We're BACK!

That is Jerod on the left side of the log.

He was so proud!

Jerod during evening activities.

Alex and his counselor, Ross.

Can you say, "Crazy?"

Alex doing the "Jiho"

Annie doing her tumbling routine.

Annie teaching the "Jiho"

Jerod crying as he said good-bye to his friends, boo hoo!

Jerod's cabin.

Annie on her favorite horse, Little Red, how fitting?

Alex showing a little enthusiasm.

The view from Cheerio.

Me and my "Honey!"

Jerod celebrating his 13th birthday at Macadoos in Boone.

Jerod and his cousin, Marissa.

Mama Say and her nutty grandchildren!

Honey and MamaSay on her 65Th birthday.

Honey taking Mason and Alex on a 4 wheeler ride.

Now it is Annie and Jerod's turn.

Cousins by chance, friends by choice!

Our welcome home sign, how sweet!

Hi friends! I know it has been a while since I posted. I didn't have my computer and I didn't have Internet access where I was staying, so it was a little difficult to keep you updated. However, after I posted about Jerod things did start to change for him so I really appreciated all of your prayers! I must say we were all a little shocked and weren't ready for the language that 12 and 13 year old children are using today. So, we didn't prepare Jerod for the possibility of hearing bad language or dirty jokes once the lights were turned out at camp. This is in no way a reflection of the camp or the counselors, it is just the way SOME 12 and 13 year old children are when they aren't around adults and we just didn't know that. Anyway, Jerod just didn't know how to fit in with this group of kids and he felt bad about being around them. Once we worked through that, he was fine and had a really good time at camp and wants to go back next year if possible.

Alex on the other hand, had the time of his life and although he heard a few choice words he didn't mention it until Friday afternoon. He loved every aspect of camp and thought that his counselors hung the moon. He RAN everywhere and cheered about everything. I definitely think that some university has a future mascot on their hands, because this child has more enthusiasm/energy than I do and let me tell you that is A LOOOOOT!!! We can't say enough thank yous for the prayers that were said on our behalf!

It was brought to my attention on Wednesday that my children were getting an enormous amount of mail. Heehee! So I want to personally thank you all for sending mail to the boys! (and me too) They said they felt so special and they were so happy to be getting so much mail! So, MANY MANY thanks to you all!

After camp we drove to my parent's mountain house and spent the weekend with MamaSay and Honey (my parents) and my niece and nephew, Marissa and Mason. We celebrated Jerod's 13Th birthday and my mom's 65Th birthday. They share the same birthday and we had fun celebrating it together! We then headed back to Wake Forest where we are going to try to find some kind of routine. We were welcomed with this precious sign by one of our neighbors. What a nice thing to come home to! Greg's mom, "Grandma" will be arriving tomorrow and she will be spending a few days with us here. We can't wait to show her all around our big town! School will start soon, but for now we are enjoying family time. Love you all! Missy

Having a lot of fun!!

Hi everyone!! I am having a great time! Oh, my kids are having the time of their lives too! Alex was blessed with a counselor that has more energy than he does and it has been awesome to watch their whole cabin run everywhere! Jerod has had a little harder time fitting in because of his age. The boys in his cabin aren't into running everywhere they are more into being cool and some are saying things/words that make Jerod feel uncomfortable. So, if you think about it, please pray for Jerod. He is having fun, just on a different scale than Alex.

I will try and post some photos soon. I haven't had Internet access nor cell phone access so I am pretty isolated as far as communication goes. Annie and I have been working hard because they are short staffed because it is the last session and school has started in many areas. Thanks for remembering us. Pray we will all stay healthy as there is always a crud going around! Love to you all! Missy

Bloom where you're planted!

Since living in the US, we have made it a fun goal/challenge to find places where we can all eat for under $20. This was one of our biggest bargain finds since hitting the US! We bought all of that food, drinks too for the bargain price of $13! Arbies Freebies Wednesday helped! We were very proud of ourselves!!


Bloom where you are planted.

My roses!

Hi everyone! I know it has been a few days since I have posted. Sorry! I have been busy blooming! :o) After I decided to enjoy my every second here, God really started to move all around me. The precious new friends I have made just really saw how homesick I was and they really ministered to my needs. The friends that I have had for years and those that I have just met through this blog also started to minister to my heart! Thank you all for your sweet and encouraging emails! I was given this little blue vase that says, "Bloom where you are planted." That really spoke to my heart and I have decided to do just that! The next day I was talking to a new friend of mine and we were just getting to know each other better. She said she had lived here for a year and she and her husband only had one other couple that had become their friends in the year that they have been here. The next day I found these roses at my door, they were from this new friend. She was leaving on vacation and wanted me to enjoy her roses while she was gone. So, I guess I really do need to bloom where I am planted!

