Make my wish come true ...!

No, it's not too early. And this is only the beginning of ...

... the MOST wonderful time of the year!

Today is Day 1 of the 101 Days to Christmas countdown! 

But I'm not just going to post elf memes & go crazy buying stuff. What I love about this countdown is that, when all is said & done, you can look back and feel like you truly celebrated the real meaning of Christmas. 

If you're like me, you know the feeling of rushing to buy last minute gifts & getting annoyed at crowded stores because you have been too busy with family visits & church events & school gatherings & shopping & gift wrapping & you never got to sit down with a peppermint hot chocolate & enjoy anything & the whole thing was just a blur? 

I discovered the awesome website (www.101daystoChristmas.com) a couple of years ago. As much as I love the holidays, some times I would wait to decorate because I was too busy. Or I'd hold back from doing things I love like ice skating at the park, buying new decorations or splurging on certain gifts because I hadn't really budgeted for it.

The countdown helps each day, starting today (yay!) with helpful tips & ideas to plan ahead, think through traditions and make sure you plan, schedule and budget what's important to you. 

When was the last time you made time to think about this ahead of time?

"All I want for Christmas is ... "

Think about it. Sign up for daily reminders on the countdown website. Dream & anticipate that this could be a truly special Christmas. 

🎶 Make my wish come true ... all I want for Christmas is you! 🎶

http://youtu.be/sWEfszb9h8Q

~Coppelia

Smiling, Whining & Parenting

These are the faces of my kids on the way to church ...

I love their smiles! They're excited!! We're all singing in the car, listening to worship music on "Enter His Gates" on KSBJ, the radio station where I work. I love this!! 

But when we got to church, the whining started. "I don't WANNA go to "Chispa", the Spanish Sunday School class," said Christopher, my 8 year old. Little sister was ok, but then gradually started siding with big brother. 

They were starting to get on my nerves and I didn't want to lose my temper in church. But I was about to.

So, I sat the kids down and had A TALK.

I told them, especially Christopher, that when I was his age, about 8 years old, I hated church. 

I hated church. There. I wrote it. 

We did not have "fun." We had to sit in church with the grown-ups. We listened to grown-up serious sermons. 

I tried to explain to Christopher that the reason why I didn't appreciate his attitude was because we had just been having a blast in the car. We just had a yummy chocolate croissant & chocolate milk Sunday breakfast treat. He was going to have fun with friends.

I encouraged him to think about that. Pretty please. And then we marched off (begrudgingly) to "Chispa."

I knew that I just had to survive that difficult parenting moment and then everything would be okay.

Once the kids got signed in & walked into their classes, they were greeted by all their friends and the fun continued.

And I didn't really lose my temper.

It's a work in progress. I'm not a perfect parent by any stretch of the imagination. But little moments like these make me thankful.

I'm thankful that I get to be a Mom. I'm thankful that we have a church that makes the experience SUPER fun for the kids. And I'm thankful for awesome kids that, whining aside, make my life awesome. And fun.

Dancing with the Scars

What I saw on TV last night was one of the most amazing things I have ever seen.

In general, we avoid dealing with any imperfection, delay or disability. It's uncomfortable. We ignore, look away, or smile out of pity.

But every now & then, a person with disabilities shows up and changes everything. Gold medal snowboarder Amy Purdy, and her professional dance partner Derek Hough did that last night on ABC's Dancing with the Stars.

I'd seen the show before, but hadn't watched it in a long time. Since I wasn't feeling well, I was zonked out on the couch & just left the TV on, half paying attention.

I am so glad I did!

I have experienced this a few times in my life. People with disabilities have impacted my life in many ways. But Amy and Derek took it to a new level.

I have seen my Dad, Emilio, gradually lose his sight. He lost the ability to drive a car when I was younger. He struggled with maintaining jobs and battled disappointment and loss. But he danced with me at my prom (its a puertorrican thing...families go to the prom!) He gave me away at my wedding. He relocated from Puerto Rico to Dallas, TX in his 60s and is actively pursuing job opportunities. He's involved in church. And he continues to hone his conservatory classical music training on his grand piano. Plus, I've seen my Mom stay by his side through it all. Amazing.

