Kingdom Notes--Planning for a New Year

It is exciting and exhilarating to have the prospects of a New Year swiftly approaching our doorsteps in just a matter of days. Here, at the Fuentes household, we have been busily praying and planning about just what that new year could possibly hold. There is so much potential wrapped into the promises of a new year and we want to be sure we are wisely using the gift of time we have been graciously and lavishly given.

As I thought about what I wanted to accomplish this year many things swirled in my mind but what continually and mainly surfaced to the top of my thoughts were that fact that I wanted to get closer to God. Sure, every year I make this one of my goals, but this year it is much different. I am seeking after him much in the way as as a deer pants for water.

"As the deer pants for the water brooks, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirst for God, for the living God." Psalm 42:1

This is my main objective and nothing else. If nothing else is accomplished on my list of expectations, so be it. I know if I do this all things will fall into place. My prayer, reading and fasting time is all increasingly critical as I mature in the Lord and I am looking forward to experiencing much more of an indepth walk with Him next year.

I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.--John 15:5

We have already taken down the Christmas tree and decorations around here to make way for the new. I personally don't like starting the new year trying to clean up from the last. I like to have our home fresh and looking new, this helps us all mentally to envision and focus on what the new year can hold without holding onto some of yesterday. We've done some shopping to buy new storage bins to organize and purge so we can start the year freshly prepared and ready for all things new.

Some areas I plan for are probably the same that you do yourself. How can I better myself, my goals, etc.? First I like to pray about it. Don't start planning without asking the Lord what He wants for the year. When I have done that, I like to jot it all down and see how I did at the end of the year. I was blessed to be able to look at my list just this last week from last year and see that I had accomplished most of what was listed. I was pleasantly surprised and thus it's given fuel to this notorious planner to continually forge ahead without holding back.

"Without vision the people perish." -Proverbs 29:18

One of things I like to do is make categories. Here are some things I'll ask myself--

What does God want me to do in 2010?

How do I envision myself in 2010 serving God?

What do I want to see accomplished in my marriage this year?

What do I want to see accomplished in each of our children/family this year?

What do I want to see accomplished in our homeschool?

What would I like to see each child doing/growing in/serving?

This year we added a new one: how can we specifically help widows, orphans and the needy?

I make categories and I jot down notes of what I prayerfully think needs to be accomplished and then, this is important, I pull out my planner to plan what I need to do to make this all happen in my to-do list. It has to be transferred to make these goals materialize.

My children plan out their year too. This way we can synchronize goals they would like to accomplish and this helps them to plan and learn confidence as they grow and mature. How are they going to grow closer to God this year? What books will they read and how many? What sermons will they listen to? What new skills will they learn? What character traits need to be strengthened? What musical skills need polishing or new instrument needs to be taken up? Will they start a new ministry this year/how will they serve God? All good leaders must plan and this will help them to do that when they are older.

Now for the best part-my husband and I also spend a few hours over coffee with our planners out planning out family goals, ministry, family trips, ideas, etc. This has been invaluable input to me as a wife that I treasure because I acknowledge the fact that I need to not plan my days without my husband. He is the leader of our home and I need to hear where and how he wants to lead it. This is not oppressive as some women might falsely believe, but it is absolutely beautiful and freeing to be able to share with one another this way. God created us to work together and yes, for my husband to lead our family. It encourages me to know what he is dreaming, thinking and trying to implement in our home. It also provides stability as we face the new year hearing what dad has planned for it. It also helps to plan together so I can help him to accomplish what he'd like to do as many times I am the one to help bring these thoughts to life, since I have more freedom in my schedule. Also, the planning we do together blesses us because we are growing closer together, working as a team in harmony and not against eachother or going our own separate ways.

Dear ladies, I hope you will make some kingdom notes of your own--yes, I said kingdom notes. Notes of how you can impact this world for Christ through your life and your families and generations to come. You have no idea how you impact this world. What we plan today shapes and molds lives all around us continuously and eternally. Don't take it lightly, but know and understand the great responsibility and love that is at hand. We also might need to plan to take wasteful things out of our lives. We need to really be prayerful, honest and look hard at what those things are. These are things that hinder our time...they steal time away from our marriages, children, and home. These things need to be closely examined and some need to be tossed out all together.

