Alex was born on 4-14-99 and weighed 7pounds

Alexander Charles Wood, a good strong name for a good strong boy. I love my sweet Alex!






Alex meeting my father for the first time.
I only have 2 pictures on my computer of Alex as a baby, one of him meeting my mom and one of my dad. They aren't the clearest pictures, but you can see what he looked like.






























My mom holding him for the first time. Or maybe it was the second, who knows!

Alex the thinker

Alex enjoying his breakfast cinnamon rolls!

Alex the excited one!

Alex the goofy one!

Alex

Then there is Alex the athlete. How precious is he?

My baby isn't little anymore! I am sure it was just yesterday that they pulled him from my stomach and showed him to me. Or was that just yesterday that I said, " I do," no that was almost 16 years ago, so I guess it was Alex that was born just yesterday. But then, when was Annie born, because I am sure it was just yesterday that she was born and was playing baby Jesus in the Christmas play. I think Jerod was born a few days ago because too much has happened since he was born for it to have been yesterday, but it wasn't that long ago for sure! Point is, time really is flying by and I am happy to see my children growing happy and healthy and sad to see the days flying by. I am reminded of Billy Ray Cyrus' song, 'Flying By.' If you haven't heard it, you need to because it says it all. I tried to copy and paste the lyrics but it wouldn't let me.

Anyway, today will be the day we celebrate Alex. He is 11 today and we are going to do 11 of everything. That means he has to read for 11 more minutes than usual, do 11 more Math problems, spell 11 more words, you get the idea. I am kidding, I wouldn't do that to him, I might think about doing it to Jerod because being 13, he is driving me bonkers, but I won't do it to Alex on his birthday! We are planning on having a small celebration here with my parents and some old family friends, (the Mims) on Friday. Nothing big, just a little get together to remind him that he is special.

I will post pictures and please know that I think of you all and am happy to know that there are a few of you who still follow us on our journey. Even in the US! I will be writing a newsletter soon, I hope, so if you haven't let me know that you want to recieve one, please let me know and I will add you. Love to you all! Missy

Vacation

Annie and Caroline in awe over the jellyfish in the bucket.
















Never seen so many jellyfish in all of my life!



















I have 3 beautiful nieces and this is one of them! Emily.






















Putt-putt for the fun of it!

















Future models!





















They are naturals!

















Annie worked all day on this! Ha! Not really, some lady worked all day on it and then when she left we decided to take a cool picture! Cheaters, yes, I am all about cheating!

















Going to talk about politics.



















Found something more interesting to talk about!
















Cousins by chance, friends by choice, or at least most of the time! :o)















I will repeat the line from above. Cousins by chance......you get the idea.
















"Mom said we would see dolphins, I don't see anything but jellyfish."
















"Oh, there's one! She was right, now when is it going to jump up and do flips like at the aquarium?"

















"OOOO, cool, 3 of them, but when are they going to do tricks?"

















"Dying paper is so much fun, I guess if we get some on the eggs our moms think it is cool too."

















Greg and his girls.

















Cousins doing what they do best; while waiting in line at a restaurant.


Spent the week at Hilton Head, SC and had a blast. Hope you can see that from the pictures. I may post more later but this will give you something new to look at for now. We had a great Easter and enjoyed spending the week with family. We love family vacations! We are starting to prepare ourselves for our big transition. Thanks for continually keeping us in your prayers. Missy

pictures

Bowing to Mary

Bowing to Jesus

I don't know if anyone knows why they do this.

I never could find anyone to give me an answer. They cover

the eyes of Jesus with a white cloth. Who knows?

They take turns carrying the cross to help pay for their sins.

Good Friday

Hi friends! What a great weekend! This is the weekend I most look forward to celebrating as a Christian. He really does live. Annie says, "He lives in my heart and in heaven, how neat!" So, you just can't beat that! Hope all of you have a blessed weekend and find a place to celebrate that our Savior has indeed risen! I am trying to post some pictures of what goes on in our village on this day, but it just won't seem to work. I will keep trying!

I will be spending the next week with Greg's family and we are all so excited! It should be a lot of fun and I will be taking a lot of pictures to put on here! So, I will be keeping you posted! Love to you all! Missy

More culture shock

Just when I think I am "Americanized" something

comes along and hits me smack between the eyes.

This time it hit me when I walked into Target and noticed the

Easter candy. One row, got me excited because this was the first time

I have seen Easter candy in about 5 years. Then I saw another row and thought, hum.... they have really got a lot of Easter candy. After counting 15 YES FIFTEEN different rows of candy or plastic eggs I was floored. I really couldn't believe it. It was like, crazy, I mean, really crazy. I was talking to someone about this and they laughed and said, " What's funny is, I never even notice things like that."

In homeschool the other day we were talking about how the Easter bunny traditions first came about and we discovered some interesting facts. One thing we thought was interesting is that on average Americans spend 13 billion dollars on Easter candy and decorations each year. I kinda laughed at one statistic, it said that last year because of the recession, per family they spent less, they spent, $116.59 instead of $135.03 in 2008. Who are these people? What are they buying? Anyway, so that is my little culture shock moment for the the day.

I must go now because Annie is waiting on me so that we can have a tea party outside with her dolls. I will write more later! Love to all! Missy

Forgot two pictures