What A Blessing It Is...

Oh, where to start? I keep looking at my watch to remind myself that today is Friday. I could tell you that two days ago we were visiting a special needs orphanage in Transnistria (a scouting trip for us to see the shape of the beds in this orphanage).


Transnistria is a portion of Moldova that still wants to live with Russian ties and Russian ways. They actually have the Russian military guarding the “border”. There were 260 children at the orphanage / boarding school. The beds there were in bad shape and now I know why we were to go see this.



Or I could tell you how beautiful that Chisinau is at night as we went down town to see the Christmas lights (most people here don’t celebrate Christmas until Jan 07) and that out team ended up getting multiple Christmas pictures made. Many may say, “I thought you were going to work in an orphanage building beds and sharing God’s love.”

Well, we arrived at the orphanage in Visoca Moldova yesterday afternoon (we are 150 km from Chisinau (the capital) and our base house). We visited the orphanage, viewed the rooms that we would be placing beds in, practiced putting a bed together and then spent some time with the kids and passed out bananas.



It amazes me how grateful they were with being given a single piece of fruit. I think about the reaction that children back home would have had if you said here, enjoy this banana.






















After leaving the orphanage yesterday evening, we were treated to a guided tour of a fortress that was built in the 1530’s. It was amazing.






















Today we were able to bless 24 children with new beds. Oh, the look on their faces when they received them and were told that God loves them. It seems that one little boy continued to try and tell people how beautiful the beds were (and he didn’t get one today; however, I believe that he will get his tomorrow).

























After lunch we sang with the children and then divided up into three groups and we did crafts, had a Bible story and did recreation. I spent my time in crafts and was in awe of the artistic ability of some of these kids.












I started out with the goal of teaching the chicken dance but felt led to play something different. There faces lit up when I played Christmas music by the Trans-Siberian Orchestra (and it didn’t matter whether it was a fast or slow song). We concluded our time with the children by singing to them,them singing to us and the then us passing out three bananas to each kid (I think I need to apologize to the produce guy at Metro for over selling bananas to us. It turns out that we had the right amount for what God wanted us to do with them and that was give them fruit two days in a row. It’s amazing how things can work when we get out of God’s way and stop questioning why things are happening). Before we left the orphanage, the director told us that she was amazed at how the children have accepted us, become attached to us and look forward to our returning visits (she just doesn’t know how much we look forward to our time with them as well). Before we could leave Joe just had to hug her (the orphanage director). This was followed by Tony hugging her and before I knew it, she pointed at me saying she wanted to hug or be hugged by me. Needless to say, that hug led to a second hug and then a picture of the two of us.

So far it’s been an awesome experience being used by God to share HIS love and to meet the needs of others. I can’t wait to see what He has in store for me / us tomorrow.

Dan McB

We Made It

That’s right we finally made it here to Chisinau, Moldova. Our trip started Christmas night as we left home at about 8:30, stayed in a hotel in Irving (I was able to get between 3-4 hours of sleep) and was at the airport by 5:30 a.m. on the 26th. Three flights later, the layover in D.C. at Dulles will be memorable, and we finally arrived in Chisinau at 12:00 on Dec 27th (with all of our luggage and all of our people). We are going to be staying at the IMB House for the next couple of days, then we’ll be off to Soroca, Moldova. Tomorrow we are going to the Transnistria area of Moldova (we’ll get a taste of what the old Soviet Union was like while visiting here) to visit with 260 orphans. Hope they’ll be happy to see us; we are taking them bananas, Kit Kat bars and cookies for each one of these kids. We bought way too many bananas tonight (guess you can’t trust the produce guy at Metro) so the orphans that we see later this week in Visoca will no only get new beds but will get bananas daily (bananas are a big treat here). I am looking forward to seeing how God will use us this week. God has put us all here for an important reason, so I ask that you take time to pray for this team as we reach out to these special needs orphans in Slobozia and in Visoca later this week. More to come tomorrow. I should even have pics…

Dan McB

Not One of the BOYZ, but He Doesn't Know It.

OK, I know that I don't blog nearly enough but I have to share this. This past Friday night was Homecoming at Whitehouse. I thought it would be fun to take Jonah down to the field house to see the Varsity football players. I sent a text to Adam Cook (a football coach and friend of mine) and was told what times would be OK. When we arrived at the field, Jonah was focused on seeing the BOYZ and then going to the concession stand (kid has his priorities). Off we went to shake some hands (at times it's like Jonah's a politician). The players that were coming off the field and made a point to swing by where Jonah was standing and shook his hand. Each one of these young men took the time to say a little something to him, it was great. We then went into the field house where Jonah had a captive audience. Before I knew it he had made his way down a row of players and was being hugged by a player. . I was worried about this because Jonah has been known to force his hugs onto people but the more that I observed this the more it looked like this player initiated the hug. Oh how sweet it is to be able to share this 10 year-old bundle of love with others. After the hug, Jonah made his way around the locker room, I am pretty sure he disrupted a player meditating (or sleeping)in order to shake his hand and as the defensive secondary were meeting, Jonah walked up to each player and shook their hands (the coach never even slowed down because of the interruption, he just kept going like everything was normal).. One would think that we were done and now it was time to head to the concession stand but nope, we headed over to interrupt Coach Cook's meeting with the quarterbacks, receivers and running backs. Coach Cook just stepped back and allowed Jonah once again to shake hands and get a few hugs..


Now this would be where I would have thought this great moment would have ended but it gets better. Whitehouse won Homecoming 35-24 and then the chaos of trying to get out of a packed stadium began. While waiting for the crowds to leave, Jonah and I walked along the edge of the bleachers and Jonah said "Go see Football Boyz"? I figured what the heck, we needed to waste some time anyway. Out onto the field we went and boom there was Coach Cook, who stopped what he was doing to shake Jonah's hand and tell him "Thank You for coming to see them". Jonah and I walked around, watching players talk with their families and celebrate the win with their friends. Next thing I know, Justin Bloom is headed for us to shake Jonah's hand again and to get a hug. It was cool watching the interaction between this football player and my son who is built like a lineman (you decide offensive or defensive). That was it our night was complete or so I thought. Out of no where comes Hunter Taylor (our starting quarterback). Hunter squats down to talk with Jonah and get a hug. Next thing I hear from Hunter was "Do you have your camera?" I told him yep and he said, take our picture. Now here is a guy that you would think that would be all over the place talking to people yet he was on his knees next to Jonah. Needless to say, I took their picture, thanked Hunter and went to find Coach Cook so that I could tell him how awesome the players had been with Jonah.

I am not sure that these young men understand the impact that they are having on us. To accept my son the way they have makes me proud to be a Whitehouse Wildcat. No, Jonah will never play football; but maybe, just maybe, he will be a water boy for them and will be able to share his magical love with those that he comes in contact him.

So, if any of the Whitehouse Football team reads this, I THANK YOU. I THANK YOU as the father of a special needs child, for accepting him as he is, for not be afraid to shake his hand or hug him. Someday, you will truly understand the impact that you have on this community.

Dan McBride (aka Jonah's Dad)...