More Parties but not the birthday type!

We have an Irons' party every year! At Christmas time, we all have a meal together followed by some games and then Santa comes! As you can see Ben isnt sure what to make of Santa, hopefully he will feel better about him next year?????

More Parties..

Nannie had a birthday party for me with cousin Jackson, and Uncle Craig, and Aunty Christine. I also had a party with a pinata that aunty Laura and Uncle Ash made. Granny has those photos so they will follow some time soon! I also tried to add a few other Mexican traditions in! Not sure how they will take off!

Home....

We arrived home on a very cold Saturday the 7th November! It has been all go ever since and we are thankful to Andy who came with is van to collect all 11 cases, 5 hand lugages, car seat, guitar and our pram! The pictures show Ben, that this flying is no problem to him! Since 4 months old he has been on 12 flights. It was lovely to see family at the airport and Ben was happy to be able to be able to walk around and he had lots of people willing to help him!

Packing up and saying goodbye!

When Mum and Dad came over we got down to alot of work, and got the house all packed up! It was great to have them to help, and also to look after when when we had to say our goodbyes! Here we are with some of our friends!

Ben's Birthday....

So before we left Mexico we had a little party for Ben for his first birthday, and a load of our families' Mexican friends came. Here a a few pictures from the day! We had great time with alot of food and fun!

Where has the time gone?????

We have now been home 3 weeks yesterday, and when I looked on here I realised we hadn't updated the blog in a bit!!! We don't have the internet at the minute so I am currently at my parent's house writing this. I am going to do my best to fill you in on what has been happening!

Ben!

Our wee Ben (not so wee anymore) will be one on Friday! We are having a wee party for him on Saturday. Tonight he stood for the first time on his own! We couldnt believe it! Not sure when it will happen again! Please pray for him as he goes through alot of changes in the next few weeks!

Rich and Anita...

We are so happy to have them here with us in Mexico again! They were here when we came back to Mexico and now they are here when we leave! We are excited to reconnect with them and hear about what God is doing through ECC around the world!

Mum and Dad!!!!!

Are here! It is so great to have them here! It will be a great help as we get packed up and ready to go home! Please pray for us over these next weeks days as we pack and say our goodbyes!

Birthday time!

Ben will be 1!! In 2 weeks, it is hard to believe, this year has passed so quickly. He has already started to get presents! The first to arrive was from the MacKinnons! He loved his wee book and the pig to go along with it! The lovely coat and hat modeled below and a few other things! A big thank you goes out from Ben! Ben has opened alot of doors for us here and we praise God for this little gift in our lives!

Conference night...

On Tuesday Robin Mackinnon arrived! It has been great to have her here. Robin and her family are very special to our family, so it is great to have her here again! She has been very busy and so on Wednesday morning we had the Pastors' wives breakfast. Robin spoke to us on the working out in our lives what is really important, and how in 10 years what do we want our lives to look like, and how we get to there!

Then on Wednesday night the church held a mini conference for women who were unable to attend the retreat this weekend! Mexico is suffering alot due to the problems in the economy at the minute. We had printed out 40 of all of the pages prior to them coming. However praise God we had to get an extra 40 photocopied! Praise God for all the women who came! The theme is that of Forgiveness.

Today we leave for the weekend! It is very exciting to see how God is at work! We Pray that this time will be one of blessing to all!

Pray for Robin and Shirley as they teach and work with the ladies! Pray for health and strength as there is alot of sickness around at this time!

Retreat...

When we were here the last time there was a womens retreat with our church. We didn't go to it at that time as I was also on bed rest! Well it is happening again this year and Robin MacKinnon and Shirley Carlson are flying in for it! I would just ask for you prayers at this time as they prepare for it. Also for the ladies that are going, that God will already be preparing their hearts for what they are going to hear. Robin has invited our Spanish teacher, Tania, who is not a Christian! The lady Guadalupe who helps us in the house is also coming with me! We pray that this will be a special time for all!

MOPS....

On Tuesday Carol (one of the other missionaries) was speaking at MOPS. At the planning meeting they had said for me to do the introduction, but they always joke like that with me as they know I don't like to be up front speaking in spanish. But this time they were serious! Well I gave it a go, and it went ok! Please pray for the leadership team of MOPS, they are a great group of women and we are starting a book together about being a mother after God's own heart! We will discuss the first two chapters on Tuesday. Pray for me as I work through this with them!

Packing...

We would ask for your prayers at this time as we pack up and get ready to leave. To know what to pack and when, and also for it not to weigh anything! It is an exciting time in which we can see God at work but also a hard time as we say goodbye!

Our wee family!

