Featured Blogger- Christa Colomb's Experience as a Working Mom

My experience with being a working mom comes with both regret and reward. I say regret because there has been many times when I had to make the tough decision of going to work and leaving a sick child with a caretaker, or missing out on a football game or school performance. Being the active parent that I am, missing out on anything important to them, was a painful situation for me. I am a firm believer that a parent’s presence serves a far greater purpose than any presents (gifts/things) that money can buy. Unfortunately my household could not survive without my income so going to work was not an option, it was a necessity. Now that my children are older, I am starting to see the fruit of my labor (reward). There is no way to reap and sow in the same season. During my sowing season, it was difficult to walk away from my crying/disappointed child because once again, work had to come first. Now, when I consider all things in retrospect, my strong work ethic back then was a seed sown into my children that I am able to reap the benefits from. Seeing me go to work and make sacrifices for my family then, has now spilled over into their young adult lives. I notice (and am Godly proud) that they all take great pride in a strong work ethic and knowing that my sacrifices in their early years, is now a reward for their character and has built in them a strong work ethic, makes me grateful to God for having the strength and wisdom to follow through with those tough decisions.

Featured Blogger: Experiences in Motherhood by Courtney Kiner

Courtney is a wife and mother of 6 and is a dear friend and model of mine!

Living in a house with 7 different personalities is sometimes like being a telephone operator from back in the day. You have to pick up the server, hear where they want to go, then connect the line until the call is completed, then disconnect. Then connect again, remember who’s connected to what line and at all times remember someone else is waiting to be connected to a line. So, in the honor that is to be responsible for the receiver getting the right information or connection. I know that the LORD knows better than I my purpose.  

Mothers are the life givers so children trust you (don't doubt it) they listen they soak up every word you say so, be what they need when they need it, God will strengthen you.  The day will stop, the night will come, and rest will set over your home and you will be renewed. In this the LORD will reveal our gifts, our dreams, and aspirations. I would read my children the bible or stories I loved as a child and began change my voice and create new endings that my oldest daughter still remembers to this day; so I began to write short plays and stories for the youth at my church and daughter followed. She's better than me now, but I love to write and I pray God blesses her in talent. So when she mentions an audition or she needs ink for her printer... I'm connected, I'm concerned and I follow through.  It’s all in the connection.  

Get Connected to everything your kids say and do and stay there. And remember I will be blessed because I am the blessed of the Lord.  

Happy Happy Birthday Raymiah and Happy Courtship Anniversary to ME! LOL

Today marks two special occasions in my life!
1. The courtship of me and my husband (6/25/2003)
2. The birth of my big girl, Raymiah (6/25/2006)

Raymiah celebrates her 6th birthday today and have been celebrating since this past Saturday! We took her to Humble, Texas to Old Macdonald's Farm where she and her siblings rode ponies, trains, fed farm animals, played in sand mounds and playgrounds. We have a fun filled day. I made all of the food: fruit kabobs and finger sandwiches. It was cute and fed us comfortably in the humidity. Today, we stopped at Chuck E Cheese. You can never go wrong with CEC! It was a great day for my big girl!

Ray and I also share this day as our anniversary of our courtship. Only I celebrate this day or actually look back at what made us, us.

P.S. The date was not planned! LOL

Pictures and video footage of Raymiah's birthday will be posted this week!

Song of the Day: Father's Day Edition

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!!

Men play a valuable role in a child's life. Whether you are a father, father figure, uncle, pastor, or friend, your positive influence help mold a child's life. The saying is true that, "no one's perfect", but you can make a difference if you set yourself for it. There are times you may have not been your best or a better example, but luckily it's never too late to change a child's life.

I am very grateful for my dad. We may not agree all of the time, but my dad has given me an example of a provider and a father of many children. I love my dad!

I am also grateful for my husband. He has been a beautiful example of a Godly husband and father. Our children are so blessed and they know that!!! I honor my husband this Father's Day! Thank you for being a leader in our family! I love you dearly!!

