Decking The Halls...Among other things :)

Oh my gosh...so to start off, it feels so good to be home!

It has been a long time, I know...and my apologies!  I am just finding that during the school semester, it is very difficult to squeeze anything else in to my schedule...but believe me, I am trying. ;)

So, I bring good news-Good tidings and JOY!!!!! I, yes I, Danielle, passed Algebra! Math 90 they call it in my school.  It's the last class I need before I take my transferable class in the Spring...I was afraid I might not pass, and if I didn't, it would mean being unable to transfer for at least another YEAR!
Praise the Lord, He got me through it :)

All that excitement aside, I have a wonderful Christmas blog to share today...my mom has decorated for the holidays, like 3 weeks ago already lol But this is my 1st chance to get on here :)

Christmas has always been my most favorite holiday, for various reasons, mainly the snow, the warmth, just the overall ambiance I suppose, the trees, the whole idea of people coming together to help others, and most of all, having the ability to show others what it means to truly celebrate Christmas.

~This is my mom's piano, it belonged to our church in it's very early days, and we celebrated it's 100th birthday several years back, so that gives you an idea as to how old this baby is :)

Mom loves to go with more of a "Wintre Theme" here, and I love it!  Mom has always taken a great deal of pride in decorating, for any event, and I kinda think she missed her calling...but now that she's retired..hhhmmm.... lol

~And my little buttercup, in his Christmas jammies :)  Oh yeah, in front of the tree hehe, I think he stole a candy cane off of the tree...Did Santa see that?

~We always hang our stockings with care :)

~My dad and Levi, my precious gem, with his papa, and my dad just LOVES playing Santa, and he is pretty good at it too! I wouldn't want to see him try to get down a chimney though...hahahahaha

~My mom's other piano, her nice one, lol Where she has her doll, and most of her Christmas music, which I'm happy to say, or at least it makes me smile, that many of her books are older than I am! (And my birthday is coming up in a few weeks, so shhhh!)

 ~Just a wider view, to see the whole wintre scene

~This is my Barbie collection, my mom's dearest friend who has been with the Lord for several years now, gave me one of these Hallmark collectible Barbie ornaments every year, and a few on my birthday too...These aren't even all of them!  I have many fond memories of Pauline, but these by far are some of my most wonderful, bringing back sweet memories through each Barbie.  So this year I decided not to put them on the tree, but to create my own little Barbie village, around a beautiful snow globe; I have several Christmas Barbies, a Wedding Barbie, a Cinderella, a Fairy, several from the 50's and 60's, and lots more :)

~At school, they had Santa come to each classroom, and Levi got to tell Santa all about the Buzz Lightyear that he's been pining for :)

~A picture I took of Levi at school in front of the tree :)

~My beautiful son just loves all the Barbies...But he's been instructed "Hands Off " lol  These are to precious to me to get lost, or more importantly broken...I found him the other morning, running over 2 of them with his big truck, he said, "Look mommy, I found speed bumps!"
With a huge grin on his face...Oh, charming :)

~And I end with this wonderful picture, because, who on earth could resist such a face?  Not I! :)

*I wish you all a very Merry Christmas, and Happy Holidays...*

My Busy-ness update

Wow...so it really seems like forever since I have posted, or even been on here.  I have just been spinning around, always busy!

As for school, school is officially half way over, and it looks as though I have Spring, and then (Lord willing and fingers crossed) I will graduate and transfer to Stanislaus State University!  And it should only take me about 9 months to a year to graduate with my Bachelor's in Ag Business, Project Management/comm. as my concentrations.  I am antsy!
Last week, I applied for two of my degrees to receive them in December!  I am so excited...I have to make sure all of my classes are in line, but I should know by the middle of November at the latest if I will get them.
The first one is my A.A. in Behavioral/Social Science and the other is my A.S. in Agri-business...and I will be earning my A.S. degree by the end of Spring in Poultry Science.....so that will be 3 degrees in a two year period!  It's been amazing, but I'm sooooo ready to start working again!

As for my little guy's health condition, we were finally able to get approved to go to Stanford!!  I should be hearing from them within a few days :)  I'm excited, or more relieved maybe?

