In 2010 I watched Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution TV series debut as he began to transform the school and city of Huntington, WV with their approach to food. I was appalled at what the schools were feeding kids on a daily basis. I watched eagerly as Jamie slowly gained supporters in the city and brought real, healthy food into the school district. That was just the beginning of his “Revolution” in the United States.

I love all Jamie is doing and most of all, his passion for it.

I love seeing people rally around these types of initiatives as they begin to revolutionize the way we eat and the way we look at food. I hope it’s just the beginning of change in this country. Our health, our children’s health are on the line.

While you’re at it, Sign the Global Petition today and get healthy food into all of America’s schools!

This week wasn’t as crazy as week #1, but it has had its challenges. It wasn’t always easy to find the time I planned for, but that’s somewhat expected given my current season of life. If only I could operate on about five hours of sleep life would be so much easier. grin.

The most difficult thing for me this week is that I was/am writing on something that isn’t easy to write about. It’s emotional, it’s complicated and it has a lot of details to sort out. It’s funny how you can picture something in your mind, but when you try and describe it, it gets jumbled and messy. Distinguishing fact from feelings isn’t always easy.

Because of all of that, I had to alter my course slightly. This week I focused on finishing small bits of the overall topic I was writing on. Some nights I only wrote three or four paragraphs, but those paragraphs were tough. This helped me focus on the details of each section rather than brushing over them and missing key components of the overall story. It helped so much, and while I’m still working on this section, I’m moving forward.

My goal for next week is to finish this section and move on to some of the more free flowing sections ahead.

It could be as simple as wondering what a dry cappuccino is, as complicated as the tax code, or as difficult as how to potty train a two year old.

I’ll never forget being eighteen years old and not understanding the Starbucks menu. I liked coffee, but I had no clue what the difference was between latte, cappuccino, or americano was. I was embarrassed to ask the barista what they were and ordered countless drinks I didn’t like before figuring out what I did. Eventually I figured it out, but I could have saved myself some serious time, money, and frustration if I would have just asked the first time.

Why are we afraid to ask? What are we afraid of?

Asking questions shows humility.
Asking questions shows that we are willing to learn.

Parenting was one of the biggest areas I recognized that I needed to work on this area of my life. When I was pregnant with my first daughter, Lily, I started asking everyone everything I could think of. Since then I’ve asked many questions over the years and can’t imagine where I would be if I hadn’t. I attended parenting classes, read countless books, and asked every mom I know their advice on everything from breastfeeding to potty training to character building. Through that experience I’ve received so much clarity and am now much more confident in the area of parenting. I don’t know everything yet, but I’m much more confident moving forward because of my experiences so far and learning to ask for help and advice. I’m sure I’ll have many more questions as we embrace new seasons of life.

There are so many areas of life that we can learn to ask questions in. Everything from our jobs to marriage to parenting to finance.

I’m working on asking questions in many areas. I’m not great at it yet, but thankfully I’m surrounded by people who are good at it, and I’ve learned a lot from them.

The mom who gave birth to us may not be the mom raising us.
We may not have her close or have been close.
We may not see her often or have seen her at all.
But we all came into this world through the sacrifice of a mom.

Being a mom is one of the great honors of my life.

It’s not always easy, but it’s fulfilling.
It’s not always fun, but it’s rewarding.
It’s not always convenient, but it’s life-changing.

Yesterday was fun and special for us.

Filipe made a breakfast quiche. It required some planning ahead since he leaves before the rest of us are awake on Sundays. He cooked it on Saturday night so it was ready for me Sunday morning along with cards from my girls.

We had our normal Sunday, church routine throughout the morning and afternoon. And after lunch the kids and I got to Skype with my mom.

That evening we went out for Mexican, my favorite, and they gave me a giant bag of Bath & Body Works stuff (great timing since I was running out).

The best gift of all was this morning. Filipe gave me the morning off. I went out to Starbucks and spent three hours writing while he cleaned the house and did laundry. The combination of the two is priceless for this mama.

If you’re a mom, I hope you had a great Mother’s Day.

Here are two videos I couldn’t resist posting. Enjoy.

This one made me cry especially considering I have huge affections for the Summer Olympics.

This one is from Mariners Church and is just hilarious.

