Well since we couldn’t go to Texas, Ale and I decided to take a couple of days off anyway. It was a much needed break. We decided to go to John’s best friend Hotwire.com to book a couple of nights at a hotel or resort. We were able to book two nights at the Omni Resort in Champions Gate, Florida. It was extremely fun and relaxing.

The first day at the resort we went golfing. Golfing is difficult. I am not very good but I have to tell you that I felt like a golf pro golfing with Ale. She was clueless! It is a good thing that no one else was on the course with us. The course was a 9 hole par 3 challenge. On my first shot I got on the green about 5 feet from the hole. It was a lucky shot and it was all downhill from there. We decided not to keep score since we figured it would be to difficult to add the astronomical amount of shots we would be taking. After that we jumped in the pool and relaxed in the lazy river and played a game of horse in the pool. Ale got lucky and she got me to H-O-R-S before I put on my Kevin Durant costume on and caught fire. In short, I won.

We ended the day by going to the gym and burning off the Mexican food we had for dinner. The next day was more of the same except we had dinner at Benihana. It was quite the experience. The food and the service were excellent. We decided to wait till after dinner to go to the pool since I hate getting sunburned.

On Thursday we checked out and headed to Sea World. It was fun but we were so tired that after only 3 hours we decided to go home.

The rest of the day we spent sleeping. We were extremely tired from our vacation.

Today we came to enjoy a Lakeland Flying Tiger baseball game. We love minor league baseball…it is awesome.

I saw this photo taken by the Hubble Space telescope.  This is incredible!  It is incredible to see that God created all of this with just His words.

“And God Said”

God is always good and God is always right.  Ale and I will not be headed to Texas this Monday as originally planned. Instead we along with the rest of the Adams-Mendoza Family will be mourning the loss of  Louise Adams who went to be with the Lord earlier today.  While we mourn her loss we celebrate the reality that today is her first day  in Heaven enjoying the unimaginable Glory of God.  Our thoughts and prayers are with the family.

Things have been kind of rough lately but God is always good. As some of you know we are preparing for an audit of my dads business. You see to some people, giving everything of yourself to them or spitting on their face is the same thing. They will hate you anyway. I find comfort in the reality that God is a righteous judge. Anyway, let’s table that conversation for the time being. This Monday my hot wife and I will be traveling to Texas! We hope to be received well, with a large crowd of people and many fabulous gifts from the wonderful people of the state of Texas.

Things have been really good. Despite the trouble, God has blessed us so much. Work is really at an all time high and this audit has served as a wonderful learning experience for me. I will be finishing school in June and sit for the CPA exam sometime after graduation. Also, I will be starting classes for an MBA within the next year so your prayers are really appreciated. If you feel that you want to help even more feel free to send a check for roughly 40 or 50 thousand dollars…please contact me if you are feeling generous…lol.

Okay people I have to get back to work. Take care.

I have found that in times life hits the inevitable wall of boredom and there is nothing to post about…videos are really a lifesaver…enjoy

I wanted to embed this video so some of the guys would have a chance to see it.  Good job Soto, keep up the good work.

I hope you all are doing well.  Things have been going well here for us but we still would appreciate your prayers as nothing has been completely resolved.  Anyway moving on to better things…As you all know Spring Training is in full swing and I am the happiest camper in the world!  Today I took the day off and Ale and I went to watch the Tigers host the Braves.  It was not a good game for the Tigers.  Please enjoy the pictures on facebook.  If you do not have a facebook they will be uploaded later on to the “pictures” section.  It was good to see the D-Train pitching well again and I was impressed by Fu te Ni.

Anyway we are about to go get something to eat with Audy and Jafet.  Luis was supposed to come but he fell asleep.

On a very important side-note please welcome Linda and Hebprin as new contributors to Vida Mendoza.  I can’t wait to see what they have to contribute.  Take care everyone.  Much love!

