A Successful Fiesta!

We had our first Hope's Promise event last night!  It was A.M.A.Z.I.N.G!  We hosted a casual dinner for a few couples in Joel and Brooke's backyard.  Brooke is one of the amazing team members working to get Hope's Promise up and running.  We called it "Nacho Average Fiesta"!  As I walked around the yard praying before everyone got there, I asked that God would bring exactly who needed to be there in order to accomplish His will for last night.  I also asked that those who came would be moved by the Spirit with what they heard to not just hear and walk away, but be doers to take action and own the crisis we have in teen pregnancies.  He answered every one of those prayers!

We didn't have a huge crowd...about half of what we expected....expecting less than half of who we invited. But the disappointment over numbers did not last long!  Brooke introduced me with an amazing devotion by Joyce Meyer about God using people to do His work.  The amazing thing is that devotion was true of every member or our team that put together last night!  I don't know that I have ever been a part of a group of people who stay so focused on the common goal and purpose in Christ that nothing stands in their way!  These ladies and Jon ROCK!!!  As I shared the statistics for teen pregnancies:

• 79 percent of teenagers who become pregnant are unmarried. 
• 80 percent of teenage pregnancies are unintended. 
• Nearly four in ten teenage girls whose first intercourse experience happened at 13 or 14 report that the sex was unwanted or involuntary. 

• The main rise in the teen pregnancy rate is among girls younger than 15*
•  
• The United State spends $7 billion each year due to the costs of teen pregnancy. 
• Only one-third of teenage mothers complete high school and receive their diplomas 
• By age 30, only 1.5 percent of women who had pregnancies as a teenager have a college degree. 
• 80 percent of unmarried teen mothers end up on welfare 
• Within the first year of becoming teen mothers, one-half of unmarried teen mothers go on welfare.* 
• The daughters of teen mothers are 22 percent more likely than their peers to become teen mothers. 
• Sons of teenaged mothers have a 13 percent greater chance of ending up in prison as compared to their peers.

The people were listening. I could see it in their eyes.  Then Jon and Sarah Stepan shared their experience with a maternity home and the difference it made in the life of the birth mother of their son.  It was moving!  I finished the evening by sharing our solution to the teen pregnancy crisis.  The national trend is that teen pregnancies are declining, but in Texas the rate of teen pregnancies is rising.  And in our little corner of Texas, there are 6 counties in the top 25 in Texas for teen pregnancy rates.  The issue is to the point that news media is picking it up sharing the fears of medical community and the schools as they fear their systems can't support the number of teen moms coming up.  We believe we have the solution!  And more government involvement is not it!  Not because I am taking a political side of whether or not government should or should not be involved but because I have a Bible that tells me I am to be Christ to the world.  I am to be the hands and feet of Jesus, and when Jesus walked this earth He was ministering and supplying the needs of the harlots, the tax collectors, the outcasts of society.  So I believe I need to do the same in the 21st century. In fact, the pastor we heard this past Wednesday said it this way, "If God is going to accomplish anything on this earth during this time, it will be through you and me."   Amen!  Those at the dinner got it!  There were tears over the heartbreak of my friend who was forced to have an abortion because her family said abort or get out and she had nowhere to go.  Only to discover about three months after the abortion that she had been pregnant with twins and they had only killed baby A.  Baby B was still alive.  So her middle class, Christian, church leader parents took her back to the clinic for a late term abortion to terminate the pregnancy of Baby B.  My friend is an amazing woman of God who has overcome these trials in her life, but her story is what God used to prompt me that N.O.W. is the time to do something!

We were giving $10,000 last night plus some checks that had been donated before the evening.  I am talking off my head and from memory, not the books here, but we are at about $10,800 toward the property.

That is very short of what I had asked God for last night.  I had a number that I had specifically prayed and it was big...impossible most would say, but I believed it was what God asked me to believe Him for.  It didn't come in last night, but I believe it is on its way!  The encouragement from those who were there last night was unbelievable!  They believe in what we are doing and are committed to walking with us and sharing our vision..and while we need the actual cash to buy the property, the belief of others in what you are doing is huge when you are walking in ministry!  It is an encouragement that keeps you going and keeps you believing in the next step to finish what God has asked you to do.  

