Great reunion and fun time since then!

Me and Beth in front of the infamous Southmeck rock!


Me and Beth (best friend in high school) at the football game on Friday night.

My best friend in high school, Beth Tracy Whitehead

My friends, Beth and Mary

I would have failed computer class without this sweet lady's help! Her name is Ericka.

This is a guy named Robin who I got to know better at the reunion than I did while I was in high school! He was really nice!

This is my friend Katie. She is wonderful! She was my taxi service and drove me down for the reunion a day early since we only have one car and Greg couldn't come until Saturday. True friend!! Thanks Katie!!

Me and the best looking guy at the reunion, hands down!

My buddy in high school, Mike Taylor. Sweetest guy in high school, and still just as sweet!

This is my friend Jana, it was awesome to reconnect with her! I found out a lot about her life and we actually spent the majority of the night together. She lives in Flat Rock and goes to Flat Rock Baptist which gave us an instant connection. We have both changed quite a bit from back in the day! Praise God!

My precious family! The day after.

My Mama and Honey were so kind to be on babysitter duty the whole weekend so that I could enjoy my time and catch up with old friends. Thanks Mama and Honey!

Of course without this sweet man, it would have been a bomb of a weekend. He really is the most precious man to me! I love him so much!

Honey and Annie spent some quality time together that they both enjoyed immensely! He and Mama Say bought her, her first cross. You can barely see it in this picture but she was so proud of it!

Then there was Papa. This is my 92, yep 92 year old grandfather who came to church with us on Sunday. He is still driving around and doing super. The apple of my eye, I must say! Annie is named after both of her grandmothers. Annie and Catherine. Annie was his wife, so I think there is a definite bond there.

Off to school today. Annie wanted to wear something special today. She wanted to dress like a jaguar. This is the best I could do given 5 minutes notice. She was happy! She is dressing as Mini Mouse for Halloween, but she is a jaguar today.

She should be a model. No one taught her to stand like that, she just does it! Thanks to 3 of my good friends Annie has more clothes than a child's clothing store! She loves it!

So, I had a great time at my reunion. It was a little sad seeing how many of them were obviously living like they were still 18, but I am praying for many of them specifically now. It kinda broke my heart on many occasions. The response to what I did for a living was quite shocking. Too shocking to mention on here. Just use your imagination and think how a very poor mouthed 18 year old would and that about sums it up. It was interesting to say the least. Well, I wish all of you were there so I could catch up with you! I think it would have been much more uplifting! Please continue to pray for our dear friends in the village. I will be telling a story about one of them this week. We are calling them all tonight. Pray we hear good things! Pray also for Marnie the 5 year old I have mentioned that has cancer, and for my friend's marriage. Thank you!! Love, Missy

20 year reunion

So, here we go. 10 to 20 years have passed since I have seen most of the people I went to school with. As you can see, I have changed just a little. I did attend my 10 year reunion, however many of my friends did not. I hope we have a good time. I really was a NOBODY, so it should be interesting to see if I know people now. Just thought I would give you all some laughs. These were the only pictures I had, mine are all at my parent's home in Rock Hill. Hope you are all doing well and have a great weekend! Pray my boys do well in their play-off game on Saturday. Annie and I won't be there to see it, we are leaving today for Rock Hill, SC / Charlotte. :o( Greg and the boys will drive down for part of the reunion on Saturday night. Love you all! Missy

PRAY!!

Our friends need your prayers. If you think you know who I am talking about, you are probably wrong. We actually have about 4 different friends whose marriage needs your prayers today! So, if you think about it, please pray for marriages in general today, I think they are crumbling all over the United States and it makes me very sad. I know it makes Jesus even sadder. Today will be the day when many decisions are made in the lives of many of our friends so I am asking you to PLEASE pray! Love, Missy

TOUCH DOWN!!

Alex watching from the sidelines.


Jerod taking a break after his big touch down!


The boys coming off the field after they had flipped.

Coin toss for the kick off. We lost that, but won the game!!

Saturday was a little hard for Alex but he was tough! Everyone was extremely kind to him and he and Jerod were the team captains for that game and got to do the coin toss to see who would kick off. Alex was a good encourager to the team throughout the game and Jerod definitely made him proud! We were playing a team that is a little smaller and less experienced so the coach decided to give our players a chance at playing different positions. Well, this was great for Jerod! He scored his first touch down! He was on cloud nine!! Of course I was so mad because I wasn't ready for it and didn't get the picture! ;o( I was jumping up and down on the sidelines screaming, "That's my son, that's my son!" Alex informed me that I looked like an idiot! Oh well! ;o} We are now 7-0! Thanks for praying for us! We love you!! Missy

We had a THIRD Day!!

J and A in front of the Third Day stage. Doesn't Alex look cool? (sorry, my battery was dying so these pictures are really pewey!!)


After the concert Jerod and Alex had to leave their mark.

Me and my boys! Alex really was happy, but with 5 stitches, it's hard to smile!

There are no words for this picture.

This was Alex really getting into it!

Jerod and Greg jumping!

