Magic...

...at John and Sara's Christmas dinner.

Back to Mexico

Today I headed back to Mexico and will be making stops in two different cities before making it back to Veracruz. The Lord has been so faithful to provide me with traveling partners for each leg of my journey.

So I have the pleasure of traveling down to Monterrey with Joe and Ambie. The trip was great and we had lots of fun. Thanks guys for traveling with me.

Tomorrow I will be going to Mexico City and Andy, Mel and her son Julian are catching a ride down with me! Thanks for your prayers for our travels!

(Click on the names to see thier blogs.)

Gift Received

I got a couple gifts this Christmas, but by far the best was being able to have Christmas with my kids.

More Food....

Adrian and I were out today doing some business and getting some thing done before I head back to Mexico in a couple days. I have wanted to go over and see my good friends John and Sara. So I called them up and they say; “Come on over!!! We are having some people over and our kids are coming for Christmas Dinner!” So Adrian and I are here having a 4^th Christmas dinner.

It was an amazing meal with everything being hand made traditional German and Lebanese foods and desserts. I don’t remember the names of half the things we had and I wouldn’t even be able to spell them if I did, so just check the pics below for examples.

Christmas Meals

Food is always a big highlight at Christmas time.

For me, most of the month of December didn’t feel like Christmas but on the 22^nd I was invited to my first Christmas dinner. It was with some friends of mine and with my brother, which was nice since I hadn’t had Christmas with him in 14 years.

Then on the 25^th I had Christmas brunch at 11:00 am and dinner at 5:30 pm with the kids and their home.

Today found us with relatives to enjoy yet another great meal. I won’t bore you with to much dialogue so here’s some pics.

Merry Christmas...

Christmas for me always meant so much, not just because it is the celebration of Jesus birth and the great gift of Salvation and life eternal that we get in return for His coming to earth.

It’s also about home, family and the heart. Where is home? Many say it’s where the heart is, others say it’s where you reside. I think it’s both! My kids are my heart, so I consider home with them and am so glad that the Lord gave me the gift of being with them this year for Christmas.

I also consider my home in Mexico my home as it’s more then just where I reside; it is my friends and my Family. And I miss you guys! I am glad to have a home where I am loved and accepted.

So where ever you are and with whom ever your with, may you have a Merry Christmas!

Smile...

I got a camera. Here are some samples of my very amateur photography!

Innocuous

I was just told that I am innocuous.

Although I don't’ see that at all, maybe that’s what I am striving for.

Thank you Jesus for helping me make changes in my life.

Click 2

After my first Click post I got comments about my “fantasies” (LOL) and about “being a sexist” (ROFL).

I give you my reply….enjoy!

Happy Birthday Dad

Every child thinks that their parents are the best, and rightly so. I share the same feelings for mine. Dad, I am hoping and praying that you have a great new year.

I think the biggest thing I learned from my dad was to be giving. I never saw him hold anything back if there was someone in need. He was always there to help out and give a helping hand.

If I have ever helped you or done you a favor it was due to the sample I saw in my dad and the way he taught me to be!

A request to my readers

My dad doesn’t have internet but I will be showing him this post so if you know him and have a story about something he has done for you please tell it in the comments section.

Marriage Vows

Although it was HER day in court I am going to tell you about mine.

The other day found me in County Court, my first time ever in a court of law and first time seeing a judge who wasn’t in a movie. Man, did I have different ideas!

Now I know you guys are all wondering what I did to end up in court, well its simple, I’ve always wanted my signature on a marriage license, today that dream came true.

It went something like this,

We walked in took a number and were called a couple minutes later to apply for a marriage license, after verifying identities it took about five minute to have the certificate of marriage in hand with information to head up to the second floor to schedule an appointment with the judge to perform the legalities on Monday after the 72 hour waiting period.

The judge’s clerk informed us that if a waiver was obtained the ceremony could be preformed in half hour (instead of waiting the required 72 hours) as the judge had an opening in his schedule.

So back in the original office, a waiver was immediately given and we were told to go to a second court on yet a different floor and present the case to the judge as to why the ceremony should happen immediately.

Court was in session when we walked in and after we explained to the sheriff why we were there he presented the waiver to the court clerk who slid it in front of the judge as she was hearing a different case…I didn’t even see her look at the waiver but it was handed back to the clerk and in turn to the sheriff and then us with the judges signature on it.

So we made it back to the judge who would perform the ceremony with minutes to spare. When it was our turn we entered his chamber (which is just a fancy term for “office”) and the ceremony took about 10 minutes.

Now it was time for the moment of truth…so I signed the marriage license… AS A WITTNESS!

Congratulations to Arcos and Luchi, the lucky couple. Luchi, I hope that the speed of our county courts efficiency made YOUR day a bit easier to deal with, since we all know what kind of drama can come on a wedding day.

Cheers!

Jade's Take...

Here's a little clip of Jade talking about her birthday!

Jades Party

Haven did an awesome job setting up the party. She outdoes herself every year and gets really into the theme and cake. This year she did little cupcakes that the kids added there own toppings to, so they had a lot of fun decorating them.

I know she wants to post about this so I won’t get into all the details, but will link to her post once it’s up. For now here are a couple pics I took. Ambie was the official photographer for the event, but I am leaving those photos for Haven to use.

The Birthday balloon is out of theme but that was a gift from me to Jade when I arrived a few days early, you tapped the balloon and it actually sings “Happy Birthday”, she loved it and it drove Adrian crazy. He didn’t like hearing happy birthday 30 times a day!

Happy Birthday Jade

My Darling, my Love happy birthday.

Today Jade turned three! We are having the party tomorrow, so today I took the kids to see Happy Feet, which Jade really enjoyed. We then had dinner at a Mexican restaurant that had the biggest play place I have ever seen in a restaurant. It had excellent pricing on food and ice cream. And believe it or not, I forgot to take the camera, yes, I know, I should be flogged. But it’s a happy day so we’ll have none of that.

Dear Hana,

Hana I am sorry that I didn’t put this up earlier, but as they say “better late than never!” I know that’s no excuse. The real reason I didn’t put this birthday post up sooner is because JD’s post went up right away and described in detail about the night and the dancing. Besides I wanted to get those pics of me photoshoped first… (Evil grin)

Anyways, since the party details are already out there I want to tell my friends some details about you. I will never forget the first time I met you and the impressions I had. I was just barely 20 and we were having those meetings in Romania, I was on camp management and was signing everyone in when they arrived. You showed up PG with two other girls and told the testimony how you guys had hitchhiked your way across Eastern Europe wit over 20 different rides to make it to the meetings. You guys were so inspired and full of faith about it made me think I could do it and a month later was in Hungary needing to get back to Romania and the CO’s asked me how I was getting back home, I told them I was going to hitchhike. I was really looking forward to is actually, but I think they figured I hadn’t been in the EE long enough to attempt that on my own. So they paid for my train trip back.

Another first impression I had of you was when you first arrived in Mex. We drove to the store and though I gave you a hard time about how careful a driver you are I really do believe you are one of the best and most prayerful drivers I know. So much so that awhile later after buying my first truck with a clutch, when I was having difficulties getting it out of the driveway in reverse, due to the incline of the drive way and the garage door in front of me, you were the one I asked to help save me in my moment of embarrassment. Thank you for that.

I am glad I have had the chance to live with you again and am touched by your concern for people. Just the other day when you were sick in bed with a fever and could barely move, you went out of your way to see how I was and if I had had a good rest day. Moments like those mean a lot to me.

I am hoping you have a great wonderful New Year!

Here are a couple pics from the other night ballroom dancing... You might make a dancer out of me yet.