Seattle here we come!

We are heading to Seattle on Wednesday because Matty has some training to do for tac. It will be lots of fun. I have never been to Seattle before, but I have heard some really neat things about it. We are excited! We are mostly excited that we can be with Matty and not have to stay home by ourselves :) I love being with my husband :) He is a wonderful man and loves us so much. We are so blessed. Thanks also to tac that we can all go!

Have any of you been to Seattle? What are some places that I must visit??

Here comes the monkey lover...

Rebekah has a little monkey that she likes a lot! Here are some pictures of her with her monkey. She cuddles with him, kisses him, sleeps with him, plays with him and even eats with him. It is so cute!

God is faithful!

It is neat how when you seek God for direction, He is faithful to lead us. As Matt and I raise Rebekah there are many times that we don't know how to handle different situations. We pray a lot every day for the Lord to lead and give us wisdom and discernment to raise Rebekah. More than anything we want to raise children who love God and who glorify Him in everything. This is not easy in this day and age that we live in, but we are called to live at a much higher standard than this world and it starts with us. As we immitate Christ, then our children can follow our example and be Christ-like as well.

Rebekah is at a stage right now (she will be one one year old in about a 3 weeks) that she gets frustrated and upset sometimes and it is hard for us to convey to her, or vice-versa, what we want from her. We have been talking and praying about this.

This morning we went to the library to do storytime together and there was a 15 month old little girl in from of us. She kept signing back to her mom and I was truly impressed with her ability to communicate. We have been teaching Rebekah some sign language and it has truly helped a lot! She can say about eight Spanish words as well plus the sign language she has learned has helped too. As she is getting older though, we all need to communicate better!

I talked to this mom after the story time and I told her how impressed I was by this little girl. She told me that she has loved being able to communicate with her daughter because this little girl has not thrown hardly any tantrums because she is able to communicate better and so she understands what she needs or wants. She told me about some videos to check out at the library - Signing Time.

I checked one out (they only had one out of 13 videos available) and I just got done learning so much!!! It was an awesome video. As I was watching it I felt like the Lord truly answered our prayers about wisdom and direction. I am excited for Rebekah and for us :) I will keep you posted on our progress. If any of you have anything to add, would you please share some thougths as well. I am all ears!

It's Official!

Congratulations Matty for your promotion to Project Development Team Leader!!! We are so proud of you! You have worked so hard and have shown excellence as you have served our Lord at TAC! The Lord has given you favor and will continue to do so as you walk humbly with Him. I am so happy and excited for you.

We love you so very much...you're the man ;) May our Lord continue to give you favor and help you be excellent in all that you do so that He can be glorified and shine through you!

You are the BEST!

p.s. thought I would put a pic of the whole crew congratulating you...Rebekah congratulates you as well though :)

This man that I love....

This man that I love so much is my dad and he had me bawling this morning. You see, as far as I know, he does not know the Lord nor has a relationship with Jesus Christ. I had a dream a couple days ago that has kept us praying for my dad more than the usual.

Ever since I came to know the Lord myself the Lord has put this passion in my heart to see my dad and my whole family come to know Him. For some reason, this has been stronger with my dad. I love my dad deeply. He is a wonderful man whom the Lord had given him a BIG heart. He is a gifted doctor and he is passionate and loves what he does. He loves people and he is loved by many.

I have shared Christ with my dad many times before, through letters, phone conversations, personally and I pray also that through my life he can see a living example of someone who has also been redeemed and who lives her life to glorify him. As Matty and I have been married, we continue to pray for my dad, love him, and live to be a light to him.

As we were at the airlport leaving Honduras to head back to the U.S. a doctor approached my dad and hugged him. This man said that he shares Christ and His Truth with my dad whenever he sees him. This man also told us, in from of my dad, "This man has a BIG heart but he needs Christ." I agreed and thanked the man for sharing God's Truth with my dad. I could tell that my dad loved and appreciated this man.

You see, my dad is not against or does not resist the Truth. He is the most tender-hearted man I know, but there is something that keeps him from surrendering his life completely to Christ.

As I have known the Lord it has been neat to see the many people who love my dad that they are willing to share His Truth with him. I know of one old nurse who goes to my dad's clinic to read the Word of God to him! I was at the hospital with my dad a while back when the nurses that worked with him surrounded him and prayed for him and his salvation! Wow! That is truly the Lord and I cannot tell you how excited that makes me.

