Desfile we finaly made it

I was told on Easter Sunday about the Desfile that would kick off Tepabril, that's the festivities for Tepa and are obviously in Apri. We were so excited to actually have information on the when and were of some of the activities. The last few years we have been feeling around blindly and sometimes bumbling into an activity or two. We did manage to get a hold of the website last year but it was to late. So we went downtown on the date and time we were told and it was obvious there was nothing going on. Issac asked the closes police officer and was told that they had printed the date wrong and it was to be next weekend. Oh well we let the girls play down town a bit and made the most of our morning.

The next weekend we were not disappointed. As soon as we got downtown around 10 we could tell something was going to happen that day. We went to the mercado and hod our breakfast complete with a cup full of mariscos or seafood. Yumm I love these and just writing about them makes me want to get another one. The odd thing about Mexico is that seafood is really only sold in the mornings.

Then around eleven we headed to the street to get a good spot for the parade that was to pass by around 1130. We ended up waiting till almost one but it was totaly worth it. They floats were big and well done and we got to see some of the school bands. Some of which sucked horribly but it was still an experience. For example the trumpet they use here is not the one we are use to it has no buttons.





As for the play we got tickets to it was to start at 830 the weekend of our anniversary and seemed the perfect way to celebrate. So as normal we wait till we put the girls to bed around 815ish before we leave them with the sitter. Once we got downtown we realized the blunder of driving and it took us a long time to find a spot. By the time we got to where they play was to be it was a little after nine. No big deal I thought all plays start late and this is Mexico after all plus we have tickets. We quickly found out that the free tickets that were in our hand meant nothing to the people spilling out of the theater doors squishing each other to see. On the way in we noticed they were broadcasting the play live onto a big screen outside and I decided it would be better to watch from there. After my husband realized I didn't see this as a total failure to our night out he was happy with the idea to. There was so much hubub and commotion going on around us and while driving I had seen some cool stuff on the other square that I just couldn't sit there. He agreed and we headed to look around. And oh how much fun we ended up having, in the end we were glad we didn't get in and end up sitting on our tushes all night. Here are the pictures. We also ran into some of our friends which was nice. We also ate out at a nice Italian restaurant one night the week of our anniversary. I didn't bring the Camera that night. But after we ate we went and walked downtown and my husband found a nice secluded little bench to sit on and he gave me a pair of earnings. My gosh he still makes my heart melt. Of course at the same time when I tell him what a wonderful job he did he says, "I know I'm that master." Well what ever as long as he keeps it up. ;)

