McCullah Funraising Tour Report 2

We left Ft. Worth on the 29th of June and headed for Oklahoma. It was neat having the girls cheer when they crossed the Oklahoma boarder, even though they have collectively only lived in Oklahoma for 4 years between the 3 of them. We moved to Richmond when Maddie was 3 and Kenzie was 1. Mikiah has never known Oklahoma as home, but each of them know Oklahoma to be a special place because of the special people that live here. This trip so far has been a trip full of those special people that we have known for a while and new special people that we are blessed to now know and call friends.

In Ft. Worth, we met up with Christie's old roomate, Kim Vanderbeek Malone and her two precious twin sons. We sat and ate ice cream in the food court of a mall and then let Christie catch up while we took the kids to the pet store downstairs. The visit was far too short, but it certainly was better than the Facebook messages that we had been exchanging. Nothing can replace a hug and a good laugh with an old friend. There is no Facebook App for that.

The kids were excited to see their Poppie and Grandma JoAnne in Ft. Worth. They loaded up our suitcases and brought us back to Newcastle/Blanchard/who-knows-where Oklahoma where we have been ever since. It has been great to hang out, enjoy catching up and resting. The girls have enjoyed watching the birds each morning and swimming. We had a big fireworks display planned for Saturday, the 4th, but the amazing Oklahoma weather reared it's ugly head and a storm passed through that afternoon and the house we were at lost power. It rained so much that the family members that had parked on the lawn, found themselves stuck in the mud when they got ready to leave. I put on my redneck hat, went and got my Dad's truck and pulled the van out of the mud. The ManCave and Fortress of Manitude would be proud.

We took one day and went to Stillwater to give the girls what called the "Mommy & Daddy College Days Tour". Kenzie and Kiah slept through it and I think Maddie realized that if she didn't at least look interested, she wouldn't get any ice cream at Marble Slab. (That's my girl!) We got to hang out with Christie's brother and his wife Megan that night. She is a Vet student at OSU and she showed us around where she works and some of the things she is studying. It was a lot of fun and the girls had a blast. We of course started the afternoon with cheese fries from Joes and ended the evening with pizza from Hideaway. It was great seeing Christie's brother Micheal. He is a great guy with a huge heart who loves to help those in need. Megan is a blast to be around and so ridiculously talented that I shutter to think what she could do if she had the time to only focus on her artwork.

Sunday, the 5th, we were blessed to share what God was doing with two churches. Sunday morning, we were able to join Surrey Hills Baptist Church and share what their support had been used to do. Surrey Hills was actually the first church we visited last summer when we initially began to approach churches about support. They responded in a wonderful way and supported our ministry financially and in prayer all year long. It was great to revisit them and let them know where there money was going and how it was being used for the Kingdom.

That night, we truly were blessed to see that God is truly going before us when we met with the folks at First Baptist Church, Sulphur. To understand how far back God has been working on this, you would need to understand our College group that we were a part of at University Heights Baptist Church in Stillwater, OK. Our fearless leader of that College Group was none other than Robert Krumrey, the pastor of MERCYhouse. One of our many friends in that group was Misty Franklin. She was originally from Sulphur and was very involved in the International Student ministry. We stayed in contact with Misty and later caught up with her when we lived in Richmond. She heard that we were moving to join Robert in MA and began praying for us and supporting us. In the Spring, we were planning our trip back to the area and Misty contacted us about her home church being interested in hearing about what God is doing. This allowed us to be there on the 5th and experience what God was doing in Sulphur! There was a great Spirit in that church and believe it or not, it was there even though they sang (gasp!) hymns played on a piano! (Sarcasm implied) At the endo the night, we saw where God was sending FBC, Sulphur and how they had a heart to support church planting. What a blessing!

The grandparents were sweet enough to take the girls to the zoo on Monday and Christie and I got to sleep in and take the day off. We ate at our favorite Japanese Steakhouse in the area and went to Mardel's the Christian Culture Superstore. Christie and I spent the day just walking, looking and being together it was great!

I have to admit, through everything though, the highlight has been seeing our neice Karlee. She was born in September and we had never been able to see her until we arrived on this trip. We have played with her and girls are loving getting to know her. She is quickly stealing our hearts. Had I not already seen that God can bring beautiful daughters from an ogre like me, I would have never believe that this precious little girl belongs to an ogre like my brother.

PS. This is a picture of me ground and pounding my brother. He thought because I was a little older and fatter that he could take me. Bad idea. Shortly after this, I forced him to say, "I'm a little sissy boy who eats my own boogers." like I did back in the day. Good times.