10/14/2026
I wanted to share this post I did 8 years ago in my very first home I bought for $80,000.
God has taken my family so far!!
The same rule applies now as it did then.
To whom has been given much, much is to be expected.
Here is what I wrote all those years ago about our very first home I bought as a single mom.
The house a nightmare for many, but a dream for us to finally have our very own home.
The very beginning of the dream of Mad Hatter Farm.
“Has God Blessed you richly?
When I first purchased my house, it was a bit of a wreck.
You walked into it and instantly felt dirty, the smell overwhelming, the floors,or what was left of them, disgusting.
The spray paint on the walls, the yard completely overgrown..but underneath all that surface was good bones.
With a lot of love and elbow grease, the house that was a disaster has started to become a home of comfort.
I remember standing out on my back deck, looking out at all the land, the farmers pond, and the animals grazing..and I remembered the verse that God brought to me.
To whom has been given much, much is to be expected.
I looked past all the defects and saw the possibilities of what this house could be.
I saw children running around playing, chasing animals,building gardens,and enjoying the country life.
I always dreamed of having a home where children without a home could come..and it was then I felt Gods whispering voice to start fostercare.
I know it was God because it just came out of nowhere.
It was then that I started the process for fostering.
This home has done exactly what I had envisioned it to be.
Children coming to my house in tears but the farm animals softening the blow and helping them transition to a home of the unknown.
I watched as babies slept outside on the back deck, children ran outside the back yard,laughing,playing,and going on family walks in the woods.
Gone was the broken home that stood empty,but now filled with love and happiness.
It is a hard walk, having to help children sort through all these emotions of past trauma,losing what they’ve always known,missing their families...but to see a child learn to pray, sing about Jesus,excited to go to church..to watch them transform..oh I wouldn’t change it for the world.
As time has gone on, my doors closed and now reopened to what many families would keep their doors closed to.
Special needs. Medically fragile. Terminal.
Does that scare me?
Of course it does.
It means loving and possibly losing.
It means caring for a child with needs and having to learn their language because each child is different.
It means more appointments, more therapies.
It means loving a child like my Josiah.
I wouldn’t change my life for the world with him..and I know I would feel the same with any other child.
I am blessed with an incredible team of doctors and therapists who have agreed to combine appointments to make life easier.
Seeing both Jojo and my fosters at the same time if possible so we aren’t running crazy.
This home is open again.
This home will continue to give my children and every other child a chance of joy and happiness.
To have a place to call home and a place of comfort.
If you’ve been praying a long time for something, don’t give up.
It took years for me to be where I am today.
Years.
I still struggle and my house isn’t a fancy mansion.
But it’s beautiful for us.
A simple farm that brings us joy.
So many lessons to learn.
Use whatever God blesses you with and pay it forward.
Help a child or a family in need.
See something for what it could be not what it isn’t.
Open your eyes to the possibilities.
Dream big because God is big!
Pray..pray without ceasing..
God hears. God knows.
Trust the unknown to a known God 👆💕”
