Fun at the Museum!

This weekend Samantha took some time to celebrate our 5 month anniversary. 

We spent the weekend in Albuquerque. While we were there we went to several thrift shops and found some pretty good deals. We got a nativity set for 20 dollars and ceramic little village. I got a beautiful wood plaque that is a page out of a songbook with the words to the song "It is well with my soul."

My brother Alex

While we were in Albuquerque we went to the New Mexico Natural History Museum. My brother Alex lives in Albuquerque so we were able to spend the night at his house and bring him along to the museum. Alex has a way about him that makes things seem more fun. He is always cracking jokes, or making funny comments. He kept making Samantha and I laugh. 

 It has been quite a while since we had visited the Natural History Museum. I (Adam) can remember running all over that place on a field trip in school. It seemed so big, and so mysterious when I was little.

One of the best parts of going to the Museum of Natural History was getting to watch an educational Dynamax (IMAX) presentation about the Ocean and the science of waves. It was pretty neat to see it in 3-D.

As a Christian who knows the truth, that God is the creator and that evolution is a lie. It gave us a sense of freedom to walk around and enjoy, some of God's creatures. But I couldn't help but think that someday when Samantha and I take our children here, I will have to explain that some of the things that they will hear and read will not be true. While I was there I could hear the voice in my head of a little girl saying "Daddy God made the dinosaurs, not evolution."

You guessed it! It was Alex's idea to take these picture!

As a youth, one of the most exciting things at this museum was the exhibit where you could walk on lava/magma! When I was little it looked so cool! I would get all excited and a little scared. I really thought I was walking over lava...lol

Next we got to make our own earthquake. The floor has built in seismographs and you get to jump up and down and watch the needle go crazy!

Create your own earthquake!

Behold now behemoth, which I made with thee; he eateth grass as an ox.

Lo now, his strength [is] in his loins, and his force [is] in the navel of his belly.He moveth his tail like a cedar: the sinews of his stones are wrapped together.His bones [are as] strong pieces of brass; his bones [are] like bars of iron. Job 40:15-18

Behold, he drinketh up a river, [and] hasteth not: he trusteth that he can draw up Jordan into his mouth.

Job 40:23

Betrothal Documentary....

This past week I received and e-mail from a lady at a company (Kinetic Content) that is doing a Betrothal Documentary. They are looking for people who are currently going through a betrothal. 

Please understand that not everything in this video will be something we necessarily believe. There will be a few different religious backgrounds represented. They will have their own understanding of what betrothal is. We have chosen to post this because we have some readers who might fall into this category. We thought it might be interesting for you guys to see how different families approach the subject of Dating, Courtship and Betrothal.


To see how Samantha and I did it please visit the Betrothal and Wedding tabs above.

They are currently doing a documentary on a young lady in Atlanta, (see video) and have become very impressed/intrigued with Biblical betrothal, that they are seeking 4 more families to follow. 

They are willing to pay them to share their experience on film. The film crew would film some of the events, but they have stated that they will not intrude or be over bearing. 

They are also looking for people who have already gone through betrothal experience to share some of their thoughts and insights.

They have also stated that anyone who participates will have the ability to view the portions of documentary they are in and the footage before it is aired. So they can make sure they are not being portrayed in any way but factual.

This company is not a Christian company, so please take that into consideration.

I have included the entire e-mail and also a sample video that they have already been working on. Please read it all the way through, then if you are interested you can contact her.

This might be a great opportunity to share your testimony. 

Please watch the video and read the following e-mail.

IMPORTANT!

Please pray and seek God before you do anything, also be wise with your information before you give anything out. 

Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.

Matthew 10:16

Hi Adam,

My name is Andrea and I am the one that contacted you via youtube regarding your betrothal story. I came across your youtube link and your blog and would love to speak with you further about your betrothal experience.  Right now I am in the process of researching Biblical Betrothal with the ultimate intent on doing an unbiased, informative documentary series where we follow families (hopefully up to 4 different families) who are going through this unique process.

