Out of My Comfort Zone

The kids started their 4th & 6th grade years yesterday!  I honestly can't believe I just typed that.  When I look at their faces, I see my little 4 & 5 year olds.  I used to think "other people" had kids old enough to be in the "tween" years and that I was "that mom with the toddlers"!  I'm not sure what that says about me - either I'm in denial about my kids growing up or maybe it's that I still see myself as a twenty something still trying to figure life out!  These kiddos are amazing!  I'm grateful that God allowed me to parent them!  

John Michael (Johnny) - 9 1/2 yrs old, 4th grade;  Isabelle Jane (Izzy) - almost 12, 6th grade

Several people in my life have told me that I need to get back to writing on my blog.  I'm not sure what those well meaning people mean by their suggestions:  is it because I talk to much and they are tired of listening; is it because I have too many thoughts floating in my head and it all comes out a jumbled mess; or is it, as my husband tells me - that I have been given a gift with written word and I need to share it?

Whatever their reasons may be, I do feel the Lord directing me to write more.  I hope that as this new school year unfolds I have the moments to do just that!  

Could these two be any cuter?  JM looks more and more like his daddy everyday! 

This has been a very hard year for me thus far.  The Lord has been intensely working on my heart and my faith. - the Refiner's fire is not the place you choose to place yourself, but it is the most beautiful place that the Lord can allow me to be in His divine love and sovereignty over my life.  I hope to share some of what He's been teaching me and encourage you wherever you may be in the coming months.

My girl!  Growing into a beautiful woman of God!

As the kids started back to school, we've been talking as a family about Getting Out of Your Comfort Zone. We each shared what that might look like in our lives...  

Isabelle - praying at the lunch table before I eat

John Michael - telling a friend at school how much Jesus loves them

Kelly - saying "no" to things I'd like to do and saying "yes" at a moment's notice to what God asks of me

Kevin - sharing about God's love at my job, learning to let go and follow Him 

Our list continued to grow as we realized that any time we deny ourselves, we are getting out of our comfort zone.  

During family devotions each morning before school we are talking about Blackaby's Experiencing God series.  We are learning that spending time with Jesus has to be the first appointment on our calendars - the first thing we do after waking up, otherwise we can't align our hearts with Him!  Then we are applying Blackaby's challenge - "watch to see where God is moving and then join Him!"  

Where is God moving in your life - your work, your school, your family, your thoughts, your prayers?  Where is He clearly saying "I need you to join me.  I have gifted you with certain things that I need to use right now in this situation?"  

Maybe you are thinking - "I have no idea what He's doing.  I have no idea where He'd want to use me."

Answer a few questions:

1. Is God your first appointment of the day? (If not, you'll miss what He has for you!)
2. Are you too busy to even know what's going on around you to even be able to stop and ask "what is God doing?"  If so, how can you slow your pace?  Where do you need to create margin in your life so that it isn't passing you by without purpose?  We have a friend who is intentionally taking a block of time one day a week to look at the week just completed and the week ahead asking "God where do I see you moving?" so that he doesn't miss being a part of God's bigger picture for his life.  
3. Do I know that I am an unconditionally loved, rescued from sin Child of the ONLY, ONE TRUE GOD?  (If not, please ask someone to share about Him with you - or call me, I'd love to tell you about Him.  If you do - then let that soak deeply in and LIVE LIKE IT!) 
4. What would stepping out of your comfort zone mean to you?  

This is what it looks like for our kiddos....

I pray God speaks loudly to you and that you seek Him with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength.  

Haiti Trip 2013

Redford Friends and Family Trip

Port au Prince, Haiti

May 30 - June 3, 2013

"External religious worship that is pure and unblemished in the sight of God the Father is this:

to visit and help and care for the orphans and widows in their affliction and need, 

and to keep oneself unspotted and uncontaminated from the world."  James 1:27 (AMP)

 Our team of 20 landed safely in Haiti for 4 full days of catching a vision of God's heart for Haiti, for orphans and widows in Haiti and around the world, and the HOPE that Haiti is embracing.  

Isabelle, Micherlyn, and Kelly

There were so many special moments on our trip!  Two of the most meaningful were visiting Mission of Hope (above - where we visited 4 years ago) and visiting with Pastor Moise at Source de la Grace West orphanage (below).  Isabelle's first orphan home was at Mission of Hope.  We were blessed to spend lots of time with Micherlyn - we met her 4 years ago, she selflessly made Isabelle & Kelly necklaces before making her own.  Isabelle's photo of her (below) became an image that represented caring more about others than yourself.  Isabelle was so moved by her generosity, it became one of the cards she drew and sold to raise funds for more orphan homes.

Micherlyn & Isabelle 2

Her friends Cara & Neva helped her raise money to build an orphanage at Source de la Grace West after the earthquake.  Where we are standing (below) is ground zero of the earthquake.  There was nothing left standing where there is now an orphanage and a school.  

