Introductions

myliltribetravels

Hello! I’m Bethany. I’m married to a pretty awesome stud of a man, Garrett❤️ we’ve been married since 2004 and have 7 (still hard for me to believe too!😜) beautiful, rambunctious, adventurous children! Phinehas Caleb is our oldest- he’s been traveling the world with us since he was born. He was in 15 different countries by the The time he turned 1! (Here we are in Venice)Evangeline our second spent the first half of her gestation in Chiapas Mexico- then came Ginger Clementine and we took a break from traveling the globe to plant a church in North Idaho. While there we added Azariah, Peaches and Geiselle and most recently our lives were completed by the somewhat dramatic entry of Mercy Hesed. Her story is on here~ And Here

Since then we have been talking and praying and dreaming about taking our family on another grand adventure and…

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Friday August 5th. We’ve made it to the end of our 31st week! My body has slowed down and made it past the first initial dangers of preterm labor! The excitement and uncertainty of the first few days has settled down and Ive been moved out of the “emergency” corner of the labor floor to […]

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Please please pray for my dear friend Jennifer and her sweet family! Over the course of the past 24 hours, Jen has learned she has an extremely aggressive form of ovarian cancer. It has spread from her ovaries to her fallopian tubes, her liver, her aorta, and her lymph nodes.

This news is incredibly difficult to take in, and at this point, the Narakis are not even sure what the next course of action will be.
One thing we do know is that they need as much time together as possible. And one way we can make that happen for Jen, Scot, and their 3 boys is by contributing to this fund we have set up in their name.
Jen’s husband, Scot, does not have paid time off. Therefore, as he is away from work to be with Jen, he is losing the funds that are needed to take care of the family’s already mounting bills.
We have a hope to erase their worry over finances at this time. We would like to provide for their monthly living expenses as well as cover medical bills that are beginning now.
We know that Jen is loved deeply and we are asking you to show her your love in a tangible way by helping her and her family in this desperate time.

Big Announcement

10 years ago we were apart of a rockin ministry in San Diego and traveling around the world with Horizon Christian Fellowship when the Lord laid on our hearts to go out and plant a church ! As we prayed for the next 2 years He opened the doors and did some incredible miracles to lead us to North Idaho! We have spent the past eight years here getting to be a part of a fanominal move the Lord through The planting of Mountain Springs Church! So many people came to know the love of Jesus Christ through the ministry here! We have watched in wonder as so many lives have gone from lost to found! From rejected to loved! From despair to hope! We are so honored to have been apart of what God is doing here in Bonners Ferry but recognizing that it is time for us to move on we are excited to pass the 

NowGod has  raised up a local family to lead the ministry at Mountain Springs Churn-Justin and his beautiful wife Charlotte Gibbins gave their lives to Jesus Christ at the church! Justin has been raised up to take over the The role of teaching and visionary Pastor at Mountain Springs Church and we are so excited to see what God has in store for the body here! They are an incredibly gifted couple with three beautiful children and one on the way! We will always love Mountain Springs Church with all of our hearts but the Lord has made it very clear to us that he is moving us on to something else (no we aren’t yet sure what that is!) We are just excited to see what new things develop and this incredible body of believers! We know the Lord has something in store for our family as well and we will continue to pray about our next step!

“He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building. According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it. For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” 1 Corinthians‬ ‭3:8-11‬ ‭ESV‬‬ 

We have been blessed by the body of believers here and have been privileged to participate in the work God has done in Bonners. It has truly been a life altering experience witnessing people’s lives changed forever! 

As the Lord has led us here He is now leading us out to be apart of a new work! Hebrews 11 says:

“And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God.”

We don’t know right now where we are going but we do know that He has called us to go and we ask you to join with us in prayer as we take the first step and sell our house (yay the dream house that we just built!😜) and start to sell our things to get ready to go wherever He may lead us!

Video with more explanation below👇🏼🙏🏻👊🏻

https://www.dropbox.com/s/p584q7anjquefpy/Garrett.mp4?dl=0

(If it won’t play please just copy and paste it in the search engine 😉)

https://www.dropbox.com/s/p584q7anjquefpy/Garrett.mp4?dl=0

Reconstruction Surgery!

