Gabriela Zoe's first Christmas

We seem to have a pretty set pattern on how we spend Christmas....since my parents do not live close by we always spend Christmas with the Larkin side of the family. But to start from the beginning...on Christmas Eve we got to hang out and have dinner with the Patsaouras side of the family. My uncle Nick and tia Sylvia's house where we got to see my cousins Alexi and Tanya and their cousins, ucles, aunts and nieces from tia Sylvia's side. We tried taking pictures because I want to make a book for Gabriela Zoe since we only get to see most of that side of the family once a year. However, the pics did not turn out great soooo next year we will make everyone pose :o) We had to leave a little bit early because Stephen had to be at church to help out with the Christmas Eve service.
On Christmas day when Gabriela Zoe woke up we used our nativity set to recount the christmas story and then we got to open our gifts. Gabriela Zoe had tons and tons of gifts to open since the package from Greece had arrived on time (not a virtue we can claim as our own however). Our gift to her was her red minnie mouse outfit she wore later that day and her little walker/stroller. We are glad that our gift was a real hit :o) One of the other fun gifts she got that all of her little cousins loved as well was this little duck singing the chicken dance as it is called in America. When we got done opening our gifts we headed out to Stephen's cousin's house Bobby and Shannon and there we hang out with the family and had the amazing Christmas breakfast!!!
For the late afternoon and evening we headed to the Larkin's house for a quiet time with family, opening gifts and eating some more :o)
The day after Christmas after hitting Target for after Christmas sales (if you wait a few days later you may find less but the price is also less...I found that out later), we went to celebrate Papa Stu's birthday. Usually we hang out at aunt Sherryl's and uncle Larry's home but this time we got to spend it at the grandparent's home. Grandma Franceen was especially exited to get to use her awesome Christmas china. Unfortunately I do not have any pics from that day...but I am sure that soon enough I'll find some :o) Gabriela Zoe had fun hanging out and getting to know her cousins, I think once she starts walking there will be no stopping that little girl gang...poor little Owen (the first great grand boy born in the Smith side of the family!)
Well that sums us our Christmas adventures...we spend it witlh family, shared stories and laughed...good time and it was awesome to have everyone come together!

Disneyland Day

I found them!!!! You'll understand if you read below!


This year again as part of our Christmas gift from Stephen's work we got to spend one day in Disneyland. This time was extra special because it was Gabriela Zoé's first time. We decided before we arrived that we probably would not accomplish/ride all that much so we had a very slow pace. Imagine...we arrived at noon!!!! So first thing was to feed Gabriela Zoé in the special area that Dinseyland provides with nursing room, high chairs, changing tables...everything one would ever need. There we saw our friends who were there also taking care of their babies so when we were done we went together to the Storybook ride. After that we went to see our friend James do a turkey call to the turkeys at the park...never knew before that day they have areas with real animals. Melissa, Hannah and Rebecca had to leave after that so with James, Lindsey and Daniel we headed to take pictures with Santa Clause!!! We waited in line and James was hoping Daniel would cry with Santa but as soon as we got there...he was happy like a jelly bean but Gabriela Zoé cried her little heart out. I don't have any of the crying pictures because somehow they got erased from our camera (she may be heppy in the future about that) along with a great picture of the 3 of us with minnie mouse. (she loved minnie mouse and her big black nose (0:)
The ride that Gabriela Zoé enjoyed the most was the carousel ride....she was waving hello to the people outside and our friend Andrea who was standing outside was convinced that she waved hello to her too :o) Speaking of Andrea it was because of her willingless to watch Gabriela Zoé Stephen and I got to ride Space Mountain together (last year I waited in line with him and he went by himself since I was pregnant) It was the first ride I went to since 2 years ago so I was supppper excited!!!! Later on another friend watched her while we went to the new ride in California Adventure....Toy Story!!! So cool. You may ask how on earth we were able to go across the way? Well Stephen and Gabriela Zoé with a little bit of my parents help converted our one day passes to year passes for my Christmas gift. So now we can have endless fun!!
So yeah I think all that sums up our day! All the other time we were feeding or changing Gabriela Zoé. We ended our day at the Rainforest Cafe which is kind of a tradition with the Patsaouras side of the family. Gabriela Zoé was sleeping so hopefully next time she gets to also enoy the monkeys, fish and stuff :o)

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.