Nice Things We Get to Enjoy As Parents

Last Monday Danner told me not to plan anything for Wednesday since it's my day off at New Beginnings Resale Store because he had a surprise for me. After several attempts trying to find out from him what the surprise was and I failed! Tuesday night finally rolled around and I asked him what we were doing the next day and he left to come back with a beautiful card with a sweet handwritten message and told me that Allison and I were going out for a Mommy-Daughter date. The card also had a gift card to Olive Garden and some money for us! Yay!!! I was all teary at how thoughtful he was. He knew I needed a day off to spend time with Allison alone so he stayed at home cleaning around the house.

So, after Allison's swim lesson we got ready for our important and much needed date!!

All ready to go!!

Having zuppa toscana before the main dish

What a delicous lunch it was!!

After a delightful lunch we went to Old Navy to find something nice for us to take on our vacation this August. Found a few things for Allison and can't wait to take pictures of her in them. Yay!! We got home and took a nap and headed out again to go a surprise birthday party. What a day!!

Thank you, Danner!!! We love you so much!!!

Do-Over....Part 2

I've been wanting to do something for Danner to redo his Father's Day gifts that he lost along with his wallet. I know that he's really into air soft stuff so I got him a plastic tote and filled it with container of 5000 air soft bee bees, a pair of safety glasses, a big bottle of Gatorade, a variety pack of sandwich crackers, a pack of camo band aid, a canister of bug spray, a pair of flip flops, a wallet to replace his stolen one, and of course a card with Allison's hand print of six fingers (see pic. below) ;-). I know these aren't very much but we are on a budget so we have to be creative with our gifts instead of the old days when we both worked full time with good jobs and can afford to give more lavishly. While I was picking out these items, the Lord gave me an idea of putting descriptions on each item and read them out to Danner as he opened take them out one by one. I even made sure the tote I gave him can perfectly contain the bee bees, glasses, and safety kit inside of them!! Go me! My creative juice is coming out slowly. He was really thankful for the gifts and even kept the descriptions inside the tote to serve as his reminders. :-) Allison was very happy that she got to prolong her bed time a little bit to watch him open his gifts from us.

Getting cleaned up after finger painting!!

The result! Allison has an invisable finger

(only shows up on paint and cardstock!)

A little of everything for Daddy

Helping Daddy checking out his goodies

Here's what I came up with while thinking about what to get Danner. They're so cheesy but he liked it :-)

-The wallet represents how giving you are to all those around you

-The bee bees are to remind you of how quick you are to help others

-The safety glasses are to fix your eyes on the Father and not the standard of this world

-The flip flops are to guide your feet toward the purpose the Father had made just for you

-The band aids are to remind you to let the Father fixes your boo boos

-The bug spray to remind you to pray away the enemy

- The cheese crackers are for nourishment and remind you of your daily bread from the Lord

-The Gatorade reminds you to allow the Father to refill your cup daily

Then comes the confession: after getting all the items looked over, Danner realized I bought him women flip flops!!! Oops, sorry honey! He returned for something better. :-) It all worked out and fun was had by all!!

Prayer Room

Our church, The Pointe, formerly known as Antioch has the house of prayer that we're trying to worship for 24/7. We're getting there as the Lord is raising up worship and prayer leaders. Last night I took Allison with me to one of the sessions after dinner and her bath. It was a treat for her because she got to stay up passed her normal 7:30 bed time.

It was so nice sitting and praying (well, kept an eye on Allison most of the time), but I love the fact that our daughter is being raised in the house of the Lord. She was really good and well behaved through the entire set. She was very loving as she got to bring her doll and a blanket along with her so she can play pretend as a mommy. I saw how she loved and took care of the doll like mothers in our church. She's been watching and learning!

The set was very nice and relaxing. It was nice to get out of the house at the same time. Though I was distracted with my baby, I know the Father was listening to my prayers. He heard my heart's cry and I know He was touched. I want to continue to get to know Him in this intimate way. I want Allison to grow up knowing the Father too. My sisters and I are thankful that our generation we get to break off the curse of our ancestors from buddhism and walk in Christ. We get to raise our children in the Lord; to know Him and make Him known. We get to start a new generation of praise and worship. I am thankful He calls me His and bless me with a beautiful family: A wonderful and supportive husband who knows my heart. A beautiful daughter who knows what prayers are. I have supportive friends and in-laws who love me. I am thankful for what I have and where I am even though sometimes I complain. Well, let me take this back, I do complain a lot of times. I am realizing each day that this is the walk with you say "yes" to the will of the Lord. It is hard. It's not suppose to be easy. It's part of laying down our lives; picking up the Cross and follow Him.

I want to commit myself to be like Anna, the prophetess, who intercede for her family and her generation. I get to make a diffence in everything I do. "He'd made me for a purpose."

Not Perfect

All my life growing up I was known to be the cleanest child and the one who organized everything around the house and actually was the only one who kept the house in order until I left home. So, I have this thing about me that I hate messy, dirty things. I just cannot stand it and I guess it's safe to say that I'm chalked up to be Obssesive Composive. For example: I loved watermelons but can't stand that the juice running all through my hands and such, which brought me to my fear of having children! Because I cannot have children who are filthy with sticky fingers from popsicles, juice and such. That was my plan at least until the Lord opened my eyes. Until now all I have done with Allison only the things that I know is messy proofed and I am extra careful now with her and markers as she got a hold of a giant permanent marker and wen to town on my face and all over her toys.

