Advent

Q and I have been trying to follow an advent devotional, "The Uncluttered Heart," published by the Upper Room Books company. It has been a while since I last tried to follow a devotionary. It has brought me peace and inspired me to be mindful of the essence of the upcoming holyday.
What would a higher power who has closely and patiently followed humanity and its history, and even interfered every once in a while, think of us Christians, celebrating the birth of His human incarnation the way we do? I have a feeling that He knows we have turned it (maybe without noticing, but still, we've done it) into a celebration of ourselves.
Nothing wrong with celebrating ourselves. He celebrates us too. And those of us who are fortunate to actually enjoy the holidays with our families should be thankful for it. But as for me, as a follower of Christ, I need more than just that. I need the communal celebration that the supernatural was among us. I want to celebrate, yes, the blessings my loved ones and I have enjoyed, but also the triumph of having been so close to the heart of the Almighty that He left his position as a divinity, as a worship-receiver, and became one of us -- a child, a preacher, a human friend to those lucky few. I am very glad and grateful that though He deserves all glory and worship, and even though I have not been the best friend to him, he still decided to befriend me and keep tabs on me. I think it speaks to the kind of God we have.

On a different but also happy note, today is Sarai's (the oldest of my younger sisters) Birthday!! I don't think she reads my blog, but I still want to add a happy birthday wish for her. FELIZ CUMPLE, MIJA! Te kiero mucho, mucho.

Ayer nos la pasamos genial

Papis,
Ayer Q y yo nos fuimos al teatro de la universidad. La obra estuvo genial. Se llama "The Glass Menagerie," es una obra muy triste, pero muy bella. Los actores todos estuvieron fenomenales, y el set estaba precioso. Me encanta cuando hacen esos sets tan perfectos, aunque sencillos-- que se ven profesionales aunque pensando sobre el costo uno sepa que no hayan costado mucho. Nos la pasamos genial.
Luego Q me llevo a un restaurante que se llama 715. Cuando vengan los tenemos que llevar! Es super moderno y tiene un toque rarisimo de granja (raro porke sigue viendose elegante y super chic y moderno), creo que porke ayudan a granjas de KS comprandoles productos caros pero de excelente calidad. La comida estuvo exquisita. O tal vez fue que eran casi las once y despues de la obra me habia dado un hambre de esas raras que te sorprenden a destiempo! jaja..
Bueno. El caso es que ayer estuvo genial. Me sorprende que llevemos meses de casados y todavia podamos salir y platicar y jugar y pasarla bien como si fueramos novios. Sinceramente creo que nuestra luna de miel ha sido mas larga de lo normal. :)!
Bueno. Los quiero mucho. Y los extranio mas! Ya pronto los vemos :)!!!!
La Ardilla

I just had...

about 3 scoops of ice-cream on roasted walnuts and philo dough with chocolate fudge and strawberry jam. YUM.

Crazy Summer

I haven't been writing a whole lot lately... I'm not sure why, since so much has happened this summer. My parents came to visit. Abi came to visit. Hombreguapo and his lovely wife came to visit. Andrew came to visit. My awesome friends Janie and Jeremy got married. Q's friend Hnk got married. We went to EP to visit with my family, and it was great to see the American side of the Cruz clan. Lots of fun with my cousins Rocio and David (and their families) and my aunt Sandra.

Last week, Q, MrP, and I went to the immigration office for our interview... and this week we received a friendly notice on the mail. We were immensely pleased to hear about it. Q and I went out last night (and again tonight, just in case one night of celebration didn't do it) and had a blast. We had Indian tonight.. uff.. so gooood!! We even got a free massage. And well, being as Q's parents have been supper supportive of us, working hard so that nothing would go wrong, I'm sure they were also very happy it's all done –and very darned well done, for that matter.

I am especially happy that I will very very probably be able to travel down to Juarez for my sister's graduation. Sarai is getting her degree in Education at the end of September, and I am super proud of her. WOOHOO for school being done :D

The CUMC youth are doing a lot better. We are up to 5-6 kids now. We know that at least 3 of them are always there. We're having the Silly Olympics on Saturday and are making plans to be in charge of a Sunday Service in September. Old Time Church is the theme. 19^th Century costumes, special music, and all. We're also attending the District Lock-In in mid September, and we'll be giving the youth rooms a face-lift. I feel like we are finally starting to grow and be a part of the congregation's life. It's a very nice feeling to have.