Jerod, Alex, Annie and I all leave for Camp Cheerio tomorrow. We are all very excited! I don't think I mentioned that I will be spending the week helping out around camp. I will try and make myself invisible to my children but Annie and I will be hanging out around camp all week. I will definitely have some really good pictures to post on here! Please send some mail! It will mean a lot to us all! :o) Jerod's 13th birthday is on Sunday the 23rd, so if any of you want to send a birthday wish, I know he would like that too! Please pray for Greg as he will be all alone this week and he will be starting school again for the first time in a long time! Thank you all for praying for us!! I love you!! Missy

Small change in camp address

Just a small change in the address for the boys while they are at camp. Their cabin name needs to be by their name. Thanks!! Love you all! Missy

Jerod Wood- Tuscarora
Camp Cheerio
1430 Camp Cheeri0 Road
Glade Valley, NC 28627-9731

Alex Wood- Sioux
Camp Cheerio
1430 Camp Cheerio Road
Glade Valley, NC 28627-9731

Answer to prayer!

My 3 new friends, Jeanie, Jordan, and Laura


Okay, so it wasn't quite hot enough to fry the egg today, but we are gonna try again tomorrow. ;o)

This dear woman's name is Gail. She cooked a meal for all of us tonight and opened her home up to the girls just to be a servant to us. She was precious!

These are the girls in our group tonight. Jenny on the far left was the leader and I just helped out. Notice who is right beside me? That is my new Mexican friend, Melissa. Oh you gotta love that we even have the same name! I think once I find my niche here, I'm gonna be just fine. But....please still pray for my friends back home! Thanks!

I love you guys! All I have to do is put my requests on here and wala, my day is better! Today my day was so much better!! I woke up with God quietly reminding me that He brought us out of Mexico at this time for a reason. It isn't exactly the safest place in the world for anyone in Mexico right now and it is probably a good thing that we are here. So, I decided early this morning I would do whatever I could to focus my attention on others today. I ended up spending much of my time at the ER with a nice woman in an apartment upstairs who just had knee surgery and was in a lot of pain. Once she was taken care of I returned home and spent a few hours talking to our next door neighbors about our time on the field. They were curious! Heehee, ain't God good!?!?! Then I went to a thing called Teen MOPS. It is a great outreach to teen mothers who need mentors and one was hispanic and they were looking for someone who could connect with her! HA!! HELLLLLLOOOO I am right here! :o) So, I was a very happy camper tonight as we met and talked to these dear girls and got to know each one of them and their situations. It was just what the Dr. ordered. That and all of you! Thanks for praying. Love you!! Missy

Feeling Blue

Please pray for Cesilia and her girls. They have stopped attending church since we left Mexico.


Continue to pray for Icho and Barbara as they continue to hold church in their home.


Pray for our village as they will be celebrating this week.

Pray for Lupita and Rosa. I miss them! I love them!

Pray for my Angelica that the joy on her face will stay and that her husband, Salvador pictured below, will find help for his alcoholism.

Pray that Salvador will find help.

So, I haven't posted in a few days mainly because it hurts to put my thoughts in the form of words. Make sense? I really am feeling blue. I never in a million years would have thought that I would be so homesick. I mean, I am reallllly homesick. All I can do is think of my people, my friends and all that is back at home in Mexico. I know it is hard to understand. Trust me, it is hard for me to understand because I didn't know it would be like this. I am finding that although I love America my heart loves my people and that is where it longs to be. Now don't get me wrong, I love being American and I love America, but God has called me to be with my people and it is hard to picture them there, hurting in any way and me here, not being able to help them. So, I am blue. I am trying to remind myself that I need to focus my time and energy on things that I can do here that will help them once I do return, however I haven't figured out what that is or how I can better myself while I am here. Please pray for me. I am a mess!

Okay, now on to more uplifting things! :o) Jerod and Alex have been given the wonderful opportunity to attend the camp that I attended as a child, Camp Cheerio. They will attend for one week starting next Sunday, the 16th. We are all so excited about this opportunity! It is an awesome camp and they are super excited! Neither one of them have received any mail for about 4 1/2 years. So, I was thinking that it would be the coolest thing in the world if I had all of my friends from all over to send them some mail. It is one of the things that the campers really look forward to and they think they are extra special if they receive a bunch! Will you help me make my babies feel special? You can send the mail early and if it gets there early they will hold it until they arrive. I am going to try and write a bunch so that they get some every day. Who knows if it will work with the mail system. However, it will be forwarded to our apartment if it doesn't make it on time and that will make them happy too!

