The March Gang

What a busy weekend. Some times it feels like all we do on weekends is run at full speed. This weekend was no different. Riley helped the Bunch’s move out of their house. They came back last week to finish packing up, so they could move back to Louisiana. They had to be out of their house on Saturday, so they stayed the weekend with us. We enjoyed having them here this weekend.  We want to say “Thank you David & Farrah for all the food and items from the container that you donated to us.” We will keep you in our prayers.

We had great services on Sunday at both churches. Bro. Jim Connolly from Belfast ministered in the services. Sasha was baptized in the wonderful name of Jesus. This is a young lady that is Peyton’s age. She has spent the night with us before. She is a really sweet girl, who is becoming good friends with Peyton and Kirsten. We were all excited that she was baptized. Then it was off to Dublin for the 1 1/2hr drive, along with a stop at McDonald for lunch in the car, because we have no time to sit down and eat. After a awesome service there we loaded back up for the drive home, along with a stop a Dominoes for pizza, to once again eat in the car on the way home. Most of the time we pack our own lunch, but this week it just didn’t work out. So, as you can see we feel as if we run all weekend long. It is worth every minute though. We have precious saints at both churches and we really enjoy the work at both.

We had to get Riley packed yesterday to go to Scotland. He flew out last night, so that he could teach at Harvest Bible College this week. He is teaching two classes a day for fifty minutes each. He was nervous about it, but I am sure he is doing great. He flies home on Friday night. Then flies back out on Tuesday to go to a men’s conference in Herrick IL. He is the world traveler. While the kids and I get to stay here by ourselves. My dad told him he better not come home after this without his daughter and grandchildren.

Bro. & Sis. Mac and I took Peyton to have an x-ray of her hand today. She has two knuckles on her right hand that have been swollen for a month. Riley took her to the Doctor on Friday and he wanted her to have x-rays. We now have to wait for two weeks for the results to be sent to the Doctor. I am just thankful that I had the Mac’s with me. I know that I wouldn’t have found the place by myself.  Please keep Peyton in your prayers that God will take care of this for her.

Like everything else in Ireland, we only got a “wee” bit of snow.  It started last night and we thought we were going to get a big snow.  When we woke up this morning, it was barley covering the ground.  We did get enough for the kids to build a snowman, or more like a snow woman.  They were so excited this morning to get to play in it.  Simeon was so excited that he dressed himself, which included his pajamas and a coat, and then went out to make a snow angel.  I had to make him come back in and get properly dressed, so he could help make the snowman.  Peyton and Kirsten worked really hard to get it finished to surprise me.  Simeon, however, lost interest and came back in to warm up.  He then went out to take his picture with it.  It was a very wet snow, and is almost gone already.  It did provide a couple of hours of fun.  Peyton and Kirsten were upset that they could not have a snow day and take off from school.  We told them it would have to be pretty bad for them not to make it to school, since they are home-schooled.  It was a good effort, though.

I am a little late in writing this, but I wanted to share it with everyone.  Last Tuesday, we had “American Day.”  This is a very exciting day for us.  It is when we receive a package from family, that contains lots of  “American goodies.”  Peyton’s favorite thing was Juicy Fruit gum, and Funyuns.  Kirsten’s favorite was beef Ramen Noodles.  They have Ramen noodles here, but not plain beef.  Simeon’s favorite was Funyuns, and a toy truck  to go with his “Cars” collection.  Riley’s favorite was a can of jalapeno almonds.  My favorite was beef soup base and shortening.  All of us were so glad to get microwave popcorn.  They have it over here, but it cost around $6.00 US dollars for a package of three.  Peyton & Kirsten also loved the Pet Shop pets that they received for their collection.

I know this sounds like ordinary things, but when you can’t get them, they become very special.  It is amazing how great something taste when you haven’t had it for a long time.

We would like to thank Paw-Paw & Maw-Maw March, Aunt Eleisha, Uncle Lynn, and Aunt Becky for going together and shipping us this package.  I know it is expense to ship these items to us, but we really appreciate it.  I would also like to thank my Dad & Mom for past packages they have shipped.  The kids were on cloud nine, when they received the package from Paw-Paw & Mee-Mee, that contained Little Debbie cakes, and Mt. Dews.

