photo funk-header_zps0ekmkesr.png
 photo home_zpshyfejce7.png  photo RAK_zps2bn6n8mv.png  photo homeschooling_zpsregqlgr0.png  photo ourjourney_zps9eryodr3.png  photo haiti_zpsfxon8iyf.png  photo healthwellness_zpshqtqova8.png  photo camping_zpsckyk60wr.png

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Painting


My kids love to paint!
twister
 anyone

Monday, August 30, 2010

Date with Dad
They were going to hang out on the beach until a sudden storm hit out of nowhere.


Odin thought they were storm chasers.

Sunday, August 29, 2010

Random pictures

Helping me bake...
and they still have a thing for head bands.

Friday, August 27, 2010


Trusting in the Lord
Dave went to the dentist the other day and I went to the TMJ specialist in Milwaukee.  Everything we both need done would cost us 10-15,000, so we decided to wait until our adoption is final to start fixing anything.  We would just have to charge it all anyway because  we have no dental insurance.  Let me tell you, it is not fun!  My appointment was interesting though.  I learned way more about my jaw and muscles than I ever new.  All 3  Dr.'s I saw were great.   I forgot a book though. It was a pretty long 3 hours.
  Thanks to my mom for watching the kiddos.
The whole way there and back was so nice.
 Music cranked
Worshipping the Lord at the top of my lungs
Hands praising him
I love it!!!!
Removing all distractions
Pouring myself out
Giving everything to God.
When we are struggling we must enter into God's rest. Nothing will get us through those times better than resting in God.
It's a spiritual rest that comes by faith.
Resting in God means to have absolute trust and confidence in his care for you knowing that he will supply all your needs, and that he is more than enough for you.
The truth is, any kind of battle you are having belongs to the Lord. 
So in giving our battles to him, and laying them at the foot of the cross, we are entering into his rest.
He has bought our souls with a price.  
Trading our ashes for beauty.
   Enter into his rest.
Feel his presence and get to know him more deeply
and trust him more than you did before. 
We serve an AWESOME god!

Monday, August 23, 2010



Welcoming our friends home. 
They brought 3 African beauties home during the middle of the night.  My kids thought this was a blast during the middle of the night when they are supposed to be sleeping.  They were all so excited.  Such a beautiful family.



Saturday, August 21, 2010

Tinker Toys






 All of the kiddos have something for ninjas!


sidewalk chalk


Olivia bites her nails so much we can never paint them so she thought chalk would work better.  She has no interest in eating that.

Friday, August 20, 2010

Fennel Anyone
The farmer had given me some fennel the other day and Jeremiah thought it was a small bush to play with.

Funky Bun Cake
I made my homemade funky buns(cinnamon rolls) that we sell for a fundraiser into a cake for a shower.  It was wonderful!  Looked great but it was seriously heavy. 

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

My Secret Place
“My heart and flesh cry out for YOU the true and Living God” (Psalm 84:2, NIV).

There is nothing more beautiful than someone who spends time in the secret place with God. I love coming in contact with those who live abiding in Jesus. You know, it’s just so obvious. It’s as though they truly take on His image.


Intimacy with God cannot be mimicked and it cannot be forged. Intimacy with God is very real. You can hear it in how someone talks and you can see it all over them; they literally shine.


Spending time in the secret place with God in intimacy with Him is where we need to remain and how we need to live. We were created for intimacy. We were born for face-to-face encounter with God.


There is nothing more that God desires for us than this: to be one with Him. He wants us to live in Him, to take time with Him in the secret place, deeply loving Him, adoring and everything He is and allowing Him to do the same with us. Spend time with your beloved.


Those who live immersed in Him are always shining with a light that overcomes darkness, and they have a hope and peace that goes beyond all understanding. Those who spend time in the secret place have a way of living so that nothing defies them. No matter what, they know who they are and they know their God.

Love covers all.


 Lord, I open my heart to you and all that I am.

Do you have a secret place?