My honey bun!!

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!!

SPECIAL REPORT!!

Our family is growing and growing fast! We are expecting again! 

I called myself doing something a little different to have myself some time before the next baby, but God had a different plan. I will be doing pregnancy updates so..stay tuned!!

Feeling Pretty!!

Lately, I have been "feeling myself" LOL meaning, I finally found the confidence I have been longing to have. This is the first time is a really long time, I have accepted myself. I am beautiful!! Ahhh, that's a refreshing feeling to know that you are very beautiful. People can tell you that all day, but all the compliment doesn't matter if you don't feel the same way. I know I have a great support system from my husband and close friends and I thank God for them, but I am truly grateful that God revealed my worth to me. It was something that I needed and I am pleased to say I have it!

I AM BEAUTIFUL AND HIS PROVERBS1822!

Conquering Potty Training

For the past 6 years, I've been mothering and know the struggle that comes with raising Godly children. Knowing that they mirror our behavior and words has had me on my toes. Besides being the nurturer of the home, I have learned the importance of routine and discipline, especially when it comes to potty training.

When Raymiah was reaching her second birthday, I decided to buckle down and start potty training. With no experience, I was able to successful train her to use the toilet almost a year later. I now realize that was entirely too much time in training her. My patience and Raymiah's frustration took the best of me. When Rylee came along and it was her turn, it took a WEEK to train her. I believe it was the help of Raymiah that sped up the process. Now....here comes the boy!

My son, Ray the Third is quite independent and I figure this would help me during the potty training, but I was so wrong. Not only did he enjoy hours "free", but he is also curious about "it" which makes it a challenge to keep him focused on making wets.

I started potty training him at 13 months (approx. Dec. 2010). Then stopped because he wasn't ready. I tried again May 2011. After a few life changing events, I put potty training on hold. Now almost a year later, we are back at it again. My husband has been a HUGE help in training him by taking 2 days off of work to monitor him and discipline during the training. As of today, potty training is a success and we haven't had a major accidents in about a week. We may have the occasional "I am extremely too excited to make it" or "I am in trouble and can't control it" but it is working out.

To award him for his potty successes, we usually compliment him. I have tried candy and treats, but no go. Ray has also brought home monster trucks ans games for their successes which helps a lot.

Do you have any suggestions or ways that made your training a success? What didn't work?

Let me know!!

Raymiah in her potty training stage

Growing my pony!! (In pictures)

I have a love/hate relationship with my hair..more love than hate though. I have been struggling to find what works best for me. I am a devout Youtuber and will research different techniques and tricks. What I have concluded in my years of research is...my hair is different and I cannot do what others may find cute or manageable for their hair.

For one, my hair likes heat. I have to blow dry! Air drying causes tangles and single strand knots like no body's business. Secondly all these "protective stylings"? Not for me. Not even twisted styles work for me. I know I'm weird, but hey!

I am still learning but in the process, there's growth and I am pleased! I have had some ups and downs with some trials and errors in the mix, but my hair is hanging on.

Dec. 2011-pony tail

Aug. 2009-pony tail

Cartoon can be a blessing too!

I discovered Veggietales months before Raymiah was born and I knew that this ministry will both educate her and entertain her. I wish my parents knew about Veggietales during my childhood years. I love their movies and characters. I went on a Veggietales craze by buying used DVDs on Ebay and Amazon.com. Well, for those who are like "What in the world is she talking about?" "What's a Veggietales?" I'll catch you up now!

Veggietales is a Christian based cartoon created by Phil Vischer and Mike Narowski in 1993. Since then they have dozens of educational and moral values that come straight from the bible. I am mostly encouraged by "The Snoodles Tale" (2003). It was the 22nd short film of the Veggietales series. The moral of this short film is to know that God created you for a purpose and even though your peers are  not accepting of your skills and appearance, "God has made you special and He loves you very much!" It has a Dr. Suess/fairy tale feel to it and is very cute!
If you haven't had the privilege to enjoy a Veggietales movie with your children, I think you should!

