You know what sounds good..?

So lately Alejo's been hearing a lot of: "Hey, you know what sounds good?" Immediately followed by what I am craving at the moment.  Most days he just smiles and doesn't say anything, hoping I'll forget about it, but on rare occasions he'll say, "That sounds good!" and we'll go pick it up (In 'N Out).  But so far, this pregnancy (oh yeah! To the blogging world: we're pregnant! Again!) I've actually been pretty good about making what it is I'm craving in an effort to save money.  

The other night I made some spicy California hand rolls because I wanted sushi but can't have it unless it's baked or made from shrimp.  I found a few recipes and kind of put something together so today I had a few extra things to use for lunch.  Didn't want to make the hand rolls because they take quite a bit of time and then for some reason I started craving spam musubi. I started thinking, "That's a lot of work too," until I decided to just throw everything together and call it a bowl.  I tend to do this when I want the flavored of certain foods without having to do all the work (ex. our salmon Philadelphia bowls).  I asked Alejo if this was just laziness but he said that it tastes the same and saves time (so.. no? haha), then he told me to blog about it. 

So now here I am blogging the recipe to help out other moms who also want to cook certain things but don't always have the time to prep or put together the food (by the way, kids take up a lot of your time, if you didn't know!)

Spam musubi bowls

• spam

• soy sauce

• sugar

• nori seaweed wrap

• rice

Directions:

Slice your spam and cook until slightly browned on both sides.

Mix together soy sauce and sugar (to your liking depending on how sweet you want it) and use a spoon to pour over cooking spam. Cook until caramelized on both sides. 

Cut nori into desired size (or just by the individual serving size) and serve with spam over a bowl of rice. 

Enjoy! 

That was pretty easy, yes? 

Expect more posts like these.. Hopefully some of you moms can also benefit from this!

Shepherding A Child's Heart...

"What your children need is spiritual nurture.  They need to be taught the ways of God.  They need to be instructed in the character of God so that they can learn a proper fear of God.  They need to understand that all of life rushes toward the day when we shall stand before God and give account.  They need to learn about the pervasive effects of the fall on the human condition.  They need to understand subtleties of the malignancy of their own hearts.  They need to know the dangers of trusting in themselves.  They need answers to the great problems of life.  They need to understand the difference between presuppositional thinking and empiricism.  In short, they need nurturing instruction."


Well said, Tedd Tripp.  We are responsible for so much as parents...

Four Months of Levi

Last Friday marked Levi's fourth month of life.  Time seems to be flying by so fast.  It seems like not too long ago we were bringing him home from the and now here we are...Levi is rolling around on the floor, able to hold his head up well - I am awaiting the day when I can hold him with one arm and do things with the other!  He's a wonderful baby with a great laugh and personality...Alejo and I are blessed to be able to call him ours.

But parenting is not all rainbows and roses.  The first night we brought him home he cried all night.  Levi still wakes up every three hours to this day which makes waking up in the mornings slightly difficult for Mommy.  We've had spit up everywhere and many outfit changes for baby, Mommy, and Daddy...and we haven't even mentioned the fountains of pee and poop explosions.  Right now Levi is going through a phase where he just wants to be held which makes it tough to do just about anything else in the house.

One of the things that I've been learning about recently is how to work on being patient - which is the work of the Spirit in my life and definitely not something I can do on my own (Galatians 5:22-23).  With the lack of sleep, the house being a mess, and just in my own sinfulness I seemed to be very irritable, and my speech was not always God glorifying.  Praise God for His grace and for revealing to me my sin and other areas in my life that need lots of work -- again nothing that I can do by myself!  

Life is different after you have a baby...marriage is different once you have a baby...but we are definitely excited to experience all the things the Lord is going to teach us as we raise this child.

We love you Levi!

Where did the time go?

Now that we've settled into a more structured routine, I figured I'd try writing in this thing again.  Let's see if I can try and keep it up.

Happy New Year everyone! Belated Merry Christmas, and a laaaaate Happy Birthday to Levi.  I guess the last post was pre-Levi and since then we've given birth to our wonderful baby boy.  

More posts to come as we seem to have settled into a more regular schedule (and since our baby can now sleep on his own without the bouncing from Daddy or Mommy...praise the Lord!)

My Adventures as a Stay-At-Home Mom

Looks exciting doesn't it?

That's just the start of my day.

I've learned from one of my best friends, Stace, that it's good to set a schedule - especially when you have so much free time on your hands - so that you're not just wasting the day away...and that can be SO EASILY done since I've stopped working. 

So everything in my day is planned out...from what time I get up, to certain chores, computer time, even my meals and snacks.  The past couple of weeks have been difficult to have a consistent, set schedule because of the baby shower and putting together Levi's room (which is now finally walkable!), but praise the Lord, things are really starting to come together in our home and things are starting to look less chaotic and more organized.

