The Value of your voice

Bueno les quiero contar a todos que hay un nuevo proyecto que quiero empezar. Desde hace tiempo que he estado pensando que me gustaria de alguna forma hacer algo al respecto, sobre un problema que veo que abunda en Guatemala, y eso es que hay tantas madres solteras con niños que no tienen ninguna ayuda del papa, quienes tienen que luchar para sacar adelante a su familia solas. Las madres hacen lo que sea para que sus hijos puedan tener no solo lo necesario, sino que lo mejor.  Es muy raro ver a madres que nos les importan sus hijos. Pero que pasa con esos padres? Por que hay tantos que no les importa? No me mal interpreten, si hay buenos papas aqui en Guatemala tambien, pero tristemente no son la mayoría.

Quiero hacer un documental y mostrar al mundo por lo que pasan tantas madres solteras. Asi que cualquier ayuda al respecto, comentarios o si les gustaria ser parte del documental, por favor ayudenme, me encantaria entrevistarlas, cualquier comentario o ayuda es bienvenida, me pueden escribir a saraineschew@gmail.com o dejar un mensaje con su email.

There is a new project I want to start. Lately I have been thinking that I need to do something about  a problem I keep seeing here in Guatemala, and that is so many single women, with kids who dont have any support from their kids father, who have to struggle and do whatever it takes in order  to raise their kids well and give them what they need. It is very rare to see a mom not caring about their kids, usually they will give up everything so their kids can have a good life, but what happens with those dads, why are there so many? Why so many men just dont care?? Dont get me wrong, there are many many good dads here in Guatemala too, but sadly they are not the majority.

I want to do a documentary about this, show the world what so many single moms go through. So any insights or comments, or if you would like to be a part of it, help me, let me interview you please write me to saraineschew@gmail.com or leave a comment with your email.

From India with love!

Hello everyone! So for all of my dear friends, I would love to invite you to an event there is going to be in Alessa. That is where I work. It will be a really, really nice experience.

The entry will be of $35 dollars and that stays as store credit, and you can participate in all the activities there will be. The store credit you can use it that day and buy something of that price or use the credit some other day.

So check it up, hope you like!! I am super exited, it will be such a fun experience! Hope to see you all!

Any question feel free to call us.

There will be a Braid Bar, Henna tattoos, Crystal Healing, Flash tattoos, and yummy treats!

Usually I dont use my blog to advertise in behalf of someone, but this will be such a nice experience that I wanted to share it with all of you.

Relax

Today was such a nice day. It was been cloudy lately, and it rained a little in the afternoon.
The sisters missionaries came today, it was really nice having them here. One of the sisters is from El Salvador, she taught us how to make pupusas! We made pupusas with cheese and black beans! :D It was delicious.  It is nice having them near, they remind me of how important it is for us to share the gospel, it is such a blessing in my life, why not share it with everyone you know?
I know it can be scary sometimes, because it is hard to hear people saying no to your invitation to hear more about the church, but the worst it can happen is that they will say no thanks and life will go on. The other important thing is to be constantly praying for opportunities to share the gospel, I remember last conference in october how one of our church leaders gave us the challenge to share the gospel with someone, and in his talk, he mentioned the importance of praying for opportunities to be able to share the gospel.

Taking about conference, it is next month!!! How exiting, I was just thinking about this today in the morning, and how I need to start preparing, spiritually and with David too! Need to start preparing my conference basket, 3 days of entertaining a four year old is hard, I like him to get involve and try to listen a little at least. I usually try to go to my stake, I tend to be more reverent and pay more attention if I go there. The last day is a little hard, David gets a little tired so the last one I stay home.

Then after the sisters left, look what happened?

Then we had an afternoon of art, lately I have been thinking I gave up painting and drawing, I should not have done that, so today was the first time I drew in 6 years!!! SIX YEARS!! It was nice, I little scary, because I though it was going to be so ugly what I would do, after no practice at all. The other excuse I had is that I need to start buying my art materials from zero again, and it is expensive, but I though that is no excuse, and used davids material. And this is what I did. David had fun too. 

