding out. Quit holding back. Quit running away. Chase the lion.
Live life to it's fullest and love your spouse to your fullest...when you are weak allow God's strength in you to be made strong. I'm excited to get started today on my journey and challenge to live my life in my marriage to it's fullest and love Tommy in a whole new way.

I'm going to enjoy the JOURNEY OF A LIFETIME!!!

It's the journey that makes life worth living!!!

Love is not easily Angered

2009-05-04T12:14:00.000-07:00

Love is not irritable... 2 Corinthians 12:9 "God's grace is sufficient for me, for His power is made perfect in my weakness."

I cannot love my spouse on my own & not have an urge at times to be irritable. There are days I just want to flop on the ground, & throw a fit to get my own way...but that does no good now does it?! (for all of you parents of young toddlers out there) =}

I am not perfect, but Jesus is & He lives inside me. Only by God's grace & strength can I love Tommy whole heatedly. I must ask for God's strength each & every day b/c in my natural selfish human nature I am irritable @ times & I can get easily angered. Only by God's grace & His strength can I make it through those days that I may not feel like being respectful & loving towards Tommy. It's a choice to set aside my feelings and ask God to live out His love and compassion for Tommy on those not so glorious feeling days. When I want to be selfish & childish...(which gets me no where)!!!

I ask you Lord to give me your patients & strength to live this day in Your love & compassion.

Love is not Self-Seeking

2009-04-23T11:27:00.000-07:00

Seeking for the gain of oneself...the word that comes to mind on this is SELFISHNESS. It's in our human nature to seek things out for our own gain...success, love, "what's in it for me" (that's what the world teaches us)...etc. The list could go on and on. I'm guilty of this especially in my marriage. And to be quite honest, seeking for satisfaction and fulfilment completely from my husband is not only unrealistic but it's not fair to him. He can't meet my inner most wants and desires. Only God can completely meet those needs, making me feel satisfied and fulfilled in this life. God's the one who gives me peace in the midst of the storms life throws at me. God's the one who ultimately comforts me and calms my heart. Tommy is a great consular but even when he gives me a hug and lets me cry on his shoulder he can't touch my heart and release the pain and hurts. Only the Holy Spirit can do that. So to seek to gain complete satisfaction and fulfillment from Tommy is unrealistic and would not be truly loving him. When I allow God to be my soul provider, comforter, and meeter of all my needs is when Tommy is free to be the great husband that he is and not having to stress or fret over trying to be my all in all. It has taken many trials and errors to learn this lesson, and I'm sure there will be more lessons to learn to always keep relying on God instead of Tommy, that's why I will be the first to admit I'm a work in progress. Thankfully God has given me a loving and understanding husband who knows that I'm a work in progress too.=} And he is willing to be patient and love me through it all.=}

Is Not Rude

2009-04-11T13:35:00.000-07:00

According to the Webster Dictionary Rude is: Mean, lacking in social refinement, implies ignorance or indifference of good form, suggest intentional of discourtesy, lack of gentleness, lacking refinement or delicacy, occuring abruptly or disconcertingly(rude awakening).

Being rude is not being considerate and not caring of what you are saying to another person or even considering how it may impact the other person's feelings. I know from our first year of marriage the consideration and thoughtfulness of my own actions while Tommy and I were dating at times went out the window...sad to say but it is being real and honest with myself and you....can we say at times with my words I intentionally was discourtesy, had lack of gentleness, and refinement or any delicacy of my choice of words that came out of my mouth....which brought a rude awakening to our relationship. I was down right rude at times with my words. Words really can hurt and actions of being rude to your spouse can hurt the relationship(whoever said sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me) had either a lack of any empathy to self or just had a down right loss of sanity or feelings. Being rude to your spouse only damages the relationship and your intimacy with them. Our first 10 months of marriage after a blissful and exciting courtship came to a rude awakening when we began to see the not so pretty side of Lorena. Thankfully I have a forgiving husband and a gracious and loving God who desires to see me be a better wife and person....I have grown to learn to hold my words and really think about and consider how my words will impact my husband. If we have a disagreement I've been trying to consider how I am going to react to Tommy in a respectful way and try my best not to be rude...(I'm a work in progress) I've definately been learning how to communicate in a not so rude and disrespecful way...(I still have a long way to go but if I've come this far already in 5 years how far can I better myself with the good Lord's help in a year from now...hopefully a more considerate, loving and respectful wife).

I'M A WORK IN PROGRESS!!! ;}

Where would you like to be in...

