Expecting Hope

Hello amazing friends and family!

God is awesome! We were able to raise over $9000 for our adoption, during our $30 fundraiser!!! YAY!!! This allowed us to sign the first part of our contract with the agency, and we are officially on the baby girl waiting list! So exciting!!!

We still need about $23,000, so please continue to spread the word, and donate if God puts it on your heart! Donations are tax deductible through our Pure Charity site – https://purecharity.com/emily-and-josh-huffmans-adoption

My amazing husband Josh came to me a couple days ago wanting to share what God has been showing him in regards to our adoption fundraising. YAY!!! This is a rare treat, so I hope you enjoy, and are blesses by his words!

~~~~~~~~~~~

I wanted to share a few thoughts during this new season in our life. I have been wanting to share what has been in my heart for a while and until now didn’t know what to say, so here we go.

After our fundraiser, our next step was to move forward with the adoption agency by signing our first contract. We both had a little hesitation because of the time element involved with reaching our final financial goal, once paperwork was signed. But we prayed and asked God how to proceed, and Emily and I knew we were to move forward. So after a month of constant fundraising, we signed the first chunk of paperwork . . . then suddenly it seemed like someone pushed pause. As we waited, I kept expecting that something would all of sudden to change, and when nothing happened, my brain took over and doubt crept in. It never overcame understanding that God is faithful but just my brain beginning to think “well what if it doesn’t happen?”

God started speaking to me on how many times in the past we have stepped forward in faith knowing that He had us in His hands. Over and over again God reminded me of all the ways that He took care of our needs. So for the last 2 weeks God has been constantly reminding me of so many ways He has been faithful.

Monday God spoke, and I started understanding more of how I need to think as I wait in expectation of his promise. He reminded me of John the Baptist. John was waiting for something, something far better and amazing than our situation, he was waiting for the Savior. God reminded me of the circumstances that John had going on around him. There was an empire ready to snuff out anyone that would stand against them, there were people holding on to tradition so strongly that they couldn’t see the truth, and there were local governing offices that cared for nothing but greed and power. Through all of that John kept expecting hope to come. And just as God promised, hope came in an unexpected, miraculous way.

I can choose to look at my circumstances, that signing a contract without all the funds may not look like the wisest choice. That our income is not stable or large, and that $32,000 seems unreachable. Or I can look at the end goal and keep my focus on what God has spoken and said will come to pass.

I will hold our little baby girl in my arms and we will have an amazing testimony again of God’s faithfulness! Because God is not swayed by circumstances around us He does not fear things that seem so big and real to us, because He is Bigger and more Powerful than whatever would try to take our focus and hope away.

So I hope that you will be encouraged in whatever area of life you are walking through and expect hope for what God has spoken to you.

Blessings,

Josh

Everything’s Changin’!!!!!!!!!!

Hello amazing friends and family!

It has been a while since I last updated our blog, and a lot of things are changing for us Huffman’s! So I will dive right in with what God has been showing us, and 2 humungous changes that are in the works!

We recently spent some time away from work and Montana to pray about our future. We have been feeling a change coming for a while, but neither of us knew what it would look like. We spent some time getting prayer, and healing, as well as listening/being still so God could give us direction! Our time away was incredibly fruitful, and restful, and we came back with some surprising vision for this next year!

Here we go . . .

1. Our commitment to YWAM, MT will be coming to a close at the end of the year!

This is a big one for us! Josh and I have been involved at this base in one way or another for the past 13 years!!! We both just assumed we would be YWAMers for life, but God has been showing us that he has something new in store for us! This is both scary and exciting as we both love adventure (YAY!!!) but he has not told us yet what we will be doing after December (Aaaahhhh!!!!)! The planner inside of me is learning to trust, and to find hope in the unknown, rather than fearing it!

Please join with us in prayer – For direction, for doors of opportunity to be opened, for provision, for the details to come into place quickly and easily, for the rest of our time with YWAM to be joy filled and life giving to everyone we work with!

We would love to know if God speaks anything to you, and we would love to answer any questions you may have about this transition! Feel free to email either of us at:

josh. huffman @ ywammontana. org – or – emmysmoo @ gmail. com or yahoo. com

or you can message us on facebook!

