A Full(er) House

On Monday, July 7 (exactly one month since IG moved in), the Liddell house will be getting our third boy! KS will be here, and we are so excited! He will be sharing a room with IG, as they are almost the same age and will be going into the same grade when school starts next month. Please be in prayer for KS (I am not sure if his name starts with a C or a K, as I haven't seen the official form for him yet; bear in mind his initials may change :P) as he moves in and begins adjusting to life on the ranch. He has never lived at the ranch before, but has visited several times and is already somewhat familiar with it; I think this could help him adjust. Also, please pray that he and IG will hit it off well; they could potentially be really great influences on each other, or end up being really competitive because they are so close in age.

Something I said in the above paragraph has just really occurred to me--that the boys will be back in school next month! Where has the summer gone? There have been a few extra long days here and there, but the weeks have been short. We work hard and we play hard. The summer has been a great time of learning to work together as a family to get things done, and learning to have fun together when the work is finished.

I have been asked frequently what it is like to have rambunctious older boys and a toddler all in one house. Our one-year-old daughter, Adeline, has played a very special role in our ministry at WSBR. What a blessing it is that even at her young age, I already see how God can use her to minister to others (obviously she isn't aware of this--but her mother is). The way her eyes light up and she smiles or laughs when she sees TJ or IG seems to fill them instantly with joy. They will just chase her in the living room or try to coax her to walk or do everything they can to get giggles out of her for hours! It seems like she is good medicine for the wounds they have endured in their lives before moving to WSBR. As for how the boys are for her, I was worried for quite a while before we moved to the ranch that I would have to constantly run damage control, but I knew that God would protect Adeline more than I ever feasibly could. The boys are absolutely wonderful with her--we seldom need to remind them to be gentle with her. They are extremely protective of her, and always hate when it's her naptime or bedtime because they want to keep playing. However, neither of them ever seem to be around if she needs a new diaper. ;) I am confident that, even if it doesn't happen as quickly as it has with TJ or IG, that KS will also adore Addie, and that she will love him just as much. :)

Here is a list of prayer requests and needs you can be aware of if you wish to be a part of what God is doing here at WSBR:

• As stated in the first paragraph, please especially be in prayer for KS this week as he moves into our house.
• Prayer for TJ and IG to remain open and welcoming as they adjust to KS becoming a part of the family. 
• It isn't really a ranch thing, but we are weaning Adeline off of her pacifiers. She may still need to take one to the nursery at church, though, or I have a feeling she will borrow one from another baby. :/
• For good attitudes about the balance of work and play and being a family to continue, and on some days improve ;)
• For whatever future boys God will bring to either the Mac house or the Liddell house. When KS moves in, there will be three boys in each house--so there is definitely room for more. :)

Some needs which you may consider donating:

• As always, if you would like to give financially to WSBR, you can go here. 
• We had one bicycle for a while that was quite old that our boys used to all share, but it was already on its last leg and quickly became unrideable. There is lots of room for riding bikes at the ranch, and I know the boys would just love if a bicycle (or bicycles, plural) were donated. If you have a bike sitting in your garage that is taking up space, we would love if you considered giving it to WSBR. 
• Our relief house parents just had a baby girl a few months ago, and have two young boys as well. All of them share our guest room when they come to do relief for our days off once a week. The bed in our guest room is fairly old, and is only a full size bed. If you or someone you know has a queen sized bed in good condition they could donate, it would certainly be well received! 
• This isn't really a need, but if you're one of those women I envy who have a talent for embroidery, Blake and I thought it would be really neat if the boys had two or three towels with their initials, name, or a monogram of their initials embroidered on it so that they could always see whose was whose. Just an idea :)

If you are reading this, thank you, thank you, thank you for investing your time in these boys and in the ministry of WSBR to catch up and be aware of what God is doing, and of needs that need to be met. Yours prayers are coveted and appreciated! 

Ebb & Flow

For those of you who have been praying for the possibility of a new boy coming, thank you! IG moved in this morning! He is too busy playing with TJ (I realized going by just first initials could be potentially confusing as our house grows) to have unpacked any of his suitcases yet, which is fine. He is almost fourteen; but, so far, the age gap between he and 10 year old TJ doesn't seem to matter. I'm sure this could change soon, but I digress.

Since my last blog post, I am sad to say that A decided he still did not want to be at the ranch. We have a saying here at WSBR, though: "We'll love you wherever you live." I think TJ is sad about this off and on; he misses his brother and wishes he would have stayed, but TJ is sold out to the ranch. Even if his brother couldn't buy in, he has determined that he's not going anywhere.

