Katie McGrew: Seeing Jesus

William and I have been reading through the Daily Chronological Bible since school began in August.  Our dates don't match the reading and we have picked up the pace as we realized it is not likely that we will finish before we go our separate ways.  It has been so good to spend our mornings together this way, especially during his last year of high school.  I find myself thinking on the scripture we read all through the day and the lessons we are learning.  God's Word is not an easy word.  It is filled with blessing and loss... the loss is so great, but God, over and over again redeems what was lost.  The Bible is truly the story of redemption over and over.  He is our hope and salvation. The other day William was reading John 6:56, it says, "Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him" .  I heard the scripture differently that day.  Maybe because this version said "feeds on my flesh" and I had mostly heard "...

Ten years ago, April of 2010 we were busy cleaning our house and selling everything we didn't think we would want in a year when we returned from Nicaragua.  Our plan was to spend a year in Nicaragua, actually, Dwight's plan was 6 months.  Our plan was for such a short time because if the kids were struggling or if it wasn't a good fit for us, then we could change plans and return to the U.S..  We rented our house furnished.  We all packed two suitcases and were ready to leave for Nicaragua on June 28.  The evening of the 27th we got a call from American Airlines saying our flight had been cancelled.  Wait a minute I thought; we are moving to Nicaragua, our bags are packed, we have left our house, you can't cancel our flight.  But they did and rescheduled us to fly out two days later. That is how our life has been over the last 10 years.  We make a plan, and our plan, for the most part, has not gone at all as we expected.  I think we are...

About a month ago, during a small group meeting, my friend Kelly began to cry as she was realizing that maybe our boy's graduation wouldn't happen as we had hoped and imagined it would.  Inside I thought, "well that is fine, they'll still finish high school and move onto college, what's the big deal?"  Then Amanda, our usual voice of reason, wisdom, no-nonsense and not a lot of emotion says, "all losses are loss Kelly, of course you are sad".   I considered again my response. My beautiful small group We talked about lament and praise, and that when we are healthy they will go hand in hand.  Being a faith-filled person does not mean, that we will not experience sadness and disappointment; it means, that when we experience sadness and disappointment we can still praise the Lord. The thing I am most confident of in all of my life, is that God is always good.  Even when things are falling apart, when life is painful and it is not how I hoped it w...

I stopped writing this blog a long time ago... I was tired of others always knowing what was going on in my life and with my family, well... tired of the ones that used my experience in a negative way.  But when I stopped writing because of the negative motives of one,  I kept the testimony of God's goodness from so many others. If my story can be an encouragement then I want to share, if my story will help someone know Jesus more then I want to share, if my story brings glory to God then for sure I want to share.  So I will try to share how I see Him working every single day.    I have learned a secret that leads to contentment... I believe contentment waits for us in gratitude and serving others.  Apart from these two things it is very difficult to have a lasting peace in your heart.  I have become a bit predictable in the groups I lead, there is one question that I feel is important... How have you seen God at work today?  This is a qu...

When we first moved to Nicaragua, Dwight and I said we would stay for at least 1 year.  We would decide after 6 months, (January 2011) if we would stay longer.  Our visas required us to leave the country in December 2010 so we traveled to Costa Rica for a few days.  I jumped the gun and asked Josh and Maggie how they were feeling about staying longer than a year in Nicaragua.  TEARS.  We were in a tropical paradise and my kids were sobbing at the dinner table.  Maggie wanted to be with family and friends and Josh just wanted to be playing hockey.  Sobbing... Josh was the Captain of his team before leaving It was one of those moments when I thought I had made a horrible mistake to take them away from Edmonds. Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart. Psalm 37:4 Josh, Maggie and Will wouldn't trade their time growing up in Nicaragua.  They know what they have given up but they feel they have gaine...

Josh got on a bus today to travel 24 hours to Panama City, Panama. He will be gone until the 14th of March participating in a conference called HACIA Democracy (Harvard Association Cultivating Inter-American Democracy). He is a Nicaraguan delegate, representing the U.S. on their stand on gun control. He has studied and now will discuss and argue with others about this topic. Dwight said to me yesterday, as we are packing his suit, how did he grow up so fast? And my question was, did we do a good enough job, what have we missed? The time with our kids is so short and I am so thankful to know that every minute of their lives God has been right there loving them, teaching them and protecting them. They love Him and that is all I could ever want. I am so proud of each one of them. They don't spend so much time cuddling together but I know they love each other and desire the best for one another. They always support each other in their work, fun and dreams. They other night we ...

Dear Friends, The month of January was quite a busy month with school starting up again, Basketball starting, and really, just getting back into the swing of things, coming off of a month of Christmas vacation! Going back to school was tough! The teachers decided to hit us right of the bat with big loads of homework, and also, I resumed my HACIA practices. HACIA Democracy is a simulation of the OAS (Organization of Amercian States), organized by Harvard University. They prepare an annual conference, this year located in Panama, where students from all over the western hemisphere gather to practice debate, diplomacy, and consensus building. I am a part of the 15 student team from my school that will travel in March to participate in the conference in Panama. To prepare for the conference, I have been going to weekly practice sessions, writing multiple papers, and meeting with my assigned advisor on Fridays to help with certain debate strategies and topic preparation. Apart from HAC...

