Two year anniversary

"Marriage in its truest sense, is a partnership of equals, with neither exercising dominion over the other, but, rather, with each encouraging and assisting the other in whatever responsibilities and aspirations he or she might have."
— Gordon B. Hinckley

  
  Yesterday was our 2 year anniversary. It feels like it should be our 4 year anniversary because that's how long Enoch and I have been together.
    I worked all day and got home to a beautiful bouquet of flowers. We then headed to a fancy Brazilian restaurant in Culver City called Libra. The food was delicious and we really enjoyed our time being together.

    Last week I started pondering about our upcoming anniversary, on how things have changed since Enoch and I have been together. I can say that being married has given me a happiness that I had never experienced before. It has also taught me about very important principles and has shaped me as a human being. I have learned  these lessons through our trials and struggles as a family. We have gone through so much and constantly sacrifice so much for each other and for our future. We rarely see each other since Enoch has 2 jobs, carries a full load in school and does volunteer work. I, on the other hand am carrying 17 units in school and working at a clinic in Boyle Heights for my internship. And did I mention I'm 6 months pregnant?! Our little baby keeps me motivated and provides plenty of random smiles during the day as she kicks letting me know shes there.

    Needless to say, our lives consist of work..work..work! Sometimes it hard to keep up with so much going on on top of church callings, helping our families and keeping up with our home responsabilities. It is only with God's help that we have been able to keep up with this crazy lifestyle. However, I treasure those sweet, simple moment with Enoch, when we don't think of our responsabilites and simply enjoy each others company. I have learned not to take my husband for granted and to tell him every day via text or before he leaves for work how much I love and care for him. I admire his hard work and dedication. I admire his willingness to make our marriage work depspite the madness that surrounds us.

       I can see why Heavenly Father gave him to me. We both support each others dreams, we both believe in one another, we both love the other with all our heart. And that is why when I think of our marriage, I can honestly say, it has not been easy, but I wouldn't change it for the world!

Children learn what they live

Lately I've been pondering several issues that have led me to look up this poem below. As I get closer to becoming a mother, I am reminded how important my role will be in this child's life. In my internship I  do short term therapy with clients. They come to me with several psychosocial issues that 99% of the time stemed from their childhood. This is why I love the poem by Dorothy Nolte. I have also been listeneing to church articles on my way to work and school and reading several boks by women who are mothers in our church. I want to be prepared spitirutally to welcome the precious blessing that will be a part of our lives. I know nothing can fully prepare me to be a mother but I am doing all I can to give my child the best life possible. And of course this stems from my own childhood traumas and experiences. I promised myself as a child that I would give my child a better life than mine. So I hope I can remember my own words and the words of the author from this poem. 

CHILDREN LEARN WHAT THEY LIVE

By: Dorothy Law Nolte

If a child lives with criticism,

he learns to condemn.

If a child lives with hostility,

he learns to fight.

If a child lives with fear,

he learns to be apprehensive.

If a child lives with pity,

he learns to feel sorry for himself.

If a child lives with ridicule,

he learns to be shy.

If a child lives with jealousy,

he learns what envy is.

If a child lives with shame,

he learns to feel guilty.

If a child lives with encouragement,

he learns to be confident.

If a child lives with tolerance,

he learns to be patient.

If a child lives with praise,

he learns to be appreciative.

If a child lives with acceptance,

he learns to love.

If a child lives with approval,

he learns to like himself.

If a child lives with recognition,

he learns that it is good to have a goal.

If a child lives with sharing,

he learns about generosity.

If a child lives with honesty and fairness,

he learns what truth and justice are.

If a child lives with security,

he learns to have faith in himself and in those about him.

If a child lives with friendliness,

he learns that the world is a nice place in which to live.

If you live with serenity,

your child will live with peace of mind.

With what is your child living?

Two of the books I am reading

p.s. I will be posting belly pictures soon:)

It's a girl!

I finally feel safe to say that we will be having a baby girl this coming summer, July to be precise. I am 4 1/2 months pregnant and feel happier than ever. Enoch and I prayed for this baby and feel it is God sent. I am taking care of myself, trying to eat as healthy as possible and doing pregnancy yoga. Exercise makes me feel relaxed and relieves some of the stress I encounter from school and work. I feel so blessed to be carrying this child and can't wait to see our precious little baby girl. Enoch is so thrilled to a father and can't wait to take our little daughter to ballet class:)
We found out the sex of our baby on Saturday for Enoch's birthday. I thought it would be a nice birthday gift.  I later prepared diner for our family and some friends over to celebrate his birthday. We had a lot of fun and received baby's first present. Our next task is to search girl names for our little bundle of joy!

