"I'm not even crying!"

Well, we have crossed another milestone in this journey! Annie had her first shower in 5 weeks. It was her idea and during her shower she continued to say over and over, "I'm not even crying!" She said, "It only hurts a little." We were so excited after this, we felt like celebrating. It was definitely a great day!



I was thinking about so many things that have happened over the past 5 weeks and I have learned a great deal. Ya know the word, "pain" is one that explains a wide variety of things. One thing about pain is that sometimes it is severe, like when Annie fell into this large pot. Then sometimes it may become less and be more like an occasional feeling, like when Annie would think about the pain she experienced. I think when someone experiences any kind of pain, whether it be losing a child, a mom, a friend, or knowing someone with a terminal illness or actually having that terminal illness, it never seems to go away. The pain seems to always be there. We may get through one type of pain, only to feel it for someone else. I am so thankful that my emotional pain has subsided as Annie's bath time is now better. I am thankful that her physical pain has subsided. However, now I find myself hurting for others. Moms caring for a terminally ill child or a child preparing themselves to say good-bye to a parent. I just hurt for the hurting, because it isn't an easy place to be. One of the things that makes that pain a little easier is having people like you to walk along side you, and pray for you when you are going through such pain. It seems to spread the pain out a little so that it is easier to bare. I hope that if you ever need someone to carry some of your burden, that you will ask me. I will count it an honor to do so! I have never felt the presence of the Lord like I have over these past weeks. I KNOW He was walking with me too. I felt the peace that is talked about in this passage.


Philippians 4:6-8 Do not worry about anything. But pray and ask God for everything you need. And when you pray, always give thanks. And God's peace will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. The peace that God gives is so great that we cannot understand it.


I know I got a little deep with this post, but I currently know many people hurting and just want you to know, I hurt with you! I didn't have a picture for today, but I will try and capture something great tomorrow!

Back home in Mexico!

We made it! After a very long day of traveling, we finally made it back home to Mexico. We won't be going to our village until Wednesday, so please pray for our re-entry to the village. Annie did great traveling, as did Jerod and Alex, they are true international travelers! I am going to post some pictures below to show you a little about our week. I think I am too tired to write anymore, but I think the pictures will do a better job anyway.



I do want to ask you to pray for someone, if you could. I got an email today from a friend of ours asking for prayer for a 20 month old little girl who got into the neighbors pool without anyone knowing. They are having to make the decision to turn off the machines. Please pray like you have for Annie, pray for wisdom and peace and comfort for this hurting family. We KNOW prayer truly works, and soon, all of you will see just how much God is doing to heal our Annie. We love you all!

Being "normal!"

Annie with Puppers
Swinging with Daddy!
Annie doing what she likes to do best, CLIMB!

ALMOST home at last!

This was Annie playing after being in the plane or on a bus for many hours today!

Nothing like friends!

This is Big Annie from Costa Rica and little Annie from Mexico!
This is Jackson and Annie, they played together all week long! Are they cute or what?

Reading cards from children in Japan! Thanks Jessica!

Heading home to Mexico

This is just a real quick post before we get on the bus heading to the airport in Guatemala City. We have spent a great week in Guatemala with coworkers for an annual meeting. We have learned a lot and been refreshed in some good fellowship. The kids have had a blast with other friends. Annie continues to do better but still is complaining of itching and a still a little nervous during bath time. Please keep us in prayers as we travel back to Mexico today. We should have more time tonight to put a more extensive post up with more news. We continue to thank all of you for your prayers.

Almost back to normal!

Hi everyone, I am sorry it has been a few days since our last update. We have been a little busy. Annie has been doing so well and has had so much fun with her friends. Her 3rd degree burn has just about closed up and hopefully tomorrow we can try to have a normal bath. We have had 2 days without tears and bath time is starting to be less tramatizing. We have noticed some things that bother her, that we will have to work through. She does not want to be put into water, like a bath tub, however she has talked about splashing in a pool. We hope to try that tomorrow. She also becomes alarmed when she hears other children screaming or crying. I believe she is remembering other children in the burn center crying in pain and this scares her. However, it is good because she is realizing that sometime kids cry for other reasons. Please pray that she will get over these fears.

