This and That

We enjoyed Louisiana District camp meeting on Thursday and Friday of last week. It is so awesome to worship with thousands of saints who are like minded and to hear the Word of God go fourth from anointed men of God and to fellowship with friends and family from all around. Needless to say, we enjoyed our time on the campgrounds.

Happy Birthday America! We had a bday party for America (well, we celebrated 4th of July) with some friends tonight. Last year, was our biggest 4th of July party ever. It was in Northern Ireland with Shawna Mansfield, Ashley & Caleb McFarland, Nathaniel Davis, Kyle and Lynn Harvey family, and Eamon and wife. Wow! That seems like a life-time ago...but was so much fun! Was it all a dream?! It sure does seem like it.

We are in the process of buying the house that we are leasing. Please pray that God makes a way where there seems to be no way. You have to be employed for 2 years before you can mortgage a house. Well, of course David and I have years of work experience, but they consider our time in Ireland as an interruption in work. Therefore, they are giving us a wee bit of a hard time about the loan. God is so able! We are claiming this house in Jesus name!

Check out Sister Cindy McFarland's new blog (linked on our page).

Elayna , Springbreak, Work, & Ireland

I have to give God the credit. Elayna had her big doctor's appointment yesterday to check her kidneys. She has gone from a stage 4 reflux (5 being the biggest) to a stage 2! Thank you Lord! Initially, the doctor believed that she would have to have surgery eventually. Now, he really thinks that the problem will correct itself. We are praising God for it! We serve an awesome and able God!

The kids and I are enjoying the week off for Spring break....checking things off of the "to do" list, spending time in the yard, enjoying a slower pace. 4 1/2 more weeks of school before Summer break!

Meanwhile, David started his new job this week. He is loving it. More relaxed than what he is used to. But I'm sure that it won't take him long to get use to it.

I see from the March's blog that the McFarlands are all headed back to the states. Shawna McFarland is moving to Alexandria, Louisiana to work with Sharon Turner (counselor) at the Pentecostals of Alexandria church. We are so excited for her!

It sounds like great things are happening in Ireland. Oh how we do miss it there in a million ways. But we know that God has us back here for His purpose. We keep Ireland in our hearts and prayers!

Happy Spring break week!

Happy Easter Pics

Work, Guitars, and Remodeling

I have a job teaching for the rest of the year, and David starts a new job April 13th! Thank you Lord!

Brother Ford from our church made two AWESOME electric guitars to donate to the work of God in Ireland. I am so sad to say that I don't have pictures of them. They are beautiful. One of them is an Ireland green color. I will try and get some pictures if they have not been mailed yet. Thank you Brother and Sister Ford! I know that the church(es) there needs these and will be blessed by them.

David is remodeling the blog soon. Watch for changes.

The Master

Wonderful youth service last night! David preached about "Being Crafted by The Master." Isn't it awesome that God created us for who we are and that He loves us even with our imperfections?

We didn't get to have our split out session. It's coming up next week, hopefully.

Everytime I Turn Around He is Making a Way

We had great church tonight! The youth choir "tore it up" tonight followed by an awesome word from Pastor Billy Johnson. It is services like this that keep reminding you of just how Mighty our God is!

If you are reading this blog, then you are just about to get the inside scoop. Are you ready for this? The following information will not be officially announced until this coming Wednesday night in youth service. Last week David was asked to come on staff at our church as Young Adult Pastor. This will cover the age group range from 11th grade to college and career. (Brother Chris Gonzales will be over the junior high to 10th grade group.) We are very much excited about this opportunity. As most of you know, we have been working in the youth group in Denham for approximately 8 years now. It is exciting to be a big part of this group of young people again. We love working/mentoring youth.

And that is why we brought our whole family (babies included) to the youth retreat this weekend. 2 days at Twin Lakes in Mississippi. It was a wonderful retreat filled with, most importantly- an awesome move of God, plus- loads of fun, and great fellowship. As for the babies, they actually did really good. The only problem was that they are way too nosey to sleep. They didn't go to bed until everyone else did. Yikes! It was really nice reconnecting with the youth group. There were tons of new faces for us to get to know. That is a good sign of revival! I believe that there were 160 registered there as part of our group. That is awesome!

I unfortunately forgot my camera so I don't have any pictures to share. I'll try and retrieve a few from some of the youth soon to upload.

We are looking forward to our new assignment in life, our next journey...giving what we can offer to the youth group at First UPC in Denham Springs, developing young people, teaching them to reach for a deeper and daily spiritual walk with our Lord and Saviour, a love for the truth, encouraging them, and loving them through their circumstances! Wow! Is anyone else feeling the heaviness of such a task? What a big responsibility for which to be trusted. We are praying for the anointing that we know is necessary for such a position.

Blah Blog

I'm quite taken aback when I reflect on some of my recent blogs. They are definitely "blah blogs". So, I have decided to attempt to write an uplifting blog.

On the upside, our children are adjusting wonderfully to being back home.

