Testimony. Have you thought it through?

Having just read Shannon's blog, this really had permeated my mind today and has inspired me to really reevaluate things and write some stuff out!

A few weeks ago at Women's Bible study, our group leader challenged us to share our testimony. The room went silent! Having gone through the Partners Discipleship Program with church, I'd had to share my testimony with my friend Chiara who was taking me through the book. It's still a work in progress :)

Here's my testimony:
I grew up in a Christian home but I know that doesn't make me a Christian. I went to church every Sunday as a kid, again, doesn't make me a Christian. The church I went to was very much into "the sinners prayer" which you won't find written out in the Bible. As friends around me were getting saved, I came to my parents and asked them, how do I become a Christian? At 11 years old, I had a desire in my heart to become a Christian. I knew that there was heaven and hell and knew that Jesus had died on the cross to save me from sin. My parents helped lead me to the Lord through reading me scripture, praying with me and having me pray on my own, making sure that this life of becoming a Christian was what I really wanted. In March of 1992, I got baptized. This gave me a feeling of freshness, a symbol to me of being buried with Christ in His death and then raised to walk in a new life. I grew up believing that my heart had be washed of my sin through baptism.

In High School, through AWANA Scholarship Camp is when I really started to take my faith seriously. The speaker showed 2 Ray Boltz videos. The images were of a man and his son, imprisoned in modern day, because he believed in God. Another video a man was taken to trial and with the scales on the desk, they measured to see if there was enough evidence in his life to convict him of being a Christian. This pierced me. I pictured my life. Would there be enough evidence in my life to prove that I'm a Christian? I cried and I remember rededicating my life to Him.

Since then, I've tried to live a life that would show that, I believe in God, that I'm a Christian saved by faith and by grace, and that I live my life for Him.

I came home from Camp that year and put my faith in to practice. I started serving whole heartedly in our AWANA program, having a great desire for Jr. High kids to come to know Him. I felt that's such a trying time for kids, going through so many changes in life, you want to guide them on the right path. I reevaluated the relationships I had with people. Are these friends who are helping my walk or hindering my walk? I made a dating standards checklist for guys to determine who I would go out with. I trusted God with my future, having Him direct my path out of High School.

At 20, while serving on the worship team at church, God blessed me with Robby, my husband of 6 years. He's the answer to my prayers. Through everything we've been through in our marriage, God has proven to be faithful to us both and bless us in our life together. We're continually growing together in our walks, we serve together, and we're developing more of a relationship with Him. We have the same goal, to know God, to serve God and now to raise our children to know and serve Him too.

Here are the Ray Boltz videos that had such a deep impact on me.
"One Drop Of Blood"


"I Pledge Allegiance To The Lamb"


Definition of Allegiance: Commitment, the act of binding yourself (intellectually or emotionally) to a course of action.

For everyone 29 and under!

Did that title line catch your attention? The following statistics a girlfriend of mine sent me and I seriously couldn't sleep until I posted this for all of my friends to read. It really makes you reevaluate! I know I'm 27 and fall under the category of being "saved" in High School. Please, take a few minutes to read below.

My girlfriend Shannon (she's on my myspace top 8) and also on my friends links on the right under Primicerio) is a Christian author/speaker to teenage girls. She wrote this on her blog this week and it really had an impact on me.
It's 1:25am and this just kept running through my mind! :)

I'll list the statistics that really hit me first, then you can read her post!

61% of young adults who attended church as a teen become completely spiritually disengaged during their twenties.

Only 20% of young adults who attended church in their teen years remain spiritually active by the age of 29.

http://yourmomentisnow.com The post is Debunking the teenage alter call

Please take a few moments to read it!

Photos, finally! More another day!

Our last trip to Disneyland, Robby sat with Christian while I took Abby on Dumbo! During the 30 minute wait, as Christian just kept staring at Daddy, daddy taught him how to say "Dada"! I'll try and get a video of him saying it soon!

Spontaneity! :)

I hardly ever take time out to write a blog and appreciate my husband much. Yes, my birthday post did mention some of his great gift purchases but, none give justice to how great of a hubby he is :)

There are three things that make me very happy in life! 1) when someone helps me with the kiddos 2) when someone helps me with housework 3) when I get to go to Disneyland!!! Bear with me, I'll link them all together later on in this post!

Robby's always helpful with the kids AND cooking, but, there are some recent incidents I thought I'd share!

