A House For My Kids

Dear Friends!

There is always so much to tell! Sometimes that is what keeps me from updating here. It takes time to sit down and update…these days, there is just not much of that thing called time. I really don’t know what I used to sit around and do!

Anyway, enough of that…the kids are waiting for me and so I must again be brief. Thank you again for checking on us! We love you right back. We are headed out tonight to Oklahoma to sing at a Gospel Barn in Colgate, Ok.  Then we make our way to Lubbock, Texas for two Sundays worth of Churches to sing and share our testimony. We are mad busy in the office filling orders, organizing our business paperwork, doing taxes, getting it all together for the bank as we try to get an approval on a construction loan. Once we get that approval, we will have a small list of things to carry to the city to get the actual building permit to start construction. We are so close! Construction loan approval is the only real hurdle to jump at this point. Should not have any problems getting approved…but there is so much work to do to get it done. Letters to write, taxes to do and show, letters to get from others, and so much more. CD sales are what God sent to us to get to this point. We know that He hasn’t brought us to here for no reason. We are optimistic and excited about things.

I believe that my last blog was about Sean’s hospital stay as I had to take the other children to Texas with me. Well to make it short…God brought some pieces of the puzzle our way after Sean had to go through a Bronchoscopy. We then had a waiting time where we figured out that Sean’s stomach was not emptying out properly and on time and also that the Zantac was causing his appetite to not be what it should be. Once those things were addressed…Sean started eating like a horse and has not let up yet! Are you ready for this?….He gained 6 pounds in a week and a half!!! It is a miracle! He ate 3 6 ounce steaks a day for several days in between snickers bars and anything else we could throw at him. All this while at the hospital! Toward the end of the two week stay…( remember now…I am in Texas in a Winnebago with the other three kids…just soaking up the Sun and eating Bon-Bons! While Diane is working herself to the bones at the hospital with Sean. No TV…no nurses to help…laundry and dishes to wash everyday there in the hospital room…treatments to do 3 times a day since she had no help from nurses…I am being fecitious! I drove and drove and drove…the whole time yelling back at the 3 kids with me to pick that stuff up off of the floor! Grace, stop hitting your sister! Jeffrey, have you and Grace done the vest? Katie, put down that Sharpie! Yes I know you’re all hungry! We’ll get there when we get there! So go use the bathroom if you have to use the bathroom… we’re in an Winnebago for crying out loud! Can I say how much I missed my wife!!) the doctors came in to talk about what all would happen with the feeding tube…wait a minute! We don’t need no stinking feeding tube! Sean is not the same patient that he was when we got here! They agreed and they sent us home. Me and the other 3 got home the same day and we had a real time of rejoicing!!

Here’s a side note…ain’t it amazing how we get back to our own ways after the flood is gone? God showed us so much mercy, Grace, provision, favor and a miracle or two! Once the emergency was over…it was back to business as usual.

‘OK God…Thanks. I got it from here. Ever done that? Seems after a short time that I got back to things as if He hadn’t done a thing for us! Remember the story of Jesus…how just one of the lepers that Jesus healed, came back to give Him glory and honor out of the many in that same group? ( I should stop and look this story up and tell you how many ) Ain’t it something when Jesus speaks specifically to a certain situation…when we find ourselves in that very place.
‘I write this as part confession and encouragement.  Remember that God pays just as much attention to Monday morning as He does Sunday morning! He insists on being the center of our lives when we have money in the bank just the same as when we have nothing and are crying out to Him!  He is so gracious and merciful! He forgives me for failing time and time again. Aren’t you glad that He is always at work in our lives! He has something for each of us to do. A work that each of us is suited for and gifted with for His good purpose. Are you ready?  No…probably not…I’m not…but He makes up all the difference for my shortcomings. Are you ready? Don’t matter…just tell Him that you are willing…He’ll make you ready!

Oh yeah…I got nominated again in the top 10 for the 14th Annual Inspirational Country Music Awards.

Nominated for Male Vocalist of the Year! and for Songwriter of the Year! The show will be aired on The TBN Network!

and they asked me to sing on the awards show with Tammy Cochran!!!   Can you say…Greg, you’re dieting aren’t you?

