Happy New Year!!! 2009

Happy New Year’s Day!
I just wanted an opportunity to wish everyone a Happy New Year! We are still on a skiing vacation with our family in Keystone, Co. It so beautiful here in the mountains covered with snow and amazing landscapes of the Rocky Mountains. The boys are having so much fun and they are all over the slopes. I have a few favorite days of the year and one of them was last night, the night before the new year. I was able to reflect on the year that I had. The best part about last night before the clock struck midnight is I knew the past was behind me and the future in front of me. While we were on the slopes in Vail, Co yesterday the boys and Keith are off to ski the double black diamond slopes while I was cruising on the easies course the green slopes. My kids are amazed I refuse to get on the black diamond and be a manic like them. They are running on the concept of “NO FEAR” skiing while I on the other hand am a little more cautious. I spent a good part of the day yesterday skiing alone and I was in a mind battle all by myself. Just when I thought I was skiing like a champ, I would lose my balance and almost scare myself to death and then I would gain my balance again. If anyone has skied before you understand my madness. I was reminded this is the same with me when it comes to my relationship with God just when I think everything is going great and I don’t spend the time I should with Him and He becomes a distant prayer. It’s like when I am skiing when I loose my balance there He is right before I fall He picks me up in His grace. I am grateful for that. I am looking forward to a new year. One of my New Years resolution is to try to be more aware of who I am in Christ in such a way that when those challenges come in my family, business, friendships and just everyday challenges. That I would trust more in what God has for me and trust Him in what is going to do this year in my life. All I want is to be so close to God that I can feel Him breathing on the back of my neck……..I have had this feeling only one time in the last 6 months and I promise you it is worth feeling this daily. If you know me very well you know how much I love my God, I love my family and I love my friends. Happy New Year! Blessings to you and your family. I believe for me this is the road less traveled…………

This is one of the best versions of this scripture:

Proverbs 3:5 (The Message)
5-12 Trust God from the bottom of your heart;
don’t try to figure out everything on your own.
Listen for God’s voice in everything you do, everywhere you go;
he’s the one who will keep you on track.
Don’t assume that you know it all.
Run to God! Run from evil!
Your body will glow with health,
your very bones will vibrate with life!
Honor God with everything you own;
give him the first and the best.
Your barns will burst,
your wine vats will brim over.
But don’t, dear friend, resent God’s discipline;
don’t sulk under his loving correction.
It’s the child he loves that God corrects;
a father’s delight is behind all this.

The Present in the Closet

Today is Christmas Day…What a great day it has been for me and my family. It has been filled with a lot of laughter and family. The kids were so thankful for what they received on this day. Austin recited Luke 2:1-20. The family was so impressed by his memorizing this scripture of the bible. What a gift to have his mind to remember all of that. Of course the greatest gift is the gift of Jesus and knowing him personally. I have been reminded this Christmas season that everyone is born with gifts and talents and it is up to us to develop those gifts. I have had the opportunity to share this story to a few of my closest friends and I wanted to share it with you too. This year has been an amazing year for me in real estate in a bad market as they say. I sold 14 million and I was able to help almost 50 families see the dream of owning a home and starting a new KW franchise. (2 is enough ) With all this success, I have had many friends say to that my life looks perfect. You know the truth is the person who looks like they have everything going for them sometimes it is just a mirage. Of course not for everyone but on occasion it is the truth. I guess what I would start off with is I have learned a lot this year. I won’t go into all the details but this summer in June I really felt God dealing with me on a few issues in my life. I felt that oh so strong tugging on my spirit and the gentle voice of God saying he has so much more for me but this one issue in my life is holding me back from what he truly had for me. In my mind, I was thinking you have more for me? I thought this is what you had for me? Real estate and running a few companies and success in a huge way I have never had in my life. As you can only imagine I knew what only God would know I was struggling with. I come from a long line of alcoholics and I had no idea this is what God was referring to. And one day there you have it…. God dealt with me in such a way I knew it was Him and I said okay I GET IT. Of course this is the readers digest short version. What I have learned is priceless ……….. What I wanted to share is this. What I have learned is that there are life changing gifts in the closet that have not been unwrapped yet and sometimes our sin or our bad habits, addictions are standing in the way of what God truly has for us. Every time I have shared a version of this story I hear someone say yes that’s me too. Since opening up my new company Why Be Average? 4 months ago I have tried to stay on the path of what I thought it should be and slowly but surely I am learning it is not about me at all it’s about what he has for me to do for Him. It has been mind boggling what doors have opened for me to speak on leadership. In the last 3 months I have the opportunity to speak to middle school, high school, and college students. I also had the opportunity to speak with Dr. Tim Elmore a few weeks ago. I was very excited when he gave me a few minuets to speak on not being average. I am now looking to use the gifts that have been in the closet for many years to hopefully be influential in women, youth and college students in leadership. To my surprise I have shared my story of my bad habit with others and I really believe it has made a difference in their lives to see what might be their bad habit too. ( Failure is not an option is my favorite phrase) I am now working on a few book projects that God has put on my heart and I look forward to a great year in real estate again because it is my job and I do love what I do. I am really looking forward to using the gifts that has been hiding in my closet for so many years. I am not perfect by any means and I still am working on my character flaws but I can say I am free from my bad habit. Now that the fog has lifted from my eyes and I can hear better on what God has for me and my family. My prayer now is for God to keep opening the doors he has for me and to turn my success into significance. I am truly blessed by the new friends and my true friends that God has put in front of my path. I believe some of you reading this blog might have gifts in their closet they have not unwrapped either. What I have discovered for me is this IS the road less traveled……………….