2009-04-06T08:19:00.000-07:00

Lets take a quick break from 1 Cor. 13,

sit back and reflect

where we would like our marriages to be in

say 5 years, 10 years, 15 years & so on...

I have some what of an idea where I would like my marriage in 40+ years...

(still happily married to

Tommy growing old with him

until death do us part)...

but that's just a brief description.

This couple is my inspiration....they are my parents and have been married 40+ years. God is so good.

When you know where you want to be in your marriage years from now you have to set goals to get there. So, if I want my marriage to be strong, thriving in our friendship, communication, affection, love, passion, and intimacy with Tommy being married to him 40+ years then I better make a plan and set goals to get there. You can't hit a target unless you set it in front of you.
One of the goals I would like for Tommy and I to set together is plan our 5 years anniversary...for instance, a trip for 5, 10, 15, 20...etc anniversaries...(that's having the expectation of still be married to Tommy all those years and then some) ;} I look forward to going on trips with Tommy, we get to go have fun just the 2 of us and we have such an enjoyable time together...just hanging out. That's why I married him in the first place...we enjoy being together. He's my best friend.
My goal to help my love for Tommy to grow was to take on this "love Dare" this year, to show how much I love my husband and cherish my marriage... keeping it fresh and alive. Who wants to be in a marriage that is dead and you have nothing in common anymore b/c you have allowed your feelings to die. Marriage takes work and it takes two of you to work in it...that's why love is a commitment.
I am going to keep reflecting and setting goals to keep my marriage striving and alive. Alot of them are going to be a challenge to complete but that's the exciting part, to see them come to fullfillment. I hope all of you are willing to challenge yourselves to set goals in your marriage so that you can see the fruits of your labor 40 years from now. Keep holding strong to God's promises and you will accomplish the goals set before you and your marriage will blossom from them.

Love is not Prideful

2009-03-30T12:42:00.000-07:00

Wow, this has been an amazing & profound journey I've been on. The "Love Dare" challenge has helped me grow and brought a change in my attitude towards life and marriage. It has totally turned my attitude around for the better. My love for Tommy has grown so much through this challenge. I love him more today then when we first got married....which excites me and inspires me to keep doing the Love Dare challenge b/c I can only imagine where we will be in 10, 20, 30, or even 40 years from now. Love is a commitment to keep striving to better ourselves so that we can better our marriages. It breaks my heart to see couples go through divorce around me, especially with my close friends. I grieve with them over their loss. But even though it breaks my heart it also reveals to me the importance to keep striving to find ways to work on my marriage, keeping the love going strong and being committed to giving my all in my marriage. My heart longs for the day to see the divorce rate in our country drop... but, for right now the only person I can keep working on is myself and the rest I will have to keep in my prayers.

Love is not prideful: an over high opinion of oneself, exaggerated self esteem, haughtiness, arrogance, since of one's own dignity, self-respect, delight or satisfaction in one's achievements.

The opposite of pride is humility. If more of us would be willing to humble ourselves in our marriage then I believe we would have a lot less fights and a lot more respect shown towards our spouse. Do we really always have to be right?! Proverbs 16:18 tells us "Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall". When we allow pride to fill our hearts we begin to forget the treasure that lies within our spouse and we begin to focus on our self. It's all about me, my needs, my desires, my life. But Humility thinks about others and their needs and their dreams. When we are humble we desire to help our spouse succeed in life and reach their dreams.

SO, I challenge all of us willing to seek out the best in our spouse and humble ourselves this week when a disagreement arises that we will "be slow to speak, quick to listen, and slow to get angry". Let's put ourselves in our spouse's shoes and see their point of view in the disagreement. Good luck to you all and may we all strive to better our lives and marriages.

Love does not boast

2009-03-23T08:37:00.000-07:00

Love does not parade itself, is not puffed up but instead draws others to it.

Imagine if we drew our spouses to our self by our love for them

through our actions and our kindheartedness...

BOAST: Bragging, to talk especially about oneself, with too much pride and satisfaction, to vainly be prideful, exult glory in having something.

If we are to boast about anything it should be boasting and being proud of who we are married to and what a great spouse they are.

So I'm taking this moment to boast about

what a great husband I have....

