More of You Lord

Another restless night, tossing and turning. Thinking of the things I need to do and how will I get it all done. Thinking of my loved ones. Where are they? Are they safe and protected.



Worry and anxiety creep into my sleep daily. Have I forgotten there is a God that is there taking care of it all? Will my worry add another day to my life? No. In the contrary. Sleepless nights can bring about many problems in my health. I wake up tired and moody. I feel like a zombie at times. I can go on like this anymore, I must do something.



I searched my collection of books and found two to read. One is Stormie Omartian, The power of a praying woman. The other book is from Karon Phillips Goodman, Another Fine Mess, Lord!


Yes, I feel like I have done a mess. Trying to do to much and yet it seems like I have done nothing. The rooms look crowded and filled with so much clutter. And how did it get this way?



Procrastination is the word. Failing to do things as they should be done. Letting clutter accumulate to be conquered at later time. Not following my routine schedule, skiping important things that must be done on a daily basis.



Getting distracted by things such as the computer. Searching, reading blogs. Even though I mostly read blogs that are informative and help me in many areas of my life, I need to prioritize my time. If I do my house work first, I will not have to be rushing later, trying to get dinner done on time, rushing to go to the store or to pick up the kids. Leaving school homework for last minute, a day before it is due.



And most importantly giving God his time. It is very important to seek God first. His guidance. Get empowered by his word and meditate on it. Spend quality time in prayer. This is what I have been reading in Goodman's book, Another Fine Mess, Lord!



Walking daily with God and allowing Him to guide me in my everyday chores. Asking Him to remove from my life those things that should not be there, like worry and anxiety.



And only He can help us. No matter how much self help books we read, how many people we ask for opinions or guidance, God should be our number one priority. He has given us 24 hours a day. Can we not give him an hour at least. I know I can give him more time if I follow my daily routine. If I choose to not procrastinate my other daily chores. I will not feel overwhelmed by how much has accumulated. The laundry, the dishes, the piles of papers. And we should not wait till or home is completely organized. We should start now, today. Amidst the piles of papers and the mess in our life. God is waiting for us.



I felt so much better today, after spending my time with God in his word. My house is still a mess, but I have hope that a little at a time and with the help of God, I will reach my goal.


Every Wednesday, we Walk with Him, posting a spiritual practice that draws us nearer to His heart.

Preparing for Easter

I have so much to do this next two weeks. As I wrote to you in my last post. I have been thinking of making a window display for my neighbors to see. I looked for ideas on other Catholic parents blogs and I came up with this idea.

This week, I will have on display the entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem. I was a Sunday School teacher for my former church. Over the years I collected posters and bulletin cut outs of the bible stories the children learned every Sunday. Since every three months a new package was ordered we had all this posters left over and I kept some to use at home with my children. I always had the idea to keep teaching my children at home what they only learn on Sundays. I even have the room set up for home school but have never had the chance to start.

We always gather at our living room and do our projects there. I had most of this items in the attic in a box. I used some of the posters last year for my first year as a Cathechist. Today, I remember this posters and I knew I had one of Jesus entering Jerusalem on the donkey and the people holding palm branches. I looked all over my paper files and I knew it was somewhere. I have so much here and there, and I need to get it all together and make use of all this wonderful information.

I found the poster! In another box of paper files, the folder was labeled Faith Formation. I am so glad for hanging files and labels. It makes it easier to find things. This week I had programed to work in my attic. I need to organize all of my kid's toys. Get rid of those they have outgrowned. And keep the ones they use in their proper box. Get the school room ready for this summer study of the Saints.

I also have to prepare the bedroom for my brother, he will move in next month. Need to re-organize daughter's room for her to share with her brother. So much to do! But I am positive that I can accomplish my goals if I do a little at a time. And not get distracted.

Next week's window display will be the stations of the cross and for Easter, I have some wonderful coloring pages of Jesus standing in front of the empty tomb with Mary Magdalene. I will have pictures later.

Next two weeks

As you all now this are the last two weeks before Easter. And they are very special to me. Almost every year my birthday falls either on Palm Sunday or a week before. This year is a day before Palm Sunday.

