Hi friends! These pictures are all out of order but they give you an idea of what we have been doing these past few weeks. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving and are now looking forward to making some fun Christmas memories. We pray that all of you spend this month looking for ways to make memories with your family and friends. We are also praying that each one of you finds hope and joy in the true meaning of Christmas.
So, on Dec. 3rd we decided to head out and look for a Christmas tree. We have never purchased a live tree since living here. It was definitely an experience to remember! We have only seen trees at two places, Home Depot and Sams. We went to Home Depot first and this is what we found....one very dry tree left.
Crazy to think they sold out before December even got started good.
So, we picked one and hoped for the best. It was funny and very memorable!
We were blessed by our old Sunday school class in NC! They sent us an awesome care package!
Annie loved reading the cards that were sent and the boys were very excited about the candy!
Thanks Bayleaf B church for such an awesome blessing!
For Annie's Birthday, all she wanted was to spend time with the only American family that lives near us, swim in our community pool and eat pizza from Pizza Hut. She got her wish!
She wanted homemade cake and not store bought, so that is also what she got!
This is one of those "Annie" stories I am just now getting used to. Annie is EXTREMELY extroverted. I guess she gets it honestly. ;o) Since we have lived in this new home, Annie has made tons of friends and knows many people that we have yet to meet. She just sees them and starts up a conversation. All of this has been harmless as it is usually right out in front of our home. On her birthday we get a knock on our door from someone Greg nor I knew. Annie was playing at a friend's home and so she wasn't home to explain. The woman said she was there to give Annie her birthday present. Greg went to get Annie and she quickly came home to give her "friend" a thank you hug. The woman has only met Annie a few times, but loved her instantly and wanted to give her a present for her big day. Too funny! The Hello Kitty was just the wrapping, inside was candy, bracelets and a small backpack.
We had our first marriage retreat for our people group.
It was awesome to see them all unite in pray for each other.
This was Annie's second celebration with our M friends over Thanksgiving week.
We had an awesome time preparing our Thanksgiving meal. It is always fun to cook with friends!
The kids and the dads had car races. Throughout the week the kids made race cars. Then on Thanksgiving day they had their big race. They all had lots of fun! This was before the race and they were singing the National Anthem.
This is one of the team members, Amber. She was a huge hit with the girls!
This was our spread, we had a lot of food!
Our last night with the team, eating some "safe" food at Pizza Hut, before their travel day.
This is Popo, in Puebla, Mexico. I just liked this picture.
We had one of our very best shoe events. One of the churches we have been working with invited 10 families that they are trying to reach to one of the members' home. Then the members of the church loved on them and shared shoes and then clothes and they were also offered Bibles. Then the believers prayed with them. It was a great way to show God's love to these families. The shoes were donated by many friends in the US and many believers here in Mexico as well.
I fell in love with this little chunk!
This is Chata. She has become a very strong Christian that has been seeking out families that are in need of the love of Jesus. A group from our church went with her to meet this family. It was heartbreaking to see what we saw. A daddy of 12 who is now a widower is doing all he can to take care of his children. This little boy suffers from some muscle disorder. I don't know if it is muscular dystrophy or some other problem. He is 5 years old and looked like a 2 or 3 year old. He was in a baby carrier when we arrived. His mother died giving birth to him. Most of the children are grown and can take care of themselves, but the father who is 43, still has 6 of them at home to tend to. They had no food and were covered in lice. They are now our small church group's project. Please pray for them.
Here are two of the girls with some new shoes we were able to bless them with.
There are two things my boys and I have can say we all love, popcorn and movies!
We were all very anxious to see 'Catching Fire.' We finally got our chance last night as we had a mother-sons date night. We all agreed that it was a great movie!
December is Toy Story month. Well.... at least in our home. This is when the toys come to life at night.
Each morning we have found Annie's American Girl dolls have been into all kinds of mischief throughout the night. She has had fun seeing what they will do next.
The little boogers just couldn't wait for me to unpack the Christmas decorations.
Here is Elizabeth playing with a helicopter ornament. (Annie gives them names, they aren't the names they come with.)
This is Sam, she is sitting in our crate of decorations looking at an ornament Annie made a few years back.
The next day, we found them trying to decorate the tree.
Josefina was determined to hang a #1 Teacher ornament. I am sure she was thinking about Annie's teacher. ;o)
Then we found them all cuddled up watching Dispicable Me 2 and eating snacks.
I think they are really getting into the Christmas spirit now. We found them pulling out all of the baking goods. So now I guess I will have to use them!
Thanks for following friends! Hope you have a great weekend and enjoy the snow for me if you have any! Love, Missy