Wonderful chaotic life

Update update!!! Finally after who knows how many months. I am so happy I have the time to write a little in my blog, dont want to miss the chance to do it anymore. So whats going on lately?

I have a new job, a new challenge! It is fun, but at the same time it is taking over my free time, I barely have any free time now, and when I do all I want to do is sleep! But after a month I am finally getting used to it.  I work for a talented jewelry designer, Alessa Designs. I am a fan, she has really beautiful designs. I work there as an administrative assistant. I am grateful  for this opportunity, since I want to learn all I can and start practicing what I am learning at school. Also, I think is good to change environment from working with family, and plus, there are always things to learn everywhere. I am working full time, that has been really hard, since I cant spend the same amount of time that I used to before with him. Now I come home at 5 pm, and he goes to bed at 8. I know is a big sacrifice, but my family is helping me a lot and the time we spend together we do a lot of things.

For example today, David is learning the letters of the alphabet. There is a book I bought him so he can practice writing and identifying words.

We started with the letter A.

1. First he wrote on his book the letter A several times
2.  And then did the activity. 
3. He went to his room looking for an object that starts with the letter A and brought me this, an angel. 
4. Then we played with shaving cream. I found the top of a plastic box and we used it as a canvas. 
5. Spread the shaving cream all over the top
6. Ready to draw and write, and easy to erase, and start writing again.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

And thats the end of the activity. I was supposed to print the first picture of him holding an angel and paste it on an alphabet journal, but first need to buy the journal. Tomorrow I will, so we dont fall behind.

Well I have to say, it feels nice being back to normal, being able to find a balance between, work and the rest of the things I used to do. The only thing I am not doing is going to the Gym, I feel like I dont have the energy to do it. But tomorrow I start. One thing I recently learned, is that only with Gods help we can do things that feel imposible sometimes. I was so frustrated because some months ago, I was working half time, but after I would pick up David from school, drive him to his Karate class, swimming class or soccer practice, then play with him, and still had the energy to go to the gym everyday at 5 am. And the reason why I could do it, is because I was disciplined. I would have my scripture study at night and never missed my personal prayers. And that is what was missing from my life, and ever since I started doing it again things are going back to normal.

Reading Helaman 4 made me realice this. When we repent and keep the commandments, God is with us, and have extra strength, and when we dont it happens the same thing that happened to the Nephites;
13.And because of this their great wickedness, and their boastings in their own strength, they were left in their own strength; therefore they did not prosper, but were afflicted and smitten, and driven before the Lamanites, until they had lost possession of almost all their lands.

I was not doing bad things, but I payed more attention to other things like work, personal things and forgot about reading my scriptures and praying. I have always known how important it is to do it, but there are times when we dont have our priorities straight.
Now that I do, I feel with more energy and can feel the love my Heavenly Father has for me, how much he is willing to help me.

15 And it came to pass that they did repent, and inasmuch as they did repent they did begin to prosper.

I will never forget about this, whatever belief you might have, always remember to put God first and the rest shall come.

Have a great week everyone!

Organizing little by little

Remember what I said about organizing little by little? Well it is working for me so well!! Two areas already. Since everywhere is sooo messy it takes me like an hour to clean, throw away what I dont use anymore and organize things. This time I even decorated a little.

It frustrate me living here in a house that I feel is not mine since, my mom left most of her things here and the decoration that is here is the one that my mom used when she lived here. Dont get me wrong, my mom is an amazing interior designer, but her style is not mine. So this week I decided I will start investing on new things to decorate this house on my own style.

For now I am still using her things to decorate, is nice to even have anything to decorate with, so I am really grateful for that.

What I did here on the right image a put a basket where I have essential things that go in your purse, like hand sanitazer, mints, and other things that I always carry on my bag, that way when I am getting ready to leave I just grab what I need and it is all in one place.
I also put a jar for coins, every time I empty my purses I have so many coins and dont have a place to leave them, not I do.

My mom has blessed me in so many ways, every time she can and thinks I might need something to organize my things she will buy it for me, like these hangers to hang your purses. They are from IKEA. I love IKEA!

