I had the privilege of joining dinner at the home of Kyle and Carolyn Twietmeyer a few weeks ago.   I’ve visited some remarkable residences over the years, from the Tsars’ winter palace in St. Petersburg to the White House.  But I’d have to say the Twietmeyers’ is certainly among the most beautiful I’ve ever entered.  I can’t recall much of what it looked like-—just a yellow structure on the edge of a small town in Illinois.  But the vibrancy of love and faith and purpose that buzzed inside was contagious.

Kyle is a union painter.  Carolyn teaches their 10 kids, and also leads the remarkable work of Project HOPEFUL from a little room they’ve turned into an office.  This small home-based ministry is touching lives across the country, helping families cut through the challenges that come with adopting HIV+ children.  Both the ministry and the Twietmeyer family itself struck me as a poignant picture to me of what tremendous things God can do when ordinary people offer themselves to Him without reservation.

Carolyn admitted that some of the people around them can’t quite understand why they chose the path they have, from adopting children with HIV to pouring so much into a ministry that will likely touch only a tiny portion of the global pandemic.  But, she said, “Little do they know, that this is the best life…and it’s not about how much we have, but Whom we serve.  We wouldn’t change our lives for anything or change a thing about choosing to adopt any one of our children or doing anything else the we know that the Lord has asked of us.”