Welcome back sunshine.

Those who bring sunshine to the lives of others cannot keep it from themselves.

James Matthew Barrie.

We got to see some sunshine today. I forgot how beautiful blue skies could look. The past week I went to my doctor and she did some tests. One of the test was to check for vitamin D, and guess what? My count came back low. So now I need to take a vitamin D supplement. Well, I am not surprised that it was low, with this weather we been having, only rain and gray clouds, and even if we did have some sunshine I had no time to enjoy it. But today I got my dose of sunshine. I read that 30 minutes a day is a sufficient amount of vitamin D, for a daily dose. I enjoy this doctor’s recommendation, to sit in the sun, or take a nice long walk, much more than my doctor recommending in taking a pill. I just dont care for pills, do you?

We still had some clouds, but the blue skies were a balm to my soul.

Keep your face to the sunshine and you will never see the shadow.

Helen Keller.

The winter trees are just too sad without their green dresses, dont you think so?

I also got a fuzzy sunset captured on my camera.

Today I am thankful for the quiet, for the sunshine and blue skies, for the peace and comfort of my home.

Lost, yesterday, somewhere between sunrise and sunset, two golden hours, each set with sixty diamond minutes. No reward is offered for they are gone forever.

Horace Mann.

New day in the city.

The other day I had a doctors appoitment and so I got to sleep in a bit later. Also, I took my five year old to her bus stop so she could drive to school. The weather was still wet and gray, not too much though, since I was still able to take pictures, and my camera didnt get rained on...:)

Isn't she cute?

It's fun to capture how fast she grows.

After my child left for school I went on one of my solitary walks that I love. Those walks dont happen as often as I would like... Maybe something to do with having 3 little girls, a husband, and working full time? I just hope that one of these days I will be able to work part time, or maybe even be a stay at home mommy, so I can get to enjoy more of the things I enjoy doing. Like taking nice long walks. I saw this interesting plant... I am not sure what it is, but is looks like a wild aloe or agave.

And here is a crab apple tree, in its beautiful winter dress...

And some wild country view... in my city.

I am blessed to be able to have these little views into the wild side of nature, even when I live in my big city, of the things that I love.

And here is an old sign that we have of our street, what does it look like from far away?

To me it looks like a cross... especially when you look from this side.

Rain.

God didn't promise days without pain, laughter without sorrow, sun without rain, but He did promise strength for the day, comfort for the tears, and light for the way.

In the past few weeks we got our fair share of soaking wetness.... Rain is coming down in buckets. We have beautiful, gray clouds and wet chilling air. The grass is green now, and every where we look the creeks are overflowing, the mountains are getting their share of snow.

Can you tell that its raining here?

Anyone who says sunshine brings happiness has never danced in the rain.

Here is my five year old coming home from school... she likes jumping into the puddles, and making her shoes wet. Yes, and I am sure she wont mind dancing in the puddles too...:)

In our lives there is bound to come some pain, surely as there are storms and falling rain; just believe that the one who holds the storms will bring the sun.

My dear husband is so good to meet our little one and help her walk home from the bus stop.

The best thing one can do when it's raining is to let it rain.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow quotes.

Wow, I caught a rainbow.

Life is like a rainbow. You need both the sun and the rain to make its colors appear.

May you always have walls for the winds, a roof for the rain, tea beside the fire, laughter to cheer you, those you love near you and all your heart might desire.

      Irish Blessings quotes.

Love is not proud.

Love is not proud. This word is easily understood. What can I say, I have felt this emotion quite often. But God hates the prideful heart, he cant work in my soul if I am proud, and only think of myself. Why is it much easier to be proud and boastful than meek and humble. Do we even know what these words mean?

Proud:
Having inordinate self-esteem; possessing a high or unreasonable conceit of one's own excellence, either of body or mind. A man may be proud of his person, of his talents,of his accomplishments or of his achievements. He may be proud of any thing to which he bears some relation. He may be proud of his country, his government, his equipage, or of whatever may, by association, gratify his esteem of himself. He may even be proud of his religion or of his church. He conceives that any thing excellent or valuable, in which he has a share, or to which he stands related, contributes to his own importance, and this conception exalts his opinion of himself.

