Author: Helen

What a blessed year! There has been more joy and challenge, but good challenge; the type that keeps you on your toes and helps you remember who our Savior is. Some of the highlights that come to mind… Bella started Classical Conversations, which alone has been a true blessing. Watching how much this little person learns is mind blowing! She has developed relationship with kids in her class and it gave me a chance to connect with other moms that are on the same journey of life as me. Another highlight has been Real Estate. I have always wanted to be in the business, but somehow the intimidation and fears got in the way so I kept waiting, until Barry and I prayed and finally decided that it was perfect time to venture out and see where God takes us. As of July, I have closed 4 transactions, I honestly cannot ask for more, just taken by how God orchestrated every single one of these and that He is not done! I know that He will do great things in us and our life and our finances! All praise to Him! The most amazing and exciting transaction was my sweet brother “O” and Lilya 🙂 I can not stop thanking God for placing them only a mile away!!! I still want to pinch myself sometimes that they are here and right next to us! Thank you sweet Lord! Another great highlight this year was that my babies got to spend time with their cousins and I mean ALL of them and we got to fellowship with Del, Arielle, TJ & Lily. May God be present in their life daily and bless them on their journey to spread the gospel! I am also grateful for health, we did run into a bump on the road where it took me to ER, but since then, I am grateful every day to be healthy and alive and live to change lives one person at a time. It’s so much fun to build new relationships and see how God uses us for His purpose 🙂 Barry’s business and his involvement in Fellowship Chamber has been getting more and more exciting for him. He loves what he does and that I know because I ask him frequently if that’s still what he would like to be doing 🙂 As far as goals go for 2015, to connect with more people, to meet them and get to know them on purpose, to invest time in relationships. To be available! It’s hard, but that’s what God calls us to do and therefore I pray that He will use us! Also, to keep a good hold of what we eat, to re-evaluate and stick with good wholesome food. To stay active and perhaps ride my first century, that gets me very excited 🙂 Barry has a few crazy rides lined up this year and he is beyond excited 🙂
Cheers to 2015!!!

Daddy turned another year younger 🙂 It was such a fun day, half of it he didn’t know was coming which is what made it so much fun 😉 In the morning, the kiddos and I took him out for breakfast. I asked Bella and Joshy what should we do for daddy’s birthday, and both said, we want to go out with daddy, so we did! In the evening, Barry knew that his parents were coming to have dinner with us to celebrate his birthday, what he didn’t know is we were getting all of our family together and meeting at one of our favorite restaurants. Coming evening time, his dad walked in and announced that instead of having dinner at home, he wants to take us all out 😉 To Barry’s surprise he walked in to a place full of family waiting to wish him a happy birthday. He was ecstatic! The evening was absolutely perfect, the food was amazing as always and the company was the best!
Thank you Lord for my amazing husband and my babies amazing daddy! I couldn’t ask for a better companion and I am looking to many more surprise birthdays with this man! I love you honey! Happy Birthday!

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This event is absolutely stunning! Las year I had a chance to go and sit at one of the beautiful tables and enjoyed myself very much. So much that this year, I have decided to host a table. I wanted the evening to be perfect for everyone that set at my table and indeed, I couldn’t ask for a more beautiful fellowship with sweet ladies while listening to one of my favorite singers, Nicole Nordeman. Bayside church puts this event for women to come together and just spend time away from busyness of the holiday season and to take Jesus in, to find that perfect peaceful moment and remember what this celebration is truly about. Every aspect of it is simply beautiful.
(the pictures below were taken with a phone and the lighting was quite a bit off but memories are definitely treasured)

Celebration of God’s own Son’s birth! What Joy! This year, the song that touched my heart the most was “Mary did you know”
Mary, did you know
that your Baby Boy would one day walk on water?
Mary, did you know
that your Baby Boy would save our sons and daughters?
Did you know
that your Baby Boy has come to make you new?
This Child that you delivered will soon deliver you.

