Best of Facebook: November 2016

11/8/2016: Click here to see photo slideshow on FB:

With all the stress I am seeing during this election let's lighten it up with some adorable pictures of our mama hen and her new babies!

We were walking inside and a chicken was laying under our porch. I looked, shook my head, and yelled to one of the kids, "hey, come catch this chicken and put her back in the fence!" Just as I am setting down my keys ready to sit for a short moment I hear what sounds like a thousand feet come trampling in. I can feel myself beginning to boil over because they were disturbing my very momentary peace with their elephant stampede and obviously not catching a chicken like I asked. I took a deep breath and just as I was about to let out my tirade they interrupted, "MOM! MOM! MOOOOOOOMMMMMM!!!! You have to come SEE!!! Don't ask, just COME!"

This better be good.

And it was. That chicken I was disgruntled with was also trying to get some peace away. But for different reasons than I. She wasn't wanting a selfish escape like me. No, under her puffed up feathers she was keeping, not one, not two but, eight tiny babies warm. While I was ready to scatter all my kids hearts in the cold by yelling in my selfish frustrations this hen was keeping all her babies warm and so close that all their little hearts and hers beat as one.

I grabbed my camera and the kids and I all laid flat on our bellies in the dirt gathering close to capture in our memories the beauty of new life.

11/9/2016: Click here to see photo on FB:

Let's spend more time being light in the darkness and less time pointing out the fact that it is dark...

We were all up far too late last night watching as polls come in. We woke up in a new day in the same world. We woke up with the same call to love our neighbor in a very immoral world run by immoral leaders.

Our new president isn't going to personally free the oppressed, help the suffering and feed the hungry but we can. Sharing love, helping others and spreading the gospel of Jesus is our command. Let's focus more on being the light in darkness and less on pointing out the darkness.

"If you extend your soul to the hungry
And satisfy the afflicted soul,
Then your light shall dawn in the darkness,
And your darkness shall be as the noonday.
The Lord will guide you continually,
And satisfy your soul in drought,
And strengthen your bones;
You shall be like a watered garden,
And like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail."
Isaiah 58:10-11

11/10/2016: Click here to see photo on FB:

We had the opportunity to teach friends how to process a sheep their family raised. We spent hours skinning, cutting and grinding meat. We were able to pray over the preciousness of life, learn about the intricate anatomy God created and express great thankfulness for the meat He provided.

It was a process that makes you express a multitude of emotions and one in which many of us are very disconnected with. Everytime it is a somber reminder that we are all created for a purpose. A purpose, not to live the "American dream" (focused on our own prosperity and what president will give us the most of it) but, to give up ourselves up to serve others.

We all know the verse:
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life." John 3:16

And God in flesh being our example we are to be imitators of God: "Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma." Ephesians 5:1-2

So our reminder: "By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers." 1 John 3:16

11/13/2016: Click here to see photo on FB:

"Forgiveness looks wrong in the eye, it names wrong for what it is and feels the sting. Then it consciously acts "unfairly" in return. Anger is all about fairness. But forgiveness is mercifully unfair. You choose not to give back what seems fair, just or reasonable.

Forgiveness does not ignore what's wrong. It does not excuse it. It does not pretend the person didn't really mean it. Instead, it recognizes that a debt is owed and it forgives the debt.

Forgiveness means you don't get what you deserve. Because God is "unfair," we have hope. Instead of fairness, you get someone who is deadly serious about wrong but acts on your behalf in ways that are inconceivably unfair."
- Good and Angry by David Powlison, pg. 80, 81

"The Lord our God is merciful and forgiving, even though we have rebelled against him;" Dan. 9:9

"In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace" Eph. 1:7

"But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." Rom. 5:8

11/21/2016: Click here to see photo on FB:

Goodness, look at this little lady! Some days I just can't believe that my youngest baby is five. This morning I was going thru and donating lots of clothes when Maggie liked one of my knee-length skirts. So we quickly added a little elastic waist band to fit her and it turned out adorable!

11/25/2016: Click here to see photo on FB:

So proud of our sweet AnnaBritt girl! When we first put her on Cherrio, our mini horse, she yelled, "off...off...OFF!" She was afraid, had no balance and would slip off from side to side as the horse walked. I would have to walk with her and hold her on to reassure her she could do it.

Now she uses her feet in the stirrups to balance herself as the horse's natural sway tilts her body gently from side to side and she uses her hands to clasp the saddle horn and hold on as she rides. But best of all she loves it! Smiling, laughing and cheering all the way   She don't let her Cerebral Palsy get her down!

11/27/2016: Click to see post on FB:

Amen! Posted by my super friend with 15 kiddos (12 adopted)!

11/28/2016: Click here to see photo on FB:

The last post we shared caused a little rift so let me see if I can clarify. Christians like to throw around the word "calling" like Jesus will audibly express His great call for your life one day. This misconception leaves many young Christians I talk to confused and often thinking they aren't "called to ministry" or the "missed their calling." When the Bible uses the word "called" it is almost always referring to God calling His people to Himself through salvation.

