November 18, 2025 • 41 mins
A routine ride to an OB appointment turned into a cascade of small yeses that changed a family forever. We invited Sammy and Josh into the studio to share how a simple act of showing up for a young woman in shelter led to bringing her home for safety, standing beside her at a sonogram, and eventually saying yes to kinship care when private adoption plans fell apart. What began as protection for a birth became a story about obedience, trust, and the kind of compassion that holds steady through uncertainty.
We walk through the complicated middle moments—hospital decisions, state custody, the heartbreak of an adoptive match dissolving, and the decision to keep a newborn safe without knowing the ending. Sammy and Josh speak candidly about loving their son’s birth mom with clear boundaries, offering dignity while refusing to ignore harm. Their reflections reveal how decades of desire, disappointment, and prior foster experience prepared them to recognize a holy invitation at the right time. The toddler they now call son fits into the family like a missing piece, and yet they continue to pray for his first mother by name, keeping hope alive for redemption.
We widen the lens to talk about homelessness in practical terms. Relationship beats handouts. Names matter. A simple greeting can draw someone back toward services and stability. You’ll hear tips shaped by years of volunteering—how to engage wisely, why panhandling isn’t the full picture, and how partnership models restore dignity. If you’ve ever wondered how to move beyond good intentions toward grounded love, this conversation offers field-tested steps anchored in faith, humility, and courage.
If this story moves you, follow the show, share it with a friend, and leave a review. Your words help others find conversations that grow real compassion.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Kim McIntire (00:08):
Hey everyone.
Welcome to the It's Time toRise Up Podcast.
I'm your host, Kim McIntire.
We know there are so manythings you can do with your
time, so thank you for takingtime to listen today.
We pray you're encouraged andblessed by what is shared.
If you're not familiar with ourshow, check out our website at
it'stimetoriseup.org where youwill find our social media
(00:29):
links.
And for our podcast platforms,you'll find us on YouTube, Apple
Podcasts, Spotify, andeverywhere else you find your
podcast.
I'm excited to announce thatthe Abide Study is now available
on Amazon and Barnes Noble.
The link to order is found inour show notes.
The Abide Study is currentlythe discipleship piece for the
(00:51):
Rise Up movement.
There's more information aboutthat on our website.
Now let's get to today'sepisode.
This begins our series oncompassion.
And today I want to welcomeSammie and Josh Brueggeman into
the studio.
You guys, thank you so much forbeing here.
Thanks for having us.
It's just such an honor.
(01:11):
I know Sammie and Josh becausewe used to attend church
together.
My grandson and your son attendthe same school and are in the
same grade, starting high schoolin August next month.
August 13th, I think, is thefirst day of school.
Just being people who serve inthe community.
(01:42):
I know you're very involvedwith in different ways with
God's Resort and Watered Gardensand Josh with the medical
community as he serves as aphysician at Freeman.
So we're just honored to haveyou here today.
And I know our listeners aregoing to be really encouraged
and blessed.
I want to begin just by askingyou guys to share a little bit
about life.
(02:02):
Josh, why don't you talk alittle bit about your life?
Josh Brueggeman (02:05):
Sure.
Thanks for having us, Kim.
You're welcome.
Sammie and I have been marriedfor almost 25 years now.
Kim McIntire (02:12):
Awesome.
Josh Brueggeman (02:13):
We have five kids ranging from two to twenty.
Kim McIntire (02:19):
Oh my goodness.
Josh Brueggeman (02:20):
And so we've done a lot of life together.
We've been on a lot ofadventures together, and um
we're gonna talk about ourlatest adventure today.
Yeah, and we love telling thestory because God is so good and
um sharing his goodness is fun.
It's fun and exciting to me.
Kim McIntire (02:40):
It is, it is.
So how you guys look so soyoung, and I don't have no idea
how old you are.
I really don't.
So how old or young were youwhen you met?
Sammie Brueggeman (02:51):
Uh 20 years old.
Were we 20 when we met?
Josh Brueggeman (02:55):
Yeah, I think so.
Sammie Brueggeman (02:56):
Okay.
I think so.
20.
Josh Brueggeman (02:57):
We were aged really well.
Kim McIntire (02:59):
Well, that's really nice.
When you said 21, I'm like, ohmy word, Nicholas is 21.
Yeah.
Uh life goes fast, doesn't it?
It does.
Okay.
Well, I want to begin with thescripture.
Okay.
James 127.
Religion that God our Fatheraccepts as pure and faultless as
this, to look after orphans andwidows in their distress, and
(03:21):
to keep oneself from beingpolluted by the world.
So I really try to connect ascripture with each interview.
And this interview is aboutcompassion.
Um and we're gonna just jumpright in, Sammie, with you.
Um you met a homeless woman.
Yes.
(03:41):
You ended up adopting her baby,you and Josh ended up adopting
her baby.
Did how did you end up meetinga homeless woman?
What is the context of that?
Sammie Brueggeman (03:53):
So we have served at Water Gardens for the
past 10 years as um volunteerswho our family does a meal once
a month.
And then I would do otherlittle things that needed to be
done.
Just um a good friend of mine,Carolyn Plasman, uh, she had a
(04:16):
list of women that she couldcall on if there was a need.
And so Carolyn sent a messageout to a group of us and just
said there's a new young womanwho's pregnant in shelter for
the first time.
And uh she has not been to anykind of OB appointments, so
we're looking for someone totake her to an OB appointment
(04:38):
and a sazonogram to see how youknow how things are going.
So I was actually a school andI thought I I was doing some
volunteer work up at the kids'school, and I thought, well, I
could I could do that.
That's that's an easy yes todo.
And so I called him, said, Doyou want to go with me?
Because he was off that day.
And I remember he said, Howlong is this gonna take?
And I said, I don't know, acouple hours.
(05:00):
And the rest of our lives.
The rest of our lives.
Um, and so we we did uh pickher up, and um, you know, at
that moment I didn't have anythought of uh anything stirring
or happening.
Um, but we took her to hersonogram and she actually wanted
us to go back with her.
She didn't have anybody, and sowe said we would, and we went
(05:24):
back.
So we got to see him on thesonogram for the first time when
she did.
And I remember I I think it wasprobably at that moment that I
felt an overwhelming desire umin my heart to protect that
baby.
And I don't remember at thatmoment, I remember feeling
(05:47):
really sad for his birth mom andthe situation she was in.
Um and but I felt like we werebeing like the Holy Spirit was
was pressing on us to take careof the baby she was carrying.
And I told him that um I said,I just feel like I need to make
(06:11):
sure this baby is born in ahospital and not on the side of
the road or in a back alley.
Um, the more we got to know herand kind of where she was
mentally, um, I really felt likethat's what we needed to do.
So in that moment I said, canwe not take her back to Water
Gardens?
Can she live with us until shehas the baby so that we can make
(06:32):
sure the baby's born in ahospital and then figure help
her figure out what is she goingto do?
And even in that moment, we didnot think we we were not, it
was not on our radar to do that.
I will let Josh talk a littlebit about how interesting that
part is because adoption hasbeen a part of our story, and
there's a cool God thing tothat.
I'll bring it up.
Kim McIntire (06:54):
I was gonna I was gonna actually ask Josh.
So when Sammie is feeling thesefeelings and the Holy Spirit is
putting this, you know, impressimpression upon her, and she
says, I feel like we need tobring this woman home with us,
like in that moment, were youwere you all in ready?
Did was this had the spiritalready prepared your heart?
(07:14):
Was there resistance?
Like, what was your reaction tothat?
What when when she speaks thatto you, what is your reaction?
Josh Brueggeman (07:21):
Uh you you can't hear the smile on my face,
but I'm smiling because um thisisn't the first time something
like this has happened.
But um my understanding of mywife is that she has a very
strong connection with the HolySpirit, and she hears a strong
(07:42):
message and she is obedient,things happen.
And so when at this point inour lives, when something like
this happens and she tells mewhat we're supposed to do, her
act of obedience is doing it,and my act of obedience is
saying, okay, we'll do that.
Kim McIntire (08:04):
So um there's really then, I just have to stop
there.
There's really then in yourmarriage just that level of
trust that if she says this iswhat we're supposed to do,
there's not really a hesitation.
It's a yes.
(08:24):
That speaks volumes.
I just I can't let that go.
Because, you know, mo a lot ofrelationships don't have that
level of trust where if onespouse says, I feel like this is
what we're supposed to do.
And that's true.
The answer is yes.
Sammie Brueggeman (08:40):
Yeah.
And it's yeses haven't alwaysbeen met with easy things.
You know, we're not alwayssaying yes to something that
just turns out to be like noblewas was not, it hasn't been
easy.
It's been hard on differentlevels, but there've been times
that we've said yes to somethingthe Holy Spirit has c has
(09:02):
clearly asked of us.
