MORE of our family!

This is me and my sisters. Kate is on the left in the stripes. Kimberley is in the hot pink. The baby she is holding is actually Kate's baby, Cooper. He is now 1 and finally walking :)!

This is my mom. Everyone calls her "Nan". She is VERY excited to be your Nan too! With her is my brother James. The Lord led James to be a part of our family about 6 years ago. He is from Kenya. He has a wonderful accent and is soooo excited to meet you! You will love the way he says, "MAWTIN." :)

And this is the crew of cousins!!! From left to right is Annie (15), Jack (14), Joe (12), Ethan (11), Sam (10), Bella (8), Amelia (Milly, will turn 8 at the lake on Labor Day Wknd!-get ready for her bday party :), Cooper (1), and Isaiah (Zaya, 4)---They are ALL CRAZY excited to meet you!!! Joe sent me a text 2 days ago saying he was ready to 'shoot hoops' with u. :)
Another shot of the cousins. Annie, Amelia and Cooper are brother and sisters - their mom is Kate (Auntie Kate). Jack, Joe and Sam are brothers - their mom is Kimberley (Aunt Kimmy) and well you know Ethan, Bella and Isaiah :)

One more thought....

As I'm laying down, way too late to go to bed, I was washing my face and this thought came to mind...."It's easy to present the 'positive' sides of your family through photos and words". On the heels of that thought I realized that it may be important to you that we are a very REAL family. Each and every one of us have our own 'hurts, habits, and hangups' that we are constantly asking the Lord to heal and grow us in.

For example, I can get impatient with Zaya (and Chris'!) energy! Ethan is a very melancholy personality and often struggles with depressive/overwhelming thoughts, Bella, OH boy, 98% of the time she is a breeze but catch her in a moment of 'fit' and woooo! ha!

All of that to say, we are very very real. Each of us are constantly giving and requiring HUGE amounts of GRACE! Just so you know, we have that for you too. Christ has shown each of us how very powerful it is to show others the same grace that WE require. Free to be real, be loved and enjoy HIS restoration and LOVE!

Good night!

Oral Roberts University!

OH! One more post for the day! As I was driving around town today I realized the very cool connection that we have! Oral Roberts University....ORU....is only about 3 miles from our house! So I snapped a quick picture out the car window of the famous 'praying hands' :) I'm sure you already know, but this is the college that "Momma Jean" went to. Cool eh?

Our house! Please start at bottom pics! ha! Out of order!!!

So this entry is of our TULSA home where we live basically 9/10 months of the year. We have lived here for 18 years! It looks tiny from the front but because my family has always been in the construction business we have been blessed to do construction and major additions as needed! In fact, as the Lord began laying it on our hearts that you may become a part of our family, well....3 days later we began construction again. We have ALMOST finished closing in the attic....windows, A/C and all :) Bella jumped at the chance to give up her room :) Tonight I just finished painting the trim in what will either become your room or a guest room.

Often, people are confused. Why is our home in Tulsa so much smaller than our home at the lake? I believe you are old enough to not only understand, but appreciate, that we are a family that likes to 'live simply'. Over my stove I have a plaque that says, "Live Simply...so others may simply live". We have been blessed beyond measure but we are a family that shops consignment, coupons and prefers free entertainment :) By staying in the same home for so long we have been able to DO so much more than we would if we had a big mortgage payment. Our kiddos go to a great private school, we eat out probably more than we should and LOOOOOVE to be able to give when He asks us to.

Oh my word....i attached this pic b/c it gave a glimpse into our kitchen. Kinda scary huh? ha! The kids had constructed a fantastic hot wheels track so I took a pic on a very messy but fun filled day :)

Our driveway is always empty of cars b/c it is where a LOT of the fun goes down. I don't know a better word for it SO...this is our family playing 'butts up' with a tennis ball on the garage.

This is in the 'dining room'. Please disregard my very silly husband. He was ATTEMPTING to learn how to do 'the Jerk'....very unsuccesfully! ha!

WE love to garden!!! We've only been doing it for about 3 years but we are getting better every year! This summer was a SCORCHER though and temps for 3 weeks were over 100! UGH! My garden when I returned from His House was a goner :(

This is an every other weekend occurence at our house. We have 'house church' in our home. Lots of kids, teenagers and adults. It is very casual, jeans, shorts and t-shirts. We hang out and eat together and then study the WORD and worship the Lord as long as we want to :).
And this is the front of our home. Like I said, it looks tiny from the front but I think that even if we hit the 'lottery' we would have a hard time moving. 18 years of amazing memories here. OH AND, our house LITERALLY backs up to a city park! Just past our trampoline and playfort is access to a bball gym, tennis court, small swimming pool, huge soccer/bball fields and a playground.

THE LAKE! Our favorite place to BE!

This is the lakehouse. Couldn't get it to load under writing....oops!

This video was taken on the river near our lake house. We have a home on Grand Lake (just outside of Grove, Ok) which is about 1 hr 45 min from our home in Tulsa. We spend most of every summer there and hope to move there someday or at least full time for the summers! SOOO much to do there...golf carts, boating, skiing, 4wheeler, bb guns, lots of woods to explore, HUGE playfort, gardens, basketball goals, campfires, on and on and on :) My dad built the house about 10 years ago. It was built for large groups to be able to enjoy together. Lots of churches use it to gather their leadership teams together and retreat, be alone with the Lord and enjoy His presence. It's kinda crazy big. 12 bedrooms and bathrooms ! He way over did it but oh how we all love to meet there as families as often as we can!

