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I am now feeling the baby’s movements more often.  I read some where that says in the second trimester expectant mothers are usually more energetic… it’s not the case for me.  The couch is my favorite hang out spot in our apartment…. it’s really a shame how lazy I feel… LOL!

I find myself day dreaming about this baby more and more.  I’m looking forward to being the mother of a baby again.  Yes, I know there will be many sleepless nights and long days with a baby in the house, but I would rather stay up with our baby than to stay up crying for loosing a baby like I did months ago.   I am carrying our promise child…God is soooooo GOOOD!

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Tags: baby, expectant mother, God, loosing a baby, promise

These past few months have been the hardest, yet satisfying months for me.  The constant nausea and the vomiting was the hardest part but carrying a beautiful little creature in my womb is  satisfying.  Yes, God has blessed us with His little angel and we are so thankful.  I had to keep reminding myself that this pregnancy is a gift from God as a way to deal with the sickness that came with it. Now granted, it was not so bad that I had to get special medical care for it, but it was not a walk in the park like my first pregnancy either.  Needless to say blogging was the last thing on my mind.  I am now in the second trimester and I feel GREAT!!!!

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Tags: angel, gift, God, morning sickness, pregnancy sickness, pregnant, trimester

Today was such a great day we met at our house and prayed for over an hour; we really felt the presence of God. Later in the day we went to our cousin’s house where our children hunted for Easter eggs in her yard…watching their reaction was priceless!

While the children were playing the adults had a chance to talk about church planting stuff and discussing how many women are hurting and are in bondage from past experiences. I remembered the feeling I felt when I was still living in the past, feeling like nothing in my life was right and like I was locked away in a room. Then, I was set free from all of the hurt, pain and disappointments. Jesus died so that I can be free; God set me free from my past of abuse, promiscuity, insecurity, low self esteem and guilt. Now, I want to be as transparent as I can to help other women who are in the place that I was many years ago. That healing and delivering process was not easy, I had to have faith in God knowing that he would never leave me nor forsake me. I had to truly believe that God wouldn’t give me more than I could bare…sometimes I felt like he made a mistake and accidentally gave me more than I could handle. LOL! I had a group of friends who encouraged me through the process and that helped me a lot; now it’s my time to be that friend and give back!!

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Tags: bondage, easter, eggs, friends, garden party, hurt, Jesus, pain, women

Downtown or bust, the title of a post from my husbands blog.

Am I ready, are we ready, are you sure that is where God wants us to plant the church? Just a few questions that ran through my mind, when I realized that if that is where we are planting our church that is also where we will have to live.

Downtown? Is there a safe, culturally mixed, comfortable neighborhood that we can afford there?

I thank God for His ability to send you what you need when you need it. I was told about a site, and sent comforting words from a fellow church planter’s wife - thanks Jessica, where i have met a young woman who lives in Old Fourth Ward. She has been very open and candid about the area. The good and the bad, and even a little ugly, but her and her family love it there and are extremely involved in the community. So now, there is peace.

Downtown here we come!

I ask that you continue to find time in your prayer lives to lift me up in this transition, to bring my husband and family before God, and to keep A Peculiar Place in your heart as we embark on this glorious journey God has chosen us for!!!

…soon we will be waking up downtown, and I can’t wait!

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Tags: downtown, neighborhood, old fourth ward, peculiar, peculiar place, place

After sooo many times Lloyd and I tried to get away, we finally succeeded. We went to Chattanooga, TN and had a wonderful time. It rained on the way there Friday and it snowed Saturday, so, we stayed in watching movies and just be with each other until midday. We got a chance to see Ruby Falls and took some really amazing pictures of the mountain. You know after seeing Ruby Falls, I wondered how can any body say that “there is no God”…seriously! We dined at some really nice restaurants and one my favorites was Niko’s Southside grill; great service and excellent food. I got a chance to do some shopping…Dillard’s was a having a great sale!!!!!I feel like we got a chance to be Lloyd and Esther for just a few days and we were able to recharge our love tank and our batteries of life. I would advise any married couple to take some time away from the children, hustle and bustle and just go away together.

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Tags: chattanooga, mountains, niko's southside grill, ruby falls, weekend getaway

Lloyd and I decided to spend our weekends in the city since we are planting the church there. We took our children to the zoo today and had a wonderful time. I think at some point I was more amazed to see the animals more than our children were. We saw all types of animals, some I am aware of and some I have never heard of. I even faced my fear and went into the reptile area and looked at snakes….it was OK, but I still don’t want them for pets. As we were going down the line we read a sign that says ” The most ferocious animal is the homo sapien” and then there was a mirror under the sign for people to look at themselves. I was amazed by the sign because it is true; us humans can be so cruel to each other and to animals.

