My best friend

Yesterday Jose officiated the wedding of a couple from our church.

with the bride and groom

Jose officiating <3 br="">

We wanted to look nice so he got a haircut and I got a manicure. While I was getting my nails done he took the kids and got them a snack and they brought something back for me. Logan brought it up to me because Jose was downstairs with the other kids. The manicurist started asking me questions about my family. She was shocked that my husband was taking care of my 3 kids while I was busy. I didn't really understand why that was surprising and I said "of course, he's a great father. He even changes diapers" "No puede ser" (I can't believe it) she replied. Then she asked if he gives them baths, cooks, helps put them to bed. It was probably one of the funniest conversations I've ever had about my husband. "Yes, he does all those things. He makes some of the best eggs I've ever tasted. My children prefer he put them to bed over me. He's a really great dad." "That's amazing" she said "Peruvian men aren't like that at all."   "Oh, but he is Peruvian" I replied "many american men aren't like that either." I told her that my husband was taught that manhood isn't machismo but servant leadership. I told her that our ministry here is focused on helping men learn to lead their families with love. I told her my husband is teaching men to be like he is. She asked me what our church is called and where it is. :) (and if you were wondering. No, she did not speak a single word of english. I had the whole conversation in Spanish and managed to get my point across...GO ME! lol)

after the wedding enjoying the reception 

I'm really proud of Jose for so many reasons. He has taught me a lot even in the last few months about serving, humility and love. He sacrifices more than anyone could ever understand because of his desire to really truly serve God.

Jose helping a family move into the place he found them to stay 2 hours after they called to tell him they needed a place

He rarely gets a break and never complains when people (myself included) ask him to do "just one more thing." He does things that are outside of his comfort zone just to make me happy. He has one of the funniest senses of humor ever. I mean he can make me laugh like nobody else.

But most importantly to me he loves God more than anything else.

Preaching at the university to psychology students the kids with raised hands got saved that night

No matter what else is going on in our lives I'm confident that he will seek God and listen. He loves me and our kids second only to God. He is always seeking to be a better husband and father. I love him so much and am so grateful to God for giving him to me. I recently heard this song and it made me think of Jose.

Close your eyes
Let me tell you all the reasons why
Think you're one of a kind.
Here's to you
The one that always pulls us through
Always do what you gotta do
You're one of a kind
Thank God you're mine.

You're an angel dressed in armor
You're the fair in every fight
You're my life and my safe harbor
Where the sun sets every night
And if my love is blind
I don't want to see the light.

I love you Jose. 

Thank you for always being there, always showing up and always loving me.

~Kat

Share some love

I've been thinking a lot about friends lately. When you aren't in a position to just call a girlfriend up and grab a coffee (or whatever it is you normally do) it makes you realize how much you miss those people. 

I have some friends I grew up with. Some I met as an adult. Some I've never met in person but feel like I have because we've known each other so long and talked almost every day online. Some friends I've spent a lot of time with and other friends I haven't spent much time with them at all. But I know that most of the people I call friends would be there for me the moment I need them. For that I am grateful and blessed. 

I know this is a random blog and it's uncharacteristically short for me. But as I was thinking of my friends I thought. I need to share some love. So I'm putting it out there as a challenge to all of you. I think everyone has at least one person they know who deserves a shout out, a hug, a text saying "you are the best!" or some other show of love and affirmation. So do it! Tell someone you love them. We all need a little love every once in awhile. :) 

Thanksgiving Missionary style

Yesterday we had the privilege of celebrating Thanksgiving with our Missionary friends here. I only take random pictures and we all got wrapped up talking so I didn't get a group pic. But I did get these

Makes you feel like you were there with us right? check out Logan, looking like he is about to do  something he shouldn't. He probably was. As you may notice the Ens (our friends who hosted us) have 2 boys close in age to ours. They also have an older daughter. Sadly I don't have a girl for her to play with but Timothy thinks they were sent here because he prayed for a boy his age. So God sent the Ens with their 5 year old named Timothy. Our Timothy has dubbed him 2nd Timothy. So we went biblical on the nicknames and call them 1st and 2nd Timothy

1st Timothy swiping some of the cheese ball prematurely

Logan and 2nd Timothy...have you ever noticed how hard it is to take pictures of 

little boys when they haven't seen each other in awhile? 