I'm so scared of letting go and letting my child makes a mess in the kitchen because it really stresses me out when I have to clean it up. Part of it is because I'm not a full time stay at home so I have work and responsibilities when I get home from work that I didn't need the extra chores to do. I know I sound like a control freak, but this why I'm blogging again: to let go of things I cannot control, have so fun with my daughter and at the same time making memories. I'm making a list of things I want to do with her this summer. (Allison does have a good life and has plenty of childhood memories and gets to do what a lot of toddlers get to do, so it's not like I really deprived her. I just haven't let her do the things I'm scared of, that's all.)

Things I will do with my daughter this summer:

1. make mud pies
2. dance in the rain (only when it's safe)
3. finger paint a bunch of projects
4. bake cookies (the entire process)
5. catch lightning bugs
6. wade in the creek
7. eat a ton of watermelon (and who cares if the juice gets everywhere!!)
8. dig for seashells
9. build real sand castles on the beach
10. take pictures with every Disney Princesses we can find!
11. (gonna think some more)

Fried Catfish & Hush Puppies

Hope everyone had a great 4th of July and enjoyed the three days weekend!! I enjoyed it thoroughly with my precious family. Though last night I felt like some allergies are coming on and today too. Well, we did it again! Since I knew Danner's family there's been a tradition made by our late Papa. One year he had a crave for catfish so they had catfish for 4th of July that year and it stuck. Though our Papa passed away last October, we carried on the tradition without him. We missed him and know that he was looking down on us, probably telling us what we were doing wrong with the catfish :-) but we managed to fried the catfish, chicken, and hush puppies and of course everything was delicious!! Danner made oatmeal raisins and chocolate chip cookies, another thing Papa always made when he was on earth, to carry on the family tradition. He did such a good job and everyone was very proud of him!! We brought fresh corn on the cob and Allison had a few ears and I did the same. There's nothing beats fresh corn on the cob on a summer evening! After lunch, I was able to put Allison down for nap and of course I fell asleep too. It was very much needed for both of us. When we got up from our nap played in the backyard of our Mema's house. We played the family game of croquet which I'm so awfully bad at. It was so terrible that I had to quit and I'm usually the competitive one. We played outside till 9:00 and all loaded in our vehicles to go see the fireworks display at the air port. We were quite disappointed at what was suppose to be bigger and better than the previous years, but I guess at least there were fireworks on the 4th, right? We all slept well of course! Monday came along and we took Allison to her first swim lession which she did wonderfully! She enjoyed it while I was sitting far away wondering if she was good or whether she was listening to her teacher. Danner was there beside me telling me how good she is because he used to be the swim instructor back in high school years. Our little baby is growing up! Watching her walking away with total strangers and doing what she was told was so different for me. I'm so proud of her and sad at the same time that she's no longer an infant that needs me all the time but that she is her own person now with decisions of her own to make. We wrapped up the afternoon eating leftovers at Mema's house then a nap. When we woke up we went over to Bentonville to visit my family. My mom makes the best "Pho" in the world and we filled our tummies up with another delicious meal. Allison had so much fun there with her grandparents, aunts and uncle that she didn't want to go home. :-(. She had to come with us, of course.

Here are some of the pictures from that day:

Posing with Daddy and a garden fresh cherry tomato

Mommy's turn

I'm so big! (Confession: Daddy dressed this

morning and had me wear my dress backward)

Another corn-on-cob eating was captured

Love my Grandpa Craig!

He's such good Grandpa!

Happy 4th of July!!!

While Allison is tucked in for the night, Danner is making his first batch of oatmeal cookies with chocolate and raisins. They are family recipes passed down from his Papa Pete who passed away in October. He always made the best cookies and I'm so glad his own grandson gets to carry on the tradition. We sure miss you, Papa!! Can't wait to see you again in Heaven.

Three years ago on 4th July we got to tell everyone that we were expecting a little girl! The very first girl in over 50 years on Danner's side of the family. We were very excited so instead of wearing red, white & blue, we wore pink shirts instead. Our lives have changed so much since Allison came and all for the better!! We love her so much and she always knows how to brighten our days.

Here's the recap of the past three years:

Baby Girl Allison at 20 weeks

Happy Parents (5 months)

Extremely Proud Aunts

July 4, 2008 (8 months)

With Aunt Tram in Mema's Garden


July 4, 2009 (20 months)

Someone Gave Me a Fresh Corn

Oh, So Juicy!!

It's A Good Life!!

More to come this July 4, 2010!!!

Do Over

Danner's Father's Day was not very eventful as he found out that his wallet with money and gift card was stolen when he was at the Natural's baseball game. My eye was irritated and bothered me so much that I didn't want to do anything except laying down in bed and kept them shut. I feel bad for my husband and was so frustrated at the same time that all his gifts were stolen from him. Besides, we had to spend extra money to replace his ID and other cards. Good thing is that we don't have any credit cards so we didn't have deal with all the hassels except having his ATM canceled and replaced.

I want to do something special for my man because he truly deserves a Do Over!! He's been a wonderful and supportive husband of what I do with New Beginnings. He's always there to help when I needed extra hands. He's so good with Allison, especially when he didn't have classes. He'd take her to the park, stroll around town, and make sure she's fed and getting her naps in.

With Danner being back in school full time, our budget is tight but the end result will be so much better when he's done with Paramedic. He's a natural at saving lives. I'm so proud of him!! He's going to try to get in with a Fire Department in the fall, hopefully in Siloam, while taking classes.

Our family is making sacrifices to better our lives and at the same time following God's plan for us. We are being blessed with good health and opportunites serve others. When we say "yes" to God, He takes us to places we never dreamed we would be.