December 2, 2025 • 46 mins
Hope may start at the table. We sit with Titus and Lesli Neuenschwander, a couple who turned personal heartbreak into Restoration House, a Carthage, Missouri home where families stay, eat, play, and gently relearn how to be together. Their story begins with adoption, threads through the deep ache of losing a child, and arrives at a surprising answer: combine therapy with radical hospitality so trust can grow where fear once lived.
Across three nights, they guide families through a carefully designed intensive that pairs counseling with real-life moments—board games that surface patterns, outdoor play that releases tension, and unhurried dinners that make space for honest words. Kids who are burned out on therapy meet pancakes with smiley faces and rooms that invite movement without overwhelm. Parents who are exhausted by crisis find a house arranged to lower their load: meals handled, rhythms set, and a calm environment that makes healing work possible.
We also share how this mission became real: a paid-off home that opened doors, a banker’s quiet act of courage, and a community that cleared a yard in a day. Today, Restoration House specializes in trauma, adoption, neurodiversity, and stress sensitivity, offering on-site intensives, parent education, church trainings, and parent-only retreats that travel to where the need is. The nonprofit arm ensures families aren’t priced out, with prayer partners, donors, and service teams keeping the lights on—often for those who arrive late at night and breathe out the first “wow” of relief.
If your family needs a reset, if your church wants to strengthen caregivers, or if you feel called to stand with families in hard seasons, this conversation offers a clear path forward. Learn how to inquire, how to sponsor a stay, and how to join the prayer team that undergirds every step. If this resonates, follow, share, and leave a review—your support helps more families find their way to hope.
Restoration House
https://www.restorationhousefc.org
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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 to Rise
Up podcast.
I'm your host, Kim McIntire.
We know there are so manythings you can do with your
time, so thank you for choosingto spend yours listening today.
We pray you are encouraged andblessed by what is shared.
If you're not familiar with ourshow, please check out our
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(00:30):
media 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 of the
(00:52):
Rise Up movement.
There's more about that on ourwebsite.
Now let's get to today'sepisode.
This is part two of ourcompassion series, and I have
invited two friends into thestudio to talk about their
nonprofit restoration house inCarthage, Missouri.
(01:12):
Welcome to the podcast, Titusand Lesli Neuenschwander.
You guys, I appreciate youtaking the time.
Titus, why don't you just startus out with letting us know how
long have you and Lesli beenmarried and where did you meet?
Titus Neuenschwander (01:28):
Sure.
Well, first of all, I had topull out a calculator to
remember that we've been marriedfor 30 years.
Kim McIntire (01:34):
Oh my goodness.
Congratulations, that's amilestone.
Titus Neuenschwander (01:37):
Thank you.
Yeah, it was an exciting year,and uh maybe we'll have a chance
to celebrate those 30 yearsafter a while.
Kim McIntire (01:45):
But when your life slows down, right.
Right.
Right.
That's awesome.
When did you guys meet or wheredid you meet?
Titus Neuenschwander (01:52):
So Lesli and I met at uh Ozark Christian
College, where um we both wentand graduated.
I uh saw Lesli actually acrossthe way from campus, and so I
kept making strategic moves uhin order to be able to have
conversations with her.
Kim McIntire (02:13):
He stalked me.
Titus Neuenschwander (02:15):
I did.
Kim McIntire (02:16):
He admits it.
He's not even gonna deny it.
No.
No.
Titus Neuenschwander (02:21):
Well, I joined choir.
Kim McIntire (02:22):
I can you sing?
Titus Neuenschwander (02:25):
Well, that's a great question.
I sing well enough to go tochoir.
Right.
And um that's great.
Then uh literally they asked mewhere what part do you sing?
And I looked up and Lesli wasin the uh alto section, so I
said baritone because baritonewas next to the alto.
Kim McIntire (02:46):
That's awesome.
Titus Neuenschwander (02:47):
And uh basically every part of my day I
would try to figure out whereshe was so I could by chance run
into her and have aconversation.
And so did a lot of work inpreparation for that.
She really never noticed.
Kim McIntire (03:03):
She did it.
Oh my word.
So what got your attentionthen, Lesli?
If you never noticed what gotyour attention.
Lesli Neuenschwander (03:10):
Oh my goodness, that is a good
question.
Um I think you called me andasked me to go on a date.
What he didn't know is that Ihad already seen his picture
from somewhere.
And um we're only a year apart,but two years in school because
of the eight and just the birthdates and things.
So I was a junior and he was afreshman, and I can remember the
(03:31):
freshman girl saying, I knowsomeone who likes you.
And then I saw his name and Ithought, well, first I'm not in
high school anymore, and twowith New and Swander, no way.
Kim McIntire (03:41):
That's funny.
And then here you are, 30 yearslater.
30 years later, that's whathappens when you say married.
Lesli Neuenschwander (03:47):
Well, there's been multiple no ways
that God's just sat up there andlaughed at me a little bit, I
think.
Kim McIntire (03:53):
Um, you guys are adorable.
Lesli Neuenschwander (03:55):
This is a good one.
I was glad that uh my no waydid not get in the way.
Amen.
Kim McIntire (04:00):
That's right.
I am too.
Lesli Neuenschwander (04:02):
So, Lesli, tell us about your family.
Uh, we are a family woventogether by adoption.
We have seven children, sixstill living.
Uh, five of those are uh withinfour and a half years of each
other.
So we kind of um just side notealways we lived every age stage
in full with all of theeverything that comes with it.
(04:24):
Yeah.
Um, and then we have so they'reall young adults right now, and
we have three grandbabies, andthen we have our 17-year-old
senior in high school this year.
Kim McIntire (04:34):
Oh my goodness.
Lesli Neuenschwander (04:35):
Jesus finishing year, yes, we're
finishing the chapter of schoolkids, and that's a very, very uh
yeah.
Kim McIntire (04:43):
How many grandchildren do you have?
Three.
You have three now.
Oh my goodness.
You're up on me by one.
Well, you guys, I um know youthrough a church that we used to
attend together.
And at that time, Titus, youwere a middle school minister.
Wow.
I believe.
Weren't you a middle schoolminister?
That's where we started.
(05:04):
That's where you started.
And Lesli, you were Phoenix'spreschool teacher at then
College Heights School, which isnow New Heights Christian
Academy in Joplin, Missouri.
And so we've just beenconnected through through church
ministry, really.
Lesli Neuenschwander (05:18):
Yeah.
Kim McIntire (05:18):
And then we were neighbors for a while until you
moved off to Carthage, Missouri.
So and you guys came and werepart of our tree party that we
had one year.
Yes, yes.
I was driving, I was riding mybike to the lake and I ride past
your house, and there's allthese trees down.
And I'm like, did we have astorm?
It looked like a tornado hadhit your front yard.
Yeah.
Lesli Neuenschwander (05:37):
I'd asked them to trim, thinking that we
could take care of the limbs.
And when I walked outside, wethought we are in big trouble.
Kim McIntire (05:44):
Oh my word.
And I I like I bite to thelake, and then the Lord's like,
go help them.
And I'm like, okay, Lord, helpme to find some people.
I go home and tell Everett.
He starts texting people beforelong.
The yard was clear.
Yep, we had it done in a day.
I'm not taking credit for that,but God had you on his mind.
But yeah, I actually was like,did the tornado only hit there?
It was bad.
Titus Neuenschwander (06:05):
And I don't know if you remember, but
Everett had actually just boughta brand new chainsaw.
Kim McIntire (06:10):
He had.
And he hadn't even used it.
Titus Neuenschwander (06:12):
I think our house was the first time we
pulled that happening.
Kim McIntire (06:15):
He hadn't even used it.
He was actually excited.
I went home and I'm like, Lord,and usually his Saturdays are
very like, you know, I've gotthis, this, and this to do until
like afternoon.
And I was like, oh Lord, I hopehe doesn't have a busy day.
And I tell him, I'm like, Titusand Lesli have trees all over
their front yard and we need togo help them.
And he goes, Oh, I've got thatbrand new chainsaw I haven't
(06:38):
used yet.
Yay!
Lesli Neuenschwander (06:39):
You know, actually that was one of the
beginning um pieces, uh, justthe the things that God did uh
that to prepare for what we weredoing.
I mean, it had been happeningour entire lives, really.
