Friday, April 29, 2011

From Connie's 'thought closet'

It's been a while since I've shared my thoughts, what God's teaching me and just plain shared my (true) heart.  I did share that I struggled for about 2 months.  To be honest, it was pretty bad.  Wow. That's the first time I've 'said' that...acknowledged to myself just how bad it was.  I felt like I was loosing my mind.  


Through prayer, support, meeting with a counselor, starting to take time for myself, going on a couple of walks a week, talking about my feelings, reading things (for myself, not baby) here and there, starting a new study and changing my attitude and perception - all of which I believe to have been (and continue to be) God-directed - things have turned around.  Amazing what can happen when you invite God in and allow Him to do His work, right?! :)  I'm so stubborn!!  And well, I was brain dead so it took me a while to be able to think and 'get there'.  


I had a HUGE self-realization yesterday that I'm still processing, and after a little more thought, I'd love to dive in to that ;)  But I figure one subject for rambling per word-only post is all I should do.  Don't want to make you think I've given up on taking and sharing pictures.  (Never!)


I have also been praying that each thing that I feel God uses to speak to me through, rather than jump on the 'who can I share this with' train right away, I stop, pray about each topic/thought/etc in my life first, THEN move forward to share it with others that I feel may benefit from the reading.  This has led me to focusing on myself more, which I feel really selfish to say, and keeping to myself a bit.


A few weeks ago, we began a new study with my fabulous Monday night group of girls 'Me, Myself and Lies'.  It truly was God's perfect timing when we began to discuss whether or not we'd go in this book's direction.  Through previous lessons (from teachers and my life) I had began to apply talking back to my negative thoughts. Basically letting God reclaim my mind and telling Satan to get OUT!  As you know, I have taken on the 'Siesta Scripture Memory Verse' challenge through Beth Moore's blog.  It started out because I was tired of telling myself I was bad at memorization, and I just prayed that God would give me techniques and mental capacity to learn, memorize and apply verses to my heart.  At this point of my life I was glad I'd taken on the challenge because I needed that bank of verses I'd begun to put to memory to save me from whatever Satan would pop in to lurk with.  


This study is about the lies that you tell yourself, or think; things you allow Satan to toss in there but once there we allow them to sit and marinate and sometimes take over.  As we've begun the homework it's been a huge help in my journey to renew my mind.  


While those are a lot of details there, that's a summary of how I got to where I am now.  It's not a steady road, meaning, I have slip-ups and find myself feeling like I'm drowning, like "I can't do this right now", etc.  I know I have a ways to go, but I'm grateful to be on the journey here.  I can see God's just taking me through another road I've never really traveled down before.  Please pray for me while I'm on this journey!  When it's a rough day, it's a huge hump for me to try to get back over and on solid ground. 


In doing today's homework, I wanted to share some of the things discussed.  It brought a new light to things I hear over and over, so as usual, I wanted to share in case it could do the same for someone else!!

  • When the world tells you to make your violators pay, the mind of Christ thinks: Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.  Ephesians 4:32
    So watch yourselves.  
    “If your brother or sister[a] sins against you, rebuke them; and if they repent, forgive them. 4 Even if they sin against you seven times in a day and seven times come back to you saying ‘I repent,’ you must forgive them.” Luke 17:3-4 


  • When the world suggests you look out for number one, the mind of Christ thinks:Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.  Colossians 3:1
  • When the world advises you get all you can-buy now and pay later-the mind of Christ thinks:
  • If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles. 42 Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.  Matthew 5:41-42
  • When the world says you can pull yourself up by your own bootstraps, the mind of Christ thinks: 
    for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.  

    Philippians 2:13

  • When the world persuades "it's all about you," the mind of Christ thinks:
    you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.  

    1 Corinthians 6:20

    “You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.”  Revelation 4:11



We always hear that we should not let our minds conform to the world..instead be transformed (Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. Romans 12:2).  But hearing these phrases made the light turn on in my mind, then pairing them with scripture really set in.  These are things we hear all the time.  I used to try to get myself through things by telling myself to get up, get over it and move on, kind of like 'pulling myself up by my own bootstraps'.  In hearing people try to encourage, or more like empower one another, I've heard similar phrases to some of these others.


...just a few things to ponder here :)  Remember that whatever you allow yourself to think, you are meditating.  Your thoughts are powerful.  They can bring you up, or tear you down.  God wants you to focus on His words - so don't let things that are not truths take up too much (or any!) space in your mind...

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Saturday, April 23, 2011

Isaiah's 1!

Let me just tell you what a task it's been trying to get these photos up (and I wrote that like 5 days ago!)!  man-o-man...So here we are!!  WARNING: there are TONS of pics below!!

First, we start off with the prep for the birthday party.  Isaiah's party was going to be Disney theme, so the idea was to get a picture of him in a Disney shirt to use on the invite...so we had a little photo taking afternoon to try to get that.  


Isaiah had just started walking all over the place, so it was hard to get him still!  Here are some of the fun shots we got of him. 


...cousin Jayce made an appearance that day...and wasn't he just handsome?!  I'm kinda thinking maybe it wasn't a coincidence?! :)  


Tyler started playing with the kiddos...putting them up in the tree...

...and tossing them up in the air.  this pic looks funny with the house in the background.


Here was our final product for the invite.

Then came the actual party - fast forward about 1 month later ;)  The kids were asked to dress up in a Disney costume.  We were going to put something together from what Emma had in the closet and some fairy wings we got at the $.99 store:)  A DIY tinkerbell costume.  BUT...we went to our friend's house and they had a pic of  their daughter up in a costume and we were able to borrow it and look at just HOW stinkin adorable our little tinkerbell was!!!
OK, OK, so this is about Isaiah :)  (just don't forget the author of this post was also the photog and tink's mama;0)



So, not so long ago, I heard that pinatas must have been a given at all the parties I attended growing up (because I'm Mexican?)...however, I think I only ever encountered...maybe 2 when I was young?  We had one a couple of years ago for my mom's 60th...then this one...ANYWAY, it isn't a staple FYI :)  But we did have one here!!  

The kids had so much fun taking a whack...



...and it was hilarious to Tyler and I how it all had to be set up to work!  Here were the two guys behind the pinata



fun to see how many adults and big kids there were running after the candy once it broke :)

They had a costume contest.  Jayce was Peter Pan!!   What a cute pair he and Emma were!
...I did my best to 'sell' her costume.  Tyler and I totally thought she should have won :)



Here's the whole crew of kiddos that was there


and all those that were wearing something Disney.







And of course, we did a little shoot of just the three babies :)  They're so cute!!




and here are just tink and peter :)

So...I know it'd been a little bit since I've put any pics up.  Hopefully this slue will make up for it to both the Boyd and Aguirre fams ;)