Days Visualized

Here are a couple of pictures that were taken over the course of these past two weeks. The leaf, grass and water were taken during my trips to the park. If you look closely at the leaf you will see a little colorful creature; it was the coolest looking beetle I have yet to lay my eyes upon. Me with the beautiful lady is my cousin and we are at LAX. I was able to see her off as she left for Korea. She will be there at the least three weeks and at the most two years! I was so glad that I was able to see her before she left. That scrumptious food was consumed today on my day off whilst hanging out with some of my great friends. Can I bring your attention to the surfing panda on the chopsticks?!?! Yes, that panda is surfing... splendiferous!

God's creation is so beautiful, intricate, colorful, fun and wowing; and that is just the creation. How much greater is the One whose hands crafted all the world! may His Name be praise forever for who He is!! Amen

I Just Have to Say.

FUN. If I were to describe in one word how dinnertime went with my girls tonight it would be fun. For some reason at the dinner table tonight we got on the topic of animal noises. Well I got the brilliant idea of playing this game. What you do is everyone chooses an animal noise of their own special choosing. When you hear your name you have to make your noise. We started after dinner and went on until the night... it was the FUNNIEST thing ever. We had a crow, a goat [or sheep??], a cat, a dog, and a weird type of bird.

I seriously did not think this was going to catch on when I started the game right after dinner, but to my amazement the girls went along with it. You know sometimes its hard to get teenagers to do something they think is not 'cool'. However, pretty soon it became this collection of shouting out peoples names, hearing animal noises, and laughter all combined in this great mixture of genuine fun, bonding, and silliness.

Its times like these that I honestly cherish, that keep me going, that push me to do better in my job. I am so thankful for the time spent together in laughter. Sometimes I get very serious about my job and today really helped me to remember the fun that comes along with being with a house full of teenage girls!

I know that my Father has me here for a reason... He doesn't really tell me why, but honestly I really don't need to know. I know He has a purpose and plan for me, especially just for me. I know that this season in my life is going to help in that purpose and all my steps He has laid out. Its like one giant surprise waiting for me and when I open it, its going to be so much greater than I ever imagined. I am so excited!

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight." Proverbs 3:5,6

Peace to you all dear friends,

Aisha [a-dawg] ^_^

hmmm...

I am not sure how to begin so let me start like this: my bathroom was flooded this week. I can say it was quite the adventure. I had just finished cleaning my bathroom and I had the hot water running when all of a sudden the handle POPS off and I suddenly have a newly made fountain in the middle of my bathroom. Me like person I am when things happen unexpectedly started running around the house trying to find the water line so I could shut it off [uh-duh you must be saying to yourself] only to remember that the valve is under the sink. So my common sense kicked in and I went back to my bathroom and turned the valve off. I spent the next hour to hour and a half cleaning up the water. I am just really glad I turned it off and did not soak the carpet.

Yesterday the girls house had a beach day. We left at 12:30 pm and spent the whole day there. The girls went into the water, hung out in the sand, and ate. It was a very relaxing day. We grilled our dinner out on the beach and had s'mores. One of my favorite parts of the day was the grilling. We bought this little tiny gas grill and spent a couple of minutes trying to ignite it. For some reason it would not self ignite like the box said it did. Well thankfully a nice lady had a lighter so we were able to get it started. It was the first time I had personally grilled at the beach and I will say it will definitely not be the last. I had a really good time and my co-workers and even some of my girls were teasing me say that I brought too much food. Okay so I brought a lot... I didn't want my kids starving and its never a bad thing to have stuff left over.

Overall this week has been pretty chill and relaxed. Thank the Lord I have two weeks coming up [the first two weeks in August] I am going to be able to visit my family and get some rest before this new school year picks up for the girls. I am excited that I get to start another school year with them and those two week will give me time to reflect and see what God has for the girls house in this next coming school year. If you guys could keep me in your prayers and my girls, I really hope that this year will be filled with may opportunities to show my girls the love that I have for them and the love that God has for them as well.

The theme of trust has been really showing up this past week in my life and I want to share with you a verse that hopefully will encourage you all.
"Blessed is the man
who makes the LORD his trust"
It comes from Psalm 40. The whole Psalm is wonderful and I encourage you to read it. We truly are blessed when we trust God with all of our lives. He is the creator of our being and He knows us inside and out, He knows what we need and will bless us beyond compare. For who if your son asks for bread will give him a stone?? I encourage you guys to remember and hold onto the hope which was given to you through His words spoken to you, for He is faithful to continue the work He started... and He is one awesome builder!!!


Love you guys,

Aisha

In Full Swing....

Wow, So these past two weeks have been crazy! There has been so much going on at the girls house and it's crazy to think that this summer is almost over. We have only one full month left before my little ones all go back to school and the older ones go on to University... aaahhh! Well let me break it down for you and give you a little insight into these past two weeks....

The first week [5th-10th] I got back to work didn't go off as I had planned. Everything was the same when I got back to work except one thing... ME. For some reason unbeknownst to me I just could not get my head on straight. I would forget very simple tasks, forget words, I started hearing differently than what people were really talking about, and I just couldn't get back into the routine of my job. It was seriously the oddest week ever at the girls house and my co-workers had a good laugh watching me try and pull myself together. Thankfully by the next week things were a little fixed in my brain.

