"True Christian Motherhood"-- Soon to be Released!

Hey everyone! My mom, June Fuentes, wrote an ebook entitled "True Christian Motherhood" and it's going to be released real soon! Keep an eye out for it in the next couple weeks...

This ebook on Christian Motherhood will give you life-changing vision that will change the way you view motherhood, your life, and the way you engage with children forever.

Women everywhere are looking for guidance, encouragement, and vision. This book will help provide it for grandmothers, moms, and girls not yet married. I encourage you to buy it when it comes out, read it, and then apply it! :)

Make sure to "like" the FB page- True Christian Motherhood- and join the discussion page-  True Christian Motherhood Discussion Group!

Jesus Wants The Rose- Matt Chandler

My family loves Matt Chandler. He is an excellent pastor who tries his best in doing what God wants him to do. Senior pastor of The Village Church; he has an amazing faith in God despite everything he's been through. He's been a huge inspiration to everyone who has kept up with him or just heard of him.

This is a clip of one of his past sermons that he did a while ago- I really encourage you to watch it!

It Gets Hard Sometimes. . .

"So, my dear brothers and sisters, be strong and steady, 

always enthusiastic about the Lord's work for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless."

-1 Corinthians 15:58

I really feel the urge to encourage all of you today....

Keep serving the Lord with a joyful attitude even when it gets hard and things get in your way or aren't going the way you planned. Sometimes it gets hard when we're in the certain positions that we're in. I very often find it hard being the oldest child in my family...I end up thinking or saying things like, "I did not sign up for this!", "Why didn't God let me choose which "number" I got to be in my family?" (FYI, I probably would've picked the youngest! =), "Why is it that I set the example for all my siblings?". I'm sure for all of you that aren't the oldest wonder why you aren't because you could do so much better and get all the things first and tell your younger siblings what to do and everyone will notice you more, etc., am I right? =)

But you know what? If we could see how God planned all the the facts and all the little details and how He put us in exactly the position we're in and how everything will turn out by the end of our lives...We wouldn't change one thing that's going on right now.

Stay strong not only for yourself but for your family, for us that are praying for you, the non-Christians because they are always watching us, and all the rest of your friends and family in your life! Keep in mind that you are helping to change lives for eternity...Which is a huge job that was entrusted to us by the most powerful king there ever was, is, or yet to come!

Little by little; 

 step by step; 

feeling like you're falling then rising; 

feeling like you're failing then conquering;

we can do this together but it takes every player of the team in order for everyone to win.

Stay steady and keep walking with Jesus!

Hope you all have a great and blessed week!

"Carry the cross patiently with perfect submission 

and in the end it shall carry you."
-Thomas á Kempis

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Quote by R. W. Emerson

"To laugh often & much;
to win the respect of intelligent people & the affection of children;

to earn the appreciation of honest critics
& endure the betrayal of false friends.

To appreciate beauty; to find the best in others;
to leave the world a bit better whether by a healthy child or a garden patch.

To know... that even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded."

-R.W. Emerson

More- Matthew West

I'm working to get my next post up soon. . .hopefully, very soon. . .so please stick around! =)

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Take a look at the mountains
Stretching a mile high
Take a look at the ocean
Far as your eye can see
And think of Me

Take a look at the desert
Do you feel like a grain of sand?
I am with you wherever
Where you go is where I am

And I'm always thinking of you
Take a look around you
I'm spelling it out one by one

(Chorus)
I love you more than the sun
And the stars that I taught how to shine
You are mine, and you shine for me too
I love you yesterday and today
And tomorrow, I'll say it again and again
I love you more

Just a face in the city
Just a tear on a crowded street
But you are one in a million
And you belong to Me

And I want you to know
That I'm not letting go
Even when you come undone

(Chorus)
I love you more than the sun
And the stars that I taught how to shine
You are mine, and you shine for me too
I love you yesterday and today
And tomorrow, I'll say it again and again
I love you more
I love you more

