Fiesta Mexicana!

We enjoyed a wonderful Sunday of church and Mexican food! Nothing better! ;o) We have picked 3 churches to visit and as a family we are going to pick which church to attend. Yesterday we vistited one and we all really loved it! I think we may have a hard time deciding on which church to attend because there are so many good ones! Anyway, we are finding this world to get smaller by the day! We walked in the doors of the church and the first person to formally greet us at the greeter's station was a member of our home church in Asheville when we attended there. So it was nice to see a friendly face. So weird!! It almost seems like God has laid out the Welcome wagon for us! Or maybe HE has done that! He continues to amaze us with his goodness!

After church we headed to a small Mexican restaurant in a strip mall that had caught our eye. If you can speak the entire time in Spanish and talk about their home as if it is your own, you become family very quick!! This picture above is of the boys with Jorge. He is our new friend. He loves the soccer team, Pumas, which is Alex's favorite. So, he and Alex became FAST friends!! He has two children and we plan 0n getting together with he and his family to "practice or Spanish." We really do need to do that however, we would also like to build relationships with them so maybe we can tell them some stories! Ya know we know some really cool stories to tell. :o) Please pray for Jorge and his family. Pray that we can build a relationship with him and his family.

School update: We are checking on our last option today. We are praying God will show us if this is where Annie should be for the next year. Love you all!! Missy

Happy 4th!!

Sorry, these are all out of order. This should be the last and the last the first, but I can't fix it, so, just start at the bottom! :o) Boom, fireworks, you get the picture!


Friends showing Annie the fireworks.

Watching the fireworks.

She was a little braver today than yesterday.

Tom enjoying control of the remote!

Greg enjoying peace, quiet, and a comfy couch!

Annie and Ila, I think or could be some other really cute girlies!

My childhood friend, Barrett and his wife, Kristen. ( I think that was her name.) Sorry, if you are reading this! I tried!!

Jerod and Shane

Bryce dunking a basketball!

Annie saying, "I like fireworks!"

Annie's first sparkler, big brother, Alex helping her.

Alex enjoying his sparkler.

Our new friend, Jordan and little Lilly. Lilly thought the sparkler was to eat! Isn't she precious?

Dads helping the boys with their sparklers.

Annie's new friend, Natalie. They became fast friends!! We found out that Annie is an EXTREME extrovert!! (in English)

A group of my new friends. God is good!

I do pray God will bless America! It is a wonderful place to live! Please pray for all of those who keep us safe here in America and as they serve our country on foreign soil.


Hi friends!! We have had a wonderful 4th of July! This is definitely a holiday we don't take for granted! This is Annie's first 4th of July in the country since she was 8 months old. She was a little confused about all the fuss over fireworks. In our village a firework is something like a really big bottle rocket that just makes a big boom. So, when all the kids were getting excited about the fireworks, Annie said, "Silly kids, don't haven't they ever heard fireworks before?" So, it was really something to see her face when she saw REAL fireworks for the first time! She said, "Oh, those are really pretty!"

We have really been blessed to live around some really sweet people! We were invited to a cookout yesterday and we were introduced to a lot of other seminary students and their wives. Annie was in hog heaven because there were a million little girls there! We watched fireworks with them last night as the town of Wake Forest does theirs on the 3rd.

Today we spent the day with our friend's the Mims in Apex, NC. (about 40 minutes away) We had fun swimming in their pool and we met their neighbors and we had another cookout. So, now that Greg and I have managed to gain 25 pounds in just 2 days we have made many friends and eaten lots of good food! :o) I love potlucks! While I was at their pool I just happened to bump into my childhood friend, Barrett Garner. We were friends from the time we were 5 right up through college. It was so cool to see him again and meet his wife and daughter! Small world! So, we had a great 3rd and 4th!

We will be visiting a new church tomorrow, praying God gives us direction in so many areas! Love you all!! Missy

New bikes and shorts dilemma

New bikes!


Jerod trying his bike out!

Alex wanting to pop a wheelie and then thinking twice! ;o)

Annie thinking her bike is WAY pretty!

Jerod and Alex enjoying a little freedom. Of course, I am a nervous wreck!