And it hasn't been easy, andit's maybe been one of the
hardest things.
The last time we were fosterparents, I think was a good
example of that.
Josh Brueggeman (09:13):
And we also know that some of the yeses
we've said in the past that haveresulted in more hard than not
have also led to this yes, whichhas been greater blessing.
And so one of the advantages ofbeing older, we're in probably
the second half of our livesnow, yeah, is that you have all
(09:36):
that experience to look back onand you can see the trail of
blessings along the way that youcouldn't recognize earlier in
your life.
Kim McIntire (09:45):
So true.
So true.
Josh Brueggeman (09:48):
What I would like to uh back up with a little
bit is that uh our adoptionstory actually started about 30
years ago.
And I remember sitting in ahigh school classroom and
learning about worldoverpopulation and the uh AIDS
pandemic and the millions of uhuh parentless children in in
Africa and thinking, mygoodness, why should I have
(10:10):
children?
Because there are so many kidsthat need homes already and need
a family already.
And uh there were similarstirrings in in Sammie's heart
at the same time, and she'salways had kind of a heart for
the underdog and taking care ofuh you know individuals with
disabilities and rescuinganimals and those types of
(10:31):
things.
That's been a part of who shehas been for a long time.
But uh we started doing thingstogether in college with um
doing care providing for agentleman with dementia.
Uh we did that as a college jobtogether.
So um, but that desire to uhadopt or be involved in adoption
(10:53):
uh was carried out through ourthroughout our marriage.
We actually had an appointmentwith an adoption agency uh
scheduled for the week after wefound out we were pregnant with
Nicholas, and so we canceledthat appointment.
Um and we tried to go throughthe adoption process a couple of
times, and one of those led tofostering, which we never
(11:15):
intended to do, and that was avery hard experience.
And uh we tried uh to pursueit, but we moved and COVID
happened and then we got old,and um in uh in September of 22
uh Sammie and I had aconversation and uh she
(11:39):
basically told me I'm notinterested in adoption anymore,
I'm past that stage of my life,I want to go back to school or
go back to work, and I thinkwe're just beyond that.
It it didn't it didn't come tofruition.
Kim McIntire (11:52):
Oh my goodness.
Josh Brueggeman (11:53):
So uh I had a uh a moment where I I didn't
feel reconciled with thatpersonally, and so I just I said
a very short prayer 10 or 15seconds and said, God, I I don't
know what your purpose was forgiving us the heart for
adoption.
Maybe it's already beenfulfilled, maybe it's just to
support other people.
(12:14):
I'm gonna release this to youif you uh if you have in in your
plan for us to adopt, thenyou'll have to let Sammie know
and know in certain terms thatthat's what you want us to do,
and I'm gonna stay out of it.
I'm releasing this to you.
And I really did, but I let itgo.
And so when this wholesituation came up, neither
(12:35):
Sammie or I had any intention orthought to adopt out of our uh
introduction to Noble'sbirthmap.
So it's interesting howsometimes it takes the release
of something for it to actuallycome into fruition.
Sammie Brueggeman (12:55):
It's a very powerful point.
So once we um re we were on thesame page and he said, I agree.
So we just asked her.
I mean, she's I didn't knowwhat she'd say.
We are new, we are totalstrangers to her.
So I said, Would you like tocome back to our house and stay?
And we're gonna try to help youfigure out what to do because
right now you're you'rehomeless.
(13:15):
The the state will take thebaby into custody.
Um what are your plans for thisbaby?
What what are you gonna do?
And so that started arelationship there.
She wanted to come home to us.
Strangely, she would not sleepin any of our bedrooms or any
extra places.
She slept on the couch out inthe middle of the house because
um that's where that felt safestto her.
(13:38):
And she grew up in foster careand aged out of foster care and
experienced a lot of uh abuse byher bio-dad and in foster care
both.
And so she um carried that withher, but she felt safe at our
house.
She liked being there.
Um, but it became prettyevident pretty quickly that she
(14:00):
was not cognitively going to beable to parent, um, even if her
living situation changed.
We could just tell prettyquickly that wasn't gonna work
for her.
And so we started out talkingto her about different options
um and she settled on adoptionuh through an agency for people
who are private adoption whowere looking for adoption.
(14:22):
So we um kind of turned thatover to an adoption agency that
worked with her out of Kansasactually, because Water Garden
set that up and they had some umconnection.
And so she uh met with them andpicked out uh family, and um
that was the plan.
(14:42):
And then we were there ahundred percent to support that.
And uh and then she asked forme to take her to drop her off
at the work at the worth shop,and she wanted to do a little
bit of work that day.
And and I'll be honest, I Ineeded a little bit of a break.
Uh she's been with us now, andI was um looking forward to my
son coming home from college forthe first time for a break, and
(15:05):
I just needed that.
Well, while she was there, shetook off.
And um I was so distraughtthinking what is gonna happen to
this baby.
She was due to she was due todeliver in two days.
Like we had an appointment atthe hospital, and um, she was
gonna get induced.
And so my partner in in crimeand all things, uh Kelly Friend,
(15:30):
she went with me and I said, Ineed to find her.
We have to find her.
And so we drove around Joplinuntil we found her.
And I did find her.
Kim McIntire (15:39):
How long did we station?
Sammie Brueggeman (15:41):
Not as long as you would think.
I mean, we sat, we drove aroundfor probably 20 minutes, sort
of aimlessly, and I said, Youknow what, we need to just stop
and pray that the Lord directsus to where we are because we're
running out of daylight, we'rerunning out of time.
She said, Yeah.
And so we did, and we pulled inby um like the the um court
(16:01):
area, said a qu a quick prayer,like near downtown, said a quick
prayer, took off down MainStreet, and it with within three
or four minutes, Kelly lookedover and she said, There she is,
right there at that gasstation.
Thank you, Lord.
I know.
And so I said, Oh yeah.
So anyway, we ended up she hadgotten out because the baby's um
named birth father had gottenout of jail and she found out
(16:24):
about it, and so she wanted togo find him.
And so we um, you know, you dosome scary things uh and things
I would tell my girls never todo, but we did approach them and
um she talked to him aboutadoption.
He was on board with it, and soI said, Well, you come with you
(16:45):
come with me.
And um, it was cold, it wasDecember, and I f I felt bad,
but I was not bringing this guyinto our home that had just
gotten out of jail.
And so he went to a car andslept in a car um overnight.
And Josh picked him up the nextmorning, and everybody uh we
when we met, I guess that night,the the adopted family was from
(17:06):
Wichita, and we called them andsaid we found her, and
everybody decided to they leftand everybody was meeting that
evening uh for dinner.
We said we'll we'll host adinner so everybody can meet
everybody.
And so we we took everybody outto IHOP.
She loves IHOP.
And so um we went and met thereand I felt like this is what
(17:27):
God was orchestrating.
I never even in that momentthought there wasn't anything
unsettling in my soul other thanI just felt so strongly that I
wanted to protect this baby.
Yeah.
And so for me, I thought, well,this family seems nice and they
love the Lord and and they arenice.
They're they're they'rewonderful people.
So we the next day we took herin, I took her into the
(17:50):
hospital, she was induced.
Um, he was born just beforemidnight, and I was there.
Um, and so was the um theadoptive family that had been
chosen.
And I remember coming home andI told Josh excitedly, hey, the
baby's here, the baby's healthy.
Um, and all that was fine.
And then the next morning I gota call from the adoptive mom,
(18:13):
and she said, uh she's asked forthe baby back.
And I remembered getting somad, and I went up there and I
let her have it, and I said,This is unfair to this baby,
he's gonna enter the the fostercare system.
That's one thing you didn'twant for him was to enter the
foster care system.
You aged out of it, you knowthe heartache that comes with
(18:34):
it.
How are we supposed to protecthim when he don't we don't know
where he's gonna go?
And she said, I just don't, Ijust don't want that.
I don't want that.
And on several occasions shehad asked us, could you take
him?
And I know she wanted us totake him and take her.
And I I said, I like no,there's people who are looking
to adopt babies.
And so we just really did nothave it on our radar.
(18:58):
And then um five days laterthat he went into protective
custody um for five days whilethey let the bio parents have a
chance to prove that they couldfigure something out with a uh
safe place for him.
And we had a meeting and theyasked us to be there.
And so at this meeting, westill tried to convince them
(19:18):
that adoption by this couple wasthe right thing, and they still
refused.
Um and so the state said thatwe have no choice but to take
him into protective custody, andthen they asked her, who is
your next of kin?
And she said we were because wewere all she had.
Wow.
And so then at that point, thestate said, Well, would you do a
(19:39):
kinship placement and will youtake the baby as foster kinship?