Last night we had an auction to raise money for our company. Some people brought things from different countries including the United States to auction off. We raised over $3000 and had a great time doing it! This picture is of Annie, Jerod and Alex with their Frosted Mini Wheats, chocolate chips, USA hat, and Book of Jonah that they purchased in the auction. You would be amazed at the amount people spend when they REALLY want something! The items that got the highest bid were two, 1 pound bags of M&M's that were auctioned for $130.

As you can see by the next picture, Annie is starting to enjoy showing people her hands and arms to show how God has healed her. The psychologist said that this would be good therapy and I have found that it is . She has been such a blessing to us! She continues to teach us many lessons through her healing. Thank you for your continued prayers! Love you all!

No tears at bath time!

Yay! Today was the first day in a month where Annie was tear free! It is hard to believe that this accident happened a month ago tomorrow. (Tuesday) We are truly feeling like God has worked a miracle in Annie. After her tear free bath time tonight she said, "God is doing a really good job, isn't He?" Of course Greg and I smiled and said, " Yes, Annie He is doing GREAT!" She even told Greg that he didn't have to act silly tonight if he didn't want to because she wasn't sad! Praise God for that!

I have put a few pictures of our day on here. The first one is of Annie with her new towel from her new friend Hannah. Annie says that this helped bath time a bunch! She really did have an awesome day. As I have mentioned before, we are here in Guatemala for our annual meeting with our company. We are so blessed to be with a company who takes such good care of us, seeing to every need, even the needs of our little ones! Annie had her first try at the Wii game. She had so much fun playing it and you can see in the second picture that her brothers are her biggest fans! In the third picture you can see one of Annie's "aunts" was really rooting for her as well! I took that picture right after Annie missed her long jump! Annie says,"Aunt Barb is fun!" Thanks for your continued prayers, we feel them! Love you!

Not much news!

I know I keep saying the same things and I really don't want to bore you with the same prayer requests! Annie is doing so well that I am about to say it is time to turn your prayers to others who need it more. I say that, and then I look at her open wounds and think she really does still need your prayers. She still is not completely healed and still has some pain. Baths are still a big challenge and it is constantly on her mind. This morning she woke up and the first words out of her mouth were, "Do you have to change my bandages?" Then at about 5:00 pm she asks about bath time. So, we are not out of the woods yet! She is really enjoying playing with friends and "going to school." That is what she calls it when she goes to her class here.

Being here in Guatemala really has been the medicine we all needed. Jerod and Alex have been enjoying swimming and playing hide and go seek until it is bedtime. They have had a blast and the week is just starting. Greg and I had some time together today and that was needed as well. We went to a plaza here and bought some souvenirs. I have put these pictures on here so that you can see we are all doing great. The boys haven't been still enough for a picture but I will try to take one of them soon. I am thinking about continuing with this blog about our time in the village as well. We will see. Thanks for lifting us all up! We continue to feel your prayers!

We made it to Guatemala!

Hi everyone, we made it last night to Guatemala and our trip went well! Annie was so excited to see all of her friends and had a great day today! Her wounds continue to heal a little each day and we really do feel it is because of all of your prayers. She had a good day in her class today and loved playing on the swingset! She even went on the monkey bars (with help) and used both hands! I am hoping that by the end of this week we will see her 3rd degree burn close up and have no more pain during bath time. Please pray for that if you will! We really hope that area heals like her hand did. Right now it still looks pretty ugly and we really don't want her to have any raised scars. I will be updating this as much as I can this week. The main prayer for now is that she will have a great week with friends and soon baths will be fun!

These two pictures were taken in the airport yesterday. Annie was pretty worn out as you can probably tell. However, her friends and "aunt" were all happy to see how well she was doing! Love to you all!

God's healing hand is healing Annie's hand!

I wasn't sure if I should put a graffic picture of Annie's hand on here, but I felt I had to do so, so that I could show you the difference. How can you not believe in miracles, in God's healing power when you see Annie's hand? It is impossible! Greg felt it was too graffic, but we both felt that some of you would be interested. However, some may not want to see it, so we have put it below this post. So, don't scroll down if you don't want to see it! The picture below was taken one week after her accident, and this one was taken today, almost 4 weeks after her accident. A few weeks ago Annie was so scared to look at her hand she had to wear sunglasses to take her bath, tonight after her bath ( which wasn't very fun) she wanted me to take a picture of her hand. I call that an answer to prayer! So, thank you!

