Perhaps it's only I but It seems to me that as people we can sometimes become so absorbed in making sure the life we live is filled with purpose, so occupied in ensuring that we are indeed doing the most we can towards an end goal, so consumed with becoming the best we can be in whatever direction our choice of life has been; that we begin to miss out on the beauty of the journey, the importance of the experience.

Is it possible to become so involved in our perception of what is the best that we fail to appreciate the importance and depth of the learning experience. Can our perception reach a point where it begins to distract us from the fact that if indeed we are here to learn to love then the most important thing is not just arriving at our destination but how we choose to reach it?

If mistakes equal good then let us not be afraid of what we will discover through them for in accepting that we are here to learn and that the end goal is not perfection let us enjoy the journey of discovery and growth, all the while allowing the beacon of love to guide us.

How does one choose to forsake a personal desire, be it a dream, aspiration or perception; when one knows that not doing so will come only at the price of unhappiness to those we love. If love is believing in others, then I choose to believe. If hope and faith abound in the presence of love, I choose love again. For love is believing, understanding and accepting that the one who loves us guides the paths we take, and if we allow Him to guide then the love within our hearts will reach others in ways far beyond those we could even begin to imagine. We can never lose by giving and although it may seem difficult to give our lives to something noble and grandiose, we may indeed discover that the greater challenges are found in those decisions where what is at stake is shedding the faith in ourselves alone and choosing instead to embrace faith in others.

If you try to fail, and succeed, which have you done?

Everyone here knows I love my salsa and the hombre Matt "Regulator" Smith while on holiday up in Queensland last week came across this spectacular gift for the mexican. Outstanding! The visual says it all...

Gracias Smitty!

Me persigno y le entro a la botella!

Thinking back to where we were a year ago from today... so much has changed. And I want to celebrate this the day that you, the one who changed my life came to this world.

Gracias por existir!

I hope to enjoy every moment I can with you in this coming year. Happy birthday hermosa. Te amo

...it is still her face that captivates me every time I see her. :)

As much as she may disagree I believe she truly does have a motherly glow to her, even if she may claim that this glow is only caused by extra blood rushing to her head (one of those pg factoids). What is more, I dare say that the twinkle in her eye has something to do with the thoughts that run through her head every time she looks my way. It's good to be me.

I love you baby

Fatherhood: The Truth is the title of the Marcus Berkmann book I finished reading last week. It was delightfully humorous and quite informative. Although I must say that thanks to Amber's diligent research I was already aware of a good 70 percent of the interesting factoids regarding pregnancy, the other 30% of new info made it worth the read.

The thought of becoming a father in the not too distant future still puts a smile on my face. We have been having a hard time agreeing on a name with me wanting an Aztec or Mayan one (all of my choices have been rejected on the grounds that none of the western relatives would be able to pronounce them) and she wanting to name him something to do with native american indian heritage.... the problem is one of the only options that I like sounds like a US state. This baby name business is more work than I thought and so far my super powers of persuasion have been coming up short... Amber laughs at my attempts to convince her that awesome manly Aztec names such as Tenoch are befitting for a little Luna. Ya veremos.

I have only been back a few weeks and am getting ready to again be gone for over a month... so if it gets quieter in here than it has been as of late, well at least you'll know why. I will miss Amber so very much and will most likely be once again astonished at how much the belly will have grown.

Feilcidades a Esther por tener la primera nieta en la familia! Un abrazo a todos en Mexico.

Click here to see pics of Amb 5 months PG.

First things first... I am having a baby boy! Wooohooo! I got my visa just in time to fly in last Tuesday and basically go directly from the airport to the medical center where I met up with Amber and got to see the little man on the screen. I thought I might cry when I saw his tiny little heart beating (yes, on occasion I am weepative) but once I saw him, I was so happy... I think I forgot to cry. Well he did put on quite a show for us and left absolutely no doubt that he is indeed a man child. :)

Alrighty, backtracking a little... my stay in NZ ended up being almost 2 months! (that's a long time to be away from the woman you love), but was fortunate enough to have spent that time with the cool people I posted about before. It just so turned out that they decided to take me along on a family reunion ski trip the weekend before my departure. It was so much fun. Here are a few photos of that trip.


I for one had never seen that much snow all at once and among other first time experiences was learning to put snow chains on when we got caught in a blizzard on our way up to the lodge.


We stayed the night at this log cabin and stayed up late playing sleeper and mafia..


