GIVES ME CHILLS ...

Seeing the people in our 147 life step up and make a difference -

1.  Michelle (our 147 Fundraising coordinator) adopted a sweet son this past year domestically and is waiting to bring home another son from Uganda.

2. John G. our sweet business consultant from Belmont University has started the adoption process.

3. Sarah our infamous 147 babysitter, errand girl, and prayer warrior just left for a year in Africa to serve orphans !

4. Suzanne and I have amazing school communities - CPA and FRA have really stepped up in helping support 147 and spreading our mission.  Watching our children's friends desire to learn more about orphans and adoption is creating a culture of young people that is empowered to CHANGE the world!  When a middle schooler or high schooler tells me that they will adopt one day, I am overcome with HOPE for the orphans of the world !!

5. Jan (the most amazing volunteer ever) - worked tirelessly for over a year from her home helping to get all the 147 gear shipped out, counted, packed for events, pulled for adoptive families and so much more ... She had her extended families donate to 147 for her Christmas present !

6. Countless friends have watched our journeys over the last couple of years, hosted 147 parties and are now ADOPTING from China, Ethiopia, Uganda, and domestically.

7. Team 147 (Jeremiah/Michael AAU) team that won National's last year inspired many and we even got a letter from the head of officials saying our team inspired their family to adopt.

8. The countless families we have sat down with at our dinner tables to answer questions about adoption and they are now stepping out in FAITH to bring home a child/children.

9. The sweet Ugandan women we buy the necklaces from pray for US here in America.   The work Katie is doing w/ them is so far beyond life changing ... IT IS ETERNAL !!!

10. The difference that Scott and Mike have made traveling with us to speak ... They have been holding DADS ONLY classes and answering REAL QUESTIONS.  They are helping other fathers to see that they can be a FATHER to the FATHERLESS.

MAKES ME LAUGH ...

1. The fact that I have 6 kids when my hubby actually sang after the birth of Jeremiah "ONE AND DONE."

2. The fact that sometimes when we meet people for the first time they want to have their picture taken w/ Suzanne and I (cause we are so boringly normal)

3. All the little things that pass through my head of the crazy circumstances that have happened to Suzanne and I with the kids that our sweet husbands know NOTHING about.

4. Joseph talking all day long in a language I can't understand !!!

5. My girls telling me, "Mom, look at my eyes when I am talking" because that is what I say to them about 100 times a day.

6. Sending wrong papers to the wrong teachers and the wrong kid to a birthday party.

7. The moments in the day when my kids all say my MOM at the same time and begin talking as if I can decipher who is saying what and who needs what ???? !!!!!

8. People wandering how we can afford 6 kids - it isn't rocket science - You make work whatever God gives you.  WE HAVE NEVER GONE W/OUT !!!

9. The look on Scott's face when people ask us if we are adopting again ... That usually happens while all 6 kids are running around somewhere out of control -- I mean seriously you have to be there for that one !!!

10. When people ask us where the 147 offices are ??? That would be in our vans, in our homes, in our heads, sometimes at Chili's or Wendy's (they have free WIFI) !!!

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND ALL ...

Our newest 147 Shirt says it all !!! LOVE 1 ... With your purchase you will be loving on a child around the world by providing water, food, or medicine ... We have found the most amazing ministries to support through 147 !!! WE KNOW PERSONALLY HOW THEY ARE LOVING ON ORPHANS !!!

So forget the box of candy or flowers for Valentine's Day - purchase the 147 LOVE 1 shirt and SEND LOVE IN A REAL WAY TO CHILD !!! 

https://www.147millionorphans.com/Love-1-Baseball-Cream-Body-Black-Sleeve-_p_58.html  (click here for link)

This was my post this morning from FACEBOOK and it is worth repeating in the blogworld ... I have been wrestling with a way to say what has been placed on my heart by the LORD and this how it comes out ...

"There are children waiting in orphanages around the world - THEY WILL STAY WHERE THEY ARE, IF WE STAY WHERE WE ARE ... my thought for the day.!? so much to process in it ... this thought has been popping in my head for about a month, so I am throwing it out there."




Answering the call,

I have been trying to figure out how to post this for about two weeks  ... The morning we were going to get Joseph's hearing aids,  I was in the shower crying ... I was completely overwhelmed and humbled at how Scott and I had gotten to this point in our lives - six children and on our way to have our son's life TURNED ON w/ a click of a switch.

