Finally – a door!

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You might remember that one time when Giana locked herself in our bedroom and I totally panicked.

Like grabbed a hammer and smashed my way through panic.

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Blessing in disguise because I always wanted new doors, right? Well one new door to the bedroom means a matching door to the other bedroom, bathroom and closet…and new trim….and new hardware….

Rafael heard about a warehouse sale for construction parts so we went to check it out. We have several home projects going on at the same time, so we wanted to see if we’d find anything.

The Lord answered our construction prayers and gave us three doors that were perfect for us. Solid wood with a modern design. One with a right handle and two with a left open handle. Stained on the outside to match the floor (just like Rafa wanted) and white on the inside (just like I wanted).

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The best part? $38 – TOTAL! Now to buy some hardware and stain the trim and we will be set!

O Christmas Cards

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O Christmas Cards; what should I do with you? I love receiving them…but then what? We display them for the holiday season, but leaving them up all year conflicts with the contemporary/minimalist design vision we (read: Rafa) has for our home. Do I throw them in a box? Or into the garbage?!

No!

I had a great idea for a craft! (GASP! Yes! I really did a craft. If you know me, you know what a rare occurrence this is. Yes, I do own a hot glue gun. Don’t worry, it didn’t take much skill. And no, I didn’t burn myself.)

I turned the cards into prayer sticks. Directions for prayer sticks in six easy steps:

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Step 1: Receive Cards. Ooh and aaah over the adorable children and how great everyone looks.

Step 2: Display cards for a reasonable amount of time.

Step 3: Cut the cards up! Select the best groupings if a family needs to be cut apart (figuratively, not literally!).

Step 4: Glue to craft sticks.

Step 5: Write the names of people on stick who either didn’t send a picture or didn’t send a card.

Step 6: The most important step. Pray for the people on the sticks!

Our plan is to put the sticks in a fun box in Giana’s room. (We tried a vase, but that is just an accident waiting to happen!) When it’s time to pray, we will pull out a couple of sticks randomly and pray for the people on them. She is already loving looking at the faces while we pray for the people on the stick. I am hoping this becomes a fun way to remember to pray for all the special people in our lives.

So long story short – keep the Sorianos on your Christmas card list! You’ll be in our prayers 🙂

My meal planning

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We have been following the Daniel Plan since a couple of weeks into the new year and have been loving the transformation in many areas of our life. I have lost more than 20 pounds and Rafa has lost nearly that amount. Even better is that we are experiencing so much health! I was able to stop taking a digestive medication and Rafa got a great report at the doctor that showed he no longer has borderline high blood pressure or cholesterol.

According to www.danielplan.com, “the Daniel Plan is a groundbreaking, healthy lifestyle program where people get better together. With love as the motivation, it’s a story of abundance, not deprivation. Relying on God’s power and the support and encouragement of friends, get ready to be transformed from the inside out.”

The program, created by Rick Warren (author of The Purpose Driven Life, among other things), brings light to five areas of health: faith, food, fitness, focus and friends. We went through it the first time with a small group of close friends, and we are looking forward to re-starting with more people.

As part of the plan, I totally revamped our menu plan. I am including two weeks of menu planning with this post for ideas for other DPers. The recipes came from www.danielplan.com, the Daniel Plan “getting started” book, and DP fans on Facebook.

Weekly Menu – DP#1
Weekly Menu – DP#2

Let me know if you have questions – I would love to share our journey with you!

Back to blogging

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I started 2014 by deciding I wasn’t going to make any resolutions. Since resolutions are usually made to be broken, I just didn’t want to put my self in that position – a position to fail. However, I heard a message in January that made me realize that was a weak excuse.

  • Have a date night 1x a week with significant conversation
  • Teach G verses
  • One year daily / pray and listen
  • Daniel Plan

And so far, so good. It took me the past month or so to get the hang of balancing it all, but I think I am getting it figured out now. More to come about these upgrades!

My baby’s prayers

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There is something so incredible about hearing my daughter pray.

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Last night, she asked for more after papa prayed. So I said, “you can pray, Giana.” And she did. She went through a huge list of all the things she is thankful for:

Her friend papa and that he plays puzzles with her

Mommy

For blessing her baby Mariel

Gamma Lissie and Bumpa

Gigi and her oh-pretty dress

George, Minnie and Lucy (her favorite stuffed animals/dolls)

Fo-nastics (gymnastics) and playing with all her friends

All her friends

Her best friend Lily and Levi

Aunt Bef (Beth) and Uncle Rob

For playing with Miles and Bella

Uncle Michael, Aunt (Jennifer)  and Uncle Officer Mike

I was moved to tears! God is so good!

Matthew 18:10 “Beware that you don’t look down on any of these little ones. For I tell you that in heaven their angels are always in the presence of my heavenly Father.”

A special week

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Work trip. Sounds totally boring and has nothing to do with family, right? Not when you’re the Sorianos and mommy works for a great company that is family-friendly!

My company’s biannual meeting was held at headquarters in Madison this past week. Since we all work together virtually, I really wanted to go because I love to see my co-workers face-to-face. But it’s hard to go with a 5 month old baby who needs me because I am her only source of nutrition. I can’t just pump ahead and freeze it because I have high lipase issues with my milk. Basically, it means that the fat in my milk breaks down funny when thawed, but it’s fine fresh out of the tap. So all that makes the idea of a trip for work seem very hard. (Plus she’s just so darn cute! I would miss seeing her smiling face at 5 a.m.)

I talked to our CEO and he was more than willing to accommodate my arrival and departure times and get a room for my family! Rafa took the week off of work to take care of his littlest girl and spend some quality time with her. Mariel went swimming in the hotel pool and charmed the housekeeping staff.

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And Giana? Well her energy is just a little too big to be contained in a hotel room for a week. She had lots of fun staying with Grandpa Rod and Grandma Lisa. Aunt Jennifer, Uncle Mike and Uncle Michael were also there to entertain (or be entertained by?) her. It was the longest we have ever been away from her. We missed her like crazy. I’m pretty sure she didn’t even notice we were gone! She did make us a very nice “welcome home” sign that made us feel very special.

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The biggest Thanksgiving

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On Thanksgiving, I give the most and biggest thankfulness for my Lord and savior, Jesus. What else can I say?!

So the Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son.

John 1:14

We have enough.

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I am so thankful that we always have enough. We have enough in our accounts to pay the bills. We have enough food to keep everyone full and healthy. We have enough gas in our tank and we have enough clothes in our closets. Most importantly, we have enough love in our home.

And for technology

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I’ll admit it: I’m thankful for technology. It helps me meet with old friends and new. It helps me connect with my family far away. It helps me work without leaving the comfort of home. At any given moment, I have multiple devices around me, including a smartphone, work laptop, work mac, tablet, home desktop, Rafa’s smartphone and laptop, etc. I can connect with anyone at anytime! I love it.