I had been thinking of making something special to celebrate my 37th birthday this year. I will love to have my family and closest friend here and celebrate with me. The best thing about my birthday is that for the last 13 years I have share my birthday with my first nephew. It was a great blessing for me to become an aunt and be present at the birth of my nephew.

In the past few years, my sister has been celebrating her kids birthdays on the same day in the summertime. But I am not sure what she will do this year, since nephew will be officially a teenager.

Another event has come up. There will be a retreat on my birthday at our church for those receiving first communion this Easter Vigil. The Sister in charge of planning this event has asked me to help. I agreed. What better way to celebrate my birthday than by doing something for the church. I could always celebrate my birthday later that day. The retreat is just from 9 am to 12:30 pm.

I am so happy that God is making me useful at my parish. The Pastor has asked me to lead the parents group during the time the children are taking their faith formation class. This will probably start after the Easter festivities. But I am so happy and nervous at the same time. I will be praying daily and asking the Holy Spirit for guidance. I pray that the parents will be interested in staying for the group. Most of the parents just drop off their kids and leave. But there is a few that stay and it will be of great benefit for all of us to take part of this group. What will the group do? It will be mostly sharing our faith. Praying for each other and learning what the church teaches so that we can be good role models for our kids.

Please continue to keep me in your prayers for God to continue guiding me. Also my daughter's appointment is on Holy Thursday. We believe for a good report from the doctors regarding her scoliosis. We pray that no surgery will be needed ever. We pray that God will heal her.

My brother-in- law's immigration appointment is on the 9th of April. We also continue to pray for an aproval to his case. We pray he will be able to receive legal residency and return home with his wife and children. And their wedding will be taking place as scheduled in June.

I believe God is at work for each petition and his will will be done in each. Have a very blessed day. And God bless you aboundantly.

Window Display

I have been placing pictures and the art that my kids do on the front window of my home. You can see them well from the street. I have a printout of our lady of Guadalupe. A coloring picture of Jesus with a great big heart and in the middle the world, to show that Jesus loves the whole world. Another coloring picture of a girl on her knees praying, I wrote on the bottom, Praying for Life.

I have another coloring picture of a cross with a drape that I colored purple to signify lent. I also had the Paper Dali coloring page of St. Patrick. But I recently took it off.

I want to continue putting this coloring pages to send a message to all who see them when they walk by. I know that Jehovah Witnesses walk by often around this neighborhood. They used to come and knock on my door, but lately they just pass by. I am not sure if it is because our neighbors dogs are always outside barking loud or because they rather skip my house. Once I told one lady that I was Catholic and loved to read my bible. I believe that was the last time someone came knocking at my door.

Getting back to the window displays. I think it is a very good way to evangelize and to show to others what we believe. I am working on a display for Easter. If anyone has some ideas please let me know. Most of the Easter decorations on the stores have eggs and bunnies, nothing that shows the real meaning of Easter. I want to let people know what Easter is truly about. The resurrection of our Lord Jesus.

First Day of Spring

Its a cloudy day here in my big town near the bay. The first day of Spring. Already I am noticing a change in the weather. The heater is now off until next winter season. The thermostat has been registering highs of 74 degrees farenheit. So no need for a heater.

I love this time because the tree next to my window is full of white lovely flowers. I hear the chirping of the birds every morning.

Around my house, everythings is quieter now. Daughter is busy in her room, hopefully cleaning out some of those junk drawers. Husband and Son are outside, probably cleaning the yard. And me, I am sitting infront of the computer monitor typing this post.

There are dishes waiting to be washed and things to be done, but I need some quiet time, specially that quiet time with my Lord Jesus. Saturdays tend to be a day that I leave that time aside, but I must spend that precious time with the Lord Jesus everyday. Jesus is the one that strenghtens me and gives me hope. Reading the word of God is uplifting and fills me up.

I hope you all have a wonderful day today with the Lord Jesus, your family and your friends.

kids' creations

Thanks to Lacy at Catholic Icing for this idea of the last supper. My son colored the pictures of the apostles and Jesus. And his sister and I helped him assembled it. My kids had the day off today. So we took a trip to the store to purchase some of the items for our St. Joseph Altar and when we return home, I had the kids do these projects.