God is good and we wait for the time when the Lord will save my dad and will use him to serve Him! What a glorious day that will be! Would you pray for my dad today!?

Back in Tulsa, OK

We have been back for about a week now and I am still catching up on things here in the house. It is so crazy all the work that goes on after traveling, but with God's help, I am making lots of progress! Yey!!!

We were in Longview this past weekend for a wedding that I was in. It was a nice wedding and I enjoyed so much being a part of it. The Lord has truly blessed us with wonderful friends.

As I was in Honduras I was reminded of a couple of things:

1. My family is part of the ministry that the Lord has us here for. We were reminded to continue to pray fervently for them
2. Friends and family are the greatest blessing anyone can posess...cherish them, love them, minister to them and be a blessing to them.
3. We are not supposed to move to Honduras right now, although there is a great desire within us
4. Burning desire to be a light to others in every area of our lives and that comes first by having a fervent, close and intimate relationship with our Lord and Savior

Christmas in Honduras

The day was Christmas Eve and some of us spent the day cleaning the house while my mom made the customary Pierna de Cerdo (Roast pork leg), turkey, mashed potatoes and penne pasta in alfredo sauce. It took the whole day to cook our meal which would start at midnight.

We went to a church service at about 7:15 pm which started at about 8:00 pm because they were waiting for more people to arrive, but it is a very cultural thing here in Honduras that sometimes people arrive very late. After two hours of worship mixed with short skits that the youth had put together, we had to leave to head for the Kennedy and the pastor had not even given his message yet. It was about 10:00 pm when we headed to visit with my grandma and family who live in a subdivision called La Kennedy. When we arrived the party was in full swing with music and dancing and laughing and all that goes on at parties here in Honduras. The music was really loud and ranged from old ballads to merengue to punta to regatton. Everyone was eager to help the gringo (Matt) learn to move those hips :) It was quite a scene and they were all pretty impressed that he could dance so well. My dad even thought he was drinking because he was so loose on the dance floor :)

There were about 20 adults plus 8 roaming and wild kids running around in a room about 10´by 15´ while my cousin tried to run her pulperia (a very small convenience store) in a small room on the side of the house . It was crowded, but so much fun! Rebekah slept through most of it in the back bedroom which was only about 15 ´from the living room so there was not much quiet. Just before midnight we turned on the radio to count down the seconds until Christmas day and there was much excitement. People in the alley were starting to get their fireworks ready to usher in the 25th. When the radio announced that midnight had come we all hugged and kissed each other and wished each other Merry Christmas. I truly enjoyed that moment as I hugged my family after four years of celebrating apart from them in the states. It was special! Fireworks were going off in the alley as we passed around plates of food and everyone ate.

We had been thinking and praying for an opportunity to share the true meaning of Christmas and Christ with our family sometime during the Christmas Eve celebration and up to that point we hadn´t seen an opportunity to bring the family together to share with them. We had tried to make plans, but they had failed. But the Lord in His Sovereignty had already gone before us. We were both surprised when Tio (uncle) John asked Matt and I to pray for the whole family. As he gathered everyone and we all joined hands, Matt shared about the reason why we celebrate Christmas and that only in Christ can we truly love each other. I also added that only in having a relationship with Christ can we truly be fulfilled and that other things such as alcohol, relationships, material possessions will never be able to satisfy that void in our hearts. Then we prayed and we were amazed and grateful to the Lord that He had given us this opportunity that we had so desired. God is good and He is truly glorified!

After a while, we came back to my parent´s house where the party continued all night long...literally :) We went to bed at about 3:30 am and we heard the booming of the stereo and occasional fireworks until 6:30 am. That´s some wild party! Fortunately Rebekah slept through all of it, and unfortunately we didn´t :) We were up by 9:00 am with a very active and happy little girl :)

All the family came over Christmas day for the food my mom had prepared and we ate once again.

All in all, I enjoyed most of the celebration and most importantly being able to be with my parents, grandma, cousins, uncles and aunts and all the kids! It was a blast. In all the celebration, I was somewhat disappointed that the focus was so secular (drinking, dancing, eating, etc) and that Christ was pretty much out of the picture except for the one moment the Lord gave us to share about Jesus Christ. It truly is an empty and worthless life without Christ. I am grateful for salvation and that Matt and I have the opportunity to raise our family as a new generation that will serve and glorify God in all that we do.