Grady- Belize Bound~~~~

Grady, along with Jim and Jake Sebens; take off for Belize tomorrow bright and early. They look forward to seeing and fellowshipping with many 'old' friends! Grady will be gone for 8 days. One of the goals of the mission trip include meeting with a few people whom Grady (and Jim and Jeremy K.) have been witnessing to in Belize and who are open to the gospel. In addition, they will be visiting a very sick young lady whose family has grown very close to ours and who we hope to bring some cheer and prayers to! Amanda organized an effort to put together an album for the sick young lady.. thank you to all who took the time to make a page for the scrapbook. It will be such a blessing to her, I'm sure. Jim and Jake also met this special family while visiting Belize in November and look forward to spending some time with them also.  Grady and the guys will also be helping some very dear friends of ours settle in to their new home in Belize. The couple, who is from Oregon, will be living very close to Spanish Lookout. Grady and the Sebens will be arriving 2 days before them and hope to get the house opened up before heading out to Belize City to pick them up from the airport. This couple from OR has such a heart for the Lord and feel called to go and preach the gospel in Belize. We very much look forward to heading back down there next Spring, Lord willing so that we can come and join them in their ministry.
Grady, Jim and Jake also really look forward to visiting the Succotz family, Maria and a few other families who the Lord has put in our lives. Just days ago we received a sizable donation of $500 in the mail for the mission work in Belize. Praise the Lord! This donation will help with finishing Maria's house as well as school money and medical expenses for two families who need help, including the Succotz family. Also with the donation Grady hopes to purchase some Spanish tracts and bibles from a book store and distributor . In addition to this donation, the King family has also been a very big financial support to the Succotz family as well as helping our family too.. Thank you! We are so grateful for the donations, both large and small and pray that the Lord will take and multiply them and grow his Kingdom! Please pray that as they are able to hand out these funds and tracts in Jesus name that He would receive the glory and that there would be openness to the true gospel and that there will be a revival in the hearts of those whom he is drawing. Thank you for your prayers!

     ¹⁵ And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.
Mark 16:15

Jesus Loves the Little Babies♥

A few weeks back, the Kings and their close friends who are active in street evangelism invited us to come along with them to the Planned Parenthood to hold signs..you see, on Fridays here in our local town is the day that they kill babies. One of my first thoughts as we arrived was.. 'Where are all the Christians?" In a town of tens of thousands.. were there really only a handful of us to pray, beg and demonstrate our support to struggling teenage girls and their helpless babies?

I just read the most informative book called 'Pro Life Answers to Pro Choice Arguments'. While being horribly depressing, it was also very informative. Here is one example of his answer to one of the Pro Choice arguments that I really appreciated:

Argument:
"The unborn is an embryo or a fetus- just a simple blob of tissue, a product of conception-not a baby. Abortion is terminating a pregnancy, Not killing a child"
Answers
1) Like toddler and adolescent, the terms embryo and fetus do not refer to non humans, but to humans at particular stages of development.
2) semantics affect perceptions, but they do not change realities; a baby is a baby no matter what we call her
3) From the moment of conception, the unborn is not simple, but very complex
4) Prior to the earliest surgical abortions, the unborn already has every body part she will ever have
5) Every abortion stops a beating heart and terminates measurable brain waves
6) Even in the earliest surgical abortions, the unborn child is clearly human in appearance.
7) Even before the unborn is obviously human in appearance, she is what she is- a human being.
8) No matter how much better is sounds, 'terminating a pregnancy' is still terminating a life.

I can hardly read this sign without choking up.. The girls were situated so that the cars driving by saw these in sequence..

My girls had such a hard time keeping it together as we watched woman after woman file in to kill their babies. One lady.. we will never forget.. she and her boyfriend were yelling at one another in the car.. she seemed like she was distraught and did not want to go through with it. Ashley ran toward the door (but still off the property) of Planned Parenthood.. calling out in a gentle voice and holding up her sign.. another sign that our friend's children had made said 'Please Don't Hurt Your Baby' was also being held up. The woman was beside herself but eventually went in... her baby was not the only one violated and destroyed that day.

