I'm Thankful for Family

We had a super fun Thanksgiving at my Mom's this year. Above is a great picture we took of the first 4 Ambrose cousins! My two, Allan's little girl, and Peter's baby boy! Aren't they soo cute!

We were up late Wed. night prepping and spent all Thursday morning cooking. We had a wonderful feast! But I forgot to take a picture of it!!! But below is a picture of Abby after she ate dessert. It was so fun for all four of us kids and our growing families to be there. And after dinner we stayed up late playing games. The thing I love most about getting together with my family is how close in age we all are so when we all hang out we have a lot to talk about and really have a good time.

After dinner with took this picture of my Mom, with her four grand kids! She can hardly believe that she has four already!

Later that evening my Step-brother Ellis and his wife Mary Ellen came by with their two kids and we had 6 little ones running around! It was crazy! We love it when they come because their little boy Johnny and Benjamin are only 1 year apart and they really have fun together. Her are Grandma and Grandpa with 6 of their combined grandchildren. They have 10 all together with 1 more on the way (My step-sister is pregnant with her 5th). I can't wait until we can get everyone together for a picture! We are hoping to do it in the Spring. It will be a blast to have all those kids running around!

And here we all are! Mom and Gary took the pictures. I really am thankful for my family! Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Birthday Isaac!

Isaac is officially in his 30's!!! And I get to rub it in for 4 months!!! Then I will be there too! Yikes! Anyway, Isaac turned 30 on Nov.2nd but we celebrated just this last Saturday. I threw him a Surprise Party!! Unfortunately, some of his friends were not able to make it, but his two closest friends were there and family was there and it was really fun! And he was actually genuinely surprised. Here he is moments after walking in the door. As you can see, he is pleasantly surprised.
The house was decorated and we all had fun surprising him, especially the kids! We had Carne Asada! A favorite of ours and of course cake and ice-cream! I made his favorite, Cherry cake with Cherry frosting (which happens to be Pink!). And the best part is that I put 30 candles on his cake!! Normally I buy the number candles, but I thought it would be fun to make him feel old by putting 30 candles on. I know, I'm mean! It was all in good fun. He took it with dignity.

Here are all those Candles!

We turned the lights out to sing, and it really lit up the room!

It was a fun day, but I do want to say happy Birthday to my Wonderful husband, I probably don't tell you enough, but you truly are my night in shining armor! You are... there for me when I need you, supportive in all I do, helpful when I've had a long day, funny when I need a laugh, a shoulder when I need to cry, a friend when I need to vent, a lover, a companion, my best friend. I LOVE YOU. Happy birthday mi viejo! Just Kidding! You are still that sexy 24 year old I married! I love you!

My Abuelita

Today is Isaac's Birthday. But I am not going to talk about Isaac today. Today is also Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead, Mexican "holiday"), which is kind of Ironic because today my Abuelita (Grandma) passed away. Or better yet, I should say that her spirit has passed through the veil and she has been re-united with her brothers, sisters, and parents who have all gone before her. So today I would like to talk about my Abuelita. Above is a black and white picture of her when she was young. And next to it, a painting that was done of that picture. Wasn't she beautiful!

She was born in 1909. She was number 14 of 15 children, born in Tierra Blanca, Mexico. Her Father was from France and her mother was of Spaniard descent but from Mexico City. She had blond hair and blue eyes. Which back in the early 1900's was very rare in Mexico. She had 7 other sisters all of which were very fair and had blond hair, red hair, brown hair, blue eyes, green, eyes and brown eyes. They were known as the most beautiful girls in town. One of my favorite stories that my Abuelita told me was of when she was young, how the young men from the city would come and serenade in front of her home almost every night, because of the beautiful daughters that lived there. It was very romantic. She told me many stories of her youth when I was a little girl. She didn't marry until her early 30's so she had many adventures in her young single life. She was smart and educated. She was the head nurse at a hospital for most of her Adult single life. I loved all of her stories, even though I don't remember very many. Her and I had a very special connection. I was the only grand-daughter that spoke/understood Spanish and I looked the most like her. I like to think that I was her favorite. But I think every grandchild thinks they are their grandmother's favorite. Because my mom was her youngest child and My brothers and I were some of her youngest grandchildren, she was not a young grandma and couldn't really "play" with us, but I still have many many wonderful memories of her and she was the best grandma a little girl could have because she was so full of LOVE. This is how I remember my Grandparents best.I remember when she would come to stay with us, she would scratch my back (and tell me stories) every night until I fell asleep. I remember waking up in the morning and thinking, "wow! I don't even remember her leaving my room last night!" I also remember she made the BEST Mexican food ever! She could really cook! And when she stayed at our house we were always well fed. I also remember her slipping me $20 bills, often, and then telling me not to tell my Abuelo (Grandpa). I also remember her telling a lot of jokes. And then she would laugh so hard at her own joke that would start crying. And you may not know this but she was 11 years older than my Grandpa. And she would ALWAYS lie about her age. It wasn't until my last visit to Mexico that I found out what year she was born. My Abuelo would even lie for her! He would often tell us that they were the same age and then state his age, after which my Abulita would say in a very offended voice, "I am not that old!" It was so funny! I also remember that even though she couldn't "play" with us she would often play Chinese checkers with us. It was her FAVORITE game and she hated losing. So yes, she would cheat, and she was very sneaky about it. But mostly I remember how loving she was, and how she served everyone around her and she always gave whatever she could, she was one of the most Christ-like people I've ever known. I guess that is why it was so easy for her to accept the Gospel all those years ago when no one had even heard of the Church in southern Mexico. She and her Sister Sara were among the first members of the church in Southern Mexico. She truly is a Pioneer.

