God is good. Always.

Last week we closed on the selling of our house!  

After 2 years of the house being on the market, it finally sold.  

And we are so grateful.  

But we are not grateful just because the house sold.  

We are grateful that God's plan was way better than ours.  

His always is.  

Always.  

We obviously wanted our house to sell as soon as we put in on the market.  We thought we had a plan for what we would do when it sold and we thought that everything would work out perfectly.  

But God knew that he was taking us in a different direction (such as California!) and it was not the right time to move only to have to move again.  

And so we waited.  

Sometimes I was more patient than others because attempting to keep a large house organized and ready for showings with 3 littles running around was pretty impossible.  But God also knew that a mom with 3 littles always needs more practice with being patient :)

So we left our house in Waco unsold as we moved across the country, trusting it would work out.  

Which of course it did.  

God is so good because He knew what we needed and when.  

We are so grateful that His plan is perfect.  

We are grateful the house sold, but we would continue to be grateful that God's plan is good even if it remained unsold.  Because all things have a purpose and a plan.

God has a way of taking our plans that we constantly make and throwing them out the window.  

Anybody else feel that way?

Married while still in college?

Twins?

Major career change?

Move across the country?

I never expected these things and yet each one has resulted in blessings and great growth.  

God is good.  

Always.  

And THAT is why I am grateful.  

And so we now say goodbye to our house. 

Our first house together that we moved into when we got married.  

The house where we brought 3 babies home to. 

The house that was our home for a decade.  

Here is a picture of how the house looked when we moved into it:

I think the house changed as much as we did while we lived in it.  

So long Austin Avenue!

orphan sunday.

"defend the cause for the fatherless" isaiah 1:17

today is orphan sunday.

it is a day set up by the christian alliance for orphans where we, as christians, are called to become aware of, pray for, and do something for the orphans of our world.  8 years ago i didn't know much about orphans.  then brenner started the ministry in zimbabwe.  we have become much more aware of the orphan problem in the world, and yet we are still so ignorant.  and to be honest, most days i don't stop to pray for the orphans around the world that are lonely, hurting, starving, crying, scared and desperate for love. 

 there are over 150 million orphans in the world.  

friends, that is too many.

my friend Casey Chappell has an amazing story of adopting 5 children and is such a testimony.  she often says that if just 7% of people who claim to be christians would adopt an orphan, there would be no more orphans left.

do something, my friends. 

brenner is in zimbabwe right now, loving on these kids, and my heart aches to be with him.   

we have been able to talk with him almost everyday since he got there and even FaceTime with him.  

i adore this picture of clara (dressed in her kimono!) and a little boy talking via FaceTime.  they were dancing back and forth at each other and my heart almost burst open right then and there.  one day i hope my babies will get to hug those babies.  

i am asking you all to say a prayer for the orphans.  God knows which ones and hurting.  keep praying and make a commitment to lift up the ones who need our help.  

off to africa.

brenner left this morning for zimbabwe, africa.  

this is his 7th trip over there!

and while i get to hang out with the little people and have them all to myself for 10 days which will be be pretty fun, we are going to miss brenner and i long for the day when i can go with him!  i have yet to go and my heart is bursting to see the country, the orphanage, and the kids growing up there.

i am so proud of all the work that he does over there and the love that he has for that country and their children.