In 4th grade, I met my friend Cristina. She had a glass eye and could barely see with ger "good eye". But Crissy's parents saw her & treated her as a normal girl. She rode her bike. We went to the movies & always sat in the front! We had a BLAST on church retreats to the beach in Vieques, went bowling, you get the idea. She's now a married teacher with two boys in Austin, TX.

From a young age, I saw disability as something that didn't have to hold you back from doing whatever you wanted.

A few years ago, my husband and I relocated from Puerto Rico to California. While working at a radio event at a mall in Temecula, I had the amazing, life altering experience of watching Nick Vujicic live. 

He was born without limbs. Talk about having special needs and challenges. He shared about his unbelievably difficult life. How do you do anything if you don't have arms and legs?

Just ask Nick! He travels the world. He uses a special weelchair, and then gets out of it and goes on stage in front of millions of people to inspire them. He is an impossibility. But God says nothing is impossible for Him! Nick shares how, if God has helped him, no matter what we may go through, God can help us, too.

This all brings me to what I saw on TV last night.

I had not heard of Amy Purdy until last night. She had bacterial meningitis as a teen. She lost both of her legs and ended up with a kidney transplant. Her dad was the donor.

Then, she won three World Cup gold medals in adaptive snowboarding. Amazing!! 

So, she can snowboard, but could she dance? 

For this week's choreography, she got special prosthetic legs that keep the feet pointed, so she could dance.

And she danced ... and her partner Derek, sweetly, gently, led her in the most beautiful, awe-inspiring, tear-jerking dance I have ever seen.

The song was "Human" by Christina Perri. And Derek and Amy showed us that you can transcend the limits we sometimes put on what a "human" can do.

A Fall Surprise in Spring!

You should've seen his face! 

Well, ok, this is his face, but I wish you could've seen my eight-year-old son Christopher's initial reaction!! 

We stopped at Starbucks for a little Saturday afternoon treat, and he saw something he didn't expect to see for another, oh, 5 or 6 months!!

Today is March 30th. We're a week into spring. The temperature has to rise another 20 to 30 degrees and hit 100 in the summer before it starts to cool down again in the fall and we can all enjoy pumpkin spice treats. 

Except that today, my son, who loves pumpkin scones, looked at the food options today at Starbucks and saw one!!

When I ordered it, the barista looked at me like, "Ma'am? You realize it's Spring. We don't have (glances at the food section) OH! Ok, I guess we do have pumpkin scones! What would you like with that?"

 Lol! I had to laugh!!

Sometimes we get unexpected treats at the "wrong time". Or in the wrong season. We can be adamant about things being "impossible", so we don't even dare to ask.

What if we could get a treat that we are not supposed to get because it's not the right time yet? 

God says in the Bible, ask and you shall receive. Seek and you will find. Knock and the door will be opened.

Why not knock? You might just get a pumpkin scone in the spring!

~Coppe

Everybody "can" except you

Oh, my poor allergic daughter.

I'm thankful that, of all the things she could "suffer", my four-year-old daughter is simply dealing with a dairy-allergy.

On most days, we barely notice it. There are so many dairy-free alternatives & vegan-friendly food that we have found it downright easy to "cope". 

Then there are days like today. :(

We enjoy going to church on certain Saturday nights. My hubby Adam & I both serve on Sunday mornings, so it's nice, whenever we can, to sit and enjoy a church service without worrying about production cues and set list order and rembering all the announcements I have to share on stage.

But tonight there was a sign on the preschool kids' room: Allergy Alert! The snack today is ice cream, whipped cream, fudge and sprinkles. :(

That meant everybody would have some, except my daughter.

Granted, there might have been other kids with health issues that I didn't know of who also would not be able to eat the snack.

But I didn't know. And I felt bad for her.

Before leaving, I told her that she couldn't have the ice cream, but we could get a sweet treat later. :) 

She happily darted off to play. And when I picked her up, she announced that she had made a new friend! Yay!

What a relief.

She wasn't crying, feeling left out or limited. 

She had fun!

And I felt relief. 

