asking for prayers

ugh, i'm mad that I have to be asking for prayers for this, i hate the devil, for a few months now i've been dealing with a cyst that I got that turned into an infection, I got it removed (thru surgery & antibiotics) then recently in November it came back, went back to the dr. and dealt with it again. This past week or so, I've been feeling it trying to come back, but i have been praying SOOO hard against it. I believe that God can and will heal me. The devil's been trying so hard to fill my head with lies about sickness and death, and I hate it. I've been fighting back with God's word and just doing what I know to do, but it's hard. I'll be going to the dr. in a few days, but I don't even want to do THAT, I am really really believing for a supernatural touch from God, a miracle, a healing that only God can do for me. I just wanted to ask if anyone, when praying, if you remember me please pray for me against any sickness, diseases, infections...lies!!!!!
I've been praying this prayer alot! I got it from Joan Hunter.
In the name of Jesus I command my immune system to be restored. I command the electrical and magnetic frequencies in my body to return to normal harmony and balance. I command all the prions in my body to completely dissolve and be discarded from my body. I command my PH balance to normalize and command healing to every cell affected by any abnormal PH levels. Thank you Jesus! 3 John 1:2, Jer. 17:14, Matt. 4:24

in search of...

I'm in search of a good marriage/women's devotional book to read. If you have any suggestions please leave it in the comment box.

Thank You!!!!!!!!!!!

Happy Birthday to my hubby!

Today is my hubby's birthday! I thank God sooooooo much for giving me Matt. He is my rock, my #1 supporter, my love. Matt has been thru so much thru-out his life and it amazes me how he can still be a sweet sensitive God fearing man. He is honestly thee nicest sweetest guy i've ever met.

When I first "met" Matt, well I didn't actually meet him yet, he transferred from our church in palm springs to the one I was going to, he was about 20 and I was 17, I would see him from afar and my heart would beat fast and my stomach would fill up with butterflies. I thought he was sooooo cute! =) I would always dream of being his wife and think, ya right never he is wayyy too good for me. My mom, who had no idea that I was crushing on him, would always always always say things about him, at how good of a guy he was, how she wanted him to be her son n law, how I was going to marry him, but I would never say anything, I would just brush her off and say mooo-ooom stop. One of her friends told her to pray for it, if that's what she wanted. Finally one day, about 3 years later, he came up to me and told me he was madly in love with me, j/k he told me he'd been watching me for awhile, and that he wanted to start a relationship with me. He waited til he graduated college because he wanted to focus all of his time and attention on me. awwww! In between that time, we were both in a play/skit together and he was the brother and i was the sister, it was funny because we would have to fight, but we got to know each other thru that.

I just really appreciate this man and am SO blessed to be married to him!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MATT!

Where do I start?

I know i've been totally m.i.a for awhile but I had such an amazing ENCOURAGING weekend that I had to record it somewhere so that I wouldn't forget. I don't know why I always get blown away at how God seems to "know" when I need a reminder of His love for me and that He KNOWS me and cares for me. He's an on-time God and His love for me is over flowing. This past year has been a rollercoaster for me health wise, i'm not really a sickly person, i hardly ever get sick. But i've been battling this ugly infection in a super annoying spot (the one that costed me my job) and then for the past 6 weeks i've had a super irritating UGLY nasty cold&cough. As I was reflecting the other day and really thinking about how i've been these past few months, I realized that I guess I was a bit depressed over it, because it was interfering with our whole baby making trial.

So this past Friday was our annual Women's All-Night Prayer service at my church. It's a huge event for us, it starts at 10:30pm and ends at 4am. I'm part of the planning committee. There's 4 different speakers and after each speaker there's a prayer time of 30 minutes. We also have an amazing worship time in the beginning. This year because I was feeling so horrible, my nose was stuffy, I was coughing like crazy, and my head was pounding, I honestly just went to "work" and help to make sure everything was running smooth. But...God had different plans for me (of course) every.single.speaker was SOOO anointed, powerful and their teachings were exactly what I needed to hear. He TOTALLY met me there. The 1st speaker, Barbara Casas, as she was speaking (I was sitting in the front row with my friends) she locked eyes with me and said "Tell God, I will not let go until you bless you". She was talking about determination. I knew God was speaking to me.