No word on the job application to COR though. Apparently they will be contacting me by the end of next week if I make the interview stage :P Do pray for me. I am so bored I am starting to consider law school. I guess getting into law school because you are bored is not the best way to go about it though. Hehe.

Before I go to sleep, some additions to the rare sightings list:

--- Dragon-flies on Steroids. HUGE bugs clinging to the sports center's wall at Q's university. A good 3-inch long. I wonder what they were, but they looked like dragon flies, except the top torso was more like that of a wasp (yellow and orange and black.. yewww). Very glad I didn't see them until we were well past them and Q pointed them out to me. I think we saw them the very first day of class, but I might be wrong.

---- Busker Festival. Happened on Mass Street last week to welcome the masses of new L residents. Very cool stuff. The l.com website announced the event with quite a list of performers: “The L Busker Festival returns with wilder and weirder street performing!!! Strong woman Mama Lou and Sword Swallowers The Wicked Liars join a large group of jugglers, magicians, musicians, chalk artists, living statues, aerialists, and other variety artists...” Q and I saw the jugglers, a magician, the chalk art, and what could have been the sword or fire swallowers. Pretty wild stuff indeed.

Importante

Este es el dia esperado. El dia de hoy pasara a la historia como el dia en que mi esposo querido hizo lo nunca antes hecho. Hoy escuche las palabras "Oh, it's only 10.30" por primera vez. Sip, las diez de la noche es temprano. Oh mi gato. No lo puedo creer. :">!!!!

Congratulations!!

Felicidades!!!

Mas fotillos

Abi in L-Town!! YeaaHHH!!

pokito a poco las voy poniendo okas?? :*

FELIZ DIA DEL PADRE :)!!

Hola Papi! Feliz Dia! TE AMAMOS!

Rare Sightings

So Abi was here last week, and she'll be back on Saturday and the part-ee will go on :D
While she was here, we started talking about some of the strange things we have seen this summer. Fond as I am of lists, I decided this one had to go on the blog.

Rare Sightings 2009 :">

1. My "no nonsense" socks. Bought during our honey moon by my husband, they will live on forever in the pages of romantic history. They have the straight forward message sowed into the toe section of each sock. Love them. Why are they a strange sight? It's a sight for the wearer, not the beholder. It's not so much the message as the fact that it's positioned so that the wearer of the socks can read it, unlike the messaged t-shirts (which I nevertheless enjoy a whole lot).

2. The crazy man in L- town. Q says he's been around for a while. I've only seen him twice, both times on our way to the bank. The friendly man, dressed in baggy clothes, with really long curly hair and what seemed to me like a colorful reggae/rasta hat, was happily walking down the main avenue with a careless and light step, waving at strangers as he walked.

3. Rata asquerosa. (Disgusting Rat). I kid you not, it was the size of a cat. Q and I were going back home after a late afternoon walk, and there it was, ahead of us, crossing the street, walking towards the apt complex. It started walking just as the green man lit up too, so it even seemed to me that the darned thing had been waiting for its turn. I protest- there are no rat lights on pedestrian crossings! But yes, it kept on going ahead of us for a little bit, and then crossed the street again and went into the large green lot across the street from the complex. Guacala de pollo!! O de gato, o lo k sea!!

4. A bike-rack on the back of a hearse. (Una bici montada en la parte de atras de un carro funebre) Saw this one in KC while picnic-ing with Q's friend and his gf. Don't see that very often.

5. Shark bike. Yup. A bike all dressed up, with the head, body, and tail of a shark. Saw it during an outing with Abi, at the L Downtown Film Festival.

6. My moving plant. Okay, I don't care what Wikipedia says, Q. It's not a reliable source anyway. NO, ITS NOT NORMAL FOR PLANTS TO MOVE. They grow, they process nutrients, but they do not move like that. My mint plant turns, like a sunflower, to face the sun. Every time. If you move it so that its stem and leaves are turning away from the window, a couple hrs later it will be facing the darned sun. I swear. It freaks me out.