Monday, August 16, 2010






Projects
  I finally finished a few projects that were
sitting around here for a couple of years. My wonderful cousin had given us 2 beds for the kids and I finally painted them. 
It just took so long to sand them but they turned out good and Jonah and Olivia loved them.
I also finished putting together 2 corkboards for Odin and Olivia.  I have had all the stuff here since they were born and am finally getting to it.  They turned out great.
What kind of project are you working on?

Friday, August 13, 2010


Faith
This post is for my dear friend DW and  Linny over at http://www.aplacecalledsimplicity.com/
You are such a wonderful and beautiful family!

“Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life” (Proverbs 4:23).
I have been clingning to this verse this whole journey.
Your heart is that place. 
It is the place from which you’re reactions, your attitudes, your actions all come from. All that you are as you walk through this day, with whatever it holds, will come from your heart. That’s why God tells us specifically to guard that well-spring.

Among the many things we find in our hearts there will always be one of two things there.
Faith or Fear. One will always be on the top of the heap. They cannot both occupy the same place. If faith resides there your well-spring will pour out peace and confidence in God’s care for you, even in those uncertain times.
If fear resides there will always be anxiety and depression(and for me a  crazy lady with a mind full of crazy thoughts).
Faith or Fear.
Faith or Fear
Faith or Fear
Every day we choose.
Many times a day we choose.
Faith over-rides Fear. Fear over-rides Faith.
God tells us exactly what to do when fear grips our hearts and takes over our minds.
 Worry is a call to prayer. The moment you become aware of that churning anxiety over ANYTHING, go immediately to your Heavenly Father.
 Present your requests to Him.
Simply asking for exactly what you need. Nothing is too dumb or stupid(my kids are not allowed to say this so this feels weird writing it) for God.  
Thank Him for His promise. Thank Him for the power of His name and for His knowledge of every detail of our life.  Thank Him that He works all things together for your good as you trust Him.

Your faith and trust in God will over-ride your fear and His peace will  put a guard around your heart and mind so fear cannot over take you. 
 It's real. 
 We have experienced more than I ever could imagined along this adoption journey and it has only deepened our faith.  Thank you for being part of it with us.  We serve an awesome God!!




Thursday, August 12, 2010

Newspaper Story

This is an article that ran in our local newspaper as a letter I wrote to our daughter. Some of you have asked me to post it on the blog so here it is.



The Funkhouser family of Kiel would like to adopt a girl from Ethiopia. In order to do so they have been raising funds through home-baked items and their garage sales. The whole family has joined in the effort to give a little girl they have never met a loving home. For more information visit www.campfunk.blogspot.com. The family will be having another garage sale in August.

 Letter to soon-to-be-adopted daughter


Our dearest daughter,


Even though we have never met, you need to know how much you are loved and wanted in our open arms.

As we live and breathe in our commitment of love and strong family values, we wish for nothing more than to adopt you and share this love we have for you with you. Our home is full of laughter and happy children waiting for the chance to make you part of their lives, and we are determined to give you a new home, life and future. Although the process is lengthy, we feel guided through our mission and efforts to love you.

Perhaps you would like to know more about your adoptive family. I have a passion for loving and caring for children, I am a devoted wife to my heroic husband and I am a sold-out follower of Jesus Christ. Those who have known me long enough will likely admit that since I was a child I have always had a love for orphans. Dave and I felt that if this is really what God truly wanted us to do, he would show us the way. For about a year we prayed and asked God for direction and signs to lead us on what to do. In so many wonderful and beautiful ways again and again, God has shown us that this is what we are meant to do. You are meant to be part of our family.

You will already have three American brothers and one sister. I want you to know, even many years from now when you read this letter, we are real people, living real lives. Your brothers and sisters are all great helpers, especially with the baking, our rummage sales and the web blog. Our house is full of kids but full with love.

They think you coming to live with us is "awesome." That is the exact answer they gave the home study consultant when she came and interviewed them. I know they will have a greater capacity for love in their hearts than we could ever impart to them by just giving them a safe, Christian home or by simply modeling Godliness as parents. They can't wait to meet their new sibling. They talk about you as if you are already here and buy you things with their coins.