Proverbs 16:5
The LORD detests all the proud of heart. Be sure of this: They will not go unpunished.

Proverbs 18:12
Before his downfall a man's heart is proud, but humility comes before honor.

Proverbs 21:4
Haughty eyes and a proud heart, the lamp of the wicked, are sin!

Ezekiel 28:17
Your heart became proud on account of your beauty, and you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor. So I threw you to the earth; I made a spectacle of you before kings.

Satan was a beautiful angel, he got proud of his beauty, and God threw him down to earth. He was the first one to get proud of his beauty and splendor, which means if we follow in a prideful manner, we are his followers.

The opposite of proud is meek. What does meek means anyway?
 
Meek:
 
1. Mild of temper; soft; gentle; not easily provoked or irritated; yielding; given to forbearance under injuries.


Now the man Moses was very meek, above all men. Num.12.

2. Appropriately,humble, in an evangelical sense; submissive to the divine will; not proud, self-sufficient or refractory; not peevish and apt to complain of divine dispensations. Christ says, "Learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest to your souls." Matt.11.

Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Matt.5.

Meek is a sister to humble. As I look around me in church sometimes we as Christians forget that we are to follow in Christ's footsteps, and be more gentle, humble, meek, but instead we try to prove our worth, to show people who they are dealing with, and that no one can walk over us... Yes, very sad, isn't it? I am sure it makes God sad too, to see our proud hearts, because He knows that pride and boastfulness will not be going to heaven. And isn't that why we are even Christians to one day go to heaven?

Thats my goal to be meek and humble, instead of proud and boastful, with Gods help, everything is possible. :)

Love does not boast.

I am so great at not boasting, it really fills me with pride to know that I am not a boastful person. Ha, ha, I hope you realized that I am talking in a jest here....

Today we are learning about Love and that it does not boast. It is so easy to be boastful and prideful of our accomplishments and progress, but if we want to follow the footsteps of Love we will not do so.

Here is what it means:
1. To brag, or vaunt one's self; to make an ostentatious display, in speech, of one's own worth, property, or actions.

2. To glory; to speak with laudable pride and ostentation of meritorious persons or things.

3. To exalt one's self.

They boast themselves in the multitude of their riches. Ps.49.

4. To exult in confident expectation.
Boast not thyself of tomorrow. Prov.27.

Love does not boast.. Boasting is really being proud and God does not like prideful people. This is just a new way for me, to try to live mindfully, to know what I am doing, and why. Already we learned that Love is patient, is kind, is not envious, and now we know that it does not boast.

Here is the opposite of being boastful: HUMBLE

Wow!!! I mean, who wants to be humble anyway?
What does being humble means anyway?

Humble:
Lowly; modest; meek; submissive; opposed to proud, haughty, arrogant or assuming. In an evangelical sense, having a low opinion of one's self, and a deep sense of unworthiness in the sight of God.


God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace to the humble. James 4.

To make humble or lowly in mind; to abase the pride of; to reduce arrogance and self-dependence; to give a low opinion of one's moral worth; to make meek and submissive to the divine will; the evangelical sense.

Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you. 1 Pet.5.

Hezekiah humbled himself for the pride of his heart. 2 Chron. 32.

The highest mountains may be humbled into valleys.

To humble one's self, to repent; to afflict one's self for sin; to make contrite.

Very interesting, so intead of being boastful we need to learn to be humble and to teach our children that too.

Sweetness indeed.

This is what Love can create.....:)

A sweet little person to love, to watch as she grows, sits up, stands up, and takes her first step. God loves it too, when we take our first steps in His direction, and He is so proud of us.

 A lesson for me to learn patience, attachment, and forgeting one self. A sweet child is a gift from heaven for us to train and cherish, and to learn the real meaning of love. For God was the first one who gave his son to us all so we can have eternal life.

A lesson for me to learn what real love is all about giving, holding, cuddling, and kissing her little toes. Because when you give, it comes back to you in abundance.

A lesson that breast feeding doesn't have to end, just because I have to go to work, and that night feedings are special time that only I can give her and that it provides me that special time to touch her little face, her chubby fingers or her soft hair. For which I am eternally thankful to God for giving me this special gift of being able to breastfeed my little baby.  Yes, sweetness indeed.

