Yay! My husband can drive now!

So today we finally decided to go get my husband's Drivers License. He has been driving without one but in January the policia started doing retens (road blocks) so that is when we decided no more driving for him until we got a drivers license. We would have gotten it sooner but a Drivers License in Acuna cost 482 pesos (roughly $37 and a week's pay for my husband) so it had been put on the back burner for a couple months.
 Well the day finally came to get him his license cause honestly I was getting tired of driving everywhere and I really suck at parallel parking..LOL

I took the kids to school and dropped them off about 1:25 and went to get hubby from work. He took off work 2.5 hours early so we could get things done. First we went to his sisters and got a bill for a proof of address since his ID card shows her address, Figured it would be better to keep everything the same address. We then headed downtown to the License office. We had to pay 5 pesos to get a piece of paper with the cost of the license and the had to do a mad dash across the street to pay the 482 pesos. They said after he paid he would need to take a exam but they close at 3, It was already 2:20! We stood in line at Santander bank for 20 minutes to pay the fee, They stamp the paper and it was 2:36 as we was leaving the bank. My knee was killing me today so I tell Carlos to just run and leave me and I will catch up so he takes off back to the 2nd floor of the place to get the license.. I slowly make my way there and he is standing in line. The lady tells him to go to the room on the end to take his exam, We go to that room and its empty, No one is there! He goes back to the first lady and she says to go to the room next door. We walk into that room, Carlos tells the woman he needs to take his exam for her drivers license. She takes his paper, signs it and sends us back to the first room to get his license! Seems the exam is only getting a signature.
We give the lady back the paper, She takes his photo, some info and his thumb print and we have license in hand a few minutes later. It was actually a fairly easy process but I will be honest , I really dont know how there isnt way more accidents in Acuna since no one has to take any kind of test! If you have the money, You get a drivers license!

I guess next it will be me! They say I can get my Mexico Drivers License with my passport, proof of address and a letter from Mexican Customs stating I live here. So maybe I will get mine at some point....Maybe not...Only time will tell LOL


Anyway, Here is the first picture of hubby with his drivers license! I handed him the keys and said I'm done driving!!

Random Thoughts

So when I started this blog I had every intention of it kind of being my outlet, A way to let out my frustrations and feel like I was talking to someone, Well then I got a job, with that job came a really good boss who has also turned into an amazing friend. I have the privilege of working from home and still have time to take my kids to school and cook dinner while making American money in Mexico (although some days feel like there is not near enough hours in the day!)

When we decided to move to Mexico, I was honestly scared. Not so much scared to live in Mexico but scared to leave my family back in Oklahoma, I was scared that I wouldn't make friends or would be unhappy so I told my family back in Oklahoma to keep my house cause I would probably be back in 6 months.

Well 6 months has came and gone, We are a couple months away from being in Mexico for 8 months. I have made some amazing friends here who guide me and show me the way, We get invited places all the time (that didn't even happen often in Oklahoma!) and all in all we truly feel Welcomed here. Yes it has taken some adjustments, Yes there have been tons of struggles but I have finally accepted, This is now my home. My kids will graduate from school here, We will grow old here. Mexico is now our home and we are HAPPY. We are happier as a family than we have been in a long time. Its so nice to live without the fear that someday Immigration will take your husband away. We don't have that fear anymore. We feel FREE, Free from the Immigration Laws in the USA. We are just normal people now, Trying to survive and support our families like everyone else except without the worries of Immigration.

The kids are doing great here, Esperanza (12) speaks a lot of Spanish now and does really well with reading and writing in Spanish. Cruz still struggle a bit but he can talk smack and play with the other boys at school no problem. They both have excellent grades also.

Esperanza will be finishing 6th grade in a few months and going onto Secundaria. Then in 3 short years she will graduate from school in Mexico at the age of 15 but we intend to pay the money and send her to Prepa to keep her education going. She even wants to go to college here! I really like the education here, No they don't have nice schools or the nice things like schools in America have but the actual education is top notch and that what is the most important.

People ask me all the time about the violence at the border and if I feel safe living here...My answer is YES. I feel safe living here. Don't get me wrong, Shootings still happen etc but its really no different than many big cities in the USA. I honestly feel like the crime is less than Tulsa, OK (about 20 minutes from my hometown). The kids play outside and we don't worry, I drive myself and don't worry. Yeah I have gotten worried or freaked out a couple times over some situations but once again, not any different than big US cities.


Acuna is actually a little town, a lot of people live here but its a small town. We have a beautiful lake that I intend to spend time at this summer and pretty cool Centro. 
We have Subway, Little Ceasers Pizza, Auto Zone and even a store owned by Wal-Mart called Bodega Aurrera.

We also have the famous Corona Club where parts of El Mariachi and Desperado was filmed with tons of cool pictures and autographs of famous people on the walls. Last weekend was our first Experience at the Corona Club, We went to a Lamb cook off with some friends, It was a blast and will for sure be a yearly thing for us, for 60 pesos (roughly $4.50) you pretty much got to eat food from all the different contestants all day! They had a live band too! We truly enjoyed ourselves! 


Video of the Lamb Cook off at the Corona Club

All in all we are pretty much happy here, Yes I wish things were different but their not, This is the hand we were dealt and we are making the best of it. We have a home, a running vehicle and WE HAVE EACH OTHER. What more could we ask for?

Every week things get easier and better for us, Heck a month ago we didn't even have furniture but now our house is filling up! Right now life is good, not great but good and thats good enough for me.

We do hope to make it to Oklahoma soon though cause we really miss my family. We left in July and have not been back due to finances but we hope that changes soon, Then I am sure I will be blogging about the kids and I first road trip completely alone !!!!!



Anyways, That's my totally random  thoughts for the day. I hope to try to keep up with this blog a bit more and share more experiences from My Life in Ciudad Acuna