Shine for Me
Shine for Me
Shine on, shine on
Shine for Me

(Chorus)
I love you more than the sun
And the stars that I taught how to shine
You are mine, and you shine for me too
I love you yesterday and today
And tomorrow, I'll say it again and again
I love you more

(Chorus)
Than the sun
and the stars that I taught how to shine
You are mine, and you shine for me too
I love you, yesterday and today
Through the joy and the pain
I'll say it again and again
I love you more
I love you more

And I see you
And I made you
And I love you more than you can imagine
More than you can fathom
I love you more than the sun
And you shine for me

Tomorrow Is NOT Promised!

My 19 year old cousin, Alan Oliva Jr., was out from a party on Sunday morning (5/30/10 at 1 am) in Chicago with a friend and while they were walking on the streets he and his friend were hit on the backs with bats by three gangsters. The friend got away but Alan didn't. He was stabbed twice in the back and was rushed to the ER but died six hours later. You can read more, here.

This is my first personal loss of someone that I knew and it's just incomprehensible. I mean it feels so unreal. It's hard when things like this happen but I'm finding I just need to trust God and that "all things work together for the good of those that love Him."

Hopefully when things like this happen that we read in the paper or watch on the news or personally experience, we'll be drawn closer to Him and learn to trust in Him more. We need to trust that when God says not to do things (like "thou shall not murder" ), we shouldn't do them. There are other commands in the Bible that to many people don't make sense or they just don't care or purposefully don't obey so they end up basically ruining their own lives if not others.


Alot of times, we think we have our whole lives in front of us (especially us teens) but really only God knows how much longer we have. Alan probably thought we was going to spend his memorial day weekend with his family and friends. I understand he wanted to be a cop. He probably felt he could take on the world. But God had other plans. Now through this, I'm praying many more of my family members and Alan's friends (and, yes, it's hard but even his murderer) will hear of the love and grace and saving power of Jesus Christ and be added to the family of God.

Tomorrow is NOT promised. Cherish the people in your life. Be kind and love your siblings. Honor your parents. Treat everyone with respect. Live everyday as if it were your last. Because really, you don't know if it is. Or someone else's.

Some events can really put things back into perspective.

Two of my friends just lost their 13 year old cousin (Sean Woods) this past weekend as well. After being missed for a couple hours at a party, they found he had been accidentally drowned.

So if you would please pray for my cousins (the Oliva's) and my friends, the Piekarski's, cousins (the Woods) to be comforted and experience the peace of God through these untimely deaths in both of our family's, we would really appreciate that.

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These events remind me alot of Kris Allen's song-
"Live Like We're Dying".

Brain Cancer Tests A Young Pastor's Faith

This is a very inspirational story of a young pastor (Matt Chandler, 35) in Dallas, Texas who last year ('09) on Thanksgiving Day came down with brain cancer. This article tells the story of how he handles being a pastor of over 6,000 people and living by faith and hope in a time of dramatic testing.

Brain cancer tests a young pastor's faith

(Matt Chandler taking a walk with his two children)

Hold On

"When your body is betraying you and your mind is spinning. Hold on. When hope seems like it is lightyears away and strength is disappearing. Hold on. When your relationships are crumbling and your feeling all alone. Hold on. When life is throwing death at you from every direction and you think that's all there is left. Hold on. When you feel your faith is frutiless and that it's all a farce. Hold on. When you feel like giving up, don't give in to those feelings. Hold on.

Keep watching and praying, Keep trusting and believing. Keep singing and offering the sacrifice of praise. Don't let go of what you know is true. Don't let the lies rob you of your joy and don't let the devil deceive you. Hold on, Hold on, Hold on. Help is on the way!

Hold on to Jesus, He's holding on to you.

"If I take the wings of the dawn, If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, Even there Your hand will lead me and Your right hand will lay hold of me." Psalm 139:9-10."

- By my friend, Mrs. Janet Fugate