On to adventure #2 . . .

2. We will be pursuing adoption!!!!!

This was probably the most surprising thing God asked us to do while we spent time praying for our future! Josh and I love kiddos and have always known we wanted more. We talked about adoption before we had either of our boys, so it’s always been in the background in our minds as “maybe someday” . . .

Days before we found out we were pregnant with Joseph, God gave me a series of pictures that were promises, some which have already come to pass, and some I am still waiting for. The very last picture I had was a very clear picture of me with a giant smile on my face, holding a newborn baby girl, wrapped in a pink floral blanket that we were given at Zeke’s baby shower as a joke (that I still have sitting in our closet upstairs!) When we found out we were pregnant with Joseph, I just assumed this was a picture of who I was pregnant with . . . yeah, not so much, haha!

That picture stuck with me through the years, and God brought it back to mind during our time away. When we arrived at the airport at the beginning of our listening trip, the first thing Zeke told my mother was that we were going to be getting a baby that wasn’t in mama’s belly! Totally not something that would normally come out of his mouth, but God confirmed it in our hearts as we talked and prayed about it!

Please join with us in prayer – We are very early in the process of our pursuit of adoption! We are sending out feelers to different agencies, and researching everything that we need to do, which can be a bit overwhelming! Please pray for peace, the perfect agency to partner with, the perfect match for everyone involved, and financial provision!

Please consider partnering with us in this adventure – We felt like we were supposed to make our financial need known (which is something I am not always comfortable with), and that God would bless our openness! We found out that adoption can range from $15,000 – $50,000, none of which we currently have. We are going into this with literally nothing other than God’s word to go for it, and that he would bless it, and provide for it!

If you would like to give toward our adventure, please shoot us an email and we can send you details!

Please spread the word – We have been blessed these past years with awesome prayer warriors and supporters! We know that any endeavor we take on, we need people to join with us! We would love to have as many people praying with us for our family, this upcoming job transition, and for this cute baby girl, as we can get.

THANK YOU!!!!

We are constantly blessed to know you guys love us and are praying for us!

New Responsibilities, and a Need For Help!

Hello Amazing family and friends!

The fall has arrived in MT, and it is gorgeous! It seems like overnight the foliage burst into flames of gold and red! If you have not visited Northwest, MT, I suggest you come visit us now, and enjoy the beauty before the cold overtakes us all!

This August we had lots of celebrating! Zeke turned 4 years old which is amazing and totally unbelievable all at once! I also got the amazing opportunity to turn 31! Josh will be following suit tomorrow, and would appreciate your prayers as he goes to hopefully catch a 30lb fish with his brother!

When August rolled around, Josh and I had a feeling that things would be changing a bit this year! We were filled with excitement and anticipation as we prayed about what God had next for us! While things are not changing a whole lot, a fun new door has opened for Josh to step through in his responsibilities at the YWAM base.

A few weeks ago, one of Josh’s leaders mentioned that the Kitchen on base would be going through a transition, and would need some people to step into leadership by the Fall. What many people don’t know about my amazing husband is that he has some serious cooking skills, specifically with breakfast foods! Let me tell you, I have been eating his oatmeal everyday for 2 years now . . . and I don’t even like oatmeal . . . SKILLS!

Anyway . . . Yesterday, Josh was offered a fun new position as Morning supervisor for the kitchen! What this means is that he will be in charge of teams of students – teaching them cooking and cleaning skills during the months they are here. He will also get to plan tasty and nutritious menus for breakfast each week, and he will have a great creative outlet while being able to serve and bless everyone who comes to eat his delicious concoctions!

Josh will still be serving in the Auto shop, repairing and maintaining base vehicles for the cost of parts, but now his schedule will look a bit different, and he will even get to spend a little more time with us during the afternoons! YAY!!!

On a different note, we would love your prayers for my health!

I have mentioned it before, but over the past 2 years since returning to MT, I have been on a rollercoaster healthwise! Never anything major, but always something that saps my energy! It seems that we are in a constant loop of  health weirdness – prayer – wisdom/healing – excitement – new health weirdness, and repeat! No thank you!!!

As Josh and I have been praying we feel like my current issues have to do with my body being mis-aligned! After having 2 extremely large children with my not so large body, this makes a lot of sense! At this point we feel like I need to start a cleansing diet to make sure everything inside is healthy, and we also feel like I am supposed to go to a specialized chiropractor who focuses not only on alignment, but also on nervous system health!

We both feel an urgency to get this regimen started sooner rather than later, and we are taking a step of faith by asking all of you for help financially as we seek healing for my body.

Would you please pray and ask God if he is leading you to aid us in this journey. We need about $2000 to cover the cost of supplements, and Chiropractic care, and we would love to see it come in by Monday!

We would also love your prayers for healing!!! Whether it’s miraculous or through medical help, we need my body to be well again!!! So please pray with us, and if you hear anything from God, we would love to know!

Thanks again for all of your prayers and support! You are all a blessing and encouragement to us!

Emily

Visits, Celebrations and Blessings!

Hello friends and family!

Summer has finally arrived in lovely Montana! YAY!!! Flowers are blooming, brand new baby deer are frolicking in our yard, and it’s finally warm enough to wear something other than sweaters and boots!

We kicked off the summer with a fun visit from my cute mother and our fun friend Karen! The boys had a blast running around like crazy and being loved on /showered with grandmotherly affection! We had a splendid time too, being able to visit after not seeing each other since December!

This week also marked our sweet baby Joseph’s 2nd birthday! Not sure how he got so big, so fast, but we have never had a dull moment with this vibrant little man!

He is a trail blazer, mountain mover, tender hearted charmer, and super “heho” (hero) who cheers for Jesus and tells bad guys to go away! What a blessing to have him in our family!

Finally, we just wanted to share an amazing God story and answer to prayer! Several months ago, Josh had a dream, and in it some friends came up to him and handed him the keys to their vehicle. It was a simple dream, but when Josh woke up, he felt the love of God so strongly. We had been praying for a vehicle for quite a while, but we felt led to be more specific in our prayers after that dream. When we prayed, we asked God specifically for a vehicle with 4wd or awd, enough room for kids, lots of space in the back for luggage for our road trips to and from CO, and just for fun I threw in a request that it would be red . . .

Last month we got a phone call from some amazing friends! They said they had been praying and felt like they were supposed to give us their beautiful Dodge Durango! WHAT?!?!?!? When I got off the phone, Josh and I almost died! My mom and Karen drove it up to us when they visited, and we are now proud owners of the most amazing , and newest vehicle we have ever owned! It met every single criteria we asked for, and guess what . . . it’s red! God is such a good father, and we are so thankful for friends who give so lovingly to us! YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Thanks again for your prayers and support! And YAY JESUS!!!!

Happy April!!!

Hello friends and family! Here is an update on what we are doing these days . . .

The sun is finally shining, and I think I can safely say that Spring has come to Montana (maybe . . .)

This month marked 7 years of marriage to one of my all time favorite people! For those who don’t know,  Josh and I met while on staff with a touring dance production. He was supposed to be the truck driver, but ended up taking a huge step of obedience by becoming  the lead dancer (though he had never danced before in his life). Josh won me over with is tender heart, and sincere love of God. Also he was pretty darn cute and liked cartoons as much as I did! Haha! I am so thankful God put us together, and even though we have had to walk through some extremely difficult things, I would say a good 97% of our time together has been spent having ridiculous amounts of fun! YAY!!!

I have been homeschooling Zeke for almost a year a now, and he has taken to learning, like a fish to water!

He is such a special little person! He sees life through an entirely different lens than anyone I have ever met before. He points out beauty, patterns, shapes, numbers, letters, colors, and life lessons in the most mundane things!

He is becoming more extroverted and tender hearted every day, and he LOVES telling people how special they are and that Jesus is alive!

Joseph is an adventure everyday, let me tell you! Every time I think I get a handle on his personality, he comes up with another level of cheesiness and scare-the-mama-ness!

At almost 2, he can carry a (slightly confusing if you don’t know his dialect) conversation about the important things in life such as bubbles, cheese, crackers, cookie monster, and the  letter Y!

He is extremely independent, spending a good part of the day exploring the house, reading books by himself, and throwing balls (with scarily good aim).

