It's a Vivas Thing!

What is Family Anyway?

2011-11-20T02:17:15Z

Today has been an interesting day. Twenty years ago my hubby asked me to marry him. This morning I dragged my family outside in the cold at the crack of dawn to take family pictures. We haven’t done family pictures in seven years. They’ve been threatened, coerced, and then threatened some more; no matter what, they would not mess up my family pictures in any way, shape or form!

And it was fun; cold, but fun!

This afternoon, hubby and I took some of the youth from our church, as well as our own kids, and went on a mission. Earlier this fall, the girls Bible study had come up with the idea of collecting blankets and then taking them this weekend to pass them out to the homeless, along with the Lovewell bags. (You can read more about that here.) We piled the kids, blankets and bags into our van and went off in search of someone to give them to.

As we drove downtown into the heart of the homeless, we were saddened to realize we did not have near enough blankets; or bags for that matter. We had to choose where to pass them out because we realized there were certain areas where there were so many homeless, we’d never be able to provide enough for them.

And yet, we prayed and asked God to direct us where to go. At one point we stopped and the boys got out to pass out the blankets and bags. The people were so grateful; it is so cold out tonight. One of the men took a blanket and said,

“I don’t need this, but thank you, I’m giving it to someone who does.”

They were sleeping in boxes, make-shift tents, and on the dirt ground in a lot next to the road.

Over and over we pulled to the side of the road, passed out blankets until we ran out, and then continued to pass out the bags. They’d see our van pull over and come running when they realized we were handing out something special for them. Having no home, they still smiled and said “Thank you” or “God Bless You” as we presented them with a small token: socks, snacks, water, and hygiene items.

And they’d tell their “family” to come over and get a bag; or they’d ask for an extra to hand to their friend.

They took care of one another. Family.

As I sit here thinking over the day, I am grateful for the home that I have. For my family and friends.

For God giving me a daughter who has such a heart for those who have so little.

We’re already talking about continuing. Next time we’ll bring more blankets. Next time we’ll add sandwiches to the bags that we pass out.

This week we celebrate Thanksgiving. I miss my family who is so far away and I don’t talk to nearly enough. I hope they know how much I love them and miss them.

And I thank Him, for reminding me of all that I have. Twenty years ago I never dreamed of a day like this. A good day. And a wonderful twenty years of blessings.

Rainbows

2011-10-27T01:47:58Z

This week my schedule is a little off. Not in a bad way at all. It’s actually been kind of nice.

This morning, I had the privilege of driving my two youngest to school. Usually, a friend takes them. This morning, I took her daughter instead.

I was on my way to pick her up after dropping off Bboo and started driving my normal routine. This forced me to be a little later while I backtracked to get her. And then headed to pick up my kids, as well. By the time we were situated and on our way, the sky was doing some unusual things in the desert. It was a beautiful pink, with clouds and rain. The Smart One noticed it at the same time as I did and pointed it out right away! Right in the middle was the most brilliantly colored rainbow I’ve ever seen. It was incredible! We both just kind of stared in awe as we kept driving towards it, remarking about the beauty that God has created.

As we got closer, it started to sprinkle, then rain. I love the rain.

We went inside to carry on with our day. As I spent the rest of the day working, it was so nice to have the Drama Queen stop each time she passed me to say hello. Or bring her friends over to meet me. It is a special moment when your child wants her friends to know who their parents are!

The Drama Queen’s name means, “Beautiful Rainbow”…what a blessing this morning to have such rainbows in my life!

Hope Lives

2011-10-16T14:19:26Z

It’s funny how sometimes it only takes a child to remind you of the greater things in life.

Lately things haven’t been going great; we’ve been reminded time and again how God is in control…and we’re not. We feel like life is in a sort of limbo while we wait for Him to move that mountain.

And then we have a conversation with a child.

I was visiting with some first graders when one of them came up to me. He noticed my ID and asked,

“Is your name really Hope?”

I responded, “Yes, my name really is Hope.”

He thought for a moment, then in all seriousness replied, “That’s a great name. It means that there is always hope. You’ll always have Hope. Hope is good.”

I smiled and told him that my family and friends will often remark that there is always hope when I am around.

He smiled, but remained very serious.

And then he said something else. I paused, taken by surprise, and asked,

“What did you say?”

He said, “Hope Lives. Your name means Hope Lives.”

Startled, I asked this bright SIX year old, “Do you speak spanish?”

He replied that he spoke a little bit; that he’d read my ID and saw that my last name was Vivas, which means to Live.

“You have a good name. Hope is good. Hope Lives.”

I let him know I was so glad to have met him and let him know I have a nephew with his name. He liked that.

As I left the room, I couldn’t help but smile. It was a really tough week. An even tougher day. But I reminded myself that Hope lives within me. As I’ve pondered this weekend, I’ve looked for the Hope that lives within me. He’s there, sometimes we just forget to look.