For all of our sweet friends and family thank you for your prayers and concerns! As always Anesthesia never goes well for Garrett so he hasn’t been feeling so hot since Friday! His blood pressure dropped super low Friday after the surgery so they kept him sat night as well to make sure he was stabilized enough for the 2 hour car ride home! The reconstruction surgery went extremely well although it lasted about twice as long as it was supposed to😬 to quote the doctor “wow I opened it up and it was way worse than I could’ve ever imagined!” But hey that’s just how we roll right?!😜 so after seven hours of surgery he thinks that Garrett will be able to walk much better after he has finished recovery! Which unfortunately will also take much longer due to the extensive unforeseen damage. He will have to wait three months before he can put pressure on it this time around… at this point we are just grateful that he is alive!!!  

Garrett’s surgery update

After we had to cancel the first scheduled due to this nasty plague that’s been going around we really didn’t want to cancel AGAIN so when he woke up in the middle of the night Sunday throwing up we kinda panicked 🤦🏻‍♀️NO!!!! Not this too!?! But better by morning we prayed about it and decided to go ahead as planned so bright and early on the morning of our 13th anniversary he headed to his “1 hour surgery” (quotations emphasizing sarcasm) 4 hours later he emerged from anesthesia (he did NOT want to wake up! I think all the sleepless nights of caring for sick kids over the last 2 months caught up with him on the surgery table😜) the doctor was pretty impressed with the work done dr. Carla Smith Who had initially done the surgery back at Sacred Heart he said that 80% of any other hospital or doctor would never have attempted to reconstruct! They would have just lopped it off! He spent a long time digging but was only able to get a fraction of the pins out🙁 he would’ve had to dig far too much and irritate it wound more than he was willing to at this time so when we go back again in six weeks for the next surgery they will try to get the rest of the broken pins.

Here’s all the titanium that they extracted notice the nice broken pieces🤢 I distinctly remember the look on his face every time one of those broke!🙀 it was awful painful! They all broke while he was doing construction 🔨!🙈 carrying Sheetrock up the staircase he was never supposed to be able to climb again!!! (Our God loves to do the impossible!!! ) And the crazy thing is we just tried to bend them with our hands- IMPOSSIBLE!🙈  Thats some kind of narly right there!!! 

He is recovering nicely though and we will get to peek at at the incision tomorrow when I dress the wound again! Today we are celebrating Azariah’s 6th birthday and reflecting on the grace and goodness of our Lord and repeatedly through the day I stop and let myself relive the moments of the wreck and stop to thank my God again for giving me back my son and husband! I do not deserve and yet He lavishly pours out His love in our lives! #sograteful #GodisGOOD #everlastinglovingkindness 

And for reminiscing sake-Some pics from the wreck just to remind us of how powerful our God is!  Here is the steering wheel that Shoved his intestines up into his chest cavity and tore his diaphragm beyond what any man that we know of has survived! (The sweet surgeon informed me of this as we explained he had no idea how long the repair would take because he has never operated on someone with these kinds of internal wounds – cause they are never alive!) 

For those that don’t know the story we had just sold our house with a 2 week escrow (after I’d just had a home birth with our 9lb little girl!) it was our last trip to the house to get the few remaining items from our house so I was following Garrett and Phinehas with the rest of our kids! I thankfully was 1 corner behind them so didn’t see the initial collision but as I rounded the corner and saw the undercarriage of the truck I immediately knew what had happened! My body was weak with that awful feeling of everything in me screaming NOOOOO! And as I got closer I jumped out of the car and ran over to get Phinehas out fearing that the truck would ignite at any second! Garrett was close behind me as he had been thrown from the truck and with 2 shattered feet, a crushed lung and a torn diaphanous he was a “walking miracle” already! I had to climb in back and unhook the seatbelt that was holding Phinehas dangling from the air. He was unconscious and had a HUGELY swollen forehead! It was sickening to look at and I was horrified yet completely full of peace! I laid him gently on the ground and Garrett collapsed next to him thanking God he was out! In the next few moments helicopters landed, ambulances arrived- we prayed and his head swelling diminished- I was asked to stay back so they could load them quickly and as I got into the car to drive the nauseating 2 hours to the hospital all I could think was – Lord! This is my WORST nightmare and yet I’m completely okay?! I don’t know if you are taking both my men to heaven right now but if you are I know You will carry me through this! It was the most amazing feeling of calm and peace! I kept thinking- I should be freaking out BUT IM NOT! And this ISNT shock! I just feel Your tangible arms around me holding me close and comforting me!!!! It was the hardest most wonderful moments of my life!!!!! And that amazing peace was my support the entire month we were in the hospital!!!! 

