Anna M. Aquino

            I have a confession to make.  I had been struggling emotionally in the last few weeks.  I could give myself a dozen scriptures for every negative attitude I was having.  I was trying to preach myself back to a place of hope and faith, but I just couldn’t seem to get my head up.  I confessed my downward spiral to a few people.  We always need people in our lives that can speak into them like few can, but I was still struggling.  I knew I needed to renew my mind.  My family and I have been through a lot in the last few months.  Certain situations haven’t turned out yet the way we’ve expected them to, but some things have worked out.  Yada yada yada, God is faithful, but sometimes when expectations are not met the way we think they should be we all have a tendency to have a moment.  I hadn’t been in such a low place for a lot of years.  I know I’m being crazy trans...

            When I was in college I lived on the 23 rd floor of a high tower on the OSU campus.  I’d give the name here but perhaps it isn’t wise when I tell the story I’m about to in this blog.  Living on the 23 rd floor meant that I spent a lot of time with my floor mates on the elevator.  There were two floors one needed to have a special key in order to travel to.  I’m not overly sure how it was discovered but one friend found while carrying a strong magnet we could override the system.  If he swiped the magnet over the control panel it would light up the forbidden floors.  We could travel to the prohibited two floors.  We were college students, and so we did.  Our moments of mischief in this case didn’t amount to much.  The one floor took us to the back of the kitchen and that elevator entrance was never used so we arrived staring at stacks of boxes and storage.  The othe...

             Last week I had a thought provoking conversation with my oldest daughter.  Let’s face it if you have two children you’ll learn early on how different the two of them are in their personalities.  I have one that will let the world dramatically know what is on her mind and another who will only declare her feelings when she must.  My oldest was annoyed because I was letting her sister do something I guess she would have wanted to do at her age and she asked me why I let her do something when she didn’t feel I would have let her do the same.             “But did you ever ask me to do that?” I questioned.  What would I have said to my oldest 5 years ago if she would have wanted to do the same?             “But you wouldn’t have let me.”  She stood her ground.  Honestly I don’t th...

On Sunday we stayed after church.  Dan was helping in a department, and we’re still currently living about an hour away.  But we are starting to talk to a real estate agent so we’ll be moving over there soon…I hope.  It only made logical sense that we packed a lunch and all stayed.  However, I did have a parenting fail.  I should have brought a tablet, electronic, or a game that we could have done while we were waiting.  Of course we could have gone into our church’s playground but honestly I’m just now thinking of that.  My youngest especially needed some entertaining and it wasn’t long until they were pilfering like pirates through my purse and perusing my jewelry.  I have a bracelet that says “Fierce” on it.  I bought it right before preaching a conference once; I always love wearing it to remind me to be boldly confident.  I noticed my youngest daughter starring at it, and truthfully I didn’t pay much attention to her.  S...

          Last night Dan and I were so excited to get to spend time with some very dear friends of ours.   It’s been the first time we’ve gotten to see them since we’ve moved.   No names are needed.   They know who they are.   This couple was originally from Ohio, we met them in FL, and they moved several years ago back to Ohio. It’s a friendship that in my mind has gone from just friends to more like family.   It was so nice to get to see them.   They were such a blessing to us.   We agreed to go to a movie with them.   They not only bought out ticket, but they kept insisting on blessing us with popcorn, soda, etc. It certainly wasn’t expected, but it was an act of generosity that left Dan and I feeling so blessed. We’ve had such a big transition the last few months in our lives.   We were just glad to get to spend time with them.   I began to think this morning how little acts of kindness that may seem s...

            A few days ago a dear friend of mine sent me an email because she knew someone who thought they saw me in Florida last weekend and she wanted to know if we were returning to FL.  Obviously it was a misunderstanding.  Jokingly but true, I do have a doppelganger who my sister has once met and I’ve ran into several who have known her over the years.  Her name is Annie and I’ve been joking that’s who was in FL last weekend.             Funny mishap as it may be, the whole thing got me thinking if I would ever return to Florida.  Even though it feels we have had a bit of a slow and bumpy start in Ohio, things are moving forward.  We know this is where God wants us to be at this time in our lives.  We’re members now at our church.  I’m enjoying living in a land with little to no humidity.  My skin and hair are thanking me for ...

            I have a very active imagination.  I create worlds and scenarios in my mind.  It would be easy to label me as a hopeful creative dreamer.  It helps me as a writer.  While dreaming and faith is different, I am always putting footprints towards those dreams.  I’m often taking steps toward seeing those things fulfilled.  However sometimes the imagination in my mind doesn’t always equal what happens in real life.  We all go through things that don’t exactly match up with the way you thought they should.  It’s in these moments disappointments can set in.  While God always keeps his promises, sometimes those promises take longer to fulfill or just don’t exactly manifest the way you think they should.              It is in these moments where it can be easy to get so discouraged that you simply don’t want to keep fi...