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I wrote this a month ago but just now posting it...I forgot about it until this week.

Looking Ahead...
It's fall! It's time for crisp days and chilly nights, an extra blanket to snuggle with, pumpkin spice lattes, well, actually pumpkin anything, and a time of bounty. A time of bounty is a time to harvest all of what God has brought forth. Harvest is a time to gather up all the goodness and heartiness of what was produced in the season before. Now we're gathering up homework, lunches and the kids and getting them to school. We're gathering up the summer beach toys and storing them away, we're gathering up wood to prepare for our fireplaces, and we're gathering up friends to go to Starbucks to get those wonderful seasonal pumpkin drinks.

If you're anything like me, I want to gather up my memories of the summer and remember the laughs shared, the meals eaten together, games played, and just time spent enjoying one another's company. I want to gather those sweet moments up and see Gods presence in it all. I'm so full of gratitude for a sweet summer season of rest and refreshment spent with those I love. God gave me a bounty of time, time spent with Him and with those He has put in my life.

He personally gathered me up to Himself, wrapped me in His loving arms, and whisked me away to a place where I could only find peace in Him, rest in Him, and my identity in Him. A place where heat meets you at every turn. A place of complete quietness. A place of no busyness. A place too large to keep up with at times. But in these places I was met each and every time by the Lord and His lovingkindness for me. I feel completely unworthy of such intimate meetings. The Lord most high met with me in my lowest of lows and always faithfully set my feet upon the Rock. There's such a great peace to know you're exactly where God has you and there's no need to fight your way out of it. Being still and knowing God...yes..please...give me more!

In this time of looking back, it's now time to also look ahead. Looking ahead with anticipation of what richness awaits in this next season and seasons to come. How the God of glory will meet each of us in our needs and desires.

I'm currently preparing my sandy, desert, Corona soil to plant bulbs that will arrive in spring, hope it works. This makes me mindful to prepare my own hearts soul to receive what God has for me that too will spring forth in due season. Praying each of us redeems the time given to us, resting in Him, being refreshed by Him, and renewed by Him.

May we all look up while looking ahead!
"For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it?"
Isaiah 43:19

Some of my summer pics...

Streams in the Desert for March 5th!

I just read this late this evening and was amazed how it went with what I posted today...God is so creative on how He speaks to us!
If you missed Streams today...

We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first.(Hebrews 3:14)
Often the last step is the winning step. In Pilgrim's Progress the greatest number of dangers were lurking in the area closest to the gates of the Celestial City. It was in that region the Doubting Castle stood. And it was there the enchanted ground lured the tired traveler to fatal slumber. It is when heaven's heights are in full view that the gates of hell are the most persistent and full of deadly peril."Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up" (Gal. 6:9). "Run in such a way as to get the prize" (1 Cor. 9:24).

In the bitter waves of woe
Beaten and tossed about
By the sullen winds that blow
From the desolate shores of doubt,
Where the anchors that faith has cast
Are dragging in the gale,
I am quietly holding fast
To the things that cannot fail.

And fierce though the fiends may fight,
And long though the angels hide,
I know that truth and right
Have the universe on their side;
And that somewhere beyond the stars
Is a love that is better than fate.
When the night unlocks her bars
I will see Him—and I will wait.

Washington Gladden

The greatest challenge in receiving great things from God is holding on for the last half hour. selected

Love it!!!

Patience and Perseverance

Patience: bearing pains or trails calmly or without complaint; steadfast despite opposition, difficulty, or adversity

Perseverance: continued effort to do or achieve something despite difficulties, failure, or opposition; steadfastness; 

Webster's 1828 Dictionary: patience to overcome the greatest of difficulties

We recently went on a family hike at the Newport Back Bay, it was beautiful. The scenery was breathtaking. It's amazing where we live because in any direction we go there's always something we can stop and enjoy. We certainly did enjoy ourselves, especially when my little nephew Cole was showing off his pitching arm with some rocks, he's 3 years old and has an arm like a major leaguer.

The one thing that caught my attention the entire day were the vast amount of spider webs on every bush and tree we walked by. These webs were so intricate. It was early morning so the dew was resting on each strand which caused the webs to stand out that much more. I couldn't stop taking pictures of them.

As I observed these wonderful little created homes I was reminded of a story that I had read to the children one year while studying the character trait of patience. It was neat to come home and reread the story and be reminded in my own life to have patience and perseverance in the difficult seasons of my life. To be still and know that He is God! To know that He is working out a greater more glorious plan in my life through these hard seasons.

I hope you enjoy the read....

In fourteenth-century Scotland, Robert the Bruce fought valiantly for independence from England. Following in the wake of William Wallace, Bruce defied the English crown and had himself crowned king of Scotland in March 1306. Furious, King Edward I sent troops to invade Scotland and to assert English sovereignty. Thus began many years of bloodshed and conflict.
In the first battle that June at Methven, Bruce's army was sorely defeated. Bruce himself barely escaped with his life. Son after, the Scottish warrior and his enemies clashed one again, and once again, his troops were routed.
After fleeing to Ireland for a year, letting the English assume he was dead, Bruce assembled a new army and marched on Carrick. Though this surprise attack initially gave him the upper hand, the english army soon appeared and, far outnumbered, Bruce retreated to the Scottish Highlands.
Again and again, Robert the Bruce pressed the independence of Scotland in arms. Again and again he was defeated, routed, and repelled.
According to legend, the oft-defeated Scot found himself hiding alone one night in an abandoned hut. Lying awake on the floor, pondering the hopelessness of his cause, Bruce is said to have spied a spider clinging to the rafter above him.
He watched as the spider tried to convey its web across to the next rafter. Time and time again, the spider made the attempt; time and time again, the spider failed. Six times in all, the spider tried and failed. But on the seventh attempt, the arachnid reached the second rafter,  and began to spin its web.
Poet Bernard Barton captures the event (and its lesson) in these lines:

...Looking up with wistful eye,
The Bruce beheld a spider try
His filmy thread to fling...
Six times his gossamery thread
The wary spider threw;...
The patient insect, six times foiled,
And yet unconquered still...
One effort more, his seventh and last!
The hero hailed the sign!...
That perseverance gains its wage,
And patience wins the race.

Encouraged by the spider's patient victory, the weary warrior took up his battle axe and assembled another army. On June 24, 1314, after several small victories and many defeats, Bruce soundly defeated the English army at Bannockburn.
Scotland was secured under the crown of Robert the Bruce, and in 1328 England recognized Scotland's independence and Bruce's reign as Scotland's king.
Patience is enduring the suffering of repeated failure without giving up. It is persevering to the end and finishing what one began. Although Robert the Bruce lost more battles than he won, it was the last battle that determined the war-the victory at Bannockburn.

"Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto JESUS, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the same, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God."
Hebrews 12:1-2
"And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart."
Galatians 6:1

Be blessed today!

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;)