Apple Pickin FUN!

Today we went to Mercier Orchards in Blue Ridge, GA. It was beautiful. I still have to pinch myself that we live in this amazing part of the country! Gods master piece, his creation, is SO fun to explore! We PICKED apples right off the tree and drank yummy fresh apple cider...so amazing!

When we were driving home we were rocking out to the PASSION CD! Wow I love that CD! I was singing to Natalie and I had an amazing thought...last year at this time we had NO idea that God had picked Natalie for us! But just like apples have to wait to be picked until they are perfectly perfect, the weather is just right, and the trees are heavy with reds, pinks, greens and golden deliciousness...we have to wait on the Lord!

He PICKS our blessings...and when the time is right...he allows us to experience that blessing in its FULL GLORY!

In order to get to the U-Pick section of the orchard a lovely tractor took us for a ride on its trailer :) The ride was bumpy, dusty, hot and SO MUCH FUN! And it was beautiful. We drove past the section where they are planting strawberries for next year, drove past the cherry orchard and peaches! GLORIOUS! Then we arrived at our destination...and my friend and I were like children on CHRISTMAS! Who knew picking apples right off the tree would be such a worshipful experience.

Our journey to get to the U-PICK section of the orchard is much like our journey to ALLOWING GOD TO PICK FOR US! He picks the most amazing fruit...he desires for US to trust him and allow him to work! His season for harvest is perfect. He is RIGHT ON TIME and delivers some of the most amazing blessings. We don't have to figure out what works best for us, our family or our timeline! He knows the right time...when we will be ready and when our blessing will be ready! He invites us on a journey to experience him, sometimes it will be bumpy, dusty and hot...but it will be SO MUCH FUN and SO BEAUTIFUL! He works ALL THINGS together for our good...see from his perspective!

Jesus...U-PICK for me!

He LOVES us...a bushel and a peck and a hug around the neck!

1st Wednesday...

The 1st Wednesday of every month we do a service at church that is focused on Worship, Communion and Baptism! This is a time for families to worship together and take the Lords Supper...its a powerful time!

At the August 1st Wednesday Jackson cried and begged Jason to get baptized that night. Jason told him that we wanted to wait until next 1st Wednesday so we could really make sure he understood what baptism meant. We talk about it all the time with him but we wanted to take a whole month and focus on what it means!

Jason and him spent time together talking about the symbol of baptism and why we follow in baptism after we accept Christ! **Jackson accepted Christ in Sept 2008 in our van, in his Christian Preschool parking lot...he is so funny telling the story!

Jason drew some pictures for Jackson explaining all the details:

On the 1st Wednesday of September, last wednesday, Jason came home early from work to spend a little more time with Jackson before the 1st Wednesday service. We talked about it again, had him tell us what it meant...and then he said...I'm not ready yet! So we said...okay that's fine! You wait until you are ready!

Worship was AMAZING, our RevBand is SO talented! Its a beautiful worship experience each weekend! Our Worship Pastor has done an amazing job demonstrating what true Worship is!

After worship we took communion as a family...Jackson got in trouble because he ate his "bread" before we even started doing the communion (I had asked him 3 times to wait for his dad)! We prayed as a family and then Jason went back up to the front to get prepared for baptisms.
I LOVE baptisms...I LOVE watching people proclaim their FAITH & LOVE for Jesus! Its powerful EVERY TIME...I don't want it to EVER get old!

Once everyone who was in line got baptized, Jason asked if there was anyone else who would like to get baptized. A few seconds later I saw a lady walking down the isle, she was ready to follow in obedience! It was powerful...she has MS and she needed help getting in and out of the baptismal...but she was determined to proclaim that she was a Christ Follower!
Her obedience gave Jackson the courage he needed, he looked at me after watching her struggle and said "Mom, I'm ready!" So I told him to go tell his dad...and I honestly don't have any clue how we held it together!! It was life changing for us!

Jackson also wanted Josh Boggs, one of our RevKids Volunteers to be a part of his baptism, our RevKids Ministry is amazing!


