God's Goodness

It has been SO long since I last wrote. It has been so long that I even forgot how to create a post in my blog :) but today something came to my mind that I wanted to share about as I thought of God's goodness.

Matty came home today for lunch just so he could play with Rebekah in the melted snow/ice. After they got done playing outside I heated up some soup and reminded Rebekah, "isn't your papa such a good papa that he came home for lunch just to play in the snow with you?" and then I proceeded to tell her that she needed to thank him for that. This led to another conversation of God's goodness to us when I told her, "that is how good God is to us, Rebekah." Rebekah and I memorize Bible verses and one of them is Psalm 34:8, "Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!" I try to use the things all around us to help her understand what the verses actually mean. So this was a perfect example for me to use to help her understand the verse and to help her think of God's goodness to us.

I was then thinking dwelling on this beautiful picture. I am so thankful that Rebekah will be able to understand better God's goodness, better than me for sure, because she has a father who cares for her every need, who loves her deeply and who only looks out for her good and best interest. She will be able to see God as a good father who also does the same for her and even more because He is perfect and truly good. She will also be able to trust Him even when things get tough, can't understand or when they don't happen the way that she wanted them to happen because her earthly dad tries to give her only what is best for her even when the best is not what she really wants.

It was just a neat insight that the Lord was giving me today. God is so good in revealing himself to us and giving us understanding of His beautiful Truth.

Home sweet home...

We are finally back home in Tulsa. It is so nice to be back! There is truly no place like home:) Our trip back was good. The girls traveled really well and we praise the Lord for that. We were able to sleep some in the planes and that helps.

We pretty much just shared about the first half of our trip. So many things happened during the second half with our family and we would still like to share about that. I am going to keep posting about it little by little so that you can have an idea about how it went. We were so pleased by how it all went and how the Lord used this second half to minister to our family but also to teach us many things.

Thanks to all of you who were praying for us. We really felt those prayers and are grateful for the family of Christ. We love you all very much!

10 things we learned from the Arevalos

1. How to take showers with salt water
2. Prayer should be an integral part of our lives and not just a formality before meals and bedtime
3. Who needs air conditioning, anyway?
4. A granita (frozen coffee drink) a day keeps the grumpies away
5. Humility and servanthood
6. How to get along in a 1,000 sq ft home with 4 children under 2 1/2 and 4 parents 
7. To ask for forgiveness and to reconcile often
8. Learned some great new childrens songs that Rebekah now loves to sing.  Thank you Abner and Kelley!
9. How to make papaya/banana shakes...uhhmmm!  Thank you Kelley!
10. How to love each other more in spite of our shortcomings

Abner, Kelley, Susana and Abner Daniel, thank you for sharing your home and lives with us for five weeks.  We are so very grateful for the times we had.  We are better people because of you and how you live your lives for Him.  We love you all deeply.  Let's do this again in the near future...at our house ;) We hope you can get the stains off your couch...yeah...sorry about those potty training accidents!

What we've been up to...

This past week was one crazy week.  We were traveling through different places as we were making our way to Tegucigalpa.  Kelley and Abner dropped us off at Peña Blanca where we were spending a few days with my aunt and uncle.  It was a really neat time.  The area where they live is up in the mountains and really nice and cool, so we were so grateful to be out of the heat of La Ceiba.  We got to rest for a couple of days there.  We also traveled to San Pedro Sula with them for a day visit to see my cousin and her family.  We were then picked up by my other uncle and he took us to Siguatepeque where we spent another couple of days with him and his family.  After a couple of days here, my parents picked us up from Siguatepeque and we are finally home at my parents house in Tegucigalpa.  It's nice being back "home" and enjoying my immediate family!

  

We enjoyed all of our stays so much and yet everywhere we went we also got to see so many needs and family hurting some way or another.  It was bitter-sweet, but we were grateful for the opportunities we had to share His Truth and hope with them.  We love getting to know our family and being able to share the hope that we have in Him.  We had many opportunities to pray with them, encourage them in the Lord, share from His Word and minister to those who needed to be comforted.  

