Deyra's First Easter in the U.S.

So it’s been awhile again…I really suck at blogging! We’ve been gone a lot the past month so Deyra has been getting lots of English practice with other people. She also went to some kind of fair (she really doesn’t tell us anything and we found out about it from the director of her program) where she showed her goat from her Animal Science class. She always told us how terrible her goat was and that it did not like to walk or listen. Apparently she was wrong because she received first place at the show! We’re still not entirely sure what the show entailed but it lasted the entire weekend and she said that she had fun.

I was out of town for a week for work so Deyra hung out with Kevin and my sister Laurie while I was gone. Laurie made the two of them dinner one night and said that she had never heard Deyra talk so much, and in English to boot! The next week, Kevin and I went to Florida for a wedding. Deyra stayed with our friend Grace the first weekend and according to her, the highlights of the weekend were going to Walmart and McDonalds. She then stayed with Kevin’s parents during the week. She didn’t really have much to say about her stay there, just that the food was very different the food that I make (she was probably excited to eat meat and not salad everyday). The last weekend that we were gone, Deyra stayed with my mom. She went to the high school musical which she said that she enjoyed even though she did not understand it, and learned how to make pancakes. Deyra said that she had a good time and spoke lots of English. She, of course, immediately reverted to Spanish as soon as we got home…I don’t know about that girl.

I think that Deyra’s first Easter in the US was a success! On Friday, we went to Kevin’s parents’ cabin in Kings Canyon National Park. There was a little snow and Deyra was excited to play in it. She had been to the park with her class and seen snow but she said that there was very little then and they didn’t really play in it. She even went sledding! She was a little leery at first but finally agreed to go as long as I rode with her. She said that she liked it. Deyra and our nephew, Tristan, also went on an Easter egg hunt in the snow. She had never heard of an Easter egg hunt and seemed to have fun. I had never seen an Easter egg hunt in the snow before!

On Sunday, we went to church and Deyra helped Laurie and I hide the Easter eggs for the children to hunt. She had a good time doing it. She also seemed to enjoy all of the candy…she walked around to the empty tables after breakfast at church and put all of the candy that was on them in her pockets! I think that she had gone through withdrawals during Lent since I gave up junk food and didn’t make any brownies! We then went to Russell and Laurie’s new house and ate lots of food. Deyra actually hung out with everyone and talked rather than sitting in the corner silently like she normally does. I think that she really likes my mom and feels more comfortable around her. Deyra spent most of the day hugging her and hanging on her, I’ve never seen her do that with anyone else. All in all, it was a success!