Love in Many Forms....

Disclaimer: I wanted to post pictures with each one of these, but for some reason it's having a hard time. Maybe I'll post them tomorrow.

As I was driving home from my parents house tonight I was thinking about all the people in my life that I love so I thought I would write a blog about it being that it's Valentines Day and all.

First off I love my church family and the students I get to work with. Sometimes they drive me nuts (especially the younger ones) but at other times they amaze me with their heart for others and especially their heart for God.

Next I love the friends I get to spend time with and even the friends I don't get to see that often. I love my MOPS group. Mike calls it youth group for moms and I'd say that is a pretty accurate description of it, except we are a little more mature now. I have a few friends that moved away last year. Even though we won't get to see each other very often I still love that when we get together it's like no time has passed.

Third I love my in-laws. They have always been super supportive of Mike and I in everything we do. They LOVE my kid and I definitely LOVE their kid. I also have the cutest niece and nephew that you will ever come in contact with.

I love my brother and sister! They are some of the funniest people I know and when we are together we have tons of fun. My brother is such a nice, caring, gentle and loving young man. Ever since I started dating when I was in high school he turned into my "big" brother and is definitely always looking out for me. MY sister and I are almost 11 years apart in age, but man are we like the same person sometimes. She's great! I love how we think the same things are funny and how wonderfully we get along. I know that we will always be genuine with each other and for that I am thankful.

My parents are super wonderful!! I love them so much! After 32 years of marriage they still love each other and have lots of fun together. I'm pretty sure my dad drives my mom nuts 90 percent of the time, but somehow it works. I know that they love and support me in all the things I do and they are super cute!!

Next is the cutest most precious person to ever come into my life (okay, besides my husband) me beautiful daughter, Addison. She drives me nuts sometimes with her whining and her constant need to talk about everything, but those are also what makes her who she is. I love that some days she'll spell random words for me and tell me what it says or that she will suddenly burst out into an Adele song and in the next second start singing a worship song. I love how I'm seeing her eyes open to who Jesus is as she asks me questions about him all the time. I love that she prays and that it has to rotate every night on who is praying that night. I love it when she prays and thanks God for the monsters, but to make them go away. :-) She is definitely a joy in my life!

Now to my husband! He is super awesome! I love how he loves maps and gets all nerdy when he talks about city planning. He might be the funniest person I know, but I try not to let it go to his head by telling him all the time. :-) I love that he loves God and that he always tries to do the right thing! I love that he loves students and wants to see them grow in their faith. I love that he loves us (his family) and works hard to provide for us spiritually and financially.

Last, but definitely not least I love my God! He is my Glorious, Wonderful, Amazing, and Holy Saviour! His love is unconditional and it amazes me how He still loves me no matter what I do. He loves me so much that He sent down Jesus to die for my sins and those of all other people. How amazing is that love? So much more compared to what I've said about all the people in my life!!

“This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.” 1 John 4:10

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year from The Lovatos!!

I hope you have a wonderful year filled with God's love, hope and grace!!

Now... how cute is this kid?

Re-Entering the Blog World... Maybe... We'll See...

This is my attempt to re-enter into the blogging world. I have been so bad the last few years! I am going to set the goal of blogging at least once per week in the new year! This isn't going to be a long blog, so enjoy the pics of my brother, sister and me with our significant others! Also, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!

The Shape of Mercy Book Review

A book about the Salem Witch Trials? How could it not get any more exciting than that?

The Shape of Mercy is a great book that follows three ladies, Mercy Hayworth, Lauren Durough and Abigail Boyles, who all have very different stories, but somehow they are intertwined by love.

The book begins with Lauren Durough a girl who is the only child of a very wealthy businessman. She tries to live a "normal" life throughout the book, by living in the dorms at her college, finding a regular job and trying to make "normal" friends.

Lauren begins working for an older lady in Santa Barbara who has an old diary from a girl named Mercy Hayworth of the Salem Witch Trials. Lauren has been asked to transcribe it and so she begins to read the diary. Abigail, the older lady, helps with the deciphering of some of the words and as she does her and Lauren form an odd sort of friendship.