My daughter's hair growth! I'm shock myself!!

For a few months now, I have been carefuly observing my daughter's hair and testing ways I can retend their lengths. Here are some of my findings:

1. It is hard for me to keep a style in their hair for longer than 2 days.
2. Their hair is extremely hard to keep moisturized. (Our hair drinks up everything!)
3. Detangling every few days is a MUST!!
4. Washing weekly prevents additional dryness and unruly hair.
5. Co-washing is best! I use shampoo when they have been exposed to dirt or been sweating a lot to clean their scalp, but besides that...co-washing (or washing with conditioner only) is our friend.
6. Daily scalp massages and attention.

With that being said, I have found out a lot about OUR hair. I use heat when drying their hair because detangling and air drying is a horrific experience and challenge for our hair. Only way to keep our hair tangle-free is to blow dry it. I use low settings when doing so. I will only flat iron their hair on special occasions or when daddy want to see some length.

Now with Raymiah, she can get away with semi blow dried hair because her hair is less likely to tangle when wet. Her hair texture is dense...dense dense and very fragile. I have to use precaution before I start her hair and her scalp is very sensitive.

Raymiah hair flat ironed March 2012

 Rylee's hair is delicate as well with a very different texture and curl pattern. Her hair is easy to style but won't hold a style without some assistance with some pomade. Her hair tends to dry within a few hours and will tangle without notice.

Rylee's hair flat ironed Dec. 2011

It is definitely a challenge maintaining natural hair but there are some great rewards in taking care of a variety of textures and learning what works best for our hair. I am learning to love it.

Debt Free is the way to be!

Many may not have known that I had debt...well now you know! I had credit card debt. I was at the time the only one with good credit and it was used to help build the business. While the business was booming, my credit was dropping like hot cakes! No one don't know this, well now they do, about the sacrifices we have made. Then after realizing I had some good credit, I got a few more cards at popular clothing stores. I was faithful in making the monthly payments and paid them all off. Times got hard and finances were decreasing during the winter months. If you are familiar with construction, there's usually no large jobs or construction during the winter, but anyway, I dipped into the credit.Well after nearly 5 years of financial bondage and with the conviction of the Holy Spirit and testimony of the saints at my church, we decided to pay off all I owe.

Upon our decision to take care of my debts, I received a call from the medical center where I delivered Ray 2 years ago saying I owe $4000 for his birth! I knew something had to distract me from pursuing financial freedom. It always happens that way with us. During my pregnancy with Ray, we were insured through the plumbers' union in Chicago through BCBS and they covered the cost. Come to find out, they denied the case because they didn't have Ray's birth certificate. Haha...will problem solved! I have that..DONE! I thank God for keeping me calm through that little bump in the road. I would have had a fit about that before.

But as of March 5, 2012, I am proud to announce I am debt free!!! Halleujah!! God is good! God provided and allowed us to do some major saving and now we're free!!

We told God that we would handle our debt before we left Chicago, but 2011 was a very stressful and heavy year for our family (Read: Our Journey to Texas). We postponed our promise to God which most likely had a lot to do with the mess we dealt with. But we finally buckled down and did what we had promised we do and God opened doors! Ray has a great job and we have a home to call our own. We are moving as I type!

I hope this has encouraged you to do what you promised to God and follow through! We learned a hard lesson by postponing. God rewards faithfulness. Don't let your situation affect your promises.

Online Shopping: The How To!

I am a fan of online shopping. I would rather shop online than be overwhelmed by the shoppers and lines. I have learned some important ways to shop safely online to ease my worries of fraud:

1. Check website credibility- When I shop online, I go to the retailers I would visit in person (i.e. Victoria's Secret, Express, Walmart) I believe it is easier to determine this is if the store have their own commercial, I can trust them.

2. Website Security- If you look at your address bar, you should see a padlock. If the padlock is there, all the information you enter will be protected and will not be shared.

3. Use Paypal- Paypal creates a random card number that is attached to your real information or you can create a Paypal account dedicated for online shopping. I found this much more reliable than putting my bank information into the system. By paying with Paypal, you keep your credit card information private, meaning you can shop safely without worrying about con artists downloading your account info from the online stores.

Well, these are just a few ways to shop safely online. I hope I have eased some worries about doing business online. I believe shopping online is fast and convenient. I pay bills, shop for shoes and even enrolled in college online. I makes my busy life easier. 

Tell me about your experiences with online shopping! And if you can additional information to share, please do so!!

Our Christmas Experience

After 6 years of martial bliss and 5 years of parenthood, we decided to celebrate Christmas. For years there has been a dispute on whether we should celebrate it. Christmas has become so commercialized that we didn't want to fall into the category of not celebrating the true meaning. Well, this past Christmas we celebrated with gifts and an awesome time at church. We didn't put up a tree, but I do plan on doing so the next Christmas holiday to have a tradition for the kids sake.

Testimony time: We have decided to start saving money to have a hefty down payment on a home we are interested in. As a result of saving, we figured we hold off buying the things the kids asked for. But don't you know, that our kids had an abundance of gifts? Clothes, shoes, and a toy or two from a variety of friends and family. We are so grateful for those who helped us celebrate Christmas with our children. This Christmas has shown us that God is faithful and know our need. He has supplied our every need for our children and we are so so grateful! Glory to God!!

What a wake up call!!!

Yesterday while shopping for the victim of my husband's Comfy Critter (stuffed bear), I stumbled across a pair of Express jeans from the Rerock Collection. I purchased a pair a couple of years back for $86!!1 I know...smh! But not only were they at the thrift but it was for $7.57!! I am too thoo (in the words of LaTrivia "Triv" Graham)I thought to mention this because I have realized how immature I was to make a crazy purchase. Then, I thought the price tag determined how important I was and I had to prove my success to others in a forced competition of vanity. I am so upset that we shelled out hundreds of dollars on something I can barely fit today! What a waste! I can think of a million things I could do with that money...for one is to save my home purchase! LOL...this has been an eye opener and I know there is nothing wrong with going to the thrift store or shopping in discounted stores. I am glad to have experience the luxury of shopping at Express but never again unless they have a huge liquidation clearance stimulus package of a sale! Seriously!

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas everyone! Remember the TRUE meaning of Christmas....Jesus!

If you would like a reminder of the greatest story ever told, please refer to the bible: Matthew 1:18-25, Luke 2: 1- 21

Prophesies were fulfilled from the Old Testament of His birth: Isaiah 9:6  "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace." 

The Lord shows Himself the true Messiah in our lives daily and I am so grateful for His birth and His return that is soon to come! We have the greatest gift in the world the only question is what will you do with it?

Merry CHRISTmas to all!!

Who Knew!

We have done the unthinkable... My husband and I with some spiritual counselling decided to go back into plumbing after a year of hanging the channel locks. We were a bit reluctant going into plumbing since our Texas journey begun because of fear of going through unnecessary drama and conflict of interest... Construction has its benefits but if you are not careful, you will be trapped. Our mission in life is do everything unto the Lord and the life as a union plumber/company was conflicting our ministry.
But this time around, we have a fresh start. I believe God is in this and He will get the glory. We are much wiser and aware of things. We have matured in Christ significantly this year and we will not allow ourselves to fall into the same situation again.
Ray had a conversation recently and said that if he had the opportunity to work in ministry building servers and enhancing technologies he would drop plumbing in a heartbeat. That comment didn't rub the person in a right way. What this person fail to realize is that God has supplied our every need and our goal is not to make millions but to be family oriented and ministry minded. But where we are today, we are closer to our goal to buying a home and spending much of our time with each other and ministry.
We have been in prayer and have been fasting to hear from God and have been making our requests known. Things are definitely lining up and in addition to fasting and praying, we are about to go into consecration to seek GOD. I am excited to see God's plan for our lives and I know without a shadow of doubt that our journey and struggle is not in vain. 2012 is our new beginning so look out!