He is so amazing. I've been truly blessed, my husband is a true treasure. He is a great leader, husband, father, uncle, brother and son. I could not have asked for a better husband then who he is. He is loving and compassionate. He lives his life with passion for what he does and desires to do all with excellence. He cares about others who are less fortunate. He has a generous heart and loves to give to others. The way he shows his love to me is profound. (let me give you a few examples.... when I was pregnant with Kai one day I was really sick to he called into his work to stay home with me and take care of me. Last year for our anniversary he bought me and hour detox and an hour message. For my first birthday we were married he knew I always wanted a heart locket and he bought one with my name inscribed on it. Every year for our anniversary he always does something special for me either buying a gift or just making sure we get to spend time together just the two of us..-which means the world to me{quality time}..the list could go on and on but I will stop with those few things) {I don't want anyone to be jealous or envious}

God has answered my prayers for such a good man. I wish other's could be blessed the way I have been, with such an outstanding spouse. But we have to keep reminding ourselves of the treasure we have and to be proud of who we are married to otherwise we might begin to focus on faults and begin to become discontent, forgetting the true gem that's within our spouse.

Focus this week on those great qualities that your spouse possess, write them in a special journal specifically for reminding yourself in the future. So when you & your spouse are going through a storm in your marriage you can look back and remind yourself who you married and why you married them. That journal may very well save your marriage and change your attitude toward your spouse.

Love does not envy

2009-03-22T21:39:00.000-07:00

Envy: a feeling of discontent and ill will b/c of another's advantages, possessions, desire for something belonging to another, object of envious feeling.
I believe this is where relationships become hindered when 1 of the partners in the marriage or even both partners in the marriage begin to look at other relationships and compare their marriage to what they observe in other's and they begin to desire what they assume to be better then what they have of their own. They become discontent with what they have...("the grass is always greener on the other side"). Which is sooooo not true, just ask the many people who keep repeating their mistakes in one failed relationship after another. The cycle become vicious and before they know it they are repeating the same mistake over and over, destroying another relationship and another persons life. All b/c they are not content in what they have.

In the Bible in the book of Philippians Paul knew what it meant to be content no matter what the circumstance, we should take a look at his example and learn from it.

Php 4:11 I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. Php 4:12 I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.

Isn't that what we mean when we say in our vows"for richer or for poorer, through sickness and in health, for better or for worse..." Or are those just words being thrown out there to just sound good at our weddings. We as human beings need to learn to be content where we are and who we have as a spouse, if we never learn that lesson we will forever be dissatisfied with our life and therefore have no life at all. We'll constantly be running the rat race right into our graves and miss out on the huge blessing that is right before us...OUR HUSBAND OR WIFE!!! Don't miss out on the Gift God has given. Rejoice in who your spouse is, be proud of who you married.

Look deep down in the treasure you possess and you will find a true gem.

Love is Kind

2009-03-22T10:00:00.001-07:00

Kindness: Taking the initiative to be considerate and helpful. Sympathetic, friendly, gentle, benevolent (to do good), generous, cordial.

I know that most of us when we were dating our spouses it was easy to be kind to them. (We constantly reflected on their good qualities and the blessings they brought to our lives).

( My husband is a champion in my eyes!!! He is the most amazing man in the whole wide world and I'm the luckiest woman ever...b/c he's mine!!!)

When relationships are in the early stages (which I mean by at least the dating stages and usually the first 2 years of marriage) we are considerate, friendly, gently and even cordial to our husband or wife. But as the years pass in our marriage we begin to take our spouse for granted...that they will always be there. Although one thing I have learned in my almost 5 years of marriage, we cannot take our spouses for granted and just treat them any way our feelings throw our emotions into the wind. Otherwise we are throwing our marriage into the wind allowing it to be blown any directions that we can't control. Although we can control our attitudes and our actions, therefore we can control whether or not we choose to treat our spouse kindly on a daily basis.
Our feelings and emotions will rise and fall but we have a choice whether they are going to control us, or are we going to choose to control them.
So, I put this challenge out there....are we going to strive together to better ourselves and better our marriage by controlling our actions and choose today to be kind to our spouse this week? I'm taking up this challenge and choosing to be kind to the gift God has given me. (When we reflect on our spouses as gifts and the blessings they bring to our lives it is so much easier to treat them with kindness).
I know many of you will be blessed this week in taking up this challenge and seeing the growth of love in your marriage. Take heart true warriors who are fighting for your marriages you will be blessed, GUARENTEED

(I'm already celebrating with you in your victories) ;}

Love is Patient

2009-03-11T13:19:00.000-07:00

"Love never gives up" 1cor 13:4a (Paraphrased Message bible)

Patience according to Webster dictionary:
The will or the ability to endure pain or trouble, with composure & without complaining, refusing to be provoked, calmly tolerating delay, diligent, persevering.