And you don't have to be fullylicensed to do that, so that is
something that um can be prettyquick.
Um and you get you work towardskinship licensing once the
baby, you know, the child'salready in your care.
So he came to us.
And and was that just anautomatic yes?
Kim McIntire (20:02):
It really was.
Josh Brueggeman (20:04):
I mean we knew from our prior foster experience
that kinship placement issomething that can happen.
And so knowing thecircumstances, knowing they had
already looked for extendedfamily and those uh options, we
knew that that could happen.
So we very briefly talked aboutit and said if if they're gonna
(20:25):
place him in foster care, ifthey would let us do kinship, we
would we agreed we would takehim until the other family the
the adoptive, the family thatwanted to adopt him.
Sammie Brueggeman (20:36):
Right.
Josh Brueggeman (20:37):
Yeah, so we were we were still thinking that
was a possibility.
Um but they they called usprobably we really went into
that meeting thinking we weregonna be able to talk logic into
them.
And um, we tried and tried.
In fact, Sammie actually got introuble with the state
children's officer for forcoercion.
Kim McIntire (20:57):
Um I can see that she can be very she can she can
be persuasive.
Yes, yes, she can.
Josh Brueggeman (21:03):
Um but the the answer was still a no.
And we were kind of dumbfoundedactually, and so there was a
point at which then theinvestigator said, Well,
unfortunately, we have I'm I'mdeclaring now that he's coming
into state custody.
And so then at that point weknew um he would he needed to
(21:28):
come come with us.
So he's he stayed at Children'sHaven for another day and and
then we picked him up.
Sammie Brueggeman (21:34):
And we really went into that thinking, okay,
you know, then this family cantake him and they he can do um
we knew it was across statelines, but we we knew that there
were still things that could bedone.
Um but pretty quickly within afew days after that, they called
and they said, you know, we wefeel called to adopt, but we
(21:56):
don't feel called to adopt outof the foster care system.
And now that he's in the fostercare system, and and I
understand that I don't even Idon't blame them one bit because
we know the ups and downs andthe uncertainties of the foster
care system.
And um and that's you have toreally guard your heart in that
things can change so quickly.
And they just weren't that'snot what God had impressed on
(22:19):
their hearts for their theirjourney to be.
And so they said, you know, wewe love him and but we don't
think we're the family for him.
And so really like hearing hersay that at that point is
probably when for me, I'vereally never asked Josh when it
was for him, but I think at thatpoint when I realized that,
which was, you know, a a weekin, I thought, I never want this
(22:43):
baby to be anywhere else.
Like I've been, I want toprotect him forever.
So that the desire I had fromthe moment I met his birth mom
and I met him and her dummy,that desire to keep him safe.
At that point, I thought, no, Iwant to keep him safe for the
rest of my life.
Like I felt very strongly atthat point that no, I'm called
to be his mom.
And it kind of all startedlike, oh, like God kept coming
(23:07):
back to this.
Kim McIntire (23:08):
What about you, Josh?
Josh Brueggeman (23:10):
Those were super messy feelings though,
because there was a heartachefor the other family, and you
don't know what to say to eachother.
They didn't know what to say tous, we didn't know what to say
to them, and we were all livingin this strange limbo with this
precious baby's life in thebalance.
Kim McIntire (23:31):
Right.
Josh Brueggeman (23:32):
Um it was a strange strange feelings.
And I I will say they haveadopted uh a little girl.
Sammie Brueggeman (23:40):
They probably four months later.
Kim McIntire (23:44):
Oh, that's adopted a little girl.
Yeah, so that's it yes for you,Josh, in that moment?
Like Sammie said, Yeah, whendid you feel like it was a yes
for for him to be yours?
Josh Brueggeman (23:56):
Um, you know, I always just was kind of along
for the ride.
Like I I think there have beenenough uh faithfulness moments
in our life that I just I don'task so many questions anymore.
And I just trust that um how itis to be is going to play out
(24:21):
if we're faithful and we areobedient.
And so we just and I I don'tsay this in any sort of uh uh
arrogant way, but um orself-righteous way, but the
story is largely a story ofobedience, and it was just a
bunch of little yeses along theway.
Sammie Brueggeman (24:41):
Yeah.
And so, you know, and weweren't always prepared to say
yeses to that.
I mean that couldn't and that'sinteresting, you know.
Sometimes I think we're oldparents, and I think about that
a lot, like um, we're we'regonna be old parents for him,
but we needed to be where wewere spiritually and just life
like with life experience to beable to say these yeses.
(25:03):
Yeah.
Josh Brueggeman (25:04):
Not only that, but I I can tell you if we had
the time, I could specificallydescribe to you a work that
Noble is doing in the lives ofeach of us.
And it is almost like he wascustom made for our family at
this time in our life.
And so there's there'ssomething a something that
(25:27):
needed to be fulfilled in eachmember of our family at this
time in our life that that he isuh he's working through.
Sammie Brueggeman (25:36):
So God.
So God.
Absolutely.
I think I was we talked aboutthis last night, like this came
with a lot of small yeses andthe obedience of little yeses
that led up to the big yes ofsaying, you know, we want him to
be a part of our familyforever.
But it, you know, we definitelyhad we had all big kids, and we
(26:01):
that we knew it was going to besomething, everybody was gonna
have to make a sacrifice.
And I was talking about thatand I said, I know that each of
my kids would say whateversacrifices they've had to make
for Noble to be a part of ourfamily, like the blessings that
have come back have been justtenfold.
And they all adore him, and hehas been a gift to each one of
(26:26):
us individually in ways that wejust didn't even know we needed.
It's incredible.
So how old is he?
So two and a half.
Kim McIntire (26:32):
What a great age.
Yeah.
Oh, he's so he's doing allkinds of fun stuff.
Yes, right.
Sammie Brueggeman (26:37):
So fun, and he just language is exploding
and so he's developing well.
Yes, everything has been great.
And you know, when he was born,there was no drugs in his
system.
Praise God.
Yes.
And um, we just uh we I mean wejust have been so like he's
been the the sweetest, bestdisposition.
(26:58):
Um yeah, I I said if God wasgonna give me a baby when I'm
old, uh, he gave me a really hesaid I'm gonna give you an easy
one.
Kim McIntire (27:08):
So thank you, Jesus.
Thank you, Jesus, for that.
Sammie Brueggeman (27:10):
Thank you, Jesus.
Very good.
He's so So he sleeps at night.
Yeah, always.
I mean, he probably startedsleeping through the night when
he really was.
I mean, I remember thinking,this is crazy that he is so
good.
Yeah, just always sleep means alot.
Sleep means a lot.
And so does like just goingwith the flow.
(27:31):
I I thought he has four bigsiblings that have busy lives
and busy things, and he's alwaysbeen game just to get up and go
drag along and to do what theywhat we had to do for them.
So good.
He's integrated so well.
And um our you know, the thathas just seemed so perfect and
(27:52):
it it has given us suchblessings, but we also live we
live in the tension of ofknowing that um his his birth
mom is still struggling and sheshe doesn't live the life we
want for her, and we do stillhave a relationship with her.
(28:12):
So is she able to see the baby?
Well, that's pretty much up tous now since he's been adopted.
Yeah.
And we have been very carefulabout that because of the the
life she's still choosing tolive.
Sure.
We don't want him to be hurt orembarrassed or any of those
(28:33):
things.
And so we're very careful aboutshe he has no idea when you
know we don't refer to her asanything other than her first
name.
Um and he has not seen her morethan one time in the last six
months, probably.
And um, and that is onlybecause she has chosen to
(28:56):
continue living a life thatisn't healthy.
Is she still homeless?
She is.
Josh Brueggeman (29:02):
She is homeless is a relative term.
Yeah.
Sammie Brueggeman (29:06):
She's home she's homeless, but she lives
she lives in a home with peopleright now.
Um with a it's a home that alot of people live in together.
Somebody owns it, somebody, Idon't know, is on a lease, but
there's you know, ten peoplethat she names off whenever I
say who lives here right now.
(29:27):
So she's not on the street,which I'm very thankful for
because there's been winterswhere she's been on the street
and it's almost unbearable forus to think about her being out
there in the cold.
Absolutely.
Um you can't truly love a baby,a love a person so much, and
not love the the one who gavehim life.
(29:51):
And she could have chosen somany other things when she I
mean, it's hard to be pregnant.
It's really hard to be pregnantyoung without any resources and
on the street.
And so So I told her so manytimes you gave us such a gift
and I want you to know that yourchoice to carry him to term
like that was such a good choiceand I'm so thankful for the
choice you made.
Josh Brueggeman (30:12):
And she also did sign over her rights to us.
She did.
She signed it as voluntary.
She literally gave him to ourfamily.
Kim McIntire (30:22):
So I didn't know that that wasn't a state
decision then.