Even after 5 years

Five and a half years ago I stepped into the adventure that was to become my life. It was a simple effort to become more involved with the people at my new church. There was a July 4th party going on at the pastors parents house and I decided to attend. I walked in wearing my mens army green Jinko shorts and open back tank top, feeling like I wasn't sure I should be there. I quickly found that few of the people there were dressed traditionally and all seemed relaxed and able to be themselves. I mingled a bit then went out to the porch to see who else I might meet. I over heard a conversation behind me being led my this good looking dude and thought I might jump in. Soon enough it was just him and I chatting and we were discussing the childrens home his mother worked at and that he helped at for awhile. Anyway no big deal the night went on and then I got bored and it was time to leave. On my way out I hear "Your not leaving are you?" It was the good looking dude, " Yes it was nice to meet you though" and I put a hand out for a shake. He took both my hands in his and looked me strait in the eyes drawing himself closer and said, "I hope we see you around more." "Sure, and you to" I giggled and out I went. I found this odd because I had been going to the church for a few months and never saw him I assumed he was newer than me but we later found out we started at the same time but were going on different nights. I was quickly discouraged by our mutual friends to go down that path because of his on off again girl friend. For sure I didn't want any drama at the time so I didn't pursue. But he did and although it was quite confusing for me for some time because he was so friendly with everyone it soon became apparent he was after me. August 13th he offered to help me move some last min belongings from one apartment to the next. I offered him to stay and chat and he did. Keeping the best part of the story to myself here Ill just tell you he expressed his interest in me that night. I was quick to explain to him that I was sick of dating and if we were to date that I would be dating him to find out if I wanted to marry him or not. He agreed. I figured he was lying, so you can imagine my surprise when he called me 3 weeks after we started dating and started up a conversation about how many kids I wanted. We didn't tell our friends for quite some time because they had been warning both of us it was to soon after his break up. This caused for a few funny and awkward situations. Over the next few months we talked about everything from raising our kids to the kind of house we would want. Some of our friends found out within a couple months and everyone found out in November. That is when Issac was arrested and taken into INS custody. Needless to say that I was very confused and so much went on those weeks that I cant hardly recall them. And to be honest that would be a whole other post. After we were able to bail him out I began to ask him why we shouldn't just get married, we knew he would be getting deported most likely either way. He was very unsure due to the situation, you know he had all the typical male thoughts of how can I provide for you compounded with the idea that he may end up in Mexico. I finally told him that I would not go to Mexico to visit a boyfriend but that I would move there if I had to for a husband. I left it at that and we went on dating and discussing his case with lawyers. All the lawyers we talked to were honest and told us that even if we did get married he would still get deported for at least some time. Trying to forget our troubles we took a road trip toe Houston Texas, mind you we lived in St. Louis. I vowed never to do that one again. ;)We stayed with and visited his family, I was so nervous about the whole trip but managed to communicate with some of his cousins to throw him a surprise birthday party. I was so happy to meet people from his family because up till now I knew no one. This was the week of February 10th (his birthday) and on the way home on the long drive he had been very quiet for some time. Then he suddenly bursts out with, "I'm ready." My heart fluttered but I didn't want to assume what he was saying because as I said I had rested my case. "For?" I say holding my breath. "To marry you... I mean will you marry me." No roses, no ring, no knee and I still look back on that day with a skip in my heart and smile on my face. "Of course... Of course I will..... When?" lol I have to laugh at this because it is still how we are, Im so ready to plan and get things going. Once we've made up our minds you better believe I have a plan. This of course was the topic of conversation for the next 8-10 hours of the drive.
Although immigration issues didn't make us decide to get married it did help us choose our date. He had a court date in May and I decided if he were to get deported then and there I wanted to be his wife already. So the date was set for April 16th. Although I had never really been a girl who dreamed of her wedding it turned out to be the wedding of dreams and without the cost. God provided for us at every turn and our family and church family made it happen. Gosh I think I could write a whole post just on my wedding but I wont put you through that. I am going to put up some pictures of us dating and of our wedding. The one with him holding the guarder was actually right before we started dating and at a wedding of a couple who are now good friends but at the time I didn't know them well enough to be there. So this year its been five years since we got married and I couldn't be more in love. I still often sigh with thankfulness to God a I snuggle him. Aside from the births of my girls our wedding day was the best day of my life. I hope this one wasn't to long but I actually left a lot out. Maybe for another day.

All you need are a couple good days...

So the last couple days have been really good for me. For some reason since deciding to stay home with the girls for the next year different opportunities have come my way. Basically if I'm going to stay home with them I want us to all get out of the house more. Over Easter I met a family who are from here in Tepa and they told us about the spring parade. I was so excited to hear about it because there is really no where to get this information except from people who have lived here all their lives. It was suppose to be last Sunday. Oh yes you see the catch I said suppose to be. So on Sunday we go and pick up a friend and her little girl and go downtown. We quickly notice that there are no streets rope doff so my husband asks an officer who is near by. Apparently the information was given out wrong, they even posted it in the paper wrong its next week. Well while we were downtown we decided to see if we could get more information about this months activities. April is the month of festivities for my town. We saw that for like 2 weeks the Casa de Cultura will be putting on a play every night for free but you have to get tickets. This weekend will be our 5th wedding anniversary and we thought this would be a great way to celebrate. And guess what Sunday night is Vasolina or as we know it Grease. I ran up the two flights of stairs to see if anyone was in and to ask what activities there might be for kids. Luckily I was catching the lady on her way out and she said that if I came back on Monday that she would be sure and save us two tickets. Ok finally getting to the good part.
Yesterday morning I take the girls out around nine and I drive around for about 30 min looking for "Se Renta" signs. Oh did I mention we are looking for a house or at least bigger apartment with gardin. This is how you find things here you have to drive around and look for them, unless your from here then you just know people who know people which we don't. Lucky me I found a phone number and an address. That is a big deal we drover for like 45 min the other day and only found one number. Then I went and parked in our usual lot downtown and we headed to the Casa de Cultura. Again I climbed the stairs and with both girls this time. The second floor has a biblioteca or library and as we passed it on our way up to the third floor I decided it would be a good idea to check it out. True to her word the lady had set aside tickets for us. She is a very animated lady and I had a good time chatting with her. She told me how this particular show was her acting group and that they have all been acting for at least a year. I told her that I love the story of Grease and she got all excited and started going on about the music. I love having normal conversations. Some of what she said I didn't catch but I was having such a good time I didn't ask. ;)
Then we headed back downstairs and ventured into the library. As soon as I stepped in a familiar face greeted me. She was the lady who does the kids church at our church (which we haven't been to in a few months). She showed me where the kids books were and told me they were going to have an activity in 30min in the plaza out front. So we waited and let Alana read and we went and got some food because of course 30min in Mexico is more like an hour. But the activity was fun and Alana loved it. She then told me that they were doing it again the next day and that all through the summer the library has stuff for the kids so we plan to go. Then later that evening I had an appointment with the doctor who heads up the volunteer program with the red cross. After walking clear across town to get him an extra copy of my lic and CPR card he told me he also needs a letter of request. Not sure why but I had expected to clear everything up and be helping out there next week after this appointment. Basically I get him this letter and when the other person who also directs the red cross gets back from his honey moon they will decide weather its ok for me to help then they will contact me. And then from what I understand I have to go through a course abut the Red cross and a first aid course. Anyway it sounds like some mumbo jumbo but at least its giving me something to get involved in.
Today we went again downtown for the story time and I took Joslin to get her one year immunizations and I got my tetanus booster. Next month we both and Alana all have to go to get the other half of different ones (the girls the polio drops and me the tetanus). But my trip to the Seguro was in and out and smooth as butter. I got there about 15 till noon and my book was the second in line. They started at 1215 and we were out of there by 1230. So Im slowly regaining that bit of myself who knew she could do anything. I am becoming the women I know I am. ;) Wow is that encouraging or what?!?!?

