My 20th birthday and all that it entails

so, 20 years old already... my my... i would have never thought i'd grow this old... i hoped to stay on the last teen years forever.. but i guess that growing up has its good things, it's changes, its responsabilities, you mature more in many aspects, and now i can say that i'm really looking forward to this new year, to learn all the lessons that the Lord may want to teach me, to be faithful to him, to grow closer to him every day, not just a bit, but a lot so that when this year goes by i can be proud to say, i've become better, better said, i can thank Him for having helped me to become better, for Lord knows that i in myself are nothing... i can never accomplish anything good if it's not because of Him, so yeah, if by the end of the year i'm better, then i'll be proud to say, all glory to Him! :D i really want to become better so that i can become more useful to Him and help as many as i can by showing them the Lord's love, and be not just a collaborator of Jesus, but an extension of his very body :) be part of Him and let Him move in me, put on His mind so that everything i do is guided by Him, and thus bear great fruit :)

the year has been a good one, i can't complain, i've gotten to travel more than any other time in my life, and i've travelled more than anyone i know, for wich i am really really thankful to the Lord, i have gotten to know some realy wonderful people wich i miss inmensely, and also had the chance to meet good old friends with wich i've shared many good things in the years that i've had the honour to partake of their friendship. i really am happy to know all of you! you are like a gift sent from heaven for me :) and i really cherish your friendship, yes, each and everyone of you!

now, let's go on to my birthday, we actually celebrated it the day before with my brother and his wife, just the 6 of us, and later on i got other presents, and some others were given to me before, on christmas, here is the account of what i got :D



this is an awesome super cool miniature electric guitar, no it doesn't work, it's just for decoration, but i was soooo happy when i saw it! i got it from my brother Daniel :D i'll take it wherever i go to, and i hope to get a real one sometime soon this year.



this is a very groovy bag that i got from my sister Ana, i love it! it's made out of recycled tire inner tubes, and the hold is actual safety belt! :D it even smells like tires :P a perfect gift for a car lover like me ;)


this is a bracelet that i got from my other sister Jenny, aint it cute? it's silver :D i wear it now all the time.


and to end, this is a very special present that i got from my sis Ely, the very first drawing of me that i've ever got! TX Ely for all your work!! ILY! it looks great :D

king's day!

So, the 6th of january was king's day, and what a day! my whole family came over and we had a good time together, it had been a long time since all came home, normally we would go to my eldest sister's house since she has 7 kids and it's harder for her to come over. but this time she came! along with her whole clan, LOL!
anyway, since some of you might not know the history or the meaning of king's day, i'll make a small account of it.
so, the celebration of king's day is a spanish tradition that comemorates the visit of the wise men to baby Jesus, and give him the gifts they brought, but this celebration can also be found in countries that have had spanish influence, such as latin american countries, or our neighbour France. in Spain, King's day is a big deal, it's a nationnl holiday and it still counts as part of the christmas holidays. so, it all starts when a few days before the 6th of january, the kids write a letter to the wise men, telling them what they would like as presents, and that they've been good during the year (note that this was before any Santa Claus appeared... just that the westerners liked the idea of our king's day and added many of it to their Santa Claus...) on the 5th of january, there is a big parade in almost every city, town and village, where some people dressed as the wise men go out in the streets passing out sweets and presents, you really have to see it one day, it's super fancy and all the streets are packed, all the parents with the kids go out. it really is a very very fancy parade. it lasts for hours. so, in the night of the 5th, the wise men come and leave the presents for the kids to open them in the morning of the 6th. also since they are working soo much during the night, it's a custom that the kids leave water for the camels, and some sweets for the wise men to gain strength to endure the whole night :P some also leave some drinks for the wise men, such as anisette, an alcoholic drink.
so if the kids have been good, the wise men will bring them what they've asked, and if not, they bring them coal. but don't be fooled, this i no normal coal :P it's made out of black tainted sugar, so it actually is nice to eat, LOL. and let's not forget about the all time famous "King's roll", eaten just on this specific day in the homes all over the spanish geography. it's traditional, this one was made by Ely, and tihs year's it was good ;) inside you put a surprise like a little figurine, and whoever gets it on his piece of the roll keeps it. also it's traditional to put a bean inside, and whoever gets it, pays for the king's roll ;). here a picture of Ely's masterpiece:


now that the history and the customs behind the festivity have been told, i'll pass on to tell about the day that we had. so as i said somewhere up there, all my family came over except my second older brother and his wife who is due to give birth anytime, we were a grand total of 19 people, my eldest sister Jenny, her husband Jan and her 7 kids, my eldest brother Cesar, his wife Marta, and his 2 kids, and my second eldest sister Ana and her kid.
here a picture of my sister Jenny and all my nephews and nieces around her.