Daughter did a St. Joseph altar with the idea at the Virtual St. Joseph Altar. You can download the pictures and your kids can color them. I told my daughter she could use the paper rolls to help the images stand up. "Mom that is what the tabs are for", daughter said. I did not realized that the pictures have small tabs at the bottom. You fold them, then tape to boxes and that helps the image stand up. Wow, I learned something from my daughter.

St. Joseph Feast Day

Click on picture to enlarge

I know my non Catholic friends will think I have gone crazy. Putting up an altar to a Saint. Why do Catholics do this? All over the world and for many years, Catholics have honored Saints and Mary the mother of Jesus with beautiful adorned altars in their homes or in churches. It is a tradition of faith.

Just recently I learned of the tradition to make altars to remember St. Joseph, the chaste spouse of Mary, the mother of Jesus. The origins of the celebration, was long time ago in Sicily, Italy. Farmers will make this altars to St. Joseph and pray for his intercession for a good harvest that year. The food used on the altars they will share with those who where needy.

This is my first year making one. I remember my grandmother will make one for the Child of Atocha. I included Mary and Jesus too. The Holy Family. I am asking for a family blessing. A stronger bond for my family. The conversion of my husband. A deeper relationship with God our Father. And end for the violence in Mexico.

I used some of the ideas from other Catholic Mom blogs. As well as some of my own.


For the sawdust, I used shredded dried shrimp. In Mexico we use the dried shredded shrimp and add it to beated eggs to make fried egg puffs, we serve them with cactus in chile sauce. That is why I also included a jar of cactus. It is said in Mexico that cactus is the meat of the poor. I have some cans of fruit and vegetables, italian pastries, small little fish crackers, red and white wine vinegar. Most of the items I found at 99 cents store. Amazing!!


The jar of cactus is from My Mom's kitchen. She cans, cactus, tomatoes, and jalapenos. She made some apricot jam once too. My talented Mom.


I cut out some fig bars into shapes of a cross, the monstrance, a heart and chalice. In Italy they used bread in different shapes stuffed with fig jam. You can find out more of this tradion at the St. Joseph Altar blog, click here.

If you will like to see the altars of other Catholic Mom's go here.

Holy Experience

One of my favorite blogs has an amazing post today. I invite my Catholic friends to go and read Anne's amazing post on prayer, quiet worship and a benedictine monastary.

I have not made contributions to her weekly Walking with Him Wednesday. And I decided to go see what she had written for today. I loved what she wrote which reminded me of my quiet time with God daily.

This morning I woke up at 3 AM. I went to my prayer chair in the living room and recited the Divine Mercy Chaplet. Then I read the daily readings for today.

Isaiah 49:13 said, "sing out , O Heavens , and rejoice O earth, break forth into song mountains. For the Lord comforts his people and shows mercy to his afflicted."

The Psalm 145:8-9 " The Lord is greacious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in love. The Lord is good to all, compassionate to all creatures." verse 13" ...The Lord is trustworthy in every word and faithful in every work"

The Gospel, John 5:17-30 The work of the Son. Jesus answers the Jews regarding his work on the sabbath. 17,"My Father is at work until now, so I am at work." 30, " I cannot do anything on my own; I judge as I hear, and my judgment is just, because I do not seek my own will but the will of the one who sent me."

How amazing is God's word. I have been praying for God to be merciful with the world and not allow any more earthquakes. I have been praying for God to have mercy of Mexico and end the violence among the rival drug dealers. I am praying for their conversion. So that they will repent and stop killing inocent people.

As I read his word, Jesus reasures me that God is at work. To trust in God who is trustworthy in every word and faithful in every work.

Every Wednesday, we Walk with Him, posting a spiritual practice that draws us nearer to His heart.

Happy St. Patricks!

Mission accomplished. I was able to finish a headband for daughter to wear to school. I even made another one this morning to attach the green shamrocks. Today they are able to wear a green shirt with their uniform pants. But my fashion girl, always has to accesorize her look.

Wow I can not believe how easy it is to make those headbands. It took me about and hour to do one. Daughter did not want her headband to be very wide. So I only did four rows of the pattern to get it the right width for her.