Once we are saved we are no longer called but commanded to minister to fellow believers, to share the gospel and to love (in an active way by doing) all the people God created. Some Christians are not called to minister and share and love....we are ALL commanded to. How each of us uses the gifting God endowed us with will look different. Different not non-existent. For if our service to others is non-existent we are called, excuse me, commanded to examine ourselves! See 2 Peter 1:1-15

The most unloving thing to do is to sit by and let our churches continue to flow at lukewarm temperatures. God says, "you were neither hot nor cold so I spit you out of my mouth." If there were no homeless people to be found on the streets, if every sick and lonely patient in the hospital or nursing home had a visitor, if hunger and thirst was not something people knew deeply, if babies and children were no longer languishing in overcrowded institutions and orphanages then this post would have no ground. Where are our churches?

I will speak up. I see these little ones without mommies and daddies. Too many. I see these little ones growing up knowing more about hurt, pain and loss than about love, joy and gain. Too many. I see these little ones wondering why has God not loved me enough to send me a family. Too many.

But many more are the Christians I see. Churches full with many mommies and daddies. Many who have a little joy to share, a little more love to share and an eternity of gain to share. Many I see could be a family for a little one....but many say they are not called.

This is not a judgment declared. This is an observation proclaimed. We adopt, not because we were called, but because we were adopted. In other words, we actively love because we were actively loved.

Posted by Shannon

DEBT FREEDOM! A Story Only God Could Write!

Since our very first announcement of Plan Move and our debt-free journey back in May of 2013 we have been on a roller coaster of a ride. Now we can look back and see how God perfectly directed each and every step!

To think since then we have saved up and paid over $60,000 to own two properties, and adopted two children! Wow!

This post is the follow-up to point out the very hand of God throughout our debt-free journey....let's start at the beginning!

In May 2013, "The Next Great Leap" we announced the blind leap of faith we were about to embark on. Destination: debt-freedom!

We had already paid off all car, loan and credit card debt thanks to Dave Ramsey's snow-ball techniques before the kids joined us. Shortly after making them ours we made the decision that the kids needed one stay at home parent more than they needed the pretty house in a cookie-cutter neighborhood. We realized paying our $250,000 mortgage would be a long and uphill battle that, frankly, didn't have the energy for. 

So we outlined our plan, contacted our realtor and prepared for the journey ahead. We figured if living a year or two in our 300sqft motorhome at an RV park meant paying cash for whatever house we wanted then we were so there! And we were off, "Alright God lead us!"

In August 2013, "Do You Ever Slow Down!?!" everything was happening so fast!

Our house sold the moment we got the "for sale" sign in the ground before it was even listed. We sold all our stuff and prepared to move yet didn't quite know where but as fast as the house sold we found and purchased a 7 acre plot of raw land that was beautifully trashed. We thought we could clear enough to temporarily park our motorhome on it while we saved up money to build....but God had other plans.... 

In November 2013, "So...Are You Moving or What?" we were working hard to get our land ready before Dec. 6th, the closing date on our house.

We found out that temporary housing permits restricted people from living in motorhomes in our county which put us in a bind...we have a month to get out of our house and we were now the owners of a 7 acre property but we couldn't live on it. What were we going to do and what was God up to!?!

November was also the month that God began tugging hard at our hearts making it clear that we needed to renew our homestudy again and be ready to open our home to another child...sounds crazy because at the time we didn't have a home! But God always knows and is in control. Read more here: "It is Not a Good Time"

In early December just before we moved out we were made aware of a tiny trailer on 4 acres for sale, we made the decision to take out a very small loan and buy it with the plan to pay it off in one year. That same month we were matched with our son, Sam. If we had been set on our plan to move into our RV and set on not borrowing money we wouldn't have been able to bring our amazing Sam home! 

In January 2014, "Debt Free Here We Come" we shared details and pictures of our new tiny home!

This tiny house was nothing special, it was a lot of work and we were hesitant about getting into debt to get out of debt. But if we had been set on our plan to move into our RV and set on not borrowing money we wouldn't have been able to bring our amazing Sam home! God knew what He was doing for sure and we grew to love that tiny house!!!

In December 2014 exactly one year since moving into our tiny (now paid off) home we were felt a strong pull to move out to our original 7 acre raw property. How? We owned the land but we knew that building a home or buying a mobile home to move out there would mean taking out another loan....the whole point was to get out of debt so why such a strong pull, God?

In December 2014, "Move in Progress" as quickly as we thought about moving again it became a reality. 

After finding a realtor who sold repo mobile homes we only viewed a few before we found our new home. God worked out the miracle of interest-free financing quickly and now we had enough to buy the home, move it out to our property and put in water, electric and septic. The repayment plan for the loan was one year. Although not debt-free, we were moving again. It was happening.  

In February 2015, "Feels Like a Mansion" we had finished all construction and repairs, were moved in and settled. 