Family home evening

Last night we had family home evening. I am embarrassed to say this but its been a while since we had our fhe with David and my brother. It is so hard to get everyone together at night, somedays we are busy or too tired, there are always excuses. But NO MORE!

Since I dont have the Friend magazine for this month and only had the april issue I used that one to plan my fhe. There are so many wonderful articles there. I love that magazine, David loves it too!

Here is the link to the message I chose, click here to go to the web page.

This article is the perfect activity for us as a family, because like I said before, we have been really busy doing many things, me with school and work, david with the iPad or playing haha, my brother with school and friends, so we definitely need to work together as a family, be a strong and united.

The family is central to Heavenly Fathers plan. We sometimes forget the importance of a family and that is what satan wants us to do.

So here is what we did yesterday. It was so much fun! David loved it. With a 4 year old it is so hard to plan an FHE, and have him pay attention and not get bored, but with this one we has listening, and since the message is short this did not happened.

Anoche tuvimos noche de hogar. Me da verguenza decir esto, pero ya teniamos tiempo de no tener todos juntos con David y mi hermano noche de hogar. Es tan dificil reunir a todos en la noche, ya que aveces tenemos mucho que hacer o estamos muy cansado, siempre hay excusas. Pero YA NO MAS! 

Ya que no tengo la revista Amigo de este mes y solo tenia el de abril, use esa para planear la noche de hogar. Hay tantos articulos lindos en esa revista. Me encanta, y a David tambien. 

Aqui esta el link para ver el mensaje y la actividad, solo hagan click aqui para ir a la pagina. Es la pagina 72 y 73. Ahi la encontraran. 

Este articulo es la actividad perfecta para nosotros como familia, ya que como lo mensione anteriormente, hemos estado muy ocupados haciendo muchas cosas, yo con la universidad y el trabajo, David con el iPad y jugando jaja, mi hermano con la universidad y sus amigos, asi que necesitamos trabajar mas tiempo como familia, ser mas fuertes y unidos. 

La familia es fundamental en el plan de nuestro Padre Celestial. Nosotros muchas veces olvidadmos la importancia de la familia y eso es precisamente lo que Satanas quiere. 

Asi que aqui esta lo que hicimos ayer. Fue tan divertido. A David le encanto!. Con un niño de 4 años es muy dificil planificar una noche de hogar, y hacer que ponga atencion y que no aburra, pero con esta leccion el estuvo muy atento y ya que el mensaje fue muy corto esto no paso.

So what you do is you glue the ones you are doing as a family, and then choose one to do during the week. The only thing from all of these that we have been doing is family prayer. This week we will work on family scripture study, read every night as a family. Next monday David gets to glue it if we did it all week, and so on. 

Asi que lo que se hace es que se pegan los cuadritos que estan haciendo ahorita como familia y no tienen problema en hacerlo, y se escoge un cuadrito para trabajar durante la semana. Lo unico que estamos haciendo de todos es la oracion familiar. Esta semana vamos a trabajar en el estudio de las escrituras, leer todas las noches como familia. El proximo lunes David va a pegarlo si lo hicimos toda la semana, y asi trabajaremos todos los cuadritos. 

Organize, little by little

Ok, so my house is a mess!!! I am not kidding, 3 months of refusing to organize, you can imagine the mess I have made. I have so much to do! But I decided I wont let myself go crazy because of that. I will start little by little, one section at a time.

Today I organized my nightstand, it took me 1 hour!!! Just the night stand!!! It was filled with papers I was not using and others that needed to be filled. So that is what I did. The top of my nightstand was the most embarrassing, since I like to read and write and lately I have been trying to draw, all those things where on top of my night stand, all pilled up and messy.

Bueno, mi casa es un desastre!! no estoy bromeando, llevo 3 meses de no organizar nada, ya se imaginan como ha de estar. Tengo mucho que hacer! Pero decidi que no dejare que esto me vuelva loca. Yo voy a comenzar poco a poco, una sección a la vez. 

Hoy organice mi mesita de noche, y me llevo 1 hora hacerlo!! Solo una mecita de noche!!! Estaba lleno de papeles q no estaba usando y otros que necesitaban ser archivados. Asi que eso es lo que hice. Encima de la mesita era lo mas vergonzoso, ya que me gusta leer, escribir y ultimamente he estado tratando de dibujar, todas esas cosas estaban encima de mi mesita de noche, todo desordenado y apilado. 

