There are few things greater than Barrio del Oakcrest

Enough of this stupid wisdom teeth story right? Just have to add, for the sake of this entry, that my recovery is pretty brutal, far worse than I thought. On day 4 I am still extremely swollen & in just as much pain, eating my soup & jello diet. My emotions have gone a little crazy; I hate being bed ridden & it is an extremely difficult week for me as a mom. I miss my little Camila a lot.

Now when I go through something like this I cling to my husband, to my mom & dad, my siblings; those closest to me. As soon as I moved out of my parents house & went to college, I would always joke that if the house next door to my parents in Cedar Rapids, Iowa went up for sale I would buy it in a heartbeat! Bliss would be living next door to them for the rest of my life :) That will never be, because Rodrigo is a city slicker, but I will always have dreams of my cornfed hick family. In these moments where close family is far, & my husband works, I start to feel lonely. These are the same feelings I started to have when we first moved here to Houston. These feelings are but a small moment, because my new family quickly fills that void. My new family consists of the men and women in the Oackrest Spanish Ward here in Houston, Texas. Because of them myy feelings of loneliness are never prolonged. Ever since moving here, I have been on the receiving end of countless acts of service from these people. My visiting teachers have brought me brownies and other good food, I have found good friends that I can confide in, and we've received invitations to some amazing Hispanic parties!

Today is Day 4 of my recovery & I received multiple phone calls & texts from ladies in the ward asking how I am. This was followed by Hermana Cowan showing up at my door this morning with soup (I was still sleeping), & then Hermana Macias coming later to drop off more soup & she took Camila home with her so that Rodrigo could get his work done & go coach. We have a lot going on in Young Women's this week: Hermana Arredondo, Jessica Rios-Lazos & Bianca Flores have made me aware of their willingness to take over some of my responsibilities if needs be. I have never felt alone, & even in this small trial/hiccup in our life, everyone here has made the burden much lighter.

(I wish I had pictures with everyone in the ward & more space to put them all!)

I absolutely adore my ward family. I am learning to love Mexican food (I could eat frijoles y aguacates all day), I'm so grateful to the amazing ladies that taught me how to coupon & learning about the culture.

Side note: When we first moved here, I was in the first trimester of pregnancy & we had Noche de Hispanidad. Everyone brought food from their different countries. My mom rarely made Mexican food growing up so it did not look appetizing to me. We showed up late & the one country's food I did like, Argentina (the table was full of empanadas, alfajores, deviled eggs), was all gone. So Rodrigo & I took a quick lap around the tables & then went to sit down at a table. He had 3 plates full of food & I had a cupcake from the American table. Everyone probably thought I was super stuck up. Thankfully I am much more versed in Hispanic food & now I eat it daily.

I could write for pages about how much I appreicate and love the people of this ward. They never make fun of me when I butcher their language, & are always trying to help. I can always feel their love. One of my favorite parts of the culture is when you enter a room, you say hi to everybody. In church when I first walk in I get to walk around to everyone & shake their hands or give them kisses on the cheek. It's an instant connection of warmness & friendliness. Rodrigo & I knew without a doubt when we moved from Rexburg that we were supposed to be in this ward. We feel extremely lucky & blessed :)