The next speaker was talking about her husband and how this past month he had gotten really sick and was in the hospital, in icu, and she was just telling their story. She was saying that it had been really hard on her and her 2 kids, how they would come home from the hospital and cry and pray. She seen how all that they had enstilled in her kids when they were younger her grown kids were using that NOW and how proud she was of her kids. Anyways, she said one day she was at the hospital and the dr.'s were saying how when they DO send her husband home that it would take a year for her husband to learn to talk and walk again. She said she went home and she heard God tell her, "WHO ARE YOU??" She realized she forgot who she was IN CHRIST. She forgot who her FATHER was, she forgot who she served. She forgot the miracle worker HER God was. She forgot she was His princess. I knew God was speaking to me.

My friend Michelle (the one I helped give a baby shower for -our young adults pastor's wife) gave her testimony of her story of her and her husbands desire for a baby and how they ended up getting pregnant and her journey thru the dr's telling her there wasn't a heartbeat and then there was and then there wasn't...she went thru alot of drama with different dr.'s and all of them telling her different things. It caused her alot of stress and tears. She went home one day and her husband told her "Michelle, we need to FIGHT". And as hard it was to hear her give her testimony and sit there in the very FRONT row all the while my heart was stinging and that lump in my throat was growing, I sat there and was happy for her and her blessing. She was saying to fight and to have faith. I knew God was speaking to me.

At the very end, the same women, Barbara Casas, called an altar call for healing. She was going to pray for those that needed healing. I KNOW that God is a god of healing so I went up. As.soon.as.I.got up and stood at the altar the tears just started flowing and would not stop. I cried and cried and cried and just gave it to God once again. It felt so good just to let it out, I find myself just going on with life, shoving my desires to the side, doing ministry, praying with 1st time visitors, tending to my family, making myself busy with my nieces and nephews, and try not to think about how much I desire to be a mother and make my husband a daddy. But as i stood there, I just let it all out. Several of the pastors wives came thru and prayed for us that went up from behind. Barbara came down from the stage and laid her hands on my head and prayed for me, as i think about it again my eyes tear up, by this time i'm sobbing, she told me "You know you stand out to me, and that means that you stand out to GOD." She told me "You think it's your fault (she was referring to my prayer), you think it's something that you did and God wants you to know that it's NOT your fault, it's not you, it's nothing that you did so don't think that. It's all part of God's timing, He has a timing for everything." oh my goodness, that was sooo good to hear. it really really encouraged me. God spoke to me.

After it was over and I had literally cried all my makeup off, Barbara came over to me and told me that I looked so much better. I knew she meant spiritually better because I know for sure she didnt mean physically, i looked like crap by then! =) I guess as she was speaking and she seen me I probably looked heavy burdened to her or God showed her something about me, but she said I looked better. I FELT lighter and I just thank God for the whole night. I went expecting nothing and left a whole different person. Praise God.

THEN on Sunday at church...Matt & I help in the 1st time visitor's room after every service. After the 1st service was over, we (me and matt) were just hanging out after all the visitors had left and 1 of my pastor's came over and told me that he wanted to pray for me. I was SO blown away because, while I love my pastor, he's all about ministry ministry and more ministry (in a good way of course). But he's a manly man, noone i would ever expect to talk to me about this. He said that God's been putting it on his heart to pray for me for healing, and that his wife confirmed it the day before when she asked him why he doesn't pray for me. He said he knows my desire to have a baby and he knows I love kids ...... he then asked me if he can pray for me. I got all teary eyed, thanked him, and said yes of course. So him, his wife and Matt all laid hands on me and prayed for me.

I was blown away by how God used these people to remind me that He knows, He remembers me, He loves me, and He cares. I thank God that He blessed me with these people, by their generous prayers, for being sensitive to God's asking and His spirit.

I have been tagged!

Barb tagged me...here are the rules: You must go to your documents folder (or wherever you store your photos) and go to your 6th picture folder, then go to the 6th picture in that folder and post it on your blog. Tell us a story about that picture.

This is thee pic. This was taken in July and it's of my niece Lovie Lopez, she's 12. The city of Norwalk asked her to open their city counsel meeting with the pledge of allegiance. She did such a good job, I was one proud auntie.

Soooooo HAPPY!!!

PROP 8 PASSED! THANK YOU JESUS!! WOOHOOO!!

Not Me Monday

So I seen this on a few other blogs, so I thought today was perfect to try it out.

Today I did NOT get let go of my job, because if I did that would mean I'm a total failure, and I am NOT a failure! Nope, not me because that would make me feel inadequate! Never!

