Much Bigger than Me: About Us

I have been blessed by God to be married to the kindest and best of men for the past 20 years. Tim works as a manager at our local Chick-fil-A and has worked there for 16 years. He spends the time he is not working helping me with the children and has a hobby of repairing peoples sick computers in his spare time. Tim and I try to live our life in service to the Lord and in accordance with His Word. We try to put God first in all we do. We are not perfect and make mistakes like everyone else, thank God for the shed blood of Jesus Christ and His abundant mercy and grace!

In the past we did foster care for 9 1/2 years. A few years into our foster care experience we took in our first child that was medically fragile/special needs and learned a huge secret that many people don't know, get or understand. That is... children with "special needs" are GREAT! and actually very normal! After all they are all kids. From then on out, we tried to focus mostly on taking in the special children and adopted five times during that chapter in our lives. We then closed our home to foster care and thought we were retired from it. In 2011 Tim and I started to pray about what we were going to do in ministry for the rest of our lives. Our children were getting older. We prayed fervently, and started asking the Lord if He had any more children He wanted us to mentor or raise thru foster care. We re-opend our home to foster care and quickly were called to take in toddler brothers that were drug exposed/neglected and than a few months later an non-related infant with special needs. Those children remained and termination of parental rights were granted in our care and we adopted them in August of 2015. Altogether now, we have adopted 8 times! Every time we adopt a child, we have to find a new normal for our lives.

I am a stay at home mom that fills her days with raising and home schooling our children. Cooking, cleaning, caring for my dad's small farm (that we live on too, dad and I keep it all up working it together) and tending the grounds and gardens of this farm. I am blessed beyond measure to be able to do this. I praise God that I am able to stay home and lead this life style so I try to do the best I can with my time in appreciation for this privilege.

I have decided to start a blog in hopes of possibly sharing, building and edifying others in fellowship, by sharing a bit of our life and family. That maybe people with children of similar diagnosis can be encouraged or get ideas by seeing how we do things, so we can learn from each other and to possibly plant a seed in someones heart, somewhere, about adoption or working with or adopting one of the many children with special needs around the world, that need homes. God is so good, may we all serve Him in every way always.

2 comments:

UnknownAugust 9, 2015 at 11:35 AM
Dear Susan,
"Found" you through your goats blog and then read about Antonio, about us, etc. and am blown away by you and your family! What a blessing - to be used of God in such an important way, so dear to HIS heart - children! I reared my oldest son by himself for 17 years, until I remarried and later had two wonderful sons. We are truly blessed as the boys were healthy and whole with only minor aggravations like allergies. But I did not know, at the time, I married a fragile - mentally and physically person, so I really had three little boys to take care of. Jobs kept me in town until I finally retired in '13. Then God made a way for me to go on a healing ministry trip to Colombia, and the next year HE made it possible for me to sell my grandparents' home, where I had lived the last 35 years and buy a foreclosed "ranch" in the country! Fixing it up is taking some time but so far I have two LaMancha does and a Saanen buck (nobody wanted to buy him because he had his horns) and recently acquired a couple of guard donkeys - one 20+ years and the other about 2-3 years acquired by the previous owner from a donkey rescue. I have no doubt that God has me here to prepare a safe place for my family and others who might need it as times get worse. So now, at 70, I am finally getting to do what my heart has desired all my life.

Reading about Antonio's relationship with our heavenly Father and learning about how whole heartedly Antonio received and uses the wonderful, opportunity God gives us who will intercede for others - brought tears to my heart and eyes. What a glorious, wonderful, powerful position Antonio holds in God's family! And I thank God for the heart He gave you to see, realize, and encourage the development of that relationship. Your life is so busy, I can't imagine how you get everything done! But, if you have the opportunity, I encourage you to take Antonio to meet with and pray with other intercessors. The dynamic that the Holy Spirit develops when a number of us are praying together is both instructive, invigorating, and healing for ALL of the intercessors, especially for those of us going through a "low" place or time. My pastor's daughter was prophesied to be a prophet of God before she was born. Her mother is a powerful intercessor and she began praying with her daughter while she was still a baby. She began bringing the little girl to our weekly intercession sessions when she started talking - just to say, it is never too soon or too late.

Now that I know about you and your family, I will be checking "in" every so often, praying for you and thanking God for your example of His love. May you continue to grow and prosper in all areas of your life and may everyone you see and meet be blessed by the love of Jesus as He lives in you and continues to conform you to His likeness.