Saying hi

Many things were not written but we can always apply repent and wash the guilty off.

So many years have past since my last blog post. Our oldest has served a full-time mission. Has completed his education on the field of his interest. Our girl has graduated from HS and now lives in UT where she studies and works. And the youngest has achieved many things, he has gone on dates, got his driving permit and is super excited to get his driver's license. He also works, although he wishes he had more hours. Thanks to the increase on minimum wage, we believe he doesn't have more hours, as he wished.

We went on fewer trips. We returned to Disneyland for Christmas with all the kids. It was fun. They were way more appreciative of what we could offer. With a smaller car, we made the trip, with love and gratitude. Blended families need quality time together and we feel blessed for deserving those few precious days.

Our Patriarch has passed. We all attended the funeral services and that was a set of events to reunite the family, love hug tight our siblings and enjoy the blessings of eternal families here on Earth. We were all reminded of the legacy left by that wonderful man that will be our father forever. Every singles one of us feel honored to becoming part of his journey.

Ernie has worked at a Bank, serving mostly Chinese Merchants located in CA, moved to the food industry business and the whole family benefited from that, going to cool restaurants, and sometimes, even getting free food. Oh that Chinese customer of his. Now, we are their customers. I mean, we have always been. Now, he is back working with one of the companies he loved the most and he feels home. We are so excited.

I have been within the same Company for four years. When I started there, the Company had probably more to offer me than I had to give in return, but I am so grateful for their commitment with equality, being a true equal opportunity employer. Maybe I should be more detailed about equal opportunity in general here in "the Land of the Free".

We moved to a little house. It is smaller than our heart but it has more square footage than the apartment we lived in, meaning, it is the perfect size guys.

Ta Super Fashion

Decidi ir ao Brasil afim de comercializar produtos importados e de marcas bem estabelecidas no mercado. Quando eu sai do meu emprego aqui nos Estados Unidos, eu tive a ideia firme de por em pratica tudo que aprendi na aulas de Empreendedorismo na Faculdade. Lembro que meu professor, nessa disciplina falava: “O maior erro dos estudantes de Administracao e sonhar com um emprego em uma multinacional, ao inves de criarem seu proprio negocio”. Essas palavras estavam adormecidas em minha mente e vieram a tona no momento em que eu decidi por em pratica esse conhecimento.

Afim de levar a efeito meu plano, trabalhei intensamente e integralmente, muitas vezes 10 horas ao dia, fazendo pesquisas e o Google foi meu companheiro inseparavel. Quando o negocio foi divulgado entre amigos, muito trabalho de pesquisa ja tinha sido feito. Muito tempo a criacao das paginas virtuais ja tinha sido dedicado. Meu marido foi a unica pessoa que acompanhou todos os passos do projeto e mesmo tendo alguns outros contatos empreendedores, decidi nao perguntar nada a ninguem. Primeiro porque eu sou capaz de realizar tudo o que tenho vontade, pois nao desisto no primeiro obstaculo. Segundo porque tenho um Pai Celestial amoroso, no qual acredito fielmente e sei que ira me abencoar, se eu fizer a minha parte. Terceiro, eu nao sou gananciosa. Enquanto eu tinha pesquisado e muito para fazer o que fiz, tive varias pessoas me perguntando como faze-lo, apos a apresentacao de meu projeto ao publico. Compartilhei o que pude e como pude, pois quando as perguntas vieram, me encontraram extremamente ocupada e  obviamente, eu preciso dar mais atencao ao meu proprio negocio  do que aos dos outros, porem, ainda assim, dediquei um nivel de atencao a quem me procurou.

Fiz um investimento nao sabendo de antemao no que iria resultar. Aceitei encomendas, levei produtos nao solicitados e, ja no Brasil, me mantive muito ocupada com o telefone tocando a toda hora. Foi uma experiencia muito boa. Tive certeza de que um atendimento ao cliente de qualidade age por si so. Os compradores davam minhas referencias para seus amigos e assim, eu tive a oportunidade de me relacionar com muita gente com a qual havia perdido contato e tambem conhecer novas pessoas.

Nao vou compartilhar numeros com ninguem, direi apenas que foi muito positiva a experiencia. Tive o apoio de meu marido e minha familia em Recife. E com apoio desse nivel e impossivel falhar.

Nao fui a Recife para fazer turismo, mas ainda fui abencoada com uma ida a praia, saida com a familia, ida ao Templo, e saida com os amigos da epoca da Federal, aos quais dedico muito amor e toda minha gratidao por terem aceitado o convite de nos reunirmos uma vez mais. Fora isso, tudo foi trabalho!