Pascue

So Easter this year was much more homey than last year. We did have a good time at home last year but there was no going to visit family and doing egg hunts last year. This year we were welcomed to a friends ranch. There were other Americans there who truly appreciated why we were gathering. One even said to me on greeting, "he is risen" ....
HE IS RISEN INDEED. I said with a huge smile and almost tears in my eyes.
If you ask Alana why we celebrate she will tell you its because Jesus is alive and he loves us. She blessed me so many times the weeks coming up to Easter when we learning Gods word together. Once when she was cutting and pasting (this outside of class time)she said look what I made mommy. And I didn't even have to guess or ask what it was. She had taped together two pieces of foam to make a cross and put a hill under it. She said its a cross for Jesus mommy. I said oh and he isn't on there. She looked at me so serious like what are you thinking and she said no because he is alive and in my heart. I know she doesn't fully understand what it means to have Jesus in our hearts and about having a relationship with him but some day I know she will and the thought of that day brings me to tears. We watched The Lion The Witch and the Wardrobe the day before Easter and I think it helped her to understand the story we had been talking about. I'm always sure to tell her what is pretend and what is real but with this one I told her the animals and stuff are pretend but what happened is a lot like the real story.
Anyway I just wanted to be clear that the eggs and the ranch were not all we did for Easter, here are some pictures. We grilled burgers and the funny thing is the guy whos ranch we were at is American and married to a Mexican, he kept saying"its been so long since Iv had grilled burgers." Like most people who live here they hardly ever grill. This is something that I just don't get. In a place where the weather is almost always perfect for grilling and its to hot to cook inside so why not buy or make a cheap grill and grill outside. They had this awesome brick built grill my gosh is it was so yummy. We did our egg hunt out there and got some pretty pictures of my girls and our little family. They even got a little tub of water out for the girls to play in. They love having the girls out there and its always hard to leave. I am truly blessed to have these people in my life.

With someone elses words.

Sometimes I know I cant get my feelings and thoughts out the way I would like to in my writing. Therefore when I hear a song or read a book that speaks to my heart I like to share it. Right now I am reading the serious Out of the Silent planet by C.S. Lewis. In the first book he visits a new world and at one point is trying to fit in. When I read the section I'm going to put in this post I seriously almost cried and I had to read it out loud to my husband. I did this because sometimes I think he forgets or really just cant understand. You see when he went to the US although it was a whole new country and culture he at least had the language down. I know it was still hard and confusing for him at times but even he says he had it easier than I did when I came. So here is a visit inside my heart and mind through the words of C.S. Lewis.
Chapter 11
"Ever since he awoke on the Space-ship Ransom had been thinking about the amazing adventure of going to another planet, and about his chances of returning from it. What he had not thought about was being on it. It was with a kind of stupefaction each morning that he found himself neither arriving in, nor escaping from, but simply living on, Malacandra; waking, sleeping, eating, swimming and even, as the days passed, talking. The wonder of it smote him most strongly when he found himself, about three weeks after his arrival, actually going for a walk. A few weeks later he had his favorite walks, and his favorite foods; he was beginning to develop habits...
But the real revolution in his understanding of the hrossa began when he had learned enough of their language to attempt some satisfaction of their curiosity about himself..."
And here is my favorite
"naturally his conversations with the hrossa did not all turn on Malacandra. He had to repay them with information about Earth. He was hampered in this both by the humiliation discoveries which he was constantly making of his own ignorance about his native planet, and partly by his determination to conceal some of the truth...
A sensation akin to that of physical nakedness came over him whenever they questioned him too closely about man- the hmana as they called them. Moreover, he was determined not to let them know that he had bee brought there to be given to the sorns;..."