You see, I was raised in the Wherry Housing Projects in Smyrna, TN.  My parents were married at the very young age of 17 and 18.  They are still happily married today and showed me what it was like to work hard in life.   Both of my parents were hard labor workers.  My dad just retired last week and I will never forget when I was in Elementary school that two nights a week my parents, myself, and my baby brother would go some local office buildings and clean them to make ends meet.  I was probably 8 or 9 and I was emptying trash cans and dusting desks.  It was not something I ever wanted to do, but it was what we needed to do as a family to get by.   I am thankful to my parents for showing me what hard work is.  It has paid off in many aspects of my life.   I grew up in a church that had great people and was fun, but I did not learn how to serve others, how to see outside my church walls or appreciate the diversity that God has created.  Now I won't go blaming the church for my lack of a servant's heart, because I feel at a certain age we are all responsible for what scripture says and whether your preacher, pastor, or priest says it, doesn't really matter - it is the words written in scripture that we are called to obey ...

Now as for Scott, I am not really sure I can fully describe his childhood.  His father left when he was very young and he lived w/ his mother, his nana, his uncle and family friends growing up.  He has experienced much and seen a lot of pain.  He had praying people in his life that always tried to point him in the right direction, but with out a father to show you the way it has to be hard.

Fast forward to today - We are an unlikely pair to be heading to Vanderbilt hospital with our sweet Joseph(one of two special angles we were blessed with) to get his hearing aids ... You see it is "ALL OF US" unlikely people that can feel the CALL AND THE SPIRIT of the LORD so clearly ... Don't you feel UNLIKELY on some days (most days !!!) ... Like how in the world can the LORD use me w/ my back ground, my lack of knowledge of Him, my messy life, my debt, my scars, my uselessness, or my fleshly heart ... Well don't because it is IN OUR WEAKNESS HE IS MADE STRONG ...

I shared this with Scott on our way to the doctor and he just grinned (because he had the same thoughts on many occasions during our last five years adopting our children) and he said, "WE ARE LIVING THE GREATEST STORY ON EARTH."

The JOY in the pain is eye opening to the very heart of the LORD ... He can use us all if we are just willing ... It doesn't matter where we came from or our educational background or our family history... It only matters WHO we are willing to follow ... The LORD can use a willing heart ... I pray I never forget how to be humbled by HIS power in me ...

The day when Joseph's hearing aids where turned on I felt my world become a little LESS MUFFLED also ...

Thank You Lord for allowing me to HEAR your heart more clear !!!

So last week was a big week for the Oatsvall's, Mayernick's and the 147 FAMILY ... Joseph got his hearing aids (see video below if you haven't already) and Josie Love got her viral loads tested ... The results came in yesterday and Josie's viral loads are so low that her HIV is un-dectable ... We have been waiting for that word UN-DECTABLE for a while now ... We have been praying and anticipating it with child like excitement ... Suzanne and I have talked a ton about what are we going to do to celebrate it ... AND WE WILL CELEBRATE HUGE  ... The praises are just falling from the sky !!!

I look at Joseph and Josie's world before and think of how MUFFLED it was in so many ways.  They both have this contagious spirit ... Their smiles are bigger than the sky and they make everyone around them joyful ... They each have reasons to just give up TRYING, but they never did ... They have given each day their ALL ... AND LOOK AT THEM NOW !!! Look at how they radiate CHRIST's love !!! I can't even begin to tell you all the lessons I have learned from them or how they SHOWED us an even deeper view of Christ ... I PRAY I AM NEVER TO OLD (or stubborn) TO LEARN FROM OUR LITTLE ONES!

It is hard to say either of their names w/ our just a slight giggle coming out (that is when they aren't into some kind of mischief - which is a little part of their charm) ...

I hope you take their story and use it to encourage the PASSION that the LORD has placed in all of us to have a spirit of JOY ...


Joseph - mommy loves you soooooooo much and Josie Love - Auntie GG will always be in your corner cheering !!!!

I am just giddy with excitement for tomorrow ... Joseph is getting his super cool FRA colored hearing aids ... Scott has the morning off and our sweet friend Leigh (known to the kids as Leigh Leigh ... she keeps them each Monday for me to work on 147) ... She is in charge of videoing between crying bouts !!! lol ... ... SERIOUSLY NOW, he will hear my REAL VOICE for the first time ... I was just thinking "what if I sound like the teacher on CHARLIE BROWN to him now .... remember -  WA WA WA WA WA WAAAAA" ... We know he can hear somethings, but three different specialist say he has severe to moderate hearing loss in both ears ... Since birth things have been muffled, yet he has taken each day with a JOY that is un-describable except knowing that it is a gift from the Lord ...

