AustinBiz Facts for Austin Texas

Muddy Christmas My big ol '

Last year, my wife Rose and I offered to carry a crew of seven children raised plenty junior gifts, food and a Christmas tree a family needs in East Austin. We left the right of the church, so we were in our best Sunday. This was my first error.

We packed up the tree and food in the van of Rose, this one in the trunk of my car and left. We sang Christmas carols all the way up the east side of Austin, where the roads turned to dirt. Heavy rains the previous night had created giant mud pits had a ride. We went in search of the house of Maria Ceballos and six children. When I finally found the right way, it was a dirt road in its own right to the big mud pit in the midst of insurmountable had to go. But I was not afraid. Christmas gifts we had to offer.

I stopped just below the mud pit to draw the best strategy. It seemed as if we were to the left of the deepest part of the mud pit, which could happen. I switched to the speed and pledged to move forward at all. This was my second mistake.

In the hole and got the tires immediately begun to turn, but the car does not move. "We have to move on," I said to myself. I turned the wheel hard left and hard right to keep the wheels in one place any excavation. It worked. I was selling the gas and ran down the wheel the left and right lasts until the "market" the car all the way to where there was an "almost dry" place, then off the road in the grass. So I went to see Rose and children who were in SUV behind me.

In fact, it has been stuck in the mud and was the worst – the projection engine and digging itself deeper. These girls can drive through the snow in Wisconsin, but not in the good old Texas mud. He saluted and turned off the motor. She and all the children jumped from the truck and mud in your beautiful church, clean clothes. The grandchildren of Mexican neighborhood stayed there, we look at the eyes staring, as if we were crazy.

I got up and left the children with the vehicle and walked down the muddy road to see if I could find Ceballos house. Only half of the concrete-block houses and mobile homes had an address on them. Nobody seemed to know who he was or where she lived Maria Ceballos. I was depressed, thinking that might not even be on the way and now we were stuck in the mud with a secondary group of hyperactive children. I turned around and returned cars to see Rose and the children are happy to walk towards me, carrying bags of gifts and the tree – as a prize. "What are you doing?" I cried. Is not that where they live? "Rosa asked." I thought the reason I pulled off the road. "

Children of trees Christmas fell in the mud on the way back to the car. So now we had a Christmas tree to be a little muddy delivered. I tried not to be frustrated. It was Christmas and we were there for a good cause. I managed to get the SUV and the shedding of a place in the semi-dry. It seemed that the road was a little dry to some hundreds meters, but we have to weed through the rest of the mud pit to get there. Our only choice was to return to the way he came round to apple. We decided to walk around the block. But first we had to go back into the mud pit where we came away.

At that moment I felt like a professional. I put the hammer and sent mud flying everywhere and I was back through the quagmire without no problem. Rose, unfortunately, got stuck again. A young couple living in a desperate situation and rushed to give an inch behind his hands. He called one of them in the mud as they become finally the hole and he made the other side. "Sorry!" Shouted from the window. "No problem there! Was the reply. I'm sure the last thing I wanted was a pair of yuppies with a group of young people trapped in the right front of his house for the rest of the afternoon.

We went to the block and came here in the street in opposite directions, finally found the perfect home – thanks to some men who were in his yard playing with cocks on a leash. I asked in Spanish if that is penis-cock fighting and proudly answered "yes" and told me the name of each rooster. Names such as Spanish versions of "Top Gun" fighter pilots. He showed me the scars the battle on their cocks as if they were medals of honor.

I told one of the men at the front to do "Christmas Gifts" and shouted in Spanish for the open windows of the house of Ceballos. Almost immediately, six grandchildren Ceballos is spreading outside the house with eyes wide open pregnant. "Where this Mary Ceballos, I asked, and all children stressed the door of the house of concrete blocks. I could see Mary shyly hid behind the door. "Well guys, everybody download donations and follow me." We are finally home.

September Rose boys high and came down in the little house as a tornado and set up the tree on the cold concrete floor of the living room. So, has all the gifts and food. Ceballos children immediately began the press and this shaking and looking for their names. Throughout the journey, some Tiffany Wilson had been carrying out a new stuffed cat with no name. You just knew that it was. "Daisy's Who?" finally asked and a girl raised her hand. Tiffany was the pot and gave it to Daisy and she snuggled against his chest and smiled. Was a magnificent spectacle. We sang the Spanish Christmas song that everyone knew – Merry Christmas. Then made a prayer at the house of Ceballos.

When leaving the house, the men outside decided to give us a show. They released the tap and immediately began to fight. Our church's children were there – with his mouth open. "Why are they fighting?" A girl asked me. "It's their instinct," I said. "If you get two men cocks together, are fighting. This is one of the greatest athletes of Mexico. Everyone wants to win the Paris gallo. The rooster left wins. "Almost all the time, a man asked me if you wanted to bet $ 5.00. This was our signal. "Thank you. Merry Christmas", they have said and stacked seven teens in the car and left mud.

As I thought, I realized that the Ceballos family could easily have been my family for five generations, when my ancestors came to Texas from northern Mexico. These guys in the front with the roosters could easily be my uncles. I figured I'd come back in time to give my family tree Christmas and lots of gifts and food and I wondered how I would feel like a small child to see a lot of gifts for their introduction into our house – Quite unexpected. For a moment I was that child, and my heart fills with emotion.

And then I wondered – what if I could go back in time and give my ancestors a present. What I give my fathers, knowing that it would be a day for me? My imagination is unleashed. Would to give the gift of education? A million dollars to invest in the next five generations until it was sent to me? Coca Cola stock to increase over time? Foreign policies such as Bush or Kennedy? Faith in God?

As my mind wandered, went ever further in time. . . Two thousand years ago. . . a peaceful hillside overlooking a small town where shepherds watched their flocks outdoors star. And then I realized that God had come into my past and me gave a gift the best gift of all – the birth of his son Jesus Christ. . . and smiled.

Dan Castro is the owner or agent of options Austin Realty in Austin, Texas. It is also the award-winning author imperative that life changes CHOICE. www.greateraustinrealestateguide.com

About the Author

Professional:
Daniel R. Castro is a business litigation attorney and partner in the law firm of Castro & Baker, LLP, in Austin, Texas. Dan is an honors graduate of the University of Texas School of Law. He has spent the last 25 years mentoring teenagers and law students. Professionally, Dan has represented Fortune 500 corporations in multimillion-dollar litigation, individual corporate executives in employment disputes and small to mid-size corporations in hotly contested commercial and real estate disputes.

Aside from practicing law, Dan is also a business strategist/business consultant, helping clients to find the best strategy for starting businesses, developing business plans, building businesses and solving problems. Dan is also a professional keynote speaker and executive retreat leader and personal business coach and motivator.

Personal:
Dan has an insatiable love of history and has always gravitated toward the stories of people who seemed to prosper in the midst of crisis and adversity when everyone else around them failed. He was curious about what set these people apart and made them heroes. After he started practicing law, Dan started conducting the research that went into Critical Choices That Change Lives. His natural curiosity led him on a nine year adventure of reading volumes of biographies, academic articles, psychological treatises, magazines, newspapers, and observing people. What he discovered was that heroes are people who can literally see and hear things around them that other people cannot.

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