Fun times with old friends...

Derrick and I did his Bible school internship here for 4 months in the year 2000. We made a lot of friends and that was really what helped us in moving here again permanently. Two people that we were friends with were Celso and Cristina. Celso was the youth pastor at the church that we attended. Cristina was a friend, and a tri-lingual friend at that...she speaks Spanish, English and French. She was such an asset in helping me with my Spanish. At this point Celso & Cristina weren't dating, and they weren't even thinking of dating each other. Some time after we left they fell in love, got married, and moved to the country, where they have been up until recently.

They recently moved close to the Bible school. Celso is a teacher for the government and it is a much closer commute. They visited the Bible school the other day and it was like 8 years had never passed between our friendship. They invited us to go today to their daughter's birthday party. It was at Cristina's parents place out in the country. It was beautiful and another true Mexican experience. It was also so wonderful to spend time with my dear friend and her amazing family.

Their home is on some property that has been in their family for over 50 years. Not only is it home for them but they also raise cows, chickens and they grow corn. They truly live off of their cows and the land. Imagine this, we had steak for lunch :-). OK, I'm getting ahead of myself. Let me tell the story with the pictures.





This is the house that Cristina's dad grew up in. It is a one room house. Cristina's grandparents raised 14 kids in this house. You know not all at once, but nonetheless, imagine trying to be just a couple in that house.





Here's the inside. They now use it to house the food for the cows. The house is made of adobe bricks. It keeps the house cool in the hot season and warm during the cooler season.





This is a view of their property.






This is Cristina getting some guayabas, which she made me eat, skin and all. They're not too bad. A little sour. My kids didn't like them but the Mexican kids ate them like candy.




This is Cristina's mom cooking some chorizo. I didn't get a picture of it, but before she cooked this she had the steak, whole onions & whole peppers all cooking together in the pan. When she served it on tortillas it was the steak mixed with the chorizo with beans and salsa.




This is our daughter after she fell into a SERIOUS mud puddle. Being the good Mommy that I am, I grabbed my camera to get a few shots before I stripped her down and threw her in the shower.




The birthday girl, Johana, biting the cake!



Cristina and I.



Celso and Derrick!



Cristina's parents gave us some fresh cow's milk. I have never, ever, in my life, EVER had fresh cow's milk, let alone have to prepare it. I was told to boil it for about 30 minutes. Something else that I also noticed in this picture. I have my eggs on the counter. Many people do not refrigerate their eggs. If they are sold in the refrigerated section, then we have to refrigerate them when we get home. But if they are in the fresh section, we don't.

We had a wonderful day! I know that this blog will have many more posts about our adventures with Celso, Cristina, and their daughters, Fara & Johana.