Before the night began I promised God that despite the outcome, I would trust Him.  Can I tell you the peace in that?!  No I didn't get the number I prayed for....not yet.  But I totally trust that God brought exactly who He needed to the dinner last night to accomplish His purposes for last night.  I trust that those who heard it are going to share with whoever else needs to hear it and the money will come in.  The longer I walk with God the more I learn that I only have to do what He asks and the outcome is up to Him!  We put on the dinner, we planted the seeds.  Now He will water how and when He sees fit to bring about the harvest He desires. It is not mine to worry about or fret over or even be disappointed in.  

Next week we will be getting a Hope's Promise page up on the Addy's Hope website so you can watch the progress.  We are still praying about where and how to open the first home.  Obviously we can't do anything until we have the cash to pay for it.  But we can plan and keep walking in faith step by step as He gives us direction, and that is what we will do!

A HUGE thank you to the team of "doers" who made last night happen because if they were waiting on this visionary we would still be trying to decide on a font for the invitations!  Thank you Robin Nash, Brooke Holland, Jon and Sarah Stepan, Stormy Johnson, Brandie Harris, and Emmy Shepherd.  It is surreal that this blog post  less than three months ago sparked what is now a reality!  Let me just encourage all of you to walk in what God has asked you to do even if it is to "just" cast the vision!  He will send who and what you need to do it!  This project is walking proof of that!

Hope's Promise Update

We looked at the $500,000 property yesterday that was a home with an office.  It could work.  It had some definite strikes against it, like the overwhelming stench of animal urine when you walked in the door!  And it was way over priced.  But the prayers of you warriors were answered with another lead of a property that sounds like it would be perfect that our amazing Realtor thought of as she heard us talking about plans for the home.  The property is not for sale right now, but has been in the past.  So she is checking on it for us.  Will you please continue to pray?  Pray that if this is the property God has for us the owner would be willing to consider selling.  From what our Realtor said, it might just be a needed change for the owners as well, so I am praying this would be a perfectly timed blessing for them as well.  It is a property that would most likely allow us to serve 10 plus girls immediately!

The plan would be to purchase this property with the long term goal remaining: to purchase the God Promised land and build a larger facility.  The exciting part about the long term plan is that then the home we are purchasing now (whatever that turns out to be) would be a transition home for the moms who choose to parent and need a place to get on their feet!  We can continue to speak into their lives, teach them about Jesus and teach them to be mommies!  Honestly, that gets me so excited, I can hardly sit still!

Please don't stop praying.  As I have prayed this week, time and again I feel assured by the Holy Spirit that this will happen and will happen quickly.  But I have also been assured that the opposition will come just as fast and just as strong!  The enemy is defeated when we pray and walk in obedience. He is defeated when my friend brings her birthday money from her husband to get her hair colored to my front door to pay for the home instead!  He is defeated when a 12 and 14 year old girl sit two days in the heat selling cold drinks and telling people they want to help other young girls who find themselves in a hard place with no where to go but wanting to chose life for their babies!  He is defeated when girls are told to abort their baby or leave and they have a place to go so they can choose life! So please don't stop praying!  I assure you your prayers are effective!  I have never seen anything like what is happening with this home!  The way people are working together across "church" lines!  Well, I guess maybe I have seen it...when we built the orphanage in Liberia!  But I was just a bystander to the amazing work of Jeremy and Kami!

I will be applying for a grant from a local business that is very generous with community organizations.  They have given organizations in the past more than what it would take for us to just purchase this property (or whatever property God leads us to) right away!  I am believing God for something just as crazy as that!  God is ready to show His glory!  And I know how ever this happens it will be in a way that no man can take credit because it would only be possible by a Might God who works miracles!

Here we go....

Maternity Home update....

