Good Hope

 I'm so amazed at how much The Lord has changed me over my life! When I was in high school & college my dream was to live in New York City or some other big city & work for a magazine or in publicity. As I gave my life The Lord & began to grow in Him, He slowly began to change those desires. I was content to marry Brad & raise our family in a suburb of Jackson, MS. I had no idea at the time how our thoughts toward our family would change.

We went from wanting 3, maybe 4 kids to now being completely open to many more. We won't even put a number on it! Totally letting God guide us in this, whether biological or adopted, our hearts are open for more. 

My thoughts where we would live have also changed greatly! For the last two years I've had a longing to live where we have a lil more space. I do not desire the subdivision lifestyle any longer! It basically started wanting a bigger backyard for our boys to run in, to needing space to grow some vegetables, to needing a lil more space to have a small chicken coop, to finally realizing I just want to live in the country!! 

This never seemed like a real option because of where my husband's job was located. He had no desire to drive an hour to & from work. Well wouldn't you know his company moved to a different town! At first I wasn't happy because it made his drive longer from where we live now. Little did I know how things were beginning to change.

About a month ago we spent the weekend with my daddy out in the country & had such a great time! The big boys had fallen in love with fishing! My daddy's house is pretty much a mini-vacation for us! Between the pond, the horses, a swimming pool, & the gorgeous view of the country, we never want to leave! My daddy is also 71, but you wouldn't know it by how he acts! That weekend I realized how badly I wanted to spend as much time with him as possible & how much more I wanted my kids to spend time with him.

Then this past Sunday we spent the day at my in laws who also live out in the country. We had the best time! We always have a good time, but something was just different. I enjoyed watching our kids play with their cousins, my sister in law loving on Chapel & me getting a lil break :)! We sat outside under a big tree talking about this, that, & the other. Brad took all the kids out in the pasture on the four-wheeler, they all rode bikes, & played all sorts of things together letting their imaginations guide them. My heart longed more for country life. A simple life.

I woke up the next day praying, seeking God & He revealed to me that our family land in a community called Good Hope wasn't that far from Brad's job. So I did what any woman in 2013 would do, I mapped it in my iPhone! Sure enough it wasn't far at all! When I brought this up to Brad he was hesitant. If we moved "way" out there where would we go to church? 

This is very logical because all the churches around are still very traditional Baptist churches & we no longer worship that way, nor do we want our kids not to understand some of the things regarding the Holy Spirit that these churches don't really teach. After praying & asking a few friends to pray The Lord showed us He could use us in this area to change the mindset of this tradition. He also revealed to us another family who believes like we do who also has a desire to do something in this area. Things were lining up.

Yesterday when Brad got off work we drove from his new location to Good Hope to see exactly how far it was. Not too far after all!! We walked around on the land imagining where we could build a house & explored the beautiful acreage with the boys. They had a blast!

 

 We saw a fox & a rabbit & heard deer back in the trees. Brad's eyes lit up with the thought they could deer hunt in our own back yard if we lived out there. As we prepared to leave Brad's uncle & family stopped to talk to us. They saw us as they passed by to the house they're building just down the road! I was shocked at how close it was! 

Moving to Good Hope will not only give us the country life I desire, but it also puts us closer to where my daddy & Brad's family lives! It's far enough away to be peaceful, yet not too far from a Walmart or the mall! It's perfect in my mind!

So now we begin the process of what it will take to make this our reality & not just a dream. I ask that you please pray with us on this. Above all else, we want to do what The Lord wants us to do!

We have Good Hope in Him!

Blessings!