How do we love our spouse with such love? Being patient with our spouse can be very difficult at times. (I would be the first to admit that, but more so due to putting myself first…it’s all about me, me, me, me)….ah, come on I know there’s more of us out there who think this way…that’s why it’s called selfishness. It’s in our human nature to feel this world evolves around me (right)?!. Okay, maybe I’m the only one willing to be honest here. ;} If it wasn’t for God’s grace and Him giving me the patience to make it through the day I don’t think patience would even run through my veins.
Let’s look at a fictitious scenario… It’s been a long night with your little one teething and you’ve been up all night consoling them trying to sleep sitting up to help comfort them so they can at least sleep. This can make it very difficult trying to be patient during the day.

Lack of sleep, mixed with a short temperament (due to the lack of sleep) can add the pressure of trying to make sure the house is clean and dinner is on the table right when you husband walks through the door. Let me tell you patience kind of wears thin at that point. That is why I believe it does take the choice to choose that we will endure through this moment of lack of sleep and frustration as the baby is screaming, the house is trashed and the dinner is 2 hours late. While your husband has had a long day at work, and all he wants to do is eat and relax. At this moment, all you want to do is hand over the baby and take a nice, long, hot bath.
To really think we are going to calmly tolerate the complaints, that dinner isn’t ready and that our spouse has had a long day to just come home to a trashed house & screaming baby…

(What, they don’t think you haven’t had a

long day…and now to listen to more complaints

with a constant screaming child in the

back ground).

It’s hard not to provoke a fight or disagreement B/C we aren’t necessarily in our normal frame of mind.
It is possible to make it through a night and day like this, keeping our composure without complaining. (I’m still waiting for that day) ;} But we can persevere, being diligent and holding our tongues. Thankfully, we don’t have every single day be this way. This fictitious scenario maybe a real scenario in some of our lives. But, I do want to say that it is possible to be patient with our spouse even when we both have had a long day. When we make the choice to love our spouse with patience we are able to do so with the good Lord’s help. I cannot love my husband on my own, being patient through disagreements and not feel I have to share my own opinion. But I do attest it is possible.
My Husband and I were having a disagreement last week and he started getting defensive. So, I calmly listened to his point of view and once he was done I asked him why he was getting so defensive. Then I proceeded to explain where I was coming from and to my amazement, my patience and willingness to stay calm actually showed my husband I respected his opinion and even though we were disagreeing it did not turn out to be a full blown fight. And by the grace of God patience actually dissolved the disagreement. (now I wish I could say I am patient with my husband all the time but that would be telling a big, huge, fat lie…a matter of fact the previous week before this whole disagreement I was suppose to work on patience and I flopped big time, so this past week I’m still working on loving my husband through patience….and for the rest of my life.) lol

Love is a commitment!!!

2009-03-10T11:20:00.000-07:00

JUST A LITTLE EXTRA T.L.C.

Tommy & Lauriena Cruz

It amazes me that there are so many couples who in their wedding vows say they are going to LOVE, HONOR & CHERISH their spouse until death do they part, through sickness and in health, for richer or for poorer, for better or for worse... I know that my husband and I were one of those couples. And now after almost 5 years of marriage I begin to wondering if every couple who had those words in their vows truly took the time to take heart these 3 words what would it really look like.... how many marriages would actually last through the storms of life and the tsunamis that try to wash our paths away.

So let's take a closer look together and break these 3 words down.What would it really look like if we LOVED our spouses.

According to 1 Cor. 13:4~8a says

"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always persevers. Love never FAILS"

Wow, imagined if your spouse truly loved you this way, they were patient with you (even when you act out and throw your pitty parties...don't worry I do too, that's why we're called

human) =}. Or they were kind to you, (called you in the middle of your day not to request something of you but just to say "I love you, and just wanted you to know that" or sent you a card to your work or home to say"I love you"). They didn't envy you but rejoiced with you when you get that promotion you were waiting for. They didn't strut around being proudful of themselves but instead praised you for your qualities. They spoke to you in a gentle loving tone

(even in the heat of the battle). They strive to help you reach your full potential and accomplish your dreams. They listen to your every word and don't get definsive when there's a disagreement betweem the 2 of you. They don't keep bringing up your past faults but they let them go, and encourage you (not in a nagging way either) to strive to be a better person. They respect you and talk highly of you to others, not gossiping about you.