My mom has put all of her Halloween decor up around the house, and I will take pics to blog it very soon, maybe this weekend :)

Also, today, I began my very first grape harvest and crush...it is very hard work!  But I love it, and I'm excited to start making some wine!
Adding to that, I have been working in the poultry unit at school, and I'm learning a lot about birds and eggs, and all that fun stuff....I even named my little baby chick McNugget....I couldn't resist :)

A Truth For The Ruth's and Boaz's of Today...

So my mom forwarded me this little snippet off of her friend Joyce's facebook page, and I honestly couldn't help but laugh, and think how awesome it is!

If more of us single women could keep this idea in mind, I am pretty sure that we would all be a little happier than we are now!I am personally going to send this to all my gals, and I'm going to print it up, make it really pretty, and stick it somewhere I can see it...EVERY DAY!

Let me know what you think!

To all the girls who are in a hurry to have a boyfriend or get married, a piece of Biblical advice:   
"Ruth patiently waited for her mate Boaz." While you are waiting on YOUR Boaz, don't settle for any of his relatives: Broke-az, Po-az, Lyin-az, Cheating-az, Dumb-az, Drunk-az, Cheap-az, Lockedup-az, , Good-for-nothing-az, Lazy-az, and especially his third cousin Beatin-you-az. 
Wait on your Boaz and make sure he respects Yo-az.


So while we wait for our Boaz's, let's make sure we are waiting patiently, for the right Boaz, shall we?  
Let's not get caught up in all the imitation "I'm your MAN!-Pick ME!" jazz, when we know, deep down that we are waiting for something far better, and we deserve more than just having to settle.

*Note about Children's Hospital Post*

Hi there :)

So, I tried to fix the pictures on that post about Levi and I in Madera Children's Hospital, so check them out again, let me know if they showed up this time?

Thanks alot!

A Heart like Mine?

The sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit.You will not reject a broken and repentant HEART, O God.

Psalm 51:17

Today Pastor Dave talked in Ephesians, about our hearts.  We are doing a series, reading through the book of Ephesians right now.

some things he said really struck me, as I sat there, in a sea of people, I wondered how many of them are actually obedient to God in their every day life?

That I have the ability to have a one-on-one true relationship with the God who created everything, including me, muscle by muscle, fiber by fiber, sinew by sinew, simply astounds me sometimes.
And I don't know why!

I KNOW who He is, what He is about, and yet, there are moments when all else falls away, and I simply stand in awe of Him.

He wants my heart, just as it is, doesn't require me to do better, change drastically, or pretend to be something I am not when I come to Him.

Pastor Dave said that obedience to God is us, relinquishing our control...giving up all that we are, not just some, but everything...so that God can take the driver's seat....

He loves me, just the way I am.
But He loves me to much to leave me that way.

The old hymn is in my head tonight, O What A Friend We Have In Jesus....thank God for that!

O my people, trust in him at all times.  Pour out your HEART to him,for God is our refuge.
Psalm 62:8

Children's Hospital...Quite an event!

So, our trip to Children's hospital was more or less "uneventful" in my eyes as a mommy.
Essentially, I learned very little more in terms of what is wrong with my sweet son, where it's coming from, or even how to fix it.  The fact that I have no choice BUT to sit back and watch as my son endures these seizure-mimicking episodes constantly every day is killing me.  But, for now, they say there is nothing that can really be done.
So, our journey was short, a 24-hr. EEG, but I did take some pictures, because he just looks so darn cute in his little "hat".

This is our hospital room.  We had a "lay bed" which is basically two mats on the floor so that we can sleep together and I can be close if he needs me, with blue 'bumpers' all around us so that the kiddos cannot escape easily.

This was our waiting room, we were here for several hours because they didn't have a regular room ready for us yet.  So after the electrodes were put on and he had his hat finished, equipped with Thomas and Percy stickers galore, we sat down and began the test and watched Thomas. We all decided that his "hat" was the same as Sir Toppem's hat on Thomas, so he felt even more special!
The first of way more than several times in a 24 hour period. haha.  My little conductor!

This was right after they got him all finished up, and began the test.  He was hooked up to a lot of machines this boy.   I tell you what...us and hospital visits...Geesh!