I mean, everything.
But that was kind of one ofthose, we were trying to get the
house ready to sell.
We were trying to move forwardin what was happening and yeah,
(07:01):
you were in preparation phase.
We were in preparation phasefor sure.
And then to have all thosetrees, I mean, there's just no
way to describe that uh what wethought was gonna take us over a
week to try to navigateourselves.
And in a day, God just said,here, I'm gonna have, you know,
we're gonna, we're gonna takecare of this.
Kim McIntire (07:19):
Well, those tree trimmers took their job very,
very seriously because they weredetermined the trees were gonna
be trimmed down to bare bones.
But anyway, moving on, um,we're here to talk about
Restoration House in Carthage,Missouri, in which you guys, I
believe you direct that, you ownthat and direct that.
(07:41):
Um, is that correct?
Yeah, we're the executivedirectors.
Yeah, the executive directors.
And you were you invited me totour this spring.
And to be honest, you guys, Iwas absolutely amazed at what I
saw.
And then when you went intotalking about just the vision
for the ministry and the purposeand what you were doing, I just
(08:05):
thought to myself, this is astory that people need to hear.
Um can you share with ourlistening audience how
Restoration House came to be?
Because people most likelydon't know what hot restoration
house is.
So I don't know which one ofyou want to lead out with that,
but let's let's talk about that.
What is Restoration House?
Lesli Neuenschwander (08:27):
Oh, again, that's a good question, and
it's a big one to answer.
Um, in a nutshell, RestorationHouse, um, we help families find
hope and healing.
So um, I'll let Titus do alittle bit more explaining about
that.
But um the explanation of whatit is is as unique as what we do
because it's and how we got towhere we are is a is a big
(08:49):
story.
And so trying to even condenseit sometimes is is well we can
make this two parts.
So don't feel like you have todo a nutshell explanation.
There's just so much to it,preparation, uh years and years
of preparation of our hearts andour minds and our family uh to
get to where we are today.
And ever I think every time wedrive up to the house, there's
emotion because we're just verysimple people.
(09:11):
And when we look at that homeand think that God's let us live
here and be here, it's veryhumbling and a reminder of his
provision and his um just thathe can make impossible things
possible.
Kim McIntire (09:24):
Absolutely, absolutely.
And a beautiful place forpeople who are in crisis or in
trauma to come.
And I was thinking if if I werein crisis and trauma and my
family and I needed a place togo for therapy or counseling in
the setting that you guys areoffering, I would feel
(09:46):
incredibly loved, incrediblywelcomed, and really almost like
I don't know, royalty isprobably an exaggeration, but
you really feel like you'respecial.
You know, like it's you're notjust walking into an everyday
environment.
I mean, it's it's just verymuch it's a pl it you can tell
(10:08):
it's a place where love has beenpoured out, and you guys have
done that so well.
So let's just talk about howdid this come to be?
Like, I know you explained whatit is.
It's a place where familiescome and find hope and healing.
But how did you get to thisplace?
Is it is it born from theexperiences you guys have lived
(10:30):
out?
Titus Neuenschwander (10:31):
Yeah, I think ultimately passion almost
always ascends out of pain.
And so as Lesli mentioned,we're an adoptive family, and um
it was through a lot ofcircumstances that we realized
that oh my gosh, we feel soalone, so unprepared, and um
(10:55):
without any exaggeration, ourfamily was falling apart at the
seams, which is embarrassing fora lot of reasons when you're
supposed to be in charge andhelping families, and then
you're looking at your own andthe seams are splitting.
Yeah, it's a really humblingplace to be.
And so during there wereseveral things that all collided
(11:20):
at the same time.
Uh first we did uh lose our sonTyler when he was almost four
months old.
Um he was our sixth child, andum we realized how unprepared
and ignorant we were at the atthe grief process.
Kim McIntire (11:40):
Yeah.
Titus Neuenschwander (11:41):
And um in trying to recover, there were
several things that took place,and one is um our marriage
became much more fragile than ithad ever been before.
We were both trying to recoupin ways that made sense.
For me, I stayed busy.
And for Lesli, what was thatlike for you?
Lesli Neuenschwander (12:08):
I could not get a bed, couldn't get out
of bed in the morning, um,wasn't able to go to the grocery
store.
Uh had a very difficult timefunctioning and daily care for
the other five kids that we had,our other five children.
Um felt very alone and yeah, itwas It was a rough season for
(12:30):
sure.
Kim McIntire (12:31):
Would you say out of out of the span of 30 years
that that was the most difficultchallenge that you guys faced
as a couple?
Lesli Neuenschwander (12:42):
I I think so.
Um there have been a coupleothers that have uh that have
unfolded, but that one probablytested um, and actually we did
really, really well at thebeginning.
Um we kind of we actually uhthrive in uh hard chaotic
(13:04):
situations.
It was when um like maybe maybethat nine to ten month mark
when things started settling foreverybody else, uh, and and we
were still trying to keep ourhead above water, that we
started um kind of fallingapart.
It it happened kind ofgradually because I think we
were very united and connectedat the very beginning of the
(13:25):
grief process, but then uh whenwe were supposed to, quote,
unquote, supposed to be kind ofgetting on with life, um and we
weren't for good reason.
But at the time we thought weshould be um things started,
yeah.
I would say that was probablyit was the most difficult time
in our marriage.
And probably a couple yearsinto that, because we had a big
(13:48):
move, we we moved our family andum started a new ministry here
at College Heights.
Right.
And where before we were kindof a 60-40 for family and
ministry, so I was part of theministry with him, and he was
very much involved at home.
When we moved, it was like90-10.
(14:09):
So even the adjustment of henow was at work all the time,
and I really wasn't a part ofthe ministry.
Right.
And he wasn't at home, and Iwas very much just at home with
the kids.
Sure.
So that divide I think isreally what started unraveling
the strength that we had uh witheach other and and just
increased the grief that weweren't we really weren't
(14:32):
working through properly.
Titus Neuenschwander (14:34):
Um yeah, and I think it's just such a
lonely process.
Lesli Neuenschwander (14:38):
Yeah, and everybody does it differently,
and so um yeah.
Titus Neuenschwander (14:43):
There was a season though where probably
going to church was the mostdifficult aspect of it.
And um but for me, church waswork.
And so busyness is uh at somelevel, it numbs life and it does
a good job of it where youdon't have to stop and think as
long as you keep moving, it'swhen you stop moving that uh so
(15:07):
nights are sometimes long, quietmoments are long.
But Lesli's Greek process wasum more of a quiet process.
And um but I do remember aSunday in which uh she stopped
singing, and it wasn't becauseum God wasn't faithful.
Lesli Neuenschwander (15:32):
Oh no, I leaned into him so strong, but
worship was just too hard.
Titus Neuenschwander (15:38):
But at some level, um the words that
Lesli used to describe it was Ijust didn't feel like I was
honest when I was singing songs.
And um I remember it wasprobably maybe about six months,
but more than anything, Iremember the day that she
(16:00):
started singing again.
And um that was no one elsearound us would have known.
But uh it was a place of justuh felt like God had been
faithful through that season.
Not that we were out scot-freeor that there weren't other
things that we were workingthrough.
Kim McIntire (16:21):
Sure.
Titus Neuenschwander (16:22):
But um it was just a time that says we're
gonna we're gonna do this.
God's gonna do this.
Kim McIntire (16:29):
So that was kind of the beginning layer, would
you say?
Lesli Neuenschwander (16:33):
Of Restration House?
Yeah.
Oh no, that had been goingwell.
The preparation for that andthe when we go back to how far
back was God preparing, itstarted at day one.
Um, just a real quick kind ofcouple uh because we work with
individuals, marriages, andfamilies.
We do specialize, Titusspecializes in marriage as a
(16:56):
marriage and family therapist,and um we specialize in uh
trauma, adoption, um,neurodiversity, stress
sensitivity, uh, traumaticstress.
Um, I work with a company foradoption, and of course, as
adoptive family, that's ourfocus.
Right.
Uh, that's one of ourspecialties, challenging
behaviors, families that aregetting ready to disrupt.
(17:17):
Okay, so looking back from thevery beginning, when we got
married, we spent the first yearsecretly wondering what we have
done, and we've just ruined ourlife because I had some medical
conditions that we didn't knowabout and we weren't aware of
that made some things verydifficult in our early marriage.
