Blessings of April

Well, I think is time to write something about the things that just happened. I’m just amazed of how the Lord works things out.  I wrote about getting a 500 dollar scholarship at UVU this last December, while doing that I also applied for scholarships at the same honor society at a national level. I tend to put myself down, and this wasn’t an exception, however, and like always Mike was there to let me know that I was as suitable as any other candidate to get this scholarship (5000 dollars in my checking account). I submitted my application in October and didn’t give it too much thought, although I had to write a 5 page essay, write in detail every single service I gave, including people who could verify it was true. It was exhausting because when I decided to give my free time to serve others I didn’t do it thinking that I should report every single thing to someone. I decided to ask Dara to write a letter for me, even though I knew that it had to be written by a university official familiar with all my activities. Dara wrote me a beautiful and unconventional letter, she is awesome. Well, at the beginning of February I receive the email that said that I had been chosen to receive the 2011 Golden Key Undergraduate Achievement Scholarship. We’ve used most of the money to pay debt, we saved some money for our baby furniture and Mike suggested that I should go see my parents in Mexico.

 I told my sister about it but asked her not to tell my mom in case my doctor thought I shouldn’t travel. As some of you know, my parents had been taking the missionary discussions since October and every time I spoke with my mom I could hear both interest and doubt. One day she told me that one of the missionaries had told them that he had felt very strongly that they should get baptized on March 24^th, for my mom this was one of the weirdest things, they had a mini lesson on revelations  and answers to prayers. I have to say that I never got too excited about this, I thought that if it took ME almost two years to accept the true not knowing anything about the church, it was going to take my parents forever to make a decision because they have had a different experience with the church. When I started going to church my mom started finding all kinds of anti-Mormon stuff online, and receiving terrible comments from ignorant people.

For some reason my parents do not have missionaries in their ward, so a senior missionary couple that is actually serving in the temple have been nice enough to visit my parents every Tuesday. Eventually, missionaries from another ward started visit them also. This older couple has been a huge blessing in my parents’ lives, I remember one Tuesday I was feeling horrible, I was starving and could not keep anything in my stomach, I was dizzy and even though I don’t like to tell my mom these things because she is the queen of freak outs, I felt like I needed to talk to her. I was crying so bad, I needed somebody to tell me that this was going to go away. At the end when I asked her how things were going she told me that my sister was sleeping next to her on absolute bed rest because she was bleeding (My sister is pregnant with her second baby, she lost her first at 19 weeks last year). I felt terrible that she had to get bad news about both of us in the same day. That day the older couple went to visit them, Elder Jorquera offered to give them a blessing of comfort. My dad say he felt so calm. I think that was the day that my parents’ actually started to pay attentions to the whisperings of the spirit.

With so many things to remember I don’t even know if I have the facts right, but at some point my mom told my sister that she had told the missionaries that she would not get baptized if I was not there to be with them and if Mike was not there to perform the baptism. My sister then told her that I was actually going to go to Mexico after my doctor’s appointment, and then out of nowhere my mom said, “then I will be baptized”. My dad got his own revelation, he said that there is a girl that has been going to church, they are together in the gospel principles class, that week she had been baptized and the teacher asked her to share her conversion story. She said that her brother  had joined the church years ago and that he decided to serve a mission, she said that after that she could see how happy he was and the difference that the gospel had made in his life, that her life had been very different before  knowing anything about the gospel, but that she was willing to change if this was going to give her strength to find happiness even in difficult times. My dad was crying and when they got out of church he told my mom that when this girl was speaking he felt like I was talking to him. That day he too decided to get baptized. I did not know any of these until my mom asked me to call her. When she told me I was like numb, I wasn’t crying, and I wasn’t jumping like crazy either I just  remember asking “are you sure? Are you BOTH sure?. All this time I had thought that my dad was going because my mom was forcing him. I told her that she didn’t have to do it because I was going, I told her a thousand times that I would still go even if she decided not to be baptized, but then she told me that the missionaries had taught her to listen to the promptings of the spirits, and that she and my dad had felt them very strongly.  I told them that I wasn’t sure Mike could make it, but when I asked Mike he told me we could figure something out so that he could also go. I guess we are not getting furniture for a while, but is so worth it! Our apartment is empty, but our hearts are full.

My brother and sister have been amazing; even though they do not understand their decision they have noticed small changes in them. My sister says she is proud of them for doing something that they believe in.

