Guess who's cookin???

I would like you all to take a WILD GUESS, from lookin at this pic below,

WHO'S COOKING???

Hmmmmmmmmm...Whatda ya think???

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Did you guess???

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If you guessed...

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ME...AKA: MAR BEAR

You are absolutely CORRECT!!!

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No one can cook like Mary...AND noooooooooo ONE... I mean...NO ONE can make a mess like MARY!!! OMW you guys, total and complete chaos when I cook, I literally amaze my sister...In BOTH aspects I believe!!! hee, hee!!! ;)

♥Mary Frances :)

P.S. God did His God of keeping me humble, everything I made turned out PHENOMINAL...Except the pumpkin fudge...it was a COMPLETE FLOP...like literally, it was FLOPPING!!! Buuuuuuuut I mean, God's gotta do stuff like that when you made a bomb Over-the-moon chocolate pie, A bomb Ritz-Caramel pie, Bomb Pumpkin Spice Cookies with browned butter icing, Delish NOT-yo-grandma's green bean casserole, and OMW I CAN'T STOP EATING THIS White-Castle-Cheeseburger Stuffing...YES MY FRIENDS, God keep me humble by letting me mess up one ONE THING...buuuuut really was it even ME or just a bad recipe??? ;) AHAHAHAHAHAHAAA!!!!

Thanksgiving Results!!!

Gained 4 pounds on Thanksgiving!!!

Figure I may as well hold myself accountable to all the world...LOL

 Buuuuuuuuuuut it was worth EVERY BITE!!!

My two favorite things was my white castle burger stuffing annnnnd the turkey sandwich at midnight!!! My weight loss center was like, just fill your plate with meat first and THEN...I was liiiiiike...NOPE...it's Thanksgiving...I ain't even touching meat unless its on my turkey sandwich!!! I still have a month to reach my end of the year weight loss goal...I'm GONNA MAKE IT!!!

♥Mary Frances :)

Still rocking my turkey tutu...I do it for the kids...just to hear them scream when Aunt Mary pulls up...it's ALL for them...sooooooo maybe I'm just a big kid at heart...it's STILL for the kids!!! Hee, hee!!!;)

Hope you all had a great day!!!

I gobbled till I wobbled and then some more!!!

♥Mary Frances :)

Happppppy Brain-boosting Wednesday!!!

What is THANKSGIVING???

Sooooooo LAST YEAR, before Thanksgiving, buuuuuut after Halloween, my little nephew O was talking to me and he started on his own accord saying that Halloween was YUCKY!!! My sister said she never said anything to him but when they would go to the store and he would see the Halloween stuff he would say, ewwwwww! I don't like it,  HALLOWEEN IS YUCKY!!! Which, in case you didn't know, it IS indeed YUCKY!!!

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Well one day when I was getting him ready for school in the morning, I asked him, Odin, do we celebrate Halloween?! He said, NOOOO!!! He shakes his little head, we don't celebrate Halloween! Halloween is YUCKY!!! Then he points to our fall pumpkins on the kitchen table says, 

WE CELEBRATE JESUSGIVING!!!

Isn't that the cutest thing everrrr!!! 

Here's your middle-of-the-week brain booster!!!

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"Did you know???..."

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Thanksgiving: Remembering to GIVE THANKS, 

                      for all that JESUS HAS GIVEN!!! (Mary's definition;)

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"...Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeelllll NOW YOU DO, annnnnnnnnd don't you FORGET IT!!!" (AIO BTV quote;)

"Being enriched in every thing to all bountifulness, which causeth through us thanksgiving to God." (2 Corinthians 9:11)

♥Mary Frances :)

Financial Wisdumb!!! #7

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeellllll after an almost, NOT ON PURPOSE, two-year-break, Financial WiseDUMB with Mary is back!!!! You can read the last post HERE!!! My word, you would think with me being DEBT FREE this whole past year, that I would just be overflowing with columns...well...there's a few coming so brace yourself AND YOUR WALLET!!! ;)

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As you all know, THIS WEEK IS THANKSGIVING WEEK!!! WOOOHOOO!!! Who's ready to gobble til you wobble??? Me, me, me, ME!!! And also, cook, cook, COOK!!! Bake, bake, BAAAAAKE!!! Who's going to be making some pies this week??? I know I for sure am!!! 

