Back from the reentry program

hey! so like I just got back from the most amazing 13 days ever with around 30 or so other missionary kids. It was such a beneficial time, it was a time that God used to really give me hope that everything is ok and that it is possible to adjust to life in the USA. I really connected quite fast with everyone and they all taught me soo much stuff... it was amazing to hear their mk stories and even though they are like polar opposite then my experiences we can still relate so easily ... I really came to love everyone at the seminar .. thanks guys for making my time at the reentry seminar the most memorable and beneficial time thus far in my life here in the USA.. i really do truly love all of you!! (a lot more than just having compassion for you! jeje)

so I am dead tired.. we pulled an all nighter last night and didn't sleep a wink, and I have to work tomorrow very early in the morning.. My life living in the Mk bubble has ended and I am back in the real world!! :S jejeje..

So I am back in the world where the question .. "Where are you from?" "Where is home?" takes on a whole different meaning.. but you know what?? I am ready for what is to come .. the seminar helped me get ready.. I am still scared don't get me wrong.. but I think now I am ready!

support system..

I am really learning about the significance of having a good support system. A really good tight nit group that I know will always be there for me and I will always be there for them... please pray that I am able to find the support system needed quickly as I enter into college..

San Fransisco with the tios!!

ok so about 5 days before I came here to the reentry program in LA I was able to go to San Fransisco and hang out with my aunt and uncle for 5 days. It was literally the best 5 days I have had in a looooong time! I was able to just really have a breather and be able to sleep in. I felt

more at home there than I have ever since I stepped foot back on American soil. We went to the GOLDEN GATE BRIDGE!! which by the way is NOT gold! jejeje omgoodness.. i was soo excited I acted like a freakin wierd tourist! jeje.. but I loved it.. we went to chinatown and japantown and had the most amazing food in this one place! jeje.. It was soo awesome to be back into a big city and the fact that basically at all times I was hearing more than one language.. it made me feel soo much at home.. I had a blast! thank you auntie and uncle for such an amazing time!

mk reentry!

ok, so as an MK i know i am pretty wierd... but as I have learned I am not alone in this! jeje.. i have been in CA for about a week and a half and I have another week to go.. and I have been at an mk reentry program. What this program is is basically mks from all over the world come through here on there way back to the USA to study at college. The people here at the program kind of help us get back into the swing of things and adapt to living in the US culture. And the thing that is most valuable to me is it gives us 2 weeks with people my own age who have gone through similar experiences and we are able to connect so well and have amazing talks. I have been here less than a week so far and I have become so close to everyone so quickly... God is really using this time to be a launching pad for a lot of transition and change that I am going to be going through. He has and is providing a support system for me. thank you God!

oh and most favorite quote: No one is normal, we are all just different levels of wierd .. LOVE IT!

work work work ..

So I arrived to Minnesota after a huge ordeal in Colorado that including lightning strikes and tornados. So after arriving at 3 am at my "new house" I had to be up and ready to work by 10 am ... fun huh??

time with the "family"

hey all.. so I have had a fun 3 days or so here in Colorado with my "adopted" family here. It was barely enough time as I would have liked to be able to spend with them. But I had a blast seeing them again after about 2 years. My adopted Aunt and Uncle and cousins picked me up from the airport Tuesday evening and I spent wednesday with them chillaxin and talking. Then on Thursday morning I helped them out at VBS and then I went to my adopted grandparent's house and have been chillin with them since then. It has been a blast talking with them and enjoying some quality time with them. I am now just chilling in there family room watching Dr. Quinn Medicine Women!! hahaha I haven't seen that show in soo long I love it! jeje.. and I am off to the airport later on tonight off to Minnesota...