The day of the baptism my mom called me and asked me if Mike had his temple recommend with him, I knew it was inside his temple bag. I emailed him to ask him and I was right, he didn’t have it with him and he was going from his work to the airport, which is south of his work, our apartment is north from his work. The missionaries were at my house that day, they told me that the new bishop was asking for that, and the only thing I could think of was giving them our Utah bishop number. Thankfully he decided to get out early from work and went back to the apartment, what a relieve!!

The day of the baptism we were all excited, we got to the church half an hour early and the new bishop was there (he was sustained that Sunday). I saw him calling Mike into his office with a face that wasn’t very friendly. When they got out Mike had a concerned look on his face. He told my parents and me that the Bishop had decided to do the confirmation on Sunday, Mike was leaving on Sunday at 6 AM. I was super sad; I had to hold back some tears. I put myself together and told my parents, who were also sad, that we should respect the Bishop’s decision; I told them that he was a chosen man and the authority of their ward. They agreed.

While planning the program for the baptism I purposely suggested some names for the little talks so my mom wouldn’t chose me, I did not want to do it because I knew I was going to be a wreck, but that didn’t save me from giving the opening prayer. I started crying before I could start talking, I hadn’t cried all that time. It was a beautiful ceremony. In the middle of the ceremony I saw the bishop walking up to Mike and whisper something to him. And then when it was time to start the baptisms the bishop and the stake president took my parents and Mike to his office!! My brother and sister asked what was going on and I could only nod, I was so confused! They came back into the room and then we all went out to take some pictures, after the pictures we all went back to the room except my dad and Mike; they were ready for the baptism. It was so amazing to see my husband baptizing my dad, I was crying the whole time.

They BOTH came back to the room dressed, which I thought was weird because Mike was supposed to be waiting to baptize my mom.  Then the bishop announced that we were going to have the confirmation followed by and ordination to give my dad the Aaronic Priesthood so he could have the power to baptize my mom. That was one of those moments in which you are so surprise you don’t even react. It all happened so fast. Mike did the confirmation, then the bishop ordained him an Elder, then they left the room again with my mom and got changed again into the baptismal clothes.

My dad was so nervous, even though Mike was by his side whispering the words in his ear; he had to repeat the words twice. Finally after his third attempt to say the words right my mom’s elbow came out of the water and he had to do it one more time.

At the end it was perfect, I do not understand what happened or why, but I know that somebody must have gotten that direction from the Lord, we were all crying, including my sister. The spirit was so strong and there was a lot of people supporting my parents. I did have the best experience in that ward when I started going to church, but I am so grateful that they are doing a great job in welcoming my parents. Actually, the bishop gave my dad his first assignment that day; he was to bless the sacrament the following day on sacrament meeting. As I said before, I do not understand everything that happened that day, I am just grateful that we were able to witness something so beautiful.

I am so grateful for my husband, he had a full day of work on Friday, and then he had to go back to our apartment to get his temple recommend and then took a flight to Cancun, where he then had to take a bus to the bus station to take another bus to Merida. He got to my parents’ house at 2 AM on Saturday. We had a full day on Saturday and after the baptism we had a little birthday celebration for him. He took a bus to Cancun at 6 AM on Sunday; he was incredibly tired.
I'm back in Atlanta, it is always hard to say goodbye seeing how sad my family gets. I guess is now time to prepare for our little princess. We are so excited! Mike still doesn't know what is he going to do with a girl. I know perfectly what I am going to do!
Thank you so very much for all your support. We love our family.

My parents and Mike

My dad's sister Consuelo, My sister's husband Ricardo, my sister Ligia, my dad, my mom, my brother Rodrigo, and his girlfriend Andrea

The missionaries from Chile Brother and Sister Jorquera, my parents, sister Lucy is my parent's gospel principles teacher, and the Stake President's wife, who was the lady who took my mom to church for the first time in October.

Mike's little birthday celebration, we ate chocolate and Nutella cake!

Ready to go to church, my dad had to repeat the words twice, but I think  that's normal given that he was baptized the day before!

Life in Atlanta, GA!

I wonder if there is a way to show these pictures in a smaller entry, but not a slide show. Anyway, this is where we live, we love our neighborhood, our apartment complex and our ward. As you can tell we are house poor, but we don't mind really.

Our little kitchen

That's my baby bump at 17 weeks

Our first Sunday meal in our apartment. I attempted meatloaf. We have a nice dinning room, don't we?