I watch him bring smiles to peoples faces all the time and it is because he LOVES life and when he sees you smile back at him, it so much more than a just a smile ... YOU ARE COMMUNICATING to him that he is SEEN and he is WORTHY !!!

My sweet sweet son - you are a treasure to our family.  You truly are my STRENGTH and when you look at me and say, "Mom, I luu looo" there is nothing else I can do, but smile with joy !!! I hear the LORD in your jargon ... thank you for loving me the way you do !!!

Stay tuned for video from the day ...

2:30 Change Of Plans Trailer from Moms4FamilyTV.com on Vimeo.

This post is going to go all over the place, so try to keep up with my babble ... I am sitting at the table the other night with friends and family - our friends have decided to adopt and we were going over some of the details and began looking at WAITING CHILDREN ... I am not even sure I can describe how the word "WAITING CHILDREN" and their faces send me into a sort of depression ... I know God has them in His hands and He is with them, but that does not excuse all those sitting ON THE FENCE back in 2010 from stepping up and becoming a FATHER to the FATHERLESS and a MOTHER to the MOTHERLESS ... I brought up a sweet boy's face (he is probably 11 or 12) and just stared at him AGAIN ... I said how sweet his eyes were and my sweet aunt not meaning anything by it said, "oh he is to old, we want a baby (talking about my friends that are adopting)" and I just sorta of lost it in my gut ... I said, "So he doesn't deserve a family, he is suppose to just sit in an orphanage till he graduates out in to the world alone." ... Now I know that my aunt wasn't meaning anything by it and each family has to choose what will fit into their family dynamics, but there is a HUGE need for families to take in these precious older children both HERE and AFAR ...

Now the question you may be asking yourself is WHY NOT YOU GWEN ... WHY NOT MAKE HIM AN OATSVALL ... I have been thinking about sweet Chendi (that is the 11/12 year old boy I was referring to) for a few months now (he is one of the children on Ordinary Hero Speak Up that my friend Kelly Putty founded) ... I have asked myself that question a bunch about why we can't adopt CHENDI - I have lots of excuses and reasons right now - more surgery for Maggie, hearing aids for Joseph, speech and therapy for Joseph, trying to manage a family of 8, going crazy in toddler world right now, and just my sanity  ... All that aside, I have asked the Lord daily for a few days WHAT, WHAT, WHAT, WHAT - and this morning I was talking w/ Scott just about orphans in general and why more BELIEVERS don't adopt and then he brought so much scripture to me about all the things God is calling us to - sell all of our belongings and give to the poor, caring for widows, justice for those enslaved, and the scripture goes on and on ... THEREFORE, I was even more baffled and twisted in my heart than I was before - maybe we should !!!!  Maybe my family should give our possessions away, maybe we should be giving more of our selves and our talents, maybe we should open our home again to another child, maybe we should be visiting those in prison ... I KNOW WE CAN'T DO IT ALL, but we CAN DO MORE ...

There is always more room for living closer to the LORD ... It is super hard I know ... I feel like I am living super hard right now EVERYDAY ... I can't get it all done, so what makes me think I can do MORE ... That is actually an easy answer - I can do more w/ the LORD !!! I have to get my day in order w/ him before I make any decisions ... WHICH ALWAYS MEAN DYING TO SELF MORE... I have to spend time w/ him so I know which areas he is calling me to say YES to and which areas he is saying WAIT and which areas he is telling me NO ...

At times when I feel like I am slipping into an icky mood, I stop and evaluate my feelings and it actually turns out to be that I AM BURDENED  ... I am burdened for all that I know is God's hearts and my desire to follow HIM and the battle the comes from my FLESH to say NO MORE ... I am so fleshly on some days and just completely DROP THE BALL ... I am no good to anyone and I pray that NO ONE is watching me to closely ... I hope you never think of me as someone to be like ... I pray that the LORD shines through me and it is HE who inspires you to act on behalf of HIS PEOPLE that are hurting, alone, hungry, abandoned, in need of a family, in need of medical, or simply in need of someone to tell them they are worthy ...

I warned you this was a babble fest of a post ... I know 2011 will be exactly what we make of it ... God has given us free will to FOLLOW HIS SCRIPTURE ... It is very clear all that brings HIM glory in the bible because HE made it very clear for us ... Praying that much GLORY is brought upon the Lord this year by the OATSVALL team ...

Thanks for always checking in and praying for us ... You are a great strength !!!

147millionorphans.com