A veces sentimos que lo que hacemos es tan solo una gota en el mar, pero el mar sería menos si le faltara una gota ~ Sometimes we feel that what we do is only a drop in the ocean, but the ocean would be less if it was short of a drop ~ madre teresa de calcutta
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Monday, August 24, 2009
"Money, Sex and Power" Series: Sex III - Sexual Immorality
"Money, Sex and Power" Series: Sex III - Sexual Immorality from Rob McBryde on Vimeo.
This is a portion of the message from the August 2nd, 2009 service at Fellowship North. Harold Nash preached about Sexual Immorality from a man's perspective and then invited Ines McBryde to share from a woman's perspective.
You can download the entire message (MP3) from the church website at the address below...
http://www.fellowshipnorth.net/forms/sermon20090802-2.mp3
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
His/Her Blogs...
Thanks for stopping by.
~Ines
Thursday, June 04, 2009
Has it been that long really?...

So many things have changed since the last time I wrote on my blog! 6 months ago I didn't have a 2 pound baby around 14 inches long growing in my belly. I used to be able to lift my laundry basket full of clothes and I wasn't falling asleep at around 8pm in utter exhaustion. But as I sit here looking at Rob's size 9.5 tennis shoes sitting on the carpet, next to a pair of newborn baby tennis shoes with the tags still on, I have no thoughts of those horrible contractions everyone keeps talking about, which I fear so much. SO! I am a mom, although I haven't given birth, this child moves in me, has a 4-chambered heart according to the ultrasound, can open his eyelids, respond to my voice and Rob's, he burps, hiccups, jumps, does somersaults, kicks me and makes me run to the pee-pee room quickly...
This little boy whom I've never seen is named Robert Nash McBryde. Robert after his daddy. Nash after a couple (Harold and Dena Nash) whom we love and respect. Rob likes to say that he named him "after his daddy, and then after a godly man [Harold]". Haha! The McBryde last name apparently will continue on since he is the last/next male to carry on the name. If we were in Nicaragua, he would also have his mommy's maiden name added to his birth certificate, passport, ID's, and any other government document. So in my mind, he's Robert Nash McBryde Velasquez. hehe! Funny thots. This all sounds so weird! :-)
ANY-ways! August 31, give or take a few days, is coming up real soon. One of several reasons why I waited to have children was the labor pains and the videos in Biology I saw in highschool. But last week in my 1st childbirthing class I realized the inevitable....this baby is coming out, you can't put him back, whether you're ready or not! When we took the hospital tour of *the delivery bed* and I saw those stirrups... I hyperventilated a bit and had mild contractions. HA! People tell me, "Ines, you're strong! don't worry about it!" and I'm thinking...."Are you KIDDING me??!" I'm a woos (sp?) for pain. I can do a lot of *unsafe* things like travel to countries with travel alerts and eat camel meat, but a big head coming out of....well, your body like that, seems *impossible* to me.... BUT, "women have been doing this for AGES!" others tell me...."and they even go back and do it AGAIN! you forget the pain." I want to tell those women: I'll put you on speaker when I'm screaming at the hospital. :-)
It's normal to feel hesitant of unknown territory. Be compassionate with the first-timer. :-) I'm going to bed and keep growing this baby a little more...
~Ines
Monday, May 04, 2009
Wednesday, February 04, 2009
Ping.fm for all you status updating/blogging junkies...
The set up was simple and now I don't have to visit six different websites to post status updates or blogs.
Check it out and make your life simpler. :)
Sincerely,
Rob McB
Thursday, December 18, 2008
~2 x 2 anniversary~

