Family

I don't really have too much to say on the topic of family. Only that family can be so heavy and burdensome, but that it is a load I am willing to carry. I would encourage you all to be honest about who you are and who your family is and pray for one another. Fast when necessary and always keep them close. There is never a reason to let your loved ones slip away. Keep you relationships current and love above all else.

Christmas

I am so excited about Christmas this year. I haven't spent Christmas day with my parents in almost 8 years and I am so glad to be here this year. We are having a great time planning our meals and doing our shopping (thanks to the sale of one of our cars-PTL!), and the girls are doing great not trying to open all of the presents under the tree. We are , as are most parents, really trying to balance the real (Christ) with the imaginary (santa). The only way I could do that in my head was to make the one, Santa, just imaginary. I am sure I am some kind of terrible parent for not "doing Santa", but I just couldn't.  We have absolutely gone to see Santa and we love watching all of the movies and things, but I guess I just had trouble mixing a true story with a made up one. I know, weird....but somewhere it just bothered me. The good thing is that we are able to speak openly about shopping and gifts and not work overtime hiding all of the gifts until the 25th. We wrap and we put out! I hope that as the girls get older we can really focus, starting on Christmas eve,  getting ready for the celebration of Christ's birth and maybe even open our gifts after we do our dinner and a cake. Like a real party for Him, but we give the gifts as an expression of our love for one another and in light of what Christ has done for us.  I love gifts, I love getting gifts and I love buying for my girls, so I am not against the gifts, per se, only that we don't focus so much on them. I think I would be okay with Santa if he weren't infringing on a Holy day for us as believers.  Just my opinion-and you know what they say about opinions......

New home in Houston

We are finally here in Houston and I am so glad to get some time with my family. I have been enjoying time Christmas shopping with my mom and playing at my sisters house. I miss our church in MS, but I think we will have fun here too. My moms job allows me some oppotunities to volunteer with some things she has going at the church so I am happy about that. I also love that anything her friends do they always invite me. I am going to a luncheon tomorrow at her friends house and I am so happy to be invited somewhere...it has been a long time!
I keep reading on blogs and on facebook about how busy people are with Christmas parties and shopping and some of it is rather complainy (forgive the made up word). I never knew how important those things were to me until I wasn't invited to any. I think it is easy for us to get caught up in how much we have going on and forget about those who really have nothing going on. When you want to complain about how much shopping you have to do remember a few things: #1- you have chosen how much to buy #2-it's not about the gifts #3-at least you have money to shop
No guilt trip here- I guess with all we have been through the last 3-4 months things have been put into perspective for me and I have really had to think about what I want this Christmas to be about. Lack of money means it can't be all about the gifts, no house means it can't be about decorating and having people over, no friends near by means it can't be about parties. So this year, probably for the first time, it is really about the beautiful birth of our Savior. So while it is sad that we don't have much money for gifts, and we don't have friends nearby, I do have my sweet family and my Lord. What more does a girl need?
I know that this phase in my life is only for a season, and believe me when I say that the Lord is working on me through this time. I think I just long for a familiar face, a hug from someone who knows me, and for my kids to have fellowhips with other children who know them. I have been alright with giving away/selling all of my things, and just walking away from my "old" life, the lack of day to day relationships has beent the hardest. We are looking forward to our training and being able to get this journey going. We have been talking about it for about a year now and I cannot believe that we are finally-almost there!

First few goodbyes

I always say that I don't say "goodbye" only "see ya later". Well, I have had to say goodbye over the last week and let me say it is gut wrenching! I said goodbye to some very good friends over the last few days. Brandie, Heather, Brandon, and Ammie- you guys have been incredible friends to me and will be missed tremendously. Heather is my challenger-she makes me think and always is a reminder to check my focus. Brandie is a great servant-without her I would have most definitely died over the last 2 years. She became "nanny Brandie" to my girls and I am forever grateful for her amazing friendship and love-especially when I am sometimes unlovable. Brandon and Ammie are the great encouragers. They have just been "Jesus with flesh on" always reminding us that HE is mindful of us. As a couple, they have just been amazing to us!!