Tomorrow ( Friday) we will be heading to Guatemala for our annual meeting with our organization. We are traveling with many of our friends and it should be a lot of fun. We are all looking forward to some time with our team and time to learn from others whom we do not yet know. Please pray for our travels, although it should be a little easier because Annie is feeling better each day, she still has a lot of pain on the parts that haven't healed and that makes traveling a little more difficult for her. Thank you so much for your continued prayer support and your comments, I really love to read them. Annie does too!

We are not sure about our internet availability over the next week so I am unsure how much I will be posting. It could be everyday, or it could only be once in awhile. So, I will do my best! Love you!

A very graffic picture, DON'T LOOK IF YOU DON'T WANT TO!!

"When will I be healthy Mommy?"

"When will I be healthy?" That is Annie's biggest question right now. She had a great day playing at the park and even going down the slide without any pain! Now, many of you might not think that is a miracle, but to me, knowing she couldn't even walk 3 weeks ago, it really is! She is such a little trooper and tries not to complain about anything. She is stared at because she is American, and now she is stared at even more as people try to figure out why she is wearing this suit. I think in a way it is a blessing because she is used to being different here, so she doesn't really notice them staring. These two pictures were taken today at the park. One is of her on the slide and the other is of Annie with her friend, Paqito.

Yesterday our bath went well and I thought today's bath would go well too. However it didn't go as well. She was back to crying tonight. I find myself wondering when will this all be over. Then I think of all of the precious mamas at Shriners Hospital praying over their children who were far worse than Annie. I find myself praying for them as I know they have a lot longer road ahead of them than we do ahead of us. Many of you have said, "Thank you" to me for writing these posts. This is my way of dealing with all that has happened, my way of journaling and journeying through all that has happened. I thank you for taking the time to write us and to pray for Annie and for our family and just for taking the time to read how she is doing. It really does mean a lot!

A visit to the dentist

Today was a good day, for many reasons! First of all, the kids all visited a pediatric dentist. I was a little worried that Annie might see the "fun doctor shirt" and think the dentist was going to cause a lot of pain. The dentist looked just like many of the nurses at Shriners hospital. However, Annie went in and never looked nervous at all. She was a brave little thing and even wanted to show the dentist her hand. It is becoming fun for her now. "Yay God!" Annie thought the dentist was fun and loved the fact that she won the contest of who had the cleanest teeth. No cavities! ( I was worried because we didn't brush them for 2 weeks straight! ) YUK!

Bath time went well tonight! Another, "Yay God!" Annie said, " It is starting not to hurt!" So there were NO tears and more laughs. She is actually asking to take a bath now, just so she can see her "Silly Daddy"act really silly! We are praising God for that! So thank you so much for your continued prayers, they really are working! You all have been such an encouragement to us, just knowing that you are still out there praying, means so much. Sometimes if we are having a bad day or the pain is worse, I think to myself, "I hope someone out there is praying because I sure could use a little extra help today." So, thank you in advance for all of your prayers, past, present and future!

We are relying on Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future."

Making Annie laugh!

Our bath times continue to be very hard. Annie's screams are blood curdling. We have now found one thing that works. Greg's comic relief. This is the ONLY thing that can calm her down after bath time. This picture is of Greg looking into a jar of her medicine and pretending it is ice cream. He always says he is going to eat it and Annie always laughs hysterically. For those of you who think Greg is reserved, think again! Please pray that this time of day would soon be back to normal. None of us look forward to bath time anymore.

We had lunch with our next door neighbor here. She was a friend of ours before now and she and her family have been praying for Annie. Her little girl, Kayla played with Annie and it wasn't long before Annie offered to show Kayla and her mom her burns, ALL of her burns. This was the first time she wanted anyone to see how Jesus has healed her. She even took off her glove to show them her hand. I was amazed! She explained to them in Spanish where each burn was and said, "They are really nice to me, Mama." I count this as a huge answer to prayer! She doesn't even like to look at them, so for her to show them to others was really a big step for her. She is now beginning to look at her bad burns and says she looks like a pig. Then she just laughs. What she sees is the really pink skin that pigs have and that is where she gets that correlation.

