Anniversary bands

Today I am sharing a before and after photo by joining Alicia with her weekly meme "Friday Photo Flashback"

Sorry for the photo, but I had it only in my wedding album scrapbook and I couldn´t get it out. What I am trying you to see is our wedding bands. I think I had the most beautiful engagement ring. The most special part of it for me is that Matthew and I never went to see rings together. So he had no idea what I liked. He picked that ring by himself, no help from anyone, so to me that made it even more special and even more beautiful. It came from his heart to mine.

If you want to see this photo bigger, you can just by clicking in it.

As many of you know we just celebrated our 10 year wedding anniversary. We were planning to go to Rome, but the crisis is hitting everyone and we thought it would be smarted to postpone the trip for better days :).

Still, it was our 10 year anniversary and we knew we needed to get something special for each other. Something that would be with us forever.

So we decided to buy new wedding bands. We still wear our original ones, but here in Spain, the wedding band are wore in the right hand and it is just a band (no diamond). They are also suppossed to match.

My wedding ring doesn´t fit in my right hand so I have been wearing a ring that Matthew bought me when we first were going out. I was fine with it, of course, but always wanted to get matching ones one day.

So this is what we found and we love it!

As you can see it is one part white gold and another part yellow gold.



This are the flowers Matthew got me too.


Have a good weekend everyone!

10 years later

10 years ago today, God blessed me with the best husband I could have dream of.

Is a dream that is lasting 10 years. 10 years full of blessings. 10 years of walking together through roses and rocks.

Still, loving each other, even more than 10 years ago.

I am looking forward the next 10 years, 20, 30, 50, 60... years together, because I know, that no matter what happens, he will always be by my side.

Love is a great blessing!

Have a great weekend everyone

Btw-- No, I am not in Rome, we had to cancel the trip :) Not a good time :)

More Photo Friday Flashback over at Alicia´s

Once upon a time...

Friday is here and, once again, I am joining Alicia at More Than Words, for her Friday meme.



This meme is a great opportunity to go through all the photo albums and bing back memories from past blessings. In this post I am also using digital photos (the last three), I hope Alicia forgive me, but I couldn´t tell the whole Once Upon a Time story without them. :)

So once upon a time, there was young american guy that had just finish college and gone back to his hometown. And there was a young spaniard girl that was going for a short trip to visit her sister that had move the year earlier, with her family, to start a spanish ministry in AL.

They meet and quickly feel in love. Shortly after they were married.

(Oct, 16 1999)

They were blessed, they were happy.

(Dec 4, 2000)

And a couple of years later, they were blessed with beautiful baby Kayla.

(May 6, 02)

They were so happy, and to their surprise, 10 months later they found out that they were expecting again.

(Jun. 2003)

Nicole was a Christmas present, and a baby doll for her older sister.

(Dec.23, 2002)

By this photo, the Lord has called us to Spain, and Matthew had finish Bible College. We were on our survey trip and getting ready to start deputation. Our lives were changing. My husband was an accountant and now we were going to the mission field. We were excited though looking forward seeing what God was going to do.

(Sept. 2004)

But they changes didn´t stop there, and in the middle of all the traveling, we were blessed with yet another beautiful blessing. Our Noelia. I remember I was feeling so sick but I din´t want to do a pregnancy test because I was just so sure it couldn´t be..... but........ it was :)




(July 28, 2006)

I praise God for His goodness. For the wonderful family He has given me.

July 2009

Once upon a time I was lost, but He found me.

Once upon a time I was a sinner, but He saved me.

One upon a time I was undeserving, but He blessed me.

Once upon a time I was empty handed, but He fillled my hands with blessings.

I praise the name of the LORD!

Friday Photo Flashback-- The angry years

Today I am joining Alicia at More than Words again for Friday Photo Flashback.

If there are very few photos of me when I was little, there are even less of me as a teen, or how I would call them, my "angry years". Not that I was angry all the time, but for what you see in the photos, I may as well. I never smiled. Don´t ask me why. But no one else is showing teeth is these photos, so maybe it was in back then... :)... you know, back in my time :).



This photo was taken in 1998, in the end of April. I remember because my sister had move to the States the december before and my mom was going there to visit them. She was going to spend mother´s day with her in AL, so before she left, the whole family went together to a restaurant to celebrate it with her early.

In the photo I am with my nephew and niece. I am the one on the right of the photo. Yes, my hair was that short. I went through a time for a couple of years that I kept cutting my hair shorter and shorter. This was when I hit rock bottom :). It may be funky, but it was sooooo comfortable. Wash hair, hair gel and go!

That october was when I met Matthew. He told me if my hair hadn´t grown by then he wouldn´t had like me.... or so he says :). He really doesn´t like hair that short in girls, at least his girl.



This one was taken just a few months earlier (notice my hair is longer). It must be taken around october november 1997, because those were taken from my sister before she moved. I am the one on the top right, the other two are my nieces.

