Music of Christmas

So the weekend 12-14 I again participated in our annual christmas presentations at our church known as The Music of Christmas. It was amazing, the choir did great, we had a real donkey for Mary to ride on (powerful dramatic presentation) Our guest artists were Bill and Mari Cantos (if you don't know them they are amazingly talented on their own right but even more cool when they do battle of the piano :0) and also Abraham Laboriel (those of you who are Ron Kenoly fans have probably were 'awestruck' when youo saw him play the bass!!) Most important though than the fact that it was a great musical event was that it encouraged people, spread seeds and harvested many souls that were touched by the Holy Spirit as they watched! Praise God that we were not clanging cymbals but brought grory to Him :0)
On a different note Gabriela Zoé got to see the entire show and she did amazing! She clapped and sang along and mommy and daddy were very proud of her!

What Can I Handle?

When I was pregnant I was a little worried about the whole labor and delivery process. I was praying and asking the Lord to help me, and there were times I felt confident God would be right there helping me. Then I started being delusional in a sense because I thought that it would be like I prayed fast, easy with no complications. My wise father told me every time I told him to pray for the blessed day "God will not allow for anything more than you can handle" Well that phrase strengthened my delusion.
When the labor and delivery ended up being 32 hours with a 105 fever and a c-section, I wondered why God did give me more than I could handle. The truth is I could handle a lot more than I thought!!! Not only that but He was with us every step of the way (it was not any easier for Stephen watching his wife going through all the trouble).
Just about a half hour ago I was sitting watching my daughter play in her room, she is able to stand and push light objects and walk behind them. I know she can do that, and I also know that she has perfected the art of "bottom landing" so when this morning I saw her getting unstable I put my hand out to catch her if it was more than she was able to handle.
I felt the Holy Spirit giving me a picture from God's perspective on that day. He was watching so closely our every move and I do not know at what point He put out His hand to help me but I do know that we got our healthy and strong little girl and my c-section healed so well...people were surprised to see me walking around a week after I gave birth!
God did not allow me to reach breaking point but He knew what I could handle and was right there to pick me up when the going was getting too hard. Praise Him always!

The Black Shirt

Today I went to buy the clothes that are necessary for the chirstmas presentations this weekend! Thankfully a clothing store opened up really close to us, so I thought I'll go and quickly come back to put Gabriela Zoe down for a nap (estimated time 30-45 min,) Weeelllll....make that 1 1/2 h!!! I got there and first I looked for the shirts I found two that are cotton (because with the hot lights its the most breathable material) I should mention that Gabriela Zoe was hanging from my hip (I forgot to load the stroller) wanting to push the cart, eat the clothes...so while I was looking for a skirt GZ took one of the shirts and was playing with it. Eventually I think I said no and put it back on the cart. When finally I found two skirts that could work with the help of a professional, I went to the fitting rooms to make my decision. The one shirt was too hot so I said probably the other one would work better because it had a lighter weave. Only problem was that the other shirt was no where to be found. I walked around the store and tried to find it. I checked the shelf I got it from and there were no other ones. I went to customer service and asked if they had any more and the said that the system had only one in the store...which means it was the one I lost. So dissapointed I went searching for another one, and I found one that was the medium size...a little big so how much better would it be if they had the small size. I go to customer service...No we do not have any small ones in that size...seems like this is not your lucky day. I smilled...really what do you say to that? I started walking toward the checkout and prayed prayed "oh God please help me find it" so I see the girl that helped me find the skirts and told her the situation so she started helping me look. I was getting dissapointed, Gabriela Zoe: irritated since she had officially missed her nap and it was lunch time. Then I see this lady putting clothes away..."by any chance did you pick up a black long sleeved t-shirt from the ground in this area?" I asked. "Do you mean this one?" and she pulls out the shirt!!!! OH YEESSS YESS THANK YOU SO MUCH! Just like that the whole store probably heard me :0) Isn't God good? So I guess it was more than my lucky day...it was my blessed day!

My Husband the Electrician

Now Stephen out of necessity wears many hats. Let's see....husband, dad, son, employee, student, construction worker, overseer, plumber, electrician...youo get the picture. He is good at all of them!!! Well this wonderful house that we bought by God's grace well it lacked/lacks a lot of electrical work. None of the rooms except for the dining room area, kitchen and bathroom had any 'holes' in the ceiling to install lights!!! We have been living mostly in the dark and depending on floor and table lamps. Well Stephen finally had it with our office/music area so he got up on the attic and after doing all of the necessary work, which included making holes on walls, doing acrobatics on the beams on our attic and a lot lot lot of other things we finally have light....and withi a dimer!!! He still needs to patch one hole on the wall but other than that its done!!! Now when we ichat with our families they can actually see us! He is so awesome.

Thanksgiving Lesson Learned

I really really...really enjoy cooking! I can be up on my feet for hours cooking and it does not bother me, well until I get to bed and feel sooo exhausted. I have been cooking from the time I think 8 or 9 years old, when my 'babysiter' Maria (feel free to correct my dates if I am wrong) gave me as a present a children's cookbook from Unisef that contained recipes from countries all over the world. I believe that my next birthday included international food from that book...and the older I got the more I centered my menu around those recipes. Well the nights before my birthday parties through the years I was just FREAKING out because I had so much to do and so little time. Those nights would end in the wee hours of the night and many times in tears. My mother would always ask me 'why do you do new things when we have people come over?" I DON'T KNOW but 20 years later it still thrills me! (By the way everything would turn out awesome with everyone full and satisfied)
This year I did Thanksgiving with a twist...green beans? yes but greek style, creamed spinach? yes with cheese enfoled in a pie, spanakopita as we say in Greece. turkey and stuffing? yes again Greek style like we make it for Christmas. sweet potatoes? yes, the yellow kind (favorite) not with marshmallows but with apples. pumpkin pie? yes but in the form of cheesecake :0) I am pretty sure by now you get the picture!
I had prepared almost everything and placed it in the freezer. The only thing I had to do was the turkey, stuffing and spanakopita. The stuffing and spanakopita were easy and fast to make. The turkey and gravy were a different story. The turkey had a beautiful color and when I put the thermometer in it said 180 degrees but when we cut it there was so much pink to my perfectionist dismay! Nobody said anything but I had learned something that had nothing to do with pink in the turkey,
Back up about 6 hours prior to the dinner being served when my in-laws first arrived I was on edge...and I kept being jumpy throught the evening...little things would just send me on a whirlwind! Even though by the time the rest of our company arrived I had managed to internalize the frustruation, it was not fun being me! It was not that I was not enjoying what I was doing but I had put so much pressure on myself to serve dinner on time...and as the clock was ticking the more anxious I got because I knew I would not hit my deadline. So what did you learn? you may ask.
Everything....EVERYTHING even the turkey has to be cooked before the blessed day arrives and then EVERYONE will be happy :0) and relaxed...including the cook.