Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Noche del Grito

One thing that I love about Mexico is that they know how to celebrate a holiday! There's always lots of vibrant colors, music and good food. This past holiday was no exception...

For those of you who didn't know, the Mexican day of independence is the 16th of September; however, it's the night before that gets all of the fan-fare. It's called "Noche del Grito" (Shout of Freedom). Among other things, most of the children get dressed up in traditional Mexican clothing from the early 1800's, an important town official rings a bell around 11 p.m. and all shout "Viva Mexico" in honor of Hidalgo and the other conspirators. It's a very important holiday for the people and most every state in Mexico celebrates this event.

Well, this year in our church, we hosted a "block party" with our neighbors and church members to celebrate the holiday. We received permission to close off the street, hired a mariachi to sing, had lots of food, fellowship and contests. The children dressed up and sang while the teens marched with their flag and then led us in salute to their pride.

We had several visitors and neighbors and even old members come and celebrate their independence day with us. All in all, it was a great event and I'm already looking forward to next year's party...!




































Christmas in September?

Have you ever had something so good and so special happen to you that you felt like you were in the Christmas season..yet it wasn't that special time of the year?

Well, I have and it happened to me just this September! It was a visit from my youngest sibling, Christina (aka: my best friend)! She and her husband, Bryan, came for just over a week to see Mexico, our ministry and to spend some quality family time together. It was a wonderful break for our family...that went by too quickly for my taste!

In spite of the heat (and it was sweltering!), the rain storms, Jeff's "short cuts", giant horse flies, and spiders (LOL, C.L.!) we toured something new almost every day that they were visiting with us. We saw several interesting sights, explored various cenotes, celebrated Christina's birthday and enjoyed the local cuisine in the evenings. The only bad thing about their visit was the day they left...Anyway, on a happier note, I've enclosed some favorite pictures from their visit.

Enjoy our memories...

The Carney Family