putting the best "Foot" forward

Sometimes we get wrapped up in life and tend to forget that God has His hands in every detail. That He molds, shapes, and crafts our lives. I like to think that I have a genuine sweet spirit and my mission in life is to serve God and to serve others. Many times I overdo it, but the rewards that come from these journeys of servanthood are fruitful and filled with joy. So this brings me to this week. As I spoke with one of my neighbors, she reminded me that as you bless others, God blesses you. Wow that is so true... I can share many blogs about the showers of blessings that God has already given us. The blessings of life, blessings of salvation, blessings of health, and blessings of love. 

On Tuesday, we received an email from a public relations director in Illinois. She said that our story was powerful and that she had already shared it with the local news station in Nashville and that they were interested in setting up an interview ASAP. Well immediately Jesse and I talked about the validity of this. Is this a scam? Really our profile was online and anyone could have seen it and contacted us.. So we worked diligently overnight and on Wednesday afternoon trying to find out if this really could be true. 

Well Thursday morning, the Channel 4 news station were on our back porch cameras, mics, and all to help us tell our story. As Jesse and I set out on this adoption journey months ago we developed a mission. We knew we were called to adopt, but we wanted our mission to be telling others our story. We do have a powerful story. God not only cured Jesse but he cleanse him through and through. Cancer free but more importantly Heaven-bound.

In order to fulfill these missions we must be obedient and allow the Lord to lead, guide, and direct us. If we obey Him, He will give us the words to say, the eyes to see, and the ears to hear. 

Deuteronomy 28 1-14 NIV says 28 If you fully obey the Lord your God and carefully follow all his commands I give you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations on earth. All these blessings will come on you and accompany you if you obey the Lord your God: You will be blessed in the city and blessed in the country. The fruit of your womb will be blessed, and the crops of your land and the young of your livestock—the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks. Your basket and your kneading trough will be blessed. You will be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out. The Lord will grant that the enemies who rise up against you will be defeated before you. They will come at you from one direction but flee from you in seven. The Lord will send a blessing on your barns and on everything you put your hand to. The Lord your God will bless you in the land he is giving you. The Lord will establish you as his holy people, as he promised you on oath, if you keep the commands of the Lord your God and walk in obedience to him. Then all the peoples on earth will see that you are called by the name of the Lord, and they will fear you. The Lord will grant you abundant prosperity—in the fruit of your womb, the young of your livestock and the crops of your ground—in the land he swore to your ancestors to give you.The Lord will open the heavens, the storehouse of his bounty, to send rain on your land in season and to bless all the work of your hands. You will lend to many nations but will borrow from none. The Lord will make you the head, not the tail. If you pay attention to the commands of the Lord your God that I give you this day and carefully follow them, you will always be at the top, never at the bottom. Do not turn aside from any of the commands I give you today, to the right or to the left, following other gods and serving them.

To see our Channel 4 news interview click on the link below. What a blessing and what a great opportunity. Keep coming back to our blog to read because God isn't done yet. There will be mountains of blessings to come.  Thank you for your continued prayers and support!

Aguirre Adoption TV Interview

finishing the "Last Leg of the Fundraising Race"

U.S.A. Adoption T-Shirts

What a joy it is to be able to bring back our Adoption T-shirts for this Patriotic Season. As Jesse and I began praying about the path the Lord would lead us down it was very clear that the Lord was calling us to adopt here in the US. Our mission verse is found in John 14:15 I will not leave you as Orphans, I will come to you. Here in America there are several kids that are in need of a forever loving family. As we began this journey we were reminded that we too were adopted by Christ. He adopted us for his forever Christian family and He took all of our broken pieces and put them back together again. As we bring this little one home we too will be putting those broken pieces together through our love for Christ and through our love for them. 

Jesse and I looked everywhere for USA Adoption T-shirts and no one was selling them. So we decided to designed our own. We worked through one of our friends and she helped us come up with this look. What a true blessing to be able to share our story and to give other adopting couples the opportunity to share theirs through this design. 