Jeremiah 29:11
For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

My Favorite Poem

I wanted to share one of the most incredible poems that I have had on my wall since I was at ORU. It is Robert Frost “The Road Less Traveled” or now that I have done a little more research on it I see it is actually called ” The Road Not Taken”. So whatever its called at this point in my life it is all the same. It has been amazing the opportunities that have been put in front of me in the last six months. I can see today and in my road that God has put before me has always been the one that not everyone has traveled. I am so greatful for what has happened in these months. God has stretched me, tested me, molded me, spoke to me, and watched me in all my faults, failures and I can honestly say it has been an amazing ride. I have had the awesome experience to travel to Arizona to hang out with an amazing woman of intelligence, compassion, wit, creativity, beautiful, full of wisdom, and with a heart for God. I really felt a tugging from God to go see her before the end of the year. I wasn’t sure what I was going to find in Arizona or what I was really looking for. But I have been praying since the time I made my plane reservations. I was excited in my spirit but not sure what I was going to find when I got there. I wanted to go back to this poem in the last phrase of the poem. It states “I took the road less traveled and that has made all the difference”. It also goes along with my passion about not being average but trying to be extraordinary in what God has for me and my family. I see that road less traveled in so many ways. What happened in Arizona was so amazing it almost beyond belief. How cool is God to actually speak to my heart let me get on an airplane to a place I had never been and let me spend 24 hours with an amazing women who introduced me to another amazing women with the passion for helping others see a dream of writing a book being fullfilled. I truly told God a few weeks before that if he wanted me to really write the book he put on my heart to write he would have to put a ghost writer in front of me. Because of course with my big excuse…. I can sell a lot of houses but not sure how to write a book or even where to start. This amazing women I met in Arizona at lunch was so sweet. One of the first words that came out of her mouth was I am a ghost writer and I help people write and publish books. I thought I was going to fall out of my chair. I just started laughing and yes I had to appologize for laughing. I was in awe of what God has for me and he just keeps putting me in the right place at the right time. I have been working on the book and I am sure by next year I will give everyone an update on what it might be about…… God is good about proving his point to me on several occasions.

Thanksgiving and being thankful…..

 