During the time that Lauren is transcribing the diary she meets Raul, who she mistakenly believes to be some f the "help" at a party for her uncle. It turns out he is a firend of her cousin who goes to school with him and is a premed student. Lauren then makes another mistake in thinking that now he is just another privileged kid easing his way through college. The reality is that he has worked hard to get where he's at and Lauren comes to realize this as they end up liking each other and subsequently begin dating.

Lauren finds out some disturbing things about the diary as she finishes it and is not happy with the way things end. She has an argument with Abigail and things blow up. As the book ends Lauren and Abigail find a way to reconcile and they learn that mercy can have many different meanings.

"The girl in between has learned that mercy is defined by its giver." - Susan Meissner


I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review.

By the Numbers...

To my wonderful husband,

1- The number of children we have together. Hopefully another one sometime in the future, but until then we definitely have the cutest kid around!


2- The number of years we lived in Orange County. Some of the best times and hardest two years of our marriage. Especially since I was the one bringing home the bacon. ;-)


3- The number of "big" mission trips we've been on together. I LOVE that we were able to experience Kenya together and that we were able to serve the kids in London with each other and that we got to go to New York again, but this time serving God.


4- The number of folding chairs we used to have until you told me to put one in the shower to sit on after I sprained my ankle and it soaked through to the cardboard part. But that's okay cuz it just means we can now only have three people over instead of four. ;-)


5- The number of years we've now been back at Mag and I wouldn't change it for anything. Even though I was super hesitant to come back to Riverside we knew this is where God wanted us to be and still does!


6- The number of times you've been to Nashville for Lifeway. I love that you get to consult for/work with them, but when are you gonna take me again? Just don't take me when it's 90 degrees and the humidity is at 90%.


7- The number of times we've moved. Which is crazy, but I think we may be pros at it now. Do we ever have to move again? :-)


8- The number of spiders a person swallows on average in a lifetime. I'm thinking it might be more for you, since you tend to get bit by spiders a lot!


9- The number of times I've asked you if I could have a turtle and no matter how sad I look and how much of a puppy dog face I give you I'm still told to go research it and then we can discuss the whole turtle as a pet thing. :-)


10- The number of years we've been married. Through all the crazy, beautiful, sad and happy times these last ten years I love you more each day! I wouldn't change the last ten years for anything and I can't wait for 60 more! :-)

I LOVE You! Happy 10th Anniversary Mikey!!

Book Review: Lady in Waiting

Lady in Waiting is written by author Susan Meissner. A new author to me and one that I thoroughly enjoyed. Most of the novels I read tend to follow a girl in her early twenties, unmarried who falls in love and the couple live happily ever after.
This novel is very different in that it follows two different ladies and at different times in history. The first lady is modern day Jane Lindsay, who lives in New York, is in her mid to late forties, married and runs an antique store. The story begins with her husband telling her he wants to live apart from her for awhile. As the story progresses she finds a ring in some piles of merchandise sent to her antique store. This ring belonged to the Lady Jane Grey, whose story is told through the eyes of Lucy Day, the dressmaker. The novel then goes back and forth between Jane Lindsay's life and the affect of her separation and Lucy Day's story of Lady Jane and her tragic life.
The novel takes the two stories and shows a picture of love and the choices we make for ourselves as women. Whether you have been married for many years, such as Jane or were never married to the one you loved, such as Lady Jane Grey the take away from this book is that you have choices to make and you must stand up for what you believe in.
I love the way that Meissner used the historical figure of Lady Jane Grey as a parallel (using the ring) to the modern day Jane Lindsay. She captured the beauty and grandness of the 16th Century, but also showed the dark and frightening side of the Reformation.
I would recommend this book for anyone who loves a novel filled with history that is intertwined with love, romance and women standing up for that in which they believe.

I have not read any other novels by Susan Meissner, but I am definitely putting her novel The Shape of Mercy on my must read list. You can check out any of these novels on Amazon.

I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review.

Book Review: Two Tickets to the Christmas Ball

This book is set in a North American city, most likely in the Midwest, and tells the story of two unlikely people who meet, fall in love through a series of events and at the end attend a magical ball together.