We were originally going to go to Mt. Cheeseman but due to the heavy snowfall the day before that particular slope was closed so we ended up going to another slope. I had thought of learning to snow board originally but Amber thought that may be unwise and strongly suggested that I ski instead... heh. This is a picture of the learner's lesson... getting a grip on things. Spent most of the day there but ventured to the intermediate slope you see in the back there. I only lost a ski twice and had no wipe outs thank God... it was a also very windy day and I think that added to the thrill of it all.



I love the way everything becomes so quiet when there is so much snow and I loved the way light reflects off of that much whiteness.



hasta la proxima...

Just a couple photos taken last weekend when we took a day trip to an old quarry on the outskirts of town. It has been turned into a park/reserve and is really quite beautiful. Coming from Mexico where you don't often see that many beautiful parks that are so easily accessible, I have been enjoying the outdoors here immensely. There is a good chance I may get to snowboard this coming weekend! Wooohooo. Keeping my fingers crossed on that one as Amber hasn't yet given me a green light (some talk about not wanting me to fly back with a broken leg or such...), but where there is life there's hope.

I am expecting some sort of reply or update on my visa status next Thursday (your continued prayers are much appreciated) and will hopefully have news of the future then.

Un abrazo to the amigos all over!

...will be here at least a couple more weeks it seems. We got the first snow of the season last week. Missing the warm aussie weather but enjoying every minute of my stay. Te extrano mi amor.

These have been posted on Amber's blog but here goes for those of you who may have not yet seen these. They are pretty much self explanatory.

Yup, a little moon is rising. I am soooo excited! The little one arrives in late November! Qué emoción! So apart from husband I am now also a father. Quien diria. It's hard to explain just how happy simply knowing this makes me, but I can hardly wait for that little baby! Those are the big news and I could not ask for more. I love you Amber!

In other news; I am currently in kiwi land, staying with some very nice people in Christchurch, New Zealand. Thank you for your hospitality Mark and Joy!

It is beautiful here, cold and wet in the winter, but beautiful. I had never been to a place where the sun goes down at 5:30... it's cool. Everything is very very green, so many trees and flowers. It's been raining almost every day since I arrived but today there was a little sun peeking out from behind the clouds and I struck out for a cliff walk. Took some pictures (will post those when I get back to Adelaide), outstanding scenery. Flying back in a few days (I miss my lover and my baby) and will have more news then.

Fam and friends, the news may take a while to make it on here, but I have not given up on keeping you updated.

Un abrazo!

I'm going to be a dad!

Little behind the times here... but I have decided to not give upon this blog just yet, so here are some photos of my last week in Sydney.
Amber has probably posted about some of these very events but as they were also special for me, I will go ahead and show you more.

Had a lovely afternoon with the Adair family; there was swimming, pool and lots of comida; my fav were the delicious lamb chops and yummy humus. Thanks Jo, Shane and Lynn for having us over!

Also spent a night with Mike and Anaik and while at their place took a bike ride to Lake Paramatta Reserve and then met up with them later for a picnic dinner.

Big thank you also to Mark and Kay for having us!

Caught an overnight bus to Adelaide with a stop in Melbourne... didn't get to see much of Melbourne as it was raining but the last leg of the bus ride was on a double decker and I rode on top... woohoo! Saw a very dry yet beautiful stretch of farmland and arrived into the longest standing heat wave in history for Adelaide; will save that story for next post.

So that is my somewhat short and very vague recount of my second week in Sydney and even though the photos are not in the proper timleline the skinny is: I had a wonderful time and "thank you" to everyone who helped make it memorable! I will be back!

On another note... I discovered "root" has an entirely different meaning here... heh. these Aussies son tremendos.

A week has come and gone... still a bit hard to believe I am in Australia. Experiencing something new every day... too much to tell in one sitting, but I will write a few of the personal highlights before too much time goes by and my memory begins to fail me.

A day or so after arriving I got the chance to met the other part of the Adair family I was missing at Jo's birthday party, they're a fun bunch. The following day I was introduced to Rugby and Tackle Bullrush at an area fellowship; those Hartingdon boys are sturdy I tell you... had my shirt torn off and had a sore neck for a few days but it was fantastic fun.

That night I met the better part of all the friendlies in Syd at a fam celebration and had the privilege of watching David Komic live! The man is hilarious! He pulled off some on the spot over the top representations of the various stages of growth the TFI
has experienced. Memorable.