They will always try to protect you, and trust your word. They bring hope in your life and you can feel safe in your relationship with them B/C they are commited to you, and will do what they can to protect your marriage.

Now that would be amazing if your spouse loved you that way...but how much more amazing would it be if you loved your spouse that way even before your spouse ever loved you that way. It takes a big person to better themselves and challenge themselves even if that means they start the journey by themselves.

What about HONOR, what does honoring your spouse look like:

According to Websters Dictionary.

"HONOR: is to hold at high regard, have great respect, glorify, good reputation, consider right & pure, something done or given, ceremonies of respect, a source or cause of respect or fame, exalt, staking one's good name on one's truthfulness or reliability."

We should ask ourselves how can we honor our spouse by way of this definition. How can we hold our spouse in high regards & have a great respect for them? How can we glorify them by giving them a good reputation, considering them right in other's eyes? Helping them to be pure through out their lives? How can we exalt our spouse? One of the ways that most women do show respect to their husbands when they first get married they take on their husband's last name in good faith trusting that he is going to be trustworthy and reliable.

We have the power of choice, we get to choose how we are going to live out our lives, and live them out in our marriages. When we love & honor our spouse we are making the choice to be commited to keeping our marriages strong.

CHERISH sounds so nice, "I'm going to love, honor, & CHERISH my spouse until death do us part".... wow, that could very well mean a long time we have to cherish our spouse. But I believe a lot of us don't know what it truly means to cherish something or someone.... we flipantly throw out "I love pizza, I love puppies, I love this, I love that". The English language doesn't really give us much in the area of describing how we differentiate about things. To truly understand what it means to cherish we'll take a look at Websters dictionary once again.

"CHERISH: to hold dear, value highly, to take good care of, treat tenderly, to hold in the mind, cling to."

Do we really hold our spouse dear to our hearts, valueing them highly, making sure we are taking good care of them, treating them tenderly, clinging to the very thought of them being called our own?

Wow, to really break down all 3 of these words and really taking a look at what they mean really opens my eyes and makes me ask myself...in the past 5 years have I really LOVED, HONOR, & CHERISHED my husband? To answer that question honestly NO!!! I'm a very real, honest person even when that means admitting my faults...(& yes my husband can attest to my faults... but thankfully he is a gracious and loving husband~& forgiving) =}

I have been challenged this year @ the beginning of 2009 to really strive to love,honor, & cherish my husband. I have been doing the "Love Dare" book inspired by the "Fireproof" movie. It's taking me a little longer then 40 days... It's March 9th and I'm still basically in the beginning of the book, I'm on day 11... (which I still have to read by the way) =} but I won't allow myself to move onto another day until I complete the day I am on. But I'm a work in progress and each day of my life is too. I have also challenged my circle of coffee girls to join me in another type of love dare and that is to take each word that describes love from 1 Cor. 13:4~8a and love our spouses through creative ways living out the action of that word for a week.

I have seen a big turn around in my attitude towards my husband & my love has grown for him so much it's unbelievable. My husband just told me last night he felt our marriage is at the strongest it has ever been. It has definately been a challenge but so rewarding in the results it has brought to our marriage & our relationship.

Now our marriage wasn't on the rocks or but I was not living my full potential as a wife and loving my husband as a child of God. The reason I took on the 2 Love Dare challenges was to better myself but also to do preventive work in my marriage so we don't have to be on the rocks before turning our marriage around. It's like when you own a vehicle... you don't keep driving it until it goes capoot on you, you have to put in gas, change the oil, change the spark plugs, have it tuned up, rotate your tires...etc. You have to do the preventive work on a car so it will be fine tuned and reliably running for you so your not stranded out in ten-buck-to with no help around and no cell phone to call out to anyone. Thankfully we do have God to call out in times of need, when we just don't have the strength in us to love our spouses the way they deserve to be loved. He will give us strength to get us through & even the love we need to pour out onto our spouse. B/C to be quite honest it's not easy to love our spouse when we are consumed of our selves, yet when we pray to God He is faithful to answer and give us a new & refreshing outpour of abundant love for our spouse.

I would love to have anyone who would like to join us in the love dare challenge to feel free . What we are doing is we get together every week and share how we did the previous week on the word of the week. This week we are on Kindness (much easier then the previous week...it was patients) =} I would love to hear comments on how it is working out...GOOD LUCK TO ALL WHO TAKE ON THE CHALLENGE, may it change your marriage forever. We are all a work in progress.