Macgyver...............Junior

Garrett recently received the first season of Macgyver on DVD as a present.

Benay and I thought he would like it. We only get about 3 channels in our house and they aren't very good. We cut our cable a couple of years ago because of the awful things they showed and said (in the middle of the afternoon!). We don't shield our kids from the world but we also aren't going to pay to have filth enter into our kids (and ours) heads and hearts. It just doesn't make sense with what we teach them. So we are always trying to find shows that all the kids can watch together which, as you know, is getting harder and harder.

Benay had the idea of Macgyver. I remember watching it back in the day and thinking it was a cool show. Benay and I still laugh when we think of one of her former 3rd grade students trying to get himself out of some rope, Macgyver style, that was tied around him.

We sat down to watch the first episode of the first season together. Benay and I quickly remembered how bad the acting was in the 80's and 90's:Yes, it's like that.

The special effects are just hilarious to watch when compared to today's effects.

But the kids just loved it. They are burning through the episodes.

I caught Carys with my swiss army pocket knife yesterday. I asked why she had it. She said she was using the tweezers to try to get a splinter out of her foot but couldn't get it and asked if I could try. I couldn't find one. In fact I told her I didn't see anything that looked like a splinter. She said okay and took off. Strange.

Benay told me later that she caught Carys 3 times with my old swiss army knife. She was trying to be Macgyver. The tweezers suddenly made sense. I had caught her right before she went into Macgyver mode.

Later Carys asked me if I thought she could be Macgyver when she grew up. I told her I thought she definitely could be a girl Macgyver. She smiled a big smile.

If you've followed this blog for any amount of time then you already know about Carys. She keeps us smiling and laughing. It is never dull with her. She is a party, a giggle, a new funny quote, and a spanking ready to happen.....all at the same time.

I would not be surprised if she was the female Macgyver one day.

For some reason when I think of Carys and Macgyver, right now, I think in her 9 year old brain, the world`s problems would look something like this:

One Body, Many Parts

On Sunday, the following happened in our house church:

• Leni and Jorge received hugs and affection because of the loss of Leni's sister last week. During one song, she became emotional, so we stopped everything and prayed for her and her family as Ivoli lovingly stroked her head.
• Rodrigo, Eduardo and Alexandre told about their need for financial help to move into a house after living at the Chácara - a Christian drug rehabilitation center. Our offering went to them and was more than they needed. Part of the money was from Leni who had received more than she needed a few weeks ago from this house church.
• Christian (also a recent graduate of the chácara) was present because next weekend our church will be helping out doing improvements at the apartment that he shares with 2 other chácara graduates.
• Freitas and Auristela, visitors who own a hardware store, offered to help with materials needed for these home improvements. They are selling us all the supplies at cost.
  
• Leni offered a washing machine to Rodrigo, Eduardo and Alexandre for their new house.
• Jane (Rodrigo and Eduardo´s mom) decided to give a washing machine that she was saving for her boys to another family from the chácara who needs it badly. Kevin, Paulo Renato and Freitas will make the appropriate deliveries this week in our blue van that hasn't sold yet.

In this photo: Christian, Alexandre, Rafael and Tati (Jane's daughter and husband), Rodrigo, Valmir, Jane and Eduardo (in the front).

• Berney (Benay's dad) led a Bible study about faith. Bronwyn translated. Ansley and Grace taught the kids.
• There were 3 not yet Christians visiting who had never been to house church before.
• Christian led a special prayer for Rodrigo, Eduardo and Alexandre.
  
• Paulo Renato led our thoughts for the Lord's Supper and cried as he prayed for the boys at the chácara - where he himself met the Lord and was freed from a life of alcoholism.
• Rodrigo, Eduardo and Alexandre offered to paint our house for whatever price we could pay them.*

*(We live in a rented house that needs painting very badly. Painting it is the responsibility of the owner. Rodrigo and company are starting a new painting business and we wanted to be their first clients, but our landlord doesn't want to spend the money to do that right now. It would cost around 700 dollars - a very fair price.)

• After church, we enjoyed a meal together. Each person contributing either a main dish or a drink.

• Leni washed the dishes.

Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function, so it is with Christ’s body. We are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other.