As soon as we had hung up the last picture and began to take a breather we were contacted about a little girl, our Brittney. We can see now that if we had stayed in our tiny house another year as we saved up money to pay cash for this new home we wouldn't have been able to take her. Our tiny house could never become handicap accessible. We would have missed out on our sweet and joyful blessing that we have in Brittney!

In June 2015 we brought our sweet girl home!

In February 2016, one year after we moved into our current home we paid off our $20,000 loan! We were now mortgage-free!

DEBT FREEDOM!!!

In May 2016 just three years after we announced our original debt free journey we paid off a couple more small debts and are now proud to announce that we are DEBT FREE!

It certainly took some determination and focus but most of all it took the ability to be in tune with the Holy Spirits promptings and the readiness to trust God wherever He led us. We could have been debt free sooner. We could have chosen to not borrow another dime. But we just may have missed out on two great blessings if we had! 

Now on to the journey of farming, self-sustainablity and starting our own family business...and who knows, maybe another blessing on the way! ;)

Click here to see our business, Redemptive Love Farm, page

Posted by Shannon

Best of Facebook: March 2016

3/2/2016: Click here to see photo on FB:

You guys are truly the best! We went back to the hospital today for our weekly check-up and were greeted by very excited nurses and staff who told us mail has poured in for Brittney! We left with 30+ letters and packages from CA, FL, GA, IL, KY, MD, MO, NC, NY, PA, TX, UT, VA, VT, WA, WV and Germany!

We have been so busy playing catch-up with laundry and on the farm, gearing up for our springtime garden and petting zoos booked every weekend! Brittney is home with us for 2-3 more weeks until her external PICC line is replaced with a new internal Chest Port. These thoughtful presents and stickers will keep her occupied while we continue our catch-up work. :) Thank you!!! Seriously, you people are awesome!

3/16/2016: Click here to see photo on FB:

Visited the hospital today for Britt's weekly PICC line dressing change and we recieved more sticker mail from Australia (x2), Canada, FL, NC, OH, OR, and VA. Thank you so much! With Brittney's severe vision impairment she loves feeling the stickers on her fingers then on the paper! You have greatly blessed our girlie! Thank you!

3/18/2016: Click here to see shared blog post:

We may not all be called to adoption but we are all called to sacrifice. A favorite post from a year ago!

"We definitely don’t feel we were audibly “called” by God to adopt children. We were called to follow God and sacrifice all for Him. As we surrendered we followed God where His heart is. His heart is with the poor, the needy and the orphaned, therefore that is where we followed Him. Are we “called?” Yes, called to love others as ourselves. We don’t want to be poor, hungry or without parents so why would we leave others in that condition? Did we always want to adopt? Absolutely not." Read more on the blog:

3/19/2016: Click here to see photo on FB:

I know I haven't posted a lot of just day to day stuff lately but here is Britt helping big sister weed a garden box today. When Britt came to us she wasn't fond of the outdoors, was terrified of dogs and didn't want anything to do with the farm animals. We can't blame her, she spent most of her life in hospital rooms and sterile medical foster homes being cared for by nurses.

But now she adores our dog, Fez, rides ponies and look at her finally being a kid and getting her hands dirty!!! Makes my heart happy!

3/23/2016: Click here to see post on FB:

Memory from 4 years ago:
"As I sit here, filling out our foster care re-license packet for 2012 I am listening to Mulan playing in the background coupled with random bursts of laughter, crunching popcorn and the occasional "mom, did you hear that!?! that was so funny!" I take comfort that I could walk down the hallway and in either room gaze upon a precious sleeping baby. I rejoice at new-found memories today of playing 5 person softball in an empty field across from our house, running like my life depended on it and cheering until I was hoarse. How did I ever live without this!?! Looking at this packet makes tears well as I remember how last year I was so grieved with a deep longing and the pain of emptiness. God how good and sovereign You are, how you make us wait for Your perfect plan. This was worth waiting for!"

Is there a longing in you to be a mommy? Are you in the waiting/paperwork time of your adoption? Trust in the Lord and He will give more freely and abundantly than you could have ever imagined!!!

3/31/2016: Click here to see photo on FB:

"Mom there is a woman at our gate taking pictures!"
I was a mess and busy inside making a dozen costumes for the upcoming parade but I stopped and went out to greet this woman. She was having a big party and wanted us to bring our menagerie of animals, so she just stopped by due to our petting zoo sign out front. Just as I was finishing up a short tour of our farm one of the the kids ran outside to greet this stranger, now client....
"Um....who is that?"
I looked at my fully costumed child, "oh, that is just one of the Oompah-Loompahs that run our farm...."

If you ever feel like a crazy person, don't worry, we have somehow out-crazied you for sure!!! :D

Posted by Shannon

Though You Feel Inadequate, Small or Weak, Do You Trust Me?

"Today I am going to teach you to swim." Daddy says as he kneels down to meet his daughter's eyes.

"Oh daddy!?! But I am afraid I will drown and die for ever and ever if I even try to swim!" His daughter exclaimed as she threw herself into his arms.