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Are you guys looking for some good ways to save on groceries for all your cooking and baking???? Weeeeeeeeeellll, if your making anything with apples, I HAVE THE PERFECT MONEY SAVING SUGGESTION for saving money on buying apples!!!

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ARE YOU READY TO HEAR THIS????

JUST JOIN A 5k RUN ASAP!!! 

WHY????

Allow me to tell you:

5K Runs almost ALWAYS have free fruit and light breakfast foods for the runners, weeeeeeeeeeeelllllll after the run, go get your backpack, fill your pockets and your bag

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ANNNNNNNNNNNNNNND BAAAAAAAMMMM!!!!

YES, these apple pies really were made from the apples I got from one of my runs!!! Weeeeeeeeeeeeeellllll what are you waiting for???? Go sign up for a 5k run get yo exercise and some apples too!!!!

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♥Mary Frances :)

P.S. Go Here for Mary's Mmmm, mmmm GOOOOOOD Apple Pie Recipe!!!

P.P.S I got another 5k run Thansgiving morning annnnnnd it's going to be bananas I get for free this time...I'm thinking a banana cream pie...if you got a recipe, hit me up cuz I need one!!!! Maryfranceswriting@gmail.com

Happy MONDAY!!!

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IT's Thanksgiving week!!!

Who's ready to eat??? Remember, it's ONLY ONE DAY...it's a HoliDAY, not Holi-week!!! So be good before and be good after annnnd everything will be OKAAAYYY!!!:)

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Annnnnd remember to spend the week giving God thanks for all his blessings...AND GOOD FOOD!!! ;)

"O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good..." (Psalm 136:1)

♥Mary Frances :)

Single Saturday!!!

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!
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Anyone hear if there's any mission trips to China going on??? 

Buuuuuuuuuuut IF they hand me a Boba instead of coffee...

I'm DRINKING IT!!!

♥Mary Frances :))))

Did you practice running?

How DO Pentecostals Practice for their 5K RUN???
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WE DON'T NEED PRACTICE...

WE RUN THE AISLES at church!!!

♥Mary Frances :)

BUBBLE RUN TOMORROW MORNING!!!

WOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOO!!!!

Best Advice you were ever given! (Blog-challeng question)

What is the best advice you were ever given???

That's a very good question, thank you for asking me!!! The best advice I've ever been given was from my mom and it was simply this:

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She'd say, Mary, there's an old saying that says, you can't make all of the people, happy all the time. She'd always tell me this when I was trying to be a people-pleaser, WHICH SHE WAS NOT, then she'd say, you know what that means? What Mom??? It means...

"You can't make everyone happy,

 so just live to make GOD happy!!!"

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Annnnnnnnnd soooooo I do!!!

♥Mary Frances :)
I challenge Monse to answer this question on her blog, then she has to pass the challenge on to another blogger!!!! 
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So what is the best advice YOU all were ever given???? Maryfranceswriting@gmail.com

Classic Auntie Moment!!!

Sooooooooo on Saturday, I went with my brother Abie and his family and my sister and the kids to the Mac and Cheese Festival here in AZ. (Which, by the way, was NOT nearly as cool as The Street Truck Festival last February OR The Italian Festival-Which goes without saying, I mean, after all, you can't beat an Italian festival..we're just like that ya know?!?! ;) Anywayz, I was surprised that there weren't even half as many mac vendors as there were street trucks and NO ONE and I do mean NO ONE'S mac and cheese was better than my brother's!!! (Even my sister said that, and she would NOT just say that, IF she thought someone's mac and cheese was better, she would just straight up tell him...that's the way she rolls!!! LOL)

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Anywayz, there was a super cool photo op with this big mac and cheese bowl, so after I took a pic of the kids together and then a pic of each family unit together, and then I was like, okaaaaaaaaay now it's my turn and I jumped over and did my pose with the bowl...

cuz you know,

 standing there like everyone else

 was just waaaaaaaay TOO NORMAL

I had to do...

A MARY POSE!!!

Which turned out adorable, I must say!!! And yes, I planned my outfit hoping for a good mac and cheese photo op!!! (Dress for success, that's what I learned in Public Speaking...hee, hee!!!)

