Favorite Day

Well I must say, yesterday was my most favorite day of all! :) Not much happened in the morning but in the afternoon Dr. Quintana went to pick up his son Emilio and brought him to the hospital. Mandy and I were so excited because, Emilio was born the last time we were in Mexico. We have pictures of him as a little baby, but no he is 1 and 1/2 and as cute as he can be! At first he was so shy and just wanted his "papa" but then after just a little while he opened up and was so smiley and a lot of fun! Dr. Quintana took all of us bowling. Now you have to understand this, I was picturing this little tiny run down bowling alley and we would be like the only ones there.....well, I was wrong! It was the biggest bowling ally I have ever seen and it was smoke free and it was clean and tons of people there! We played 2 games and it was a lot of fun. I had a lot of fun though watching Mandy and Tom do crazy bowl. They were coming up with weird ways to throw the ball, which usually resulted in a gutter ball with Mandy but it was fun for her and fun for me to see! ;) While we were bowling Dr. Quintana went to pick up his two older sons from daycare and then brought them to the bowling ally. His sons are so cute! He told us that they don't speak english, but he was wrong. Alejandro is 10 years old and spoke such good english to me! After bowling they wanted to show us around the mall we were at. This place was amazing! They had tons of stores to shop in, but the best was the miniture disneyland they had called Funny World. :) There were go karts, bumper cars, roller coasters, the swings like at 6 flags, tea cups...just everything! It was SO much fun! We didn't have tons of money so we only went on 2 rides! The first roller coaster was pretty easy, but I still screamed a lot. I was so afraid that Evan (pronounced Eban) would be scared on the ride, he is only 7, but he loved it. So after the small one, we all went on the big roller coaster, the one that went upside down. IT WAS GREAT! I was really scared, mainly because the roller coaster was so old that it made a lot of noises and the things that go over you that keep you in weren't tight at all so I felt like I would fall out, but it was so much fun! After our rides Mandy and I got toasty locos....RICO!!! They were good, BUT oh my...it was awful. The man asked me if I wanted something..I can't remember the spanish word for it, but it looked like pickeled onions. (If there is such a thing) So I just went ahead and said yes. David said it was some sort of vegetable. So I didn't mind, I said as long as it isn't squid. So I got it and David tried one and said it was rubbery but he didn't know what it was. So I ate on and chewed on it awhile and wondered what it was. So we met up with Mandy and the rest of the group and I told Mandy that I had some rubbery vegetable on mine and Dr. Quintana said, NO, that is not a vegetable. Of course I freaked right away and asked what it was, he couldn't come up with the word, so this Mexican boy standing by us must have been listening because he leaned in to me and said it was PIG SKIN!!!! YUCK!!!!! Oh my...I ran to the trash can, spit out the thing and the tried scooping out all the pig skin. I had at leat a pound of it in my toasty locos. So I am guessing it is just like pork rinds, but not fried, just pickeled pig skins. :( It was not good! Imagine chewing on pig skin! :(

On our way back to the hospital we had to stop at CaliMax to get some things to make tacos. It was already so late, but we were all looking forward to tacos and burritos for dinner! ;) I had so much fun at the store though with Evan and Alejandro! Alejandro was practicing his english so everything he went by he was telling me what it was in English. He thought I didnt know what it was because it was written in spanish. Maybe he thinks they look different in the US. IT was so cute though. He would go down the aisle and say, "This is cat food, this is dog food, this is to fix your car, this is pickle (pointing to a cucumber), this is onion." You get the picture, it was just really cute! Can you tell I had a really good time with them. I was sad when they had to leave. They did stay for dinner and left at 9:30 pm. Can you believe that, a doctor who works at the hospital stayed with us till that late at night, normally he gets off at 4:00 pm. The doctors are so nice down here, just like family. I am trying to convince Dr. Quintana to have me as his kids nanny! :) I would love to move down here and watch his kids. He came today and said that his boys wanted to come back today, so maybe tomorrow he said! I hope!