Ok, on a serious note, yes I did, I did get let go of my job today. Surprisingly I am very relieved. I know I haven't talked about it much on here, but I just didn't want to think about it more than I had to. I started off this new job loving it, but as the days went by, and they started throwing at me more and more duties to fulfill, and things to learn, I slowly started to hate it. I started feeling that the job wasn't for me, as far as all the administrative duties I was fine with, but then they started training me on billing and their company projections. Now, their idea of "training" me was when the v.p. was in the office which was very rare, and when their other employee had time. I started feeling really stressed out, I would bring the stress home, I would call Matt on my lunch breaks crying almost every other day. It just wasn't fair that they were expecting me to give it my all, when THEY weren't giving me their all with proper training. When I would ask said employee for help, she was rude, and make me feel like I was bugging her. She would look at me like I was asking her what 1+1 was.


So anyways, today my boss called me in her office and basically told me that when they hired me they added a bunch of new tasks to the position, and that they need to re-evaluate the position and bring someone in with a background in Finance, and that it wasn't fair to me or them. I told her that I completely agree, and that they should bring someone in with experience in finance, and give them proper training.


I honestly feel relieved. I feel a huge burden lifted and at peace with what happened today. I know God has something better for me. I had been praying about it, so I know God is in the mix.

Oh, and I did end up going to take the test for the City job on Friday. I have a feeling my job didn't like that I missed on Friday. But now I feel even better that I DID take the test! Even if I don't get called back at least I tried!

-moni

Birthday Pics!

I had a wonderful birthday! I loved that I got to spend it with my closest family & friends. After my hair appt. we realized that we weren't going to have time to go to the places that I wanted to go, but we did go to this store that was in the mall where I got my hair cut at, and I bought a cute top and some dressy pants for work. Then we rushed back to my moms house, Matt went in his car to buy sodas and a few other things, and me and my sis went to costco for this chocolate cake that is to die for! It's sooo chocolatey, all you need is one bite for a complete chocolate fix for a week. We got back to my mom's just in time to help fix the table and we were ready to get our grub ON! My 3 sisters came with their hubbys and kids, and 3 of my best friends came with their hubby's and kids.
me all cheesey!

Mish, rach, Christina, and me . We were sooo full, all we wanted to do was sit there til tomrrow.

My 2 nieces.

The lovebirds.

My lil nephew getting his grub on.

1, 2, 3, make a wish!

After cake and ice cream, we hung out in the living room. Good times.

and I opened my gifts.....

Me and my nephew! Luv him!!

I got super blessed!

On Sunday Matt closed the weekend off by taking me to a play at the local college to watch:

I aint gonna lie, I have never read the book nor did I know what the play was about, we got there about 10 minutes late, and I could not for the life of me catch on to what the play was about, and I could hardly understand what they were saying because of their accents. It was actually kinda funny that I was sitting there the whole time trying to figure everything out, and by that time it was over, and everybody was standing up and applauding.

After THAT, we went back to my moms because she had a whole tray of food leftover from the night before. My niece also had a baseball game in the area, so my sis and her fam showed up at my moms after her game. My niece is an excellent baseball player, she hit 3 home runs on Saturday!! and one on Sunday. And she plays on a team with 14 and 15 yr olds and she's TWELVE. Ya that's my girl!!

It's My Birthday!

Have I mentioned that I loooove my birthday, I think it should be a national holiday or something. =P just kiddin'. But I do love getting spoiled by my hubby and fam bam. Here's the plans for the day: 11am - i have a much needed haircut/color appt.. I am so excited for this, my hair is nasty right now. After that Matt's gonna take me shopping either to Victoria Gardens or Old town Pasadena, both have thee bomb stores for shopping. Then around 6ish, my mom's cooking me dinner = my fave = green chili chicken enchiladas. My sisters & hubbys & all my nieces and nephews will be there, and a few of my close friends. Yay!

Gotta go get ready now! Here's a pic from last night as we were getting ready for our Safe Zone event we have at our church on Halloween. The guys went out and bought pizza for us, and they bought me a guy version "cake"! =) (the candle is a straw. lol)

Me with my bff's!

Another decision

So before I applied for this job I applied for a job with a nearby City...it's a part time administrative asst. position. When I applied I really really wanted it! So anyways, I dropped off my application but I knew I would have to wait awhile because the closing date for apps. was Oct. 9th. So then I got this job that I have now. Well on Friday I got a letter in the mail from the City saying I got accepted for the 2nd part of the interview, which is the "written" part. Oy! I really want to go but the thing is, it's Oct. 31st and we have a company mtg. (which i'm supposed to coordinate) the exact same time as the "interview"! I'm going to pray about it, and if God makes a way for me, and gives me the boldness to ask for half a day off, then i'm going to go for it. I just can't turn down an interview for a city, especially because it's part time, and the pay is 2 more dollars than what I get paid now!

