Category Archives: Faith & Hope

Family Retreat Fundraiser 2019

Faith & Hope, Parenting, Special needs children, ,

So every year we do a fundraiser for our annual trip to Joni and Friends Family Retreat at Camp Allen. If you’ve followed our journey for more than a year, then you know how awesome this opportunity is for our family! They provide true-soul-restoring-manna-from-Heaven respite for families who have children with disabilities. Truly, it’s unlike anything we have ever experienced. For us, this is our “most wonderful time of the year.” 😉

This year we are using the Joni & Friends donation site because 100% of all donations go strait to our fundraising account. No fees taken out!! Which is pretty awesome!!

If you’d like to donate, click on the link below and you’ll be directed to our page. You should see Gideon’s sweet face and just to the right you’ll see a blue box that says “Donate Now.” That will take you to a secure site where you can make a donation, specifically on our family’s behalf.

http://jaf.convio.net/site/TR/FamilyRetreats/CampAllenFRManagers?px=1602238&pg=personal&fr_id=1472

We’d like to say thank you in advance for loving our family and following our journey. Your tangible gift means so much and we can’t wait to share our photos, videos and updates when we are there this summer.

Blessings to you and yours!

Joni and Friends Luncheon 2019

Faith & Hope, Parenting, Special needs children, ,

Every year, Joni and Friends hosts a donation luncheon to raise money for their ministry. This year, Kevin and I were asked to share how Joni and Friends Family Retreat has impacted our lives. I didn’t know it at the time, but our dear friend friend Lari was taking photos and then decided to record it. Thought I would share it with you all. We had already started speaking before she hit record, but not much was missed.

For more information about Joni and Friends and how you can support families like ours, visit www.joniandfriends.org/texas

Happy 6th Birthday Gideon!

Faith & Hope

Happy 6th birthday Gideon!!

We were told you wouldn’t make it to your first birthday. And as it got close, we learned a new statistic. “PBD kids who make it to their first birthday, have a 77% chance of making it to school age.”

At the time of your diagnosis, there were no more solid statistics on how long you would live.  We were told you would “write your own story.” And what a story it has been!

We believe you will continue to defy all odds, because you are, after all, a mighty wwarrior. You are fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139:13-14), created this way for a mighty purpose. (John 9:1-3).

You have taught me what it means to love unconditionally.

You have taught me that my happiness is not determined by my circumstances.

You have taught me that the Lord is my portion and I need not fear the future.

You have shown me (and the world) that a person’s worth is not the sum of his or her abilities or inabilities.

You are changing a world that you cannot see. You’ve done more with your first 6 years of life than many will do in a lifetime. And I am so incredibly proud to be your mom.

So happy 6th birthday Gideon! I’m so thankful God has loaned you to me and your father. I will cherish every moment that He allows you to be here. (Job 14:5, Psalm 139:16)

Love.

Mom

PS: Your big sister Laynie says she loves you so much! And so does your little brother and little sister!

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“As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.
John 9:1‭-‬3 ESV
https://bible.com/bible/59/jhn.9.1-3.ESV

“For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.”
Psalms 139:13‭-‬14 ESV
https://bible.com/bible/59/psa.139.13-14.ESV

“A person’s days are determined; you have decreed the number of his months and have set limits he cannot exceed.”
Job 14:5 NIV
https://bible.com/bible/111/job.14.5.NIV

“Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.”
Psalms 139:16 ESV
https://bible.com/bible/59/psa.139.16.ESV