missy update for Monday

Unfortunately, Missy woke up not feeling as well as yesterday and the doctor decided this morning it would be best to stay another day.  Thus, we are hoping for Tuesday to be the departure day. 

She has gotten better throughout the day as the headache she had earlier has gone away.  Her eye was examined by the opthalmologist today.  A few days ago there were a few areas on her cornea that he wanted to check again but today he said all looked much better.  He wants to schedule another appointment with us once she is discharged to make sure all is well.

The hospital food is interesting here with rice and chicken the main course.  She even got a ham and cheese sandwich for breakfast the other day.  They brought up a typical Mexican breakfast dish of chiliquiles(cut up baked tortillas with salsa, sour cream and cheese on top).  They are very good but did not look good to a sick patient in the morning so she rejected them for a cheese quesadilla.  The hospital has obviously come across a good batch of cantelope so she has requested this for almost every meal.  It comes cut up and ready to eat.

Enough of my digressions, continue to pray for her head pain and that we will get to go home tomorrow.

missy update for Sunday

Missy definately took a turn for the better today.  You could tell in her voice that she had much more energy.  We enjoyed a Pizza Hut pizza while we unfortunatly watched the Mexican soccer team lose to Argentina today in the World Cup. 

We received some encouraging news today as the doctor said she might possibly be able to go home tomorrow.  It is not for sure but there is a decent chance.  We were told initially she would be in the hospital for 5 days or longer so we will definately take 4 days and be happy with it.

She needs to see the eye doctor again tomorrow so continue to pray that he will find nothing that concerns him.  She was finally able to open her eye today about half way without having to force it open so the swelling has gone down considerably. 

Thanks again for your notes and emails and we hope to have Missy back home again soon.  We, the rest of the family, really need her back and would love to get into a boring routine of a lifestyle once again.

Pretty Woman

Doesn't look that bad, but... it is. Please keep praying! I love you all!! Missy

missy update

After asking a lot more questions and doing my own internet research, we have a much better understanding of Missy's condition.  She has the herpes zoster virus commonly known as shingles to us but the doctors here in Mexico never use the word shingles or anything comparable which is why it took me a day to get a more recognizable name for her condition.  This virus sits dormant in all people who have had chicken pox and comes out in around 2-3 people per 1000(medical website statistic) Typically, shingles on the body causes pain and irritation for weeks if not longer and can go away on its own or be treated with some oral or topical medication.  Missy's has broken out on her face and eye area which is more serious and needs to be treated more aggresively as eye damage can occur.

She is experiencing much less pain today with the medication she is taking but still has swelling around her left eye.  The eye doctor came and examined her today and is going to be keeping watch but did not see anything that worried him much.  He started her on some drops to help with the virus. 

Continue to pray for her rest, quick healing and especially that the virus would not cause problems for her eye.  She will probably to be here through early next week at least as it is kind of a wait and see period right now.  We have had some visits from other M friends who live close by and some of our friends from the village.  We are blessed to have good friends who are like family to us.  

I will update more tomorrow.

PRAYER FOR MISSY NEEDED

Please be in prayer for Missy as she is suffering from the herpes facial virus.  This has caused swelling and pain in her forehead and a swollen shut left eye.  The only tretment for this is an intravenous medicine which may keep her hospitalized for 5 days.  She was checked in today around 1:00pm.  She is really miserable so we are asking for prayer for her pain, the medicine and wisdom for the Mexican doctor who so far has been great to our family.


We also know the Bible is clear that spiritual warfare exists and we have just returned and may be on the receiving end of some of it.  Pray that this will not discourage our family and that God will receive the glory from this difficult episode in our life.


I will keep you up to date over her progress in the next few days.

He is so Good!

So, If you ever wondered if there really is a God, wonder no more. I am here to tell you, if He cares about us and the simple little  pleasures of one tiny little red headed girl like I know He does, He is definitely real! He showed me that on Thursday when we shopped for groceries. The ONE thing Annie was really going to miss was chocolate poptarts. When we lived here before Wal-mart didn't carry any Great Value brands and since we have been gone, they have started! Yay!! So, when I saw these poptarts, I knew, HE cares, even about poptarts!

All over the world, except in the US, the big thing right now is the World Cup. It is BIG stuff! Yesterday Mexico played France and I am pretty sure the entire country shut down to watch this game. We were in the nearest city shopping for furniture and took time out to watch the game on the flat screen tv at McDonalds. We didn't think there would be many people there. HA were we ever wrong. There were at least 60-70 people watching it. It was so funny. Well, Mexico won the game and the entire country went wild with excitement. I mean, WILD! They beeped their horns for at least 2-3 hours after the game was over and they were playing in fountains and driving with flags hanging out of their cars. It was interesting to see! You can see in the photo above.