1st Wednesday was amazing...it challenged me! If a 6 year old and a woman with MS can stand in front of a whole church and say "I LOVE JESUS WITH MY LIFE AND ACTIONS", then so can you, so can I! The same power that raised Jesus out of the grave is the SAME power that will live within you when you accept him as your Savior! He is a force to be reckoned with and he desires us to follow him! Proclaim HIM...you never know how your obedience will effect the generations younger than you!

What God is doing at Revolution Church absolutely blows me away! He is moving in lives...with a strong and mighty power! He desires for his people to be changed and to be passionate about him...that's happening at REV CHURCH! So grateful to be a part of this movement in GA!


And lets end this post with a picture of Jackson's very HAPPY little sister...our sweet Natalie Grace! God has been so gracious to us...we are so unworthy yet through HIM he allows us to parent these precious children!

A failed adoption....

***I was cleaning out my "Drafts folder" here on my blog and I came across this post I had written but never posted! I remember these feelings of a failed adoption so vividly...and I wouldn't trade ANY of our story! Its all part of God's plan to bring Natalie to us! I know some of you who read this blog have experienced a failed adoption...your child is coming...and GOD will blow you away with his perfect timing! Praying for you!


August 18th, 2009

Oh goodness...the emotions rage when you know that the adoption you had been praying for starts falling apart before your eyes!!! On Tuesday, April 28th when we got our call I thought that was the REAL call...little did I know that only 2 weeks later we would receive the phone call from Sara letting us know that our birthmom must have changed her mind since they couldn't get a hold of her.

IT HURTS!!!!! ITS PAINFUL!!! No amount of encouragement helps in the middle of the chaos. You cry, you scream, you snap....its as if you have an outer body experience.

I lost control...I lost my joy...I lost the drive to keep going...I GAINED weight...I ate...and I cried!!! I'm just saying...I had REAL emotions...I didn't just sit at home and in a calm voice say "it will be okay." Nope, it effected me in ways I cant even explain.

I know without a shadow of a doubt that God is HOLY, that HIS time is perfect, that he wants me to desire HIM above anything else...but I'm not gonna fake it...this journey is HARD!!!! But God's Word says "WHEN you go through trials...." I'm not a Christ Follower who believes...just follow Jesus and everything will be perfect! NO WAY...being a Christ Follower is MESSY, people turn on you, people think you are CRAZY...people try to talk you out of your purpose!!! Following Jesus isn't for wimps...its for the desperate people who KNOW they need a Savior!!!

Through all of this over the last 4 months...and the last 18 months of waiting...my FOCUS has been on Jesus. We are adopting because we feel lead by the Holy Spirit to take care of orphans (James 1)! I want HIM and HIM alone to reap all the glory for this journey. I don't want a pat on the back, I don't want a celebration of Jason and Lindsey Gerdes, I don't want people to look at us and say...WOW...I want EVERYONE's focus to be on GOD, the Creator of Life, the Giver of Breath, the Author of Adoption.

So if anything...this adoption hasn't been a failure...its been fruitful...Ive learned more than I ever could think imaginable! Ive prayed prayers that scare me, Ive laid flat on my face for hours and begged the Lord for guidance, strength, perseverance, deliverance, and peace!

So different...

Last year at this time my life, our life, looked DRASTICALLY different! We were on staff @ BAF in TEXAS, had one child and waiting on God to move in several areas of our life. Last year I celebrated my birthday in TEXAS with two precious friends, had dinner with TEXAS Pastor's wives...and had a NORMAL TEXAS Birthday!

This year...on my birthday, which was Tuesday...I couldn't help but be SO emotional as I reflected back on my life over the past year. This year wasn't a TEXAS birthday but a full fledged GEORGIA birthday! Jason asked me last week what I wanted for my birthday and I couldn't really think of anything because my heart is SO full, this season of life we are in is MORE than I could have ever imagined. I am humbled that God allows me to love him, I'm so imperfect yet he desires ME and I desire HIM. God has shown me more about HIM in the past year than I ever thought possible.

