Last night I slept like a baby. It was so peaceful and quiet, one candle left burning softly, quite soothing actually. I didn’t have the mami sense turn on to listen for the kids through the night as I was alone, so it was quite a good restful night. I realize my last two post have been serious but life is not all fun and games. But to lighten things up I decided to write today about another one of my “adventures” as I continue to move into this house and make it home.



This morning I woke up at the usual time even though I had no alarm on. Don’t you hate that? I could had slept in, there was no need to get up and start waking sleepy children up, directing their zombie like bodies to the bathroom, preparing breakfast, etc. You know, the usual mayhem of school mornings when you have kids. Yet there I was awake at 6:15 on the dot! I do know God has a sense of humor. Our bodies get so conditioned to routines it forgets to take the weekend off. It wasn’t a typical Sunday morning either where the children might wake me up with a sweet kiss and whisper “mami, I’m hungry’. I guess I forgot to send a memo to my brain that this was a rare opportunity to sleep in and there was no need to wake me up.



Well my dog was happy to see me awake. So I gave in and got out of my nice warm covers, took the dog out and came back in to get ready for the day. I unloaded the rest of the baskets I had in the van and I started to gather the necessities to wash myself and be presentable when I head out. Low and behold I can’t find any of my under ware!!! I find everybody else’s but mine. Granted I am a slender person but I doubt I can wear my 10 yr old under ware. And this is how your well organize unpacking takes a dive and things start getting messy and all over the place.

Yeah that's me rolling my eyes at myself LOL

I do not know why I had this fantasy that I would be able to put everything away before the children got back tomorrow. Despite the fact that I haven’t been able to vacuum the rooms carpets due to the electric power delay, so I cant set up their beds or dressers yet. Or wash all the kitchen stuff etc since I can’t run the water without electricity…. As I look around I realize that, yeah , I am not really super mom ! lol I am just a determined, stubborn woman that is vent on having Christmas going in the house by the end of the week! And this is when we parents need to become realistic. Specially single parents. You can not do everything in a jiffy. You have to prioritize tasks and then go with the flow. Oh yeah, I am still looking for my under ware…..

Ps: Eventually I did find my under ware. I was able to wash myself (with nice water from a 2 gallon store bought jug) and get dressed !

Hmmm I wonder where my Christmas light are????

Finding Enlightenment in the Dark

So here I am , sitting in a very quiet house, by candle light with my little bit of technology….the laptop. There is no internet, no tv, no children here. only me and my dog Verses. You are probably wondering if I am running some kind of social experiment. Not at all. The truth is that due to circumstances out of my control, I couldn’t get the power connected in the house we are moving into yet, but it was time to leave where we were staying. So my children are spending the next few days with their dad, while I camp out at the house.



Some might think this strange, some may say “couldn’t you stay with friends or family”, ‘couldn’t you stay at a hotel”, maybe even with the children dad’s, after all there is always the couch. All valid questions. well here is my situation:

I have no family in town, I have friends but they have their own situations going on so I refuse to impose, staying with the kids dad a possibility but I am not his responsibility, knowing the children are in a warm place, with someone that loves them is enough for me. I can sleep in the dark, under warm covers, in peace knowing my children are safe.



For some this might appear as a horrible situation for me. But lets think about this…. I have a roof over my head (it’s been raining all day), I am dry, I have plenty of thick, comfy blankets. I know my children are being taken care off and that their absence is only temporary. In a few days the house will be full of their laughter, squeals, and non stop chatter. Of the stomping of little feet running around. I have food. might not be a nice hot dinner but food none the less, fresh food at that. I have a bathroom, true no running water but I have a great big pail I can fill with water from the pool out back to flush it and the luxury of privacy when I use it.



So what's so horrible about that? In reality , absolutely nothing! There are many homeless people out there right now. I could be one of them…their roof is maybe a bridge, their blankets if they have any are more than likely thinned out and probably dirty and humid since the weather has been so nasty today. They may or may not have food. To find a bathroom they will have to go into a gas station or a fast food restaurant and withstand the looks of the workers and patrons. Many of this looks will not be full of compassion, they will be full of disgust. There might be a good soul out there who might offer to buy them a hot drink, a bite to eat….but most likely they will turn their eyes away. That’s assuming that they are not told to leave the premises before they can use the restroom.



Is true I can not afford to go stay at a hotel for several days. I am a single mother looking for employment, my income is limited. So the money I have is to get that power connected now that the technicalities have been resolved, to put gas in my vehicle so I can take the children to school , doctors appointments, the school play, for me to go fill out applications. To buy the normal necessities of a household.