Please continue to pray for IG as he starts to adjust to life at the ranch. He is excited to be here, but it is still going to take getting used to :)

A is Back!

And, no, I'm not talking about Pretty Little Liars (but I did finally watch the entire fourth season and I swear at this point I'm only watching it for closure. It drives me--and my husband, because he hates that I watch it--crazy).

If you keep up with us on Facebook, you are probably aware that our latest pictures have included two boys instead of one. T's brother, A, is finally back at the ranch! Things are going pretty well so far, and we are hoping that when summer starts he will still be doing well. :) I do not want to disclose too much personal information about our boys through the blogisphere, but I will ask that you pray for A's continued healing and well-being.

Recently Blake and I arranged a space in the back of the utility closet to serve as a prayer closet, that anyone in our house can use. I left a journal from India and one of our Bibles in there, and both boys have utilized the space a few times. Something about being behind a closed door, in a small space, where it's really quiet, somehow seems to help them feel more like God is really listening. Perhaps it feels like being in God's secret clubhouse or something. It seems like it has been a good thing for them when they have used it, like they can come out a different person, or at least feeling closer to this God that I think neither of them would say they understand at all. I would go into deeper detail about where I feel they are at with God personally, but please understand that I am trying to really guard these boys. You'd be surprised (or maybe not) by what kind of personal questions people ask them, and they are already pretty guarded--so I try not to give others more information to freak them out with ;)

Okay, so back to where I was going when I started talking about the prayer closet. I think one of the biggest things that boys coming to the ranch need to understand is what grace is, and why it is so important. Obviously at the ranch there are rules and expectations that need to be followed--but grace is the cement that holds this place together. And let me tell you, as a house mom, I need a lot of grace. Blake needs a lot of grace. Our bosses and our fellow house parents and relief houseparents and our counselor need a lot of grace. The boys need so much grace, and it's really difficult for them to understand (and hey, we all have trouble understanding it, right?). So, please, pray for an abundance of God's grace around us, in us, through us.

Another thing you can begin to pray for is a boy that may be coming to the ranch some time after labor day. He is thirteen, and he will come look at the ranch next week. We are hoping and praying that he will find a home here at the ranch; please join us in doing so!

Thank you once again for your continued intercession for us. We love and appreciate you!

A Long (But Ultimately Awesome) Weekend

To explain everything that went on this weekend, let me give you a brief prologue.

Please be in prayer for Blake's grandpa, Paul. He has been diagnosed with liver cancer. This patriarch of our family means so much to us, and has been battling various health issues for almost two years now. For me, personally, all my grandfathers and great-grandfathers have passed away or just simply aren't in the picture. Paul is my grandpa; and anyone who has been close to a grandparent or parent knows how difficult these situations are. Blake's parents, Odus and Paula Kaye, are back in Texas tonight and will find out more about Paul's diagnosis and treatment options tomorrow. We are optimistic that God will do a mighty work in our family through this situation, and that everyone--especially Papa--will come out stronger on the other side. On Sunday, two of Blake's brothers came to stay with us here at the Ranch for a week while Blake's mom and all of his sisters went to stay with his grandparents in Texas to help take care of Paul.

With Blake's two brother's here for a whole week, T got to play with boys closer to his age, and also have a tiny idea of what a bigger family dynamic might look like when we have more boys here. It was neat to watch T get more involved in helping things run smoothly and have more of a "part" to play in the family. He volunteered to help with dishes--twice! In a row!

On Friday, Blake, his two brothers, T, and all the boys and Jon from next door went to the mens retreat at Falls Creek. Blake said it was a lot of fun, but he wasn't so sure how much T got from anything because he was a lot younger than most of the men that went; but, when we were driving to Shawnee on Saturday night, Blake asked T what his favorite part of the retreat was, and T said his favorite part was the worship/tabernacle time. Blake's response was, "You're not just saying that cause you think that's what I want to hear, are you?" and T said, "No, there was lots of cool stuff, but that really was my favorite." You just never know with boys that come through the ranch how guarded they will be, depending on where they are coming from--T is so open to learning, and asks so many questions (some days too many).

On Saturday night, we all stayed in Shawnee with Blake's family to discuss Paul's health. T sat in on our family meeting, and even though his face definitely communicated "I have no idea what's going on here," you could see him trying really hard to understand and be a part of what was going on, and trying to understand the complex combination of the pain that comes with dealing with the reality of sickness in a loved one, and the hope we have that Christ is stronger than that pain. I think that by the end of this weekend, he was starting to feel like he was really part of this family--not just Blake and Adeline and me, but also our extended families.