"Can you trust me? Can you trust that I will catch you and hold your head above the waves so that you shall not drown and die forever and ever?" The corners of daddy's lips were curling into a smile before he repeated the last of his daughter's dramatic fate.

Daughter spoke softly before her lips grazed his cheek, "Yes daddy. I trust you." After some time had passed and they drove on and on daughter realized she did not recognize the surroundings passing by her window, "Daddy? I thought we would be going to the pool at the community center? Aren't you going to teach me to swim today?"

"Yes, but we aren't going to the pool. We are going to where the rocky ledge meets the ocean." Daddy pronounced without hesitation.

Daughter's imagination exploded as she painstakingly tried to remember this place her father spoke of, "I don't think I have been there before, daddy." Before daddy could answer they had arrived at the aforesaid rocky ledge and daughter's imaginations and fears revealed to be true. Daddy slowly navigated down the rocks and into the angry waters. He beckoned for daughter to come to the cliff's ledge and jump.

Daughter looked down at her daddy's small, distant body below with his arms outstretched toward her but then her gaze was deterred as she caught glimpse of the jagged rocks one upon the other down, down, down where they were met with crashing, thundering waves violently thrashing about. Her daddy was in the midst of it all still calmly beckoning her to come. The daughter's eyes grew wide and her body stiff as fear gripped her every member and her lip began to quiver. "Daddy, I can't." She cried as loud as she could.

"Do you trust me?" Daddy yelled over the ferocious beating of the waves. Daughter trusted her daddy with every ounce of her being. She loved him dearly and would follow him to the ends of the earth. So why this hesitation now? Why the lack of faith in her faithful daddy?Why the lack of trust in her never-promise-breaking father? Daughter quickly swallowed her emotions, informed her fears, closed her eyes and let her body leap off the rocks solid ledge and felt the wind and cool water splashing against her face as she fell down, down, down to the hurling waves below.

Her father beamed proudly as he held his daughter's feather-light body above the water and coached her on breathing, kicking, staying afloat and all things swimming.

Suddenly a gigantic wave ambushed them hiding them both under it's flood of water. Daughter gasped for air struggling for all her might. She finally felt her daddy's hands around her waist, "Daddy!!! I can't! This is too much for me and I thought you were gone."

"Do you trust me? Daughter, even if you don't see me for a time, I am here. I will not leave you."

The light glazed over the clouds in a palate of red, yellow and orange. Before their long drive home daddy and daughter enjoyed the quiet, sparkling sunset. "Daddy, why didn't we just go to the pool where it is safe and fun and where I wouldn't be afraid?"

"Oh Daughter, this was all just a picture to point you to God. One day God, your heavenly Father, may call you to scary and turbulent waters and I want you to obey and trust Him with the same faith that you trust me, your earthly father. I want you to know that when you feel overwhelmed and struggling and when the waves seem to take you under and you can't see Him, He will still be there upholding you with His strong arm. When people see one who is weak and small swimming in these impossible waters they will see and glorify your powerful Father in heaven who is your help! Do not be afraid, dear daughter, for your God will never leave you or forsake you. Swim strong for Him in this life in the same way you swam for me today."

This analogy or parable came to me as I sat in the bathroom late at night this past week, crying out to God to show me what I am to do. I was letting Him know how scared, weak and little I felt. How inadequate and ill-equipped I felt about doing what I felt He was asking me to do. He answered me quickly. I had to jump up and grab a pen and paper as a story poured out and filled a blank page. God was asking me to jump.

Just jump. Think later. Ask later.

But now, just swallow my fear, extend trust, obey His still, small voice and jump. Jump I did.

"Okay God, I trust you to catch me."

An amazing peace came over me and this past weekend. Grace was utterly poured out over me and pumped through my veins! Tough days will come for sure but, for now, for this day, My grace is sufficient for you.

God confirmed so many of the teachings in my heart through our pastor's sermon this past Sunday.

Watch if you want to be encouraged and challenged.

Here is a snippet:
"Serving God is about to become joyful for one woman and painful for another..."I am a bondslave of the Lord," she says, "I am owned by Him, I have no life outside of Him." That's what it means to be a bondslave. Mary is acknowledging that that is her position before God and if this is what God has for me than that is what I will do. His will be done in my... life. She does not question, she does not say, "I'll do it as long as it does not mess up my wedding plans." She doesn't say any of those things.

You have to ask yourself, "Would I still serve God if He did that to my life all of a sudden? If there was some unexpected event that came into my life, would I still be a bondslave of God? Would I still be willing to say, Thy will be done? Or would I hold on to my agenda and say, "No God, I have to think about this one, God. As long as it fits in with my plans, yes, but if it doesn't I am most likely not willing to go along." I fear too many of us would have that perspective. As long as it is what I want. As long as all the circumstances are right. And all the questions are answered then I'll do what you want.

A bondslave does not think like that." -Pastor Rod Bunton

Luke 9:23 "And He was saying to them all, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me."