Found a way to keep my books organized, since I hate having to take the books in and out of the nightstand. So I just put them in a nice and pretty basket. :D

This is how it looks now. It feels so good to start organizing everything again. So dont be frustrated if you cant organized a room in one hour, it takes time, specially if you want to do it right. So pick a spot and do one at a time.

Encontre la forma de mantener mis libros y cuadernos organizados, ya que odio tener que guardar los libros y sacarlos de la mesita de noche cadad vez que los quiero usar. Asi que solo los puse en una canasta bonita y linda. :D

Asi es como se ve ahora. Se siente tan bien el empezar a organizar todo otra vez. Asi que no se frusttren si no pueden organizar un cuarto en una hora, lleva tiempo, en especial si lo quieren hacer bien. Escojan un lugar o una seccion del cuarto o y haganlo poco a poco. 

" I am your Father "

Well today is fathers day here in Guatemala. First of all I want to say thank you to my dad for being there for me always, I have not valued my dad the way he deserves to be valued. We have had our ups and downs. So I just want to say how much I love him and how much it means to me that he has always been present throughout my life. For many years he fought with me trying to wake me up so I could go to school. That was his task and he did a very good job at it.

I remember some days when I did something wrong my mom would send him to ground me and he would not do it and tell me not to tell my mom haha. He has been there from dance recitals, to my sons birth, I am so grateful for that.

So happy fathers day dad!!

Bueno hoy es el dia del padre aqui en Guatemala. Primero que todo quiero decir gracias a mi papa por siempre estar ahi para mi. No he valorado bien a mi papa del modo que merece ser valorado. Hemos tenido nuestros altos y bajos. Asi que quiero decir lo mucho que lo amo y lo mucho que significa para mi el que siepre haya estado a mi lado. Por muchos añor me recuerdo como lucho para despertarme todas las mañanas para ir al colegio. Esa era una de sus tareas y lo hacia muy bien jaja. 

Recuerdo que algunos dias hacia alguna travesura y mi mama enviaba a mi papa para que me castigara, y el no me castigaba y me decia que no le dijiera a mi mama. Me consentia mucho. El siempre estuvo para mis recitales de baile hasta el nacimiento de mi hijo, estoy tan agradecida por esto.

Feliz dia del padre! 

This picture describes me and my dad so well!! haha I have always been like that when he dances or do other things. 

Esta foto describe muy bien a mi y mi papa! jaja Siempre me he sentido asi cuando baila o hace otras cosas.

Well now I would like to wish happy fathers day to all the single moms out there who play the roll of mom and dad. It is such a hard task, I would have never known that before. Now that I am a single mom I know how hard it is. Working, going to school, being a mom and being a dad it is soooo hard. So hands up for all those mom who manage to do that everyday!

Yesterday one of my friends Jenna, she told me " There is a reason it takes two to people to make a baby, because one person cant do it alone". And it is true you cant do it alone. The only reason I have done it is because my Heavenly Father has been there for me, he lifts me when the burdens are too heavy to carry, he cheers me and cares for me. My family has also helped me so much! I could have not done it without their help! So thanks to them too. 

Bueno ahora me gustaria desearle feliz dia del padre a todas las madres solteras que juegan el papel de mama y papa. Es algo tan dificil de hacer, antes nunca hubiera sabido esto. Ahora que soy una madre soltera se lo dificil que es. Trabajar, estudiar, ser mama y papa tambien es taaaaan dificil. Asi que felicitaciones para todas las madres que logran hacer eso todos los dias. 

Ayer una de mis amigas Jenna, me dijo " Hay una razon por la cual se necesitan dos personas para hacer un bebe, por que una persona sola no puede hacerlo". Y es cierto, una persona no puede hacerlo sola. La unica razon por la cual lo he podido hacer es por que mi Padre Celestial ha estado ahi para mi, el me levanta cuando las cargas son muy pesadas de cargar, me da animos y se que se preocupa por mi. Mi familia tambien me ha ayudado tanto. Nunca lo habria logrado sin su ayuda. Asi que muchas gracias a ellos tambien. 