We are thrilled to see God continue to bless this thing that He gave us to do. Please go to the hyperlink…sign up for membership in The CCMA and hopefully you’ll be in time to get a ballot to vote for The ICM Awards. ( This is strictly for what the publicity will do for our cause…you understand. )

Hey, I gotta go…there’s still a bunch to tell…Sean is sitting here telling me he’s hungry again. Pray for us and Kroger!

gregmcdougal@ahouseformykids.com

615   668-3908

Hey, I am not getting booked into churches unless someone that the pastor knows calls him up and says…’it’s OK…he’s with me’    Please be in prayer about recommending us to a pastor to come to a church near you to tell of God’s grace in our lives and sing a few songs. The kids are now singing ‘The Lighthouse’ in 3 part harmony! The love offerings are how God is providing for the rent and light bill while CD sales go to the house fund! Big church, small church…it does not matter. God is the one who provides! Thanks! Remember to tell a friend about this cause and web site…

Thank You Patrick Thomas and Devon O’Day for your support on Country Spirit that you can hear on WSIX here in Nashville on Sunday mornings 7 to 9 AM.

Thanks to Big D and Bubba and Patrick Thomas for re-airing the interview from last year…we sold a bunch of CDs last week because of it!

Thanks to Les Butler and Salem Communications for playing our songs on The Old Country Church and Front Porch Fellowship! Both of them are syndicated programs playing all over the place!

Thanks to Rich Miller for playing ‘Loving You’ on The Powersource Top 20. Syndicated on over 90 stations across the US. This song is so special to us…and to have so many hear it with Tammy Cochran singing with me on it…Do you see how God has drastically changed our lives through ‘The Work of a Carpenter’?

Dear friends,

Sean has lost alot of weight in the last several months and Diane and I kept thinking that we could get him fattened up. Last Thursday, we were scheduled to leave town to sing at a few churches in Texas. That morning we had to go for a checkup and the doctors felt like the best thing to do was admit Sean because of his respitory numbers still being down and because of his weight loss. They are gonna put in a feeding tube and do a bronchoscopy to help clear his lung of excess mucus. They will also take a look at the reflux situation while they are in there and put in a port for easier access for IV antibiotics. He has had so many PICC lines that it is getting harder to put one in. I am in Texas still with Jeffrey, Katie and Grace. Some of the most precious friends here are helping with them. I am singing in Waxahachie this Sunday morning at the Cowboy Church of Ellis County and then Sunday and Monday night in Liberty Hill at the Cowboy Church of Williamson County. I will also be near Texarkana the following Wednesday night with our friends Richard and Bonnie Webb. I will be trying to stop in at American Standard HVAC in Tyler, Texas to talk with them about their help with their fitration system. Please pray for Sean and Diane as they do the hard work at Vanderbilt Hospital. God is providing all of our needs out here as we are beginning to go out to share these songs and our testimony. Please give me a call if your Pastor would have us come to your Church or any other gathering for that matter. Thanks and God Bless!

We are waiting on Construction Loan Approval!!

gregmcdougal@ahouseformykids.com

615     668-3908

Sean is in the hospital getting IV antibiotics again…this time we’ve found out that we are battling a resistant form of Staph. This is serious…please join us in prayer…Thanks!

gregmcdougal@ahouseformykids.com

615    668-3908

Dear Friends,

Thanks again for checking back…I know that it has been a while since I’ve posted…and it is late now and I won’t be able to tell all there is to tell. First, I need to say that we have already gotten in a hand full of orders for the new duet project…’Try A Little kindness’. Please accept my apologies that we have not filled those orders yet. Two things happened…first, I miscommunicated to our fantastic web site guy about when we were ready to install the ‘buy’ button for that CD…the other thing is that we ran into a last minute snafu on the project that has delayed printing. Please contact me if you have any questions about your order. It should not be much longer than another couple of weeks.

There is so much to tell…I simply don’t have it in me to sit here and type it all correctly. It is almost 11 PM and we have church in the morning. No…I am not whining…but stop to think about what all has to happen to get the four little ones bathed, fed and dressed for church…OK…need I say more? For those of you that know me…it’s quite enough to get me ready and out the door on time…on time being the real issue…

Please go to horsentack.com and consider signing up for an incredible effort on our behalf. Also please tell your friends and family about it. It is really an amazing undertaking and our friends the Holmes are amazing people.

