It has been s long time

I can't believe it has been that long since I my last post! Obviously Raquel is here and 3 1/2 months already. 

She is a happy little baby and her brother and sister just love her so much!

I have almost 5 years of experience on being a mother and no matter how many children I have. ..I love them the same. I feel blessed to be a mother of these 3 little children and I know how sacred a woman's role is and how important it is to raise children and to be a good wife.

Some days can be hard but I choose not to have hard days, and thanks to that choice,  it has been really easy to adapt to live with 3 children. .. it also helps that Raquel is such a sweetheart.

All I can say now is that I can't express how happy I am to get such a cutie!!!
Don't you think?

Preparing for Raquel Julianna

It has been busy for me lately. I have been organizing, re-organizing, cleaning, re-cleaning, and finishing the Homeschooling Schedule for the kids. I also added sewing projects to my list and few books that I wanted to re-read to refresh my memory. One of those books was "Parenting with Love and Logic" which I highly recommend. It is so amazing!!! It really helps on disciplining the kids without nagging them and making them responsible for their own consequences, without frustration. I feel like our Heavenly Father is the same way, he wants us to grow and become better people but he lets the consequence happen when we disobey so that we can learn from our mistakes. He truly loves us and if we love our kids, we should let them learn from their own mistakes. I also like the quote that says "Good Parents don't give warnings", it goes on to explain how many times in real life, we don't get warnings about what is going to happen to us for taking the wrong decisions... the consequences just come and therefore, we should prepare our kids for real life, which is life without warnings. As I said, I highly recommend it. Another of the books I read was 1776 which, obvious by its title, talks about events of that year, focusing on the battles to obtain the independence in America. I am about to read now "The Weight down diet" which is really not a diet but a lifestyle and will help a lot to remind myself the whole process so that I can lose the weight quickly after my little girl is born. I can't wait to post pictures of the blankets I have made, I am very proud of myself for having done that. I never before thought that I would enjoy sewing so much... although the sewing machine and I didn't get along at first, now we are in good terms and trying to make it work. What is left now is just wait and enjoy my nights.... but I already have another project in mind: Homemade Laundry Detergent!!! I am excited about this one and I am hoping that it will save us money in the long run. Next time, I will post pictures of my finished projects.

I would like to post this quote from the book "Daughters in My Kingdom"

"If we only half do our work we will have no pleasure, if we do it from a sense of duty we will have no joy, but if we feel we are a branch of this vine, and that our Father in Heaven has felt us to be worthy to be a member of that branch, and that we can carry this work when it is here to do, then we will have joy." - Louise Y. Robison.

I know this to be true, the more I learn and the more I enjoy doing what I have learned, the more sense of fulfillment I get. I know that I am a special daughter of a Heavenly Father that loves me and I am grateful for the love that He gives me as His daughter. As Howard W. Hunter said "You are chosen to be faithful women of God in our day, to stand above pettiness, gossip, selfishness, lewdness, and all other forms of ungodliness. Recognize your divine birthright as daughters of our Heavenly Father"  

I truly hope that all women may find their happiness and truly feel their role here on Earth.

Every day is a blessing!

  I can't express how happy I am and how blessed I feel to have a good husband and amazing kids. Every morning when I wake up, or when I am woken up, by little feet that come running to my bed; I feel so happy. There are many reasons for me to progress in this life, but mostly is because these two little monsters that make my day...

         Without them, it would have been hard to see my faults. Thanks to them, I opened my eyes and realize the changes I have to make in my life. They teach me so much every day and I am forever thankful to my kids for that. I just hope that I show them enough, of how grateful I am to them. My husband is my rock that supports me and encourages me to keep me going. My kids are my reason to be better every day.... I want to be with my family forever. As the primary song says "The Family is of God" and I know this to be true. This life might be short but full of opportunities for me to learn and progress. I feel grateful for every day of my life that I get to spend with my family, I truly feel that every day is a blessing from my Heavenly Father and I can feel his love and inspiration. I am never alone and never will be.