So even when we're doingmarriage retreats, there was we
have several stories of how God,in even in the beginning, was
(17:40):
uh creating space for us to beable to sit with people in very
vulnerable places withoutjudgment, um, because we'd we'd
we didn't like each other verymuch.
And you know, it it wasn'talways a lot of fun, you know,
being married.
And um, but then we and I wealways loved being with people,
(18:01):
we always loved hospitality.
So even as when I feel likewe're duplicating our our
stories.
So the way that our family cametogether, I feel like God's
doing the same thing with thisnext quarter of our life.
Wow.
Um the things that just don'thappen that happened when we got
our first son when he wasbrought when he came home, the
same way that this house cameabout.
(18:21):
Like these things just don'thappen, but we know they do,
right?
So it does it does feel likewe're kind of duplicating the
story that God has for us andthat he has for us.
So that's been exciting and funto watch happen.
I'm not sure if I hit yourquestion that you asked.
Oh, that was perfect.
That was perfect.
Kim McIntire (18:39):
I'm not so much worried about the question as
hearing your story.
No and the process as, youknow, when when people are doing
a work in the kingdom, in thecommunity, whatever realm,
right?
Um there's always a backstory.
Oh, yeah.
People just don't end up beingthe executive directors of XYZ,
(19:02):
right?
And so to me, the backstory isso important for people to hear.
Um, and so families come forhope and healing because your
family has been in need of hopeand healing.
And received.
And received that.
And so what you have received,you're pouring out into others,
which is just so beautiful.
(19:23):
Yeah.
And when families come, I maygo off script a little bit if
that's okay with you guys.
But when families come, whatcan they expect?
Titus, like a family is comingand they're going to be with
you.
How many days normally wouldpeople stay?
Titus Neuenschwander (19:39):
Yeah, if a family or a couple come in for
an intensive, usually it's threenights.
And um, we do about two and ahalf days of therapeutic work.
And when I say that, it doesn'tmean it's all work.
If a family comes, we willthere are different games and
avenues that we also uh use tobring about emotion and unity
(20:03):
and frustration.
All of those things are greatopportunities for families to
learn.
But I think the most importantaspect of why we chose to do it
this way, that a family actuallycomes and stays in our home, is
because there is also power inhospitality.
Kim McIntire (20:23):
That's right.
Titus Neuenschwander (20:24):
You know, it's one of the spiritual gifts
that that scripture um opens up,even as a gift of the spirit.
As a young person, I alwaysthought, who wants the gift of
hospitality?
Kim McIntire (20:37):
I do.
Wesley's great at it.
Titus Neuenschwander (20:40):
Sure.
As a middle school kid, though,I'm like, ooh, who wants that
one?
But you know, Kim, a lot of thefamilies that we have the
opportunity to invite into ourhome have been through have been
through tragedy and trauma.
And it also means that some ofthe kids who have gone through
adoption have also beenoverloaded with therapy.
Kim McIntire (21:02):
Yeah.
Titus Neuenschwander (21:03):
And I don't mean that bad.
That's part of my field.
I mean there's definitelyhealing processes for it.
Kim McIntire (21:09):
Sure.
Titus Neuenschwander (21:10):
But there is a much uh greater difference
for a child who comes in andthey're thinking, oh great, more
therapy, but they're in ourhome.
And the very next morning thatthey're in our home, Lesli is
making pancakes with a smileyface on it.
Kim McIntire (21:27):
I love it.
Titus Neuenschwander (21:28):
You know, and you're you're serving them,
and it's almost as you're doingthat, especially with the kids,
there's trust that's beingbuilt.
Sure.
They're feeling like this issomething different.
Kim McIntire (21:41):
Absolutely.
Titus Neuenschwander (21:42):
And uh that's not true just for the
kids, though.
That's true for the parentsthat we work hard to prepare a
place where they don't have toworry about the next meal, they
don't have to worry about what'sthe next uh event or what
that's taken care of, and theyjust get to be.
And for a lot of parents,specifically where that
(22:05):
relationship is just um has beenfalling apart and there's
nothing left.
Those are key moments in justlearning to have fun and
learning just to spend timetogether.
Lesli Neuenschwander (22:20):
And we've set up the house too, where
parents don't have to worryabout what their kids touch or
what they climb on top of, or Imean they they really um we've
been very purposeful in notputting too many things out in
the house that um and even thethings that are out that might
be taken or might be broken.
(22:41):
Um I've decided when I put themout that if they're gone,
they're gone.
I've put them there for me, butI if if it's out, I'm not I'm
not worried about it.
So parents don't have to comein and be concerned about
whether their kids are runningup and down the stairs or
jumping over well, you know,jumping over the couch or
whatever, you know.
So we we they we get to kind oflower their stress and their
(23:03):
worry and their anxiety becauseum one, God's created big spaces
but controlled spaces in thehouse.
You've been in there, so youknow.
We looked at 27 propertiesplus, I we lost count at some
point.
Um, and every time we thoughtabout the space that we would
need, we had a checklist of allthe things that we needed or we
(23:23):
thought would be needed for whatwe were looking at to provide
for families.
And um, we would walk intothese homes and they would have
these huge vaulted ceilings andthese big massive open
entryways, and we would walk inas adults and think, oh my
goodness, this is overwhelming.
So you can imagine if a kiddo'swalking in for sure to that
space and how much um, but whenyou walk into our home, we've
(23:46):
got these big spaces, butthey're that's um, it's hard to
explain unless you've beendesignated their designated
spaces, and so even thoughthere's lots of designated
spaces, there's room in them,and the doorways are um are wide
and the ceilings are a littlebit higher, and so they have all
this moving space, but it'sstill confined enough that there
(24:07):
provides some safety to that.
Um, and so even God providingthat type of safety, that type
of comfort and peace in a home,um, that's something that that
was outside of us.
I mean, we we brought love intothe home.
He brought love into the home,but we brought the home piece in
with him, but he set that houseaside for us, and that's a
(24:30):
whole nother story of how thathouse came to be.
Kim McIntire (24:32):
But yeah, we're gonna talk about that actually.
I'd love to talk about that.
The home is a beautiful home.
Uh it I don't know if it'sofficially historic, but it
looks historic.
I don't know if it's on thehistoric records.
Lesli Neuenschwander (24:43):
It is not on the historic records,
probably a good thing because wedon't have to abide by any of
the historic records, right?
No, well it looks but it is.
It's from uh it was built,started, it was built in 20,
started in tw uh 1921, finishedin 23.
There's a great article in theCarthage Press that we have that
talks about the erection of theHighland home and how it was
built to last.
(25:04):
Like they they it was just uhit exudes family.
It does.
Kim McIntire (25:09):
You can tell it's built for family, it's built for
hospitality.
Yep.
I love designated spaces.
I love homes with a dining roomwhere people can sit down and
dine, and it's apart from wherethe television is and all the
busyness of the home is, andit's just it creates, I feel
like sacred spaces thatsometimes families are missing
(25:31):
today.
And so I actually do want youto share about how you ended up
with that house.
But but but first, um whenpeople are there, you say
normally it's a three-day stay.
Are there times it's longer orshorter?
Titus Neuenschwander (25:49):
Yes, both have both have been true.
Kim McIntire (25:53):
Okay.
Titus Neuenschwander (25:54):
And uh it really does depend upon the
circumstances and and what'sgoing on.
Uh we have found that um abouttwo days that's a lot for a
family to come in and experienceor a couple to experience, and
uh which is why um we just kindof spread things out a little
(26:18):
bit.
Yeah.
But at the same time, um we'vehad families who uh just
experience immense grief.
Some friends of ours uh who arefriends now, they had lost all
three of their children in a caraccident.
And um so they stayed um acouple days longer in that
(26:39):
process.
And some of it was just itwasn't all therapeutic.
Some of it was just sittingwith them, and some of it was uh
walking with them.
And uh you know when you readJoe, um, you have friends who
came, and I know that thosefriends um we kind of criticize
(27:04):
their responses, but their firstresponse was they said nothing
for seven days and they didn'tspeak until Job spoke.
And so there's something aboutjust not always being alone.
And so some of those times wehave expanded, and sometimes
(27:24):
just out of uh scheduling orwhat that looks like, it's it's
been shorter.
