Fun times in the States/ Gearing up for Christmas

Hi friends! I have been out of the loop for sure! Visiting family and friends was an absolute blessing to everyone in our family. We are back home now and we are getting back into our routine. I think the happiest one in our family is probably our dog, Max. He is beside himself with joy to have his playmates back home! The last post was from our time in Indiana.

We started our trip out in Indiana and spent 10 awesome days there. Then we flew to NC, where we spent 10 more days with my family in the NC/SC area. We enjoyed fall festivals, yard sales, football games, board games, long walks, fall weather, drinking from the faucet, flushing the toilet paper, going to the beach, playing with cousins, visiting with old friends and eating all the foods we have missed. Out of all the things we ate while in the US, Jerod enjoyed his Chick-fil-a the most, Greg enjoyed his greek food, (lamb pita and greek salad) Alex enjoyed his broccoli and cheese soup from Panera, Annie enjoyed her hot dog at the fair, and I have to say my Ruth's Chris steak was by far my favorite! (Thanks again Kingston Ave!)

We are so blessed to have friends and family who love and support us when we are home and when we are here. It is so nice to go to the US and then it is also a wonderful feeling to come back here to Mexico and know this is truly where we belong. Our kids picked up right where they left off and attended a youth event today. Schools were closed for All Souls/Saints Day which is a national holiday here. It is a rather dark holiday but the youth decided to take advantage of not being in school and went to a pool and played games and just had a great day. It is still pretty warm here during the day. ( Mid 70's) However, at night the temps seem to drop drastically and it can get really quite chilly. I mean, it is almost time for our flannel sheets. ( Remember we have no central heat and our home is built kinda like a basement)

We are gearing up for Christmas already and are excited about the many opportunities we will have to share His love to all of those around us. The needs are great and Christmas can seem kinda sad for lots of little ones as they don't have much. We are planning on having at least one big Christmas party in a village here and if possible another in our old village also. There we will be giving out presents to the kids and having cake and games and fun stuff and we will also tell the story of Jesus' birth. This is all made possible by many of you who donate money for that specific reason and I personally want to thank you all for that in advance. This has been something that we have done for the past few years and it has been such a blessing that now all the kids look forward to this time of year in hopes of a fun Jesus party. We will definitely keep you all updated on the progress of our party  preparations and I will post photos after we have had the party with the kids and their gifts.

Thanks for keeping up with us and I will do better at posting now that I am back home! love to you all! Missy

Here are some photos from our trip, hope you like them!

This is from Part One of our trip. Greg with his Aunt Charlotte.

Caroline, Tanner and Annie

Caroline, Emily and Annie ~ cousins

Greg, and Annie with our longtime friends Keith and Emily Twiddy

Here are the boys eating dinner with the Twiddy boys. It took 3 servers to bring out their food! ;o)

This family is like another family to us. We love the Twiddys!!

Fall fun

Saying good-bye at the airport.

No words.

So precious!

Greg enjoying the beach.

Alex with MamaSay ( my mom)

More cousin fun

Greg with his buddy Arnold.

Annie and Marissa having fun at the park.

Alex

Annie

Jerod

Jerod and his cousin Mason

 My Papa and Me.

 Some of my prayer group from BBC came to visit me for the day! We had a great time! Thanks ya'll! 

My 93 year old grandfather and my babies.

 Annie was named after his wife; there is a special connection there. ;o)

My 2 favorite men over the age of 40! My Honey and my Papa! 

Love them!!

First date in a year and a half!

Hi everyone! For those of you who know me well, you know why I haven't posted anything on here in more than a week. I have been a little busy! I have been going to yard sales, fall festivals, football games, Kohls,  and eating an enormous amount of American cuisine! I am happy. Really happy! Oh, I have been visiting with family while I have been doing all of those things which has made everything even more fun!

One of the things I was blessed with this weekend was a special date with my husband. When I mean special, I mean REALLY special. Kingston Ave. Baptist Church who has partnered with us, and sent our last two teams; decided they would spoil us. We were beyond blessed by our hotel stay at the Hyatt Place and our dinner at Ruth's Chris. (They even took care of our kids and treated them to a very special night of bowling!)  It was awesome and I will never forget it! So, Thank You everyone at KAB for the wonderful gift! We love you all!

A picture I took at our family reunion at a park here. 

Some of our family. (Greg's side)

Annie and Caroline, best buds!

Before the Colt's game they were picking their noses with their foam fingers.....

After the game they were wiping their tears with them. :o(

Greg and I were gonna have fun win or lose! And we did!

Grandma, me, Jerod, Clay, Greg and Alex.

Greg's mom, Grandma, Mom, Mama Char, so many other names... made me a wonderful cake to celebrate my birthday  a week late. It was yummy! Thanks Mom!

We are having an incredible vacation and are enjoying every bit of it. I will never tire of being in the US during the fall season. Along with the changing colors of the leaves we have also noticed many other changes in the past year and a half.  Gas prices, everyone seems to have an iphone, everyone seems to text, ( this was big then but not like now) and our kids don't know a lot of things about this culture.  I will give you and example, we were at church and Annie asked me where my purse was. I said, "It's on the pew." Her response, "What's a pew?" Hmmm.. Another one, "Hey Mommy guess where I ate? I ate at the little girl with the red hair and freckles place." Wendy's. My baby doesn't know what Wendy's is! There have been a few other things that have made us say, "Oh my, they don't know that?" But, they don't seem to care and we think it is comical so we are enjoying all of the experiences! Please keep praying for us as we will be traveling over the next few weeks. Our vacation isn't quite over yet! Love you all! Missy

There are so many other pictures that I wanted to upload but my computer won't let me. No idea why this happens. ???? Anyway, I will try again tomorrow to upload more. Love ya!

Poverity and Drunks

My friends. This is Estella, her 12 year old daughter, Rosa and her mother, Irmalinda. Estella was at my home today cleaning and when she was done I drove her home. I don't normally do this but we had a box of food to give her and it was too heavy to carry to her home. So we arrived at her home and her daughter ran outside speaking extremely fast in their indigenous language and said that Estella's husband had escaped the rehab center and was there at the house. She said he arrived at the house already drunk and was screaming at her and her brother. So Rosa ran into their home grabbed her shawl and a bag with some shoes in it and left. I drove the two of them to her mother's home and that is where she will stay until things calm down. Poor Estella. Her worst nightmare has come true. Only sooner than she had hoped. Please pray.

Here is a picture of Estella's mom's home.

We went to visit Marielena and Alfre, her son. They said that she was not going to lose her home and she was doing well for now. She even had a smile on her face! Please keep praying!

We went to the house of our blind friend, Irma. She wasn't home b/c her husband had been drinking all week and it just isn't safe for her there when he is drinking. She was at her son's home. Her daughter-in-law allowed me to take pictures of Irma's home. Remember this is a very sick, blind women and this is how she lives. Sadly, this is still much better than how Estella lives.

This is the other side of the home. Her kitchen in the corner.

I just liked this photo of the pots on the wall and the view in the background.  It also shows that it probably gets pretty cold in there.

This is the outside of the home.

This was Irma's daughter-in-law's home. 3 people live there.

This is the road in front of Irma's home. The view is beautiful, but she can't see it. It also happens to be the same view we have in our backyard. We are blessed. I thank God for my health and my vision!

Please pray for our friends. The poverty is bad and the alcoholism is worse. The two together makes for a very depressing life. It depresses me every day I see it. Love you all! Missy