Thank you for your continued prayers! I know she isn't dying and I know she will recover from this accident, I don't know when she will be completely healed, but I do know it is because of your prayers she is doing as well as she is! We love you all!

I goofed!

I messed up! I wrote a post and thought it would show up first and it is below all of these pictures. My plan was for you to read what I wrote and then see the pictures, but now I don't know how to change the order. So... if you want to read how our trip went, you will have to scroll down. Sorry!

Nothing like our Daddy!

Happy Father's Day Daddy!

Going to church with Jackson

Saying her last good-byes!

I'm ready!

We made it! I (Missy) never thought that coming back to Mexico would feel like coming home, however it really does. The smells, the sights, even the garbage, it all feels like home now. We arrived in Puebla, Mexico last night at about 10:30 pm. We were exhausted!! The day started out with blessings and ended with them too. Nancy and Kendall (friends of friends) picked us up at our hotel in Texas early yesterday morning. They used a van from their church, to pick us up and take us to the airport. Thank you to their church for the use of the van! This was huge to us since they didn't know us or anything about us. They said they felt God telling them to do this and so they did it. How great is our GOD? I will one day write a book and tell you! But... until then, HE is BIG!! This picture is of Nancy and Kendall at the airport.

Then we arrived in Mexico City, Annie was in pain and a little cranky at the start and then she settled down and slept the rest of the flight. (scroll down to see more pictures) We had no problems and met our friends Sherry, Steve, Barb, and Stephanie and they helped with our luggage and we were off to eat dinner. After eating we headed to Puebla and had a wonderful stay there. We all slept great and went to church today with the Barger family. The church was great and they all shared how they had been praying for Annie and would continue to do so. To me, this is just awesome. To know that there are people praying for your daughter in numerous languages is just more than a mom could ever dream of. I thank each and everyone of you!

We have had a great Father's day and Greg is relaxed on the couch watching golf now. What more could he ask for? Hope you all are enjoying a great day as well! I will keep you up to date and ask you to continue to pray for pain-free bandage changings and pain-free baths! Love you!

Just a family photo so you can know what we all look like. We bought Texas shirts to remember this time and how God blessed us through it all. Scroll down to read my newest blog.

Our last day in Texas

Our last day here in Texas was spent playing games, watching people fish, eating and making our last Wal-Mart run. We have felt so blessed here, however, we are really ready to go back to Mexico. That is where Annie really feels at home and we are looking forward to spending time with our team. They are like our extended family so by going back to Mexico and our annual meeting, it is like going to see some more of our family. We really need this down time to regroup before we return home.

Annie has not been sleeping well for the past 3 nights. She is in a lot more pain now than before as her bad burn is continuing to heal. However, we have a huge praise, she has not had a nightmare in a week! We are very excited about that! God is answering your prayers! Thank you!! We have also noticed that she has become ambidextrous and is using both of her hands equally now. (as you can see in the picture) She says it doesn't hurt to use her right hand, she just likes using them both now. We are happy as long as she is using the right hands some. (another PRAISE!!)

As I mentioned yesterday, we fly out tomorrow from Houston and will arrive in Mexico City at around 2:30 pm. Please pray for this, I always get a little frazzled when flying, especially when the plane isn't all that big! Ours seats 100 passengers, I think. Thankfully it is a short flight. (around 2 hours) I will try to update everyone tomorrow night and let you know how the day went! Until then....

Tuckered Out!

We are leaving our Galveston home that was so generously offered to us by Anna and Jorge Diaz of Houston. What a huge blessing it has been to us. I hope that some day I can bless someone else the way they have blessed us! We will be staying in a hotel until we fly out on Saturday. As you can see from this picture, we are all getting a little tired. Annie was quiet for awhile and I went looking for her. I found her on the stairs asleep with her new blanket and her new monkey. I will keep posting each day to let you all know what and how we are doing. We fly out of Houston to Puebla, Mexico on Saturday and would appreciate all of your prayers that day. Traveling under normal circumstances is hard, but traveling with Annie like she is, could be a little stressful. We love you so much!

What to pray for?

