A New Journey A New Day

This move has been life altering and changing in more ways than I could have imagined. I am finding a new strength in me that I seem to forget that I have. I am finding that there is a lot more I am able to handle mentally as well as physically. I am really starting to love the new me more and more each day. I love the work that Yahweh is putting in me.

I am finding that I have a new relationship with Yahshua, my husband and my kids. Desires of being the Titus women is coming back again. I feel energized and great to say I will. Being a wife and a mother is a gift. A gift to be fully embraced. It is not something to be thrown around, or left for others to do. It's something that Yahweh has allowed me to be, because he knows there will be days that are going to be hard. He knows that he can give me strength to get through each day, because he is loving and faithful to me just as much as I am faithful to him.

A new journey isn't something that can be planned. It is something that we take ourselves into. Each day is a new day to say yes I will. It can be something from as small as go to school as a child, to something as big as being a wife and mother. Not all everyone is blessed with the many blessings as we have been given, but I embrace it all. Each day I look forward to say these are gifts and I promise to treasure, love and care for them as YHWH has for me.

So from one mother to another I say embrace it. Yesterday could have been horrible. There could be paint on the walls, food stuck in hair, or worms in pockets, but one day we will look at this and say those were the good times. I have those days too. Life isn't perfect and neither am I, but Yahweh is and so is his love. His love is what gets me through each day to say Yes I will. Each day is a new day to say Yes today is the day to play a little more with the kids, makes subtle changes to make memories with your children. One day I want to look back and my kids say "My mom was amazing. She taught me everything I know, and she is the kindest, loving women I know." That is what I call wealth and blessed. 

My Calling Remembered

Christian motherhood means dedicating your entire life in service of others. It means standing beside your husband, following him, and investing in the lives of children whom you hope will both survive you and surpass you. It means forgoing present satisfaction for eternal rewards. It means investing in the lives of others who may never fully appreciate your sacrifice or comprehend the depth of your love And it means doing all these things, not because you will receive the praise of man — for you will not — but because God made you to be a woman and a mother, and there is great contentment in that biblical calling."
~Doug Phillips


There are days that I think it would be better if I just hire and nanny, and go get a job. I need to define me and myself. I need to have a plan in place, then I come across something like this. A reminder that a mom and a wife is the highest calling I could have asked for. I not only got blessed with one, but five beautiful children. They are no by no means perfect, but they are my blessings that God saw fit for me and my husband. I am a wife to a military man which is never easy. So today and each day I am going to remind myself that I am wife. I am a mother, and I am walking out one of the highest callings that anyone can ask for. I will thank Yahweh and worship each day for this special honor and privilege. There is nothing greater.

Juanita E

Learning The Importance of Measurments

Our oldest daughter Alissa is starting to cook and experiment a bit. I love that she is so encouraged and excited about cooking. It's not boxed foods neither she loves making cinnamon rolls from scratch, but it's things like home made cookies, pies, and soups. So as part of her school work we wanted to give her a blog. The blog is going to be focused on pre-teens/teens her age hoping to inspire other kids to eat healthy and make healthier decisions. I have decided this would be part of her English, writing, and home economics curriculum. She is to do at least one post a week. Take pictures and reply to comments etc.

Last night she was trying her first recipe that she came up with (with one small suggestion from me). So I printed out the recipe and she started going to town. She preheated her oven, had all the ingredients out and just started mixing it just like the directions said. She baked them and they came out like little cookie bites. She took a bite and uh oh she got a salty bite. I asked her how much salt she put in she said what the directions said. I asked her exactly how much she put in she said 1/8 cup of salt. I had her go get me the recipe I printed out. It turns out she was supposed to put 1/8 teaspoon of salt. So lesson learned measurements are very, very important when cooking.

We all got a good laugh out of it and I told her that she could try again today. I am sure she will be more cautious in the future about measurements.

Bible Reconstruction

A few years ago I came up with something called "Bible Reconstruction". It wasn't something fancy or complex at all. Our now 11 year old was only about 4 years ago so she was about 7 years old. We were coming home from a fellowship and she had started talking back to me and my husband and this was something that was kind of escalating over a few months. On this particular day she was really being rude, nasty and just not of a peaceful spirit.

At first my DH said you are going to go to your room when you get home. When we got home she was happy to go there. Like she could "get away" from us when it was typically our day of family time. The Holy Spirit then led me to have her do something else. Instead of giving her what she wanted by spending time in her room by herself I told her she was going to have to do some writing exercises. (She was being home schooled at the time so she assumed something from her school work, however this wasn't the case).

I had her sit at her work area with a paper, and pencil. I opened the bible up to Deuteronomy 27:16 and I had her copy the verse 10 times. This was a short verse, but for longer verses I only make them do it maybe 5 times or 3 times. I try to find the shorter verses though when I incorporate this in their punishment. After they are done they also have to explain to me why from a biblical aspect it was wrong.

Here are my reasons for choosing this as part of their discipline.

• It shows them from a biblical point what they are doing wrong. 
• It shows that I too follow through with Yahweh's word and The Scriptures. 
• It also shows that sometimes it isn't easy being obedient to the Scriptures and it's hard but we do it because it is commanded by Yahweh and his word. 

We have noticed a huge difference that this alone has had on our blessings from Yahweh. They do get upset if we ground them or make them do extra chores, but now I will gently remind my older two if we need to do some bible reconstruction and their response is no ma'am or no sir. They do what we ask, because it's always in their mind that mommy and daddy are doing what The Scriptures tell us to do. 