Sammie Brueggeman (30:25):
Well, it was heading in that direction, but
it went a whole lot faster,whenever.
And that is an interestingthing because she was
serendipitously found me througha friend that she was walking
down the middle of the street.
My friend called me, had nevermet her before, but knew her the
name she went by and it'sunique.
And so she said she pulled overbecause this girl was walking
(30:48):
in the middle of traffic thewrong way and she was worried
about her.
So she got out and said, Honey,you need to come with me.
What is happening?
And sh whenever she startedtalking to her, she said, What's
your name?
And she said her name.
And my friend thought, well,this has to be Noble's birth
mom.
How many people could have thisunique name?
And so she called me and shesaid, I have her here.
Do you want to talk to her?
And I said, Yes.
So I went to that space and shethought I had just shown up
(31:12):
there.
She didn't know there was aconnection between this woman
and myself.
And so um she said, I've beentrying to f to find you because
I want I want to sign over myrights so you guys can adopt
Noble.
And so I s I mean within a thathappened, and within an hour's
time, she was at her attorney'soffice, the one that had been
(31:34):
provided to her, and she signedover the documents for her to
relinquish her rights.
And so at that point it wasrelinquish them to the state,
and then the state, you know,had chosen us because we'd been
the ones raising him.
Kim McIntire (31:45):
Yeah.
Josh Brueggeman (31:45):
You know, Kim, um it's interesting.
If you would have asked me acouple years ago if this
situation were to arise, whatwould your relationship be like
with the birth mom?
And I probably would have said,well, I would want my family as
far away from her as possible.
I just wouldn't want that riskand that potential for her to
(32:11):
but living in that situationnow, I want nothing but the best
for her.
And on a cold winter day when Iopen the door and it it hurts
to have the cold air hit myface, she's the the first thing
I think of.
And you know, we we did haveconversations with her.
(32:32):
We said we we can adopt you,not in an official sense, but if
you want to live as a member ofour family, that's something
that we're willing to do.
But we have expectations of ourchildren.
Sure.
And we would have the sameexpectations of you in doing
your best to make good decisionsand you know, making safe
(32:56):
decisions and those types ofthings.
And we still hold great hope umfor her and we pray for her,
and um we hope maybe in a fewyears we'll be back here for a
different episode and have Iwould be overjoyed for you guys
to come back.
We know that we know it canhappen because that's right.
And um God redeemed that.
Sammie Brueggeman (33:26):
Um so we know it's possible, and we and a lot
of times people I think say,like, why are you why do you
worry about that?
You've adopted him and he'ssafe, and which is true, but
it's and that is a hundredpercent true, but I never want
him to question how much weloved his mom, his birth mom.
Kim McIntire (33:50):
I remember Sammie, and you may have forgotten
because this was a while ago.
But I remember when I washaving a women's prayer group, I
think it was during the seasonof COVID or just after.
Um I remember you brought birthmom to my house and she joined
us for prayer, I think once ortwice.
Sammie Brueggeman (34:10):
It would have been probably in yeah, it would
have been after COVID and 21fall 22, it would have been the
fall of 22.
Kim McIntire (34:15):
That pro that's when I met her.
That specific prayer group wentuntil 23 or 24.
But um, I remember justobserving you with her and
thinking, if I didn't know, if Ihad not ever met you and I
didn't know her and was justwatching, yeah, I would have
thought she was your daughter.
That was the kind of love thatwas so apparent, you toward her.
(34:40):
So I join with you in prayer tobelieve that her life is going
to be redeemed from the pit.
Sammie Brueggeman (34:47):
Absolutely.
Kim McIntire (34:48):
In Jesus' name, because he can.
Absolutely.
Nothing is impossible with ourGod.
No, not at all.
So as we conclude this episode,um, you know, people encounter
the homeless every day, whetherit's on a street corner or
volunteering at Water Gardens orany number of places, cross
(35:08):
lines, watered gardens, God'sresort.
I mean, there's so many amazingministries in the Joplin,
Missouri area.
And that's just something Iwant to brag on about the
community that I live in, is thehomeless are loved.
They are, yes.
And they they do have a placeof refuge, and they do have
nonprofits and ministries thatare really pouring their heart
(35:30):
out to lift out their hand toraise them up, right?
Yeah.
And to give them an opportunityto change the trajectory of
their life through Christ,through life choices, skills,
just opportunities they wouldn'thave otherwise.
So as people are encounteringthe homeless, I just want to ask
you guys, and I don't know ifone or both of you want to speak
(35:52):
into this, but what wisdomwould you share with people in
our community or communities allover the nation?
How do we minister to thesemembers of our society, you
guys?
I mean, so many of us, meincluded, you know, pass by
people and kind of have thisoverwhelming feeling of, other
than pray, I don't know what todo.
I mean, I've felt that so manytimes.
(36:12):
So would you guys like to speakinto that?
Josh Brueggeman (36:18):
I would say in large part what they need is
relationship.
Kim McIntire (36:23):
Uh-huh.
Yeah.
Josh Brueggeman (36:24):
And so we think about material needs and a home
and clothing and those types ofthings.
And yes, those are helpful.
Um, but those aren't gonnachange the reason they are
homeless.
Those those material things arenot going to change the core
reason of why that person ishomeless.
(36:47):
And so uh what the averageperson can do is number one, see
them.
You know, there's no reason whywhen you walk by a person on
the street, you can't smile orsay hello.
Sammie Brueggeman (37:01):
And I will say too, I always say this like
there is a difference betweenour homeless community and who
you see um on the side of theroad, or like the that the stop
sign, the panhandlers.
That's actually so if you workwith the homeless community in
town, uh, water gardens on them,a lot of them will say those
are not really people a part ofthe homeless community.
(37:22):
And sometimes those can bepeople.
Kim McIntire (37:24):
That's a good clarification.
Yeah.
So that's a very goodclarification for our listeners.
Yeah.
So that I would say m a lot ofpeople don't know that.
Sammie Brueggeman (37:33):
Um that is not uh who we're talking about
really.
So uh but but you know thepeople, you know, they're
they're walking with a bag orwhatever, you know, walking um,
especially in the downtown area.
Josh Brueggeman (37:48):
Um They've got a shopping cart.
Sammie Brueggeman (37:50):
Yeah, something that shows like
they're living on the street.
Um I before Noble came, I uhdid a Monday night um prayer
walk that starts from WaterGardens in the evening and it
goes out into the areas thatwhere we know homeless are.
So these are people who not arenot using the services of Water
(38:12):
Gardens or Souls Harbor oranything like that.
Maybe they have at one point.
But the goal of that is to goout and make sure that they know
that we remember and we seethem and we want to know how we
can pray for them.
Now that is that is takingleaps of faith because I know
Josh and probably my mom arejust terrified to think that I
(38:33):
go out with groups underbridges.
Now we're wise about it.
There's always a man, you don'tsend women out by themselves.
There we have, you know, peoplewho carry.
And so it's not that we'rebeing stupid about going out
into situations that aren'tsafe, but going out there and
learning the names of thesepeople and saying, gosh, I
really wish you'd go back in andpartner.
(38:54):
Can you, even if you don'tpartner for a bed, could you
partner for some for a box offood?
And that would partnering meansdoing something for water
gardens in exchange forreceiving something.
And it knowing their names weekafter week is so important.
And our friends, the Perries,Amanda and Tom Perry, they do
this better, and and CarolynPlasman too, they do this better
(39:15):
than anybody I know, and I'm sothankful to watch them and
watch how they do it becausethey love people and and they
make people feel seen and known,just like how Jesus asked us
to, and that's how Jesus madepeople feel known and seen.
And so if people if people wantto know how do I interact with
(39:35):
the homeless, make them feellike they're seen and not
forgotten or not just uminvisible.
That's so good.
Josh Brueggeman (39:44):
Do you know how precious a touch can be to some
situation when they have notbathed in a week or two and
there's odor, and somebodyignores that and pats them on
the back, shakes their hand,gives them a hug.
Sammie Brueggeman (40:03):
Mm-hmm.
It just makes them feel human.
And it's it's those things thatthen there's so many times that
I would we'd go out on theMonday prayer walk, and then on
Tuesday I would call CarolynPlassman and say, Hey, did
so-and-so show up to partnertoday?
And oh yeah, they you know theydid.
And hey, they showed up, theyput their name on the list for a
bed.
And in that respect, you'relike, it's just a little win
(40:24):
because at that point they knewthat they mattered to somebody,
somebody was paying attention towhere they were.
And that's the kind of stuffthat helps people want to change
the traject trajectory of theirlife, change the choices that
they're making because they knowthat they're worth it.
Josh Brueggeman (40:37):
If you want them to believe they have worth
in God's eyes, then you have toshow them that they have at
least some worth in your eyes.
