Moving Day

So Clair is moving in with us next weekend Dec. 6th. So far she has stayed here weekends and this week a little more because of Thanksgiving break. She is a wonderful, bubbly, sweet girl and we are looking forward to having her. I am still a little worried about what spiritual yuckiness might follow her here, so that would be a huge prayer request. Also that the leaving process would be as painless as possible because her mom will undoubtedly through a huge tantrum.

Her room is coming along slowly but surely and is one of those projects that leaves you with a huge sense of accomplishment. I will post before and after photos once we are done. I have painting, scrap booking (for wall hangings), elliptical moving, dresser bringing, decorating and cleaning to do this week in order to have her room ready as her birthday gift. My friend Melissa and I are also going to be helping with her birthday party and making the cake so that should be fun too. I look forward to sharing stories and photos of this week and weekend.

Prayer is an amazing thing and God is just so cool in his workings. Molly and I prayed so hard for Clair. We prayed she would find Jesus and learn to receive his forgiveness, love, and strength. We prayed that she would make it through her high school years and be able to get out of her house and live a good life. Praise be to God because she does know Him and His love for her. She has made it, and is on her way to making a new life of her own. I'm so blessed to have seen the journeys of these two beautiful girls and the love that God has for them. Praise be to God!

Wonderful Sunday Morning Service

Yesterday was a great morning! The lady we have been pursuing came to church yesterday. I was so excited to see that she had actually made it. I wasn't sure how she would like the service, or if she was going to be hard hearted or resistant to anything. I had prayed that when she did come to church that God would have that service directed specifically at her. IT WAS! I love seeing the inside workings of God. From the worship to the ending prayer it was the perfect day for her to be there. I'll explain: She said she liked the music (which is good but not necessary) but one of the songs seemed to touch her and she said "That is a GOOD song" The song was All for Love and the words are below.

All For Love

Verse 1:
All for love, a Father gave
For only love could make a way
All for love, the heavens cried for love was crucified


PreChorus:
Oh, how many times have I broken Your heart
But still You forgive if only I ask
And how many times have You heard me pray
Draw near to me


Chorus:
Everything I need is you
My beginning, my forever
Everything I need is You


Verse 2:
Let me sing all for love
I will join the angel song
Ever holy is the Lord
King of glory, King of all


Verse 3:
All for love a Savior prayed
Abba Father, have Your way
Though they know not what they do
Let the cross draw man to You, to You
To You, to You

Hillsong United Live

The pre chorus, has the exact words that I have spoken to her over the past week. Forgiveness if only you ask and God will draw near to you if you draw near to him. Some of this was even in the email that I posted about last time. So that was a great start. Then at break I talked with her and she told me how she was afraid that her hours are going to be cut this week due to the economy. This seems pretty likely since Apex has let 5 people go in the last two months. This coupled with the struggles she told me about last week were really making her nervous about the immediate future. All I could tell her was that God would provide for her. So the first thing our pastor says when he starts preaching is this, "Do you ever wish you could see what is just around the corner? Some of you might be having financial problems, or employment worries..." I just started giggling inside thinking God you are too good. The rest of the sermon went on to talk about the Israelites wandering in the desert, but the main message was about God being big enough to provide even in trials. He also talked very clearly about how bad things in our lives are not always punishment but refinement. He talked about how some of us might have stepped off of God's path and onto our old destructive one. This was the exact analogy that she told me about at lunch last week. She wanted to forge a new path and let the other one become over grown. So this week I made a picture for her with the verse Psalm 23:3 "He restores my soul. He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake." Finally at the end of the the service Dave was praying and quoted the verse "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" This was one of the verses I put in her email. I love when you can see patterns and themes when God is trying to tell you something. We often see the same thing three times from different sources. She has heard the path analogy three times now from different places, and not all Christian ones either. She said that she would definitely be back. I truly hope she comes again! She and her boyfriend are in our prayers. It was a good day, Praise be to God!

