Welcome to the People in Idaho series! Idaho Mom Bloggers will be featuring people who are making a difference in the state and around the world.

Jessie Gunderson is an Idaho Mom of 5 who lives on a farm in Northern Idaho.

She's passionate about Jesus, likes zz-top, and she's had every kind of pet you could imagine (including a tarantula).

I'll Never Get My Life Back

by Jessie Gunderson

I've never thought of myself as the mothering type. I was the girl making mud pies and riding horses. The delight I experienced once I started having kids surprised me but I still longed for a day when they'd be grown up and I'd get my life back.

One day I was thinking about God's profound love for us and how Jesus gave up his life so we could live and I began to change. I realized I couldn't love God and despise His creation. I prayed for Jesus to show me how to love people.

I've been a mother for eleven years now, learning how to love, surrender my agenda and the perfectionist tendencies, and grow to a place where I no longer want a different life. Isaiah 58:10 says to spend yourself. And as I studied God's selfless character, I realized that's how I want to be.

I delivered a little boy, my fifth child, at our home in the woods and I knew our family wasn't complete. God put it on my heart to grow our family. We're currently in the process of adopting a 5 and 7 year old brother and sister from Ethiopia. She wants to be a judge when she grows up and he wants to be a runner. The journey toward them is immense and the heart change has taken me a lifetime, but I no longer want out. I want to surrender to Christ's strength and lean on Him so I can spend myself loving the least of these.

Jessie needs to raise $25,000 to bring her kiddos home. She has a store on her site and is also offering a chance to win a Pair of Tickets to Disney Land to anyone who donates! There are more prizes just for sharing her post.