Well, we had hopes of having our satellite dish hooked up before last night but that didn't happen. We think it will be up and running tomorrow. So although Alex got to see the soccer game but he didn't get to see the Celtics and Lakers play. So, he had to watch a play by play on the computer and listen to the announcers to know what was happening. Not perfect, but he did it! He was sad to see the Lakers win, but handled the loss well! I would say he thinks that watching a game like that really is suffering for Jesus! ;o)

We have now gotten our house in pretty livable conditions. Things are almost back to normal. ALMOST! We went to our church tonight. It was great! Really wonderful to be a part of such a great group of people. They are such precious people and they love us just as much as we love them. They fixed us a wonderful meal. It was our favorite and we sat and listened to the service. They did it all and we just enjoyed it all. They have grown in ways that only He could orchestrate. It is beautiful to see. Greg and I both felt like proud parents watching our kids do something really wonderful. We are so thankful for the way He has guided us and them. It has been perfect. The best part was that throughout the entire 2 hour service all you could hear was Annie laughing in the background. She played with 2 of her old friends. They played and laughed and made a craft and she was sooo happy. I don't know if she was talking, but she was by herself (which means she wasn't connected to my hip) with her friends and she was happy. That is and answer to your prayers. Thank you! Please keep praying. We love you all! Missy

Great day!

Tuckered out

Annie loves home-made tortillas. Absolutely  LOVES them!

Happy to be at the pool!

Alex takes care of his lil sis!

Our newly paved road into our village. This is WAY better than it was! ( it doesn't all have medians)

My friend, Barbara, she is a TRUE friend, one you can count on for anything!

Annie playing by herself. Look at her feet. Those aren't black socks!

Happy to be playing soccer again.

Hi friends,

I wanted you to all see how great our God is! Today started off with our usual 30-40 minute drive to our village. However, while we were in the states they widened the main road to our village and now it is MUCH quicker. We made it there in about 15 minutes. The main reason it took so long before was because we usually got behind a very slow truck or many slow trucks and you couldn't pass on that road because it was too dangerous. So, we were very blessed to find that this blessing has caused our tirp into town to be a lot less timely.

Once we arrived into our village we went straight to work cleaning as fast as we could as a family.  We were pleasingly surprised that there were no mice/rats. Well.... I take that back, there was one that was dead in a trap and had been there for a VERY long time, but other than that, no sign of any rodents! PTL!!! We just knew it wouldn' t be long before the knocks on our door came and our cleaning would be forced to a halt. About 2 hours into our cleaning my good friend Barbara knocked on our door and just like I would, she says, "Oh I have missed you, don't look at me, I've gained weight and oh how I've missed you. Can I help you clean?" So sweet and so funny!

So I declined on her  help and said yes when she offered to fix us lunch. So a few hours later we went over to her home and had the best tacos in the world! I mean Taco Bell ain't got nothin' on her! After we ate she followed us over to our home and started right to work. Boy was I happy to have her. She cleaned my windows better than they have been cleaned in 4 years! She has promised to come back tomorrow. Yippee!

We saw a few other friends briefly but told them we could visit as soon as our house was back in order. Amazingly, they understood. That isn't cultural. Then the boys had friends arrive as soon as school was out and they picked up right where they left off. It was great. I mean really great! I was so happy to see them playing and having fun like they had never left. They didn't want to leave to come back to the hotel. Yay God!

So, the blessing for Annie would be that she was happy to be home. She found toys that she had forgotten all about and she just liked being in a familiar place. However...... she was lonely. She played by herself all day while we worked and cleaned. I am sure that will change as soon as the little girls realize she is there, but for now, it was hard. Especially because she is still very timid about Spanish. I hate that she has forgotten it all. I know she understands it all, she is just unsure about it all and has no confidence. I may end up starting some school with her early. Spanish, anyway.

So, as soon as we got back to the city we dropped Greg off at the phone company to fight out our problems and we went back to the hotel for a swim. That made Annie happy! Then we ate and now they are all snoring. We will be back out at the village tomorrow. We have phones and SHOULD have internet in the village by Thursday.  So if you don't hear from me for a few days, it is only because we are waiting patiently for internet. Thanks for following our journey. Please continue to pray. Especially for the little girl we call Annie. She is holding up well but I am hurting for her! Love you all! Missy