Anna M. Aquino

             This weekend I had the awesome opportunity to attend my church’s woman’s conference in Johnstown, OH.  The New Vintage Conference at Faith Life Church was everything one could expect.  As always, my church knows how to put on an event.  I was blessed to be there and people came from other states, cities and countries.  I was in a workshop about using the creativity God gave you for the kingdom and I noticed that one of the attendees mentioned she was from my hometown.  I made a mental note of it, and enjoyed the workshop. Later in the day I ran into the woman in the bathroom and in a moment of trying to make small talk, I introduced myself.           “Hello, I grew up in Marion.”  The woman looked at me like I was crazy.  It was an awkward moment and standing at the sink I was trying to keep the conversation light.  “I heard you say you lived in M...

            As I was in prayer earlier I suddenly felt as if I was on a roller coaster.  It reminded me a lot of the Hulk Ride at Universal Studios in Florida.  The ride begins in a surprise.   Like most rides with a hill you may expect it to slowly begin its accent but with this particular ride it bolts you forward.  What I felt was a sudden bursting forth.  It was if for a moment I could feel the surprise of the wind on my face.  It was a quick speeding forward and upward.              “But God, I said, I don’t see any signs in the physical of this.”  I started to ask God.             “I know, but get ready.  Expect!”  I felt Him impress upon me.                    ...

            It’s been a challenging winter for my ex-Florida family for a whole list of reasons.  My family has been through some major changes and snow is something none of us appreciate.  While we are exactly where God wants us to be the gray Ohio days and lack of flip flop weather has made us all a tad irritable. My own children have been caught in the “Mom, when can we go outside in shorts again” blues.             This afternoon as I was going throughout my day I heard a bird call, and something deep from my childhood triggered on the inside.  I knew that bird call (not even sure what type of bird it was), but I knew if I heard that call that spring was in the air. Inside of my head I started getting hugely excited!  “Spring is here!” I wanted to twirl around the room singing old fashioned Broadway musical show tunes.  I wanted to start a cho...

            I have never been a lover of cold weather.  I can remember that when I lived in the north going out to scrape my car windows muttering “Dear God Please send me somewhere warm!”  Well.  He did.  I lived in Florida for over 13 years.  For over 13 years I experienced the seasons of “hot and hotter”.   While Florida weather isn’t ideal, flip flops are a clothing “must have” year round.  I hardly ever wore socks.  For 13.5 years I visited colder weather fondly at Christmas time, and then returned to climates where their idea of winter weather meant you might have to throw on a sweatshirt.  While I always missed the seasons I NEVER missed the cold.              My family and I moved to Ohio this year in June.  We all knew this was God’s doing. While I knew the winter months would be arriving, I tried very...

            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 ...

            When I was a kid we would typically travel down to Florida from Ohio once a summer to visit my aunt, uncle and cousins.  One of these trips when I was probably around the age of 10 we visited the water park Buccaneer Bay in Tampa.  They had advertised for the newest, tallest, and fastest waterslide.  I have always been a bit of a ‘dare devil’. Call me fearless. I thrive on these kinds of things and was very excited when my uncle volunteered to take my cousin and me to go on the slide.  I don’t remember what the slide is called but I do remember it was tall, and was a close to vertical drop straight down.              I remember waiting in line for what seemed to be forever, so when we finally arrived on the top of the platform we were all ready to jump in the slide.  When the lifeguard told me that it was my turn I jumped into th...

Many years ago when we got my car we walked out nothing short of a classic miracle story of a divine plan and some appearing to be crazy circumstances.   Dan and I had been in need of a vehicle.   We’d planted some seed toward it.   I happened to be visiting my parents in Ohio for a wedding, and got in touch with a friend of the family who is employed by a dealership and has always gotten us great deals on cars.   Long story short though I had plans to fly back to FL, after spending time on the phone with Dan and the family friend (sometimes at the same time) we ended up purchasing this vehicle at the same amount we’d sown seed for over the dealer price.   However they’d needed Dan's signature for the car loan, so my mother, oldest daughter, and myself were permitted to take it on a really “long test drive” to Florida.   So my mother could get Dan’s signature on the paperwork, and fly back to Ohio.   Dan bought the car sight unseen.   Through a...