In his grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well. So if God has given you the ability to prophesy, speak out with as much faith as God has given you. If your gift is serving others, serve them well. If you are a teacher, teach well. If your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging. If it is giving, give generously. If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously. And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly.

Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good. Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other.

Romans 12:4-10

Amen.

Summer Boredom

We've shared before that it can get pretty boring during our summers. It seems like everyone goes to the beach. Brasilians will take anywhere from 2 weeks to 2 months off to go stay at the beach. It really turns our city into a ghost town. Very little goes on here during January and February. In some ways it's a lot of fun (no long lines at the bank..where we pay our bills; malls not crowded; always able to find a good parking spot; etc.) but it's tough in other ways (no school, friends gone, not a lot of space for our kids to play in our "yard", no sports classes, etc). We do a lot of creative thinking in our house during the summers to try to find things for our kids to do. It's not always easy.

Last week I told the kids(except Bronwyn who was at the beach with a friend) to get into the car because I was going to take them somewhere.

They wanted to know where before they got in but I wouldn't tell them. Finally they got in and I told them we were going to the airport to watch the planes land. What? Are you kidding me? Why? (a few of the responses)

I didn't listen to the complaining and loaded them up. They had a hard time understanding how this could be fun.

Ansley documented the journey and caught Garrett's anticipation and excitement at the thought of watching an airplane land. We got there and they waited....
....and then they saw this........which came right over our head........and they (except Anderson who was freaked out by the noise) LOVED it. Then they couldn't wait for the next one (except Anderson who was hanging out in the car to shield the noise).If you think we were the only ones doing this you would be mistaken.In fact, I think we counted around 10 cars beside us full of people doing the same thing.

On the way home Ansley asked the kids to rank the journey. Thumbs up all around.

Prayer

A prayer from the devo book Every Day for Every Man:

Father God, sometimes I get cross-purposed and overly committed to my own interests. Help me honestly ask for truth to be revealed in my life. Remove those thoughts and actions that are hurtful to me and to others. Instead, please give me the motivation to search for Your face and hear Your voice when I am lost. You are responsible for my journey. You know the direction my life should take. Direct and guide me toward Your purpose. Thank You for loving me and desiring me so deeply that You seek relationship with me--even in my wandering.

The Birthday Girl.........Part 2

We thought we would show some photos of Benay's recent birthday. Somehow we allowed her to stretch it out for a few days. We didn't mind and she didn't seem to mind either.

We didn't surprise her like we did last year. We decided to do something a little smaller. We told her to invite some of her closest friends for a little churrasco (Brasilian bar-b-que)on the night before her birthday. We wanted her to just relax with some buddies.

We cooked and enjoyed lots of meat.................enjoyed fellowship.................goofed around (this is Lauro pretending, at Anderson's request, to kick an imaginary soccer ball while Anderson pretended to block it............Lauro is a big kid and our kids love him).................and celebrated another year of life (okay, so she isn't 50 but it's always fun to pick on her).The next morning we had house church. Benay was blessed to have everyone put their hands on her as Leni prayed a prayer just for Benay.

Here is Camila with Carys after house church.
Giovanni and Jorge (Leni's son).
We then told Benay to pick where she wanted to eat. She picked Applebee's. It's brand new and she was in the mood for something American but not meat after stuffing ourselves with a bar-b-que the night before. So what did she order? A hamburger.

We even got to embarrass her with the servers singing happy birthday to her and giving her a piece of cake.Anderson seemed to like that part the best.We came home and every kid gave her a present.

With a family so big and with kids wanting to savor every minute of present giving it can get a little tedious for the younger guys, especially when they have already given their presents. Some invent things to do because they can't sit still........


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......while others just chill.


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Anderson actually shopped at "Ansley's drawer store" where he raided, with Ansley's permission, Ansley's drawer. So, Benay's present from Anderson consisted of some old chapstick, a big acorn-type seed, a "jewel", some lotion, used lipstick, and a homemade key chain.She loved everything. Our kids always bless us on our birthdays.
Later she got her annual "happy birthday song" attempt from my dad who called her. It's not a pretty thing. I think I heard the dogs howling all the way from Memphis. She has been "blessed"(cough, cough) with this tradition since she came into our family.
The next morning Ansley and Carys got up to make Benay a special breakfast of blueberry pancakes. All of our girls are good cooks. They get that gift from their mom.

