so i've been wanting to tell you
all about how God brought us here...
all about how God brought us here...
to today.
to this place and time in our lives where we follow.
where we walk in obedience and faith.
where we trust Him completely.
with every ounce of our being.
with our whole heart.
with abandon.
we are confidant of what we hope for.
sure, of what we don't see.
fear and doubt have been evicted from these hearts.
and peace and rest have moved in.
* photo credit: meredith elsen
it is with great joy, we invite you into our story.
the story God is so beautifully penning every day.
so grab a seat and something warm to drink,
and join me as we start from the beginning.
our story begins years ago.
dell and i have always talked and dreamt together about adopting one day.
back in the 90's when we were dating, (gasp!) and at different times throughout our marriage.
God rocked our world and yet so beautifully opened our hearts, home and hands to "the fatherless" for the first time in 2002.
looking much bigger than what we had ever talked about.
and looking so much different than any dream we had ever dreamed before.
my cousin, Trendy,12 at the time, came to live with us summer of '02.
it was a hard, wonderful, difficult, fun, memorable summer
that went down in the books! :)
and we thought that was it.
but through some hard circumstances later that year, in the spring of 2003 when Trendy was 13, we became her legal guardians.
her family.
we were so very, very young...i was only 23 and Haley and Jackson were only babes... and here we found ourselves with a broken 13 year old.
but not by mistake at all.
it was in God's mercy, grace and great wisdom, He gifted Trendy to us when He did.
"for such a time as this."
we were so clueless and naive and were in the trenches learning,
making mistakes and quite frankly,
growing up right along with "our" teenager.
i laugh now, remembering some of our battles, mistakes, rules and attitudes.
but then.
man, those were some hard days.
i am so very thankful for those hard days now, however,
and treasure that time in our lives in my heart.
i believe it was in that time, God planted a seed, deep in our hearts, that would one day grow, and open our eyes and arms wide,
to receive an adoption story line that would be much different than
any of our past dreams and ideals had ever looked to us before.
the day dell sat on the couch and let trendy do his hair and put makeup
all over his face... including, but not limited to, lipstick and eye shadow....
simply because she had asked him to and because it was so worth it to hear her laugh.....
yeah....those were the beginning days when God was at work in our hearts.
constructing His plans and deconstructing ours.
but i'm getting ahead of myself.
not only were we given the privilege to love on and be Trendy's
family when she needed us most,
but God used her coming into our lives , to bring me, personally, to the end of myself.
finally.
finally, i fully realized my desperate need and re-surrendered
to the Savior and let Him become Lord of my life.
i recognized my weakness. my inability.
i knew this assignment was too big, too important, and way too impossible for me.
i knew in my own efforts and attempts...
i. would. fail.
and a little girl's heart, well being and future all hung in the balance.
so i surrendered all to God, as i drove over the oak island bridge to go pick up a bed for my new 13 year old daughter.
in the days that followed, God began to sing over us and into our hearts,
a song of great love and compassion for the unloved.
the youth group at our church that we took trendy to, started to explode in growth.
at first, dell and i became youth leaders, simply to help our youth pastor friend out
who was in desperate need of youth leaders, because so many kids were coming.
what a great problem to have, right?
but out of more than 70 youth, there was only 2 intact families represented within
our youth group... and one of them was the youth pastors!
God gave us a holy passion for these kids...His dearly loved children!
this time in our life was a joyous sharing and pouring out of God's love on
those kids day after day.
we had teens in our home to hang out, talk, just needing a place to be or over for dinner 2-3 times a week.
trendy was thriving. haley, jackson and jordan were right in the ministry with us.
we were one, divinely pieced together, big and happy family.
we were all so happy in this work of loving all these hurting kids that
God had crossed our life paths with.
we were content.
we were comfortable.
and then in the middle of our content, comfy, and happy life,
God's plan was to stretch us once again.
"God places the lonely in families;
He sets the prisoners free and gives them joy..."
Psalm 68:6
it is with great joy, we invite you into our story.
the story God is so beautifully penning every day.
so grab a seat and something warm to drink,
and join me as we start from the beginning.
our story begins years ago.
dell and i have always talked and dreamt together about adopting one day.
back in the 90's when we were dating, (gasp!) and at different times throughout our marriage.
God rocked our world and yet so beautifully opened our hearts, home and hands to "the fatherless" for the first time in 2002.
looking much bigger than what we had ever talked about.
and looking so much different than any dream we had ever dreamed before.
my cousin, Trendy,12 at the time, came to live with us summer of '02.
it was a hard, wonderful, difficult, fun, memorable summer
that went down in the books! :)
and we thought that was it.
but through some hard circumstances later that year, in the spring of 2003 when Trendy was 13, we became her legal guardians.
her family.
we were so very, very young...i was only 23 and Haley and Jackson were only babes... and here we found ourselves with a broken 13 year old.
but not by mistake at all.
it was in God's mercy, grace and great wisdom, He gifted Trendy to us when He did.
"for such a time as this."
we were so clueless and naive and were in the trenches learning,
making mistakes and quite frankly,
growing up right along with "our" teenager.
i laugh now, remembering some of our battles, mistakes, rules and attitudes.
but then.
man, those were some hard days.
i am so very thankful for those hard days now, however,
and treasure that time in our lives in my heart.
i believe it was in that time, God planted a seed, deep in our hearts, that would one day grow, and open our eyes and arms wide,
to receive an adoption story line that would be much different than
any of our past dreams and ideals had ever looked to us before.
the day dell sat on the couch and let trendy do his hair and put makeup
all over his face... including, but not limited to, lipstick and eye shadow....
simply because she had asked him to and because it was so worth it to hear her laugh.....
yeah....those were the beginning days when God was at work in our hearts.
constructing His plans and deconstructing ours.
but i'm getting ahead of myself.
not only were we given the privilege to love on and be Trendy's
family when she needed us most,
but God used her coming into our lives , to bring me, personally, to the end of myself.
finally.
finally, i fully realized my desperate need and re-surrendered
to the Savior and let Him become Lord of my life.
i recognized my weakness. my inability.
i knew this assignment was too big, too important, and way too impossible for me.
i knew in my own efforts and attempts...
i. would. fail.
and a little girl's heart, well being and future all hung in the balance.
so i surrendered all to God, as i drove over the oak island bridge to go pick up a bed for my new 13 year old daughter.
in the days that followed, God began to sing over us and into our hearts,
a song of great love and compassion for the unloved.
the youth group at our church that we took trendy to, started to explode in growth.
at first, dell and i became youth leaders, simply to help our youth pastor friend out
who was in desperate need of youth leaders, because so many kids were coming.
what a great problem to have, right?
but out of more than 70 youth, there was only 2 intact families represented within
our youth group... and one of them was the youth pastors!
God gave us a holy passion for these kids...His dearly loved children!
this time in our life was a joyous sharing and pouring out of God's love on
those kids day after day.
we had teens in our home to hang out, talk, just needing a place to be or over for dinner 2-3 times a week.
trendy was thriving. haley, jackson and jordan were right in the ministry with us.
we were one, divinely pieced together, big and happy family.
we were all so happy in this work of loving all these hurting kids that
God had crossed our life paths with.
we were content.
we were comfortable.
and then in the middle of our content, comfy, and happy life,
God's plan was to stretch us once again.
"God places the lonely in families;
He sets the prisoners free and gives them joy..."
Psalm 68:6