The problem with this book is that although you get to know the characters they never really feel as though everything is fully divulged. The characters did not seem to be well developed for my taste. It was almost as if the author has known these people her whole life and expected you to know who they were too, but never by revealing too much.When something is revealed about a character it seems to be glossed over very quickly. The end of the story was wrapped up too quickly in my opinion and could have gone on for at least two more chapters in order to give the characters a little more time to develop. The magical fantasy part of the story was also never really explained and even though it had some parallels to Christianity it was never really clear.Maybe my expectations for the book were too high and I should have just enjoyed the easy reading that it was, but I just want to be able to tell it like I see it. :-)

If you are looking for a book to read that gives you romance and fantasy rolled into one this is the book for you. Enjoy yourself as you dive into a new world of wizards and magical romance!You can watch a trailer for the book here. Also, you can buy the book on Amazon if you click here.

"I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review"

A New Year!

I couldn't think of just one thing that stood out to me this year as a favorite memory. I think there are a few and a few days I wish I could have had a do over, but overall it's been a good year! Below I thought I would sharre with you some of my favorite photo moments from this past year! As I go into this new year of 2011 my prayer is that God will soften my heart in all things and that I will give up control to God in every area of my life!!

Enjoy the pics!

Helping with the Laundry

Downtown


Mike and his grandma with his cousin Matt who is in the Marines and was out training in Twentynine Palms for a few weeks. We were able to visit him for a few hours which was great!


Mother's Day 2010


I love this because after a red eye flight to North Carolina we drove over the border to South Carolina and went to Starbucks because we wanted to say we'd been to South Carolina too! :-)


Swimming Lessons


After a hike up Mt. Rubidoux


My mom came with us to San Francisco to watch Addie which allowed me to do ministry with our high school students and I am super appreciative of it.


The Pumpkin Patch

Have a wonderful New Year!!

50 Free Shutterfly Christmas Cards

I know I already wrote about this below, but I have had some other guidelines given to me by Shutterfly.com that I will need to follow in order to receive the cards. :-)

In the past I have bought a few things from Shutterfly including their photobooks, which I love using to make a yearly book for my daughter and the calendars which I have given out as gifts to family members. This year I'm excited to be able to use Shutterfly for my Christmas cards because they do such a good job at a reasonable price. They also have many, many options. You can check out all their Christmas options here.

My favorite card that I am planning on using is the one below:




I love how simple the design is and how there is an option for multiple pictures in order to possibly show different sides of our personality as a family. I also want a card that says Merry Christmas on it because this is the true reason for this time of year: The birth of Christ! :-)
I'm excited that we will be able to send out these cards to share with our friends and family about our life this past year through pictures. What a great way to share the memories that we have had all year long with those we rarely get to see!

Also besides Christmas cards Shutterfly.com has other personalized photo items to buy.

You can find desk calendars if you click here to give to your husband/wife or dad/mom or maybe the grandparents:
You can also find personalized birth announcements if you click here. It is so nice to be able to send out an announcement with a picture on it that friends and family who live far away get a chance to see the baby when they are little.




With all this said I hope you look into trying out Shutterfly.com. It really is a great company that sells quality products at a extremely reasonable price. Thanks for reading my post and I hope everyone enjoys the holiday season!!

Shutterfly.com

I love this website! I have bought a few things from it, including cards and photobooks and calendars. It is so easy to use and is such an easy way to keep memories without stressing yourself out. I am writing this post because if I do I will get 50 free Shutterfly cards to use. I will be using them for my Christmas cards and I know it's going to be so easy. If you've never checked it out before you totally should. I wouldn't be promoting this if I didn't think it was a good website. Even if I do get something free out of it. :-) If you have a blog and would like to do this too you can check the link out here. Also, you can link to the Shutterfly website here. I encourage you to check it out! It's great!

What's on my mind...

Lately, I've been thinking about doing something other than just being a stay at home mom. It's nice to be able to have the freedom to just pick up and go anywhere we want and not have any time constraints, but I need something that gets me out of the house and not just something like going to the park. In my head I have been throwing around the idea of doing photography... mainly childrens photography. Now some might be saying... "Nicole, there are sooooo many people out there with their own, extremely good, photography business, why get into that market?" I have loved photography since I was in high school. I wanted (for about a year) to go to photography school very badly. My parents weren't too thrilled with the idea so it was put out of my mind. By the way, I have no hard feelings toward that. God obviously placed me at CBU for a reason and it was a great experience. I love being able to capture a moment with a camera!