My precious Baby

Most of you know our story. I was an unmarried 19 year old who was on strong medication when I found out I was pregnant with Ashley. I was led to believe that I had no other option than to abort her due to the meds. I did not believe in abortion (although I was not a Christian at the time) but I felt that I had no choice as the drugs were going to cause her to miscarry or be so severely deformed that she would die in utero. I scheduled an abortion. The Lord intervened and praise the Lord I got a phone call the morning of my abortion.. telling me there was no evidence of such side affects to babies! Our darling Ashley was born 7 months later- perfectly formed and healthy.

 In addition, when I was 10 weeks pregnant with Amanda, I started bleeding heavily. We went in for an ultrasound and they could not find the heartbeat. I was told that she had died. They scheduled me for a D&C to scrape out my uterus.. you know since there was no baby in there..We refused the procedure.. and the next week saw the heartbeat of my precious Amanda. I have to ask.. are we exceptions? Or do we live in a country where doctors are abortion happy; ready to take life into their hands.. as if they are God?

John Piper, an Evangelical pastor, has the opinion that everyone who is considering a surgical abortion should be required to watch an abortion doctor perform the 'procedure' at least once.. to watch him place the tiny dissected body parts on a sterile cloth and count all the pieces, making sure he 'got it all'. What would be so offensive or horrid about requiring such a thing? I mean if the justification is that it is just 'tissue' and that 'the procedure is not much different than a root canal' what would be so horrible about watching a doctor count baby body parts? The truth is, if these girls could see with their eyes what they were about to allow happen to their babies, there would be far fewer abortions. God help us all... and God help Christ's Church stand up for the unborn! Our silence is killing babies.

If you have had an abortion, there is hope for healing and forgiveness!

Ephesians 1:7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace

Acts 3:19 Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord,

1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!

Colossians 1:13-14 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

Then he adds: "Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more." Hebrews 10:17

What promises! Turn to Jesus. Please.. He wants to help you.

In addition, this book by Jack Hayford is one which has helped many women who are struggling with the trauma associated with abortion: http://www.jackhayford.org/articles1-436/IllHoldYouinHeaven

Oregon Coast

 It was quite a wonderful family day at the beach.. we took our time getting there, poking along and stopping at every sale and at every turn.. potty breaks galore.. BOY did it take us a long time to actually GET to the beach! Along the way we were able to have a few good conversations about the Kingdom of God and pass out a few tracts. So that was a blessing.This time we decided to try a new spot (big mistake!) As we ascended the path toward the beach we noticed that there were at least a dozen folks out in the water, kite surfing.. hmmm...could that mean that this beach may be a bit more WINDY than most? Yup!

Mandy tries to walk in the wind

Grady keeps the girls from blowing away!

Grant's kite string snapped so he resorted to using a dog leash! :)

We had the girls play behind this log, hoping that it would be a good windblock. It didn't work!

Laura is outta here!

After about 20 minutes Mama heads back to the car with the little girls

Laura- "Let's Get Outta Here Mama!"

Kite surfers

                                                            Goodbye windy beach!..

After driving south a few miles, we came to another beach which was much less windy. We enjoyed watching the children make some sand castles and 'sandy baby beds' for Grace and Laura! They both loved being buried in the cool gray sand. The older children had fun down toward the shore.. We are so blessed that both Ashley & Amanda and Ryan & Grant are the best of friends. It was a beautiful day of memory-making.