Yes this are tough times, I will have to go without internet service for a while, we will not have 150 channels or tv at all for a while, and guess what? It does not matter at all because we are blessed and so rich in all that matters in life. We have each other, we have over all good health, we have our basic necessities met. We do not have to sleep in a car (and that for many would be the greatest thing) or under a bridge, or on a park bench. If I we get hungry we open the pantry and the fridge (or the cooler right now) and we feed ourselves. So what if my children and I do not have the latest big brand tennis shoes, we have shoes. So what if our coats are not from Macy’s, we have coats, nice comfy warm ones. So what if our Christmas tree is not decorated in the latest glamour fashion, we will have a tree. A tree with precious ornaments of which many have special meaning, a tree with precious memories hanging from it, a tree we can call our own and look at every day during Christmas. Do you see my point?



So many focus on what they don’t have based on social standards and forget how much they are so very blessed to have. You don’t have to go far to find those less fortunate than you….



Do I feel at some point I wish I could give my kids more for this Christmas? Of course I have fallen into that for a second or two. But what better present than to have a home, to feel safe, to feel love, to be together and alive! My children are blessed with wonderful family and I am blessed with amazing friends. They will not go without Christmas presents. But I tell you what, when it comes down to it, is not the presents they are going to remember. Is being happy, drinking hot coco in comfy pj’s watching a dvd. Is making cookies together, decorating the tree, singing. And going to sleep in their warm beds with a smile in their faces and a kiss good night.



So as I sit here typing by candlelight, feeling a little cold but not minding because I know when I am ready I have my blankets to snuggle into, I find that this darkness is very welcome and not scary because I am blessed and I am not alone. I do not preach and I do not try to convert others into my beliefs but I am open about what I believe and what my faith is and means to me. Tonight I might be isolated from the world but I am not alone. I know I have amazing friends out there that are thinking of me, that love me and care about me and my children. I know I have family doing the same thing. I know God is with me because I see the miracles he performs in my life daily, Why He blesses me this way and others are in dire need, I do not know. We all have paths to follow and the reasons are not always clear. All I know is that I have so much to be thankful for!



I hope that if you are reading this and you are someone that can help others, that you do so. You never know when it can be you and your children or a love one or a close friend in an extreme difficult situation. Wouldn’t you feel so grateful if someone gave you a hand? Even just a smile, a word of encouragement can make such a big difference in someone's life. Be the light in the darkness, no matter how insignificant you think your light is. I know that is the lesson I am trying to teach my children as we have gone through our tribulations. Always be grateful for what you have, be positive, learn to enjoy what you have and not cry over what you don’t at the moment when you have the most important things you need. As basic as not whining because you wanted pizza and we are having chicken, you have food, others don’t. To share when the opportunity arises (I am so proud of my 10 yr old daughter who has done this with her lunch in more than one occasion) to not complain about sharing a room when others have no place to stay. All this things can be hard at time to do, but even when I have been frustrated with situations I have been grateful because things could had been worst.



I know this won’t be forever, eventually I will be on my feet solidly and will be able to afford those little extras that make our life easier and more entertaining in a way, I wont have to watch every single penny to make sure my bases are covered, but for now I am happy to sit in the dark and enjoy the light in my life. I hope you can too and I hope you can teach your children how to do so because the world is beautiful but also hard unless you know how to find the brightness within. Like I told a friend today, light attracts light and darkness attracts darkness. I rather attract light, don’t you?

And now I need to close my laptop to conserve its battery as obviously I wont be able to charge it, and tomorrow I will drive to the town Mc Donald’s and sit down to have some coffee and use their wi-fi and post this to the blog and hope it touches someone to make it a little brighter in the world

The Power of a Smile

I saw this today, it was done by an 18 yr old kid.  What an amazing inspiration he is.  So many dumb videos go viral, this is one I wish would take over!

http://youtu.be/0dgadTcVu60

With great Power Comes Great Responsability

It is amazing how God has provided me with super powers! No, I am not talking crazy. I have eyes on the back of my head, a lie detector integrated in my brain, lips that provide healing with just one kiss, super hearing that sounds an alarm in my brain when there’s trouble, arms that dissolve fears with just one hug and a super sense and awareness that wakes me up from a dead sleep when my child stops breathing because she is shocking in vomit. Pretty amazing powers if you ask me!