I was trying to decide what to post today. That is why it has taken me until now to post something. I am struggling with what to ask you to pray for. Annie is doing well during the day. However, at about 4:00 pm she starts asking if she has to have a bath. We always say, "yes." That is when the anxiety starts. She is struggling with stomach aches a lot, mainly because of stress I think. Tonight we went upstairs for her bath and the whole way she said, " I don't want to, please don't make me, it hurts, PLEASE don't make me Mommy." Of course this starts my anxiety because I know what we have to do. We go to the bedroom and she looked up as sweet as I have ever seen her and said, "Mommy, can we pray about my bath?" Ya know, she has taught me far more over the past 3 weeks than I ever thought was possible. Here I was trying to find a way to comfort her, to get through it as fast as possible and she wanted to stop and pray. So, that is what we did.

The bath went a little bit better, she even took her bandages off herself. The scrubbing still caused great pain, but she calmed down within minutes after her bath. This past week it has taken us a good 30 minutes to calm her down after her bath. So, this was a huge PRAISE! The pain is getting worse and not better. This is a good thing, it means that the dead skin on the 3rd degree burn is beginning to heal. You know how they say it has to get worse before it gets better. Well, that is what is happening now. So, that is a praise and a prayer at the same time! Many of you have asked if I will continue to keep this blog updated and the answer is, "YES!" I will continue with this as long as I feel there is a need for your prayers. When I don't think she needs anymore prayers regarding her healing, I will tell you! I certainly don't want to use up your prayer time unnecessarily. I have told Annie that every time one of you prays, Jesus gives her booboos a kiss. She loves to think about that and knows that she is getting better because of all of you and Jesus.

We plan on flying out of Houston on Saturday. So, we will begin a new chapter, then. I love and appreciate you all! We have received TONS of mail for Annie and she has loved every card, picture, puppet, package and prayer! Thank you! The picture above is Annie with her new doggie, Puppers. As you can see she is quite fond on him! You can scroll down to see some other pictures I added.

Annie looking for shells. That is the Gulf of Mexico behind her. She was excited that she didn't have to go back to the hospital!

Annie and Jenny

Annie hugging Jenny, her physical therapist.

Annie and Dustin

Annie saying goodbye to Dustin. He helped her in the "tub room." This was the first time he saw her smile.

Yea! We get to go back to Mexico!!

Well, the Dr. looked at Annie and said we could go back to Mexico! Hooray! We are all ready to leave Galveston. It has been a great place to be if you are stuck somewhere, however, we are now ready to leave. The doctor said she may have some scarring on her waist area, we are going to pray that she doesn't! He said it could take up to 3-4 more weeks for that area to be healed. Not exactly what we were hoping for, but, we'll take it!! He told us she could only take baths in purified water, not real easy in Mexico, but it should make life interesting! She saw the psychologist again today and she gave us some more pain medicine for her bath time, we are hoping that will ease some of the pain at this time of day.

What to do now? Well, our plan is to fly out of Texas to Puebla, Mexico. That is where our boss lives and his wife, Jennifer worked in a burn unit for 3 years. She will be able to help us if we see Annie isn't healing properly. There is also a very nice hospital there if needed. We will be staying in a mission house there until we head to Guatemala for an annual mission meeting with our company. We should be returning to our home in Mexico sometime in early July. That is the tentative plan anyway. I will continue to keep everyone updated on Annie until we can say she is completely healed. We love you and covet your prayers for the upcoming weeks as we will be traveling, we will be in different environments, and we are getting pretty tired.

These pictures are of Annie using her right hand to Putt Putt and of Annie with her two biggest fans, Jerod and Alex. I will add more pictures to the slideshow soon! Love you!!

Trying to be "normal" again

Things are going well! We are starting to feel a little guilty because we are trying to do things as normal as possible. That means EATING! ;o) We ate at a Mexican restaurant today and shared our story with some of the Mexican waiters. Everywhere we go people ask questions about her and we get to share what God is doing with her tiny body. Annie continues to open up doors for us wherever we go. We know God has huge plans for her!