Amanda's Update

One of the reasons that we came back to WA State for a bit was to seek further medical treatment/testing for Amanda. She started feeling much better the week we returned to WA. We aren't sure if the heat just increases her symptoms or what but we *do* know that a precious brother prayed over her in Belize the morning we left for home so perhaps the Lord has decided to take some of her issues away, Praise the Lord! She has so much more energy- it is wonderful to see her running around and being her old self. The doc here in Chehalis who provided all of the free testing and treatment for us here in January, recently retested to see where her Vit D levels were at after taking 10,000 i.u twice weekly for 5 months. Her number had gone from a 14 (BAD) to a 100 (GREAT!) so we are very thankful for that! She has still been experiencing a lot of tachycardia again.. enough to make her dizzy and not able to think well or perform normal tasks at times, maybe once weekly. A few weeks ago she was fitted with a long term heart monitor which will monitor her for a full month. They should be able to tell what, if anything, is making her heart go haywire. There is a chance she has a second electrical pathway which causes the symptoms. That would require surgury to correct. Please just pray that we are able to find *something* or that the Lord would take that away from her. Despite this past year of struggles and feeling terrible she has remained such a joyful example of a true servant of Jesus. She would tell you that she is thankful for these small trials.. the Lord has used it all mightily in her life.
Thank you for your continued prayers.
The McDonalds

Our Youngest Blessing

Laura Jean McDonald
July 10, 2010
5 pounds 13 oz

Our sweetest little blessing from the Lord,
It was such a blessing to finally hold you in our arms after a long and eventful pregnancy! You came 4 weeks early but came as healthy as a bigger baby! You were smaller than Gracie's Bitty Baby which is pretty tiny! In fact, you looked like a baby doll so we were frequently startled when we saw Grace's dolls on the floor, thinking you had fallen on to the ground! Everyone loved you from the start. You had such a sweet and snuggly dispostion from the start; slept well, nursed well and loved to be snuggled but were ok to be propped on the sofa for a few minutes while I took care of your big sister also. We loved taking you on a camping trip when you were just 10 days old! Our friends the Kings let us use their trailer for the trip so Mama, who was recovering from a C-Section wouldn't have to sleep in a tent. That sure was nice! When you were 14 months old we moved to Belize, Central America. You didn't seem to mind the heat and got sick less frequently than the rest of us. The bugs liked you especially however! You seemed to always be covered with bug bites. Now you are 2 years old, I can hardly belive it.. you *still* ask to be nursed though so you must not be THAT big, right? You are such a special blessing in our lives dear sweet blonde hair, blue- eyed sweetheart. You have us all wrapped around your finger.. we pray that you will grow up to be a mighty woman in Jesus' Kingdom. We love you so much little one. You bring so much joy to our family Laura. Happy 2nd birthday darling.

One Day Old

1 Week Old

Our Tiny Little Blessing with Our Oldest Blessing

1 Week Old

Our Sweet Children, Summer '10

Precious Toes

2 Weeks

3 Weeks

1 Month

4 Months

                                                                          1 Year

18 Months

~~~~~~~~~~~ Little Miss Laura Jean Turns 2!~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Happy Birthday Laura Jean!

Today we celebrated Laura's 2nd birthday by going to a local park and having a picnic with some friends and family.. The Kings, as well as both of Stephanie's sisters and Nana and Papa Ben joined us in celebrating the birthday of our blue-eyed and blond haired darling.

Blow out the candles sweetie!

Grant and Daddy

Grant, Daddy and Nana!

Stephanie with little Matthew wish Laura a Happy Birthday

Sweet friends

Nana and Mama

'Aunt' Stephanie and children construct a darling cardboard oven for Laura

Becca made her a baby blanket

'Tanks Becca!'

What's this.. a fun doctor's kit from Nana and Papa Ben

Gracie appoints herself the doctor

Papa Ben

Ashley and Susanna

Ashley and friend Elizabeth get a great (?) backrub

(easy Susanna!)

Grant, the fisherboy

Ryan catches something!

Ashley snaps a few photos of the lovely goose and ducks

Time to head home after a fun (and warm!) day at the park..

Happy Birthday Sweet Laura Jean!