The address is:

Jerod or Alex Wood

Camp Cheerio

1430 Camp Cheerio Road

Glade Valley, NC 28627-9731

I love all of you and wish I had a dime for all the times I thought about the people who read this blog and how thankful I am for you. ( I REALLY do! :o)) I have discovered that not ALL people in this world are really interested in missions. There are some sweet people in the world but they just don't really care what I have been doing for the past 4 years. They don't care about the Angelicas and Salvadors or the Barbara and Ichos or for the sweet little Cesilias in the world. If they do care and I am sure they do, they are just too busy to ask about them. So, thank you for following me on this journey, and please do pray for our village. Tomorrow starts the biggest festival that they have all year and it is one big drinking fest. We are praying that our friends stay strong and our alcoholic friend stays away from the alcohol. They really need your prayers because these festivals can get kinda dangerous when you mix alcohol and people from different villages things can get ugly. Please pray! I love you, Missy

Football

This was Jerod and Alex before practice yesterday. My babies are all grown up! :o(


This is Jerod and Alex 2 1/2 hours later. They were exhausted!



And after trying to get those white, I am exhausted too! :o)

Hi everyone! I know I haven't been posting that much but I kinda feel like my life has gone from exciting to quite boring. So, I really don't want to bore you! The boys are having fun and they are definitely getting a workout. As far as me losing weight watching them, that isn't going so well! :o( I guess I will have to try another strategy. Maybe if I eat while I watch at least my mouth would be getting some exercise, right?

I am missing home a lot! I dream of Mexico and my friends and I think of them constantly. I woke up this morning and tried to make myself hear the sounds from there. The roosters, the donkeys, the horses walking outside as the drag big trees behind them, the loud speakers as they make announcements all day long and...well, everything. I am homesick. Of course while I was there many of those things drove me crazy, but now, I miss them. Aren't I strange?

We went to Chick-fil-a for lunch yesterday and while we were there we met a wonderful Hispanic women named, Alma. Which means soul in Spanish. I asked her where she was from and she was so excited that I spoke Spanish she just beamed and said she was from Honduras. She said she had 2 daughters, 9 and 2 months. She wanted to be my friend and I have been praying for a friend who speaks Spanish, so I gave her my number and I will see if she calls. Please pray that this could be the beginning of a great friendship. I love you all and I will try to make this more interesting! I guess you just need to pray my life will get more interesting! ;O) Love you!!

Crazy life in America

Annie and Caroline enjoying the water!


Cousin love!


The boys all had a great time together. (Alex is standing on a stump)

They were getting ready for football here in NC. (As you can see below, it was a little different!)

Alex getting fitted for his shoulder pads.

Jerod trying his shoulder pads on too. (Notice the girl already trying to get his attention? She really was! )

Greg getting his instructions.

Yay! He caught it! Alex is the youngest and smallest on his team.

There's Alex running up the hill in a relay.

Both boys had just raced each other. It rained while we were there. That is why Greg looks wet.

Okay everyone, when I say our life is crazy, it really is! We traveled home on Wednesday from Indiana. We were sad to say good-bye but happy that it won't be for a very long time this time around! We had a wonderful time, but we were happy to be heading to some form of routine. So, we drove 12 hours and when we arrived at our apartment in Wake Forest we still had that feeling like we were arriving at someone else's home to visit. Every time we said we were going home, Annie thought that meant we were headed back to Mexico. She has really started to miss it and has been saying she wants to go home. I know for all of you who have always lived in America you are probably thinking what in the world for? Well... it is true that home is where your heart is and that is where her heart is. It is the only "home" she has ever known. We all miss our friends and have had times when we wish we could see them. However, for us, we understand the time frame and will make the most of our time here with our family and friends. Annie on the other hand, does NOT understand and is struggling a tiny bit with these things. Please pray that she will adjust to her new life here and then again to Mexico once we return next June.

So, we made it back and then spent the next day looking for football cleats and then took the boys to their first football practice. Each practice is 2 hours long and I think I lost weight just watching them practice. It was tough!! They will definitely slim down this season!! They were troopers and never once complained, and were ready for more this morning. Greg was in heaven as they asked him to help while he was there. We are happy to be able to be in one place for at least a few weeks and we are working on settling into Wake Forest.Thank you all for your continual support and for your continued prayers for us all! We love you!! Missy