Always measure your life solely by the standards of Jesus.  Submit yourself to His yoke, and His alone; and always be careful never to place a yoke on others that is not of Jesus Christ.  It takes God a long time to get us to stop thinking that unless everyone sees things exactly as we do, they must be wrong.  That is never God's view.  There is only one true liberty--the liberty of Jesus at work in our conscience enabling us to do what is right.

Don't get impatient with others.  Remember how God dealt with you--with patience and with gentleness.  But never water down the truth of God.  Let it have its way and never apologize for it.  Jesus said, "Go....and make disciples..." (Matthew 28:19), not, "Make converts to your own thoughts and opinions."

Oswald Chambers

Bedtime

With six kids it's easy for us to get pictures of them in different "just went to sleep" poses. Especially with the little guys.

Sometimes the kids go to sleep with buddies.

Sometimes they go to sleep while reading.

Sometimes they go to sleep while reading a book and with a buddy.

Sometimes they go to sleep by themselves.

Sometimes they go to bed dreaming of food.

Other times they go to sleep next to a buddy while dreaming of their next work out.  (Yes he is really asleep on the gym ball)

Sometimes they go to bed in weird positions. (Yes, again, he really is asleep)

And sometimes you have to get away from everyone else and sleep in a little peace and quiet.  In this house it's hard to do but not impossible. Sometimes you just have to be your own headphones.

Down Time

After a long, hard day some people find it relaxing to unwind with a good book. 

Jesus wants us to see that neighbor next door or the people sitting next to us on a plane or in a classroom are not interruptions to our schedule.  They are there by divine appointment.  Jesus wants you to see their needs, their loneliness, their longings, and He wants to give us the courage to reach out to them. 

Rebecca Manley Pippert

She's Home

At 12:45 (almost an hour after her scheduled arrival time) this morning Bronwyn came out of baggage claim at the airport.

We were very glad to finally get to hug on our daughter/sister again.

We are also very glad she didn't arrive 30 minutes later as this was the sight as we left the airport.  The airport has been shut down a couple of times this week because of the fog.  She, thankfully, barely missed it being shut down again.

It's like she hasn't been gone a day.  The little guys are loving having their other big sister back....

....and even the bigger guy allowed a big sister smooch to take place.

Thanks to all of you that continue to be persistent prayer warriors not only for Bronwyn but for all of our kids.

We are thankful to have Bronwyn back at home.

We are also thankful for God's family who took care of our daughter (Marty, Louise, the boys, Claudine, Martin and Gina) while she visited 4 different countries in Africa.  You guys are a great blessing to our family.

Getting Closer

Bronwyn is in São Paulo.  Benay and the kids just spent the last couple of hours helping her pass the time by talking with her on Skype.

She should be home in about 3 hours.

Thanks for your prayers for her safety.  She had a great flight from South Africa to Brasil.

Just one more short flight and she'll be home.

Thank you for your continued prayers.

Almost Home

We wanted to thank you for your prayers for Bronwyn.

She made it safely to Johannesburg yesterday.  A Christian brother picked her up at the airport (thanks again Murray for setting that up with Martin) and took her to stay at a Brasilian sister's house.  Bronwyn is enjoying the change of scenery and enjoying speaking Portuguese.

She has enjoyed her time in Africa and was greatly blessed (and we know she blessed a lot of people as well) but she is ready to come home.

We spoke with her today and she said is super excited to be coming home tomorrow.  She must be because even though her flight lands tomorrow night around midnight she has already asked Anderson to wake her up whenever he wakes up on Saturday morning.  That is usually around 5:00-5:30.

I'd say she misses her family.

We really miss her too.

Please continue to pray for her safety as she will have a long traveling day tomorrow as she makes her way home from South Africa.

Thank you.

Five Years Later

I've shared before that I (Kevin) like to run.  I've always liked to get up early in the morning and go run for a little bit, but it wasn't until we moved to Brasil that I was challenged to do more.  

We have a great Brasilian friend who is a runner.  His name is Sergio.  He and his family are very special to us.  We've taken family trips together and we've enjoyed many good times together.  We've also had the honor of sharing the Good News of Christ with him and seeing him give his life to the Lord.  I had the honor of being a part of his baptism into Christ.  

Here he is with my parents on their recent trip here.  

