It's starting to feel like home

I think I did jinx myself last time because my sister did not come and visit which was a bummer but its okay because since trying to plan that trip now we talk almost everyday and that's pretty awesome. After 2 months of living here, yesterday I finally got around to decorating my house and it's finally starting to feel like home. Its really hard hanging picture frames on concrete walls and it took me a few hours but I think it turned out pretty well. For Thanksgiving, my hubby had the day off and we decided to go to the zoo out here and it was a lot better than I expected. We had a lot of fun and bought Sofia a little giraffe that she calls Melman, like the one from Madagascar. And since Christmas is now in full swing I wanted to put up a tree but I would have to buy all of the ornaments and everything all over again which can get a bit pricey so we opted for a paper tree this year. Its a little bit taller than Sofia and she had the best time ever making it. We have been so blessed so far here and I am so grateful for that. Some more good news is that I just found a church that has service at 4 pm on Saturdays so now we can attend church since my hubby gets home from work around 1! The holidays are just around the corner and I'm so excited. I cant wait to see my daughter open all of her presents and just spend time together and have some yummy food. I can't help but feel happy and grateful. Smile because life is beautiful and I promise you there is always a reason to smile! :)

November update

It's November already! This year has flown by for me, and I am grateful for that because now I am with my family. Thank goodness my hubby found a job so quickly but they are really strict about being late, if your late only 2 times, you're fired! So on my hubby's first day he underestimated the border crossing times, even after I tried to convince him and was late. That was really scary because that's it, no more chances. After that he got so paranoid that now he leaves at 3:30 am to be to work by 5:30 am, then he takes a nap until he starts work at 7 am. On his way home is was taking like 5 minutes to cross back into Mexico and now it's taking almost an hour. My hubby works about 55-60 hours a week but if you add on how long it takes him to get to and from work its like 80+ a week! He gets home so tired that we just hurry and eat dinner, he showers and then straight to bed. I am so thankful that he works so hard for us and does it all with a smile on his face. If it were me I would come home with the biggest attitude, and he comes home and still asks me how was my day and plays with our daughter.

Because of my hubby's crazy work schedule we only have Sundays together but he spends most of the day sleeping, trying to prepare for the week ahead. I still haven't had a chance to really see Mexicali and what it has to offer. Although we did find this little hole in the wall that sells the best tacos ever, so score there! O, and my sister might come and visit me this weekend! She is still trying to figure a few things out but it looks like after 2 years I might be able to finally see her again! I hope by posting that I didn't just jinx myself, we shall see.

Since I am home alone with my daughter so much I started doing preschool with her. I have two books that is the curriculum for the whole year and she is loving it. I try and study the bible while she does her work. Between school time, cooking, cleaning, and washing clothes by hand my days go by really fast. I try and take my daughter to the park, hoping there will be other kids there she can play with but lately it's just all teenagers, no little kids. She now officially has imaginary friends. It started with an imaginary dog but now she has a whole little family going on. And you know immigration has been a big part of our lives when my daughter tells me, don't worry mom, all my friends have papers here in Mexico so they don't have to leave okay. It was cute and sad all at the same time.

All in all things are great! My family is together, and we're happy and healthy. I thank God my hubby has work and I am able to stay home with my daughter. Hopefully soon I will have a camera and can take pictures to post. Until then here's one from my iPad. Have a great day everyone, and don't forget to smile because life is amazing and God is good!

A sign from God

The entire reason we began looking into moving to Mexicali was because of an amazing family we met in Ciudad Juarez the day after I got my 10 year ban. We had breakfast together and they made Mexicali sound like a beautiful oasis in the middle of the desert. They gave us their phone number and lots of very helpful tips and we each went our way. I clearly remember going back into out hotel room and saying a prayer to thank God for giving us the answer to our problem so quickly and not letting us struggle for long, I mean he gave us the answer to our problems the next day! I tried to stay in touch but after playing phone tag I think we both just gave up and lost touch. Well on Sunday it had marked been exactly one week since my husband moved out here permanently. The original plan was that I would live here with my daughter and he would continue to work until the end of the year and with taxes he would move out here and that would give us a safe net. Well that plan started falling apart after my husband didn't get his highly anticipated promotion and with out that it wasn't really worth being apart anymore. My husband and I talked about it for almost 2 weeks until we made the decision that he would just move out here and we would just hope and pray he found a job really soon.

Now back to Sunday, we were so stressed out after filling out what felt like 100 applications and spending all week looking for jobs we had yet to hear back from anyone. We were even considering that my hubby move back to Salt Lake and ask for his job back until taxes and then try again. Later on that night we went to good old Wal-Mart to buy some groceries and just as we were about to leave there they were, the family that had started this all! We both kind of walked past each other I think in disbelief but we turned around and we hugged and said our hellos and I swear they greeted us like we were family or long lost friends and it was awesome! It was another sign from God to just have a little more faith and patience. We both went to sleep a lot calmer that night and the next day bright and early my husband got a call for an interview, he got hired on the spot and today was his first official day!!!!!

