I've decided that I want to start blogging again. Time has gone by and my life has significantly changed since my last post. I wondered if it would be worth it to delete my old posts and start fresh but my past is great and I like having my old post where they can take me down memory lane.
A full life update seems like the right chronological thing to write about next. However, I think that my life update will be given in bits and pieces. Instead, I am going to focus on writing about the products I buy for my little girls. Why? Because, I have a blast creating activities for them. I love play, I love games, and love seeing my girls grow.
My best memories growing up in Colombia was New Years. We would always get together in Neiva with all the family, eat, play games, dance and well, every uncle to him self. What I didn´t remember, was the many traditions that we practice. For instance, if you want a lot of love in the New Year you are to wear red underwear, and if you want even more love you wear them backwards. Similarly, if you want lots of money in the New Year you wear yellow underwear and as you might have guessed if you want even MORE money you wear your yellow underwear backwards. Also, when 12 o'clock hits you throw lentils all over the floor for a more prosperous New Year. Hmmmm what else?? Oh right, and if you want your new year to be composed of lots of travelling, then you grab a new suitcase and you run up and down the street with your luggage (something my auntie Enith actually did). There is also something that we call the Año Viejo (Old year) which is a piñata like woman/man filled with fireworks inside, dressed up with old stuff like an old hat, old shoes etc., (pretty dangerous), that gets exploded(hit) during that night. Another "believe" is that right before the New Year comes we are suppose to eat 12 grapes for 12 wishes that should come true in the new year (It was hilarious to see one auntie eating them so quickly that she almost chooked). Finally, once 12'oclock comes we each receive a folded bill to put inside our wallet so that we will never be broke that year. Did my family actually do every part of this? Yes, everything but the Año Viejo. As far as food goes, I posted pictures on my Instagram of some of the food my auntie Tabita cooked. In simple words, THEE BEST FOOD EVER...LITERALLY. All I have to say is that I had the best New Years celebration I have ever had in my life. The only thing that was missing was Nathan. So next up, for THEE best New Years celebration will be all of the above plus Nathan. Now, in just a couple of hours I will be on my way to San Angustin. A pueblo (town) full of history, one I have never known but exited to get to meet. Talk to y'all soon!!!
Christmas time in Colombia is like none other. I remember being little
and going over to my neighbors home to dance salsa, merengue, and
typical Christmas time music (I was like 5). I also remember
the daily fireworks throughout the whole month of December and the many
people praying around the manger's all around the city. Christmas for my
immediate family wasn't really celebrated because of it's so called pagan roots.
However, as years went by, my family began to get together to make amazing food and give their children presents on Christmas Eve. Anyway! This year I spent it with my aunt
Nelcy´s family in Bogota. We ate, exchanged only some of our presents and then
went home to exchange the rest with my mom, dad, and little brother on Christmas Eve. About the food: My cousin got married to a Puerto Rican gal. My aunt Nelcy made the Muchacho (Chicken with beef inside) and my cousins´ wife introduced us to some of her food. Conclusion: not my typical Christmas food but still amazing.
Desert: Three layered gelatine and flan de queso (cheese flan...?)
What I wore:
If you know my mother you know she is a very elegant woman. She loves dressing up and she makes sure that her family also looks great. So for the 24th of December (day we celebrate Christmas in Colombia) I woke up early, washed my hair, and welcomed a lady who came to the apartment to get my nails and my hair done (I have never seen my hair so straight in my life). Mom also bought me a beautiful jardinera (dress), and a navy polka dot blouse to wear for our family get together.
I will admit the keeping up with a blog can be kind of hard. I have a LOT of pictures to show and a lot to say about what I have been up to here. Right now I am in the city of Neiva. Keep in mind that your idea of "city" might be different from what a city is here in Colombia. Neiva is where my dad's side of the family is from. It has a population of 378,857according to google and it is the capital of the Department of Huila. In such a large family (my grandma had 14 children) a diversity of talents is prone to abide. I personally, have been so amazed at that very fact. The talents, passions, and lifestyles within the family is very diverse and I love it. Yesterday evening my auntie Mayuri invited us to the place where her happiness is defined. It is her world, her comfort zone, and her husbands life. It is the Casateatro (theatre house) of Neiva. Turns out that my uncle is one of the best story tellers in the country, and my aunt is his supporter. Here are two mini video clips of what happened yesterday. Enjoy!
What you see is the front area of the Casateatro. Behind it is the actually stage for theatre performances and well, the theatre in it self. This is a picture of my aunt Mayuri (I need to get a picture with my uncle)
This picture is so amazing. This is my dad, and a new cousin. Well, not necessarily new, but one whom I had never met and I love him already.
It is 1:59 am, December 22nd of the year 2012. The world did not end... I Just had to put it out there.
Anyway! It has been a LONG time since I blogged. Truth is, I have been meaning to catch up on my blogging so what better time to do so than now. Lots of exiting things have occurred since the last time, BUT I figured I would let them out as we go along. As for now, I am in the BEAUTIFUL country of....COLOMBIA. I haven't visited my home country in over TWELVE years and it is crazy to even fathom the fact that I am HERE. 12 years later I am arriving to the same apartment I lived in before I left to live in California. 12 years later I am coming back to my old room, my old books, bibles (had never realized I had so many of them), old toys that mean the world to me and so much more. My mom has kept everything. I will be posting pictures of old memories, LOTS of food because if you follow/followed my Instagram specially when I was in Costa Rica, you know I am fascinated by anything that is edible, and of course lots of family pictures. Just imagine----if there is such a thing as a "LEGIT family reunion" this is THE one--TWELVE years later.