Anyway,  Sergio has run in and completed 10 marathons.  He gave the idea of running a marathon to me and Matt (our teammate) about 6 years ago.  He helped Matt finish his first one and then the next year he, literally, ran by my side until I had to stop after 34 km's.  He then called my wife to tell her where to pick me up and then he finished the race.  I thought he was running so slow with me because he was hurting like I was. He wasn't. He just wanted to see me finish. He finished last in the race with an ambulance behind him (alerting everyone that he was the last runner to finish).  I remember how he was just smiling and waving to the crowd as the siren was blaring and he got close to the finish line.  He finished and came to me and told me how great I had done.  I was discouraged for not finishing and he was so encouraging.  That's who he is.  

The next year he wasn't able to train as much because of knee problems but we again started the marathon together.  He had to quit at the halfway point but guess who was there to welcome me at the finish line as I completed my first marathon?  That's right....Sergio.  He wasn't discouraged that he didn't finish his race.  He did the best he could, had to stop and then waited 2 more hours for me to finish my race.  He is a special brother.  

In our house church family we have one more guy who likes to run.  His name is João Spencer. I love this brother and his family.  They are a huge blessing to our house church family.  João is a pilot in the Air Force.  

About 5 years ago the four of us signed up to run a half marathon race together as a team.  We would each run a little over 5km.  On the day of the race the sky opened up and it just poured.  It was cold as well.  The older I get the more I hate to run in the cold and the rain.  I can handle running in the rain (if it's hot) or cold weather (without the rain) but together?  No.  I wasn't the only one as the phone started ringing about 6 that morning and everyone saying we'll just sit that one out.  

Since then we've run together during the week or at church family retreats. We always wanted to get together and do another team race but it had never worked out.  Until last Saturday.  

There was a night run half marathon along the river by our downtown.  I ran in it last year by myself and really enjoyed it.  There was something fun about running downtown at night.  

So this year I called those guys to see if they wanted to run the whole thing together or split off into teams of 2 or 4.  We decided to be a team of 4. Finally after 5 years we were going to run our team race together.  

We had a great time together and we actually did pretty good.  We got an email from Matt yesterday and apparently we finished in 5th place and get some trophies.  Not bad for a couple of 30 somethings, a 40 something and a 50 something who don't train together.  

We even got to see this guy:

His name is Darci and he's in his 70's.  I met him during my first marathon run.  He talks the entire race and encourages everyone.  And he's fast.  One year he ran the marathon, finished and then ran back through the route to encourage people who were finished behind him.  He's a special guy.  Sergio brought him over to talk to us Saturday night and he was thanking us for being there because we encouraged him.  Funny thing is he didn't see us until after he finished the race.  He finished his 13 mile race this year in about one hour and 35 minutes.  Our team finish about 5 minutes ahead of him. I hate him.  Okay, not really.  Well, maybe just a little. Okay, I don't but come on, he's in his 70's.  He definitely has a gift of running. 

Here are some pictures of our night.  

The one thing I love about running with Christians is it helps me to focus better.  Not on my time necessarily but on just God.  I find myself talking to God more and thanking him for the ability to run while I'm doing a race with my brothers.  We huddle up and pray both before and after our race time. I'm always blessed to run with those guys.  

Even though it was 5 years in the making, it was worth the wait.  (I love looking at the face of the dude in the back trying his best to get out of our picture.)

Please pray for our little team.  We've frequently talked about how to use our love of running as some type of ministry.  Pray for us to be open to however He wants us to use this for His glory.

Birthday Pics for Bronwyn

Bronwyn,

We missed being with you and having you here to celebrate with us for our two April birthday kids.

Here are some pictures from those days.

We aren't putting any explanations on them because we know you know where they were taken and what we were doing.

We can't wait to see you on Friday night.  Lots of people are already praying for your safety as you travel to South Africa tomorrow and then come home on Friday.  I know you feel the peace that comes from those prayers.

Love you,

Mom, Dad and all your brothers and sisters.

Mooch Day

I feel like "mooching/piggybacking/call it whatever you want to call it" off my girlfriend's and daughter's blogs.

Benay posted a good blog today with a great article from Chuck Swindoll.  God gives him some amazing insights.  The article will speak strongly to you wherever you are in your Christian faith walk. Click here to check it out. 

If you haven't checked out Bronwyn's blog in a while then you are missing out.  She has posted some pretty cool pictures of her recent safari as well as her trip in the mountains to see the gorillas. Click here to check her recent pictures and insights from Rwanda.  After you open it just keep scrolling down to see everything.  It's hard to believe she will be home on Friday.

More Travel Prayers

We just put my mom on a plane heading back to the states. 