Identity

During this transition time I have really learned to hold on extremely tight to the identity I have found as the daughter of the King, God. Because if I let go for even a second I will go sliding down a very slippery and destructive path that leads me to not being able to have an identity at all. The identity I had in my family has now changed and I have yet to find my new role in the family, therefore I have yet to find my identity in my family. The identity I had as the girlfriend of the godliest guy I have ever met, David, no longer exists because of the sad fact that I am only able to connect with him once a day at night through skype. Having a dating relationship by skype is not the ideal and I no longer have my boyfriend at my side so I no longer really have my identity as the girlfriend of David. My identity that I so enjoyed in the ministry right now does not exist. With all that I am I want to jump in head first into the ministry. I am just so on fire to what God is doing and what He wants to do I don’t want to wait. I feel like I am missing out on something. But God has helped me come to the realization that the need among the youth will always exist. Right now is my time to capacitate myself with all the tools and all the knowledge I can absorb so I can give my all to the youth who are going to need me. So after all these very sad realizations I have realized the biggest truth. That although everything else seems like it is slipping from my fingers one thing will never change. And that is who I am in Christ. Christ is NEVER going to leave me. And anytime I feel lonely all I have to do is go into the presence of God and feel his love and power that He has everything under control and that amidst all this craziness and hard times He has a plan that is for my best well being. Thank you, daddy for always being there and for being my one and only constant!

Where is home?

Where is my home? That is a very good question as to which I have no answer. They say home is where the heart is, but what if my heart is in two very different places? (In CR with my boyfriend and Mexico with my family and the ministry we have at our church) Can I have two homes? But at the same time even though I consider “home” to be Mexico since that is where my family is, its changed. My family has continued to coexist with each other living together and sharing memories together. Memories in which I am not a part of. Memories that they can only tell me about. My role in my family is not the same. I am used to being the oldest sibling, the big sister. So obviously I go home expecting to have that same role in my family. But of course as my life goes I don’t, my sister has now put herself in the role of big sister, which is technically true when I am not there. But what happens when I am home? It are things like this that really hurt because all these different facts all point to me being homeless. Maybe I should change the name to this blog to “The Homeless Mk Nomad”.

Why does the word BYE have good in front of it when they are anything but good?

Ok so in the course of one week I am going to have been in three countries. Talk about jet lag, huh? I have had to say goodbye to the students who I studied at the Bible School with for a year, who became my family for a year. That was the beginning of a lot of really hard goodbyes I will have to make this week. I also had to say a tearful but full of God given peace goodbye to my boyfriend, David. I arrived home, to Mexico, on Monday pretty late. When I woke up Tuesday morning I had no earthly idea where I was. Segun yo (according to me) I was still in Costa Rica and needless to say it was a big reaity shock when the reality of my new situation hit. So then I went through the feelings of missing my Port family (people from Bible School) and missing my boyfriend and wondering how we are ever going to survive 3 years apart only seeing each other every six months. Then I had to come to grips with being back with my family and friends from Mexico only to say goodbye to them in a week. I tried to not let my heart really feel, but ofcourse that is impossible. I havespent probably every night this week just crying, mourning the end of one huge chapter of my life and dreading the next chapter of my life which consists of living in the USA for a least 3 years. It is times like these when God reminds me once again that He is faithful and although I have to say goodbye to everyone I care and love, I don’t have to say goodbye to Him and I will never have to. Needless to say this is when my love for Spanish is really important because the word for goodbye is adios and there is no “good” in it whatsoever.

Why does the word BYE have good in front of it when they are anything but good?

Ok so in the course of one week I am going to have been in three countries. Talk about jet lag, huh? I have had to say goodbye to the students who I studied at the Bible School with for a year, who became my family for a year. That was the beginning of a lot of really hard goodbyes I will have to make this week. I also had to say a tearful but full of God given peace goodbye to my boyfriend, David. I arrived home, to Mexico, on Monday pretty late. When I woke up Tuesday morning I had no earthly idea where I was. Segun yo (according to me) I was still in Costa Rica and needless to say it was a big reaity shock when the reality of my new situation hit. So then I went through the feelings of missing my Port family (people from Bible School) and missing my boyfriend and wondering how we are ever going to survive 3 years apart only seeing each other every six months. Then I had to come to grips with being back with my family and friends from Mexico only to say goodbye to them in a week. I tried to not let my heart really feel, but ofcourse that is impossible. I havespent probably every night this week just crying, mourning the end of one huge chapter of my life and dreading the next chapter of my life which consists of living in the USA for a least 3 years. It is times like these when God reminds me once again that He is faithful and although I have to say goodbye to everyone I care and love, I don’t have to say goodbye to Him and I will never have to. Needless to say this is when my love for Spanish is really important because the word for goodbye is adios and there is no “good” in it whatsoever.

