What a long week

Boy has it been a long few weeks. We had so many things going on at once. Its nice to finally slow down a little bit from chaos to organized chaos. Its been crazy what with all the conferences and now with events going on each Saturday from now until June. Summer seems to be a busy time for us.....(me and Ralph).

This past week was so busy that we barely had time to go and study at the prayer room. In our book, that is torture. We enjoy being in the House of Prayer to just detox from all that we go through in our busy weeks. Lately, we go non-stop from day to day. Its nice to just relax a while and feel like our burdens are being lifted or pushed aside for a while at least. This weekend alone has a jam packed schedule of teaching, socials and baby showers.

First we have Friday class, then practice after that. Then Saturday morning we have privates then class.......after that, we have a social at night to raise money for the Compassion Center! Then its onto church Sunday morning to then leave, and go to the studio for a busy day of decorating and baby shower organizing.

That part is exciting. Ralph's sister is having a baby and her little boy will be here very soon. So, we have to do a shower asap....considering the circumstances. Well, she is one of those rare cases that found out she was pregnant when she was 7 months pregnant. I know, crazy right? Her belly wasn't growing or anything. So now she has a huge belly and we had to plan a last minute shower for her before the baby gets here. I'm excited. Its Ralph's first nephew. He's never really been an uncle. I've been the one with a niece and nephew so I'm a pro at it! I'm looking forward to what this weekend will bring. Then its onto another busy week of events.

Oh Lord, I pray that I have all the time I need in the prayer room!

Ralph's 25th Birthday

Well Ralph is now officially a quarter of a century old! We went to church this morning instead of going to the beach because Justin Rizzo was doing our Sunday morning worship. So of course we can't miss out on that! After that, we fellowshipped for a while and headed out to Elliot and Iris' house.
The guys decided they wanted to go to Dr. Greenbergs house to play basketball so Iris and I went ahead and left to the hospital to visit Edwin and Heather's new baby Aiden Samuel.
After that, we went and got ready to leave to Amura where we sat at the habachi grill and ate sushi. It was so great! I love that place....its up there on my top 3 favorite places to eat.

Onething Conference

Onething 09 finally came and went! I had such a blast. It was my first time going to a Onething conference and it was everything I imagined and more. I loved it!

We started out by loading up our vehicles with equipment this past Friday, (to move the prayer room over to the conference) and heading out to Iglesia El Calvario where the conference was taking place. When we got there, we started setting up the prayer room area as soon as possible because on Friday there was a prayer watch from 5-8pm with Joanne. So once we got that taken care of, we were running around taking care of whatever needed to be taken care of. There were volunteers running the registration tables, the bookstores, ushering, seating area, and information booths. It was a very busy day.

The conference started right at 7:00pm and Matt Gilman was leading worship for the first session. I never get tired of hearing Matt Gilman lead worship. He's just so anointed. The once that was done, Wes was the first speaker to come up speak at that session. It was awesome....until......Ralph remembered that he has to be on the other side of town to run his student training team practice. Ugh....we frantically got up and left to drive to E. Colonial for practice. It was already an exhausting day to begin with, and it just got worse when we had to go workout and dance for two hours.

When we left practice we were so exhausted that both of us were trying to stay away to drive home. It was a long day. Plus, we had to wake up early for the first session on Saturday for Onething.

That Saturday we both ended up missing the first session from lack of sleep and exhaustion. We both got ready quickly and left to the conference. Once we were there it was like round two of running around............but before that happened, we had to sing at the 12:00 watch with Melany. I must say, that was the best watch we have ever had. I was expecting everyone to be at lunch out and about during that two hours but the prayer room was packed with people that were fully engaged with the worship with the word set we did. It was so great. I loved it.

The next session after that was the breakout session for leaders and latinos lol....seriously that is what it was for. After that, the evening session started. Justin Rizzo was the worship leader Saturday night and man....oh man...........can that man worship. I absolutely love the way Justin Rizzo leads worship. It was amazing! Then Duane Roberts did the night session about the end times and the houses of prayer. I was just in amazement at the way he explains things. It was wonderful!