Through service I can feel closer to Christ

    Many times I have wondered, "why do I like to serve?". If I hear of someone that needs my help with cleaning, I rush and help them. I love cleaning but is it because I love cleaning that I do it? No. It is because I love to serve others. Through service I feel closer to Christ. He served and sacrificed so much that the least I can do is to give a little of my time to others to help and make a difference. I am humbled because I have opportunities to serve, through service I can understand other people better instead of judging them. Through service I have learned to not be as prideful. I consider myself very prideful, I feel that I don't need help and that I can do everything myself, but thanks to the opportunity that other people have given me to serve them, I have learned how much help I need. I can't do it all, I do need help, and when I get help I feel so much love that I cry of happiness, even if it is a simple small gesture makes me feel "they are thinking of me" and it feels good. Every time I get such gestures, I can't help but think how much I would love to do that to others. I don't have many talents and it might seem very convenient to me to clean but I feel that by perfecting in one talent, I can move on to acquire new ones. If someone asks me to sew them 10 dresses, if I say "yes", that won't be a service. Actually it will be more work for whoever asked that service from me because I can't sew, I don't enjoy it much, but I want to learn. I have understood that, in order for anyone to serve, we have to truthful of our abilities and we can't put off our family matters either. We can, however, offer ways to serve. Taking the example of the dresses above, instead of saying yes to sewing we can probably say "I don't know how to sew but I will be glad to deliver them for you" or "I can't sew but I can keep the place clean while whoever is doing is working, that way it will be less work for that person". There are always ways to serve, and if we truly want to help, we will find the ways to do it. Christ never looked who he was serving, he just did without judgement. Christ sacrificed himself for all of us!!!  I have so many weaknesses that I feel that service will help me over come those weaknesses and help me be a better person. I feel love towards those I serve and I feel loved when I am helped. Maybe I can't sew, I can't cook everything in a recipe book, but I can sure clean, organize, babysit, bring treats, drive, and be a friend. Hopefully one day I can name more qualities but for now, I work with what I have and I am happy for it, I do want to learn new things so that I can be of more help to my family and others but for now, I have no excuse to not help others. I love this gospel and I know is true, I have learned so much thanks to having the gospel in my life. I love my Savior and my greatest wish is that I can be like Him and live with my family for the eternities.

Praying to the Lord.... conversing with the Lord

         Today my home teachers came by and talk about this following message "Exhort them to pray"
http://www.lds.org/liahona/2012/02/exhort-them-to-pray?lang=eng (link to it).
I really enjoyed it, how many times have I prayed??? Countless to tell you the truth. How many times have I conversed with the Lord? I hope that also countless, but today I learned new ways to converse with Him. I specifically loved this description of prayer given in the bible dictionary (link to follow) I suggest you read the 7th paragraph a few times which I am posting in my blog after the link.

 http://www.lds.org/scriptures/bd/prayer.p2?lang=eng&letter=p

"As soon as we learn the true relationship in which we stand toward God (namely, God is our Father, and we are his children), then at once prayer becomes natural and instinctive on our part (Matt. 7:7–11). Many of the so-called difficulties about prayer arise from forgetting this relationship. Prayer is the act by which the will of the Father and the will of the child are brought into correspondence with each other. The object of prayer is not to change the will of God, but to secure for ourselves and for others blessings that God is already willing to grant, but that are made conditional on our asking for them. Blessings require some work or effort on our part before we can obtain them. Prayer is a form of work, and is an appointed means for obtaining the highest of all blessings."
          I highlighted what stood out to me the most! It is easy for us to talk, and ask the Lord but we also have to listen, "correspondence with each other", if we are to have a conversation, we can't have it with ourselves.... a conversation requires two or more people. In this case (prayer) is between us and the Lord. From what I could gather today, the way I can make my prayers better is:
            - (most important one) Kneeling down, not laying down because I could fall sleep and I love kneeling to converse with the Lord. I feel humble and ready to talk to Him.
            - Thanking Him for the things that happened that day, specific things, not vague remembrance of things but of things that we noticed His hand in our lives that made us feel blessed.
             - Wait for the Spirit to guide us on what we are going to ask for
             - Not being so formal has helped me to be close to my Heavenly Father. I feel like He is right next to me listening to me when I acknowledge His existence but talking like I would talk to my dad.
             - Ask for what I need, also specific things, and listen to the answer. If the answer doesn't come I simply say, I will wait for your answer and I will ask again tomorrow. It makes me feel happy that the Lord is getting ready to answer me and I look forward to what he has to tell me.
             - If I receive an answer I thank Him for always guiding me the right way whether I am happy for it or not, and I tell Him sometimes, if I am not happy but I also acknowledge the fact that He knows what is best for me and I tell Him that I will do it because I want to be obedient. Then I wait again.
             - I say goodbye to Him by closing the prayers in His son's name. Then I would listen to the Spirit once more fill me up with peace.
       Aren't prayers great? Knowing that we have a loving Heavenly Father that listens to me and guides me towards the right path makes feel much more secure about every step I take. I love feeling close to Him, I love feeling loved and I can't feel it if I don't wait for His answer to come to me. He is a perfect being and I admit that sometimes I don't feel 100% happy about doing something but I feel 100% sure that it is the right thing to do, and that at the end brings me happiness and peace to an 100%!!! How wonderful it is to have the true gospel in my life and the opportunity to learn from it every day. I know that when trials and tests come my way, I am not alone; I have my Heavenly Father and He will always be with me, no matter what.

