Its Time To Make Time...

I don't understand how someone is who currently unemployed (uh me) does not have time to post on this blog. And when I do have some time its when I'm back in Chicago visiting. Regardless, we're about to end this year I will realistically say it will not be my 2011 New Year's resolution to post daily to this blog. It is my hope by saying that I will do the opposite :) I think if I schedule it I could post once a week.

Now is a time to recap the year just to make up for not doing this entire year. We're all doing well health-wise... sure some of us could lose a few pounds, but overall we're good. The mission we have been pastoring in Playas de Tijuana is going very well. As many of us know, a church has a revolving door. Lots of people can easily come in just as easily as they can go out. I want to say that we have a very strong group of members. Very dedicated people who really have the desire to see the church grow. That's always a plus! But there are some who find the task to be extremely daunting. To sum it up... it is a lot of work. Many times we all spread ourselves thin working in different ministries. Using myself as an example, I am needed to work with the music (singing, selecting songs, setting up practices), cook, teach, counsel, cleanup and misc. office duties. Most importantly be there when the Pastor needs me (my hubby). But I know in the end its for the greater good.

The kiddo is doing very well in school. I'm grateful for his wonderful teacher who has so much patience. I'm proud of his accomplishments and I'm also proud to know he's got some wonderful singing and musical talent. You should hear him play Jolly Old Saint Nicholas on a recorder ;).

As far as immigration goes...our attorney has filed an Advisory Opinion on behalf of Eduardo. We received a draft and it was very well written and of course we're optimistic. We don't expect a response for at least a year but once we do I will inform everyone.

We're also moving to a smaller apartment this year. We made the deposit and we're schedule to move in January 1st. Hopefully we're not too exhausted after the New Year's festivities!

And now we're back in Mexico...

Mentally I tried to prepare myself and Aaron for our inevitable return back home. Spending two weeks with my family is always a lot of fun and sometimes boring. I debated whether or not to write that last part because I know my mom will eventually read it. Hey she (and many others) complain that I never post here so might as well tell the truth. Ha! Ha! The day before I'm supposed to fly back, California and Baja California was hit with an earthquake. I've been through two earthquakes in my life... one in California (way back in the day) while visiting my grandma and one in Chicago. Yes in Chicago. According to my mom she thought our family friend and landlord Joel was doing some kind of construction project on the building. It was sometime in the '80's.

When I finally got a hold of the hubby he said he was driving to someone's house to pray for them. He assumed something was wrong with the car and when he pulled over it still continued to shake. He finally figures out that it was an earthquake when he saw people running out of their houses. Nice. There was another earthquake I think yesterday which I didn't even realize was happening. All I remembered was that I felt my vision was blurred and I thought my blood sugar was too high and that's why I was feeling faint. :)

So I knew there was going to be some setbacks for Aaron when we returned to Chicago. He was so happy to see my parents and sister (and vice versa... I'm just chop liver.) he assumed everything was going back to "normal". I kept reminding him that it was just a visit and we were going back home with Papi. So over the course of two weeks I overheard Aaron say/ask:

"Can I stay with you forever Grandpa?" - Grandpa "Sure!"
"I need two hashbrowns Grandma!" - Grandma "Ok!"
"I'm going to snuggle with Grandma and Grandpa forever!" - Grandma and Grandpa are beaming at point.
"I'm not going home with Papi! I'm staying with Grandma for 100 minutes!"
Me: "Don't you want to go back home with Papi?"
A: "No he can stay with Lulu (the cat) and I'll stay with Grandpa!!"
"Did you bring me McDonald's/Wendy's/Burger King/Pizza Grandma?"
"GRANDMA ... Mommy won't (fill in the blank with any sort of discipline)" ... Grandma "Bridget just let him... "

The boy is spoiled...which is fine, but oh my gosh he's mood swings since we've been back are just terrible. He had a rough week at school and thankfully he's got an understanding teacher and 1 on 1 aid. Since he's got back I noticed he was counting down the days... I assumed he was counting down the days until the weekend but no he was counting down the days "until we go to Grandma's house." I felt bad to tell him that we were not going to my mom's house because it too far and costs money. I did say that it was now my parents turn to come and visit us. He wasn't happy about that. I hope things look up next week.

Hello! Hello!

Wow its been a really long time since my last post and ironic that when I do find time to post is when I'm not in Mexico. So where to start!? I did the math and realized that I have been living in Mexico for about 6 months now. Mexico has so many perks and some irks.

Perk
First the area we live is very relaxing. I've always appreciated when you run into the neighbors everyone says "Good Morning, Good Afternoon and Good Evening". Its so polite and I still manage to get them mixed up.

Irk
Aaahhh don't even ask me about the whole peso / dollar. For some reason I just can't grasp money transactions ... "what how much is that? $249.00 mx? What is that in dollar? What's the value of the dollar?" Then sometimes I feel that I MUST be getting scammed... so usually when I get home I need the hubby to convince me that I wasn't. For example, Aaron and I need to take the bus home from school one day. So after flagging down the bus I asked him how much was the fare. He said something around 32.00 mx (pesos) and I'm not quick with the value of the dollar because it literally changes everyday. So the driver says "$1.10 dlls" and I give it to him and feel like I was just taken for my money. Only to come home and Eduardo says "no he was right" and then works out the math for me.

Irk
You really can get scammed at the gas station ... Eduardo always says "make sure the pump starts at zero". At first I was doubtful of this advice until one day the gas attendant woman insisted that the gas pump filled my tank with 50.00 pesos. And we had a good long drawn out argument about what I saw and what she was saying. So I gave her my most menacing glance and said that I know how much gas I had in my tank and how much $200.00 pesos would get me and she better start that pump at zero. So guess who won that ... yep you better believe it was me.

Perk
The food, wow there's so many good, flavorful, cheap food.

Enough with all that since my list will get very long.... Its been 3 months since Aaron arrived with us. At first the change didn't seem to affect him at all. But after about 2 months he started to feel it. He behaving poorly in school and was missing my parents terribly. But after a while he seems to mellow out and was back to normal (after two weeks of meltdown). His school is wonderful. It was through his new school that I find out that he's really struggling with his reading and he's barely getting through 2nd grade. Honestly I felt deceived / disappointed by his last school in Chicago. It seems as though Aaron was just pushed along even though he had teachers who really wanted to help him. I was told he was struggling but not as bad as I was just told with his new school. I never knew its severity! So then my biggest fear was that he was going to be retained because he's just not up to grade level but thank God he's not going to be.

I feel for my husband because he's barely understanding Aaron's autism and he's needs. All in all we're really happy to be together. We've gotten our routine for crossing the border Monday through Friday. There's so much more to tell but I'm already afraid this post is getting too long as it is :)