Love is not envious.

Love is not envious. A third step in feeling Love. I will not envy when someone has a beautiful home, or has bought new furniture, or has gone on a romantic get away with her husband. I will not be envious. I will cherish what I do have, I will be happy with my old furniture, my not so new clothes. I will be content with my life as it is now, for that is the opposite of being envious of others and their happiness that they may be having. With each day that I am trying to practice Love, I am learning that Love is tough. Yes its tough to do, because my selfish desires and wants only want to love myself. Showing Love with each step is teaching me to be less selfish, and more open and helpful to others. But to tell you the truth it doesn’t come naturally. Thank God, we have Jesus who helps us every day with our Love task.

Envy:
1. To feel uneasiness, mortification or discontent, at the sight of superior excellence, reputation or happiness enjoyed by another; to repine at another's prosperity; to fret or grieve one's self at the real or supposed superiority of another, and to hate him on that account.


Envy not thou the oppressor. Prov.3.

Whoever envies another, confesses his superiority.

2. To grudge; to withhold maliciously.

Who would envy at the prosperity of the wicked?

So you see, in practicing Love I will not envy, or feel in any way badly when someone does a great job at something. But it is an interesting experiment to notice how I behave in certain situations, not realizing that incidentally I envy someone’s happiness or success. Not even realizing what I do, so to pay attention is the beginning of learning.

Love is kind.

At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us.-Albert Schweitzer

Today is the second day of love. Love is kind. To really understand how love can be kind, I found this dictionary interpretation for you. It really explains it, doesn’t it?


1. Disposed to do good to others, and to make them happy by granting their requests, supplying their wants or assisting them in distress; having tenderness or goodness of nature; benevolent; benignant.
God is kind to the unthankful, and to the evil. Luke 6.
Be ye kind one to another, tender-hearted. Eph.4.
2. Proceeding from tenderness or goodness of heart; benevolent; as a kind act; a kind return of favors. Also, it is being loving; affectionate, sympathetic, friendly, gentle, tenderhearted, generous.

Amazing isn’t it? So today my goal is to be kind, to my husband, to my relatives, to my children. God is very kind to me, He blessed me with a wonderful family, beautiful girls. Today we are blessed by gray clouds, and a lot of rain.

Yesterday, was the first day of love, and on the first day I was to be patient. Its hard to be patient with children when they misbehave, or when your husband does something I disapprove. But all in all, I still need to practice it more, to remember that without love I am nothing. And being patient and kind are only the first steps of love…

So be patient, and be kind. With God all things are possible. :)

Love is patient.

A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.

John 13:34

I am going on a journey. A journey of love. What is love anyway? God has the most amazing and true love for us humans. But we mere humans want to be loved as well as we try to spread love to others. So on this journey of mine, I am exploring the passage from Corinthians about what it means to love. You are welcome to join me on this road a day for each step to learn about what love is. So, without more words, which are just air, here is the whole passage:

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Love never fails. {1 Corinthians 13:4-8}

So the first one is: LOVE is patient.... Yea, this is a hard one, don't you think? I need to be patient with my children, with my husband, when he does something that I need to be patient with...:) Can I succeed? Can I try to be patient to show ONE moment of LOVE? I can with God's help.

Why did I want to get married?

When I was young and not married, I thought that getting married was the best thing that could happen in anyone’s life. Falling in love with that special someone, having them love me, and do everything for me, and be gentle and caring toward me, would be the dream come true. That’s how I imagined a married life would be. I never knew that I would have to work at marriage, or that sometimes my husband would not want to be loving toward me, but will hold a grudge against me when I would be acting childish or spoiled. Even seeing my parents constantly bicker and complain, didn’t stop me from fantasizing that I could do better in a marriage.


I didn’t know that a marriage is two people molding into each other, each person with his own personality, his own character, and their own habits, likes and dislikes. I did not know that I cant change my husband, or that I should not try to mold him in to a more 'better' person. I did not know that God didn’t not make marriage to make me fulfilled or happy. Why not, isn’t it what a good marriage all about?

