Updating: September

September was the month I met my new wonderful friend Leticia. I got new gals on my Visiting Teaching list and Leticia was one of them. Visiting her was like stepping back in time to the mission. She's from Mexico and has all the mannerisms, decorating tastes, clean house smells (suavitel fabric softener and fabulouso cleaner), and hospitality of the dear Hispanic people I worked with on the mission. She's been working in the nursery in the ward for a while and I had talked with her a bit as I took Collin in. She speaks decent English but is much more comfortable speaking in Spanish and has a special gift for working with and loving children.

When I went to visit her we got started talking food and right away made plans for a 'cooking lesson' at my house. The next week on her day off I picked her up and we headed for Wal-Mart for the supplies and then to my house to make chile rellenos. I could have died they tasted so good!!!!! She is a whiz in the kitchen--I had Cliff and Lisa over to learn the relleno trick and enjoy the meal with us. Lisa and I just marveled at how pretty her hands looked as she cooked and how she was able to do everything without even measuring.

I feel like I have stumbled on to a really special friend. Leticia was the oldest of eight kids (I think) and has three almost grown kids of her own. It's hard to put in words what makes this gal so special--it's just something you feel when you're around her. Cliff and Lisa feel the same way. We sat around after she left talking about the tingly, wonderful, hard-to-describe way she made us all feel. When I talked to her about working in the nursery and how great she is with kids, she told me that she feels like she has a special gift for mothering. Maybe that's the best way to describe how she made us feel...mothered. Well, that word sure looks weird, but you know what I mean.

Here she is at the stove. Boy, I wish I had some rellenos right about now!!