In the Meantime…

20140330_211116~01Becky and I have been having a fun time keeping this little guy named Zidane. He’s our great-nephew, and at 7 months old, he’s a barrel of fun! He does decently through the night, but does usually wake up once or twice wanting some attention. When he wakes up in the morning and it’s light outside, he’s most always the happiest little guy in the world.

While we love keeping him or any of our other nephews, it’s a double-edged sword for us. The other side of it is that our hearts ache to have one of our own someday. Prayerfully, we’re very optimistic in that we’re following, to the best of our ability, God’s will. Financially, we’re making great progress with all of your help. It’s another $5 Friday, so we’re asking that you pass the word along for everyone who can to help us out if they can at all. And please, continue to pray for us!

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April Showers

Hey everybody. It’s the first week of April and we’re already seeing those April showers. Earlier in the week I started working on getting the garden ready to plant..these showers make it hard for the ground to dry up enough to do anything with it, so I took advantage of it while I could.

Friday has made its way to us again, so we’re asking you to spread the word, asking folks to give if they are able, and especially pray for us. We’re so thankful for how much you’ve given – the Lord has used you all in a great way!

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Happy 30th Birthday To Me!

That’s right… today is my birthday and I feel so blessed beyond measure. I was feeling a little down about not being 20 something anymore, but its the inevitable so there’s no point in being upset over something that is just a number. God has blessed me with another year and for that I am very grateful!

I also feel so blessed by all the love and support y’all have continued to show toward us in helping support us not only financially but through many prayers and encouraging words. As of right now we still need $4,990 to meet our goal. If you have it to give today please help us!

I can’t wait until the day I get to celebrate birthdays with the special little one God has planned for us! 😀

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$9,000!

Hello everyone! Last weekend we reached $9,000! That leaves us with $5,030 to go to reach our goal. I’d like to say another great big thank you to those who have given to us to help us financially on this journey! While we still have a ways to go, we are so encouraged by your giving, and especially by your prayers.

Please help us get the word out! You’ve all been such a blessing to us already, our prayer is that God will bless you many times over what you’ve done for us.

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SO Very Close….

We are so close to reaching $9,000. All we need is $65 to reach that goal. We are so thankful for the money we have received so far from so many wonderful people. We know that without all of you there is no way we would be where we are! Thank you for being a part of our journey and helping us so much financially.

Please keep praying for us. We need those prayers so much as we do still have a little way to go to reach our final goal of $14,030. If you have it to give today please help us get closer to this goal of $9,000!

 

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Youthful Fridays

At our church (Fellowship Baptist in Wartburg), we have youth meetings every other Thursday night. We use this as a time to get the young people together and try to be an encouragement to each other in the Lord. I bring a Bible lesson, and then we take some time for fun and games, and usually have a few snacks.

Ever since we were married, Becky and I have loved working with young people. I believe it is something God has put into our hearts, and I believe it ties in very closely with our desire to have our own children.

Please continue to pray with us and for us. Please help us get the word out. We’re getting close to $9,000 raised now, leaving us with just over $5,000 left to go.

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Warm Fridays

It seems like just a couple of weeks ago I was talking about how much snow we got, and how rare that is the past few years. Oh wait, it was just a couple of weeks ago. Since then, we’ve gotten a good taste of Spring with temperatures in the 60’s, daffodils and tiger lilies popping up out of the ground, and thoughts of getting things ready to start some outdoor projects. I love Spring, warm weather, and being able to get outside and do stuff, even if it is blistering hot.

I look forward to the day that I can go outside and build a swing set for my growing child. I look forward to the day I can teach him or her to fish and catch lightning bugs. You know, all that warm weather stuff you always liked doing when you were a kid.

As we continue to pray about God having His way in all this, and Him getting the glory in it all, I can’t help but imagine life with a little one of our own. This warm weather has made those thoughts stronger and more vivid.