And the sermon keeps going and gets better! Set aside an hour and watch it :)

Then just following that amazing sermon our church held a beautiful adoption shower to honor Brittney, who is soon to join our family!

Last Sunday our church, Grace Church, lavished their love and grace on our family through throwing a beautiful shower honoring our upcoming adoption of Brittney! She is already so loved by our church family that we cannot wait for her to join our family! I hope to share more pictures of the adoption shower later in a full blog post. Here is a little snippet of what I shared at the shower while telling more about Brittney and speaking about how God is working in our life through this adoption:

"God has taught us a lot since that initial call in January where I shook with shock, "Lord, You wouldn't call us to parent a special needs child, would you?" I pleaded my case, "Lord, I don't fee worthy of the ones You already placed in our care, how can I rise up to care for one even more needy?" My lips kept our commitment as I uttered, "Yes, we will take her." but my heart raced, my thoughts presented excuse after excuse and my eyes opened the floodgates of worry. I am normal, made of flesh, weak and seeking the path of least resistance. But God had great grace and favor on me and, ever so gently, is teaching me, again, what His great and boundless love looks like.

Love sees past our abilities or disabilities, but sees in us intrinsic value because we are made in the image of our Creator. Love sees past our blemished history, but sees our future hope as adopted heirs to a Father of an extraordinary inheritance. Love see not the challenges too difficult to overcome, but sees a great Savior that has overcome all difficulties and that has lovingly bestowed His perfect strength and grace upon us.

God has turned that initial great fear into greater expectation. I stand here excited to tell you that this little girl is my future daughter. Despite her history of neglect God is writing her story of hope. Despite her languishing as an orphan in fostercare, God has not left her but has brought her a family. And despite her label as "unadoptable" she is wanted and dearly loved. Although, I would never wish another child to ever live through a story like Brittney's I do wish every child in her same plight had someone to rise up and say, "They are wanted and loved by God so we will love them and adopt them as our own!"


Posted by ShannonSoli Deo gloria - Glory to God alone 

Best of Facebook: April 2015

4/7/15: Click here to see post on FB: 

We have Brittany for our first unsupervised visit! Yay!


4/13/15: Click here to see photos on FB:

Our week of packing begins today! We will be packing our entire RV for 8 people and cooking and freezing a weeks worth of meals so it can be a true vacation for mom too ;) By Saturday we hope to be on our way to Big Sandy, TX for our yearly family camp and conference! The kids are beyond giddy with excitement and super motivated to be helpful so we can leave as soon as possible!

Busy has been the theme of our life lately. I'll use just last week as an example. Sunday we cooked a big Easter lunch and had an amazing Easter Sunday with several friends, which longer than the planned lunch and included a nerf gun war, Super Smash Bros tournament, dinner, long conversation and a movie. Monday we packed quickly, dropped off our puppies and kids at two faraway friend's houses and drove to Orlando to see Brittany, Tuesday it was just Brian and I but a full day of doctor appt, medical trainings and visiting with our daughter-to-be, Wednesday I prepped a powerpoint during the car ride home and rolled into town just in time to pick up kids and puppies and host our 4-H group for a class about fostering orphaned animals and bottle feeding puppies. Thursday after our weekly bible study we caught up on some farm chores and I took my biggest girl to the "life-saver dinner" where she was honored by raising over $2500 for our local Women's Pregnancy Center. Friday we finished some fencing, built some garden trellises, and built two whelping pens for our two very pregnant piggies to give birth in peace. Saturday finished it off by having old friends over so we could teach them how to butcher their own chickens (at their request) and we attended FSU's Kids Brain Fair where we had a great time learning all about how God designed our amazing brains to work! Add to this week meals, daily chores, school, farming, gardening and bottle feeding puppies every 4 hours!

I like the term "full" instead of "busy." We haven't intentionally filled up our schedule but we often find ourselves in a spot where important, memorable events pile themselves up all in the same week or even day! We try to prioritize our lives with people first. If someone calls and says, "Hey, we would love to come by today and visit" or "Can you guys come to help us build a fence this week?" or "Are you available to watch my kids for a couple hours?" then we will always postpone our farm projects, cleaning or even homeschooling to make time for the most important things in life, people!

There are no interruptions to our plans, just God ordained plans that we are made aware of, so we put our own plans on hold for His. Now if I can remember to not hold my plans for this week so tightly-fisted and view every interruption as an invitation to participate in God's perfect plan and put my own on hold!

4/16/15: Click here to see photo on FB:

The kiddos had their last day of our weekly homeschool co-op on Tuesday. The end of the year presentation was very cute showing off much of what they learned throughout the year in Latin, Literature, Bible, History, Science, and Music/Art.

With our homeschool co-op, 4-H, Awana and bible study all taking breaks for the summer we are looking forward to a slower season (Lord willing!).

The past two days have been filled with tremendous amounts of list making, directing, cooking, packing, and cleaning. We take off tomorrow night for Big Sandy, TX for our annual family camp and conference. All our meals are cooked and frozen and most all of our stuff is packed away in the RV. Just some last minute preparations and shopping trip left. If I can get through tomorrow without coming unglued that would be a miracle!