Today we ALL went to church together, where Blake, two of his sisters, our friend Luke, and I all led worship and his dad preached. At one point today, after it was said several times in church "We are just so glad the Comptons are with us today" and the like, T leans over and whispers to me, "I'm a Compton, too, aren't I?" There's no denying when you get thrown in with all the Comptons, you're going to feel the love; and T really felt the love this weekend, and really saw how being a family is being a team. Even with the undertone of sadness in discovering Papa's cancer, this weekend was such a blessing.

So, after this long story, here's some praise and prayer points for T and for our house:

• Praise: T is doing A LOT better in school. He brought one of his grades up TWO LETTER GRADES from the last nine weeks to this nine weeks. 
• Prayer Point: Adjusting to Chandler schools still has its challenges. We are hoping that after the summer he will be adjusted enough to be excited to go back to school. 
• Praise: As far as I know right now, we are up to four possible new boys to come to our house. These are still in early, early stages, and would wait until after school to come (because why change school's when we have only a few weeks left to go?). 
• Prayer Point: for these four boys, please pray that God would bring their parents/guardians wisdom, that God would help these boys to find a home here at the ranch, and that He would prepare our hearts and our home for whoever He brings.

Thank you, thank you, thank you for interceding on behalf of our family and on behalf of WSBR. We so covet your prayers. For more information about our part at WSBR, you can sign up for our monthly email newsletter here. For more information about the ranch as a whole, you can like our Facebook page and check out the link on my blog. :)

A Long Story, Short (Well, Actually, Not That Short).

It occurred to me this morning that many people don't exactly understand how Blake and I ended up at Willow Springs Boys' Ranch, or what exactly we were doing between graduation, Adeline being born, and when we started here in January. And boy, is it a long story. One that is way too long to say in a simple response to the question, "What were you doing before you went to the Ranch?"

So, let me start at graduation.

It was May 17th. We walked (or, in my case, waddled) across the stage and proudly held our fake diplomas in lieu of our actual diplomas that would be mailed shortly. We were happy and excited for the future God had for us at a church where we thought we would be leading worship sometime that summer. Until then, we were still serving at Faith Baptist in Harrah.

Two weeks later, Adeline arrived 17 days earlier than expected on May 31, 2013. As excited as we were, we also knew this put a little pressure on our job timeline. Did this mean we would leave Harrah sooner? Later? We had no idea. At this point we were hearing nothing but radio silence as the other church was still working out details about hiring us.

When Adeline was two weeks old, we came to visit our friends Jon and Whitney, who had just become houseparents at Willow Springs. Hearing their excitement and nervousness as they began this new journey and ministry together was awesome. After talking for a long time that day, it was said at some point (I think by Jon), "Hey there's an empty house here. Wouldn't it be crazy if God called you guys to be houseparents out here?" *nudge nudge* *chuckles* *eyebrows* "Crazy."

We had a two week old infant in our arms. We thought God might be calling us to this church. But when Blake and I got into our car to head home that night, we both knew. A brand new daughter, and an undeniable urge to disciple others and live a missional life. From that night on, our house in Shawnee didn't feel like home any more.

Crazy.

We talked to our now bosses, and they were pretty much like, "Are you crazy?" Yeah, we basically are. We knew it may be a little while before we got to the ranch, because the house we would be in needed some TLC. Blake started a full time job at Lowe's, we left Harrah thinking we would all be at the Ranch within a month or two, and we began to wait.

And wait. And wait.

The house renovations moved slower than expected, even with Blake spending so many hours when he was off work to paint, and hook up sinks, and replace lighting fixtures and fans, and do tiling, and everything else he worked so hard doing to try and make the wait shorter for his family. The boy that we thought would be moving in to our house at the ranch with us suddenly fell through after months of investment. For six months we prayed earnestly to get to come home, we prayed God would magically make the numbers add up for us to have the money for the groceries we needed. We prayed for whatever boys we would have. We prayed for God to make time move faster. We prayed for anything God would give.

"You guys are still in Shawnee?"
"You still aren't at the Ranch?"
"So, what other options are you looking into?"

The enemy loves to take whatever you're called to and make you question it. He throws obstacles in our way and makes us think, "Well, this is kind of hard. Maybe God wouldn't make it this hard if I was really supposed to go." I am so glad that when Jesus was on the cross he wasn't like, "Well, this is hard. If God really wanted me to bring redemption to the nations, he wouldn't have made it this hard."

