I'm a Madrina

About a month ago I was asked to be Nayeli's madrina. Nayeli is a little girl in my church and a madrina is basically a person the family chooses that they want to be involved in whatever ocassion it is. In this case it was a graduation and I was to bring a gift. (In weddings, quinceaneras, Catholic baby baptisms, etc the "madrina" is basically the person that is going to be paying for a large chunk of the celebration).

The day of her graduation from kindergarten, Nayeli came over early in the morning and I fixed her hair.

After I finished getting her all fixed up, her parents came over and picked us all up to go to the school. 

Nayeli and her parents rode up in the cab of the truck so Nayeli's hair and dress wouldn't get messed up and Alejandra and I rode in the back. 

When you drive into the area where this family lives, there is a huge canyon. It is scary to walk on this road and a bit scarier crossing the canyon riding in the back of a truck! It'd be a pretty long tumble to the bottom! 

We finally arrived at the school, found our seats (after much shoving, pushing, and squeezing thru the crowd!) and the ceremony began! As every school function I've been to in Mexico, this one started with the kids marching around with the flag then the national anthem. 

If I wanted to see the kids, I had to stand, otherwise, this was my view...

Here is a close up of the graduation-themed balloon of the person in front of me. The top text bubble says, "Little Virgin, [speaking of the virgin Mary] I know you do miracles, but with this one, you outdid yourself!" This struck me as funny - in a creepy sort of way...
False doctrine and mistaken beliefs everywhere you look, even on a child's party balloon. 

The little kids doing a traditional Mexican dance. 

If you look in the pictures above, Nayeli had been wearing a long-sleeved shirt under her dress. When she got to school however, her teacher took it off of her! We didn't realize this until after the ceremony had begun...if that was my child, I would've been fuuuurious! 

After the ceremony - she is holding the flowers and gift I got her. 

Nayeli and her teacher, Maestra Mirian

Buying snacks after the ceremony

After the graduation, we went to the family's house. This is where Sis. Adriana makes her tortillas. 

Baby Ximena

A fly-catcher in the kitchen...lol! 

When we arrived at the house we got busy making the salsas for lunch. It has always been a joke between us and this family about making salsa in the molcajete because it is SO difficult! A molcajete is a stone mortar and pestle. You smash the chilies, tomatoes, garlic, etc and grind them until you have a smooth salsa. It is hard work but these people do it everyday. They get a kick out of watching us work with the molcajete...probably because we are just wimpy white girls compared to them and have no clue what we are doing - haha! 

I worked on it for a while...till I got a cramp in my hand. I'm telling you...it's rough! I can't say it enough - lol! 

As the saying says, "No pain, no gain." We pushed through the pain and came up with some extremely delicious green salsa! Never have I felt more accomplished when it was finally time to eat. If anyone reading this thinks I'm exaggerating...go buy yourself a molcajete and try making salsa in it :)  It is an experience! 

The girls in front of the house. The open area to left is where they wash and hang out their clothes to dry. 

While waiting for the main dish of roasted chicken to arrive, we sat around the table with the girls and worked on some puzzles. 

I found this collage of pictures hanging in the living room. It was touching to see because the majority of the pictures  are ones we have given them over the years and are of their kids being dedicated to the Lord, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, being baptized, and other special occasions. We've been pastoring this church for almost 7 years and this family came in right at the beginning. Seeing these pictures made me think, "We've been through a lot together" and also...do these people know how truly blessed they are? Not because we are in their lives, but because they have known Truth. There are over 3 million souls in this city alone that are not so blessed. The people of our urch-chay ead-ray this blog so without getting into too much detail - this family needs your prayers! 

Future tacos and carnitas 

What a beautiful picture! Behind the girls is the steep canyon I mentioned earlier in this post. 

The pet turtle

Hmm...this turtle brings back some fond memories! :)

Lunchtime! Nicole's a-bit-too-excited smile. 

This darling little puppy came trotting in after lunch. Nicole picked it up and this was her reaction to the smell of sour milk coming off of it. 

Daniela was trying to show us how aggressive her little puppy could be - by stepping on him! (I say from experience that little children from this here country that I am currently in can be veryyy cruel! 

The puppy hiding under the couch with his bone - away from mean little kids. 

Nayeli dancing the confetti out of her hair

Ximena tripped and fell and as soon as she did, her 11-year old sister just looked at her and said, "Don't whine!!" I was cracking up because sure enough, not one little whimper escaped. These kids are TOUGH! 

After lunch we went outside and played with the kids...spinning, twirling, and lots of giggles from the girls! 

Dizzy! 

Oooh la la! I hear wedding bells....! 

Our never-changing, always dork-O Javiiiii

Not brave enough to experience the outhouse (as much as it'd be a great experience haha!) we decided it was time to head home. Daniela insisted upon riding in the back of the truck. 

Javier drove us home and we were lucky enough to score a seat in the cab. Woo hoo! :)

~Bethany~