I apologize that it has been so long since I updated the blog. At times it seems so funny to write just about our life and then it seems like so much has happened and where do I begin??? I remind myself, I just have to begin... I love the opportunities God gives us living in Nicaragua. I love that I have the opportunity to do ministry with North Americans! This picture was taken in Granada with a team from Allendale Church in St. Petersburg, Florida. I had a good laugh as I watched from a bench as they found their way through the city. This team put on a Vacation Bible Camp in the week that they were in Nicaragua. The VBS was for kids from the neighborhood surrounding the Villa. We had 35 kids in the morning and 15 teens in the afternoon ~ it was great! The team was challenged as they gave the salvation message. Why is that so difficult? If we truly believe that their is salvation and eternal life in Jesus alone and if He has changed our lives ~ shouldn't we be thrilled ...

We are on the look out for a new car. Would you pray with us that God shows us the right car, at the right time and that we would be ready. Please pray for Josh and Maggie that their final weekend in the U.S. would be a huge blessing and that God would be the One preparing their hearts to join us on Tuesday. We are always thanking God for each of you.

I had a great expectation ~ that when we went home to the United States it would be like exhaling after a year of new things, new relationships and new situations. As it turned out that exhale didn't come until we returned to Nicaragua. It is good to be home. It was such a strange, almost surreal thing being home in Edmonds. When we started our car insurance, the people told us our insurance would be more because as missionaries we are riskier, really? But as it turned out, maybe they are right. My first day driving I almost got in a fight in the Costco parking lot. I moved my car a little when there was a couple walking near by and the man started hitting on my car, came to the passenger window, yelling at me. Really I was a little heart broken, I didn't understand why he was so angry. I saw so many impatient people and had a sense of an attitude of "it is my right". One day Dwight and I were at a store at U Village and I saw a bracelet made from wooden bea...

In less than a week we are headed home for awhile... at one time I was just excited, excited to understand things, excited to visit and be with our dear friends, excited to have fresh, cool air, excited to be in our very own church. I am still excited but also feeling a little sad; I am sad to leave our dear friends here in Nicaragua, the warmth, the teams, the unpredictability of each day. I know God has good things planned for our time. I am so excited to watch Josh, Maggie and William experience their old life in the U.S.. I have had these strange thoughts lately, thoughts that come with a little grief. The reality that we are forever seperated from what used to be home. We have set ourselves apart from that life. Really we have no home; we cannot call Edmonds home and we are not yet at home in Nicaragua ~ where is home? The song Dwight and I had at our wedding was Sandy Patty's "Love Will Be Our Home" ~ I always giggle when I think of that song because I remem...

We were at the kids school on Friday night for Maggie's performance of "The Toymaker and His Son", she played a toy bunny. It was a mime performance, telling the story of the cross, it was well done. Maggie sang a beautiful solo. I was so proud of her. We took our friend Mario, he works at the Villa as a guard and gardener, he is a dear friend of Dwight's. While we were waiting for the show to start Dwight was visiting with Mario and one of the stories I overheard was Dwight telling Mario that the 'man in the black bed is a prince'. I was laughing so much and even more as I watched Mario trying so hard to understand what Dwight was saying. What Dwight wanted to tell Mario was that the man in the black t-shirt is the principal. There are so many things that we miss in translation ~ but bring us many great laughs! Praise God that Dwight's spanish tutor comes this Tuesday! A few highlights of our weekend.... the play with Mario was great, he invited us...

The last week has been full of moments that all of us were forced to rely completely on God and we were reminded, again, that as much as we try ~ we are not in control. As much as we plan, there is One with a plan so much greater. I don't think I have so much to write tonight. I just want to share some photos and tell you again that it is your prayers that are helping to fight the battle that is happening here in Nicaragua. I am so thankful to have a group of people that I can send a text message or email and I know immediately that they have stepped into the battle. There was one day in November when I was working with a team in Rio Blanco, it was a long day mixing concrete and pouring a slab floor ~ it was hard work and felt so good.. I loved working so hard and using every muscle in my body. I was happy to be working with the team and was surrounded by good friends. Out of the blue, I was hit with a serious spirit of discouragement. I physically felt a weight on me and ...

A couple of weeks ago I was in the dump with the team from Tennessee. We had walked and met many people. We prayed for Efraim, the man with the broken knee, and his family. We prayed for a woman who had been robbed and was now being accused by the police of staging the robbery herself and facing criminal charges. We prayed for a man who's eye had been burnt by sparks from a fire, the doctors sewed his eye shut to keep it protected and when he missed his appt. by a few minutes, they would not reschedule him for 3 weeks ~ just to remove the stitches. I saw so many needs this day it was overwhelming. As I saw overwhelming needs, I was confident that God would provide! I had a plan ~ Jennifer was coming in just a week and could fix it all, the people just needed to wait until she got there. It was a great plan and I was a part of it, perfect! Later in the day we were helping with the feeding program and saw a group of older gentlemen arrive. Something about them looked like do...

Did I mention that? Most of you know already that our family decided in January to stay in Nicaragua longer than the first agreed upon year. It would be silly for me to say anything different than, we'll be home when God makes it clear that we are to be home. In December Josh and Maggie were in tears at the idea of staying in Nicaragua but for whatever reason we always said we would decide in January, so I tried not to worry so much about those tears. But I was worried, especially as Dwight and I were feeling that we were going to stay, how could I do that to the kids? As I worried, God told me not to ~ that He was speaking to their hearts and He would give them peace. Sure enough, the day we told Josh and Maggie that we were thinking of staying, they said, "OK". In February I was home for 2 weeks. As I travelled home, I was so tired. I wanted to sleep on the plane but couldn't. Somewhere in my travel day, God gave the verse Psalm 73:28 "As for me it is g...