Kim McIntire (40:47):
So good.
So good, you guys.
You have just poured outtonight to our listeners.
I'm so grateful.
And I just believe this isgoing to stir up some hearts.
You know, let it be so, Lord.
Yes, grow in us compassion.
And I'll have you back for parttwo.
Yes.
Sammie Brueggeman (41:06):
All right, we're happy.
Kim McIntire (41:07):
I'm anticipating part two.
Yes.
That's right.
Thank you again.
Thank you.
And thank you, listeners, fortaking your time to listen to
the podcast.
We're so excited to hear yourfeedback.
So please rate us or leave us areview on Apple Podcast.
May God's grace and peace bewith you all in Jesus' name.
Hey everyone.
Welcome to the It's Time toRise Up Podcast.
I'm your host, Kim McIntire.
We know there are so manythings you can do with your
time, so thank you for takingtime to listen today.
We pray you're encouraged andblessed by what is shared.
If you're not familiar with ourshow, check out our website at
it'stimetoriseup.org where youwill find our social media
(00:29):
links.
And for our podcast platforms,you'll find us on YouTube, Apple
Podcasts, Spotify, andeverywhere else you find your
podcast.
I'm excited to announce thatthe Abide Study is now available
on Amazon and Barnes Noble.
The link to order is found inour show notes.
The Abide Study is currentlythe discipleship piece for the
(00:51):
Rise Up movement.
There's more information aboutthat on our website.
Now let's get to today'sepisode.
This begins our series oncompassion.
And today I want to welcomeSammie and Josh Brueggeman into
the studio.
You guys, thank you so much forbeing here.
Thanks for having us.
It's just such an honor.
(01:11):
I know Sammie and Josh becausewe used to attend church
together.
My grandson and your son attendthe same school and are in the
same grade, starting high schoolin August next month.
August 13th, I think, is thefirst day of school.
Just being people who serve inthe community.
(01:42):
I know you're very involvedwith in different ways with
God's Resort and Watered Gardensand Josh with the medical
community as he serves as aphysician at Freeman.
So we're just honored to haveyou here today.
And I know our listeners aregoing to be really encouraged
and blessed.
I want to begin just by askingyou guys to share a little bit
about life.
(02:02):
Josh, why don't you talk alittle bit about your life?
Josh Brueggeman (02:05):
Sure.
Thanks for having us, Kim.
You're welcome.
Sammie and I have been marriedfor almost 25 years now.
Kim McIntire (02:12):
Awesome.
Josh Brueggeman (02:13):
We have five kids ranging from two to twenty.
Kim McIntire (02:19):
Oh my goodness.
Josh Brueggeman (02:20):
And so we've done a lot of life together.
We've been on a lot ofadventures together, and um
we're gonna talk about ourlatest adventure today.
Yeah, and we love telling thestory because God is so good and
um sharing his goodness is fun.
It's fun and exciting to me.
Kim McIntire (02:40):
It is, it is.
So how you guys look so soyoung, and I don't have no idea
how old you are.
I really don't.
So how old or young were youwhen you met?
Sammie Brueggeman (02:51):
Uh 20 years old.
Were we 20 when we met?
Josh Brueggeman (02:55):
Yeah, I think so.
Sammie Brueggeman (02:56):
Okay.
I think so.
20.
Josh Brueggeman (02:57):
We were aged really well.
Kim McIntire (02:59):
Well, that's really nice.
When you said 21, I'm like, ohmy word, Nicholas is 21.
Yeah.
Uh life goes fast, doesn't it?
It does.
Okay.
Well, I want to begin with thescripture.
Okay.
James 127.
Religion that God our Fatheraccepts as pure and faultless as
this, to look after orphans andwidows in their distress, and
(03:21):
to keep oneself from beingpolluted by the world.
So I really try to connect ascripture with each interview.
And this interview is aboutcompassion.
Um and we're gonna just jumpright in, Sammie, with you.
Um you met a homeless woman.
Yes.
(03:41):
You ended up adopting her baby,you and Josh ended up adopting
her baby.
Did how did you end up meetinga homeless woman?
What is the context of that?
Sammie Brueggeman (03:53):
So we have served at Water Gardens for the
past 10 years as um volunteerswho our family does a meal once
a month.
And then I would do otherlittle things that needed to be
done.
Just um a good friend of mine,Carolyn Plasman, uh, she had a
(04:16):
list of women that she couldcall on if there was a need.
And so Carolyn sent a messageout to a group of us and just
said there's a new young womanwho's pregnant in shelter for
the first time.
And uh she has not been to anykind of OB appointments, so
we're looking for someone totake her to an OB appointment
(04:38):
and a sazonogram to see how youknow how things are going.
So I was actually a school andI thought I I was doing some
volunteer work up at the kids'school, and I thought, well, I
could I could do that.
That's that's an easy yes todo.
And so I called him, said, Doyou want to go with me?
Because he was off that day.
And I remember he said, Howlong is this gonna take?
And I said, I don't know, acouple hours.
(05:00):
And the rest of our lives.
The rest of our lives.
Um, and so we we did uh pickher up, and um, you know, at
that moment I didn't have anythought of uh anything stirring
or happening.
Um, but we took her to hersonogram and she actually wanted
us to go back with her.
She didn't have anybody, and sowe said we would, and we went
(05:24):
back.
So we got to see him on thesonogram for the first time when
she did.
And I remember I I think it wasprobably at that moment that I
felt an overwhelming desire umin my heart to protect that
baby.
And I don't remember at thatmoment, I remember feeling
(05:47):
really sad for his birth mom andthe situation she was in.
Um and but I felt like we werebeing like the Holy Spirit was
was pressing on us to take careof the baby she was carrying.
And I told him that um I said,I just feel like I need to make
(06:11):
sure this baby is born in ahospital and not on the side of
the road or in a back alley.
Um, the more we got to know herand kind of where she was
mentally, um, I really felt likethat's what we needed to do.
So in that moment I said, canwe not take her back to Water
Gardens?
Can she live with us until shehas the baby so that we can make
(06:32):
sure the baby's born in ahospital and then figure help
her figure out what is she goingto do?
And even in that moment, we didnot think we we were not, it
was not on our radar to do that.
I will let Josh talk a littlebit about how interesting that
part is because adoption hasbeen a part of our story, and
there's a cool God thing tothat.
I'll bring it up.
Kim McIntire (06:54):
I was gonna I was gonna actually ask Josh.
So when Sammie is feeling thesefeelings and the Holy Spirit is
putting this, you know, impressimpression upon her, and she
says, I feel like we need tobring this woman home with us,
like in that moment, were youwere you all in ready?
Did was this had the spiritalready prepared your heart?
(07:14):
Was there resistance?
Like, what was your reaction tothat?
What when when she speaks thatto you, what is your reaction?
Josh Brueggeman (07:21):
Uh you you can't hear the smile on my face,
but I'm smiling because um thisisn't the first time something
like this has happened.
But um my understanding of mywife is that she has a very
strong connection with the HolySpirit, and she hears a strong
(07:42):
message and she is obedient,things happen.
And so when at this point inour lives, when something like
this happens and she tells mewhat we're supposed to do, her
act of obedience is doing it,and my act of obedience is
saying, okay, we'll do that.
Kim McIntire (08:04):
So um there's really then, I just have to stop
there.
There's really then in yourmarriage just that level of
trust that if she says this iswhat we're supposed to do,
there's not really a hesitation.
It's a yes.
(08:24):
That speaks volumes.
I just I can't let that go.
Because, you know, mo a lot ofrelationships don't have that
level of trust where if onespouse says, I feel like this is
what we're supposed to do.
And that's true.
The answer is yes.
Sammie Brueggeman (08:40):
Yeah.
And it's yeses haven't alwaysbeen met with easy things.
You know, we're not alwayssaying yes to something that
just turns out to be like noblewas was not, it hasn't been
easy.
It's been hard on differentlevels, but there've been times
that we've said yes to somethingthe Holy Spirit has c has
(09:02):
clearly asked of us.
And it hasn't been easy, andit's maybe been one of the
hardest things.
The last time we were fosterparents, I think was a good
example of that.
Josh Brueggeman (09:13):
And we also know that some of the yeses
we've said in the past that haveresulted in more hard than not
have also led to this yes, whichhas been greater blessing.
And so one of the advantages ofbeing older, we're in probably
the second half of our livesnow, yeah, is that you have all
(09:36):
that experience to look back onand you can see the trail of
blessings along the way that youcouldn't recognize earlier in
your life.
Kim McIntire (09:45):
So true.
So true.
Josh Brueggeman (09:48):
What I would like to uh back up with a little
bit is that uh our adoptionstory actually started about 30
years ago.