Not sure where even to start this post! As everyone knows who follows this blog, Jonny and I went on a team in April 2006 to Mexico we were just 6 months married. It was on this team when we felt the call of God on our hearts to come back to Mexico. We did that in August 20o7 for a year and then came home for my sisters wedding, followed by the birth of Ben! We then returned to Mexico at the start of April 20o9 and we are still here. However we feel God closing this chapter of our lives and beginning a new chapter at home.

We have been studying, fasting and praying a lot about what we should do, as I (Julie) would lose my registration as a nurse in March if I did not complete quite a lot of hours. Jonny feels led to be part of a ministry in N. Ireland that God hasn't revealed to us yet, but I feel that God wants to use the gifts that He has given me in nursing.

We have loved our time in Mexico we have learned and grown so much. We are staying on with OMS and will help in different areas. God willing I will go back to work in December. We will continue to pray about what God would have us to do. We are sad to be leaving as we have made alot of good friends here, and this is were we have been most of our married life and really it is the only home Ben has known! However as we step out in faith we have already seen God in a real way providing for us in ways we won't have even though of!

We would also like to take this opportunity to say thank you to everyone for everything, words will never be enough to thank you all for your support and kindness and enouragement! We look forward to seeing you all when we get home and we will be available for meetings from the 14th of November!

Our church..

Here are a few photos of our church Jonny took a few weeks back! We have always felt so welcome here! We have three services every weeks and have house churches also attached to the church. Please pray for this church as it grows!

Independence Day!

This is a very special day in the history of Mexico, their Independence Day! There are many parties and fireworks and things to buy! When we were here the first time, all the churches came together and had a party. This year it was decided that each church would have there own! We had a great night! There was food, games and good friends! And Ben melted hearts all around as he was dressed as a little Mexican!

MOPS

We started!!!!! It was a great morning! We were few in number at the start due to the rain and the fact that kids were off school. However as the time went on we had more and more! Here are a few photos! We had a talk about Beauty and what is real beauty and how we as Mums and wives need to be beautiful from the inside out!

Rain and floods..

There was very little about it on the news at home, but not far from where we live there were floods in which hundreds lost there homes and 2 people died! Please pray for these people at this time, alot of the water was sewage water and so free tetanus injections were given out. This was a picture we took 2 days after and as you can see the drains were still finding it hard to cope with the water! Some of the under ground stations were closed as they were flooded, and so were the schools!

Margaret and Joe...

We had or field council last week and it was a busy time! Margaret was given an award for being with OMS for 25 years! She started the month after I was born! It was also Joe's birthday and so we had a wee cake for him as well!

Woman's Breakfast

On Saturday morning, the two woman's groups within the church got together in order to have a special breakfast! It was a great morning with singing and speaking and alot of work was put into the planning ect. Here are some of the photos from that morning!

Our speaker for the morning! Cheli works with Jonny in Church Planting.

All the women, there were 68 women the last I heard!

The welcoming team

Getting set up..

Baptism...

On Sunday our church had a Baptism service in which one of our friends were baptized. I had felt the urge to speak to this girl in church several times but hadn't been able to. However when I did I found out that she was from Russia but had lived in America since she was 5. Her husband is Mexican and he was down here doing some work! They have a wee boy who was born the 4th October (Ben is the 30th). So I invited her to MOPS and the rest is history. She was one of around 15 who were baptised including some from one of our house churches!

Assembly

Praise God for the Assembly going so well and the new committees being voted in! Pray that God will guide these men and women of God. It was in our old church so it was a great time to visit with old friends!

Gary and Rhonda..

...are here!!!!!!! It is great to have them with us over these few weeks! There are alot of things planned. They have already had the chance to visit the street kid work in which Gary was a part of when he was here. They are also planning to visit some church planting work, MOPS, the Seminary and of course they have already been to church with us! We even had a BBQ on Saturday for them so that Gary could see everyone and Rhonda could meet everyone! There are also a few people who have wanted to meet with them and catch up! So they are keeping busy! However the first few days they were here it seemed they had brought the rain with them from Northern Ireland!

Here they are with the Church planting team in our church! Below is how they put them to work!

Here are a family Gary was very close to when he was here for the year. They all came round for dinner! We had a great night!

Assembly...

Wednesday, Thursday and Friday are meeting for the missionaries, Pastors and the church planters. This is for all of UNIFAM. Please pray that this will be a fruitful time for all and that it will be a time of much blessing!

Dan birthday Party..

Our Pastor Alexis' youngest son Dan was 4 on Saturday, and so we went to the party. Here are a few photos of the night. Dan with his cake, and Ben in awe as the pinata is way bigger than him! Also a picture of Yadria and Ben waiting on sweets....