I'm actually not sure now that I have typed this all up that you can really get the idea unless you read the whole text. But at any rate I wanted to share this with you. Thankfully I am out of the stupor he spoke of in the first paragraph but that did take time.

Caramelo

I'm a little behind on a couple blogs Iv been wanting to post due to the birthday party and Easter. Both of which I will post about and put pictures but first this one. This is a book review of sorts. Thanks to Alice who writes the blog http://wagamamawonderings.blogspot.com/, I have some new books to read. I enjoy being sent books from people that I don't pick out because I often get ones that I would never choose but then I love them. One of the books she sent is titled Caramelo by Sandra Cisneros and is a National bestseller. This book is about a young Mexican girl who is raised in the US and visits Mexico city to see her grandmother every year. Mainly I just want to say it was nice to see in writing the differences yet similarities in the countries. Also it helped me to better understand my husbands side of the family. Mind you in this book her grandmother is a hateful old lady and non of my family here is quite so hateful. But I did get to see inside some of their prejudice against Americans and their love for their own people. Also she sometimes puts her words in Spanish when there is just not an English word to describe what she wants to say. I feel I broadened my vocabulary by reading this book. She so well explains herself in both languages and it is at times poetic. She refers to historic events be it war or popular issues helping me to get to know the country I live in. When the only Mexican history you know is the Alamo it can dampen you in certain conversations. I feel that now I can join in on some of those issues. Because of this particular issue and the widening of my Spanish vocabulary I actually plan to almost study this book. For me to learn I need things put in an every day sense and this book does so very well. I suggest it to my blog readers even if you don't live here, this may help you get a look inside some of the issues of being from both countries.
I just want to put a small portion of one of my favorite example where her writing can become so poetic yet so real.
"As soon as we cross the bridge (into Mexico) everything switches to another language. Toc says the light switch in this country, at home it says click. Honk, says the cars at home, here they say tán-tán-ta´n. The scrip-scrape-scrip of high heels across saltillo floor tiles. The angry lion growl of the corrugated curtains when the shopkeepers roll them open each morning and the lazy lion roar at night when they pull them shut. The pic, pic, pic of sombody's faraway hammer. Church bells over and over all day even when its not o'clock. Roosters. The hollow echo of a dog barking. Bells from skinny horses pulling tourists in a carriage, clip-clop on cobblestones and big chuncks of horse caquita tumbling out of them like shredded wheat.
Sweets sweeter, colors brighter, the bitter more bitter,. A cage of parrots all the rainbow colors of Lul'u sodas. Pushing a window out to open it instead of pulling it up. A cold slash of door latch in your hand instead of the dull round doorknob. Tin sugar spoon and how surprised the hand feels because its so light. Children walking to school in the morning with their hair still wet from the morning bath. "


She goes on like this for two pages and I hope you get the book and read more. I also think the above paragraph helps to describe some of the things I don't want to loose. For example here chicks say pia pia instead of chirp chirp and the other day I couldn't remember the chirp chirp part. May sound silly but this was a big deal to me.

The party

Well there isn't a lot to say except that all went well. There were a few glitches, the first one was that the key didnt work for the taraza door when we showed up and we had to break in. Thats the first picture. And thanks to his mom refusing to believe we had as many people coming as I kept telling her we ran out of some of the prepared food. Basically she really didn't think we had friends yet outside of Issacs work. Her only job was to chop the onion and tomato for the hot dogs. She chopped two tomatoes and one onion we needed a lot more. I kept asking her to do more and she kept telling me she would and that she would meet me there. Of course when she came she hadn't. But luckily one of Issacs cousins is supper helpful and chopped for about an hour when it was apparent we were quickly running out. We ended up at the last min getting a little pool for the kids. Few had swim suites because we didn't know till the last min but it was fun anyway. But over all we all had a good time. I had asked my husband to help me man the camera, often times I get so caught up in catching memories that I forget to make any. He was totally on top of it and during most of the day refused to give it to me. It was so nice to really just enjoy the people and the party. Heres some pictures.