I’ve said this many times before, but the idea of church planting team wasn’t always exciting for me. It was one of the those things I asked God to never make me do- along with never having to raise our own salary to live on. Well, God clearly has a sense of humor considering that He put us right in the middle of both of those things at the same time. The day Andy invited us to join him and Stacie in starting South Bay, I knew it was the Holy Spirit speaking through him.

When we gave Andy a “yes, we are with you” answer in September of 07, we jumped in with both feet. Early on, it was clear, we were in the middle of something bigger than ourselves.

When we moved to California on Sept. 1st, 2008 we had no idea where South Bay Church would meet. Within those first few weeks we began looking at a nearby elementary school to hold our monthly preview services. We were told a public school wouldn’t likely allow a church to meet in it, but we knew that God was bigger than a public school.

If He wanted us there, He would open the doors, and He did.
For more than three years, with the exception of Christmas Eve, every service was held in that very school.

Last Sunday we transitioned from being portable to permanent.

Our team had anticipated this day for a long time. It’s not easy being portable. The set-up team started every Sunday at 6:45am transforming a school gym into a worship experience for adults and a library, classrooms, and hallways into our Baykids area. When it was all over it all went back into a U-haul and two trailers until the next week. It was worth it, it was part of the process, but getting a more permanent facility was exciting for everyone involved.

The road to permanent wasn’t easy. Every step of the way required a miracle from God.

Raising funds was a miracle.
Finding a building was a miracle.
Getting permits to get inside the building was a miracle.
Renovating the building was a miracle.
Getting the fire inspection was a miracle.

I guess God wanted us to remember that we couldn’t have gotten there without Him.
I think we all got that message loud and clear.

Sunday was incredible.

Many of our staff and volunteers were up until well after midnight every day last week getting everything ready and working.
Pastor Archie and about nine others in the production crew were among them. Many of our volunteers worked their regular jobs during the day and came to work in our building all night.

The Baykids team also did a phenomenal job. Considering the flooring in these pictures wasn’t installed 24 hours before the first service began gives you a little clue into the craziness that preceded opening day.

Pulling it off took incredible sacrifice and significant work, but God even used the process to transform hearts and lives.

Several weeks ago we held a work day at the building. Filipe met a guy there who came with his fiance to help out. Her life had been radically changed just a month prior when she began attending; he had yet to come to a service. He told Filipe he was 100% committed to South Bay because of the change he saw in her. (Filipe wanted to hear him say that again after he had at least come once.) Last week he was helping Filipe again in the building and Filipe asked how he was liking it. Turned out he surrendered his life to Jesus, signed up for baptism, and was serving his heart out. Wow.

Pastor Andy preached a great message on the favor of God. It resonated with all who had been a part of South Bay in the past and inspired those who were just finding us giving vision for the future.

Between services Stacie had the opportunity to pray with a woman to receive Christ. We realized later that she was the mom of the guy that Filipe talked to. That’s what it’s all about.

My small contribution was developing the resource center. Filipe oversees all of our first impressions areas and that’s one of them. About two weeks before move-in day I saw how swamped he was and realized he didn’t have much time to spend on resources. It took me about two seconds to realize I needed to help him with it. Considering books are one of my passions, it was an easy yes. I had a lot of fun working on it and am looking forward to being more involved in the team.

I spent all day Saturday organizing this area (while my mother-in-law took care of my kids) and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Yes, I’m an organizing nerd, and I’m okay with that.

While I was organizing books, I listened to Archie and the band do a run through of the service. I was holding back tears just listening to video and the music. Everything going on in that building that day (& week & month) was an act of worship to God. People were scrubbing bathrooms, painting walls, hanging banners, and each part came together and allowed people to experience God for the very first time.

That’s why it matters.
That’s why we’re here.

You can check out more pictures here.

In making this goal I knew that the first weekend would be slam packed. After Sunday things would slow down considerably. Our life groups at South Bay are on a break this month, it’s the last month of school (meaning my kids go to bed at 7pm), and aside from Lily’s birthday and getting into South Bay’s new facility, life will get relatively quiet around here.

In the last week and a half I’ve gotten in five writing sessions and written four chapters. Pretty good for all the craziness that’s been going on around here.

Being the over-achiever I tend to be, last Thursday night I did expect to be able to go shopping for Lily’s party, frost the cake, and fit in a 2-hour writing session all in a span of about 4 hours. Haha. When I finished decorating the cake around 11pm I knew writing would have to be put on hold.

