It seems like yesterday

Tommy on his first birthday. He was so excited about his John Deere

I can't believe he is 4!!

Our boy is 4 today!! It is quite baffling to me how fast the time has gone. It feels just like yesterday that I held him in my arms and rocked him to sleep. Now bed times are full of wrestling and tickling which I also enjoy. I remember playtimes of pouring out all of my plastic containers from the kitchen and now it is a huge elaborate scene full of every toy he owns. I remember his first steps, his first big boo boo, his first words, and now he is full of running, many boo boos and days full of many many many many words. All in all I am enjoying every step of his life but I do find myself today longing for the baby in him. I do get to see glimpses of it when he crawls into bed with me in the morning and just can't seem to get close enough to me. Sometimes I think of how lucky we are to have such a healthy happy little boy!! A temper tantrum here or there is nothing compared to what many parents have to endure today. Thank you God for that reminder.

It has been a long time

I know I know it has been a long time. I started to wonder if many were reading this and now I have heard from a few people (Hi Stacy and Carolyn)that you wondered why I had not posted so here is a post. We have been busy, yes but the biggest reason why I have not posted is that we desperately need a new computer!! I get so frustrated with this thing taking so long. I can only handle it for so long.
The preschool is up and running. I have been doing interviews with kids. I am trying to one day at a time leave it up to God. I know the school will fill if I leave it up to him and just listen to my intuitive thoughts on what actions I should be taking. Today my action was to show it off to two prospective kids.
Wedding plans are coming along. We had the paperwork drawn up for the reception site yesterday. We have our eyes on a caterer. So the date is set for sure. We are getting married on June 28th 2008. I do have to say this I woke up yesterday with the chill in the air. I want a September wedding!! I am just so afraid I am going to bake on my wedding day in June!! So the truth is I might bake on my wedding day but I will have a lifetime of options with vacations because Tony and I will both have the time off as oposed to September when both of us will be begining a school year. So I am praying to find contentment with June.
Tommy started riding his bike this week that his Aunt Dede bought for him on his second birthday from Germany I do believe. I think she had to cart this little bike all the way back from Germany!! He is finally big enough to ride it. It is pretty darn cute watching his serious face trying to figure it out. He has had a couple of spills. Daddy calls them war wounds. He got right back on but now he appreciates his knee and elbow pads much more!!
Well I suppose that is all for now. I would love all of your prayers that I can continue to let go and let God make the decisions in regarding my school. I know that I will be much happier if I can do that daily and the people that love me that live with me will be even happier! God Bless you all

A few words from Tommy

gthhttttttttt tmmmmmmm mmmmmmmmmmm mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb bbbbbbbbbbbbb bbbbbbbbbbbbbb bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxooooo oooooooooooo jfghfjccjhtxhfcjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjj oooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooo hbjjjjhhhhggghytreewfuututuuttuuyututuuyhhuuyttriii
iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiijhg tgehbfhgfhhbfgjjngbjngbjnvb jmgbfvjngvbb bhyhy7yfdnnbnbcccccccccccccnsjnnsr uhsrhjrryuhiiy yseyhsiiiiiioooooo4wu 86hutkhoooooooooooryh hkhkjo oooo oooo

Ok here is todays exact translation (even down to the laughter):
Todd I love you because you are my best friend. Daddy I love you because you are my best friend. You are my best friend because your new (LOL that's funny huh?) Jonah I love you because you are my best friend and you play the guitar much (LOL much is a funny word huh?momma) Adriana I love you and your my best friend and e..i..e..i..o (LOL I am very funny) Nana and Poppy I love you your my best friend, you play with me and put movies on for me. Momma has to say no sometimes its the law (right momma?) I love everybody. Ok I am all done daddy is watching TV and momma can't say no.

Engagement Pictures

Well it seems really official now. Tony and I had our engagement pictures taken today. Our dear friend Deanna snapped some pictures of us in the the McKinley Park Rose Garden. What a great experience. Here is a sneak peak at one of the pictures.

A few thoughts from Tommy

xcnnty dudfghgh hfgyt6t7t666ttr tttttttttttttttt yyyyhh tttttuuuuu uuuuuuu uunnnk bj bn njh jnnbi jgxfgx xytkibibibii gununujjijmuu u8,,kjn bvbjh bhvhbgvgvgg gbggggvvggvg ggcrfx rxrccrr cxdzxzd ddczdd zedzzwso.