Hello, to everyone.  I have not posted a blog in a long time, so Riley thought it was my turn.  I am so grateful to everyone who has been reading these.  We are always so excited to see where every one is coming from.  Some of the times we have no idea who you are.  Please let us get to know you, by contacting us.

Many different things have been happening in our lives.  We have now been in Ireland almost four months.  At times it seems to have flown by, and at other times it feels like it has been so long.

As you know, we are now involved in two different churches.  We travel three hours and almost two hundred miles every Sunday.  Fortunately, we get to sleep in on Monday.  Sunday we had two awesome services.  Riley ministered  in the service at Gilford.  He talked about us being “God’s aftershocks.”  How we need to go out and let the world feel us, by witnessing, and shaking up the Spiritual world.  We had a great move of God in the altar service.   I believe unseen things were taking place, and that we will be reaping the harvest soon.

We then were very privileged to have Bro. Roland Baker, from Pontiac Michigan, minister to us.  Now, I have heard Bro. Baker at West Point, and knew we were in for an awesome message.  I was not disappointed.  He talked about “Looking to the hills, where our help cometh from.” Psalms 121:1-3.

I was thinking about that today.  I started remembering things that God has done in our lives.  Fifteen years ago God called us to the mission field, and here we are today.  Prophesies have been made over Riley and I.  We are now starting to see them fulfilled.

A great woman in our home church, had a dream that I was holding an Asian baby.  The work in Dublin has many precious “Filipino babies.”  I had a dream that someone gave us money, and it has happened.  God has proved over and over that this is His will for our lives.  I can not understand an Atheist.  How can someone not believe that there is a God?  He not only cares, but has our best interest at heart.  I am reminded of the scripture found in Psalms 37:23  “The steps of a good man are ordered by God.”  Does that mean that everything will always be grand and go our way?  No, but God does have it all in control.  When we go through storms, and we will, He will either speak to the storm to stop, or He will speak peace to our soul.

God had promised me things, that as of yet have not come to fulfillment.  I do know that they will in His perfect time.  Do I ever wonder or get down because they haven’t?  I am human, so yes, I have.  I will however, hold on to those promises and know that He is faithful to fulfill them.

This year I want to be closer to God than I ever have.  I want to be totally in His will.  He died for my sins.  How could I not give him my best?

On a funnier note:  Simeon is such a clown.  He can say some of the funniest things.  The other day I was in the kitchen.  He came in and grabbed a towel and put it in front of him.  He said, “Look, I’m the mom.”  I said, “Good, now you can cook, clean and do laundry.”  He then said, “No, I’m the dad.”  I said, “What does the dad do?”  He immediately said, “He checks on his computer.”  Out of the mouths of babes!!!

I also have to stop sending my husband on errands alone over here.  Since we have been here different woman have flirted with him.  Even though he is wearing his wedding ring.  The other day I asked him to go to Tesco for some cheese.  When he came home he told me that I have to stop sending him out by himself.  He was standing in line behind a woman and her twelve or thirteen year old daughter.  The woman had placed her groceries on the conveyor belt, but got his attention and said he could go first.  He thanked her and moved ahead.  The cashier looked at him funny, so he said that these nice ladies said he could go first.  The woman then said, “With that accent you can do anything.”  Riley said he didn’t know what to say, so he just told them to have a nice day.

The McFarland’s and I have laughed and laughed about this.  Poor Riley, the burden he has to bear.

Can you believe another year has come and gone?  2008 was probably the biggest year of change the March Gang has seen ever.  I am sure I can go back and find a few other moments that stand out as well, but as a whole ’08 was a big one.  We decided to follow God’s call and leave all the things that were comfortable and dear to us and embark on a adventure of a life time.  There have been days that I think I kind of know what Abraham must have felt like when he began his journey to the promise land. We are not sure where we are going to end up, but are excited to be on the journey.  We miss home and miss it a lot, but what we are doing right now has been worth it.   I want to thank all of you who are supporting us with your prayers and finances.  Both are invaluable to us and seriously we couldn’t be doing what we are doing without either of them.  Thank you!