She had a great birthday and it was fun to honor the person who does so much and means so much to our family.

Visitors

Benay's parents arrived yesterday. They will be hanging out with us for the next three weeks and we couldn't be happier.
There is something cool about watching the joy of a grandparent hold their new grandchild for the first time. Being 5,000 miles away makes it even more special.
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The distance also makes you appreciate every moment together and the grandparents wasted no time in making new moments with their grandkids.

We are going to enjoy our time together.

She Said Yes

Twenty one years ago today I asked my girlfriend to marry me. She said yes. I'm sure some people wonder why she said yes. Sometimes I wonder why this beautiful, talented, gifted, Godly woman said yes to that incredibly immature boy (who is still sometimes incredibly immature).

This is what she looked like on that night.

Okay, that wasn't truthful. Here is what she really looked like.
Here she is twenty one years later. Cuter today than the day I met her. I am blessed.

Results of Living Acts 2

Last month we had a couple of posts about trying to live with an Acts 2 type of mentality (go here and here to read those) as the house church that meets in our house gave sacrificially to a woman named Leni to allow her to go visit her sick sister in the interior of our state.

Because of the sacrificial giving of her church family, Leni was able to go and spend some time with her sister. She came back and told us that her time with her sister was incredible. That she was able to share the love of Christ with her sister as they spent time together in the hospital. God used Leni to help her sister get better and to even be able to leave the hospital.

Leni returned home with her 11 year old niece. She wanted to give her sister some recovery time without having to deal with all the responsibilities of parenting. To give total focus on recovery.

Leni's niece, Camila, was here in our house on Sunday. She loved this house church and especially fell in love with Ansley, who led the kids small group study time. She is a sweet little girl with an incredible smile. We all fell in love with her instantly.

This morning at a little after 6:00 we got a call from Leni. Her sister had died suddenly. We told her we would be right over.

We got to their house around 7:00. Leni had not been to Camila's room yet to wake her up to tell her about her mom. We were there when she did it. It was, as you can imagine, a very tough thing to be a part of. We then listened as Camila called her dad and spoke with him for the first time since her mom died. It almost killed me. I started thinking of me talking to our kids for the first time if something happened to Benay and what that must have felt like for Camila's dad.

Through all this sadness I was reminded of God's goodness.

I was thankful that Leni called Benay so early in the morning to share her grief. Human nature is to wait for a later time to call so not to bother, or just deal with this stuff yourself. Benay was the first person Leni called for help as soon as she found out about her sister. I believe this closeness comes from the bonding we share in our house churches. As Leni shared before, for the first time in her life she feels like she has a real family and that she is not alone anymore.

Our house church had enough money to once again give to Leni so that she, her son, and Camila could take the 4 hour drive to the funeral today. (Usually in Brasil people are buried in about 24 hours or less.) She will also have enough money to go back to the home city of Camilla to continue taking care of Camila and her family for a while.

But most importantly, we praise God for Leni being able to make that trip last month to be with her sister. During the most difficult part of this morning Leni looked up and shared how thankful she was to have been able to be with her sister. She feels strongly that she was sent there by God and was able to share His love with her sister during that time.

Benay and I are so thankful that we were able to witness Acts 2 in action. People giving freely to help a brother or sister in need.

Because of that sacrificial giving we believe that heaven has one new house guest today. Praise God for the way He is using and growing His family here in Porto Alegre.

Faith Like Anderson

I(Kevin) am normally the first one up in our house. It's always been that way. I get up very early. I enjoy starting the day in the dark and the quiet.

About 2:00 this morning Anderson came into our room and wanted to get in bed with us. He never does this so we decided to let him climb in. About 4:00 I couldn't sleep anymore with the extra little person in my face. I went downstairs. About 5:00 Anderson came down and said he didn't feel good. I felt his head and he felt a little warm. He said he wanted to eat and ate about 2 bites of cereal. I knew then that he was sick. He likes to eat his breakfast.

Later we gave him some fever medicine and he laid on the couch for a few minutes. Benay then sent him to the bathroom with me (she was holding Giovanni) because he was holding his hand over his mouth and she was, obviously, a little worried.

