Tuesday, April 28, 2009

"Born in the U.S.A."

We are on our way home! Yesterday at 9a.m. my cute husband called and asked if I could pack the family within 48 hours... the answer, of course, was "No, are you crazy?" - so, I have a little more time than that. But, the long and short of it is that I am organizing giving our precious feline friend, Suess, away; donating school uniforms; calling friends for items they want to keep and packing all at once! We'll be coming home with 12 suitcases...

Our little family lasted through drug search and seizure raids in our own neighborhood run by the Mexican military; rumors of drug wars; evidence of drug wars - and now a microscopic germ is sending us packing - literally! I have shed tears upon tears - due to this situation we cannot even physically say goodbye to these beautiful, wonderful people we have grown to love!

My only hope is to hitch a flight back with my cute husband's business trips when the epidemic clears and finally say 'adios y les queremos muchisimo'!

Monday, April 27, 2009

The Swine Flu Virus


Our N95 masks were securely in place, full bottles of hand sanitizer in our pockets and an agreement not to touch any hand rails or handles was spoken of before my cute husband and I stepped foot on Mexican soil again yesterday. The scene that greeted us in the Mexico City airport was one that could have easily been from an 'end of days' movie - thousands of people were wearing masks - military personnel handing out masks to everyone who came through the gates while they juggled the automatic weapons in another hand; announcements were running throughout the airport asking all people to wear their masks and immediately report to an on-site health clinic if they had any symptoms. The warning was obvious and serious - we wound through the airport with little to no contact with people and met our driver to take us home.

We have made it home safely and have just been notified that school and public gatherings (church, sports events, etc.) have all been suspended until May 6, 2009. We are sequestering ourselves in our home until we know more of what is occurring with this virus!




These are some of the sights we saw - I did not have my own camera (although I wish I did). These pictures are from the AP.

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Quotable Quotes

"Why does Jesus have long hair and why is he wearing a dress?" - our little 'Fresita' asked Sunday while coloring in her Bible coloring book.

Monday, April 20, 2009

Spares & Strikes

Spares & Strikes - you better believe it! (Although I should disclose that the rails were in the upright position...) Our kids were bowling up a storm and enjoying spending time with another American family here in Mexico! We had a great time together and lots of fun!

Sunday, April 12, 2009

This Easter Sunday...

It is my prayer that we remember our Savior, renew our commitment to live as He would have us live and resolve to live in that manner.

With a heart full of gratitude for the gifts of our Savior we wish all a blessed and happy Easter Sunday.

Saturday, April 11, 2009

Una Granja Mexicana - Mexican Farm

We had a hee-haw time one afternoon at a farm here in Mexico! The children played with ducks, chickens, bunnies, cows, goats, sheep, horses, etc. We had to leave just before the children had a chance to milk a cow! Aw shucks!

We had a farm-tabulous time!

General Conference Weekend

Our little bunch enjoyed our last General Conference Weekend in Mexico. While we have been here among the Mexican saints we have learned, grown and come to love these people. We will miss all of the wonderful members of the church here in Mexico.

During conference weekend the stake centers are packed to capacity and tents are brought in to cover the parking lots to accomodate all of the members that want to listen to a prophet's voice. It is a wonderful sight to see and a great blessing to have the opportunity to be a part of this community of saints!


We 'gringos' meet in the High Council room to hear Conference in English. Our children will probably miss their comfortable chairs and a table to write on during the October conference of 2009.

Picnic with my Lil' Man!

While his sisters were off playing at friend's houses - my lil' man and I began Spring Break with a picnic. We had a great time together and we brought TONS of bread for the ducks! These ducks were daring... was the days old, crusty bread enought for them? NO! They were after the Subway sandwiches - there was absolutely no duck etiquette code being observed. This was not a flock of geese for the faint of heart - nor was it the place for flip-flops!

Between eating our lunch and fending off the hordes of attaking ducks and geese - I was able to get in these few pictures!

Show & Tell - Seuss, the Cat!

Our little 'Fresita' (Strawberry) took Seuss, our Mexican Persian Cat, to Show & Tell at school! All of the children loved Suess and although he was a bit nervous he did great!



We could not have purchased a better cat! Our children treat him like a baby - dancing with him, slinging him over their shoulders, dressing him up, wrapping him in blankets,etc. - not once has he hurt our children! Quite amazing for a street cat who showed up at our door one day - our little Cat in the Hat!

Thursday, April 2, 2009

April Fools Day!

Well, after our ER incident - I completely forgot about April Fool's Day and to play a joke on my little ones! (Darn it!)

Someone else must have thought of it... because when I went to pick two of our girls up from their swimming classes our eldest daughter was walking out with her towel tightly wrapped around her and the swimming instructors walking with her.

I was intrigued to find out why she wasn't showered and dressed - but, it turns out someone took off with her clothes that were in a locker! The poor girl was a great sport about it - although a little embarassed. Hmmm.... I hope it was an April Fool's joke - because they took her favorite jeans from Christmas and a favorite shirt from her Grammy & Gramps!

I think when I come home I want a sewing machine that does embroidery - I am seriously going to embrioder ALL my children's clothing with our last name in inconspicuous places!

The Emergency Room!

Well... on the eve of April Fools our entire little crew was in a Mexican Emergency Room with blood pouring off of our littlest daughters head. (She is OK!) BUT, while she was showering a large tile fell off of the wall and collided with her head before it broke the tile floor below - it fell from ceiling height (about 9 ft. or so) and it had to have some definite momentum going to crack the tile floor.

I was walking down the hall to check on bathtime when I heard a blood-curdling scream - the kind that stops your heart at the same moment your feet launch into a sprint. I found our little one wrapped in a towel just crying. When I asked what happened noone knew... and then I saw the blood - "Sargeant Mom" took over at that point - everyone was directed to dress, put shoes on and get Daddy while I dressed our little one and carried her to the car - of course, all the while applying pressure to the head wound.

When we finally got to the ER we were wheeled right in and attended to immediately! I have to say how grateful I am that this event happend after we had been in the country long enough to speak the language. Could you even imagine walking into an ER where noone spoke your language and were going to inject your child with something and stitch them up? (I have said before how grateful I am for medical advice in your own language and I have to amend that to say how grateful I am for understanding a language when medical advice was necessary!)



When all was said and done our little 'Strawberry' had stitches and a bandage wrapped around her head. She has received both medical attention and a priesthood blessing. She is doing fine - and she is a little trooper! We are so grateful that the damage was superficial and not worse! She had me take pictures of 'the bloody towel' for show and tell - so, she is going to be FINE!

We are so grateful for all the thoughts and prayers in our behalf - we have been blessed beyond measure during our time in Mexico - and we were blessed again the other night.