Archive updates  

December 07  

Hey guys,

It's been about two months since my last update.  We, as a ministry, had a successful Golf Tournament Fundraiser the beginning of October.  And on the 31st, Heather and I were in charge of Harvest Party fun for the girls in the house.  We facilitated a scavenger hunt, pizza, bobbing for apples, bingo, piñata, fire in the fireplace, Twister (it was as funny as it sounds), and finally a movie.  I even found babysitters for part of the night so that our two Aftercare girls could attend. 

In November, we had an amazing 25th anniversary Banquet for our ministry.  There was testimonies from a father and mother of a Fatherheart girl, a lady on our ministry's Advisory Board who had an abortion when she was young (she also testified how her life would have been different had she had a Living Alternatives available when back then), Bev gave her testimony as well as a year-in-the-life update, and finally, a lady who placed her child for adoption 16 years ago told her testimony and for a finale announced and introduced her 16 year old daughter and her daughter's adopted family as they had reunited in person for the first time just that night..........even now the memory of God's faithfulness brings tears to my eyes.  Powerful! 

Over Thanksgiving, Heather and I went to Kansas and had a good time spending time with the cousins:  they hadn't yet met Gracie.   Gracie is talking up a storm: she learns a new word everyday.  She loves to try an wrestle with her brother.  She loves to play with "babies", matchbox cars, read books, and dance.  Joshua is memorizing scripture, learning about creation in homeschool, can ride a bike without training wheels, can hit a baseball that dad tosses at him, loves the drums and guitar, and also loves to dance.  They both like helping mom in the kitchen, and really great children!  We are blessed!

Regarding the ministry, we've had several girls come through since August, but only two have stayed through to their due dates.  About 4 have left the program early b/c of various personal issues........some b/c they finished their goal in education, while others b/c of issues with authority.    But while Satan has tried to grab hold onto these girls, we as the staff have seen God do great things in their lives.  The girls are receiving truth: about God's love; about their worth; about their responsibility to loving address the needs of their babies and authority, while listening for God's voice to do what's most loving for themselves.  Christian and I in the classroom have had many opportunities to help the girls process personal and spiritual choices.  Just yesterday, one girl asked me a hard question from a Daddy's perspective.  It took her three tries to communicate as she broke off in tears several times for lack of courage.  She asked me, "What would you say if one day Gracie came up to you and told you she was pregnant?!"  I proceeded to tell her that I would probably cry, but I would communicate to her that I loved her and that everything would be alright.  God will help us and help her make the right decision and that I would support her.  We would later pray into the big decisions; but first I would make sure Gracie knew that, like God, I love her no matter what, I will not abandon her, and nothing she could do would change that.  She is and will always be my little princess.  The girl asked several other questions and I was honored to help her reason through her hurts.  She eventually felt the courage to write her real daddy a letter and I helped her fax it during school.  Today she told me that her dad had called that night and they had had a good conversation: they both cried and her dad reaffirmed that while he was leaning toward adoption as the best option, he would support her in whatever decision she made.

Christian Punches, my partner in the school, and I have also have been led by God to bring joy to the girls' sadness at times with our similar personalities; Christian and I have fun in the classroom as our humor feeds off of one another.  We often get made fun of as weird or crazy, but they always have a smile on when they say it.  We also are trusted into their conversations of relational experiences at the maternity home and family. 

Please pray with me for Loren, who's not due until March, that she will come back after the Christmas break:  she is struggling to commit to her due date for the remainder of the Fatherheart program. 

Please also pray for Kyla, as she so desperately wants to hear God's voice for herself. 

Please also pray for our ministry to get new staff:  we are running low on staff.  Heather and I have personally been asked to pray about temporarily serving in the house for the first 5 months of next year to supplement the struggling staff.  They are losing two staff this Christmas who are feeling led to move on to other ministries out of state.  Also, the head house manager is going to attend a 5 month long YWAM training school starting in December.  I could access one staff member from the house to offset my needs in the school.  I would still oversee the school as Principal.  Heather would still oversee the Preschool, home school Joshua, while also filling in the house.  We are not sure how that would work, but are praying for God's wisdom nonetheless. 

Regarding an update for “the house and property:  This past summer, God led us, through much prayer and wise counsel, to purchase some land for quite a deal, and begin planning to build a future home. We not only feel led to plan for future adoptions and to provide for our family in missions, but we also want to prepare for future post-pregnant girls to come live with us on a short term basis. We have recently had a preliminary survey done on the land and are waiting to see the results.  We will then sit down with the owners of the land and carve off an agreed upon acre.  In the meantime, we have an appointment in a few weeks with an architect to talk through house plans. Then we will proceed with the steps to put the land in our name, and begin to search for the right builder.

Finally, in her free time after the kids go to bed, Heather has been getting into a hobby lately of making nice bead necklaces and earings.  She has even found some people willing to buy some to support her hobby and supplement some spending money.  She is having fun blessing people and seeing the unique combinations that God is putting together in her head.  Meanwhile, I have started reading some books lately:  Maximized Manhood by Edward Cole,  Punkmonk by Andy Freeman, and God is at Work by Ken Eldred.  They have been challenging me in my prayer time for my family, my community, and for business leaders in general.

Thank you for your prayers, support, and friendship!

Brad