Had a fun day trip to Sydney a few days ago with Mark, Amber and little Allan. Took a train to Circular Quay and walked down to the Opera House (it's true... the roof is made up of bathroom tiles), caught a ferry over to Manly and walked down to Shelly beach... beautiful.

Loving the fact that Aussies are refreshingly brash and... informal. That is the best word I can think of. And the women! Wow, the women. Good example of both these things: we're walking to Shelly Beach when the lifeguard over the loud speaker begins to inform the public that there are jellyfish in the water, he gives instructions to rinse with cool water if stung and closes his announcement saying in a very matter of fact way "the sting will last 30 minutes to an hour... there is nothing you can do about it so you'll just have to deal with it". Heh! All over the beach there were families with their children and babies... and bare breasted mujeres, gorgeous women in down to earth tones. Fantastic.

Enjoyed the beach for a few hours before catching the ferry back and since there were still a few hours of daylight took a lovely stroll through the Botanical Gardens. The gardens are a paradise for tree lovers, some of the most amazing trees I have ever seen... and I had a surprise encounter with a flock of cockatoos.

Amber's brother Chris is a Chef and just yesterday he invited us for lunch over at the Hotel where he works. Being of inquisitive nature I couldn't pass up the opportunity to try the kangaroo rump in red wine. It was a pleasant surprise, a little chewy as is most game meat... but quite tasty.

It's been such a good feeling to experience something new, a different culture and make new friends in the process, but that whole aspect of life will have to wait for the next post.

Will try to keep up with all the happenings a bit better for the sake of friends and fam. I miss you special people, you are in my thoughts and prayers. Un abrazo.

There is a ticket with my name on it. Novelty for me as I haven't yet visited anywhere other than Mexico's neighboring countries.

I would have never imagined that my first journey off the continent would take me to the land down under; but so it will.

Amongst other first times will be experiencing jet lag and skipping most of Valentine's Day altogether...was never much of a romantic anyway. But the best news of all is that there is a friendly face waiting for me on the other end.

I will leave from here...


arrive there...


depart from there to here...


then leave again to eventually arrive here...


All my bags are packed I'm ready to go...

The art of war teaches us to rely not on the likelihood of the enemy's not coming, but on our own readiness to receive him; not on the chance of his not attacking, but rather on the fact that we have made our position unassailable.

Thus it is that in war the victorious strategist only seeks battle after the victory has been won, whereas he who is destined to defeat first fights and afterwards looks for victory.

If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.

Sun Tzu's Art of War

...en aquel tiempo eran muchos los que se retiraban a la soledad de los montes a meditar.
...y eran muchos los que en el silencio de los volcanes nevados y de los pequeños valles ocultos, Se buscaban a sí mismos...

"...aquellos que buscan el Silencio en la calma nunca lo encontrarán desnudo.
...para desnudarlo hay que buscarlo entre el bullicio.

Díganme:
¿de qué sirve a un corazón tener calma en medio de la soledad?, ¿a poco no es como la calma que tiene un lago estancado en un valle?

...mas, ¡Que grande es un corazón cuando en medio de las dificultades y los problemas conserva la calma y se viste con el Silencio!

...es como el torrente que resbala sereno por la ladera de la montaña...

...algunos van a lugares donde lo más que les molesta es el canto de un pajarillo o el sonido que arranca el viento a las hojas de los árboles...

Y piensan:
...estoy tranquilo y sereno en este lugar, ya he alcanzado la calma y el Silencio es amigo de mi corazón...
...pero cuando vienen al bullicio, sus pulsos se agitan y sus corazones se alteran, y sus pensamientos chocan con violencia en sus frentes,

y yo les preguntaría:
¿dónde guardaron la calma?, ¿qué morada le prepararon en sus pechos que tan pronto se les fue?

...sepan que aquel que busca el Silencio interior debe encontrarlo en medio de los ruidos y de las voces y de los gritos, y tomándolo debe sentarlo en su corazón, y al escucharlo ya no oirá hacia fuera sino hacia dentro...

...y en verdad les digo, que ni cien tormentas, ...ni la explosión de mil volcanes podrían ya nunca separarlo de él...

...para buscar pues, la calma Interior, no vayan adonde todo es calma sino adonde no hay paz, y sean ustedes la paz. De esta forma la encontrarán al darla, y la tendrán en la medida en que vean que otros necesitan de ustedes para calmarse..."

-Quetzalcóatl