The airbag shot him out of the car about 10 feet away (which actually saved his life since he was able to be released from the hold of the steering wheel and I was therefore also able to get Phinehas out from the backseat where he was hanging limp from the car seat (the truck was on its side with engine oil spilling out and a fresh tank of gas just waiting to mix😬) the engine block came up from the floorboards which is what crushed his feet (he had planned on wearing his flip flops that day but couldn’t find them in the rv that morning! – if he hadn’t been wearing his hiking boots he wouldn’t have feet left)5o pins and 7 plates put the left foot back together and a cadaver bone repaired the crushed heelgetting stitches out was far less than enjoyable 

Since his foot was crushed from a size 10 to about a 7 the first surger had to pull it back apart🤢

Not feeling too hot but he is still alive and able to hold our new baby Geiselle Grace!

The only thing that would make this guy smile the first few days was his baby sister! (Phinehas had his liver torn and wasn’t expected to make the helicopter ride! Also had a narly head injury at the site and as a group of us joined and prayed we watched it disappear!!!!)

After a week they were finally able to see each other! Phinehas was allowed to leave the pediatric floor and come visit his dad!

Eternally grateful….

Godisnowhere

Depending on your perspective is God now here??? Or is He no where??? It’s a simple lifting of your eyes from the circumstances of life that surround you to the author and finisher of your faith who has promised to NEVER leave you or forsake you!!! 

We have all either been in the midst of impossible hard circumstances  or we will be! Do you know where your strength lies? Distractions from your situation will only serve to weaken you in the moment of hardship! Being present in the now and digging deep into God’s word and a relationship with God will put your roots down deep and when the storms of life come to knock you over – YOU WILL STAND STRONG!

Our good friend and mentor Mickey Stonier has just published his book Titled Gods nowhere

I HIGHLY recommend reading it!!! You can pre purchase for discounted prices today!!!

Order Book here
In the midst of the last few years our family has seen its share of hardships that just come with living in a world that is fallen -BUT our hope is in Heaven!!! 

Today we stare at the beauty of our perfect little baby and we are reminded of Moses-in the face of certain death God chose LIFE!  He was a beautiful baby and he had a call and mission in life! He was placed inside a basket and sent to survive the most certain destruction of an incredibly dangerous river! Have you ever stopped to think about the dangers of the Nile?!!! Strong currents and the possibility of capsizing rapidly becomes of little importance when you consider Crocodiles  of mammoth proportion! Hippopotamus swimming about and fighting in the water! The crossings of Buffalo or the many large snakes that call the Nile home!!!  Despite all these and I’m sure many other dangers that lurk in the waters of the Nile floated this little baby completely unharmed and protected by His God that is NOW HERE!!! No matter what the fears or “certain death” that lurks in the shadows or creeps into what should be joyful moments we can turn our gaze upward to the Creator of the Universe! He is with us in the valley of the shadow of death and has promised to never leave us nor forsake us!

And on a complete side note-here’s a little pic of our growing little love bug!

