Writings….Writings…..

Dear Family and Friends,

As most of you know, Travis and I have started one of the most exciting adventures of our lives. We have recently become licensed foster parents. I know a lot of you are so excited and have been very supportive. I really needed to make a few things clear so that there is no confusion in the future.

Being a foster parent is an amazing thing. We are excited to get started. This being said, there are a lot of stipulations that come right along with being a foster parent. Confidentiality is of the utmost importance. This may seem like a given to some people, but I felt I should elaborate on what this means.

From this point on, you will not see any twitters, blogs, facebook updates, etc about foster parenting. The reason for this is the children we will be caring for need to be protected. What this means for you as our family and friends is that we absolutely need you to understand that if we make a comment about a child, which we will not be doing often, but you need to treat it as though we were talking about our own children, because that is what they are while they are in our care. This means no questions like, “oh how sweet, is this your foster child?” or “How are you liking being a foster parent?” If you have questions about the well being of our family, please feel free to call me and we will be more than happy to catch up.

Basically, the fact that we have foster children is confidential. The fact that some of the children in our care may be foster children is confidential. Pretty much, everything involving the word “foster” is confidential. We could lose our license if any of that confidentiality is breached. Thank you for understanding and if you have any questions, you can email me @ mandyhill419@gmail.com.

Love,

Mandy

I know, not the catchiest title, but it works. It has been a while since I have blogged (big surprise there).  So… the easiest way for me to go about this is in my favorite format….. use a list! So, here we go!

- God is continuously blowing my mind. Big things, small things (some as big as your head….) Seriously, I am learning more and more to appreciate the small things, but at the same time, I am seeing some of the most amazing, extravagant things ever.

- Travis and I are just a few weeks away from being licensed foster parents.  We have completed our end of the bargain… now we wait on the state to approve everything. We are totally excited about it all. Here are some pics of our nursery….all that is missing now is the children.

Here is the view when you walk in the door

Here is our adorable little toddler bed (bedding courtesy of blessings!)

Here is the other side of the room

-Trav and I are both in amazement of the wonderful jobs we have been blessed with. Honestly, nothing against any of the other jobs I have had, but this is definitely the best job I have ever had. I am a nanny to two beautiful children. The parents are wonderful people. Every bit of my job is like it was designed just for what I would enjoy and what would work perfectly for what we are wanting to do. Thank you God for caring so much that You plan out even the little details with special touches of love.

-Give Love. Give Bikes is coming up fast and I can’t even begin to explain the miracles that are already taking place, I am so excited to see what God is going to do next.

-All in all, it comes down to this. I have never had less money. I have never had less friends. I have never been more thankful for everything I have. I have never been more at peace, or more full of joy. Obedience is a beautiful thing. God truly does want to give us the desires of our hearts!

I think that is all for now, I will try and blog more regularly for those three people that still read this

Over the past few weeks, I have really felt God turning around my ways of thinking and ways of feeling. Just when I think I have been stretched farther than I ever have before, the stretching starts again, only this time with much more intensity. I have always been a very soft-hearted person. Whether it was having pity on some baby animal I found in my yard, or crying with a friend going through a tough situation. I truly believe that I feel things a little deeper than most people, and I believe God gave me this as a gift so that I can have compassion and help people. I learned at a very young age that I have to guard my heart to protect the tenderness God has placed inside of me. This meant not watching movies with too much intensity, or movies that are incredibly sad, just to be sad. Because when I am watching something, I am living it. We have all heard the song “Oh be careful little eyes what you see, for the father up above is looking down in love….” But not until I realized that I am not being careful because God is watching for me to do something bad for me to be ashamed about, but that God is trying to protect me from things did I realize that everything I see passes through my eyes and makes a bee line for my heart.

God dropped something into me the other day as I found myself, yet again, sobbing during a movie. I was watching Tyler Perry’s Meet the Browns, and there was a single mom breaking down because she is unable to provide food for her children, and talking about how many times she went to bed hungry because there just wasn’t enough. I found myself feeling more sorrow in my heart than I have felt in a long time. The same feeling happened a few days later as I was watching Tyler Perry’s Madea Goes to Jail, (and yes, I love Tyler Perry Movies) The story follows a young prostitute who finds hope with the help of a woman minister who comes around handing out condoms and clean needles to all the prostitutes and crack addicts on the street. I had to pause the movie a few times because of the heaviness in my heart. I asked God why I was feeling such heavy sorrows. I have always been tender-hearted, but this was a totally new level of hurt I was experiencing. God then revealed something to me. He said, “This is the difference between tenderness and brokenness.”