New Chapter: The definition of an Mk Nomad

Ok, so if anyone has wondered why I chose the name of my blog to be MK Nomad, well after this message I am sure you will have no doubt as to my reasoning. Today is Tuesday and I am actually writing this in the airplane on my way from Guadalajara, Mexico to Minnesota with a 3 day stop in Colorado. Didn’t I just arrive to Mexico from Costa Rica a week ago? Yes. My crazy life as an mk nomad is going into full swing. After being in Costa Rica for a little over 4 months I was finally able to go home and see my family who I hadn’t seen the entire time I was studying in CR, except for my dad. I was also able to go to my home church and see my church family after so long, but unfortunately the happy feelings of my saying hellos and everything was cut short with the hard not good feelings of having to say goodbye again for a whole other year. So I left today from Mexico. I go to Colorado for a very quick little visit to kind of regroup after my very emotional week in Mexico. Then I am off to Minnesota for a couple weeks of hard core working, because College is NOT cheap! Then I am off once again to California for a quick visit with my aunt and uncle who I haven’t seen in about 5 years and then to a two week conference for Mks who are moving back to the states for college. Then after my time in California finishes I go once again to Minnesota for a few more weeks of working. Then I am off to Chicago to meet up with my mom. (another huge blessing from God! My mom is going to be able to fly up to the states and help me move into college!) Then after a week of hard core shopping for last minute things for college comes the road trip to go to college in Virginia… AAHHH CRAZY STUFF!! Now do you know my reasoning for calling this blog Mk nomad?

Update

Now it’s time for a quick update on the last month of my time in Costa Rica. Have I mentioned how big and good God is? Well He is very big and extremely good! For the first few months of my time this semester in Costa Rica I had been constructing a very good friendship with David, a youth pastor at a church here in Costa Rica. After much prayer and talking with a lot of people who are important to us, we decided to enter into a dating relationship. Crazy huh!?! Throughout my relationship with David God has been teaching me a great many things. It was a very hard decision to enter into a dating relationship because of the fact that in the end of May I was going to leave Costa Rica and begin a new chapter of my life in the USA. We didn’t know if it was in the best interest of our emotional status to begin a relationship and then a short time later have that relationship change into a long distance relationship. We have decided that right now this is the direction God is leading us to. I would ask for your prayer in regards to David and I. It is not easy to have a dating relationship by skype, we have already felt the strain and it has only been a week that we have been separated. We are praying that we follow God’s lead in walking step by step in His will and not run like we as humans have the tendency in doing.

Thank You!

Wow, so I know it has been like forever since I have last updated my blog. Its been a crazy ride. First off I want to thank those who were praying about our mission trip. God is good and He once again showed us just how big. Two weeks before the deadline of when we had to have the whole amount of money in we still hadn’t raised a fourth of what was needed. But in those two weeks we raised $3,000 dollars more than what we had originally asked for. That money went for beds for Don Alvaro and his family, the family we built a house for. We also used some of that money to go for scholarships for other Latin students who are interested in assisting Portantorchas, the Bible School I attended for the past year. So once again thank you for your prayers.

MIssion Trip is finally here!!

Please be praying! We are going on the mission trip tomorrow. Satan is already attacking. We have had some unexpected complications and they have been very difficult. People are also getting pretty sick :S .. Please keep us in your prayers as it is going to be a very long, hard, and hot week. But God is good and faithful!

Birthday Surprise!

So as most of you probably already knew, my dad came to surprise me for my birthday! My mom gave him an early birthday gift which was a ticket to come to Costa Rica and it was also a gift for me to celebrate my birthday with my daddy! I was soo excited I couldn't believe it for a while! We had a blast the week he was here, hanging out with my friends, seeing the places where he used to hang out and live, and he also got to meet and interogate my now boyfriend! jejeje. oh yea, I have a boyfriend! jejeje.. His name is David, I will write more about him in the future. But yes, It was an amazing time! I loved it... oh yea, I AM 19!!! jejeje (the picture in the middle is of David, my dad and I... then the picture at the top and the bottom is when my dad surprised me!)