Lesli Neuenschwander (27:30):
So we really focus on the individual
needs of the family.
So we have uh blueprints ofwhat we do even in the
intensive, but once the family'sthere, we adjust to the needs
of the of the individual, themarriage, or the family based on
what's what's needed.
Kim McIntire (27:45):
Yeah.
Yeah.
And how long at this point, howlong have you guys been
receiving families?
Oh yeah.
Lesli Neuenschwander (27:52):
Our first three.
We had uh we so we moved intoour we closed uh August of 22,
end of August, we moved inbeginning of September of 22,
and we had our first threefamilies in our home December of
22.
And then we just had a familythis last weekend.
So we've been um actually thislast family was our 30th family
that we had in the home.
Kim McIntire (28:13):
Wow, that's incredible.
So when they come to your homefor this healing and hope, are
you guys in the home the wholetime with them?
Lesli Neuenschwander (28:25):
Yeah, we are, which actually is uh uh
part of the hospitality pieceand the therapeutic care piece
because they have freedom, likewe have our specialized um care
where we're in, we have a familyroom office area that is
designated for some of theemotional work and the
counseling work.
Um, but we are available thewhole time that they're there.
(28:46):
So especially families withchildren, we get to interact, we
get to watch, we get to see ifthey have questions.
We kind of call it real-timesupport.
Like we're there to be umavailable to to silent witnesses
to pain, but also uh witnessesto joy and interaction um
throughout the time.
We uh cook, I mean, we'recooking the meals for them.
(29:07):
Um right now our daughters arecleanup crew, so she does a
fantastic job of coming in afterand cleaning up.
But we are, you know, we'recooking and and taking care of
that.
Titus does uh familyinitiatives and group uh group
games and things that promote umprocess incredibly.
Yeah.
Kim McIntire (29:25):
Do you guys find it to be rewarding?
Titus Neuenschwander (29:27):
That's where we once we thrive.
We love the work and and almostevery part of it, uh even
preparing a meal or just uheating around the table, you
know how important that is forany family.
And um we really feel like weget to be an extended part of
(29:48):
their families.
Yeah.
What a, as you said, what asacred space.
Yeah.
Kim McIntire (29:53):
For sure.
Titus Neuenschwander (29:53):
What a beautiful place to be a part of.
Kim McIntire (29:56):
I said I want to backpedal because I said you
feel like royalty.
I felt a little bit likeroyalty when I walked into your
house.
I'm like, I feel special inthis place, but I'm gonna change
the word to VIP.
You know, because I feel likeroyalty may have been
exaggeration a little bit, but Ifelt like a VIP, you know what
I mean?
And so I can just imagine howpeople who are hurting would
(30:20):
feel.
Lesli Neuenschwander (30:20):
And remember, even as we say this,
this has this is so this is isso big, so much bigger than us.
Like it is be is beyondanything that we could have
asked or imagined.
But it is, if you can imagine,especially our families that
come in from California, if youcan imagine these kids getting
on a plane with their parents,wondering, what in the world are
we doing?
And remember too that the onesthat are coming from California
(30:43):
are are, I mean, are they havesome significant trauma.
So getting them on a plane, theparents getting them in a car,
them fighting all the way up, Idon't know why we're here, I
don't want to be here.
And it has been such arewarding thing and a humbling
thing for us for to hear thoseparents say the moment they
drove up, because they usuallycome in at night, and so all the
(31:03):
lights are on, you know, toshare the house.
And there's they justimmediately are like, wow, you
know, like wow, we get to staythere and then we can't get them
out the door to leave.
Right.
And so that is a um that saysGod written all over the house.
Like he just knew that was thehouse that was needed.
Kim McIntire (31:21):
I know not everyone can see it, but when
when you said that about thelights on at night, I know it's
not a brick house, but Iimagined home alone and what it
looks like at night, you know,on the scenes where the lights
are on.
And to me, that's the closestthing I can compare it to, is
you know, it's just a beautifulhistoric home.
Yeah.
And God's blessed you with it.
(31:42):
And so if you want to take afew minutes just to talk about
how did you end up with thisbeautiful historic home in a
beautiful town like Carthage,Missouri.
That's even yeah.
Titus Neuenschwander (31:54):
Yeah, I mean, it was just it was just
part of the journey.
Um, our realtor, who was also afriend, when we started looking
at houses, he had us a notefrom a banker or some lender
that said, yes, they can affordto look at homes this size.
Lesli Neuenschwander (32:13):
Because he said families with our income
don't look at houses like this.
Yeah, yeah.
Titus Neuenschwander (32:18):
And uh so we didn't know how it was gonna
work.
We just felt like that's that'sthe direction that we want to
try to work and move.
Right.
And um we uh had done DaveRamsay many years ago, so we
like, okay, we're gonna pay offthis home, our other home in 15
(32:40):
years.
And uh so we did.
There were many times duringthat journey I thought, wow, I
don't know if we should havedone this.
Everything is still so tight.
But to be able to sell thathome uh debt-free, and that's
really what allowed us theopportunity to even get close to
uh purchasing a larger home,especially in a uh seller's
(33:03):
market.
Kim McIntire (33:04):
Right.
Titus Neuenschwander (33:05):
But all that be said and done, there
were lots of things that werehappening on the side.
Matter of fact, uh a friend ofours who uh said, Hey Titus,
here's the bank that you need totalk to.
Uh we did not even understandthis, but he had co-signed.
We didn't find that out until ayear after we until we were
(33:28):
looking at the paperwork and wesaw a signature uh down at the
bottom.
And uh just like who would takea risk uh of that uh we weren't
experienced, we wereunprepared, we felt like uh this
could work.
And um so it's just been partof a journey.
(33:51):
But that particular house we itis the only house that we
looked at that's actually intown.
We thought what we were lookingfor would have to be somewhere
out in the country or we neededspace.
Lesli Neuenschwander (34:02):
We uh knew that we would want an area for
people to be in the the yard andthe surrounding areas, not just
confined to a neighborhood.
Plus, we also knew that weneeded movement in our at our
house, especially if we weregonna have kids there.
Kim McIntire (34:15):
And the yard is like a garden.
There's yeah.
I mean, it's just like agarden.
Meaning beautiful.
I'm not speaking aboutvegetables, but you know.
Okay, you do finally, I finallygot my vegetable garden.
But I mean, it's just be it'sbeautifully landscaped.
There's space, the spaces areinviting.
I love the swing set on theside of the house.
(34:36):
It's just it's lovely.
You guys have the Lord hasgiven you the grace and favor to
just make it a lovely space foreveryone.
And I'm just I'm just believingthat there may be someone
listening who knows someone whoneeds your help.
And if someone's listening andthey think, I need this help, my
(34:58):
family needs this help, orsomeone I know needs this help,
what qualifies them?
Can you guys talk about that alittle bit?
Like, can they just call yournumber and you're gonna share
info in a little bit about howto connect with you guys?
But what is that process likeif it's not too complicated?
Lesli Neuenschwander (35:15):
Oh no, it's not, and it's for anyone.
So we're even though wespecialize in some of the crisis
um areas, it it we want ourhome to be available to anyone,
even if they're just needingrest, and they don't necessarily
want the therapeutic, I mean,it's therapeutic, just the
hospitality piece of it, buteven if they're not necessarily
wanting therapy or uh they justwant rest, like anything from
(35:37):
just basic rest all the way towe are in absolute crisis,
divorce is imminent, child mightbe leaving our home.
I mean, all for all everythingfrom the the the it is all
welcome in the house.
That's what the house is forpeople, that's why we have it.
Yeah if they um are interestedor know someone, then our we
encourage them to go to ourwebsite at
(35:59):
restorationhousefc.org.
Is that right?
Yeah.
Um and just put in a formsubmit and we will make contact
and begin the process of that uhworking out what that looks
like for their family.
Kim McIntire (36:13):
Okay.
And if you didn't catch that,it will be in our show notes
listeners.
Yeah.
Yep.
Okay.
So that's a pretty easyprocess.
Lesli Neuenschwander (36:20):
It is a very easy process.
Yes.
It starts it starts with that,and then we make contact, we
find out what their actual needsare.
Um we also do things outside ofour home.
So I mean, we we do a lot ofpart of what we do is providing
therapeutic support andeducation for the unique
challenges families face.