Me and him this was taken about 11:30 p.m. cuz neither one of us could sleep.  The lights were on all night, and he got a second wind. Poor lil guy!
He was so brave, he did so great he hardly ever remembered he had the stuff on his head!
I was so surprised, but he is just a wonderful kiddo, and I'm so stinkin' lucky to have him as my son.
My brave lil conductor, I love you!

And as an additional note*The people that work at Children's hospitals, are just so special, they are so wonderful to the kiddos there, thank you for being so wonderful!*

I'm getting used to Hospitals!

Alrightie then...so, this may very well be my last post for a good while :(
Just an update more than anything, but I start school again tomorrow, (MY LAST SEMESTER) and after classes, I will be doing a bit of laundry and packing, as me and Levi are headed down to Madera Children's hospital for an overnight stay, while he has his 24 hr. EEG.
We will be cooped in a very small room, and I get to couch it for the night, but that's alright by me, cuz I'm with my lil man through it all :)

I am really antsy about this lil trip and test, and he needs bloodwork done to, and I am going down there by myself with him, and I'm kind of worried, stressed out, praying they will find the cause of what's wrong, and how to treat it.  The Neurologist really didn't want to say to much until we had this EEG done.  It's his 2nd one, and they said there might be more testing needed, so we'll see.
But between all of that, and school starting up, life is going to get crazy once again.

Oh, and P.S.~We built Levi his very own Sandbox today!!! He is going to love it!

I hope to be on again soon....

A vision of beauty...Finally!

Wow...so this has most definitely been a long time coming, but I finally got all of my pictures onto my computer, and I am soooo excited to show them off, I, my whole time growing up, after age 11 never had a back yard, or a garage, and this year, we put BOTH in.....

The first set of pictures are the beginning stages, and the last are well, the nearly finished product!

 This is a sign I got my mom for Christmas this past year, because I knew she'd love to use it in her back yard, and she DOES!!!

 This sign I bought a year ago, last May, during my trip to L.A., I couldn't pass it up, I knew my mom would love it, and she did, she just could hardly wait to put it up :)  And she proudly shows off both signs :)
*According to her, I'm a wonderful daughter heehee ;) *

                       A walkway leading to the back of the yard, which leads directly into our orchards.

The metal bars leaning up against the fence are what is left of our beautiful canopy that we lost this spring in a severe wind storm we had in April.  My dad and I were out with the sand blowing so hard we could hardly see, and took what was left apart so it wouldn't break any windows it was up against. :(  It was sooo nice!

This is one of my very favorite pics ever.  My beautiful mom and her dear friend Ann, enjoying some of my mom's spoils from her giant sunflowers a few days ago, they are huge, right?!?!?!  My mom has for sure got the "Green Thumb"...

              Our sissy, the pride and joy of our WHOLE family, especially Levi!  Izabella...Izzy!!!

 My mom put the vast majority of our backyard in all by herself...I cannot sday enough, how proud I am of her, she is so determined, stubborn, and with that green thumb of hers, un-stopable!  She can turn anything dead or dying into something beautiful and luscious.   She built our little "Lounge Area" equipped with a fire pit, bench, and small table to sit at, it's so nice in the morning when the breeze hits you!...Or late at night, about midnight with a fire going!

Now, what amazes me the most is how my mom built the brick area, all by herself, she took each and every brick from my grandma & grandpa's next door, and chiseled the concrete off each one, and once done, she put them all together, and built this area, she did such a wonderful job! Not bad at all for a first timer!

Update on my Mom...*and other lil tid bits*

Hello!!!  Oh, how I have missed you so!

