friends are fun!

We are having a great time with all of friends! We have been laughing and eating and laughing some more. This has been just what the doctor has ordered for all of us. The boys have been playing Wii and Annie has been playing with hair bows. Her friend Ashleigh gave her all of her old bows and Annie has been happy, happy, happy! As you can see from the pictures, Annie and Emily have found these bows to be quite entertaining. Greg had fun playing in a golf tournament in the cold and rain and I had a great time in the DRY mall! ;o) It was fun for me to sit and talk to 4 of my friends as we shared what has been happening over the past 3 and a half years. So as you can see, we are really enjoying our time here and are so thankful to all of you for your prayers.

Please continue to pray for us as we will continue to do some traveling over the next 2 weeks. Please also pray for our friend Amy tomorrow, as she will lay to rest her best friend and husband. I know it will be a difficult day for her and the family of Cody Spahr. As you read this, please lift them all up! Thank you all!

Some pictures from the past few days

Jerod and Alex eating their first Chick-fil-a meal, thank you Millie!
Annie says Chick-fil-a has the best chicken nuggets!
Annie in her new dress from Mama Say with her doll, Amber in a matching dress.

Having fun in America!

We are having a great time here! The kids have seen friends they haven't seen in almost 4 years and they have really enjoyed getting reconnected. We have really enjoyed seeing our old friends from church and enjoying worship in English! We are participating in a Global Focus week at our home church and are sharing what God is doing in Mexico. It has been great to see what He is doing all over the world.

On a sad note, my friend Amy Spahr lost her husband on Sunday. He was an awesome man of God and I know he will be missed by all who knew him. He was very popular among the Mexicans and had a true heart for them. Cody battled cancer for 10 months and now the Lord has called him home. Please pray for Amy as she is now without her best friend and praise our Father that Cody is at peace, without pain and surfing in Heaven! You can learn all about his life through their blog at: http://tribespahr.blogspot.com/

Thanks for praying!

We love America!

We have now made it to my parent's home and have really enjoyed our first night! After we ate dinner we went for a walk around my parent's neighborhood. I absolutely love to walk at night. It is something you just don't do outside of America. (I know, or some places in America) It isn't safe, and it isn't the same. There aren't beautiful neighborhoods with crickets chirping in the distance and a peaceful calm in the air. I found myself in awe at the calmness we take for granted. I don't know if I will ever feel the same about walking outside, it is just so nice to walk and feel free. In one sentence, I just want to say, " I love America!"

I will tell you I was a little shocked when we arrived home. People were out shopping, playing, getting gas, eating out, it was like any other day! Then we went to get gas and I realized, it wasn't any other day! ;o) I am understanding what you go through every day! Although times are tough, I just want you to realize that America is still the greatest country! As we flew over Atlanta, I was SOOO proud to be American! I looked out over this beautiful country and thought to myself, we as a country are far more blessed than we really know! GOD HAS BLESSED AMERICA!!

I look forward to visiting with many of you and enjoying being back here in the good ole U. S. of A! Love you!

Leaving Mexico

Yay! We are here at the airport, waiting for our plane to take off. Internet still amazes me, I feel somewhat spoiled that we have this technology! I wanted to let you all know that we will be landing in the States today! We will be in SC, NC, and IN. We will be visiting my parents, in-laws and our home church in Asheville.

Please be in prayer for us as we travel. Thank you all for you emails/comments, we love getting them! I will be in touch with many of you over the next 3 weeks, but if I don't get to say hello to all of you, please know you are in my thoughts!

I will be posting pictures of our time in the States over the next few weeks, so keep checking to see how and what we are doing!

Love you! Missy

Heading to the States!

Hey,
I haven't mentioned it, but we are heading to the U.S. for a "good" (as opposed to our visit in Texas) visit with our parents and a Global Focus conference at our church. We are leaving today ( Thursday) to go to Mexico City. We will stay there until Sunday when we will fly out and head to Charlotte, NC. We are very excited and cannot wait! We hope to see some of you there and if we don't get the chance to see you, maybe we can at least talk on the phone. I will keep updating when I can.

