Merry Christmas, not Happy Holidays!!

2006 has been a year full of trials, tribulations, lots of prayer, joy, blessings, new friends and new family! Corbin James Garcia ( nephew) joined us in January, we finished up Apartment Life in June, got plugged in with a new Community Group and continue to grow in our marriage and relationships with family and friends! One thing has remained consistent through this past year and that is the overwhelming peace of Christ!

Ok, so what's new?!?!? I (Jill), started a new job at the end of August at Dallas Semiconductor/Maxim. They make analog semiconductors, I don't really know what those are, but I'm learning! I am the Executive Admin for the Director of the Automatic Info Business Unit. The people are wonderful, the atmosphere is amazing, very relaxed and down to earth. I work with about 50 engineers so it does stay interesting (I'm learning engineer language, but it's coming very slowly!). Aaron is still working as a contractor for Accenture, contracted at Celanese, an Oil & Gas company here in Dallas. There are possibilities of some great opportunities for him this coming year, so we're praying for the Lord to lead and guide our decisions. WE SOLD THE VOLVO!!! For those of you who don't know, we've have two very hard years with the Volvo and for four months had been trying to sell it. The Lord provided in amazing ways throughout those four difficult months and through a series of events, we have sold the Volvo and now have my parents old Camry and my Camry, both paid for!!!

2007 is going to be a great year, there is no doubt in my mind! We're setting some pretty lofty goals and look forward to being disciplined to meeting those! Getting out of debt is #1!! We're prayerfully, about 8 months out and I am definitely counting down!! The Lord continues to provide for us in ways we could never imagine and continues to show his love and faithfulness to us as long as we are following him.

I have started a new hobby, a passion actually and look forward to the possibility of starting my own company in 2007. I have picked up the art of handmade greeting cards! It's almost an obsession, but I have not let it take over my life, yet! Right now it consists of occasion cards that I'm sending to friends and family. I've recently purchased a Cricut (www.cricut.com), actually last night and have already had a blast figuring out everything it can do and dreaming of the ways it could boost my cardmaking skills!!

Aaron recently bought the xBox 360 and is fully enjoying it! He's already beaten the first game he purchased! He continues to enjoy the computer stuff but has not really done much with his business lately, although 2007 might be a good year to pick that back up as well!

We pray that your 2006 has been a true blessing filled with the joy of the Lord, and pray the same and much more for 2007!! I'll add pictures after Christmas! Good Bless You, and MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Love Aaron and Jill

No Excuses!!

Hello all! Well, we've finally settled in to our new apartment and absolutely love it! It's a small one-bedroom, but has vaulted ceilings throughout and that definitely adds the feeling of more space. Apartment Life has ended and although it was hard to leave our old place, I can't say that it hasn't been wonderful to have free time again. Although the past month has not been the easiest road to be on, we continue to preservers and trust that the Lord has a purpose. Not even a week after we moved in I began to have sharp chest pains that I had previously had for the past few years. Normally I would take an over the counter medication and they would go away after a couple days, but this time was different. After going through an entire box of medicine and the pains only getting worse, I decided to see a doctor (You'd think it would not have taken me so long, but I can be pretty stubborn when it comes to doctors!). He almost immediately blamed it on my gallbladder. I went in to see him on a Monday morning and by that afternoon, I had already had bloodwork and an ultrasound. After seeing that it was not gallstones, I went back to a different hospital the next morning and had a Nuclear Medicine test done that proved the lining of my gallbladder had been infected and it was causing my gallbladder to fail. Now, until I went to see my Dr., I had no clue what the gallbladder was and so I was very curious as to how serious this was going to be. I learned, through my mom and Aaron that the gallbladder produces bile which in turn helps your body to breakdown unnecessary consumed fat. So, to make too long of a story shorter, that Friday of the same week of my tests, I had my gallbladder removed. It's now done as a laproscopic procedure so I was in and out of the surgery center within 5 hours, but I've still had to train myself to watch what I eat. I was on a clear liquids diet for two weeks and then an extremely low-fat diet for another two weeks. I'm almost at a point where I can eat like a normal person again, but I find myself not really desiring the same foods as before, which I have to say is definitely a good thing! Anyway, that's my excuse for not updating sooner!!

Other than that, Aaron and I have enjoyed our nights where we can come home and do nothing if we want to because our calendars are blank!! We have gotten really involved in our community group (kind of like a small group for married couples) and have thoroughly enjoyed walking through life with people who genuinely love us and care about our relationships with Christ and especially our marriage. We are so blessed to have folks that are willing to have difficult conversations if needed and to encourage us through hard times.

On another note, and I can't remember if I have already mentioned this or not, but over Memorial Day Weekend, Aaron and I were fortunate enough to take our first vacation, just the two of us, since our honeymoon! We rented a car and drove to Vail, Colorado!! We spent our first two nights in Denver and the last four nights in Vail and it was amazing! The scenery there is spectacular! It was such a good time for us to just spend with each other. We went horseback riding and Aaron got to play a round of Golf and I got to hang out by the Vail River and journal, something I had not done in months. It was such needed time after our year as a Cares Team. We've decided that we're going to try and make it more of a priority to take trips together, as our budget allows. There's so many places we want to see!