We are currently filming with a family based outside of Atlanta who have a 20 year old daughter who is going through the process.  It has been such an interesting and beautiful path to marriage, that we would like to expand this documentary to include other families as well.  Please see the links at the bottom of the page to see a sample of what we've filmed with them and to get an idea for our vision with this project.

I work for a production company called Kinetic Content based out of Santa Monica, CA.  We are a  fairly new company (have been around for less than a year) and focus on documentaries and docu-series for film and television.  We are a secular production company but our staff consists of a variety of religious backgrounds.  I myself, grew up in an Anglican household and am a firm believer in God and the power of prayer.  While Kinetic is not a Christian company, we are mature and seasoned documentarians who feel that this topic should be properly documented and shared.  Betrothal is such a fascinating idea and we've seen the proof that when done correctly and centered around God, it really works.

I wanted to reach out to you to see if you know of any other couples who are currently in the process of going through a betrothal who might be interested in working with us on this project.

The series will follow young couples  as they enter this important life transition. This is a wonderful  opportunity to spread the word about this path towards marriage to a large audience.
Ideally, we would like to film each family during the most important betrothal steps...ie- the betrothal ceremony, the preparation of the home, wedding preparations and then the actual wedding ceremony.  We wouldn't be filming every single day, just the important moments that highlight the steps of the Biblical Betrothal process.

I would also like to mention that in return for allowing us to be part of these very important occasions, each couple we film with will receive $1,500 for each part that they are in. We are hoping to break the documentary into an 8 part documentary series.  Ideally we would love to have them featured in each of the 8 parts which could lead to
a total of $12,000 appearance fee. We are also offering a $500 "finders fee," for anyone that can direct us to families who end up participating. Or we will gladly donate that fee to a charity of their choice.
While we know that we have nothing but the  sincerest intentions with this project, we completely understand that letting us film such intimate and important moments of their lives can be scary.    Therefore, we would like to let all potential couples know that we would like to offer them the option of viewing clips of their segments before they air and welcome their feedback.  We want them to be at ease with us and this process and want them to be able to know that they can rest their trust in us and in our intentions with this project.

As of right now, we have three different networks interested in buying this documentary series.  Discovery Channel, History Channel and the Oprah Winfrey Network have all expressed interest and we are currently working with them to find the best home for this project to air on.

  I am still doing preliminary research and any tips or resources he can point me towards would be appreciated. Any ideas  on newsletters, blogs, churches or any other ways to reach out to these families would be greatly appreciated.

If you know of any couples that you think would be interested in participating, I would love to speak with them.  Please feel free to pass this information along to anyone you think would be interested or know someone who would be.  If you have any questions, please feel free to give me a call.  Thank you for your time and consideration and I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Many blessings,

Andrea McHugh
630.745.0906
www.kineticcontent.com

Five Months

Happy Five Month Anniversary!

Five monts ago today, Samantha and I became husband and wife. It sure has been a busy five months. A lot of ups and few downs! 

Through it all God has been our constant strength, and has richly blessed us with His presence in our life and marriage.

It's truly hard to explain how you can love someone so much, and how that love can grow stronger each day.

Teen Fellowship at Our House

This Saturday we had a teen fellowship at our house.

 Ever since camp, Samantha and I had wanted to have our teens over for food and fellowship. But unfortunately our schedules had been rearranged for us. With losing the baby the day we were to move in our new house, things sort of got rearranged. We suddenly found ourselves very busy with doctors appointments. And had to set aside time for ourselves to heal over the loss.

But now that things are pretty much back to normal, were were able to have some of the teens over.

The plan was to have the kids meet us at the church at 9:30am for Saturday visitation and those who needed a ride, we would pick up on a van as we went out. Well 9:30 rolled around and none of the teens were there, so we set out on a mission to go get them! Sure we had to wait for few to change out of their PJ's but they came!

