Thanksgiving

I am thankful...

That I have never been beaten
That I have a Dad who loves me and never came home drunk, never hit me
For parents that love me with all of their hearts
For heat in the winter
That my house smells good
That I can take a shower everyday
That I have always had enough money
That I was fortunate enough to graduate middle school, high school, and college
That I have always had enough food to eat
That the Lord Jesus has always given me reasons to praise Him, given me hope and is faithful
For all the people God has used to love me, encourage me and support me throughout my life
That I serve a God who loves me, who knew my name before their was time, who is worthy of all of my praise
That I have more clothes than I need
That I can go out to eat if I want to
That I have never had to take care of 5 brothers and sisters who looked to me as their mom

As I take some time to think of the girls that I love here, I wonder what their list of things to be thankful for might say. Part of me thinks they would think of some of the same things I am thankful for... their families, for food, their homes... and another part of me thinks they wouldn't know what I say. I just think of the world view I have, the experiences I have had and the life that the Lord has given me and continues to give me and I am thankful, so thankful. I am thankful that the Lord loves these girls more than I can imagine and has a plan for each of their lives.

I have been listening to this song by Selah over and over again for the past two weeks and I can't get enough of it. I desire to follow the Lord and give him all of my praise.

I will follow you through green pastures and sing hallelujah to your name,
I will follow you through dark disaster and sing hallelujah through the pain,
Even in the shadow of death I will praise you,
Even in the valleys I will say

Holy, My God, You are worthy of all my praise,
Holy, My God, You are worthy of all my praise,
You are worthy of all my praise

You are seated on your throne in heaven and you see all of us down here,
You have promised you will not abandon,
so I shall not fear

Holy, My God, You are worthy of all my praise,
Holy, My God, You are worthy of all my praise,
You are worthy of all my praise


You made every star and you taught it how to shine,
You knew my name before there was time,
all this is just part of your glorious design,
Hallelujah, Hallelujah


When I give up, God will give me everything I've ever longed for.

Goal Accomplished

Quincinera at the Rancho: Mexican Experience

Above is a picture of Ruth and I. Ruth (pronounced "Root" in spanish) is one of my co-workers and it was also her younger sister's fifteenth birthday last Saturday. The big fiesta was held at their grandparent's rancho or ranch.


The girl in the blue dress in the picture above is Ruth's sister and it is her birthday. A group of the girls are having fun before the sun goes down. Now, the rancho's in Mexico are kind of out in the country and little communities of their own. There are a group of houses together, animals all over the place and they are away from any large cities. There are not any paved roads. You drive on dirt roads.

As the fiesta was coming to a close, Juan on the right, decided he wanted to take a drive through the rancho. Please note that Juan's van shown above has two sliding doors. One on each side. A group of us including George, on the left another co-worker, got into the van including children under the age of 15. Juan opened both of the van doors, kept them open, blasted his ranchero mexican music and we went driving through the rancho on the dirt roads about 40 mph (with the doors open). Seat belts for the girls in the middle---nahhhh---they could only go flying out of the van.

But the experience gets better. One of my goals these past couple months has been to ride a random horse in Fresnillo. There are animals walking all over our neighborhood including horses and I always have "ganas" to see if I can ride one. Not that I know how to ride a horse, but I thought it would be an experience. I decided to try to continue my pursuit of riding a horse here in the rancho and got everybody on board. So every horse we would pass while driving with the doods open, on dirt roads, mexican music blasting the mexicans would ask if I could get on their horse. We got turned down quite a few times because the owners said the horse was crazy, but alas, we found one boy with a horse!!! And here is my evidence.

Another peak at the goal being accomplished.

Oh, but the fun just doesn't stop. Above is an awesome sunset before we left the party at the rancho. On the way home we had a car full including a family with 4 kids. This family doesn't have a car, as is the case with most families in our colonia. Let me include that we ate "mole" at the quincinera along with some red rice. Mole is made of chiles and chicken. The chiles are ground up to the thickness of spaghetti sauce and then the chicken is thrown in. Back to the car ride home. As I was saying not many families have cars or vans, so it is very easy for them to get dizzy and kind of queasy in the car. Well, little Danny, one of the cutest kids you will meet, started to feel a little sick in the van. And wouldn't you know, he got a little too sick and threw up the "mole" all over himself. Poor Danny. Let's just say that I don't know if I am ready to be a mom who cleans up throw up. But it did make for an eventful end to and eventful day.