I woke up this morning and was so thankful for a lot of things, my husband, my sons, my family, great friends, my friends who pray for me daily, my ability to make money and sell what I sell in this market, great employees who help me run my different companies, my family’s health, my new friends that God has wanted our paths to cross for a purpose only he knows for now, the women in leadership at ORU, ORU staff, my KW family.  I wanted to share a few of my two top things I am thankful for. I have been thinking about this for a few days now. I wanted to share my top two. The first thing I am thankful for is that I am not a religious person but I have a personal relationship with Jesus. The other one is that I am thankful for my past. It has been a life changing journey. I have learned so much in my 42 years of living. If I had to do it again I probably would only change one thing. That change would be to know Jesus like I know him now. I actually now crave for more time to spend with him in the mornings. I never felt that way before and it has been amazing to understand the importance of that now. I have been in New York with my family and cousin’s family for the holiday. It has been such a great blessing and time for me to be away from my job because it is so demanding and challenging. I am surrounded by 6 kids under the age of 12 and 6 adults. They have an incredible home with the most amazing design and beauty. It is also warm and cozy and this house is filled with lots of love and laughter. The other night I was telling my Aunt and cousin Sara a great story when they would be visiting my dads parents home a mile down the street and my Aunt would bring my cousins from New York every summer to visit for 5 weeks. I remember when they came to town it was like a New York movie star and their kids came to visit little Laredo Texas. Duh! Of course it was just my cousins. When it was time for them to go back to New York I would just cry and I wanted to go home with them. My Aunt had the most beautiful jewelry, clothes, incredible purses and my cousin had the biggest suitcase I had ever seen and her clothes were beautiful. They were also very generous and loved us a lot. My cousin is like my second sister. What I told them that night is that they had a huge impact on me as a child and the lessons I learned from them. My sister and I pretty much struggled throughout our childhood. Financially we were lacking in every area of our lives proper education, food, clothes, and when it got bad it got bad. What they actually did to me without really understanding it at all was they gave me a glimpse of what was possible for me someday. One day I could get out of my circumstance. Every year until Sara attended college she made the special journey back to Texas. The time we spent and the memories we made were priceless and we speak of these times often. We spoke a little more in depth about the whole experience and I left them in total shock. They had no idea of the true suffering my sister and I had to endure. We were all in tears and my Aunt said “Why didn’t you tell us I would of done something or took you to New York”. I could tell my cousin was totally blindsided by what I told her. No one knew the extent of the poverty for those years. How do you tell an adult when you are so little you need help? I was to little and my understanding of the situation at the time was more of survival than anything else.  I told my Aunt and Sara that I was thankful for my past it is who I am today and I am so thankful and I really mean it. I have people always asking me “What drives you?”  I am asked this a lot. Most people who are not my close friends will say “Now, what are you up to?” or “Why are you doing is or that?” I think a few things drive me. One is poverty, poverty drives me. I don’t want to go back there. God has blessed me in such a amazing way and I am very aware of what is expected of me now. Because of my past I am always conscious of my surroundings and people around me I can see people in need that I think other people would miss and never will be able to see. If you look around there is someone in need. You just have to be wiling to let God drop that oh so soft voice in your spirit to help them. Sometimes they are right in front of you and you can miss an opportunity to help someone. I love this verse for all the years of tears I can say I have defiantly reaping my season of joy. Do I have it all figured out and do I have the perfect life… absolutely no way. The truth of the matter is there are seasons in our life’s that will shape us and mold us and spiritually grow us closer to Jesus. I am truely thankful for a lot……

 

 When I first came across this scripture in Psalms 126:5, I looked it up in different versions and I liked this one the best. 5. They that sow in tears shall reap in joy

 

 

Early years….of the gift of giving.

   

What I had learned as a child and experienced first hand has changed the course of a little Mexican girl’s life forever….

 

 

     I remember as a little girl I learned the principle of giving so early in life. My mom, my older sister and I moved to Laredo, TX from Dallas when I was in the third grade. My parents had divorced and my mom was having a hard time just keeping a roof over our heads. We lived in a small home across from the elementary school. We only lived there for a short time and again my mom couldn’t afford to pay the rent. My Grandpa decided the best thing for us was to buy us a trailer and literally put it in his back yard for us to live. He was so opposite of my mom and my loving and compassionate giving Grandma. I loved my Grandpa dearly but I saw in him what I didn’t want to be or become. What I did learn from him was the principle of borrowing money and paying it back. If I didn’t pay him back what I borrowed from him, I learned very quickly he wouldn’t lend me money again until the debt was paid in full. What I learned from my beautiful Mexican Grandma was her kind loving spirit. She had a special love for God and her ability to love people where they were at and to give without ever expecting anything in return. One of my fondest memories was when I needed money for school and I knew my mom could not give me anything. I remember calling my Grandma to see if she could lend me five dollars until I could pay her back. She told me to meet her at the back of the house at the window facing my trailer. I remember seeing her cut a slit in the screen of the bathroom window. She folded a five dollar bill and slid it through the screen. I was a little short at the time and I just waited for the money to fly out of the window and on to the ground for me to pick up. She would always shut the window, wink at me and put her finger on her lips as to say don’t tell Grandpa. This was one of the greatest memories I have as a 10 years old child and probably the greatest lesson of the gift of giving. I remember my life as a child was not always pleasant but where there was love there was GOD.

 

      I love to give and it took sometime for me to truly understand the true gift of giving. The true gift of giving is when you have the ability to give without ever expecting anything in return. God has a way of giving us clues along the way through life and if you are looking for the opportunity to give you will see it.  If you are not even open to the possibility of what if ?? You will miss it and truly never experience the joy of giving and changing a life forever. What I have learned from giving is not only do I have the chance to change the day but I have the opportunity to change a life forever. I have been there, I know this first hand and I am blessed and humbled to see what God has done with me. This is truly one of those roads less traveled……

 

 

   

 

 

 

8. If your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging. If it is giving, give generously. If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously. And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly.

 Romans 12:8 (New Living Translation)

 

 

 

 

 

     

Just a few thoughts….to catch you up on me first.