You will all be happy to know that I took out my braids this morning, no more pelo fea! I was so sick of it. I'm back to normal now. Sorry for updating so late. I was planning on doing it this morning, but today has been a busy day. Mandy, Tom and I just got back from walking to Revolucionary Blvd. It is such a hard walk. It's maybe 2 miles there, but a HUGE hill. I still need to get a picture of it, maybe I will and then upload it, but it's awful. I did find a blanket down there though for pretty cheap, so I didn't go for no reason. The people down there were pretty bold today though. The things they say are pretty weird. One guy said today to me, "Come here blue eyed girl" There aren't many people down here with our color eyes I think, so they usually are making comments. I'm trying hard to blend in though, Dr. Munoz said today that I am ALMOST a mexicana! (Okay, this picture does the hill NO JUSTICE! It's way steep and long)

Tomorrow David Ingrassano should be coming down and I HOPEFULLY will be able to see the movie he has been doing. He said if he is in a good mood, so I'm hoping he will be. Also tomorrow Teresa and Valeria will be leaving. It will be sad saying goodbye. Valeria is so cute and I really enjoy being around her. :) She took our her braids today too, I'll post a picture! ;)

Well, I guess that is pretty much everything. Unfortunately I will be home in 2 days, so I wont be updating this much anymore! You guys probably dont mind though! :P

Too late...

I wanted to blog tonight about this WONDERFUL day but it's late and I really want to be able to concentrate on it, so I'll wait till tomorrow morning. :) This evening though was spent with Dr. Quintana and his little boys. I had the best time! Well, more about that tomorrow! ;)

Goodnight!

Rosarito

Well, I didn't think I would be able to blog tonight because we were SUPPOSED to stay up late and play Dutch Blitz, but Mandy ended up going to bed early, and David is asleep now so I'm just sitting in here trying to think what to write. :)

Today was a good day. Praise the Lord for good results from David's blood work. His tumor marker counts started at 157 and then last week they dropped to 25, well 0-5 is normal, and then today David found out his counts were 10!!!!!! YAY! We were SO happy to find this out. Glory be to God!

After lunch we all packed up and left for Rosarito. We were hoping to see our friends, Beto and Juan again, but once again they bailed on us and we weren't able to see them. We give up now. :) We had fun anyway though. First getting there, we went to the "playa" (beach) It was VERY warm today, upper 80's so the beach was very nice. We actually stood on the bridge too, so we had the pleasure of being at the beach, without the mess of the sand. ;)

After seeing the beach, Valeria and I got our hair done. I'm still in shock from looking the way I do, but it was fun, sort of..., to get it done. I had asked for it a certain way, and the lady said she understood, but after half of my hair was in braids I realized it was NOT how I wanted it..not at all, so we took them all our and started over. :D So it's still not how i asked, but that's okay...it's done. I look VERY young...I gotta get these things out soon! ;)

After getting the braids done, we did some Mexican shopping! I had fun bartering with them and helping Mandy find a purse...I found one I liked, but I couldn't get them to go down to 30. They kept saying 40. :( That's okay though, I like my purse I have. I did get some souveniers for the two Mexican restaurant workers in Troy but that was all.


When we were finished shopping we went to dinner at the fanciest place! I would never have thought I was in Mexico. Inside it looked like we were in a tropical rain forest. It was a candle light dinner and there was mariachi guys playing. It was very neat...we all loved our dinner and we had a great time...then our taxi ride back was something else, but you can ask Mandy about that! ;)

Easter

Well, I was planning on posting about our Easter and everything that has happened today, but I really have so much more on my mind right now. Should I deviate from my original idea of a post or share what is on my mind?

It's hard for me right now. I like it here in Mexico, I like being around David and Teresa and everyone else, but tonight especially it is hard. I think I figured out what it is though. It's not that I never want David to get married again or that I feel like some woman would be trying to take my Mom's place...it is more than that. I am So afraid that David might say one day that he knows why my Mom had to die. ;( I don't want his reason to be what I think it could be. I could easily see him saying, "Danielle, I know why your Mom had to die, if she wouldn't I would have never met Teresa." I don't want that to be said to me. I really like Teresa, a whole lot, but I don't want her to be the reason my Mom had to die, so David could meet her. David has never said this to me, so as it is right now, this is all in my head, but I am afraid that David COULD think this. Please do not get me wrong though, I really enjoy being around Teresa and Valeria, very much so. I think she could be a good wife for David, I just don't want David to forget my Mom or to stop loving her. Someone can so easily be forgotten, but I don't want my Mom to be like that. ;(