Trefflich Trip to Guatemala!

We know its been a while but with the holidays, our trip and school starting up again we've had very busy months. In December, we finally went to our long awaited trip to Guatemala. And we must say it was stupendous! We were able to:

• sight see in Antigua
• hike and ride in a boat on the island, Flores
• enjoyed the sunset and walked around the beach city, my home town Puerto San Jose
• took a boat ride on a Lake Atitlan surrounded by 3 volcanoes
• see and hike the Mayan ruins
• walk through the jungle
• Sip cocunut juice:)

We came back from our trip exhausted but very happy to know we did all of that in 8 days!
Here are some of the pictures!

                                                                        Lake Atitlan

                                                           The view of Tikal after our hike

                                                                             Tikal

                                                          

Boat ride in the island, Flores

The sunset in my hometown, Puerto San Jose

Antigua

Gracias!

This thanksgiving my time will be spent baking a ham, making home made fruit juices, cleaning my house and of course working on my  good old finals for school. I hope I can manage to do all of this but I know I wont have time to write a post on what I'm grateful for.
I have so many things to be thankful for, somehow  in the past 3 years this holiday always makes me reminisce on the day Enoch and I went on our first date. I had plenty to be thankful for in 2007, a new friend, a new potential boyfriend!Haha..Little did I know that this first date would be one of many to come. For this reason, I can start off by talking about me being grateful for my wonderful, fantastic husband of mine. Here is a list of just a couple of things/people I am grateful for:
1. God and his gospel
2. My Enoch
3. My mother
4. Being able to go to school for my masters at USC
5. My job/internship
6. Friends
7. Family
8. My bed(I never see you but when I do, its great:)
9. Being able to travel next month and visit my country Guatemala
10. Peace, love and charity(both receiving and giving)
11. my surprise
12. A good laugh
13. Sour foods
14. The beach
15. Life experiences- both the good and the bad

Happy thanksgiving!

FHE FUN

About the time Sonia and I got married, there was love in the air everywhere. My sister got married just before us and a stream of marriages happened in the local singles ward. A few months back we decided to have a monthly family night with the other newly weds.

This last one was great. The hosts of course, being Brazilian, had ahuge meal with Brazilian beans, chicken pie, and well rice krispy treats.

Anyway, after the meal we always have a lesson. Yesterday's lesson was very simple, yet profound. We were talking about being prepared for emergencies. Having a plan, having food, water, and fuel. The simple topic opened my eyes as to how much more Sonia and I need to do so that we are prepared.

After the lesson we played games and really got into it. TICKET TO RIDE is a great game that I highly recommend.

To keep things simple, Sonia and I really enjoyed ourselves and look forward to next months.

Just a small update

The three great essentials to achieve anything worth while are: Hard work, Stick-to-itiveness, and Common sense. -Thomas A. Edison 
Lately, it feels like Enoch and I have been in school forever!  The transition of going back to school for me has been a challenge. I think it has to do with the fact that I'm working 30 hours and doing 16 hours of internship on top of a full load of classes. Yes! It's a lot. Why did I do this to myself? Ha..ha..
At the same time, it has been quite the learning experience. I've learned so much about human beings/behavior, and myself that it makes it all worth it. Midterms just ended and they consisted of me writing about 30 pages total in a time frame of 2 weeks.
But I still manage to squeeze some fun every once in a while. I've had such a good time riding my beach cruiser at school. Enoch even bought me a basket where I can place my books. Riding the bycicle from institute to school is one my favorite parts of my crazy, hectic day. But my favorite part has to be the part when I get to see Enoch at night. Its interesting the things we take for granted. I've been learning to love the simple, little things. My sense of gratitude has also been reinforced when I give therapy in my internship. I talk to clients who don't have the gospel. Having the gospel and  God has been my anchor in these busy, challenging/fun times. Enoch and I will be having some halloween fun tonight. I hope I'll remember to take our camera because lately, we've been using our phones to take pictures like the one below.

USC vs. UCLA girls soccer game