As my future mother in law told me today, “life is crazy you have to live in the moment!” …..in Spanish of course. So let’s put the stress behind us and just live in the moment.

What should you do when you encounter a fork in the road? You’re suppose to follow your heart but if you’re heart and mind are all tangled up, what do you do?

And sometimes the answer seems so obvious but it’s scary to take that big step….

Ugh I feel so confused.

Weekend adventure off roaring in the middle of no where (10.2.11). I love spending time with those that I love so much. Although we fight and nothing is perfect all the time, I wouldn’t give anything up for my family and my boyfriend Jose.

One lucky girl

Good Morning!!!!
It’s been forever and I apologize but I never was good at keeping a diary or a journal, so this is hard for me to write in everyday…forgive me.
I woke up early because my tummy hurts….and I was just thinking about life and my brother, Papo.
This past Friday before I left to work, I asked my dad if he could BBQ some steaks for dinner and after work we all arrived home and gathered around the table. And it wasn’t formal or anything but it was the whole family (minus ely) just hanging out at moms and pops. We all shared our stories, and even made plans to go up to Orlando in a couple of weeks for a family vacation all over dinner. I think about it now, how all our lives have different paths and it’s rare we all can get together at the same time, so a family dinner like this makes my heart smile and j hope we can do it at least every two weeks just all have dinner at moms and pops.

Why is that food unites people?

“Fear less, hope more Eat less, chew more Whine less, breathe more Talk less, say more Love more, and all good things will be yours.”

It’s been a while…and as I go through this journey on trying to collect pennies and dimes to save my Brother’s life, I’ve notice that at the same time my brother is helping me save my life. To be courageous and fearless, I guess that comes naturally to him. Maybe because he’s the Big brother…or maybe it’s because he’s the best. So here is to courage to face our fears, big or small. I love you Papo!

Http://www.transplants.org/donate/carlosdecespedes

Good Afternoon!!! I posted some pictures of my brother Papo and my family, so you all can see who Papo is. I just want to let you all know how much I appreciate all your efforts and support. It’s such a great feeling! Thanks!!!

Lets keep the movement going!

Visit and tell your friends to visit www.transplants.org/donate/carlosdecespedes

Xoxo! Raquel

My brother and his family

My brother Papo and his wife

My family on New Years Eve

Good Evening my fellow tumblrs!!

This morning I was greeted with a cup full of hope, thanks to one of my co-workers. As I was getting my mail in the teacher’s mailbox room, I ran into a co-worker. As I do every morning I greeted him with a BIG “Good Morning!” and a smile. Because I think everyone deserves a smile. Plus smiles are contagious.

And he asked me how my brother was doing. At first I was wondering which brother, until he mention “David told me about it last week.” We talked all the way from the office to our rooms. And he gave me hope. Why? Because his daughter had a kidney transplant a while back and is doing perfectly fine. He told me that the transplant team at Jackson were the best. She’s doing wonderful now, and he told me there were bumps in along the way to recovery but they pushed it together. And just talking to him filled me up with joy and hope!

Plenty of my students are helping me out in numerous ways and I can’t thank them enough for their ideas and spreading the word. Here’s how you can help too:

1. Go to www.transplants.org/donate/carlosdecespedes
2. Click on Donate
3. Enter you credit card info
4. Select NFT Patient and enter in Carlos DeCespedes

5. Submit

   *** for those who want to write a check make it payable to National Foundation for Transplants and where it was for fill in NFT Patient Carlos Decespedes.

Thanks a million for all your support!

Xoxo, Raquel

One step closer to saving my brother’s life!