Anna M. Aquino

If you follow me on Facebook then you’ve probably heard about Dan and my recent adventure with the water heater. Really it was more Dan’s adventure. It amazes me when you own your own home how much your thrust at learning some skills you wouldn’t have learned before like plumbing and carpentry. Our house is 24 years old and the hot water heater had never been replaced. Dan was cleaning out the garage a few weeks ago and suddenly saw that our old one was leaking. He was right we needed to replace it, but really I find that such an adult purchase neither of us wanted to purchase. I would have much rather opted for some sparkly shoes and a new dress, but we had to so we did. When we went to Lowe’s to investigate we learned that it would cost us $400 just to have it installed. Really? $400? The water heater didn’t cost $400. Dan took one look at it, and figured he could probably do it. So we had to rent a truck to get the new one here, only to find out someone had seemingly dropped t...

Several years ago I worked in a jewelry sales job, and learned quite a bit about diamonds. I will never forget the day when this customer came in wanting to know the value of a men’s ring. Now I wasn’t allowed to give people values but I was allowed to give them a guesstimate, and I happily went about my work to do so. I love looking at older estate jewelry and the woman seemed like a nice woman. As her story unfolded it seemed the ring she wanted me to look at had been in the family for over 50 years and it had belonged to her father. Sadly her father had just passed away, and she’d wanted to see what this family heirloom was worth. As I began talking to her I developed a pretty good exchange with her, and I wanted desperately to be able to give her a good amount for her heirloom. She seemed like a nice woman and I felt bad that she’d just lost her father. The ring initially appeared to be a diamond that I could easily guess at a 1 to a 1.3 carat round set in a yellow gold set...

Dan and I discovered on Sunday that our hot water heater was about to breath its last breath and we needed to replace it. As a result we’d moved all the things out from the old one so that we could see if any amount of TLC or CPR could get the old one to work, but realistically the thing is 24 years old and it is getting replaced. We have this big plastic purple plastic toy bin that got moved into my path in all the poking and prodding of the old water heater. So late Sunday night not thinking that the purple plastic toy bin had been moved in my way to get to the washer and dryer, I made my way out to the washing machine with a pile of dirty laundry. I wasn’t paying any attention. I was caught up in my own little world, and I had an impromptu wrestling match with the toy bin. Dirty laundry went flying, my feet went airborne, and I’d like to think that it was me that one that match. However if we count scratches I may have to concede that it was the toy bin. I had scratches and scuf...

My oldest daughter is working on a history fair project and she had to pick a turning place in history and do a project on it. I jumped at the chance to get her to do a project on Vietnam. As many of you know my dad was a grunt soldier in the war and essentially it’s my dad’s story that God used to get me writing. Watching her interview my dad and me has opened up some great dialogue in my house. It’s reminded me yet again why I am so passionate about talking about my father’s story and one day getting my book about him published. I want the next generation to know what happened. It’s something deeply rooted within me. It’s also making me want to dust off my first book again and see if I can generate any interest in it in the world of publishing.It can be easy when you go through life to get so caught up in the current project that you lose sight of the foundational things that are within you. But you need to take moments to reevaluate in life where you are and where you are go...

When Lightning Struck My House I’ve probably told this story before, but I was reminded of it again this morning and some stories are just worth repeating. When my husband and I bought our home we spent more than we wanted. The very first time I walked into my master bathroom I had the biggest desire to start remodeling it. Of course when you buy a new home you think of all the projects you want to do and can’t. We knew it may be awhile until we got to the bathroom remodel. About six months after we purchased the home, we found ourselves at church one night listening to our pastor preach about “praising the Lord in the midst of all circumstances.” Sure that sermon sounded nice and happy, but we didn’t know what was waiting for us at home. Central Florida is one of the top lightning strike capitals of the world, and our home that night was a target. The strike went through my water pipes, and busted them out so that when we got home water was filling my master bathroom. It blew out...

My grandparent’s house growing up had a laundry chute. I can remember thinking that this was one of the coolest inventions ever. You could put the clothes in the chute and they went down to the basement where the washer and dryer was kept. I realize this seems like such a small thing, but it amazed me as a child. The chute was a straight shot to where the clothing had to go. My grandmother used to joke and call it the “magic chute” because the clothes when down dirty but came back clean. Grandma’s laundry chute was a way to have a straight shot to where the clothes needed to go. Likewise prayer is the same way with God. It’s all too often we whine and complain because we want and need the guidance from God and we just don’t seem to be getting it the way we think we need. But to address that question, how’s your “laundry chute” to God these days? Are you seeking his face in the matter or merely complaining about it? Is your chute a two way street or are you merely throwing all the d...

Once while I was in New York City I happened to walk by this woman who I could easily assume she was some kind of heiress or socialite. Her hair was perfectly styled and cut. It was the prettiest shade of grayish silver. Somehow she’d managed to find a fur coat that was the exact shade of her hair. She wore it with a grace as she walked down Broadway. But she didn’t stop there. Her high heeled designer shoes were the exact same color as the coat and her hair, and if that wasn’t enough the dog she was walking was the exact same shade of silver. I couldn’t help but take a moment to look at her. I had to wonder did she go to get that dog on purpose to be the exact shade or was his hair dyed to match. It was an impressive sight walking down New York City for this country girl. On the outside she seemed every bit of a classy woman. This incident was probably 14 years ago, and it’s weird to me that I still remember it. We are a society that looks towards the outside. We assume just bec...

It was a rough morning in the Aquino household today. Last night I had preached in Lake Mary and probably left a little too late, and my kids got to sleep and hour and a half past their bedtime. Though I do think they napped in the car ride home. I felt sympathy for them, so I let them sleep in 30 minutes later than usual thinking they could hurry up and get ready for school. Maybe for one of my kiddo’s that would have worked, but the other one was having issues. It got down to the wire, and I was yelling. We had 12 minutes to go, and I the youngest still hadn’t gotten ready. So I started to help her, and exactly at the last minute we pulled out the drive. I am not of fan of last minute, rushing, freaking out, and getting ready chaos. I like all of my ducks in a row, and I like to have everything ready to go so that when it’s time for something to happen the transition is smooth. While God is NOT a God of chaos and disorder, He does sometimes wait until what you feel is the last min...

Thought I'd send this out to all of you. This interview worked out well, I think. http://youtu.be/XCHK6RnO_2s Have a super awesome rest of your week, and remember God has awesome plans for your life. Get excited.

Yesterday it became apparent that it was past time for us to go through my youngest daughter’s toy bins. Like many children you can easily find an enormous collection of junk. It isn’t usable toys. It’s pieces of broken toys, random art projects, lost crayons, and Barbie Doll shoes. From two toy bins we took out three garbage bags of trash. On a very positive note we were able to combine the two bins into one and did go through a collection of junk where my youngest found long lost items she’d forgotten about and we put a few good items on craigslist. As I plowed through piles of junk I began to think about how these toy bins are so much like our own lives. We can get caught up on doing things in life and forget about all the broken places. We can just start avoiding those random things and push them aside. We can forget to continue to “clean” out our emotional and spiritual closets until there is so much junk that we have no choice because the junk is running over. I remember sin...