En el nombre del Padre....

The Sanchez-Mendez household was a flurry of activity this past weekend getting ready for the First Communion of Lorena, my middle host-sister (age 9). Cake to be picked up, house to be cleaned, new curtains to be hung, ceiling fan to be cleaned with toothbrush, cleaned curtains to be ironed and hung, the ‘visitor’ bed-spread to be put out, many groceries to be bought, three darling girls and their mother to be sent to the beauty salon to get their ‘brushing’ done, balloons to be blown-up, party clothes to be ironed one more time, and of course many kilos of meat to be grilled.

I had the opportunity to be there for it all! And the best part about the whole thing – is they let me help! The Sanchez-Mendez family received me with open arms after my 24-hours of transit to get to Paraguay and have squeezed me tight and treated me like their own since day one! However, I was not allowed to cook or clean. Not this last weekend! I was a full family member – made dinner twice, picked up party clothes from the tailors, washed dishes, served mate and blew up balloons! It was the most wonderful feeling.

It was also the first time I took a boyfriend to a family event. And while it probably wasn’t as ruff as it would be as feeding a boyfriend to the Walker/Montag pack – it was another first! We had a wonderful weekend. Christian acquired a few new younger admirers and yucked it up with man-talk about work and futbol!
Here are a few pictures from the party and the prep!

Dishes dishes and more dishes!

Lots of FOOD prep!

Yard prep work!

Lorena, serving mate with her newly styled hair, waiting to take out all of the curls!

Paola and me!

Four beautiful ladies
(Paola, Ña Olga, Lorena and Gloria - all had a trip to the beauty salon sunday morning!)

Gloria (Hollywood) Sanchez-Mendez

Head Griller

Me and Lorena

Lorena, Ña Olga and Don Oscar (and the CAKE!)

Family event! L to R: Ña Juana (maternal grandmother), Carly (other PCV host sister), Paola (13 year old host sister), Don Oscar, Ña Olga, Alberto (Christian´s cousin), Christian and me. Front Row: Gloria (age 5) and Lorena (age 9)