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Tags: animals, Atlanta, church, Family, homo sapien, reptiles, snakes, Zoo

From the time God told Lloyd to start the church I have been excited and equally scared and nervous about what is to come. The fact that we don’t know what we’re doing really FREAKED me out. I badly wanted a “how to start a church from scratch for dummies” book. Relying on God to lead us or me rather during this process was really hard specially for some one who likes to plan the future…

I kept asking Lloyd questions for reassurance and for most those questions he did not have an answer. What he kept saying to me and to himself is that God called this church to be and he will provide the knowledge, the resources and the peace that we need. Well God did! We went to the churchplanter.com conference and I was expecting some secret formula and what I got instead is freedom and, peace about planting a church. I realized that most of those pastors who started their churches had the same doubt and fear that we are dealing with. Most of them said they really did not know what they were doing most of the times. However, they relied on God to lead them.

Once I got that revelation I felt such a peace and comfort about peculiar place. God has confirmed to me over and over that he has called Lloyd to start this church and he wont leave us nor forsake in this adventure.

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Tags: church, churchplanter.com, churchplanting, freedom, pastors

Last weekend the boys and I were watching the movie snow buddies…really cute movie! Anyway, towards the end of the movie the narrator said something that stuck with me the whole night. He said “Life may lead you where you least expect but have faith that you are exactly where you are meant to be” that phrase really got me thinking about my life now. I mean, I thought I would be high in the corporate world and married an executive and just live life. Instead, I married a pastor and I have no career in the corporate world. Many times I asked myself if I am where I am suppose to be…specially when the difficult times of church planting arise. After hearing that phrase I now vehemently believe and have faith that I am exactly where I was meant to be. God chose us to teach others about him and his loves for us. God chose us to help set people free from bondage, etc. Yes, there are lot of uncertainties in life as a church planter, as an executive or what ever your walk might be in life but we just have to have enough faith to believe that God has placed us exactly where we are meant to be.

and I got all of that from watching a kid movie!!! WOW!

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Tags: church planter, golden retriever, puppies

So after Ty and I lived in Orlando for a few years we decided to move to Atlanta…

The move was a little harder than I planned. A job that I really wanted fell through and so finding a man was the last thing on my mind. Wanting to meet people and network, I joined myspace.com. That’s where I met Lloyd. Yes, you heard me right! We chatted online for a few weeks and then he invited me to his church. He often remarks that it was love at first sight. Lloyd and I stayed friends for almost a year when surprisingly he proposed. We dealt with so many issues within the first year that by the time we got married it felt like we had been married for years; in a good way of course. We are far from being a fairytale couple, but one thing I know is that God is the foundation of this relationship. He has blessed me with my prince charming!

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Tags: church, myspace, relationships

so, I did get my BA degree in HR management but before I graduated…..

I had to endure one more drama! I took my son Ty who was two and half at the time to the doctors because he had a fever. The doctor realized he was behind on his DTAP shot and decided to give it to him then. After the doctor reassured me that he would be ok to get the shot while he is sick; I agreed to the shot…BIG MISTAKE.

Ty fell asleep from the time I left the clinic and has not been himself ever since. He was extremely lethargic and unaware of his environment. After taking him back to the doctor’s office and we had to rush him to the ER. He was poked by so many specialist trying to find out what was wrong with him. He kept getting worst, he had seizures after seizures and eventually ended up being a vegetable. I did not know what to do but one thing I did is prayed my heart out. I could not just sit there and let satan take my baby away from me. We ended up at an other hospital where they told us that there were some damage done to his brain caused by the vaccination. There wasn’t anything to do other than watch him closely to see if he would pull through and praise God, he did. He needed therapy, so, we were transfered to an other hospital for extensive therapy. He was in a wheel chair for a few weeks and I was told that I was lucky that he made it. I knew that it was not luck….IT WAS GOD.

After we were discharged from that last hospital, things were hard for both of us. I lost my job, my apartment and had no money and no family in Orlando. I stayed home with Ty for 10 months and all that time God provided money for food, shelter, etc. He even blessed me with the most wonderful friends that became family to us….and to my family in Orlando, Ty and I thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

Now he is about to turn 8 years old in march and there are no signs of any damages in his brain.

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Tags: , children, DTAP, DTP, vaccination