Focus on Mexico Blog

My husband, Joel, and I were at one of our favorite restaurants celebrating our 17th wedding anniversary last month when we saw a mom being tugged by her toddler son all over the restaurant. She looked exhausted. Joel, very nostalgically, told her, "Enjoy it. These times won't last."

We should know. We have four teenagers (well Noah is 12...almost a teen) and we are so gratified by who they are all becoming.

I just realized that our family of six will span four countries in less than a week. My daughter, Kaelyn, is in Honduras on a missions trip working at an orphanage this summer. Joel and Noah are leaving for Colorado soon to see Grandpa for his birthday and Lily and Maya will be going to Canada next week. I get to stay here in Mexico and hold down the fort.

 Lily and Maya earned the money themselves to go to Canada and made this video:

There is a story in the news today about a father who is the reserve team manager for the Mexican soccer team, Las Chivas, who has quit his job after they refused to let him take time off to go see his son play for the world cup.

This story really encapsulates what a priority family is to Mexicans but what struck me even more was his understanding of time and what is eternal….

Goal.com reports:

Mexico star's father quits coaching job to watch him at World Cup

Javier ‘Chicharo’ Hernandez has quit his job as manager of Chivas' reserve side in order to watch his son, Javier ‘Chicharito’ Hernandez, play for Mexico in this summer's World Cup in South Africa...

By Kristina Morgan

Huele de Noche is an unassuming flowering plant that gives off a heady perfume that will fill an entire yard with its beauty at night. My daughter Maya thinks it looks like a weed. But that “weed” is one of the most beautiful flowers in our yard because of the sheer pleasure I have when I smell it at night. It even fills our house with the sweet smell. I admit that if you don’t recognize Huele de Noche for what it is that it is a little unexpected coming from such a modest flower.

Tonight, as we were leaving the house I stopped and showed my youngest daughter, Maya, the Huele de Noche plant and we both breathed in the scent of this surprising flower that may be small but packs quite a punch! We were leaving the yard and I was driving her to a dance where she was meeting her sister, Lily, and their friends.

As we were driving along, Maya and I chatted about whatever it is mothers and daughters chat about on the way to a dance. Time to be picked up, where she would meet Lily, etc.

Its funny how in retrospect these moments of utter normalcy can become the most poignant moments in our lives and it is also funny that as a person who loves to use words that I feel myself at a loss to describe the moment of clarity I had that made me so proud and in awe of this few seconds that was a blip on the history radar. As a parent, it’s as if I crossed an invisible threshold tonight.

by Kristina Morgan

It still amazes me how much the people talk about why they moved to Lake Chapala. I think it’s a topic in just about every conversation I have ever had since moving to Mexico in 1993. Most of us are still thankful that we found this wonderful community and even though it is well-established it is still very open and very friendly to newcomers. Despite the simple, peaceful life we lead here at Lake Chapala with the second best climate in the world, the low cost of living and safety, I still get a lot of emails asking me about crime here from people wondering if we’re all just nuts to be living south of the border in a "dangerous place."

According to UN statistics, you're 3 times more likely to be a victim of crime in the U.S. than you are in Mexico.

Recent FBI statistics paint the picture even more clearly... The murder rate (per 100,000 people) in Baltimore is 43.3... in Washington DC it is 29.1... and in Detroit 47.3... But in Mexico, the murder rate again is just a third of that... about 13...

Mexicans have a deeply rooted love and affection for their family. Considering I have no Mexican roots or ancestry, I am the first to admit how lucky I am to have all of my family here at Lake Chapala with me. They moved from Texas, California and Colorado to be here. Many of you know I have my husband and three children here….but did you know that my parents, brothers, my aunt and uncle and two cousins have also migrated south and all of them live within 15 minutes of me? This Thanksgiving one of the things I will be most thankful for is having my family and almost all of my extended family here at Lake Chapala. It is truly amazing to me that such different personalities from such different places have all converged in the most beautiful, simple and charming place I have ever been—and we all love it.

After settling in, I realized that despite the fact that I have almost all of my family here and being immersed in a completely family oriented culture in Mexico, we were all busy with our day to day lives and not spending enough time together. Weeks would go by and none of us had even talked! We were an American cliché living in Mexico. So we got together and decided to spend time together as a family, every Thursday night, come rain or shine.