A day in the life...

Hi friends! I wanted to update you all on what we are doing. Today our plan was to have our phones reactivated and then head out to our village and start cleaning our home. Hmmmm..... We sat at the phone company  for 2 and a half hours and still didn't have our problems resolved. We left defeated and by that time we didn't have time to go to the village. We were told to come back in the afternoon and they would hopefully have our phone problems solved. So, Greg returned a few hours later only to find we still have no phones.

We are going to try again tomorrow. However, we are going to go to our village tomorrow and start the cleaning process so that hopefully soon we will be able to stay there.  We really need phones before we are able to stay out there over night, so if you could pray for that, we would appreciate it. The hotel we are staying in is wonderful. However, after being together in a small room for 5 days now, we are getting a little cabin fever and starting to turn on one another. ;o) Not really, but I for one have been very snappy and Annie has been quite the crankster as well. The boys just crave being able to run, jump, wrestle and be loud. Greg, well, he just remains the same, calm, cool, and collected. However, he doesn't like it when we don't jump out of bed, bright and early in the morning like he does! :o) So, please pray we would have patience with each other and we would get settled soon.

We did have a wonderful reunion last night with some old M friends and that was fun. We were able to talk about what He is doing through them and what doors He is opening for them as well. We are happy to have fellow M's in the area (for the time being) to pray with and share our burdens with. Thank you all for lifting us up during this transition time as it can be hard on our family! Love you all! Missy

Difference in Cultures

Okay, since these things are fresh on my mind I had to write them down. There are many things that we find so refreshing about the Mexican culture. These are some of our observations.

1.When Mexicans go out to dinner, they sit and are engaged in active conversation throughout the meal. While we were in the states we noticed that many times when we would be out to dinner that some Americans don't talk at all when they are out to dinner. If Mexicans didn't want to talk, they just wouldn't go out with each other. They don't fake their relationships.

2. When you go to a Mexican restaurant, count on it being VERY loud with lots of music and people chanting or singing or whatever they are moved to do at the time. They are festive and wide open! Very much like myself! :o) This is hard for my dear husband!

3. One thing we like is they put children first in restaurants. They have play places everywhere. I mean, Chilis, Outback, ( these restaurants are not near us, but they are in Mexico) just about any place that serves food has a play place. Even if it is just a swing set that they have fit inside their restaurant. This morning for breakfast we went to the hotel's breakfast buffet. They had the Disney channel on and they were giving all the children balloons. Most all restaurants serve children their food as soon as it is ready, even if the adult's food isn't ready for 10-15 more minutes. They feel that if the kids are happy everyone will be happy!

4. This is it for now, cuz I gotta  go. But, the service in Mexico is bar none fantastic! They treat everyone like they are royalty! They just do a great job of service when serving your food, cleaning your room, washing your car, whatever it is, they do it with a smile and do it well. They are happy to have a job and they do their jobs well! We could learn something from them! Me included! Have a Happy Sunday! Love, Missy

We're here!

Last night with my parents. We spent it at our favorite place...Chick-fil-a.

My sister, Meredith

My niece, Marissa

Mama Say and Honey

MamaSay and Annie

Alex and Mason (cousins)

The Last Supper. I tried the new Spicey Chicken Sandwich at Chick-fil-a and loved it. HOWEVER...

I ended up eating half of it and ordering a regular one because I wanted that to be my last taste! :o)

Honey and Annie at Chick-fil-a

The "M" House

The living room

The kids room

Adjoining room for me and Greg. Plus the maid. She was embarassed it wasn't cleaned for the photo.

Our family and everything we own, just about.

Annie was happy to see a friendly face, Aunt Sherry.

The road leaving Mexico City, notice the sign for Best Buy? The other one says, "Go Visa"

The toll roads are quite nice as you can see here.

This is the view from the road. Love my camera.

Greg was driving about 70 and I took that through my window!

When we visited Indiana last year, I loved visiting Amish country. Well, I must say,

I really loved seeing these sights today as well. A little different, but neat just the same.

I always thought that Mexico was dry and flat. As you

can see here we are surrounded by mountains and this is a huge lake.

This is how most homes are built in the cities.

In the cities you always see kids and adults doing all kinds

of things to earn money. This kid was dressed like a popular comedian and he was

juggling fire sticks. Anything for a few pesos.

I was trying to show a few things here. One was how everyone rides in the

back of pickups, even tiny babies. The other is that this is

just a two lane road. However this way of driving doesn't worry anyone.

Now those are chips and THAT is salsa! Oh, forget the main course,

I could have just eaten that and been happy! It was all natural!

Alex was happy with his Jamaica, a popular fruit juice made from a flower.

Jerod was happy with his freshly squeezed OJ!

A sign for sore eyes!

That's AMORE!! Pizza Hut here makes pizza better

than any pizza we have ever eaten. It is soooo good. Fresh and the crust

is good and fluffy and we could go on, but well, you have to eat it

to believe it!

These are called Que-papas. They are potatoes filled with cheese and jalepenos. They don't

serve them in the US, or not that we ever found. So, Alex and Jerod were

happy to see them delivered! We are enjoying our first night back. Please pray for a good transition.

We have a lot to do before we are settled back into our home. However, for now we

do have internet, so I will keep you updated as much as possible!

Yay! We made it! Chapter two has begun! I can't tell you how blessed we have been over the past two days! Everything has gone perfectly! I mean from the start of the days to the ending of the nights. God has been soooo good. We have never traveled with such ease as we did on Friday. We were blessed by perfect airport employees, perfect pilots, perfect weather, you name it, it was perfect!

We arrived in Mexico City yesterday and had a great night sleep at our company's house. They have a house set up for teams that come in or for people like us that come in and need a place to stay when they fly in. It is a wonderful resource for us to have. We are blessed! I often talk about this "M house" to people and decided I would include some photos so you could see where we stay when we fly into the country. Then we headed to a city that is near where we live. I have included pictures so you could see what we see when we travel to our home from Mexico City. (which is about 6 hours east of us) Some of you want to know what the roads are like, what the view is like and things of that nature, so I tried to capture that for you.

We stopped at a restaurant we have never eaten at before and were happy to see some familar sites. Ya know when we left the states it was all about food, now that we have arrived here, it is once again, all about food. I am hoping that after my first week back here The Biggest Loser doesn't try to recruit me. The last month has been brutal. But.....I have enjoyed every last brutal morsel! :o) I guess I will start trying to lose again after we re-aquaint ourselves with the familiar tastes! I am missing all of you but happy to be back where I know God has called us! Love you all!! Missy and family

Family fun

Cousins

Annie and Caroline after Caroline's graduation from pre-school and Alex and Jerod with their mama

Caroline, Aaron and Annie after church\

Greg and I with Pastor Jamie and Krista. They are our friends from a church in Indiana

 Greg and his mama

Above pictures are of our family reunion and of picking strawberries

These pictures above were of a fan day at Lucas Oil Stadium. They got to see the Colts practice and then they all got to play on the field. Alex was in HEAVEN!

Saying good-bye is never easy. However it gets a little harder each time I have to say good-bye to my precious "Papa." He is 92 and in perfect health and I am praying that he will stay that way for a very long time. He is a sweet, sweet man!


We had a wonderful time in Indiana and were so happy to be able to see most all of Greg's family. We had fun picking strawberries, celebrating with Caroline as she graduated and watching the Colts. Jerod and I enjoyed going to yard sales and now we are going to try and fit everything we have purchased into our luggage. We are now with my family and are enjoying some last minutes of food, fun and fellowship before we head out. We covet your prayers. Love you all!