My 3 youngest 5, 4 and 20 months

My oldest daughter 10

My children trust those powers and count on them to protect them, to comfort them, to make them feel safe and loved. They are also annoyed by them because they know they can’t get away with anything lol. But oh, how they try regardless . I love how they will be crying, saying how bad it hurts and one kiss makes them all better. I love seeing that smile and the love in their eyes that says “thank you mami, for making it all better”. I love how their world was about to end and then is all good and off they run ready to face the world again. As frustrating as it is at times when they do the things they know better not to do, it is also comical sometimes to watch them try to get away with it and see that twinkle in their eyes that says “I know what I am doing but look at me, I am so cute!, How can you get upset with me?” LOL Children try and push their boundaries just to keep you on check! Some days I am too tired to find it amusing and “the look” comes out. They know “the look” (another super power, thank you God). That’s when they stop dead in their tracks and say “I love you mami” AKA “please don’t be upset”. But “the look” should not be used in abundance since it is this magnificent power that can help keep them safe in a second. Take for example when the 20 month old is about to stick her finger in the wall outlet that somehow escaped being covered, or when the 4yr old is about to take off running into the street. So do not abuse the power of “the look”. Is a precious tool to be used with discretion in order to keep it’s effectiveness.

My oldest 21

This world we live in is pretty messed up. We, as parents and even other adults need to remember to slow down, and take the time to teach our children about respect, self value, morals, hard work, compassion, empathy, responsibility, consequences to our actions, answering to some higher power. No matter what your faith is or what you believe in they have to know we are accountable for our actions, they need something to look up to, they need inspiration from us, so do what you preach. Not an easy job but one we should aspire to accomplish every day.



I had no idea where I was heading to when I sat down to write this post. There is so much going on in my life right now. Many, including me, are going through difficult times right now due to the economy, but as I look around I see so many things to be thankful for. Me personally I am thankful for God’s love and grace. You don’t have to agree, is what I believe and what gives me strength. I have the best motivation in the world to keep on going….my children. They are precious blessings and for some reason God granted me 7 beautiful souls to care for. I take that very seriously and I love the rewards that come along with it. Even my beautiful angel girl, who I will see one day motivates me. And the six I have here on earth are a constant source of joy, tears too but mostly joy. And the tears are not of their doing, is because of that amazing love I have for them that sometimes I cry when I am frustrated with situations that affect them. I look at my two grown boys and I know they have turned out alright because they had that base growing up. Makes me even more determined to do better with the remaining four.

Second oldest 19

I wish it was a better world but it starts at home. Sounds corny but children ARE our future. So even if you don’t have any keep this in mind. What you do, how you act, what you say at some point touches a child, so be mindful, care.

Me Time…Where can I find it?

Is a question very often ignored by most mom's because in reality it would seem we would have to add hours to the day to accomplish this. Why is it that even women with no children, feel that they need to do other stuff first before they can allow themselves a little time to call their own?


I see it all the time. There's work, house work, husband/boyfriend maintenance, family obligations, the list goes on and on. Why is it that a man can come home from work and sit down to watch TV but a woman, come home from work and start dinner or put a load of laundry in, or return that call from her sister etc. Granted not all men are like this and many will equally help around the house but they will sit down first and watch TV, then put that load of laundry in. Why is it that we woman feel like this stuff is so urgent it cant wait 1/2 hour while we relax. Because we feel like we are not being efficient. I wonder if it's generic.


Sometimes though is more a matter of too much effort. Take me for example, I love to scrapbook, but I seldom have the time to do it. I have 6 children and I am still working on the first two children pictures....I have gotten as far as their elementary school years...they are 21 and 19 now! I have maybe one page done of my third child (who is almost 10) and boxes of pictures in storage in my precious plastic container in the entertainment center cabinet. Of course I have tons of digital pictures too, of all my subsequent children, that I mean to keep making into videos etc..

All my children

Well it takes a lot of time. I have to get all my scrapbook materials out (and I have accumulated quite a bit in the pretense that I will be working on it soon) get the pictures I want to use, spread everything on a table. Of course through this there will be children asking for my attention, people getting hungry, phone ringing...you get the picture. If I get up to attend to this things many different disasters can occur to my scrap booking setting...by the time I am done attending to other matters I have to clear the table and put everything away and not one page is done. So you see most times I feel like "why bother".


