Happy....Happy....Happy!

Hi friends and family! I know it has been a while since I posted. I am sorry. We traveled to Puebla, MX for Thanksgiving and had a very special prayer retreat with our indigenous team here in Mexico. It was a well needed time of prayer and worship. We enjoyed every bit of it and felt refreshed by the time Thanksgiving Day rolled around. We spent that day together cooking, eating and playing games. We all missed our families in the US but loved the time we were able to spend together with other M's. It was
awesome.

Fun with the team!

Cooking with friends!

Thanksgiving Dinner

Nuf said!

WE AIN'T STARVIN' HERE!!

Nothing better than friends!

Annie actually celebrated her birthday on Thanksgiving this year. She turned 8 years old. So hard to believe that my baby is now 8. It was just yesterday that she was born and we were putting her in the Christmas play at our church as Jesus. She had a blast celebrating with her M friends here and playing games and eating cake. She was tickled pink that she was able to have a Veggie Tales party as she was told that was impossible. The team that came from The Summit in NC brought her plates and napkins and we found a bakery that copied a picture and made a precious cake for her. It was perfect!

Annie's Veggie Tales cake

She was beside herself with excitement!

Brother takes one for his sister!

And enjoyed it!

Annie's reaction to all of her gifts!

I have just figured out that since we have fast internet I can actually download a video onto our blog. I am going to download one of Annie on her b-day so you can see how excited she was! I will download a few others little by little so you can see a little of our people and what life is really like here.

Hope you all had a fantastic Thanksgiving and managed to stay away from the Wal-Mart chaos! SO crazy! We are gearing up for a really fun and busy December and I am really excited about all of the things we have planned.

Please be praying for the following:
LM Christmas Offering (how we stay on the field)
Women's Tea
Family Movie Night
Youth Drama Night
Jesus Film showing
Two Christmas parties in two different villages. (this will be for Three Kings Day and they will receive their shoeboxes/presents)

Thank you all for praying. I am continually amazed at how He blesses us through all of you. We really couldn't be here without you.

Love to you all! Missy

Annie's thoughts

Hi friends! I have been meaning to write this for a few days and just haven't had a chance. First let me say that I have already posted this on facebook so some of you may have already read this comment on there.

This week during our Bible lesson in school we were talking about how to be thankful. We talked about how sometimes people only say thank you for the good things that happen in their lives and hardly ever do they mention how thankful they are for hard times. We mentioned some things like thanking God for the mouse in our house. The reason being; that even though I genuinely HATE mice, because one had died, we were delayed in our trip to town and avoided a deadly accident that happened at about the same exact time we would have been passing through had we not had to clean up the mouse yuck. So, we had to thank God for the mouse that continues to frustrate me by leaving droppings everywhere. ;o)

I then asked Annie what she was thankful for. She said, "Well, I am thankful that I was burnt." I was a little shocked by this and asked her why. She said, "Because many people wanted to learn more about God  after that happened." She went on to explain. She said, "Mama, it's like that song we sing, Te amo mas que mi vida." (I love you more than my life.) I was just sitting there crying as she said all of this and she said, "You are silly mama, you always cry." I couldn't help it, I was overwhelmed with how very mature that response was. I just thought,"Man, if I could have half the amount of faith that she has, I would be happy!" I am sometimes amazed at how simple her faith is, it was like to her, that was the most common thing to think. She continues to challenge me in my walk with the Lord and I hope she has you too. If you would like to send her a birthday wish, I know she would love it, she turns 8 on Thursday, Thanksgiving Day. Love you all! Missy

What do you do all week?

This is one of the questions we have heard often. What do we do? Well, I will tell you. I eat lots of ice cream with my feet propped up on the couch. I take lots of bubble baths and get lots of rest and relaxation. Now if you belive that, you are crazy! I mean.... I don't have a bathtub so a bubble bath is out of the question! ;o)

Since we have moved here to our new village our lives are non-stop. I will give you a general idea. Mondays are a little relaxed. Greg studies for a class he is taking in his online seminary class and takes his exam for the week. The kids and I home school and then we usually spend the evening doing something together. It usually envolves Monday night football.

The rest of the week varies from week to week.
We have a Bible study here in our village with about 15 people, which we really enjoy.
We go into town (which is about 40 minutes away) one day for our grocery shopping.
We have a night of prayer with a group of leaders from a nearby church to pray over the needs of the different villages.
 Greg disciples a man one night a week.
We go to our old village one night a week to assist them in their Bible study.
 We spend one day visiting different people in different villages here,
We also assist a new church plant in a nearby village that is just starting.
Then on Sundays we bounce around to different churches and try to encourage them.
And.. Of course every weekday we have school.

So, for those of you who are wondering what we do, all but one night a week, we are busy. It is a very busy schedule, but it is very exciting to see how God is working and how He has opened doors for us in the different villages here. We are blessed.

I know I continue to ask you to pray for Estella. (our housekeeper) I am gonna ask again. Her daughter came by on Friday and told me that she wasn't feeling well and couldn't come. So, I told her the that was fine and I would pray for her. She came  back today and asked me if she could start cleaning my house instead of her mom. She said the Dr. told her mom she needed to rest. Rosa (her daughter) said she didn't know how long she would have to rest but she would clean for her mom until she could go back to work. I asked about her job picking strawberries and she said she couldn't work right now. I don't know why. Anyway... here is the thing. Imagine being a grown women cleaning a home filled with things that you would love to own and knew there was no way you would ever have any of those things. However, you were happy for the job so you continued on with the job and tried hard not to covet. Now imagine you are only 13 and you are cleaning a house for the first time in your life that actually has a floor. Imagine how it would make you feel to clean all the things that you can only dream of owning and because you are only 13 you don't quite understand why that hasn't happened to you. I am petrified that this poor girl is going to really resent us for the things we own. I want to bless this family. I don't want to make things harder on them. So if you would, please pray that through this time of having a 13 year old clean my house (as my kids do their school) we can somehow bless her. Thanks for praying!! Love you all!

