Mary Kathleen Praising the Lord

It is so funny how God speaks to us sometimes. Tonight I was just going through the house picking up because Daniel has a men's Bible study in our house on Tuesday nights, so I was cleaning and gettin' the house smelling good (yeah, real important to men) and not really paying attention to what the kids were doing. All of a sudden I realized that Mary Kathleen was walking around the house yelling at the top of her lungs...but she wasn't crying or hurt or talking to anyone...she was singing! It was so funny and awesome because there wasn't another person in her little world. She was just singing as loud as she could and it didn't matter what it sounded like and who heard or whether anyone was listening at all. She was just singing her little heart out, and it was as precious as it could be! And it got me to thinking about our worship to the Lord. Daniel and I are Mary Kathleen's parents, and we just loved hearing her sing, even though we couldn't understand a word that was coming out of her mouth and we couldn't hear each other talk because she was so loud, we just laughed and listened and enjoyed. How much more does God love it when we worship Him? I mean really worship Him. Not worrying about how we sound, how we look, or who is watching. Just us and Him...Giving it all we got. So many times we let our environment and circumstances effect the way we worship God, and it is so sad because we miss out on the blessing of pleasing our Lord.
God, give me a Mary Kathleen heart...to worship You no matter where I am, no matter who's listening, and no matter how I sound. Give me a heart of child-like worship!

Brandi

EARTHQUAKE!!!!

Hello there. I reckon you are bored and decided to read a blog. Thank you. We are having tremors here if you haven't heard. But it is funny...the people here are calling them earthquakes. There has been several just this month that have come through Guatemala. We have learned that one of the big (don't know how to spell it and don't want to look it up) fault lines is right under Guatemala and this is why there has been so many tremors and sink holes. Well today was my first experience of actually feeling one of the "earthquakes" while we were in church. I was with the kids in our "nursery" with two other ladies and their kids. They handled it well. They jumped up yelling "EARTHQUAKE!" and grabbed their kids and started doing a nervous dance that really took them in no particular direction...just back and forth. I started saying that it is ok, it's ok. and then when they realized nothing was moving any more they calmed down and started talking about how strong that was. I only noticed that I was swaying back and forth as if someone was shaking my chair to get my attention. But we were on the second level of a building in Guatemala, not really knowing if it will stand the shaking or all collapse! But I had my laugh and asked Brandi about it. She looked very confused and said she didn't feel anything. Of course she didn't feel anything. Her style of worship kind of mirrors the effects an earthquake has on the body. HAHAH I'm cracking myself up. But she didn't feel it...tells you how little it was. But let me tell you...I have been studying all that is going on in the world...earthquakes, volcanoes erupting, oil spills, sink holes, flooding, war, suicides, hatred toward Christ and his people, land slides, tidal waves, hurricanes, famines, extreme hot, unusual cold, and many many more things that have occurred over the past YEAR. If it aint progressing to the Day of the Lord then I don't know what is. In the words of Luke McIntyre, "We are closer now to the end of the world more than ever." And the response from Kimberly, "Are you for real? How do you know?" LOL Oh Kimberly and Brandi...funny. But I really hope God brings us Christians together stronger than ever and we stand up for him and not be ashamed so he will stand up for us and not be ashamed of us! We are here to give others the truth and let the Spirit do the rest in their lives. Don't get in the way...only be ready to do and continue on...the Holy Spirit does the work. Jesus never said that he would send his PEOPLE to the world to convict and make known the things of God to them...but his Holy Spirit. Just a little something God has shown me here lately. But pray and be watchful!! God bless and there you go. One more thing, go check out the topic on Yahoo's home page...they are announcing and celebrating their support for the Homosexual anniversary! Horrible for yahoo!! Going to have to change our email carrier.


Daniel

Salvation Is Here

Hello again. I had our regular meeting with the men in the village Monday and it was great. We got some clothes from the thrift store in Ford City and gave them to the men. It looked like Christmas in the village!! One guy wore all three shirts on top of the one he was already wearing as he left the meeting. They were soo happy and proud of the new clothes. God is good. And we also had one of the men get saved!!! Praise the Lord! I preached about the Holy Spirit from John 14 and 16. They were very attentive that night and answering a lot of the questions! I love it when they start leaning in and having that look of anticipation as they wait for me to answer the question. Some times I feel sorry for them b/c they are relying on ME to answer their questions and look at ME as if I know more. Bless their hearts. But I always explain to them that the answers are in the Bible from God and that night I was able to explain that we receive answers and guidance from the Holy Spirit that lives in us as well. This guy was very excited to receive the Holy Spirit that night and his brother let out a "YES" when he realized his brother wanted to know Jesus. He prayed with me and Jorge and then did not stop smiling even when he left. So praise the Lord. Pray for Fransisco and his new spiritual life please.
But today there was no work in the village for the vacation week they are having here. So Brandi told me that I needed to go do something instead of sitting at home b/c "there is just not something right bout that." I smacked her around and tied her to the pole outside. HA Just kidding. I did do things for the ministry and a lot of planning for the future ministry and other stuff. So that to Brandi! HA (And she is correcting my grammar and misspells as I am writing this.) So we are doing good and "working hard" here. God is faithful and surprisingly enough can show himself and his power more and more the more and more we get out of the way and humble ourselves and let him do it. Learning this more and more. Well...there you go.


