Just wanted to share a quote I came across today by Oswald Chambers:

Tenacity is more than hanging on, which may be but the weakness of being too afraid to fall off. Tenacity is the supreme effort of a man refusing to believe that his hero is going to be conquered. ... Remain spiritually tenacious.

oldies but goodies

i was messin around this morning and put together a slide show of old pics. some going back as far as high school, most of college and the summer after. enjoy!

Fiestas de Octubre Parade

Last weekend, Laura and I headed downtown bright and early with our friend Adrianna for the big "Fiestas de Octubre" Parade. This marked the beginning of a month long festival known as "Fiestas de Octubre." Basically its the GDL equivalent of a state fair. I haven't gotten to check out any of the other events just yet, but I'm looking forward to it! The parade was certainly an experience. In many ways it was like your typical parade in the US - lots of little kids dancing, a marching band or two, lots of people walking, and big floats. But then there were some things that I've never seen in a parade before. I will just let the pictures speak for themselves. ;)

We had to leave our house really early that morning so we could get good spots. Once we got downtown, we basically just sat for about 2 1/2 hours. So, of course, I got me in a good nap (or two or three...). Laura and Adrianna thought that was pretty funny and snapped a few pics.
Laura and Adrianna waiting for the parade to start.
There were so many people! We read that there are about 1.5 million people who attend this parade each year!
We were right by the corner one of the local stations was broadcasting from. I kept having visions of Katie Couric and Matt Lauer at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade... :)
Most every parade here starts with the city police doing stunts on their motorcycles. Now we know why they aren't so helpful with anything else around here....they're practicing their motorcycle stunts!
These were some traditional Mexican dancers. Definitely not what you'd see in a US parade, but really fun!
This is the crazy lady who normally hangs out in one of the plazas downtown. Seriously, she's crazy. She walks around w/ her guitar and tries to get you to give her money to serenade you. And it doesn't matter how many times you say no, she still sings.
I'm not sure what these guys were representing, but they had great costumes and did some pretty impressive stunts while wearing stilts.
What parade would be complete without a charter bus? Especially one decorated with balloons and two girls sitting on top. lol.
Some fun salsa dancers....
The area known as Guadalajara is actually 4 cities grown together: Guadalajara, Zapopan, Tonala and Tlaquepaque. They have grown together so much that no one really knows where one ends and another begins, so it's all known as Guadalajara. I think this float was supposed to be from Tlaquepaque.
More fun dancers. Isn't the lady in the middle cute?
This might be from Tonala? I think....
How could you have a parade without a float from the paint company?
or without Star Wars characters? I think someone said that there is going to be a live performance of Stars Wars sometime soon.
Of course you also need some gas trucks to make your parade complete!
Gotta love the marching band! Haha.
More traditional Mexican costumes
Drug and alcohol abuse is a big problem here, so this was an anti-drug float.
The original Chivas soccer team! These guys are gettin up there in years... The Chivas are the Guadalajara team and just about EVERYONE here is a fan!
Pepsi was one of the parade sponsors, so of course they had a float too.
Fun dresses on horses. I was amazed at how many of these ladies were riding side saddle!
This little guy was just too cute twirlin his rope!
And finally, a float for the Pan American games that Guadalajara will host in 2011. They are so excited about this.

Izzy

Izzy found a new toy tonight...

funny video

for anyone who has ever tried to use their high school or college spanish, this is rather entertaining! enjoy!

Cristian

this is one of my sweet kids from Canal 58, Cristian. most of the kids there just call all of us Vicky (their attempt at Becky, the name of the lady i work with), Cristian learned my name a couple of weeks ago and just loves to walk around saying it now. it's become his new favorite song. haha. enjoy!