Happy Independence Day Mexico!

September 15 was a big day here in Monterrey! The 16th is the Mexico Independence Day like our July 4th. It is tradicion that the night before on the 15th at 11:00pm, the governor comes out and addresses the people and everyone yells "Viva Mexico"and it's a big celebration.
We had a fun event for our children at Casa Hogar Douglas. We had dinner, games, and a 'Grito'. It was so fun to see all the kids dressed in costumes.
Everything was decorated!


Pastor Javier was our "president/governor"








I painted faces!

This is the soccer court which became the goat chasing event!


That night, we went downtown for the real event! It was amazing. People were everywhere and vendors were everywhere and there was music. Then they sung the national anthem, and then we yelled "Viva Mexico"! After that were amazing fireworks.






The next day, we reenacted the event with our classes!!

Praise the Lord I have my car back! Thanks to all of you who were praying. I went to McAllen Sunday, by bus, with a friend and picked up my car. I had no problems at the border since I had done what they asked and waited a while to return. So I have my Visa for 6 months and in March I have to go back and renew again!

First Day of School!!

The Charreada

The other day I got to go to a unique Mexico event - a charreada and exibicion, which is a horse show with events like 4-H...It was a hot day but we found some shade!
This was the opening of the event...

A beautiful view...

Jessica, Hope, and I in our cowboy clothes



The mariachi's were there playing throughout

Next door they were showing horses.

"...you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance..". - James 1:3
It's been a long day! Living in a foreign country has struggles of its own. When you have a car in Mexico you need to renew the car papers and your personal Visa every 6 months. Yesterday some of us girls drove to McAllen, Texas, a 3 hour drive, with the purpose to do this and get a few necessities. So we cancelled the papers yesterday and today came back across to the Mexico side to get new ones, only they wouldn't do it for me. The man looked through my passport and saw all my coming and going into Mexico and saw that I cancelled the day before. He told me he couldn't give me another one and that the law says you have to wait 72 hours to get a new one. He wouldn't budge. I have never had this happen in the past. So I decided to try the other bridge. We had many people praying and I felt peace. I walked in and the man looked at my passport and saw my last cancellation and said he wouldn't do it. I had to wait 72 hours. How frustrating! I don't have that many days to stay in Texas. School starts Monday and I need to prepare. Thank the Lord for my friends, the Couch's. They were in McAllen getting ready to come back also from their vacation and they said they would drive me and I could leave my car in McAllen. So I turned back around after crossing the bridge 3 times that day and headed back to the US. To top it off, the guys on the US side were going through my car and even pulled off the airbag cover...?? It's not a fun experience and you feel totally out of control and defenseless. I am back in Monterrey but my car is not. I will have to take the bus later to get it. I was only able to come because I had a Visa from flying back. It's complicated...