As you can see from these pictures, she is doing much better physically. We still have a way to go before she is healed, but we are claiming her as a miracle! Many of you have commented on how she looks healed already. Her hand looks so much better and we are very excited about that! Under her clothing she still has a long way to go, but little by little we see God healing each and every burn! She still has some psychological problems that we are trying to overcome. Please be in prayer for all of us tomorrow as we will meet with the Medical Dr. at 7:oo am. We will also be talking with a psychologist about some of her fears and how we can handle them. Pray for a calm Annie. We are hoping that tomorrow will be the day when Annie is given the green light to go home! We shall see. Thank you all for praying and for loving and for being the wonderful support we all needed. This blog has done more for us than I could have ever imagined! I would like to thank our supervisor, for setting it up! Greg and I are not real computer savvy and he had it set up within a matter of minutes. It has ministered to our hearts over and over again!

I would like to say that many of you have sent emails saying how you want to leave a comment and are unable to do so. I tried to do that and if you click the envelope you are sending an email, if you click on the word comment, it should give you the option to jump to comment form, and that SHOULD allow you to post a comment. Hope this helps all of you who, like me, are not "blogheads".

We will post an update tomorrow as soon as we know what the doctor says is in our future! Love and hugs to you all!

Another Sunday to worship!

Another day of worship! Yea!! We are headed to church today. A large church in Houston made us feel so welcome last week, that we are headed back there again today. So many churches here in Texas have shown us an outpouring of love and we are very thankful to them all. Of course we have felt this outpouring from churches all over the world in many different languages. When we felt called to Mexico, I (Missy) was so scared and thought the safest place to be was in the center of God's will. I was quickly told that was wrong. Being in the center of God's will is maybe the most dangerous place to be because Satan doesn't like it. However, I was also quickly reminded it may not be the safest place, but it is the BEST place to be! Our whole family has experienced the blessing of being in the center of His will.

Annie is doing better each day, crying a little bit less. She is definitely trying hard to use her hand more as you can see from this picture! :o) She is a real fighter. She still hates bath time and that may not go away for some time. We praise him that she still has her personality and is our little "Sunshine." She wakes up with a smile on her face and then asks for medicine. Please keep us in your prayers on Tuesday. We are hoping that the Dr. will tell us we can go home. Annie keeps asking when we can go back to her Mexican home. As of now, our answer is someday soon. Please also keep us in your prayers about her seeing a psychologist on Tuesday. They are a little concerned about some of her fears and they will be doing an assessment of her on Tuesday as well. Keep my parents in your prayers as they travel back to SC today. They were a huge help to us and we enjoyed every bit of our grandparent time.

We are off to church, hope you all have an incredible Sunday! Love you all!

We don't like baths!

Hi everyone,

I (Missy)am trying to find things to write to you that will be of importance to each of you without boring you with the details of our daily life now. Our biggest struggle with Annie is bath time. Bless her heart, she screams at the first sound of the water running. She is petrified of this time of day. She cries during the entire bath saying, "I can't stop looking at my booboos." The bath itself is scary for her, and we now know that she doesn't want to see her booboos and she doesn't like anyone else to see them either. We tried using sunglasses but that didn't seem to help. She is very "hung up" on when her skin will look normal. Unfortunately we don't know when that will happen, if ever. At first I was a little bummed about her having to wear this body suit and now we are counting that as a blessing because it hides her burns. Please pray for a calmness during her bath time. Also pray that she will start going potty without fear. We know these are small issues to deal with and are so grateful to God that the worst is now over. (we hope)

We went to see the movie Kung Fu Panda today and I was struck by a very neat saying. They said, " Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery and today is a gift, that's why they call it the present." I really liked this saying and it spoke to my heart. I am glad her accident is over, and I don't know what tomorrow will bring, but today has been awesome and I am rejoicing in the now. We are amazed at how many people Annie is touching. One day she will understand just how big our God is!

This first picture was taken on Sunday at church as Annie worshiped and the second one is of Annie with Shriner.

We still are in the wait and see mode until Tuesday. At that point we will know more about our future. Until then we are focusing on walking better, using our right hand and dealing with fears. As soon as we know when we will be able to leave the Texas area, we will let you know. Love you!

Fun with grandparents!