Ta Super Fashion VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

General Conference and Family Pictures

What a great weekend this past one was! Growing up, I got more and more excited for when this time of the year comes. It is always so good getting to know what Heavenly Father wants us to know and to do.

I bought some chips and soda to make it even more delicious. We had kids laying on the floor, blankets all over the place, sometimes we kept on puking the one who look asleep, but we were all together and Ernie went with Dylan to Priesthood session and shared the remarks with me later on night. No, we are not perfect, we are way too far from perfection, but having a family that strives to do what is right sounds pretty good. Doesn’t it?

Once again, I came to say how much I love President Monson. I love the humor and its equilibrium with spirituality. He is great and does mingle these two ingredients with perfection! Loved when he said we are all together and that he loves us. Loved even more  when he said: “we love you Bob!” referring to Elder Robert D. Hales from the Quorum of the Twelve. I love the way they love each other and refer to each other with love and respect. The General authorities are my great example of friendship here on earth.

On Sunday, we all dressed up, not amazingly, just fine, to take family pictures. We just walked around the apartment complex and had a little fun as a family. Here are some of the pics of this multicultural family. Enjoy!

Family Pictures 2011 VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Temple Date

I went to Mesa Temple with my eternal companion this past Saturday and had a wonderful feeling of peace and gratitude. I was refusing to go because I was not sure if it would be still open by the time we get there. Anyways... we arrived a quarter previous to the next session and we still made it. It was nice to see too many saints, too many couples. I was thinking to myself: those were probably the saints who work all the week and can only attend sessions on their day off. It makes their action even more valuable.

After I dress up and met my husband on the waiting room and walk away, the view was simply wonderful. Saints going up and down the stairs. For those who have been to Mesa Temple, make a little effort to think about what I'm saying. Those stairs full of angles, full of saints dressing white, full of those who have come to the decision of going to The House of The Lord.

I couldn't hold anymore some tears of joy. It was great being among those who have chosen the Lord. The view and the feelings were amazing.

Ta Super Fashion

Gentem, se voces sao algumas das pessoas que sempre quis comprar produtos importados dos EUA e nao tinha quem os trouxesse ate voce, saibam que eu sou a pessoa que voces estavam procurando.

Chego em Recife dia 6 de outubro e aceito encomendas de perfumes importados, colonias e locoes da Victoria's Secret e outros (pagamento antecipado).  Entrem em contato comigo para ver as possibilidades e precos. Encomendas, so aceitas nas duas proximas semanas.

Clique no aqui e veja os artigos que estao a venda no momento e aproveite para seguir o blog.

Fossil Spring Hike

We went to Strawberry, here in AZ on this past labor day to hike 4 miles to find a beautiful and cute waterfall and hike 4 more miles to come back, all of this after 2 hours driving. It was nice to get our of the heat in Phoenix, but I didn't know what to expect since I haven't read anything about that hike. The place is called Fossil Spring.

First, I was freaking out so the kids would take lots of water bottles each. After hiking on Arches National Park to see the Delicate Arch and having a thirsty hike experience, I had promised myself I would just go on hikes better prepared. I took as many water bottles as possible and made Ernie carry a bunch on his back pack. Seems like it was not enough.

The experience was hard and marvelous at the same time. I had a huge sense of accomplishment at the very end and deep feeling of gratitude for all that I could experience with my love, Sierra and Kohler.

We found many people hiking back to the top because they thought it was just too hard on them. For many moments I could think about Lehi's dream and that some of his loved ones didn't make to the tree. It gave me more motivation to go forward, even though I was thinking if we would have time to complete the task on day light, since we didn't carry any flashlight with us. I know! Shame on us!

I was stressed and also thought about the pioneers. Please, don't think the "rebelliousness" of some of them was an act of negligence with the purpose of their journey, it is not easy to go forward when we see the ones we love an adore in pain. We sure need faith and believe on the things we cannot see. I also witnessed that when the mother shows up some level of unbelief, the kids follow the same behavior. No wonder people say that they copy some of our behaviors whether they are good or not. 

We made to waterfall but no one jumped out of the cliff. We went swimming for just a few minutes, cooked some lunch (dried food, adding only boiling water), got some of that water to fill our empty bottles and use to drink in our way back to the top.

Then we initiated our journey back. I was very strong and not feeling the pain as much as the other ones. I had lots of food when we stopped for lunch. I also got some water of the river, to drink in the worse case scenario. I was feeling that I should made to the top alone and get more water and hike back to give my family some provisions. Ernie was carrying alone a huge backpack and also gave up his tennis shoes to Sierra, who didn't take her to this adventure. He was hiking back in flip flops. 3 hours up to the mountain in flip flops? I knew it was going to be very hard on him, and it made me hurt. Sierra had a hard time to hike on her sandals too.