Ai stands for Adobe Ilustrator

There is no doubt I love designing. Is not like I am good at it, I am still learning, everyday I learn something new. And when I am doing something like a vector it takes me like 50 times longer to do it than any one else. But practice makes the master. So I will keep on trying. I am working more on my photography page, and this is what I did tonight. It only took me like 3 hours to do it, haha, but the camera was the hardest to draw.

You know there are some people that have the talent to draw, paint and do these kind of things, but if you dont use your talents you loose them. I know that, I have lost so many talent because I dont use them.  So if you have a talent and think you have lost it, dont give up, start practicing and soon you will recover them. I am going to work hard to gain my artistic talents back. It is never too late to start doing what you love.

Families can be together forever!

A month ago a family gave me the opportunity of taking their pictures on a very special day. Two families where getting sealed in the Guatemala Temple.



It was such a beautiful experience.  Here is a preview.

Chocolate sugar cookies

When you are feeling down, the best thing to do is bake! Tuesday had to teach Institute. It is the second class I am giving. I was a little bit frustrated because there is a part of the lesson I dont understand and didnt know what to do about it.

So I decided to take a break and bake. It made me feel so much better. I clear my head from all the problems and things going on in my head and have a moment of peace. I recommend it.

Here is the recipe. I just designed this recipe template. If you would like the design, leave a comment with your email and I can send it to you. I still dont know how to upload files so you can download them directly from my page. 

This recipe is great to do it with your children if you have young toddlers or bigger kids. It is like playing dough with them, but instead of playdough it is cookie dough. So they can help you make the little balls of cookie dough and then roll them in the suggar. My son enjoyed it so much. 

Fun fact: Tired of your kids not being patient? Want to teach them to be patient? Start baking with them and soon you will see the change in them.

Here are some pictures. 

Masters

Hello again, its been a while since I last wrote. I need to write more often. I always say that, but this time I will. It is my new goal. Write once a week at least.

So whats new with me. Not much really. Life has been a little bit messy lately. I stopped working, I have been studying most of the time, since I am taking two courses at the same time this month and it is driving me crazy.

This is my last year of school. I am so exited, I cant wait to finally finish. It will be so rewarding. Next year I will only have to do my management project and I will be done! DONE with school! Finally have my bachelor degree in business administration. Aaaaaa I am so happy.

After going to 4 different schools, and trying 3 careers, I will be done with this. Now I have to start thinking about my master degree. I want to get a master in project management. Humanities is what I like the most, but I am not sure if I cant get a master in that if I have a bachelor in business. Need to do some research. Well that is what I have been doing today.

Choosing a school. This will be the hardest. I have always wanted to go to Europe to get my masters, but since I am a single mom, I dont think I can do it anymore. Now I have other priorities, my son.
He is applying to go to an austrian school. In a month I will know if he was accepted. If is accepted then that means I need to stay in Guatemala and get my masters here. If not I was thinking of maybe going to Utah and since my mom lives there she could help me with David meanwhile I go to school.

CHOICES choices choices. This life is all about choices. Lately it has been so hard choosing the right thing, or not so much choosing the right thing but being obedient and do what my Heavenly Father wants me to do. The good thing is that I have been praying and reading so that I might have my Heavenly Fathers guide at all times and the strength to do His will. He knows what is best for me. Sometimes I have chosen not to listen to His advice and the choices I have made where not the best and the consequence was not so good.

This time I decided I will have faith that no matter what He wants me to do is because He has a plan for me. He knows what is the best for me. I know that He wants to guide me and help me.

So I decided I will have new goals to help me choose better and get my life organized again.

• Never forget to pray and read my scriptures
• Prepare my institute lesson and teach my students the best I can. 
• Go to the temple once a week. 
• Read the scriptures with David at night
• Be the best in my class at school. 
• Keep exercising 
• Organize my home
• Have a date with the little man twice a month. 
• Do my FHE
• Start working again.  
• Write once a week on my blog.