Yesterday, I said goodbye to my house. I love that house!! I would have stayed there forever-it was so hard to walk out of my girls rooms and know that they would never be there again. My girls grew up sooo much in that house and we just had so much fun as a family there. We also had some very difficult times there and the Lord really worked on us while we spent time with Him there. Just lots of memories in that house and  I don't think I was ready to walk away from it.

The hardest to date has been my Popa. He has rectal and stomach cancer and is no longer able to take the treatments so he just IS. This is the man that took care of us when my mom was going through a divorce and no one was there to look after us. He made sure we ate, had a place to live, took us on vacation, made sure we had Christmas presents and that we knew we were loved. I cannot even begin to tell you all that he has meant over the years. Our moving has been very difficult for him. He is a believer, but has a hard time with us being called away. I can't help but think it is because he is afraid he will never see me again, this side of heaven.  I love you Popa!!!!

There are many more tears to be shed over the next weeks and I am sure it will never get easier, but it is a necessary part of this process. The Spirit will be our great comforter.

Please pray for the Smith family- Don Smith has been Ian's mentor over the last 3-4 years and he died on Sunday. We are so sad to have lost him, but know that his was a GLORIOUS homecoming. 

Also, please pray for the R family also. They are dear friends going through a terrible time with their son. 

New e-mail

My new e-mail

krbrou@gmail.com

Thanks for asking

Hi everyone-thanks to all of you who have been asking about us. I am not always the best at keeping in contact with people and I seem to be worse at it when things are going on in my life that seem overwhelming to me.  So here is an update on what has been going on...

We moved to Hattiesburg Oct. 1st and we are staying with Ian's parents. They have been so great to feed us and give us a great place to stay! The girls are loving it here- the property is beautiful and they are just loving playing outside and enjoying time with Daddy. Ian is "Mr. Mom" these days as I am staying busy sewing. It has been really nice for us to get perspective on how the other half has been living. We are definitely more appreciative of the roles that we each fill.

Our house sold after being listed only three days with an agent. Our agent was even surprised! We received some excellent news a few weeks ago- our social security paper work finally went through and we were able to be reinstated WITHOUT penalty! That just simply doesn't happen- we were looking at a $25,000 fine and the government forgave out debt. We are still in amazement at how the Lord worked that out on our behalf. The Lord has worked one miracle after another in our lives over the last few weeks. Our house is in need of a new roof and the buyers have agreed to take it  AS IS if we just leave the refrigerator, washer, and dryer. We couldn't take those items anyway and we didn't buy then to begin with. They were all three gifts to us. We are just continually amazed.

We were appointed as IMB missionaries on Tuesday night. It was an awesome service and we are more anxious than ever to get to the next part of this journey. We start out stateside training in January (in Richmond, VA) and then will be deployed sometime in late March.

We will be moving to my parents house in Houston the first week in December and spending the rest of our time off there with them.

Thank you all so much for caring about my family and being patient with me as a friend. The Lord is continually showing me my short-comings and I thank you all for being patient as He works on me.

We are getting all of our information together for our prayer cards so if you would like one please e-mail me your address so we can get one out to you. We look forward to hearing from you.

I will write again soon

Love, Katie

My so-called life

Well, things continue to be in limbo around here. We are still waiting on information from the IRS concerning our Social Security status. We cannot be appointed by the IMB until it is all cleared up, so we need this to be taken care of. Also, as of Sunday, Ian is no longer employed by East Bayou. They are going to keep us on the payroll for another 6 weeks (PTL) but after that we are on our own until we get picked up by the IMB in December, that's IF everything goes well with the IRS. So, we are trying to sell our house, get rid of at least one car  and try to keep things as "normal" as possible for the children. What we do know-1) The Lord has called us away 2)His ways are higher and everything will come together in His timing-not ours, and 3)we have parents who won't let us starve or be homeless.  In the mean time we are planning trips to ATL (yeah!!!) and New Orleans and a few places in between. 

I am just feeling weird- you know, like I don't really belong anywhere. It would not be good for us to continue going to East Bayou when Ian isn't on staff anymore and they are trying to transition in some new staff. BUT we still live here. So my emotions are all over the place. It's like I am here, but emotionally I am already gone. Make sense? Prob. not. I am sure my few friends think I am being weird to them, but I just have feelings all over the place and I am trying to work them out. Anyway -just keep praying that we can sell our sweet house. We love it and hate to leave it but you know this what what God is doing in our lives, so we obey.