Waiting for the concert to start, Jerod looks sleepy, but he really wasn't!

Heading into the concert, they were excited! Can't you tell from their faces?

So yesterday, wasn't so great, today was MUCH better! We went to see one of our FAVORITE bands, Third Day, in concert. It was awesome!! We had so much fun and just felt happy to be alive! Five years ago before we left for Mexico, Greg and I went to a Third Day concert and felt so moved and so motivated because we knew we were exactly where God wanted us. We were stepping out on faith and scared to death all at the same time. Almost all of their songs spoke to us and we just felt so encouraged.

So, we have now come full circle and we are experiencing the concert with different eyes and a different spirit. Now their songs mean even more to us because we hung onto many of their songs when we were met with a crisis in our village or when we were discouraged or sad or homesick. When someone asks me what I believe, I just want to sing their song, Creed. That is what I believe. Now you all have to google the words to that song to find out exactly what I believe! :o) So, it was a great night, a true refreshment to my/our soul! If you haven't ever been to a Third Day concert, you just have to go, it's AWESOME!! Once we return to Mexico, I will be able to reflect on this night and hold it as a great memory that we made while home for our year!Love you all! Pray for Alex tomorrow as he sits on the sidelines and watches the football game played without him! Oh, I forgot to mention that Annie had a great time with her babysitter playing about 20 board games and watching a movie. That is her kind of fun! She isn't a Third Day fan, YET!

Pictures from our field trip

Some good ole father~ son time!


My boys, so precious!

Are they cute or what?

Dressed up like true Navy men!

The World War II Battleship North Carolina

I tried to post these earlier this week and was unsuccessful, so I thought I would try again. Hope you like them.

So Alex had a bad day?

Waiting in the ER.


Still waiting. We arrived at about 5:00pm. We left at 9:30pm. Mexico......15 minutes tops! Okay an hour with the drive there and all!


This was taken at about 10:00pm after we had arrived back at home and he had received his 5 stitches. He is soooo brave! Looks like someone went fishing and caught an Alex! :o)


Well, he is working on covering his body with scars. A true football player! I mean he even wore his Pittsburg Steelers shirt for the event! What a fan!! :o) Alex and Jerod have been learning to carve things out of wood. This is something that they have really wanted to do for a while and Greg finally decided he would take them to Dick's Sporting Goods and purchase a small carving knife. Then Greg showed the boys how to use the knives and they were taught all of the safety measures. We had set rules and with much prayer we let our little birdies fly. HOWEVER, then a little spider sat down beside him. Alex was carving a beautiful piece of artwork, (picture to come later!) when a spider came at his face and he went to swipe the spider away from his face and forgot he had his knife in his hand. So, he carved his lip. :o}

I mean he has been working on being a tough guy since he was oh so little.

• Age 1 1/2~ ER visit, fell while he had a harmonica in his mouth and cut the thing that holds our tongue down. Sliced it right in two. I say that is why he speaks Spanish so well!
• Age 4~ Fell into a bench when his was running after someone in preschool, CRACKED HIS SKULL!
• Age 7~ Tripped while chasing a friend and hit his knee on a sharp step 5 stictches to the knee.
• Age 7 ~ Slipped on a slide in a pool and cut his chin, 4 stitches
• Age 10~ Cut his sweet lip with a carving knife and got 5 stitches.

So, as you can see, he is our emergency room child. He is tough! Not one tear, NOT ONE except when he found out it meant no football game on Saturday. Destroyed his little world. I mean shook the foundation of his everything. So, Saturday will be tough for him as he has to watch everyone play. Please pray for him. This is a VERY tough lesson. One he won't forget anytime too soon! Thanks for always praying for us as you never know when we may need your prayers! Alex said, "I sure didn't see our day ending like this!" Last night was the football team's pizza party at Cici's. He had looked forward to it since yesterday when he woke up. It was hard on BOTH boys to have to miss that great night of pizza and fun! We are praying for a better day today! Love to you all! Missy

Another week and no update...

Hi everyone! My weeks are flying by and it seems impossible to keep up with everything. I need to write a newsletter and that hasn't happened, I need to get my hair cut, hasn't happened, I need to go to the grocery store, answer e-mails, write thank you notes and 100 other things that just haven't happened. SO....please forgive me oh faithful blog followers, I am still here and still have tons I want to share, just not much time to share it!

Okay, I could have done it last night after church, HOWEVER.....The Amazing Race came on and well, I am a HUGE fan and will one day be on the Amazing Race! If anyone wants to run it with me, let me know. I thought it would be neat to run with my husband, but I would want to be married after the show and I don't know if it is really possible. So... maybe I should look for someone else. Little fun fact for all of you to know.... I have met 3 of people who have actually run the Amazing Race and I am getting closer to one of them now. She is actually becoming one of my friends. Heehee... so I plan on getting as many tips from her now as I can for the one day when I WILL be on this race! Am I confident or what? I might lose the first leg, but oh how I dream of being on that race. Okay, enough of that.