This floored me. I was broken, truly broken. Not for the characters of the movies, but for the people of this world. The real single mothers who have to bear the burden of providing for their families. For the mothers who go to bed hungry when there isn’t enough food. For the young girls who become prostitutes because of molestation, abuse, hurt, etc. For the children born from this prostitution, and for every child who has to live in fear every day of their lives. Whether it is fear of an abusive family member, or fear of not having enough to eat, a roof, a mom or dad to say I love you. I was broken for every human being who is missing out on the amazing love of a Father.

To have tenderness, or to be soft hearted, is sometimes nothing more than feeling sorry for someone and moving on. For something broken, something has to be done to fix it. If you break your leg, you don’t think “wow, this hurts a lot.” and then just go on with your life. No, you fix it. If we are to truly be the hands and feet of Jesus, this means we actually have to use our hands and feet and do something about the people who are hurting. You might have to actually touch that homeless person on the street. You might have to hug that child who has aids. You might have to work hard for absolutely no recognition.

To be broken by the things that break God’s heart is my desire. I don’t want to waste my emotions on sad movies, songs, news, etc.  I want to leave room in my heart for God to move me with compassion for the right things. If I am consumed by pointless emotions, I won’t see those opportunities.  I don’t want to be tender, I want to be broken.

I really couldn’t think of a better title for this post, because all I keep saying to myself, Travis, and most anyone who will pick up their phone is , “Wow.”

God is truly blowing my mind right now. Here’s what’s been going on:

Wednesday night, about 11:30pm, I checked my email to find an email from the people doing a lease to purchase on our BA home. The husband lost his job, they have a baby who is just a few weeks old, and they will be moving out of town this weekend. (That was wow #1). They were super up front about the whole situation, but they simply have to move so that he can find a job to support his family, which is important. Now, normally, I may have had a heart attack from this news, but I really feel like God has been stretching and conditioning me during this journey in Pensacola, so I told Trav what was going on, and he didn’t freak out either, it just felt okay. (That was wow #2).

This morning, I posted a quick ad on Craigslist via my phone, without pictures, just to see what would happen. Well, within about 20 minutes, I got an email from a guy saying that he and his wife were going to be OUR NEIGHBORHOOD tonight at about 6:00 and wanted to know if they could see the house. (That was wow #3) I called our renters and they were super gracious and said that would be fine, even though they had to postpone a trip out of town by a couple of hours. (That was wow #4) Well, I talked with our renters and they said that this couple seemed to like it pretty well.

About an hour ago, I got a call from the man who looked at the house tonight. Not only do they want to purchase the house, but they want to move in JULY FIRST!!!! (I just stopped counting wow’s at this point) WOW! So we are in the processes of getting things set up, and if all goes as planned, we will be free from the stress of having a home in Oklahoma while living in Florida. WOW!

God is so freaking good. I can’t even begin to tell you the feelings I had while all of this was happening. (One was, ” I think I’m going to pee my pants!!!”) Thank you Jesus for providing everything in perfect timing. When we decided to move to Florida, the exact same thing happened, I got one email about 20 minutes after I posted the ad, and they were the one’s who rented it. Now, 6 months later, the renters situation changes, which could have created a terrible situation for us, but instead, God is so faithful to take care of his children. I am so glad I am a child of God.

I realized something great while riding in the car at 1:00am this morning; There is truly no place like home.Travis and I had an awesome week spending time with friends and family in Tulsa. Sorry if we missed seeing you, but there are only so many hours in a day and believe me they were all full!

It was really great visiting Tulsa, but what was even better was that I actually felt like I was visiting, and that my home was in Florida. I wasn’t sure that I would feel that way, not that I don’t love Florida and feel I belong here, but that with all the familiarity of the last 15 years that is in Oklahoma, I just thought it might not happen.

Well, of course I have way more thoughts to share but I don’t have the time, so I will leave you with these adorable pictures of the grown up bunnies I came home too!

Mommy and her kids!

I remember when all five could fit in this basket!

Bailey was so excited for us to be home!

The sweetest little face!

First, I would like to say a big “Happy Mothers Day!” to all the mothers reading this. I know that Travis and I would not be the people we are today without our amazing mothers.

Second, I figure since I don’t have any children of my own (yet!) I would just say happy mommy day to my bunny by updating you all with some adorable pictures. Sadly, today we found a 6th baby bunny that did not make it…. not a great mothers day present for little Candy, but I think she will agree that she does have 5 great little babies to be thankful for. Ok, so it may seem cheesy or dumb to some of you that I am talking about my rabbit so much, but I think you’ll at least appreciate the pics Here you go!

All the sweet babies! (in a tiny basket of course)

Finally black and white instead of black and pink

Brindle in color just like mommy and daddy!

I love these little guys and girls!