I know several of you are following this crazy ride God has put us on to open a maternity home!  I know many of you are faithfully praying, so I wanted to give you an update.  We have an appointment tomorrow to look at the property I talked about in my last post!  Moving forward in faith!  We already have our first donation toward that property (or the maternity home in general) that came to my front door today in a most humbling gesture!  A dear friend had an appointment to have her hair highlighted as her husband had given her money for her birthday to get that done.  But instead she drove to my house and gave the money toward the home!  God continues to amaze me with the people He has involved in this project in just the few short weeks it has been in process.  We have people who see the need who do not even know THE Reason (aka: JESUS) we are doing this jumping up and offering their talents and services for our fund raisers.  We are praying they meet Him along the way! 

The team of people he has surrounded me with during this time continues to blow me away!  We left the last meeting with a goal to get invitations...by the end of the next day these women (and one man...can't forget Jon!) already had the template and wording ready and the invitations were ordered just a few days later! I would still be trying to find a template that I liked....remember, I'm the visionary! :)

We have a clay shoot scheduled for November 2 as our first fundraiser and we are expecting big things!  

Thank you for all the prayers and e-mails of encouragement!  Please keep them coming!  This work can get heavy, but the encouragement and prayer of those supporting us keep us moving forward and refocusing us on Him whose yoke is light!  

OH....and we have a name....Hope's Promise Maternity Home!

Here we go.....

Got $500,000?!

I think I have found the perfect house for Addy's Hope!  The only problem, we are $500,000 short!  We just got approved for our state contract in order to place waiting children available for adoption in the Texas Foster System in permanent adoptive homes which means WE NEED AN OFFICE!!!!!  This house has a beautiful home up front that would allow us to immediately open the teen maternity home while we raise the money for the larger home (that would be just a block away) AND has an office in the back that we can use to house the Addy's Hope office...growing into the larger home when we have the money to support it!

Here is the deal!  We are $500,000 short (well, only $499,900 because Callie raised $100 on the drink stand she set up at our garage sale).  We don't have funds for the down payment or monthly payments right now because our programs are still being developed.  But Addy's Hope has never worked on a surplus! Only on faith!  So I am believing in faith...funny thing is, God asked me to step up the faith and quit doubting and confess my unbelief about this area just this weekend!  Then I drive by this house a board member told me about last week and I can't believe what I see!  The perfect set up for where we are NOW!

God has taken me to Philippians 4:19 time and again over the past few months as He has challenged me to believe Him for the things He tells me He will provide.  The office and maternity home are two of those things!  It says in the amplified version, "and my God will liberally supply (fill to the full) your every need according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus." (emphasis mine)  And in my world $500,000 in the time frame we need is LIBERALLY supplying our need!  And I am going to take Him at his Word!  Until this opportunity is gone, I am going to ask Him and believe Him to provide for this.  And if this isn't it, I will look for the next opportunity because I know without a doubt that He will provide for the office and the maternity home as He has already confirmed it in His word!

And when He does, it will be for His glory!  That is the part that is so amazing!!  Whenever He chooses to provide the needs, I know He will do it in a way that brings Him glory and lets his goodness go on display for the watching world to see!

He is already laying the ground work!  In the last week, our local news station, CBS 7, had a post on the rise of teen pregnancies in Odessa and another on the local college giving over $1,000,000 in a grant for teen moms!  The need is there, the money is there, an I am trusting God to bring us what we need at the exact time!

You might just be the contact that helps us!  Asking for money is totally out of my comfort zone, but I find myself doing it a lot lately.  If you know of anyone who might have a few thousand they could donate, a company looking for a place to donate for a tax write off, or someone with a heart for ministry to pregnant teens or adoption who has a big heart and a small budget and wants to send their $5.  God can do this a dollar at a time!  Please share this with on your FB page or anywhere you can to spread the word!

And thank you in advance!  I will keep you posted and we can all sit back and watch God do His thing! :)

Maternity Home Update

Psalm 103:6 The Lord performs righteous deeds and judgments for all who are oppressed.

This is the scripture God gave me for the maternity home. This whole idea has come to pass NOW because I realize the oppression of young women who are pregnant. They need life giving options! The Lord has assured me that He is going before us preparing the hearts of those who will give in so many ways to see this faith become sight!