Samantha and I as well as others had noticed that many of our teens have taken a step away from the Lord this summer. I think that with all the idle time, they got lazy in the areas of Bible reading and prayer. But we hope that with monthly meetings, God will reignite the fire!

We had a total of 10 people go out soul winning. 

After we picked up the last kid, we paired up and went our ways. When we have teens we like to door knock an area where we will all stay close. So we can all keep an eye on each other.

One of the boys that went with me got to personally witness to two men. It was neat to see him giving the plan of salvation out. He told me, "I used to be scared, but now I know that Jesus is with me, I'm not scared anymore." AMEN!

The other boy that was with me, just got saved at camp. He is a little rough around the edges but he is very fervent. He kept saying lets hurry! Lets go talk to them! AMEN! AGAIN!

AFTER VISITATION WE HEADED TO OUR HOME

Some of the kids played volleyball, while others stayed inside and talked with Samantha and the other ladies.

By the end of the day all the kids were having so much fun. They were so bummed out, that it was time to go home. But I think just between you and me, they had just as much fun on the ride home!

Both Samantha and I fell really blessed to be able to open our home up to the youth of our church and we pray that they will always find our home as a place that they can come to. We pray that we will provide a place where they can come and talk and share what is on their hearts.

We want to thank everyone who brought food and who helped out. We couldn't of done it without you! Special thanks to Pastor and Mrs. McMath, Lindy (mom), Jaclyn, Jeff, Mom and Dad Leeder.

Thank you all for coming, you made our new home feel very special. All in all we had a total of 18 people! Next month were going to try for 30!

Emergency Room Visit - updated

Sunday night Samantha had to rushed to the ER for severe pelvic pains. She was passing a lot of blood and blood clots. The bleeding was so bad that we had to take her in. In addition to the large amounts of bleeding she was in "the worst pain she ever felt". I was very worried about this because the night before she was in pretty bad pain, but after some Ibuprofen it went subsided.

We had an appointment for monday morning and we both were kinda hoping to avoid a trip to the ER and instead just go to our scheduled appointment, but the pain was unbearable.

I knew that it was getting bad, but I kept waiting for her to let me know when she thought she needed to go to the ER. Sunday afternoon she wasn't feeling good so I told her to stay home and rest. I kept my phone on silent just in case. Well about 10 minutes after the service ended, I got a text message that said come home. Then I got her call. She was in so much pain. It was time to take her.

I called the after hours, emergency number for our doctor and was transferred to the OBGYN on call at the ER. I talked with him and explained what was happening. He told me you better bring her in. So we hurried along to ER.

I could tell she was in tremendous pain because she was crying and couldn't stand on her own. This was pretty scary. I was so proud of Samantha, even in all that pain she still was trying to sing hymns and was praying. It is pretty amazing how God began to calm her and reduce her pain from a 10 to even and 8. 

Once we got the the ER we were given a room and the nurses helped by setting up IV's and then the doctor on call give Samantha some powerful pain medication. It was so powerful they were expecting her to pass out, but she didn't. Even with such a high dose she could still feel the pain.

God was really watching over us, he gave us a wonderful lady at the check in who protected and consoled Samantha and I, within about 5 minutes we were in our room.

A special part of this visit, that I foolishly left out, was having Mom Leeder there. With all of my fear and excitement, I mistakenly left out another lovely lady, who loves Samantha just as much. 


Her presence in the Emergency Room, helped calm Samantha. It was especially nice for me to have her there to comfort me and help me make decisions. It was extremely special to see the love that Samantha and her mom share. I know that without a doubt the two people who love Samantha the most were in that room. 


Mom Leeder drove up once she heard we were heading to the ER and stayed the whole time by Samantha's side. I know that she must of been tired by the end of the night, having a busy Sunday. But we both are so thankful she was there.

Then two of the nicest nurses I have ever met attended to us. They were so kind and so gentle and very very helpful. One nurse was new and the other had been a nurse for 20 years, working in the NICU, previously.

