Thursday, December 31, 2009

The Seaman Girls

It snowed again this week for the second time in 7 days and it is the third time it snows this month.
My precious girls.
When Raquel woke up, this is how I found her. I wrapped her good that she didn't know how to free herself so she tried to do a Houdini on me.

My baby girl. Love her.


Sofia and Lenny.

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

The Problem of Pain

I can understand why God permits pain in our lives; I believe is to make us whole, to make us grow and come to an understanding and look back at the things we have done wrong and repent. God is greater than our pain and as Christians, we all need to go through pain to get close to him, to understand him better and help one another. It is certainly not an easy undertaking; pain can leads us to loose ourselves into deeper sin and depression or to use the circumstances of pain to seek him and attain restoration through Him. I give thanks to Him for taking me in his arms and walked with me when I was at my worst experience of pain.

No pain, no gain. This is in fact true. Without pain, we do not come close to know him and know his grace and mercy for us. -Sandra.

"There are times when God permits pain to enter our lives, not just as a consequence of evil actions, but because He can see the big picture, and He knows that in the long run these painful experiences will help us."

________________________________________

The Intolerable Compliment
By Chuck Colson

Why would a good God allow pain and suffering? It’s the age-old question. When we’re experiencing pain ourselves, or watching someone we love experience pain, no answer seems adequate, and our faith faces its severest test.

That’s why, as Ken Boa says on his latest Great Books Audio CD, it was a daring and risky project for C. S. Lewis to write the book The Problem of Pain.
As Lewis himself said, he was trying to tackle the intellectual side of the problem because he felt himself unequipped to tackle the emotional side. Lewis says in his preface, “For the far higher task of teaching fortitude and patience I was never fool enough to suppose myself qualified, nor have I anything to offer my readers except my conviction that when pain is to be borne, a little courage helps more than much knowledge, a little human sympathy more than much courage, and the least tincture of the love of God more than all.” Beautifully said.

As usual, Lewis uses his characteristic blend of “logic and imagination” to tackle these tough questions. He explains that God takes the universe He created so seriously that He has to allow it to operate according to the rules He set up. Similarly, He has so much respect for our free will that He allows us to use it even when the consequences will be harmful.

As Lewis puts it: “It is no more possible for God than for the weakest of His creatures to carry out both of two mutually exclusive alternatives....Not even omnipotence could create a society of free souls without at the same time creating a relatively independent and inexorable nature.” He also says that if God corrected every abuse of free will at every moment, “freedom of the will would be void.”

But there’s more to it than that. There are times when God permits pain to enter our lives, not just as a consequence of evil actions, but because He can see the big picture, and He knows that in the long run these painful experiences will help us. With our limited perspective, this is so often hard for us to grasp. But God is so much wiser than we are that we cannot always understand His idea of goodness; it is not opposed to ours, but greater than ours. I have found this to be the case.

We often think that goodness simply equals happiness. Lewis writes, “We want in fact not so much a Father in heaven as a grandfather in heaven: a senile benevolence who as they say liked to see young people enjoying themselves and whose plan for the universe was simply that it might be truly said at the end of each day, ‘A good time was had by all.’”

But God wants something more for us, Lewis says: “We are a divine work of art...something with which He will not be satisfied until it has a certain character.” God has paid us “the intolerable compliment”: He takes us and our moral development seriously and is working to make us holy.
One day, Lewis reminds us, the problem of pain will be solved. Evil will be destroyed and we will be perfected. Until that day, as Ken Boa says, we can find help and reassurance in a book that “has helped thousands, millions perhaps, reach greater understanding and courage in the face of life’s pain.”

Monday, December 28, 2009

Cowboys


We beat the Redskins...what a suprise. Our next game will be against the hated Eagles. This game, I will watch and not read my book at the same time, I did against the Redskins. I knew we would beat the Redskins...actually we shut out the Redskins!

We have earned our playoff spot! Let's keep on winning!

Next: Eagles (11-4) It will be nice to beat them to kick off the playoff season.

Family Visits!

This past weekend, we had a lot of family come to our house! Here's Guy, Mandy and Aisha Seaman. They came and had Chilli with us.
The Maloney boys came over and had Lasagna with us!
Grandpa had coffee with us!

Saturday, December 26, 2009

Movies We Watch

Movie: Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince.

John loved it, I give a B+ only because they did not show the fight between the Death Eaters and the D.A's (Dumbledore's Army) at the end of the movie when Dumbledore got killed by Severus Snape and the other thing they rushed on was the love attraction between Ginny Wesley and Harry Potter. One moment Ginny was smooching her boyfriend and the next she was kissing on Harry. Since we read the book, we know how the whole love plot between these two worked out and you really get to feel the intensity to it, but in the movie it just feels like they threw it out and they ran out of time to build the love between them so overall that didn't work out very well. Again, the book is awesome but the movie did fall short in some parts. Our favorite movie based on the Harry Potter books is the Goblet of Fire, they nail it!

