How DACA is changing my life and a secret left behind...

Deferred action for childhood arrivals (DACA) is changing my life and I will tell you how.....

It no longer has to be a secret to some that I was not born in the U.S.
As many, I was brought over here as a child at the age of five. My parents wanted a better life for themselves and their family. To me this is my home, although I am proud of my heritage and being Mexican, I feel like this is my country and the place where I belong. This is the place where I want to raise my kids, who were born here. Now I am able to have a social security number, a driver license and have a job. What I've always dreamed of! You may ask yourself why I didn't before, or many other questions. DACA has given me that chance, the chance of pursuing my dream, the chance of finally being able to go to college, and being able to give my kids a better future. Those things that may seem insignificant, I was not able to have before, not because I didn't want or tried, but because the possibility didn't exist. Let me tell you that it was a little scary talking about this, having the courage; but I wanted to express myself and express an apology to those who I lied to saying I was born here. I must say God is awesome and he permitted my parents to bring me here for a reason, I didn't make the choice of coming here, but now I make the choice of staying here. 

I know that God has many plans for my families life ahead and is already opening a lot of doors, being accepted for DACA (a day I will never forget), for what I prayed for months, passing my driving test, having a driver license, enrolling to college, and about to start a new job (that of which I will talk about latter) I will tell you of how I prayed to God that having my DACA approved would be one of the best birthday gifts ever, and indeed it has been but not only did I have it approved way before my birthday but on my birthday I received a call from the company I will soon be working for, giving me a start day.

 I feel so blessed, and want to take the time to thank everyone who along with me has felt happy of the great news, and of course thank Mrs. Amelia McGowan for helping me with the process. Also thanks to Ingrid Cruz for presenting me to her, and our government for giving us this opportunity, but most importantly God! Remember, never stop dreaming, and always have faith that God will put you and take you not where you want to be, but where he knows you need to be.

Pictured with my LP (I now have my DL!)

Hope everyone has a great weekend, I can't believe tomorrow will be November the 1st. The older I get the faster the years seem to go by, Christmas is just around the corner, and it seems as thought the cool weather is here to stay. When it comes to cooking and cool weather I can't help but to think of a yummy delicious soup. Today I want to share one of my daughter's favorite soups which is also one of my favorite, and a traditional Mexican soup. Albondigas (meat ball soup) I call it my Mexican meatball soup, or the Mexican version of Italian wedding soup. I cooked this soup Wednesday night this week and as always it was a huge hit with the kids. So here we go, hope you enjoy it!

 Albondigas

Ingredients: 

• 1 1/2 lbs Angus ground chuck beef
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup of uncooked long grain rice 
• 1 cup of white onion, diced 
• 2 Roma tomatoes, diced 
• 5 carrots, peeled and sliced 
• 2 potatoes, peeled and cubed 
• 1 Chayote squash (optional) peeled and cubed
• chopped fresh mint leaves 
• 2 tsp of oil
• Salt, pepper, and garlic powder as much or as little as desired
• Chicken broth or chicken bouillon (I use Knorr chicken bouillon)
• 2 quarts of water (if you are going to use the bouillon)
• 2-3 tablespoons of bouillon (if you decide to use instead of broth)

In a large stock pot add oil and saute half a cup of diced onion and one diced tomato for about 1 minute, after add the sliced carrots and chayote. After you have mixed this you can add your chicken broth or the 2 quarts of water if you chose to go with the bouillon, at this time you add the bouillon and a few fresh mint leaves, cover and let it boil (approximately 10 minutes)

 Meanwhile in a large bowl mix the meat, eggs, uncooked rice, 1/2 cup of diced onion, 1 diced tomato, pepper, salt and garlic powder, form into 1 inch meatballs and drop in boiling broth, at this point you will also add the potatoes. Once soup returns to a boil reduce heat to medium-low. 

Cover and cook for 20 minutes or until meat is no longer pink and the veggies are tender. Serve in bowl and garnish with diced onions and jalapeño peppers (optional) we also use a little squirt of lime. Enjoy!

Hope you all enjoy this recipe, that I'm sharing with much love, cooking albondigas brings lots of good memories not only as a little girl growing up, but also of when I cooked it for the first time for my kids; not to mention this was also the

 first thing I cooked for my husband when we got married. I would love to see some pictures 

if you try this out!

 God Bless you!

Hola, I would like to tell you a little about this crazy mami!

This is my family, a Hispanic family living in the south. We love to have fun and like to be active, my daughter does both ballet and tumble, my son plays soccer and T-ball, my husband is a very hardworking man and I'm currently a stay at home mommy. I love to stay home and being able to spent time with my kids, and I haven't always been a stay at home mom, about six or seven months ago I was working at a retail furniture store, where I had been working for about 3 years (before that I was a stay at home mom). It's always good bringing home that extra cash to the house but personally I like staying at home best, not because I'm lazy, but its so much convenient and I can give my kids all the attention they need (not saying that when you work you can't do the same, but its harder to do so.) I'm planning on working again maybe this coming year. My dream job is being a teacher, yeah.. yeah.. boring. I get told all the time, that I shouldn't go for that, not enough money they say, oh well... that's just what I would love to do, and due to a personal situation I was never able to go to college (that of which I may decide to tell you about latter on) but for now I am a happy stay at home mom that has told you some about her life.