Anna M. Aquino

Last week my girls had a day off of school. It was a beautiful fall morning. The breeze was flowing and the sun was shining. The girls and I rode our bikes to the park. We had a good morning. When we were on the way back my youngest decided she didn’t really want to leave and I was trying to encourage her to stay focused. Instead of trying to leave she started finding weeds that resemble flowers and picking them to give to me. It was sweet, and at first I kept saying “Thank you, now let’s go.” She’d move a couple of inches and then find me more flowers. I started to get frustrated. She started to get caught up in finding me more flowers. “We’re leaving!” I tried a different approach. Finally after getting quite frustrated with her I found myself saying, “I want your obedience not your flowers!” I was trying so hard not to squish what she was doing yet when it came down to it she wasn’t obeying what I was saying. In a sense her heart motive was sweet because she was trying to bless me, ...

I am blessed to have such a super awesome daddy on this earth. As many of you know my dad served a tour in Vietnam in 1967 and 68. He wasn’t just a drafted army man, but was a grunt soldier for most of that time where he lived in horrible conditions. My dad just also happens to be quite the prankster and the story about the pig poop and grass hut in my family happens to be one of my favorite. Daddy’s company was coming into a village and he and his friend Rob went to go checkout a hut that was a bit away from the village and up on a small hill. Now typically when you checked out a hut you were supposed to have three men, but this day it was only dad and Rob. It really was a difficult scenario. Many times the huts were entrances to the system of underground tunnels and you never knew what was in that hut, or who could be waiting. Dad snuck up one side of the hill, while Rob took the other side. It was in these moments of silent fear Dad noticed that one side of the hill had p...

Last week I got a turndown for an event that I had been waiting to hear about for sometime. Truthfully I’ve been turndowned so much in this industry they don’t usually get to me. But this one did. Without going into details I believe eventually I’ll get to do this event, but for the project this time I can see why it ended in a turndown. I don’t believe it was me, but the project for this event, etc. In a classic me response I came back with boldness. I told them that I would like to be considered for future projects. Then went to my couch in my office and bawled. With the miracle of texts and phone calls my pastors, sister, and friends rallied around me encouraging me. I got back up and started to rejoice for that turndown. After I was done feeling sorry for myself I realized that there are some issues in my life that I need to work on. I had a God encounter as a result. I know it might sound strange, but I’m actually grateful for the turndown now. Don’t get me wrong, I was disappoint...

I should have known it was going to be one of those mornings when I woke up and came out into the kitchen to hear my youngest go “Shhh Mom’s up!” I accept that I do not always wake up in the best of moods but I do think I have gotten better and are not as bad as some. Then I see my youngest coloring a beautiful masterpiece and motivating her to start getting ready for school is equal to convincing people to stay on the Titanic as it sank. Trying to motivate her I yelled, “Why don’t you get dressed while I make your oatmeal.” She ran to her room and I hear the sound that makes mother’s cringe in the morning, “Mom, I don’t have any uniform shirts here!” So I walked to the clean clothes that need to be folded. I try to sift through them not finding anything and trying to watch the oatmeal as it cooked. Quickly I picked up the basket, and knocked over the ironing board and the iron hits the garage floor with a thwack. I do not think it broke. Dumping all the laundry on the livin...

When I went to Ohio State University I lived on the 23rd floor of Morrill Tower for a year. If you can see the picture it’s the closest tower in the background. One of my favorite memories from college was a couple friends and I once snuck into the Horseshoe Stadium. It had been the first snow of the year, and a magical crisp feeling lay like fog above our heads. The sky though dark radiated like a majestic wonder around us. The gate hadn’t even been locked and we found ourselves out on the football field. As I walked out into the famous field I felt so small. The snow began to fall and it was a moment that if I could capture it in an image, I would. It’s this memory that often when I think of fall and football I find myself nostalgically remembering as if it’s a snuggly blanket on that chilly night. When Dan and I moved to FL, I had this idea in my head that it would only be for five years. We are nearing our eleven year mark. While I still maintain we’ll be here for a season, we refu...

On Monday I finished the rough draft of my latest book I’ve been working on. That brings me up to 15 books, 4 screenplays, 2 children’s’ book series’, a college curriculum, a woman’s devotional among some other things here and there. I started to laugh thinking about the first time I felt God called me to write a book. I remember struggling with such fear and feelings of inadequacy. I kept thinking God surely you must have gotten the wrong person. Did you switch my file with someone else’s; do you forget I can’t do that?! Really God, are you sure? As much as I struggled to believe what I felt God was saying I knew I couldn’t deny it. The more and more I tried the more I knew it was God. Today over 17 years later (wow that makes me feel old) I know God saw destiny in me even if I couldn’t. So often people have their own destinies bubbling up ready to burst on the inside of them, and they simply are too afraid to try and keep shoving it down. Here’s a classic scripture about talents. I’v...

A few weeks ago I was driving back from the grocery store with I came across and intersection. There were probably twenty five ducks and they weren’t being very quick about crossing the road. I thought at first if I drove very slowly then they would move so that I could get home, but that wouldn’t work. The ducks took their own precious time crossing over to get to the pond on the other side of the street. Then I half considered getting out of the car to hurry them along. However, there were already a couple of people gathering to take pictures of their voyage and I really didn’t want to look like a crazy woman trying to hurry them up. So I sat in the car and waited….and waited….and waited. While I didn’t look at my watch, it felt like at least 15 minutes until there was a hole in the pack of ducks were I could get my car. Half of them were on one side of the street and the other half on the other. This is not my picture. I thought about grabbing one but I didn’t. It can fe...

Greetings awesome peeps! Today I am going to make this rather short. I am in the middle of working on my next book tentatively entitled “Turpentine and India Ink.” Recently someone emailed me this video. Truthfully when they did I thought, “Geesh…I don’t have time to sit and watch a half hour movie. However, I felt since it was coming from a particular person that rarely recommends I watch things like this I decided to take a moment and watch it thinking I can always turn it off if it turns boring. This film put together by the ministry of “The Way of the Master” is an amazing documentary. It needs to be watched and I would say that half hour was a good investment of time. I even made Dan and my oldest daughter watch it later. In the time you will save by reading my lengthy blog today, take the time to watch this film and pass it along. There is a mandate that we share the truth behind this film. You can find it by clicking on this link below. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...

When I was in college at The Ohio State University, I tried for about 2 weeks to ride my bike on campus. It was really a good idea with all the walking I had to do, but the pedestrian and car traffic at OSU is a bit scary. I have joked that it prepared me to walk in New York City. It resembles that. What made me stop riding my bicycle at OSU, is I was riding in a parking lot and was hit by a car. It was not just a little “got hit”, I rolled up on the hood of the vehicle after impact. Fortunately no one was hurt. Really, that was a miracle, because I had rolled up on the hood of the car and hit the windshield. I got back up much to the amazement of the car driver and went on my way to class. However, ever since that day I will admit I have carried a bit of a phobia when it comes to riding a bike. It’s not that I cringed at the sight of a bicycle or that I would never ride one, but I was just a little scared when I got back up to ride especially if I was in areas where there w...