Translated (actually word for word)
I love Poppy. Lee is my best friend cousin. TTTTTTTT is for Tommy. Momma and Daddy are getting married and they still love me. June is a fun month. Amen Tommy is the best guy cuz I am nice. I love myself. I am my best friend. I like to talk to Bella. I want to be a big star and a singer. and I am not suppose to say poop.

He Has Always Been Worth Waiting For!!

It has been awhile since I have posted. Tony, Tommy and I just spent the last week in South Lake Tahoe. It was an amazing trip. My dad, Tommy and I went up last Monday and spent the evening and the next day together. We went to the beach and hung out. It was something I don't get to do very often. I appreciated the time with my dad.
Tony and my mom came up the next day (Tuesday). On Wednesday we all went out for a boat ride on the lake. This was Tommy's first boat ride. He was a little nervous at first (as you all know he is a very cautious little boy), but then he loved it. It was another great day together.
On Thursday my dad and Tony played golf together while Tommy, my mom and I spent the day at the pool. On Thursday night my brother, his wife, and two kids showed up to spend the rest of the week with us. The boys got up early to play golf on Friday morning while the girls and all the kids worked our way to the beach (we slowly worked our way, it is tough getting three kids out of the house). We all enjoyed our day at the beach. The guys joined us after golf and then we all had dinner together.
Saturday the grandparents took all three kids so that the parents could get a little break. Tony and I spent some time at the casinos. It was 7-7-07 so everyone seemed to be getting married. Well I was certainly not going to let the opportunity pass me up so I harrassed Tony about getting married. I kept saying "Well you know it would be really easy to just get married and not worry about a wedding" He just laughed in his Tony way. After a day of making contributions to the Lake Tahoe Casinos we headed back home (no I did not convince him to marry me there). My parents spent the night out on the town and we headed back to the house with all the kids. After we got the kids to bed, my brother, his wife, and Tony and I continued our Yahtzee tournament that had been taking place all week. I was not lucky there either. I regularly got my butt kicked there too.
Sunday morning my brother and his wife and kids left and my parents left with Tommy, leaving T0ny and I two days and one night alone together. It was a much needed break from all the fun noise. The house was so quiet it was almost a little bit scary. After some much needed time alone in the house we decided that maybe we should try to earn back some of our money at the casino's. Well that did not work out so well. We ended up making a larger donation. We had a great time laughing together while playing the Wheel Of Fortune slot machines. I am sure you can imagine me yelling "BIG MONEY, BIG MONEY". We both had some good laughs. We went back to the house and had dinner together while watching the sunset. We stayed up super late enjoying the alone time, playing more yahtzee and watching the boob tube. I think we finally went to bed around 2 or so.
So, Tony got up very early the next morning anticipating me waking up as well. Well, I slept in until 10:30!!! I don't remember the last time I did that. I sat up in bed and saw that he was in the chair in the living room staring at me. I said goodmorning and what time is it. He said it was 10:30. He had this look on his face. I turned to get out of bed and I noticed that there was a tiny little box on the pillow next to me. I thought to myself "No, now Kristina if you have learned anything in the almost 6 years that Tony and you have been together, don't count your chickens before they hatch. It is probably something in Tahoe that he saw and wanted to give to you to remember the trip. It is not a ring!!" Well I was WRONG!! I opened the box and then dropped the ring and said "Tony what is this". He came into the room and said well what do you think it is? He got down on one knee and said some amazing things ( I had to have him repeat them later because I was so floored I could not even remember what he said) and then he said "Kristina will you do me the honor of becoming my wife" I think I said yes!! I did have to ask him later if I did. It was perfect!! The ring is perfect. The way he did it was perfect. I have to believe that what he said was perfect (since I can't remember hehehe)!! It was all FINALLY perfect!! He even called my daddy to ask permission. I feel like I am on cloud nine. I just can't wait to celebrate with all of you. I have had a huge smile on my face since yesterday and I told Tony WOW you might get at least a whole week of this goofy smile and maybe even longer of no pouting about anything!! Once I get my pictures put on a cd I can post some pictures of us that morning. Love to all of you!!

