January 1, 2009

Hi!  Ondrea Marie Willis here.  First of all, I thank God that I made it through another year, living in 2008.  If it wasn't for His grace and mercy, I wouldn't be here right now on this wonderful Earth that God created.  :-)  And that's the truth, Ruth (ha ha!)

I give thanks to God for allowing the members of the Martin and Willis families to live another year as well, and along with the Wallaces and the Hernandezes.  I also give thanks to God for allowing my 11 "sisters with autism" to live, too, because we are very close to each other.

It was about 40 degrees during New Year's Eve, and Momma decided to have a gathering at her house involving all of her seven daughters including me.  Rochelle, Erica, Natalie, Dawn, Jocelyn, Luisa, and me.  And Juan Diego brought Amaira, my adorable niece over, too.  For the first two hours (the gathering started at 6:00 p.m.), we all ate food like pepperoni and sausage pizza, pretzels, caesar salad with chicken, nachos, and quesadillas.  We had diet Sprite to swallow our food down after all that addicting food!  Ha ha!

After that, we all sat and talked about what 2009 might bring us.  Although we knew that 2009 might have not been promised to us, Momma told us to keep our trust in God always, no matter what happened.  Amaira had a little hard time understanding that although she does read her Bible and prays a lot.  That's because Rochelle and Juan Diego are bringing her up right!  Heck, Amaira is into God more than Erica; for Erica isn't into God all that much.  I mean, she believes in God, but her attitude isn't all that godly sometimes.  But Momma prayed that Erica would change her ways and follow Amaira's example.  She sure ain't following mine.  Or Rochelle's example.  If Erica has to follow a child's example, oh well.  Natalie, Dawn, Jocelyn, and even Luisa got on her case, too.  I know I did.

Around 11:00 p.m., we all went to Watch Night Service at Saint Lucy Baptist Church in Bella Rosa.  It was an uplifting service as there were testimonies, prayers, singing, and bringing in the New Year.  Everyone was into the service, and God's beautiful presence was there.  He was orchestrating the whole event by letting His people serve Him.  There were no distractions, and everyone was so happy to see each other...No, this wasn't my church, but Linette invited me and my family to come, because she said that Saint Lucy Baptist has some awesome Watch Night services, and she wasn't lying.  The church I go to, Barristown Baptist Church, had a Watch Night service I went to the last three years, and I couldn't even concentrate, because the service was just dead, and people were talking during the testimonies and prayers and everything.  That was rude to me, and Momma agreed (along with the rest of my sisters).

When the clock struck 12:00 a.m., we all shouted, "Thank God for a Happy New Year!"  It wasn't like seeing the ball drop, but the pastor, Reverend Richard Quintanilla (he's Mexican and Dominican, and he's REALLY NICE!!!  He's only 30 years old, and he has dark brown curly hair with beautiful tan skin.  He's cute, but let me stop, please, because Julio Americo Hernandez Morales is still my boyfriend!) had a television in there and let us all see the ball drop in New York.  That was nice.

We didn't leave the church until 1:30 a.m., but I didn't care.  I got to see people like Reverend Quintanilla, Linette and her family, Julio, Desiree, Regina, Andreina, Lorenna, Azucena, Uncle Mauricio, Aunt Sheila, Aunt Glorianne, Cousin Natasha, Cousin Allison, friends Courtney, Patricia, Marvin, Kevin, Travis, Curtis, Dustin, Doug, Lester, Javier, Angel, Ashley...there were so many people, man.  It was unbelievable.

My New Year's Resolutions:

I will have to say no and mean no even if people don't take no for an answer.  I shouldn't let people make me do stuff I don't want to.

Stop helping everyone.  I know it's hard, but not everyone wants to be helped, because they will tell me to mind my business.  I do the best I can do, and that's it.  If someone doesn't want my help, they should please just say it.

Be patient.  I've been trying to work on my patience, which was better last year than 2007, but still.

Lose some pounds.  I have been eating a lot, and I know I need to slow down.  Desiree, Dayra, Jeannette, Lucia, and Linette all say the same thing, too!  Why are they telling me that?   Because they have the same problem, too!

And that's all she wrote for now!  God bless!

Love, Ondre(in)a.