Today has been a good day! Over the weekend we took Annie to Build A Bear and Annie enjoyed that! She bought a pink flamingo named, Shriner and today we went back so that "Mama Say" could buy Shriner some more clothes. This is actually really good therapy for Annie as she has to use her hands to dress Shriner. We have been so blessed each day as we watch as God heals her burns. The Dr. said that he thought it would take 3-4 more weeks before her waist would heal. However, I haven't told him that we have thousands upon thousands of prayers being lifted up for her. So, on Tuesday when we go back, I fully expect him to say, "WOW, she has healed faster than anyone I have ever seen!" So, when you pray, you can pray for that! :o)

This picture is of Mama Say and Annie playing with a bubble machine. The next one is of Annie looking at a prayer chain that some precious kids from a Church in Birmingham, Alabama. She wanted to thank each child for this, it meant a lot to her!

If you click on the bottom of this page where the number of hits are, it will take you to a page that shows many statistics about who, where, and when people have logged onto this site. This may just be numbers to you, however to all of us it shows how very big the family of God is! People all over the world (click on the world map link to see) are visiting this site and it has blessed us more than any of you could ever know. My (Missy) parents and Greg's parents have asked us to express their gratitude to each of you for lifting up their granddaughter. They have all read each comment left and we have all shed many tears from the outpouring of love you have shown us. I don't know if you have ever seen the movie, Pay It Forward, but if you have you will understand this comment, and if you haven't, rent it! I will spend the rest of my life doing whatever I can to repay other people with the love all of you have already given us. I will do small favors and large ones, for people just to show them a portion of the love you have shown us. We are not out of the woods yet, however, with all of you behind us, it won't be long! Love to you all!

First bath at home

Hi everyone,

Our first bath at home went well. When I say "bath" now, I mean we actually put her in the tub. Annie was very nervous but was very brave. She is extremely scared of water. She has to touch it before she will even think about getting in it. Please pray she will get over this fear. Once she was in the tub, she just whimpered until we were done. That is a PRAISE!! She is sleeping a little better at night, however she still wakes up once or twice from bad dreams. The blessing is that she can't remember the bad dreams. She was so excited to see her "Mama Say and Honey."  They arrived last night and showered her with love. She is doing everything she can to impress them. She is walking more each day, however she still won't use her right hand very much. We are now trying to get used to the almost full body suit that she has to wear for the next 6 months. It is a little hot, but at the same time a blessing because she doesn't want anyone to see her booboos, and it covers them all up. We are trying to show her a good time during her week off from the doctor, however she is getting tired very easily and she still wants to sleep a lot. I guess our main prayer requests right now are for her to get over her mental anxiety, to use her right hand more, and for her big burn below her waist to heal. We love you so much and can't wait to see each one of you someday and personally thank you for praying for us!

No Dr. visit for a week!

Yea! Today after the nurses did their cleanings of her wounds, the Dr. came in and told us that he felt coming to the hospital was becoming too difficult for Annie mentally. He told us everything was healing well and if we continued to do the cleanings at home, we could take a break from the hospital for the next week. There is still one area below her waist that is concerning. The Dr. does not think she will need surgery, however he said it may take 3-4 weeks for that to heal. He will assess that next week when we return for her visit. That was a huge answer to prayer! Annie is definitely having some psychological difficulties due to the stress of her hospital visits. She has started to cry every time she has to go potty and she is favoring her left hand to avoid pain in her right hand. My ( Missy) parents arrive today and we are hoping to have a lot of grandparent time. Annie is really looking forward to this, so we hope to get her mind off of her burns and onto other things. Please continue to pray for us, we don't know how anyone can go through something like this without friends like all of you and a lot of prayer support! God has been so good to us with one blessing after another. One day I would love to share all of these blessings with each of you! Our Internet connection will not be very good for the next week, but I promise to try and post a blog once a day. Thanks for lifting us up to the Great Physician! Love you all!!

Pray for Mike and Keri!

Mike and Keri are leaving now and I just wanted to ask you to pray for a safe travel for them. They will be traveling by car until tomorrow night. We are so happy that God took care of their children so that they could be here and serve us. We are so thankful!

Another tough day behind us!

Hi everyone!