How God Cares for us Daily

The other day I was getting ready and while curling my hair I felt convicted to pray for our friends Dave and Melissa. I didn't really know why, but I decided I should take a minute and do so. A while later I was doing my devotional and I thought, I need to pray again so I did. After I did I decided to text Melissa and let her know God put her and Dave on my heart and that I was praying for them even if nothing was going on. She called me back immediately and said "Thank you so much for praying!" I asked her what was going on and she said they had had a terrible morning (it was only 11 when she called). The night before their computer got a virus and died, none of them had slept well, Dave woke up sick and puking, Melissa and Ellianna were tired and grumpy and Ellianna was being a challenging two year old. This was all before they left the house. As Melissa was driving to drop off Ellianna at a babysitter, who was the forth person she had called to babysit and all others were sick, she had a problem with her car. She was driving 65 miles an hour and a large protective cover on the underside of the car fell down, but was still connected to one corner and was dragging on the road. Long story short, she went home fixed it and made it into town to work late and then almost locked her keys in the car. She was in surprisingly good spirits after beating up the car a little. I had no idea any of that was going on, but I knew she needed to know God was caring for her and her family. This was just a great example of how God can tell us he is there and watching out for us when we need it. So the moral of the story is FOLLOW YOUR GUT, because it is really God whispering to you. Praise be to God!

The Dash Video

I love this little video clip that was passed on to me by the lady I told you about in the post "A Woman on my Heart"

Please take the time to watch it, the words are meaningful and the pictures take your breath away! Click Here for the video

God Answeres Prayers

So since we have decided to have Molly's sister come live with us I have been praying that God would provide for us in any way that we needed to do this successfully. I was a little concerned about how we would pay for the extra groceries, gas, car insurance etc for a teenage girl in her senior year all while preparing for the new expenses of a baby and the adoption. Well, as our assistant pastor said a few weeks ago "when you take the time to help others it gets God's attention" I guess it did because God provided for this concern today!! I met with Molly and the lady she has been blessed to be mothered by for the last few years. This woman runs a house for college students called the Alpha Omega house. As she has gotten to know Molly and cared for her like her own daughter she has grown to care for her sister as well. She said she has prayed about letting her come stay at the house but feels like God isn't leading her down that path. She did however say that she was more than willing to help me through this and partner with us to help Clair out. On top of that, which was wonderful, she said she felt lead to send a portion of her tithe our way to help with expenses. I don't know details yet, but I couldn't help but tear up and praise God for so quickly answering that prayer! What a blessing and relief this was. I know that even without the help we would somehow have made it work, but this is so helpful. It is wonderful to know that there are other Christians out there willing to do the tough stuff. When I walked through this with Molly I had no one else to turn to, but this time we have a whole team of people committed to showing this girl love and life! Praise be to God

A woman on my heart

Since Jared took his job at Apex a lady who works with him has seemed drawn to both Jared and I. From the time I met her, God started putting her on my heart with such a heavy burden. In the past six months she has come to my thoughts a lot at random times. I have felt lead to pray for her, invite her to church, lunch and just to love on her. Two weeks ago our assistant pastor preached a message that was so incredible and it gave me such a surge of energy and excitement about reaching out to her. I felt like God told me then that she would come to know Him. Since that message I have been trying to meet with her but things just kept getting in the way. We finally met on Friday November 7th. She opened up right away and told me about something that she has been struggling with for ten years or more. I was able to ask her if she had accepted Christ and she said that she had. I was surprised by that, but very excited about it. We talked a little about how God forgives and can help you forge a new path. After lunch she had a ticket that she was trying to get differed and asked if I would go with her for support. I went and told her I'd pray for her while she was in there. The judge not only differed the ticket, but waived the mandatory processing fee and said it would not go on her driving record! She was so relieved and said that she hadn't had such peace for a long time. She thanked me for coming, but even better she actually folded her hands and said "Thank you God" It was such a great day and I'm so excited for her. She seems genuinely interested in coming to church with us and I pray that she will actually follow through with that. I sent her this email:


I had a great time with you at lunch! I am blessed to know you and feel honored that you trust me enough to share your story with me. Please know that your story is safe with us and that I want to be a soft place for you to fall in this hard world. None of us can face our fears, trails, and struggles without the help of committed and supportive friends. Always remember that God is forgiving and that though we don't deserve his love and grace He gives it freely if we only ask. I hope that the weekend with your family went okay, but if not please don't be discouraged, you have people on your side. You have so much to offer this world and those around you, and I look forward to helping you create the new path in your life that will allow you to prosper. I pray God will bless you tremendously as you seek Him and a better way of life.