7. Arm incubation. I know this is nasty, but I think a small bug incubated in my left arm. I've had a red bump there for the longest time, and nothing I do to it makes it better. Any ideas? I dont want a little animal creeping out of my skin. *omg*

Conference

Going back to organized religion was a decision I've gradually made this year, without really realizing it. I gravitate towards Methodism because it is the faith that was ingrained in me since childhood, and because it has been this very community that has believed in my parents' vision for the children in Anapra. Methodism has nurtured me, my family, and my family's mission for many years.
And yet I cannot help the feeling of skepticism and suspicion that all powerful structures inspire in me. I cannot help but realize that the political and business nature is still necessarily present –because of obvious and understandable reasons, but still there. I have so far fared well in this world of networking and structures, mainly because of the many who love and respect my parents, but I am always a bit lost in it. What's worst, I am always afraid that my idealism will betray me, as it invariably does, even if to a small extent.

The president of my high school is a non-Methodist person who was hired (I've always wonder by whom) to be an administrator –and a darned good one she is. She raised over a million dollars in scholarships this year, and though she is a somewhat extravagant person, she has not to my knowledge had a reprehensible behavior as far as her financial administration goes. Though she had nothing to do with the Harvard scholarship, and though my parents had to go through many sacrifices so that I could be where I am, she did speak to the LLUMC about me and got me that internship that paid for ..hmm.. 70% of SMU. And yet her drive escapes me. She seems to leave the educational, spiritual, and social leaderships to others (to the vice-president, the chaplain, and the principal) and concentrates on scholarships and PR. She does not show an interest on the kids at the school, though I suppose she has to keep tabs on them or have someone else do it for scholarship selection purposes, until they are about to graduate. To students and their parents, she is not approachable, nor is she necessarily friendly, and her directness can at times be too harsh. So what compels her, as she goes about her busy schedule? I am not sure that I want to know. And still, I can't help but feel for her, and love her somehow, and be glad that she is doing what she is doing, because I really want to think she wants to help, even if she is not aware that she ought to be a full leader or a spiritual example. Right now I only hope that Abi will be able to go to Baker. And I am praying and hoping for whatever networking skills we might possibly need ---I am STILL not working and my siblings will both soon be in college. My goodness, we do need that scholarship.
Conference was not all political and ideological stress, though. Diana, the Todds, and lay ministers from Emporia and FUMC in KC were there. Rev. Reed (retired now) and Pastor Maria (pastor of the church Q and I are going to) were also there. It was very good to see them, and their presence kept my head where it ought to be -on my shoulders, aware that I am loved and respected, and not somewhere else in a perfect world that does not exist. A very nice lady from the one small group we had last year also introduced me to the director of a Hispanic Community Center that is about to open in a town somewhat close to Lawrence. It does not look like it will be a full time job, and it is about a 40-50 min commute, but it is an option, and it seems the type of church-based outreach that attracts my professional interests like a magnet. We'll see how that goes.

Q wrote a wonderful list of things he wants to be doing this summer. I am personally unsure of what goals I have. I have been doing many of the things that had been items in an old, continually growing to do list, though. And I am grateful to be here, and to have been given the chance to spend this time at home with my husband, as he says, playing house. It has been a whole lot of fun, and I know that in these times of workaholism and private accomplishment, women seldom have an excuse as good as mine to enjoy the wonders of being a stay at home wife – yay for extended honeymoons and no children! LoL. Ay Dios. It is late.

7 Days Till the A Bomb Drops!!

Hehehehe. Cant wait for Abi to get here :))!!

Daycations.

I know Im late with this post. Im still trying to get back into blogging. I've been surprisingly busy for a "stay at home wife." Hehhe.
But here go a few pictures from our little trip to St. Joseph. Verdad que esta bonito el pueblito?

We went to St Joseph because there is this really awesome little castle made into a restaurant by a Mexican family. Cool huh?
And this is us.. lol. Posing for the automatic photo. We're there, if you look really really closely :P
There is also a cool little Mexican grocery store at the very entry of the town. I finally something that can at least be called chorizo. Esta mas o menos. Pero de perdis sirve para lo k tiene k servir y no sabe a colorante aritificial :P



We also had a picnic the other day... Had a lot of fun taking pics of a turtle's behind. Even found out it had little baby turtles. The weather was wonderful that day, and we ate and walked around and napped out in the sun. Gotta luv the summer starting up... finally!!!


On other news, Q and I have been recruited to work with the youth at Central UMC, where I've been volunteering for a while now (with missions/children ministries). I'm very excited about it... we have all kinds of fun things in mind already, including camping trips and lock-ins and mudd silly olympics.. Yeah! Yay for 14 year olds. LoL. Q is staring at me.