So, everyone, have a wonderful weekend!!!

A blessed Fall

Is it Friday again? It is funny how fast the days fly anymore. I remember when I was little the days going by slow.... well.... not anymore...

So you know it is Friday Photo Flashback here, at the Stark Family blog, so it is time to take a part of Alicia´s meme. It is great to have a reason to go back and remember all the wonderful memories pictures bring.





The fall of 2001 was a wonderful, life altering, blessed, fall for us. It was the year we bought our first (and only) house.....aaahhhh, I loved my house.

And also the fall we found out we were expecting our first child. We had lost a baby that spring, a day after we found out I was especting, so it was so exciting to know that God had bless us again, and that this baby was fine. Notice the hads on the belly :)

Such sweet memories. Have a blessed weekend everyone!

Photo Friday Flashback- Baby Faces

Hello everyone, and welcome once again to Friday Photo Flashback hosted by Alicia over at More than Words-

I may be coming to an end with FPF soon, because I am realizing that I have very little to none photos of me when I was growing up and even as a teen.

I was never much of a photo person and always run away when I saw a camera. Too bad because now I would love to have more photos of me and I don´t.... oh well.... I know my dad has photos of me but...... next time I go to Madrid I must make copies of everything I can find from when I was little.

I do have, however, a million photos of me once I met Matthew and once we got a digital camera. I won´t make that mistake of not having enough photos again :).

In one of those trips to Madrid I did made a copy of one of the few photos I have seen of me as a baby.




Yep, that cutie is me just a few months old, dont think I was too old because my back looks like it wasn´t used to hold me up and could let go and let me fall in any second. :)

This second one is a photo of my babes and I when we were little. I have always wanted a boy just because I wanted a boy to look just like my husband- He was/is so sweet and looked/looks like a poster boy.... but, no boys for me :)

Instead I have three beautiful girls with a great mix of both of us :)

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

I can laugh at myself!

Alicia is hosting Friday Photo Flashback, over at More than Words, which is a way to have an excuse to browse through all your old non digital photos and bring back old, and not so old memories, scan them and share them with everyone. I am really enjoying this meme!

Now, why do I want to do this to myself? (I am the one all the way to the left of the photo). Well we were just having fun.

Why would I allow someone to take a photo of me doing that? Well, I was already engaged hehe ;)

Why would I post this photo in the web for the world to see? Because as soon as I found this photo I knew it would be a fun one to share. Also, because I do can laugh at myself.

This was taken summer 1999, just a short 4 months before I was to get married. I was in Spain fixing all the paperwork for the fiancee visa and my sister in law (the beautiful blond :)) came to spend a couple of months with me.

After church we went over Veronica´s house, a lady from the church. She is crazy and she is so much fun. It was her idea!

Can you laugh at yourself? Try it! It is fun!

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!!! I know we will; my sister, husband and two daugthers are coming from Madrid tonight to spend a few days with us.

Bad hair anyone?

It is friday and finally I can get back to one of my favorite memes, after 3 weeks away from home and old photos. Photo Friday Flashback is hosted by Alicia from More than Words.

"The grass is always greener on the other side" is a little mind set I have often. I know it is wrong but... I am guilty. I always look thinner in older photos, and it is funny because I remember being at those days when now I think I looked great, and remember thinking I didn´t look good. Girls, I can´t help it!

Shortly after I got married I found a photo from when I was a teen. My hair looked so good I thought. I had it really long and curly, with those loose curls that I liked so much (or at least that was the way I remembered, not really how it was). I had gotten tired of wearing it long and decided to cut it and keep it short (mid length bob) from age 18-19. When I was 20, some weird virus must had come to my brain and I decided to cut it shorter, like a guy really. Don´t ask me why, but I did it. And funny enough, I liked it. I thought it look good.

Well now, I look at photos back then, and believe me. I didn´t look good. Not many people can pull that off. No girl should try to pull it off. But I tried, didn´t succed though.

But now finally my hair had grown again, and it was long, so a perm was what I needed to do.... or so I thought (a perm is another look not everyone should try).


I bug and bug my sister, who used to be a hairstylish into doing a perm to my hair. She didn´t want to. She could do it, she had done my hair before. But I guess she knew better, or knew me better. Or maybe she knew a perm was a mistake. She didn´t want to do it. But after weeks of nagging, she did. (Me nagging btw)


And this was the result.

It ended up coming out as a super tight curl, which gave me lots of volume...... not a good look for me believe me. Well, you don´t have to believe me, you can see for yourself.

But the bad hair didn´t end there. Right away I was unhappy. I always kept it held somehow because I didn´t like it. After a month or so I couldn´t handle it any longer.

I was looking for something to do and someone introduced me to curling irons. My mother in law had one so I asked her to make my straight. She did it to herself so I knew she had experience. If I liked it I would buy my own curling iron "pronto". Where was my flat iron back then? I wonder now....