         Well, I have been bugged so often to start a blog of what the heck I am up to. ( This is not a real estate blog) THANK GOD!!! I am going to try not to refer to my life in my real estate world. It gets creepy sometimes with my clients having a little more knowledge about me. So I have tried to keep them off Facebook and I have resisted doing a blog until now. But we will if it is harder to find me here. I will trust God to watch over me and my family at this point. You might be thinking good luck with that…. I know, wishful thinking. Also, please bare with me on this blog thing. I am not sure what the correct blog etiquette is. I will keep the tradition of just shooting from my hip and figuring it out along the way…. Ha!

Why the road less traveled?

          Ever since I was at ORU and even today in my office I have a framed poem on my wall. It is one of the greatest poems I have ever come across. The poem is called The Road Less Traveled by Robert Frost. When I read this poem while I was a student I really related to it. I am getting this long but really short story of my life out of the way so everyone can say “oh I get it now” . A short story of the last 10 years of my life. I moved to the east coast in ’92 and in ’94 met my husband on a blind date. Yup, that’s what it was. A college friend introduced us and we married in March of the next year. We will be married 15 years. I really wanted to go to law school in the area and decided to have children instead. That was a great decision on our part. I have 2 sons and they are amazing God loving kids. In 2001, I told my husband I wanted to get into real estate part time. I loved being a stay at home mom but I felt that urge to move in a different direction. I still think this is one of the hardest jobs I have ever had. My first year in real estate I won Rookie of the year award for my company and for the area board awards as well. It was a huge shock to me to be so successful on the jump. Two years later, I moved companies and began running a team that ended up being a huge team. When I left that company 3 years ago, I had 20 agents on my team. The rumor in the industry at the time was I was leaving the company to buy my own KW franchise. I was fired on a Saturday afternoon at 1pm in Feb ’06. This was my true test of the road less traveled…….With in 24 hours of that phone call I pretty much lost my whole team with exception of a few agents trying to find their way they eventually all left the company and did not follow me to my new opportunity to start a new national franchise. I remember that day so well. I think it was more painful than giving birth to my two sons. It was a shock to the other huge local brokers and agents in the area when I was approved with in 3 months of being fired to start the first successful KW franchise in my area. In ’08 I opened my second successful KW franchise in VA B. Town Center. I had a pretty good size bullseye on my head for the first 6-8 months. That was an interesting time in my family’s life. Today, there are 4 offices with 250 agents and KW is the fastest growing franchise in the city. It warms my heart to think when God gives you a dream or a desire it’s great to see it come to pass in such a huge way. Sometimes it is still hard for me to wrap my brain around what God has done for me and my family. I am still a full time Realtor with two assistance. I have sold almost 500 homes and 120 million in sales to date. Okay, now that this is out of the way…………

        I remember the first day I stepped foot onto the ORU campus. I remember the tugging of God on my life. I knew I was suppose be there.  When I decided to go into real estate, I had the same tugging by God. I knew I have been lead by God to do the things he has called me to do. I haven’t always done it the right way but I have always found my way.Thank God for His grace and forgiveness on a daily basis. Yes, along with everything else I am doing I have felt the tugging yet one more time. My new company( Why Be Average?)  has been birthed out of what I believe God’s leading me to go in a different direction with what he has taught me with my achievements and my failures. I am also using a part of this company to be able to speak to women in leadership to encourage and to inspire them not to be average but to be Extraordinary. I was in leadership at (RA) ORU and I think this has been my burning passion for the women in leadership at ORU. Dean Sylvester has no idea what opportunity she gave me when she allowed me to speak at a RA meeting a  month ago. God really dealt with me on what is to come. That was pretty cool and an amazing time I spent there. More on that later…  One of my leadership mentors at ORU was Betty Chesbro. She is a legend at the University. My other mentor and I am not sure he knows how much he has shaped who I am in the last few years since I met him. Dr. Tim Elmore has an amazing ability to communicate leadership in such an profound way. The first time I saw him speak on leadership I was hooked on his ministry. His organization is called Growing Leaders. ( I love Holly too). It has been a blessing to be in my position to sow seeds on great soil. I was blessed along with a group of Alumni to hear Oral Roberts speak in Oct. What an amazing time that was to hear the heart of Oral. A few quotes from him that I really want to share was.  “make no small plans here” and ” make sure and sow your seed in good soil” ” clean hands and a pure heart”  So, I would say this is my journey. It’s amazing when God puts that burning desire in your heart and your spirit. You can do amazing things with your time when you are on Gods time.  So, how’s that for a hand full of info…….. Sorry!   Until next time…

Romans 12:8 (New Living Translation)

8 If your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging. If it is giving, give generously. If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously. And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly.