Let it snow!

First sight of snow at a rest stop on the way up to Indiana. It was a few days old, but Annie was excited! She threw her first snowball!
















Annie seeing her first REAL snow. She couldn't wait to go sledding!















Okay, so you can't really see her, but under that hat, is our sweet Annie, going on her first ride ever!















Going on a ride with cousins, Emily and Caroline. She loved it!!
















This was her first attempt going by herself.
















There she goes! Loved every minute!!




















Prettiest snow angel ever!!

Hi everyone! It has been awhile since I have been on here. Sorry! I have been, well.... a little busy. ;o) We have had a wonderful time celebrating Christmas here in the US. We are so happy that we were able to spend Christmas with my family in SC and we are now able to spend some time in Indiana with Greg's family. Since Greg is done with his classes we are all enjoying a nice vacation! He did so well, making all A's that he deserved a vacation! He would probably kill me if he knew I was putting that on here, but, oh well, a little bragging on my husband can never be a bad thing, right? :o)

As you can see from the pictures above my prayers were answered about snow. I actually really prayed that if the Lord wanted to bless us, that snow would be a really neat way. So, I guess he did want to bless us! I was kinda hoping He would bless us AFTER we arrived in Indiana, however the storm hit while we were driving here. It made for a V E R Y long trip up here, but we were safe and we got our snow! :o) Greg and I actually enjoyed a LOT of snow the week before Christmas. We celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary that week. Our anniversary is in June, but since we couldn't really celebrate then, we planned our second honey moon for the week before Christmas when we knew we could get childcare. So, my parents watched the kids and Greg and I spent 4 days in Boone, NC. It was WONDERFUL!! There was a foot and a half of snow on the ground and we had so much fun taking pictures and shopping and watching movies and eating out and eating out and eating out! It was generally a ton of fun! I will post some pictures from that soon. Anyway, we are so happy that Annie is getting her chance at seeing snow now. This is her first time seeing snow and she is beyond excited about it! I will try and update this more in a few days. I have about 500 pictures I need to upload on here, but haven't had a chance. So I will do that soon. That way you can see everything that has been happening in our lives! Hope you are all enjoying your holidays!! Love, Missy

In love with Santa!

Annie was Mary in her school play and was perfect!!














Six years ago she was baby Jesus in the Christmas program at BBC and now she is Mary! She only goes for the big parts! :o)















She sang her first solo too! She was a star!














Prettiest Mary I have ever seen!




















(I can never get these in the right order when I am tired and in a hurry. So, scroll down and then you will understand this picture!) Can you tell she was happy about this new event in her life?



















"I mean, I don't think I can wait any longer." So just as Santa was going by, out came her first tooth! She was sooo happy!



















Santa was almost coming during the parade and the tooth fairy wanted some attention! "Mama, I think it's time!"



















Annie and her friend watching the parade. Aren't they cute?



















Jerod, and Alex with their friends during the Christmas parade.

















Annie, Jerod and Alex visiting with Santa
















She told him she wanted a reindeer

















"Mama, he is real, I mean, his bread won't come off!!"














Annie waiting to see Santa.

























Annie had a lot of firsts! Her first Christmas play, first snow, and her first slumber party. What a day! This was right before she left for the slumber party.















We have been trying to spread Christmas cheer this week. In this picture we were giving away homemade pumpkin muffins and hot chocolate to the seminary students. It was lots of fun!

















She told him he could bring him whatever he wanted.
















Annie is truly in love with Santa!


So, you can see that we have had a lot of fun over the past few weeks! We have been busy with Santa and Christmas plays and speaking at churches and trying to celebrate the birth of Jesus. We have gone caroling and looked at lights and done lots of cooking and have passed out lots of candy canes and just had fun blessing people. Of course God has blessed us with the white stuff from above! Annie seeing her first snow was priceless! I will post pictures of that next time! It didn't last long, but it was neat to see her reaction. We are headed to Indiana soon so we are hoping to see lots of white stuff then!! Hope you all have a wonderful time celebrating the birth of our Savior! Blessings to you all! Missy

What's been goin' on?

This is Annie and her friend, Ila Mims, some of you know Ila. Ila gave this jewelry box to Annie for her birthday and it was all pale pink and white. They worked together to put stickers all over it and made it beautiful! I didn't help at all! They were very proud!!














The Conner family
















Micah, Ben, Alex, Jerod, and Annie after church.














Annie and Micah at church together.
















This was the Teen MOPS Christmas party, we had a great time showering them with love and presents!














These are all out of order, but this is me and my sweet hubby at the Conner's home.














Melissa, Martha and I after our Christmas party for Teen MOPS. (mothers of pre-schoolers)



















This is Melissa. She is a teen mother I have been mentoring. I love her so much and have really enjoyed getting to know her better. I think we are going to have a really strong bond by the time we leave in June. Please pray for her and her son, Junior.