So, are these shorts or capris?

What a great day! We bought new bikes for the boys and found an almost new bike for Annie at Goodwill. They haven't been able to ride bikes since living out of the country and they were so excited to get new bikes and start riding with some new friends. We hope that Annie can learn to ride without her training wheels this year. (We are behind schedule!)

We are trying to find new clothes for each of us because we really didn't have much that looked unfaded once we got here. (Plus we were WAY outdated!)It is really scary how we have looked for the past 4 years and didn't even know it, or care! :o) So, we went to Target for the, oh let's say 6th time since Friday and were trying to find shorts for them. My question for all of you "In style" mothers is.... are they supposed to be this long? Every pair we find in their size is below the knee. In Mexico the only people who wear these are the "thugs." So, is this the style now? I took this picture in the dressing room and I am sure everyone around thought I had lost my mind. However, I wasn't going to buy these shorts unless I knew if they were the "thing." So, please help me!

I have a HUGE prayer request. We thought we had found the school for Annie to attend for Kindergarten. However, we went for an interview the other day and they told us they were moving locations. That of course was one of the main reasons for picking the school. Now it will take us about 30 minutes each way to drive her to school. We only have one car and I will be homeschooling. So, an hour of driving each way every day is a lot for us. (Not to mention a lot of expense in gas) We have already paid the registration fee and now we are trying to find another solution. We looked all over today and found NOTHING. We have one small chance tomorrow. We have an appointment at 10 am to meet with a principle about putting her into a new school that is just opening. It sounds great, but.....it very expensive!! So, please pray they can give us a scholarship or we will be driving a long way all year long. I know it sounds little, but it is big to me! Thanks for praying!!! Love you! Missy

Friends...old and new there is nothing better!

Me and my friend, Fair. We have been friend for about 8 years. I love her!! She is so hip though!!


Bryce and Pierce with the 3 nuts acting like wierdos.




Trying not to be wierdos. :o)

Tom , Greg, Bryce, and Annie deep in conversation. I really don't think Tom had a headache from Greg's lack of interest, but that is what it looks like! :o) That really is kinda funny!!

Me enjoying my 1st Brueggles bagel, Oh was it good!! Look at Annie's face, how telling is that?She is NOT a fan! :o) (which is good, cuz it weren't cheap!)

Hi!! God is soo good to us! Everytime I think, "Man it sure would be nice if..... " He always seems to answer my request. Well, not ALWAYS, but most of the time He does a pretty good job! The boys were really needing to get out and be with some friends and that is when our friends the Mims came to visit.

We had a wonderful time catching up and it was like we were never apart. Two of their children were out of town but we enjoyed visiting with the two that were here. The boys ended up going to their home last night to have a sleep over and they are spending the day at their pool today. Annie is enjoying special one on one time with Mommy and Daddy and plans on sleeping over the next time when little miss Ila is there. Annie and Fair (MY friend) bonded quite a bit and I think Annie thinks Fair was here to see her instead of me! ;o)

While Fair was here visiting a neighbor came by to introduce herself. She was extremely friendly and so welcoming! I have lived in apartments 2 other times during our married life and never have I had so many people come up and introduce themselves. It has been wonderful. It really is like living among a big family. We just don't know them yet. However, they ALL know eachother. It's wild. They are all inviting us to their churches which could prove to be the hardest decision for us, which church to choose. There are definitely a number to choose from! We plan on visiting a bunch and praying and hopefully it will be easy to see where we need to be. Please pray we can find the right church! I love, love, love you all!! Miss

Settling in

Hi everyone,

I guess you could say we are settling in. We went to church yesterday and then had a wonderful lunch with our friends. It was nice to be around other people. We were beginning to have that "snowed in" feeling. We headed to the pool today and it was strange to have to search the pool for our family. Usually we stick out like big light bulbs and here we actually blended in.