So we are moving forward! The Addy's Hope board of directors has given the go ahead to move forward with exploratory actions. There is a small group gathering at my house for lunch today to pray and discuss the next steps.

God has made it clear that this house will literally be built on the prayers of His people. Psalm 103:20 says that the angels are mighty and will perform God's Word as it is spoken. God has given me a picture of the angels in the heavenlies literally lined up waiting for the prayers to reach them...as soon as the request is made, they are sent out to fulfill the request! We need prayer warriors! I have done ministry long enough to know the enemy will come against this because it will redeem lives and bring them back to Christ! Pray that the plans of the enemy will be cut off before ever coming to pass and the plans of the Lord will be fulfilled. Pray that the people with the talents, funds and skills needed to build the house will cross our paths. Specifically right now pray for the owner of the land. We will be asking if the owner will be willing to donate all or a portion of the selling price of the land since we are a 501c3. Please pray with us, then sit back and watch as God brings it to pass! May He receive all glory and honor as this, HIS house, is built!

Here we go.....

The Visionary:UPDATE

I had several responses on my Facebook page to my post on the maternity home. I did go back to the home and took my friend to show her. When I did, I called the Realtor who has it listed. The price is $250,000. But everyone I have talked to thinks we can get it for less! So we have a tangible goal now. The first step is to raise enough to buy the property. So if you are praying with us, that is the prayer request right now.

Second, I had a friend text me that afternoon who said she had read the post and she and her husband were IN! More "doers" that God has sent my way! He even works in construction and has all the knowledge we need to actually build something! Oh how I LOVE the BODY of Christ!

AND.....I saw October Baby this evening! If you have not seen this movie, GO! It just reconfirmed for me why this project is VITAL! I won't spoil the movie in case you haven't gone, but the need for abortions to stop is evident in the facts of what can happen presented in the movie. Horrifying!

Please keep praying! I am believing God for the funds to purchase the land in the next 6 months. There will be a vital meeting Tuesday night, so you can pray for that.....and hopefully fund raising planning will begin soon after that!

Here we go!

The Visionary

Hello, my name is HollyAnn, I am a visionary.

Sometimes I really feel like I need to go to visionaries anonymous meetings! This is one of those times!

Life is full right now. Like full to overflowing type of full. But this "thing" keeps coming up. I lay it to rest, and then a conversation like today happens and that still small voice in my head says, "the need is here, let's get started!"

The thing about being a visionary is you have to have administrators and "doers" surrounding you to get anywhere! I can dream it, I can do whatever you tell me, but to eat an elephant one bit at a time is impossible for me. I choke every time!

About two weeks ago there was a mom who left her baby at a local daycare. Obviously I don't know all the details. There are arguments on both sides of this case. Yes, a mom abandoned her baby. I know many would see that as a loveless act no matter the circumstances, but I have worked with way too many wounded young ladies and personally met three of my four adopted children's birth mothers and all of them loved their children in the only way they knew how. And I believe this is true of this mom as well. I mean just look at where she left him...at a place that takes care of children!

But because that place is not a legally designated "safe place", she will face criminal charges of abandonment. I understand the need for this too, I really do. We can't have people just leaving their children anywhere at anytime with no accountability. But I also imagine this mom didn't know about the "safe places". If she did I can't help but think she would have left him there. All I could think when I heard the story was, "If only we could have gotten to her! If only she knew she could have done this process, had a choice in the family if she wanted and still remain just as anonymous and inconspicuous as if she just dropped him off!" Then there is the friend of mine going through a very tough time with a grand baby who needs to be in a loving adoptive home. Again, I just wish I could share the options with this young mom who loves her baby so much she has let her go...just not in a safe place. Then there are the multitude of stories I have been told when people learn I have pregnant teenage daughter. More than 7 out of 10 of the stories are ones of these young girls facing the scariest event in their lives only to then be told by parents their only options are to move out or get an abortion! I was talking to a friend yesterday who was sharing another story just like that with me. And God said, "Now!" And of course I start my arguments with Him:

1. we don't have the millions of dollars this would probably take to build - "All the gold is mine and all the silver is mine" Haggai 2 Hmmmmmm... Ok well
2. I can't take on even ONE MORE thing! - "You can do all things through me when I call you according to My purpose!" Phillipians 4:13
3. then why have I spent the last week feeling like I was losing my mind
   and couldn't possibly even raise 7 kids much less continue an adoption agency and now this?! - "the enemy has a plan contrary to Mine (2 Corinthians 2:11) and for a little while you were more aware of his plans than Mine, listening to his voice above Mine."
4. but I can't do this alone! - "I know, I am raising up fellow workers with you. The friend you met at the lunch two weeks ago with a passion for birth mothers was not an accident. Your new friend two blocks away who shares your heart for teens in trouble has a part."

And so the arguing went until I finally realized (slow learner, I know!) that the clay arguing with the potter is completely futile! So I called that one friend and asked her to go with me today to a place....a place that I pass frequently and every time, that small voice says, "that's it!" This is the place!

I don't know the exact date, but I know we were still living in Garden City and had no plans of opening a domestic adoption program with Addy's Hope. I was driving down the main street to our downtown area and passed a condemned looking apartment complex that was vacant and God said, "That's it! That is where you will build your maternity home for girls who need options!" I remember it so clearly because it was totally out of the blue! I had never even thought of opening a maternity home, I certainly was't looking for a place to build one! And if I was, I wouldn't have picked that place! As I drove around the building, I saw there was actually a for sale sign with a phone number. An excitement rose in me! I knew it was God telling me this would be the site for my maternity home. At the time, I had one friend here who was just as crazy as me! So I called her and said, you are not going to believe what I have been thinkig now! We called the owner, and she gave us permission to walk through this apartment complex - there was no need for her to be there because we could just walk in the open doors or climb through one of the broken out windows - it was in that kind of shape! We were not positive we would make it out alive since each step on the second story brought creaks and groans that made us wonder if we would fall through at any moment. And then as we entered the second part of the building, we realized the building was most certainly not vacant! We just prayed the "tenants" would not return while we were there! All the time laughing because we knew our husbands would kill us if they knew what we were doing and yet knowing at the same time that God was in this somehow! We left with plans to call a contractor, which I did. To say he wasn't impressed with the building was an understatement! To say he looked at me like I had lost my mind to even be dreaming of something like I was would be a very accurate statement. This contractor was also a leader in my church at that time, so his less than enthusiastic take on the situation was quite a rainstorm on my parade.

But at the same time, I knew that I knew God had told me this location at least was where I would build. So while I was frustrated and not sure what to do next, I did the only thing I knew to do. I prayed! I walked about that building....in the rain....claiming it as mine to save the lives of babies and mothers!

And that was over SIX years ago! But guess what, the building never sold and is still for sale! As God has pressed into me that the time is now over the past couple of weeks, I finally went back to the scene.....I have driven by many times and taken it as an opportunity to pray and ask for God to give us that place for His purposes....but I always knew it was for a future time....this time He told me to park. So I did!

I feel like I haven't left park since! I have tried to shake it. I have tried to reason it away....and reasoning it away is EASY because NOTHING about even thinking this is a possibility makes sense except....God said go!

So this is the first step of my obedience. I am going public with my insanity! If this strikes a cord with you at all, will you pray? I know there are multiple people in our booming town that could write a check right now to pay for that lot and all we would need to get an amazing home for pregnant teens up and running, and that would be AMAZING. But as I shared my vision with one of my friends who had just shared her story of being forced to abort her twin babies because her parents gave her a choice of abortion or leaving their family and moving to the streets, she shared that a house can also be built on the love of $20 and $5 gifts from many people who believe in life giving options for those in crisis pregnancy! Pray with me that by whatever means God has, the funds will come. Funds for the land, funds for the building, funds for the staff needed to fulfill this vision...and pray for the girls who are out there right now that do not have options...pray God will make a way where there is no way! In a town that has lead the nation numerous times in teen pregnancies, we need places for girls to go who stay with boyfriends who beat them because it is better than the streets or who find themselves on an operating table numb with disbelief as a life is stolen from their body because they see no other option when their support system tells them they have none.