 One of the things I've really enjoyed is being able to start my day in the Word and not feel rushed to hurry-up-and-finish-reading-so-can-get-out-the-door-and-be-somewhere.  It's also a joy to serve my husband in a way where I can take care of the house and have things ready for him by the time he gets home so he can rest after a long day of work and have enough time for homework.  

I'm hoping that I can keep up this schedule, but I know that once we have Levi, things will change.  We'll see what the Lord has in store for us...these are exciting times!  

Countdown: 2 weeks and 5 days left!

Biblical Support for the Practices of a Leader

Currently, I am enrolled in a class on Leadership Principles and Strategic Management. For some of my future posts, I will be putting up a series on leadership from my written assignments. I will be quoting mainly from three sources:

1. The Bible (NASB version)
2. Business Leadership (Edited by Joan V. Gallos, published by Jossey-Boss)
3. Spiritual Leadership (By Henry and Richard Blackaby)

I hope you enjoy these posts as much as I have enjoyed studying them.

Leadership, according to Kouzes and Posner, is “not about personality; it’s about practice” (Business Leadership, 26). They argue further that a great leader does not rest entirely upon titles and positions. However, those titles shouldn’t be undermined, because there are great leaders who hold high positions. But the main point being stressed is that great leaders are marked by their conduct. Kouzes and Posner identify five practices of exemplary leadership, which include modeling the way, inspiring a shared vision, challenging the process, enabling others to act, and encouraging the heart. The purpose of this short essay is to show that the practices of leadership listed here are consistent with the teachings of the Bible. I will focus on only one practice of leadership: Modeling the way.

To model the way is to lead by example. It’s matching beliefs with actions. The leader is to behave in a way that agrees with the set of standards that they teach. The old saying goes, “do what I say, and not what I do.” But that opposes the idea that leaders are to model the way. The Bible mandates that Christians be examples to others. In order to be an example, we must have a set of practices to follow. James says “But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves” (James 1:22). Our claims to Christianity should be backed up by proof. Our life, which is on display for all to see, will either prove our obedience to God’s word, or negate our Christian claims. Paul encourages Timothy that “in speech, conduct, love, faith, and purity, show yourself an example of those who believe” (1 Timothy 4:12). By way of example, we are to show others what we in turn expect out of them. Through discipleship, Christians encourage one another to strive for righteousness by confronting sin, and helping each other glorify God through their lives. Yet we cannot expect others to behave in a way that we ourselves don’t follow. Paul encourages us to “Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ” (1 Corinthians 11:1). His example was Christ, and in turn, his life was an example to all of us who read his epistles. We are to look at the example that Jesus left for us, and imitate His life, so that we too may be an example to others. Jesus is the standard that we measure our life up against, to see if we are consistent with His word or not. His entire life is an example that we should follow. Jesus modeled the way.

Before we knew it was Levi

This video pretty much sums up the first 18 weeks of the pregnancy. We initially did not want to know the sex of the baby, because we wanted to be surprised along with our family. We love the reaction of our family when we reveal to them that we're having a boy! These are just small clips of some very special moments for me and Bethany. We hope you enjoy-

3rd Trimester, here we come!

Well, we are finally here. The third, and last trimester. Only 13 weeks left and Levi will be joining us on the outside of the womb. His kicks and punches get stronger with each week. He now responds to my hand when I touch Bethany's stomach in different locations too. It's pretty cool, I will put pressure on one side of the belly, and I will feel him pivot himself and then kick my hand. Then I will put pressure on the opposite side, and again he pivots and kicks my hand. (Kick or punch... still not sure which one it is!)

Everyone, meet Trevor. We picked up this little guy while in San Diego celebrating our 2nd anniversary this past May. In just a little more time, he will become one of Levi's friends! 

26 weeks, 1 day

It is unbelievable how fast this pregnancy is going. It seems not too long ago we were just announcing to our families that we are pregnant, and now we have less than 14 weeks left before Levi joins us!

So far, everything has been going well. Levi is obviously growing, and we can tell because of two things:

1. Bethany reports that his kicks and punches are getting stronger. Even I get a little kick every time I feel her stomach. I am even starting to feel harder parts of his body, like an arm or a leg, although I am still unsure what part of the body it is.
2. Bethany cannot see her feet when she looks down.

