I'm back!

Wow! It's been, literally, months since I updated my blog! Sorry, for those of you who have been waiting till my next post! I think most of you know that my mom was diagnosed with leukemia. And so plans changed quick and we moved up about 2 months ago which is 2 months earlier than we had planned! And 2 weeks ago we settled into our house, Mom was released from the hospital a week ago! Adjustments have been, and keep being hard! But our God has been so faithful, so we trust Him to keep being faithful!! I'll try to keep updating here if possible! It's just that with everything going on sometimes it's been hard to find time (and internet)to update!
 And just a picture of my mom and I, because I love her! Also because I'm so grateful that, even though we don't know what the future holds and how many more memories we can make together, right now I can enjoy every moment with mom! I love this picture! It was taken last year and it was just a quick ' mom lets take a pic together' and I love how it turned out!

  " Mami, you've been such an amazing example these past months! Thank you!"

So yes! My mom is doing really good these days and we hope it keeps getting better and better, but of course sometimes something can just happen so quickly, but like I said before, we know, and trust, that God is in complete control! 

Hope you all have a great weekend!

El Chingo

Monday of last week our family and the youth guys from here in Texis, were invited, by El Paste and Zacamil youth,to go climb the volcano, El Chingo. We wanted to get an early start so we had to leave here at 6;00 am. To get to El Paste we have about 1 and a 1/2 hour drive,on mostly unpaved road. So it was a bit bumpy,plus it was a very dreary day,so really muddy. 

Kendrick hanging out the window on the way up to be able to talk with guys in the back of the pickup and us upfront!

This is the volcano we climbed.

 And yes we are coming down here,but on the way up we couldn't see it cause it was sooo foggy,so this was taken on our way down. And it doesn't look very high or steep,but it takes 2 hours to climb.

A lot of the way up you'd go through coffee plantations,and then you'd get to places like this:

There were only a few of us girls,so we stuck together quite a bit.;)

And we got to the top and it started raining!

but the guys didn't care and started playing soccer.in the mud.

The Zacamil youth brought chicken to grill,but had to make this little shack first to be able to start the fire! 

Meanwhile those of us who weren't playing or helping with the fire,we trying to stay as warm as possible! which was kinda impossible since our jackets were getting quite wet with the rain! 

Mauricio and Amilcar trying to stay dry!lol

after eating dinner, some of the guys set up the volley-ball net,but also it started pouring even harder!! but since we knew we'd get wet just standing there watching Susanna,Rebecca Glick and I decide to play v-ball just to try to "warm up" a bit. Sadly,since i was playing,i couldn't take pictures! but we were basically playing in a mud puddle! Everybody was so muddy, our shoes sloshing with water and mud! but we had a lot of fun! 

Then it was time to start heading back down! and on the way down it had cleared up a bit,so we would stop and look at the scenery.It was really pretty!

This part here was the cool thing.

this tower is right where the El Salvador-Guatemala borderline is! So where i was standing, to take the picture, was in Guatemala! and on the other side of that 'tower' thing is El Salvador!

The place where we ate dinner and played soccer and volley-ball was, actually, the crater,and that is on  Guatemalan land! cool huh?

So I can say "I walked the whole way to Guatemala and back!"

So there is what i was up to Monday before last!

Town Life

So the reason I thought of posting about town life is because a little more than 2 weeks ago,our whole town was out of running water! And another reason is that, I love this town we live in, .Texistepeque. Not only does it have a cool name,it's an awesome little town! 