Mary, did you know
that your Baby Boy will give sight to a blind man?
Mary, did you know
that your Baby Boy will calm the storm with His hand?
Did you know
that your Baby Boy has walked where angels trod?
When you kiss your little Baby you kissed the face of God?

I can’t help it, but the line “when you kiss your little Baby you kissed the face of God” just gave me chills every time I heard it and sang it and at the same time brought warmth to my heart. What an experience for Mary, to hold her precious baby boy and know that He is the Son of God! This holiday has always been my absolute favorite and it seems to hit more and more as years go by, what a joyous event took place. I desire more than anything to have been there with the shepherds and hear the angels sing. Wow!
I feel so blessed to know my God, my Savior and to celebrate love and joy during this beautiful season! Thank you dear God for giving us such Gift, a gift of life and sacrifice!
We had a privileged of celebrating three Christmases 😉 One in Fresno, one in Roseville and one in Lincoln. Let’s just say that our bunnies are spoiled and get presents three times during the Christmas season. It was wonderful to be with family!!! Feeling very blessed 🙂

We LOVE going to pick out and cut down our tree at the farm! There is almost something magical about it. Being there with our little family, drinking hot chocolate, wearing rain boots and of course finding our beauty. Babes had so much fun splashing in puddles that even having them covered in dirt made it worth wile 🙂 It didn’t take us as long to find our tree as it did last year which was nice as we didn’t have anybody crying to go potty 🙂 (I treasure all of these memories)

We give Thanks to the One and Only Mighty God who has blessed us beyond measure to have ability to gather as one family on this beautiful day and give our gratitude for all of the blessings we receive daily. One of the biggest blessings is ability to live and love! To live without love is easy, to live and love is a daily challenge but the reward is absolutely indescribable. To have your heart full of love is the biggest gift you can receive. I felt full watching all of our family members as we gathered to share a meal and give Thanks to our God! The laughter of children, growing families, being together like that just does not come too often. Thank You Lord! Thank you for your immeasurable blessings that you keep pouring out on us! Thank you for every breath, for every day that is given as an opportunity to make a difference, thank you for your sacrifice and spilled blood for my sins that I may live!

One of my new favorite annual traditions is going with my favorite girls to see the Nutcracker ballet. This performance is put on by the Sacramento Ballet and it is simply beautiful! It was Bella’s third year going and she absolutely loved it. I am not going to lie, her mama and nana loved it just as much or maybe even more 😉 Our great outing was wrapped up by going to the absolute best coffee shop in this universe, Temple. If you want to argue otherwise, you must first try their coffee and then build your argument 🙂 Nothing beats the taste of their coffee, it is truly amazing! Ok, now I feel like this post was more about coffee haha.

I am so grateful to my God for gifting me such wonderful, kind, loving, smart and caring mamusya! She has been my best friend ever since I was old enough to realize it, which has been for many, many years. We all wanted to make it special for her, so we decided to do a little surprise for her and take a few family pictures and then shower her with love at “O”s and Lilya’s home. It was definitely a very blessed and memorable day. I pray that God will keep blessing her with health and joy and many more years of great living! We love you so very much the best mamusya and nana!!!

We love going to Apple Hill! Even more so, when we get to go with Nana and Papa 🙂 Fatty fritters, doughnuts, apples, apple cider, kettle corn…you name it, they have it. This one was quite memorable for all of the adults as we were on the Whole30 diet, ha! Who goes to Apple Hill when they can’t eat any of the food??? Only us! Yes, it was absolutely difficult and not nearly as enjoyable BUT our bunnies had loads of fun and that is what counts 🙂 They got to ride ponies, eat fudge sundae, doughnuts and play with the pumpkins. All in all, we all had great fun, but our stomachs didn’t haha!

What a blessing it was to celebrate Silas’ life and turning three! Just thinking, we will be wishing him a pappy birthday over Skype next year… These precious moments that took place of kids playing together and celebrating life together are just priceless. We all loved the “trains” theme 🙂