Please pray for our travels as we will be either driving or flying for the next 4 weeks. Love you all! Missy

70 Hot dogs!

Hi everyone!

I wanted to tell you all that tonight we had 30 people! Our numbers are growing! YAY! It was a great night and everyone seemed to enjoy their time here! I sit back and look around at our friends and I am amazed at what God is doing! I remember 3 years ago in Costa Rica when I was praying so hard to have friends here in Mexico. I was praying that God would provide us with the people He wanted us to have as friends. He definitely has answered that prayer! We were all sqooshed (SP?) in our living room tonight, what a HUGE blessing! After we listened to our story we had a special meal of chili dogs and chips. They LOVED the chili dogs! As you can see from the title we went through 70 hot dogs, 3 Super size bags of chips, and 9 liters of drink! Ha! They love to eat our food! I just wanted you to see how our night went.

Our friend Salvador who has the drinking problem, came tonight and apologized for his behavior last week. He simply said, " I am weak!" Praise God He is strong!! Please keep praying for him.

I haven't heard anything about the comfy couch house. If you know Anna and Jorge (owners of the house) or if they read this, please let us know how your house is! Keep praying for all of those in Texas, I think they have quite a while before everything is back to "normal."

Sad for Galveston

Hi everyone,

I am so sad today! Annie wore here Galveston tee shirt today and we never really got them off of our minds. We don't know how our favorite places faired, but we fear the Galveston we know and love has a very hard few weeks/ months ahead of them. Please pray for all of those who lost everything and those who have yet to see the devastation that Ike left behind.
Praying!

Go AWAY IKE! Don't hurt my friend's home!

I tried to post a picture from the porch of the comfy couch house so you could see it is very close to the water, however I was unable to do so. I am sure there is water all under the house but it was really high up so we are praying that it will be okay.

Thank you all for praying for all of our friends in Galveston and Houston. They are all very dear to us and we are watching this storm as if it were going to hit our own home. The hospital was pretty high up it seemed, we are hoping they don't have much damage there. However the newly built apartments that house many of the Mexican parents and children were not high up at all. If these are damaged, the Mexicans will now be without a place to stay. I can only hope and pray that these places will be spared and that their lives will not be turned upside-down again! Thank you so much for those of you who posted comments or sent emails saying that you checked the Shriner's website. I didn't have time to do that but I am so glad that you did and now I feel a little better knowing that they are safe.

It is so weird to watch the news and see all of the places that became so familiar to us during our 3 week stay there. The first hotel we stayed in with Annie was called Gaidos. Sp? It was right there on Seawall Blvd. It was NOT on stilts and I am sure the bottom floor will be well under water. The people who owned it were so great to us and we just hope that their damage will be minimal as well. To see the waves come over the seawall is quite amazing because we saw just how big that wall really is! It' s huge! Okay, I could go on and on because I feel like MY city is under attack, but there are real people who can claim it as "theirs" and tomorrow I think it will be a very sad day for them! PRAY!