Man, going through the hard stuff is no fun at all. You definitely don't feel like God is making you stronger when you're in the middle of it. In fact, you feel like you're doing something wrong. And people like to tell you you're probably doing something wrong. Sounds familiar, right, Job?

One day, after things with the boy that we thought was coming fell through, Blake and I prayed earnestly. What now? We know You will provide for us, God. We know we are supposed to be at WSBR. What now?

The money was out, y'all. I had my knitting to help us sometimes (but not much at all). We got a lot of help from our parents--Blake was working for his dad for four months, they fed us often, and my parents often chipped in for things we needed (especially things like diapers). Blake started applying for jobs again, bearing in mind that he would have to find a job that he could leave at a moment's notice if we were finally able to move in at the Ranch. Blake found a job in Edmond at Tack Designs, who had bosses and employees who were missional minded as well, and willing to work with us in our calling. We began looking for apartments in Edmond.

Then, the call. On December 31, 2013, we were finally told that we could move into our home in Chandler. On January 1, 2014, we moved in. We had all of our boxes unpacked by January 5. We got our first two boys on January 6. After months and months of waiting, things were finally set in motion, and fast.

All this to say, if God has laid something on your heart, trust Him. Trust Him. Trust Him. Others will not trust Him for you. When it seems like there is no possible way, trust Him. Follow Him. Give Him everything you have got, and when that runs out, wait for Him to give you more, and then give that to Him, too. Sometimes what you give Him is ugly and it isn't much and it's practically leftovers and scraps, but give it to Him. If it's a tear-stained pillow case and a ton of question marks, give it to Him. He is faithful. I know God is faithful. It will almost never be how you imagined it, but He will do it, whatever "it" is for you.

So that's our story, thus far. We know that God's story is being written over all of space and time, and that we are the tiniest little part of it--but we love the part He has given us. We wait expectantly for all of the adventures that are to come, and go with confidence in the direction He has sent us. We are blessed, and we are so thankful.

A Quiet Moment to Catch Up

Even with just one boy, it has been an eventful last however-many-days-since-I-last-blogged. Which, by the way, T is doing great. For those of you who have been interceding for him, know that it is working wonders. God is so good, and in spite of whatever challenges may come with each day, he is doing really, really well. We are so thankful for how God is working in his heart and life, and are very excited to see what God will continue to do.

SPEAKING of intercession, in case you hadn't already heard, we had a prayer walk for WSBR on Saturday. I sent out a brief Facebook status about it, but wow! I was amazed at the amount of people who came to pray--even more so, how many people I met for the first time. What a great reminder that the legacy at the ranch goes far beyond whatever Blake and I may accomplish here, because it is all about what God has already accomplished and is going to accomplish long after we are gone. For those of you following this blog who care about the ranch because you care about Blake, Adeline, and I, thank you. Really. Thank you. However, I would encourage you to continue to pray without ceasing for those serving at Willow Springs long after Blake and I are gone, however far in the future that time may be. Make a spiritual investment in this place. If God leads you to do so, any monetary investment would be so appreciated; but, first and foremost, we covet your prayers.

Please be in prayer for us as we navigate some possible future residents in the near(ish?) future. WSBR is in contact with their people, but it is all in "baby stages" at this point. T gets along great with the boys next door, but he really needs a friend close to his age. Adeline makes a good playmate most of the time, but naps too much for his taste. ;)

Also, please pray for two of our staff members who are each getting ready to have babies very soon! Things will definitely be eventful around here for a while with new little ones around! Oh, and don't get any ideas. Blake and I are planning on waiting a little longer before we contribute to the new baby club ;)

We are blessed, we are thankful, and we are so glad to be on this journey with all of you. Praise be to God!

What's in a Name?

Not much, apparently, because I changed the blog name. "Blog of a Feeble House Mom" made me a little sad, as the boy who inspired the name is not at the ranch any more. For our boys' protection I will not overshare, but I will say the place he is staying now will be much better suited for his needs, and we hope he will be able to come back to us soon.

As you can see, we have had a busy and eventful last however-many-days-since-my-last-post.

It is amazing how many things change in so little time. It is amazing how much God can change us in so little time. Some days I look in the mirror like, "Dang, girl. Who do you think you are, Superwoman?" Other days I look in the mirror like, "Yeah, you are definitely not Superwoman." Of course, that's why this blog isn't titled, "Dang, Michelle Must Be Superhousemom." When Blake and I crawl into bed exhausted at the end of the day, I often wonder if an "okayest" mom is what these boys really need.

No, it isn't. What these boys need is a perfect savior. What a relief it is that one way to see a perfect savior is through the okayest mom on her not-so-okay days.