May Flowers....

Well, welcome again to my little slice of the world wide web. I do apologize for not being more faithful in updating, as pointed out gently by my sister in law. =) April and May are always very busy times for us. But now....(big sigh of relief) my vegetable garden is in and EVERYTHING is marked off of my "Outdoor 2010 Project List" thanks to my dear, motivated husband. Isn't it wonderful what a little sunshine will do to your spirits and motivation level after almost two weeks of rain, rain, and more rain? So, now I shall share with you what we have been doing.

First off...work. Miguel is still on third shift weekends. This is pretty rough for us because he rarely gets to go to church since he works 12 hours on Saturday night and every other Sunday night. Also his days off are Mon, Tues, and Wed..and I work every Mon., Tues, and Wed night. We are so thankful to God in this current economic times for our jobs, which we usually enjoy and pay the bills...but could you please pray for us that Miguel could get on days? We would really appreciate it. Also, most of you know I have worked under a Federal Grant for 7 years now teaching Relationship Education. It always amazed me that I get to step into public schools and teach things that I was raised believing. Two years ago the organization that I was working for lost our state funding, so the counties that I taught in were cut from the budget. Another organization hired me on doing the same thing. They, and all organization that teach Relationship/Abstinence Education, have had their monies revolted. This is no surprise to me with the stance of the current administration. So, once again I am at a cross road. My heart's desire is to be at home, but I also believe in what I do and my pay check is needed at this time. Surprisingly, I am at peace. I know as a Christian woman that should not surprise me, but I am gonna be real. I like order and I always try to have our next steps mapped out. Me losing my job right now was not in "our plan". Normally this would stress me out. Maybe, just maybe God has been able to teach me something in my 27 years on earth...trust and obey. Being completely real....I love God with all my heart and I love having him to rest on, but me in my natural personality likes to see a problem, form a plan, and march forward. I have no plan and I am ok. And you know what...that makes me smile. I am learning and being molded. I am not perfect, not even close, but I will take the baby steps towards the imagine He wants of me.

Next, our Spring Projects. As stated earlier, Miguel has been working very hard. We have completely reorganized the front flower beds and added two new flower beds. Miguel basically rebuilt our shed. We were blessed to have a shed that came with our property since we have no garage. BUT..the shed was tipped on its side and missing walls when we purchased our house. So, Miguel put new OSB on the walls, making it more secure and structurally sound, new shingles, and he put on barn siding that we painted. It looks great. So now it is more functional and not such an eye sore. Next, he installed an outdoor ceiling fan on our side porch so we could have lighting and a nice breeze in the heat of August. It all doesn't sound like much, but with putting in our garden on top of this our outdoor work list took probably almost two months total to complete.

Finally, one of our most favorite topics....our baby. =) Adaliah is growing up so quickly. (I am told they do that) I am really loving this stage. It is such a joy to see the world through her eyes. Bright eyed wonder at what we deem the "little things". Flower petals, dirt, and just exploring and touching every new thing. (I don't always have this kind of attitude about all the exploring and touching but I really try!) She is starting to talk more and says "Ready, Set, Doe!!" many times a day. She also likes to smell things lately and just randomly wrinkles up her nose and "sniff, sniffs". Also, please let me be proud for just a second. She is really learning to put two and two together. One day when I was at work, Miguel went upstairs to get Addie some clothes. He shut the door so she couldn't follow him. Wellllll, we live in a fixer upper remember so the door to the upstairs only has the knob on one side. So, Addie pulled it out. Miguel comes downstairs and sees the dilemma. He thought he was going to have to climb out a window and jump off the roof. He heard her come over to the door. He told her "baby, put it back" and he heard Adaliah messing with the door knob. He said she tried and tried and started to get frustrated. He figured she would just give up and go else where and he would be back to the jumping off the roof option. He kept encouraging her...."come on you can do it". Finally after about 5 minutes of this, Adaliah got the door knob back to the door and Miguel could get back downstairs minus the jumping off the roof. She has always been so healthy, we are so blessed. She had a bout with a skin thing but she is fine now.

Well, this is quite lengthy now!! So sorry. I will update ASAP with pictures of all of our before and after pictures of our spring projects and more pictures of Adaliah. I do hope you enjoyed the update and I will try to be more faithful! God's blessings on you!

How Time Flies

Boy have I been slacking lately....I think it has been almost two months since my last post. This is my really busy season for all of my jobs. Garage sale season has started as well. I have only got to go a few times due to work though. =/ Miss Addie is doing amazing. People ask me if she is walking and I chuckle and say......and running....and climbing. The poor dear had 4 goose eggs on her head within in one week. Miguel is just up to his normal...work and working on the house. So my friends, you really have not missed much in our lives. Anyone else out there a garage saler? If so....what's the best deal you every found?

