Thanks GIVING

One of my favorite American traditions is Thanksgiving. This was my 12th Thanksgiving since I moved to the US and it was the first one as a family of three. Belinda and I have no idea how to cook a Turkey, yams, pumpkin pie or any of the other delicious and traditional American Thanksgiving dishes. But we are experts at eating and enjoying them in the company of good friends (thanks to the Spains for adopting us again this year into their family Thanksgiving).


As the day went through I kept thinking how grateful I am for all the blessings in my life. It is so easy to get distracted from the essential and complain about the superficial. The last time we were at the hospital was for the most joyous reason: to welcome Lucia to this world. That was the only time we have been at the hospital in the US. The last time I was at the hospital for a family issue was in 2000 when my mom had two strokes and today she is still with us more alive than ever and enjoying her granddaughter.

I have a job. One in ten Americans don't have one. One in four Southafricans don't have one either. We have a warm and dry place where to spend the night. We have never worried about having enough money to buy food. We buy new clothes. We have a car and money to buy gas. We can visit family when we can take time off work. So many things we take for granted. So many things we truly believe we are entitled to. But in reality we don't deserve any of it. They are all blessings and I am thankful for each one of them.

Last week Belinda chatted with someone (who will remain anonymous) who was going to spend Thanksgiving alone. When asked why he wasn't visiting family he said he just didn't have enough money to buy a bus ticket to go. This person had not seen his family in 6 years. They live 8 hours away by bus but he has struggled for a while and without a job or money couldn't afford the luxury of visiting his loved ones. We couldn't see our families this Thanksgiving either but that's because they live in a different country and we couldn't take the time off work to travel. We decided to thank our Lord for being so good to us and share with this person by buying him a bus ticket to see his family.

We have done these type of things in the past, usually from Belinda's initiative. We never share this with anyone because we don't need the recognition and because it is not the 'proper thing to do'. Well, this time is different. While we certainly don't need the recognition, this world needs more people like Belinda. I am sure we are not alone and that most of you out there in cyberspace reading this blog have done similar things for people in need and I want to thank you too. I am tired of hearing sad news every day and I would love to hear more of these type of stories so  even if it's not considered polite to talk about the good things we do I will continue doing this every chance I have. Maybe it will help brighten your day a little bit as it sure does brighten mine.

I am thankful for every material thing we have but I am even more thankful for having a wife that keeps my feet down to the ground and reminds me how blessed we are and how we can share the little we have with other people.

I really hope we are good parents to Lucia and that she grows to have the same amazing and giving heart that her mom has.

Fall...ing in love

Ok, if you have endured reading some of my previous posts you pretty much know I will eventually state how much I love my daughter. Well, this will not be an exception.
I love my daughter. Lucia has exceeded all our expectations on how much love we can have for anyone. And to think that our Heavenly Father loves us even more than that is just mind-boggling.

Anyway, we are having the time of our lives with Lucia. She's changing so much so fast that sometimes we would like to press the pause button just so we get to enjoy every little moment with her. For example, Belinda and I have been waiting for Lucia to turn on her own. Last week she finally did it. And I missed it! Belinda left Lucia laying on her back on her playing mat right next to me. I happened to be checking my email. Two minutes later Belinda walks into the room and asks me "why did you put her on her belly?" After seeing my clueless face we both realized Lucia had just turned on her own for the first time and no one saw it. Of course she's turning on her own all the time now and she just started showing some interest in crawling so we will be watching for that next big step in her life.

My parents are visiting us for a couple of weeks and needless to say they are in 7th heaven with their little granddaughter. She's so much more alert and socially active than the last time they saw her (2 months ago) that they are now able to enjoy her even more. Lucia loves her grandpa. We don't know why but every time he walks into the room her eyes light up and she gives a huge smile.

My mom plays the piano with her every morning and Lucia loves it. There is something about music and sounds that has always been interesting to her. If she's getting fuzzy I usually take out my guitar and start playing for her and she usually calms down and just watches me play for a while. I really hope she shows interest in music when she's older. If she enjoys it half as much as I do, she will have a blast.

The infamous earrings. So, as some of you know or may have noticed we had Lucia's ears pierced while we were in Mexico this summer. Pierced ears in baby girls are a common practice in Mexico. In fact, it is usually an item on the hospital checklist if you want her ears pierced before you all leave the hospital to go home.  Anyway, we came back from Mexico and for the first 2 months she wore her earrings without a glitch. Until last week. Belinda was feeding her and we thing one of her earrings got caught in the blanket and when Belinda pulled her up, the earring made her ear bleed a tiny bit. Of course we were so upset and felt so guilty that we even considered just taking the earrings out permanently. If my parents hadn't been here with us we would have probably done just that. However, my parents helped calm us down and we put a new pair on that should have fewer chances of getting caught on anything. We'll see how it goes but for now my baby is still wearing the distinct Mexican heritage of earrings. And I must admit that I love how she looks with them.

It is November 6th and the sun is shining in Portland, which means I should get in the shower and get out of the house quickly to enjoy the dry weather treat. We'll probably take my parents out for a drive at the Columbia Gorge to enjoy the fall leaves scenery.

Oh, and by the way, the picture above with the green stuff on Lucia's face was her first experience eating avocado. Certainly not a good one. Maybe next time we'll make the avocado into guacamole and see how that goes!