December 09'

November 09'

When I say......

When I say... 'I am a Christian' I'm not shouting 'I'm clean livin''
I'm whispering 'I was lost, Now I'm found and forgiven.'
When I say... 'I am a Christian' I don't speak of this with pride.
I'm confessing that I stumble and need Christ to be my guide.

When I say... 'I am a Christian' I'm not trying to be strong.
I'm professing that I'm weak and need His strength to carry on.
When I say.. 'I am a Christian' I'm not bragging of success.
I'm admitting I have failed and need God to clean my mess.

When I say... 'I am a Christian' I'm not claiming to be perfect,
My flaws are far too visible, but God believes I am worth it.
When I say... 'I am a Christian' I still feel the sting of pain..
I have my share of heartaches, so I call upon His name.

When I say... 'I am a Christian' I'm not holier than thou,
I'm just a simple sinner who received God's good grace, somehow!'

Pretty is as Pretty does... but beautiful is just plain beautiful!

'A woman's heart should be so hidden in Christ
that a man should have to seek Him first to find her.'

by Maya Angelou

Sometimes I have to remember what I am saying when I say, "I am a Christian"!

Happy Fall :)

"Fall"

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Happy 30-11 to me!!!

I felt so special and loved!!! I'll let the pictures do the talking :)

Happy Bday Ronnie Ray :)

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We ditched.

ok, I will admit it - we ditched the 5k on Sunday - up way too late on Friday and Saturday night! But the weekend was good.

I was right about it being a great thing for the newly widowed (sounds like something people choose). Lot's of important information, but being that I'm going on 3 years - a lot of these questions have already been answered for me. Although, it was pretty amazing sitting in a room with women from all over the country and 4 other countries! All pretty much between 30 - 50 = young. Gesh - Do you think there was a need for this??? All sharing a common bond - that it sucks being a young widow (I'm sure old widow's don't like it either).

But the greatest thing I got out of this was the (excuse the gross term) diarrhea of the mouth with Stacy. We both came to some important self realizations through - wine.talking.laughter.tears.wine.dancing.eating. We both realized that it is so easy to just go on with our lives and forget where we have been and what we have been through but it's these things that have made us who we are now. And it made me soooooo grateful for my life today - I've been so blessed. Weird to say - yet good to be at a place in my life where I can say it.

We also met a new friend who came by herself - brave - and was just like us - love Nancy!!! We invited her into our elite widows club :)

And even though we ditched the 5k on Sunday (5:30 came WAY to early) we had such a great walk around the bay (probably did more mileage then if we would have done the race) and we slept in until 9:00! I feel refreshed and renewed - a pleasant surprise.

Widow Weekend...

wid·ow /wid-oh/ –noun 1. a woman who has lost her husband by death and has not remarried. See also: Old, wears black, sad, pathetic, dried up.

Not: Young, with children still at home ~ except when you're me

So I'm going with my good friend Stacy to the first annual "Widow's Conference" in San Diego. My Dad asked if I was going to take a knitting seminar! What???

There are women from all over the country coming together to find a bond - a similarity. Some of the seminars actually look very interesting - Finding a new Purpose - Little Tears (how to help your child grieve) - Widow Humor - financial help - Widow's Still Wear Stilettos - and so on.... and looking forward to meeting Matt Logelin (he will be speaking). We are also letting the other member of our little widow's club (Chris Mcrea) meet us for dinner Friday night - he's a boy so he can't come to the convention!

Do I need this? Maybe ~ Maybe not..... But I do for sure need a weekend away with Stacy! She lost her husband right after I lost John. We have shared an instant bond since the first "date" we had! There is something so unique about being able to understand where someone has been - and that's why I think I also need to go this weekend!

When I first became a widow I had so many people tell me about women they knew who had lost husbands - the problem was that they were all over 60! Not a bad thing - but definitely different places in our lives - not a whole lot in common! I think this will be a great resource for young widows. And I might learn a thing or two - I'll let you know.

If it's lame - Stac and I are ditching and going shopping - that's how we roll :)

M.I.A.

So I've been taking a little break from the blogging world - this is the busy season for me! I've missed you! Here is a little glimpse into what I've been up to :)

A couple of beach trips

(I've been spending some time with the boyscouts too - I'll save that for another post!)

Laguna Hills 5K

Ronn's brother and his family were staying at the Disneyland Hotel for 5 days and since we have passes we were up there ALOT. Ronn even won me this cute HUGE purple monkey that I got to carry around with me all day - so sweet :] (by the way we named him Dennis - can you guess why?)

We've had a couple of tournaments for soccer and it's been really fun - Her team has been in the top 3 every time!

So I will try to do some more updating - life should get slower now that school and soccer are almost over!!

I've missed ya'll :}

He has risen! And it's a new day!

~A day in the life of a Rojas-Lakin Easter~

Our Easter bunny is kind of a dork - he brings toys and nerf guns!


Off to Church

(poor Tyler)

so cute :)

and they really do love each other!?

My Easter Hunny

once again - poor Tyler

playing with the cousins - that's what it's all about

nice fauxhawk Drew - gotta love my Son

So it was really all about the Isaiah.......

Hanging with the big boys

The whole litter

waiting for the egg hunt - that's the hardest part
no peeking!

yep - he made Easter cute!

All this - and Christ died and rose for me!

What blessings ~ my basket is full!