Here is our house....

ATL friends don't be shocked by the size of this house. Most people here live in houses this size-they would think that your houses are MANSIONS!

The fight of my life

Anybody else feel like FOOD is the enemy. Well, I do. I have struggled with food my entire adult life and I am determined, with God's help, to win this time. It is hard for me to even put this in writing because then everyone knows... I can't hide anymore! Like most girls, I was at a really good weight and size when I got married. Then I got "settled in" and stopped thinking about what was going in to my mouth. And let me tell you EVERYTHING was going in my mouth! So I put on some weight. Lost weight again around graduation time and I was very satisfied with where I was on the scale. We moved to ATL and then I put on weight again...Got pregnant with Bianca-SURPRISE! I gained more weight. I weighed 234 the day I delivered Bianca- I had gained almost 50 lbs. YIKES. I never really lost more than about 25 lbs. after I had her and then I got pregnant with the twins. I gained the 25 back and only 5 more with this pregnancy. So that put me at about 240 when had the twins. Even at almost 6 feet tall, 240 lbs. is a lot for me to carry.  So since I have had the babies things have just been up and down. I can am back in a size 16 and I hate it. I feel like crap. I know a lot of girls where a size 16 and that is fine if you are ok with it. I am just not! I used to try to fool myself into thinking that I was ok with myself but that is just a lie. A size 16 is not my best. Really a size 14 isn't my best, a good starting point, but not my best. I don't know what size is my best- I don't think I've been there in a long time. I just know that I need to be respectful of the body that the Lord has given me and take care of it. I know just to be healthier and to be able to play outside with my kids without getting winded I need to drop at least 30 lbs. So, I am back on Weight Watchers (it has worked for me before) and I am just praying my way through the day at this point.  This is a stressful time in our lives and may not be the best time to try to loose weight but is there ever really a good time? I have also been told that I may have a hard time finding clothes in Spain, not many 6 feet tall women in Spain -so let's not complicate it with any extra weight. Ok, so there it is...I am fighting I will be victorious. The Lord will bless my efforts to be healthy and confident.

7 years and counting

Today is our 7th wedding anniversary. My how time flies! Even though it feels like I have always known him this 7 years married to Ian has just flown by. The Lord has brought us on some amazing journeys and we have met some wonderful people along the way. I thought I would do a little time line to show where we've been and what we've been up to...

2001:

 Married at Florida Blvd. Baptist Church

Lived in student housing New Orleans while we finished school

Both of us working at Dillards

2002:

Still at school and working at Dillards we begin commuting to Baton Rouge to start working with the college group at Florida Blvd. Ian soon became the College Ministry Intern.

2003:

Graduated from 

moved to Atlanta to work at Peachtree Corners BC.

made some great friends that I love and miss!!

bought our first house

2004:

still working at PCBC

found out we were having a baby!

2005:

had Bianca in May

got pregnant again in late December

2006:

found out we were having TWINS in Feb.

had Eliana and Giada in Sept.

Called to East Bayou in November

moved to Lafayette in late December

2007:

felt the Lord say now was the time to make the move towards missions

2008:

continued through the process to the mission field and were approved for service in June

Throughout the last 7 years we have made many wonderful friends, grown our family, learned a ton about who we are as a couple and as individuals. The most important lesson I have learned is how important it is to be obedient to the Lords leading. I have told people many times that I did not choose Ian. I didn't even really like him romantically, but I heard the Lord say to me VERY clearly that he was the man I was going to marry. I grew to love him and I am so happy that I listened to the Lord and was obedient. Ian was created for me! He is absolutely everything I need and want in a partner. I am so blessed to be on this journey with him and am so looking forward to where the Lord is leading us.  