He has blessed us with a little girl who was TOTALLY created to be a part of our family. Jackson is thriving in his new school and he is CRAZY about RevKids, I love that he is EXCITED to go to church! God has given me friendships here in GA that are priceless treasures to me! I have to remind myself that I have only been friends with them for 6 months, cause it feels like we have been friends for YEARS! I'm getting to watch my precious husband Pastor a church, not a church we planted, which we thought that would be our path, but instead a church that we have adopted as our own. We love the people as if we have served with them for the 6 years the church has been alive!

I'm more in love with Jesus and his people then ever before!

Our long adoption journey, the times I thought that Christ had forgotten that HE placed adoption in our hearts, the times where I thought God would NEVER move in our lives again...the moments where I wanted to give up in ministry...all of those times where I felt desperate for HIM...on THIS side of that season of life...I'm glad I didn't give up! I'm glad Jason and I worked HARD to love Jesus even when we didn't understand what he was teaching us. I'm thankful that as we pursue Jesus he refines us to LOOK JUST LIKE HIM!

My life is SO different this year...and yet HE remains the same GOD!

If you are in the adoption process, be encouraged, HE HAS NOT FORGOTTEN YOU! HE IS the same God that put the burden in your heart for the hurting, for the orphan! He WILL deliver in HIS TIME! His time is precious...DO NOT let Satan tell you any different! Please let me know if I can pray for you during this time of waiting, you can email me at LindseyLGerdes@gmail. com!

If you are pastor's wife, PRAY FOR YOUR HUSBAND! Love and Support him. He has a huge weight to bare and he needs to know you are 100% behind him & beside him. Love the people you have the honor to serve...YOU are there to SERVE...not be served! Love and Touch as many people on a Sunday as you can! BE REAL and HONEST but most of all SHOW THEM YOUR SAVIOR! He is SO worthy to be talked about...LIVE YOUR FAITH OUT LOUD!

Side Note:
***Being a Pastors Wife and the Adoption Process...both are journeys that are tied to immeasurable blessings...but can also develop a feeling of loneliness! So if there is any way that I can lift you up in prayer, please don't hesitate to share! You are loved sweet friend, God has HUGE things for your life.

You never know...NEXT YEAR @ this time...your life could look SO DIFFERENT!

I WILL Blog again!

Well what a summer we have had! God has done more in my heart in 8 months of Natalie's arrival and our move to GA...then I ever thought possible! School has started back and a routine will now be my best friend :) I promise to catch up on our life...God has been so good to us!

Surrendering MY plans!

God's timing simply amazes me! The day we got the call saying that we had been chosen by a birthmom we had been "officially" waiting for 20 months and been in the adoption process for almost 3 years!

The same week we got our "chosen" phone call was the same week my husband had his 1st face to face interview with a Pastoral search firm. Here is where the blessings get even crazier!

For the past 7 years we have had the honor of being on staff at Bay Area Fellowship in Corpus Christi, TX. My husband was the Student Pastor and I got to serve along side of him serving students and loving on leaders! WE LOVED OUR JOB!!! We knew that at some point we would love to go somewhere for Jason to be the Lead Pastor or to plant a church...but we also knew that God hadn't released us from our precious church, BAF! So one day Jason came home and said "Lindsey, Bil (Sr Pastor @ BAF) told me about a church in Georgia who is looking for a Lead Pastor and after talking with Bil I really think that this could be a fit for our family."

(At this point we hadn't been chosen by a birthmom)

So we started the interview process with the search firm! Jason didn't have a resume together because we didn't have any intentions of leaving Bay Area during that season of ministry...we had been simply serving where God wanted us and we LOVED it...we were content and then ALL OF SUDDEN like a unexpected Hurricane our lives were totally turned into a surreal whirlwind!

Jason had his first face to face interview October 15th...we had gotten our "chosen" phone call by our agency on October 13th.

Our lives felt insane during those months of October, November and December...CAUSE IT WAS INSANE!!!!