Please help us pray, and please help us financially if you’re at all able – $5 goes a long way!

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Sweet & Simple

Hollow heart made of puzzle pieces

Nothing fancy today… Just one simple truth… Prayer changes things.

I hope that as we continue to pray for this desire of ours to be met that you will be praying for us too, and if you have it to give today we would very much appreciate it. It may not seem like much but $5.00 can go a long way today!

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Happy Snowy $5 Friday!

Maybe we should have been a little more specific in what type of ‘Snow’ we’ve been praying for! Wednesday night into Thursday morning, we got 7 inches of snow (the white powdery stuff) – the most we’ve seen all at once in years. Of course we’ve had a few other smaller snow accumulations this winter, but none like this.

It’s funny to see Facebook comments on some of the ‘shares’ we’ve gotten – people saying they’ve had enough snow, or they’re ready for spring, or other similar comments. While I totally agree (I can tolerate 90-100 degrees way better than 25 degrees!), I can’t help but chuckle about it all.

As you share this (and thank you so much to those who do!), please encourage others to read about our story and to give just $5 if they have the ability. Thank you for praying for us…and don’t forget to pray for the right kind of snow! 🙂

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An Example… Good or Bad?

This past Sunday night after church Jonathan and I along with our Pastor and family went to some friends’ house for a get-together they were having. It was an evening of fun, fellowship, food, football, and good friends. While the guys sat watching the football game the ladies had fun gabbing about anything and everything.

Everything from food recipes to family members, upcoming church events, and even some questions were asked about the progress we are making in raising the money for our procedure. As we continued to talk I expressed my concern that I sometimes feel hesitant to share our blog on Fridays. Not because it embarrasses me for others to know about our story or anything like that. My hesitation comes from a fear of what some will think or say. Now… I know I shouldn’t let this bother me, but when you are sharing things about your personal life it’s hard not to wonder what other people will think of you for what you are doing. There are so many people who have been an encouragement to us and have helped us, but I have to admit that I’ve come across some people that have been very negative toward what we are doing. I suppose it’s these few comments that the devil has used against me to make me feel this way.

Since we started our blog, we knew all privacy for our situation would go out the window, and we were willing to accept that fact because what we wanted most from all of this was not solely about raising the money we need, (of course the financial support is a great need) and we desire your prayers very much, but our greatest desire is that people would see the true desire of our hearts is to please God throughout this whole process.

Jonathan and I are not perfect. We don’t have a perfect home, or a perfect marriage. We fail and make mistakes everyday. I fail so bad at telling how good God has been to us throughout all of this. I’m thankful that in spite of my failures He still chooses to use ordinary, everyday people, and while we do fail we are trying our best to do what’s right.

Sometimes I feel like I’m being so selfish in sharing something else about “us…” every Friday, but at the same time I do believe that it’s a good idea to share often so that it helps people to remember to pray for us. We want people to see the Lord in our lives and our story. To see that we love Him no matter what will happen. While this is OUR story we want the whole thing to be based around Him. He deserves the glory and praise for the miracle that we are seeing happen in our lives!

We know that He has used many of you to help us financially and we do not take this lightly. We know there are many of you that pray for us, and there have been many days when I know God has heard and answered your prayer because some days are hard. It’s in these times that I’m reminded again of how weak I am, but how strong He is! I know many of you know where I’m coming from because in some way or another from your own experiences you know how hard it can be waiting for God’s timing so we appreciate those prayers very much as we are learning patience. 😉 This is my favorite Bible verse and it very often comes to my mind.

Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord. Psalm 27:14

I know that while we have shared our story many times here on our blog and different social websites there are still many people who don’t know what our story is about, and maybe some will not even be interested to know, but we do hope that each time we share our blog that it will somehow be a blessing to someone else, that somehow we will be a help and a good example through all that we do, that somehow God will get the glory!

Thank you to all those that follow our story, and may God bless you all!

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