Many of you have heard me tell the story time and time again how 13 years ago today, Dan and I left my parents driveway in Ohio to head to Florida.   Dan and I had been living in Pittsburgh, PA for him to finish out his 2 nd AA degree.   We were seeking the Lord as to where He wanted us to move.   I knew it wasn’t just for a job, but for the right church.   It was for God to put Dan and I  to be under a ministry to help us grow up in the things of God and to prepare us for what He had for us in ministry.   While driving home from work one day in the Pittsburgh hills I heard the Lord say to me, “You’re going to Orlando and Dan is going to work at ***** company.”   I remember going home to Dan and telling him this.   I remember his response, “That would be great but ***** company hasn’t hired me yet.”   So we went on our quest to continue to try to figure out what God was doing and what he wanted.   Several job possibilities came and...

  I hope everyone had an awesome Labor Day weekend.   This weekend my family and a friend of my girls’ got to go out to Weikwa Springs, Florida.   I love Weikwa Springs.   We swam in the very cold water, went canoeing, and my oldest daughter and I went for a couple mile hike.   We had a great time.   I love canoeing, but as many of you know about me by now I really don’t like alligators; or any large animal with massive amounts of teeth.   Canoeing at Weikwa or anywhere in Florida for that matter requires a level of peace with nature.   There are gators out in those waters and if you are in them you have to accept that fact.   Having lived in Florida for almost 13 years now, I’m at the point where I am semi okay with them as long as I’m in the boat and they are not.   Call it out of sight out of mind.   I like to keep my distance. When we went canoeing we all agreed Dan would take the two younger girls in his canoe and m...

As many of you know my family and I travel to Canada about twice a year. In the 14 years now that I’ve been visiting my in-laws; Dan and I have collected a variety of funny border stories. There was the time when Dan and I were dating and the American Border Guard asked Dan essentially “what his intentions were” with me as an American. There was the time that we’d forgotten the birth certificate of my oldest daughter when she was about four and made her keep rehearsing “I’m an American from Florida” in the car. Or there was the time where I kept trying to explain to the guard that the “homemade coppicollo” was for our private consumption and it was really okay for us to cross with it. My list of funny stories could go on. We always drive up there borrowing a vehicle from my parents. This summer my parents purchased a brand new luxury vehicle. For years my mother used to put in a note that stated I could borrow her car, and we stopped doing it because in all the years no one ever ask...

Before I get into the blog for today, I am very glad that I FINALLY get to post this link. http://youtu.be/OlNZWbmO5i0 This was a TV interview I did in Ohio back in June. I know it took us forever to get it online…sigh, I could go into all the technical pitfalls and the 8 hours it took to upload just today, but Thank you Jesus its up! ~~~ On Friday, I went to do my typical grocery shopping. My kids are still out of school and I had a friend of mine’s son as well for a few days. Grocery shopping with three kids is a challenge. But I have this thing where I go to a different fruit & vegetable store, a different meat store, and Wal-Mart. Add to that my stack of coupons and this wall of crazy Florida heat and it can all be a tad stressful. When I got to my first store I was trying to watch the kids in the parking lot and ran the shopping car over my toe and bruised my toe. The heat was already getting to me. Then I went to Wal-Mart and they didn’t have any 2% milk in ...

A few days ago my mom, dad, and grandfather arrived on a long car trip from the North. They didn’t stay long and sadly left our house this morning. On Wednesday I was trying to set up the air mattress for my mom and dad. Years ago when we first moved to Florida, my parents and my in-laws both bought us air mattresses’ so they could sleep on them when they visited. We finally came to the conclusion if you put one on top of the other it makes for a decent mattress. So on Wednesday, I rushed to set up a bed for them. The first air mattress went up smoothly, and in the midst of doing what felt like fifty things at once I started to plug in the pump of the second. However, there was a problem. The motor turned on but nothing was happening. I watched the mattress start to inflate, and then like a sigh drift down. I started getting bummed. This had been such a good air mattress for us, and it appeared it was dying. I was tired. Thoughts kept piling in my head. I started to get...