A wise woman will also plan in flexibility. She will not try to rigidly follow her plans, but she knows that the Lord has a bigger plan and she accommodates herself to Him. Most importantly, I also want us to remember that with all this planning is that our year is not measured by what we do or what our accomplishments might be---but in what the Lord has done, and what He is going to do.

I am looking forward to a new year with all of you as well and have so much I am looking forward to sharing with you... I truly can't wait! I am eager to see what 2010 will hold for all of us. Let us worship the King, and remember to love and pursue Him with all our heart, soul, strength and mind:

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart
And do not lean on your own understanding
In all your ways acknowledge him
And he will make your paths straight."

Proverbs 3:5-6

*****Many blessings to you all and a Happy New Year*****

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A Vintage Christmas

In early December, we were invited to a Vintage Christmas Party at a church by some friends where six out of eight of my children were able to participate in singing 'Onward Christian Soldiers' to handsigns, recite verses and sing a Christmas carol. We felt really blessed to be able to do this inspite of earlier illness in November and the hospitalization of my 3rd son Joshua.

I hope you enjoy!



(Reminder: don't forget to turn off the music in my sidebar!)

From left to right: Joshua, Joy, Ravi, Stephen, Naomi and Janai

You may click on their names to visit their personal blogs.






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The Sacrifices of A Mother

“Her children rise up and call her blessed…”
Proverbs 31:21

She dreamed of you from the time she was a little girl cradling a baby doll in her arms. She always saw you playing around the little cottage in her childhood dreams. She carried you in her body and you made her sick every morning for weeks and weeks. She bore you into the world through intense pain but when she heard you cry and saw your wrinkled face she forgot all about it and wept tears of joy.

She fed you at her breast and her whole world revolved around you. She stole into your room at night just to watch you sleep and she was sure you were the most beautiful child on earth. She set up through the night to bathe away the fever and at breakfast your dad said; “Sleep well, honey,” oblivious to the all-night vigil. She somehow always knew when you needed her, even in the middle of the night, and she came to your room and changed your bedding and made sure you were warm and dry.

She covered your ears and gave you your coat and checked your homework and made you practice the piano and set through all your ball games and recitals like they were the seventh game of the world series and a debut at Carnige Hall. She nagged you to brush your teeth with words of wisdom like; “Be true to your teeth or they will be false to you.” She changed your diaper and cleaned up when you were sick and washed underwear no one else would touch without a chemical suit. And who do you think always cleaned the gunk out of the kitchen sink and bathtub drain?

She made sure you had the drumstick and your dad had the breast and acted like she preferred the wings. Her oatmeal cookies made you forget the beating you took from the neighborhood bully, or the slow rate of greeting card sales.

She listened to you and didn’t laugh when others would have mocked you. She believed in you when you didn’t believe in yourself and prayed for you even when you didn’t think you needed it. She made you think you could do things you were sure you couldn’t do. She was tough enough to call your bluff and discipline you and give you a sense of boundaries and the security that comes with it. She spanked you when “Spocking” was all the trend with lesser mothers. She knew when you needed a spanking or just a nap and she didn’t always give you candy though she longed to indulge you.

She was always waiting when you came in late. When you complained about it, she pretended to be asleep the way you always did when you wanted her to carry you in from the car after a long trip.

She read the Bible to you and read the Bible in front of you and did what mothers have to do to make sure the family is faithful in church. She made your dad a much better man than he ever would have been without her.

She mended clothes as a labor of love and it broke her heart to see how quickly you grew out of them. She knew you were only loaned to her from God and soon the house would fall silent again. She washed mountains of dishes and truckloads of laundry. She put up food on the hottest summer days and didn’t complain.

Her most sincere prayers were the ones she sent heavenward in gratitude for you. She filled your home with fragrance and beauty and music. The smell or her perfume and fresh-cut flowers, bacon for breakfast and Sunday roast.

Her eyes were bright and happy and full of life. She wept though, wept and worried a thousand times for you when no one ever knew.

She rose early on holidays so you could enjoy a festive meal and an enduring memory. She planned for days and worked for hours so that in a few minutes you could gulp it down and go watch football. You didn’t always thank her or help her with the dishes, but those meals have been a cherished memory for years.

