Happy Anniversary

It was this day 9 years ago that Romeo Tagle & Amy Swaringen became Mr. & Mrs. Tagle. I will be the first one to congratulate us. I know, not the traditional thing to do, but considering what we have been through, it is a miracle. Marriage is hard - submission, selflessness, servanthood, spending time together, raising kids and many more hardships along the way. We have moved 6 times, lived in 3 different states, been employed by 8 different employers, had 2 kids (with 1 on the way), and survived too many to count disagreement (okay agruments).

Gratefulness is one of his WONDERFUL gifts especially when it comes to food. For instance, I hate going to the grocery store, soooo I put it off as long as possible. Tuesday night for supper it was waffles & eggs, Wednesday night it was grilled cheese and brocolli. He NEVER complains about the food I cook. I have to tell him it is okay to let me know if the food is good or not so I will know whether to cook it again.

During our Bible Study today, He Speaks to Me by Priscilla Shirer, she commented that if you are submissive to the earthly authority God has placed in your life - that being my husband, then it's a good indication of whether you will be submissive to Him. I know that God has placed Romeo in my life for many reasons but one major one is to teach me to honor, respect, & submit to the authorities in my life.

We have had many beautiful times together and many heartaches, but we are here, 9 years later still married, and as determined as ever to please God in our marriage. No credit on our own part that we are still married, not at all! It was God's spirit that humbled us enough to acknowledge the destruction we had placed in our marriage. It was God that provided counseling when we so desperately needed it. It was God & still is!!

I serve a Real God WHO IS ABLE!!!!!!!!!!!!! Praise You Lord!

I love you, Romeo Tagle, Jr.

Events leading up to Christmas

Nia had a Christmas program with her school which was very cute & entertaining.

She looked beautiful.

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Nia has been on my case about making cookies. So... I decided that last Saturday would be the day! The kids were super excited UNTIL they realized that it is time consuming and frustrating at times. I couldn't seem to get just the right amount of flour to allow the cookies to not stick. So after the first batch, the kids gave up leaving me with 2 more batches to make, and joined me again with the icing. It was a long day!

That is Hunter in the middle, a neighbor & friend.

Blessings From God

Psalm 127:3-5,

Sons are a heritage from the LORD,
children a reward from him.

Like arrows in the hands of a warrior
are sons born in one's youth.
Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them.
They will not be put to shame when
they contend with their enemies in the gate.

This verse means a great deal to me. It "flew off the page" more than a year ago when Romeo and I had been praying about whether to have more kids. We went through many reasons why not to have more and to all of these reasons God gave a reason as to why it was foolish. I will just share a few.

Us - Tooooo Much Money, how will we afford more kids? ---- God - All money belongs to me trust me, depend on me, call on me, I will take care of you. Matthew 6:26 says, "Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?"

Us - I will go crazy, I can't handle more! ---- God - Of course you can't handle it! You will mess it all up if you do it in your own strength, do it in mine. 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 says, But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

And of course God can do anything! Even give a couple, who has taken the needed surgical steps to prevent pregnancy, a child. So why not let God give me one if He HAS too through a miracle? And God said, Why not allow me to decided how many kids you need. Trust me! If I want you to have another one them I will give you one. If not then I will prevent you from having one. Either way God said, it's not up to you!

So for over a year we have been on pins and needles wondering what God's will was in our life regarding children. Knowing that it is was up to Him and that whatever His will was was what we wanted. All that to say this:

God is so graciously rewarding us with another child due to arrive July 2009.

Was It Worth It?

All the scrubbing, painting, organizing, waxing, repairing, sweeping, vacuuming, dusting, staining, moping, and racking mixed with back pain, sore feet, heavy eyes, & exhaustion for only 2 people to show at today's open house. Was It Worth It? My body tells me !NO! But I do know this, God's plans are far above my plans and His timing is perfect. It just means another week (or however long) of continuous cleaning and for anyone who knows me knows that that is not my area of perfection and is especially hard with kids. (Am I whining?) It has only been on the market for 2 weeks and I am already going crazy!!! Hopefully, for everyone's sake, it sells sooner than later.

Wishful Thinking

Me: Why haven't you lost any teeth?

Nia: I don't know?

Me: You know, the tooth fairy isn't real.

Nia: What? She always gives kids money under their pillow.

Me: It is really mom & dad. I haven't thought about what to do for this special occassion but we will come up with something.

Nia: (Popped up, real excited and said) What about a savings bond!

For Sale

IT IS FINALLY DONE! Our house is on the market. It has been one stressful process of getting the clutter out, deep cleaning done, & keeping it that way. A weight has been lifted off my shoulders. Last time we sold our house in Lubbock, TX we sold it in less than a week. If I had my way, I would pick this home up and move it to Spur. We have really enjoyed living here. Now I have to just keep it clean until it sells - okay maybe that weight hasn't entirely been lifted. I will be sad to leave this house but excited to go HOME! Go here if you are interested in pics.

More About Moving

You know how you use a permanent marker to mark the contents on all your boxes - well Ian discovered the marker and decided to mark himself. I thought he would be going to church like that but it came off really well.


I don't really know what to say about this next picture. I tried to think of something clever like "what's he want" or "slave driver" but the truth is.... He was being very kind and loving. He spent hours on this floor. It is a brick floor which is pretty but not easy to clean or easy on the feet. I have had my fair share of cleaning it so I was SUPER excited when he volunteered to do it. We worked hard yesterday on the house - this week we are listing it WITH a realtor, hopefully tomorrow.

