Protected!

Oscar was in Brazil last week. Wednesday night he called me to tell me he had been in a car crash! I did not have good telephone reception, so I rushed out of the store to try to talk to him, but I was not able to communicate with him until next morning!! I did not have a good night, thinking he must have been hurt and in the hospital....Finally we were able to talk around ten a.m.! Since he was with three other business associates on this trip, every time they took a taxi he rode in the front. But when they went for dinner, two of the guys decided not to go, so he sat in the back - luckily! As they cross an intersection, the driver of another car did not stop as she should have and hit the taxi on the passenger side. The driver was hurt, the other guy sustained a minor injury to his leg. But Oscar did not receive even a scratch! How grateful I am for a protecting hand! I then realized how blessed we have been: 23+ years of international travel, and this is the very first (and I pray the last) incident/accident Oscar has been involved.

Tiffany's Temple Day

Today Tiffany Winkel will go to the Temple to receive her endowments. I am so happy to know that our son Manuel will be bless to marry her next week. The theme for the young women in the church says: "...we believe as we come to accept and act upon these values (faith, divine nature, individual worth, knowledge, choice and accountability, good works, integrity and virtue) we will be prepared to strengthen home and family, make and keep sacred covenants, receive the ordinances of the temple, and enjoy the blessings of exaltation." Your Temple Day has arrived Tiffany! We are so glad and thankful you were prepared!

Jorge Fuentes

I am heartbroken with the premature death of our friend Jorge Fuentes! He was only 18 years old! We need to be kinder to each other. We need to show our love everyday to our dear ones. We just never know when they or us, will be call to go back "home". Jorge was a very good friend to our dear Jenny Lagiglia. Jenny was of course devastated, and it was very interesting to see how much all the youth from the stake liked him!

Jorge was very close to his parents. Brother and Sister Fuentes were blessed with strenght and peace, and they were actually comforting the rest of us. Brother Fuentes gave a magnificent talk during the funeral. The gospel of Jesus Christ gives so much hope and perspective to death. As my son Danny wrote to me when I told him about the death of Jorge: "We live to die, and we die to become inmortal....he is now Elder Fuentes on the other side of the veil".

I love this picture! It is obvious Jorge loved his mother! One of Jorge's sister had a baby the day of the funeral service! They named him Jorge. I wonder if they met before Jorge went on to eternity, and little Jorge came to earth.....
Good bye our friend! Till we meet again!

A Happy Month of May

Nick, Titi, Reggie and Leah came to stay with us for a month! How fast that month went by! Little Reggie cried every time Oscar or I needed to leave the house. He was always asking us "up please!" ('pick me up please'), telling us "bless you" when we sneezed, or "thank you abita", when I gave him Popsicles for breakfast (the popsicles were 100% fruit juice!Good breakfast choice). He calls me Abita, short for Abuelita, and Oscar made sure to teach them to call him Oscar!

Reggie loves us during the day, but when is time to retire for the evening, he sends us away from his bed and calls his mom!

Then Leah, oh Leah! She is a doll! She took her very first steps here at home with us, and she was only eight months old! She is always very aware of what is going on around her. She was of course so very happy when we included her in whatever we did with Reggie!


What a wonderful thing it is to have our children become parents and bless us with grandchildren!

Trip to the South - Next Stop: Chile

Oscar called a doctor and I was given some medicine to help make me feel better. I did feel better enough to take the trip to Chile. We arrive in Chile and I went right back to bed, feeling very sick. I almost called a friend of mine who is a general authority serving in Chile, since he and his wife were the only people I knew in that country. But I felt I shouldn't bother them and I decided that maybe a little walk in the sun would help me feel better. We walk to a shopping center located next to the hotel and I saw what I thought it was frozen lemonade in a small coffee shop, so I asked the lady and she explained that it wasn't lemonade, but she asked if I was sick. When we answered that yes, I was sick, she invited me to sit at one of her tables, made me a cinnamon tea and sent Oscar to a drugstore with instructions to buy something and bring it back to her. Oscar did so and when he came back the lady prepared it. It was some kind of drinking "IV" that tasted not so good but made me feel so much better right away. What an angel the lady was!! Next day feeling a lot better I went back looking for her to thank her, but sadly, she wasn't working.

We then were able to take a taxi and we visited many interesting places. I was so sad I lost so much time being sick in bed! I hope I get to go again to South America!

Princess Taegan Arrived!

The birth of our fifth grandbaby (second granddaughter) was highly anticipated by Oscar and I. I am so thankful I was able to travel to Utah to "pretend" to help! It is so much fun to see how our grandchildren are growing and learning. Taegan was born on March 23rd. 2011. She is beautiful!


Big brother Diego adores her. I enjoy hearing him ask for "hermana" as he is calling her! And I am always so impressed by Tito and Karsen's parenting skills! They are wonderful!

Next Stop: Argentina

We flew to Argentina and arrived early Saturday morning. We were so happy to meet with the Flinders - the parents of Karsen, our beloved daughter in law . They are serving a mission in a city a few hours from Buenos Aires. We had lunch (bife the chorizo)

After lunch, we walked the "Florida" - a nice shopping street. Oscar and Ann had fun sitting with the pirates!


We then went to our respective hotels to rest for a little while so we could be ready for our "triple date" night. Another couple - The Calevosos - joined us and we went to watch a Tango Show. They had the history of tango interpreted by a live band and a group of dancer. It was very interesting. We enjoyed the show, but we the company of our friends was even more enjoyable!

Sunday morning we found a church building close to the hotel and attended all meetings. It was wonderful to hear the familiar message of the gospel. All the teachers were well prepared. We heard beautiful talks by missionaries. Everybody welcomed us and made us feel at home with them. I am always so grateful and amazed to realized that no matter what part of the world we are, the message of the restored gospel is the same.

We were trying not to buy anything to keep the Sabbath, so we just enjoyed a few 'çomplimentary' bites from the lobby. Sadly, I ended up with food poisoning, and my next two days in Argentina were spent in a hotel room, so sick that I thought I wasn't going to leave the country alive! But I survived! :)