I have no idea where this is going, but I want to be obedient to my part...would you pray and ask God if you have a part if this strikes a place in your heart?

Here we go!

The Other Side

This is a picture of the other side...the stereotypical other side of the tracks. I don't live in a big city, so I don't think you would call this inner-city, but it shares many of the same characteristics of the inner-city you find in Dallas, Austin, LA, etc. I've always known it was there, but lately, it seems to be calling my name.

Callie is in the gifted program which in our school system means that she goes to a different campus for two days a week. This campus is on the other side of the tracks. She rides a bus from our home school, so I don't find myself over there very often. However, the last couple of times I have had to go, I find myself a little lost and wanting to stay that way! I don't want to leave the neighborhoods filled with tattered houses and grass less yards. I want to know the story behind each door and each window with a sheet hanging for a covering. There was a house on the corner that was for sale. I even for a second wondered if John and I could buy that lot and build a house to move into that area. Wouldn't that give my critics something to talk about!

I want to know these people! I want to know what they need. I want to know if they know Jesus, and if they don't, I want to provide what they need for them to hear the gospel, believe it is real and accept it! As I drive around, I can't help but think, "I don't have to go to Africa or Haiti to find poverty and desperate need!" I want to see these people through the eyes of Jesus!

On the heels of my drive today when I took this picture, God would arrange coffee with my friend Shanna who went to Liberia with me in August. Through our conversation we realized we have the common dream of opening a maternity home. But wait, I talked to my other friend Susie a few weeks ago about opening a safe house for children rescued from the human trafficking industry. And then there is the dream to provide hope and resources for mothers who want to keep their babies. And then there is the dream to find homes for all the children in foster care in Texas...and then the United States...and then the world! And then there is the homeless population that is growing right here in good 'ol West Texas that needs just a boost in the arm to turn their lives around. And then there is a dream to open the coffee shop that will raise money for orphans and ministries all over Africa. And then there is the thought of providing resources to families who are about to lose their children to the system simply because of poverty. God and any one else who has worked with "the system" knows that "the system" doesn't need any more children! Especially when all the family needs to keep the children is a bed or a few hot meals a week. Oh yeah, then there is The Journey that I still have the to do list for!

Whew! My head is spinning, but more than that, my Spirit is stirring!

I see it! I am the visionary! I see the end, but how do I get there? Any doers out there want to jump on board and get this visionary to the end?! I believe I am on to something here! I can think of three or four ministries right here in my home town who are already working towards these goals. What would happen if we, the BODY OF CHRIST, worked TOGETHER?! What could God do then?

God has already given me the sight of the maternity home. My friend Emily and I risked our lives to walk through it one evening. Had our husbands known the building we were walking through, they probably never would have agreed to watch the kids while we did such a crazy thing! Even after we walked and laughed through the whole needs-to-be-condemned apartment complex, I had the nerve to call a contractor to come look at it and see what he thought! He tried to be nice! He wasn't trying to squash my dream....but he really didn't even know what to say to me wanting to use that old place. What he didn' t know is that I had already marched my little 'ol self (well, that might not be an accurate description) around that building and claimed it as "Hope Home: A Home to give Expectant Mother's Hope". Some day, on that very spot, a house will stand that will house expectant mothers! And the Birthing Center run by my friend Shanna is just right down the road to the North...and our office as well as the Life Center is just right down the road to the West. And the tracks...well, they are just about three blocks south!

Hang on folks! This is going to be a gooooooood ride!

God, You have placed these dreams and visions on my heart! You know my desire is to love the least of these and to hear the cries of the poor, destitute and weary who are in need of You, but are not very receptive to Your message yet because they don't even have a place to sleep or food to stop the ache in their stomachs. I want to be your vessel to provide whatever your people need in order to bring them to a place where they can here of You and accept You! You have taken me to John 15 for this year. As I read these verses with these visions you have given me swirling around in my mind and spirit, I am asking you to provide the money, resources, people, talent and the buildings we need in order to bring these visions and dreams to reality! God we want to bear fruit so that you may be glorified! Bring forth your fruit!
In Jesus Name I lay this request at your feet,
~Amen and Amen!