Okay, I'm sorry I went ahead and just posted that, but as for our day...it went very well. We had a wonderful Easter. Frank met us at the border after we walked across this morning and then he drove us up to his house in Chino. Valeria and I swam a little bit, it was So hot out, and then after swimming lots of friends showed up and it seems like all we did was eat! :) Patti prepared a wonderful meal and we enjoyed the fellowship with everyone. I got teased to no end by one of the guys there...I would tell you what it was about, but....nah, I wont! ;)

Then after eating and celebrating Valeria's birthday we packed up and drove home. It's about a 2 hour drive to the border from his house. So it was dark by the time we got to Mexico. Walking across was no big deal at all. I think they let anyone in their country. I didn't have to show paperwork or anything and then I brought avacados back with me and they didn't say a single thing to me, there were no guards, policemen or anything. :D BUT, once we got across the border we had to get a taxi to take us back to the clinic.....that's when it got bad. There were TONS of taxis there waiting for people, but since it was late, not many people who needed taxis were there. So they were all just sitting out watching us choose a taxi. THEN, David walked across this sewer thing and rats started running out from it, Mandy and I screamed! I was So terrified, as Teresa, Valeria, and Tom crossed more rats ran out from it and I screamed more and Mandy was crying. We were both really scared. Of course, all the taxi drivers were laughing hysterically and yelling things at us. I found out later they weren't being mean, just laughing at us. (which is mean I guess) Finally, Mandy and I had to cross and it looked like the rats were all gone, so I held on to her hand, and both of us being in dresses, leaped over the sewer and ran to the taxi to be safe. WE MADE IT!!!!! After a quick taxi ride with 7 of us packed into a small taxi we were back home! :) Now it's time for bed...well soon anyway! :)

So Far....

Well, I was hoping to update each night but so far that hasn't been happening. We have been so busy and by 8:00 at night I am exhausted and am not able to keep my eyes open. I guess I just haven't gotten used to the time change yet. It's 3 hours diference here since Mexico didn't do their daylight savings time thing yet.

Yesterday was a GREAT day though! Teresa and her daughter Valeria came from Monterrey to visit David. Teresa and David are friends but this was their first time meeting. She is VERY nice, I have really enjoyed getting to know her and her daughter. She speaks english pretty well but her daughter doesn't know any. They got here yesterday right before our "Fiesta" for Dr. Munoz. We had a great time. Teresa brought cabrittos (which I thought was baby goat, but it ends up it's just sheep) So, we had cabrittos, frijoles, rice, tortillas, and lots of cake!!! :) There were THREE cakes. :) One was a sugar free cheesecake for Tom and David and then one carrot cake, which is traditional in Mexico and a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting which was obviously my favorite!!!! ;)

Last night we went down to Revolutionary Blvd. to shop a little bit and just to get out. It was a lot of fun. I love shopping down here though, all though everyone is shouting things at you, it's neat! :) They are usually very nice to us because we are American I guess. After shopping though we had to walk up this HUGE hill. I hadn't walked up it yet, so I was thinking I would just run the whole thing. Of course, everyone thought I was crazy, and I realized after being a little more than half way up, I WAS crazy.....what was I thinking, there was NO WAY I could run that thing. It is the steepest hill I have ever walked I think. Even walking it I was so out of breath, it's crazy. I will get a picture of it soon, so you all can see! ;)
(An orange that Teresa brought from her house...compared to a normal size grapefruit...Huge huh?)

Today we went to Calimax, a grocery store in town to get some stuff to make chilequenos...something like that! :) Sounds like nachos to me, but they say it is NOT nachos! :) We are all excited to try it though I think. But, the most interesting or weird thing so far has been our lunch today. I said over and over I would NOT eat it, but after Dr. Quintana rolled it up in a tortilla for me and held it out for me to take a bite...I did. :( But to my surprise it was good! :) Can you guess what I ate??? Tacos de Lengua!!!! A taco with cow tounge in it!!!!!! And it was GOOD! :D I ended up having 2 tacos! :) Some of the pieces of meat had the taste buds on it still, but Dr. Quintana cut up some of his meat for me and he said he was giving me the "carne" the meat, not the skin or taste buds.... :S It really just tasted like a beef roast.
Well, that is all for my adventures now. Tomorrow is Easter and David's brother Frank is picking us up at the border to spend the day with his family. They live in Chino so I am pretty excited to see all of them again and to spend the time with them! :) We are all going...David, Teresa, Mandy, Valeria, Tom and me. It should be fun! I wont be blogging tomorrow night though, well most likely not.

