To answer your WHY question...

This quote says it all:

"The day we stop DREAMING is the day we start DYING. When imagination is SACRIFICED on the altar of LOGIC, God is ROBBED of the GLORY that rightfully belongs to Him. In fact, the DEATH of a DREAM is often a subtle form of IDOLATRY. We LOSE faith in the GOD who GAVE us the BIG dream and settle for the SMALL dream that we can accomplish WITHOUT His help. We go after dreams that DONT require DIVINE intervention. We go after dreams that DONT require PRAYER. And the God who is able to do IMMEASUREABLY more than all our right brain can imagine is supplanted by a god---lowercase g---who fits within the LOGICAL constraints of our left brain. "

There are a lot of people that i am sure are wondering WHY we are doing what we are doing with Advocare. They think that we are caught up on some "pyramid scheme" that is going to leave us high and dry when it's all said and done. To be honest with you...i must say that i don't blame the people that initially think that. I personally have thought it myself about others in the past. It's expected in today's society where there are so many "own your own business/become a millionaire from your couch" advertisements everywhere you turn. I don't blame people for their hesitations. That is why i am writing this.

I want to explain to the reading world WHY Advocare and why us? First things first. Advocare started as 100% health focused and me focused. I started a challenge back in August 2014 with little expectations and low hopes. I was at one of the rockiest places i have ever been in my lifetime. My health was not good, i was absolutely inactive in every way, i had developed chronic stomach problems, was the heaviest i had ever been, watched my pants size go up 2 numbers in a year span and was battling a LOT of emotional and spiritual demons of my past circumstances and place in life. I had lost respect for myself, my body, and my overall well-being.

On the challenge i saw immediate results and more than that i saw myself begin to turn a corner in life. I felt myself begin to loosen chains of bondage that i had experienced from a previous relationship. I began to look in the mirror and see a person that was put here for a purpose far greater than man could direct. I lost 13 lbs, 3 and a half inches off my waist and for the first time in years was staying up later than 8pm and actually going to the gym daily. I began to trust God more and break down strong walls i had built up. I began to trust my husband more and accept his love and grace he was continuously trying to give me but i had been continuously pushing away. I began to smile for no reason and i began to carry myself with confidence. That is where i started with

Advocare...100% health and healing for me.

Now let me tell you why we are where we are today...

Rewind years and years back and you will find me as a child saying i wanted to adopt when people would ask me if i was going to be a mommy one day. At the time, people laughed and assumed i said that because i was young and had a very little pain and doctor tolerance, but i can honestly remember in my heart truly believing that 110%. Fast forward to highschool and i was still saying the same thing. Fast forward to college and guess what...i still said the same thing. Fast forward to post-college and growing into adult hood and pursuing more serious relationships and i was still 110% sure that i wanted to pursue family through adoption. A lot of people did not and do not understand it. I have actually taken a lot of hits for it (that is a different blog) and i think a lot of people STILL dont think i am serious. they think it is a phase.
 However, i have NEVER been more sure in my life.

I am married now and that was one of the first conversations i had with my husband when we started dating. I know that is a big deal to a lot of people and i understand that. I did not want to hit him down the road when things were more serious with the whole "I feel called to pursue family through adoption and will be fine with not carrying a child in my womb"conversation. Surprisingly (not surprisingly now that i know my husband) he was 110% fine with that. I think he was more fine with that initially than when i told him i wanted to adopt 100 children if we could afford it :-p. that one caught him a little off guard.

Anyway...as i was saying,

When i think of pregnancy i think of the adoption process. When i think of family i think of foster care and children of all ages, backgrounds, and cultures. When i think of having children i worry if we will not be able to "conceive". That would be for us to not have the funds to adopt or to care for a child's needs financially. Or to get to the very end of the process and to find out the child is no longer there for adoption. (my version of miscarriage) I think about the what-ifs a lot.

I will never forget the conversation my husband and i had dating when he asked me where i saw us in 10 + years. My exact response was for he and I to be the mother and father to a TON of children, whether it was through actual adoption, foster care and temporary placement, or running a children's home or orphanage. I also told him i saw us starting and funding an organization that raised awareness for adoption and orphan care and built children's homes here in the US or orphanages overseas or both. I will never forget his response..."I could definitely see myself doing that with you". He even went to the extent of tattooing the word ADOPTED on his arm along with the Romans reference that mentions us being adopted into the kingdom of God (that too is for another blog as it was a not so pleasant at the moment he "surprised" me :-/ )

On March 8th, 2014 Josh and I got married and the ride began. To be honest I did not put my desire of adoption and our big goals and dreams to the side but we had numerous discussions on IF and WHEN we would ever be able to financially pursue those things. It honestly made me start questioning a lot of things. I tried to imagine myself being pregnant and birthing our children but it just has never felt right in my heart. Not to say that there is no chance of that happening. As far as i know we could have children...and if so praise God ...a child is a blessing no matter what. But when i think about our family and starting it my mind goes directly to foster care and adoption.

God has blessed us IMMENSELY. He has provided us with an amazing home, a manageable income, little debt compared to what a lot of people have, supportive family, and i could go on and on. God also blessed us with a passion and desire for the fatherless and motherless. He blessed us with a yearning for family and children. He blessed me with a background in social work and josh with the spiritual gifts of mercy and compassion. And now....God has blessed us with confirmation that this is not a far-fetched feeling or phase in life but that this is an embedded dream into our very souls placed their by the Holy Spirit. I KNOW we are called to this. I KNOW that God is going to show up and show out. I KNOW that we are going to be parents to TONS of children and we ARE going to start our organization and that we ARE going to be able to give of ourselves sacrificially and abundantly when it comes to finances.
  I KNOW this because the Lord showed us that.

He spoke it to us clearer than it  could have ever been thanks to a couple who allowed God to lead them and followed the open door to Advocare and then had the courage to share their story and testimony of God's grace and provision in front of a room of 5,000+ people where God saw fit to make me one of them.

 We are pursuing Advocare, not just because we are a product of the products and not just because we believe in the founding principles and values of Advocare...but because we have BIG DREAMS...KINGDOM BUILDING SATAN STOMPING DREAMS that requires a financial vehicle that can take us to BIG places. I am passionate about Advocare because i am a believer in the products, but more so, because i believe in the future and lives of our children and our family and the many other families and lives that can be changed just by getting out of comfort zones and allowing a BIG God do some BIG things.

This is a rambling of words and has probably left you more confused than ever as it is late and i am tired and if you have even read it all i am impressed..But i want people to know our hearts. I want people to know just HOW BIG this is in our lives. Its not always easy and it's very much not always comfortable but anytime we start to hesitate and turn the other way, the Lord has graciously taken us by the hand and nudged us forward.

Until he stops doing, we will continue doing. Until He stops leading, We will continue following. Until he shuts the door it will remain wide open...