Until a child is sent to remind us.

Jeremiah 17:7
“ Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, And whose hope is the LORD.

Romans 5:3-5

³More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, ⁴and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, ⁵and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

And my favorite…

Romans 12:12

¹² rejoice in hope; be patient in tribulation; continue stedfastly in prayer;

Obstacles

2011-09-17T14:43:25Z

My daughter mentioned obstacles this week and it’s been playing on my mind ever since. When something plays on my mind for too long, I tend to just want to write it out.

Obstacle:

One that opposes, stands in the way of, or holds up progress.

Any obstruction designed or employed to disrupt, fix, turn, or block the movement of an opposing force

Interesting definition, yes?

I believe there are two kinds of obstacles; good or bad. What’s hard is trying to figure out which is which!

Some obstacles are there to make us work harder; like a hurdle in a race. It’s meant to be jumped over and it takes training to be able to do it! The harder we work, the stronger we get…and in the end, we can rejoice in the fact that because we worked hard and didn’t let anything stand in our way, we accomplished something great!

But then, there are the hurdles that are meant to *stand in the way* or *turn*…us away from danger. Those are the ones i think so often we want to ignore. We are a stubborn people.

With this type of obstacle, I think of a road block. Here’s a good example:

Two years ago I was having some health issues. They were pretty serious and I was done dealing with them. I’d finally given up and decided to have the issues taken care of. I had to go through some pretty …er…invasive testing before they’d perform the surgery. Everything was set up and ready to go.

The week before my surgery, I had a bad result on a completely different health issue, so my surgery was cancelled. To be honest, I am not sure at that point, what I was more upset about; the bad result or the fact that my surgery was canceled. It took another week for me to finish further testing in regards to the second issue; and I was cleared for surgery. BUT, by that time, my insurance had been switched and I was no longer allowed to have my surgeon perform my surgery.

See, now THAT is an obstacle!

Not one to let anything stand in the way of what I knew I needed, I went to battle. I fought and fought the system, got outside approval, and had the surgeon I wanted perform my surgery.

And it nearly killed me.

After the fight of my life, I spent the next SEVERAL months undergoing the most painful, humiliating procedures ever known to man. (or at least, me.) I will never be the same again. There are certain things I’ve just learned to accept. But I praise God that I have my life and I appreciate it more. He took this difficult time in my life and showed me just what HE could do when I let Him be in control instead of me.

But I also learned something else. When God puts an OBVIOUS or not so obvious obstacle in my way, next time I’m going to ask His advice before I just push my way through. (Later the same surgeon had his license taken away for some stuff…only to get it back, but it showed me that I shouldn’t work so hard to hurdle every obstacle that comes my way!)

We currently have some new obstacles going on…I’m sure we will always have them, it’s how we grow; but I’ve also learned to stand back, be patient, and say, “Ok, God, what do you want me to do with this one?” before I run full speed ahead to push my way through them, around them, or over them!

Just another Saturday

2011-08-27T22:46:37Z

It’s one of those Saturdays where my brain just needs to take a step back and relax from all of the hoopla of the previous weeks. This summer has been pretty crazy; mostly spent working, but well worth the task at hand! I had originally thought this last Saturday before school started would be one of ….oh, I guess I don’t know.

The plan was to pick up Chicken Noodle Butt and the Princess and take them to see the Smurfs. Then, we found out the Good Looking One had to have his wisdom teeth pulled, so it changed to bringing them over to hang quietly while he sleeps his day away.

Instead, first thing this morning we got the call for him to go in early for his surgery. Hubby and the Talented One drove him while I took the Smart One to Karate and picked up the other two. On the way home, we stopped to stock pile with popcycles, jello, pudding, yogurt, juice and school supplies. (Hey, I get what I can when I can!)

The Good Looking One was nicely settled in my bed by the time I got home. I took a look at our pathetic looking dog who desperately needed to be groomed at a not so cheap price, so decided to do it myself. (He’s still pathetic looking, but at least he’s not as hot.) The Princess spent the next two hours helping me while the others watched a movie…until Bboo spoke up with,

“A snake is loose, isn’t it?”

That’s when I noticed the Drama Queen and the Smart One walking around quietly with a flash light.

They both glanced my way; knew I wasn’t going to fall for anything less then the truth and Bboo had already figured it out by the quiet way they were searching.

Indeed, a snake was loose. After a thorough search, the Smart One went to take a nap and the rest of us just carried on; knowing eventually the snake would show up.

Just a bit ago, the Talented One came calmly walking out of his room holding up a snake.

Apparently he was taking a nap when he felt something crawling over his arm.

Since he’s the one who first talked me into allowing a snake in this house, there wasn’t much he could do but catch it, let us know it’d woken him up, and then put it back into its cage.

Yup, we’re having just another typical Saturday in the Vivas household!