Today was one of those not so fun, days again. I (Missy) must say I am getting tired of expecting one thing and getting another. I am trying so hard to look at her cleanings positively, however some days that is harder than others. Today the nurses cleaned her wounds well. Imagine having a thick scab on top of a bad sunburn. Now imagine someone pulling the scab off piece by piece. That is pretty much what they did to her today. She screamed blood curdling screams for a long time. We are pretty sure a lot of her screaming comes from anxiety as well as it hurting her.

They are very pleased with how she is healing and continue to encourage us about her final outcome. At the same time they slowly give you news that you haven't yet heard. We were told today that the different pigment in her skin will slowly fade. They never say it will go away. Then they told us she has to wear this pink stocking on her arm, legs, torso and a glove on her right hand for the next 6 months to a year. EVERYDAY. That wasn't fun to hear. I am sooo grateful to God for healing her fast and for showing His face to us during this difficult time. At the same time I covet your prayers for our future. I think we still have a ways to go until we are done with the painful cleanings. We now have to try hard to keep these stockings on her in the heat and try to keep her from getting any sun. They have told us that if she gets any sun on the new skin it will stain her skin forever.


We are praising God for the good news that Annie is using her right hand more and she is beginning to walk more by herself. Her independent spirit is starting to come back as she is quite the fighter. Please pray for all of us. All of the emotional stress is starting to get to Greg and I. We hate seeing Annie in pain and know that is what must happen for her to heal.


We will never be able to express to you how much we appreciate your messages and more importantly, your prayers. We know we wouldn't be doing as well if it weren't for those prayers. We noticed that there have been 7543 hits to this blog and that shows us just how much people care about us and about our Annie. No words can express how that touches our hearts!

Sunday Report

Good Morning,

Sorry for no post in the afternoon yesterday as we took a Sunday off from the post as well. Once again we want to say we are overwhelmed by your comments that are coming from all over the world. So many of you we do not know personally but your prayers are appreciated and have power. Thank you, thank you.

We had an incredible time at Church yesterday. We had a pastor contact who met us at the door and others assisted Jerod, Alex and Annie to get them where they needed to go. It is a very large church but we were given a few minutes to share during the service and a prayer by the pastor. Annie was with Keri in the childrens area and played well and walked the whole time. She cried at the end as she did not want to leave. Thank you Sagemont for the love you showed us.

We had to give Annie another cleaning last night. This is still difficult to see Annie in pain as we clean and dress her wounds. Her skin is healing but please pray for faster healing as these are tough for Annie (and for us) and she definitely knows now when these times are coming and gets very anxious.

She is still sleeping right now and slept okay last night. We have an appointment later this morning at the hospital for another cleaning and some physical therapy. Keep up the prayers as they are working. We praise God she is walking more and trying to use her fingers on her right hand more to play. Her personality is back and she is talking lots. The first 4-5 days after the accident she talked very little.

We will check back in later. The Woods

Sunday - A Day Off

Yesterday evening we treated her wounds and had another tough time but those treatments are getting easier and faster with experience. She got her hair washed and a bird bath afterwards and felt great and slept pretty good overall. She is starting to move around and changing positions at night while sleeping which is good. She continues to have some nightmares so please pray that the nightmares will stop and for little Annie and her sleep at night.

Today is Sunday and we have a day off today from Doctor and therapy visits. The physical therapist wants Annie to use her legs and fingers and not just be sitting around the house all day. Thus, we are excited to be making a visit to a church today just outside of Galveston. Missy and I really need this and are excited about worship today in English. Our friend Keri, who is with us, offered to take Annie into the preschool room at the church and be her personal teacher so we could enjoy the service. Annie is showing more signs of trying to walk on her own but still is cautious and nervous so we are hoping that being in a classroom setting with other kids will help her in her movement and walking.

The doctor told us yesterday that you just have to be patient with burn injuries and wait. Thus, we are doing that and at the same time trying to work with Annie's walking and finger movement in her right hand. Please pray for Annie to get through her nervousness of walking and using her right hand. Pray for us for patience with each other as we are in the waiting process. Our friends will be leaving soon and Missy's parents will be arriving on Tuesday to help out which is a huge blessing. Jerod and Alex are doing well and we are doing our best to keep them from getting bored. Galveston is located on the Gulf so we had them out in the ocean for a little while yesterday.

Thus, off to worship and we will touch base later.