It has been awhile

Hi everyone,
I had such an awesome experience last night. I hosted an event in my home last night for our womens ministry called "be". This time it was "be Pampered" It was so powerful to just be with women and share while being pampered. We all had massages, we all did pedicures and manicures, we all got our make up done. Wow Tony was pretty excited about that when he got home at midnight. I was quite transformed. I once again just feel so blessed to have so many strong, beautiful, powerful women in my life. It was a great night.

We are off to Lake Tahoe for a week starting tomorrow. Tony, Tommy, and I will be going as well as my mom, dad, my brother John and his wife Leslie and the two little ones Adriana and Lee. I am looking forward to getting away as it is definately something that I have needed for quite some time.

I have many life altering changes going on that many of you know about but I am holding off from sharing them here until all interested parties have been informed. I will just say this, for the first time in my life I full heartedly believe I am on the path God has chosen for me. I am not running from it or hiding from it. I am on the path and although it is challenging and hard alot of the time I am enjoying every moment of it. I will tell more as time goes on. Love to you all.

Trying to be forgiving

I was in a lock down at school this week because their was a loose gunman in the area. It was the first "real one" we had. I was very proud of myself for the ability to keep it together for the kids. All the while I was plagued with "This is what my friend Rodney had to go through 15 years ago". You see, at my high school 15 years ago someone came into my school and shot several people, killing four people I knew and two I considered friends. Rodney was on a 12- 15 hostage situation. He was locked up in a room with a few other people one being an injured person from the gunfire. 12 - 15 hours can you imagine? I took a small child to use the restroom in the complete darkness and thought of how scary it must have been for him. It leads me to confusion over the last few days. All I can think to do for today is to pray. Pray for Eric Houston (the shooter at my school), Pray for my friend Rodney, Pray for the man that shot and killed his own father this week, Pray for the father that was killed, pray for myself so that I can find it in my heart to forgive. I do know this, that the lack of forgiveness only injures my own soul and heart and gets in the way of my ability to be of service to others.
I had an excellent opportunity to be of service today. I had a graduation party for a very dear friend of mine today. I was honored to be a part of it all. Forgiveness in all areas of my life granted me the ability to do so.

Feeling really lucky today

Well Tony and I went to a fundraiser luncheon today and I have to tell you I am feeling pretty darn lucky today. This event was held in efforts to raise funds for a local community center that our friend Kacie is the executive director of (as many of you already know). She spoke today about how it takes a village to raise just one child. She also spoke about after the recent birth of her twin boys that she is a firm believer in it. Then she posed a question, If it takes a village to raise one child how many does it take to raise over 500 (this is how many the Greenhouse helps) kids that may only have one parent living in a one bedroom apartment with multiple families? It really got me thinking that whenever I may feel a bit frustrated because my three year old is exerting all of his will at least I am surrounded by an amazing village. I am sending many thanks to my village today. Even if you are a villager that lives far away you make an amazing difference. Love to you

Watching my boy get bigger

Today I watched Tommy play soccer for the third time in a few weeks in the class that he is in. It is very bitter sweet to see my baby playing soccer, listening to a coach, becoming so independent. I love all of his milestones but I can't help but think what happen to my little baby?

Anger is no longer my dubious luxury

I had a realization today that I am sure many of you have had already, anger harms everyone who I aim it at but MOSTLY the anger hurts myself. Most of my anger I hold inside so not to harm others, that harms me. Some of my anger I display passive aggressively, that harms other but also harms me. So just for today I will pray to find the answers to diffusing unnecessary anger.

I think I am figuring this all out

Good Morning World
I think I am figuring it all out?!! I have never fancied myself as being super computer savvy. Tommy and I are enjoying our morning playing pirates and playing old video games that I found in a box. It is pretty funny to watch him play pac-man. I also found some very old pictures that absolutely warmed my heart today. I found pictures of my brother and I as kids, my friend Dwayne and I at a Christmas dance in 1988 (OOOHHHH I had big hair) and some pictures of kids that I used to nanny for. I also found some old journals that I read through and was able to celebrate how far I have come in life. Wishing everyone peace today!!

We Are On Our Way!!

Well, here I am finally entering the blog world. I love the idea of being able to just tell people where to check out our life rather than having to send out so many individual emails. I will give it a shot anyway. Let's see LIFE, it is truly a blessing. I have a wonderful life filled with so many loved ones. Tommy is over 3 1/2 now and he truly is a very bright light in my life. Tony being the other very bright light and my new relationship with God being the brightest!! I look forward to sharing my everyday life with any of you that want to know