Hmm.. and Im going to the UM Conference on Thursday and Friday. Looks like I'll be introduced by my high school president. She needs to promote the school, and I think it's a good chance to talk about Abi. hehe..

OOOH!! And we saw UP the other day. A TOTAL MUST SEE! *Tear* Pixar keeps messing up with my favorite flick list. I think I've found the ultimate #1, and then they have to come up with something new.
In any case, I have only one thing to say:

"SQUIRREL!"

Yes, indeed. We command attention.

We have a computer!

You have no idea how glad I am to make the announcement! We still have the crazy slow (BUT SUPER CHEAP) internet connection, of course, but I think I'll be able to send pics and upload them to the blog again. I really am hoping I can :) Q is busy getting it fully ready for heavy office work and home usage.. and then I'll go lap-top crazy!
I've really been missing the pic upload option... the other day I made empanaditas (my poor padres had to give me really detailed directions on the phone) and I think they worked out pretty well. It would have been so nice to put them up. Well.. actually, a little more filling would not do them any harm. And I did send them to my parents-- I am amazed that the little computer at least did that. Hehe. It's been a very good "work horse," though, as Q says. But yeah. Im excited about the new lap top. And so is he... they're having a... uhm.. conversation. Show it who's the boss, hon.

La buena vida...

I know it’s been a bit too long since I last blogged. But well, for a few months or so I was too absorbed with ESL teaching, preparing for the wedding weekend, and all of that. The last bit of Anapra I got was amazing. The kids! I want my kids back! The wedding was beautiful –exactly like I had hoped it would be. I’m very grateful to my family for all their hard work. Mom and Dad were so supportive! Misael was awesome too. And Abi was the best sister/maid of honor in the world... I miss them... It was also good to see Q’s family (most of them were there) again. They were great, especially Q’s parents. And it was so awesome to see Janie and Fer and Eric and the Chapels and all the good friends. Seeing my family together with the friends I made during very different stages of my life was quite an experience. It was a strange, mixed sense of completion and disparity. They are each such an intrinsic part of me, and yet they are all so different. I think that Q and I did a good job of finding true friends.. it seemed to me that their relationships with him or with me were enough of a common ground, and I was very glad to see some unexpected friendships arise. We had lots of music- mariachis, a soprano and quartet, and some seriously good musicians at church- and we had lots of good food, and the church and the reception hall both looked amazing. It was a whole lot of fun.

Well, it’s been almost two months now, and Q and I are extremely happy, living the good life. I am especially getting the good end of this deal though. And I am sure taking advantage of it. I think it won’t be a normality –being able to clean, disinfect, and organize to my heart contempt; sleeping in; reading for hours at a time; listening to his music; visiting campus (everybody at the department has been very welcoming); collecting recipes from friends and family and experimenting with new flavors… being home with dinner ready just on time for him… so yes, I’ve been doing a lot with the precious free time I have now. We’ve also been doing lots of immigration paperwork.. and even some more ordinary marriage paperwork has been done. We’ve been visited by both his and my parents (YAAAY for parents visiting!!) and we’ve gone to O-town to visit the Bugs a couple times. She and Q’s parents liked the changes in the apartment :). My parents were also very happy to see the place where we live. It’s a very walkable distance from campus (I like that very much), and its very new and very much a safe place. I was very glad to see them again. While they were here we visited the churches of KS and saw some very good old friends. Our friends at Manhattan even organized a wedding shower for us. It was a wonderful thing for them to do. We felt very loved. It was because of their shower that I started collecting recipes like a mad woman. They did a recipe-themed shower, and many gifts consisted of good old family recipes and even their necessary, non-perishable ingredients. So now that I’ve started trying recipes out, I can’t stop. Every time a cooking show comes on on TV, I run for the notepad and a pen. I’ve even been trying out the recipes that come with the kitchen appliances! It’s been a lot of fun, though, and Q hasn’t been sick yet (hehe).

So yes, life is good. As long as I am able to intentionally deceive myself, ignoring the irresponsible, misinforming, sensationalist mass media content on health and safety that CONTINUES to spread -like a viral infection more contagious and damaging than any other given virus- growing the already xenophobic sentiments of many American people, feeding on man’s natural need for gore and suspicion, proliferating at the expense of many Mexican people… (okay.. sorry.. couldn’t help myself). Life is good.