She baked you special treats just to watch you eat them. Something inside made her happier the more you ate. (If you could see me you would know this made my mother a very happy woman).

She wore old dresses so you could have a new ball glove. She skipped vacations and second honeymoons so you could go to camp. She limited expenses for her hobbies so you could get your band instrument. She was happy with last year’s fashion so you could have this years tennis shoes.

She didn’t abandon the family when your dad was insensitive to her needs. She took the blame for your failures and stood back and let your dad have the glory for your successes.

And having done all these things and a thousand others that make mother a sacred word,

she still felt

she wasn’t the mother

she should

have

been.

-Article from KenPierpoint.com

Thank you Gail @ Raising Up A Godly Seed for sharing!

A True Christmas

As I witness the swirling bustle of crowds in the shopping centers as people merrily going about their way buying gifts for their loved ones I can't help but think what a joyous time of year this is for so many, and on the same note, I know there are so many who find this time of year depressing and look upon it as the worst time of the year. Hard times have hit so many, layoffs have abounded and the recession is still looming.

I want to present to you what a true Christmas is. It is not about the gifts. REPEAT. It is NOT about the gifts. It is celebrating the day of the Savior who has come into the world to forgive man of his sins and so that he may escape the fiery flames of hell for those who believe in Him and confess Him as their Lord.

So many parents feel guilty that they will not be able to provide gifts this year.

I say, don't feel guilty.

But instead realize what you HAVE given your children. You have helped to give them life. You have given them yourself as a loving and available parent. You have given them a warm home and three meals a day all year round not just one day of the year, not just when the world dictates a day of giving.You give them clothing and an education.

And remember that the ultimate gift you can give your children is the gift of salvation by teaching them about the Lord continuously.

And of course, any good parent will still want try to provide gifts for their children. Consider looking around your home for gifts you might not notice. Is there extra fabric you can give to a daughter for a sewing project as a gift? For a younger daughter, if you had extra material maybe you could sew doll accessories, doll bedding, doll dresses, doll purses? A small baby doll for her doll?


During the Great Depression, mothers made use at Christmas time anything they had available to make gifts for their children. They would use large printed flour sacks to make pretty dresses and would even find old skirts they could not wear anymore and make a smaller skirt of the material for a daughter. Nothing went to waste. Children appreciated what they got back then and did not complain because they understood the times.
Just because the people back then had less, they actually had so much more.They appreciated eachother and the simple things that were given to them. They did not live from one materialistic venture to the next. Family was important to them and just enjoying the simple things in life. They were excited to receive an orange and a quarter as a gift, and that was it. The Great Depression had given them the priceless gift of gratitude. I sometimes wonder how better off our generation would be if they learned the same gratitude as this past generation. This is why I feel it is so important to keep to focus not on getting gifts and Christmas (even though we do share gifts), but on serving. There are so many ways to do this as I have shared in the past.

But back to gift giving, if you have an older daughter, what if you gave her an heirloom piece of jewelry from you or her grandmother that you have been holding on to? Little boys could get homemade playdough or homemade puppets from socks. Older sons might like a documented scrapbook made of photos of himself as a keepsake, or something they have been eyeing that belongs to Dad. Children could share their art with eachother. You could write a special letter telling someone what they mean to you and frame it with a picture of you both as a meaningful gift. These are all things you could do with what you already have at home and would not cost anything. Here is also a great site loaded with ideas.

In our home, our children like all the special things we like to do before Christmas. Drinking cocoa, playing in the snow, watching Christmas movies, opening the Advent calendar as we count down the days, coloring Christmas pictures, making crafts, singing carols, making ornaments, visiting with friends and family, baking for others, acting in Christmas plays and dressing up as nativity characters. We find ways to serve and give to others who are in need. We spend time with eachother which is important instead of throwing a few gifts at eachother and going our seperate ways. All of this usually doesn't cost alot of money but is rich in memories, and isn't that what memory making is all about?

All in all, be sure to keep your focus on Christ and others. Don't let advertisers dictate to you what your Christmas should look like but keep it simple and Christ focused. I truly hope all of you have a meaningful Christmas and are able to focus upon the true celebration and what it is all about!

Merry Christmas!