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Soooooooooooo after I got up and we all started to walk away, we hear a little voice say,

hey guys, LOOK AT ME...

I'M AUNT MARY!!!

We turn around and there is my little nephew Kyle totally imitating me!!! It was soooooooooo HILARIOUS!!! We all just completely busted up laughing and so did everyone standing around!!! It was such an epic moment!!! Nothing like your 3-year-old nephew imitating your craziness!!! HAHA!!!

♥
♥Mary Frances :)

Happy Monday!!!

"This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it." (Psalm 118:24)

♥Mary Frances :)

Medevial Times Dinner Show

MEDIEVAL TIMES has made it to SCOTTSDALE AZ!!!

Soooooooo if you have a boy, this is a GREAT thing to take them to, buuuuuut don't get me wrong, us girls had a blast too...buuuuuut between this and a shopping spree/ spa day well, you probably already KNOW what I would pick! Of course, you can't take boys on a spa day, you can take them on a shopping spree, buuuuuuut that's like taking the game warden when you go hunting...BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAA!!!

So basically, you sit at these tables that face a stage, it's super cool...and you root for your knight when he does stuff...our knight was the green knight and he also turned out to be the bad knight, I was like seriously??? Still I rooted like CRAZY for him!!! LOL

WE WERE TEAM GREEN KNIGHT!!!

Candytopia

Sooooooooo basically, this is kinda like a version of Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory that you walk through...Did I ever tell you guys that my heart was broken...literally BROKEN when I missed the Willy Wonka performance at Gammage...okaaaaaayyyy...maybe NOT broken....buuuuut greatly crushed!!! LOL

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*Also, if you go you have to buy your tickets online before you can get in and I recommend going first thing and during a week day, I know that's not convenient with schedules but it will make the experience much more enjoyable! So hey, whats a day outta school or off work??? ;) Also, boys over 10 I don't really see being into it...unless they're more childish...jus sayin!

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Anywho, we got some really epic pictures!!! Candytopia is here through December of 2019 and is located in the Scottsdale Quarter, I will be doing a review of them soon on Yelp! Basically, I give them 3.5 stars buuuuuuut will just be nice and say 4...since you can't do half a star and 3 seems to low! LOL The reason I give it this rating is because there were a few parts that were absolutely AMAAAAAAAAZING...a few that were completely lame and a few in between the two!!! Plus, the price was RIDICULOUS and there are all these added on extra fees, buuuuuuuut at the end of the day we had a blast and got some AWESOME PICS!!! AND MADE MEMORIES!!!

Here we are, WAITING to get in!!!

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A FLUFFY UNICORN!!!

They had Halloween stuff around the sign, I asked the lady very kindly if she could please not get any of it in the pic...I seriously HATE that Holiday!!!! Wanna know a cool fact??? Even before my mom got in church she said she wasn't really big on Halloween, of course she still let us celebrate but would only let us wear cute costumes and would never allow whitches and goblins or anything evil and when she decorated it was always with a FALL theme NOT HAUNTED!!! Isn't that cool!!!

Holy Ghost Party 2019

Sooooooooo first of all, I wanna give a big shout out to Janelle for keeping the Holy Ghost party going every year despite the WCC interference the last few years!!! This was a tradition started years ago by Bishop...pretty sure he got it from the AIO...First Holy Ghost Part everrr was at Whit's End...hee, hee!!! Buuuuuuut no seriously, The LPC Holy Ghost party is one of my earliest memories when we moved to AZ from NYC...I remember ALL the big kids got all the candy from the piñata and all I got was ONE BRACH'S gummy animal...I'm pretty sure it was red too...LOL I think I was 3 at the time...those BIG O MEANIE 11-year-olds!!!

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Soooooo as the tradition goes, you come dressed as a Bible character, I came this year as...

A UNICORN FROM NOAH'S ARK!!!

Now, before anyone starts saying, "Unicorns weren't on the ark OR Unicorns aren't real" READ YOUR BIBLE...they're mentioned SEVERAL TIMES and each time was AFTER THE FLOOD, therefore, they made it onto THE ARK!!! And then to the, WEEEEEELLLL...they were probably just rhinos or something like that! Okaaaaaaaaayyyy soooooo then they were FLUFFY UNICORNS...PERFECT...I was very Biblical then!!! ;)

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BALOON STOMP!!!

