Sarah Cantu

"Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends..."

Mon, 12 Dec 2011 19:13:06 -0800

“

Have you not known? Have you not heard?

The Lord is the everlasting God,

the Creator of the ends of the earth.

He does not faint or grow weary;

his understanding is unsearchable.

He gives power to the faint,

and to him who has no might he increases strength. (Isaiah 40:28, 29 ESV)

”

- These last few weeks my family has been bombarded with a string of illnesses ranging from the mundane to the mysterious. As any mom does, I have stayed awake praying and taking care of my kids-and after almost 4 weeks, I am weary. I have no strength left. I take refuge that my God is the Creator and that it is He who will give me strength.

Are you running?

Tue, 11 Oct 2011 10:45:20 -0700

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Hebrews 12:1-2

Today I feel like I’m running in sand-actually, I’ve felt like that for a while now. Do you ever feel like you are doing your best and you are running with your shoelaces tied together? Let us throw off that which entangles us-focusing on the important rather than the urgent. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus-as a child learning to walk never breaks gaze with their parent. Let us seek to have endurance-realizing that each step is a renewal of our goal…each step is making us more like Jesus.

"For to this end we toil and strive, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the..."

Mon, 12 Sep 2011 19:34:34 -0700

“For to this end we toil and strive, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe. (1 Timothy 4:10 ESV)”

- Today has been ‘one of those days’. I read this today in my quiet time and have been repeating it over and over again. My hope is in the Living God.

My daughter is awesome

Wed, 07 Sep 2011 20:55:24 -0700

Tonight at dinner my daughter:

B: Mom…I know what it means to rob a bank!
Me: what does it mean to rob a bank?
B: it means you make a bad choice.
Me: well, yes. It is a bad choice…where did you learn that?
B: my teacher says always says ‘if your friend robs a bank, would you? No. Make a better choice.’
Me: bwahahaha.
B: proceeds to call each member of our family a bank robber.

She cracks me up! I love being a mom.

Growing up…. It dawned on me last night as I posted this...

Tue, 30 Aug 2011 16:01:50 -0700

Growing up….
It dawned on me last night as I posted this pic on our local craigslist, that our family is growing up. I no longer have a toddler. My oldest is in a public elementary school. We are (almost) done with diapers. I remember thinking back when my son was a newborn that I just couldn’t wait til they were just a bit older…and now it has happened. Be careful what you wish for…

"You have to settle with the past, engage the present and believe in the future."

Tue, 30 Aug 2011 15:48:08 -0700

““You have to settle with the past, engage the present and believe in the future.””

- Heard this in a movie at the gym the other day and thought it was somewhat profound.

My hubs and I at a friend’s wedding. We celebrated a few...

Wed, 24 Aug 2011 19:24:51 -0700

My hubs and I at a friend’s wedding. We celebrated a few days later our 8th anniversary. I am so humbled and amazed to be married to a man who strives for excellence and who does so much for me and for our kids. It is amazing to me the journey God has brought us on so far and I am SO looking forward to the next adventure with him.

New International Version (©1984) The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and...

Mon, 08 Aug 2011 13:56:17 -0700

New International Version (©1984)
The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and I am helped. My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to him in song.

I am meditating on this verse today. In the last few weeks of our summer, our family has had quite the roller coaster. We’ve had soccer, family days, Russ in his master’s program, a short 3 day vacation, our son’s 3rd birthday, back to school shopping, etc. Etc. Today, though we have added two more things to our roller coaster: our daughters kindergarten orientation and a memorial for a toddler from our church family. It has been a rough week for many people close to us, and today-in the midst of the sorrow for Rubi, the anxiety and excitement for my little girl and all the emotions that seems to be between, I am choosing today to focus on this verse.

It seems my life this last month could best be described as...

Tue, 28 Jun 2011 13:41:24 -0700

It seems my life this last month could best be described as “a little bit of crazy”. Our family has been running around going to the movies, swimming, playing in the yard, and even a trip to Disney and SoCal beaches thrown in. In the midst of it all I have this little countdown in my head to when our family life will change forever-when my little girl goes to Kindergarten. We are a family that is truly on the go all the time-I’ve never been a homebody and neither of my kids are either. Because of this, the structure of a traditional school year will be a huge adjustment for us and I am doing my best to soak up every moment of this summer.

Overwhelmed

Mon, 23 May 2011 21:29:55 -0700

This week has left me feeling a bit overwhelmed. We have company coming in, my daughter is graduating preschool, and yesterday I sang in church for the first time in about a year. While there are about a hundred reasons why each of these overwhelm me, I started humming a song to myself tonite that my hubby and I used to do when we led worship once upon a time-the name of the song is ‘overwhelmed’. Fitting, right? Here are some of the words:

“I am nothing yet you bid me come to you, oh Lord Almighty. As I come I’m overwhelmed with you. Humbly now I break the silence as I’m standing in your presence, I’m so wretched, overwhelmed with you.

Your blood of redemption is covering my shame, your voice that shaped the heavens is whispering my name. And as you catch my tears with your nail scarred hands, I’m overwhelmed.”