These are photos of Source de la Grace, Jumecourt orphanage.  This orphanage is right next door to where we stayed at the Jumecourt Inn.  We were blessed to visit these children 3 different times!

 Kelly's dad (left) and Kevin's dad (right) joined us on this trip - it was a very special, unique time to share with our dads all that God has done from a dream He gave our sweet girl! 

John Michael and the boys NEVER stopped playing soccer.  They had so much fun and gave everything they had to enjoy every moment with the children!!

Our hearts were torn between brokenness and hope!  We saw and experienced so much poverty as God revealed to us His heart and eyes for the nation of Haiti.  However, we saw so much hope!!  We visited Paula Coles Boutique where she is creating products from 100% recycled materials to fully fund education for children in Haiti who are in the worst conditions of Haiti.  We also visited GO Projects first Chicken Farm.  This is just the beginning of helping Haitians provide for themselves, but also to provide Chickens for the children in our orphanages - so they can have more protein!!  Both of these visits were amazing!!  

THERE IS MUCH HOPE FOR HAITI....these 2 places were just a glimpse of all that GOD has in store as HE is the REAL HOPE FOR HAITI!!!

 

 The future is SO bright for this young man!!

 Thank you God for uniting our hearts with our Haitian brothers and sisters! 

Haiti here we come!!

This crazy bunch is headed to Haiti in 6 days with our amazing team of 20!!  We are SO excited - we will be visiting the 3 villages where Isabelle has raised funds to build homes.  

Remember these pics from 4 years ago....Our hope is to visit Mission of Hope on Saturday June 1st.  This is Isabelle's 1st home and where we spent several days in 2009.  

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She has grown up so much since then, but can't wait to get there and play with some of her "old friends".  We know that most of the children are still there, so it will be very exciting to see them all again and compare pictures!!!  

Please be in prayer for God to move mightily in every person on our trip.  Pray that He would transform each person from the inside out.  Pray that each person would be surrendered and humbled to God's work in their life and that nothing would hold them back from making life transformations!!  We have 10 children on this trip - pray for God to grab hold of their hearts deeply and for their faith to grow deep in Him!

Please also pray for smooth travel - making flight connections, and on time planes.

Pray for health & safety - no reactions to malaria meds, no malaria, no stomach reactions, etc.  

Pray for JOY to abound and for quick connections with the children!

Our family is still in need of support for our trip - about $950.00.  If you'd like to help us you can make a one-time donation at  https://goproject.org/go-project/give/single-donation/  There is a box that says

"If you would like to specify how this donation should be used, please do so here:  "

in that box, please write Donation for Redford family Haiti trip May 30-June 3rd #1313

We appreciate your prayers and support!  We can't wait to see all that God will do!  Please check back after June 4th and we'll update with photos and stories.  

Puppies, Jesus, and Max Lucado?

This was the first day of school 2011 - who knew what the days ahead had in store??

It has been a really crazy few weeks since our last puppy post. The puppies will be 2 weeks old on Thursday the 22nd. They are growing very big and are almost ready to open their eyes.

Here is a pic from their 1 wk b-day

WORLD MANDATE

We traveled to Waco, TX for World Mandate. We celebrated & worshiped Jesus for 3 days! Isabelle shared about her Global Orphan Project and God showed up big. It was an awesome weekend. Check out her blog for more details Arts for Orphans

At World Mandate, Isabelle was able to share her story about orphans and talk about Jesus. Again, check out her page for more details.

Jimmy Seibert, Senior Pastor Antioch Community Church with Isabelle

James Mark Gulley & Carl Gulley - 2 amazing brothers serving the Lord with passion & zeal. James Mark & another brother Stephen write alot of the worship songs for World Mandate - if you are looking for a great worship CD, check out the Antioch Community Church website to purchase one. They are always on at our house. Carl directed World Mandate and is so encouraging to Isabelle & John Michael! Thanks Gulley's for making us feel so welcome!

Jim Yost, missionary in Indonesia. This is one very special man. He followed the call of God on his life in his early 20's to Papua, New Guinea and God continues to use him in that area of the world. He ministers to problem young people in ways that I cannot begin to describe. He asked this question to us during his talk, "If your church was closed one Sunday, would your city miss you? Are you having such an impact in your city for God that the people would miss you if you closed the doors?" WOW - something to think about.

MAX LUCADO!

What a crazy deal God had in store for our kids...to meet and hang out with the creator of one of their favorite cartoon series "Hermie & Friends" If you have small children or grandchildren, this is a series you do not want to miss!

Max is a wonderfully gifted man that God is using to change the world! We are so blessed to have met him this weekend.

Puppies, puppies, EVERYWHERE!!!