Even though there was a part during the church service when I couldn't help but think that she might be feeling left out during snack time, my worry and fear were mostly unnecessary.

Sometimes it feels as though everybody "can" but you. It feels like a big deal. A HUGE hurdle. A night-ruiner. 

But I'm glad (and relieved) that tonight wasn't ruined. We didn't have to jump a huge hurdle. It wasn't a big deal. 

Everybody could, my daughter didn't, and it was ok.

(She had a birthday cake pop & enjoyed it, too!)

~Coppe 

Worse stuff, TMI and a rescue

(Note: I wrote this last night.)

I know there are people facing WAY worse stuff than me tonight, but I'm a bit scared.

(spoiler: tmi) I had a horrible migraine on Sunday, like I hadn't had in years. Seriously, it had been maybe 10 years since I even had to buy Excedrin Migraine! Today, my stomach is a mess, I'm laying in bed with a heating pad, and i'm fighting a cold sore with Lysine & mometasone.

I'm also fighting the urge to be upset and feel sorry for myself. I really want to give in to that urge and be upset that, if I wake up unwell, I can't go to work & I can't go to the TV show taping that was scheduled in advance.

I'm scared that these symptoms were sort of bad last month, and it seems they're worse this month. :( 

Honestly, that terrifies me.

At the same time, I realize I'm battling FEAR, and I remember that it's something the Bible talks about a lot.

Do not fear. Do not be afraid. 

"The righteous person faces many troubles, but the lord comes to the rescue each time." (Psalms 34:19 NLT)

If I believe God's word is true (I do), and I know God is coming to my rescue, even as I'm facing the scary possibility that intense pain may return, and even as I pray that it doesn't, I can reassure myself that He really is coming to my rescue.

"The righteous person faces many troubles, but the lord comes to the rescue each time." (Psalms 34:19 NLT)

God has THAT kind of power!

I read a chapter in the Bible on Monday morning. Just a few minutes later, as I was getting ready for work, I tried to remember what I had read. But it was just a bunch of blurryWordsInTheBiblethatIReadreallyfastjusttocheckitoffMylist.

But I though about it some more. And then I thought, well, the power of God to raise Jesus from the dead is pretty amazing, so I'll think about that.

And then God spoke. Or the light bulb went on. Or whatever you want to call it. The thought was like God was saying, "have you ever considered what I raised him from?"

It wasn't just a normal person who died. It wasn't that God just took a regular guy who died and made him alive again.

Jesus was human, so in that sense he was a regular guy. He was a son to his mother and father. He had a trade: carpentry. He learned what little jewish boys learned. He probably had a bar mitzvah!

But he was also God, holy and perfect. Prophecies announced that Jesus was coming. He was born of a virgin, but He was also "in the beginning", God, before the creation of the world.

Jesus lived a perfect life. He forgave & healed & loved people like no one before & no one after.

From that state of no-sin & perfection, being human, but also being God, He took on ALL our sins. 

Imagine the worst of the worst. The most horrible sins you can think of. The Holocaust. Child sex-slave traffickers & abusers. All the murders in all the evening news in all of history.

I can't even begin to wrap my brain around the depth of the darkness, wickedness and pain that Jesus took upon himself...

But ...

God raised Jesus, after he took upon himself all that sin, evil & darkness. God's amazing power raised Jesus to a perfectly Holy and transformed physical body.

If God has THAT kind of power, they're not kidding when they say that there is absolutely nothing God can't do.

I'll be thinking about THAT today.

"[For I always pray to] the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, that He may grant you a spirit of wisdom and revelation [of insight into mysteries and secrets] in the [deep and intimate] knowledge of Him, By having the eyes of your heart flooded with light, so that you can know and understand the hope to which He has called you, and how rich is His glorious inheritance in the saints (His set-apart ones), And [so that you can know and understand] what is the immeasurable and unlimited and surpassing greatness of His power in and for us who believe, as demonstrated in the working of His mighty strength, Which He exerted in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His [own] right hand in the heavenly [places], Far above all rule and authority and power and dominion and every name that is named [above every title that can be conferred], not only in this age and in this world, but also in the age and the world which are to come. (Ephesians 1:17-21 AMP)