Yesterday, I'd helped assemble prayer journals for church! I was supposed to be there at 8:30 to help! Running late, Robby came out of worship practice, unloaded the stroller and both kids while I was able to place random items in their diaper bags! Then, he picked them both up from Sunday school, got Abby donuts and entertained them in the stroller till the team finished the notebooks!

On Good Friday, my friend Jen had asked me to help with the Eggstravaganza. I had no clue how I'd be able to help much with my two kiddos in tow! Robby took the entire day off from work, strapped Christian in the baby bjorn and entertained the kids for HOURS! Then, he loaded them both in the car, took them home, fed them both and got them down to nap at the same time! That's HUGE!

I recently took on a new responsibility, helping with the Care ministry at church! I found myself Wednesday night, doors closed in my room cause Christian was awake from his nap and grumpy and Abby was crying cause I was on the phone :) Then, I heard the door open. My husband was home! There wasn't a dinner on the table, or, a happy family to greet him at the door (something I try and do!)! He immediately changed both kids attitudes from sad to happy, scooping them both up! I was able to complete my call knowing both kids were being well care for.

Sundays are family days these days! Since getting Disneyland passes, we've loved trying to take the kids there every Sunday after nap! Yesterday, Abby asked for Chuck E. Cheese instead :) We had such a great day! Chuck E. Cheese, then we got a sitter and Robby and I went to Disneyland together ALONE for the first time since November 10th, 2006!

While preparing to go, the house needed a quick pickup! Christian was a little fussy and wanted Mommy! Daddy showed awesome initiative and picked up everything that needed to be cleaned before the sitter arrived! He did this on Saturday too when a couple of friends came over to play xbox after helping a friend from Thrive move.

Robby and I had a blast @ Disneyland! There wasn't more than a 5 minute wait for anything (except for Space Mountain, 30 minutes)! In two hours, we tackled Haunted Mansion, Splash Mountain, Thunder Mountain, Space Mountain and Buzz Lightyear!

It was so fun cuddling on the tram, walking hand in hand (not having to navigate the stroller through the crowds!)! We LOVED our time together!

When Robby had asked me to get a sitter for Sunday night, I figured we'd do the normal dinner and a movie but he spontaneously suggested Disneyland and we had SUCH a GREAT time!

Last night when we got ready to leave Disneyland, Robby looked at me and said, 6 years and we're happier than ever! :) Every year gets better and better!

I can't get the photo feature to work right now so I'll post more later! Gotta get busy! I have 181 photos to be downloaded from the camera right now!!!

I love you Robby :) (April 13th will mark 7 years we've been together!)

Blessed! :)

What a great Easter! We were able to visit with both sets of family over the weekend :) we've been feeling so blessed lately by family!

I just wanted to mention something our Pastor talked about on Sunday. He asked, if my home burned down tomorrow, how many homes across Orange County would take his family in? We don't just have blood related family, we have extended church family!

Both our parents blessed us immensely this week. Robby's parents brought us their extra car since our Honda was totaled. Also, my parents fixed our water heater within 24 hours of it breaking when it gave out this week!

In addition, I have to note that numerous people over this course of this month have offered us their cars, to give us rides places, to use their shower while ours had cold water! I had a 7 month pregnant girlfriend of mine offer me her car cause she and the kids could walk back and forth from school and work so that I could have a car! I also had a girlfriend last week come babysit my 2 children plus her child for 3 1/2 hours while I attended a Care meeting at church! We appreciated all offers of help and truly feel so blessed!

I'd told both sets of parents this weekend how much we just love our church and, that if our kids aren't home, they're usually at church or visiting with friends from church! I love that! How great to immerse ourselves with Christian family!

I just want to say thank you to everyone, our parents, our friends from church, everyone :) My heart overflows!

Eggstravaganza!

This is an awesome FREE event our church does for the community! It's THIS Friday from 9:30am to 11:30am at the dinosaur Park. It's off of Alicia Parkway and Paseo De Valencia. Robby and I will be there with both of the kids! Come check it out and invite all your friends!

2 fun Disneyland Sundays :)

Last Sunday, after returning home from the marriage retreat, we took the kids to Disneyland! Abby got to see the princess parade for the first time and loved it! She was having so much fun, she held on to Robby's hair! Sleeping Beauty blew a kiss her way and Abby blew a kiss right back! She got so sad when the parade ended. We told her that the princesses went to bed :)

Today, we met up with the Hawley bunch! They did a great job showing us the lay of the land! We took Abby to "the island" for the first time and had fun running in and out of the caves!

Here are some photos from our 2 Sundays at Disneyland!