Sooooooo....... as I sit here thinking about "starting" my own children's photgraphy business I look forward to the plan God has for my life and I hope that if this is something in my future I will have support. First step... pray! Second step... buy a nice camera! :-)

Here is a picture I took of Addie (with my mom's nice camera). Enjoy!

Stuck in a Pit and Needing to Look Up...

I've written before about how I struggle with anxiety and depression and I have for 9 years.
I have been reading this little book by Beth Moore titled Looking Up When Life is Looking Down. It's been a great read (and quick). Something that she talks about is getting out of the pit you're in. Sometimes we place ourselves in this pit without even meaning to, but then we must get ourselves unstuck with the help of God and scripture. I'm learning more and more that scripture is what helps us defeat the enemy. God could just take this away from me (believe me I ask Him to all the time), but I know that right now he is allowing me to go through this for some reason. I may know the reason someday or I may never know why.
When I truly accept who I am becoming and who God is molding me into only then will I feel free from this "pain". I know that I can do anything with God and that I have to give up this control I'm feeling, it's hard, but God is more powerful than any thought or feeling or struggle I may be going through. I will continue to pray that I will put this past me and truly live for God in everything I do, so that I can be the best wife, mom, daughter, sister, friend and most importantly child of God!

Letting Go...

I have to give up control... that's the bottom line of everything I do in my life. I have a hard time not trying to control every situation of my life and when something doesn't go exactly like I planned I feel as though I've failed. What I have to learn from all situations is to let go and let God take it. Deep down in my heart I know this and I believe this, but putting it into practice is not always so easy.
Today we took down my daughters crib and put up the toddler railing. Nothing crazy, but still a big step. This one little thing made my heart hurt for a while thinking about her growing up. I know she has to grow up and learn things and I wouldn't want her to stay little and always having to do everything for her, but it still feels like one of those situations I want to control, but I know I can't.
I have struggled with anxiety for the past 9 years and have recently gone off medication in hopes of being able to control it with more healthy eating, exercise and prayer AND relying on God more. It's been hard and I know that I have to let go of the things I can't control, but I'm finding with knowing that God wins every time there shouldn't be anything that I can't do, even as simple as letting my little girl grow-up.

Below is a picture of Addie at the recent beach trip we went to with our high school students:

All By Myself...

I know I'm not really all by myself. I have God and I have friends and family, but this weekend I am a "single mom" and let me tell you it's hard. I'm am so totally blessed with how much my husband does. He takes out the trash, will give Addie baths, cleans up after dinner, plus a multitude of other things that I don't have time to name off. He's pretty darn amazing! So, when he leaves for a few days I usually call my parents and ask to stay over there. This time I decided I could do it on my own and be totally fine. That was until last night when I didn't fall asleep until 2:30am. I had about a thousand different things running through my mind and it just wouldn't shut off plus I would just be falling alseep and I would hear some weird noise.

I don't think its that I can't do all the above things on my own, because I can and I would. I think it's mostly that I get lonely and I need people around. Yes, I am aware that my daughter is a person, but it's not the same. Our conversations are usually about Tinkerbell, Dora or if she went poo poo. :-) So, I called my mom up this morning and asked if we could come crash with them for a few days which she was totally fine with. The other reason we didn't originally stay with my parents is that my brothers girlfriend is visiting from Idaho this week and is staying in the spare room. Which is totally fine (and by the way I love her, she's super great) and both Addie and I can sleep pretty much anywhere.

So, as I sit in my parents living room writing this lovely blog I feel a lot of relief that I will have people around me to converse with this weekend. i will no longer be "all by myself."

More Pics: Days Two & Three

I know I cut Mike's face off, but it's the best one I took! :-)

Addie loved this area since it had porch swings and big rocks to sit on!

We took a picture similar to this in Tennessee, so I thought we better take one in North Carolina too!

The view from our back patio!

Addie wearing her hat... it lasted about 10 minutes, which might be a record!

Some gorgeous flowers near our apartment!