In all, the conference was just awesome....and I can't wait to go to the Onething conference in Kansas City for New Years!

So busy!

Gosh, today I finally had the opportunity to just sit still at the House of Prayer. I feel like my week has gone non stop for days. I literally had a hard time last night teaching class. I felt so weak and tired. I have to pace myself because sometimes I get so focused on trying to get everything done in a fast manner, that I forget to sleep and eat and do normal things that everyone does. I guess its a good time to take another beach trip. I'm looking forward to that this weekend. I just want to be quiet and lay on the beach and just relax.

Lately I have felt so bogged down with stress and only because I am allowing that. I really just want to take the time to allow the Holy Spirit to refresh my soul and just spend time relaxing in His presence. This time I will have my IPOD with me and I just want to spend time relaxing and hearing worship music. I want to read more books and just enjoy myself. Plus, its a great time to relax and enjoy Ralph's birthday. I think he will really appreciate going to the beach and relaxing there. He needs it because he really does work hard. I don't tell him enough.

I'm really looking forward to the fact that all of his training team students (or some of them) will be going to Amura for Ralphs birthday dinner. They just love him and he needs to be told how much he's loved sometimes. Guys don't request to hear that often. We women always want to know that we are loved. So when others go out of their way to show you their love, its really nice. It makes you feel so good. I am going to enjoy seeing everyone there having a great time with him!

Stay tuned and I will post pictures!

Easter Sunday

What a beautiful Sunday morning! Today is Resurrection day...and I just love this time of year. Its spring, and the time to celebrate what Jesus did for us on the cross. Today represents when Jesus rose again! Oh how He shines today! The day is as bright as His beautiful face. I woke up early to get ready for the church service and Elliot and Iris stayed over with Leilani. When we went into the kitchen, Elliot had made everyone breakfast. How sweet was that. Menu of choice was......pancakes and eggs.

Leilani looked adorable as usual....she saw me as Iris was coming down the stairs and she yells "titi"....it just melted my heart. I love that she knows who I am in her life even if we aren't blood relatives lol! So we all loaded up the cars and left to church. We got there and the worship was beautiful. I love singing songs to Jesus, just adoring Him and thanking Him for what He has done for us all. I even shed a few tears during worship just loving on Him. The service PC gave was wonderful. He talked about the Feasts during this year...and he emphasized the Passover Feast. It was just so beautiful!

Afterwards, Ralph and I went to IHOP to eat dinner with the family. We spent a great afternoon together. Now Ralph and I are at home just relaxing and getting ready to go bowling later with the family. A great ending to such a great day!

ahhh the beach

squinting eye pic. lol

the view while I was there

caught Ralph asleep on the chair....just relaxing...and he deserves it!

the beautiful beach......I just loved it!

Wow so Ralph and I spent the day at the beach on Friday. Let me just say how I absolutely love the beach. I hate the summer, but going to the beach makes it so much better. It was just perfect weather. Breezy but hot. I didn't dare go into the water because it was super cold, but the sand was perfect. I got slightly darker of course, but its just the first layer of tan for the summer lol.

I loved just sitting quietly on the beach and listening to the water, the birds, the peace of the moment. During the week, I get so busy and sometimes overwhelmed with this and that, I end up feeling stress or sometimes even don't get good rest. Boy, when I was at the beach, I fell asleep on the blanket. It was blissful. I was eating healthy, sipping on cold bottles of water and just relaxing.

Ralph and I made a decision to do our best, to travel more often to the beach over the summer. Last year we rarely made it out to the beach. But I feel like its necessary instead of desired. It just brings so much stress down from our lives. Plus, its just a pleasure to enjoy what God created. I love it. I am going to look forward to the wonderful summer I plan on having this year. I am believing the Lord will bless Ralph and I with a wonderful year....and a great summer!!!