I’m not sure who wrote it, or why it came into my head-but in the midst of this week, I want to focus on Jesus. I want to allow Him to overwhelm me.

Why we gave up traditional TV

Fri, 13 May 2011 19:19:02 -0700

Approximately 2 years ago, we cancelled our dish service and got a TV antenna and Netflix. We struggled with the decision and had many discussions over it with our biggest hang up (ok-my biggest hangup) being the access to 24/7 news. However, when our dish bill came and was almost $90/month we made the choice and cancelled. It was the best media choice we’ve ever made by far and unbeknownst to us, one of our better parenting decisions. We tried for a while to make our $8.99 antenna from Target pick up our favorite programs, but gave up on it after a couple weeks.

We have been a Netflix only family now for a while and I can tell you that for us, the benefits far outweigh any doubts we had initially. The biggest benefit being the absence of commercials. My kids have only seen commercials once (while watching the Giants win the world series). They are completely oblivious to what the newest toy or fads are, and have NEVER seen questionable material. We as parents have 100% control over what is on our screen. This alone would make me never want to go back. For Russ and I though, the benefits are a bit different and a bit more subtle. We have noticed our sensitivity to violence and language increase in the time we’ve been Netflixers as well as less total screen time for us as a family. We’ve been blessed with a different perspective and now no longer are concerned with ‘catching up’ on a show or with being home to see something specific. We have no idea who is on American Idol, DWTS, SYTYCD, or any other reality vote in show-and we honestly don’t miss it like we thought we would.

I wanted to take the time to explain our choices because we are asked often why we made these choices and how they’ve affected us. I think our culture is so incredibly conditioned to traditional TV that we have an honest struggle with even the possibility of giving up. Whether going in an untraditional approach is right for your family or not is a choice we each have to make, but I would encourage you to at least give it a trail run to see how your perspective could change without the hangups of TV.

A new day

Wed, 11 May 2011 20:44:37 -0700

Lamentations 3:22-23 (New International Version)

22 Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. 23 They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.

I’ve been thinking about this verse alot lately. This last weekend I was interviewed regarding my time at the college I attended by their online newspaper and it got me thinking about the very different person I am today from who I was then. I remember being very driven then, and I regret how low of a priority in some ways people were to me. The last 8 years out of college have taught me many things. I have been humbled, and I would like to think that God has grown my heart and my dependence upon Him. Looking back at His word, knowing that each day is a new day-that He is merciful with me, has given me more of a desire to be merciful with others. This gives me hope that I can continue to be more like Jesus.

Like a princess

Wed, 04 May 2011 18:55:12 -0700

This morning my kids and I watched Tangled, the newest Disney princess movie, and my mind began to wander. I started thinking about how thankful I am that my daughter knows she is a princess. I wondered why some parents shy away from allowing their kids to explore such movies. I remembered a situation on a plane several years ago where a mom was sitting with her 2 year old daughter and was explaining to her that there are no real princesses-and that there are definately no prince charmings. I wondered what must have happened to that woman, who let her down-so that she doesn’t feel like a princess herself. I also wondered what the implication would be if we taught our sons to cherish our daughters-how many of our daughters would grow up to meet prince charming? I am so incredibly lucky to have married a man who treated me like a queen when we were dating and still now, almost 8 years later, does his absolute best to show me that I am loved, valued and cherished. We are doing our best to teach our daughter to expect the best-and to be disappointed if something doesn’t live up to that high standard. I know that in some ways, we are setting her up for some heartbreak, but I would rather her hold high standards on the men in her life when she is older and occasionally be disappointed that to just not expect that much from them.

I think about the young girls in our youth group-past and present. What we’ve seen is that how the men in authority treat these girls is what they expect from the boys/men they date. I would hope that as we in youth ministry continue to speak with these girls, we exhibit a positive example for them of what a healthy marriage can look like. That we still have high expectations and that while marriage is definately about complimenting each other and bringing out the best in each other-that we encourage our husbands to the standard we would want the men in our daughters lives to be like. Most importantly I want to be the kind of woman that acts like the princess my husband thinks I am-I want to exhibit grace and mercy, love and humility, and I want to reflect the image of Christ.

The first round of sidewalk drawings from my 5 and 2 year olds.

Wed, 27 Apr 2011 12:09:27 -0700

The first round of sidewalk drawings from my 5 and 2 year olds.

Reflection of today

Wed, 27 Apr 2011 12:08:06 -0700

This week we officially enter the ‘home stretch’ of the school year. 4 more weeks until Summer vacation-and then 9 weeks until our oldest begins kindergarten. I have been reflecting on the last year and how quickly it has gone by and am trying to (in concert with my hubs) make plans for the summer to be a memorable one for our family. I would love to think that each day will be filled with pool parties and lemonade, but I’m a bit more realistic than that :). Honestly, I’m not even sure what the summer will hold daily for the Cantus-just that it will be crazy and most likely be gone in a blink of an eye. My hope is that if I can get ahead of it-make plans for at least SOME of the time, we can look back with no regrets. So, we are starting a bit early today with sidewalk chalk, a lazy morning, and lots of smiles and laughter. If anyone has good suggestions for ideas, I would love to hear them :),

My little boy enjoying his drink at Starbucks on a date with me....