Our God Experience 2011

What a year!! Whew!!
We have been through some rough and unexpected turns throughout this year. Our faith has been tested, our pride has been shot down and through all the turmoil, faith has been renewed and we can boast in the Lord like never before!

The lessons I've learned this year has been to trust in the Lord (Proverbs 3:5) and to depend on Him to supply all my need (Phil 4:19). Years prior, we always had the company to rely on when our personal lives we're in the balance, but God stripped us from our enabler and we had nothing but His word to get us through EVERYTHING! There were times we didn't have the money to get us to church, but God provided. We haven't lacked anything yet! Thank You Jesus. We are truly blessed to have a Father who sees our needs and hear our cry. We have every right to be grateful. People in similar situations have lost their minds, but God got us through.  There were times when I didn't know whether we could afford clothes for our growing babies, but God provided.
We have never been through anything of this magnitude and God saw us fit for this journey. Texas has been a blessing to us spiritually. I truly believe we would not have gotten through this in Illinois. God brought us here with no connections to fall back on, no family to take us in, no friends to call on...but we have built friendships we have prayed for since we've been married and our marriage is able to withstand anything now. We had to be broken for God to build us up. We started from scratch with life and I can honestly say I feel renewed!
I thank God for those who have prayed for us and even those who had given us the side eye. God knew what He was doing!
When we left Illinois, God freed us from the drama and stress of having to be forced to compete and workaholism (hmm). We have a fresh start and we love it. We are content where we are knowing that God has something awesome for this family. We have plans to go on a missions trip...something that wasn't possible in Illinois and we are excited about ministry like never before. God is so good!

When you actually think about it, we all had some sort of God experience this year. What was yours and are you grateful?

Decisions decided: My family is important too!

Just recently we had a long talk with spiritual insight, and we have concluded that we can still have that yearning to want the best for everyone but not exclude ourselves from what we want to accomplish ad have for our family. Since my husband and I have been married, we always had the heart to help family and any other person who was in need or at least who we thought was in need. We focused so much on others that we began to neglect our own needs. Don't get me wrong, we feel that God has blessed us with a giving heart and we are privileged to be in that mind to want to help. Some people will make you feel guilty for thinking this way, but hey, I'm important too! We compromised our wants and desires to please those around us and believe me when I say it is hard work to please someone who isn't pleased with themselves.

Now with that in mind, we have to change our thinking and except that people have the ability to take care of themselves an provide for their own instead of us becoming their enablers and then be left with the guilt if something doesn't turn out the way had planned. As of today, God has opened our eyes and has shown us the way we should go for our family and what is best for our situation. It is almost a burden lifted to not feel as if we are totally obligated to others. Our priority is our family.

Thankful Thursday: Journey to Texas Part 4

Well continuing from last week, Raymiah was scheduled for a brain scan the next day which was July 11 at 8am. Rylee and Ray III was with their aunt and me and Ray decided to get some rest. We really didn't want to leave Raymiah's room, but Ray thought it was best to at least sleep comfortably, so we checked in the Ronald McDonald's house which was located in the hospital. We checked in at 1am and as soon as I began to get comfortable, my contractions started. I was able to sleep a few hours through it all. Then at 6:30 am, I woke up Ray and we were headed next door to St. Luke's Hospital. 