Daniel
AKA The really hard worker!

Ticks!!

Well we have ticks every in our yard. My dog is really a big tick right now b/c I think there are more ticks on him that his actual skin. We have bought poison and put it on him and our yard. But after I did this, the whole colony of ticks came out and started going every where! Even in our house!! It was very frustrating and nasty! Last night I caught more then 7 ticks in our living room by the door crawling on me and the walls. That makes you feel soo nasty and itchy the rest of the time like there are ticks all over you! After I killed them I went to wash my hands in the bathroom and was feeling NASTY and relieved that I got those out of the house and then I saw a tick in my HAIR!!! I cold only laugh b/c I was just at that moment thinking I don't ever want to see another.....There Is One In My Hair!!! It was already dead but still, nasty! I'll write more later. Got to go. There you go.
Daniel

Living with the In-Laws

Hey there. It has been a while since we have wrote anything on here. With Luke's group leaving and Brandi doing an all out cleaning on the house before her folks got here this is the first time I have sat down and got on the internet. We are having a lot of fun with Keith and Kathy here! The kids LOVE seeing and playing with their Paw Paw and Maw Maw. Mary Kathleen will ask for Pa Pa all the time. They play and just sit and enjoy their grandparents. It is refreshing to see the kid's lives get filled up again with the love from their families. Last night little miss priss stuck her little finger in our metal fan for the third time but this time it wasn't just the tip of her finger. I thought it had cut off her finger. It put a deep to the bone cut on her middle finger at the middle knuckle. Brandi and Kathy both yell, Let's take her to the hospital!!!!!" And Keith only said, now calm down and let's look at it. I am glad he was here and kept the ladies calm and he actually cleaned it up and put the bandage on it. I would look and get nasty feeling and leave to try and convince Levi that Sissy was ok. We also got caught in a rain flood coming back from Hondurus yesterday. The sides of the mountain were falling on the roads as we were driving and water filling the roads till at one point the water was gushing up to the middle of our car's door!! Keith just turned back around form seeing this while Brandi was behinnd us in the car and said, Didn't like that. I started acting like my dad and the places where the road had actually fell and washed away I would act like I was going to drive close to the edge and he would "calmly" but strongly say, "I don't think so go to the other side now." It was funny. But so far we haven't lost any lives or fallen off any cliffs so we are doing pretty good this time with the McBays here. We sure are spoiled after having the brothers and now the parents here for almost three weeks in a role. I don't know how we will be able to live with Brandi after they all leave and it is just us again! HA I did lock us out of the truck this morning. That was interesting. But so far so good. Pray for my little girl's finger and the healing will come fast and without complications. There you go.

Love My Kids

Hello. Just wanted to write a quick something about something my kids did yesterday and today. We have been sooo busy with Luke's group the past 10 days that we did not have time to do anything but it was wonderful to spend time with the family and my brothers! Everybody told me....Daniel, we thought you were crazy!! I had the best time acting dumb and somebody actually appreciating it and laughing with me instead of looking at me like I'm crazy or weird. And best of all, my brothers are even crazier than me so I got to sit back and laugh the whole week! Sorry Leigh and Baker! We all thought it would have been complete with yall here. But after they left we had a lot of stuff to get done BUT on top of the stuff...we were freakin sick!! Both the kids!! Me!! and Brandi!! We all had the stomach nasty and pain and the kids were sick with a horrible cough and stomach sickness as well. So here we were trying to pay bills, take the kids to a doctor that we can't understand, and not have to change the undies again while doing all of this! SO we spilt up to get it done faster and easier. So I had Levi and we went to pay some bills and get some groceries. And at this time he had a 102 or more fever....sounds bad. I know a lot of you are saying, Well he shouldn't have been out and that's not good to have him out. Well I have this to say to you, Come live here and do it differently and write about it! HA But anyways, on our way back home with all the weekend traffic and weak from sickness Levi starts singing out of the middle of no where God is so good, He answers prayers, and he loves me so. He sings it over and over and I sing it with him. Then when we get home he hmmms the song for another 2 hours. I think God put this on him so I cold not think anything else besides God is so good! Love it! And tonight my little girl finally ate something after about 5 days in a role of almost not eating anything. We were eating grilled chicken and beans and smashed potatoes. Well my little Guatemalan girl saw the smashed potatoes and starting asking for some. We gave her some and then she puts them in her hand and starts patting them out like it is tortilla mix to make tortillas like her mom does! It was so funny! She patted out tortillas and ate her beans and chicken for supper. Love it! God is so good!! Well, there you go.


Daniel