So you are probably wondering how do I have time to blog...Ahhhhhhh well this is an activity that stays cleanly contained inside the computer. All it takes is the keyboard and my brain. It can be interrupted a hundred thousands time without a mayor disaster, like being scattered all over the room, getting cut into "pretty" shapes by my artistic 5 and 4 yrs. old, or eaten up by the baby. Thanks to that great technology thing called, "save as draft". And of course children eventually go to sleep and so do husbands/boyfriends! lol


I wrote this piece in 2007, I am now a single mother with more children than when I originally wrote it, so I had to edit ages and add children. The point is, is still current in any other way except for what I just stated….so where is that me time? I still haven’t been able to figure that one out but I have seen glimpses of it, I know is out there somewhere. So parents, for your own sanity and the benefit of you children, do not give up in the search. Is in there somewhere, so make sure you always look for it and if you are lucky enough, you will have those small capsules in time to just do what you love or sit down and relax!

Through the Eyes of Children

Every night when I put my children to bed each one of them says a “night, night” prayer. It amazes me how incredibly awesome children are. They sure know how to appreciate things in their life. Please note that this is not an attempt to convert by any means. Is just who we are and the purpose of sharing it, is to remind ourselves that, no matter how bad things may seem , there is always plenty to be thankful for if we look hard enough.


Here are some examples of the things my children have said in their prayer:

Visiting grandma and papi

Noel: (5 yrs old) “Thank you God for ALL our toys, thank you for the stuffed animals, I know they are toys too but they are not made of plastic or hard like the others, they are soft and fun to jump on to. Thank you for the roof on the house so that bad people can not climb in, oh and the walls too! Thank you putting food in the stores so that mami can make our yummy food. Thank you for the roads so that there is no grass all over the place and we can drive or we would be getting stuck in the mud (it had been raining for 3 days in a row lol). Thank you for our family. Keep the our angels with us, keep the nightmares away, AMEN!


Analise: (almost 4yrs old) God, thank you for everything, thank you for all the toys, thank you for the “ horsies” and dollies, thank you for the books that Noel forgot to tell you, for my princess dress because I can be a pretty princess, thank you for “(names of about 15 family members)” keep our angels with us, take care of us, keep the nightmares away , AMEN.


Coral: (18 months old) This she is happily saying while the other two say theirs lol. Yes! Mama, “baby mumblings”, bobo (pacifier in Spanish) the girl knows her priorities lol.


Estrella: (almost 10 yrs old) God thank you for this day, I had a fun day, thank you for my friends and my family, thank you for our food, our clothes. Please take care of our friends and family, keep the bad people away, why are they bad? Keep our angels with us, keep the nightmares away, AMEN!


I will say it, I am proud of my children for showing gratitude for what they have, for caring about others and for their honesty and innocence. If we could all listen to them more often and remember how to be kids at heart maybe this would be a much better world.

The most unglamorous best rewarded job

Me and my middle daughter Analise when
she was about 1 yr old. My oldest daughter
Estrella took this pic:)

Life as a mother brings with it many surprises, challenges, joys, frustrations, discoveries, tenderness, worries, dreams and so on. I think even the youngest first time mom expects most of this things. The one thing we still refuse to believe at the time, is that we will ever not care how we look, what we are wearing or even if our hair is combed.

The more children we have, the more relaxed we get raising them. Meaning our confidence increases, we are less paranoid, and don’t double boil everything that goes in their mouth. We all heard the famous stages of cleaning a pacifier by how many children we have. First baby we boiled the pacifier every time it touches the floor. Second child we wash it with soap and water. Third child we clean it by doing a quick clean up with our mouth. By the fourth we just blow on it or wipe it against our jeans.

There are things that start to take priority as we go in this journey. At some point in the first crazy months after having your first baby, you look in the mirror and think “YIKES” whatever happened to me? Then you decide you are going to make an effort to look nice. You fix your hair and even some minimum makeup before going to the store, you still choose to shower before sleep, you try keeping up with the laundry, and cooking wholesome meals. But for us with more than one we know the truth. By the time you have 3 kids the most you do is make sure your t-shirt appears to be clean before running out for groceries. You throw your hair up in a very unsexy pony tail and hastily clean your face with a wipe while you are running out to the car, just to make sure there are no crumbs left on it from the hastily eaten cold piece of pizza you had while running around the house picking up evil tiny toys and looking for pacifiers.

