My first "Mexican" Birthday :)
TKC!
First off I have to give a big “GRACIAS!” for all of the birthday wishes, prayers, and hugs that I received yesterday. It was a real blessing and a treat to know that so many people thought about me J. As my girls say, “Muchos Thankyous” ^_^.
My 23rd birthday was really quite special. It was a little (lot) sad to be away from my family for the first time in 23 years on the 31st of January, but it was still a really great day thanks to the great “familia” I have here in Saltillo.
Things definitely got started with a “bang”… I had woken up around 7am, trying to convince myself that I really needed to get up and see if there would be mass at 7:30AM. I kept pressing the snooze button on the cell phone, and then all of a sudden at 7:15am REALLY loud music started playing in the hallway.
It is a tradition here to sing “Las Mañanitas” on your birthday. I guess you could compare it to singing the “Happy Birthday” song to you to get you to wake up. Well, I was definitely UP at this point… I jumped out of bed… honestly a little worried that people would be standing outside my door… peeked outside the door and to my relief no one was there.
But I did get this:
Compliments of my mission partner and amiga Laura J This was extra special because it is a tradition in my family to decorate the bedroom door of the birthday person. I get a decorated door in Mexico too!
And then I walked down the hall a little bit and discovered the source of the music:
Poor little lonely boom box just sitting there playing REALLY LOUD birthday music. I wasn’t exactly sure what I was supposed to do; after all there were two other people trying to sleep. So I turned down the volume a little bit and went to the bathroom to brush my teeth/wash my face.
While I was in there the music got LOUDER again…which kind of creeped me out… but to my pleasant surprise it was just one of the visiting nuns (who was also in her pjs ^_^) and she wished me a Happy Birthday. There were 3 songs that had to be played to make my birthday “official”, so after those songs were over she took off with the boom box in tow.
What a way to wake up!
After going back to bed for a little while, since there was no Mass, I went for a “birthday run” that actually turned out to be one of the best/coldest runs I’ve been on so far!
For breakfast I reached a new milestone as a 23 year old. I made myself chocolate chip pancakes! I’ve never made pancakes by myself in my LIFE, let alone chocolate chip pancakes… so that was pretty fun. They weren’t the most beautiful things in the world, but boy were they delicious
At lunchtime I got a bunch of hugs and kisses from the nuns, which was super sweet. Later in the afternoon I was able to talk to my parents (for $1 a minute J Thanks Padre!). Our internet still doesn’t work in our building, and now that the nuns are on wireless our “Magic Jack” phone doesn’t work there either. But thank God for the good “old fashioned” cell phone….
Laura treated me to dinner and dessert at Applebees which was quite delicious. Here’s a picture of my “birthday cake” the Apple Chimicheesecake . I’m a big fan.
Laura also gave me a really cute key chain and two really beautiful cards… one of which was signed by our girls. THAT card is a priceless treasure that I will hold dear to my heart for the rest of my life. Quite possibly the best birthday present in 23 years of life. If I ever doubt that I’m doing anything worthwhile here, I’m going to pull out that card as a reminder.
Definitely a hug and a smooch from God.
We have an extra day off this weekend since the kids do not have school today. I’m looking forward to trying to get some things done/planned for the weeks that are ahead.
Having activities each night with different groups has been challenging, but very insightful. After two weeks I’m feeling confident that God is going to use this time to help up plant some necessary seeds in the remaining months ahead.
This past week I made “God’s Eyes/Ojos de Dios” with the 3rd and 6th graders. They really seemed to enjoy it… even though I had some trouble explaining it.
These are some of the “practice” crosses I’ve been working on over the past week. I added glitter to a few… something I’m not brace enough to try with the girls ^_~.
I can hardly believe that February is HERE. 24 more days and we’ll be in Lent… Easter vacation for the kids is in 8 or 9 weeks… and then after that we’ll only have 2 months left here. It’s crazy to think how incredibly fast this year is going by.
It is kind of funny to think that it was just a year ago that I was in search of where God wanted me. I was scared, nervous, excited… but deep down inside, more than anything I knew that God was preparing me for something wonderful.
Little did I know what a wonderful and exciting adventure He had waiting for me.
…which can only mean that year 23 is going to be amazingJ!
Thank you for your continued prayers and support. I’ve got some challenging times ahead… but I know that God is faithful and will provide me with the strength I need.
One moment, one day at a time.
Be at peace
walk on water
be not afraid
thy kingdom come,
d*
Jesus en ti confio
Thy will be done…