I hope you all have a Wonderful Resurrection Sunday!

MEXICO

I never would have imagined I would be sitting where I am writing on this blog again. And actually for a reason, not for vacation or to just come and visit. But I am, and even though it is not the best circumstances we are making the most out of this trip. Mandy and I arrived in Mexico by 10:00 am yesterday, but felt like we had been traveling all day. I went to bed at 2:00 the previous night and then was up at 3:00 to get ready to go to the airport. By 6:00 our flight was leaving and headed to Denver. The planes that Mandy and I were on, were so crowded and the rows were very close to eachother so it was one of the most uncomfortable flights we had ever had. I've never been sick on a plane either, but I was sure I would get sick....Thanks to God, I didn't! :)

But we are here now and it is great!! David is feeling good and his counts are down which is SOOO good!! Since we were so tired yesterday Mandy and I weren't up for much, but we did go to the shopping mall and played cards in the evening. Tom taught us some differen't games which was fun!Seeing everyone has to be the best part though! The doctors are the same (Dr. Quintana and Dr. Munoz) and the cook is the same (Angelica) and then our favorite nurse Esther! Everything is so much more relaxed here and they immediately told us to make ourselves at home. Everything here is like a huge resort! The rooms are gorgeous and the view is spectacular!!! I can see the whole city from our room. I can see San Diego, the border, the little carnival going on, just so much!!! Maybe tonight I will get picture so you can all see! :)I am hoping to blog each day, but really I am not staying online much. Well, not at all really too much going on here! ;) Look for updates though! ;)

Updates on Life...

Well, as I was getting ready today I was thinking about how much has been happening, or seems to be happening and I realized that when I blog on here, it's usually when I am upset and I forget to write about the good things that the Lord is doing in my life and also give you updates on things I have blogged about in the past.

So, here goes! First my update on David. He has been in Mexico for over a week now receiving treatments, the first days being down there he told me he loved it, but then after starting IPT, he got sick. For those of you who don't know, IPT (insulin potentiation therapy) is a method of giving chemotherapy. Click on the link to read more about it. It's supposed to be a safer way, and not supposed to make you sick or lose your hair, but with David's cancer, the chemo is more aggressive and in turn is making him sick. They have given him nausia shots for his stomach but then after too many days of feeling sick, they decided to change his chemo. So the update from him today was that he was feeling good! Praise the Lord! We are still praying for complete healing for David, and also for his friend down there Tom. I have never met Tom, but as odd as it sounds, he is actually from the same small town that I live in. What are the chances of that. He has the same type of cancer as David also and has been down there since January. He is a Christian, but please be praying for his healing also. Mandy and I will be flying down to San Diego on the 19th and will be down there for a little over a week. We are looking forward to it and hoping to encourage David and the other patients while we are there.

Update on Angie now. Her pregnancy is going well! She is past the part of being sick and not wanting to eat anything! :) She is starting to show a very tiny bit, but it's still not to the point you would ask when she is due! ;) We are all pretty confident we know what the baby will be, but I wont say yet. I'll wait until we know for sure, which will be later this month! :) We are all so excited to find out, even though, I feel confident I know! ;) This baby is VERY active! She said that while she was on her trip she could feel the baby kicking and moving around the whole time. But it knows when to sleep, because at night time it doesn't move! :) When she was telling us this last night, my Dad said, "Uh oh, that means this baby is going to be a rambunctious one" :D I can't wait to find out! Also Angie has already picked out names too, SO when I can announce the gender of the baby, I should be able to tell you a name also! :)

This whole week I am off work, which has actually been very nice. The family I work for was worried that it would be hard on me having a week off, but I really am thankful for it. I had been working a lot of hours and the weeks just felt so long. I really love the job and the family, but I need a break sometimes. Hanah and I have been working our way through the bible, and when I go back to work we will be starting to study Moses. We usually spend 2 days on a "character" but Moses is going to take a lot longer than 2 days! :) I'm excited to start the new activities with her and different crafts. Hanah has a great memory, so it's very encouraging to me to see how much she retains from our lessons and how she is eager to share the information with her family! :) Oh, and Thank you to all of you who were praying for me with the driving situation. The Lord has really delivered me from that fear. I'm still don't like to drive, but I am not AS afraid anymore. Each time we get into the vehicle, I pray and so far the Lord has kept us safe. I am REALLY thankful for that, because it was one of my biggest obstacles to get over.