Hey Guys,

Just wanted to let you know that Travis and I have started a new site called Chosen Journey. As some of you may know, we have started foster parenting classes, and we feel we need to keep those interested updated. There are so many confidentiality rules that you will not learn much about the actual children or the foster system, but instead this is an outlet for our emotions, thoughts, lessons, etc. from our journey into what God has ultimately called us to do as a couple. That is to care for, love, and protect God’s children. Anyways, check it out…

www.chosenjourney.com

Being a nanny is like being a mom in that I learn so many things from these children that I may already have known, but they are shown to me in a such a new light and appreciation. Let me show you what I mean…

Pictured above is a plane made from cardboard, duct tape, and rope. At first glance you think, “awww… that’s so cute.” Little do we “adults” often realize is that if you give a little boy a simple cardboard airplane that he can step into, put the ropes over his shoulders, and zoom around the room in, you have pretty much just fulfilled a childs dream. Remember, this is just a little cardboard. But is it really?

Often times, life presents itself to us and we think, “awww…. that’s so nice.” But we fail to recognize the potential in everything around us. As I watched Justin play in his cardboard airplane, I thought to myself, “why don’t I have that much fun with such simple things?” The problem is not that I don’t have my own cardboard plane, but instead that I have tons of little cardboard planes that I choose not to enjoy. We all hear about keeping our joy and being joyful all the time, but what would happen if we really put joy or hope into action every single second of every day? We would all be zooming around with our spirits sky high, that is what would happen. I am recommitting in my heart to be joyful about everything, no matter how small.

Romans 12:12 – Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, and faithful in prayer.

I challenge you to remember what it was like to be a child. Remember how the simplest things could entertain you for hours. Remember how walking on bubble wrap was the closest thing to magic. Remember how it felt to zoom around in  a cardboard airplane.

Ok, so any of you that know me, know that I am a big time animal lover. Well, you will understand why I am so excited about the new arrival of 5 brand new baby bunnies. Candy, our female bunny gave birth this afternoon. We have two black and white babies, and 3 brown and white. They look pretty much like little naked mole rat aliens right now, but I still think they are absolutely precious.

I suspected she would have them today or tomorrow, and when I got home from work, I peaked in the cage and saw her huge nest and thought,”wow, she must be getting ready to have them!” Then I saw the huge nest move. Before I could peak in the nest, Candy jumped over and right under her was a tiny little black and white baby! This baby must have been the last one born because when I returned him/her to the nest, there were four more to keep warm with. Here are some pictures from the blessed event… no worries, its just baby bunnies, no birth pictured

The Proud Mommy

Candy's safe and warm nest

The first one I saw!

A little closer look at the barely born bunny

A sweet little brown and white one

Growing up, I lived pretty much out in the boondocks. (Queue music, “down in the boondocks….”) I lived in a single wide trailer with about two acres of land. Part of that land was fenced off for our two dogs, Susie and Ginger. Well, not too long ago, Susie passed away and it got me thinking of the many amazing things about her. Susie had an uncanny ability of finding snakes anywhere in her yard. She would then bark a very high pitched bark, signaling that it was time to get the shovel because there was a snake in the yard.

To truly understand this story, I have to fill in some background information. We lived in Oklahoma for most of my life and I always had this fear of finding a rattlesnake in my yard. In the 10 years living there, I had yet to even see a rattlesnake, but nonetheless, the fear was there. Well, every time Susie would bark her “there’s a snake in the yard” bark, I would run following my dad with his shovel, while he went to take care of it.

I would always yell, “Is it a rattler?”

Every time, I would get the same response, “Nope, just another king snake.”

Then my dad would proceed to pick up what was left of the snake, and toss it over the fence. This happened hundreds of time at our little, country trailer. One night, though, it went a little differently. Be sure and picture this in your mind as it is happening.

It is just past sundown, and we hear the snake bark coming from the yard. As usual, dad goes to the back porch to get the shovel with me trailing along behind him. He goes down the steps and into the dog’s yard as I wait safely on the porch while he approaches the snake.

As usual, I shout, “Is it a rattler?’

Before my dad has a chance to answer, he starts swinging at the striking mystery snake. About the third swing in my dad shrieks, drops the shovel, grabs his knee, and starts jumping up and down. Panic took over at that time as I sprinted inside yelling, “Dad got bit by a rattler! Dad got bit by a rattler! Mooooooom!”

Of course my mom is panicking by this point as we both run outside to check on my dad. Imagine our surprise when we see him walking calmly to the back fence to throw the snake over the fence. When he gets back on the back porch, he looks at us strangely and says, “What in the world is going on?”

We were pretty surprised and relieved to find out that my dad had not, in fact, been struck by a rattlesnake, but that he hit himself in the shin with his shovel while swinging at a king snake. Boy was that a relief. This has been a great story to tell for a long time, and I am sure that will not be the last time I freak out about something that is not really as it seems.