Real Men help with the food prep

Real men also get food for their kids 

Here in Peru we don't have canned or instant stuff so we had pretty much everything made from scratch

(except for the cranberry sauce I imported ;) 

I learned how to make cheese balls which I've never attempted before but they came out pretty great if I do say so myself. :P One of the girls there made her first ever "from scratch" sweet potato casserole 

everything was amazing. I'm actually a little sorry I didn't think to swipe some leftovers. :)

I will be making Thanksgiving dinner for our church next week though so hopefully I can do 

justice to the food we had yesterday. I'm hungry again just thinking of it. 

I haven't participated in any of the 31 days of gratitude things people have been doing on twitter (and FB I think...) But there are a few things I'm especially grateful for that I wanted to mention.

God and his grace, mercy and faithfulness. I know it sounds like just the right thing to say but I am seriously feeling so grateful for Him lately.

Jose. I could not have found a better man or husband if I searched for 1000 years. He isn't perfect but he's perfect for me. I love him so much

Logan and Timothy. They make me laugh all the time. 

They are always there offering to do all kinds of helpful things. Like sleeping in my bed at night 

or mopping the floor with lemonade before I wake up.

But they are sweet, sweet boys and I thank God for them everyday. 

My life would not be as full without them.

A healthy pregnancy and baby

True friends here in Peru and also in the states. 

As Philippians 1:3 says "Every time I think of you, I give thanks to my God."  

It is really amazing to know that there are so many people I could call up and they would 

be happy to hear from me even if I just need to ask for help or prayer or a listening ear.

God is so faithful to provide for all of our needs no matter how big or small. "friends" might not seem like that big of a deal but sometimes they are more valuable than you can imagine.

And now I will leave you with the one picture of me. 

Right before we started eating I asked for this picture to be taken. 

Enjoy our goofy faces.  

Happy Thanksgiving!

This is the real me

I'm sure that there are many women in the world that have lived in a world similar to the one I find myself in. A world where being punched in the shoulder is a very meaningful sign of affection. A world where princesses on the television cause a quick dash for the remote but if there is gunfire or swordplay you better believe we will at least stick to the station until the next commercial. Yes my friends. I am talking about my home where 5 out of 6 residents are male. I happen to be the remaining 1.
Being surrounded by men has it's benefits and it's challenges. While I love it, every once in a while I miss the energy of women. I love how women can be 15 or 75 and they still think and act almost identical. Every woman I know looks at their reflection and can pick out at least 5 things that they don't like. But we deny that our friends have any physical flaws vehemently. And when we get together. It's magical. Like being transported to a place where there are no consequences for eating way too much chocolate. A place where feather boas are a must! Where no matter how tired you may be you still want to stay up and talk for 5 more minutes. That is what "This Is The Real Me" was like

Kari Jobe led worship. It was one of the first times in my life I went expecting a performance and experienced a worship service. I've always been one to prefer men's voices over women's. Just a personal preference, but listening to 600 or so women worshiping God from the bottom of their hearts was awe inspiring. And I got to sit next to Kari Jobe during the ministry time. So fun!

Isn't she cute? (and isn't that the girliest thing you have ever heard?)

Pastor Sheila Gerald ministered the first night and to start she told us all to look into the eyes of the person next to us and very sincerely say "your butt looks good in that" Then she said I know you where all worried about it and now you don't have to be. SO true.

I could go on and on about how much fun I had and how great it was but I will finish with this.

God has graced me with some of the best and sweetest friends on earth. It doesn't matter how far away we are from each other because I know they will always be there for me. I didn't get pictures with all of them but here are the few I did get.

 
                                   

You girls make me think of Philippians 1:3

"I thank my God upon every remembrance of you"

I do. I am blessed beyond words to know you

What else can I say? God is good! - an update on us

Jose is out right now taking the men from Houston to the airport. We had fun seeing our friends and Pastor this week. The came for the "Salvamos A La Familia" (saving the family) conference that La Casa Del Padre was hosting. It's a little weird being considered a Pastor. I got to meet and share our testimony with Molly Godzich as we were riding to the convention center. We also got to visit with Pastor Craig and Jan Hill and ton's of other men and women of God who's names I can't remember. :/
Not to mention all our friends, including Jack King from Faithful Men's Ministry, and our Pastor G.F. Watkins. I have to say we are so blessed. We are just starting out in the ministry and God has already begun to place us before kings. (so to speak)