I am so happy and blessed that this has all worked out. God works in mysterious ways but his timing is always perfect and if we just have faith and work hard, it will all work out! We also went to church for the first time this past Saturday and in bible study they talked about how we all sometimes let problems overwhelm us and we need to have more faith and trust in God because after all, no matter what happens God always has the solution to all of our problems. It has just been an amazing few days for my family and I. Maybe soon my hubby can even go back to Salt Lake and finish bringing all of our things because the air mattress we bought just can't compare to our comfy bed lol. Also I want to apologize if I made it sound like he was already here but I didn't want it to be known that I was living alone with my daughter in a border town I don't even know. I'm kind of paranoid like that. I hope everyone has a beautiful day surrounded by your loved ones, I know I will ;)

Time to get in shape

So I know I've lived in Mexico for a while now but I have never looked into getting a gym membership before and dang they are expensive!! Back at home we were paying about $33 for my husband and I at our local rec center. Here in Mexico for a good gym it would cost almost $90 USD for our membership a month. They do have a daycare available but it's not included. You have to pay an extra $20 pesos every visit and it has a 2 hour limit. For some reason my husband and I tend to loose more weight during winter, I know weird right? When I was 9 months pregnant I weighed 239 and I'm only 5'6''! When I began to work out with my hubby my daughter was 4 months old, it was November 2009 and my starting weight was 210. I lost 30 lbs that winter and since I have been in Mexico I have lost a total of 55 lbs but in the last few months I have gained some of it back. For the first time in my life I was feeling in shape and healthy and no one was calling me gorda anymore. All of my clothes were falling off of me and I was feeling great. Now my pants are beginning to feel a little tight and I think it's time for a gym membership. I have the insanity program but that is more to build cardio, I loose very little weight off that. Shortly after I was deported my husband gained a lot of weight from so much stress. He is 6'1'' and was pushing 320! Now he is down to 270 and he is mostly muscle and I don't want to be that fat wife of the buff guy lol. So I think it's time we get back into shape, who am I kidding, it's time I get into shape for the first time ever. Here are three pictures, one I am almost 9 months pregnant and weigh 239. I apologize for the second picture but it's the only body shot I have and I think I weighed about 160 here and it was almost a year ago. The third one is the most recent taken just 2 months ago and I also weighed 160. You can see the difference and I definitely want to keep the weight off. 

Home Sweet Home

I am seriously loving every second of being here in Mexicali. I thank God for sending us here and having everything fall into place so effortlessly. This is my new home sweet home and is awesome! I still need to decorate and put up the finishing touches to make it feel complete but let me tell you its kinda hard to hang up all of my picture frames and wall art when the walls are all cement. I'm use to drywall, where I can just grab a thumb tack and easily press it in and voila, I'm done. Here, since we are renting, I can't make holes in these lovely cement walls. We went to our local Wal-Mart and bought two of those wall things that don't damage the wall ( my bad, I already threw away the packaging and I forgot what it's called). They each hold 3 lbs and they come with a double sided adhesive tape thing and I used both of the to hang up our bathroom mirror and it worked. The only thing I don't like about those sticky wall things are the hooks to actually hold up the mirror are huge and stick out a lot. I got creative and used some string aka an old shoe lace to hang it up and it worked out great. Now I have to think of a way to hang my smaller wall art so that you can't see those giganormous hooks. On to laundry, I have to wash clothes by hand again. I really don't mind and I am proud I even know how. When I lived in Queretaro for a year I had to wash clothes by hand but my lavadero was a nice size and I could easily wash my jeans and towels there. The lavadero I have now looks like my old one pooped this one out. Its ridiculous how small it is. My shirts barley fit but that's okay. Hopefully in a few months we can buy a washer. It's so hot here that I hang my clothes to dry in and 3 hours tops everything is dry. I want to bring all of our big furniture down here but everyone keeps telling us we will pay too much in taxes and it would be cheaper to just buy all new things. I have a king size bed, a dinning room table my dad made me, my washer and dryer and a few more things. Did anyone bring their furniture and larger items with them to Mexico? If so do you feel it was worth it with the taxes you paid? Thanks in advance. Well I think that's enough rambling for today, it's a beautiful day today and I plan to enjoy it! :)

It's all coming together

I have been in Mexicali for almost a week and I have loved every second of it. Everything has fallen into place with little or no effort! We are renting a beautiful 2 bdrm house in a really nice part of town. I have never lived in such a nice neighborhood or house in my life! And all for just $500 USD! I got internet and my house phone connected yesterday and I think by next week I'll have dish. My daughter is so happy all the time because we are now together and I am too. There are plenty of things to do here which is quite contrary to all of the info I found on the web. This is where we are suppose to be right now. Thanks to God we are all happy, healthy and settling into our new lives very nicely. Now for the fun stuff, I finished unpacking and cleaning the downstairs now I need to tackle upstairs. I'm off to do tons of housework but with a big smile on my face because it is finally my house. For the first time in almost 2 years I can say I'm home and that alone is such a blessing! Life is good and God is great! :)

5 days!!

We are only 5 days away from the move and I am so happy! I can't wait to see my daughter and know that I don't have to say goodbye anymore! God is amazing and his timing is perfect, everything is falling back into place! We also just bought a car today and I could not be more happy. It has been almost a year since we have owned a car and I'm not looking forward to the payments again but I am thrilled that we finally have a secure vehicle that they can drive down in and we can use to discover Mexico. I am just so grateful for everything and I have so much faith that it will all work out. Here is a pic of our new car, well not new but new to us lol. Life is good and God is great!! :)