Goodbye sun, hello rain

Hey! Panama was amazing! We had such a blast just chilling at the beach. We were 13 who went, so we had a blast getting to know eachother in a more relax and chill environment. We went to Bosas del Toro, which is an island in Panama. We visited many other beautiful islands, went snorkling, saw amazing exotic birds, and went swimming in the clearest water I have ever seen in my life. I have some amazing pictures I want to post, but they are on my friends computer and I have yet to put them on mine :s ... but no worries I will post them soon!

PANAMA!!

hey everyone! Well, once again the upside of Bible school in Costa Rica is making itself shown. Because in this world there is a thing called Visas, there is also a thing called visa renewal.. go figure huh?!? jejeje.. well anyhoo, It is that time again, to renew our visas and in order to do so we must leave the country for atleast 3 days... so as anyone in their right mind would do, we turn these three days into a vacation! So that is where I am at. At vacation in Panama! Myself along with 11 other students (we are a lot less this semester than last) are enjoying a fine time on the wonderful island of Bocas de Toro. We have a hotel in downtown which is kind of cool, i like the whole atmosphere of downtown surfer beach town. Its an adventure. Tomorrow we are off to snorkle! Have an early morning and traveling 12 hours total takes a lot out of you. So needless to say i need sleep. Will post up some pictures soon. Bye!

Jenna

Did you all know that God is good?? Because He is!! He has been working in one of my close friends here at Port. It has been amazing because God has been able to use my past experiences and past mistakes to really hit Jenna in a way that only people with similar experiences can feel. Her heart is slowly being broken, which is a lot better than being frozen as it was. I would ask that you would pray for her. She is realizing many things that she needs to change in her life, and as we all know the act of taking action and actually doing something to bring about the changes is very difficult. Pray that God gives her the strength and the courage to do the things that she doesn't necessarily want to do but knows she must. Thank you, God, for working all things for good.. to bring you glory and honor!

Chillin .. and letting God take the reigns

Hey everyone! yea sorry i haven't written in a while :S .. my mom got after me yesterday so I am writing here for a quick update. There has not been much new here. God is continuing to work in and through me and its been amazing! Last weekend we had a soccer tournament to raise money for our mission trip. We still have LOTS of money we need to raise, but we are putting it all in God's hands. Starting tomorrow we are on vacation for Semana Santa (kinda like the latin version of spring break but is related to Holy Week/ Easter). A lot of my friends are going to the beach to chill and relax, but I am off to work at a camp as staff. I am quite excited. I would like to be able to chill, but I know once I get there I am going to be soo happy and excited! I will let you all know how it goes.. oh and Sunday there is going to be a HUGE soccer game here in CR.. the two biggest rivals (La Liga and Saprissa) are playing.. GO SAPRISSA!! jejejeje.. i am going to the game and i am soo psyched!!

Prayer Requests for my upcoming Mission Trip

I would just really like to ask you all to begin praying with me for my upcoming mission trip with my classmates at Portantorchas. Pray for even more unity within the student body, for a godly and service attitude as we begin preparations for the trip. Also pray that God will use us in the changing of the lives of those who live in Fortuna (the town we are going to). It is a town heavy with homosexuality, drugs, and just plain old sin like anywhere.

I would also like to ask if you can join us in prayer for Don Alvaro and his family. He has had 2 heart attacks and 1 stroke and can no longer walk. He lives in a tin "house" with a dirt floor. He has no bathroom and just has a whole in the floor about 30 feet from his "house" where he has to literally drag himself to every night. We are praying that we can raise enough money to be able to build him a somewhat more decent home with a bathroom. Thank you for your prayers! I will keep you updated on our fundraising and everything else that has to do with my life :). God Bless!