So there's an education piecethat's also available
specifically for parents.
(36:41):
Oh, that's excellent.
And so that's part of that aswell.
So there's multiple resources.
There's lots of resources,yeah.
Our house, the education, wehave an online course that um
that I do uh right now is freethrough the nonprofit.
And then um we go our our heartis for the church, and so we
would love to like Titus doesseminars and we do workshops and
(37:02):
retreats even outside of ourhome.
Like we go to California to doparent intensives with multiple
parents, not with the children,but the parents come and they
come to an Airbnb, and we dopretty much the exact same thing
we do in our home, but we do itjust for parents in in those
settings.
And so if there's a church outthere or a a group, a small
group or something out therethat wants um to be cared for
(37:25):
and to have some support andhave the support that we offer,
we travel to places that's goodto know and make arrangements
for that.
Kim McIntire (37:32):
Yeah, so you don't necessarily have to come to
Carthage, Missouri.
They will come to you if theirschedule allows it and
everything.
So you guys, what is the visionfor the future?
Have you have you been given avision from the Lord about
what's what's next?
Lesli Neuenschwander (37:48):
A lot of what we're doing right now, like
we live we are living ourvision.
You're living the vision, butwe do have some thoughts for
what we'd like to do.
Titus Neuenschwander (37:56):
And I think um right now we're we're
also doing two other jobs, andso what with the house that is
really the direction that we'dlove to land and do that more
often.
Kim McIntire (38:10):
Yeah.
Titus Neuenschwander (38:11):
I think part of the other vision is
again part of your story is whenwe were needing help.
Um we completely drained oursavings account uh to zero, just
trying to get help for ourkids, specifically our oldest
son.
Part of the vision is to beable to say, we want to do this
(38:34):
to families where they don'thave to do that.
And that's really the wholereason for the nonprofit.
We don't need the nonprofit todo what we're doing, right?
We're set up the nonprofitbecause we understand that when
you're on the other side, to beable to look back and say, Well,
this is what we needed, this iswhat would have been helpful,
(38:56):
right?
Um we want to provide that tofamilies as well.
Kim McIntire (39:01):
Mm-hmm.
But how can people get involvedif if they're, you know, some
people just they're very um theyhave hearts to serve, they have
hearts to support.
How can people support thisnonprofit?
Are there ways for thecommunity to get involved?
(39:21):
Or even people who don't livein this area?
How can people get involved tosupport this ministry?
Lesli Neuenschwander (39:28):
The top priority right now is prayer
partners.
Like we we are committed to 100prayer team partners before we
ever launch.
We did a soft launch for thenonprofit to do the playground
that you saw, and it was familyrecreation.
Right.
And there was an overflow of ofpeople willing to support those
recreational areas.
But we haven't done the um fullfunding launch for the
(39:51):
nonprofit because we're verycommitted to wanting the hundred
uh prayer partners before we dothat.
Kim McIntire (39:56):
Okay.
Lesli Neuenschwander (39:56):
However, there are families in need right
now that are wantingintensives, and um, so there's
cost and investment to that.
Sure.
That um so one of the ways,other than being a prayer team,
and if they want to be a prayerteam, you just go to our
website, there's a prayer teamlink.
You just click on there.
We're still developing thenewsletter.
We're it's it's we hit the doorrunning, literally, and we're
(40:17):
still trying to keep up.
We have a wonderful board thatis helping us, you know, fill in
the gaps of the things that wecan't get done.
Kim McIntire (40:22):
So work in progress.
Lesli Neuenschwander (40:23):
Yes, work in progress.
So uh prayer team is the firstpiece, and then we'll be doing a
launch this fall, but there'salways a financial need for
families.
And so, I mean, that's just thereality of living in the home
and taking care of the home andproviding that space for for in
the care.
And so if anyone's interestedin supporting a specific family
(40:43):
or supporting a family ingeneral, um, there's also a link
on our website that they can dothat as well.
It's all yes, and it's allnonprofit, so it's all tax uh
deductible.
That's wonderful.
Um, there are there's alwayssmall uh household needs all the
time, like taking managing andtaking care of the the
(41:05):
landscaping and the yard workand the um service projects.
We the the school actuallycomes and does service project
uh projects once a year, the newheights.
And so that's been exciting.
So in the spring, wheneverything's coming up and we
have to kind of clean up fromthe winter, they've come in and
spent a day helping us just getthe yard prepped for the spring.
Um deep cleaning of the home iskind of always a thing that
(41:28):
we're doing.
So anyone who wants to do that,we've always got small, you
know, home projects that need tobe done in a house that size.
So if somebody has service, umthe like service projects
service projects or the git thegift of service in that area,
those are always places thatwe're needing.
Kim McIntire (41:46):
I know that there it seems that more and more
churches are doing serviceproject days.
And so is that something that achurch would could do?
Absolutely.
Just call you and or or get onthe website and say we're
interested in coming to servefor a day or something?
Yes.
Okay, that's excellent.
Very needed, thank you.
That's exciting.
(42:06):
So what is the greatest needyou have now at this time?
Is it prayer?
Lesli Neuenschwander (42:11):
Yeah, it's definitely prayer.
Um, I mean, we finances arealways there, but prayer is the
um sustaining and wisdom and umthe spiritual warfare out there
um for the families and themarriages that we work with are,
I mean, it's it's real and wesee it all the time.
(42:31):
And then we feel it in ourfamily and just praying for
protection and um yeah.
Kim McIntire (42:39):
Okay.
Thank you both so much for yourtime.
It's truly been an honor tohear the whole story, probably
not the whole story, but a bulkof the story.
And I would love to pray overRestoration House before we
close.
All right.
Thanks, give.
So you're welcome.
Listeners, join in with me.
Let's let's pray for thisamazing nonprofit ministry in
(43:04):
Carthage, Missouri.
Father God, we come to you inthe name of Jesus Christ.
And we bring to you RestorationHouse.
We bring Titus and Lesli toyou, Lord.
We thank you for the work thatis being done to help families
heal with hope.
(43:24):
And God, we are asking that youbring prayer partnership, God,
to lift up their arms and tolift up this ministry, God, that
you have planted in Carthage,Missouri.
Father, we're asking for you tostir hearts to financially
(43:45):
support this work.
God, we are praying that youwould stir hearts to come and
serve and help in the yard or inthe home.
God, it takes many hands.
And we thank you for whatyou've already done.
God, you've done so much.
Thank you for the 30 familiesthat have gone to Restoration
(44:07):
House and received help, hope,and healing.
And Lord, for all of thefamilies that have yet to come,
we just pray a blessing overthem.
We thank you again, God, thatyou allow your people to partner
with you in the work ofrestoring lives.
(44:27):
All for your glory, God.
All for your glory.
May your blessing rest heavilyupon Titus and Lesli, Lord.
We bless them in your name.
Grace and peace over them inJesus' name.
Thank you, Lord.
Thank you, Lord.
In Christ we pray.
(44:50):
Before we close, I just want toask, is there anything else you
guys would like to add to thisconversation before we close?
Titus Neuenschwander (45:00):
Kim, I think at some level, uh Lesli
and I are jumping in this alittle later in life.
And um, even this is a secondoccupation for both of us and
going back to school and allthose things.
But I we're really hoping thatthis is just the beginning of
something, and we're not tryingto build restoration house
(45:22):
around us.
We hope it's just a startingplace that we get it past the
baton.
Yeah, and that the house willbe something more.
And so at some level, we'restill looking for others who uh
love walking beside families,uh, who love checking in with
families.
We hope that there's othermarriage and family therapists
(45:45):
who uh we can do the hospitalitypiece and and they get to do
some of the work.
So we're not sure what all thatlooks like, but um as even this
is at the start for us, we'rehoping that that baton gets
passed to the next generation.
Lesli Neuenschwander (46:03):
We recognize that uh we it's also
not sustainable for just the twoof us, and it was never meant
to just be the two of us.
And so building a team ofpeople that once the families
have been in our home, umeventually rather than us doing
the follow-up, there's follow-upin place outside of ourselves.
And and again, creating thatteam of people to provide that
(46:23):
support and wrap around thesefamilies.
Kim McIntire (46:25):
Oh, that's so good.
Legacy, yes, legacy.
Thank you for being here.
Thank you.