There are so many things I need to start doing. Something happened in my life that I havent been able to stand up and go back to normal. It has been really hard. But things need to get back to normal. I need to be strong. And I will. I can do this.

It is never too late to stand up and do things right again. It is never too late. 

So more posts to come next week. Love you all and wish you the best. 

Hola otra vez, ha pasado bastante tiempo desde que escribi. Necesito escribir mas seguido. Yo se que siempre digo eso, pero esta vez si sera asi. Es mi nueva meta, escribir una vez a la semana por lo menos. 

Asi que que ha pasado en mi vida ultimamente. Pues no mucho. La verdad mi vida es un relajo ahorita. Deje de trabajar, me he estado enfocando en mis estudios. Estoy tomando dos cursos al mismo tiempo y me esta volviendo loca. 

Este es mi ultimo año en la universidad. Estoy tan emocionada, no puedo creer que por fin voy a terminar. Va a ser tan satisfactorio haber terminado. El proximo año solo tengo que hacer mi proyecto gerencial y termine! Por fin!!! Tendre mi titulo de administradora de empresas! AAAA estoy tan contenta. 

Despues de haber ido a 4 universidades diferentes y haber probado 3 diferentes carreras habre terminado por fin con esto. Ahora necesito empezar a pensar en sacar el Marster. Quiero sacar el master en administracion de proyectos. Humanidades tambien me llama mucho la atencion pero no se si puedo sacar un master en eso si mi bachelor es en administracion. Necesito investigar. Eso he estado haciendo hoy. 

Escoger una universidad. Esto va a ser lo mas dificil. Siempre he querido ir a Europa a sacar el MBA, pero ya que soy una madre soltera, creo que eso esta fuera de mis planes. Ahora tengo otras prioridades, mi hijo. El hizo la prueba para entrar al Austriaco el otro año. En un mes me dicen si lo aceptaron o no. Si lo aceptan eso quiere decir que me tengo que quedar aqui en Guatemala, y seguir estudiando aqui. Si no estaba pensando en irme a Utah ya que mi mama vive alla y me podria ayudar con David mientras yo estudio.

DECISIONES, decisiones, decisiones. Esta vida esta llena de decisiones que tomar. Ultimamente ha sido muy dificil escoger lo correcto, o no tanto lo correcto sino el ser obediente y hacer lo que mi Padre Celestial quiere que haga. Lo bueno es que he estado orando mucho y leyendo mis escrituras para poder tener Su guia todo el tiempo y tener la fuerza para hacer su voluntad. El sabe que es lo mejor para mi. Aveces he escogido no hacerle caso a sus consejos y las decisiones que he tomado no fueron buenas por lo tanto la consecuencia fue mala. 

Esta vez he decidido tener fe en El y hacer lo que el quiere que haga, por que se que El tiene un plan para mi. El sabe que es lo mejor para mi y quiere guiarme y ayudarme en todo lo que pueda. 

Asi que decidi que voy a tener nuevas metas y se que esto me ayudara a tomar mejores decisiones y en mi vida en general para organizar mi vida mejor.

• Nunca olvidar leer mis escrituras y orar
• Preparar mi leccion de instituto y dar la clase lo mejor que pueda. 
• Ir al templo una vez por semana. 
• Leer las escrituras con David por la noche
• Ser la mejor en la universidad
• Seguir haciendo ejercicio
• Organizar mejor mi hogar
• Salir en citas con mi lindo hombrecito dos veces al mes por lo menos.
• Hacer mi noche de hogar
• Volver a trabajar
• Escribir por lo menos una vez a la semana en mi blog.

Hay muchas cosas que necesito volver a hacer en mi vida. Algo paso en mi vida que no me ha dejado ponerme de pie otra vez y regresar a la normalidad. Ha sido muy duro. Pero mi vida necesita regresar a la normalidad. Necesito ser fuerte. Y lo hare, sere fuerte, yo puedo hacer esto. 

Nunca es muy tarde para pararse y tratar de hacer las cosas bien otra vez. Nunca es muy tarde. 

Asi que estare posteando mas. Los quiero mucho y les deseo lo mejor en este inicio de semana.