Right now, Levi is a little bigger than a large cucumber, and weighs about 2 lbs! He measures about 15 inches from head to heel, and is putting on more and more fat. One cool fact about this stage in his development is in the ears. The nerves are maturing, allowing his hearing to be more sensitive. He can probably hear me and Bethany a lot better than ever now. His hearing began at week 16, when the ears were done forming. Since then, I've been talking or reading to him every night. A few times I also played the guitar and sang some worship songs (Maybe someday he will play some music himself!). This last Sunday, Bethany sang at church, and she said Levi was moving around a lot with all the music going on around him and through the stage monitors! Since he is surrounded by Bethany's skin, her body fat, the amniotic fluid, and the uterus walls, much of the sound he hears is muffled and reduced in loudness. However, lower frequencies travel the best through liquids, so Levi is definitely getting his fill of vibrations from bass instruments or really deep sounds (Like daddy's voice!).

Another pregnancy report this week is daddy's weight gain. Since Bethany has been pregnant, I have gained 15 lbs! Surprised me as well. So, last week I decided to start running to maintain my weight. It has also improved my study times, and I've noticed an increase in energy and alertness. Bethany has also been working out every morning, keeping herself active and her heart rate going. I'm proud of her for sticking with it every day. She has been amazing throughout the entire pregnancy by keeping up the house, meal planning, and making my lunches to take to work. I am so thankful for her, because she has been the biggest help to me despite her back pains and swelling feet. Things are busy around here with school and my study schedule, yet she continues to help and always offers me her loving support (I love you, Bethany!).

Countdown to Levi: 13 weeks, 6 days!

More than halfway!!

So we are at 25 weeks today! Baby Levi is quite the mover and kicks and punches after meals, when having Yogurtland or milk tea, and while watching movies in a loud theater.

Alejo is sooo excited and I am so blessed to be married to him. Regardless of how much homework he has or how tired he is from an opening shift, he still makes time to make sure I'm ok and to talk to Levi. Such a selfless man... I only hope I am doing as much to be a godly wife for him!

We're going to try and keep this thing more updated... Although we'll see what happens when the baby comes!

Countdown to Levi: 15 weeks!!

Hello baby

Currently we are 10 weeks 2 days, and about a week ago we went and saw our baby's heartbeat for the first time! It was an amazing moment, and we can't wait to see this little person when he/she is born!

And...we're back!

Hello blogging world!

Alejo and I were talking about some projects that we wanted to accomplish this year and tackling this blog was one of them. We figured since our family is growing, it would be a good way to keep everyone up to date on what's going on in our life so expect (well, hopefully expect) to see updates frequently!

Alright! One down on our list...lots of other things to accomplish this year!

in Christ alone,

Bethany

The hunt continues...

[Countdown: 7 months, 10 days]

With 7 months to go, we have the great task of looking for a place to live! We've made many trips already to Torrance and Redondo Beach... we're narrowing down the choices, but it is not an easy thing to decide on a place that we will be calling home!

Before driving around today, we took our dear friend to Greenfields in Long Beach for his birthday! What an awesome meat-selection we had! If you have never dined there before, we absolutely suggest you go sometime in your life... but be prepared to stretch your stomach to the limits with the amount of meat you take in! We had a great time hanging out and fellowshipping.

After an afternoon filled with looking, driving, shopping, and discussing our future living, we came home to get ready for an evening at LABTS (Los Angeles Bible Training School), where Bethany and I are taking a Soteriology class (That is, the study of salvation). Bethany and her brother Micah have been taking classes here for the past year, and my schedule has finally permitted me to join them this semester. This class is truly a great time of spiritual building, and going over the basics of our faith in the context of salvation! Today, we had some great discussions about atonement, the significance of Christ's blood, and hell. These topics are familiar to most Christians, but discussing them in a class setting really brings out the truth of God's word, and really challenges your perspective of God's word and your faith! Anyone who desires to deepen their faith should prayerfully consider taking bible classes. If you wish to join us on a Monday night, give us a call!

Well, that is all for now... we have some jogging to get to in the morning!
Blessings, and praise God for His works as seen in His creation, and in the great work He completed on the cross!

-alejo

(Psalm 19)

Welcome to our blog?

[Countdown: 7 months, 12 days]

We have a blog?

Well, things are definitely shaping up here. We just finished our engagement photo shoot this past Saturday, and we are totally stoked on the rest of the planning! You can preview our engagement shoot over @ www.aaronshintaku.com/blog and www.amyhinden.com/blog. We are very excted about the pictures, and really enjoyed our shoot with Aaron and Amy. They are a great bro/sis phtographer team, and really awesome people! Definitely check out their work!

As many of you know, we have been engaged for quite some time now... a year and four months to be exact. Because we have so much time on our hands, the planning process is somewhat on the chill side, which is absolutely ok for us!

Most of the big things are out of the way... The ceremony location, reception, photographers, caterers, wedding dress, groom suit, and cupcake bakers! And lets not forget the pre-marital counseling sessions over at Calvary Chapel South Bay! All in all, our planning schedule is right on time, and we are very excited about everything!

Hope you enjoy the pre-wedding blog posts!
To God be all the Glory!
-alejo