Saturday, November 29, 2008
my name given in the desert is Barca

Monday, November 03, 2008
~remembering a legend~
Yesterday I received the tragic news that one of my heroes in life went to be with the Lord. Like the apostle Paul says, he became "absent in body, but present with the Lord". After crying and mourning for a while, I decided, "wait a minute, he's happy! and wait another minute, this man truly lived for God!" Was there something this man hadn't done?Thursday, September 25, 2008
better write something quick
So instead let me congratulate my "little brother" (who's like a foot taller than me) on turning twenty-seven last Monday. The only reason I still call him my little brother is to remind him that I'm older. ha! My brother Ali is the coolest 27-year old brother you could ever have. Thinking back to the fights growing up, the unnecessary arguments, the petty words said to each other, makes me laugh now. You know that saying, "you don't know what you got, till it's gone"? well, when we both were gone to college is probably when we became better friends and appreciated each other more. Since then we've grown, matured, challenged each other, got upset at each other, forgiven each other, and most important learn to love each other better (loving others the way THEY want to be loved, not the way YOU want to love them). I enjoy talking on the phone with Ali cuz he always says something to make me laugh, but also he always has encouraging words where God speaks directly to me, through him (and don't tell him I say this, cuz you know, he's "little" bro). We both are *tight* now, much different than the hormonal teens we once were.
The latest on my bro is that he's been recommended by the pastor of his church as a candidate to be an elder. My initial first thoughts as a protective sister were, "oh no!!!", because after working in paid-full-time-ministry for several years, I knew the stress & pain (and joy, too, but more pain) this would bring into his life, marriage, etc. But of course, it's an honor to know he's even been considered for such a critical position in the Body of Christ. This has caused much *discussion* and controversy with their elder board because of his young age, so it's up to men to figure that out with God. Good thing it doesn't depend on me! So, when they figure it out, it'd be fun to say that my brother, the elder, is really not the elder of the sibling bunch. He still has to mind me, you know. haha! He really doesn't have to mind me, he does just fine without me!
And now, a blast to the past picture from the 80's when we were visiting Acapulco, in a boat headed to see the "virgin Mary of Guadalupe" statue somewhere in the bottom of the sea (we never saw it, we didn't get a refund for the boat ride either).
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Monday, August 18, 2008
Friday, July 25, 2008
Mafalda says: *present* yourself to make a change
I've worked a night shift (2-11pm) and an early morning 8-hour shift at the hospital in the last 24 hours. Today I literally only sat down for 20 minutes to inhale my lunch. So when I got home I doctored my foot blisters and decided to sit on the couch and read nothing too heavy to rest my brain (and my spine!). I grabbed a comic strip book of one of my favorite cartoons ever (right there with Snoopy): Mafalda. I bought this book in Spain a few years ago to remember this cute little 5 year old Argentinian girl with an inquisitive little mind, who always gets her foot stuck in her mouth, continually asks her parents deep existentialist questions, but also makes you laugh at her innocence! For a 5 year old, she is deeply concerned about humanity, world peace, and rebels against social injustices.
ade me think of Romans 12:1-2 and I had a faith-growing moment meditating on this verse, "Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect."There it is. God in the comic strip. All truth is God's truth! ~Inés
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
avocados, simplicity, thankfulness, new job
My friend Cari works in the slums of Uganda with orphans and 60 year old women who can't read. I was reading her newsletter today and I had to read this about 4 times because it cut thru my heart. Read it slowly so you won't miss what you're supposed to catch. Try to picture it in color:So let me jump around some more. I'm just thankful for all that I have. I'm thankful for a new job. Gas in my car. A rooftop over my head. HEALTH. Clothes that protect me from the elements. Food. A spare bedroom for people who need it. Opportunity to work. Health benefits. And so many more things...
I'm not saying that *things* are important or above people. But when I look around and see all those *things* that have been entrusted to me, that make my life easier and more comfortable, I have to give thanks to God for them, even if it seems silly. Because, if you're not thankful for the little things, why would God give you big things to be entrusted with? Again- NOT that I'm aiming for big things. But you know what I mean. This is not about being materialistic, simply being thankful for even the darnest, stupid, little things that have been given to us as a blessing, in order for us to be a blessing to others. That's the catch.
So today, I'm thankful for the cooler shade provided by Avocado trees.
Friday, July 18, 2008
God forges us into His image and we forge things

Wednesday, July 02, 2008
Even a good house on solid rock needs a little water
I meditated on this while I was driving. You can have a great foundation, but how amazing that the soil's humidity around you can still affect you to the point where your walls crack? So I began thinking that for some time now (more like years), I hadn't been fed on a regular basis in one way that I expected or needed. My previous job description kept me from personally munching on a Sunday morning sermon, meanwhile regurgitating a simultaneously interpreted sermon into another language for someone else to think about. I stretched myself in ways that led to my detriment & deterioration over seven years (only listening to perhaps a dozen sermons without interpreting). True, I did self-feed thru inductive Bible study and learned from others in informal settings. But I realize how much *I* (Inés) need & love the Word of God taught to me, a little, ignorant sheep, from a shepherd. I think back to when Jesus asked Peter 3 times if Peter loved Him, and Peter responded, "Lord, you know I *like* you.", and Jesus would reply to that, "then feed my sheep." What an intense command to Peter! It required not just that Peter *like* Jesus, but that he *love* Jesus, as well as the sheep he would feed! (And do you know who taught me this truth?? Billy Graham's daughter, Anne Graham Lotz, 8 years ago! And I never forget.)

with dry, cracked foundations,
with having received insult and injury, is this:
And satisfy your desire in scorched places,
Saturday, June 28, 2008
i'm having black & red flashbacks
So, many of you know I grew up in Nicaragua. Or, like my husband likes to put it, "she grew up in Communism", as he lovingly makes fun of my stories about when we only had oatmeal and water to eat for breakfast, lunch, and dinner during the Revolution in 1979. The Sandinistas took over and after that, the unwritten rule was that you never wore the colors red and black together, unless, you know, you were with *them*. Many women were angry because those were great fashion combination colors. But, you just didn't want to be associated with the little, tattered red/black flags hanging on TV antennas on people's roofs.
I saw on facebook that many of my high school friends were joining this "march for democracy" in Managua yesterday and I was ultra-curious about what this was. (My friends don't *march* on the *streets*). So I was surprised to see that people of all socio-economic classes, ages, and political affiliations, had joined the "blue and white" march (for the colors of our flag). They're all protesting the current socialist president's pact with the liberal ex-president who happens to be convicted for money-laundering (I went to school with his son). They're protesting against hunger (the price of beans has tripled in the last few months and some can only afford to eat beans twice a week now, THIS is horrendous in my eyes, haha), and they're also protesting against this institutional dictatorship. So women holding babies on their hips, old men, young, ex-revolutionaries, feminist women, bohemian poets, idealist students, the bourgeoisie, all backed up the "blue and white" flag. And this ladies and gentlemen, is a step forward for our country!
I found this funny picture that only Nicaraguans would understand, but I think if you love sarcasm you can still catch a glimpse of how spunky this united march was. Use your imagination and guess *who* in Nicaragua is being *sent* to Venezuela. The little girl alligator is his wife. (you can click on each picture to enlarge)~Ines