The next week [which was last week] was jam-packed [strawberry not grape] and it is crazy to think back on it. Extreme Home Makeover decided that out of so many numbers of family to get a house built, BHGH of Baltimore would get a new house built from scratch for the girls in the program there. They announced it on the 9th and flew the Baltimore girls out to California for their vacation getaway that the families usually do on the show. Well we [BHGH] get a call saying that E.H.M. wants us to go sailing with the girls and then have pizza with them at our house. Now, I knew that since this was for the show there would be some filming going on, but was I surprised!! They pretty much got the whole sailing experience, interviewed three of our girls, and filmed inside our home!! The whole experience was really cool and our girls loved hanging out with the girls house of Baltimore. The show is going to be a two hour special airing in September so you all have to watch it when it comes out!!! I will update y'all on that as soon as I get more details. So that happened Wednesday. On Friday of last week we go to go to an Angels game with the whole clan of BHGH and it was all graciously donated! Our girls had fun and they always like it when they can hang out with the boys.

Oh did I mention that I worked ten days straight?!?! yeah I worked ten, 12- hour days straight. That my friends is a feat in itself.. I definitely know the Lord was upholding me those days. I had this weekend off and I spent it at the park, church, and doing manual labor!! I know, I know the last one doesn't really sound like resting at all, but there is something about doing manual labor... we were created to work, God gave us the task of caring for His creation and it actually helped to relieve some stress for me. It felt good to work and knowing something was getting accomplished because you could see it right away, happening right in front of you. I think also it was a different kind of work than what I am doing normally. I hardly ever get to see if the work of my hands with my girls is changing anything and that change is not something that happens over the course of the day. So it was good to see the work that I was doing was making a change that I could see visually. Overall it was a good weekend.

Now, onto this week. I went shopping for our house today [that is one of my duties] and God blessed our house so much! We go to the food bank and get food for a really low cost. This week the food bank was stocked up with so many good things that I did not have to buy half the things I needed on our list at the regular grocery store... God blessed us beyond measure. He always provides our needs, gives generously, and His gifts are GOOD!! I also went to a Dodger game with one of our girls today because the other girls in our house went on another day. It was so good getting to spend quality time with my girl and just laugh, dance, and talk. I truly love my girls and I am so blessed in getting to be a part of their lives.

So my dear friends and family that in a nutshell is the past two weeks of my life. I wish I could have written sooner about it and with more detail, but these weeks have been super packed. I hope that soon things will slow down a bit so I can share some stories with you guys. Well that is it for now. Thank you all for reading this and I am so glad that I get to share a part of my life with those who follow this.

May you be blessed this week,

Aisha [a-dawg]  : ]

Life's Little Distractions....

Can make a whole big mess! So the story goes like this:


I was on the freeway going back to Fullerton after picking up my girls from their internships. I was in the carpool lane, which at first was very slow, but it started to pick up after while. I was relieved because I had one other girl to pick up and I didn't want to be late. So here I am driving in the carpool lane, the traffic is freeing up and I was talking to one of my girls in the front passenger seat about the day. All of a sudden a car merges illegally into the carpool lane and cuts me off! I raise my pointer finger, shake it and say "ILL-E-GAL" with as much attitude as I can muster [at this point it wasn't too difficult]. Evidently the guy saw this and decided to wave at me like he did nothing wrong. So we start talking about what had just happened and I am a little upset. I am going on about how rude the guy was and before I know it I missed my junction! To top it off as I was exiting, the car that cut me off decides to flip my girl off and then proceeds to tell her by drawing a heart with his fingers that he loves her... it was the most rude, weird and crazy person I have yet to encounter.


So I get off and turn back around on the freeway. I try to get onto the right freeway only to realize that there is no junction for the freeway that I want... so I have to end up taking a freeway that takes me in the opposite direction. I get off the first exit and turn left only to realize I should have gone right. I make a U-ee and finally get onto the right freeway only to find myself stuck in traffic again. By this time I am for sure going to be REALLY late. I am hoping my girl doesn't think I forgot about her, and the one time I DIDN'T bring my cell phone with me is the exact time that I needed it!! I got through traffic, made it to my destination and picked up my girl. All my girls were very patient and did so well waiting through all of this.


In all the midst of this there was one point in which I looked over to my girl and said "who knew that one little distraction could lead you so far from where you need to be" That's all it took. A guy cut me off and I dwelt on it too much and suddenly I find myself so far from my destination. Friends, isn't that how we get in our lives sometimes? We are going along on our journey, focused on what lies ahead and all of a sudden we get distracted. We dwell on it longer than we should and by the time we know it we are so far from where we are supposed to be. That little distraction has caused us to lose time, momentum, and distance.


Friends, I say all of this to say that I would like to encourage you to

"throw of everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God."*

Even though it is easy at times to get distracted by certain things that happen in life, do not let them hinder you from fixing your eyes on Jesus and the path He has marked out for you. Stay focused on the course He has set your feet upon and put all of your energies into staying faithful to the course; for God will honor your faithfulness and you will be blessed my friends.


My prayer for you my dear ones:

May the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever.

Amen**

*Hebrews 12:1-2
**Hebrews 13:20-21