We are now at my parents' house and there are also many opportunities to share with them.  I told Matty how sad I have felt seeing so much hurt in others and how foreign God seemed to them...how our lives were so different and how only the Lord could truly save them.  It has been sad seeing my dad.  He seems to be less and less joyful and much more in need of Christ. The problem is that so far he has not shown any interest at all in the Lord.  It has been somewhat chaotic, and our hope can remain in Him alone.  

Matty and I continue to pray for boldness, courage, and for the Lord to give us the right words at the right time.  We continue to live our lives for Him and serve them and love them as they are.  God is all powerful and oh so good.  Please do pray for us as we continue to shine His light in a very dark place.   Our lives are changing so much as we see so many needs and so much work to be done here in Honduras with our family.  We are not sure what our lives will be when we get back, but that is up to the Lord.  We do know that we want to be more purposeful in truly having a more eternal perspective.  We love the Lord so much and we have always desired to live for Him alone, but I think we realize how short we have fallen of living for Him and Him alone.  I think many times in the "comfortableness" that we live in in the United States that we become so very self-centered and numb to needs of others.  We have seen so much these past weeks and months that we have been here.

We thank the Lord for saving us, for loving us and for guiding us as we seek Him.  He is so very faithful and a solid rock in times of uncertainty and turmoil.  Thank you Lord for who you are and for the hope that we have in You.  Lead us on as YOU desire.  

Imagine a life with no yankees...

Today in Honduras, they are having a ceremony to join Honduras with a latino-american pact called the "Alba".  Hugo Chavez, president of Venezuela, is the leader of this movement and is currently on TV insisting that Honduras needs to declare their freedom from the U.S. and that the "yankees", as Chavez refers to the U.S., are oppressing all of latino-america.  Also present at the ceremony are the vice president of Cuba, president of Nicaragua, and president of Bolivia. For the last two hours, these presidents have been ranting and raving about the oppression of capitalism and the oppression by the 'yankees'.  Somehow Chavez pins all problems in all of latino-america on the 'yankees'.  Sounds like the rant of a certain psychopathic leader of a certain German country of a certain World War all over again to me.  It is a sad thing to see Honduras getting involved with such socialistic/communistic ideas and governments.

It is true that Honduras has its economic problems, but it is not the fault of the U.S.  Actually, the socialized programs here in Honduras seem to be the ones with the problems.  The social medicine system is free, but terrible (and Obama paints such a pretty picture of socializing medicine in the U.S.... There is not a successful model of socialized medicine on earth today. Probably because it doesn't work.) Government-run water is not potable.  Government-run electricity continually fails.  It doesn't seem to me like a system we want to expand...  

Chavez insists that a grand government-run group of unified countries is the way to prosperity and equality for all.  Too bad that he doesn't tell the people that equality means that they will all have to work just as hard, but now the government will dictate every aspect of their lives. Instead of getting their pay (meager as it may be) and then deciding how to use it, they will stand in line for a bar of soap and a pound of beans.  Their ears will be ringing from the communist propaganda screaming, "patriotism, patriotism, patriotism", and all they will be thinking is, "I wish I choose my soap."  

Chavez wants to control all schools, all publications, all media, all businesses, all hospitals, etc. He is a communist to the core and it is scary that so many people are listening and following his lead.  Communism has never been about anything but power for the ruling class and oppression of the masses.  Once they gain control, they rule with a military grip, killing those who would threaten their hold.  Already today, Chavez was shouting that anyone opposed to the Alba is an ignorant fool and an anti-patriot.  They brainwash the masses by controlling media and censoring every method of communication, using fear to even control what people are allowed to think. It is looking like 1984 in latino-america in 2008.  

There is hope for social and economic prosperity in Honduras but communism is not the answer.  Sadly, if Honduras aligns with these politics, the country will be pulled into the pit of economic and social degeneration from which it has been trying so hard in recent years to escape.

Four months old!

Esther is four months old today!!! Time is going by so fast! She is doing great. She is smiling so much these days and she is starting to giggle too...it is super cute! She has also started to imitate us by doing bubbles with her lips. It is amazing how much they can grasp and do and learn at such young age.

Here are just a few pictures of our little Essie...enjoy them!

Gotta love a two year old :)

Here are some great and fun pictures of our big girl Kita! She is doing so great. We are so blessed by her life. God is good!

There are some things you just have to laugh about...Enjoy!