Living Hazzardously

Little pieces of our journey with Jesus

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The big start!

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I often get asked what, why, when, where? Tell me about “Living Hazzardously.”

 I will attempt to summarize it here.

First is WHAT:

We are opening an adult foster care home as our primary occupation. This means that we are opening our home to a few guys who can use a family setting to prosper in life, a place that’s quiet. Our new home is seated on a 40 acre homestead, and we have plans of gardening, chickens, cows, maybe a goat and a horse? Pretty much whatever is needed to provide a home that both challenges and engages our foster people. If they love horses? We will figure out a way to get a horse. Maybe they love gardening? Okay, we will figure that out, too! The idea is to provide meaningful and productive living at the skill level and interest level of our new, expanded family.  We will see how God provides!

Next is WHY:

After discovering what so many adult “foster”care homes provide (first hand for Al but also seeing so many other similar situations) we couldn’t spend another day thinking about how individual needs were not being met. So, if Al were your son, would you not like to see him prosper? Grow? Learn? Enjoy? Or would you rather he go to his room and watch movies for the next 30 years? It’s a simple answer, but a complex application. We truly believe we can make a difference in a couple lives.  Is that worth the risk? Absolutely!

Now is WHEN:

This could not be a more complicated question! The urgency to provide Al with a better way of life vs the life we have vs our other kids vs … well you get the point. God provides for us in many ways, and this is no different. Jess and I had the same idea or “dream” and started discussion over 1.5 years ago. Confirmation came in so many ways. Family, friends, the Bible, our sons…. it seemed to be the only option. So we started to take our leap of faith and changed everything in our lives to move toward this common theme we called “Living Hazzardously”. God’s provision has always been there!

Traveling to WHERE:

We needed the right place, right price, right peace! We needed a house that could either be used as is or be modified to meet the codes.  It needed to be the right price so we could manage a very large reduction in income. We needed the land. It needed to fit our dream (more of that to follow) we traveled for months, searching and visiting so many homes. We traveled from Chaska into the Arrowhead, over to Lake of the Woods, nearly to Fargo.  Then we found Spring Lake.  It fit every requirement but one, we would have to replace two windows. (That’s an easy job for us) and so, here we are, in prayer! Yes, prayer was our biggest confirmation of all.

So, you want to know our bigger dream?

It’s easy. We will be building three cottages on our land to be used for our ministry of helping marriages survive and thrive in the world of special needs. I’ve been told that marriages that have special needs children fail 87% of the time. We want to help those families! We also want to work with pastors to assist blended families and just marriages altogether. We want to help marriage survive and thrive. We will always have a heart for this. Our big dream is to provide respite care when needed, or just a place to learn how to prioritize marriage, while providing for the needs of families. And to provide for these families regardless of financial ability to pay.

Please join us on this “Hazzardous” adventure! We have many needs, but the most valuable is prayer.

Living Hazzardously is stepping out in faith, knowing it’s God’s prompt, trusting the Lord to provide.

The “Mud Run”

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The snow started to fall, we started to hear the reports! I continued to paint, plan, layout walls, spray texture the ceiling in the kitchen. More reports! More snow! I nervously waited. Still no snow, just mud. Wait, we live in the great white north, yet 4 hours drive south are inches, no feet of snow!?? How can this be?

The sunset was a beautiful splash of oranges. I watch sunrise before church. More painting! Jess cooks bacon and eggs in the little electric fry pan, we thank God, once again, He has blessed us.

When do storms matter in our lives? Jess and I sat in church (Marcel Community Church) listening to a sermon set with a theme of “Mud Run” basically, thinking about the muddy mess we make in our lives and how God can and does work with those messes to do His will. Abraham and Sarah made a huge messy “Mud Run” yet God used Abraham to be the seed of his people and bring redemption to the world!

Never forget: your “Mud Run” is just an opportunity to see Gods mighty plan in life!

Speaking of mud, our driveway is nearly impossible to get through safely! Even the UPS truck won’t try, he parked on the county road and walked up to the house, spring brings us new challenges in our very own “Mud Run”

 

Somedays I’m the sledgehammer hammer, but that day I was the finger

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The day started with a nice breakfast, smiles & thoughts of getting a lot done! As our morning events took form, we started on removing the chimney, enter the sledgehammer! So far? So good! Row after row, “crack” followed by a thud. Hammer swings, lands with a crack against the chimney then a thud as chunks land on the floor… time to do a bit of “training” I asked Al if he would like to help, I was met with an enthusiastic yes! Al grabs the 8 pounder with both hands and swings like a pro! “CRACK” “nice job Al! Just like that… now let’s hit the other side.”…. another crack but this time it was three coarse too low. “Ok Al, you need to hit it at the top not the bottom” swift reply of ok and another big swing “CRACK” “ok Al, stop for just a second” as Al lowers the 8# hammer… “ok Al, instead of hitting it way down here, hit it up on the top, hit it right…….” as I was uttering the word “here” I felt the “CRACK” as my fourth finger on my right hand cushioned the chimney from its impending doom!

As years in the trades, and years in the Bible collided at one moment of time, I’m proud to say the words of my mouth and meditation of my heart controlled my tongue in a two word prayer, all I could say as I thought “Lord, help me in this moment” was clearly and repeatedly “OHH GOD” … I laid down on the floor to prevent falling as the pain surged and I started to loose my balance. But God is good all the time and in some miraculous way, no blood! It hurts pretty bad still but it will heal. I learned another valuable lesson that day, and God gave the strength to continue to achieve a productive weekend.

Finding good in a bad situation is one of God’s greatest gifts! Well that and ice!