And so begun my journey in my married life, the ups and the downs, the sweet moments, and the bitter tears. The hopes and disappointments all swirled around me as the years went by. Little by little I learned that each day in a marriage is a way to better one self and love the person I am married to. Even if he is not perfect, and has his faults and problems, I learned to love him for who he is, for his gentle and caring way, his love for me, even when I acted spoiled and childish. With God's amazing grace we grew to love each other more with each passing year, and now almost 10 years married I look back at the young, star-gazed girl I was to what I learned and become, and I am thankful for all the lessons, the tears, the hardships.

For marriage is not for me to be fulfilled but for me to become a better person, and in becoming that better person, and in loving Jesus more with each lesson in my marriage, I feel fulfilled. I feel happy, I feel loved.

Untill death do us part.

Marriage is two souls united into one. Some times I feel like I am not in tune with my husband, that he doesn’t understand my hearts desires, my hopes, and dreams. Its hard to understand that those hopes and dreams of mine will never come true. In realizing that some hopes of mine are just bubbles in the air, that go up and pop in the slightest breeze, makes me feel sad and sometimes angry. My dear husband gets the brunt of it.


Every girl coming into marriage brings her hopes and dreams into the union, sometimes those dreams are valid, while sometimes they could be foolish or childish. A lot of marriages fall apart due to those childish hopes, dreams, or demands on the wife’s part. Realizing that getting your way in every situation is not realistic or wise. Having a husband who is firm but loving is a blessing indeed.

Sometimes no matter what I still don’t have my way, and in those times my only strength is leaning on Jesus. He does understand me, He is the only one who can carry me through. As I said that sometimes my wishes turn into demands, that my husband doesn’t take easily to, we get into an argument, things get tense and we ignore each other… but the redeeming quality we have is that we cant ignore each other too long. We look into each other eyes, and either smile, giggle, or laugh… then we fall into each others arms and ask forgiveness. But the road to this is a long and rocky one, through many pit falls, and many tears on my part.

I used to cry so much when my husband didn’t understand me, when I though he was unloving, or didn’t behave in a certain way that I thought he should have been behaving. Those years are far behind me now, thank God, but they thought me that every person is his unique self, and shows love in his own way. I believe that each woman will learn in her marriage and grow more wise and understanding toward her husband. So that when her wishes or desires don’t come true, she realizes that her hearts desire is actually submitting to her husband and finding joy in loving Jesus, and being loved by Him in return, with an everlasting, most powerful love than any human can give. In that I find hope, love and patience to go on, to love my husband more, and in return I feel his love increase towards me, as he becomes a more godly man.

Unexpected hair cut.

My husband called today to let me know that our 2nd daughter, Odelia has cut her hair.... Yes, I know, I wasn't very happy about it, in fact I was a bit upset, but it is a bit funny too. I never would have thought that Odelia would do something like this. I would think Ariana could cut her hair, and she did cut her bangs during the summer. Here is her picture here. Which here you cant really see, as she did it a bit to the side.

Here is Odelia before she cut her hair.

When I got home from work today, this is what I saw.

She is very good, isn't she? She wanted to make sure she matched so she cut both sides off. Very stylish, isn't? So we had to do some move cutting....;0, and here is what we could come up with. With all the short angles in her hair, its almost impossible to make it all straight and pretty.

My little flower with her short-boyish hairstyle.... But I still think she looks adorable...:)

Blog name change.

Welcome to my New Years blog! The name has changed from Kissing my family to a new title: His Flower Kingdom.... Yea I know I couldn’t think of anything else, but since I love flowers, I wanted to name it Flower Garden or Garden of Hope, but the name belongs to other blogs, so I couldn’t use that. I know that I should live my life and strive for the everlasting flower garden, which would be in heaven. Also our life should represent a beautiful, delicious smelling flower. Not a huge pile of garbage, stinky and attracting flies and worms.


I am hoping this new year to write and post pictures of flowers, of beauty, of ordinary things. To write about my girls, and post pictures of all that we do and how we enjoy Gods flower kingdom. We do live in His beautiful kingdom here on earth, some parts of it are neglected and not so beautiful as when God created it. But still even now there are so many beautiful spots on earth, if we only stop to look.

I live in a large city, so where ever I am in my city I look for nature: for flowers, for wild grass, for birds, for trees that bring such delightful shade. I enjoy fresh air and every time we can we go on a walk with my girl, I teach them to love nature too, and praise God the Creator for all the lovely things we see.