After several trips to Georgia, lots of meetings with the search firm, search team, and pastors...we were offered the job on DECEMBER 5TH...uh yes...the SAME DAY Natalie Grace was born! Hows that for God's timing!

Okay so here is where it gets GOOD! On Friday, December 4th Jason had an AMAZING prayer time before I had even gotten up. We had been begging God to either shut the door to this opportunity OR swing it WIDE open...either way we simply wanted to do what HE wanted! We just wanted to be in HIS will! I woke up with Jason sitting right next to me in our bed...him stroking my hair :) I could tell that he had been crying. He started to tell me about his prayer time.

James 1:27 says "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress..." This verse had become SO alive to us during our adoption journey and it was the reason we were able to KEEP going! That Friday morning God used that verse in such a tangible way for Jason. You see we thought when and if we ever left BAF that we would go and plant a church somewhere...get to create something from scratch...it would be as if it was our biological child!

But God had other plans for us! During Jason's prayer time God revealed to him that we were to go and adopt this church in Georgia. No we didn't start it but God was asking us to go and parent this church. But we would have to leave something we cared about SO much...our student ministry! We had been given the freedom to create an amazing ministry that served students right where they were...how could we leave that...our first born love! God sweetly reminded Jason that HE would take care of the ministry...Jason began to feel released! THEN....Jason started praying for ME! Here we were about to bring a baby into our family and I NEEDED my support group...these people had prayed COUNTLESS hours for our adoption...they had cried with me and rejoiced with me! HOW COULD I LEAVE THAT?? I was so distraught with the thought of these precious people NOT getting to watch Natalie Grace grow up. So Jason pleaded with God for him to take care of his bride...Jason said "God I will go to GA and take care of your bride BUT you have to take care of my bride." And then he asked God to reveal it to me, on my OWN terms, if GA was the place where we were to go and do ministry!

On Dec 5th we woke up and started getting the house ready for my grandparents to come for their visit...I was cleaning the bathroom when ALL OF SUDDEN God totally spoke SO clearly to me...I didn't hear his audible voice but wow it was so close to that...I sensed him RIGHT there in the bathroom of all places! I looked at myself in the mirror and said these words "look after widows in their distress." I had been really pondering that verse for 2 years trying to figure out what it would look like for OUR family to take care of widows...I NEVER NEVER thought that the word widow for us would mean God's church! The pastor of the church in Georgia had resigned in May (during the same time that our first adoption fell through)...so this church had been without a "lead pastor" for 7 months. God simply reminded me that we were suppose to go and take care of the widow...HIS church that didn't have a Leader...and that my husband was to be the Leader of this church. God asked me that day to go and fall in love with the staff, the people, the community and to love them as if they were our own! This was a church in distress...it wouldn't be our "biological" church...no we didn't plant it...we didn't give birth to it...BUT he asked us to adopt it as our own!

Okay so all of that took place with me looking in the mirror with a cleaning rag in one hand, the other hand on the counter top bracing myself so I would collapse :), and tears streaming down my face! I couldn't believe it...God was taking care of Jason's bride and breaking MY HEART for the people of Revolution Church!

So I went to the garage where Jason was...and I was SOBBING!!! He thought I was sobbing because I didn't want to move...I told him what had just happened and he said..."Were you reading your bible when all of that happened" and I said "NO, I was CLEANING the bathroom."

***Side note: When I walked out to the garage Jason had the vacuum cleaner suction hose up in the air with a golf club handle being shoved down into it...I asked him "What are you doing" he said "I just sucked up a pair of your 'personal belongings' (didn't actually say that but you get the picture) up in the vacuum cleaner!" Wouldn't you know that while God was drawing me to a place of painful surrender He added in some comedic relief :) I heart God!

So there it was...our YES to move to Georgia was ON THE TABLE...and about an hour later we got a call letting us know that the search team had met that morning (during my meeting with Jesus) and they officially wanted to offer Jason the position of LEAD PASTOR at Revolution Church in Canton, GA! We accepted! And then Natalie was born just a few hours later!