Dawson is now without a pacifier and attends Sunday school (even on Wed. nights, hey, he can call it whatever he wants. LOL). He spends the night with David's parents (Emme and Poppie) often. I'm pretty sure that he'd be happy to move in there. Who wouldn't when you get the kind of attention that he gets over there?

Elayna puts herself to sleep in less than one minute of crying and sleeps ALL night in her own bed. David and I never thought we'd sleep the night through again. She has been responding nicely to her antibiotic. Thank you Lord!

And Kristen is doing AWESOME in school. She made all A's and 1 B on her last interim. She hasn't done that well since 6th grade. Go Kristen! She has her first job and her first bank account (with a cute Batman card). So, exciting.

As I mentioned in the blog below, David has a job that we are really optimistic about.

And I am feeling like things are really starting to come together! God is good all the time!

Looking Up

I just want to thank you all for your prayers and words of encouragement. Things are really looking up for us. David has been offered a job working with a local business owner as his office manager for the next 30 days. The position may turn into full-time, but at least for now our bills will be paid. Thank you Lord!

Opportunity

Right now, David and I are waiting. Anxiously waiting to be hired on somewhere. And eagerly waiting to see what God has for us next. David says that this is, "An opportunity to extend our faith." I sarcastically reply, "Oh, thank you Lord. As if selling our house, quitting our jobs, and moving our family (with a baby, toddler, and teenager) across the world isn't showing faith and then moving back in only 9 short months." I know that David is right, but it isn't easy. We are trusting and believing the Lord will provide. I know that He is able! God has blessed us with a house. I know that He will bless us with jobs in order to pay for the house. God must have something REALLY wonderful for us because so far every door that we have heard about has been closed. No, every door has been practically slammed in our faces. The kind of slam when you are just far enough behind someone that you don't have time to catch the door. "A day late and a dollar short." Well, the reality is that such an opportunity to extend this kind of faith is our reality right now. So, we persevere. We thank the Lord. And we wait. "For those who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. "

Over the River and through the Woods

Two more days before we leave this beautiful Emerald Isle and head to the wonderful land so affectionately none as the Melting Pot. And literally over the river (well ocean) and through the woods (of the great Cajun state of Louisiana). Louisiana might not have the best of reputations, but you know those people can have church. After all, it is the "Bible Belt."

Kyle's daughter Sasha is to be baptized at church tomorrow! To God be the glory. After service in Gilford, we head on down to the Republic to have church in Dublin. It is a work that Brother McFarland has been elected pastor of only in the last couple of months. It sounds like great things are happening there. We are looking forward to be in service with them.

Our wonderful Gillaine is trading Ireland for Indiana in the next week. She has felt the call to go and work there with the homeless ministry. Wow! That is awesome.

Several of the men here in Ireland are heading to Men's conference in Illinois next week. Kyle will be opening the service with his bagpipes. That is really going to be a blessing to the conference.

And with that I leave you the latest in greatest.

4 days to go

We are wrapping up our tenure here in Ireland. We now have only 4 short days to go.

I think that we are pretty much done with all of the major packing and moving out. Now we have only to organize and reorganize our luggage to try and get as much home as we can. It is amazing what you can live without when it comes right down to it. It is also amazing at how much junk you can collect in 9 months time. Yikes! The good thing is that the church is going to have a "boot sale" (aka garage sale) to raise money for a new Sunday school room. Hopefully, they'll make a good bit off of our collection. 'One man's junk is another man's treasure.'

Yesterday, we enjoyed the company of Lynn and Kyle who had us over for lunch. It was so wonderful to visit with them. They are an awesome family. We are really going to miss them!

We had a surprise potluck dinner as our midweek service. We really enjoyed the food and fellowship. I'm glad that it wasn't too much of a production as it would have been hard to refrain from tears. My heart is heavy for the church here in Ireland.

Today, the guys moved everything out of the house except for mattresses. Thanks for you help!

Shawna Mansfield is headed back to Ireland in May. Shawna, we will miss being here with you!

Tomorrow is mine and David's 10 year anniversary. We shall hopefully do something fun. But no definite plans yet.

All the Best!

Belfast

We arrived back in Belfast today. The flights were pretty much smooth. The only problem that we had is that Elayna cried/fussed for probably nearly 4 hours crossing the ocean. The only thing that I can imagine is that her ears must have been hurting her. Poor baby! She has never done that before. We need to start praying now that the trip back will be better.

It is great to see this beautiful country again. There was snow on the ground when we arrived. I asked one of the locals if it was unusual to have snow. She replied, "Oh yeah, we almost never get snow for Christmas. It only snows in Feb., March, and April." Whew! What a big reminder of our communication differences. I don't understand how you can speak the same language as someone else but still not be able to communicate! I mean, if you study that conversation, where did I go wrong? I just don't get it. Oh well. It is laughable though.

We are also very happy to see the McFarland's again. They are doing well. Sister Mac is feeling much better. She hasn't had any signs of a blood clot. We are believing that it is finally completely gone. Thank you Jesus!

We had kind of forgotten just how "at home" we feel here. We certainly will find ourselves "homesick" when we return to the states.

I should really be sleeping right about now. This blog might not even make sense! So, I'll post more later.