Here is a trustworthy saying: If we died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him. If we disown him, he will also disown us;
IF WE ARE FAITHLESS, HE REMAINS FAITHFUL, for he cannot disown himself.
-2 Timothy 2: 11-13
There is really no way to explain what I feel at this moment. All I can say is that to the naked eye, this was not suppose to happen. But JESUS. HE REMAINED FAITHFUL EVEN WHEN I WAS FAITHLESS. I am so glad I'm not God. Words aren't really coming out. I know I have an amazing testimony to share but as of now, I'm just speechless, amazed, shocked, just WOW.
So conclusion, to all my facebook friends, to those who have had me and my family in their prayers, THANK YOU.
MAY THE LORD BLESS YOU ALL AND MAY HIS FACE SHINE UPON YOU, AND BE GRACIOUS TO YOU.
Let me tell you: God listens and today, although it shouldn't happen this way, my family and I were approved. I guess I'll be staying in Canada to take on the burden God has given me for this country.
Jesus gave me this promise a while back:
“Be strong and of good courage, for you must go with this people to the land which the LORD has sworn to their fathers to give them, and you shall cause them to inherit it. And the LORD, He is the One who goes before you. He will be with you, He will not leave you nor forsake you; do not fear nor be dismayed.” -Deuteronomy 31:7-8
Today will consist of meditating about the blessings and the lessons God has taught me this past year, FAITH. The bible says that "without faith it is impossible to please God" (Hebrews 11:6), and yet, through out the hardships of life, we tend to loose faith because we feel a though God has forgotten about us. We loose faith because we can't understand why things happen. For a long period of time, our prayers only consist of a "Why God? Show me why." So here I am...and this is what happened: God answered and said, "If I told you why, then you wouldn't be living by faith." That's faith, "faith is having confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see" (Hebrews 11:1). Faith is beleiving in something that can't be seen and yet, believing that God has already given us the victory.
Why is it that although we witnessed a miracle yesterday we don't hesitate to doubt when we face a problem today?
I witnessed a miracle in my personal life this year. God made an impossible dream come true. However, 2010 closes with a problem whose solution is beyond what I can do. I have no power over it, no control of it's outcome; all I can do is pray and keep the faith. So I write with conviction as I write this blog; believing that there is nothing impossible for my Lord.
So dear 2011,
I enter the year armed of faith. I enter the year prepared to witness a miracle once again.
Dear Jesus Christ,
I love you and I believe in your mighty power. Allow me to serve you with all I have, all I am, and take me to those that are hungry for your word. You know that my deepest desire is to be used by you.
Dear Negativity, Are you actually a sickness, or are you a symptom that comes when the enemy wants to get a hold of our thoughts, ideas and beliefs? To the one that is going through those times in life where we feel like we just can't go on, please take the time to think about this: Close your eyes and go back to the Olympics. Think about the moment where the best runners were competing against each other. Place your self in that race, where there's only two laps left and you're in fourth place. Finally, the last lap comes and you realize you're still in fourth place, what do you do? Do you just give up and let the one's behind you take your forth place? Or do you keep on trying for the next 5 seconds hoping you'll get at least third place? I know it's hard, but it seems logical to keep on trying. I mean, you already ran almost the whole race, why not finish it? Yes there is probably a 1% chance that you'll get first place, but why not try to get the third place that will get you a metal? So before you give up, I know you feel you can't go on any more. You might be right. It's hard to persevere alone, but that's the beauty of it all. You don't have to do this alone. In fact, you have to stop trying to do this alone, it's just to much to bear. Trying to solve certain problems on your own might just get you into more trouble. So please, grab a hold of the one that will never leave you, the one that sees you when you feel the whole world has forgotten you, grab a hold of the one that's just waiting to manifest His glory over your life. Jesus Christ. Natalia
The rough times come and good times also come. "It was the worst of times and it was the best of times." That's where I'm at. Where you know that there has to be more to all the stress, there has to be something better behind the bad news. As I asked God for His direction to show me where I belong, He reminded me of the Israelites in the desert. If your familiar with the story of Moses, you'll know that God manifested His glory multiple times. He open the red sea, He fed them sending them manna from heaven, He gave them water to calm their thirst among other miracles. Yet, it didn't take them long to forget about their Lord and doubt. “If only we had died in Egypt! Or in this wilderness! Why is the LORD bringing us to this land only to let us fall by the sword? ... Wouldn’t it be better for us to go back to Egypt?” -Numbers 14-
My conclusion: If I give up on God and if I doubt His mighty power, am I not doing exactly what the Israelites did. Am I not becoming the most ungraceful person alive? The answer is as follows:
If God is with me, who can be against me? No one. So today, I decided that I will not doubt the power of God for He is with me. Romans 8:31
Natalia
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to heaven, we were all going direct the other way - in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.
Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two CitiesEnglish novelist (1812 - 1870)
Let me introduce my self: the name is Natalia Manrique. Linguistics & Psychology student at Carleton University. Born in Colombia, raised in California, and now living in the beautiful city of Ottawa- the Canadian Capital----wait, I am now leaving in London Ontario....the so called Londondombia! A long story is to be told of how I got here, why I got here and what has happened since I have arrived. Miracles have been seen, life changing moments have been experienced. Among them, a calling more powerful than whatever I can imagine took place, a love life that comes by the blessings of God, and a journey towards following a ministry that is on the rode to discovery is also yet to be told. People call me an entrepreneur-reason why... is another story; but as my boyfriend would say, "you can call me entrepreneurial, my passion is to reach this generation with truth." I am not an expert in life but I do value the little I've learned through out the circumstances I hope to share with you. Allow me to take you through a journey of confusion and hope, where although the ending is unknown, the Hero will always come forth to bring to you a happy ending.
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