About 2-3 hours after the first dose of pain medicine, a new nurse came in with a 2nd dose. Our new nurse was a little uncertain of giving her another high dose, but the pain was still present and she received the full dose. Even the doctor and nurses were surprised that Samantha was still awake.

We have really been blessed, the day after the visit to the ER, the on call ER Doctor give us a call at home to see how we were doing. Both Samantha and I were pretty amazed that an ER doctor would do that. During his exam of Samantha he had been real gentle and thorough. But we didn't expect his level of concern and care to be so high.

After the examination and some passing for lots of clots and blood, The doctor determined that it was safe for her to go home. Samantha's blood level was not anemic and was actually not to bad by the end of the night. They gave us a prescription for pain and naseua. 

We arrived at the ER about 8 pm and were discharged about 1AM. We picked up the prescription and the next day at 9AM we had to be back in Santa Fe for more blood work and a doctors visit.

"With all this blood work, I'm running out of veins!"

In all we Samantha has had to have blood drawn about 6 times in two weeks.

After our appointment it was determined that all is going well, aside from the severe pain last night, but it looks like we will be able to proceed naturally, with no need for surgery.

Our OBGYN and her entire office has been a tremendous blessing to us, they have been so sweet and supportive. God has really been present in the mist of this "storm". Through it all he has been showing us in little ways that we are not alone. And that He is holding our hand, leading us and guiding us.

In addition to our wonderful doctors, our family and friends have gone out of their way to help us. By bringing us food and flowers calling us to see how we are doing and just being there for us they have show just how much they love us.

Continue to pray for us during this time and as things try to get back to normal.

Last night during a prayer time Samantha prayed to God and said "Lord thank you for the gift of hurting the gift of grieving and the gift  of healing." It blessed my soul so much.

Sunday Blessings!

With everything that has been going on in our lives right now, we have not stopped ministering to our teens. In fact our teens have been a source of encouragement to us. Helping them grow in the Lord has been helping us heal. Taking time to deal with the issues that are near to their hearts, has helped us heal from the issues that are near to our heart.

God has been truly comforting us as we comfort them.

Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.

God has supplied comfort for our souls, as we purpose in our hearts to seek out others, and try to meet needs in their lives. The more we seek out others, the more comfort God has gives us. I have found that if we as Christians start to neglect others especially when we ourselves are hurting, it is almost as if the flow of comfort stops. God says he will comfort us, so we can comfort others. If you are hurting, look for a need that you can meet.

This is very clear principle in scriptures, we see it in the area of knowledge, God gives us wisdom (talent) in scriptures so we can teach others, if we do not teach, God limits our knowledge. Matthew 25:28-29

We see it in the area of giving, God gives to us so that way we might give our tithes and offerings. If we start to hold back that which we ought to give, not only will we rob God and have a curse set on our finances, but God will stop supplying. Malachi 3:8-11

Sunday School Class Fellowship

This past Sunday morning we had a teen fellowship for our Sunday School class at Bro. and Mrs Roybal's. It was really alot of fun. Some of the kids got to play basketball, ride horses, ride a two person bike or just sit and talk with Samantha and myself about issues teens go through.

We were also using this time to celebrate Christopher birthday (a faithful teen in our youth group). We have been trying to get his parents to come to church for sometime now, and they have been reluctant, but when they heard that we were having a birthday party for Him, they wanted to make the cake for him. Not only did they make it but they came to the party and were more open about coming to church.

Baptism!

Then for the night service we were blessed to see a teen that got saved this year at camp, get baptized. Her name is Sonia and she has been a great blessing to Samantha and I. Each week we have had the privilege to disciple her. It has been pretty amazing to see what God has been doing in her heart.

Not only did her parents, brother and sister come but she also brought her grandma, aunts and uncles. Continue to pray for her as she will no doubt face many battles going back to public school. Pray specifically that God will work it out to where she can enroll in our church's Christian school.

 I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the LORD.

Psalm 122:1