Weekly Goal Update.

Man! Is it Wednesday already?!?!? Time flies when you are having fun!!

So it's that time of week - Goal Update!

Spiritual- This week has been a great week of reflection & understanding. I decided that I would start the one year bible reading today. I was thinking to myself as I corresponded with a friend about getting a routine or schedule where I talk to GOD and study the Word. I really think that this week will be a turning point in how I spend my time. AWESOME! I will be using this site to get the daily readings, but will probably use my study bible that I bought in 1999, when I first became a Christian... I faltered a few years in between, but hey.. what can I say - I am back!!

Physical- So... this past wek has proven to be one of firsts. First of all, I lost 3.7 lbs - HELLO?!?!?!?!?!?!? is that freaking awesome or what? I'm gonna go with YES, it's freaking awesome! So not to get too into the number part of it, but more on the Healthy part of it... I will admit that I haven't been making that good of food choices - but I whatever I have eaten has been smaller portions (hence the weighloss) One thing that I am constantly struggling with is drinking water. I just cant get it through my head that water is needed not just for diet control but also for healthy skin, cleansing of the body, etc. For example.. today I have only had 2 oz - what in the world - that is not gonna help even the skin on the back of my knees!!! In anycase.. I must move ONWARD -->

Financial- Nothing new to report here except that we have filed our taxes and that will definitely help us get to our $1,000 A LOT faster, which will then make us Debt Demolishing Gurus!!! I will report that we have kept to our tithing.. though I think people will get a little annoyed with me in the next coming weeks if I proclaim my tithe at every offering! We are just sooo excited about tithing, we want everyone to know that we are doing it! (tithing that is!) :)

On a not Goal related note - our Pastor's wife at MZV saw our blog and showed it to Pastor and guess what - he totally called us out on our goals at church last Sunday - IT WAS AWESOME because he used us as an example of how by putting attainable goals to practice you can achieve great results - BUT now we have to stick to it because everyone will be watching.. eeeeek!!!!

Hasta!
Adri

Well, Okay!

So this past weekend was full of stuff - you can learn about some of it here as I will tell you about the fun that was had on Sunday at MZV.

So as I told you before in the previous post, hubby and I are in the worship band at our church. So that means that on Friday nights (prayer/bible study) we do two to three songs - depending on how the spirit leads. On Sunday we do four to five, again depending on how the spirit leads. Anyway this past week we were beat! Spiritually, emotionally, physically, everythingly and to top it off, we had to go to physical therapy (see the newyears post here) and got out late (and sleepy) that we went straight home.

So since we missed Friday night service, I just knew that Sunday's service would be off the hook! It just makes the week that much better when you go to church to worship on Sundays!! Anyhow, on to Sunday. I had invited my favorite cousin Bianca to church a couple of weeks ago but something would always get in the way (work, bronchitis, etc) so she assured me that she would be there this Sunday. During the day she met up with a friend of mine from church named Veronica. Veronica is a beautiful Godly Woman that has the most cheerful spirit. She is really on her game when it comes to the Lord and I love that about her.

So service started at 6:30 and NO BIANCA IN SIGHT! aaaaahhhh where is she?!?! I am up there focused and praising the Lord - but NO Bianca. My heart starting to worry. If I happened to open my eyes during the worship, I would look to Veronica to see if Bianca had called her but Veronica didn't show any signs of worry.(our parking area is really small and most times is full to the max, so I had relayed to Veronica that Bianca might call her for parking info). We finish our set of Praised and Worship and Veronica gets up out of her seat and goes outside - so by then I am thinking - WOOHOO!! She's here! and sure enough, there they come walking in to the sanctuary! It was wonderful to see her come in and take in the Word.

Pastor preached about Generosity. He spoke about 2nd Corinthians 8:1-5 - Basically he relayed that there are times when we feel that we should only be generous if people are being generous with us. Sometimes it takes us being generous with others for them to in turn be generous with us and so forth. It was beautiful and people left service feeling very generous. (read on to find out what I mean)

2 Corinthians 8:1-5 (New Living Translation)
2 Corinthians 8
A Call to Generous Giving 1 Now I want you to know, dear brothers and sisters,[a] what God in his kindness has done through the churches in Macedonia. 2 They are being tested by many troubles, and they are very poor. But they are also filled with abundant joy, which has overflowed in rich generosity.
3 For I can testify that they gave not only what they could afford, but far more. And they did it of their own free will. 4 They begged us again and again for the privilege of sharing in the gift for the believers[b] in Jerusalem. 5 They even did more than we had hoped, for their first action was to give themselves to the Lord and to us, just as God wanted them to do.