My, very MARYISH game that I did with the kids...

GET THE FLUFF!!!

It's harder than you would think!!!

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Soooooooooooo CUUUUUUTE!!!

The Color Run 2019

This past Saturday, November 9th, I FINALLY got to do the ONE RUN I've been dying to do..

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THE COLOR RUN!!!!

So every half a mile you run through another color zone and get color chalk all over your clothes...it's sooooooooo AWESOME!!!! The Color Run always suggests wearing white, buuuuuuuut it looks a lot cooler on all BLACK!!!!

The theme of the color run is that it's the HAPPIEST 5k on the planet, soooooo they don't time you!!! They let you out in waves of a few 100 at a time, by the time I had almost crossed the finish line, the last wave was going out!!! So I'm not really sure what my time was cuz I accidentally turned off the fitbit walk thingy...but the best I can figure it was about 50ish minutes!!!

MOST GIRLS!!!

MOST GIRLS....

 Dream of going to beautiful, romantic places.

They dream of Paris France or London England.

They dream of beautiful sunsets in Maui, sipping smoothies by the beach.

They dream of  shoppin in La and Vegas.

They dream of Carriage rides through Central Park.

They dream of tropical cruises, relaxing and enjoying being pampered.

They dream of the Bahamas, Jamaica and Spain!

They dream of boat rides in Venice while eating gelato.

They dream of walks by the beach, mid-night strolls, and star gazing.

They dream of Symphonies, Orchestras and amaZing Broadway shows

Thats what MOST girls dream about....

I am NOT like MOST GIRLS!!!

I WANNA GO HERE!!!

The largest Wal-Mart Supercenter in the U.S!!!

I SOOOOOOO wanna go!!!

*Sigh! A girl can ALWAYS dream! ;)

Located in Albany NY

Check it out here HERE

♥Mary Frances :)

Are you cheering?! (Repost)

A while ago I had the strangest dream. In the dream I was walking outside in my mother's neighborhood. As I was walking I saw the bridge that you can walk over the freeway and see all the cars below. As I got closer I noticed that there was a large group people standing around the bridge. Wanting to know what was going on I walked closer. As I got closer could hear chanting and cheering. People were screaming, "COME ON! DO IT! DO IT! DO IT!" I wondered what they were cheering about. Finally I got close enough, I saw that there was a man about to jump off the bridge and end his life. I gasped HORRIFIED as people continued screaming and chanting. "Just do it! Jump! Come on, JUST JUMP! JUMP!" I was SHOCKED! I couldn't believe that people would be cheering someone on to end their life. "NOOOOOO!" I screamed. "Don't do it!" But it was to late for my one little cry. It was overshadowed by the screaming and cheering throng of people.

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The cheering of the people in the crowd turned to whoops and hollers of joy as the man took his final plunge off the bridge and ended his life. "Oh yeah! He FINALLY did it!" The people shouted with enjoyment as they high fived each other. "That was AWESOME!" I woke up with a suddeness and just sat in my bed horrified by my dream. If only that man could have heard someone say that they loved him and that his life still had value! IF ONLY I had gotten there SOONER maybe, there would have been a different outcome!
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The WHOLE day a just felt an eeary feeling of gloom over me. While the kids were napping at work, I sat on the couch and just thought about the dream! It was sooooo CREEPY! I mean, to think that people were ACTUALLY cheering and encouraging someone to just end their life absolutely disgusted me.

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As I sat there and thought about it, I felt like God impressed something on me about the dream. Not like I had vision or anything, just a thought he put through my mind. I felt like God told me that sometimes thats what we do to each other within the church. Sometimes we see that our brother or sister in the Lord is falling. Often times there is that ONE person that we see making the same mistakes over and over again. They are weak...they are struggling. But instead of trying to help them up, we gossip and talk about them behind their back.

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So often a person leaves the church and we shrug our shoulders in nonchalance. I remember talking to a girl from another church one time on the phone. I asked her how a girl in her church was doing. She casually said that the girl had stopped going to church, but was now struggling to get back in and live for God. "Oh well," she said indifferent, you can't win them all." I was shocked. How could someone talk so carelessly about their friend losing out with God?