Maidens of Virtue Christmas Tea 2009

This weekend my daughters and I were very pleased to attend a memorable Maidens of Virtue Christmas Tea. Mothers, daughters and grandmothers alike joined together to hear Mary Miller, mother of the Eden String Quartet, teach about what she had learned about raising her daughters. It was a sweet sight to see three generations taking part in the festivities. Above is one of the many tables set up beautifully adorned with miniature
Christmas trees and handcrafted ornaments displayed as keepsakes for the guests.

The beautiful home of the hostess--last year Stacy McDonald was the speaker and there were over 100 in attendance in spite of a bad ice storm. While us ladies were attending the tea, my husband and sons were at a nearby church meeting with the Men of Valor group. They enjoyed a pancake breakfast and listening to Chris Miller (father of the Eden String Quartet) encouraging dads to raise godly sons and not 'molly-coddled pansified-boys' among many other things. I love that--definitely what we need to hear in this day and age!

Sandy Grutzius, of Christian Heritage Church, warmly welcomed the ladies.

Mary Miller shared with us her wisdom and warnings of her experiences as a mother and wife. I was very encouraged by her humility and honesty. She did not want anyone going away feeling discouraged and she did her best to encourage us mothers to do our best raising our families.

Janai and Therese Miller

Ladies enjoying fellowship

Me and the little maiden-Anika

Isn't she soooo cute?

Little cousin maidens learning to be feminine
Virginia, Joy and Lena

Mothers of the Maidens

Older maidens were encouraged to have strong authentic walks with the Lord, to follow their parents guidance and learn domestic skills. I think it is so important to pour our lives into doing our best to raise godly daughters for the Lord and a tea such as this is a wonderful time to celebrate womanhood and femininity with them.

Wouldn't you agree?




Hope you enjoyed our pictures of the Maidens of Virtue Christmas Tea!

The Voice of the Enemy

Life can get really busy for mothers, especially around the holiday season. Mothers need to be reminded to slow down and enjoy life around them without getting too caught up with the frenzy of shopping, decorating our homes beautifully, making the season perfect and not forget the things that truly matter.

This is a great reminder for us all through the year:

Each moment I have with these children.

Each moment I have to honor and submit to my husband.
Each moment I am given to love and serve another.
Each moment I pray or sing or praise.

Do I realize that each and every moment in time is ripe and full with eternal destiny? Am I going to continue on with my frenetic pace or am I going to slow down, be aware of the moments?
Is it worth speeding through the moments of life just to get one more thing accomplished?

I’m tired of missing out on the awareness of the eternal destiny in these moments, because there is so much to do.

Whose voice am I listening to when I hear, ‘accomplish more, be better, get more?’ Go, go, go!? Have I bought into the American lie of ‘you can have it all?'
I wonder at what cost?
What does it cost me to have it all?
Does it possibly cost me my health, my children, relationships, the eternal destiny of each moment?

Does Jesus drive and push me to do more?
Or is that the voice of the enemy?
Jesus never seemed to be in a hurry.
He walked everywhere He went.
He wasn’t too busy for ‘interruptions’ like people needing healing or teaching.

He makes me lie down in green pastures, He leads me beside still waters . . .
In returning to Me and resting in Me you shall be saved in quietness and trusting confidence shall be your strength . . .
Come to Me all you who are weary, I will cause you to rest.

No, I don’t believe Jesus is behind this crazy pace. Am I willing to listen to the Voice of my Good Shepherd instead of the voice in my head, or the the voice of our culture?

Lord Jesus, I don’t want to accomplish so much that I miss the ‘eternal destiny’ in each moment. I really don’t know how to slow down. I don’t know what to just let go of. So Jesus, teach me, lead me, cause me to rest. Open my eyes to the eternal destiny in each and every moment.

-This article is entitled 'Each Moment Is Ripe With Eternal Destiny'
by Michelle @ She Looketh Well
and was also featured At The Well...In Pursuit of Titus 2.
A special thank you for sharing!
(emphasis mine)

The Modern Woman

"Modern woman says that we have been weak throughout history.

But I personally think it is rare

to see a modern woman

exhibit the kind of strength and nobility

painted

from God’s Word."

-Kelly Crawford
Generation Cedar

(emphasis mine)