Great first day of school!

Meeting the teacher was very fun event for Annie! She had a great first day of school! We colored and read books, counted, and wrote her name many times. She loves to color! She was so excited to start the day! She picked out her favorite dress, her pink suit and even picked out special pink hairbows. Needless to say, she was definitely the prettiest girl in the class, hands down! ;o) After school we went to Wal-mart to buy her school supplies. She had so much fun picking out the perfect crayons and prettiest notebook. She is such a girl! However, when it came to picking out a lunch box to carry her snack in, she picked Sponge Bob over all of the pink, princess lunch boxes! You can tell she has 2 brothers! We both had a great day, I think I liked it just as much as she did! It is hard to believe that 3 years ago I said, " I will NEVER homeschool!" I guess sometimes God has to force us to do things or we would never know what we were missing!

We had a great time tonight!

Don't you just love surprises? Tonight as we expected we had a lot less people. It was about half of what we normally have, however we had one new man come. The man who we buy water from is Miguel. Last time we bought water from him Greg invited him to come to our Monday night meeting. He is probably around 65 and is a widower. He is very lonely and we thought this might be something he would enjoy. However last Monday he didn't come. In the back of our minds we weren't really sure if he would ever come but tonight he showed up right on time. ( not something that is common among the people here.) He was eager to hear our Bible story and after it was over he said he was encouraged. Please pray that Miguel will come again next Monday night.

Tomorrow is Annie's first day of school! (home school) She is SOOOO excited! We have tried to make it as much like a first day of school experience for her as is possible. We asked her if she was excited about meeting her teacher. She just laughs at us. Greg asked her if she thought her teacher would be nice, she said," Yes!" Then he said, "Do you think she will be pretty?" Her response was less enthusiastic and she thought a minute and responded," I think so." So, I guess I need to pluck the hairs on my chin, lose some weight and wear deodorant or I may lose my first Kindergarten student! ;o) The boys don't start until Thursday, so tomorrow should be a fun day for her as she will get ALL of my attention! I will let you know how her first day goes! Thanks for praying!

Oh and for all of you wanting to see the picture of Greg riding a bull, I will work on getting it posted as well! I may need some help from a friend named Don on that one!

Peaceful Night!

Hi everyone! Last night went great! We gave out about 90 cups of hot chocolate and coffee. We made a lot of new friends and had a lot of good conversations. One of the families that meets with us on Monday came by and spent the entire night with us. That was a huge blessing and we had a good time of fellowship with them. Although there were a ton of drunks roaming the streets, we didn't hear of any fights! So, that was a huge PRAISE! We are praying that the people who are supposed to come tonight will come. I will try and add more pictures soon. Silly internet only wants to add pictures when it feels like it! Thanks for praying! I will update you more tomorrow about how the night goes. Thanks for staying interested!



Oh, I have to tell you something cute that happened. Annie was playing the game Congo with Alex and Greg and her card said she needed to answer this question; " If you fell into a vat of food, what would you want your stomach to be full of?" I couldn't believe that was her question, but I asked her if she could have eaten anything before she fell into the mole, what would she have eaten. She smiled really big and said, "MOLE!" So all that time I wasted worrying about how she would act when she had to eat it again or even see it, and all along she was wishing she could have eaten before it was ruined! Go figure!?!? ;o)

Pray today!

Today, Sunday, is the biggest day of the year in the lives of our friends. It is the day they celebrate Saint Lorenzo. There will be lots and lots and lots of drinking and lots and lots of processions in our streets. Processions are where a group of people walk down the street carrying these large platforms that have statues of saints on them. They will burn candles, and incense and walk in honor of these dead "saints." All of this is done to gain favor with God. They believe this is what He would want them to do. Of course then they have these huge parties afterward and MANY get drunk. Some of the "fun" is quite harmless, they like to dress up in their best clothing, eat traditional food, watch fireworks and see old friends. Tomorrow night there will also be a bull riding contest. So not all of the traditions are bad. However, there has been talk of 2 groups of people within the community fighting tonight. There has been talk of guns and shootings. You mix, drinking, guns, and a strife between 2 groups of men together, and you have TROUBLE! Please pray that today, tonight and tomorrow night will be calm and there will be no fights. Pray that this "celebration" would pass without any harm coming to the people.