If you are interested in purchasing a shirt please email us at jaguirre2783@comcast.net. Please tell us the size and quantity needed. The sizes range from YXS-A5X and they are unisex shirts. All Youth sizes are $15 and all Adult sizes are $20. We will be placing an order on May 15th, June 15th, and July 15. We hope that you order yours in time for your Memorial Day, Flag Day, or 4th of July Celebrations.  We would love to mail your shirt to you if you are not local. We just ask that you include a couple of extra dollars to offset shipping costs. You can pay for your shirt on our GoFundMe Account or through PayPal. We also accept checks and money orders.

We are so overjoyed with the response we have received so far in our fundraising. The Lord has placed so many people in our path. People are praying, helping with fundraisers, and partnering financially. We love each and every one of you guys. Here are some pictures of our nieces and nephew. They know their baby cousin is coming soon and they are ready!

"Stepping into Faith"

Our faith and trust in God is forever tested. From a simple problem in our life to a life altering event such as cancer. 

I can remember 7 years and 2 weeks ago...that was the eve of my first chemotherapy treatment. I was a bit nervous to say the least, but I knew that God was with me. I struggled with fully understanding what the doctors said or what I was supposed to do. What I did know was that our faith in Him could be questioned. Why would He put me through this? Why now? Why me? Those questions are normal to ask. And to a nonbeliever or a fringe Christian this may reinforce why not to fully commit. But I know that God knows what and how much we can actually handle. 

1 Corinthians 10:13 tells us that for no 
temptation (no trial regarded as enticing to sin), [no matter how it comes or where it leads] has overtaken you and laid hold on you that is not common to man [that is, no temptation or trial has come to you that is beyond human resistance and that is not adjusted and adapted and belonging to human experience, and such as man can bear]. But God is faithful 
[to His Word and to His compassionate nature], and He [can be trusted] not to let you be tempted and tried and assayed beyond your ability and strength of resistance and power to endure, but with the temptation He will [always] also provide the way out (the means of escape to a landing place), that you may be capable and strong and powerful to bear up under it patiently.

He strengthens us during our tribulations. Praise the Lord for giving us His strength in time of need. So God was with me all along even though I didn't know the answers to those questions, God did.  All I needed to do was step in faith and keep my trust in Him and guess what... He got me through it.

Well let's fast forward to 2 weeks go. As time ticked down to our Adoption Yard Sale I began to ask Him questions again and begging for His strength as we pushed towards our first BIG fundraiser. 

We began our yard sale adventure by first coming up with our goal. Krista spoke first of course and said $5,000. I laughed...Actually laughed hard... I said we would get $3,000 if we were lucky. Then we started asking our family and friends to help us gather items for the yard sale.  And oh did they give :)

 After all items were collected the fun part began. The set up.. Krista gathered the troops and set shifts for our friends to come out and help. We even had family and friends spend the night. We woke up at 4 am yup 4 am to begin the prep work. It took almost 2 1/2 hours to get things out of the house and the garage and another 1 hour to stage the items. If it wasn't for Cheri and Krista's OCD (CDO) organizational skills it could have taken us weeks to get these items out and organized. 

Like Monk always says,"It is a blessing and a curse." This time it was a true blessing.

We were in awe and so thankful for the friends and family members that came out and helped us sell tons of items (non of which were our own). Literally ALL of the items were donated and we didn't have room to pull out our things to sell. To God be the Glory. 

At the end of the day, we made it through and we actually hit Krista's mark. Not only did we hit it, but we exceeded it because funds are still trickling in. So God must have had another goal. I am still in awe. I still do not fully understand why or how God blesses people, all I know is He does. He laughs at our plans and replaces them with His plans. All I did was stepped in faith and trusted in God.  We just need to be open to God's guidance to fully see His results. 

’Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus,

Just to take Him at His Word;

Just to rest upon His promise,

And to know, “Thus saith the Lord!”