Well, I guess I'll stop for now. I feel like I've probably worn your eyes out, but I pray, we pray that y'all are doing wonderful and look forward to the next time!!

And as it ends, it also begins...

I'm not sure the title of this blog really makes any sense, but I thought I'd give it a try! It's the beginning of June and I cannot believe that almost a year has gone by since we started Apartment Life. What an amazing and challenging journey it has been! Over the past few months, we have battled with the decision of re-uping with Apartment Life for another year. We have had so many awesome moments with residents and have grown so much spiritually and relationally that it's almost hard to think about not doing it anymore, but with much prayer and communication with our community group, we have decided not to re-up for another year. We are excited about where the Lord will take us next. We will be moving at the end of June into a more affordable apartment and have prayerfully decided to re-enter in to Student Ministries, specifically Senior High, at Watermark. We both feel like that is where the Lord is leading us next and truly have a desire to be there. We are also excited to have free time again with each other and friends. In fact, we just got back last week from a vacation! We drove the very long drive to Colorado and spent a week in the Rocky Mountains, Vail to be exact. It was amazing and wonderful!! We went horseback riding and Aaron made his way to the Golf Course. We spent time together just hanging out and spent time shopping as well (my most favorite part!). The weather was great and the scenery was absolutely amazing! It was hard to come home, expecially knowing we were coming back to almost 100 degree weather. I'll be sure to post a few pictures from the vacation.
On another note, work is going well for me and Aaron both. I continue to learn new and challenging things everyday at work and really enjoy my job. I can't believe it, but it's already been a year that I've been here at Phytel. Aaron's job is going ok, they have added more work which is good and bad since it's admin work, and he hates admin work, but at least it's keeping him busy. We have progressed with his computer company and are now waiting for the website to get finished. The logo came out absolutely perfect (Thanks to Jon Flaming, www.jonflaming.com, a close friend of ours)! Well, I guess that's it for now! We love hearing from y'all so be sure to post comments if you get a chance! God Bless!

Aaron and Jill Garcia 

Long Time Coming...

Well, as you can see a few months have passed since I last "blogged" and so I thought it was time to send out another hello! Since the beginning of January, Aaron and I have been busy, as usual. Apartment Life is going great! We are beginning to see the fruits of our labor and I have to say, it is the most amazing thing I have ever experienced! I can't remember if I wrote about this before but back in October/November, we met a couple, Lance and Ophelia, who came to our community as victims of Katrina. Aaron and Lance immediately hit it off and after a great conversation, Aaron and I invited Lance and Ophelia to Watermark. They came with us a few weeks before Christmas and since Aaron and I were in Houston a few weekends after that we were unable to follow up with them to see what they thought of it. When we did get a chance to follow up in February, we found out that they had been going ever since!! What a blessing!! We have continued to build that relationship and are so excited to see what the Lord will continue to do with thier hearts! We have also brought one of the managers of the community and a few other residents as well who have enjoyed it and are already inviting others! I have also started building a great friendship with a single gal who lives in the community and have been able to share my story of grace with her and have found that even though traumatic things happened in each of our lives, the Lord can use them for his glory. Please pray for my sweet friend and her heart as she battles through the healing process. Pray that she would truly break down her walls and allow the Lord to just take her in his arms and love her like she has never been loved before.

On another note, I want to say thank you to all of you who have been praying for my family over the past few months. The healing process can be long and painful, but I know the Lord has had His hand in the middle of this the entire time and that nothing but good will continue to come from everything that has happened! Please pray for Aaron and I as we pray through re-signing for another year with Apartment Life. We realize what an incredible ministry it is, but also realize that the time committment might be a little more than we can handle and we would love to get involved in so many other ministries at Watermark. Please pray for the Lord's will to be done and that we would truly seek Him in this process. Thanks for visiting our site and we love you all!!! God bless!!

Happy New Year!

I cannot believe how fast 2005 went! I'm in awe of all the blessings the Lord has given us this past year. As I reflect back over 2005 I see accomplishments, struggles, heartache, excitement, relaxation, rejuevination, new friendships built, old friendhsips regained and so much more. In 2005 we: paid off over $15,000 in debt, we've taken many trips home to visit family, we've watched both my sister and sister-in-law through thier pregnancies, we've continually strived to make our marriage better, we've grown closer to friends and have seen friends move away, some even to another country, we've been barn swinging, and seen probably 5 dozen movies, we've had just as many, if not more, wonderful dates, we've watched each other grow in our faith and be challenged as well, we've become part of a ministry that reaches out to lost people in apartment communities across the states, we've watched loved ones pass away and have watched new life begin. We are truly blessed! Now, I'm completely convinced that 2006 is going to beat out 2005, and we are on our way to making that happen. We've set some pretty high goals for this year, complete paying off debt by September 2006, Get back in shape and tone up, continue to grow our ministry in our apartment community and draw people into the church, press on in the other areas we are serving in at Watermark, Aaron - drama (who would have thunk it!) and me, sheparding the sweet 5th grade girls! We've also said we would get to our two year anniversary and re-evaluate about having kids, so I'm praying that blessing is not too far off in our future, and we have also made our marriage a high priority. We know that the Lord has some great things in store for us and we are so excited! We hope your Christmas and all of 2005 was amazing and we will be praying for you throughout the new year! We would love to hear from you! Thanks for visiting our site and God Bless!!