So service is slowly coming to an end when Pastor feels that some people need ministering/prayer. So we all gather in the front of the sanctuary to sing and pray and it was beautiful to see others praying for each other. It was so touching and I knew that everyone needed it. It was a great way to end the service!

After service a few of us gathered together to grab some grub. Bianca came with us!! So we all head out to Chili's (our gathering place of choice) and this is where people start to feel generous. I tell the waitress that we (hubby and I) are paying for Bianca and Pastor chimes in and says, oh we were going to pay for Bianca. So I say ok, then we will pay for Veronica. Everyone gets a good laugh and all is well. We ate yummy food and had a great time. When the check came, Freddy decided he was gonna be generous and pay for Mario & Alex. - Just all around generosity!! :)

What a great weekend to be had!

Hasta!
Adri

Bummed....

So I have told you before that hubby and I are in the worship band at church. What I haven't told you is that our ministry (Ministerio Zoe Vida - www.ministeriozoevida.com ) doesn't have a 'home'. What I mean by 'home' is that we are diligently praying for our own building to call 'home' We are actually renting a home from another church. What that means is that we can only meet twice a week at the church at an hour that they are not using the space.

We had been in the process of buying the building that we are currently renting only to be told today (after multiple closing dates) that the current owners do not want to sell.

While we are sad that we will not call this place home - we believe that GOD has his hand in this and we will have our own place soon. Maybe we didn't get to buy it because we are growing and the place may soon not be big enough to hold us. Maybe we didn't get to buy it because the other sellers were in fact not ready to leave their old home. Whatever the reason, we are truly blessed to have such a wonderful Pastor that cares soo much and has the wisdom to see GOD's hands working on this.

God is Good!!
Hasta,
Adri!

Update on Goals...

So I have decided that I needed to make updates weekly to keep accountability up to par.

So here you go:
Spiritual: - I recently purchased a book (actually I bought it before the Holidays - and with Christmas gift money that I received from my Mother in Law) called A BUSY WOMAN'S GUIDE TO PRAYER by CHERI FULLER.

The reason this book caught my eye is that (it's PINK!!!) <--NO NO.. the reason is because I consider myself a busy gal and because I will always tell someone, oh let me pray for you. Or the ever classic, you are in my prayers, etc. And for the most part, those special people are in my thoughts, but NOT in my prayers - because I am 'too busy'. I know why I tell people that I will pray for them - to encourage them, to let them know that I really do care! So in my Spiritual Goal, I really wanted to step up the commitment factor in my words when I tell someone that I am praying for them. This book uses the BLESS system for praying over someone - So the BLESS formula; which is how to pray for people, B=Body, L=Labor , E=Emotional, S=Social, and S=Spiritual - Recently I was able to pray for someone that was having surgery and changing their life forever. I asked her if it was ok to pray for her and at the appointed hour, I DID! - PRAISE HIM!!! - I know that she will forever be grateful for my having covered her in prayer and that the GREAT Lord watched over her and gave her surgeon wisdom to complete the task at hand! WooHOOOOOOO!

Physical: AHEM... I lost 2 lbs!!!!! wooohooo!!!!!! I had started last year with the goal to get thinner by Christmas and to my surprise (and without much effort) I lost 30 lbs.... In your eyes that may be a lot, but honey, I got a lot more were that came from - so onward!!!! (and TAKE THAT you evil scale!)