Mission Trip Planning Update

Wow! the trip was actually quite amazing! It was really hot, and the tiko family I stayed with had a little 3 year old girl who would not let me sleep past 6 am or take any naps! But other than that the trip was a huge blessing! The mission trip is going to be 7 days of packed ministry opportunities and physical labor, but I trully believe it is going to plant many seeds in many hearts and gain more people for Christ! What can be better than that?? The pictures I have up are of our relaxing time at the hot springs!

Mission Trip Planning

Please pray for 5 other students, 1 leader, and myself as this weekend we are going on a planning trip. We will be going to go for the weekend to the town we are going to go on our mission trip to plan a few things and decide exactly what we are going to do. Pray for safety in our travels, that we are able to make wise decisions, and that above all we honor and glorify God in all that we do.

Creative Leadership Retreat

well, this past weekend I went to a Youth Leadership conference and it was amazing! I met a lot of really good friends and God really used the seminars to teach me a lot and to pin-prick me in a lot of areas. But hey, I can manage a good pin-prick once and a while... with the pain comes tons of growth and I can take it! (with God's help ofcourse) The trip was really a blessing! I had a blast! :)

Life in Port

Hey all! Sorry I have not updated my blog in so long. I am going to have to work on that. Well, just a quick update. I am doing fine, I have not had a hospital visit yet which is actually a record! jeje I am living in the casita which is the girls' house, we are 9 girls living in one big room with three bathrooms. It is quite interesting and makes up for some really funny sleep talking and walking stories. I just have to remind myself to sleep with my camera so I can capture everything on film! muahahaha... Well God has been doing some amazing stuff with the students and with myself personally. Last week we had an amazing bonfire worship time. The Holy Spirit really just made His presence known. He has been really confirming a lot of things for me which is soo amazing! God is so good! Ofcourse with the good always comes the hardships and I have had quite a few hard bad days, but God is faithful and always seems to send the right person at the right time to help me through everything. Have I said that God is so good?!?!?!!

first week or so at Port

Hey! sooo its been about 5 days since I got here and it has been a whirlwind of emotions just flying all over the place. You first feel excitement for being back and seeing old friends again then just as quickly you remember everyone you left behind and the life that you have traded for a whole new one. Then with those two polar opposite feelings comes a million other feelings that sometimes I don't even know how to describe. I am just hoping I get all my weird feeling thing out of the way before new students come. My weirdness is going to freak them out anyway..can you imagine how scared they would be with my emotional wreck added on top of my weirdness?? Ya, I don't even want to :P.

These past few days, Emily, Sophie, and I have been taking classes on Prayer with Tom our director. They were the best classes ever! They were exactly what I needed. What I think made them so special was the time that we would take just to pray about the new students, returning students, staff, and for each other. Prayer really just united Sophie, Em, and I in a way that I can't put into words. It gave us a renewed hope and vision for this coming semester and a view into what God wants to do with us. The topic of prayer couldn't have come in a better time for Em and Soph as these past few days have been hard for them. It really showed us that all we can do is pray and believe that God has everything under control and will accomplish His will in our life.

Coolest thing ever last night Em, Soph, and I took out a bunch of blankets and went outside to lay out and look at the stars/moon which where usually covered up by clouds. But we had a blast just snuggling under our blankets (because it is freezing outside!) and talking, crying, praying, and playing games. God is so good!! He brought two beautiful girls in my life who I can connect with on a much deeper level than just superficial friendship, we can connect on a spiritual intimate level. Portantorchas is seriously my home away from home, a pesar (can't think of that word in english sorry jeje) of all the hard goodbyes. I Love you girls!! (I love everyone from my Port family!)

Back in good 'ol Tikolandia (Costa Rica)

Hey everyone! So Monday was an extremely long and tiring day. I didn't finish packing until 2 am and had to leave my house at 3 am. My journey consisted of flying from Guadalajara, MX to Houston, TX to New York to Costa Rica... it was about 18 hours or so sitting in a plane! I arrived in Costa Rica at 10 pm and stayed up talking with my tiko friends till 4 am . Lets just say i have had some extremely tiring days.