We had a great visit with her.  

We would appreciate your prayers for her safe travels.  

Thanks, as always, in advance.  

As believers, we need to reaffirm our commitment to moral purity and to private lives that are absolutely free of secret sins.

Chuck Swindoll

Birthday Time

Today is a special day.....This girl is turning 17.  

Our day will include present-opening, sushi-eating, oreo-ice-cream-cake indulging, candle-blowing, song-singing,  and this guy....

in 3D and English (a rare combination here in Brazil). 
 
So it should be a fun day.

As is our tradition, each person in the family had this to say about our birthday girl.....

Giovanni:  "Thank you for taking care of me and making me smile.  Mom says we are a lot alike!  Thank you for putting "Baby Einstein" on your i-pod just for me."

Anderson:  "It's kind of like we are twins because we both start with A but we are halfway now because she is 17 and I'm 6.  I like to play with her on the computer and she's the best sister."

Carys:  "She's really, really nice and she always does fun stuff with me.  She's one of the best sisters ever.  I love her a lot and I hope she has the best birthday ever!"

Garrett:  "I love her." (oh, the verbosity of a 13 year old boy....)

Bronwyn:  "She's my best friend. I love how crazy she is and how she still talks to me a lot, even though I'm in Rwanda."

Me:  "I am not going to say that Ansley is an incredibly talented and creative girl, because Ansley will say that that is what everyone always says (well, it's true!).  So, I am going to say this:  Ansley, I could not love you anymore than I love you now - just the way you are.  You are beautiful, inside and out, and I could not be more proud of you.  Thank you for bringing me joy and laughter.  You are a great big sister, daughter, friend and Christian example.  I love spending time with you!"

Kevin:   "She has an amazing gift of music and creativity!  I love how she can just hear a song and then figure it out on the guitar.  She is very funny and can make anyone laugh.  Kids love to be with her because of her creativity (story telling, jokes, role playing, etc.).  I love how she lives out her faith among her friends.  She is a great example to them all of what a Christian teenager looks like.  She is a beautiful, fun, spunky girl and I love her.  Our house is blessed because Ansley is in it."

Grandmommy:  "Ansley is our beautiful creative granddaughter.  There's never a dull moment when she's around.  She can make us smile when no one else can.  Thanks for sharing your room with us during our visit.  We love you very much."


click here for some more about Ansley....

Marie Blume-Invicto Champion

Note to our readers:  This blog is mainly for Bronwyn and my dad but the rest of you are welcome to check it out as well. 

We love it when my (Kevin) parents come to visit us.  We always do lots of good stuff together.

My parents are fun.  They are adventurous. When they are here they sometimes go out for a walk and end up at the nearby mall, grocery store or hardware store.  Even though they don't speak Portuguese they always end up coming home with exactly what they set out to buy.

So I don't know why I was a bit surprised last week when my mom said she wanted to go to a soccer game.  She said she wanted to see a South American soccer game.  We were happy to oblige.

On Sunday our team played in the championship game of our state championship.

We made sure we took a picture with everyone in their jerseys before the game.

We took a picture in front of the "Champion of the World" sign at the stadium.

We took pictures inside the stadium.

And then it was time for the game.

The first game my dad ever went to was a game for the South American championship called the Libertadores.  We started that game getting beat 2-0 before coming back to win 3-2.  In mom's first game on Sunday we started off getting beat 2-0.  After the second goal Garrett leaned over to me and said, "I think Grandmommy might be bad luck."

You see we are kind of a superstitious bunch when it comes to soccer games.  Our team has never been beaten when I take 2 or more of our kids to a game.  We have won or tied every game we've gone to.  That's kind of impressive over an 8 year period.  Things haven't been so good when we invite someone else into our group to go to a game with us.  We've won more than we've lost but we've lost a few games when we invite someone else.  So, the kids have become a little skeptical when a new person joins our group.

Thus Garrett's comment.

I reminded him of my dad's first game and that we could still turn it around and still win 3-2.

What happened?  Check out the highlights.

Exactly the same thing happened. It was very exciting.  Did my mom enjoy herself?

Check out this video of reactions after Inter scored their second and third goals and you be the judge.

We had a ball with her and are very thankful that she is not bad luck and that we can take her back to another game some day.

My mom joked that she was the only grandmother at the game. We know that wasn't true but even if it was that's okay. We all think we have a pretty cool mom/grandmother. Anyone who wants to go see our team play ranks high on our cool list. Especially a grandmother!