Scared for Galveston

Hi everyone,

I would like you to continue to pray for Galveston and Houston. The people in this area are some of my favorite people in the world. I am really scared for them and am praying the storm will jog a little one way or the other so as not to hit them head on! Annie has been watching the storm on FOX news and is looking for the comfy couch house. She keeps asking, "Why does God let the water come so close to those homes?" We have assured her that they built that home very high so it won't matter if there is a lot of water.However, she is very worried about her Galveston home! Please PRAY!!
I am sure that probably all of those patients at Shriners hospital have been moved to other locations. That is scarey by itself, but imagine having to go through all of that and not speak English. I think I shared a long time ago that about 95% of Shriner's patients were from Mexico. While in Galveston, it is a little easier on the parents because they form their own little network among the other parents. However, as they are moved to other locations, they could be separated and I am sure they are scared! These are people who did not choose to come to America, their life chose that path for them. Now they are in a foreign country with VERY sick children and will be forced to leave the only little home they know. Please pray for them, pray that Christians would show their love to these people and make them feel less scared! Thank you!!
Now onto another topic, our poll. Greg didn't want me to put that poll on here because he said he didn't want this to become a political blog. HA! Not possible with me since I am not the political junky in the family. That would be my dear husband. So, it looks like McCain would win if it were up to those who voted on our blog. We shall see. I still won't tell you who I am going to vote for but I will say, I feel pretty good about the candidates that are on the ticket I have chosen! :o) Okay, enough of politics!
I also wanted to mention Annie. Since she is the reason this blog was formed in the first place. Annie is doing well! She still wears her pressure garment pants and glove everyday! We have done away with the sleeve and shirt parts because she doesn't need them anymore. Her back looks really good with only a little discoloration. We are very thankful for that as it is the part of her body most seen. Her leg still looks like it does in the picture below. It doesn't seem to bother her that she has this scar on her leg. She asks from time to time when it will go away. Of course I don't know if it ever will. We keep praying for that and that soon it won't hurt when you touch it. Please pray for the same. I wish I knew who all of you are so that I could personally thank you for your continued prayer support. It has meant a lot to me. More than you will ever know!
God bless you!

Pray for IKE

Hi all,

I wanted to ask you to pray for hurricane Ike. I know every hurricane needs prayer for the path in which it should take, but this one may mess with a place very dear to our hearts. They have said it is heading towards Galveston and that just can't happen! The hospital where Annie was treated is about 3-4 blocks inland from shore. There are many children at this hospital who are critical and would probably have to be moved. Of course I know nothing for certain, I am only speaking from our experience there. This is very difficult on the patient! I don't know if they would try and move these children or not, but I do know there are many things that could become terrible situations if indeed this storm is catastrophic ! Please pray! Pray also for the comfy couch house! That was the house we stayed in, the house where we took this picture above of our family! This house is VERY close to the ocean and we will be in prayer for it as well! That house is so special to us and the owners are even more special, so please pray that this hurricane would change it's path soon! (and that it doesn't cause great harm anywhere!)

Thank you !!

Book Burning Party

The title of this probably got you interested, huh? Well, the boys thought the best way to be "green" with their old books from last year was to have a book burning party. So, that is what we did! They thought it was so fun watching their workbooks burn up! I never knew how much Alex hated our Language curriculum until he said, "Mom, I loved burning my Language book!" So, needless to say we have switched curriculums and he is much happier this year! (In the defense of the Language curriculum, it was just too structured for him!) I just thought you might like to see some of the things we do on the weekend! :o) The joys of living in the village!

Annie's friends

Annie's leg

As you can see, she still needs prayer! Love you!

God is Good!

Hi everyone,
Yesterday we spent the day in homeschool and then went into town for our weekly PE. Greg is teaching the boys how to play tennis. We think this will be Jerod's sport! Alex thinks there isn't enough running involved so he gets to do lots of running around the court! Annie and I do lots of PE on the playground! She has learned to pump on the swingset and thinks that is the coolest thing ever! We have even made some friends there that we plan on playing with every Friday.

Many of you have asked about Annie. She is doing well. We still have this quite large place on her leg that needs prayer. We go back to see the Dr. in December. The great thing about Shriners Hospital is that they send the Drs. here to Mexico since most of their patients are from here. That way it saves the expense of bringing their patients back to the States. So, we will see the Dr. in Guadalajara. We are hoping at that time she will look a lot better than she does now. I really never thought these burns would still look like they do. She still has pain there if you touch it, but other than that, she is FINE! Everyday I look at her I can remember just wanting to touch her without hurting her, and now I just thank God that He was there with us during those horrible days!