Financial: THIS is probably gonna be the more cumbersome and tedious task at hand. This one is gonna rock our very patience to the core! UGH... BUT I am happy to report that we are TITHING and giving OFFERINGS every Friday/Sunday - so we will not leave church without either Tithing for that week or giving offering. So good So far. We are not anywhere near where we should be in the debt reduction program as we have had to stop (ALREADY???) because as new homeowners and being the beginning of the year, we have had to dip into our 'emergency' fund to pay our HomeOwners Association fee - and to succeed with the debt reduction plan, we HAVE TO have atleast $1,000 in emergency fundage. We will build it back up very soon and pick up where we left off. No worries! We will get back on track! The main thing (and I know some will agree) is that we are doing our first dutie (Tithing) and will continue with the other very shortly!


So there you have it.. The weekly Goal Update!
Looks good so far huh??

Hasta!
Adri

Weekend Recap!

So, this past weekend was my birthday!! I turned the big 29 - yup.. I am upper 20's now... I will soon be 30 and there is no stopping me then! LOL.

Anyway, let me recap the weekend for ya.

Friday (not quite the weekend - but hey, it started here first)

My coworkers and I do this thing where we pitch in for each birthday and pool the money together to buy the birthday person a gift (and bfast) - oh and we decorate their desk with Birthday goodness!

Here's what I came to work to find:

We had Chick-Fil-A for bfast (another coworker and I share the birthday - we were both born on Jan 17th) so that's what she wanted - this morning I got my bfast of Panera Bagels with cream cheese - YUM!

Saturday, woke up early to go handle stuff for the car that is no longer in working order. Yup, it's time to get that sucker taken care of... so we had to go get some paperwork from my dad and then drive all the way up to the lot where they had the car and get it taken care of. We had to release it to the insurance company so that they could handle everything on their end.

After the car debacle, we went to my in-laws house to pick them up so we could go get my bday present - a Sirius Satellite Radio package, that includes car kit and home kit - meaning I can clip it in the car, unclip it and then clip it in the house to jam out while I'm cleaning!!! Here is what it looks like:

After we got my gift, we went to eat at WingStop - lemon pepper chicken wings... yum! Then we took my Mother in Law grocery shopping. I love spending time with my Mother in Law. She is such a wise Godly Woman! She makes this whole car debacle seem some minuscule in the way she tells us about GOD. It's wonderful!!! I am one of the most blessed daughter in laws in the world!!!

Once we were done with the shopping, we took my in laws home and then went over to my dad's where I could get my birthday gift and get my Sirius installed! Dad gave me moola and the installation place was packed - so no dice on the Sirius installation! :( no biggie! So we hightailed out to the house because we had to get ready for my birthday dinner!!

We got ready and a bunch of friends came over and we headed to this Hibachi place! It was super to be with my friends and celebrate my birthday. We ate good food, had good fun and just got to catch up in a way that was really special. We laughed a lot too! After dinner we all (there were like 15 of us) went to drink coffee at Sbux - YUM! and just hung out. Good Times!!

Oh I almost forgot to mention that my friends gave me some great gifts (well besides their presence!) I got something similar to this with a matching makeup bag from Jess & Joey:
I got a little massager with an aroma oil therapy kit from Lori & David - Lori is a masseuse so it's only fitting that she gift great gifts of body and healing! I got an amex gc from Josephine and Tito. --- I am blessed!!!



Sunday we had a surprise party for my aunt at our family restaurant, so we had to get up early to go help set up. Hubby was the music provider, so he was up making cd's from his itunes that we could play. So we had a busy time there - as well, my bff (Grandma) gave me a great bday gift!!! She gave me a lavender reed diffuser - (YUM) - along with $$$ - the reed diffuser is this (just an example - mine doesn't look like this):
I also got a funny (music) card from my sis with a gc to Target - by far one of my favorite stores!

After the partay, Hubby and I had to go said fav store to get me some new shoes because the cute kitten heels that I was wearing were wearing me out! So we got some comfy fluffy shoes that I could wear to church - since I am in the worship band, we stand up for a lot of time and I would have fallen out if I had stayed in those shoes! lol... Anyway, the Lord really showed his presence in the worship! It was a great service - we had a lot of visitors and it really made for a great fellowship!

When service was over, the Pastor invited the worship band to dinner and we headed out to Chili's to grub down.

All in all, it was a nice BUSY weekend!!! What a wonderful way to spend my birthday - oh and I almost forgot.. My hubby left me the sweetest message on Facebook -
"To my wife, Happy Birthday oldy and moldy!"