She had such a good time that she even partook in our post game meal of "espetinhos" or as our kids call them, "meat on a stick."  It's food you buy from street vendors and it's good.

Some Americans that have visited us and wanted to go to a game have been a little worried about their safety. They've seen things on tv that made them think every South American soccer match was wild and out of control.

My mom didn't seem to have that worry.

Although she didn't take her shirt off and wave it around after we scored.......

.........she did seem to feel right at home in our stadium.

We talked about how you can take a girl out of Tennessee but you can't take the Tennessee out of the girl.  I don't believe there was another barefooted person at the stadium until Carys saw my mom do it and then there were two barefooted people in the stadium.

You might remember the blog we did last week about my dad being invicto (never having lost a game he's gone to with us). Now my mom is also invicto but she one uped my dad. She got to see a vitory in a championship game.

 Sorry you missed it Pops and Bronwyn. Wish you guys could have been here with us.

Mammy

Today would have been my grandmother's 94th birthday.  You might remember that she passed away just four days after we got back to the states last year on our last furlough.  If you didn't read our blog at that time then you can click here to read what she meant to us.

We were incredibly blessed to be able to see her, talk with her, hold her hand, give her a hug and a kiss and tell her how much we loved her before she went to heaven.  We feel like she was waiting for us to get back from Brasil before she said goodbye.  Benay and I and our kids were so blessed and it's something very special to us that our kids were able to be with her one last time as well.  We won't ever forget that time together.

Mammy was the only great grandparent that our kids have ever known.  My dad's parents died in a car accident when I was 9.  Mammy's husband died when I was 23.  Three of Benay's grandparents died either before our kids were born, or after they were born but were too young to remember.  Mammy was the only great grandparent that our kids got to see a lot.  She was able to be with and play with all of our kids since they were newborns, except for Giovanni.   Benay and I can't tell you what kind of a blessing that is for us.

Mammy was a blessing to all of her kids and grandkids.

We miss her on this day and would love to be able to spend some more time with her again but we aren't too sad because we know where she is and we know she wouldn't trade that for anything.  She's home and we know we will see her again soon. I think sometimes about the two babies that Benay and I have lost and how, in my mind's eye, Mammy and our other grandparents that have gone to heaven, are with them now as they look forward to the rest of us being with them some day.  Very cool.

It's a special birthday today and so, as is our tradition, we asked all family members to share something about Mammy.

Giovanni:  "For Benay and myself we are happy to know that our youngest son will get to meet Mammy  someday."

Anderson:  "I LOVED her chocolate cake that was really good!"

Carys:  "I loved it when she let me hide behind her chair in her room and eat candy so nobody would know.  She was really nice, funny and she was the only great-grandmother I ever had and I'm glad I got to see her before she died.  I really love her."

Garrett:  "I loved everything about her.  I miss her.  I still love her.  I'm glad we got to see her one last time before she died."

Ansley:  "I really miss her.  She was really, really fun.  She was really sweet and she was a good cook. I love her and I hope she's having fun in heaven."

Bronwyn (from Rwanda): "I love her so much. She made me laugh and laughed at herself too. I'm so glad we got to say goodbye to her. When we went to visit her, she told Dad that I wasn't a dork. I can't wait to see her again."

Benay:  "She treated me like a granddaughter and I loved her like a real grandmother. I loved spending time with her and I can't wait to be with her again one day."

Me:  "My brain is flooded with all kinds of great memories from my childhood and going to be with her and my granddad at their house in middle Tennessee.  We always had fun in their little town. She always had good food waiting, she always welcomed anyone into her home and she always seemed to be in a good mood.  Benay and I are blessed that our kids got to know, really know, a great grandparent.  That five of our six kids got to know her and can remember all kinds of different things they did with her is a real blessing to us.  She lived an incredible life and we were blessed to be a part of it.  I too, can't wait to be with her again one day."

Happy Birthday Mammy!

Birthday Weekend

Sunday was an amazing day. It was a real blessing to all of us who were there.

Our sister, Ivoli, decided she wanted to publicly share her faith in Christ through baptism.  She asked Benay if she would baptize her.

It was a very exciting day.

I decided I'm going to share all the details.  It might be a long blog and I'm okay with that.  If you choose to read it all I feel like you will be blessed by what the Lord did on Sunday.

Here we go:

Since our church family meets in homes, and since we don't have a central building with a place to baptize people, and since our house doesn't have a bathtub, we had to find another place to do it.