Spring Thoughts

Well life had been pretty busy around here...as noted from my lack of updates. Valentine's Day has come and gone. Miguel and I said we were not going to get each other anything since we are trying very hard to save for projects around the house but he came home from work and this was sitting on the table as I got up to get ready for church; a dozen red roses, chocolate, and a card that sings. Needless to say I felt very special. We have been having A LOT of snow... to borrow a phrase from my sister Maria...I am starting to feel like I am in a snow globe. We aren't the only ones with a lot of the white stuff though. I heard that Hawaii is the only state right now that does NOT have snow on the ground. Weird huh?It is kinda hard to tell from this picture, but we had probably 3-4 foot drifts in our yard and I was off work, since I work at a school, for a week.

So with all of this white stuff I started thinking about Spring (since it is only 20 some days away) and with Spring comes thoughts of my garden. I love to garden. I can't say I am much good at it and I don't have the budget right now to do too much with my blank canvas that we call a yard. I also enjoy my vegetable and herb garden. So....does anyone else that reads this enjoy gardening and if so I would love to hear your gardening advice or your favorite plant/flower. Let's start thinking some Spring thoughts people!

Kitchen Survey

I have a strange new conversation starter......"so what kind of counter tops do you have and do you like them?" I went to work and asked that, I interupted a Pamper Chef party to ask that, (Sorry again Jeannie!!), I just seem to be asking everyone that lately. I think I am getting weird in my old age. You see....as noted from an earlier post....we are remodeling our home and have been for 3 1/2 years. So for 3 1/2 years I have dreamed of my kitchen. Well, now that Miguel has almost all of the dry wall hung upstairs I am seeing the light at the end of the tunnel for getting to FINALLY redo my kitchen. I started exploring counter tops options, since I have pretty much decided on my cabinets, and I was blown away about how many types there are out there. As this is going to be one of the most expensive remodel projects...I HAVE to get it right the first time. So, that is where you all come in. "What kind of counter tops do you have and do you like them?"

Now what?

Well, dear readers, I now have the 3 posts made that I originally started this blog for. =) Yeah for my big accomplishment but now what do I write about? I do want to say this....I am not going to be a facebook/internet/blog basher.......but starting this blog was seriously a big step for me. There is good and evil in EVERYTHING, but I have always been of the mindset that the evil out weighs the good with the online networking forums. Again, please, I am not trying to be a basher or a finger pointer, but I have first hand seen a lot of people hurt by facebook, blogs, etc. There seems to be a lot of gossiping (did you see so and so's pictures....I thought they were a Christian) and even to the extreme that I know people that have cheated on their spouses..maybe not all of them physically but emotionally counts too. You don't like how your real life relationship is going so you will talk to someone online for hours that says all of the nice things you want to hear. Plus the time that it takes. For some reason it can just suck you in and before you know it you have been on for HOURS. We only get 24 hours a day and I want to make sure I use them to the best of my ability...that means God and family need to get the bulk of my time....not the internet. I really didn't want to be a part of all of that. But I really wanted a place that people that wanted to be updated on my family and I could come because, let's face it, most everyone is on the internet and this is the easiest and quickest way to update people. So I decided I COULD have both. I could update people and maybe, just maybe encourage as well. I prayed before I began this blog that what ever I would write would ALWAYS be edifying and encouraging. So readers if I stray from that, please notify me. Seriously.

So, with that all behind me, if anyone ever reading this needs a friend, someone to listen to them, someone to pray for them, someone to laugh with, or whatever I would be happy to do that. Just let me know. I REALLY mean that. Let us remember to pray for the people in Haiti as well. I can't even begin to fathom what they are going through right now.

Testify to everyone you meet....and if you have to, use words.