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When someone leaves the church we need to make it PERSONAL!!! It's your bestie, your sibling, your child, your parent!!! Think about how you would feel if someone you loved dearly left church...or perhaps you do know. Your not just like, whatever...bummer their not coming anymore, but Oh well! NO! YOUR on your knees, pleading the blood of Jesus over them. WELL, This is not just anyone, this is OUR brother, this is OUR sister!!! You say, well I just don't feel that way...ASK GOD to give you a burden!

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I understand that sometimes people have a bad spirit that is bringing others down and that sometimes it really is a relief when it's gone. However it should NEVER be our desire to see our brother or sister lose out with God. I think sometimes we see a peer getting ready to take that final lunge and leave the church. BUT instead of screaming...NOOOOOOOOO...STOP!!! We secretly are cheering them on in our hearts. Just go on now...get outta here...LEAVE!

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Then when they do, we turn to each other, "Aw, I knew they were gonna leave eventually. They never really had it in their heart all along." And we are pleased in knowing that we were really right about them ALL ALONG! And perhaps we are right to some degree, BUT WHAT IF, WHAT IF, WHAT IF, WHAT IF we had all gone to that person and told them that we loved them?! What if we had told them that we cared about them?! WHAT IF we told them that we believed in them?! WHAT IF we told them that it didn't matter what they had done, God would still forgive them. WHAT IF we had all gotten down on our knees and PRAYED AND WEPT FOR THEM?! Maybe there would be a DIFFERENT outcome.

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Perhaps your thinking, but you don't know what they did! They don't DESERVE our love. The truth is that they probabley don't deserve our love. Just like WE didn't deserve God's love, BUT He still gave it.

But God commandeth His love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8

THINK about it...

 Are you screaming NOOOOO?!

Or are you cheering them on?!

♥Mary Frances :)

Happy First Monday...

Of NOVEMBER!!!

Can you all believe that it's already November???

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Maaaaaaaaaaaaaan do I have A LOT planned for this month!!! The renaissance dinner this Friday for Judah's birthday! Can you guys believe that kid is already 15??? Crazy!!! Then Saturday starts my first run!!! Sooooo I have four 5K's I've signed up for this month!!! 

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Color Run Saturday November 9th

Bubble Run  Saturday November 23rd 

 (This one is free with an insurances price of $10.92 We got a big group from LPC going to this one...that's how we roll...all healthy and stuff...hee, hee;)

Strut Your Stuffing turkey trot (Thanksgiving Morning)

Fat Turkey Run  Saturday November 30th 

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The one I am the most excited about is this coming Saturday...I'm literally SIKED about it...Expect to see a MILLION and one pics of me!!! 
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Also the Mac and Cheese Festival on the 16th, a play, Thanksgiving...LEFTOVERS...TURKEY SANDWHICHES...yeah...gotta balance out all this good food with a lotta exercise!!! Ooooooh and don't forget, BLACK FRIDAY SHOPPING!!! 

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Also, God is doing GREAT things at our church!!! A few weeks ago, the Holy Ghost fell in our Wednesday night class and our little 5 to 8 year olds worshipping God and praying for about 30 minutes, tears streaming down their little cheeks! I'll share more about this soon in another post!!! 

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Also, Bro. S'Martin started an outreach amongst the homeless and God is doing a work...after A LOT of thinking and praying and Bro. Ham's message at Arise and talking to my pastor about it... I hesitatingly...decided to join...annnnnd...I'm just gonna be real...Homeless people, ain't really MY THING!!! Buuuuuuut...Jesus came to seek and to save that which is lost...Rich or poor or anything in between, LOST SOULS...they are God's THING!!! 

Going out there for the first time, last week and actually bringing hope to a hopeless soul!!! Praying with a lady who just wanted God to soften her heart enough that she would actually be able to cry...it pulls on you!!! And today when we were out there, I said something about someone we had been talking to and S'Martin was like, you know what though Mary, that was ME!!! That's how I was! Smoking pot and preaching to everyone about Jesus...I was like, and NOW!!! You were that...BUUUUUUUUT GOD!!! You should see the absolutely floored look on people's faces when he tells them that he used to sell and do drugs!!! They just can't believe it!!! Martin and Lucero are an absolute MIRACLE!!! 

Weeeeeeeeeelllllll anywayz, what are you all up too???