My adorable husband ready to go to church

My friend the squirrel, I love going outside and watch them for hours

The sun room. Those door go to the complex's gardens

This is what we see if we go outside from the sun room

We figured that since we have a breakfast bar we just needed two barstools

When we have furniture this should be our living room

Laundry space

Storage room that will eventually become the baby's room

Front door

Sun room doors

The gardens

Mike is already sick of me taking pictures!

This is an office building that is outside of our complex, we love the landscape there 

No more pictures please!!

The beautiful temple, we can walk up to it. A great blessing!

The entrance of the apartment complex

20 Weeks and a new calling

Today I was set apart as the assistant camp director for my ward and the other family ward that comes to our building. I have no idea what I am going to be doing since I don't know anything about camping and I don't really enjoy it, but I know I will learn to love it. Most importantly, I will try my best to serve and to do the things that the lord wants me to do. Not for nothing one of my favorite hymns is "I'll go where you want me to go".

This is my baby bump at 20 weeks!
I didn't realize how hard it is to take a picture like this since you actually try not to show any belly in pictures, and then my photographer lacks aunt Karen's experience.

Life without Taj! or Life since Taj!

My parents getting out of church

 Well, this is the first day after 18 weeks that I feel normal enough to do normal people stuff, I have also run out of my morning sickness medication (which makes me sleep all day), I don’t need it anyway. My last post was on November when we lost our dear kitty Taj, and a lot of things have happened since then. Before that, in October, my mom was in a horrible situation, some of you know that my parents did not go to school and have always had to struggle in order to provide for me and my siblings. In April of last year they were told by the bank that they needed to pay certain amount to keep their home, and of course being a family that have always lived pay check by pay check it was a shocking and impossible amount for them to obtain without going into terrible debt. The week before conference I was talking to my mother on the phone and she was crying, she said that had lost all hope and she did not know where to turn. I had invited my parent to church but they were never interested and I always try to give them their space, I try not to be pushy but teaching by example. That day I felt so strong the need to decide something for her for the very first time in my life, I told her that the following day I would have somebody pick her up and take her to my church for general conference. She was so sad and concerned that she did not say anything. I made phone calls and sent emails and Facebook messages as quickly as I could and manage to find a sister who would go get my mom and take her to church. I was so scared and worried, but I told her that the only way I could help her was by sharing what the gospel brings to my life. We had prayed so hard for that moment to come! And that Saturday night we knelt down and asked Heavenly Father to touch their hearts (My dad went with my mom to support her, I really think she forced him though). Elder Hales delivered what my mother and father were hoping for. After that and thanks to our precious angels as they like to call them, my parents were able to keep their home. They still struggle since my dad lost his job in December, but they keep investigating the church and trying to deal with their problems differently. Things are hard for them, but I cannot be happier. I just hope they soon make the decision to join the church, I keep praying, hoping, and being an example for them.

Golden Key Honour Society's Member of the Year

 During the Fall semester I made a commitment to myself that I would use any free time to give service. When I started studying I felt horrible that nobody would give me a scholarship no matter how high my GPA was because I did not spend enough time at school activities, and after receiving a scholarship for academic excellence I decided that then was time to do something more. Spending all night studying makes you a good student, but there is more that you can do, not only to gain experience but to help other. I spent A LOT of hours helping in youth conferences, book drives, translating manuals for the church into Spanish (19 of them are now part of the Teachings of the Prophets manual in Spanish), I also spent hours in the mediation center for parent and teens as an Spanish interpreter among other activities, all this while keeping my 4.0 GPA. I made myself know in the Spanish department at UVU and was invited to be the official interpreter for a talk that was going to be given by the First Lady of Honduras, I ended up not doing it because the people who were coming with her was not comfortable with the interpreter being a student, but at least I know what I am capable of. Anyway, because of all this service I was given the “Golden Key Member of the Year Scholarship”, which is a big deal since members of this society are the top 15% of their classes.