An example of the Christ-like person she was is a story that my mother shared with me a while ago. My Abuelita wasn't just a head nurse at the hospital, she was also a Nurse Midwife. And she continued to deliver babies even when she was a young mother herself. She would go deliver babies whenever she was asked. Even if the people could not pay her. And when my mother was young her and her siblings asked her why she delivered babies for people that she knew could not pay her? And she simply replied, "If I don't do it, who will?" That was the kind of women she was. And there is no doubt in my mind that when she greets the Savior on the other side of the veil he will thank her for her service to her fellow man. And "When you are in the service of others, you are in the service of God." I love her so much. She will be so missed, but I will see her again someday, that I am sure of.
This is a picture that was taken the last time I saw my Abulita. It was 6 years ago, right after I returned home from my mission. My only regret is that I was not able to see her again before she passed. I wanted so badly for her to meet my sweet husband and my two beautiful children. A year and a half ago, we had bought plane tickets and planned on going down to see them. But then the swine flu broke out and we decided we did not want to take our small children down (Ben, 2 and Abby 3 months) and put them at risk, so we got a refund and were never able to make it down. It makes me sad that now she is gone and I didn't get to see her one last time. But I know she was in pain and longed to see her sisters and parents. So I know she is happy and I am happy for her. I love you Abuelita, thank you for your example, and your love. Te Amo! Till we meet again!

The Windows of Heaven

I feel it fitting, this first day of November to talk about my Blessings and how grateful I feel to be so blessed! Last month, Isaac convinced me that we needed to increase our Fast offerings. This was really hard for me because I felt like we were already very generous in our Fast offerings. But I told my husband, back when we were first married, that when it came to spiritual things I would always support him. (I think maybe I jinks myself and that is why is in the Bishopric ;), no.. but really we are happy to serve). Anyway, so we decided to increase it significantly. We almost doubled it! It was really intense for me. I thought, how are we going to do this? But I took a leap of Faith and followed my husband. And I am soooo grateful to be married to someone who is so spiritually minded.

There is a scripture that says, "Bring ye all the tithes [and offerings] into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you our a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it." Malachi 3:10. I can testify to you all that this scripture has never been more true in my life than it is right now! About a week ago, I started counting my blessings and I was overwhelmed with how many we have. Especially, in this case, financially. Sure, we are far from where we want to be. But for now, we are great! Shortly after we doubled our fast offering, the Lord truly opened the windows of heaven and I feel like we are being drowned in blessings! It's wonderful. Just to give a few examples, we were recently given an opportunity to re-finance our home. It is going to free up quite a chunk of $$ each month. Then Isaac was told that he must work 10 hours of overtime each week until the end of the year. Sure it will be hard on him, but it really is a blessing. And then my couponing has really taken off! I am building my food storage and saving money like I never dreamed possible. Just look at what I got last week! I bought $25 dollars worth of Halloween Candy for $3 and spent $5 on 4 packs of diapers! Amazing right?!

There are many more blessings but after realizing this, it literally brought me to tears and I called Isaac at work and thanked him for making me trust him on increasing our Fast offering so that the Lord could "open the windows of heaven and pour out blessings on us!" And the greatest blessing of all is that this experience has strengthened my testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ. I want you all to know, that I KNOW that this is Christ's church on the earth today and it is guided by a living Prophet and if we are obedient to his commandments he will bless us! He wants to bless us! But we must do our part or he cannot bless us, because he is a just God. And I am so grateful for so many of these small experiences throughout my life that has built my testimony and I can say that I KNOW.