Here is a little friend that comes to visit us in our backyard.

A cute little fellow that comes to beg for nuts and bread. We also have birds visiting us as well, but they are too fast for me and my camera. In having a nice, large yard for the first year of our life’s, and being able to plant a garden last spring, I am waiting with impatience for this spring, to plant a new garden with more flowers, more vegetables, and more herb... oh I cant wait.

Here are my 3 little girls playing and hugging each other, the baby doesn’t really want all their love and attention, but she will stand it for a little while. They are my little flowers as well. Each child unique and special. In Gods kingdom I need to make sure they grow in His truth, love and learn all that I as a parent should teach them. Oh, God give me wisdom to teach them right.

I do hope this year I will have a lot of fun with my blog, and I hope you as my readers will enjoy visiting my little flower garden, filled with little girls, flowers, beautiful pictures and smiles.

Change.

A New Year is always a time for a change. I am getting bored with my blog. I cant find the time or the inspiration to post anything worth reading. So I decided to change the title of my blog.... Yes, I know that changing the title will not make the blog interesting, but I believe its worth a try... If I am bored with my blog, I can just imagine how bored others are in reading my blog...:) Hey, I don't take it personally, for me this is an exciting place to post picture of my little ones, to post my photos that I love taking, and to write a few words of inspiration or something else. I am not a great writer, and most of the time I am bad with grammar, and spelling, but knowing that this way I can learn to get better, and in this I believe. I believe that not everything written is worth reading, but sometimes its possible to find a jewel through the hay. In reading all kinds of blogs I find a lot of people are so talented, while others not so, but still have a lot of followers, who love to read everything that the person writes.

So for this New Years resolution, I would like to change my blog in little, subtle ways, and start bringing into it the things that I love. Hopefully the inspiration I have bubbling within me about the blog will really inspire me to write and post fun posts. I will hope and pray.... :) Now I just need to think of an interesting title for my blog.... :)

My little one is ONE.

My little one turned 1 today. I am amazed how fast she has grown, and how fast the year has passed. This little child of mine, does not want to crawl, but loves to walk in her stroller, or when someone holds her hands. She is still nursing quite often, but is enjoying to eat solid food as well. She has 2 teeth on her upper gum, and 2 more are coming up, and 2 teeth on the lower gum. She loves it when I carry her around and tell her about different things that she sees. Loves to go outside.




Babies are too sweet for words. Makes me want to have a lot more of them....:))

Broken down tree.

We had some storms pass through the state earlier last year. A lot of trees fell down under the heavy winds.

Its nice to have a hiding place someplace when life gets tough. Its nice to stand strong and not be broken down like this tree, from the winds of life. Even when you cant hide from the storm, its nice to be able to lean on someone. Someone who can hold you up.

My little sister was visiting me, and we took a picture by the broken down tree. Such majestic, powerful tree, but it broke down after the storm, maybe too old to stand tall, or too dry, or just not able to hold on.

Here is another tree, still standing, but one part of it is gone. The tree made it. I wish that I can be like this tree, to stand tall, under the winds and rain of time. Even if a part of me is broken, I can still stand and survive. If I stand and lean on God, then I can survive, alone I am just a shell, just a dead branch, but in Christ I live, I grow, I can hold on even if it gets hard and scary.

Winter gifts.

To see a world in a grain of sand

And heaven in a wild flower

Hold infinity in the palm of your hand

And eternity in an hour.

 

 

A new year is a new book. What will this year bring me, a lot of blessings or a lot of tears? All I know is that even through tears I can still feel Gods blessing in my life.

Today I would like to thank my Lord and Savior for:

1. Gray, overcast skies.

2. For waking up with my little one, who is almost 1 year old.

3. Gods promises found in his book.

4. For having a chest cold, which makes me stay home off work, and lets me enjoy my children more.

5. Over the weekend we went to this beautiful park we have, and we got to see the beautiful gentle-eyed deer.

 

Isnt she lovely? Beauty is all around us, if only we would look around.

Thank you Lord for your blessings that surround us, for the beautiful world you created, and for giving us eyes to see it.