A Lesson In Goals

Since our kids are still learning about setting goals. We wanted to emphasize on goals that were attainable, reachable, but needed some hard work at the same time. I only did the assignment with the 4 older kids. So I sat them all down in a circle and made a word document of the assignment. I had one large rectangle that read "2012 Goals" and below that it had said "My 2012 Goals are...". I then inserted 3 circles and had them either write a short sentence or draw a picture of what they wanted their goals to be.

Before I gave them their paper I asked them to explain to me what a goal is. Ariah so eager to answer anything said "It's something very special". Of course she was write a goal is something very special and so I encouraged her that she answered with a good answer. Michael didn't want to answer and Alissa explained to the others what a goal was while I elaborated on it. I explained that a goal can be something you want to do by a certain time frame. It didn't have to be a big goal or like some one else, but your own. I explained it could be a new skill, or achieve a new level on their favorite game. So a few things they came up with was....

Ariah

• Learn to ride a bike without training wheels. 
• Learn to read. 
• Write her name better. 

Michael 

• Learn to read better and every night. 
• Learn cursive. 
• Be a better listener to mommy and daddy. 

Alissa

• Be a better reader. 
• Write cursive better. 
• To learn to cook more things. 

I loved how creative all the kids got and worked together. We then glued them on a poster board and hung them up in our classroom. The kids were all so eager to show daddy when he came home. They couldn't wait and they were proud to show him their goals. My goal is to keep it visible and help them to work at each goal. I have to say this was an amazing accomplishment of them all. I am very proud of how well they worked. We did let Jayel in on it too, but she just colored and cut up the circles. She will be more actively involved I think as the months go on. 

Juanita E. 

MIA (Missing in Action)

I have not been online much and have recently decided to deactivate my FB account. There were several things that didn't settle well with me and my family. We have made some major family changes and decisions that I am sure our kids feel out of the norm with. I quote my daughter when we told her she would be home schooled starting this week "I just want to be a normal child and go to school".

After sitting her and our other little blessings down to explain to them that we are not the norm and we never will be, but the set apart. Living a life and following Torah isn't easy and is a lot harder than when I was in a Christian congregation. At least in the Christian congregation my kids had some other like minded friends. Being with our faith and beliefs it comes so far and few that it's hard on them and me too, but we have to keep strong and our faith to know it's about pleasing Yahweh.

The past almost 2 months I have realized how much stress I was under with Facebook, and being online. I almost made the choice to delete even this blog, but went over the posts that I didn't feel were uplifting to Yahweh or Yahushua and deleted them. (Don't worry it was only about 4 or 5 posts).

I am excited to say that I can blog and put my thoughts out there even if no one does read them. LOL. I will try to blog at least once a month about our  lives, what we are learning and teaching our kids. Life with our blessings is constant, hard, difficult, emotional but most of all rewarding. I love each day with them and they teach me so much more than I teach them. Watching them care for each other gives me hope that if Yahweh chooses to take me before I am ready I know they will mend together and stand strong. They will encourage each other in any way possible. Their relationships with each other give me hope and pleasure that I am doing what I can to make sure they are growing up the way Yahweh wants them to be raised.


Juanita 

The Day You Were Born (Alissa)

This is a letter to my oldest daughter. I wrote her a letter on the day she was born and I did this for each of my blessings.

Dear Alissa, I was only 36 weeks in my pregnancy with you. It was the night before Thanksgiving and I lived with Grandma and Pampo. We lived in Fort Collins Colorado at the time. We always did Thanksgiving BIG. With all the good food, desserts, and enough food to last us weeks. On our way home on Wednesday night I slipped on ice. It had been snowing and not all of it had melted. I felt fine. That was about 8pm. Around midnight as I was laying in grandma's bed I felt my first contraction. It wasn't something that I had ever felt before. I went to sleep and didn't think nothing of it. The next morning I woke up early and before the sun was even out. It was still pretty cold out. I remember not wanting to go anywhere that day. I took a shower and got ready for the day of eating. I was so happy my whole pregnancy because of all the yummy food that I knew Grandma and Pampo would be cooking up. It was just us family there. Only your aunties and grandma and Pampo. All day I just felt weird. I kept getting pains in my back and stomach. I didn't know then that they were contractions. I wasn't able to eat much but I did snack all day. Around 8pm the contractions started to get worse but they weren't steady. So I thought they were just the good ol braxton hicks contractions. Around midnight after we settled down and were watching tv for a bit and I threw up. I know it's not what most kids want to hear, but I did. I laid on the couch and decided to try to sleep. I couldn't sleep on my bed because my back was hurting too much. Around 2 am I wake up your Auntie Adella and told her to go get grandma and Pampo. I knew then something wasn't right. Pampo had me time the contractions and he knew that I was in labor. I wasn't ready though. I hadn't even packed our hospital bags and you were a month early, but God had a different plan. We called the doctor and he said that when I couldn't talk through my contractions or they were 4 minutes apart to come in. About 45 minutes later we realized that they were about 3 minutes apart. We headed to the hospital and checked me in. After checking my vitals and you we quickly found out that I was already 5 centimeters dialated. There was no turning back you were coming into this world. Contractions kept getting closer and hurt more. I chose to get some medication in my IV to help with the pain. Around 11am your dad and his family came into the hospital. Right around noon you blessed us with your presence. Your dad, Grandma Bonnie, Auntie Adella and Auntie Laura were in the room with me. As I looked over I knew what your name was going to be Missy Lissy. The rest is history.