When we first moved all the roads were cobblestone,some just dirt roads. We live way down by one of the corners called, Las Vegas. Yeah,pretty cool huh? then on our other side is Bethlehem, after that is Costa Rica!!! lol see? it's the oddest thing, yet, I think it's so cool, 'cause you can trick ppl and say, "I went to Costa Rica to buy tortillas" and it takes them a while to register.;) Or "I've been to Las Vegas." Ok, it's not only the weird names that make me like it. Another thing is you can basically get anything just "right uptown". For instance, you are hungry for chips, you walk half a block to Nina Berta's store and can nicely buy a bag with about 10 chips in it for $0.10!! It's perfect! especially if you just have a little bit of "ganas" for something.(sorry,I have no translation for that word,so if you don't get it, i'm sorry, I HAD to use it) And then if yo need a drink you can buy it ther also for about $0.25! These little stores are great too,because they like, literally, have a bit of everything! from cooking supplies to ribbon,to shoes,and even underwear! Not saying i buy all that stuff there, but you can!;) In the middle of our town is the Park,usually painted with bright colors, completely lit up with lights at Christmastime. Around this park there are little "restaurants" that you can go buy a meal at, if you're really hungry and don't feel like cooking! Then for supper most of them make ,of course,Pupusas. Then around the park are other vendors,there is the faithful little "El Salvadoran hotdog" man. Minuteros. (ppl selling icecones) And this whole month of September, there is the frenchfries,fried yucca and plantains,vendor:

Vendors come to your door,with fruits,vegetables,cleaning supplies,and once again, underwear, and even medicine,for those who don't go uptown much you can stay home and still get you shopping done!

And then also they stop at your window,like this guy going past just a few minutes ago,and I bought this: a 'mil-hoja'

(haha the window is more on focus than the mil-hoja!)

pics of when we were out of water from a Saturday till Friday night,almost a whole week! 

This is what our laundry looked like,full of guacales,buckets.

Papa was bringing water from ANDA in Santa Ana. 

After a few days it felt pretty normal having to get water out of this big black barrel either to bathe,brush your teeth,anything,really.

We'd also try to catch rainwater.

That was one of the not-so-nice things of town life,but it wasn't just us, the whole town had to do the same!

And that's another thing I love about this town,our neighbors! we have neighbors all around us,and they are very respectful. I mean they even look out for us,either they call when there is a strange person is down by the fence looking over our way,or they come to the door to let us know a calf's head is stuck in the fence around midnight! It's know wonder i feel safe huh? because i know my neighbors! they're great!

The neighbors right beside us,the Ronquillo's,are like family.  We take care of the kids or have them over just for fun! I've posted pics before,of their twin girls, and we just had them over the other day again.We tried putting them to sleep,but it was a fail they drank their bottles and were up again!

Ana Maria

and Carmen Elena

There are so much more little details I could talk about, of this town,and stuff we do,but I think i'll just quit or it could get really long.

  But here is one more pic of some things we get to do in town.

Kendrick got to push the neighbor man home,whose little motorized 'cart' ,maybe you could call it, ran out of battery.:)

So yeah! I love living in this town and am going to miss it like crazy!!;/
hope you all like wherever it is that you live! ~Cecilia

July

Happenings of last month!

This adorable little man was born on the 7th!

Desmond Hail Mast

              Precioso, and I can't wait till December when his Parents bring him down for us to meet him! 
                                                   Caleb and Sandra are the proud parents.

*photocredits of the two pictures above go to Sandra!

This past month we celebrated Hna. Teresa's 84th birthday at church and,as a gift,one of the families brought her a pin~ata! So we had fun watching the older people take turns whacking it!

She was able to knock quite a bit of candy out of it!

Mayra came to surprise me!

Was so good to have her back again! even though it was just for 2 weeks.

A couple Sundays ago we went to visit MamaFela, Kendrick and i rode in the back of the pickup! love doing that,the view in the evening is awesome and your hair is blowing... ah! (btw the pic doesn't do it justice)

Then when we were there Tia Aida and Kendrick were playing checkers! and since Kendrick is still learning how to play, Tio Chele was helping him out and had poor Tia Aida biting her nails!;)

Other news, It finally started raining again!! Everything is getting green,again!

Also since it's corn season we've been buying corn "stuff",Like this is one of me favorite corn made 'things', Tortitas,Corn patties! 

 !!!delicious!!!

Helping Kendrick with his Algebra

Remembering back a year ago,when 2 of  my cousins came down to visit Susanna and I! We made a whole lot of memories with our Besties!

*Sorry,most of this was typed out last week,but due to my aunt Katarina's(uncle's wife) sickness and death i wasn't able to post this till now! So if dates are a bit confusing that's why.
- Have a great weekend.
~ Mennonite

Past 2 Months in Review

- :/ on behind once again-

 but this post is pretty full of pics to let you all know what I've been up to!