We had two awesome services this past week.  It started off at our home base in Gilford and ended in Dublin.  Bro. Mac preached a wonderful and provoking message in both services. Bro. Mac preached on “Continuing Steadfastly”.  Took his text from the book of Acts on what the Apostles did after they received the Holy Ghost.  During his message he made the statement that “It is time to draw the line…in ’09″.  We are serving the enemy notice that we are on the move and nothing he can do will stop us.  We are tired of his tricks and tired of all the things he uses to bring us down.  We are drawing the line and saying “NO MORE”.  God is about to do some amazing things in this country.  We started this week off with two weeks of focused prayer and collective fasting.  We know good things are going to come of this.  They always do.

During our service in Dublin we had two men come down the stairs and sit in front of the front doors to take a smoke break.  However they were smoking a little more than just a Marlboro.  Peyton told Tara that those guys cigarettes smelled really funny.  The enemy was trying to distract us on the outside, but God moved on the inside.  Like I said we had a wonderful move of God in each of our services. Please keep both of our churches in your prayers. (Greater Life in Gilford and New Life in Dublin)

Simeon got a really bad “boo boo” the other night.  He was trying to get into Peyton’s room while she was getting ready for bed and ended up getting one of his fingers smashed in the door.  I truly believe that if it had been his “pinky” finger it would have cut it off.  It was his third finger and by the next morning was completly purple and twice its size. (we will spare you the photographs)  The poor guy was crying and the whole time he was just laying in our bed saying “Jesus, Jesus, I need you”.  I am going to be honest here it just about made me cry.  I hated to see him hurting.  We went ahead and took him to the doctor the next morning and they found no broken bones and said it was just bruised really bad.  By the end of the day he barely even acted like it was hurt.  He has healed up very quickly and for that we are very thankful.

We hope all of you had a fantastic Christmas and a Happy New Year.   We pray that God blesses you all.

Here are a few pictures of the services in Dublin:

It is a few days late, but “Merry Christmas”.  We enjoyed having Maw-Maw and Paw-Paw March here with us this week.  However we did miss the rest of our loved ones and friends.  We did get to do a Skype chat with Me-Me and Paw-Paw Slusher on Christmas morning which was good.  Aunt Bonnie and Uncle Jimmy were there and we got to see them too.  Aunt Leisha got up to watch us open gifts, it was really early for her.  She was up at 4:00am on Christmas morning and we are glad she did.

I took Mom and Dad to the airport this morning very early. (4:30am)  So the kids said goodbye before we all went to bed.  Like I said we enjoyed spending the last 11 days with them.  The kids didn’t want to say goodbye but we are all doing better this morning.  Maw-Maw and Paw-Paw brought a Christmas present with them that has kept the kids entertained, a Wii.  Actually it has kept all of us entertained.  We are very grateful for all the gifts that were sent along with Mom and Dad.  Mee-Mee and Paw-Paw Slusher sent Kirsten a pot holder kit and we already have pot holders coming out our ears.  Kirsten and Peyton both sent numerous pot holders back to many of you as a thank you for your gifts.

The Sunday School Department did a wonderful job on their Christmas program.  I have to admit there were three kids in it that I was very proud of.  We have sent back a DVD of the program for those of you who want to watch it, which I know is all of you.   Sunday evening several of us from the Gilford church went to Dublin and had service with a group that has been having service in a rented dance studio.  It is a wonderful group of Filipino’s all who came out of UPC churches in the Philippines.  The served us authentic Filipino food afterwords and it was awesome!

We did a little sight seeing since Mom and Dad were here.  We went to Carrickfergus on Tuesday, which happened to be Mom and Aunt Diane’s B-Day.(My Mom’s twin sister)  Carrickfergus is a neat little village with a small castle.  We toured the castle and had a blast.  Afterward we went to a museum and then headed home.  The hours of sunlight you get here in the winter are very short.  The sun doesn’t rise completely until about 9:00 am and it starts setting at 3:30 pm.  So you get about 7 hours of sunlight, that is if it is shining. Friday we set out for Giants Causeway and drove along the coast taking in some beautiful sites.

