Beyond the Garden Gate

  My little one today is one of those hard days for mami, today would have been the birthday of her sister Tia Lety. It has been 10 months since God decided it was time for her to go be with him, with no warning, no signs, we were forced to say good bye. Te\naching me one of the greatest lessons: you never know when it is someone’s last day in this world so always love, love unconditionally, forgive quickly, let go of little annoyances, always be kind and speak/act like it will be the last time you see them again because it might, Answer the phone, make the call, go have coffee/dinner, hug a little tighter and longer, kiss more lovingly, dance/ laugh/be silly with them, enjoy the little things in life together, make memories… I am eternally grateful that I did all those things with her (except the kiss), I don’t have any regrets in that sense, and those memories are what I have left, what keeps me going, and what soothes the pain. I am grateful for the God wink of Florida weather ...

Today I had a bit of an emotional meltdown… sigh… we drove by aunt R. to drop off the kiddos. It is so hard when loved ones are sick and we are faced to wrestle with the big questions... why them? why her? why like this? such a holy and loving person. So, naturally that triggered me thinking of my actual sister “Tia Lety” who’s in heaven since January ( something we were not prepared for and was totally unexpected…) Both thoughts going round and round in my head sent me on a baking spiral. I noticed I anxious clean and emotional bake, who knew?! Fascinating… not sure it was the best thing to do in my surgical recovery, journaling might have been a better idea, but oh well… we have lots of muffins in the freezer now. I took out the bag of frozen apples our friend from  tea with toddlers  gave us a while back and you helped me turned this apple spice cake recipe into muffins. I like doing these types of cakes in  muffin tins  because it makes it easier to just plop one...

By now is no surprise that I consider a homemaker not a stay at home wife/mom but the woman with her feminine qualities as well as the man with his masculine ones work together to build the foundation of the family- the home. And no you don’t have to be married or a woman in order to start learning and applying my homemakers principles- practical, relational, personal- because they will come in handy even if you live at home, college, with roommate’s, alone, or with your significant other. Ok, today I wanted to touch bases on something I had to learn, and I am still learning. Lets be honest this one is one of the hardest ones for me to apply and yet is the most important one…  to be frugal…  is the Homemaker’s biggest obligation. Let me explain how and why I think this: Why do I call it an obligation because it is a duty and a commitment, yes I know it’s not fun (at all) yet again obligations are not normally fun. They are part of being adults, we get our freedom yet we have t...

  You have been hearing me talk a lot about homemaking lately so today I thought I would clarify what I think homemaking is and what is not. To me homemaking is not the same as a stay at home wife/mother even though that’s what most (probably all) people think of when they hear homemaker. I will touch briefly in feminine and masculine but I will write more in depth about it later on. You have probably heard the saying “the man builds the home and the woman creates it”. This makes me think that yes, we are different, with different gifts and qualities -men & woman- masculine (provide, protect, guide) & feminine (nurture beautify, create)- yet we compliment each other perfectly specially in the making of a home. We are both,in our own way, homemaking. The man with his masculine qualities and the woman with her feminine ones are in this beautiful and delicate dance of building and creating a home and that  home is and will be   the foundation of the family. All of my...

  today I thought I’d share a bit of my struggle as a human and I know for a fact my dear one you will struggle with this too… I know you will be a light to everyone around you and just know that some will not have the same faith as you, they might have their own name to explain that beautiful nonphysical presence, we in our family call God. But as you know by now your mom thinks it’s not for us to judge, we are each in our own path, we are to love one another no matter what, make the feel welcomed, and we are just walking each other home… so in the end it doesn’t matter and it is irrelevant what name resonates with them. What is important is that you become that shinning light, an example with your actions and life, that helps them conect to it and live in a way that honors that connection to pure Love, in our case God. And when they see your joy, strenth, faith, and peace and ask how you do it you can point them to Jesus and the cross. Back to today’s topic… fear & love Today...

  there is nothing in this world I find more beautiful than the sound of you laughing playing in the fall leaves, under a bright blue sky, while a cool crisp breeze blows by making the most stunning colored leaves come alive once more as they dance in their way to the ground. Living in the Pacific Northwest I have gotten the amazing treat of experiencing fall, the colors, the flavors, the smells… can you tell I love everything about fall?! You sure can by the “look! Look at those leaves” I scream in excitement every five minutes while we drive anywhere lol. And the amount of fun we have stepping in the acorns at\n grampas house and dodging the acorns as we run around (remember the blue jay that was chucking acorns at us on purpose?! And opening them to explore the inside including the treasured worms that like to hide in them?! How about collecting them for “Mr peanuts” our “pet” squirrel?! I hope those are in your little mental memory box and when you see the signs of fall like t...