For the white headband. I used a shell pattern, one shell per row. That is two dsc, 1c, two dsc, sl, 1c, then turn to do next row and repeat. I am not sure if I am giving you the right directions. I just used the stiches that I have been learning in my other projects.

After school, we will have a St. Patricks celebration, with snacks and something that I am working on. Probably green spaghetti or pasta. My Mom did the green spaghetti one time for a Shrek team party for my nephew about four years ago, it had a hint of jalapeno in it. Not to spicy so that the kids are able to eat it and green tomato sauce.

Have to start my morning routine schedule. This last two days I have been following the schedule as best as I can. And even though it looks like not much has been done, but I am starting to see progress. The trick is to stick to it and not procrastinate. Procrastinations is fear of success. I want to succeed and accomplish my goals. My room is finally clutter free. I will have pictures tomorrow. I am able to use my desk for writting without having to move piles of papers away. " Great things happen when women put their mind to work."

Marla from the Flylady system calls house chores, " blessings" and that is the word I always use now to refer to my house chores. I am blessing my home, each room at a time in just 15 minutes per day. Some rooms take me less than 10 minutes.

Happy St. Patrick's day!

New creations

Here is that headband that I was working on since yesterday. You can see the sample for the flower attached to the headband. The green shamrocks are going to go on the green headband that I am working on now. I hope I will have it done before daughter leaves to school tomorrow. The pattern is a shell pattern. I do not have a lighter color of green for the headband. It will be better for the shamrocks to stand out more. You can find a free pattern for the shamrocks, if you google search clover crochet pattern.

My Mom showed me how to do the pink headband and the flower. My mom made a purple, red, blue, and light pink headbands for my daughter. Daughter now has five headband to wear with her favorite outfits.

St. Patricks and St. Joseph

This week we have St. Patricks day on Wednesday and on Friday we celebrate the feast of St. Joseph.

For St. Patrick, I will probably make a cake or cookies. The kids already colored the coloring page from Paper Dali. We have them displayed on our front windows. You can see them from across the street. I have not much decorations up like other years since I did not want to change the lenten colors in the living room.

I wanted to make a St. Joseph altar, but decided not to use real food in order to avoid the ants making their way into the house. Is not finished yet. I still have some items that are missing.

I recently added another icon to my prayer table. St. Therese is one of our favorite female saints. She is the Patron saint of the Little Flowers Girls Club. We will be gathering again this summer to finish our first book of saint stories.

I made some changes to my daily routine schedule. I hope that I am able to stick to this new schedule and that I get my house blessings done on a regular basis. I even made some time for taking breaks and remind myself to drink water.

Sacred Heart of Jesus

I have been devoted to the Sacred heart of Jesus for as long as I can remember. Since a child, I remember seeing images of the Sacred heart of Jesus in churches and feel embraced by the arms of Jesus. That was my first icon I got for my home. And even when I became a Christian I will always keep the icon in a very special place in my home.

Now that I have return to the Catholic faith, I have made a special place in my home for all special Saint icons. But the Sacred heart continues to be my favorite. I wanted one with his arms opened wide. But the one I have has his arms on his chest showin the marks of the nails.

Today I saw a special on Spanish EWTN regarding Saint Margaret and the devotion of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Just yesterday, I started a novena to the sacred heart of Jesus. It is amazing how God talks to me. I wanted to pray a novena for this week and I was not sure which one to do. And then I decided to start with the sacred heart novena. I will be praying novena, from now until I receive an answer to my prayers. I already finished the novena to Mary undoer of knots. I heard that it is a very powerful novena. Padre Pio was very devoted to the Sacred heart of Jesus.

New Updates

I hope all of you are well. Have not received any comments from anyone this week. I guess you are all very busy. And I am too.

Continue making progress in each room of my house. Putting things in their proper place. I am starting to see the tops of furniture now. Before they will fill with all kinds of stuff. Daughter's room needs more work. Her desk is still filled with all kinds of things. My office needs some work too, and the attic.

I have lots of homework to do for my classes tomorrow. I always wait to last minute. I have been spending more time in prayer and reading my bible.