In other news I am really loving our home (have I said that already?) I walk around in it everyday and just thank God for his grace and his love for us. We were talking today about it. You know sometimes God will ask you to do something that may seem like it makes no sense. In our case give away all your belongings...not sell them but GIVE them away. Pack up your family and move to another country. Most people when we tried to give our stuff to them said "No, you should be selling this to buy new over there" Trust me that sounds like the most logical thing to do. And I'll be honest there were times when my faith wavered. I would see all the crazy stuff we accumulated and in my head I would start calculating how much we could have sold the stuff for. I know, I know, shocking! But when I walk around my home, with my new furniture (our fridge still has the label, and the plastic sticker to protect the finish on it!) Stuff that is nicer than we had in America. I think "WOW!" I am so glad we listened and obeyed. We had no idea what God had in store for us! As a blessing for our obedience he has given us a beautiful furnished home. Honestly if we sold all our stuff we could never have bought the stuff we have here. God is so good! I know, I'm gushing. I just wish those of you that read this blog could have walked along side us (some of you did actually) and seen the progression. There is such a blessing in obedience that goes beyond the material things and the meeting famous people. It's indescribable really.
Proverbs 10:22 says "It is the blessing of the LORD that makes rich, And He adds no sorrow to it." We don't have a lot of money but we have the blessing of the Lord. I feel this verse very strongly lately. I live this verse right now. God is good!

When we met our landlady she told us that she was going to get a biopsy done on a tumor she had. Victor prayed for her with Jose and I agreeing that night. The next day she was at a memorial service and began crying. Tears were coming out of both her eyes. The next time she talked to us she told us about it. She said she had just been told by a Doctor a week before, that she would never be able to cry from her left eye again. Jose told her to get her money back from the other Dr because the great physician healed her! The next week when we were moving in we were talking and she told us she was leaving the next day to get her biopsy in the U.S. I prayed for her with Jose agreeing. A couple days later she asked her assistant to let us know that when they went to do the biopsy the tumors were gone! I'm telling you guys it's fun to serve the Lord!

Please pray for my sister. Her water broke over 36 hours ago (at 10:00 am Saturday 9/11) and she is not progressing. I know the baby will be here by the time most of you read this but please keep her in prayer. I know she will appreciate it.
Also, my camera is dying a slow death and I really need a new one. I am believing God for a dslr because I want to get more serious about photography. Please pray for us that God would provide for it. :) THANK YOU!!

First Day In Lima

The last couple weeks have been a whirlwind of activity, and it's not over! We arrived in Lima last night around 12 with all of our 13 suitcases. Jose's dad had alreay secured and checked in to our hotel so he picked us up at the airport with a taxi-van and his rental car and we managed to fit everything into those 2 vehicles. We got a great night of sleep (8 hours! I can't remember when the last time we got that much sleep in a bed. maybe a week but it seems like months)
Today we will start looking for a place to stay a little more permanently. We also plan to stop by Casa Del Padre and check in with them.

There are so many ways we recieved favor and have seen the presence of God in our lives in this time it is absolutely amazing! We feel everyones prayers and are so thankful for them.

Next blog I plan to put up some pictures...but for now I gotta' run. God Bless!

quick update

After almost 2 days in Amarillo we took off yesterday around 1 (2 hours later than originally planned) and arrived in Kansas City at 1am. (yes it took us 12 hours to make a 10 hour drive) We are staying with my friend Jami's parents. When I was little I told my mom I wanted to be just like Terri Baker when I grew up and I really haven't changed my mind :) She has made us feel so at home. 

I get to see my best friend today! And we are going to ihop! Then I get to see Jami tomorrow! (Jami in case I don't talk to you before you read this, we are hanging out tomorrow fyi...lol)

Friends and Girlfriends!

It's been 3 weeks since we moved out of our house and started staying with friends. In those three weeks we have not had a single night in. SO fun! I've spent so much time with friends these past few weeks that in a way it makes leaving a little harder. I'm still excited to go and I have never doubted this call on our lives. I will however miss these sweet people I do life with. I have also seen how much our friends love us. It takes a good friend to let a whole family invade your house for weeks at a time.
My friends have changed their plans so they could spend time with me, babysit at the last minute for me and have just generally been awesome. And that's just in the last month or so.
Thank you to all my friends! You guys are awesome! I love you

I'm sure I will continue to gush about my awesome friends over the next few weeks especially in August when I visit my 2 childhood bff's Jami and Lydia (It's gonna' be like Christmas for me :)

In other news I will be returning to Houston October 8th & 9th "This Is The Real Me" A women's conference at Jordan Ranch. They will be featuring our ministry and I am super excited about it. Kari Jobe will be there and Sheila Gerald and Pastor Rose Watkins will be speaking. It will be amazing! If you want to go you can register Here for more information go here
It doesn't get much better than that. Girls night (can we say slumber party?) Awesome ministry and radiant worship. And did I mention I will be there? Come hang out with me!