360 Camp

Wow!! I just spent a week with 250 students and adults at Shepherd of the Ozarks in Harriet, Arkansas. It was great and awful all at the same time. Nothing quite like climbing 10,000 steps everyday, 3 times a day to eat holding at least one baby and sometimes two. The work load was awful but the time I was able to spend with 2 beautiful and Godly women was priceless. I spend most of my time at the camp with my friend Jessica Head. For all of my non-Lafayette friends, Jessica's husband is the middle school pastor at the church. She has two sweet girls and her oldest Janna is Bianca's best-friend. (so the girls say anyway!) Then our worship leaders wife, Heather, rode the 10 hours there and the 10 hours back in the car with me. What a servant she was to me as she took care of the children while I drove.

I loved spending time with these women, getting to know each of them better and for the first time since being here in LA, really being able to connect with other women in an intimate way. I loved it and despite all of the miserable work it was to be there everyday I wouldn't trade a moment of my time with these women. 

I am so thankful to the Lord for friends who love, encourage and most of all challenge.

Thanks to Jessica and Heather for spending the week with me and still loving me!

Grateful

Yesterday was a rough one. I got news that a good friend lost her first grandchild and some sad news about my grandfather, and an emotional e-mail from my mother. As a result of just thinking about all of those things, I have been thinking the last two days about things that I am grateful for. I know that sometimes we get into the ick of life and just forget about all of our blessings. Here are things that came to mind:

-healthy children

-loving/supportive husband

-that I don't have to please man, only God

-friends who laugh and cry with me

-unconditional love from my children

-parents who taught me to love and obey the Lord

-in-laws who taught Ian the same

-that the past can be just that-PAST

What do you have to be grateful for?

The rumors are true!

I am here to set the record straight and to put an end to all of the rumors and questions. We are most definitely moving to Spain. Ian and I have been praying about missions for about 6 years now- the time just never seemed right. So late last year Ian and I both felt the call so strong we could no longer put it off. Now was the time. We began the application process with the International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention in late August. After having been poked, prodded, questioned, and analyzed we were finally approved by the trustees last Tuesday. So, what does that mean? That means that we are almost finished with the process of being appointed. We have to attend an appointment week either in early September or late October, then we will go to an 8 week training in Richmond, VA in either October or January. About 10 days after we finish our training we will be deployed.  We are a little iffy on the exact dates because of some challenges with our Social Security status. Ian opted out of SS several years ago and now we are having to get back in so that we are able to get the kind of travel visas we need. This may seem like an easy task, but we are dealing with the government, sllllooowwww, and it is very likely that we will have to pay a nice penalty. We are now just in the waiting process as soon as we get the appropriate paper work we will be all ready to go.

Where are we going? We are going to San Sebastian, Spain to work with the Basque people. Click here for more info on the region and to see some AMAZING pictures. So that is what we are doing in a nut shell.

I am absolutely terrified. As most of you already know, I have a family history of anxiety and it has reared it's ugly head in my life since moving here to LA. I have vowed that my fear and anxiety will not paralyze me and rob me of LIFE. For me, this experience represents how the Lord is going to use me and my gifts for His good and also for Him to be able to do a work in my life in terms of my anxiety. I am being forced to do scary things! I think it is fab! This is the legacy that I want to leave for my children-not the one where they are raised by a mother who is fearful of what "might" happen and therefore, misses out on life. Not only that, but a mother who doesn't encourage them to LIVE because of what "might" happen. I want to leave a legacy of absolute abandon and obedience-no matter how crazy or scary. My family is having a rough time with this (you can pray for them)- I am leaving the country with my children...I must have lost my mind. I DID in fact, loose my mind. I am trying to live with the mind of Christ. I could go on forever, but I will just say that I am so grateful for the journey that the Lord is taking us on and I cannot wait to see how things unfold. Please pray for us as we continue to wait on our paper work and work out all of the timing of selling our house, and transitioning ourselves and the children.

I am more...

I have been thinking a lot lately about the legacy that I want to leave for my children. Will all they ever know about me be that I was their mother and their fathers wife. Will they know me as a person or just as their mother. I decided that I needed to start really expressing myself as a person and not just a mother. So here is my outlet, here is a place where I can begin to learn how to express myself and my thoughts. I can write or journal my opinions, my questions, my frustrations, my worries, my joys and my trials. I am looking forward to this journey into myself and what the Lord will show me about myself.