Taste of Surrey Hills

We had our 2nd Annual "Taste of Surrey Hills" in our Women's Ministry at church. Those women who want to decorate tables do so and those who would rather cook, cook. At the end of the night we all take home a cook book all of the dishes made that night - plus lots more. We had a great turn out. This year we included the men due to the massive amount of food last year. It is always a great event. We have a lot of hard working women that make this event happen.

Across the World Communications

DAD SENT ME AN EMAIL FROM ETHIOPIA:

Just a note to let you know that we made the trip fine.
None of us from Spur have any luggage exect for our carry on, but
other than that we are great.

High speed internet here is about 1/4 speed of our dialup speed. It
took 10 minutes to load our web page.

Our people don't know how good they have it, in many ways.

The kids at orphanages are great.

Dad

Ethiopia

I spoke with my mom on the phone last night as my last time to talk to her for 17 days. Dad, Mom, & 3 other people from FBC Spur are on a plane headed to Germany today and will end up in Ethiopia, Africa tomorrow night. If you are interested in updates from/on them go to this website. Each one gave their testimony last Sunday and you can go here to listen to them. Their names are Tommy & Peggy Swaringen. This particular mission trip is to deliver shoes to hundreds of orphaned children and to share the good news of Jesus with them. Please remember them in your prayers. Thanks

Mommy Nia

Our 2 new kittens, Joey & Chloe, are growing so fast. We adore our new kittens. Nia came to me one day and said that Chloe (the girl) thinks she is her mommy. Here's way.....

Love - Hate Relationship

Fall is the most beautiful time of year to me. We live in an older neighborhood with lots of trees so I get to enjoy all the different colored leaves.

However, I do not enjoy raking up all the leaves. Saturday me and the kids raked and picked leaves up in our front yard and today, well .......

it's MOVING slowly

Moving!! Yeah, well, there is so much that goes into this process. Painting, repairs, major deep cleaning, de-cluttering, packing, yard work, and finding a place to store all our clutter until the house sells. This weekend we got a lot done but it's still hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel. We showed the house twice yesterday and it's not even on the market yet. We have never done a FSBO so that is a little intimidating; however, if we don't sell it ourselves we will pay a huge chunk to a realtor. Hopefully we will be able to get some more accomplished this week.

Halloween

Nia got to dress-up for school and they went to some places to trick-or-treat. She came home with a Walmart sack busting at the seams full of candy. Last weekend our church had our fall fest and we got candy there and besides that we already had a bucket full at home, needless to say, we had candy running out our ears. Ian & I went to Nia's Halloween party at school. The teachers were exhausted due to the getting in and out of the bus 20 times that morning so they appreciated the extra help with the pizza party.

Batman picking his nose & sucking his thumb - makes a mom proud!Christiana & Nia (The pooh suit was just to hot to keep on ALL day)Mrs. Crews & Mrs. Nusz

Later on that night we went to a fall fest at a local church and the kids got to play some games.

We came home and I cooked supper while dad & kids handed out candy to the trick-or-treaters. We gathered all the candy we had and what had just been given to the kids and I told them to get rid of it. I don't let them have candy but on special occasions so there is no need for it here. Nia was being VERY generous and by the time supper was done (about 20 minutes - it was hot dogs) almost all of it was gone. That's what I'm talking about.

Hard to Believe

Romeo is 30!!!!!
Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday We love you!
Happy Birthday to You!!!

We celebrated his birthday today by singing to him this morning while he was still in bed. He wanted Chicken Scaloppini for supper & a Pina Colada cake for dessert. Nia made him a book with pictures of him & her, Ian drew a picture of a birthday cake, & we all committed to serving him in specific ways this next week.





To see more photos of the "party" go to Romeo's website!

Red Ribbon Week

Remember Red Ribbon Week? Don't Do Drugs!

They were challenged at Nia's school as to who could wear the most red. Prizes were at stack here so we found everything that we could in her drawers that was red. Red leggings with a red skorts over them, red shirt with red sweater/jacket, & red hair bows. She and another girl from her class won. They have not received their prizes yet.

Change Is Coming!

For those of you who don't know yet, We Are Moving! Lots to do before we can actually get to our destination -- Spur, Texas. Before we can put our house on the market there is some much needed painting to do. We added a wall in between the kids room and now it is finally painted. Hopefully we will put it on the market this week. When we bought this house it had been on the market for around 8 months, so we could be waiting a while.

As for the reasons we are moving, I'll just say that God answers prayers. From the time we moved to Oklahoma I always knew that I wanted to go back home but we also knew that God had a plan for us in Oklahoma so we embraced it. It was always me who wanted to eventually return to Spur but it was Romeo that God spoke to in regard to this move.

We could certainly use your prayers in regard to the sell of our house and Romeo's job.

10 Year Reunion

The BIG Spur Homecoming was last weekend and it was my 10 year reunion. I graduated with 17 and about 8 came back for the reunion. We certainly missed those who didn't show. April is expecting her first baby soon and Ruthie had just had her baby. We had dinner, went to the football game, & enjoyed the parade. We had a great time. I can't believe it has been 10 years.

Minnie, Cassie, Esmeralda, Amy, Teresa, Carl, & Carrie

Pumpkin Patch & Carving

We really like craving pumpkins. Nia's school usually takes them (along with me & Ian) to a pumpkin patch and we each get to pick a pumpkin. We always have a great time.

Macye, Masiya, Isabelle, Nia, Richie, KaylaMacye, Masiya, Nia, Ian, & Jean

Ian got a small one and every day he reminded us that we needed to crave it. He couldn't really do anything but remove the insides and he didn't want to do that because it was yucky. Nia liked removing the insides and she drew her own face.