Christmas 2012

It seems like time has flown since we got back in mid-November. But we had a great Christmas celebrating here in Mexico.

First of all, our good friend Katie came down. We are always super excited to see her. 

 We had numerous parties in our apt too.

We had a ministry Christmas Party complete with a sing along and pinatas.

We invited our neighbors to eat dinner with us and celebrate Jesus as well.

And on Christmas Eve, we had Gabo's entire family over for Christmas dinner. There were about 20 of us and the party ended at 1:30am.

On Christmas morning, Katie, Gabo and I took turns opening up gifts.

 All in all, it was a great time and it was really good for us not to have to travel.

Home Sweet Home

Since coming back from the US, Gabo and I have found a new appreciation for our little apartment. We love thinking about how our little house will change and expand with the babe on the way. 

I am not going to lie, I have been a homebody the last couple of weeks. First of all, Mexico City gets a little crazy in December with even more traffic and more people in stores. Secondly, I am just tired. Thirdly, we returned when the semester was ending and students are in finals now and there is not much going on in the universities so I am doing lots of meetings, discipleship and training and those fools just like to come to my house. 

As we look around our house, we see pieces of friends...mostly expats that have left before us. It's funny when people leave a country and have to purge all their belongings, a lot of that stuff ends up in my house. Just from one year missionaries from my same ministry, I inherited about 14 phone charges, 5 map books of the city and a stack of books in English that I have no desire to read. But there are other cool things that have ended up here--nightstands, christmas tablecloths, surround sound speaker system, etc. 

When Gabo's family come over, they always ask where things come from. I think they think that we are loaded with money. :) I find myself saying all the time..."Oh that was a gift from my friend." or "That was a gift from the wedding." or "Our friends thought we would want that." We also find ourselves giving easily to others from things from our house because so much has been given to us. 

Two of my good friends will be leaving this December. My heart is sad because both ladies are very special to me in different ways. Yesterday my one friend dropped off a couple of things. Although, I am so touched by her and her husband's generousness, I will miss them. The rugs in particular that they gave us were MADE for our space. Gabo came home from work last night and we were just so excited for how our little space evolves as it fills with touches from our friends. The other girl will be giving us a silver and glass top desk that will work amazing in our new "office space" because our office now will become the baby's room. 

It's funny to look around our house and realize how little we have bought personally and how much our friends have given us. It's like our house is a little testimony of the people that touch our lives. 

To those reading that have been generous in giving to us, thank you. You have touched our lives in more ways than one!

Where do babies come from?

I wanted to share with you guys the fun and sweet story that we have of how we found out we were pregnant. If you want to know where babies come from, go ask your mom. :)

Gabo and I had actually been trying for a year to get pregnant. We really wanted to start a family and my poor husband wanted to be pregnant since the crazy honeymoon but I stopped the dream real quick cause this lady needed some time to adjust to living with a boy and such. 

It was kind of a difficult and weird year. We had other couple friends get pregnant, some miscarried and we felt the pain with them. We learned that baby making although it seems easy is a little miracle from God. We learned to be patient and we sympathized and prayed for other couples that had been trying for a lot longer than we had. But it was weird because here in Mexico people just come right out and say, "um hey, when are you guys going to start a family?" Or as I have mentioned before, they use the tactful art of spiritual manipulation by telling us that we are thwarting God's plan for our lives by not reproducing. About June, I started to become indifferent and began to explode on those peeps. I mean there are probably a 100 different and nicer ways to say to them, "we actually want to have a family. so instead of scolding me, pray for us." But I just said to them, "get out of my bedroom business." Quite appropriate right? 

Anyways, with all of the stress of the spring and not getting pregnant, we decided to make an appt with my OBGYN when we were going to be there on home assignment. I thought if I could just get my hands on some clomid, I'd be fine. So we went to the States and the first week there we had our appt. I remember saying to Gabo on the way home the night before the appt if we should buy one more stupid pregnancy test just to make sure before I go in there begging for meds. He said yes, I said I am too lazy so home we went. 

At the dr the next morning, we were told that it was probably something with ovulation and clomid was the best bet. The dr explained to me all the deets and then asked when was my last cycle and I said July. She asked if I had taken a test and I said no, because my cycle was always like that. She said I could take one in the office to make sure it was negative before we started the treatment. So I went in to go use the facilities but I couldn't go. I came out and I said to the nurse, "I have stage fright." and my dr started cracking up in the adjacent room. She said, "Stage fright? You crack me up. We call it shy bladder around here." So we left with no pee test but with instructions to take one before we started. 

We had my niece Lucy that day so we went and picked up the meds and some tests and went back to my sister's where I took a test. It came out 2 lines--which is positive but one of the lines was lighter than the other. Gabo and I had never seen a 2 liner but it didn't register that it was probably positive. So I called the dr and they sent me for blood work. My sister came home and was sassy and told us that for millions of years women had been taking these tests and 2 lines your prego. We thought she was crazy and we HONESTLY didn't believe it. 

The next morning, we finally got a hold of the nurse as I was mildly stalking her and she said, "Hey shy bladder, yea it's positive. You don't need clomid. Congratulations!" We fell over! We were so pumped up. We cried and prayed and thanked Jesus for this little crazy miracle. Gabo was especially pumped because he hates medicine and wasn't too excited about me doing the treatment. 

Morning sickness started about a week later and being pregnant lost it's zeal. We are over the moon excited for our little bundle to arrive in May. We love how God works out his timing and we love that only He can decide when these things will occur. 