Like I had said in my previous post. My brother in law had his immigration appointment yesterday. The case was not finalized yet. He has another appointment next month. We are hoping that this time he will be approved and he can return home to his children. My sister is with him too. They will be traveling to his hometown in Mexico.

Please continue to keep them in your prayers for safety while traveling. And for his case to be approved. Thank you to all of you who joined us in prayer yesterday.

I have another request. My daughter is due for another x-ray of her back next month. Please pray that we will have good reports. We want to hear the doctor say, there is no need for surgery. My daughter has done so well in this last seven months. Her brace is like a second skin to her. She knows that without it she can increase her chances for surgery.

I continue to believe for a miracle. God has done a miracle in her attitude. She has put lots of effort into her recovery. God gave us the word through our former pastor that she will get healed. I believe Jesus will keep his word.

I continue to also pray for my brother. He is doing well. I thank God that he has not gotten sick. But I think he might be falling in a depressive mood. A friend just recently died and this has brought all of us down a little. Is sad when young people die. This friend was in the hospital for almost three months. He had diabetes. And an infection in his lungs. His family was hopeful that he will get better. It is sad that he died. It got me thinking so much about life. About my family, specially about my brother.

I pray for all those young people, like Corey Haim, that loose all hopes and fall into drug abuse. I pray that they will find their hope in Jesus. I pray that they will realize that their happiness is with God not in material things.

"Oh my Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of hell. And lead all souls to heaven specially those in most need of your mercy, Amen."

Prayer Request

Hi everyone, hope you had a great weekend. I went to a day of ministry on Saturday. It was an awesome day. So much new things learneds and a stronger desire to continue learning about God's ministry within our Catholic church.

I will like to ask you to join me in prayer this week for my sister and her husband. He has an appointment for his imigration case this week. We are hoping his case will be aproved and he will be able to return soon to his job. The appointment is in Juarez, the mexican border city. I am sure you have heard how bad violence is at that city.

We are praying for the safety of my sister and her husband while they stay there in that city.

On Thursday my sisters, Mom, relatives and friends will be praying a 24 hours chain. Each person will pray for an hour. If you will like to join us. Please let us know what hour will be best for you. All you have to tell me is your first name and the hour you will be praying for them.

My brother-in-law name is Salvador. God know him well, so I do not need to tell you his last name. To protect his privacy. Thanks for joining us in prayer.

Little progress

Not much has been done around this house in the last few days. Even though I been busy moving things around in each room, and trying to put things back in order. The rest of the house looks messy. It is frustrating at times and you want to just give up.

But I know that with patience and determination, I can get it accomplished. So you will be reading less this next few days. This weekend, I will be with my family. Seems like every weekend I will be doing some traveling. I get to see my Mom and sisters. This time we will be attending a Catholic conference. Will be taking a few classes. One on theology of the body and the other class is about the martyrs from Mexico. There will be a keynote speaker and different workshops throughout the day. That will all be on Saturday and Sunday attending Mass then probably return to my house by the evening.

Since husband will stay home, I need to make sure most of the house is clean and all his laundry is done.

Hope all of you have a great weekend. God bless you.

Moving Furniture

Monday morning Husband did not work. I had been wanting to move some furniture in my bedroom. But I did not wanted to move it myself.



What we did was move all our bedroom furniture to daughter's old room. Daughter's furniture to Son's bedroom. And some of Son's to our our former bedroom. We had things in the office, laundry room, kitchen, and living room. The house looked so messy.



I could not do anything yesterday because I was at dentist, and pharmacy all morning. Later I came home and was able to move some more furniture that is easy to move. I still have some more organizing to do. It will probably take me all week to finish.


My husband wants to get rid of our old bedframe. Daughter has been using it in her bedroom. It is a huge bedframe. 9.4 feet wide. When the queen mattress is attached, it is 91 inches long. So it occupies most of the room. Our bedrooms are very small. Husband wants to throw it out. I do not want to get rid of it. I love that bedframe. But if I am able to find someone that will want it and use it. I will be able to let go.



I have to get back to organizing the rooms. Will update later and post pictures.