Anna M. Aquino

When Dan and I first moved to Florida I wanted to get a dog and for a whole list of reasons it just wasn’t the right time. Over the last few months we’ve been reconsidering this. Our desire for a small dog intensified over two weeks ago. Dan and Trinity had been somewhere and they saw a puppy for $30 that had already had all of its shots and was spayed/neutered. Had I have been with them that day we’d had ended up with that dog. Dan didn’t get it because he thought I’d be upset. By the time we went back for it, someone else had already taken in. After we thought about it we realized it was a good thing we didn’t because that dog in particular would have been bigger than we wanted. We realized we need a small dog that we can travel with. My family is going through a lot of transition these days, and it’s like I know we all would really enjoy having a new member of our family. Then last week I had a friend of ours offered us a 1 year old yorkie. The dog was darling but we could tell this...

Have you ever been in those kinds of seasons in your life when you know that all sorts of things are in the works and just around the corner but you can’t really see it? You know it’s there. You don’t have exacts, but it’s almost like if you just reached a little further you could touch it? It can be a season of frustration and irritation. I know that a lot of people have this misguided notion that God likes to play with them similar to how you’d play with a cat and a ball of string. Many people think that when you get close to it God likes to move things further. God is not like that. HE wants you to fulfill His will for your life more than you do. He created you for it. There are many reasons why God doesn’t reveal to you everything at once. One of them is it wouldn’t really be faith if we knew everything. Faith builds trust. God doesn’t want a bunch of pawns in the game of chess. He wants us to work with Him in teamwork to get to where He’s called us to. We have to keep trust...

Last night God downloaded a really awesome book idea to me. It’s not a completely unusual occurrence. I like anyone who starts to step into their gifting will learn once you use that gift you start realizing you can do it, and thus God gives you more to use that gifting on. Usually I have about five book ideas roaming around in my head. Easily I could be one of those Einstein esk hermit like people who don’t do anything other than work and come out on occasion in a hair frazzled afro doo (Seriously I do have the hair for it), and only stop working when I have to. I used to say I’d never write another book again after I finish one, but I’m done saying that now. I’m working on number 17. It becomes an addiction. This is why one of the many reasons God, my friends, and family are such a blessing. They help me learn balance. A little over a month ago Hank Kunneman had given me a prophetic word about a book God was giving to me to write. It’s funny though, I’m working on one book and ha...

I’ve been in the publishing industry a lot of years. Truthfully if I wasn’t sure what I was doing was what God wanted me to be doing I would have been out the door a long time ago. I love what I do, but the cycle of turndowns, rejections, and finding the right publisher fit gets tedious and old. You can easily find yourself on a spiritual and emotional roller coaster that can wear you out and suck the life out of you if you let it. Truthfully turndowns don’t get to me as much as they used to. Unless it’s a publishing house or a connection I’ve invested a lot of time with, typically I don’t care much anymore. I understand the business is just that a business and the choices aren’t personal. Often it’s just about finding the right fit for the right project, etc. etc. However, yesterday was one of those connections that I had invested a lot of time and effort in. I don’t need to go into specifics but this one hurt. As I found myself slipping into a pity party mode, and running on the...

This morning my mom and grandfather ended their trip to the South and started the long drive back to Ohio. For most of my readers you know my story, but for those that don’t, over 12 years ago now God told my husband and I to move across the country to a land that we knew virtually no one. We both have amazing loving and supportive families 1,000’s of miles away. I can’t tell you we’ve been here because of a job, but we’ve been here because we knew beyond a doubt for this season it was where God wanted us to be living. While we are blessed to get to see our families on occasion, in my mind and most of theirs, visits are few and far between. Having done this for so long many would think the separation gets easier, or the choice to be where we know God wants us to be would suddenly be as if our fairy godmother had waved a magic wand and made it okay. It doesn’t happen that way. It’s not easy. I still cry. Honestly I’ve been a bit bummy all day. In a perfect world I’m not sure where I...

My grandmother has been moved in with Jesus for over three years now, and I think about her every day. My grandmother really cared and loved me. I never doubted that. She took time for me, and made an effort. In the summer’s we’d go to Harding Memorial in Marion, Ohio and we’d have a picnic of Happy Meals on the steps and sometimes have dryer boxes that we could roll down the hill. She once got me out of my parents’ house when I was in trouble and sent to my room, because I called her and told her to come get me. There were shopping trips, car rides, and hours of her just listening to me talk. The memories I have of her are priceless. Time with her was so much more than things or stuff, but they were hours she invested in me. Even in the years I lived across the country we still talked often, she sent cards, and she went out of her way to make memories even though the location distance was great. I knew she cared. I miss her. We live in such a fast pace society. Our families are gett...