It was refreshing to wake up this morning and see that it had rained some through the night. It made for a cooler morning, and things just look a little more fresh after a nice little summer rain. It also made me glad I got the yard mowed last night!

It’s also been refreshing, exciting and humbling to see how God has worked in this area of our lives. Becky and I are amazed when we look at the bank account where we’re putting our IVF money and see over $10,000! In fact, we are now just under $4,000 needed to reach our goal. We are thankful to God and to all of you for your part in helping us.

Please continue to share our story and encourage others to give. Even just $5 will be a help and a blessing to us!

Last week we passed $10,000 raised! We now have just over $4,000 to go to reach our goal. God has been so good to us! We feel like we’re on the home stretch now, winding things down.

But we still need your help! If you are able, please give – just $5 will be a help and a huge blessing to us! Please share our story with your Facebook and Twitter friends and help us get the word out!

Some of you probably noticed we didn’t get to do a blog post last Friday. That was because of a situation that arose that forced us to buy another vehicle. So we spent most of last Friday dealing with that new purchase.

Meet our new (to us) 2010 GMC Terrain. It’s much bigger than the Prius and will be much easier to get everybody into when traveling around with the kiddos. It’s a very comfortable ride, and the extra weight smooths out the bumps in the road that we could feel very distinctly in the Prius. Don’t get me wrong, the Prius was a great car, and we loved the gas mileage, but God was so good to us in allowing us to get this vehicle. Holly Davis at Jerry Duncan Ford got us a great deal on it.

So while that’s a pretty big change for us, not much else has changed. We’re loving taking care of Kyeli and Dane…in fact, Kyeli just brought me a seat to fix from her dollhouse that had come apart. So she was pretty tickled that it was back together, but now she’s already moved on to something else. They sure do keep us on our toes!

We have $50 left to make it to $10,000. Would you consider helping us as we press forward to having an IVF procedure done? We still feel the Lord leading us in that direction, no matter how long we have Kyeli and Dane with us. We love them completely and are enjoying having a ‘full’ house, but we still seek to follow His will for us.

Happy Friday everyone! In about a year and a half, we’ve raised nearly $10,000! It’s hard to believe! As of this writing, we only need $60 to make it to that point. I’m amazed at how much we’ve been blessed. God has worked in a great way!

Last Wednesday night, our pastor preached from Psalm 100. It’s long been one of my favorites. It’s a Psalm of praise, the only one labeled as such in the Bible. God is always worthy of our praise, in the good times and the bad. It’s really kind of obvious why He’s worthy in the good times.

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. -James 1:17

But why is He worthy in the bad times? Well, who’s to say they’re bad? Don’t get me wrong, there are definitely times where things are hard, there are struggles, there is pain, there is loss. We would definitely classify these things as ‘bad’. But you know what? God is in control of it all. He knows what’s best for us.

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. -Romans 8:28

So yes, even in the bad times, God is still good. He’s using everything in our lives to work good in our lives. Yes, God is worthy!

We’d like to say “thank you” again to those who have given. Thank you to all who are praying for us. We could never express what it means to us that you’ve given of yourselves to be a help to us.

Please help share our story. If you have even just $5 to give, it would be so much appreciated! I was looking today at the list of names of all who have given…I’m so overwhelmed! Thanks to all of you, and thanks and praise be to God!

Last week, I learned a few things… I learned not to pretend I was 20 years younger than I am. I learned that you really ‘can’ hit your head in a bicycle wreck. I learned that stitches on your ear are really irritating.

I’m recovering very well, thanks to all for your prayers. I’m going today to get those pesky stitches out. Most of the road rash has healed up pretty well. I still have some bruising in my ribs, but otherwise I’m getting back to normal.

In VBS last week, ‘Tracker Jill’ (In our skits every night) had an injury to her finger. Everywhere she touched, she hurt, so she was all bandaged up from head to toe. I asked her to try and see if my shoulder was hurting (This was before my wreck!), and sure enough, when she touched it, it was! She said, “I feel your pain!” Of course, it was just the paper cut on her finger causing her pain everywhere she touched, but since my wreck, I’ve thought a lot about that line.

Most times, if I’m not careful, I’ll see somebody get hurt and my first thought is, “Rub some dirt on it and keep going.” Most ‘injuries’ I’ve had haven’t really crippled me that much so that I couldn’t do things for myself. This wreck changed that though. There wasn’t much at all I could do for myself for a couple of days. Becky has been awesome during this whole thing, catering to my every need. (and most of my wants!)

So now, when I see someone hurting, I may not know all about what they’re going through, but I can feel their pain. Zidane was cutting his bottom two teeth shortly after we got him. I knew he was hurting, but did he have to be all that upset about it? Well, to him, that’s probably the worst pain he knows. Once in a while, Kyeli will find a door to smash her fingers in. Though she’s been told ‘no, leave that alone,’ you can’t help but feel compassion for her because that hurts! Of course neither Becky or I took the attitude, “Rub some dirt on it, you’re alright.” We comforted Zidane and kissed Kyeli’s fingers. My point is it changed my perspective on it a little bit.

Are we perfect? Far from it. But sometimes God allows things to happen to get our perspective back on track. Looking back, I would never choose to do it again, but today I say it was worth it.

I pray that God won’t have to teach me these things over and over again, that I’ll remember them when He blesses us with children of our own some day. I look forward to that day. Will you help us reach our goal to see that day?

It’s been a great idea, and we’ve raised a LOT of money by selling puzzle pieces to frame for our future IVF baby. We’re hoping and praying that we’ll be able to have the procedure done within the next year, and today we only have $4,210 to go!

We’ve been getting a lot of practice lately by keeping our niece and nephew, 2 years old and nearly 9 months old, respectively. There have been challenges with them, mostly in getting to know them. It’s a lot of fun though, having little giggles heard through the house, little feet pattering across the floor, the two of them playing together and loving each other’s company. We are beyond thankful for the opportunity to have them in our house and be a part of their lives, and are praying for guidance in our lives and theirs.

So while we do that, we’re still moving ahead, following God’s will for our lives in pursuing IVF. It seems like we have such a short distance to go before we reach our goal. Won’t you help us? We would certainly appreciate having $5 given for a puzzle piece to show our baby how many people God used to help bring him or her into this world. Most of all, we covet your prayers as we move ahead.

Our Internet is not working here at the house today, so I’m posting this from my phone and it will be pretty short.

I did want to take some time though and tell you all how thankful I am for you all. God has shown Himself faithful to us in so many things. We are so unworthy of His love and care for us, and especially His faithfulness to us. We fail Him daily, yet He continues to be faithful.

We started out on this journey at $0. Through all of you, God has give us over $9,800 so far! We so appreciate all you’ve done to help, and thank you! It’s another $5 Friday, so we’re asking that if you have just $5 to give, head over to the ‘Buy a Puzzle Piece’ link at the top of the page. Thank you, and God bless you!

**UPDATE**

We’ve got internet back now, so I’ve added the usual photo/link here at the bottom.

We are on our way to Dollywood today to spend time with all the family, but wanted to take the time again to tell you all how thankful we are for your prayers and generosity. Please continue to pray for us, and please give a little if you can!