Our Home Away From Home (Part 2)

Once we left the hotel zone, we headed straight for our friends' house, where we spent the remainder of our trip.  Scratch that.  We stopped by the doctor first.  You might be a missionary if you go to the doctor while on vacation.  It is significantly less expensive to visit the doctor in Mexico and I had some necessary business to go over with him.  While I fumbled through medical talk in Spanish, Jonathan took Kyle over to another McDonalds to play with some pretty little girls.

Even in Mexico he can't escape the ladies!  All the kids we encountered were fascinated with his blonde hair, blue eyes and white skin.  One of the nursery workers told me after the service on Sunday that all the children where asking why Kyle's skin was white.  They probably thought he had some serious disease which vastly altered his skin pigment.  I think the phrase we heard the most during our week there was, "que hermoso!" in response to our sweet baby Kyle. Yeah, we think so, too.

Anyways, so when we were through with the doctor, we went to our home away from home.  We stayed with precious friends who live on the outskirts of town.  They have a beautiful house.  Before we left in 2010, they would always emphasize that if we ever wanted to come back, "aqui tienen su casa."  It really felt that way.  It was as if we were completely at home in their house; they were such welcoming and accommodating hosts.  The dad is a facial surgeon; he was the one who took Jonathan's wisdom teeth out for free right before we moved away.  He speaks some English and their daughter is fluent in English.  It helped having a way to translate things that are still difficult for me to say in Spanish.  The Mama is like a mom to me, although she is much too young.  She really took me under her wing while I was there and helped me get settled into Mexican life - Mexican cooking especially.  They also have a son who we didn't see much 'cause he stays busy with futbol, naturally.  We enjoyed many hours of chatting back and forth mostly in Spanish with the occasional Spanglish phrase here and there.  They are devoted followers of Christ and we had many encouraging conversations discussing the need for discipleship within missions and the church in general.  I ache when I think that we won't be able to see them again for at least another few years.  We are so thankful for their prayers and support and the friendship we share.  Of course they had never met Kyle and it seemed that they enjoyed having a baby around for a week.  He took right to their pool and their dogs and eagerly asked to visit both often! 

Look, Mom, no hands!

The water wings get me every time.  I could just eat this child up!!!

We planned our trip around a few things.  Futbol, Victoria and church.  Futbol games are on Thursday evenings, so we made sure to be in real Mexico by then.  As we headed to the (unusually late) game clear on the other side of town, we stopped by our very favorite empanada stand near the field, Blanca Flor: Absolutely the best smoothies and empanadas on the planet.  I'm still in love with my peach and banana licuado.  Although, I forgot to ask for it "bien molida" like I used to and it came a little chunkier than I like it.  Oh well, it was still delicious!!

Kyle seemed pretty pleased, too.

Maybe if I just play in the middle, they won't notice me.

Once we got him off the field, he ran the whole rest of the game.  Back and forth, back and forth over the bleachers.  Pastor Martin was laughing the whole time at how busy he was.  So much for watching the game.  We did realize something as Jonathan played with Kyle and the other kids at the park.  When you throw a ball at an American kid, he will pick it up and throw it back.  When you throw a ball at a Mexican kid, he will kick it back.  I guess that is why we play football here and they play futbol there.

We mostly hung out on Friday.  I got my hair cut with my all-time favorite hair cutter.  We tried to do some shopping but were pressed for time.  We had lunch with precious friends from the church.  Delicious tacitos, rice and quesadillas.  I wish I had some more right now.  With a great big cold Fresca.

The weekend was hot and busy and I'll write more about that later.  To be continued....

~Abby