We just got back from Marion, Illinois where we got to be on a show called Rejoice on the TCT Network. Melanie Walker was key in setting that up…her and her husband were so gracious while we were there…the people running and hosting the show treated us like royalty. They are the real deal.

We then traveled to Lexington, Tn. to Kent Heckman’s marriage to the lovely Miss Amy. Kent is the talented young man who put together the video on the front page of our web site. We were so excited to be there…I got to sing ‘Be Thou My Vision’ for the occasion. We hope and pray for the very best for Kent and Amy. Great job, brother Jonathan Gardner… performing his first wedding ceremony!

I gotta go…Diane just called me to help with the remaining duties at putting the kids to bed…yes…we got in late and still had an hour and a half of treatments to do.

God Bless you all.

gregmcdougal@ahouseformykids.com

Dear Friends,

We are at Vanderbilt…we all got sick with the crud while in Florida 2 weeks ago. We were there for a Pastor’s conference that I was scheduled to sing for. Sean has pneumonia, and Jeffrey needed a leg up. We have all been on antibiotics of one kind or another and still not out of the woods. Looks as though Sean will be in Vanderbilt for another week…Jeffrey came home with a PICC line for IV antibiotics. Girls are doing better. I am at Vandy with Sean, while Diane has the others. I have not worked at all through this and am sitting here just knowing that God is the one who will provide. Needless to say…my faith is being tried right about now…but I do believe that it is at times like this, that God uses to grow us. ‘What the enemy means for evil…our God will use for good’

We need to move again…this little house is just too suspect anymore… with us having a recurring pneumonia, I have my doubts about the crawl space. Long story, but I do have doubts.

Please pray for us! We need God’s provision. I am totally laying all that we have and need…at His feet!

There is an event to benefit our cause at Charlie Daniels Park in Mt. Juliet…April 26th. Please e-mail us if you can help. God Bless you all!

gregmcdougal@ahouseformykids.com

615 668-3908

Dear Friends,

I still marvel at the favor that god has given us with all of you! Thanks again for checking in on us! There is so much going on…we are featured in this month’s AtHome Tennessee Magazine! Great article that they did on us! CMT Loaded has clips up of the ICM Awards show up and you can see a very rattled looking Greg McDougal presenting an award…and also the two categories that our project was nominated for… Inspirational Country Music Album of the Year Award and New Artist of the Year Award. You can also look up Star Country Angels Network Charity Online Auction. They are donating this years proceeds to our cause! Please take a look and even contact Estella Pan and let her know how much we appreciate what she’s doing! GAC even posted a blurb about it on their website yesterday! How Cool is that?! I went by GAC offices today to tell them Thank You for that and met a bunch of really great people! I did that while I was downtown to take a few corrections to the surveyor…Crawford Land Surveyors here in Nashville…great people!…hopefully that will be all of the new hoops that the city has us jump through to get the building permit!

I am finding a need for a higher level of organization…in the AtHome magazine article, they quoted me as saying that I am the CEO of 3 or 4 corporations…what I meant by that is…I FEEL like the CEO of 4 corporations with all that there is to do the to move house stuff forward, Home Repair business stuff each day to make a paycheck, and then of course all that there is for a Daddy and Husband to do each day at our house. And now that God has raised the Non profit aspect of all of this and now we are going out to churches to play, sing and tell our story…Are you tired just reading this? I am NOT a multi tasker! And so I am really challenged to fit it all in to a weeks time…

I am praying about and keeping my ears open for an internship program where a student could help us with address and e-mail entry and perhaps some of the marketing stuff. We need someone who is able to do some of the computer stuff that we are so unable to do. Just a thought…trying to take this to the next level! We want to be prepared as an organization. To be more effective in the work that we believe God has set us aside for. All of this while we are desperate to get the house started and finished for our kids!

There may be a pretty big event coming up in February. Might have a big concert here in Mt. Juliet to help us in our cause. I will let you know. I just posted a thing on My Space…google gregmcdougal is a challenge that I have sent out! Corny, I know! But have I mentioned how shameless that I am in my endeavor? If we have a lot of people google gregmcdougal, then it could help with our ratings. That would go a long way in making our case to corporate America when we are trying to get them to help with the Non-profit! Hopefully will also help send alot of traffic to the website to buy CDs! Be sure that you tell your friends and family to google gregmcdougal! Might have some bumper stickers made up!