So this happened.

I can´t believe I am sharing this photos with you. You will keep the secret right?

Don´t worry, I didn´t go anywhere. This happend in my in laws house, and there is where it ended. She did what she could. I felt bad to wash my hair, it wasn´t her fault after all. My hair had its own mind and there wasn´t much that I could do about it...... but there was. I went to a hair stylish and had that product put in that reverse the perm curls. A few dollars and a hair cut later, my hair was back to normal.

Hey, at least I didn´t do this.

A photo of my husband and a friend during college days. Thankfully my husband is the one giving the buzz and not the one receiving it. Youth.......


I know this post is already pretty long, but I didn´t want to close today without thanking Kim from Stuff could always be worse for giving me this award- It is such a blessing for me to know that anyone is bless with what I write. After all, HE is what is all about

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

Friday Photo Flashback: Going to fast!!

Today is friday and with this day coming I´ll encourage you to go over to Alicia´s for more FPF

Today is my baby number 2 kindergarden graduation. Where did the time go? In this photo she was about 7 months old. Now, she is 5 and going to 1st grade.......

I still remember her like my little chunck baby.... so sweet



I love you Nicole, mommy and daddy are so proud of you. What a great blessing you are!

Friday Photo Flashback

Today is Friday and with the day comes Photo Friday Flashback. For more head over to Alicia´s, the sweet hostest of this meme.

This picture was taken when I was 7. Aparently no one taugh me how to smile and open my eyes at the same time :)...... noooooo, it was a super sunny day.

I remember that day because I felt like a princess, I was wearing a super fancy dress, and everyone in my family had come to celebrate. Before I was saved, I was catholic and so this was taken on the first comunion.

Have a great weekend ladies. Enjoy the beautiful weather that seems to be everywhere.

Back for Friday Photo Flashback

Hello everyone,

I have miss getting in here. I have been able to visit most of your blogs during the week, I couldn´t help it, of course I am extra tired because of that because that meant getting in the blog world at 1am :). It has been great though and I will be letting you guys about it next week.

I may still be out monday thru wednesday. The group is in Madrid and my sister (who is one of the people that came with the group) told me to try to go up on mond and stay there until wedn that they leave. I am not sure yet if I will be able to because of the girls school (in Spain they are not done until the end of June), so you would know if you see a post from me on Monday or not :).

Of course I had to be back for Friday Photo Flashback. For more FPF or participating in it go over to Alicia´s.

I must been 9 in here or something like that. I remember my friends and I doing that all the tipe. I don´t know how you call it in english, but in spanish (lessong number 1 of ¨Learning spanish with Pilar :)) is called "hacer el pino", which tranlated would mean (and don´t ask me why because it makes not sense "doing the pine".... wow, it just doesn´t translate well.... Anyhow, we used to do competitions of how long we could stay like that, we would do different types with more than one girls..... now it just looks like something I did once and would never be able to do again because, let´s face it, if you try that being 31, unless you are like gum or a gymnist, you WILL break..... or at least get hurt pretty badly.

Here I must been 6 or 7... ???? My baby face is the one giving me clues of my age there. The boy next to me is my nephew Javi. I believe I have told you before my oldest nephew is also older than me 1 1/2 years.

I´ll see you ladies next monday... or next wednesday, it all depends. Glad to be "back". Miss you ladies and thanks for all the sweet comments.

Big belly!!

Friday again!!! Go over to Alicia´s for more Friday Photo Flashback.

I am not sure if this is pre digital or not.... I found it in paper so I guess it counts..... ????? Don´t throw me out FPF if not.... I didn´t mean to!!!!

Anyway, as you can see I was about to pop with my youngest daughter (actually I was 7-8 months there-- I have to find the photo my babes took of my belly a week before I had her.... now, that was a belly!!). Kayla and Nicole are mimicking mommy, and turned out into such a cute photo. ......aawwwwww.....

Friday Photo Flashblack

Is it friday again?? Where did the week go? This one has really gone by super fast.

Something I love about fridays is that it is time for FPF and I am really loving this meme. I am realizing too that I need to take care of my memories much better because I have old photos all over, so I am buying some albums and given them the importance they have. Thanks to Alicia from More than Words that is hosting this great meme. The point of FPF is to get all those pre-digital photos out of the old boxes and scanning them and sharing those memories with you.

This is me and my mom when I was 2-3 years old.

And this is me wearing the typical spanish flamenco dress. This dress was actually not mine and I remember this day perfectly. My sister was visiting us with her kids. Because, as I mention before, my mom had me when she was 45, I have nephews and nieces that are pretty much my age, so instead of growing up with my sisters, I played with my nephews and nieces. One of my nieces got that dress and her, her sister and I took turns trying it on and taking pictures. I think the three of us have the same pose, in the same dress, taken within minutes from each other. No, not very original with the poses.

Happy Friday Photo Flashback everyone!