Now, as you are so small and young, I promise to keep the spirit of your early childhood in Africa part of your life. I want to know more about you and protect you from all your hurt and sorrow. Your presence in our lives will be a wonderful gift from God, as is knowing your birthparents trust us, to give you the life that they couldn't. God will use our family's experience to bring more children home to their forever families.

We are to be the hands and feet of Jesus on this planet and it is not going to be easy or glamorous. Once we took Jesus seriously, Jesus took us seriously. We couldn't tell him no once he put this on our hearts. We see a lot of selfishness and materialism in our lives and these picture perfect families. We are not this kind of family. We know what we are saying "no" to and we had a choice to embrace that life, but instead we chose to embrace Jesus. We knew it was going to be painful, lonely, and overwhelming. Every time we encounter someone who has embraced fulfillment in the temporary, we are reminded that we chose this road instead. Loving the hopeless. Loving Jesus the orphan. It means that you do for Jesus the orphan what you would want done to your own child.

I believe Jesus didn't leave us as orphans, He adopted us. He didn't see us in our orphaned state of despair and say, "Oh poor things...I wish someone would do something about that." No, He adopted us. Changed our future, our destiny, and we are to follow him and do as he did.

I feel a particular burden to care for and to cry out for the children in Africa. We are thankful God calls us all to do different tasks and ministries so we can be an effective force for his Kingdom. It is not our place to judge the callings and burdens he has placed on others. What I do know is that God has called us all to take care of the poor and orphaned, so for us it is an act of obedience to him. Whatever small part we can do to bring a life of hope to an otherwise seemingly hopeless existence, we will do.

When you are our child, we will wish and pray for happiness in your life. We often wonder ourselves why it costs so much for the adoption process. The adoption is very costly but it is not a factor in determining whether or not we are going to adopt you. We know this is what God has called us to do so we firmly believe God provides in full for whatever he has called his people to do. Every penny we need for this adoption will be provided by God. We are standing on this belief and faith which makes this all the more exciting.

We've placed our monetary investments into our home when we moved here and built it. It was the home we intended to stay in, but God changed our hearts. We realized that we needed the money so we decided to sell our home to use the assets to help fund the adoption. If the house does not sell, we know God will provide the money we need some other way. We are prepared to do whatever it takes to make this happen. To us it seems like such an obvious choice. It was actually one of the easier decisions we made along this journey.

Our lives are not our own. There are estimates or nearly 147 million orphans in this world and we know that we have room in our hearts and our home for at least one of them. We are saying "yes" to what we believe God has intended for us to do.

I find comfort in a passage from the Bible. "Once our eyes are opened we can't pretend we don't know what to do. God, who weighs our hearts and keeps our souls, knows that we know and holds us responsible to act." Proverbs 24:12.

We await your life's continued journey and the chance to have you in ours.

With all our love,



Jill Funkhouser

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

That sneaky husband of mine...the word hijacked caught my eye!  Otherwise.
 I would've never known.
I love you dearly!
One month on the wait List!

Hiijacked Blog Post - Sorry

I apologize for remotely hijacking Jill’s blog but I know her well enough to know that she would never let me post this message with her advance knowledge.



Adoption has always been something Jill and I talked about. We got serious about it together well over a year ago but I was a hold out before that. I had so many fears and concerns about everything, literally everything, about adoption that I was a big WHOA! To the whole process. Jill of course was 100% a go from day one but I was holding back taking a very cautious approach. I promised Jill I would pray to God for a sign if this was what we were meant to do or not as God has always given me very clear signs on what to do when I pray to him with specific issues/direction.


Within an hour of that conversation, I was on my way to work and stopped to gas up our van downtown. Another van pulled up to the pump island on the opposite side of me and pulled forward. As the van passed, I noted in big white letters across the back windows “Adoption is the ONLY option” followed by a group of kids who poured out of the van.
Wow…pretty clear sign God. Thanks!