So that's our story. Any other hilarious, "holy smokes i can't believe we're pregnant" stories out there?

Hiatus, Home Assignment and new stages.

I might be the World's Worst Blogger. When I am in a routine, I rock it out but being in the US for 2 1/2 months really threw me for a loop. We have so many things to catch up on. :) 

Gabo and I were on Home Assignment so that we could work on raising new support for our ministry here in Mexico. It was great and tiring. We had a blast seeing so many friends and family. 

We got to celebrate my niece Lucy's first birthday. 

 

We also celebrated Cath's 29th Birthday...she is looking so young!

And we were of course there for my brother Ryan's wedding. My handsome hubs tickled the ivories.

 

For my mom's Birthday, we gave her an extra special gift....

Yes, we are pregnant! We are so excited. Here's our first official picture together. 

 So it was a very crazy, busy trip to the US and there is so much more to share. I am working on some posts today to give you the full story of how we found out that we were expecting and other fun things to come. 

But for now, we are back in Mexico City and we are happy as clams to be in our cutie little apartment and hanging out with our friends and students again. 

We are looking forward to celebrating Thanksgiving this week too! I promise to be in touch.

Waiting

I never got to meet Gabo's mom. My mother-in-law died before I even came to Mexico. I can say that before this experience, I have never mourned the life of someone that I never met. I miss her. I feel like in our family dinners, there is an absence.

Gabo was his mother's favorite. All of his siblings say he was so spoiled by her. He had a special place in her heart. He's a great man and sensitive and noble because of her patient care over him...and probably thousands of quesadillas that she made for him.

This past weekend I had the privilege of meeting Gabo's aunt--his mom's only living sibling. Tia Tela lives in Los Angeles and just came back to visit.

She is a fresh glass of water. Tia Tela has a sweet and tender personality and loves her family a lot. She prays with power and is excited about everything. She loved me. She said that Gabo's mom would have been so excited about his choice in a wife. I felt tears come to my eyes as she spoke.

I sometimes tell Jesus that it is unfair that I won't get to know my mother-in-law until after a lifetime with her son. She raised him and I get to spend every day with him and then I can thank her.

I am waiting for that day in Heaven when I can introduce myself. I don't have much theology on Heaven and I know that Jesus will be my focus. But in my heart, I hope that I can pick her out.

Being with Tia Tela was the closest experience I will have to having lunch with my suegra (mother-in-law) is what Gabo told me yesterday.

I am so grateful for that experience.

Thoughts from the Chaos

Well friends our life is going to get a little hairy the next couple of days. We are transitioning back to the US for a few months. I get to enter the full time of raising support for my ministry. I am a mixed bag of feelings right now. Tomorrow we board the plane.

It has been a busy summer and an especially busy last couple of weeks. Gabo and I run in 2 different directions until the point we leave for the airport. He currently is finishing an arrangement now as I write! We are tired and we need some quality time together and with Jesus.

I am so excited to see my little nephews and nieces. I am excited to go to Target and eat at Chipotle and have one good swim in Eagle Lake on Labor Day. I am grateful that we get to see Lucy celebrate 1 year of life and be at my mom's bday as well. I am ecstatic to have a double date with one of my besties in Cheesecake Factory right before she goes to serve Jesus in Greece with her hubs. I am excited to share about our ministry and talk about changed lives....even though asking for the money gives me nerves in my stomach.

If I were to be honest, I'd prefer to stay here. Don't get me wrong. I love a vacation to the US but my heart still is here in Mexico. People often ask us when we are moving back....I am just not ready. I had a great last couple of days seeing friends. My relationships, my friends, my ministry has a special spot in my oh so full heart.

Mexico has changed me in so many ways. It has been good to me. And I am so excited to come back. So if you read this blog, pray for full support...fast. :) So we can rest and enjoy and come back with our batteries charged.

The Boots

My parents recently came to visit us in Mexico City. It was a long time coming for us and Rog and Cath. We had a great time.

As usual, we ordered some things online and had them shipped to my parents who graciously filled their suitcases for us.

I ordered some rain boots. I am in love. I probably love them as much as Gabo loves his Blackberry. 

As you can see here, I am pretty stoked. As you can see here, I have always been a fan of rainy season here. Now I can enjoy it even more.

It's my perfect accessory. :)

Making my Own Tea Wreath

So I have obviously been trying to be creative here these days. I guess the truth is that I am trying to do all the things that I should have done all summer when I was sitting on my torti and spending it in the city with the students.

I am a fan of Pinterest (I pronounce it as P-Interest). I found this Tea Wreath on there a LOONG time ago. I am finally putting my dreams in action.

Original Link--click here!

I cut a ring out of cardboard and carefully covered it with my fabric that I bought.

Then I spray painted some wooden clothespins. 15 pesos in the market.

Here is the finished product. I am not very exact and my spray paint was running out.

I tied a cutie ribbon on the top that I bought in the market. (only 4 pesos)

I glued the clothespins with the glue gun onto the wreath.

Then I pinned the tea packets on.

Here's the finished product. I also moved the coffee maker over to the dining room side for a little "drink station"

 I feel like I have been pretty incredible in sprucing up my house. I have a bunch of left over fabric that I might try and make some pillows for my couch. I don't want to saturate the place but I think it would be cutie as well.

Thanks PINTEREST. You are awesome!