Lehi leaves Jerusalem behind...

        As I was reading this chapter (1 Nephi chapter 2). I kept thinking about how Lehi was obedient to the Lord and left a great deal of his possessions, not to mention his house, in Jerusalem. The Lord had told him that Jerusalem would be destroyed and he immediately obeyed and took his family and left, no matter how much the Jews mocked him. It relates to the times before a lot, we are told to not do things that either will destroy us or are commandments from the Lord. Our prophets counsel us all the time on what we can do to be better. In church we are taught the words of the prophets so that we don't forget what they have said, also we are taught basic things.
         We are asked to keep the Sabbath day Holy, to love our neighbors, to not commit adultery, etc. How many of us are willing to follow just the basic things that we are asked? Do we read the scriptures daily and pray daily? do we turn off the TV on Sundays? do we do Family Home Evenings? Do we go to the temple regularly? It made think so much of the things that me and my family are doing right, and what we are doing wrong. The only way to improve things is by doing things better starting now, not tomorrow, but now. I love Nephi's words "I will go, and I will do, the things the Lord commands". Even though it seems easy, many of us struggle with simple things and those are the things that we can start to get better at. Sometimes we make the excuse of busy life, but it doesn't take any time to just "Choose the Right" which is the primary theme this year. I am determined to "choose the right" so that I can be a good example to my kids, specially while I am teaching them the theme of the year, this month's theme, and all the wonderful primary songs for this year. We are examples of our kids, our kids depend on us. We might think that "just this one time won't hurt me/them" but it does and it will and even if it won't... if the Lord commands it, we must obey and no questions asked.
           I love the Lord and His gospel. I have felt His love everyday of my life. I know he listens to my prayers and answers them. I know that even if I want something and the Lord knows is not the best for me, I can trust that he won't give it to me and I am ok with that because He knows better. I hope I can leave "Jerusalem" behind me and not look back. I hope I can go and do what the Lord commands and I hope that my kids do it too... Being a parent it's a huge responsibility!

Yes, I am pregnant!!!

    I was waiting so long for this moment that I couldn't wait to announce it. I am as in today... 4 weeks and 5 days pregnant! not too far along but I knew since the day I conceived, it was a strange feeling but I knew that I did all my Heavenly Father wanted me to do and I knew that this was the time! The 30th of December I started taking some pills to regulate my hormones and bring on a period, which I hadn't have since I got pregnant with Charlotte (2009). The 1st of January I had my first period, meaning the pills worked great. The 18th of January I conceived, I tested and I was ovulating and that was the night that I returned home from Chicago... what are the chances, right?  After that, I knew I was pregnant, I just knew it. I knew that the Lord was happy with all the things that I was doing to prove I wanted a baby. I knew the Lord wanted me to have more kids because I actually prayed and asked, therefore I wasn't worried when I wasn't getting pregnant. It was disappointing due to the fact that I had to test every 2 weeks just in case and also because I had no period.
    I knew that having the surgery was a blessing because it removed the cysts that were blocking the only fallopian tube, even though what caused the surgery was my appendix attack. The Lord does work on mysterious ways. I trust Him completely and I am so grateful for the strength that He has given me. I knew that after my treatments, everything was going to be just fine, because I knew what he wanted me to do. What surprise was that it was on the first try that we got pregnant, but then again, that is how it was for my daughter and my son... he was a happy accident. Even though I was on BC he was sent to us, and we didn't complain at all and somehow we knew that my health will be just fine.
     Now, what do I want, girl or boy? whatever the Lord sends me I will be happy with... if I could really really choose, then I will choose a boy but a girl will be welcome too!!! I can't be picky!! I can't wait for my Ultrasound which who knows when it will be but I can't wait to hear the sounds of my little ones heart beat. It is one of the most beautiful sounds anyone can hear.
    I can honestly say that thanks to my kids I am closer to become a woman of character, they teach me so much every day, that I couldn't be any more grateful to my Heavenly Father for my children.