The heat has been something we are all having to get used to. It is definitely not like this in our village. I don't think I have sweat this much since living in Mexico! We are getting to know our neighbors slowly. It is neat being surrounded by people who are attending the seminary. The apartments we live in are owned by the seminary and in order to live here, someone in the family needs to be taking a certain amount of classes there. They have all been super nice and very welcoming. The boys haven't made any friends yet, but we hope that will change soon. Our good friends, the Mims, live about 40 minutes from here, so we plan on spending the 4th with them and that should make the boys very happy! I promise to post some more pics soon. I have been lazy. I am just a little tired, I guess. I haven't been able to sleep very well..... TOO QUIET!! I miss my chickens and roosters! Oh the differences! I think I will be purchasing a noise machine! (or a rooster) I think my neighbors would probably prefer the noise machine! :o)

We talked to some of our friends today. It made me miss them soooo much! We are getting ready to call all of them in a few minutes because they are all together for their Monday night meeting. We wanted to encourage them all and tell them how much we love and miss them. Please keep praying for them. Angelica moved back in with her husband. I don't know if that is good or not?!?!? Her boys, however stayed at their grandparent's home. It's tough. Okay, I know this is long. Love you!! Missy

Off to church

Sturdy storage boxes! What a deal!


Okay, so I need to hide the cords, but a tv, and 2 of those boxes for only $9? What a bargain!!Love yard sales!! It made going to Target a little less painful!! :o)


Understand my dilemma?

Hello everyone! Yesterday was a good day. We spent most of it at Super Target. They were happy I am sure! We left with 2 carts FULL. Of course I had many close to melt downs in the store. The hardest decisions were which shower curtain to buy, since they were pricey and which cheese to buy, shredded or in a block. ( I am used to shredding it myself) Shredded won! Anyway, we had a good time and definitely bought MOST of what we needed. Our apartment looks lived in and the boys are happy.

ONLY IN AMERICA!!
We did hit our first yard sales. Yes, it is true I hadn't even been here for 24 hours and we were at a yard sale! :o) We met some wonderful men who were in charge of selling their wives things. It was funny. We bought a small tv for the boy's room for $5 and these great wooden boxes for only $2 each!! We were amazed! The boys kept saying the people in our village would go crazy! We think about them a lot. We saw some furniture in front of the dumpster and we were guessing which friend would have grabbed it first. We miss them already.

So we are getting ready to visit an old friend's church today. I am sure we will have a lot of culture shock there! I will let you know how it goes! Love you all, I really do!! Missy

Delight thyself in the Lord!

Greg unpacking.



The boys enjoying their new bunk bed.


Food that BBC blessed us with! How did they know all the foods we missed?

Magnet on fridge....Psalm 37:4 Delight yourself in the Lord...(the rest of the Psalm says) and he will give you the desires of your heart. HE has definitely done that!!

Yay God! We have been blessed! We arrived at our apartment yesterday and found a wonderful new "comfy couch" house awaiting us! We have many "THANK YOUS" to say ! First we would like to say thank you to our Church, (our home church) who managed to bless us with a bunch of groceries to get us started! Thank you to the Cogdill family who are members at BBC and did the shopping and brought the groceries to us! Thank you to my parents for helping to move us here and thank you to their friends the Grahams for giving them a place to stay for the night. Lastly thank you to all who give. Churches that help support this seminary are the reason that m's are able to live in this seminary housing for free. Thank You!!

Okay, now let me tell you all that our first night was wonderful! Peaceful sleep! We all slept great and everyone is liking their new beds. We are planning on a big Target shopping spree today. Hooray! Love Target! I read one blog and she always puts "Confessions of a Targetaholic" on her page. I think I may end up doing the same. Poor Wal-mart is about to take a very nasty turn for the worse! I think I may try and avoid it at all costs.

I have thought of a few observations to tell you. Yesterday Annie asked us why the people in Mexico throw trash everywhere and the people here in America didn't. Of course we didn't know what to tell her. She is continually amazed when the paper flushes and she looks really scared as she drinks the water out of the faucet. She keeps saying, "Are you SURE Mommy?"

Today we had "Dishwasher Use 101" with Alex. Open door, put bowl and spoon in, close door. He just smiled and said, " I think I've got it!" Jerod hasn't had too many things "new" to him. I will keep you updated. I am sure there will be more to come. Until later, I am going out for some more culture shock! Love you and.....Thank YOU for praying! Missy