About 2 months ago I mentioned a little 18 month old girl who had fallen into a pool and was in serious condition. Her name is Cassia Joy. I don't know this family personally, but if you could read the way this mom praises God for her daughter, it would bring shame to your heart! We all have our little problems and some days we find ourselves thinking, "Poor me!" This mother goes to the hospital everyday and prays for a miracle for her little Cassia. She is still in serious condition, however they are praying that if they learn how to give her 24 hour care then they can bring her home and wait for a miracle in her life! Please pray for this family! They make my faith look so small! I am thankful for them as they remind me to spend more time with my loved ones, have much more patience when my children want to ask me something and I am busy, and love simple moments like eating together! I am so thankful to them for reminding me that every minute counts!

I have added a few pictures of Annie with her friends and of her leg. She was wearing her bathing suit inside one day and we took that picture. She has some burns under her suit as well. Please continue to pray for complete healing. In light of others situations, her's seems so small! I was looking through all of the pictures we took in Texas last night. She has come a long way! I was reminded of all of those little ones who were burned so much worse, please pray for them as well! I know, lots of praying, huh? Well, without your prayers, I am afraid to think what Annie would look like now!

I count it a blessing to have each one of you reading this blog. I am honored to think you would find us important enough to read about! I love you all!

Our friend

Okay, I still don't have a lot of time to update you on Monday night. However, I will do my best to tell you in a few words. That could be hard for me! Monday night was approaching and everything was ready for our meeting. To start off the night, Annie fell on the tile floor and got a huge knot on her forehead. We put ice on it and gave her some Motrin and everything was back to normal. I should have seen that as a prelude to the night. I left Annie with ice on her head with Greg as I went to pick up our friends.
I drove to one of our friend's homes and although she wasn't there, our friend Salvador was. Salvador is a recovering alcoholic that accepted Jesus about a year ago. He has done very well with giving his alcoholism over to God. He has only had 2 times in the past year where he had something to drink. However, his mother's fight with cancer has put a stress on his relationship with God like nothing else. He can't understand why Jesus won't heal her. He has heard many stories of Jesus healing the sick and now he wants Jesus to heal his mom. Since that hasn't happened, he has started to believe the lies that Satan is putting in his head. He doesn't really believe that Jesus cares about him or his family.
So, on Monday he knew his family would be coming to our meeting and he decided drinking would serve him better. When I found him, he was pretty drunk and had his truck. I explained that I didn't want his family to have anymore problems and it would be best if he gave me his keys. He said okay, but after a long ordeal, he left in his truck. I finally arrived back home and we started to pray for him. We prayed for his whole family and soon after that his wife and and daughter and daughter-in-law all showed up. That was a huge praise because they were very embarassed by him and didn't really want to come. However, they said they knew this was the enemy at work. So, they swallowed their pride and came.
Salvador drank all night long and ended up going to another new Christian's home. This is where God shows that in ALL things He is in control! This other Christian's name is Icho. He is also a recovering alcoholic, however unlike Salvador has not had anything to drink in about 15 years. So, at 2:30 in the morning our friend Icho was counseling our friend Salvador. Of course he was drunk, but we hope that somehow it made a difference. Icho is precious and shy. He has yet to come to our Monday night meeting because he doesn't like groups. His wife and kids come, but he does not. So, our prayer is that Icho and Salvador will find their way to our home next Monday and can begin to support one another. Icho got Salvador home safely at around 3:30 in the morning.
Please pray for this situation. It is big to us, because these are our friends, they think so highly of Greg and really count him as one of their best friends. Please pray that they will be able to experience the joy that Greg (and all of us ) has that comes from one source, Jesus.

No time to update!

Hi everyone,

School starts in about 5 minutes and I have no time to update you on last night. I must say Satan was at work. It all turned out okay but definitely had a rough start. I will elaborate more tonight. Just pray for our friend, Salvador. He is the one who we said was losing his faith because his mom has cancer. Thank you all for praying!