God didn’t stop there, he bombarded me over the next two weeks with more signs. Our waitress at a restaurant was adopted from Ethiopia. A family camping next to us had a little boy adopted from Africa. I helped numerous people at work who were adoption/orphan advocates or had adopted children. It was crazy but everywhere it seemed God was saying “OK Dave, here are some signs!” which he poured out on me. I finally said in prayer, “OK Lord, I got the message” and soon after we started this wonderful agonizing yet blissful journey.


This past weekend, on Saturday night, as I sat outside in the evening soaking up God’s wonderful star filled sky by a camp fire, something hit me like a brick to the chest. The signs I had asked God for was right in front of me the entire time. I didn’t need a van with letters on the window, a waitress from Ethiopia, people to help at work, a family camping next to us, none of that. God had given me the obvious and biggest sign he could have ever done and I apologized to him for not recognizing it.


What is that sign? It is my wife Jill…Simply stated; Who she is. What she is. What she does. Everything about her is a gift from God to not only me, but our family, our friends, and to the children whose lives she touches that she hasn’t even met (yet!) This woman loves God and loves kids. Jill was made to be a mom and everyday she amazes me. God gave me the privilege to meet, fall in love and marry this amazing woman. I am so deeply and passionately in love her that it brings me to tears at times. Jill’s love for others in need, especially children, is impossible to measure and humbles me greatly.


All the while as I was looking for big signs from Heaven to lead and direct me, God was patiently tapping his foot smiling waiting for me to see the one he had given me years ago; my beautiful wife. God gave Jill to me and made her part of my life because he knew she was meant for this and that I could not do it alone. He was right and I am blessed.


To you Jill, I profess my love before all who read this blog. You are an amazing woman, mother, wife, and as you state in your introduction, “A sold out lover of Jesus”. Your outward beauty is awesome and your inner beauty is inspiring. I thank God everyday that you are part of my life and I promise him in return to give you all the help and support you need to make your life as wonderful as you dream it can be. I love you…Dave

Sunday, August 8, 2010

The Great Provider
Well, bless us he did.   

What a great time we(I) had doing this.  It was really just my mom, Dave and I and we all worked together and it went great.  It required lots of preparation and planning. Just want to thank everyone again who had donated things for this sale.  We could not have done this without you, really! 

We have met some wonderful people through this rummage that God has placed in our lives.  We  cried with them, laughed with them,and  watched their heart break just talking about things with them. God is so amazing!
 Love is the doorway through which the human soul passes from selfishness to serve and from solitude to kinship with all mankind.” (Anonymous)

Well the great provider amazed us again with a grand total of $2000.00
Yahoo!
Our God is a mighty God!

1 Corinthians 15:57

 But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Thursday, August 5, 2010

Here we go!
Please pray for us this weekend and that we meet our goal and that we get rid of everything.  God is so good! This will be our last big fundraiser to raise funds for our adoption.  Thank you so much all of you who have donated items for the rummage sale and for all of those who have given us money donations as well.  We could not reach this goal without you.  Please spread the Word and see our God work.
Thank you all from the bottom of our hearts!!! 

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

 Ninja's
All of my kids have something for bandanas these days. 

RUMMAGE STARTS TOMM.
THURSDAY
FRIDAY
SATURDAY
8-6
 brand name clothes(infants to x-large)

cinnamon rolls

puppy chow (thanks Jen)

brats

lots of beautiful house decor

bookcases

tables/furniture

tons of nice shoes

lots and lots of nice things

we have all new stuff that was donated

We are ready to have some fun and advocate for the orphan. 
Goal
$8,000

James 2:26


As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.


Monday, August 2, 2010

2nd Rummage
August 5, 6, 7 8-6
We are getting ready for our second rummage over here at the Funks and I am so excited.  I love these things. I am a rummage junkie.  The kids love to rummage too.  We have had a lot of awesome donations from many families.  We are so thankful and so blessed.  Our goal is $8,000 for our next payment to the agency.  Yup, I am trusting the Lord.  He has been so good!  We have had so many wonderful blessings this past week it has been great.  I love to see how he works in this journey .  It has been such a reward for the kids as well.  They just get impatient and want their sister here now.  
Psalm 18:12

"The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge. He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold

 
Blogging tips