I have mixed feelings with being back here at Port. I am excited on one had because I love being around these people, my friends practically family. But at the same time it is very sad to leave my family and not have direct access to mexican tacos and tortas ahogadas (drowning sandwhiches). I will be living in the casita, which is a house that up to 10 girls stay in with 3 bathrooms. I am very excited! jejeje.. Right now there are 5 students here who are taking part in planning different activities for this coming semester. I am extremely excited to get started and am anxiously waiting for all of the great thing God has in store for us this year at Portantorchas!!

Prayer

This has to be a quick blog since i leave for Costa Rica in around 5 hours. I would just like to ask for your prayers for my family. As transition, changing, growing up is proving itself to be harder than ever expected.

Transparancy

"Be transparant!" "Be yourself, don't be afraid to be who you are infront of people." Those are just a few of the thousands of one liners my mom would put out there every chance she had. I would always just nod and smile and think, "I am being myself, how can I be anyone else?" But you know what? I was wrong. I was so wrong! I had a very eye-opening experience this past week or so and it was much needed. I had a very frank, heart to heart with my parents and for some reason everytime we have one of these very serious, heart revealing talks, my parents and I, what they say never leave me and impact me so much that I am finally able to realize how much of a sinner I am and how inadequate I am. I cannot fix myself by myself. Only God can change me, fix me, mold me.

The main thing that I learned (and the only thing that I don't have too much of a problem with telling everyone about by internet) is that it is pivital for me to be transparent. How? By being so sure of who I am in Christ and my identity that I have in Him, that I don't mind what other people think of me but that all I care about is what God thinks of me. So many people feel that they need to be someone else for people to like them, because if they should dare to show people who they trully are then they will be rejected. Some, like myself, were/are willing to deal with the fact of being "fake-or someone they are not" then with being rejected. I would constantly adapt to my environment (like a cameleon). I would scout out the people I would be hanging around and get a grasp of who they are and what kind of people they would normally hang out with, then I would become that person. I would become the person that they would like and have fun with and hang out with. I was so scared of being unliked, rejected, and hated that I wasn't true to myself.

It took a stern talking to from my dad, seeing the depth of his dissapointment in his eyes, and hearing the sound of his heart breaking that made me realize one very important thing. If a person does not like me for who I am, then they are not worth it! After so long of being a modern day, human cameleon I didn't know exactly who I was or the real value I do have. This has been a constant struggle in my life, starting around the summer of my 10th grade year but really all my life, the struggle of realizing the value I have in Christ and not settling for anything less than what I am trully worth. My dad has me reading the book "Stomping out the darkness" by Neil T. Anderson and Dave Park. In the book I read a quote by Josh McDowell and have dubbed it the quote of the day.

quote of the day: by Josh McDowell, "If you ever put a price tag on yourself, it would have to read 'Jesus'. His death on the cross was the payment for our sins. You are 'worth Jesus' to God because that is what He paid for you."

Less than a week

ok, so this is around the time when reality rears its ugly head and hits you square in the face. I am leaving in less than a week! I have less than a week to pack up my room and divide my things up. I have less than a week to prepare all my goodbye gifts and cards. I have less than a week to say goodbye to the people who mean the world to me. I have less than a week to have a much needed heart to heart with my brother and be the big sister I should have been a long time ago. I have less than a week to cuddle up with my mom and savor the moments that I can share my heart with the only person who trully understands. I have less than a week to talk to my dad and get his advice and all of my doubts, concerns, and problems. I have less than a week to chill with my sister and show her that no matter what she is my number one sister and that I love her with all my heart. I have less than a week to accomplish everything I should have been accomplishing throughout my two months of vacation. Why did I not take advantage of my time being back home with my family?

Vacation!!