When I posted last night, I thought for sure we'd not have pups until the weekend. By 9am this morning the birthing process had begun. Kevin kept texting me at school "4 pups", "5", "6", I called him at lunch and he was at "7" At 12:30 he texted me one last time "9 total"

Pups resting & snuggling together while mom went outside for a few minutes! She didn't want to be gone long. She is a great Mom!

Moving the pups to the garage. Kevin was hoping to move Molly to the garage before she gave birth. He was planning to do it after lunch today, but Molly had other plans!

Momma resting with her pups in the warm garage!

More photos to come!

Meet Molly!

On Monday evening as I was washing dishes I saw something run across the field from our house. I didn't think much of it because we have all kinds of wildlife out here in the country. About 5 minutes later, we opened our garage door & found this sweet girl waiting for us. She was clearly malnourished and starved for attention - we gave her water and something to eat and she went on her way, or so we thought. The next morning, we found her sitting on our front porch looking up at us through our kitchen window.

Kevin spent the day with her taking her to the vet at lunch. This dog never left his side. He didn't even need a leash in town or at the vets. The dog almost trips him or I when we walk with it because it is glued to our leg. At the vet, Kevin discovered some very interesting things. This sweet dog most likely had been dumped in the country - clearly she hadn't been fed or cared for. We thought that they may have dumped her puppies with her. NOT!! She hasn't had the puppies yet! Yes, you heard correct, she is going to deliver in 3-10 days!! And probably 6-10 puppies!!! WHAT!! Even if we wanted to send her on her way, we can't - Molly (as the kids quickly named her) has become our dog! Puppies & all.

This is where you'll find Molly today - laying on the kids patio. She is so tired and so ready to have these babies. We got some boxes and blankets to make her a cozy spot to deliver. Beyond that, we really have no idea what we are doing. Thankfully our closest neighbor is a vet (that's where Kevin took her - so he is aware of the situation) and my cousin is a vet, so I'm hoping to get some good info from her too!
The newest member of our family has been a big blessing of JOY & laughter for us all! We are excited to see what the days ahead have in store!!! We'll keep you posted!

Summer Fun

Summer 2011 has been full and fun. These photos are a snapshot of all that we've done! They are in order from most recent to latest - going back to the last day of school.

We were in KC for our birthdays (Kevin & Kelly's are 2 days apart!) We went to the Roasterie plant, to see how coffee is roasted! It was very interesting to learn all about coffee, where it comes from and how it makes it from coffee bean to the cup! The kids were quite amused by our lovely hats...well maybe Kevin had more fun with them? :)


One of JM's favorite activities is to ride his bike to McDonald's with my dad to get pancakes...it's a pretty decent little ride from their house and a much anticipated adventure.

I really wanted a Coconut Cream Pie for my birthday - so I made one, for myself. Well my dad absolutely LOVES coconut so he loved it too and was thankful it was my birthday! My next goal is to make a recipe my friend Bonnie sent me - that claims it tastes 100 times better than an almond joy - which I really like too! So we'll see if I like it better with chocolate!

While in KC, the kids went with my parents and sister out to our friends house the Labeths. The Labeths & my mom & sister have been teaching Sunday School together this last year, so they had an end of the year party at their home complete with carnival games and horse rides. Isabelle & JM were there early to help set-up and were complimented on being great helpers! JM was pretty excited to ride bareback with Rodger - he just loves hanging out with him!

Over Memorial day, we were blessed to spend time with all our Redford cousins, including the newest Redford, Aleyah Grace. The big kids loved holding her and watching her play! It's fun to have a little one around again...the rest are growing too fast!

The last day of school, I surprised the kids by inviting my sister and niece to show up at our house for a quick trip to Branson & SDC....they were surprised!

This is Isabelle's first ride on Wildfire....it goes upside down! She has been waiting and waiting to be tall enough to ride - she finally made it and boy was she pumped. THere were NO lines, so she eagerly asked to ride 2 times back to back...I thought I could handle it - not so much...I was a bit woozy after that! It took a few hours to feel better!

Olivia, my niece, really loves the kiddie rides now...they are getting to be "babyish" for my kids, but the have such JOY seeing their cousin having so much fun! They are troopers and joyfully ride with her as many times as she'd like. I was very proud of their sweet hearts!

This was our first attempt at SDC...we drove through the worst storm I have ever been in. This was the Friday before the Joplin tornado. It wasn't raining when we got to Branson, so we thought we'd be good to go...as we rode the tram to the ticket gate it started raining and never stopped - poured and thundered and lightning until the wee hours of the next morning! The kids told Olivia to make a sad face about the rain, she wasn't too sure about that.

The last day of school....

Isabelle's butterfly release....this was a really fun project to watch develop. After about a week of feeding and watching them...we let them go on the last day of school.