In the bathroom, he told me he was okay, but against his wishes I made him lie down on the floor until the medicine kicked in. He got up to tell me he was okay and proceeded to puke (as he calls it) on the floor, a rug, his feet and my feet. I spun him around and he finished up in the toilet. (sorry, no photo to document this story.)

As he finished up he was crying a little bit and he looked to me and asked me to pray for him. I stroked his hair and began praying that God would take away his pain and help him to not "puke" anymore. He has not puked since and has been feeling great with no more problems.

Why did I not think to pray immediately as did my 4 year old son?

Anderson prays about everything and I mean everything. For our lunch food to be good, for him to run faster, everything.

I'll give an example. This is a picture of him playing baseball a couple of weeks ago. Our good friends Mark and Ali Kaiser, were visiting us from the state of São Paulo. Mark was pitching the ball to Anderson and he just could not make contact with the ball. I'm not sure Anderson has ever played baseball. Since he was born he's been kicking a soccer ball so it makes sense for him to have some difficulty hitting a baseball. Anyway, a few minutes into trying to hit the baseball he stopped and put his head on the bat. He did this for a little while. Mark and Benay thought he was just resting or concentrating really hard before he tried again. Benay asked him if he was doing those things and he said no. She asked what he was doing and he said, "Asking God to help me hit that ball." Benay said he hit the next 4-5 balls that Mark pitched.

Confession time.......as you read that, how many thought, "what a cute story" and just kept reading? If so, why?

Why do we not hear a story like that and praise God for answering a prayer? When God says pray about everything in Philippians 4:6 (Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank Him for all He has done.), do we believe it?

Why does it seem easier to believe that God will answer a "healing from sickness" prayer faster than he will a "hit the baseball" prayer? Do we believe he has levels of importance or that he ranks our prayer needs? Or do we really believe "pray about everything" really means everything?

My kids keep teaching me valuable lessons on prayer and faith.

Jesus himself (in Luke 18:16-17) said, "Let the children come to me. Don't stop them! For the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I assure you, anyone who doesn't have their kind of faith will never get into the Kingdom of God."

I pray that today you (adults) can focus on this verse and appreciate the candidness with which Jesus spoke to us about our faith. And I pray that today we can return to a child like faith that Jesus loves so much.

I praise God for the lessons that kids teach us about faith and prayer. Go here if you want another example.

The Birthday Girl

This is my girlfriend.I know she's cute but that's not the point of this blog. You see today is her birthday.

We've been married for a few years and we have a few kids. I thought a great way to share what she means to our family is to allow them to share her with you.

I asked each kid how they would describe their mom if they could only use one word or one sentence. Here's what we came up with:

Bronwyn: "Role model and sweet."

Ansley: "Beautiful and kind."

Garrett: "Great. The best mom in the whole world!"

Carys: "She's the best mom anyone could ever have and I love her a lot!"

Anderson: "She's my best friend ever of the whole wide world in the whole universe and I can't believe it!"

Giovanni: He spit up and smiled (don't know if that is a compliment or if he's just being critical).

Me: Beautiful, cute, best friend, great wife and great mom would all be words that come to my mind but a more important word would be grace. My wife bleeds grace. I've seen people abuse that grace and have even heard people tell her she talks about it too much (what?) and yet she still bleeds grace. She understands what Christ did for her, his example to others and she can't help but try to follow that example and share that grace with everyone she meets.

(I know mine was longer than a word or a sentence but I just couldn't help myself)

As you can tell by our comments, we feel very blessed to have her in our lives.

And the Oscar goes to....................Ansley

Ansley is our very creative child. She can listen to a song and teach herself how to play it on the guitar. She is a good writer and an excellent artist. She can imitate about 100 different voices. (We especially love her British accent). This year she joined the theater group at school. She had practice twice a week at night at her school. Bronwyn was part of this same group 2 years ago. Ansley complained a lot during the year about how hard the practices were, but we knew she really liked it. Each night when I picked her up she talked all about her class and what they did. At the end of the year this class always does a presentation for the school and then at night for the parents. Ansley did great. She did so well that we thought we would share it here.