We checked into St. Luke's and the nurses started to gather some information. They were confused about our whole situation and I began to weep when they asked for our residence address. We didn't know what to say because the day before we had to move. Ray gave them his parents address and told them our situation. So the other nurse came in to check how much time I had before I delivered and we received unexpected news. She told us that the baby maybe breached and a c-section would be my option to deliver the baby. Without us asking for a second opinion, she pulled out the sonogram and we saw that the baby was in proper position to deliver vaginally. Then I was told I was 9 cm dilated. They prepped me and I was rushed into the room to deliver. By this time, it was around 7:30am. With 30 minutes until Raymiah's scheduled scan, we were playing the waiting game. Ray was leaving at 7:50 to meet with Raymiah's doctors next door at TCH. Then as I was prepared for Ray not to be at our baby's birth, I had the urge to push. He informed the nurses and I was told to wait till the doctor arrived. He arrived at 7:59 and the baby's head was already out all he had left to do was to grab her and cut the cord. Reelaiah Abigail Burns was born at 8:03am!


Ray stayed around a few minutes and left to tend to Raymiah. After the scheduled brain scan, we had to wait till noon for the results. While Ray waited he came back to me and Reelaiah for a few minutes and went back across the street.  So now, it's about 1pm and the results were in...Raymiah had a birthmark on her brain in the shape of a star. It resembled an AVM, but it is a cluster of venous veins. This means the cluster of is very low pressure and harmless. The seizure may have been linked to a fever she had the week before. While this was good news and we began to rejoice, the enemy threw in another issue. CPS (Child Protective Services) came to my room and said they found traces of marijuana in my blood. I was shocked to say the least! I asked her to test me again because that was not true. She said it wasn't found in Reelaiah's system but they wanted to keep an eye on me. (yea) I immediately called Ray to meet me in my recovery room and told him the news. We waited for the lady to return and demanded she do a retest or use my cord blood. She refused and didn't want to double check in fears that she was wrong. We told her our situation because she thought we had ran away from Illinois and linked Raymiah's seizure to our "lifestyle".


We quickly recovered from that report because that was unbelievable to hear. The enemy is tricky but that was just stupidity. We ever saw that woman again. 


A few hours after the birth of Reelaiah, I sent her to the nursery while I visited Raymiah as the doctors took her off the respirator. As the tubing came out, she began to cry softly for me. It was a joyous occasion and I cried tears of joy and relief knowing that my daughter would recover and all will be well. The doctors was shocked to see me walk in the room after delivering Reelaiah, but I couldn't miss that for the world. One of the EMT's from the medical center came by to check on us and pray with us which was a surprise because we definitely expect that from her. It wasn't just a job to her, but she truly cared. I thank God for that. We was surrounded by great doctors who did all they could for our family. 


I checked out of the hospital Wednesday, July 13 and was allowed to stay in Raymiah's new room until she was released on Friday. Raymiah was off of the sedatives and she was able to meet Reelaiah for the first time.

Raymiah was released and we were headed somewhere...we had no place to go to. We crashed at Ray's parents RV until we figured something out. We shared a queen sized bed, all six of us. We slept lightly to keep a close eye on Raymiah. Ray left early the next morning to go to work which now was an hour away! We stayed at the RV until Ray came back and when he did, we started to clean out the other RV to make it liveable. The next day, we went to church. Reelaiah's barely a week old and Raymiah's recovering, but we couldn't stay home. God had been so good to us. 

A few weeks later, we received a call from CPS again requesting that we take a drug test. They took pictures of my babies just in case they had a case. We rushed to take the drug test with only 5 minutes to spare because Ray had to be at work. We waited to hear from them after the test, but we never heard from them again. Thank you Jesus!!!

Currently we are still in the RV saving money and waiting on God in the process. We know that He has something great in store or us and He has placed some awesome, encouraging people in our lives. People who is there for us and who is inspiring. We love them dearly and thank God for them. They have been there with us since our Texas journey begin. 

Continue to pray for us and know that God is getting the glory out of our lives. We haven't gone crazy like some think..we are much stronger and faith-ful like never before. 

Happy Thanksgiving!