True Treasures

 God has been so very good to the Gutierrez Family. Our story is sweet! And yet at the very same time our story has been sour. But whether we have been in the valley or on the mountain top, God has still been very good!

     The love of my life is my husband Ramiro. I am always amazed by him. How a mere man can handle these big, huge rigs always amazes me. Yet, time and time again, I see him drive his truck with such assurance. This grace and gift only comes from the Lord.

     In September we will be celebrating fifteen years of marriage. Although we are now in our thirties it seems like it was just yesterday when we met a youthful sixteen years old. We have had a full twenty years together. I thank the Lord for giving us all these years together through thick and thin.

     My "Real Gems" are my little girls. Jamie, Jeri and Jorgie have brought me great, great joy. Yet, even with the joys of motherhood, I have also had heartache. There are so many things I often wish I would have done differently as I have raised them for the last thirteen years. But 

nevertheless God's grace has been my source of strength. It has caused me to stand when I want to fall. And it has been my constant friend to remind me that I can alone trust in God to meet me right where I am in raising my children. They daily challenge me to learn to love. They have taught me laugh, smile and just simply live. I used to chase after a career, believing the lie that I would find my identity in worldly success. For the first seven years of Jamie's young life and the first four of Jeri's, I jumped from working as a nurse or a florist and sometimes both, trying to find out who I was. It wasn't until April 2004 that the Lord told me exactly who I was. I was a wife and mother. Created by a loving God to raise children who will love the Lord with their whole life.