Isn’t her smile mesmerizing?!!! 😍😘❤️❤️❤️

Going home and a lesson on fear…

Yes! You read that right! HOME!!! It’s been a little over 3 weeks since this all started to transpire we were expecting to be here for another month for sweet Mercy Hesed but the verdict is in! SHE IS A MIRACLE BABY!!! (We will have to keep her locked away in our room. For a few months the doctor said so she doesn’t contract anything to slow her progress down but we will be HOME!!) The doctors and nurses acknowledge that this is the hand of God on her little life! Our time in the hospital has been sweet as we have had some very special Divine appointments with other believers and have gotten the opportunity to share the reason for our joy with those who have not yet met our wonderful Saviour! But it was not been without moments of fear! I’ve had to walk through and meditate on Philipians 4 more than a few times and take my thoughts captive to bring them into the obedience of Christ! I have spent a long time reading through Ephesians and methodically going over His character and His proclamation of love for us! One of my favorites has been Psalm 142 as fear and worry threatened to be my prison  but righteousness THE RIGHTEOUS ONE Will surround me and He promises to deal bountifully with me! (Vs7)  His perfect love casts out fears and He comforts those who’s hearts are stayed on Him! He promises to hide me in the shadow of His wings and that He is our refuge and strength in time of trouble and need! These promises keep my eyes above the water and hold me tight in His embrace! 

You would think that After the car crash and getting to to witness His miracles and experiencing His peace  in the midst of my very worse nightmare I would have already “had that down” then walking through the tragic death of my young nephew shortly after Garrett and Phinehas’ recovery and a few other very hard “life lessons” it is still a very real battle of the mind to not let doubts and fears rise up but we MUST stand strong in the evil day! We must keep our eyes fixed on heaven and we MUST rest in our unchanging God! His charactor, His promises, His truth, His proclamation of Love to His beloved children! Take heart my soul! We shall see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living!

Psalm 139 He is with us in the sorrow and the pain! Our hope is not in circumstances but in our GOD!

Daddy finally getting to hold his little girl 7 days old! He’s been the best daddy in the world taking care of all the kids at home while mom was away!

Praise Him through whom all blessing flow!

This little cutie has surpassed every road block by the will of God and for His eternal purpose and glory! We are so grateful! Tears of joy keep streaming down my face as I reflect on all these things and treasure these moments in my heart! Day 5 of her beautiful life I got to spend the entire day holding her and basking in the joy of utter bliss! My sweet baby in my arms!!! It is her sixth day today and she has earned the reputation of being a miracle baby in the NICU! The doctor said she is her star baby! The nurses said “this little girl must have a lot of people praying for her!” To which I answered- “oh you save no idea how many!!!” So thank you ALL for bringing my baby before the throne of grace to receive mercy and grace in our time of need! 

We have decided on her middle name finally! Mercy Hesed Graupner (as a scholar friend defines it )- the consistent, ever-faithful, relentless, constantly-pursuing, lavish, extravagant, unrestrained, furious love of our Father God! 

That is what her little life has been!!! She is off all breathing assistance! Starting to nurse and will get her IV out hopefully tomorrow! She slept in an open crib last night and is gaining weight!!! She is a spunky little girl and has had to have 5 IVs put in (which breaks this mommas heart!) but we are praying this one lasts through her final dose of antibiotics this time!!! 

Our stay here has proved to be incredibly fruitful as we have gotten to pray with and encourage many fellow believers and share the gospel with quite a few others who have asked the reason for the joy that we have!!! We are incredibly grateful for the time we have spent in this trial as we have witnessed the faithfulness of God and His lavish love for each child! So many times I have wanted to glimps the future -you know to have some “peace of mind” but the entire time God has shown me that I do know the future as I am His child! Gods future plan for all of His children is LOVE! His unrelenting, unsurpassable passionate love forHis children! His perfect love casts out fears and is a shield of comfort to those who run to Him!!! So daily strengthen ourselves in the Lord and in the power of His might and know the mighty hand of our God holding us strong! His song for us Is LOVE!

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The 2 year anniversary of the car crash

 

We didn’t get to actually talk to the doc yet but at 11 Garrett went in and Mercy is completely off oxygen! Her blood levels are continuing to improve!!!!! And they are increasing her milk intake! And with every increase God has so lovingly increased my supply to the exact amount! Tears are flowing as I see His hand so lovingly and gently leading us through this whole process! Allowing us to be in need just long enough to see His hand miraculously at work! So no spinal tap for today! Praise be to our most gracious Father!!!!(11:00 2 years ago God spared Phinehas and Garretts lives in the car crash when all odds were against them!!!!