We have added new pictures to our Flickr Site

Well, today was a good day in Ireland.  One; Maw Maw and Paw Paw March arrived safe, tired but happy to be here.   The other is the long awaited container arrived and so we are really going to have a wonderful Christmas.  We have a lot of food on there and a lot of things from home.  The kids have already gotten a few things off of it and are excited.  If I knew they would have been that excited about old toys and stuff I would have just made that Christmas and saved some money.

For those of you wondering Dalton “Red” March survived his first international flight and entrance into a foreign country. Him and Mom were speaking to each other when we found them so all was well.  Dad did say that it is a lot bigger than it looks on the map.  The funniest thing so far is everytime we have gone to get into the car he has followed me to the drivers side.  I can’t give him to hard of a time since I stil catch myself going to the wrong side once in a while.  He also wanted me to send a message out to Chuck Coomer. Dad said… “Chuck you wouldn’t like it much here.  So far I haven’t seen a tree big enough to tree a coon in.”   He also is trying to acclimate to the local dialect.  He said they all look like my next door neighbor until they speak then I just aint sure what they are saying.  Dad wanted me to let all of you who are helping cover all his livestock duties while he is gone “Thank you!”.  (Nathan Gordan, Elmer Gene Littrell, Craig, Larry and Gary Mathis)  Mom is excited to be here and has been requested to make us chicken and dumplings.  We know she hasn’t made any in awhile so we thought it would do her some good.  When she reads this she may want to throw them at me. (She overseen the making of the dumplings for the nine nights of CAOH)

This weekend is going to be fun.  We are having our church Christmas Banquet and Children’s Program.  Kirsten has a solo and is very excited about it. Peyton is helping with the puppets and Simeon is a Wise Man. We will be posting pictures and hopefully video.  We want to thank all of you back home for your support, prayers and love.

We wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Well, the weekend has come and gone, but not without a few highlights.  Sunday we had a wonderful service and a few guest.  We have had for the past few weeks a Polish family who has been attending our services. Edward, Irena and, I won’t even try to spell it but roughly translated to English, Blueberry.  They are a precious family and seem very interested in our church.  Also this week we had another Polish guest.  His name is Bartosz and he works for a man in our church.  After service I handed Bartosz a Bible, which is something we do for all first time guest who doesn’t have one.  I will never forget the look on his face when I handed it to him.  He looked at me and said “For me?” and I said yes.  He said I have never had a Bible before.  He took it and just stared at it and rubbed his fingers across the gold imprint “Holy Bible.”

This got me to thinking of how blessed we are in America.  Really how many Bibles do I have laying around and on the book shelf?  A lot and yet there are some in this world who have never even seen one let alone held it in their hands. It makes me think of another story I was recently told by a friend of the McFarland family who was visiting from Zimbabwe.  Civil war has torn the continent of Africa apart for centuries and she helps in many of the facilities that have been set up to help those who have suffered from the atrocities of it.  She said when she goes into these places and ask what she can do to help them.  She has food and money available, but these people usually ask for “pages” of her Bible.  Yes, pages of her Bible.  They are lying there suffering from machete attacks so severe that they can’t even lay on there backs.  They have very little but bone left on their backs and they are asking for mere pages from the Bible.  Yeah I know it’s heart breaking and convicting all together.

Winter is here and it is cold.  So far it isn’t much different from winters back home except for the frost we get.  Ireland is a very wet country thus the reason it is so green. That and the “organic” fertilizer they spread out over everything.  We got up yesterday morning to the picture below. What you are looking at is frost and not an ice storm.  The side roads were very slick, but they had the main roads salted down good.

Well, before I sign off I want to give a shout out to all those back home who are working at Christmas At Our House this week.  Tara and I are missing being there and have been thinking of you all.

Well I wish I would have been able to keep up better while we were in Scotland because I know I am going to forget something.  Since that didn’t happen here it goes…

We left for Scotland on the 21st and headed to the ferry docks at Belfast.  We were all anticipating the ride on the Stena Voyager (you have got to check this thing out), but the seas were to rough and we had to take another ship over.  It was an older ship and had a lot less to offer than the Stena, but it got us there.  However not without first getting most of us sea sick.  I got very sick and came close to tossing my fish and chips I had eaten right after getting on the boat.  The only one who seemed to enjoy it was Simeon.  It didn’t even bother him and he bounced around like nothing was even happening.  The rest of us were bouncing around but only because the ship was making us.  We arrived in Scotland a little less than three hours after we left Belfast and hit the road for the two hour drive to Glasgow.