Last year we tried something new during this " fiesta." We wrote Bible verses on cups and gave away free hot chocolate in front of our home. (it gets cold here at night during these months) We had nothing but positive responses from this. So, tonight we will do the same thing. We will be out of harms way, sitting in front of our home, ( I put that in there for my parent's sake!) giving out hot chocolate and coffee. We will have a bon fire on the street, (I know that sounds strange, but it is quite normal) and sit back and enjoy the company of our friends who choose to come by and visit. So,please do pray for all of our safety (fire still freaks me out!) and pray that the people will see God through us. I have always liked the saying, "You may be the only Bible they ever read." So, I pray we can be a good example for Christ!

Although we are not expecting a huge turnout tomorrow night, we will still be meeting with our new group. Pray it would go well too! Have a great week! I will let you know everything goes!

What do we like more about Mexico than the United States?

I know it is hard to believe that we could ever like things in another country better than in the U.S. but there are some benefits! When I asked the boys and Annie what they like better about living here, they had many responses. They said they like it because you can wear whatever you want and nobody cares what you look like. Example: holes in your pants are common and if you don't match, you are actually more normal than not. You get to play in the streets and cars aren't a problem. You get to play things outside like soccer and marbles. You get to play at the farm and get really dirty. It is a lot more relaxing here than in the States. People don't judge you for what you have or don't have. (I am not so sure about the first part.) They love the weather here because it isn't too cold or too hot, it is always just right. You can buy a lot of things that only cost 10 cents. If you don't have a car, you can always take the bus or taxi. The best thing of all is that we are always together as a family. We don't have to wait until 6:00 at night to see our dad! That was a biggie! Annie said she likes Mexico better because she gets to start school this year! Little does she know. Remember she only lived in the States for the first year and a half of her life. So she doesn't know much else. However, she does remember the "comfy couch house" in Galveston! I think that may be her favorite memory of the States!

Things we miss about the United States

Okay, to be fair, I felt I needed to let you know that there are many things we miss about the U.S.! The first response to this question was, "RESTAURANTS!" Chick-fil-a needs to open up in Mexico so we won't gain so much weight while we are on vacation in the States! We miss grass, there isn't much of that around here. We miss drinking the water, flushing our toilet paper, our family and our friends, our church, going to a store and not having the prices rise the minute they see us and the quietness of a neighborhood. (it is really noisy here all the time) That is a start. We obviously miss a lot of things about America but we have come to love many things about Mexico. It really is a beautiful country. There are mountains EVERYWHERE! I never would have thought that, I thought it was all dry, dusty, desert. I will be honest, I haven't seen much of that since I have been here. I am trying to upload some more pictures, it is just taking awhile. Sorry! I will add them little by little!

Samuel is doing much better. His fever has gone down to just a low grade fever and they are keeping him in the hospital for a few more days for observation. Thank you all for your prayers for him!

I guess that is all for now, I will write more later!

Keep praying for Samuel

Hi everyone,

Samuel is still in the hospital and he is doing better, but really needs your prayers. He is still fighting his fever. It is a low grade fever now, but he still has a fever at times. They are unsure exactly what they are treating. After running many different tests on him, they are still confused about what exactly is causing the fevers. Little Tiana has been with us since yesterday. We will take her back to see her mom and dad tomorrow. Annie has had a great time babysitting! I will add more pictures soon. My problem with the pictures is our computer/ internet. So, it isn't as easy as one may think. Anyway, I will do my best to add more pics soon and to answer the poll question. Love you all!