I cant even explain to you the freedom in Christ I experienced that day! We were about to walk into some deep hurts and deep JOY!! And we were THRILLED about all the details! The hardest part was to walk away from a ministry and friendships that we totally adored and loved. But I'm SO thankful for my friendships in Texas...they graciously encouraged us to accept this new role and have been SO SO SUPPORTIVE...Revolution Church has a HUGE support system in Texas!!

We packed up and moved to GA and arrived here Feb 27th...we have lived here going on three months! I miss my "peeps" in Corpus EVERY DAY...but Jason and I know that we are RIGHT WHERE we are suppose to be! We have adopted this place and I'm blessed by the people we have the honor of serving. They have taken care of my family as if they've known us for 10 years. They love my kids, they love me and they love and respect my husband...their Lead Pastor! God is good!! I'm adored by the King of Kings and he allows me every day to serve the people of Canton, GA and I'm in LOVE with the staff, the people and the community!

God's timing is perfect...might not be how we planned it...but I'm so glad HE is the master creator and that he loves me enough to pluck me out of a "comfortable" situation and place me in a beautiful city to love the hurting and the distressed! Wouldn't change a single detail of our last 5 months! And I'm so grateful that he used the adoption of Natalie Grace to get us to a place of FULL surrender so we could go and adopt HIS Church!!!

Details of December Part 3

One of my most FAVORITE memories when Natalie was born was this next story I get to share with you :)

When we received the information that A(birthmom) had gone into labor on Saturday but we weren't going to be able to see Natalie till SUNDAY...I was HEARTBROKEN!!! I cant even begin to tell you the thoughts that started going through my head...FEAR set in and the serpent of LIES started rattling in my head and heart. I immediately began to pray that JESUS would go before us and that he would whisper sweet truths into Natalie's heart until we could actually get there.

Okay so fast forward to the day we are being discharged from the hospital, Monday Dec 7th. We were just about ready to leave when a cute little nurse bounced into our room...she was our discharge nurse...OH BUT PRAISE YOU JESUS, she was SO SO much more! (I'm bawling at my kitchen table right now as I type this...all the memories of God's goodness just flood right back into my heart when I get to share Natalie Grace's story) Her name was Melissa (btw this is my best friends name and she had been praying for years for our adoption) and SHE was in the delivery room when Natalie was born...she was the FIRST to hold her! Then she shared her experience with me. She said that something came over her the moment she found out that Natalie was going to be adopted. She spent HOURS holding Natalie all night and telling her that she was loved, that her parents were on their way...that she was a chosen child! She said she just couldn't stop whispering into her ear...she said it was the strangest feeling...she just HAD to tell Natalie Grace that she was LOVED!!!! At this point she didn't even know Natalie's name...so she just said OVER AND OVER again...Baby girl...YOU ARE LOVED!!!!

As she began to tell me I was in utter amazement! I KNEW what had come over that precious nurse....MY JESUS...MY HOLY SPIRIT had gone before me and whispered sweet truths into our baby girl's heart! Im in awe at how much HE loves our baby girl...our sweet Natalie Grace!

Nurse Melissa

***Have to pause for a moment...our sweet almost 5 month old is stirring upstairs in her bed...good morning to our miracle!!!!

Like Ive said before...our stay in the hospital was something I will treasure forever! We were blessed with an amazing experience and wouldn't trade ANY of the details.

We were discharged VERY VERY late on Monday, December 7th and arrived back to Corpus Tuesday, Dec 8th @ like 2:30 in the am!!! With a very WIDE awake baby! My best friend Amy had been keeping Jackson for us while we were gone once my grandparents left...it was such a cool moment when we walked into our house and she was waiting up for us to get home!

When we finally got to sleep it was time for us to WAKE up to get Jackson ready for school :) I was SOUND asleep with Natalie right next to me in her bassinet when I felt someone taping me on the shoulder. It was Jackson...he looked at me and then looked at his baby sister (this was the first time he had seen her in "person"...we sent LOTS of pictures while we were in the hospital) and he said "mom she is REALLY here." It was LOVE at first sight for him!

Jackson seeing his sister for the first time!