4/17/15: Click here to see photo on FB:

We are finally on the road headed to Big Sandy, TX for a week of camping and fellowship! Our goal was to be on the road by 6pm tonight, well we took this picture as we loaded up at 5pm, an hour ahead of schedule. That is pretty good. Especially since we were out for 6 hours this morning finishing up last minute errands, at a total of 12 different stops, then 3 more hours of last minute prep and packing and we were still out ahead of schedule. And best part!?! I didn't come unglued once today, no yelling, no anxiety, no freak-out mode. Preparing for large trips with a large family typically sends me over the edge pretty easily, God is definitely at work, thank you for your prayers! :)

That isn't the end of the story. We took this cute pic, pulled out of our driveway and were happily cruising along. Brian turned to me and said, "Hon, we forgot to pray just before we left for our traveling." I wish we would have pulled over that moment, "We are about to stop at this gas station to fill up on gas and fill our propane tank, we will pray then." The excited chatter from the kids was bubbling over and the little ones ansy-ness from sitting in a car all day was beginning to become a distraction. Just 30 miles down the interstate we stopped for gas, then filled our propane tank then made sure our grey water tanks were emptied. That is when we noticed we had some major problems. Problem 1, our fridge wasn't turning back on. We had 4-6 hours before we would lose a week's worth of meals and preparation. Problem 2, both our batteries died and our RV wouldn't start. We called our roadside service, It would be $190 to send someone out to diagnose the problem.

"Babe, what did we not do?" We all unloaded and surrounded the front of the RV, laying our hands on the battery, "God we are so sorry we didn't come to You first. Please forgive us. Lord, we are taking this trip to deepen our love and faith in You, please help us."
We opened our eyes and saw a young college student at the next gas pump, "You need a jump?" Oh, yes!!! The moment those jumper cables were on our RV started right up and the fridge turned on. After a two hour delay we are back in business and this time we will keep prayer closer to our hearts. :)

4/29/15: Click here to see article on FB:

We were recently tagged in a friend's post on supporting adoptive parents and we wanted to continue the conversation here.

"I was speaking to an adoptive family recently and they said, "EVERYONE is called to support adoption. You may not personally be able to adopt right now, but you are still called to support adoption. And you do that by supporting the families that have (or are working to) adopted now." Yes, YOU!

Christian or not, you are responsible to support those in our community who have gathered the courage to bring new children into their home. But how? Well, this article is a starting point.

And maybe some of my adoptive/foster family friends could chime in on how we can best support you."-Jen Brown

This article has some great and practical ideas. Our church was kind enough to think of throwing a shower for Brittany this time around. While our other children have never had a shower thrown on their behalf our church and community always brought us meals and material needs within those first weeks home.

Click here to see article: How to Support Adoptive Families

Posted by Shannon

Is Adoption a Calling?

We dreamed of our future family. Our perfectly planned two child family. One boy and one girl, in that order. Well, maybe a third, but only if we didn’t get our two genders on the first two tries. We had our two baby names picked out. One boy and one girl. We were already following the American Dream step by step. Nice apartment as newlyweds. Two brand new cars. Then a big mortgage on a big beautiful house. Add in our credit cards, beautiful financed furniture, stylish, new clothing that we never had time to wear because we were always working in our uniforms, nice dinners out every other night and big, expensive vacations. Isn’t two kids, a 50 hour work week, a truck load of debt and a life of living far above our means the normal American Dream? We were normal. We were happy.

But then we were hit by a whirlwind. We were pursued and our hearts were captured. The desire to live a life of the American Dream was torn from our minds and replaced with a new desire. A desire to lose our lives. A desire to give up our lives to serve. A desire to serve others until the end of our lives. A desire to please, honor and obey the One who laid down His life as a ransom for ours. A desire to be willing to be used in any way that He would chose to use us to further His kingdom and for His glory.

"Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” Matthew 20:28 

We gave our perfect future family to God. We asked God to choose for us how many children we would have and asked Him to build our family in any way He chose, through birth or adoption. We put our life spent chasing the American Dream on the altar. We sold our cars and bought ones we could afford with cash. We sold our house and bought one we could afford with cash. We gave up one income so we could best care for the blessings God gave to us through adoption. We live within our means and by God’s provision through tight budgeting, growing and raising much of our own food, buying used clothing, items and furniture from second hand and thrift stores. God changed all aspects of our dreams, our desires, and our lives.

“Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present you 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.” Romans 12:1-2

When we are born again we truly are new creatures. We serve a new King, in a new community. We are no longer part of this world but aliens from a distant land just passing through. While we are here we serve our King through serving others. But how do we know our calling? How do we know God’s will for this new life?