These are our neighbors Abelardo, Jane and their granddaughter Eduarda.

They aren't a part of our house church.  Jane has been to house church one time and she and Abelardo both came to our annual Dirty Santa party last year.  I have to say that they are the coolest and best neighbors we've ever had in our 8 years of living here.  They are both nice and funny.  We love being around them.  Anyway, last week I asked if we could borrow their pool for just a few minutes for a baptism.  They graciously agreed.

So everyone got to our house and we all went across the street to Abelardo and Jane's house.

They were waiting for us.  I told them it would be an honor for us if they were part of the baptism.  I don't think I needed to ask because they were already walking back with us to be a part of it.

As we walked back to the pool I thanked both of them for allowing our house church to come over and invade their house on a Sunday morning. Jane looked at me and told me that our group was blessing their house by doing a baptism there.  Wow.

Benay and Ivoli got in the cold water (we are ending our October for you North American readers).

Benay then shared a few things from her heart........

........and then baptized her sister in Christ.  Click here to go to Benay's blog and read her thoughts about Ivoli.

This is one of Benay's favorite pictures from the day that Ansley took of her and Ivoli.

Everyone then loved on their sister.

Even Ivoli's husband, Carlão, came on this special day.  He's only been to house church one time.  We love him and he blesses us anytime he is around. He is a kind man who is so easy to talk to. He is not yet a Christian but we are praying that one day he will make the same decision that his wife and daughter (Grace) have already made. (We were also blessed to be a part of Grace's baptism as Bronwyn and Ansley baptized her at the end of 2007.  You can click here if you want to read what Benay wrote back then.) Benay said that she heard Carlão tell Ivoli how emotional he got during the baptism.  God is working.

We came back over to our house for a time of singing and sharing the Lord's Supper together. It was an encouraging time together.

I love house church.

We then had some Skype time together with different people.  Bronwyn got a chance to share her love with Ivoli.....

......and then we were plugged in to a skype call from our Texas A&M Aggies buddies in College Station.  One of the guys that was here last year with the Aggies for Christ group was asked to preach at his church.  He was going to share some things from his time in Porto Alegre last year and he asked us to join him on skype.  He had his computer set at the front of the church where we could see everything that was going on.  Very cool. Thanks for the invite Chris!  You blessed us.

God also tied in this day with the Aggies.  Not only did we skype them to be a part of their worship but they were also a part of our special day.  They all remember Ivoli from their trip here last year.  I'm sure, being Aggies, they will tell you that heaven celebrated even more on Sunday with Ivoli because she decided to be baptized in an A&M shirt.

We weren't able to stay and hear everything Chris said in his talk because at that time we were also eating lunch together as a house church family and celebrating Grace's birthday which was on Saturday.

She got to listen to 3-4 different happy birthday songs in two different languages.

I could not imagine anything cooler than having Grace's birthday on Saturday and her mom's spiritual birthday the day after.  They shared a very special weekend.

We ask that you pray for Ivoli and her walk with Christ.  For Grace as well.  We also ask that you pray for Carlão and that he will make a decision for Christ soon.

We love this family very much and are blessed to have them in our lives!

I've said before that eight years ago, when we arrived in Brasil, I had no idea what this ministry would look like eight years later. Eight years later I can tell you that there is nothing I would rather be doing and not another group I would rather be sharing our lives with than those that God has given us here.  We have an amazing group of people in the house church that meets in our house. Being a part of this past Sunday was better than anything I could have imagined.

The following is a video from Ivoli's baptism.  I thought of cutting some of it out and also sharing what Benay is saying but then I decided to just let the Spirit touch your hearts as you watch it.  I honestly don't think you have to speak and understand Portuguese to feel what the Spirit was doing at that moment.

Luke 15: 4-10 (verses that Grace read to her mom after the baptism)

"Suppose one of you had a hundred sheep and lost one. Wouldn't you leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the lost one until you found it? When found, you can be sure you would put it across your shoulders, rejoicing, and when you got home call in your friends and neighbors, saying, 'Celebrate with me! I've found my lost sheep!' Count on it—there's more joy in heaven over one sinner's rescued life than over ninety-nine good people in no need of rescue.

"Or imagine a woman who has ten coins and loses one. Won't she light a lamp and scour the house, looking in every nook and cranny until she finds it? And when she finds it you can be sure she'll call her friends and neighbors: 'Celebrate with me! I found my lost coin!' Count on it—that's the kind of party God's angels throw every time one lost soul turns to God."