So last week Greg had fall break, so we took the boys on a field trip to Wilmington, NC to visit the North Carolina battleship. We had a great time and learned a lot. It was a fun trip and the boys really enjoyed having this time with me and Greg without their precious sister for just one day. My roommate in college, (pictured in post below) Amy, took care of Annie for us and that was a huge blessing! Thanks Amy!!

The rest of the week was spent with football practice, home school, more football and some family fun. We ended the week with another win! The Saints are now 5-0! I must say their team is REALLY good! They are just so fun to watch too! I won't bore you with any tackle pictures this week, but we are really enjoying the whole football experience. They have a concession stand that the parents run. I volunteered this weekend and Annie thinks that working the concession stand is super fun! Football games and Saturday are just something that we all look forward to lately! We will be sad when the season ends! Which reminds me, if you think about it you can start praying for the readjustment for our family back to village life in June. I think it is going to be tough for 3 children I know! It has been mentioned by 2 of them already! You are probably thinking Jerod and Alex, NOPE.... Jerod and ANNIE! Alex doesn't seem to care one way or the other. Interesting, huh? Anyway, come June.... life could bring with it some interesting changes.

I know I haven't mentioned this little girl for a while now. Her name is Marnie. She is 5 and has cancer. It just isn't fair when a child has cancer. It just isn't. I can't stop thinking about her, when I brush Annie's hair or when I send her off to school, when I watch her run and jump. It is hard for me not to hurt for Marnie and her parents. Please pray for Marnie's healing and for her parents as well! You can follow her progress at her caringbridge site. This is the address: www.caringbridge.org Marnie's website name is marniehowiler Please send them your blessings and if not, then PRAY!!

For some reason, my pictures are not uploading today. I could only get the one to upload. I will try and upload more from our field trip later. I love you all friends! Have a great day! Do something good for someone else, it really makes you feel good, even when you feel bad! :o) My thought for the day, I know I am really deep!

Birthday fun!

My birthday dinner at Fiesta Mexicana. Singing to me in Spanish, music to my ears!!


I really don't feel 39!

After dinner we headed next door to Kroger where Greg had this cake waiting for us. Happy 39th Birthday, Love G,J, A,A ( Greg, Jerod, Alex, Annie)

Me and my cake! My honey is so thoughtful!

Annie in the Disney Store, what a cute Nemo she makes!

She really liked being Mini Mouse!

Annie with MamaSay

My precious parents! Aren't they cute?

YumYum!

My presents from Amy, my roommate in college.

This is my roomy, Amy. How fun to be close to her again!

Jer, Alex, and Annie with Amy's children, Virginia and James.

Jerod, the serious one. If you know Jerod, you know I am KIDDING!!!

Alex, our thinker. HA!!

Annie, the calm one!

Annie thought this was an orange apple on her shirt. Whew, we have a lot of work to do!

Jerod is the second one from the left. We won this game again. We are now undefeated and they are doing very well!

Jerod on the run. He is doing a great job, there just aren't a lot of fun pictures of the offense!

Skip down 4 pictures and then scroll up. I still can't get the order correct. Sorry! ;o}

I guess this is what they were worried about! He didn't make the tackle, but he was OH sooo close! Maybe next time! I know this is blurry, but it is really hard to take pictures when you are yelling, "GET HIM, GET HIM!!"

Alex is proving to be quite quick at times!

Well, Goliath was big, and YES he is lifting Alex off of the ground here, but..... big isn't EVERYTHING!!

Okay so remember the giant in the first game? Here he is again. Same guy, against my little man. They started off the game with only one guy blocking Alex and then they added another guy. Hmm... you think they were worried?

This is Alex getting advice from "Honey" (Grandfather)If you are noticing that he is wearing a DUKE shirt, we got it for free and we ONLY let him have it because he was going to wear it under his football jersey! :o) He is a TARHEEL fan and doesn't really know that he shouldn't like DUKE! So innocent!

Hi friends!!

We have had a great past few days! It started off with a wonderful celebration of my birthday on on the 1st! Thanks to all of you who sent me birthday wishes and for those of you who didn't, you are off the hook, because I am sure I didn't send you one either! :o) We ate at our favorite Mexican restaurant and they sang to me in Spanish. It was fun! Then I spent some time with one of my roommates in college and she blessed me with my favorite treat, Krispy Kreme doughnuts! We also had fun picking out some pumpkins and taking pictures!

Then my parents arrived on Friday and we enjoyed seeing them and they enjoyed seeing the boy's game on Saturday. We celebrated my birthday some more and Annie learned what Halloween was all about. ( The dressing up part that is!) We went to the Disney Store and she had fun trying on some costumes. Annie is very Americanized now! VERY!! We plan on attending every fall festival and candy give-away that we can find! I think I might dress up this year too! :o)

So we have really had a good weekend and are loving the fall weather that has started to come this way! I love this time of year, it is my FAVORITE time. Annie ran up to me the other day and showed me the first leaf that had fallen. She had never seen a leaf that had changed colors before. We are sure to experience many firsts over the next few months! How exciting!!