What do you do every day?

Hi friends and family! I will try to make this as short as possible! November is Orphan Awareness month and in honor of Ali, we decided to use this month to raise money to bring her home. We hope that next November we can do something to help someone else bring their child home as well. We do want to thank all of you for praying for us throughout this journey and for giving as well. When we started this journey in February 2015, raising $35,000. seemed impossible. It was really one of the things that scared Greg the most. However, God has shown up every time we had a bill to pay and we have never, not had the money we needed. We are still collecting money and will do so until we leave to go and get her in February or March. I will continue to add all the names of those who give to her bag. We still lack about $2000, but right now that seems like nothing. If you do want to give, you can give through Paypal by clicking the button on the right or you can send a check to Lifesong For Orphans. I will post the address  and info below. 

Thank you!

One of the best parts of our job, is getting to see the wonderful beauty all around us. 

This is Mari, she is helping us to start a new Bible storying group. 

We love this, if you don't have a flagpole, just use the tree in front of your house! 

So, many people wonder what we do everyday. I will tell you. I homeschooled Annie on this day, then we drove to this village with Mari picture above and visited with this sweet lady. No church building, nothing fancy, just us, and a lady who was hungry to hear a Bible story. We told her one and prayed with her. Her husband is abusive to her and she is worried she is pregnant again. She asked for prayer for herself and for her husband. She said, "I can't live like this anymore, he hits me all the time." Sadly, this isn't uncommon here and when you here the desperation in their voices it breaks your heart. Please pray for Mari (her name is Mari too) and her husband and their two children. 

Sweetest little thing!

Annie learns so much by being here. She doesn't always love it. Trust me, she is just like all (almost)12 year olds. She would much rather be texting friends, Skyping friends, watching movies or finding cool things on Pinterest. However, when she is with the people, she learns compassion, and how other people live. She learns what it means to truly suffer, and she is learning how to share Jesus with others. She is excited to have a sister to go with us everywhere too.

Not something you see at all of your Bible studies! 

Have I mentioned that I love this job?

Of course we say all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy! ;o)

SO... we had a fall festival with our team. Luke Skywalker, Darth Vader, and Little orphan Annie.

Jon came as a white missionary, and Greg was Kip from Napoleon Dynamite. 

By this time most all of us had shed our costumes, but we had a great time, laughing, eating, and just having fun as a team. Please continue to pray for us as we strive to reach the indigenous here in Vera Cruz. 

To make a tax deductible donation to our adoption you can click the PayPal button on top right corner or you can make checks payable to "Lifesong for Orphans." In the memo, note "Wood #5450" to make sure it goes to our account. Mail it to: Lifesong for Orphans, PO Box 40, Gridley, IL 61744. We can't wait for all of you to meet her!

Blessings, The Wood family

Loving our job!

              A few months ago the president of our organization asked everyone to pray about our call. Our company suffered some financial difficulties and because of that it was decided that we should all revisit our call. We were all asked to pray and ask God to show us if we were still called to serve in the roles we currently hold with our organization. After months of seeking and praying I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that we are exactly where we are supposed to be. I am in love with this job and sharing Christ with people! However, there are many with our company that have searched their hearts and found the Lord leading them back to the U.S. Please pray for these people  as they leave the job that they have loved just as much as  me. 

This is Jerod and his friend, Bri. (Or Napoleon Dynamite and Deb.)  They are both enjoying their time at Liberty! As many of you celebrated fall festivals or went trick or treating, the people here were getting ready for Day of the Dead. This is a very big day for many people here. They actually celebrate it for 3 days. Mostly on Nov. 1st and Nov. 2nd. Some simply remember those who have passed on, others truly believe this is the day when the spirits of those who have passed on return. Please pray for all of them as many spend a lot of money they don't have on the dead. 

Sweet little girl dressed up for her school parade in honor of Day of the Dead. 

These are the flowers you see on every corner, ready to be sold. 

Next week I will post photos of the cemeteries after they are covered with these flowers. It really is a beautiful sight. 

Yesterday we celebrated baptisms at this village church. It was great to see 4 or 5 churches come together to celebrate the baptisms of their friends. 

These kids loved having their pictures taken. Like all kids we would take their pictures and they would immediately want to see themselves. 

Including my kids!

I love this picture!