Josh has been plugging away in the auto shop! He totally loves what he is doing right now! On top of his mechanical awesomeness, he has had several opportunities to pull out his training as a Bible teacher, by guest teaching for the Audio Engineering School on base here.

I (Emily) have been momming (which is totally a word) lots these days! Right now I am becoming an expert in ball rolling, conflict resolution, and teaching spider man how to be a hero with Jesus in his heart! God has also been showing me who he created my boys to be and how to help them to become confident in their identities! Strangely enough, God is working with me on the very same thing, which is awesome, and stretching all at the same time! YAY!

We would appreciate your prayers for this upcoming season.

– Josh is in great need of full time staff to help him in the auto shop! He would love 4 guys who are experienced mechanics, with a love for Jesus, to come alongside him and bless our YWAM community!

– We are still raising funds for a new(er) 4-wheel drive vehicle! Our van is a miracle and we are soooooo thankful it has lasted so long. We are hoping for something that can better handle the frigid winters here, and something that will survive long road trips to visit family and supporters! Let us know if you would like to contribute to our car fund!

– I have been having some random health weirdness! Nothing major at all, just annoying. God has already healed some things, and he has shown me amazing strategies for others, so I would love your prayers for continued healing and insight from God!

– That we would continue to be a bringers of PEACE and HOPE for everyone God brings our way!

Thanks again for your constant prayers and support! You are such an amazing blessing to us!

Emily and the Huff Men!

If you are one of our financial supporters, and you did not receive the update on how to send us support with YWAM’s new guidelines from the IRS, please let me know, or you can pop over to the How YOU can be a part of our ministry! at the top of the page to see how to send us donations!

 

Auto Shop Awesomeness!

Hello friends and family!

This new year is already flying by! I am not sure how it is almost April, and though I am a winter lover, I am seriously enjoying the sunshine that is beaming in through my windows right now! YAY!!!

Josh wanted to share a cool story with all of you. He has been thriving in the Auto Shop. He loves where God has him right now, and the creativity/freedom he has with this amazing ministry. So I will hand it over to my cute husband . . .

For a long time, I had always wanted to try a community outreach with the auto shop. The plan was to pack up certain tools from the shop and drive through the Flathead Valley looking for people who were in need, and fixing what we could for them for free.

The first time we were able to do this was last month. Kenny (my friend who is helping me in the shop right now) and I prayed and asked God where to go for our local outreach. We both got the word to head south towards the town of Polson. On our way down we didn’t find anyone broken down and as we kept getting closer to town Kenny thought we should go to the wal-mart.

As soon as we pulled into the parking lot we saw an elderly gentleman with the hood up on his car. We approached him and asked if we could help. He told us his car would not start. Kenny proceeded to look at the man’s battery and we realized the man’s starter was in need of replacing.

I unloaded a few tools from the back of our vehicle and the man stood somewhat amazed by all the tools we had on hand and asked what we were doing. We gave him the simple answer that we had come out to help anyone in need that day. The man gave us an awkward smile and didn’t know really what to think. In a manner of minutes we had diagnosed and fixed the man’s car so that he could get home.

Towards the end of our time we asked if we could pray for him before we left, his response was “No you don’t want to do that, I’m hopeless.” I responded, “We have all been there” and we prayed for him. He tried to pay us for our service but we declined saying that we weren’t looking to be paid. The man drove off and we thanked God for the privilege of meeting, serving, and praying for someone who He guided us to.

We are planning to continue these mini-outreaches once a month, and I will keep you updated on what God does!

Out With the Old, In With the New!

Hello again amazing friends and family!!! Happy New Year!!!2014 is here!!! Hooray!!!!

The final weeks of 2013 for us, were spent celebrating the new marriage of one of my dear friends, partying with the Terbush fam in CO, and battling ridiculous hoards of annoying sicknesses! Despite the sickness nastiness, we did enjoy our Christmas!

I know a lot of you have been praying about what God has for this new season, and we have been praying along with you! Josh and I keep feeling a sense of hope as we think about 2014! I really believe that God has some amazing things for all of us to look forward to this year! We have already seen God’s goodness, and I can’t wait for all the amazing testimonies that we will be sharing with you over the next 12 months! YAY!!!

So, we pray God’s blessing and hope for all of you! Thanks again for your constant prayers and support!