Mike works for UGL Services in the Clark Atlanta University account 

 In December we also had to make a decision about Mike’s first job after graduating from BYU. This was one of the biggest tests for me. Thank Goodness he got a lot of offers; we could have gone to New Mexico, Washington D.C., Nebraska, Atlanta, or even Hawaii. He felt that the best opportunity was in Washington D.C. and I knew that I was going to be miserable because I am not used to the cold at all (I sleep with an electric blanket all year long!), but I knew that I needed to support my husband, so I told him I did not want to go there but that I would if he thought it was the best for our family. I remember myself crying myself to sleep because I thought I would be so far, so cold, and so alone, and then it all changed. I was a missing something very important for women that month and had not even realized because I was so caught up with finals and job decisions, I took a pregnancy test and it was positive. Before I told Mike I told him I was willing to go wherever he decided to go and that I would do it happily, I knew I wasn’t going to be alone and that I was going to be busy to even think about it. At the end we decided to take the job in Atlanta because he wants to get a master’s degree at Georgia Tech, because the benefits were the best of all offers, and because he loves me enough to choose a warm place for me to be. And he is having fun being one of the few white people in his office. I have had the hardest 18 weeks of my life, I have lost more than 10 pounds and I have been in urgent care once for dehydration, but at the same time I have blessed with a husband that loves me and takes care of me, we live in a beautiful place, we live two blocks from our chapel AND the Atlanta GA Temple, I wake up every morning and I see squirrels and all kinds of birds, and most importantly our baby is healthy and strong I am feeling normal again. I tried to handle online classes but as hard as it is for me I had to take a break and take it easy, classes are very stressful when you have to do it in a second language and not even seeing your professor.

My parents Luis and Queta, my brother Erick and my sister Ligia

 I feel good, since the day I came to this country I have had high expectations for myself. I realize that in order to change the stereotype in which Mexicans (and Latinos in general) have fallen I have to be an over achiever. I have felt love and hatred from people that I would never expected to make nasty remarks about my people, one day a Pepsi guy refused to do what I told him to do and told my boss that I was only a Mexican and that he would not work with me, my boss then told him he had to report to me every time he went to the school. Or when somebody said that Mexicans were scary looking, or when people give their opinion about how horrible Mexican music is. I take it personally because when I hear or read things like that I think of my honest, loving parents, I think of my brother who is working his way to school, I think of my sister who is a loving sister, wife and daughter who doesn’t have to work but does it to help my parents, and I think of my ancestors and my posterity. I want people to think twice before they say or write hurtful thinks about Mexicans because even though I know that there are a lot of them making horrible choices in this country that doesn’t speak for all of us. I use to think that Americans were blond people who liked guns and beer. I used to think that every American I saw was a criminal escaping justice or a Spring Breaker going to Mexico to get drunk at 18, and that all changed when I met my dear husband. I have learn that what I see is not all and my hope is that my children might always cherish their heritage, I want them to know that their mom always tried to be a better mother, sister, daughter and wife. I am not perfect, but I know that through the gospel one day I will be. I guess I am sharing this because all the thing I do I do thinking that it will make my family, my country and my people proud, and ultimately and hopefully is going to make people who know me think twice before trying to define how Mexicans are.

By the way, DON'T SHOP, ADOPT! ;)

 I miss everyone, my family in Mexico and my family in Utah, I miss Dave and Sherrie, Mike’s brothers and sisters, and I absolutely miss our nephews and nieces, but I know is time for us to be on our own and start our little family. I also miss everybody’s pets. I grew up with a mom that encouraged us to help animals; I never had a problem bringing a cat or a dog home, we all love animals deeply and until now I have always been around animals, call me crazy but when nobody is listening I love speaking to them like they were people, especially when I am sad, I know they understand, and unlike people they don’t care who you are, what you are wearing, or what you’ve done, they just love and I love that. I have had the hardest time finding our first dog, first of all we live in an apartment and they have breed and weight regulations, I didn’t know chow chows are considered “aggressive” that’s ridiculous, then we have gone to several shelters and every time I came out crying because it kills me the way they have to live, they are scared and they don’t know what is going on, then I get mad because most of them are owner surrenders. So I can only take one home and it kills me to think that there are millions that have to stay in cold, stinky and noisy shelters. I guess I just don’t know how to choose one since I love each and every one (I know I sound crazy) Anyway, that is what’s going on here in Georgia, I am 18 weeks pregnant, we are supposed to know the sex of our baby in two weeks but my appointment is at the end of March so we will have to wait until the 30th, at the beginning I wanted a girl, I still do, then I started having dreams in which my baby always appears to be a boy, right now I don’t really care, I am just grateful that even though I had such a horrible first trimester the baby is doing just fine, I just want a healthy baby that gets to be as good as his or her wonderful daddy.

Baby Anthony at 12 weeks!!

 Lots of love from Georgia!!