In the presentation there were many different scenes and stories. Ansley had a role as kind of a nerdish girl who had a crush on a nerdish boy. We realize these are in Portuguese but we wanted to show them anyway. It's our blog and we can do what we want. Plus, even though you won't understand every word, her acting lets you know what's going on.

This is Ansley's first scene and it is when she meets Jorge. They say their hellos and basically agree to meet again at the same time and place the next day.

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Here they meet again and discuss their love for the comic book "Captain Galactica." Watch closely to see Jorge lose track of reality and briefly enter the world of Captain Galactica before borrowing the comic book. She asks for his phone number and he gives her his phone. Like I said, a couple of nerds.

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You need to hang on until the end of this video to see Ansley. It starts with the entire cast doing the samba (a Brasilian dance) and end with Ansley finding out a little bit more about Jorge and his tastes.

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And of course every actor gets to take a bow at the end of the show. Keep your eye on "Jorge." Ansley said he is a very shy guy and no one believe when he agreed to wear the dress. As soon as they were done with the bowing he was gone. Ansley said he got out of the dress as fast as he could.

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Be Yourself in Christ

Benay and I feel that lives are changed through friendships. Each "hello" has eternal consequences. We don't believe in forcing the Good News on anyone. We believe people give their lives to Christ as they see the way people live for Christ, first through friendships and then learning for themselves why these people are different. A transformed life is the best witness to Christ's power.

As we blogged on Monday, I was reminded of that this past Sunday when the three brothers shared their testimonies. How they saw lives changed in the men who were already at the recovery center. This made them want to know more about why the other men were different. The day to day lives of these saved men made a huge impact on the not-yet Christian men.

Their story made me think of a story I read in a book I am currently reading. It's called Total Forgiveness by R.T. Kendall.

Here's his story:
Once, while addressing a group of missionaries in the south of France, I stayed in the home of a Christian missionary who had been a Muslim. I was astonished at this change of life and marveled at his conversion. He told me that he had been led to Christ by some British soldiers when he lived in Madagascar. But what I really wanted to know was what had actually won him over to Christianity. "What argument did they use?" I asked. "What line of reasoning persuaded you to turn from Islam to the Christian faith?" He replied, "It wasn't what they said; it was who they were." His statement really challenged me. It made me see the folly of imagining we are going to win people over by our superior arguments-our great preaching methods. What impresses the world most is changed lives for which there is no natural explanation."

Sunday

During the summer in our city it isn't uncommon to feel like you live in a ghost town. People will leave for family vacations that can last 1-2 months. Our city of 2 million becomes a place of almost empty malls and streets with little traffic.

Unfortunately for us as missionaries, this also affects the house churches. Yesterday for example everyone who normally meets here in our house was gone on vacation. Even Bronwyn is at the beach for 10 days with her best friend and her family. We were ready to have a Blume family only worship. About 10:30 these guys showed up.

This is Eduardo, Alexandre and Rodrigo. These are our brothers from a recovery center that our church family is involved with. All three have battled drugs and alcohol and because of Christ they have come out of those addictions and live for Him now. Eduardo and Rodrigo are also blood brothers and through them their mom also gave her life to Christ last year. She is currently studying the book of James with Benay.

Benay and I love any moment we have with the men from the recovery center. They have so much to teach us about Christ's love. They have been to a spot where they literally had nothing. They allowed drugs and alcohol to ruin everything in their lives. In some way or another they found out about the recovery center. This place is a very spiritually disciplined place. Their weeks are strictly scheduled. They grow a lot of their own food. They pray and fast. As we spoke to these men (who were not Christians before they entered the recovery center) yesterday about their testimonies, I was happy to hear that no one at the center ever pressured them to accept Christ. They saw a difference in the men who had come before them. Lives changed by the power of Christ was their greatest example.

They have all graduated from the program and are looking to leave and find an apartment for the three of them. I'm going to take them this week to look at some apartments. They are also starting a home improvement business.

The reason we love being around the guys from the center is that they are always happy. They've seen the bottom. They've bought the lies of Satan and then experienced the free gift of Christ. They are on fire for Him.

We ask that you pray for them as they slowly leave the center. Pray for them to have strength to continue fighting our enemy. Pray for them to resist the temptations that will surely come in regards to their former addictions. Pray for them as they look for a new place to live and pray for them to continue being Christ to this world.