we had a good day, filled with kids running up and down, a few things getting broken due to their hyperactivity, and some even getting injured for playing like monkeys on the trees of the garden :P but no worries it wasn't that bad, a few stitches solved the problem.
the presents were opened and happy faces were seen all around, and kids playing everywhere with their new shiny toys of games, modeling the new clothes, or learning and fooling around their chemical interaction equipment.


afterwards they even did a small play of the nativity scene, with Elaine taking the role of the angel bringing the good news, little Dani beeing Joseph, Sharon playing Mary, Richard as Gaspar, Arthur as Melchor, and Dani as Baltasar. and let's not forget about the stellar apparition of the stuffed porcupine as the main character! Jesus! :P




to end here are some more random pictures that i thought were worthy to be seen by all of you :)

this first one was taken before opening all the presents.


this is the end result of having 10 kid opening up presents in just one room.. looks like the remnants of a riot coused by an angry mob!!


next are some pictures of kids opening up presents and their faces of happynes :D, the first one is Coco carrying one of his presents :D HOW CUTE!

and the next fella in the pictures is Alan, carrying and opening his presents.


the following pictures are of Danini, aint he lovable??? :D specially dressed up as Joseph :p he is the best kid ever! hoenstly! and i know quite a few ;) he is just soo sweet to you, and so funny, and cute, and fun to be with! the Lord really blessed my sister Anna with him... aaah... i want to have a kid like him! he also loves cars and motorcycles, and watches all the formula 1 races and motorcycle GP's that he can, he's a real fan of Alonso, Pedrosa, and Rossi, now THIS IS A BOY!


now, don't be fooled and deceived by the look of innocence and "i'm-a-nice-guy" expression spread all over his face, for he is the rascalliest little 2 year old ever!!! ooh if i started telling you of all his adventures..... let's just say that once he put a clock inside a microwave and turned it on, you can guess the end of this adventure, the microwave exploded.... LOL anyway, here he is. Adrian with one of his biggest and sweetest looking smiles ;)

here Adrian is with his cousin Arthur, another really nice calmed and super duper cool capricorn in my family, (one out of the 6 capricorns that we are in our family and we're all super cool :p) he is very good with computers, a pro with computer games, and he's only about 8! he'll be a computer savyy in a few years, following the footsteps of his dad :), he's also very sweet and gentle, and he's the personal relationships guy for their family ;)

in the next picture he's acting as Batman, he has this thing for superheroes... wear a superman t-shirt and he'll go hyper!, show him something green and say it's Hulk's and he'll love it.


this one next, is cute Erika, older sister of Adrian.


and we find her here again posing for a pic with her cousin Elaine, and the rascal in the back :D
now... what might he be thinking... nothing too good i suppose, maybe scheming his next plot to destroy the earth :P


now some neat pictures of coco! his name is actualy Christian but we call him coco affectionately, h'es the toughest guy i've ever seen! he's soo big for his age, and no matter how badly he falls on his adventures, how hard he knocks his head, he doesn't cry! only eventualy when he's too tired he will, but if not he will jsut stand up and keep walking, a completely determined true capricorn :p you may also see some videos of him who elly so graceously and kindly uploaded for everyone to see, GBH! ILY Ely!


he doesn't waste any time at all!! LOL :P





and to end, 2 pictures of the pinkiest and princessy gal i've ever seen, this is my friends, my niece Sharon! she really thinks she's a princess :P if she does smthg bad, she'll tell, you.. oh, but ti doens't matter because i'm pretty :p she uses to go to her mom's room and steal her lispstick and eyeliner and that stuff that ive forgotten what it's called like, that gooey stuff to put colour to your nails... anyway, the point is that she steals it, and hides it in her room and then uses it when no one is looking, and puts lipstick all over her face :P really cute. this is her:
aint Ely looking pretty? :D anyway, if u don't like the picture just tell me and i'll take it down.
LY!