...Weep with those who weep....

Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep. Be of the same mind toward one another. Do not set your mind on high things, but associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own opinion. Romans 12:15-16

This verse speaks straight to my heart when I think of My Estella. I tell you I really do weep with her. My heart actually feels pain when I hear of her life. I feel like Simon when he carried the cross for Jesus. He was able to lighten the load for Jesus for a short time in His life. I want to do that for Estella. I want to lighten her load.... at least for a portion of her life here on earth. I truly feel as if God brought her into my life and it wasn't so that I could help her. I mean, maybe that was part of the reason; however, she really helps me. She helps me to see what is really important in this life. It surely isn't money, or things or even my health.

 It is Jesus.

 She shared with me today of how for most of her married life she has been either abused or starved. Now, to look at her, you wouldn't think she is starving. But she doesn't eat much of anything of consistency. It is mainly tortillas, lots of tortillas and beans. Not a really healthy diet. She says through every beating, and with every night that her children cried because there was no food, she clung to Jesus. She said today, " He has never left me." Her life is getting a little better since her children are older and they can help her to work and make money. Which is sad in itself. Her daughter is only 13 and is already working full time picking strawberries. I don't know if you have ever seen how this is done but it is back breaking.

Please pray for Estella and for her daughter, Rosa and son, Marco. Please also pray for her husband who has been drunk, completely drunk for one month straight now. He needs Jesus.

On a somewhat lighter note, we are getting some new scenery around our home. When this happened to me it WASN'T something I embraced however it doesn't seem to bother my son at all. Here is a picture of Jerod getting fit for his new look. As you can see he was having fun with the entire experience!

These were the frames he liked best. So this will be his new look. Again, I was devastated when this happened to me and he couldn't care less. His self esteem is so much better than mine was. SO glad! Please pray it stays that way! Thanks!! My baby is growin' up. A tear just fell! ;o(

Thank you all for your continued prayers and support to our family. We cannot tell you how much it means to us. This job would be impossible without it! Hugs to you all!

Fun times in the States/ Gearing up for Christmas

Hi friends! I have been out of the loop for sure! Visiting family and friends was an absolute blessing to everyone in our family. We are back home now and we are getting back into our routine. I think the happiest one in our family is probably our dog, Max. He is beside himself with joy to have his playmates back home! The last post was from our time in Indiana.

We started our trip out in Indiana and spent 10 awesome days there. Then we flew to NC, where we spent 10 more days with my family in the NC/SC area. We enjoyed fall festivals, yard sales, football games, board games, long walks, fall weather, drinking from the faucet, flushing the toilet paper, going to the beach, playing with cousins, visiting with old friends and eating all the foods we have missed. Out of all the things we ate while in the US, Jerod enjoyed his Chick-fil-a the most, Greg enjoyed his greek food, (lamb pita and greek salad) Alex enjoyed his broccoli and cheese soup from Panera, Annie enjoyed her hot dog at the fair, and I have to say my Ruth's Chris steak was by far my favorite! (Thanks again Kingston Ave!)

We are so blessed to have friends and family who love and support us when we are home and when we are here. It is so nice to go to the US and then it is also a wonderful feeling to come back here to Mexico and know this is truly where we belong. Our kids picked up right where they left off and attended a youth event today. Schools were closed for All Souls/Saints Day which is a national holiday here. It is a rather dark holiday but the youth decided to take advantage of not being in school and went to a pool and played games and just had a great day. It is still pretty warm here during the day. ( Mid 70's) However, at night the temps seem to drop drastically and it can get really quite chilly. I mean, it is almost time for our flannel sheets. ( Remember we have no central heat and our home is built kinda like a basement)

We are gearing up for Christmas already and are excited about the many opportunities we will have to share His love to all of those around us. The needs are great and Christmas can seem kinda sad for lots of little ones as they don't have much. We are planning on having at least one big Christmas party in a village here and if possible another in our old village also. There we will be giving out presents to the kids and having cake and games and fun stuff and we will also tell the story of Jesus' birth. This is all made possible by many of you who donate money for that specific reason and I personally want to thank you all for that in advance. This has been something that we have done for the past few years and it has been such a blessing that now all the kids look forward to this time of year in hopes of a fun Jesus party. We will definitely keep you all updated on the progress of our party  preparations and I will post photos after we have had the party with the kids and their gifts.

Thanks for keeping up with us and I will do better at posting now that I am back home! love to you all! Missy

Here are some photos from our trip, hope you like them!

This is from Part One of our trip. Greg with his Aunt Charlotte.

Caroline, Tanner and Annie

Caroline, Emily and Annie ~ cousins

Greg, and Annie with our longtime friends Keith and Emily Twiddy

Here are the boys eating dinner with the Twiddy boys. It took 3 servers to bring out their food! ;o)

This family is like another family to us. We love the Twiddys!!

Fall fun

Saying good-bye at the airport.

No words.

So precious!

Greg enjoying the beach.

Alex with MamaSay ( my mom)

More cousin fun

Greg with his buddy Arnold.

Annie and Marissa having fun at the park.

Alex

Annie

Jerod

Jerod and his cousin Mason

 My Papa and Me.

 Some of my prayer group from BBC came to visit me for the day! We had a great time! Thanks ya'll! 

My 93 year old grandfather and my babies.

 Annie was named after his wife; there is a special connection there. ;o)

My 2 favorite men over the age of 40! My Honey and my Papa! 

Love them!!