Psalms 127:1 Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it

As promised this post will be about something that takes quite a bit of Miguel's and my time....our house. When Miguel and I got engaged one of the things that we agreed on was that we did not want to rent....we wanted to own our own home. That being said we could not afford much because we did not want to be house poor. So we decided we would get a "fixer uper". So we looked.....and looked.....and looked some more. Have you ever, dear readers, been in a house that is listed at less than $10,000? Well, I have and let me tell you it is SCARY!! We were at one of these scary houses when the realtor said, "Hey I have another house that you might be interested in if you have time to look." My mom and dad were with us and we said sure. This house had a lot of things that we wanted...it was out in the country, had a good size yard, and had some growing room. Yes, there were certainly some scary parts, but I asked myself the question that my mom told me to, "Does this feel like home" and it did. My dad was telling Miguel to ask himself, "Do you really want to work 8 hours a day and come home and work on a house?" (Chuckle) Well, we put in an offer and after a VERY long ordeal that would take pages and pages to go into, we were finally home owners. Let's just say that the bank messed up soooo badly with keep delaying things that they ended up paying ALL of the closing costs and cutting us a check for $900. Now the fun begins. Our house is about 100 years old. It has 5 bedrooms, living room, dining room, family room, utility room, and one bathroom. It has 2,200 square feet. It needed A LOT of work. We had 1 year to get a new roof on, siding, new windows, and some of the rooms didn't even have dry wall. The walls just had studs. The front room when you enter the house was actually being supported by floor jacks because the previous owner decided to knock out a supporting wall. But, as anyone knows that has done any remodeling, the work was way more than we orginally thought. The house had the orginial wiring in it from probably when they first wired the house for electricity. So EVERY wall had to be knocked down so we could rewire it. With the deadline looming over us some really awesome family members and friends spent countless hours tearing off the roof, drywalling, painting, or whatever. You know who you are and I still get teary eyed thinking of all of the help that we received. I know God will bless you. Now we have been living in the house for about 3 1/2 years......in adition to all the work that had to be done within a year, Miguel has put in all new doors inside and out, reinsulated every room, new wiring in every room, which means new dry wall in every room, new floors, we have added walls, and knocked out walls, and took out doors. Did you ever noticed that old farm houses have doors every where?!??! For instance, the kitchen originally had 4 doors into it and there was a door from the dining room into the master bedroom. We still have more to go, of course, but we have come a long way. We still have some of the bigger more expensive projects, like the kitchen. Looking back would I gone this route? Being newly married, living in a continual project? Hmmm I'm not sure....but I can tell you this...I have learned A LOT. I always joke that if you want marriage counseling...work on a house together. I have learned when to give my "helpful" suggestions and when to be quiet, I have learned to be more patient, I have learned that there are still awesome people that will drop everything because you need help, I have learned that it's not what you have or how everything looks that people visiting your house notice its the love and peace that fill your home, I have learned to budget my money better, and I am still learning that there will always be projects and things to do, but I will never have this day again to spend with God and my family......so some things can wait. =)
And now I give you some before and after pictures.............................

All About Adaliah

As denoted by the title....this post is going to be all about my baby who is not quite a baby any more. Said daughter is down for a nap allowing me the time to tell you my dear readers all about her. She was born Jan. 2, 2009 three days late. Three days does not seem like a big deal, but I am telling you every day felt like a week! I had the world's easiest pregnancy though so I can not REALLY complain. She was born at the Van Wert Co. Hospital at 2:51 p.m. on my sister Nicole's son's 1st birthday.




So we kinda ruined his first birthday party. =/ Sorry! She weighted 7 lbs. 5 oz. and was 19 3/4 in. long. Adaliah was the first baby born in Van Wert Co so she got her picture in the paper and we received some really nice things from some local businesses. I get a lot of questions about her name, so I shall explain it. Her middle name was always going to be Ruth as that is my middle name and is kind of a tradition to pass the name on when you get it. It was my adored grandma Barnhart's middle name, a great aunt's, my cousin Ginnys, her daughters, and now my daughter's. I liked the name Adalyn. Well I was looking up the meaning of that name....since meanings of names are very important I believe...and it didn't have a meaning because it is two modern names simply put together. Well that didn't sit well with me or Miguel. Right under Adalyn was Adaliah which is a Hebrew name meaning "God is my refuge" or a Spanish name meaning "Noble". We loved it so she is our little Adaliah Ruth Calderon.

I LOVE being a mom. I must admit that the first few months were a challenge though. Adaliah fought sleep and completely had her days and nights turned around for a month straight. This was VERY difficult especially since I had to go back to work when she was 5 weeks old due to Miguel getting laid off when Adaliah was three weeks old. Not what we planned as I have always wanted to be a stay at home mom, but God knows and has a plan bigger than MY plans. So dear readers if you have any questions about how to get a baby to sleep, please feel free to ask as we have been down that road. At 6 months she was still getting up 3-5 times a night so we moved her into her own room. She cried for 2 hours straight. That was one of the hardest things to do...to not go and comfort my baby but I knew there was nothing wrong with her she just wanted attention. After that first night, she started sleeping through the whole night and Miguel and I started to feel like normal human beings again.

When Adaliah was 6 months old she got to go visit her family in Arizona. She did wonderfully on the airplane and she received LOTS of attention for the almost two week we were there. Here are some pictures of our family and our adventures out there such as playing the Wii to the wee hours of the morning...thanks Terry and Sam that was fun, spending lots of time with our neices and nephews, bonding once again with my bro-in-laws- thanks for the shooting lessons Alex and for the food Roy- you really need to teach Miguel to cook like you guys! Thanks also to Canti and Al for helping with the cost of getting us to AZ. And to girl time with Jodi! Yeah! Great to see my mom and dad-in law as well. =)

Adaliah is now one....I will post pictures later from her and Micah's party and is soooo much fun! She says "dada", "mama", "dog", and "hi". She is taking steps but not "officially" walking. Crawling is still so much quicker you know. =) She loves to laugh, eat, and be with her family. She makes dinosoar noices and this weird"gully-gully" noise while rolling her tongue. She is quite talented. If I can figure out how to post videos I will put one up of her doing that. Don't wanna miss that! I really can't think of anything else now but if I do I will blog about it later. So...drums roll please.... I give you pictures of Addies through the last year. Thanks for letting me tell you ALL about my baby and enjoy your day.....this day will never happen again you know. =)