Here’s to an amazing 2014!

 

Some Thoughts on Being “Different”!

Hello cute friends and family!

I thought I would share some thoughts that have been swirling around in my head the past few years. This post was inspired through a recent talk with a very dear friend!

I have always been “different” . . . I walk to the beat of my own drummer, I have a hard time fitting in, the word most commonly used to describe me is Unique! For the most part, I know I am weird, and I enjoy it! I am not a feeler so (most of the time) when people comment on my unusual personality/style choices/hobbies, I let it roll off my back, and move on.

When I was probably 6 years old, I remember drawing a picture of my (then) favorite Bible character Vashti (from the book of Esther). An older kid looked at it, and laughed, saying something about it looking weird, and distinctly remember saying “Thank you!” and happily continued to draw. It wasn’t until years later that I realized they did not mean their remark to be a compliment! Haha!

There were many times through the years where I tried to be someone else, tried to fit in, tried to be “normal”,  but the more I tried it, I felt off, I felt depressed, I wasn’t enjoying my life! Just like Eric Liddell felt God’s pleasure when he ran, I felt God’s pleasure when I was myself!

As an adult, this has translated a bit differently, and I now realize that God has called me to live differently than a lot of people! This does not AT ALL mean my calling or my relationship with God is better or worse than anyone else’s, but it is uniquely my own!

I am not going to lie, being different is not easy, and it can be very lonely. My friendships are deep and amazing, but few and far between. People sometimes question whether what we are doing is truly God’s calling, or whether we missed the mark. Sometimes people don’t understand why we do what we do. Why don’t we get paid? If we are missionaries, why aren’t we living overseas? Why did we choose to home-school, and wouldn’t I be more fulfilled having a job? And the answer I have to those questions is: It doesn’t have to make sense, as long as I am walking in obedience to who God has called me to be, and what he has asked me to do.

When I think about our amazing God, I am constantly in awe of his creativity! Look at the flowers, the trees, the animals! Each is unique to their species, and each unique in themselves. I hear so often how incredible snowflakes are, because no two are alike, and then I think about everything in creation and am shocked by the revelation that there is not a single thing on this earth that is exactly like another! Our infinite God has created each and every thing to be one of a kind, and he knows them all deeply, and more intimately than we can ever imagine!

This revelation encourages me so much. God created everything specifically, and everything has it’s job and purpose! An elephant can never be a bee (just think about all the poor flowers that would be crushed by elephant pollination . . .) and should not feel bad because it can’t make honey. That was never the purpose or calling God put on it’s life! The same goes for all of us!

I would like to encourage all of you who are reading this! If you are feeling stuck, out of place, or depressed, please take some time and speak to your creator! You may be that sweet lone elephant wondering why you can’t fit into the hive with all the other bees, and God wants to show you the joy of your strength, and the many things you can do with your trunk! If we are willing to let go of the pressure to be someone else, we can blossom and thrive being who our loving Father intended!

I hope this blessed you! And thanks again for all of your prayers and support!

Emily (and my “different” Huff-men)

Our lives, Our Vehicle, Some Thoughts on our Nation, and Our Needs!

Hello friends and family!

As promised here is an update on us, and what has been going on since our last update! And it’s reeeeeeeeeally long! Haha!

Us:

First of all, We finally got around to taking pictures of the YWAM Transportation Office and Auto Shop, where Josh serves the base!

When Josh originally worked in the Auto Shop many years ago, it was located in a much smaller building on base.

A couple years ago, the base here was able to build a brand new structure for the maintenance department, which included this shiny, new, ginormous Auto Shop!

Josh has been so blessed to be able to work in such a great space, and is loving his new role as leader of Transportation!

And he is cute!

When I am not chasing after/teaching our energetic boys, I have taken on a couple of responsibilities as well!

I have been able to help Josh out by becoming his secretary and part time scheduler! It is something I enjoy doing, and by taking  over these responsibilities it allows Josh to spend less time in the office, and more time helping people!