At least he was keeping his eyes on the road!














I don't have much time to write, but wanted to get some of these pictures uploaded. It tells you what we have been doing better than I could. I will tell you quickly what has been going on in a few sentences. ( If that is possible!) We spoke at our friend's (The Conners) church in Littleton, NC. We have missed them a lot since we all landed together in the states in June for our stateside assignment. As you can see from our pictures, Annie and Micah went on their first date. :o) They were too cute! Then the organization Teen MOPS which I volunteer with, held their Christmas party for the teen mothers and it was a huge blessing to these teen mothers. That about sums it up! Love to you all!

Oh, I sent out our newsletter. If you would like to receive it and have not, let me know. Thanks!

Merry Christmas Everybody!!

Playing football with "Honey." (that is what we call my dad)

My "Papa" who is 92 and you would never know it!

Annie celebrating for the 5th time!

She loved this! Can you tell?

He loved it too!

Annie and the boys at a church in Charlotte , the crowd was a little thin that day, they heard we were speaking! :o) (Just kidding, this was before the service started!)

Hi everyone! I know, I am bad! I am getting worse everyday about posting on here! So sorry! It isn't that there aren't wonderful things happening it is just I am doing a little more than normal right now.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with my parents and my grandfather! It is always fun to talk to someone who is 92 and still has his memory and is in perfect health. We did a homeschool project where we interviewed my grandfather, "Papa" about his childhood, growing up in an orphanage, the depression and what it was like during the war. It was so interesting to hear all of his responses, what an education we can get from our elders! We videotaped it so we could watch it for years to come! My Papa is so precious!!

Then we celebrated Annie's birthday for the 5th and final time and she loved watching her brother, Alex get cake in the face. ( This is a Mexican tradition, except it is usually done to the birthday person!) We had tons of fun spending time with my niece and nephew and doing lots of shopping. I had my first go at "Black Friday" whew, what a day! I had a blast! All I could think about was how my friends in the village would be going crazy if they saw the prices! I even got to translate some that day! If any MK is looking for a job during the holidays, I bet Wal-Mart would hire you as a translator! They needed them bad on Black Friday!! All the lines were slowed down because nobody knew what anyone was saying! :o) Of course the highlight of the weekend was the turkey and all the fixens! I miss eating with my family during the holidays! It was a blessing!

We also had a chance to speak at a church in Charlotte on Sunday and we felt so welcome! We spoke about our people group, our time in Mexico and how important it is for BCs to give to the LM  Christmas Offering. There are servants of God waiting to be sent to foreign countries right now, but are unable to go, due to lack of funding. We will be speaking at 2 different churches over the next 2 weeks raising awareness of the importance of giving to this once a year offering.

Hope all of you had a great Thanksgiving and are being blessed beyond comprehension! I love you! Missy

"My Birthday is November 24!"

Annie has been singing a song, " My birthday is November 24th" for a very long time so that she could learn when her birthday was. SO.....today we all said, "Today is November 24th!" She got very excited and said, "I am finally 6!!" Since we have been celebrating her birthday for a week now, she has been a little confused. :o) Of course now we are headed to my parent's home in Rock Hill, SC and we will celebrate it again! It really is the birthday that never ends!! I will upload pictures from her birthday lunch later.

She is looking forward to spending time with family and having Thanksgiving here in the states. (As we all are!) If I don't say this before Thursday, I do hope and pray that all of you have a wonderful time with family and friends and that your Thanksgiving is wonderful wherever you are in the world! We are so very thankful to live in the greatest country in the world and I for one am thanking God for it! Please pray for all the troops and those serving on the foreign field and are unable to be with family over the holidays! It really is hard to be away from family at this time of year!! Love you all!! Missy

Oh Happy Day!

Party at school! This started off the day and as you can see they were all excited about Thanksgiving!
















Annie and Isabella, the only two girls in the class.

She wasn't too sure what to think of this cow!

Annie showing off her Dora costume, you gotta love the boots!

Dora holding a plate with a picture of herself on it!

Annie showing off her party hat!

Annie, her teacher, Mrs. Sorenson and her friend from school, Isabella

Annie with her 6 candles!

Annie, the cow and all of her friends!

Chick-fil-a cow and 'Dora'

"I have never gotten this many presents!!"

"It just never ends! I love it!"

Annie's birthday party was a HUGE success! I have NEVER seen her so excited in all of my life. She was beside herself! She could not believe how much fun eating and playing at Chick-fil-a could really be! It was great! I am not sure what she loved more, her party or dressing up like Dora. It was a little chilly for shorts, but she insisted on that because that is what Dora wears! So...shorts it was! Thanks to everyone who came and made it such a great day for Annie! Her actual birthday isn't until the 24th so if you are wanting to send a card, she would love it! Hope you all have a wonderful weekend! Love, Missy