Tue, 26 Apr 2011 21:21:26 -0700

My little boy enjoying his drink at Starbucks on a date with me. I love spending one-on-one time with my kids. There is just something about getting a glimpse into their hearts that melts mine.

Words.

Sun, 10 Apr 2011 21:13:12 -0700

I’ve never liked the old ‘sticks and stones’ saying. If you are like me, you have been hurt deeply by words at some point in your life. Recently, I’ve noticed fb posts and blog posts that are really sarcastic-sometimes to the extreme. This got me thinking about the words I use and more importantly how I use them. Anyone who knows me well can tell you this has been a struggle over the years-but as I get older I want to be someone people see as an encourager, not as someone to be feared for my words.

We have a saying in our home : words have the power to hurt or heal. I for one am going to do my best to speak healing words, and to tone back the sarcasm so I minimize the amount of people they hurt.

A challenge today

Sun, 03 Apr 2011 21:10:56 -0700

I am understanding more each day who I need to be. Today was one of those days that I was given an opportunity to put at least some of that into practice. It was a long day of church activities and my hubby was gone til after our normal dinner time-a day I’m sure every ministry wife has lived more than once. I found myself today wanting to be frustrated with the amount of responsibility that Russ had and then I found myself taking a step back. I can’t even count how many times friends have complained to me or on facebook about their ministry husbands’ schedules. I have even had those nights where you just want for one day things to be ‘normal’. But today, I found myself being challenged. These commitments of his are equally commitments of mine. As we tell our kids, we are a team. And that means that on days like today, it’s my job as his teammate, his partner, to do what I can to help and encourage him-not complain about his schedule. God has called US to a life of ministry-and although it’s alot less glamourous on my end sometimes-me holding to my commitments allows him the ability to hold to his. So, I would like to challenge you ministry wives out there…next time you are tempted to complain and criticize your hubby’s schedule, ask yourself if he needs you to be his partner in that way?

An interesting parallel

Wed, 23 Mar 2011 11:50:23 -0700

The last few days I’ve been reading through the books of Numbers and Deuteronomy attempting to catch up on the Bible challenge our youth group is doing and I’ve noticed an interesting parallel between the Israelite nation and my 2 year old. We’ve been going through this phase with him where he is asserting his independence, and practically speaking it’s frustrating to Russ and me. For instance-as I’m typing this I am having to take breaks to tell him for the 5th time that I am using my phone so he cannot play his shapes game. These types of thing happen constantly where we have to tell him numerous times what he needs to be doing (or not doing) and many times it’s as if he just forgot from when we said it 5 minutes ago. This reminds me of the Israelites. Over and over again the Lord told them what to do. Over and over they would obey for a short time, then go back to doing the same thing as if they’d forgotten. What an amazing amount of patience the Lord had with them! There were always consequences, but he always provided a way for the relationship to be restored. I’m so thankful for our son and how God teaches me through him. What an interesting parallel.

Vacation

Wed, 16 Mar 2011 20:20:45 -0700

Every year our family makes a priority for 2 vacations; one as a family that is usually a long weekend, and one just Russ and I which is usually one or 2 nights. Vacations are important-extreemly important-for everyone, but especially for those in any full time vocation such as ministry. For us, it is the chance to not answer the cell phone if we don’t want to, to even turn it off :). To be able to focus on one another and to talk about non church things. Inevitably there are rough points as the kids get tired without naps or we get frustrated without any ‘grown up time’, but we always look back on those vacations and seem to forget about the frustration and remember the good. I wrote a bit about our trip to Monterey with our kids last week-it was the first time our family has stayed more than one night in the same hotel room together and let me tell you, that was interesting. Russ and I were watching Netflix on our phones or computer in the pitch black while the kids slept-I much prefer light :).

For our couple trip this year, though, Russ surprised me with a 3 night trip to NYC! I was surprised and excited-and we had a great time. I have always wanted to go to New York and see Broadway, and my 30th was a good reason to surprise me with a trip so needless to say-I have the best Hubby ever! We were in a whirlwind and hit up all the tourist spots like Serendipity and FAO Schwartz. We went o a broadway show and walked Central Park for hours in the fresh snow, and I even got to go to the Guggenheim-another dream of mine. More than any of that, I am thankful for the memories I have with Russ of such an amazing city and great times there. I was looking at pictures today with my son of a vacation Russ and I took a few years ago to Sea World where we got to swim with Beluga Whales-again..wonderful memories.

In these times where money is hard to find and people are working harder and longer than ever, I guess I just wanted to remind everyone that vacations are important-they are what remind us of who we are as a family, as a couple, aside from the ‘everyday’ lives we can get caught up in. Take a few moments this week to try and build memories..even if you can’t get away.