Training Team Practice

My hubby is running the training team practice every Tuesday and Friday night until July. Its a lot of hard work but also lots of fun. So whats a training team? Well, in salsa class you begin at the first level which is Beginners 1....then you work your way through the levels until you reach Advanced 2. Once you've gotten to that level, you then have the option to audition for the student training team. On that team, you train twice a week to go further than your usual class levels. The bonus is that you get to perform at the end of the training period (which usually consists of 4-5 months).

Last night Ralph introduced the song that they will be performing. I love it. Its instrumental and very musical. No words which I love. Sometimes, just the words alone, throw off the entire routine so I'm actually happy that he chose a song that has no words. Its actually a very classy salsa song. Not the usual studio type of songs that you hear lately. Either way, its a great song and I am so excited about the performance that they are going to put together for the Salsa Congress this Summer.

I will be taking lots of pictures throughout the season so they can see their progress. Maybe video tape it here and there as well. Plus, its nice to have a visual of where you started and how far you've come since the beginning of the training process. The only difficult part for Ralph and I, is that we get home late and end up waking up later or having less sleep. Thats tough. Anyway, we will get through it. I'm looking forward to whats to come!

Today in the prayer room

Well, today was supposed to be a good day. It turned out to be not such a good day. So far, I was pretty annoyed when I first got to the prayer room for reasons I won't mention....but it just sparked a bunch of other emotions and moods and I can't even concentrate here. Its not the prayer room itself, its just people that are hard to deal with sometimes.

Today I just feel like giving up. I know it sounds extreme but I just feel like crap some days and today is one of those days. I guess I just am having one of those days where I want to sit still and quiet with no one bothering me. Maybe I'll do that later at home. Anyway, its just frustrating. Sometimes I just want to be left alone....and today is that day for me. The more I think about it, the more I just want to crawl into a hole and close the lid over it and just be still. I know its an inner thing....but its just hard today. I am pretty sure that everyone had days where they are just tired of lots of things. For the most part, I can usually cast all my cares on the Lord and just keep going. But today is different. I am not sure why. I am trying to search for a reason behind my annoyed mood and it just all boils down to my spirit. I am just bothered in my spirit for lots of reasons today. Maybe instead of dumping all that when I began to feel it, I chose to hang on to it. Since I still have it with me in my spirit bothering me, its just building up like a snowball and if I don't take the time to dump that out of my system, it will just cause me to blow up later.

So, I am going to sit still, be quiet and just whisper my prayers to the Lord. I mean its no one's fault but my own, and I need to address the issues of my heart. I'm actually here in the prayer room listening to Nick's set with the interns. They are doing really well.

grrrr

Our Anniversary

Today is the day before our annivesary. We actually got married on 4/5/06. That wasn't planned for that exact date but it just landed on that day. It was a random week day. Here we are three years later from our actual wedding date.....and it feels like its been 10 years.....;o) I'm happier now than I can ever remember....so far so good!

On our pre anniversary date, we decided to eat at Macaroni grill and it was soooo good! I ate Seafood linguine and Ralph had steak. Its was a nice and quiet dinner just the two of us. Now we are home and watching the movie Hitch while we play the game cash flow 101. In which I seem to have become the reigning champion!

Salsa Life....

I just got home from Maitland today. I am super tired of course (when am I not saying I'm tired)...but class was good. My first hour class was a mini class since there wasn't many students in my level 4 class. So it was nice to not have to yell a lot. Second hour was bigger so I did a little bit of yelling. Boy that takes a toll on my vocals....I usually come home from Maitland classes, just as hoarse as I can be.

Class was fun though....it went smoothly. Yesterday's Kissimmee class was also lots of fun. During my Intermediate 1 class, I had them doing "buya". That is something we do in Maitland only. Its when we are beginning to dance a song and we get the class rowdy by yelling "una buya" (which is basically a shout out)...and the class responds by saying "hey"...then I say "doble" (that means double) they say "hey, hey" lol. It sounds ridiculous via the internet, but when you are there in class it gets the whole class laughing. That way they get pumped up to dance to a song. In a way, its strange to think that doing something so silly can get everyone in a better mood. Sometimes it completely changes people's attitudes and moods.

I remember when my mom used to go to classes with me as a student. She was going through such tough times in her marriage with my dad and she would just completely forget her problems for an hour and just enjoy being herself. She was laughing, and dancing and excersizing. But just when we would go home, she would get sad all over again. You know, being a Christian and seeing people come in to these classes.....you never know what the person is going through. And if I can lighten their heavy loads by just bringing a smile to their faces, even if its just for one hour, I can honestly say it makes me feel like I am helping them out somehow (indirectly). I will never forget when my mom would tell me how she would just see class as a get away from her problems. Sometimes we need an outlet. To some its dancing, to some its singing or acting.....to some its art or hobbies. My outlet is the house of prayer. Its the one place I can go to, and just take all my baggage, my burdens, my frustrations, my worries and literally just drop them at the door. I walk in and being there just clears my mind. It purifies my soul just worshiping Jesus and spending time just sitting through worship sets. I sometimes sit through intercession sets and just release all of my worries and burdens by praying fervently. Its nice to have an outlet. And I appreciate that being a salsa instructor gives me the opportunity to reach out to someone in a small way by just making them smile.

Tomorrow is Clermont classes and they are the family fun crowd lol. They make me laugh a lot in that location. Its just a great atmosphere there! I'm looking forward to it.

Till then.......

You're Beautiful!

I'm sitting here in the prayer room, listening to this CD play throughout the house of prayer. Its a recording of one of the worship sets out in Kansas City, MO in IHOP (International House of Prayer). Its just beautiful....the song is a worship with the word set. It has to do with Psalms 27 and they are singing how Jesus is so beautiful. Its just so rich with the presence of God. I had to put my book down to just close my eyes to listen to the words being sung. Matt Gilman began singing this part of the song that says "you're beautiful." He is just singing into the heart of Jesus. How amazing! Of course once I heard that, I had to get on my laptop to blog my thoughts. Honestly, it has taken me a while to really get focused this morning. I came in, the set was cancelled, then I decided to wash the coffee pots and just got wrapped up in doing things to keep me busy instead of just sitting still and soaking in the presence of God. Once I sat down, I had the opportunity to just take my book out and begin to just read. Today's book of choice is called Hungry for More of Jesus.
So far, seeing as how I just started the book, is just wonderful. Its got me thinking about the grief of the prophets of old. Like Samuel for instance.....he had a heart that just grieved for the Lord because of the sin in the world that was around him. He noticed so many terrible things happening and was just grieved. He spent his time in ministry not only as a prophet, but as a man who longed to see righteousness in the world. The chapter I am reading is called "Answering the call to grief." Its pretty intense to see your generation in a manner that you literally spend your time grieving on behalf of the Lord. Wow...what a ministry. Its talking about having a "samuel company" arising in this generation. I truly believe we need that these days. There aren't enough of us out here that are grieved by the sin in this world. I'm going to continue to just seek the face of Jesus. Maybe God will begin to raise up a "samuel company" here at OHOP. I am going to pray for that today!

So its now lunch time. Approximately 1:00 pm. I decided to walk around and breath some fresh air and just eat a quick sandwich in the break room. While I did that, I thought I would take a few pictures of what I was looking at...
I noticed Edwin in the drum room trying to keep things in order. Then I went outside and looked over at the water pond next to the building. Its nice being outside. I take a chair and sit outside sometimes just to spend time reading and praying in the nice weather.
Then I walked over to the other building we have and saw Andrea working and doing admin work. Then I took a quick pic of the practice room before the interns came in to do class. Benji was showing me his piano skills lol. I came back to the prayer room to blog a little more and saw Ralph reading and walking around the prayer room. Its pretty quiet in here today. Everyone is on lunch break right now so its quiet and empty.

No sets today...

I got to the prayer room this morning...to find out that our set was cancelled because of some noise the speakers were making. Which means I don't sing all day today. Booo! Well I guess I could use this time to just focus on my devotionals and studies. I guess its a good thing in a way, because I was feeling a little under the weather today. Just not myself today.

So I'm going to sit in the prayer room and just soak in the presence of God. Stay tuned....