I hope you all have enjoyed the back and forth war between the new Vida Mendoza contributors.  I hadn’t formally welcomed the new contributors to the site so I will go ahead and acknowledge some of them here.  I should point out that I am not well acquainted with every Vida Mendoza contributor but before either James or myself allow contributors on the site we make sure that they are put through a rigorous evaluation process that will ensure both the family friendly content, and good-natured humor you have come to enjoy at Vida Mendoza.  First I will would like to introduce Ricardo Justicia our first contributor from the great city of Houston, Texas.  Richard is a family man and most importantly a graduate of the University of Texas.  He does not pull any punches as you can see from the articles he has recently posted going hard after “the hopeless romantic” with some very good inside information.  We also added Pedro Reyes.  I don’t know much about Pedro but he was recommended by a good friend.  Having contributors is nice since it takes some of the pressure of having to update.  Isaac, Alejandra, and Jafet have all joined and helped with their contributions.

February was an absolute nightmare or an absolute blessing, depending on how we want to look at it.  Ale and I prefer to look at it as a real blessing.  After we were turned down for the previous house (if you don’t know the story read clicking here) we went with a different lender who did not ask us to “fix” our income numbers.  Everything seemed to be going well and we felt like we were well on our way to owning our first home.  About 4 or 5 days ago I received a call from our new loan officer and he told me that an investigation had been conducted into a home and that the home was listed as a “sinkhole property” which would cause major problems in underwriting since no one whose head is on straight would approve a loan for the purchase of a sinkhole property.  To see what a sinkhole is click here and here.  Anyway the loan fell through.

Ale and I are happily back on square one and excited to see what God has for us in the future.  We have gone to look at some other houses since then but nothing that has really caught our eye.  We are still excited about the opportunity to purchase a home but at the same time we are beginning to think that the Lord is telling us to wait.  People have been telling us to take advantage of the government credits and opportunities for first time home buyers but with Obama things have been so bad that they will have no choice but to continue to extend these “opportunities.”

Things have also been hard on the business front.  Perhaps one day I can disclose more but for now I just ask for your prayers.

Everything else is great.  We are extremely excited about the upcoming Spring Training season.  As you all know Audy was added to the 40-man roster and he is staying with us until Spring Training ends.  He has been playing well and we ask that you all keep him and all the guys on the roster in your prayers.  They go through a lot and face some serious difficulties during the course of the season and they really appreciate knowing that there are people out there praying for them.

Anyway everyone take care and have a great rest of the week.

I have to tell you that the last couple of days have been a real rollercoaster ride for Ale and I.  As some of you may have read on facebook, Ale and I were waiting for approval for our loan from the bank.  We were really excited and, at the same time, nervous as we awaited word from the bank.  The days leading up to Monday were especially interesting since it became apparent that my income difference from 2008 to 2009 would present a problem.  2009 was a good year for my business but it was not as good as 2008 and the loan officer let me know that this would be an issue. 

Monday (2/15/10) we heard back from the loan officer.  We were told that the only way to get the loan would be to “spice up” my financial statements and submit them to the bank.  I canceled our appointment for that afternoon and called another lender.

We were told that there is no way that any other entity would approve our loan.  Thankfully that decision does not rest with any one person, it rests with God. 

The decision could cost us the house, but my wife and I made a promise to the Lord that we would follow His lead in making this decision.  And if there is one thing I know for sure is that God would not lead us to be dishonest in any way shape or form.

We are working with another lender and hope that we can get more of them into the mix.  We just ask that you all keep us in your prayers.  We are sure that God will lead us to the right place, it may be this house or it may be another house.  We just want to do what is right and continue to follow His lead.

I am lucky to be blessed with a wonderful family and with wonderful friends.  I really want to extend my thanks to two people I spoke with yesterday.  They offered great advice and great encouragement.  I will not name them as I know they would much rather remain anonymous. 

Please help us pray as we continue to ask God to work His will.  We have about 30 days to come up with the financing for the house and we are trusting God to provide.  I will update as things continue to happen.  Hopefully I can update with some good news.