The Big 19!!!

So today was Garrett's 19th b-day. Yeah...19...not quite sure how that happened??? Well it did;). He had a pretty laid back day for the most part. Of course he did no manual labor. He had a few people over this evening for dinner, dessert and games. His dinner choice was albondigas. His b-day cake choice was what we call "Francel's Favorites"...a lemon, raspberry, vanilla and coconut cake, apparently this is Garrett's favorite as well. Unlike Victoria, he is not on sweets overload yet and wanted the sugariest cake there is.

I've been blessed by Garrett's walk this past year. It's amazing how many milestones you can hit in one year but he hit them with joy and excitement for what the Lord had in store for him. It's brought me joy watching him run after the Lord and His good works.

So now it's back to planning Victoria's sweet 16 b-day party next week but that can start tomorrow, Garrett still has 40 more min. left for his special day;).

But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.
1 Peter 2:9

The Big 16!!!

Today we celebrated Victoria's 16th birthday!!! That's a pretty big number!!!

When you celebrate a birthday in the Esquivel home you have a certain set of "rules" that you must follow for your birthday.

First...you're not allowed to do any chores. You get 24 hrs. off!

Second...you get to choose the dinner of your choice. Tonight's menu consisted of Chicken Parmesan and Caesar salad, Victoria's favorites.

Third...choose your flavor for b-day cake or a different dessert...as long as I can put a candle in it. We kept dessert simple and made mini cupcakes for us and extra for Victoria's basketball team..she had practice tonight.

Fourth...need to have some friends over to help celebrate!!!

I'm so blessed by Victoria and the beautiful young lady she has grown to be in these last 16 yrs. She loves the Lord, her family and friends. I'm most blessed by the steps of faith she has taken this last year, trusting God in them all. She has allowed God to stretch her and continue to mold and shape her into His image.

We get to do this again tomorrow with Garrett's b-day but that's not for 20 more minutes;)...it's still Victoria's day;).

And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
Hebrews 11:6

Another Gift Idea

Here's our next session of making gifts. These ones are for the male teachers. They're a knock off of Girl Scout Thin Mint Cookies and they taste like the real deal. I got this recipe from a cookie exchange and have made them as gifts every Christmas since.
Menu: Ritz crackers, Andes mints and wax paper. Melt the mints in microwave. While hot place your cracker on a fork and dip, make sure it gets a good coating. Let excess chocolate drip off and then place on wax paper to cool. Enjoy!
Each box of mints makes approx. 24 cookies. So about 5 boxes of mints per 1 box of crackers.

Teacher Gifts

Today I worked on some really super easy and inexpensive teacher gifts. I got the idea from a craft website. Thought I'd post this just in case anyone needed an idea for a Christmas gift. It's a Post-It note holder...love it!
Items needed: 4x6 clear frame stand...
scrapbook paper...ribbon...tags...Pot-It's.
Update: here's the finished product wrapped with sweet little herb wreaths...hope the kids teachers enjoy these useful gifts.

Homecoming

Sunday night, Garrett came back home to live! Yeah! Homecoming is just that...coming home. As you know, Garrett left on June 12 of this year and has had many an adventure. He started off in Germany. While there, he got to spend two weeks in Austria, yeah I felt sorry for him at this point as well :). During his two-week stay in Austria he traveled into Italy for a day. After his two month stay in Germany it was time to come back to the States. Well he got home on Aug. 17th and was home for only one day :/...yeah a whole day but we had the opportunity to drive him out to Arizona and spent three days together out there. So he's been in Arizona ever since, with a few weekend trips back home here and there.

I've been encouraged by his venture of faith these past six months. Going to places he's never been and meeting people he's never met. To live his first night away from home on his own. Yeah didn't know about that one before he left ;), good thing! But most of all to just go out with an absolute sold out joy to serve the Lord. We went from not knowing what God had for him after graduation and in one day the Lord had laid out the next 6 months of his life.

So he's home and it will be exciting to see what God has for him next.

God has been so good to us through this process of releasing our child to Him. He has better plans for our children then we do. We pray for the willingness to surrender to the Lord all of our children, seeing that they're His anyways. And to think Christian graduates this year and we're doing this all over again:).

