Buckle your seatbelts and hang on for the ride!

All in all, we are a fairly average family.  (Well, some of you who have known us for a while may disagree.)  But we have made some choices in our lives that make us stand out in a crowd.  Actually we made one big choice.  In the Old Testament, Joshua told the people of Israel, "...then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve..But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord." Joshua 24:15 (NIV) This is the one big choice that we have made together:  We will serve the Lord…wholeheartedly!    As a result, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords is leading us on an incredible  adventure!  And it is so wonderful to travel that adventure with Him! 

 On July 23, 1988, when Daryl and I vowed before God, family, and friends that we would commit to each other until the day we die, we had no idea of the magnitude of the adventure that lay ahead us.  If we had known at that point, we probably would have been shaking in our shoes.  God, the Creator of the Adventure, is the ultimate Guide.  

In  the last 25 years He gave us five biological children and 23 foster children.  He asked us to adopt two of those foster children (ages 7 and 10).  Next, God led us to Korea to adopt a 2 year old girl with moderate cerebral palsy…then to China to adopt a 5 year old boy with spina bifida…then to Guatemala to adopt a 3 year old boy with a heart condition.  During these years, God led Daryl to youth ministry, then church planting as a head pastor, then adoption ministry in the States.  And most recently he led us to sell almost everything that we owned and move to Guatemala to share the love of God through ministering to special needs children. 

 Oh, what an adventure it has been!  And we wouldn’t give it up for anything!  What if we had not chosen to serve Him, as Joshua challenged us to do?  What if we had said “no” when he wanted to bless our family with just one more child, biological or adopted?  What if we would have refused to speak out on behalf of the least of these or to find adoptive homes for orphans? What if we had turned down His invitation to move to Guatemala?   What would we have missed?  At times, God asked us to take a small step, or a big step, or a leap.  When we did it, and when He came through for us again, we thought, “NOW we have faith!”  God smiled and said, “Well, yes, a little more than you had before.”  But He knew that we would need even more faith  for the next step.  And then He gave us a little more.  I am so thankful for our growing faith that allows us to travel this road!

While Daryl’s blog (www.hopeforhome.blogspot.com) focuses on the ministry that we do here, several of you have asked for a more personal look into our family and life in Guatemala.  So that is what I am seeking to do.  I hope to give you a glance into the wonderful people and culture of this country that we love so much.  And I hope to keep you undated on the work that God is doing in and through our children.   I cannot completely separate ministry from personal life, because there is a constant overlap, as there should be.  But hopefully I can help you catch a glimpse into our adventure.

Just an average family who serves an awesome, almighty, far above average God!   At times, from the human perspective, this adventure seems risky or uncertain, maybe even hazardous.  But with God, there is no such thing as an uncertain outcome.  He has it under control.  He is the Guide.  He is the Creator of the adventure.  Our family’s path probably looks very different from yours.    Although God’s Great Adventure has a different path for each of His children, we all follow the same Guide, and we will all reach the same finish line.  God wants us to have life, and have it to the full.  The only way that we can effectively do that is to join Him in His work.  We all just need to accept His invitation, buckle our seatbelts, and hang on for the ride.