The last few weeks have been really good for Mandy and I. It seemed like earlier in the year we had a lot of animosity between us, but thanks to God, he has taken that away and our relationship is a lot better now! :) Just the other day we were driving home and she started to crack all these funny jokes. She was trying to act like she was mad at me, but I would just laugh at everything she said, it was great! :D She's good for that, making people laugh! ;) Spending the time with Mandy the last few days though I can see that she hurts just like me. Since I am not around her much and don't talk about certain things with her, I didn't think she was hurting like me, but now I realize she is. We both miss our Mom, a lot. We both have tons of questions we would like to ask our Mom and have things we just want to tell her. We both want her to be here to hold us, to talk to us, to laugh with us, to cry with us...just to be here.

At church on Sunday, Mr. Hunt was talking about change, and although it's uncomfortable sometimes, he was talking about how it is God's will when it happens, and well...that just didn't sit well with me I guess. Mandy and I were both in tears as he used us as examples of people who go through change. I understand this was God's will, but I don't understand how it's good. That's the hard part. And there were men at church saying they were encouraged through David's testimony dealing with cancer. And when I heard that it kind of crushed me. I am not encouraged at all that David has cancer, and it's hard to hear people making his cancer a positive thing. ANYWAY...I was going to make this a happy post, so I'll stop talking! :)

Tagged!

I got tagged by Bethany

Here's the rules

1. Link to your tagger and post these rules on your blog.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random and some weird.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
4. Let them know the are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

Okay, 7 weird or random things about myself...

1. I am afraid of chickens (That's for you Bethany) ;)

2. I sometimes go by DZ, dont ask, there is NO Z in my name...weird

3. I LOVE grapes and grape soda, but can't stand grape juice!

4. I used to eat onion and mustard sandwiches. (sounds gross now, but it WAS good)

5. Would love to go to Italy one day.

6. When I was younger I had asthma very bad, and I can remember vividly being hooked up to IV's and in the ICU.

7. I love construction work!(I'd love to help build a house one day...wish my Dad was a carpenter)

Alright, I'm tagging

Amber

Melissa

Stephanie

Scottie

John-Clay

Mandy

Okay, I don't have that many friends. :)

"Let Go" Music Video

This is just a little video I threw together yesterday since I had the day off. We had some footage we shot awhile ago and well, it seemed to fit okay for this song. :)



For godtube: Click Here

Happy Birthday!

This post is a little late, since my wonderful friend's birthday was YESTERDAY, but I still wanted to do a post for her! I've only known Sage for, wow, not even a year yet, but she means more to me than most people do. The last year has been rough to say the least, but she has been there for me for everything. I joke with her a lot because I'm sure her life was a lot simpler before she knew me, but she still decides to be friends with me despite my crazy hectic life.

I wish SO much that Sage could have met my Mom, but more importantly that my Mom could have met her! My Mom would have loved her! They seem to be a lot alike and both of them are so wise. Sage has helped me so much with decisions that I've had to make and giving me advice on just different things in life. I am not sure what I would do without her!

Okay, and yea, Sage can be mean. I'm heard many times saying, "Sage, you are SOOO bad or SOOO mean!" But, deep down she can be sweet! ;) :D She just likes making fun of me and giving me a hard time (tugging on your hair) :P

I like to give her a hard time back though! I tell her frequently now that she is having senior moments and I even ventured out to get her a getting old birthday card this year! :D

Despite all the jokes and her "mean" advice sometimes, I love her dearly! :) She is kind, caring, thoughtful...VERY THOUGHTFUL, wise, funny and one of my most beautiful friends!!! Love you So much Sage!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!