Now, we hear that the last book, The Deathly Hollows will be made into to parts, in other words, two movies. Can't wait for that because it was a great book.

Movie: Terminator Salvation

We both give this movie an A+ or 5 out of 5 stars! With only one thing that we just didn't get and perhaps because we have not seen all the other Terminator movies that have come out before this one and that was that John Connor's dad comes back as a teenager and now Connor has to save his father before the Terminators get to his dad. We scratched our heads on that one. Arnold does a cameo on this movie; he shows up like he did in the first movie, it was a 3G of himself, very believable indeed. Oh! and you also get to hear the famous quote "Come with me if you want to live." John and I cracked up on this one. Definately an action movie! Rent it if you want to live! -Sandra.

Friday, December 25, 2009

White Christmas!

It is not snow like up North but here in Texas the snow we got last night is as good as it gets and that makes it a White Christmas!


Thursday, December 24, 2009

Merry Christmas, Feliz Navidad and Mele Kalikimaka!

Is raining this morning and this afternoon we might get 1 to 3 inches of snow here in Dallas. We might get a White Christmas after all and my camera is all charged up just in case the snow arrives!


Nose Cleaner


When Sofia gets a head cold, she gets a lot of them boogers. So, I have been using the manual nose cleaner and a month ago a mom at her Little Saints school told me about this wonderful battery operated nose cleaner that takes out all the yucky stuff in their little noses. So, John went and bought it last night and I tried it this morning and this thing is magic! If you don't have one get one! Baby's R Us has it for $20 bucks!

Who would have thought things like this would make John and I excited. Well, it sure makes life easier! -Sandra.

Sunday, December 20, 2009

Movies We Watch

Movie: Persuasion. Based on Jane Austen's book.

I saw this movie three times!! My sister in law came to our house and watch it twice and she also loved it. If you have never heard of this one and want to see it, rent the 1995 version. Reviews said it was the best from the 2007. This movie is not as witty as P&P, however it moves somewhat slow but by the middle of it has you and the end has you in love with the main characters. I will watch the 2007 version as soon as i'm done reading the book. Yep, I bought it! I have to know what else I'm missing!

Our second movie: The Boy in the Stripped Pajamas. A PBS TV Movie.

We rented this movie because Chuck Colson gave it a great review and he was right. The ending was heartbreaking. It is based on a Nazi family moving close to a Death Camp and the family boy coming in contact with a boy in the camp. The innocense of children reminds you how vulnerable they are. I don't want to say too much about this but it reminds you how much hatred can hurt people in awful ways. -Sandra.

Weight Countdown

I went to the gym and I stepped on the scale and it told me that in the last 30 days I have lost 6 pounds! So, as we speak, I got 20 pounds to loose! My goal is to reach 130 lbs, I'm at 15o, however, my ideal goal weight is 125 lbs. So, right now, I'll just settle with getting to 130lbs and worry about the extra 5 lbs when I have lost the 20 lbs.

I have only recently started to walk. I will start running in two more weeks that's when Raquel turns 8 weeks. I will start doing abs at 12 weeks as well as doing Yoga and Pilates.

I will only weight myself once every month. Weighing myself every day or every other day will drive me crazy. As of right now, nothing fits and I'm still wearing my maternity pants and they are slipping but I still can't fit into my jeans or slacks so it is an odd time right now.

In speaking of Maternity clothes, I have donated all of my maternity clothes to the Catholic Women's Pregnancy Shelter here in Dallas. This pretty much seals the door of me not having any more children and instead help those who don't have the means. I will also be donating baby clothes once Raquel grows out of them. To me, it gives me great satisfaction to give to those who are in need. -Sandra.

Cooking with Sofia

I was getting ready to cook Sofia's meal for the day when she decided to join me. So, I decided she could help me cook.

Here she's opening the spagetti box.


Here Sofia is making sure the onions and tomatoes are sautee to perfection.


hmm..here she was trying to decide whether or not this was the right spice.


Adding the main ingredient!


Gotta have them vegetables!!!


Adding another vegetable!


Eating the vegetable! She couldn't resist!


Enjoying her meal! Success!

Christmas at The Cash Family Casa

Thanks to Auntie Nessa, we were able to attend The Cash family 2nd annual Christmas party and at the same time watch the Cowboys beat the stinky Saints among friends!

I also got to hold Miss Eva! She's 8 weeks old and just got her shots. Raquel will be getting hers in about two weeks time. ouch.

The Seaman's, The Booker's and The Cash Family all in one.

Saturday, December 19, 2009

WHO DAT!!!?? IS THE COWBOYS BABY!!!

That's right!!! We beat the STINKY SAINTS!! OUR CURSE IS NO MORE!!!! What an outstanding game! DeMarcus Ware is DA MAN!!! Everyone showed up to win this game, but Folk. This guy needs to be bench, what in the world is wrong with him!?

