He's back!

Oh he's back!

I am a happy girl!

God definitely used this time apart in more ways than one!

In Ghana, they were able to go to unreached villages-- villages that have never heard the gospel! 40 people who had never heard about the Lord, came to Christ one night! Praise the Lord!!

On our side, I learned how much I take my husband for granted.  God gave me a whole new love for Terry. And a whole new appreciation for him.

He also allowed me to bond with some really amazing girlfriends. Friends that their #1 priority is following Christ. We prayed for each other. We talked, laughed and got really crazy together while our men were gone.  I am so thankful for these girls.  New sweet friends.

I am blessed. These girls looked out for me while Terry was gone.

I am so thankful for these past two weeks. It was hard! I had moments of anxiety and worry and tears. But the Lord never left me. He never does. I had moments where there was NOTHING I could do but trust and pray. Thank you Lord for moments like these. It's in these moments that He grows me the most.

Going and Sending

This week has been hard.

It has been lonely.

You see, my husband is in Ghana. He's out telling others about Christ. 

He needs to be there. God made it clear. I know it. 

But man do I miss him! 

The whole time leading up to him leaving, people were asking if I was going to be okay. But it wasn't because of him. It was because I was going to alone with our four kids for 10 days. Honestly, I was a little worried myself. I can handle them no problem. My biggest worry was handling Sam. Sam has only been here 11 months. We are still learning and bonding. Whenever I need help with him or someone to tell me to "chill- it's a boy thing", Terry is there to do it. I was honestly scared I was going to lose my mind. 

Taking care of the kids has been easy. Easy compared to how much I miss him. I know this may sound really ridiculous. Tons of wives have husbands who travel. Also military wives! Those are some strong girls there! 

But as much as Terry has traveled for work, he has never been out of the country without me for this long. And where he is scares me. I am so worried about him. 

It's funny. I thought being left alone with 4 kids for 10 days was gonna kill me! Lol! The hardest part has been being away from my husband. 

Not being able to call him.

Not knowing the next time I will talk to him.

And sadly, a fear that he may not come back. 

God has used this week.  I find it funny that I have compared this week to the trouble we went through when we were in China. (That story is another post)

BUT... this week has been so hard that I have had no choice but to rely on Christ. Fully. I have NO control over where my man is. But Jesus does. I have to trust that He is going to take care of him. He is using Terry. And in a way, me too. I am just now realizing this. 

The last several weeks, I have been learning about being a "go-er" and a "sender". God calls all believers. 

Well, I'm just now realizing that when Terry said to me, " I want to go to Ghana", I became a sender. I sacrificed my time with him so that God could use him to reach the unreached.  I knew if God wanted him there, I could not say no. God's been teaching me a lot about trusting in Him. And I have been trying so hard to do that this week. 

I  pray that God uses him. 

And I pray he comes back. 

I am a very blessed girl. I am not an easy one to deal with, yet he does it so well. I am so proud of him and the man he is!

The day the Stockman family changed forever

One year ago, after a lot of prayer, we made the decision to adopt a 6 year old boy from China. It was a scary decision for us. After all, it cost a lot of money, our house is very small, what would people say? 

A very dear friend reminded me that sometimes God asks us to do crazy things that do not make sense to us or anyone else. So guess what? We stepped out in faith. 

From that moment on, our lives changed. Everything about us. Spiritually I grew more in that year than I had my entire life. The whole adoption process forced me to trust in Christ for everything! He showed up in so many ways! Too many to count! I have learned a lot since then and am still learning! 

Last March, we flew to China to get our son, Sam. He has the sweetest dimpled smile! He just is so happy and sweet! 

Then the really hard stuff started. 

As a mom of three girls, having a 7 year old boy in our house was scary for me! His boy habits, (on top  of his orphanage habits), the language barrier, the lack of discipline, etc. I remember thinking, what did I do?

I know what I did! I obeyed Christ! He said, Go get Sam. And I listened. Following Christ is not easy. It's not supposed to be. It's not about being easy and comfortable. It's about learning and growing and sharing with others. How do you learn and grow if you're not moving? If you're just sitting back? You can't expect God to move if you aren't. 

Go do! Do for Christ! 

Bringing home Sam was the best thing we ever did! He is a part of us! 

Thank you Jesus for choosing us to be his family!

Where in the World do I even start?

I dont even know where to start.  The last week or so since I put up this blog have been so busy. I have been trying to gather thoughts about what to write. I never really thought I would EVER have a blog. I'm really not computer savvy at all. Just recently I have started to learn how to copy and paste! Haha! Seriously! Sad, I know!
My goal for this blog is to share my heart. Well, not only that but I really want the Lord to use this. I hope and pray someone will stumble across this, read it, and somehow learn from it. Who knows? All I will do is sit back and let God!!
For those of you who do know me, I am a scatterbrain at best! I am always running in a million different directions. I'm loud. I'm impulsive! There's a lot of craziness that goes on in my brain. I am a blessed girl bc through all that craziness, God has used me! This blog is going to be about how He has!
Bear with me bc the first few post may not make a ton of sense since I'm still trying to form words and figure out the whole blogging thing! I'm praying this will get better! Haha!

Coming soon!!

I did it! I started a blog! Without my husbands help I might add! Haha! For those of you who know me, you know this is quite an accomplishment! I am super excited about this and I can't wait to share my heart with you!! Stick around and lets see what God unfolds!!