“For this is the will of God, your sanctification;” 1 Thessalonians 4:3a

When God saved us we were instantly justified. We were forgiven, washed clean and made new creatures in Christ. Our justification was like standing in front of the judge as Christ petitioned to adopt us as His own. We were adopted in that moment. Justification says “you are My child,” sanctification says “now live like you are My child.” Sanctification is the life long process of our lives becoming more and more like Christ. One of my favorite verses is 1 Peter 1:6-9 where God compares this process of the testing and building of our faith to that of a blacksmith as he plunges the gray stone into the fire. As the flames lick this stone slowly the dross melts away into the heat and revealed is a brilliant, shimmering yellow malleable liquid that we call gold. That is us. What a picture. But do we step in the fire willingly? Do we kick and scream and fight when it gets too hot? Are we keeping our eyes glued to our future hope? To Jesus who is more precious than gold and whose image we are conforming to?

Sanctification hurts. It is like being thrust into fire. It burns. But sanctification comes with a great promise! That we will one day be as precious and shining as gold. A promise that one day we will see glorification. A day when we will be finished, given and new imperishable body and taken to our permanent, eternal home. Oh, how there are days I am so homesick and long earnestly for that day. Lord, Your will be done, Your kingdom come.

“And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to becomes conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; and these whom He predestined He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us?” Romans 8:28-31

As we walk through this Christian life, as we walk through our sanctification God will continue to work on us by putting His Word into our mind (“cognition”). He will then plant seeds of “conviction” that will one day bear the fruit of “affection.” Terms were taken from this article, The Steps of Biblical Sanctificaion by John MacArthur.

To turn this post to our heart for adoption, let me say that as we allowed God’s Word to sink deep into our hearts our cognition of God’s character deepened. We see that God loves and cares for the orphan. Because we are being conformed to Jesus’ likeness we therefore will also love and care for the orphan. We see that God created all humans in His image and put an intrinsic value on every child regardless of their physical, emotional or mental capabilities. We value life, all life, because God does. We truly believe that God will place this same cognition in the minds of all His people at some point in their sanctification. That cognition is the seed that grows into a plant of conviction. Because God values all life and loves the orphan we grow a conviction as God’s people to step up and put those words into action.

That conviction will come in many ways but often is in the form of adoption. Everyone we talk to about our family always says something like, “we have thought about adoption one day.” I have never met a Christian that didn’t mention their personal love for adoption. Because, we believe, God has written His love for adoption on all of our hearts when He adopted us.

This may rub some wrong but we do not believe that adoption itself is a “calling” from God.

What!?!

If God picked and chose certain Christians to adopt then I am the last qualified for this calling of taking care of His children! I love clean, quiet, order and normal. I am introverted and really don’t like attention or touch. I am not a very fun or huggy or soft, motherly natured type person. I am all business and structure, a “let’s get her done” kind of gal. I am more equipped to climb a corporate ladder than kiss boo-boos and counsel young hearts. Did I hear the call of God wrong? Maybe He meant for me to lead a Christian business from behind a computer in my quiet of my childless house.

God doesn’t call the equipped, but I promise He equips who He calls!

We definitely don’t feel we were audibly “called” by God to adopt children. We were called to follow God and sacrifice all for Him. As we surrendered we followed God where His heart is. His heart is with the poor, the needy and the orphaned, therefore that is where we followed Him. Are we “called?” Yes, called to love others as ourselves. We don’t want to be poor, hungry or without parents so why would we leave others in that condition? Did we always want to adopt? Absolutely not. We wanted what we viewed as the easy road, birth children. But we had that still, small voice, that passing thought that said, “we will adopt one day because we were adopted.” Slowly, as we stepped out in faith and willingly obeyed that conviction deep in our hearts. God grew that conviction into a tree that bore fruit of affection for adoption, that affection turned “one day” into TODAY. God today we will adopt. We won’t make them who you love suffer any longer as orphans. We will take on Your heart for the orphan and cure their plight today. We surrendered our lives when we submitted, just as Isaiah the prophet did before us (Isaiah 6:8), “Here we are Lord, send us.” In that surrender God did an amazing work tilling our hearts, changing our desires and equipping us for this road of adoption He “called” us to.

This past week we tilled up a 2000sqft area that will prayerfully be a plentiful garden. Brian did most of the tilling as it was quite the difficult task. A small but powerful machine with rotating blades designed to dig deep into the hard earth and make it soft and ready for seeds. Our dirt was compacted and hard after having much heavy machinery drive on it while moving our mobile home onto the property. The tiller had its work cut out for it. It took several rounds going over and over the hard soil. Each time the tiller passed over an area of dirt it dug deeper and deeper cutting up huge roots and digging up large rocks and stone that couldn’t be seen on the surface. Slowly the soil began flowing freely and easily through the blades as it stirred a black living substance that will miraculously grow our food. Holding onto that tiller as it fought and leaped against the hard ground it gave me a picture of my own heart. A hard heart that God forced His perfect tiller over. He tore through the surface of selfishness and continues to dig deep, cut roots of anger and bitterness and throw out stones of pride. Until more of my soil begins to resemble that perfect, rich and soft magic that will grow great fruit for Him. What a picture Jesus paints in the parable of the soils in Matthew 13.