The biggest thing I’ve learned in making this goal is that by having a start and stop time I am able to focus better. Instead of waiting for inspiration to suddenly hit me, I just sit down and write. Even though I was consumed with so much other stuff, because I had allotted myself the time to write and knew what I was writing about, I was able to open up my computer and start writing when the time came. Amazingly enough, as soon as I did, the words came and came.

The best thing about this goal, I have four chapter more than I had two months ago or ten days ago.

Excited to keep going.

Of course the timing could have been a little better considering there was a lot going on last week at South Bay, but you do what you can with what you got. I’ve always said my kids come before ministry and this one felt like it put that belief to the test. I don’t regret any of it.

I started planning everything a couple weeks ago and that helped. It didn’t take away any of the work, but having a plan sure did help. The p

Here’s how it went:

We invited the girls from her class at school and a couple from Baykids over to our house for a “Girls Night”. Trying to figure out what to do with her whole class was overwhelming & not easy on the budget, but thinking of doing something for just the girls was do-able for me.

The theme was My Little Pony meets dress-up party

Lily & the Dress-Up Table
(complete w/ necklaces, bracelets, tiaras, nail polish, and makeup)

I also invited Stacie, Cristine (my sister-in-law), and Juliane (my mother-in-law) over to help with the festivities. They saved me from having to be in three different places at once all while being a good host.

As the girls arrived, they pretended to be a little shy. But that didn’t last long.

The food had a rainbow theme to go with Lily’s favorite pony, Rainbow Dash.

The colors of the rainbow made the fruit & veggies trays easy
(never did find any blue veggies though).

I also made a chex mix, marshmallow pops, and cookies.

The star of the show was when Lily’s teacher made an appearance.The girls jumped up from their seats when she walked in and ran to give her a hug.

Our local pizza place sells “make-your-own” pizza kits,

and the girls made their own pizzas for dinner.

After they ate their pizza they…

had their nails painted,

danced to the movie, Tangled,

and I put a little makeup on them.

Next we cut the cake…

Here’s the outside…

and the rainbow inside.

The girls had a blast!

We finished by opening gifts.
The picture doesn’t quite capture the screams as she opened them.

They were all pretty cute.

After all the girls left Filipe, Lily, Cailyn, and I piled onto our bed and Lily opened our gift to her.

Roller Skates!!

She’s been asking for these for months now. I’m not sure where the idea came from, but she’s been putting sticky notes all over the house describing exactly what she wants. I found some pretty close to what she asked for. I had to order them though- can’t find these in stores.

Her first fall trying to take a picture.

The day was a success. It was so fun to celebrate her.

]]> http://mandysantos.com/2012/05/08/lilys-birthday-highlights/feed/ 3 http://mandysantos.com/2012/05/07/resting/ http://mandysantos.com/2012/05/07/resting/#comments Mon, 07 May 2012 17:26:51 +0000 Mandy http://mandysantos.com/?p=4233 Over the last seven days, I’ve been in high gear in three different areas of my life all at the same time. Through it all I actually felt like superwoman- not because I really am, but because truly and honestly the Holy Spirit empowered me in a supernatural way. There’s no doubt in my mind it was God who gave me the energy and ability, I couldn’t have done it on my own and still be excited about each one.

It’s been so surreal it’s hard to put into words right now.

The 3 areas:
1. Planned a birthday party for Lily.
2. Started a writing marathon.
3. Developed the resource area for South Bay Church as we moved from being portable to permanent yesterday.

On top of that I still:
Cleaned my house top to bottom
Did all the laundry
Went grocery shopping
Cooked meals for our family
And cared for my kids (though I did have a ton of help!).

See, miraculous I tell ya.

I’ll share more about each of these as the week goes on, we’re enjoying a day of rest today.

On May 4th, 2006 you stepped into our lives.
I couldn’t have imagined life six years later.

You’ve taught me more about myself than anyone.
Mostly because you are a lot like me.
The good and the not-so-good.

You strive for excellence in every way.
And you are driven to do better each time.

You’ve grown so much this year.
I can hardly keep up.

You read books to me now.
And you love going to school.

The little notes you leave to us around the house make me smile.

You’re a good friend and your friends look up to you.
I love that you care for them deeply.

Most of all, I love how you love Jesus.
How you worship Him in your own way.

I’m so proud of the girl you’re becoming.
I pray that this year will be even better!

Happy Birthday

I love you so much,
Mama