While your kids were going door to door getting free candy, this little fella was selling candy, and peanuts so that he could earn money. Definitely puts things in perspective for me. He was happy about it too! 

One of my favorites! When someone here gets baptized, it isn't something they take lightly. It is a big deal, very big to them. 

The man in the red is Sergio. He is an amazing man! He walks to different villages sharing the gospel. He goes to places where there are no churches of any denomination. God is using him in a mighty way. Please pray for him. 

Sergio asked Greg to assist Jon (our team member) with the baptism. 

I love kids! These two sisters, (one pictured below) were precious! 

We are making incredible memories! 

Thanks for praying for us as we continue to serve here in Mexico! 

Waiting..

So, it has been a little more than a month since we found out about our little Ali. So, I still feel like I am in the first trimester of a pregnancy. I am wondering what she will be like, what her personality will be like, what she will be interested in etc... Then there are things I wonder about that I never did wonder about with my pregnancies. I wonder about things like, if she is happy, or sad, or lonely or if her teachers are kind and patient with her. Does she want a family or is she content to live among friends? Does she have bad dreams, and if she does who is there to comfort her? What are her favorite foods, and will I know how to make them? What does she know about Jesus? These are all things that I think about and pray about and I simply have to wait for the answers.

Annie and I are reading a book about George Müller. He started an orphanage in 1834 and relied solely on God to provide for every need they had. It is an amazing story about prayer and faith. It has helped me to realize that for every need we have, God is abundantly able to provide for our needs. We have been overwhelmed with feelings of being extremely blessed over these past 8 months as we have been raising money to pay for our adoption. It has been amazing to see God answer every prayer at just the right time and we have always had just enough to pay for our next adoption bill. What we have left is about $13,000.00 more to pay in fees plus our stay in Colombia. As you may notice from our thermometer we have been so blessed by your donations and we are close to getting there. We are praying about a grant that we have applied for, so please pray with us that we would get it. It truly would help us out a great deal! We do want to personally thank each one of you for giving to this cause! I know there are so many places you could invest your money, but we want to tell you how much it means to us that you are helping us invest in our little Ali's life. We truly could not do this without you.

The following are entries into my journal that I have made over the past years.

This entry was made on Dec. 12, 2011. Ali had just turned 3. 

This is one of my favorite entries, especially when you read the Bible verse. 

There are about 50 more just like these. God has definitely answered my prayers!   

On another note, we are all settled into our home here in Mexico and are enjoying our new location. It is so beautiful and we are blessed to live here. We have a new job title here as supervisors and are working with a team. This is the first time we have ever had a team to closely work with and we are really  enjoying it. Greg was gone for 10 days for some training and so I spent my birthday with our team. This was so nice, because usually if Greg is gone, it would be just me and the kids. Please pray for us as we do our best to encourage them and help them in any way possible.

Celebrating my birthday with our team. Juanita and Jonnie gave me these beautiful roses and a facial and massage. I am feeling spoiled and liking the "team" thing! 

The kids are all enjoying being a part of a team as well. 

We are loving having our sweet Max back with the family. 

We are missing our Jerbear. However, we know he is having a great time at school!

Greg and I went on a date at the grocery store! ;o) 

This is what we are calling "Taco Tuesday" however on this day, we were having spaghetti. 

We had an MK day at Six Flags in Mexico City and had an amazing day! 

Even though it rained all day.

We have been trying to meet new people that live around us. This is one of the sweetest little ladies we have met. Her name is Lucy. She is always happy and always smiling. She has devoted her life to taking care of sister, Mari. Her sister had an operation 10 years ago and something went wrong. She is now able to understand people but cannot talk, walk, feed herself, or bathe herself. Lucy has no money and so she collects people's garbage and goes through it all to find things to recycle. She makes about $1 a day doing that. She has blessed us with her precious spirit. Please pray for her. 

This is her sister, Mari. 

This is Iredi, so  precious!  She was invited to church for a short vbs and lunch and was too timid to go, so she just sat and watched from afar. We are hoping she will go next week. 

This is a great church we were honored to be a part of tonight. Our team members, Jonnie and Juanita have been doing a great job with them and we were blessed to be a part of their service. Please pray that God would use this indigenous church plant to reach their village.

Thank you all for your support of our work here in Mexico. I am going to try an update more often so you can see just how important reaching these precious ones is to us! 

We love you, Missy and family