One of my favorite things Garrett brought back from Germany (besides all my cute bird trinkets and German chocolate) was this beautiful worship song sung in the beautiful German language. It's just a snippet but hope you enjoy it.

Esquivel Family Christmas Traditions

Tradition #1
About six years ago I had a friend share a wonderful idea with me about Christmas presents and I'd like to pass it on. She shared with me that for Christmas each year her and her husband would give their children three gifts each. I was very attentive because this friend has four kids like us and they have two boys as well as two girls, you guessed it, just like us;). As many of you may know when you have girls you tend to find more stuff for them then you do boys. So what happens is as you purchase more items for your girls it turns into just needing to find more stuff for the boys to make it even. This was stressful, and not to mention totally getting away and losing sight of the what and the why of Christmas. Well this friend helped put Jesus back into my gift giving.
So long story short;)...here goes!
Based on the wise men that visited Jesus bearing three fine gifts to offer Jesus in order to worship Him, we as parents purchase three gifts for each child to help their hearts and our hearts be focused on worshipping Jesus and the message of Christmas.

1st gift is based on Gold. The gift of gold was often reserved for royalty. The importance of the gift was that it represented the fact that Jesus was royal. This represents a fun gift. Buy something that's just that, fun! Games, toys, video game, movie, scooter, bike, etc.

2nd gift is based on Frankincense. When frankincense is burned it gives off a sweet smelling white smoke. The smoke rising from the altar of incense represented the prayers of the people rising to God in heaven. The only use of frankincense for the Jews was at the altar and it was reserved for the worship of God. This represents a spiritual gift. Buy something that will help your child grow in this way. A new bible, a devotion, an instrument, a journal, Phil Wickham concert tickets;), etc.

3rd gift is based on Myrrh. Myrrh was placed on the cloths used to wrap bodies for burial to help prevent the smell of decay following death. The Magi presented this gift to Jesus as a representation that He would one day die. The gift convey's the fact that Jesus was born to die. This represents a practical gift. Buy something that is useful. Shoes, clothes, pj's, cologne or perfume, etc.

So you buy one gift for each category and on Christmas morning each child, after opening their gift, says which category they think it is. I love this because when they're younger they really have to think about it and they have fun guessing. Before Christmas discuss with your children the new way to give gifts to prepare them and get them thinking. Explain the meanings of the gifts to help them understand. If your children are used to opening gift after gift this may be a big adjustment but believe me you will wish you started this sooner because of the fruit that will come out of it.

Tradition #2
Start Christmas morning off by reading the account of Jesus' birth in Luke 2 as a family before opening gifts.
Tradition #3
Alphabetize your Christmas cards you receive when it's time to clean them up and keep them in a basket or put them in a scrapbook. Each week throughout the year pray for the families. Assign each person in your family one of the families to pray for. This is a great way to teach your kids to pray for others at an early age! Keep them out in the open or you'll forget, trust me on that;).
Tradition #4
Plan a baking day with someone special baking goodies to give to others. My girls bake all day with Grandma Chasey (my mom). We all make tamales with Lita ( Francel's mom).

Start something new this year that will help your family focus in on JESUS!

Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift! 2 Corinthians 9:15

18

Today we're celebrating our 18th anniversary. God has been so good to us. We are so blessed by His grace and mercy that has carried us through many seasons of our life together. We are amazed at the capacity of love that continues to grow between us as a married couple because of the love demonstrated first on the cross.

We are also thankful for our family and church family. So many couples and their families have poured into us, ministered to us and have loved on us through most of our married lives up unto this very day and we are so grateful to God for each of you.

This morning we went to the Sugar Shack in San Clemente for breakfast and our waitress talked with us the whole time;). We loved it. It was like sitting at a friends house for breakfast. She asked, "What is your secret, because you guys must have a secret." We said, "Yes we do have a secret, it's JESUS."

Your beauty and love chase after me every day of my life.
Psalm 23:6a

San Clemente Beach after breakfast and camping in Julian County last weekend. Family picture compliments of Wendy Mukai Photography;)