And I remember sitting in ahigh school classroom and
learning about worldoverpopulation and the uh AIDS
pandemic and the millions of uhuh parentless children in in
Africa and thinking, mygoodness, why should I have
(10:10):
children?
Because there are so many kidsthat need homes already and need
a family already.
And uh there were similarstirrings in in Sammie's heart
at the same time, and she'salways had kind of a heart for
the underdog and taking care ofuh you know individuals with
disabilities and rescuinganimals and those types of
(10:31):
things.
That's been a part of who shehas been for a long time.
But uh we started doing thingstogether in college with um
doing care providing for agentleman with dementia.
Uh we did that as a college jobtogether.
So um, but that desire to uhadopt or be involved in adoption
(10:53):
uh was carried out through ourthroughout our marriage.
We actually had an appointmentwith an adoption agency uh
scheduled for the week after wefound out we were pregnant with
Nicholas, and so we canceledthat appointment.
Um and we tried to go throughthe adoption process a couple of
times, and one of those led tofostering, which we never
(11:15):
intended to do, and that was avery hard experience.
And uh we tried uh to pursueit, but we moved and COVID
happened and then we got old,and um in uh in September of 22
uh Sammie and I had aconversation and uh she
(11:39):
basically told me I'm notinterested in adoption anymore,
I'm past that stage of my life,I want to go back to school or
go back to work, and I thinkwe're just beyond that.
It it didn't it didn't come tofruition.
Kim McIntire (11:52):
Oh my goodness.
Josh Brueggeman (11:53):
So uh I had a uh a moment where I I didn't
feel reconciled with thatpersonally, and so I just I said
a very short prayer 10 or 15seconds and said, God, I I don't
know what your purpose was forgiving us the heart for
adoption.
Maybe it's already beenfulfilled, maybe it's just to
support other people.
(12:14):
I'm gonna release this to youif you uh if you have in in your
plan for us to adopt, thenyou'll have to let Sammie know
and know in certain terms thatthat's what you want us to do,
and I'm gonna stay out of it.
I'm releasing this to you.
And I really did, but I let itgo.
And so when this wholesituation came up, neither
(12:35):
Sammie or I had any intention orthought to adopt out of our uh
introduction to Noble'sbirthmap.
So it's interesting howsometimes it takes the release
of something for it to actuallycome into fruition.
Sammie Brueggeman (12:55):
It's a very powerful point.
So once we um re we were on thesame page and he said, I agree.
So we just asked her.
I mean, she's I didn't knowwhat she'd say.
We are new, we are totalstrangers to her.
So I said, Would you like tocome back to our house and stay?
And we're gonna try to help youfigure out what to do because
right now you're you'rehomeless.
(13:15):
The the state will take thebaby into custody.
Um what are your plans for thisbaby?
What what are you gonna do?
And so that started arelationship there.
She wanted to come home to us.
Strangely, she would not sleepin any of our bedrooms or any
extra places.
She slept on the couch out inthe middle of the house because
um that's where that felt safestto her.
(13:38):
And she grew up in foster careand aged out of foster care and
experienced a lot of uh abuse byher bio-dad and in foster care
both.
And so she um carried that withher, but she felt safe at our
house.
She liked being there.
Um, but it became prettyevident pretty quickly that she
(14:00):
was not cognitively going to beable to parent, um, even if her
living situation changed.
We could just tell prettyquickly that wasn't gonna work
for her.
And so we started out talkingto her about different options
um and she settled on adoptionuh through an agency for people
who are private adoption whowere looking for adoption.
(14:22):
So we um kind of turned thatover to an adoption agency that
worked with her out of Kansasactually, because Water Garden
set that up and they had some umconnection.
And so she uh met with them andpicked out uh family, and um
that was the plan.
(14:42):
And then we were there ahundred percent to support that.
And uh and then she asked forme to take her to drop her off
at the work at the worth shop,and she wanted to do a little
bit of work that day.
And and I'll be honest, I Ineeded a little bit of a break.
Uh she's been with us now, andI was um looking forward to my
son coming home from college forthe first time for a break, and
(15:05):
I just needed that.
Well, while she was there, shetook off.
And um I was so distraughtthinking what is gonna happen to
this baby.
She was due to she was due todeliver in two days.
Like we had an appointment atthe hospital, and um, she was
gonna get induced.
And so my partner in in crimeand all things, uh Kelly Friend,
(15:30):
she went with me and I said, Ineed to find her.
We have to find her.
And so we drove around Joplinuntil we found her.
And I did find her.
Kim McIntire (15:39):
How long did we station?
Sammie Brueggeman (15:41):
Not as long as you would think.
I mean, we sat, we drove aroundfor probably 20 minutes, sort
of aimlessly, and I said, Youknow what, we need to just stop
and pray that the Lord directsus to where we are because we're
running out of daylight, we'rerunning out of time.
She said, Yeah.
And so we did, and we pulled inby um like the the um court
(16:01):
area, said a qu a quick prayer,like near downtown, said a quick
prayer, took off down MainStreet, and it with within three
or four minutes, Kelly lookedover and she said, There she is,
right there at that gasstation.
Thank you, Lord.
I know.
And so I said, Oh yeah.
So anyway, we ended up she hadgotten out because the baby's um
named birth father had gottenout of jail and she found out
(16:24):
about it, and so she wanted togo find him.
And so we um, you know, you dosome scary things uh and things
I would tell my girls never todo, but we did approach them and
um she talked to him aboutadoption.
He was on board with it, and soI said, Well, you come with you
(16:45):
come with me.
And um, it was cold, it wasDecember, and I f I felt bad,
but I was not bringing this guyinto our home that had just
gotten out of jail.
And so he went to a car andslept in a car um overnight.
And Josh picked him up the nextmorning, and everybody uh we
when we met, I guess that night,the the adopted family was from
(17:06):
Wichita, and we called them andsaid we found her, and
everybody decided to they leftand everybody was meeting that
evening uh for dinner.
We said we'll we'll host adinner so everybody can meet
everybody.
And so we we took everybody outto IHOP.
She loves IHOP.
And so um we went and met thereand I felt like this is what
(17:27):
God was orchestrating.
I never even in that momentthought there wasn't anything
unsettling in my soul other thanI just felt so strongly that I
wanted to protect this baby.
Yeah.
And so for me, I thought, well,this family seems nice and they
love the Lord and and they arenice.
They're they're they'rewonderful people.
So we the next day we took herin, I took her into the
(17:50):
hospital, she was induced.
Um, he was born just beforemidnight, and I was there.
Um, and so was the um theadoptive family that had been
chosen.
And I remember coming home andI told Josh excitedly, hey, the
baby's here, the baby's healthy.
Um, and all that was fine.
And then the next morning I gota call from the adoptive mom,
(18:13):
and she said, uh she's asked forthe baby back.
And I remembered getting somad, and I went up there and I
let her have it, and I said,This is unfair to this baby,
he's gonna enter the the fostercare system.
That's one thing you didn'twant for him was to enter the
foster care system.
You aged out of it, you knowthe heartache that comes with
(18:34):
it.
How are we supposed to protecthim when he don't we don't know
where he's gonna go?
And she said, I just don't, Ijust don't want that.
I don't want that.
And on several occasions shehad asked us, could you take
him?
And I know she wanted us totake him and take her.
And I I said, I like no,there's people who are looking
to adopt babies.
And so we just really did nothave it on our radar.
(18:58):
And then um five days laterthat he went into protective
custody um for five days whilethey let the bio parents have a
chance to prove that they couldfigure something out with a uh
safe place for him.
And we had a meeting and theyasked us to be there.
And so at this meeting, westill tried to convince them
(19:18):
that adoption by this couple wasthe right thing, and they still
refused.
Um and so the state said thatwe have no choice but to take
him into protective custody, andthen they asked her, who is
your next of kin?
And she said we were because wewere all she had.
Wow.
And so then at that point, thestate said, Well, would you do a
(19:39):
kinship placement and will youtake the baby as foster kinship?
And you don't have to be fullylicensed to do that, so that is
something that um can be prettyquick.
Um and you get you work towardskinship licensing once the
baby, you know, the child'salready in your care.
So he came to us.
And and was that just anautomatic yes?
Kim McIntire (20:02):
It really was.
Josh Brueggeman (20:04):
I mean we knew from our prior foster experience
that kinship placement issomething that can happen.
And so knowing thecircumstances, knowing they had
already looked for extendedfamily and those uh options, we
knew that that could happen.
So we very briefly talked aboutit and said if if they're gonna
(20:25):
place him in foster care, ifthey would let us do kinship, we
would we agreed we would takehim until the other family the
the adoptive, the family thatwanted to adopt him.
Sammie Brueggeman (20:36):
Right.