Very funny hubby!!! I love you too much!!! :)

Hasta!
Adri

Okay.. Now onto the Happy Posting...

So this year is proving to be a year of endurance/patience... so with that said, I will tell you about our goals (not resolutions) for the year!

First off, our Motto this year (we have never had a motto) is:

2009 Is OUR Time to Shine!

So the goals are as follows:

1. Spiritual
2. Physical
3. Financial

Let me elaborate:

1. Spiritual - Hubby and I have been members to a WONDERFUL church for about a year (actually I think our 1 yr anniv is coming up). We love our Pastors, the church family and how we get to spend time with these wonderful people. We know that GOD wants to do some special things in our lives this year and we are so ready. We are praying about going on a mission trip with our church to Belize in April and believe that GOD will provide for us to be able to go. We are part of the worship band and are praying that GOD push through during worship and lead others to what they are called to do. I personally am believing in presenting songs that I have written for praise and worship <--yikes!!!! :) It's just gonna be a big year. As well as all this stuff, we are praying that GOD show us how to make time for him in our personal time - meaning getting into the word and just growing!
2. Physical - Hubby and I are both overweight - boo! and will be working hard this year to not be! Of course, this is probably the biggest struggle we will both work on because we LOVE food! When we get together with friends, we eat. When we celebrate something, we eat. When we come home from work, we eat. So now we will still eat (you have to live, don't you?) so from now on, we will eat to live and not live to eat! We have started to make big changes in our life *NO SODA at the house or otherwise. Drink water or tea (crystal light anyone?) - So be on the look out for progress reports.... our profile pic will be our before (we haven't changed much from then) - honestly, I think my biggest problem will be drinking atleast 64 oz of water a day! ay yay yay... So is life!
3. Financial - First and foremost, Hubby and I will be tithing faithfully every paycheck, bonus check, income tax check, whatever check. This is something that we have been very negligent in and are believing the Lord will show us and be faithful to us in multiplying our giving. So we are going to give with a cheerful heart! (as a matter of fact, we gave our first tithe- 10% of the paycheck + a little more) this past week Sunday! Also, hubby and I are going to be debt free this year! Well maybe not completely cause we have a HOUSE and a CAR - but we are wanting to be 100% debt free from all CC and any other miscellaneous stuff! We are really pushing to get to this goal and will believe that we will beat it!

So there you have it! Our three goals for the year! yup! It's time!

So what are yours??

Hasta!

Adri

2009 - off to a Grrrrrrrrrrrrreat Start...(sense the sarcasm)

So I haven't posted since 2008 (well Dec 31,2008) because I just haven't felt it. I was/might still be really dissapointed with how 2009 started. I'll give you a smidge of insight into how we started 2009, but not too much as we are still dealing with it all.

So I'll start with Dec 31 - Hubby and I had decided that we wanted to stay close to home since the streets are generally LOADED with drunk party goers after midnight (maybe even before) on Dec 31 - so we headed over to our Pastor's house. He lives less than 10 mins from us, as a pose to my parents who live about 30 mins or my inlaws who also live about 30 away. Anyway, we partied it up eating good food (Fajitas) playing games (UNO, Concentration) and watching fireworks (we live further away from the city that it's ok to do them here)

Anyway so at 2:30am Jan 1, we left their house to go home. As we are approaching a stop light, hubby(who is driving) notices from the rearview mirror that a big car is coming pretty fast and is going to hit us. We are almost at the stop and out of nowhere the big car hits us from behind. It felt like we were in movie. Things just started moving fast and I couldn't believe it. I grabbed the steering wheel because we were going to hit another car and I jerked it my way to avoid the car and we ended up in the middle of the intersection. There are a lot of other details that I could go into, but we have not finished dealing with this and I am not sure what I would want to say.

I will say this. The car that hit us was in fact a big car - it was a HUMMER.

Accidents happen, but this was just tough. We are very blessed to have survived a hit from a HUMMER, but what a heck of a way to start the year!

My next post will be what I would have written probably the next day (Jan 2) if we had not gotten into a car accident... which by the way, hubby's car is totaled... : (

Hasta!
Adri