Pray for me for wisdom!

moni

My hot diggity man

he's such a multi-tasker...he kills me every time he wears those headphones. =P

Job Update

So it's been a full week working at my new job. I seriously didn't think I was going to make it this far. The night before my first day, I felt sooo sick, I was such a nervous wreck! I felt like i had to puke, I was actually crying because I didn't want to go afterall. Matt encouraged me to go, "it's not like you're married to this job" he told me, just try it out and see how it goes. So I put on my big girl panties and went. And now I love it!! Funny huh?? I can't believe how nervous I was! The owners of the company are SO great! It's a women that's 40, she's the president and a women that's 27, shes the vice president. Then there's about another 15 other employees. I'm the administrative asst. to both the pres. & vice pres.. They are sooo nice and make me feel so comfortable. And best of all it's right across the street from the mall!! I'm just waiting for my first paycheck and it's on! =)

New job!

So I got a new job! I can't believe it, it happened SO fast. It's amazing how God just dropped this job literally in my lap. I literally started looking for a job on Thursday. As much as I loved staying home, I knew that a) our savings was running low and b) with the holidays coming, I know myself, I'm going to want to buy nice gifts and help with things financially at church and with my family.

Anyways, back to my job, I went to my moms on Thursday night, and my sisters BFF was there and she started telling me about her friends friend that was hiring at her company for an Administrative Assistant position. She started telling me what the job was about and what the person would do, and I was thinking (and saying), wow that's totally something I would want to do!! So Gina (my sisters bff) emailed the women she knew from the company and asked her if I could send my resume in, and she said yes. So on friday I sent my resume and this past Tuesday she called me for an interview, I went in for an interview yesterday and she hired me right there, and I start TOMORROW!! I'm excited because of course now i'll be getting paid and money won't be tight anymore with us, but at the same time i'm so used to (now) being at home, and not only that i was sooo used to working at my former job (worked there for 7 yrs!) AND I was working with Matt which I loved.

I'm grateful to God because I know how the economy is, and so many people have been looking for jobs for awhile now with no luck, ( I know because my friend at church has been looking for awhile), so I'm grateful that I found a job so fast, and it's something that I would love to do. It's just the whole "change" thing which makes me nervous, because I am NOT a fan of change.
On a side note: I think I am really going to love my new boss, she's young, perky, and super nice!

So pray for me as I start my new journey tomorrow, my new chapter in my life.

Lost & Found

A few weeks ago I LOST my ATM card, I didn't cancel it right away because I had a hunch it was either in my car, purse or a pocket in a pair of jeans. I searched everywhere, hi & low, practically took my car apart and put it back together, emptied my purse 17x and checked all my jeans. So, after using a whole book of checks and getting sick & tired of writing checks out and holding up the line at the market, I FINALLY decided to cancel it last week.
So right now, i'm in my purse, and I realize that the side of purse is totally tearing, it's like a whole 'nuther huge pocket. So I stick my hand deep down there (searching for my eyeliner) and LO & BEHOLD guess what I find!!!!!!
Not ONLY my ATM card, but my favorite tweezers AND my memory stick thingy that just last week Matt & I got in a lil family feud over because I need it every Friday to save our powerpoints for Ignite on.

I'm still debating on whether i'm going to tell Matt or not, I know he's going to make fun of me, I can see him rolling his eyes already.
Ok, i'm off to Ignite!

One word

I found this on somebody else's blog and I'm bored so here it goes..

Your hair? growing
Your mother? Funny
Your father? Quiet
Your favorite thing? camera
Your dream last night? weird
Your dream/goal? mother
Your favorite drink? Sprite
The room you're in? living (room)
Your ex? highschool
Your hobby? Internet
Your fear? pain
Where do you want to be in 6 years? Happy!
Where were you last night? Shakey's
What you're not? Mean
Muffins? Chocolate
One of your wish list items? Shoes
Time? night
Where you grew up? Ontario (CA)
The last thing you did? changed
Favorite weather? Fall
What are you wearing? pj's
Your favorite book? Proverbs
Your TV? Basic
Your pet? None
Your computer? dying
Your mood? content
Missing someone? bro-n-law (he passed away)
Your car? Echo
Something you're not wearing? makeup
Favorite store? Target
Love someone? Mucho
Your favorite color/shade? Fuschia
Last thing you ate? Chips
Your life? Blessed
Your friends? Plenty
What are you thinking right now? Sleep
What are you doing at this moment? laughing (cause i'm watching america's funniest videos)
Your summer: CRAZY!
Your relationship status: married
What do you do when you can't sleep? movie
When is the last time you laughed? now
Last time you cried? yesterday

Checking in!