I appreciate you both.
Thank you for taking your timeto listen to our podcast.
We'd love to hear yourfeedback.
Please rate us or leave a fivestar review on Apple Podcast.
May God's grace and peace bewith you all in Jesus' name.
Hey everyone, welcome to the It's Time to Rise
Up podcast.
I'm your host, Kim McIntire.
We know there are so manythings you can do with your
time, so thank you for choosingto spend yours listening today.
We pray you are encouraged andblessed by what is shared.
If you're not familiar with ourshow, please check out our
website at itstimetoriseup.orgwhere you will find our social
(00:30):
media 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 of the
(00:52):
Rise Up movement.
There's more about that on ourwebsite.
Now let's get to today'sepisode.
This is part two of ourcompassion series, and I have
invited two friends into thestudio to talk about their
nonprofit restoration house inCarthage, Missouri.
(01:12):
Welcome to the podcast, Titusand Lesli Neuenschwander.
You guys, I appreciate youtaking the time.
Titus, why don't you just startus out with letting us know how
long have you and Lesli beenmarried and where did you meet?
Titus Neuenschwander (01:28):
Sure.
Well, first of all, I had topull out a calculator to
remember that we've been marriedfor 30 years.
Kim McIntire (01:34):
Oh my goodness.
Congratulations, that's amilestone.
Titus Neuenschwander (01:37):
Thank you.
Yeah, it was an exciting year,and uh maybe we'll have a chance
to celebrate those 30 yearsafter a while.
Kim McIntire (01:45):
But when your life slows down, right.
Right.
Right.
That's awesome.
When did you guys meet or wheredid you meet?
Titus Neuenschwander (01:52):
So Lesli and I met at uh Ozark Christian
College, where um we both wentand graduated.
I uh saw Lesli actually acrossthe way from campus, and so I
kept making strategic moves uhin order to be able to have
conversations with her.
Kim McIntire (02:13):
He stalked me.
Titus Neuenschwander (02:15):
I did.
Kim McIntire (02:16):
He admits it.
He's not even gonna deny it.
No.
No.
Titus Neuenschwander (02:21):
Well, I joined choir.
Kim McIntire (02:22):
I can you sing?
Titus Neuenschwander (02:25):
Well, that's a great question.
I sing well enough to go tochoir.
Right.
And um that's great.
Then uh literally they asked mewhere what part do you sing?
And I looked up and Lesli wasin the uh alto section, so I
said baritone because baritonewas next to the alto.
Kim McIntire (02:46):
That's awesome.
Titus Neuenschwander (02:47):
And uh basically every part of my day I
would try to figure out whereshe was so I could by chance run
into her and have aconversation.
And so did a lot of work inpreparation for that.
She really never noticed.
Kim McIntire (03:03):
She did it.
Oh my word.
So what got your attentionthen, Lesli?
If you never noticed what gotyour attention.
Lesli Neuenschwander (03:10):
Oh my goodness, that is a good
question.
Um I think you called me andasked me to go on a date.
What he didn't know is that Ihad already seen his picture
from somewhere.
And um we're only a year apart,but two years in school because
of the eight and just the birthdates and things.
So I was a junior and he was afreshman, and I can remember the
(03:31):
freshman girl saying, I knowsomeone who likes you.
And then I saw his name and Ithought, well, first I'm not in
high school anymore, and twowith New and Swander, no way.
Kim McIntire (03:41):
That's funny.
And then here you are, 30 yearslater.
30 years later, that's whathappens when you say married.
Lesli Neuenschwander (03:47):
Well, there's been multiple no ways
that God's just sat up there andlaughed at me a little bit, I
think.
Kim McIntire (03:53):
Um, you guys are adorable.
Lesli Neuenschwander (03:55):
This is a good one.
I was glad that uh my no waydid not get in the way.
Amen.
Kim McIntire (04:00):
That's right.
I am too.
Lesli Neuenschwander (04:02):
So, Lesli, tell us about your family.
Uh, we are a family woventogether by adoption.
We have seven children, sixstill living.
Uh, five of those are uh withinfour and a half years of each
other.
So we kind of um just side notealways we lived every age stage
in full with all of theeverything that comes with it.
(04:24):
Yeah.
Um, and then we have so they'reall young adults right now, and
we have three grandbabies, andthen we have our 17-year-old
senior in high school this year.
Kim McIntire (04:34):
Oh my goodness.
Lesli Neuenschwander (04:35):
Jesus finishing year, yes, we're
finishing the chapter of schoolkids, and that's a very, very uh
yeah.
Kim McIntire (04:43):
How many grandchildren do you have?
Three.
You have three now.
Oh my goodness.
You're up on me by one.
Well, you guys, I um know youthrough a church that we used to
attend together.
And at that time, Titus, youwere a middle school minister.
Wow.
I believe.
Weren't you a middle schoolminister?
That's where we started.
(05:04):
That's where you started.
And Lesli, you were Phoenix'spreschool teacher at then
College Heights School, which isnow New Heights Christian
Academy in Joplin, Missouri.
And so we've just beenconnected through through church
ministry, really.
Lesli Neuenschwander (05:18):
Yeah.
Kim McIntire (05:18):
And then we were neighbors for a while until you
moved off to Carthage, Missouri.
So and you guys came and werepart of our tree party that we
had one year.
Yes, yes.
I was driving, I was riding mybike to the lake and I ride past
your house, and there's allthese trees down.
And I'm like, did we have astorm?
It looked like a tornado hadhit your front yard.
Yeah.
Lesli Neuenschwander (05:37):
I'd asked them to trim, thinking that we
could take care of the limbs.
And when I walked outside, wethought we are in big trouble.
Kim McIntire (05:44):
Oh my word.
And I I like I bite to thelake, and then the Lord's like,
go help them.
And I'm like, okay, Lord, helpme to find some people.
I go home and tell Everett.
He starts texting people beforelong.
The yard was clear.
Yep, we had it done in a day.
I'm not taking credit for that,but God had you on his mind.
But yeah, I actually was like,did the tornado only hit there?
It was bad.
Titus Neuenschwander (06:05):
And I don't know if you remember, but
Everett had actually just boughta brand new chainsaw.
Kim McIntire (06:10):
He had.
And he hadn't even used it.
Titus Neuenschwander (06:12):
I think our house was the first time we
pulled that happening.
Kim McIntire (06:15):
He hadn't even used it.
He was actually excited.
I went home and I'm like, Lord,and usually his Saturdays are
very like, you know, I've gotthis, this, and this to do until
like afternoon.
And I was like, oh Lord, I hopehe doesn't have a busy day.
And I tell him, I'm like, Titusand Lesli have trees all over
their front yard and we need togo help them.
And he goes, Oh, I've got thatbrand new chainsaw I haven't
(06:38):
used yet.
Yay!
Lesli Neuenschwander (06:39):
You know, actually that was one of the
beginning um pieces, uh, justthe the things that God did uh
that to prepare for what we weredoing.
I mean, it had been happeningour entire lives, really.
I mean, everything.
But that was kind of one ofthose, we were trying to get the
house ready to sell.
We were trying to move forwardin what was happening and yeah,
(07:01):
you were in preparation phase.
We were in preparation phasefor sure.
And then to have all thosetrees, I mean, there's just no
way to describe that uh what wethought was gonna take us over a
week to try to navigateourselves.
And in a day, God just said,here, I'm gonna have, you know,
we're gonna, we're gonna takecare of this.
Kim McIntire (07:19):
Well, those tree trimmers took their job very,
very seriously because they weredetermined the trees were gonna
be trimmed down to bare bones.
But anyway, moving on, um,we're here to talk about
Restoration House in Carthage,Missouri, in which you guys, I
believe you direct that, you ownthat and direct that.
(07:41):
Um, is that correct?
Yeah, we're the executivedirectors.
Yeah, the executive directors.
And you were you invited me totour this spring.
And to be honest, you guys, Iwas absolutely amazed at what I
saw.
And then when you went intotalking about just the vision
for the ministry and the purposeand what you were doing, I just
(08:05):
thought to myself, this is astory that people need to hear.
Um can you share with ourlistening audience how
Restoration House came to be?
Because people most likelydon't know what hot restoration
house is.
So I don't know which one ofyou want to lead out with that,
but let's let's talk about that.
What is Restoration House?