Ok, so I know I've been gone a while, but I've been fussing over my momma, since her eye surgery last week, and she swats me away saying how she's fine and I know I'm probably pestering her but...I'm her daughter! Her sis lol...(that's what she calls me) and it's my job to worry about her lol

And today was busy busy for me, but in a good way, I woke up in a Spring cleaning Mode, and I got alot done today, it was great!  I'm getting ready to start back to school in a week, and I want to start off fresh, and get ready to head to Stan State!!!!!!!!! (fingers crossed at this point)

Right now is my first real moment to sit and relax, and I'm delighting in some stale Oreos lol, but who's looking? And you know what?  I'm not even feeling guilty about it hehehehehe

So It's kind of funny, I start school on the 29th, next Monday, and then the 30-31st, my lil guy and I are headed down to Madera Children's Hospital, for some Neurological testing, he's having some serious issues, and they won't tell me more or do anything until they finish further testing and blood work, so I am quite antsy in that respect, and I'm pretty nervous. We are spending the night, but I'm the only one allowed in the room with him, and so I will be there with him all by myself, so I'm just hoping and praying that things will go smoothly, and that I don't forget my cell charger, cuz if I do, holy cow it's gonna get boring for mommy! We sit in a tiny room for 24 straight hours while he has his 24 hr. EEG test.....fun stuff!
Hopefully I will have more for you soon :)

A short note

Today my mom's having surgery on her eye, due to diabetes complications, and so I may or may not be able to post for a while, depending on how things go, so just a little note, to let you know that that's going on right now.

It starts at 3:20 p.m., shouldn't take more than an hour I guess, but it's a serious surgery, and so we are anxious, nervous, and praying for the best.

I know God's in control, but the fear of the unknown is always at your heels, and so we will be glad to get home this afternoon, and get her resting, and on her way to a speedy and awesome recovery!

*Spirit West Coast*

Ok, so it's been about a week since my cousin and I made the long, arduous trip down into Laguna Seca, and Monterey for a single day of nothing but Christian bands, alllllll day long.  It was an interesting journey, but we had the most incredible time!!!


So, I happened to win 2 FREE one-day passes to the weekend event. (Weekend, lol it was Wed. thru Sunday night!) I just got to pick which day I wanted to go...so I chose Friday because Phil Wickham and Matthew West and Skillet were scheduled to play on that day.  And I have to say, it was the most incredible thing ever...

                                      A peacock we saw at Casa De Fruta on the way in :)

                               The Main stage where the speakers performed, and all the major acts :)

 After 3 p.m., there are no chairs of any type allowed on the grass, only blankets, and we got there a little late, and it was already packed with people!

This is one of my very favorite performers...Phil Wickham, he was the first to go on, and his voice is incredible in person...what an awesome man...and he and his wife are expecting their baby very soon!!!

 Sadly, most of my shots of the singers are from the big screen, because we were to far away to actually see them or get good shots with a regular digital camera lol!  But it worked out fine for us!!

He led us in a lot of worship songs, it was great, he really got the audience involved.

 On some of the songs from his new album, he put the words up, and when he did, most people started to sing along, it was great...

 Our spot on the grass, with our "free-refill" lemonade cups lol...they better be free refills for 8$ a whack!

 Does anyone know who this is at first glance?   Matthew West...what an incredible worship leader, and he got the audience most involved, told some stories, it was amazing.

 Everyone's hands were raised with certain songs, what a blessing just seeing that was for me...it really moved my heart.

 Matthew came down into the front rows of the audience and was talking to people, putting the mic to them so we could all hear them sing his songs, it was soooo funny!

 This young woman, bless her!!!  She was the Sign Interpreter throughout the ENTIRE program, from Phil Wickham, through Matthew West, through the speaker that night, Chip Ingram and then through Skillet!  And she never missed a beat :)

 Now these are my few pictures of Skillet, but it was dark, and they are the main event, and they used lots of bright lights and pyrotechnics, and so I couldn't get many pics of them, but here's a few :)

                                           This is the lead singer, he also plays bass in the band.

 Boy, we thought there were tons of people in the beginning? Oh no no no...It was absolutely PACKED when Skillet finally came on...and they are a hard rock band, and play mainstream as well, but they make no bones about it, they have hearts for Christ, and they are proud of it!

I just had to share this picture out of sheer amazement...this is their drummer, she's British, and only about 110 lbs. soaking wet...yet she rocks the drums, and manages to not pass out, while singing back up vocals too!


So I was just very excited to share this with you, It was an immensely filling day, but I ended up driving home at about 11:30 that night, so needless to say, I was exhausted....oh man!  But I wouldn't have traded it for anything, the whole day was just so inspiring, amazing, and we had soooo much fun!
Next year we plan to go, but we would like to go camping, and go for at least 2 days...we shall see!