Jesus did it again!

this post is to show how Jesus cares for us in every aspect of our lives and how he provides bountifully to those that serve him. He is indeed the best boss anyone could have, and beeing at his service is the best job ever! it really pays off to be a missionary :D

this testimony happened this christmas in Iceland, one day Sarah P (16), David Ryley (17), Gabe(20), and I, went out to sell the calendars "Mottos for success" to the shops to raise funds for the work they are doing there. so when we arrived at the town we were going to promote our tools, we first started by shooting up a quick prayer for the day and asking the Lord to tell us what we should do, since it was almost lunch time, if we should go to provision lunch right away, or start first to go to the shops and afterwards try provision the meal. he told us to do the latter.
after about an hour and a half had passed, we met again and prayed and asked the Lord once more, and he told us to go to eat then, we asked if there were any restaurants around the town, and they pointed out that there was one some streets away, so we took the car and arrived there. once more we parked the car, and prayed again asking for a confirmation that this indeed was the place we were supposed to try to provision the meal, and in that case, who was supposed to go to talk with the manager. we got a yes from the Lord that that was the place, and that Sarah and David were supposed to go to talk with the manager, while Gabe an I stayed in the car, asking the Lord to do a miracle and that He promised to provide for us all our needs. so a few minutes passed in wich we were fervently praying in the car, when David came out to tell us to come in! Thank you Jesus!!! that's what i call a miracle! we in faith believed that we would eat in that restaurant and He gve it to us :D and what a good meal! it was the best soup i had in a very long time, and the tastiest fish i'd ever eaten before.
what is more is that the manager wasn't even there, but the waitress called him in the phone and he said yes! now how cool is that!
indeed the Lord is stil the same yesterday, today, and forever, and can still perform miracles in behalf of those that work for him ;)

but this is not the only time it happened, i have been able to witness this kind of miracles more than once. and all i can say is stay in awe at the power of prayer and the Lord's power of supply.

let's make a hugathon!

today i just saw this video that i friend put up in his blog, and i thought, what a nice idea!! how come no one thought about it before? this hugg campaign started in 2004 and now is an international thing, anyone who wants can go out with a banner and promote hugs by giving them out for free to whoever wants them :D
the only problem, most ppl don't include God and Jesus in it, but HEY! God is Love after all!! so how more should we do this to share the love God has for other people? let them know that we are there because Jesus cares for them, and He loves them? i can already picture it, someone needs a hug and you give it while whispering softy in their ear that Jesus loves them, and passing them out a "somebody loves you" tract, you can read it by clicking here. it would be such a cool way to witness to people and pass out tracts in the street! i'm game with this idea, anyone would like to join me and be fools for christ's sake?
also we can do an everyday hugathon at home, or at work, with everyone we know! we as christians should be showing the Lord's love for everyone love should be exuding out of us, out of every single part of us and beeing transmitted out to everyone we pass along so that people can even see the difference in us, in our eyes, in our actions in everything we do, and know that we have smthg special that they don't, and they'd like to hav it too!
start your own hugathon today in your personal life and see the changes!
i for one, am already thinking of planning some hugathons ;)

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!

i am writing this as i am having a very family traditional new years morning, wich is that of watching the new year's concert in Vienna, played by the philarmonic of Vienna. if you don't know what i'm talking about, you may want to click here for more information. the best director that i've seen was Lorin Maazel, who used to play gags and even act the music along with some members of the orchestra, wich was really memorable. this year's director is Zubin Mehta, hindi, and so far it's not that bad, i just saw some comical gags that they were playing on the public :P good stuff, but still, nothing can beat the show that Lorin Maazel was :p
anyway, i wont bore you any longer with classical music and other boring stuff.
so, like most of you already know i spent 2 weeks in Iceland, from the 13th of december till the 27th and it was great! i miss them tonz, i love that home and it's people... it's been an unforgettable time, and life back here it's not the same anymore... Ely wil be posting some videos on her blog, actually you can already see one. but Lord willingly we'll be able to visit them again in summer for a roadtrip, YAY!! :D.
besides that, i've received the grades for my first exams of the year, and i have only failed philosphy, wich is great :D but i still have 3 more exams of each subject before i finish the grade and i can finally join a home, Lord willingly in June, so keep praying for me about that, i'll need lot's of prayer and hearing from the Lord to see where does he want me to go to.

oh well, that's all for now, i'll write more soon, and start with my idea of a weekly post, each time in appreciation of one of my dear friends :D so keep tuned ;)
LY all!