Barb is so sweet, checking in on me. I haven't blogged much because I feel funny, I think i'm the only one that reads my blog! lol! Now I know i'm not the only one, (barb does too!). =)

I've been thinking that I need to post, and the title of my post would be: "Blessing in Disguise?"

And that title would be regarding getting laid off of my job. People keep asking me, are you bored yet? Have you started looking for a job? And the answer to both of those questions would be NO and umm, Kinda??. I am completely in love with being a SAHW (stay at home wife)! I wish I lived in the days of Leave it to Beaver where the wife stays home and cooks and cleans and takes care of her husband. Matt & I both like me being home, he says that it has brought us closer to together, and I think the same thing. God is really teaching me how to be a better wife thru me being home, our home is always clean (I heard somewhere that a clean de-cluttered home benefits a marriage), I am cooking more which = us staying home and eating together (before we'd always eat on the go/in the car because we were always rushed) also = us spending less money on restaurants & fast food, I have done so much organizing with all our stuff, I just love it all. We spend alot of quality time together it's awesome! I am grateful for this time of being able to stay home, a husband that supports me, and a God that has ALWAYS provided for us. I've been thinking how when a women has a baby she gets to stay home for a few months to take care of her baby, and I think well what if we never have a baby, this is MY time to take care of my husband & home! And what's wrong with that?? This is the first time that I have been off of work since we've been married. I cherish every day of this!

I've been praying about what God would have me to do when I do find a new job, because while God IS/HAS been providing for us these last few months since i've been out of work, our savings is slowly fading away. I'm looking into going to school to be an ultrasound tech, but first before I start all that, I want to see if: I would be comfortable doing it / I could handle it. So my friend's husband is hooking me up with an u/s tech from the hospital he works at so that I can take a tour and see what their days are like. If that doesn't work out I will find another office job, since I love administrative work anyways. I know Barb mentioned event planner, but living in L.A. I KNOW there are hundreds of VERY talented event planners out here. I'm way too intimidated by them! An assistant sounds good to me tho!

So while I am starting this new "season" in my life, if you happen to remember me in your prayer time, please say a prayer for me!

-Moni

Silly cakes

On Sunday we had a combo birthday party for my niece and lil cousin. She turned 7 and he turned 11. My aunt made these cakes for them, she is by no means a professional, but I thought they were cute and different from our regular ole' Costco cakes we usually get.
A guitar for him...

and a gumball machine for her! My aunt used skittles as the gumballs which I think looked cute! And then my sis for some reason decided to fill the rest of it up with lifesaver gummies. I have no idea why she did that?? I think it looked better without them. =)

Baby Shower pics

Doing this baby shower is something that I am very proud of myself for doing. It showed me that God has been working in me, changing me, bringing healing and I know it was 100% all God's strength in me. My friend M & I were trying to get pregnant, she got pg I didn't (still haven't). When I found out she was pg, it was super hard for me, I cried everyday for a long time. It was HARD. That's all I can say. As time went on, being the party & baby shower planner that I am, I kept thinking I can't do this one, I just can't do it, I know i'm not going to be able to, it's going to be too hard for me. I just KNEW that I wasn't going to do it. Well guess what, God had other plans, as time went on, the planning of this shower literally fell in my lap. It was either I do something or they have nothing. I just couldn't let that happen so I did everything I could to make it happen, I did all the decorations, me and another friend went around our young adults group and took signups from those that were willing to help out, my mom made all the food and it just flowed. I was sooo surprised at how great I felt, and how I WANTED it to be perfect for them. I KNEW it was God in me. The shower was held at our church in one of the rooms on the 2nd floor. I picked a color scheme that would match the room. Orange, blue and a lil bit of brown. We had it after a Friday night service and it went great!
The Room before everyone arrived: (2 friends helped me decorate during the day)

I made a banner of his name using scrapbook paper.




Another banner I made...


The Napkins ...

Cheapest favors EVER, I made personalized sticks of gum with the babys name.

A friend made these snacks: chocolate dipped oreos and pretzels and licorice.

the happy couple:



Me & Mish

mac video ?

Does anyone know how I can add the slideshow to my blog of our Hawaii vacation? We made it on Matt's mac computer using ivideo. And we can view it in quicktime. Do I have to save it a certain way or upload it somewhere so I can post it on my blog??

Clueless in Cali