Hey everyone! We just got back from the beach!! It was one fun week i can tell you all that much! I spent like 6 hours a day playing beach volleyball!! I sure got my excercise in that is for sure... The only bummer was that the last day we were at the beach it was cold and rainy :( ... but that was probably a miracle in disguise so that we wouldn't pass from being just tan to being way burnt. :P

Dia de los Reyes (an excuse to give more gifts)

January 6 is not just an ordinary day here in Mexico. You see, thanks to the Latino blood we find ways to celebrate and have a party. And today is the holiday Day of the Kings. Why do we celebrate this? We are celebrating the time that the wisemen arrived to worship Jesus and gave him gifts. How do we celebrate this? Well, everyone else BUT us give gifts to the kids of the family *((ahem parents!!))* jaja and then everyone (yes even us :P) eat a special sweet bread that has around 5 little plastic baby Jesus' and the idea behind these plastic figurines is that if you get the plastic baby Jesus in your slice of bread you have to buy tamales for Febuary 2nd (another reason to party!). My brother, Adrian, has bad luck and this is his third year that he has received the plastic figurine. All I can say is that he has yet to buy me those tamales... and I am hungry!!! Anyway... I thought I would let you all know a little bit of Latin culture!

Life update

So just for a little update, I arrived back to guadalajara the 28th of November to spend time with my family. It has been quite a relaxing time with my family. I find myself sleeping in till 2 o'clock pm and going to sleep around 2 o'clock am. My mom is not too thrilled with my new sleeping habit (and my "I am catching up from my lack of sleep in college" excuse no longer works) so she is gently starting to break it and lovingly wakes me up at around 9 am to try to get me ready for my college schedule in CR where I have to wake up at 7 every morning!! I have been coming down with the sniffles and a cough. Sunday night I began to loose my voice and yesterday it was pretty much gone. My family, especially my siblings, did not forget to let me know how lovely it was not to hear my voice all the time, in which case I responded with my lovely, crackling voice trying to explain to them that my voice wasn't gone completely because it did manage to leave a crackly, man sounding voice in its wake. jaja.. It has been quite FREEZING here lately!! yes, I know it is probably not as cold as it is in some of those northern states in the USA right about now, but hey for my Latina blood it is freezing! jejeje yesterday my dad commented how he was tired of being cold (and I must add he said that while wearing his leather winter jacket.) He was always confused why he brought his winter jacket with him to Mexico, but he has now uncovered the reason for his madness (so he won't be the first person to freeze to death in MEXICO!!) Needless to say we are all looking forward to our beach vacation!! We leave on Sunday to Puerto Vallarta for some fun in the sun!!

Tired of Feeling... it hurts too much

Have you ever stopped and just thought about everything you have tried so hard to not think about? well, for some strange and non-understandable reason I decided to do just that. I sat down on my bed, took out the calender, and wrote a list of everyone I will have to say goodbye to. And you know what, it sucked! The countdown has now officially begun to when i am off once again to a different country (Costa Rica) and say goodbye to everyone who keeps me together when i just want to fall apart. My family and friends. The people who have seen me in my worst and yet still love me with that one in a million kind of love. Then when I add everything i have to do for college before i leave, then all my financial issues i have to figure out and see if I have enough to buy everything i need to buy, and all my personal life issues with my emotional strain. Lets just say my poor family has seen me "tear up" a few times. I was skyping my really good friend, Gretchen, and in my awesomeness i made up a quote that I am dubbing the quote of the day. (aswell as my facebook status :P)

quote of the day: yea ... thats life .. life is full of wonderful hellos and heart wrenching goodbyes .. but you learn from the experience and then you just have to fall into the arms of God so he can put the pieces of our heart back together

Packing

Today was the day I have so long tried to avoid. Packing day. Now this is not just packing up a suitcase to go to college. No. This is packing up my whole life and putting it all into plastic containers. With every object in my room I had to choose one of four choices: keep it for keepsakes, take a picture of it and give it away, leave it at the house, or take it with me to college. It gets a little draining after a while having to decide in which box to put the things that you are so used to seeing everyday I wake up in my room. Not having what you have always taken for granted for so long is hard. But, it has taught me a valuable lesson. My life is not wrapped up in things, yes they are memories, but they are not my life. My life is wherever my family and friends are. I am not going to have a home for a while, but a home is not wrapped up in physical objects. Home is wherever I make it. Now I do know that it is easier said than done. I do not profess to have everything under control, but I am working on it!