Josh Brueggeman (20:37):
Yeah, so we were we were still thinking that
was a possibility.
Um but they they called usprobably we really went into
that meeting thinking we weregonna be able to talk logic into
them.
And um, we tried and tried.
In fact, Sammie actually got introuble with the state
children's officer for forcoercion.
Kim McIntire (20:57):
Um I can see that she can be very she can she can
be persuasive.
Yes, yes, she can.
Josh Brueggeman (21:03):
Um but the the answer was still a no.
And we were kind of dumbfoundedactually, and so there was a
point at which then theinvestigator said, Well,
unfortunately, we have I'm I'mdeclaring now that he's coming
into state custody.
And so then at that point weknew um he would he needed to
(21:28):
come come with us.
So he's he stayed at Children'sHaven for another day and and
then we picked him up.
Sammie Brueggeman (21:34):
And we really went into that thinking, okay,
you know, then this family cantake him and they he can do um
we knew it was across statelines, but we we knew that there
were still things that could bedone.
Um but pretty quickly within afew days after that, they called
and they said, you know, we wefeel called to adopt, but we
(21:56):
don't feel called to adopt outof the foster care system.
And now that he's in the fostercare system, and and I
understand that I don't even Idon't blame them one bit because
we know the ups and downs andthe uncertainties of the foster
care system.
And um and that's you have toreally guard your heart in that
things can change so quickly.
And they just weren't that'snot what God had impressed on
(22:19):
their hearts for their theirjourney to be.
And so they said, you know, wewe love him and but we don't
think we're the family for him.
And so really like hearing hersay that at that point is
probably when for me, I'vereally never asked Josh when it
was for him, but I think at thatpoint when I realized that,
which was, you know, a a weekin, I thought, I never want this
(22:43):
baby to be anywhere else.
Like I've been, I want toprotect him forever.
So that the desire I had fromthe moment I met his birth mom
and I met him and her dummy,that desire to keep him safe.
At that point, I thought, no, Iwant to keep him safe for the
rest of my life.
Like I felt very strongly atthat point that no, I'm called
to be his mom.
And it kind of all startedlike, oh, like God kept coming
(23:07):
back to this.
Kim McIntire (23:08):
What about you, Josh?
Josh Brueggeman (23:10):
Those were super messy feelings though,
because there was a heartachefor the other family, and you
don't know what to say to eachother.
They didn't know what to say tous, we didn't know what to say
to them, and we were all livingin this strange limbo with this
precious baby's life in thebalance.
Kim McIntire (23:31):
Right.
Josh Brueggeman (23:32):
Um it was a strange strange feelings.
And I I will say they haveadopted uh a little girl.
Sammie Brueggeman (23:40):
They probably four months later.
Kim McIntire (23:44):
Oh, that's adopted a little girl.
Yeah, so that's it yes for you,Josh, in that moment?
Like Sammie said, Yeah, whendid you feel like it was a yes
for for him to be yours?
Josh Brueggeman (23:56):
Um, you know, I always just was kind of along
for the ride.
Like I I think there have beenenough uh faithfulness moments
in our life that I just I don'task so many questions anymore.
And I just trust that um how itis to be is going to play out
(24:21):
if we're faithful and we areobedient.
And so we just and I I don'tsay this in any sort of uh uh
arrogant way, but um orself-righteous way, but the
story is largely a story ofobedience, and it was just a
bunch of little yeses along theway.
Sammie Brueggeman (24:41):
Yeah.
And so, you know, and weweren't always prepared to say
yeses to that.
I mean that couldn't and that'sinteresting, you know.
Sometimes I think we're oldparents, and I think about that
a lot, like um, we're we'regonna be old parents for him,
but we needed to be where wewere spiritually and just life
like with life experience to beable to say these yeses.
(25:03):
Yeah.
Josh Brueggeman (25:04):
Not only that, but I I can tell you if we had
the time, I could specificallydescribe to you a work that
Noble is doing in the lives ofeach of us.
And it is almost like he wascustom made for our family at
this time in our life.
And so there's there'ssomething a something that
(25:27):
needed to be fulfilled in eachmember of our family at this
time in our life that that he isuh he's working through.
Sammie Brueggeman (25:36):
So God.
So God.
Absolutely.
I think I was we talked aboutthis last night, like this came
with a lot of small yeses andthe obedience of little yeses
that led up to the big yes ofsaying, you know, we want him to
be a part of our familyforever.
But it, you know, we definitelyhad we had all big kids, and we
(26:01):
that we knew it was going to besomething, everybody was gonna
have to make a sacrifice.
And I was talking about thatand I said, I know that each of
my kids would say whateversacrifices they've had to make
for Noble to be a part of ourfamily, like the blessings that
have come back have been justtenfold.
And they all adore him, and hehas been a gift to each one of
(26:26):
us individually in ways that wejust didn't even know we needed.
It's incredible.
So how old is he?
So two and a half.
Kim McIntire (26:32):
What a great age.
Yeah.
Oh, he's so he's doing allkinds of fun stuff.
Yes, right.
Sammie Brueggeman (26:37):
So fun, and he just language is exploding
and so he's developing well.
Yes, everything has been great.
And you know, when he was born,there was no drugs in his
system.
Praise God.
Yes.
And um, we just uh we I mean wejust have been so like he's
been the the sweetest, bestdisposition.
(26:58):
Um yeah, I I said if God wasgonna give me a baby when I'm
old, uh, he gave me a really hesaid I'm gonna give you an easy
one.
Kim McIntire (27:08):
So thank you, Jesus.
Thank you, Jesus, for that.
Sammie Brueggeman (27:10):
Thank you, Jesus.
Very good.
He's so So he sleeps at night.
Yeah, always.
I mean, he probably startedsleeping through the night when
he really was.
I mean, I remember thinking,this is crazy that he is so
good.
Yeah, just always sleep means alot.
Sleep means a lot.
And so does like just goingwith the flow.
(27:31):
I I thought he has four bigsiblings that have busy lives
and busy things, and he's alwaysbeen game just to get up and go
drag along and to do what theywhat we had to do for them.
So good.
He's integrated so well.
And um our you know, the thathas just seemed so perfect and
(27:52):
it it has given us suchblessings, but we also live we
live in the tension of ofknowing that um his his birth
mom is still struggling and sheshe doesn't live the life we
want for her, and we do stillhave a relationship with her.
(28:12):
So is she able to see the baby?
Well, that's pretty much up tous now since he's been adopted.
Yeah.
And we have been very carefulabout that because of the the
life she's still choosing tolive.
Sure.
We don't want him to be hurt orembarrassed or any of those
(28:33):
things.
And so we're very careful aboutshe he has no idea when you
know we don't refer to her asanything other than her first
name.
Um and he has not seen her morethan one time in the last six
months, probably.
And um, and that is onlybecause she has chosen to
(28:56):
continue living a life thatisn't healthy.
Is she still homeless?
She is.
Josh Brueggeman (29:02):
She is homeless is a relative term.
Yeah.
Sammie Brueggeman (29:06):
She's home she's homeless, but she lives
she lives in a home with peopleright now.
Um with a it's a home that alot of people live in together.
Somebody owns it, somebody, Idon't know, is on a lease, but
there's you know, ten peoplethat she names off whenever I
say who lives here right now.
(29:27):
So she's not on the street,which I'm very thankful for
because there's been winterswhere she's been on the street
and it's almost unbearable forus to think about her being out
there in the cold.
Absolutely.
Um you can't truly love a baby,a love a person so much, and
not love the the one who gavehim life.
(29:51):
And she could have chosen somany other things when she I
mean, it's hard to be pregnant.
It's really hard to be pregnantyoung without any resources and
on the street.
And so So I told her so manytimes you gave us such a gift
and I want you to know that yourchoice to carry him to term
like that was such a good choiceand I'm so thankful for the
choice you made.
Josh Brueggeman (30:12):
And she also did sign over her rights to us.
She did.
She signed it as voluntary.
She literally gave him to ourfamily.
Kim McIntire (30:22):
So I didn't know that that wasn't a state
decision then.
Sammie Brueggeman (30:25):
Well, it was heading in that direction, but
it went a whole lot faster,whenever.
And that is an interestingthing because she was
serendipitously found me througha friend that she was walking
down the middle of the street.
My friend called me, had nevermet her before, but knew her the
name she went by and it'sunique.
And so she said she pulled overbecause this girl was walking
(30:48):
in the middle of traffic thewrong way and she was worried
about her.
So she got out and said, Honey,you need to come with me.
What is happening?
And sh whenever she startedtalking to her, she said, What's
your name?
And she said her name.
And my friend thought, well,this has to be Noble's birth
mom.
How many people could have thisunique name?
And so she called me and shesaid, I have her here.
Do you want to talk to her?