We are told all the time how AMAZING we are. How awesome what we are doing is. How great it is that we “found” our calling in this life. I cannot tell you how incorrect this is! We are the furthest people from amazing. We don’t always walk willingly or immediately. We don’t always want to follow the convictions God puts in our hearts. Why? Because this road is hard, tiring and at times lonely. We are human, weak and fearful. We don’t feel ready or equipped when we take the leap of faith and say, “yes” once again. We walk in faith (“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” Hebrews 11:1) and then pray and pray that God would give us an affection for this conviction. He always does. Each time He calls us again to this road of adoption through conviction He always grows that affection within us later. So even when we are scared to walk this road again we can remember that God has proven faithful in the past. He will grow in us that affection if we will walk in faith now.

Do we feel supernaturally "called" as adoptive parents?
No, this is just the way the universal "call to sacrifice" has played out in our personal life.


Let me leave you with this quote that is stuck deep in my heart.    

“No generous impulse is from Satan. All good and generous impulses are from God!” - Jodi Ware, wife of Bruce Ware from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

Satan isn’t out there tempting people to care for the orphan. He is against all things good and holy. He wants you to give you 1000 reasons why you can’t possibly be called to do God’s will.

If you have ever thought that adoption would be something you could see yourself doing one day then maybe, just maybe YOU have been “called” by God.

Posted by Shannon

Soli Deo gloria - Glory to God alone

Home Sweet Home! Before and After Home Photos Part Two

The world of home improvement is not an easy one to reside in but it is SO worth it when the work is done! We are greatly enjoying the fruits of our labor.

 

Click here to see our previous post "Before and After Home Photos Part One"

 

Here is the second half of before and after photos of our new home!

 

In the boy's room there were only plywood floors with carpet tacks along walls. After much effort pulling all of them up we laid down wood laminate which we scored free off of Craigslist!

 

A pipe must have burst previously and they ripped through the wall to get to it. After installing all new plumbing materials we bought a new sheet of drywall and painted the entire room.

 

In the closet we just water sealed then painted the plywood floor. The boys are thrilled with their room and the space compared to our last home!

 

Oh, and that painting in the boy's room, here is a close up. I painted that for them and it turned out better than I had planned :)

 

 

The girl's room did not have any painting done and the ceramic tile was already there. They had a new window installed and a couple of tiles needed to be replaced.

 

This bottom bunk is where Brittany will sleep!

 

We just painted the girl's closet floor after bleaching it and water sealing the plywood.

 

The wooden set of bunkbeds was donated to us the day before we received the call for Brittany! God knows our needs before we do!

 

The bathrooms were just plain gross when we first saw the house. Nothing that baking soda, bleach and some elbow grease couldn't take care of!

 

The tile in this room was peel and stick laminate and was shifting and peeling up. We carefully removed all the tile and this is what we used in the kitchen for flooring.

 

The table was our dining room table when we were first married. It is 10 years old. Last year it stayed in a shed that ended up flooding and we had to toss 75% of what was in there. The table was covered in mold and I couldn't save parts of it but after some sanding, water sealing and painting it created our own little private nook to sit and talk over coffee.

 

Once the tile was pulled up and reused we put down more free wood laminate we scored free off of Craigslist!

 

This is our HUGE master bathroom and I LOVE it!

 

Two sinks, my favorite! That necklace holder is just a piece of painted wood with small nails hammered in it to hang jewelry on.

 

The shower took some scrubbing but the toilet was not salvageable and we had to replace it. Our friends at Mr. Rooter were a huge blessing to us in so many ways!

 

The tub is just amazing and yes we use it often! We plan on doing a tile mosaic around the tub some day soon. We have the tile and supplies, just gotta break that tile and get on it.

 

We are thankful for this extra storage space for tools, paint, Christmas decorations, etc. Without a shed or garage this closet is a tremendous blessing.

 

 

God has already answered a huge prayer of ours. We prayed that this home would be a place of much fellowship and a revolving door for many visitors. God has certainly used this home already, even in the very short time we have been in it and in all it's unfinished projects. We have had nonstop visitors, at least two a week, even though we live quite a drive from town out in the sticks.

 

We even were able to host an amazing family from Wisconsin just this past weekend. The Storms family was such a blessing to us and it was a great joy to offer up our home and our RV for 10 strangers to sleep in. While they were here we were able to learn of and attend an Abolish Human Abortion conference here in our town. It was very enlightening and rekindled a simmering fire within us for the sanctity of human life and the great need for the church to rise up and become serious about defending the poor, the weak, the orphan and the widow whatever the cost.

 

March is here already. We have plans this month to get seeds in the ground for our garden, fence in the remainder of our 7 acre property and begin growing pasture grass for the animals and get wheelchair ramps built onto our house for Brittany's arrival!

 

Here is a 6 minute video that we made to show a small snippet of our daily lives:

 

God is so good to us!

 

 

Posted by Shannon

Soli Deo gloria - Glory to God alone