Month: August 2014

Posted in MISSIONS

Heritage and Haiti

Posted on by ashleymw88

( Written By The Hubby Jason )

Recently, I received a photocopy of a document from one of my cousins on some of the heritage from my father’s side of the family, specifically his mother’s family tree.  I have started to attempt to piece together somewhat of a family tree some years ago, but had little success.  Both my mother’s side and father’s side of the family came from slaves who were brought over here to America.  So trying to obtain records and information isn’t that easy.

I started this search some years ago, because I wanted to know more of where I came from and I also wanted to know for the children that I would father in the future as well.  As this became a task to find information, I let it lapse into a pile of things I want to do. (As I am sure we all have a to do list/pile like so.)

I am grateful to my cousin for sharing this document with me.  It’s only a page long, with about 4 paragraphs explaining how my great great grandparents were brought over here and how my great grandparents made a success with farming sugar canes for syrup, and vegetables.  Within this document it explains how my great grandfather was Afro-Haitian and my great grandmother is a descendant of the Cherokee Indians.  Finally some closure to a piece of who I am is how I felt while reading this.

After reading this, it hit me of how my wife is going to do missions in Haiti!!  Wow, isn’t that something.  God is calling my wife to do mission work in a country in which my great grandfather is a descendant of.  I find this exciting and look to hear of the experience my wife will have there until we both can go there and do missions together.  Look at how God works; just when we question his work he sends back a dove with a branch to spark our interest even more.

This has put a new spark in me to find out more information of my father’s father, my mother’s father and mother family tree.  This is a great start to the journey building my family tree and having a closer look into my heritage as well.

Posted in Uncategorized

God’s Plan above Ours.

Posted on by ashleymw88
( Written By The Hubby Jason )
If you have a car, its sole purpose is to be a vehicle of transportation from point A to B. Most cars are made to fulfill this purpose safely, but what if you stepped in to a car and it said to you, Thank you for making me, now this is what I want you to do for me. Sounds crazy and like chaos right!! Well think about how God feels when we tell Him our plans and what we want Him to do.
 
Now how does this tie into what I am trying to relay, here it goes!
 
Jeremiah 29:11 states ‘For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for a future and a hope’ (some of this is paraphrased)
 
God has a plan and purpose for each of us. Many times we see those plans and purposes as an interruption to what we want to do. I have found that when we are trying to get the glory that should be given to God, who makes all things possible, your plans won’t work out as well as you think. Think about Saul in the Bible. God told him what to do with clear instruction, but in his arrogance and greed he went a different direction and ended up in worst shape than what was intended for him and his family line. In many different ways, that’s what we all look like. God tells us to go down a certain road and we veer off thinking we can do it better or know better than the God who made the path for us. 
 
Jonah was another prophet in the Bible, God told him to go to a certain city and proclaim a warning. Jonah said no, that’s ridiculous, how about I go the other way and go somewhere he believed would be better. Well Jonah ended up in a belly of a Fish until he realized he should have followed God’s plan. Once he decided to follow God’s plan, the fish spit him out and he went on to do God’s will and was a success at. (I’m sure he took a shower first before going to the city though, after being in a fish’s belly for a while).
 
All of this is to say, that God’s plan may not look like what we think or expect it to look like, but if we want to have success following His plan and purpose can exceed your wildest dreams.
 
I hope this encourages someone to continue to follow God’s plan.

 

Posted in ADOPTION

The Joy of Being a Future Father

Posted on by ashleymw88
( This post is from my hubby’s heart. Be blessed)
When we first thought about adoption, we knew that it would be an option we would want to pursue. Especially because at our wedding, the pastor of the church I met my wife at said that my wife and I would have many children and not just biological children. I come from a big family where my mom is 1 of 4 and my grandmother is 1 of 16. So our family gatherings were very full of people, lots of people. I knew that I wanted to have at the least 3 kids, preferably 2 of the 3 being twins or having 2 sets of twins if possible (um yea I had goals) When the pastor stated this, it didn’t come to a shock to me. My wife worked at a boarding school where her students called me Poppa J (which in my opinion has a great sound to it)
We didn’t try to have kids right away, as I am sure everyone who is a newlywed is asked questions like: When are the kids coming?
 
I didn’t grow up with my father in my life, but if you ask him about that today he will tell all of these things he did but I don’t seem to remember, so it’s either I have amnesia or someone is just flat out lying. As I am giving that to God, growing up without a father leaves you to figure out a lot of life on your own. I am thankful for the men God has placed in my life that have made a positive impact in my life in helping to groom me into the person I am today. So thank you to DJ, Uncle Abe, Uncle Laniard and even my mentor now Tim.
 
Before the thought of being a father would scare me or be a thought that was too far to reach. Fear of having to instruct or lead a family. Trusting God and His will has helped me to face that fear. So the thought of adoption after I knew that I could be a father and do it with God’s leading was totally acceptable to me. I understood that this was God’s plan for us. Some may question don’t you want a child naturally? Why not try the different procedures and treatments that medicine offers? But, I answer with a simple its God’s plan. I believe that God sets a plan out for our lives and we can’t force His will for our comfort, we must allow things to happen in His time. Our decision is to adopt and we are more than happy with that decision. We have received some mixed feelings from people in our family and those we have chosen to tell. When you are following God’s plan, not everyone is going to be happy but I don’t expect those that don’t understand His will to understand.  As long as my wife and I are doing what we have to do, that’s what matters most. Plus, either if our child comes from a natural conception or a process of paperwork and prayer, it’s still a wonderful thing to have a child and to raise that child in the likeness of a Godly standard. 
Posted in ADOPTION

Plan B, C and D are necessary !

Posted on by ashleymw88

My husband and I started going through the paperwork for grants and we started to notice a common theme…a lot of them want you to have your home study completed and approved before they will  give out grants. The thing is, … to complete the home study it costs about $3,000.00

Everyone knows adoption is expensive so you try to have some type of financial plan in place to make things happen. Jason and I had that and it included working on grants first but then running into the “home study needs to be approved first” situation caused us to do more financial brainstorming.

Jason began looking into other jobs to take up with his financial experience until tax season because on top of his full time job he is also a tax pro at H&R Block during the tax season and my full time job is pretty busy so I took up an additional direct sales job ( that I LOVE!) that can be flexible with my current job and then Pinterest became our best friend. We started pinning like crazy, looking for adoption fundraising ideas , ( gofundme is a great tool but other fundraising ideas are even more helpful) while we are in the midst of still finishing paperwork, getting ready to move, working….lets just say life is BUSY even beyond getting ready for the adoption but that’s the season we are in and it’s okay. Anything good is worth working hard for! So back from my commercial… On Pinterest we found out about a site called “Fund The Nations” … LOVE their mission !!( check them out http://www.fundthenations.com/ ). Great causes affect people in positive ways but it takes money to fund those causes, so I love how this organization uses shirts to help fund individuals life callings and/or steps of faith. We will continue working on more fundraisers but we are hoping that at least this one will help us get past the home study.

If you would like to be a part of our journey and purchase a shirt , all of the information will be in the “Donate” section of the blog.