Also need to get some T shirts made up! Any one interested in a T shirt?

God Bless!

gregmcdougal@ahouseformykids.com

615    668-3908

Dear Friends,

We have experienced a bit of a train wreck in doing some upgrades with our computer! Our E-Mail system is in question and locked up! I wanted to get started with a real ‘hissie’ fit over the situation…then I realized that THIS is not a real problem! Are we in the hospital right now? No! Thank You Lord! We are watching and working on Sean a little to help him fully recover from this years earlier struggle…but we are at home doing it and have alot to be Thankful for! Please bear with us about this little ‘bump in the road’ and continue to pray for us! Thanks and God Bless!

gregmcdougal@ahouseformykids.com

615 668-3908

Dear Friends…

Well, I didn’t get to walk home with an award for Inspirational Country Music Album of the Year…but I won in a big way when I lost to Alan Jackson!!! And a really good man, incredible singer/songwriter and new friend of mine…Russ Murphy… took home the New Artist of the Year. I am also honored to be mentioned in the same category as him!

This years convention was fantastic! I met so many new friends there. God gave me so much favor with everyone! If you have not heard of the Christian Country Music Association, please take a look at their website and consider joining. Faith , Family, and Country is what their founded on. The Power Source magazine is an incredible publication that will keep you in touch with what’s going on with the artists/music ministries in this exciting and growing genre.

Let me share with you what God has done with us this past week…as you know, we plan on turning this whole effort into a non-profit organization so that we can then help other special needs families. Great idea…right? Well God has turned it into more than a great idea…it is now a burning passion with us!

Everytime that we have had to go into the hospital these last nine years with one of our kids…God has sent His people to provide for us! EVERYTIME! Our church family has shown us such an incredible example of Love and servitude. We have now been reminded of this and now are so driven to take this example and pay it forward. When a family has to take their child to the hospital…they need to see God’s love in action! It is such a testament when you show up with provision for a family in a situation where they can’t even think about work or paying the bills…

Any way…we are so excited to move forward with all that we can in order to turn this whole thing into such an important ministry. Still waiting on the final paper work and building permit…but believe me when I say that I know that God will reveal His perfect timing…

We had an awesome time in Texarkana with Becky Braun and Greg Gilbert at the Old Liberty Church this past Friday night. Thanks to all of the dear people that we met there. Please keep in prayer about a family that we met there who have an eight year old son diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis. He has not done so well this past year or so…this is the very situation that we want to help with our non-profit organization…we could go in with an inspection of the home and with our own experiences and perhaps a testing for mold …perhaps help to identify if there is something in their home that is causing trouble. This family is in trouble…please lift them up…

Christa, Linda, Emily, Anna, Sadie, Hannah, Allie, and Kamryn ( FaithFive)…

We will never forget the incredible event that you put together for us down in Graham, Texas! The venue was incredible…( Memorial Auditorium ) FaithFive completely blew us all away with their sincerity and talent! If you are reading this…just know that God showed us a miracle in Graham this past weekend and He set aside an awesome group of people to help get it done. Thanks to the churches that invited me to sing and were such gracious hosts. Thank You to Jerry and Linda Kelley for all that you are…for all the care that you showed to our family…for the incredible plane ride in Mineral Wells, Texas!
( Thanks Linda for holding our girls while they were sleeping )

When my boys got off of the plane…I believe it was Sean that said…’ well…now I know what Texas looks like…”

What an awesome time we had on… really, my first big weekend… that was for all intents and purposes…the beginning of this music ministry. This ministry is simply God’s way of sending us out to begin the non-profit ministry. As different groups invite me out to sing and share our story, it gets us in the door for fund raising…which leads to the means for helping other special needs families…which leads to sharing the Gospel…( sometimes, we may have to use words )

The duet project is in the last stages of getting done…there are still a few artists that I am hoping to get on there…Tammy Cochran sang on ‘Loving You’ last week. She was incredible. The Bellamy Brothers and the Oak Ridge Boys have sent their parts back to us for mixing. Mary James is singing with me on a song called ‘Dancin’ Shoes’. Tommy Brandt is singing the title cut…’Try a Little Kindness’.  Branded is on an old Ricky Skaggs song…’If You Don’t Believe the Bible’. Randy Kohrs is singing and playing on a song called ‘The Great Commission’. This is a song that I sang on a project called Bible Tunes for my friend Ronnie Smith years ago. Hey…Ya’ll go find him at CrossPoint ministries in Utah. Maybe send a little support his way…