And I said, Yes.
So I went to that space and shethought I had just shown up
(31:12):
there.
She didn't know there was aconnection between this woman
and myself.
And so um she said, I've beentrying to f to find you because
I want I want to sign over myrights so you guys can adopt
Noble.
And so I s I mean within a thathappened, and within an hour's
time, she was at her attorney'soffice, the one that had been
(31:34):
provided to her, and she signedover the documents for her to
relinquish her rights.
And so at that point it wasrelinquish them to the state,
and then the state, you know,had chosen us because we'd been
the ones raising him.
Kim McIntire (31:45):
Yeah.
Josh Brueggeman (31:45):
You know, Kim, um it's interesting.
If you would have asked me acouple years ago if this
situation were to arise, whatwould your relationship be like
with the birth mom?
And I probably would have said,well, I would want my family as
far away from her as possible.
I just wouldn't want that riskand that potential for her to
(32:11):
but living in that situationnow, I want nothing but the best
for her.
And on a cold winter day when Iopen the door and it it hurts
to have the cold air hit myface, she's the the first thing
I think of.
And you know, we we did haveconversations with her.
(32:32):
We said we we can adopt you,not in an official sense, but if
you want to live as a member ofour family, that's something
that we're willing to do.
But we have expectations of ourchildren.
Sure.
And we would have the sameexpectations of you in doing
your best to make good decisionsand you know, making safe
(32:56):
decisions and those types ofthings.
And we still hold great hope umfor her and we pray for her,
and um we hope maybe in a fewyears we'll be back here for a
different episode and have Iwould be overjoyed for you guys
to come back.
We know that we know it canhappen because that's right.
And um God redeemed that.
Sammie Brueggeman (33:26):
Um so we know it's possible, and we and a lot
of times people I think say,like, why are you why do you
worry about that?
You've adopted him and he'ssafe, and which is true, but
it's and that is a hundredpercent true, but I never want
him to question how much weloved his mom, his birth mom.
Kim McIntire (33:50):
I remember Sammie, and you may have forgotten
because this was a while ago.
But I remember when I washaving a women's prayer group, I
think it was during the seasonof COVID or just after.
Um I remember you brought birthmom to my house and she joined
us for prayer, I think once ortwice.
Sammie Brueggeman (34:10):
It would have been probably in yeah, it would
have been after COVID and 21fall 22, it would have been the
fall of 22.
Kim McIntire (34:15):
That pro that's when I met her.
That specific prayer group wentuntil 23 or 24.
But um, I remember justobserving you with her and
thinking, if I didn't know, if Ihad not ever met you and I
didn't know her and was justwatching, yeah, I would have
thought she was your daughter.
That was the kind of love thatwas so apparent, you toward her.
(34:40):
So I join with you in prayer tobelieve that her life is going
to be redeemed from the pit.
Sammie Brueggeman (34:47):
Absolutely.
Kim McIntire (34:48):
In Jesus' name, because he can.
Absolutely.
Nothing is impossible with ourGod.
No, not at all.
So as we conclude this episode,um, you know, people encounter
the homeless every day, whetherit's on a street corner or
volunteering at Water Gardens orany number of places, cross
(35:08):
lines, watered gardens, God'sresort.
I mean, there's so many amazingministries in the Joplin,
Missouri area.
And that's just something Iwant to brag on about the
community that I live in, is thehomeless are loved.
They are, yes.
And they they do have a placeof refuge, and they do have
nonprofits and ministries thatare really pouring their heart
(35:30):
out to lift out their hand toraise them up, right?
Yeah.
And to give them an opportunityto change the trajectory of
their life through Christ,through life choices, skills,
just opportunities they wouldn'thave otherwise.
So as people are encounteringthe homeless, I just want to ask
you guys, and I don't know ifone or both of you want to speak
(35:52):
into this, but what wisdomwould you share with people in
our community or communities allover the nation?
How do we minister to thesemembers of our society, you
guys?
I mean, so many of us, meincluded, you know, pass by
people and kind of have thisoverwhelming feeling of, other
than pray, I don't know what todo.
I mean, I've felt that so manytimes.
(36:12):
So would you guys like to speakinto that?
Josh Brueggeman (36:18):
I would say in large part what they need is
relationship.
Kim McIntire (36:23):
Uh-huh.
Yeah.
Josh Brueggeman (36:24):
And so we think about material needs and a home
and clothing and those types ofthings.
And yes, those are helpful.
Um, but those aren't gonnachange the reason they are
homeless.
Those those material things arenot going to change the core
reason of why that person ishomeless.
(36:47):
And so uh what the averageperson can do is number one, see
them.
You know, there's no reason whywhen you walk by a person on
the street, you can't smile orsay hello.
Sammie Brueggeman (37:01):
And I will say too, I always say this like
there is a difference betweenour homeless community and who
you see um on the side of theroad, or like the that the stop
sign, the panhandlers.
That's actually so if you workwith the homeless community in
town, uh, water gardens on them,a lot of them will say those
are not really people a part ofthe homeless community.
(37:22):
And sometimes those can bepeople.
Kim McIntire (37:24):
That's a good clarification.
Yeah.
So that's a very goodclarification for our listeners.
Yeah.
So that I would say m a lot ofpeople don't know that.
Sammie Brueggeman (37:33):
Um that is not uh who we're talking about
really.
So uh but but you know thepeople, you know, they're
they're walking with a bag orwhatever, you know, walking um,
especially in the downtown area.
Josh Brueggeman (37:48):
Um They've got a shopping cart.
Sammie Brueggeman (37:50):
Yeah, something that shows like
they're living on the street.
Um I before Noble came, I uhdid a Monday night um prayer
walk that starts from WaterGardens in the evening and it
goes out into the areas thatwhere we know homeless are.
So these are people who not arenot using the services of Water
(38:12):
Gardens or Souls Harbor oranything like that.
Maybe they have at one point.
But the goal of that is to goout and make sure that they know
that we remember and we seethem and we want to know how we
can pray for them.
Now that is that is takingleaps of faith because I know
Josh and probably my mom arejust terrified to think that I
(38:33):
go out with groups underbridges.
Now we're wise about it.
There's always a man, you don'tsend women out by themselves.
There we have, you know, peoplewho carry.
And so it's not that we'rebeing stupid about going out
into situations that aren'tsafe, but going out there and
learning the names of thesepeople and saying, gosh, I
really wish you'd go back in andpartner.
(38:54):
Can you, even if you don'tpartner for a bed, could you
partner for some for a box offood?
And that would partnering meansdoing something for water
gardens in exchange forreceiving something.
And it knowing their names weekafter week is so important.
And our friends, the Perries,Amanda and Tom Perry, they do
this better, and and CarolynPlasman too, they do this better
(39:15):
than anybody I know, and I'm sothankful to watch them and
watch how they do it becausethey love people and and they
make people feel seen and known,just like how Jesus asked us
to, and that's how Jesus madepeople feel known and seen.
And so if people if people wantto know how do I interact with
(39:35):
the homeless, make them feellike they're seen and not
forgotten or not just uminvisible.
That's so good.
Josh Brueggeman (39:44):
Do you know how precious a touch can be to some
situation when they have notbathed in a week or two and
there's odor, and somebodyignores that and pats them on
the back, shakes their hand,gives them a hug.
Sammie Brueggeman (40:03):
Mm-hmm.
It just makes them feel human.
And it's it's those things thatthen there's so many times that
I would we'd go out on theMonday prayer walk, and then on
Tuesday I would call CarolynPlassman and say, Hey, did
so-and-so show up to partnertoday?
And oh yeah, they you know theydid.
And hey, they showed up, theyput their name on the list for a
bed.
And in that respect, you'relike, it's just a little win
(40:24):
because at that point they knewthat they mattered to somebody,
somebody was paying attention towhere they were.
And that's the kind of stuffthat helps people want to change
the traject trajectory of theirlife, change the choices that
they're making because they knowthat they're worth it.
Josh Brueggeman (40:37):
If you want them to believe they have worth
in God's eyes, then you have toshow them that they have at
least some worth in your eyes.
Kim McIntire (40:47):
So good.
So good, you guys.
You have just poured outtonight to our listeners.
I'm so grateful.
And I just believe this isgoing to stir up some hearts.
You know, let it be so, Lord.
Yes, grow in us compassion.
And I'll have you back for parttwo.
Yes.
Sammie Brueggeman (41:06):
All right, we're happy.
Kim McIntire (41:07):
I'm anticipating part two.
Yes.
That's right.
Thank you again.
Thank you.
And thank you, listeners, fortaking your time to listen to
the podcast.
We're so excited to hear yourfeedback.
So please rate us or leave us areview on Apple Podcast.
May God's grace and peace bewith you all in Jesus' name.
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