It is when you reach this stage, that you realize is those precious moments that make you smile inside, are what really matters. That’s when you need to slow down and enjoy the moment. Savor it and imprint it in you memory. When your child reaches up to you with their tiny arms, their sweet voice saying mami I love you, their contagious laughter, their stumbling steps, their sloppy kisses.
Who cares if you look like you just went through a hurricane, or your mascara ran because they made you laugh so hard you cried, or your hair looks goofy because they wanted to comb it for you and make you pretty. Those things do not matter, is the precious moments that will always warm your heart and the time you spend with your little treasures that will forever make you beautiful in their eyes.

Me and my youngest daughter Coral

Walk through @ your own risk

I believe most parents prefer to not use “adult” language around their kids, but there are times when an extra effort is required to hold those “bad words” back. Take for example your kids bedroom, play room or your own living room. . .

My daughter Analise

Ever heard of Hot Wheels, Legos, Little People, even Jacks and balls for those of us of a “mature vintage ” lol. Those and many others are the guilty, little mouth trippers. No matter how good you think they have been picked up and put away, they always seem to find their way right under your bare foot.

Do you ever wonder if there is some true to the movie “Toy Story”? Because sometimes I do wonder…. Like in the middle of the night when I walk into my little ones bedroom, half asleep and suddenly get that sharp pain coming from the bottom of my foot and right up my leg! And with that pain comes the one on my tongue from biting it down to smother an ill chosen word or two. I can just see it, the little devils, just waiting for me to come in, plotting and planning…"get ready, here she comes!” and as I grab the door knob they ran to get in position. “Ha ha ha” They snicker under the crib, in the toy bins, on the shelves while I mutter those words I so carefully otherwise avoid using in my daily life.

How else do you explain that very rarely does a kid steps on any of this little hazards but we adults do it all the time? Is it a toy conspiracy, another type of magical gnome at play or just my tired mind trying to blame it on something else besides the fact that I can’t hardly focus when I just woke up and without my glasses ?…

I have a feeling the last is not the explanation, because I know there are many of you out there in Parentland that have suffered such incidents. You may not be willing to admit it, but you know you too have let the “dirty” word out a time or two.

Despite all this, I do not mind them having all this little things. To watch and listen as their imaginations take over makes it all worth it. Nothing like their proud smile when they show you their latest creation, or listening to the magnificent stories they act out through their playing with them.

So next time I feel the temptation to grab one of those little son of a gun toys, and throw them out the window, I will picture my kids happy faces and remember the sound of their laughter. After all they are only kids once and it does goes by to fast, and better yet, one day it will be them smothering their ill chosen word or two!

So until them, remember, sometimes it pays to look down :)

Copyright of Marielena Rosa-Harrison

The Pacifier Mystery



My youngest, Coral

There is a mystery I have encounter with most of my children through the years. I have six children. This unexplained phenomena has happened with four of my children. It has me believing in mythical mischievous creatures. The latest occurrences have been during this past year with my 18 month old baby. So what are we talking about here? The disappearing and reappearing pacifier mystery.


When you have your first baby, everything is new and exciting, you sterilize everything, wash their little clothes a hundred time to make sure they are germ and allergy free for them. Then you bring your baby home from the hospital with a pacifier thinking how angelic they look soundly asleep sucking gently on it. What nobody tells you is that , the very angelic baby you are looking at is going to turn red in the face when that pacifier falls off into another dimension. So you are probably thinking, ‘what is she talking about, another dimension?” And that’s where the magical creatures start playing with your sanity. Or maybe is the endless sleepless nights confusing your brain. Either way , the results are the same. You or someone else is going to the 24 hour drugstore in the middle of the night to get another pacifier while your child screams and cries for it like they lost their best friend. And you better hope and pray you find the same kind they are used to at the store. The consequences of getting a different kind merit a whole separate post.


So where is the mystery in that? The mystery lies in the fact that when the pacifier disappears, no matter how hard you look most times you can’t find it. You go out and get more. Then another day when your child is happy and content and in no need of the pacifier, it suddenly reappears in the most obvious spot right in the area you looked for it before! So, I have to believe in little gnomes who come and take them into their realm and laugh while they watch us desperately looking for the pacifier. Then they return it to that spot a few days later just to mess with our heads. Because if I don’t, then I would have to admit that I am loosing brain cells and blame it on my children and what sort of loving mother would I be if I blamed those innocent babies?


So my advice to you is, buy several packs of pacifiers for your baby, have extras in diaper bags, cars, house, grandparents home, daycare etc. Because you never know when this mischievous gnomes will attack!


Copyright of Marielena Rosa-Harrison