Testimony
We were called
by God to be a Reflection of the Father's Heart. Our Heavenly
Father has always showed us His unconditional love and has provided
for all of our needs. There have been many times we have hit rock
bottom. During those times, God has shown us how mighty He is. When
we have nothing, but to fully rely on Him, He has never let us down.
Sometimes it wasn’t as fast as we would like, but He has faithfully
lifted us up and dusted us off. What an Amazing God!
Dominic and I
have been married for almost twelve years. We have five amazing
children, of which, two are adopted.
Right after we
were married we lived in a shed with no water, electricity, or gas.
We then found a mobile home park to manage and live in. Soon after
we moved in, I got pregnant. The mobile home became mold infested.
I gave birth to a still born
daughter at twenty-eight weeks in August of 1998. That was one of
the most devastating events of our life. It was only God who brought
us through.
In September of
1998 we moved to a storage facility and managed it for the next few
years. I was pregnant again with a son and he was born premature. He
was rushed from one hospital to another, where we were told if we
had waited one more hour he would not be here today. We were still
not out of the woods yet, and not sure if he was going to make it or
not. My husband and I prayed daily that God would allow our
son to live. God gave Dominic this verse in John 4:46-52:
"So Jesus came again to Cana of Galilee where He had made the
water wine. And there was a certain nobleman whose son was sick at
Capernaum. When he heard that Jesus had come out of Judea into
Galilee, he went to Him and implored Him to come down and heal his
son, for he was at the point of death. Then Jesus said to him,
“Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will by no means
believe.”
The nobleman said to Him, “Sir, come down before my child dies!”
Jesus said to him, “Go your way; your son lives.” So the man
believed the word that Jesus spoke to him, and he went his way. And
as he was now going down, his servants met him and told him, saying,
“Your son lives!”
Then he inquired of them the hour when he got better. And they said
to him, “Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him.” So the
father knew that it was at the same hour in which Jesus said to him,
“Your son lives.” And he himself believed, and his whole
household."
God showed us
this verse at the same time and hour as we were told that our son
would live by the doctor. What an amazing God! After that, we
decided that we did not want any more children, but God had other
plans for us.
As young
parents of two small children, both working full-time jobs, it took
a huge toll on our marriage. We decided that our family was more
important than our stressful jobs. To save our marriage and our
family, we quit our jobs, packed up what we could, and moved into a
thirty-four foot motor home in Redding, CA. Dominic tried to get
work doing anything, and we both helped care for his sick Granny.
This was not any easy decision. My parent’s did not like the whole
idea, because we had two small children and just found out before we
left that I was pregnant again. After about a month, he got his
first job. This job allowed us to move into our first apartment.
However, this job was not a permanent position. With a new baby and
no work for six months, unemployment was not a great prospect for
our lives. We prayed daily for our finances and we received a call
from my dad saying that there was work for an electric company in
Granite Bay, CA. That meant we had to move again, this time with
three kids under the age of seven. That was God's miracle to our
financial situation.
We lived with
my parents for a while until we could get a place of our own. Living
with my parents for about a year, we saved just enough to buy a
house with some help from my parents. It was in older Roseville, and
only a two bedroom, one bath. So it was a very tight squeeze
for two boys in one room, and a crib and bed in the master room.
About a year later, Dominic was no longer employed. This again,
allowed the opportunity for God to work a miracle in our life.
Dominic went back to school full- time to be a mechanic. He was
applying for jobs while I stayed at home with the kids. We had
one in second grade, one in kindergarten, and our youngest was just
two. We prayed daily for a job and for our financial situation to
change. Dominic applied for a position as a mechanic. All along, it
was a challenge trusting God, but He always came through! Questions
ran through our minds on many occasions, like; “Why us?” “What are
we doing?” “What is God doing?” And other questions that would shed
light into our lives about God’s purpose. My husband did get
the job as a mechanic, but it still has not been an easy journey.
I returned to work full time in December of 2004 when our youngest
was about two and a half.
Our boys were
3, 6, and 10. We could not have any more children of our own. We
felt God tug on our hearts to adopt a girl. We needed space in our
home before the process could begin. We decided to add 900 square
feet to our existing 700 square foot home. That process was
stressful, but we were excited at the prospect of a bigger family.
We prayed for God to bring the right girl to us, and He did! We met
with her in December of 2005 and adopted her in September of 2006.
God was so amazing! She fit right in with our family.
Soon after we
adopted her, we ended up taking in her brother. He was one month
from his eighteenth birthday. This was a tough decision for all of
us. We had never raised a teen, and really had no clue as to
what we were getting ourselves into. With the help of friends,
parenting classes, Koinonia staff and parents, we persevered with
guiding and loving him through his last year of high school. It was
so difficult; we would have never made it without God’s help.
We tried at one point, to have him placed with another family, but
God said, “No, I am here to help”. He graduated with the full 220
credits which was far from the 97 credits he had going into his
senior year of high school. He is now at the California Conservation
Corp starting a new life and is on his own journey.
God is not
through with us yet. He has laid this food/clothes closet on
our hearts for many years, but God has said, “Now is the time!” Our
gifts in this life are to give and serve others. What better way to
do that, than to be a “Reflection of The Father’s Heart”! We look
forward to the future adventures God has planned for our family.