Next: Redskins (4-9) Redskins have nothing to loose so they will come out fighting and we must, I repeat, we must win this and our last game against the Eagles. But for now, let's just savor this win until our next game. This is an awesome Christmas present from the Cowboys to us, the fans. -Sandra.

Christmas Cards 2009!

From the MacIvors! Next year's Christmas card will need more picture space for two more!

From the Deaton's!

From the Taraski's!



Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Little Saints Ornament

When I opened Sofia's school envelope today, I found a bag filled with Christmas stuff for her! Among the things, her teachers gave to her, I found this picture ornament. We love it! I love her teachers, they are so caring and loving. This is something, I will save for Sofia when she grows up so that she may hang on her own Christmas tree one day. BTW: The spot on her cheek is not dirt is glitter that got stuck inside the picture.

Christmas Cards 2009!

From the Cash Family!


The two below are from our friends from the Marriage Ministry, Retrouvaille!

From Rosario and Gera

From Glenn and Bernadette!

Sunday, December 13, 2009

Cowboys


One word: Cowboys suck! and only Cowboys fan are ALLOWED to say it. Anyone else saying that about our team is not permitted! First thing first, we will be praying for Demarcus Ware for a speedy recovery. They announced he has a sprained neck.

Please someone fire Jason Garrett! Why does he call the same play four times in a row? Something tells me he's trying to jeopardize Coach Phillips job...well, he needs to be fire too for being too soft, oh! since we are talking about firing, please fire Folk as well!! How dare you miss a 32 field goal!!!??? Last week he complained that it was the ball holder who screw him up, so this week they decided to give Romo his old job back and wallah! Folk fails again!

Last, Cowboys look good on paper but not when it comes to show it! They bummed me out today.

Philly and Giants are playing right now. If Giants win they will, apparently, win the tie breaker, if Philly wins, well, they win it. I guess, I prefer Giants to win it then stupid Philly.

Oh, yes, I forgot, our freaking curse continues! May I remind everyone that we have not a winning record in December/January since '96!!! Yep! I'm feeling jolly already!

Next: Stinky Saints (13-0) This coming Saturday night. I don't care if we don't make it to the playoffs but my only wish for this Christmas is for one darn win this month, please let us beat the STINKY SAINTS!! I would like to rub it on my relatives down there!!! PLEASE!!!! -Sandra.

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Christmas Cards 2009!

I love this time of the year when we start sending each other Christmas cards! This was a reminder for me to get mine out before time runs out. So ya'll will be receiving ours early next week!

This one is from the other cool Seaman family! Guy, Mandy, Ziera and Aisha Seaman.

This one is from my beautiful sister Medith, who has always been there for me in good times and bad times. Love you sis!
And the one below is from Uncle James and Auntie Silvia Seaman. Your Christmas card was the very first one we recieved! Thanks!

Monday, December 7, 2009

The Seaman Girls

What's a burp rag for!? John missed the memo.
A hair bow to make Raquel even cuter!

My little Indian. She made this at school the week of Thanksgiving. I'm a little behind on posting pictures.
Here's Auntie Nessa loving on Raquel. I swear she's spoiling Raquel a litte bit too much.
And here's Raquel with Grandpa!

Sunday, December 6, 2009

Cowboys


The December curse is well under way! This time, I got nothing bad to say about Romo (unfortunately), the blame now goes to Marion Barber and our not so stellar defense.
We started playing pretty well. Like the Dog Whisperer says, calm and assertive and then Folk missed two filed goals that could've helped us tied the game and our defense just choked!
My man, Jason Witten had a good game today, but our defense let three Giants just run like free birds! Giants were desperate to win a game and unfortunately, now, they have beat us twice this season. Philly won today, not good.
Next: Chargers (8-3) This will be a tough game and our curse may well continue. -Sandra.

Thursday, December 3, 2009

Raquel's Corner

Raquel is one month old today!! yes! so that means we have 11 more months of bottle feeding to go! On a positive note, Raquel has been sleeping all night for the last two nights. I hope me writing about it doesn't jinx her all night sleeping. I called her pediatrician today and he says that John and I should count our blessings because not all baby's go to sleep all night this early and yes, it is perfectly normal for her to sleep all night. He said we should take this as an early Christmas present! Praise the Lord!

Here's Raquel last night practicing on sitting on her daddy's shoulder. Sofia wasn't too happy since this has been her favorite place to sit for the last 21 months.

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

What that....????

So this morning, I got up and both of my girls were still sleeping which was odd because they wake me up every morning but this morning I actually got up by myself without anyone screaming through the monitors. So, I came out from my bedroom to let the dogs out and lo and behold, I saw snow coming down and I quickly rushed to Sofia's room to get her ready for her first snow picture! There wasn't much but heck it was snow raining down our green lawn. Unfortunately, right now as I'm typing this the snow is gone the sun is out and there is no sign that it even snowed this morning. That's why I hurried to get Sofia dressed before it stopped and disappeared.

Here she has no clue on what to do. I know she was looking at me like, "uhmm, it's cold mom and I'm hungry!!!"