Mr Mike Hammock is singing with me on a song that my Aunt Mamie wrote…’I Owe My Life to the Lord’. Mr James Payne is singing ‘ Livin’ by the Book’ in a way that only Mr James Payne can… Melanie Walker is singing the old Dottie Rambo classic…’I just Came to Talk With You Lord’. Mike Rimmey so graciously spent his own money to fly down here and sing the second verse and Chorus on ‘The Light House’. Several of the artists on this project also participated at their own expense! Thank You! I am still hoping to have as many other Christian Country Artists on this as possible…I hope I get to…

Thank You to Vic Sumerall and Mike Sosin of Hand In Bridge Management who came with determination and investment money to get this project done! Thank you to Robert Jason, Jon Conley and Brad Vosburg. To Robert and Jon for vision, professionalism and just raw talent as producers…and to Brad of Fox Mountain Productions for an awesome recording studio and a real class act…as an engineer!
If you are reading this…please know that God has turned all of this into a way bigger thing than us! Please pray about partnering up with us to fund such an awesome and urgent mission once we get the non-profit organization set up. Also please consider partnering with us for our house to get built for our kids sakes…buy lots of CDs!…All of this is more than we can get done ourselves. I am still putting on a tool belt to do home repair and remodeling each day to make a paycheck. I am finding that harder and harder to do each week as this thing turns more and more into a juggernaut of an endeavor. I feel like the CEO of four corporations…just trying to move it all forward. God continues to make a way and to bring each new piece of the puzzle. Please pray and ask God if this is something that He would want you to support. Whether it be our kid’s special house…( which will be built ) or the non-profit organization to help other special needs families… or simply to be a part of helping to launch and support a new music ministry aimed at sharing our story of God’s grace in our lives. We want to see lives change the way ours has… ever since Jesus Christ came in! He told Peter…” If you love me…than feed my sheep”

You can help us to go out and feed His sheep.

We’ve been set aside for a time such as this!

God Bless!

gregmcdougal@ahouseformykids.com

PO Box 1756

Mt Juliet, Tn. 37121

615     668-3908

For the house for our kids or the non-profit organization to help other special needs families…make checks out to…ahouseformykids

to support Diane and I as we launch our life’s work…make checks out to Greg McDougal

PS….we do not have the non-profit organization set up yet…it is pending…any funds sent to ahouseformykids, will go toward building the house…once that is done, we will launch the non-profit and the leftover funds will go to that. I am in the process of becoming a 501C3 corporation for the music ministry. Please contact us if you have any questions. Thank you! God is raising his people up for a mighty work!

Dear Friends,

God is so good! This little project of ours has been really picking up steam lately. Go back and read some of the early blogs and see that some of the things that are happening now were part of what we were hoping to happen. Notably, that we would get as much attention to our cause as possible. I just got a look at the Bellamy Brother’s website…they have a picture and link to us. The Inspirational Country Music Awards show is coming Nov. 4th and they’ve asked me to be a presenter along with the nominations for Album of the Year and New Artist of the Year. Estella Pan of Star Country Media has sent out a major press release telling of her online charity auction to benefit our cause.  Last Wednesday, I made an appearance on ‘Bridges’ a show on channel 39…an affiliate of CTN here in Nashville. It was incredible! Monica Schmelter, the host, was absolutely riveting and gracious with her genuine concern to help us get the word out. Valerie James, the producer was so much help and encouragement. The camera crew prayed before we shot the segment of me singing. This show is the real deal! I have concerts in Texas, Oklahoma, Mississippi, and Florida in the month of November. God has really set us on a path here toward a ministry of helping other special needs families….the same way that we’ve received so much help! We got our final plat on Thursday of last week and now are waiting on what the city says about that. Thanks for checking in….please let me know if you would like to go to the ICM Awards show….I can get a discount on the tickets.

God Bless!

gregmcdougal@ahouseformykids.com

615     668-3908