Dia de la Madre

In Mexico, Mother's Day is always celebrated on May 10...and wow, is it ever celebrated.  One of our Mexican friends said that Mother's Day is probably the most celebrated day on the Mexican calendar (besides the special day for the Virgin of Guadalupe).  Much of this focus on mothers stems from the Roman Catholic emphasis on the mother of Jesus.

On May 9, one of the traditions is for a group of people to go to mothers' houses to sing a traditional song in a post-midnight serenade.  Julianne participated with the singers this year and they came to our house around 3 a.m.  We never heard a sound! :)  The other tradition is not so easily ignored- loud fireworks.  From midnight on Friday through midnight on Saturday we were treated to the sporadic launching of large amounts of gun powder.

As many of you celebrate your mothers today (or are celebrated yourselves), we trust that you will be reminded of the blessing it is to be a mother.  Janette and I are so thankful for our mothers and the Godly influence they have had in our lives.

So what do you do when you are living in two cultures?  Janette thinks it is obvious that we would celebrate Mother's Day on both the Mexican and U.S. dates.  We are giving her some special attention this weekend and this evening the men and youth of the church are having a cookout for the women of the church.

Stay tuned in the coming days for more blogs on the recent children's workers' workshop and other church events for May.  The picture in this post is of Janette at some ruins near Campeche.