I have also started putting my knitting skills back into use! A lady on base has a heart for the new mothers in the valley, and she has put together a ministry that makes gift bags to give each mom who gives birth in our local hospital! The bags contain baby blankets and clothes, as well as a storybook Bible! Her desire is for the moms in our community to feel loved and cared for, as well as to plant seeds in the hearts of the parents and children as they read the truth together! I have started knitting baby hats for this amazing ministry, and am enjoying praying over each one, and the cute baby who will wear it!

If you would like to be a part of this ministry, let me know! There are all sorts of ways to give, in order to bless the families in our area!

We are also honored to have the privilege of hosting a Morning intercession Group at our house! Every Monday, we have 13 people join us from the base, both students and staff, to pray however God leads! The boys LOVE having so many people over, and we have been blessed to be able to get know each of these people!

Our Vehicular Situation:

You guys probably remember our “out of the blue” cry for help as we found a van we wanted to purchase! Thank you so much for your prayers and contributions! We were able to raise under $1000! Unfortunately the van was sold before we could raise enough to buy it, BUT we are still believing for a new vehicle (and we definitely need one before winter hits us in full force)!

If you would like to send a tax deductable donation to our vehicle fund, drop me a line, and I will get you all the info you need!

Some Thoughts:

I am not one to talk about politics, but as there is a lot going on in our government right now that effects our family, Josh and I have had to think and pray about some things that we are facing.

I don’t claim to know a lot about what is going on right now, but one thing that we have had to talk about is the upcoming requirement for everyone to have health insurance! We have been ridiculously blessed in the area of health (which I am so thankful for), and because of this, as well as our missionary income, we have never really had to think about health insurance before. When I was pregnant with both of our boys we were able to have medicaid (which is such a blessing for so many YWAMers), but with some interesting requirements in MT., Josh and I were not comfortable going this route to solve our insurance problems.

Initially when we were faced with the possibility of having to get insurance, Josh and I were frustrated, stressed, fearful, and we felt hopeless! We were starting to get caught up in the political swirl that our entire nation is in, and we did not react very nicely!

A couple nights ago, I had a dream about our president! What the dream showed me was our nations leader, and his desire to be a loving father, husband and provider. This dream led me to prayer and softened my heart toward a man who had a desire to help, but did so in his own understanding, rather than seeking the wisdom of God! It showed me a different perspective for our leader, who is just a man, and who needs Jesus, just like the rest of us!

Josh and I have been praying, and rather than reacting to the situation, we have felt led to honor the heart of our president and find a way to be insured. We have found an opportunity to be a part of a Christian sharing program which will give us enough coverage to get by, while allowing our payments to actually go to believers around the world, who have medical needs! While we don’t have the income to make this a reality right now, we have peace that if we step out in faith and obedience, God will provide, just as he always has!

Our Needs:

So, as we take this step of faith, we ask that you pray with us for provision, and if you feel led to partner with us by sending monthly support, or by raising your current support, we would be honored!

Our current income is around $1400/month! Thank you JESUS!!! It is nothing but a miracle that we have been blessed with so much! The support that we receive goes toward our mortgage, groceries, gas for our van, heat and electric for the house, internet, and our monthly staff fee with a bit left over for giving!

We are hoping for another $200-$300 a month to be able to pay for health insurance.

All donations are tax deductible! If you are interested in giving, please email me at emmysmoo @ yahoo . com and I will get you all the info you need!

God is good! Thank you again for your constant prayers and support!

Want to Help Us Buy a Van?

Hello awesome friends and family!

I will post a real update in the next few days, but I wanted to share with you an opportunity that we have been praying for!

As most of you know, Josh and I have been praying for a new  vehicle. Our van has been awesome, but we are looking for something that is better able to handle the weather, as well as our road trips back and forth to visit our family in CO. We have been praying for something to show up before our road trip in December, and we saw that some co-workers on the base are selling exactly what we have been praying for!!!

They are selling a very well taken care of 2002, Honda Odyssey (van)! It has the space we need, and all the upgrades we were hoping for for $3900! We would need to make an offer in the next few days.

SO, if any of you feel led by God to give us a one time gift to help us buy an amazing van, we would be so thankful. If you don’t feel led to give, would you please join with us in prayer that we would be able to get the vehicle that God has for us!

Thanks so much!

For info on how to send a one time gift or to support us monthly, please email us at josh.huffman @ ywammontana.org