"For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11

I can do all things through Christ Jesus who strengthens me. Philippians 4:13

~Whitney

This was her response:

Whitney,

Thank you so much for your kind words. I feel truly thankful that you and Jared have come into my life and I am hopeful for the first time in a very long time. I came so close to not going to Belgrade this weekend but I prayed a great deal for guidance and did end up going and am glad that I did. I will talk with you soon.

What a miracle, Praise be to God!

A very special girl - Take 2

God has been preparing our hearts to minister to Molly's sister Clair. Until the last few weeks she would be on my heart here and there, but now it has been constant for a few weeks. This past week I saw her at church and as I hugged her we both started balling. I could feel her hurt oozing into me as she just held on and would not break the embrace. It broke my heart. I told Molly to check in on her and after she did she told me that the people closest to Clair had started to doubt her and her situation and were closing their eyes to her pain. Of course this is what happened to Molly right before we met. I refuse to be that person, so I started praying and thinking about her a lot. One morning I woke up and before I even got out of my bedroom the thought crossed my mind...am I ready to take her in? It kind of surprised me because I thought the friend who started to back away was going to let her live there. Well, then I thought...I bet her friend decided to not let her stay. I prayed about it and decided if that was the case that we would take her in (providing Jared agreed) Not an hour later Molly called and was so upset and told me that Clair's friend did back out and now she had no where to go. I just had to smile in spite of the news because God had been whispering to me that morning. I talked with Jared and it went like this:

Me: Hey hon, I want you to pray about letting Clair stay with us because her other option backed out.

J: What are we going to do say no?

Me: Well, of course not but I thought you might want to pray about it.

J: I will but I'm totally fine with it, we need to get that room ready anyway:)

I love my husband! He is so great and loving and open to letting our lives be used for God's purposes. He didn't even bat an eye or think twice, I love that!!

So I called her last night and extended the invitation to stay weekends from now until she is 18 and then to live here full time after that (December). She didn't agree yet, but she got choked up and just said "I don't know what to say but thank you." We will see where this takes us, but for now it feels good to have God working so obviously in our lives. We will need support and prayer as we move forward...we are blessed.

A very special girl

After we got settled into our new home in Missoula, we attended a marriage retreat that was wonderful. We met a few friends there from our church and got plugged into a small group that they were in. We made some friends and started forming relationships. One of the ladies in the group worked with the youth at our church and had befriended one of the girls named Molly. One night when we were at our group Molly called and asked if someone could come get her from her house. Her home life was very difficult and she need a lot of outside support. I felt like God nudged me to go along and pick her up. I did and as she got into the van she looked very beaten down. I sat quietly in the back seat and she sat down beside me not really seeing me. I reached over and put my hand on ther leg and said, I know how you feel, I've had a similar background. She was startled by this at first, but she was glad to have someone there for her. As we hung out more as a group we got to know one another better. We had a lot in common and God was breaking my heart for her. She was a senior in high school at the time and had about 6 months until graduation. She started staying over at our apartment on weekends and then at spring break she stayed the whole week. Gradually she stayed longer and longer until the day she turned 18 and she moved in with us for the summer. This was an amazing time of walking with God in order to be wholly available for her, but it was also very difficult in many different ways. During this time God revealed to me what many people had told me along the way in my life...that God had a big plan for me and would use my past to help others. I was amazed at how God fit the two of us together and used my strenghts AND weaknesses to help this precious girl that he cared so much about. I know that this relationship was sent by God and his timing for our move to MT (graduating from CSU a year early) was perfectly placed in order to make me available to her. I'm so thankful that I had this time of learning and growing and will always be thankful for my dear friend whom I still love very much!

The Big Move

We are going to be going back through a few of our major "God things" in the past before we start posting what is going on now. We want to give a little background and also record the ones that are important before details start to blur. Having said that, we are going to skip from when we got together to our move to Montana. This is not to say that there weren't plenty of noteworthy times in between those two events.