Saturday the 22nd we had minister meetings with the Northern District of the UPCI of GBI (United Pentecostal Church International of Great Britain and Ireland)  Is that a mouth full or what?  Sunday we enjoyed having church with the Glasgow congregation and students of the Harvest Bible College.  Two people received the Holy Ghost during that service which was awesome.  After service the school and some of the youth of the church served dinner for a fundraiser.  They had a Culture Feast and it was very neat.  All the students cooked a dish from their home country and served it.  There was a lot to choose from even a few good ole American entrees.  The most daring I tried was a Scottish dish called Oxtail, and it was just that an Oxes tail.  I have to say it was very delicious and had it not been on the tail bone you would have thought it was just some type of beef.

Monday the 24th we stared our adventure of touring Scotland.  We kicked it off by going to Edinburgh and touring the Edinburgh Castle.  This thing is huge and totally awesome.  We spent the entire day there and loved every minute of it.  They offered guided tours and audio tours.  We opted for the audio tour which was pretty cool.  They gave you an audio device with head phones and as you walked along there were numbers posted on the points of interest.  You just punched in the number and a very pleasant Scotsmen told you what you were looking at and the history behind it.  The kids loved it and since we were taking the week off from Home Schooling we just made this hands on World History week.

Tuesday the 25th we made our way to the Linlithgow Palace in Linlithgow.  This was by far the less preserved site we visited, but in its own way the most charming.  You were free to roam all over this one and very little was off limits.  Mainly all that is left of this palace is the walls and the towers.  One of its many claim to fame is that Mary Queen of Scots was born there December 1542.  She of course is the mother of King James I who decreed the most popular version of the Bible used today.  Yeah it isn’t that hard to figure out the KJV.

Wednesday the 26th was our last day exploring and we went to Stirling and visited the Stirling Castle. We also went the the William Wallace Monument in hopes to see “Brave Hearts” broad sword.  Well we toured the castle and enjoyed it, but we didn’t make it to the Wallace Monument in time.  They were getting ready to close and would not allow us to go up to the top. Not only do you have to walk up to the entrance of the monument, which is standing on the tallest point in Stirling, but you have to walk to the top of the monument and there are 246 steps to get there.  I guess they looked at us and didn’t think we could make it up there and back in 30 minutes, which is how long they had until closing.  So needless to say in the words of Kirsten “this was just disappointing”.

Thursday the 27th we enjoyed Thanksgiving at the college with about 40 people from all over Europe, North America, Aisa and Africa.  It was one of the most unique Thanksgivings I personally have ever been a part of.  Before we ate we went around the room and everyone had to say what they were thankful for.  When it got to Simeon he sat there for a second or two then grined real big and said “Me”.  Of course the whole place erupted in laughter, but I have to say he is one of the things I am most thankful for along with my two beautiful girls and wonderful wife.  God has been good to me.

Well that pretty much covers our week in Scotland.  We did get to enjoy the Stena Voyger on the way home as the seas were a lot calmer.  I am thankful for that in more than you can imagine.  Not only is it outfitted like a curise ship it is a much smoother ride on the sea than the first boat we were on.

Pictures of our journey are on there way.  I have about 300 of them that I am trying to get sorted in some type of order so you all will know what you are looking at.  I hope to have them up no later than tomorrow.

FYI: My mothers maiden name is McClintock and her family is originally from the land of Scotland. My Mom’s youngest brother has done most of the research on the family.  They at one time owned at least 10,000 acres of land in Scotland, but as history tells of this ancient land and time that could change very quickly. It of course changed for the McClintocks and history has them losing their land and ultimatly ending up someplace south of Dublin, Ireland.  There is in Scotland a McClintock castle.  We are going to have to look it up the next time we are there at least whats left of it.

We were able to get access while here, but haven’t really had time to make a good post.  We have seen a lot of exciting things and we will be making a post  as soon as we get back to Ireland.  We also have a lot of photos to post.  I just wanted to take a little time and wish all of you a Happy Thanksgiving we are heading back to Ireland tomorrow evening.