I asked Sierra if she would came with me to the top ahead of Ernie and Kohler. She said she couldn't walk as fast as me. So, I had Kohler as my hope. He accepted the challenge to make me so proud of him. I kept him entertained talking about Disney, but after the first hour alone with him, we were in need of some subject, so I decided taking his pictures and asking what he liked the most in this adventure. For many times he said: "nothing", "I hated" haha. Poor Kohler. I gave up my water for him of course. Isn't it what mommies are supposed to do? He came with me to rescue his father and his Sister. I didn't carry him on my shoulder because I couldn't, but I almost did. And we made the last mile holding hands, I was kinda of pulling him. It was cute. I saw 3 guys with 2 dogs visible thirsty and offered them water from the river, what made the happiness for the dogs. Those dogs were so cute. When you have pets, you care about all of those you find on the way.

We made to the top at least 30 minutes before Ernie and Sierra. By this time I was happy and worried. the sunset was almost over and the darkness pretty close. I had a drink of water got some water bottles and went back while Kohler waited in the car. I was even singing in Portuguese in case Ernie changed the trail, so he could hear me. I think I watched too much McGiver when I was a little girl haha. It was getting dark and I wasn't sure if I could make it to Ernie and Sierra. I thought about going back and save myself. I thought about snakes, wild animals, even bears. Silly me. I was very scared and worried with them somewhere in the darkness. So I decided being guided by love and faith instead of fear. I also thought singing hymns would help and it did. I saw a white dog running on my direction and asked his owner if he saw my 2 left alone on the hike. He said they were not so far behind. Offered him some water, he said he was ok. I went further more and saw a group of  people, and one of the guys asked me if I was going alone on the hike. I told him why I was going back, asked if he saw my loved ones and he said they were not so far behind too. Offered him some water and he also refuse to accept.

About 5 minutes ahead, I had a vision. A great one. I saw my husband with that dying face and Sierra carrying the backpack. I was so proud of her for doing that. I gave them water and all the fears went away. Ernie said one of the guys on the last group I saw, filled his bottle with water. I'm so grateful for good people who share what they have with those who are in need. There are many good Samaritans on these last days, many that we'll never see again after they act of service. We made to the car under totally darkness. My Savior was our light and our water, literally.

We decided saying a prayer before we leave. Honey was crying with gratitude. And the kids and I were overwhelmed with the same feeling.

Dentro de Voce

As pessoas gostam quando somos agradaveis com elas. A gente pode elogiar a personalidade, a roupa, o cabelo, agradecer por um favor, por uma aula, uma visita, uma mensagem um elogio.

Eu estou amadurecendo nesse mundo internetico e tenho observado o quanto a comunicacao aqui e importante e tambem mal interpretada. Com todas as bencaos da tecnologia, a gente na frente do computador perde um pouco de sensibilidade e empatia. E tao comum usar posts para dizer o que nao se tem coragem de falar diretamente para a pessoa. Outro dia, eu resolvi mandar uma mensagem DIRETA para uma pessoa que cometeu uns erros de portugues em sua escrita. Eu so queria ajudar, e indiquei os pontos em que a escrita estava errada. Resultado: a pessoa foi muito agradavel e felizmente nao ficou magoada com a minha interferencia. Mas minha admiracao pelas pessoas vao mais alem da gramatica.

Depois eu fiquei pensando:  precisamos ser agradaveis no mundo virtual tambem. E ser tolerantes quando mal interpretados, responder com amor, ter coragem de discordar do amigo que voce ama de paixao sem se precoupar com o que vem depois, sempre nutrindo o relacionamento para que ele seja benefico para voce e para o outro. Ate porque e tao mesquinho pensar so em nos mesmos. Se houver maturidade e carinho entre as partes, tudo ficara bem.

Eu sempre fui muito de julgar. Julgar muito bem ou julgar muito mal e ao final estar errada em ambos os julgamentos. A idade nao tras so cabelos brancos nao, traz experiencia. Precisamos viver no mundo e reter o que ha de bom nele. As escrituras ate nos aconselham sobre isso. Nao temo em fazer contatos, e bom quando o circulo de amizade se renova. Com o tempo a gente vai saber quem e importante para nos e para quem somos importantes.

Para finalizar, quero expor duas coisas: as palavras da Madre Tereza e o video de uma cancao da Organizacao das Mocas da Igreja de Jesus Cristo dos Santos dos Ultimos Dias, da qual eu sou membro.

Que esses recursos ajudem-no a encher seu coracao de amor e sua mente de discernimento.

Video com o poema da Madre Tereza

Para ouvir a cancao Dentro de Voce, clique aqui, e para acompanhar com a letra, aqui.