In the spring of 2004 Jared had completed his first year of college and I had just graduated from CSU-Pueblo. We were living in Pueblo, CO and were starting to plan the next phase of our lives. We thought about building a house in Pueblo West and started trying to get a loan. Even with Jared's dad co-signing on a loan we were still turned down. This was so frustrating for us especially because the lots were like 8k. God had a different plan and I'm so thankful! Can you really see us living in Pueblo West? After that plan fell through we decided to move to Ft. Collins. I was planing on getting my Master's degree and Jared would finish school there. We even went up on spring break and looked at places to live there. Not long after that I was getting my application done for the grad-school program and took my exam. I some how got completely confused on one part of the test and I tanked on the score! I immediately realized the problem after I submitted the scores and was SO mad that I had made such a dumb mistake on such an important exam. Needless to say based on those scores I was denied entrance to the grad-program. Again a frustrating heartbreak. One day a few weeks later, I got a packet in the mail from a graduate school in WA. So I stared looking at this packet and thought "why not?" Why not move somewhere way out of our comfort zone? So Jared the handy researcher went to work. We found Missoula and the University of Montana. This school would allow both of us to finish the programs we wanted to. We fell in love with the town from pictures and what we had read. Jared had always wanted to live in Montana, and I was starting to come around after looking into the town some more. After graduation we took a trip up to see Missoula in May. It was so beautiful! We were hooked. We started praying and praying and really felt that this was meant to be so we told family and friends. Friends were sad but excited for us and family was in a state of shock. They didn't really believe we would go through with it. Someone even said "I remember when we were young and stupid and did stuff like this". So on that note we geared up to prove them wrong (in a good way). One night after a lot of discouraging talk with family we drove the hour drive home to Pueblo. We were having some doubts and were trying to finalize our decision. We talked the whole way about whether or not this was right. Just as we were turning onto the the exit ramp to our apartment a van pulled out in front of us that had big huge sticker letters spelling out TRUST GOD NOW. We laugh and look at each other and then look back and saw that the van was from Montana! How's that for a sign LOL. So we did, we trusted God, packed up and moved to Missoula with no jobs lined out, no house set up, and not a familiar soul in all of Montana.

God's Provision

We stayed in the KOA cabins for a week while we got phones and went job and house hunting. Within a week I was hired as a personal trainer at Gold's Gym, Jared had a job in at the contractor's desk at Home Depot, we found a brand new studio apartment that allowed pets and was in our budget, and we also found a great church that fit us perfectly. We moved in and with in a few months God was showing us his fist opportunity to serve...more on that in another post.

Our Begining-A God Send and a Happy Holloween

In 1999 Jared and I were 16 and Juniors in high school. We had been friends for about a year, and then in October this progressed to a dating relationship. God brought us together and has blessed us together since. Here is a brief story of how we got together.

From Whitney's perspective:
The year preceding us getting together had been very tough for me. My best friend and her family (my "adopted" family) moved away, I had my first break-up, and my step mom left my dad. I felt very alone and was going through a very dark emotional time. Before the school year started I knelt down and prayed that the Lord would bring someone into my life. I didn't care if it was a friend, parent, or boyfriend but I need someone. I had enjoyed Jared's friendship and felt lucky to have such a good guy friend and had never had any more feelings for him until the week of Oct. 25th when something changed. Jared attended a choir concert of mine and afterwards invited me to listen to a song he wanted played at his wedding...smooth. I did and it was very sweet, it was a rock ballad :) Later that week he came to watch my state cross country race in Denver. That night after the XC meet my friend had a Halloween party. Jared had planned a surprise for me at the party and lead me on a creative treasure hunt. At the end of the hunt he was standing out on the porch all dressed up in a suit. He manged to get out a few words and then asked if I would like to date him. I said yes, gave him a huge hug and so began our love.


From Jared's perspective:
Well I pretty much thought she was really cute and wanted to get to know her better so I put my best moves on her in Biology class which included taking and hiding her shoes, catching her a frog from the river, and playing the Fishy song by philmore for her. Apparently they did not work to win her over in a romantic way. I just remember thinking that she deserved better than her current boyfriend at the time. I got a hold of her at the end of the next summer and took her 4-wheeling to one of my favorite spots. I tried my best to see how she felt about me without directly asking. She basically said she liked being friends and didn't see anything ever happening. Anyway I continued to pursue her, I went to all of her cross country meets and choir concerts. After Whitney's state cross country meet I asked one of our friends if she thought Whitney would say yes if I asked her out. She said NO but apparently I didn't take her advise very seriously. A few days later I went to a memorial service for a girl I knew through a church group. After I left that I went to our friend's Halloween party where I sent Whitney on a scavenger hunt with me at the end. Thankfully she said Yes! I was so relieved, I don't even remember anything I said because I was so nervous.

There you have it! It has been a great 9 years of dating and 6 years of marriage and we feel so blessed to have eachother!