So let's back up to mid-June. There was Retiro!

Youth retreat for all the youth of the Mennonite churches here in ES.

 There were a lot of great topics that really made you think!

There were about 40-45 youth there!

So many games of volley ball were played(in the bLAzing sun ,mind you) with a lot of fun had!

Of course, there were always dishes that needed to be washed after the meals. so a group of the youth would volunteer to help with that!

And usually would have a lot of fun while doing it.As you can see:

People to reconnect with.

I got to hang out with one of my good friends,quite  a bit!  She made a  good replacement since my sister,Susanna,wasn't here this year,but of course we missed her too! And I did hang out with other people just didn't always have my camera with all the time to take pics ;/

                                                

There were little kids to play with while on recess.

I enjoyed Retiro very much,and am sad to think that that was the last one I will attend before we move to the USA! crazy!

Something else that happened back in June? 

oh yes! Puffy,Kendrick's dog, had puppies,and so since he needed pics to put online for advertisement, we thought it'd be cool to have one of all the 8 puppies in a line looking over this brown bus seat!

  so we tried...

and tried again...

...and almost had it but,of course, they weren't looking! they thought we were just playing with them and stuff! ah! let's just say we don't know how other 'experts' get so many puppies lined up nicely AND looking at the camera. ;/

First Sunday in July,was my baptism,along with 2 single mothers at church! 

To put it simply,It was a happy day!!!

Hilda,Ana,and I

Hilda and Ana with their Mother,younger brother and sister,and their children.

Me with my parents and younger brother! It just doesn't seem right to say 'family' with only 4 of us in the picture! really did wish my older siblings could have been here,but they were close in my heart! 

!!!I love my family!!!

My dear MamaFela came for my baptism and that was special to have her here! 

I love her so much!!

She actually stayed here with us a whole week! and for those of you who know her,that is a long time for her to be away from her casita,(house)!!:) The day before she left,though, Papa decided to surprise her and bring her older sister over to spend the last day here with MamaFela,and stay the night and then take them both to their houses the next day!

 MamaFela was so surprised to see Tia Tona and they were both in tears!

They sat out on the porch and talked and talked and laughed and cried!!

It was fun having them both here,and see how they would "boss" each other around (in a nice way)

Tia Tona- "Hermanita no camines sin tu bordon!" (little sister,don't walk off without your cane)

MamaFela-" ay vepues tan bobita que soy! Es que a mi seme olvida!  Tona te dije que estoy perdiendo los papeles!" ( Oh my i'm so dumb! I am so forgetful! I told you I am loosing it!) 

Tia Tona- "No, hermanita,no se dice que sos bobita!" (No,little sister,don't call yourself dumb)

;) priceless! even though this might not have been their exact conversation,but you get the picture!

Tia Tona, thoroughly entertained with Kendrick playing Flight Simulator! She said she didn't even want eat, she could watch him all day! lol but Kendrick told her that after breakfast he would keep flying!:) she agreed!

Carlos Antonio,was over the other day because once upon a time he went crazy over a spice cake that mom made,and he wanted to learn how to make it. So Mom brought him over and got him to help her!

Mom has always loved the passion fruit juice,and has wanted a plant of her own,for years! We've tried several times to grow one,but it wouldn't last long. In the last year or so, all of a sudden there was this passion fruit vine growing on it's own! right outside our back door! so mom has been taking care of it, so Papa brought bamboo branches and built this arbor for her! She is pretty pleased,it's been growing nicely!

That is about it! I have talked about a whole bunch of odds and ends! but when you are on behind you just got to do what ya' gotta do!;0 lol  

This last picture is of El Salvador's National bird. el Torogoz! it is really pretty and there is this one that sits right out on our wash line and in front of the kitchen window,and mom has been wanting me to get a good pic of it,so this is just one I thought i'd share!  not the best quality but you can still see it's pretty colors, more or less!

Ok that's all for now! Sorry for the late post of what's been going on down here!!;(

 I do want to try to keep up  more with the posting from now on! 

Have a great week!