Lesli Neuenschwander (08:27):
Oh, again, that's a good question, and
it's a big one to answer.
Um, in a nutshell, RestorationHouse, um, we help families find
hope and healing.
So um, I'll let Titus do alittle bit more explaining about
that.
But um the explanation of whatit is is as unique as what we do
because it's and how we got towhere we are is a is a big
(08:49):
story.
And so trying to even condenseit sometimes is is well we can
make this two parts.
So don't feel like you have todo a nutshell explanation.
There's just so much to it,preparation, uh years and years
of preparation of our hearts andour minds and our family uh to
get to where we are today.
And ever I think every time wedrive up to the house, there's
emotion because we're just verysimple people.
(09:11):
And when we look at that homeand think that God's let us live
here and be here, it's veryhumbling and a reminder of his
provision and his um just thathe can make impossible things
possible.
Kim McIntire (09:24):
Absolutely, absolutely.
And a beautiful place forpeople who are in crisis or in
trauma to come.
And I was thinking if if I werein crisis and trauma and my
family and I needed a place togo for therapy or counseling in
the setting that you guys areoffering, I would feel
(09:46):
incredibly loved, incrediblywelcomed, and really almost like
I don't know, royalty isprobably an exaggeration, but
you really feel like you'respecial.
You know, like it's you're notjust walking into an everyday
environment.
I mean, it's it's just verymuch it's a pl it you can tell
(10:08):
it's a place where love has beenpoured out, and you guys have
done that so well.
So let's just talk about howdid this come to be?
Like, I know you explained whatit is.
It's a place where familiescome and find hope and healing.
But how did you get to thisplace?
Is it is it born from theexperiences you guys have lived
(10:30):
out?
Titus Neuenschwander (10:31):
Yeah, I think ultimately passion almost
always ascends out of pain.
And so as Lesli mentioned,we're an adoptive family, and um
it was through a lot ofcircumstances that we realized
that oh my gosh, we feel soalone, so unprepared, and um
(10:55):
without any exaggeration, ourfamily was falling apart at the
seams, which is embarrassing fora lot of reasons when you're
supposed to be in charge andhelping families, and then
you're looking at your own andthe seams are splitting.
Yeah, it's a really humblingplace to be.
And so during there wereseveral things that all collided
(11:20):
at the same time.
Uh first we did uh lose our sonTyler when he was almost four
months old.
Um he was our sixth child, andum we realized how unprepared
and ignorant we were at the atthe grief process.
Kim McIntire (11:40):
Yeah.
Titus Neuenschwander (11:41):
And um in trying to recover, there were
several things that took place,and one is um our marriage
became much more fragile than ithad ever been before.
We were both trying to recoupin ways that made sense.
For me, I stayed busy.
And for Lesli, what was thatlike for you?
Lesli Neuenschwander (12:08):
I could not get a bed, couldn't get out
of bed in the morning, um,wasn't able to go to the grocery
store.
Uh had a very difficult timefunctioning and daily care for
the other five kids that we had,our other five children.
Um felt very alone and yeah, itwas It was a rough season for
(12:30):
sure.
Kim McIntire (12:31):
Would you say out of out of the span of 30 years
that that was the most difficultchallenge that you guys faced
as a couple?
Lesli Neuenschwander (12:42):
I I think so.
Um there have been a coupleothers that have uh that have
unfolded, but that one probablytested um, and actually we did
really, really well at thebeginning.
Um we kind of we actually uhthrive in uh hard chaotic
(13:04):
situations.
It was when um like maybe maybethat nine to ten month mark
when things started settling foreverybody else, uh, and and we
were still trying to keep ourhead above water, that we
started um kind of fallingapart.
It it happened kind ofgradually because I think we
were very united and connectedat the very beginning of the
(13:25):
grief process, but then uh whenwe were supposed to, quote,
unquote, supposed to be kind ofgetting on with life, um and we
weren't for good reason.
But at the time we thought weshould be um things started,
yeah.
I would say that was probablyit was the most difficult time
in our marriage.
And probably a couple yearsinto that, because we had a big
(13:48):
move, we we moved our family andum started a new ministry here
at College Heights.
Right.
And where before we were kindof a 60-40 for family and
ministry, so I was part of theministry with him, and he was
very much involved at home.
When we moved, it was like90-10.
(14:09):
So even the adjustment of henow was at work all the time,
and I really wasn't a part ofthe ministry.
Right.
And he wasn't at home, and Iwas very much just at home with
the kids.
Sure.
So that divide I think isreally what started unraveling
the strength that we had uh witheach other and and just
increased the grief that weweren't we really weren't
(14:32):
working through properly.
Titus Neuenschwander (14:34):
Um yeah, and I think it's just such a
lonely process.
Lesli Neuenschwander (14:38):
Yeah, and everybody does it differently,
and so um yeah.
Titus Neuenschwander (14:43):
There was a season though where probably
going to church was the mostdifficult aspect of it.
And um but for me, church waswork.
And so busyness is uh at somelevel, it numbs life and it does
a good job of it where youdon't have to stop and think as
long as you keep moving, it'swhen you stop moving that uh so
(15:07):
nights are sometimes long, quietmoments are long.
But Lesli's Greek process wasum more of a quiet process.
And um but I do remember aSunday in which uh she stopped
singing, and it wasn't becauseum God wasn't faithful.
Lesli Neuenschwander (15:32):
Oh no, I leaned into him so strong, but
worship was just too hard.
Titus Neuenschwander (15:38):
But at some level, um the words that
Lesli used to describe it was Ijust didn't feel like I was
honest when I was singing songs.
And um I remember it wasprobably maybe about six months,
but more than anything, Iremember the day that she
(16:00):
started singing again.
And um that was no one elsearound us would have known.
But uh it was a place of justuh felt like God had been
faithful through that season.
Not that we were out scot-freeor that there weren't other
things that we were workingthrough.
Kim McIntire (16:21):
Sure.
Titus Neuenschwander (16:22):
But um it was just a time that says we're
gonna we're gonna do this.
God's gonna do this.
Kim McIntire (16:29):
So that was kind of the beginning layer, would
you say?
Lesli Neuenschwander (16:33):
Of Restration House?
Yeah.
Oh no, that had been goingwell.
The preparation for that andthe when we go back to how far
back was God preparing, itstarted at day one.
Um, just a real quick kind ofcouple uh because we work with
individuals, marriages, andfamilies.
We do specialize, Titusspecializes in marriage as a
(16:56):
marriage and family therapist,and um we specialize in uh
trauma, adoption, um,neurodiversity, stress
sensitivity, uh, traumaticstress.
Um, I work with a company foradoption, and of course, as
adoptive family, that's ourfocus.
Right.
Uh, that's one of ourspecialties, challenging
behaviors, families that aregetting ready to disrupt.
(17:17):
Okay, so looking back from thevery beginning, when we got
married, we spent the first yearsecretly wondering what we have
done, and we've just ruined ourlife because I had some medical
conditions that we didn't knowabout and we weren't aware of
that made some things verydifficult in our early marriage.
So even when we're doingmarriage retreats, there was we
have several stories of how God,in even in the beginning, was
(17:40):
uh creating space for us to beable to sit with people in very
vulnerable places withoutjudgment, um, because we'd we'd
we didn't like each other verymuch.
And you know, it it wasn'talways a lot of fun, you know,
being married.
And um, but then we and I wealways loved being with people,
(18:01):
we always loved hospitality.
So even as when I feel likewe're duplicating our our
stories.
So the way that our family cametogether, I feel like God's
doing the same thing with thisnext quarter of our life.
Wow.
Um the things that just don'thappen that happened when we got
our first son when he wasbrought when he came home, the
same way that this house cameabout.
(18:21):
Like these things just don'thappen, but we know they do,
right?
So it does it does feel likewe're kind of duplicating the
story that God has for us andthat he has for us.
So that's been exciting and funto watch happen.
I'm not sure if I hit yourquestion that you asked.
Oh, that was perfect.
That was perfect.
Kim McIntire (18:39):
I'm not so much worried about the question as
hearing your story.
No and the process as, youknow, when when people are doing
a work in the kingdom, in thecommunity, whatever realm,
right?
Um there's always a backstory.
Oh, yeah.
People just don't end up beingthe executive directors of XYZ,
(19:02):
right?