My dad was an AMAZING man. Loved GOD 1st by far but was absolutely NUTS about his wife, kids and grandkids. June 30th, 2009 my daddy had a massive heartattack and went to be with the Lord at the age of 58. It's been very hard for us but he definitely left behind a HUGE legacy of loving God and family and serving others with your whole life!!!

More about us....

Our fam...... names, ages and interests.

Chris- 42 - (Nickname Baldy - he has shaved his head for 11 yrs now so I have no clue if he would still have hair, ha! ;) Owns a company called GGW which stands for God Given Wind. It is a wind energy company that develops and constructs HUGE windmills that produce energy. He LOVES being with kids doing just about anything....building or fixing ANYthing, playing games and sports, football, bull riding (he doesn't DO it...just watches it a lot :), worshipping God ( I know that may sound funny but the man gets SOOO excited alone or with others when worshipping the Lord!), working on cars and he loves anything related to numbers or math.

Julie -38 - (Most people call me Julz) - I LOVE being with my family. Always surrounded by kids. I was a school teacher for 7 years but now I'm so blessed to stay home with the kids. I paint custom items (at my house) for a children's boutique called Kathleens Kids. I LOVE to read and WRITE! Love going to kids sports and activities. I wish I was a good cook but I TRY! :) Love working in the garden. And like Chris, I LOVE worshipping the Lord alone or with others!

Ethan - 11 - (Nicknames E Man or E) He is a very creative kiddo! He LOVES to draw and play the piano. He also loves baseball and football. He is very small in stature for his age but that usually cracks people up because he is SOOOO brave and tough. He LOVES to snuggle and isn't embarrased to sit on my lap or hold my hand.....even in front of his friends :) WOO HOO! E is in the 6th grade. This is his first year to play 'tackle' football - (Ugh! I'm dreading seeing him get hit- but he thinks it's AWESOME!)

Bella - 8 - (Bella Rose/ Bella Boo) Bella is about the most positive and encouraging person you'll ever meet. She loves to get lost in her imagination playing with her dolls and dancing. She probably loves playing alone so much b/c her brothers aren't into 'those things' and get in the way there....ha! She plays soccer and piano. She is in the 3rd grade.

Isaiah - 4 almost 5 /Oct 13th- (Nickname Zaya) ENERGY ENERGY ENERGY! I often joke that the story of David and Goliath perfectly describes Zaya. He may be small but he doesn't know it!!! He is always on the go and searching for a sport to do! He enjoys video games a bit too much, ha!

We have a dog named Jake that is about 3 years old. We adopted him from a shelter when he was 1 1/2. Our best guess is that he is a mix of a pug (has the tail) and a boxer. We also have a cat named Salvation (Sal). We rescued her just after she was born and left alone in a barn. Both of these poor animals are AMAZING with kids because basically from birth they have been carried in all positions, dressed up and snuggled. :)

So those are some 'words' that describe us. Like I said, tough to really know someone from words. I'll throw in a couple recent videos that show us in action as well as the crazy weather in Oklahoma. We LOVE the lake and enjoy the months of snow that come to Oklahoma every year too.

This was taken up the street from our house at the school where I used to teach. Every year we get at least one or two good snow DUMPS! Out come the sleds and snow gear for lots of fun. This year Ethan had the idea to do a fundraiser. We shoveled driveways and collected cans for the John 3:16 homeless mission in Tulsa. It was really overwhelming how many people responded! The newspaper even came out and did an article. Ethan has a huge heart :)

Meet Our Family

Hello Martin! For the past 3 weeks, our family has been talking about YOU nonstop. I'm not sure if you remember me or not, but my son Ethan and I came to His House the last week of summer camp with a group from Tulsa, Oklahoma. While we were there the Lord did the most amazing thing. He began laying it strongly on Ethan and I's hearts, that if you were interested, you would be an amazing and very special addition to our family. Since then, we have been praying like crazy, talking about you to everyone that will listen :) and getting really, really excited about introducing ourselves to you. Please do not ever feel pressure about how you respond to us. This is a HUMONGOUS decision and we are praying and believing that the Lord will be so patient and clear as you seek HIS plan for your life.

We just want you to know that with ALL of our hearts we would be HONORED to be your parents, brothers and sister. It goes far beyond that though because you would also have cousins, aunts and uncles and grandparents that are calling us everyday asking about you and excited to meet you :).

I created this blog so that you could easily access it as you pray. It is kinda hard to tell someone exactly who you are through words and pictures, because as you know, people are so much more than that. If someone was describing the Knapp family- I believe these would be some of the words they would choose.....

CRAZY about God, crazy about each other, real, love, very silly, passionate, big family, loves outdoors, sports, the lake, snow, wow, this could go on and on....ha!

Please just know.....this blog is simply to tell you that we would LOVE to have you in our family.....FOREVER, FOR ALWAYS AND NO MATTER WHAT. And we are so so so very thankful that the Lord led us to Miami to meet you!!!

Zaya (in my shades, ha) and Chris driving the boat a couple months ago.
The gang on Father's Day right when they woke up :) You can tell with the bed heads and sleepy eyes. Chris sleeps in a stocking cap even in the summer! He's a nut. He always says, "Well, you don't understand b/c you HAVE hair! ;)"
This was the postcard that Ethan and I sent out to friends and family for them to pray for our trip to His house. Wow! So glad we came for many reasons! Especially to meet you!
Kiddos being goofy in the fields at the lake
These are some of the kids that God has put in our life to be family to even though they aren't adopted. They have a really hard life. We enjoy spending 1 or 2 days a week w/ them just hanging out. Going to their games, graduations, bdays etc. You would love em :)---there is also a 10 yr old boy and now their mom is pregnant again.