My name is Taj Bert Anthony

My name is Taj Bert Anthony, I don’t know my birthday, but I think I might be two or three years old. I was living in a small quaint kingdom when I enchanted Servants Mom and Dad. They originally went to visit one of my lesser siblings. The one I call Dad had lost a kitty and wanted to fill that space of his heart with a powerful ruler like myself. My brother was not very nice to them nor as charismatic or as handsome as I, so mom negotiated the ransom for my presence to reign as king of their house. My first days were so confusing because everything was so new. They didn’t let me explore the outer confines of my kingdom for weeks, but when they did I got lost in a dungeon also known as the neighbor’s barn the whole night! My loyal servants looked for me and I had to yell as loud as my little lungs could. They heard me and I allowed them to escort me back to the safety of my palace. I occasionally explore the palaces around mine also known as, the neighbor’s houses, and because they do not recognize my grace nor can they comprehend the blessings of my presences they are forced to call my loyal servants mom and dad to escort me back to my kingdom My other servant Mike is nice. He occupies one of the sleeping chambers in the basement of MY house. Months after I first graced my kingdom I acquired a new subject, her name is Diana, I could tell she liked me (well who doesn’t?) she would pick me up and hug me so hard, and then she would give me kisses. I am nice that way, I never complain, but I do lick her kisses off my fur….human kisses….disgusting!

Diana Does not know how to respect my personal space!! I am a fair and generous ruler when well served, I disdain servants who are not aware when my food is out, and when that happens I rule with an iron fist, razor sharps claws and my ferocious meow. I like ham, but not any kind of ham, of course, the ham I like is smoked. One of my servants (whom I call mom when I am in a good mood) tried to give my delicate palate some type of honey ham… What was she thinking? I immediately rejected that atrocity and demanded my other ham. These humans needed a lot of training to meet my needs. I did the same with the male servant (dad) when he tried to put me on diet food. I am a full figured specimen, I am not fat. However, I do love them very much. I like to be around them, of course I don’t tell them this, rather I pretend to be supervising the day-to-day activities of my kingdom when I want to be near. In my kingdom I have a multitude of sleeping chambers to choose from. When I am not sleeping I like to go outside to entertain myself. There are these little insignificant creatures called mice that I enjoy playing with. Apparently my humans subjects do not like them either so I receive extra praise when I kill those mice things. Unfortunately, the new servant Diana DOES NOT like any living creature to be hurt, I found this out the hard way after one particular successful hunting excursion. On the return home with my trophy in my mouth, Diana saw me and oh boy she went crazy. She even dared to take MY mouse away from me, she picked me up and took me inside the house. That is dangerous behavior to be exhibited in front of king.

This is the mouse that got away, first time ever because because of servant Diana! They brought another cat into the house, her name is Molly. She was never a problem and could never match my extraordinary power; I've had her under my control since the day she arrived. Every once in a while I will chase her to remind her who is the master. However, she seems to be more cunning than my human subjects in her attacks on my kingdom. She likes to pretend that she likes me by giving me warm kisses and when I least expect it she slaps me on the face (I do not understand females). Molly belongs to Diana and Mike; thank goodness she came and redirected the suffocating grasp of servant Diana. Servant Diana still manages to capture me once in a while. She picks me up and hugs and kisses me, but this is understandable considering how beautiful and attractive my personality is.

I have to say that Molly(a.k.a Moller Fredette)is very pretty! Diana and Mike went to California (I am amazed they did not ask for my authorization) for an internship and I think the older servant saw an opportunity to get rid of me because I got sick and they took me to the vet, but the vet could not figure what was wrong with me and they sent me home. I was getting better but still had a fever when the female servant then tried to poison me with Ibuprofen. It was a deliberate assassination mission I am sure. But I survived. I do have to say that I have had a good life. I feel sorry for other kitties like me that do not even have a home to stay warm, and the other who live in cold shelters. I love my humans so much. On November 18th I got hurt. My most faithful servant Dave found my little body and respectfully picked me up. I heard him saying how much he loved me. I love him too, and I am sorry I could not tell him thank you, and how much I do love him in human words. I was having fun outside and suddenly I was out of my body. I got angel wings though (way cool, now not even the birds can escape me). I am currently in kitty heaven waiting for them to serve me here too. While I have begun to formulating strategies to accumulate servants here, I don't ever expect to be served as well and as faithfully as my servants Sherrie, Dave, Mike, and Diana served me. I miss their petting my belly, but I rejoice in the fact that I would never be shaved again.

Please DO NOT share the last sentences on facebook.. it would be very debilitating to my royal status if other subject were to find out how I felt about my servants. P.S I love my humans! See you when you get here!