And so to me, the backstory isso important for people to hear.
Um, and so families come forhope and healing because your
family has been in need of hopeand healing.
And received.
And received that.
And so what you have received,you're pouring out into others,
which is just so beautiful.
(19:23):
Yeah.
And when families come, I maygo off script a little bit if
that's okay with you guys.
But when families come, whatcan they expect?
Titus, like a family is comingand they're going to be with
you.
How many days normally wouldpeople stay?
Titus Neuenschwander (19:39):
Yeah, if a family or a couple come in for
an intensive, usually it's threenights.
And um, we do about two and ahalf days of therapeutic work.
And when I say that, it doesn'tmean it's all work.
If a family comes, we willthere are different games and
avenues that we also uh use tobring about emotion and unity
(20:03):
and frustration.
All of those things are greatopportunities for families to
learn.
But I think the most importantaspect of why we chose to do it
this way, that a family actuallycomes and stays in our home, is
because there is also power inhospitality.
Kim McIntire (20:23):
That's right.
Titus Neuenschwander (20:24):
You know, it's one of the spiritual gifts
that that scripture um opens up,even as a gift of the spirit.
As a young person, I alwaysthought, who wants the gift of
hospitality?
Kim McIntire (20:37):
I do.
Wesley's great at it.
Titus Neuenschwander (20:40):
Sure.
As a middle school kid, though,I'm like, ooh, who wants that
one?
But you know, Kim, a lot of thefamilies that we have the
opportunity to invite into ourhome have been through have been
through tragedy and trauma.
And it also means that some ofthe kids who have gone through
adoption have also beenoverloaded with therapy.
Kim McIntire (21:02):
Yeah.
Titus Neuenschwander (21:03):
And I don't mean that bad.
That's part of my field.
I mean there's definitelyhealing processes for it.
Kim McIntire (21:09):
Sure.
Titus Neuenschwander (21:10):
But there is a much uh greater difference
for a child who comes in andthey're thinking, oh great, more
therapy, but they're in ourhome.
And the very next morning thatthey're in our home, Lesli is
making pancakes with a smileyface on it.
Kim McIntire (21:27):
I love it.
Titus Neuenschwander (21:28):
You know, and you're you're serving them,
and it's almost as you're doingthat, especially with the kids,
there's trust that's beingbuilt.
Sure.
They're feeling like this issomething different.
Kim McIntire (21:41):
Absolutely.
Titus Neuenschwander (21:42):
And uh that's not true just for the
kids, though.
That's true for the parentsthat we work hard to prepare a
place where they don't have toworry about the next meal, they
don't have to worry about what'sthe next uh event or what
that's taken care of, and theyjust get to be.
And for a lot of parents,specifically where that
(22:05):
relationship is just um has beenfalling apart and there's
nothing left.
Those are key moments in justlearning to have fun and
learning just to spend timetogether.
Lesli Neuenschwander (22:20):
And we've set up the house too, where
parents don't have to worryabout what their kids touch or
what they climb on top of, or Imean they they really um we've
been very purposeful in notputting too many things out in
the house that um and even thethings that are out that might
be taken or might be broken.
(22:41):
Um I've decided when I put themout that if they're gone,
they're gone.
I've put them there for me, butI if if it's out, I'm not I'm
not worried about it.
So parents don't have to comein and be concerned about
whether their kids are runningup and down the stairs or
jumping over well, you know,jumping over the couch or
whatever, you know.
So we we they we get to kind oflower their stress and their
(23:03):
worry and their anxiety becauseum one, God's created big spaces
but controlled spaces in thehouse.
You've been in there, so youknow.
We looked at 27 propertiesplus, I we lost count at some
point.
Um, and every time we thoughtabout the space that we would
need, we had a checklist of allthe things that we needed or we
(23:23):
thought would be needed for whatwe were looking at to provide
for families.
And um, we would walk intothese homes and they would have
these huge vaulted ceilings andthese big massive open
entryways, and we would walk inas adults and think, oh my
goodness, this is overwhelming.
So you can imagine if a kiddo'swalking in for sure to that
space and how much um, but whenyou walk into our home, we've
(23:46):
got these big spaces, butthey're that's um, it's hard to
explain unless you've beendesignated their designated
spaces, and so even thoughthere's lots of designated
spaces, there's room in them,and the doorways are um are wide
and the ceilings are a littlebit higher, and so they have all
this moving space, but it'sstill confined enough that there
(24:07):
provides some safety to that.
Um, and so even God providingthat type of safety, that type
of comfort and peace in a home,um, that's something that that
was outside of us.
I mean, we we brought love intothe home.
He brought love into the home,but we brought the home piece in
with him, but he set that houseaside for us, and that's a
(24:30):
whole nother story of how thathouse came to be.
Kim McIntire (24:32):
But yeah, we're gonna talk about that actually.
I'd love to talk about that.
The home is a beautiful home.
Uh it I don't know if it'sofficially historic, but it
looks historic.
I don't know if it's on thehistoric records.
Lesli Neuenschwander (24:43):
It is not on the historic records,
probably a good thing because wedon't have to abide by any of
the historic records, right?
No, well it looks but it is.
It's from uh it was built,started, it was built in 20,
started in tw uh 1921, finishedin 23.
There's a great article in theCarthage Press that we have that
talks about the erection of theHighland home and how it was
built to last.
(25:04):
Like they they it was just uhit exudes family.
It does.
Kim McIntire (25:09):
You can tell it's built for family, it's built for
hospitality.
Yep.
I love designated spaces.
I love homes with a dining roomwhere people can sit down and
dine, and it's apart from wherethe television is and all the
busyness of the home is, andit's just it creates, I feel
like sacred spaces thatsometimes families are missing
(25:31):
today.
And so I actually do want youto share about how you ended up
with that house.
But but but first, um whenpeople are there, you say
normally it's a three-day stay.
Are there times it's longer orshorter?
Titus Neuenschwander (25:49):
Yes, both have both have been true.
Kim McIntire (25:53):
Okay.
Titus Neuenschwander (25:54):
And uh it really does depend upon the
circumstances and and what'sgoing on.
Uh we have found that um abouttwo days that's a lot for a
family to come in and experienceor a couple to experience, and
uh which is why um we just kindof spread things out a little
(26:18):
bit.
Yeah.
But at the same time, um we'vehad families who uh just
experience immense grief.
Some friends of ours uh who arefriends now, they had lost all
three of their children in a caraccident.
And um so they stayed um acouple days longer in that
(26:39):
process.
And some of it was just itwasn't all therapeutic.
Some of it was just sittingwith them, and some of it was uh
walking with them.
And uh you know when you readJoe, um, you have friends who
came, and I know that thosefriends um we kind of criticize
(27:04):
their responses, but their firstresponse was they said nothing
for seven days and they didn'tspeak until Job spoke.
And so there's something aboutjust not always being alone.
And so some of those times wehave expanded, and sometimes
(27:24):
just out of uh scheduling orwhat that looks like, it's it's
been shorter.
Lesli Neuenschwander (27:30):
So we really focus on the individual
needs of the family.
So we have uh blueprints ofwhat we do even in the
intensive, but once the family'sthere, we adjust to the needs
of the of the individual, themarriage, or the family based on
what's what's needed.
Kim McIntire (27:45):
Yeah.
Yeah.
And how long at this point, howlong have you guys been
receiving families?
Oh yeah.
Lesli Neuenschwander (27:52):
Our first three.
We had uh we so we moved intoour we closed uh August of 22,
end of August, we moved inbeginning of September of 22,
and we had our first threefamilies in our home December of
22.
And then we just had a familythis last weekend.
So we've been um actually thislast family was our 30th family
that we had in the home.
Kim McIntire (28:13):
Wow, that's incredible.
So when they come to your homefor this healing and hope, are
you guys in the home the wholetime with them?
Lesli Neuenschwander (28:25):
Yeah, we are, which actually is uh uh
part of the hospitality pieceand the therapeutic care piece
because they have freedom, likewe have our specialized um care
where we're in, we have a familyroom office area that is
designated for some of theemotional work and the
counseling work.
Um, but we are available thewhole time that they're there.
(28:46):
So especially families withchildren, we get to interact, we
get to watch, we get to see ifthey have questions.
We kind of call it real-timesupport.
Like we're there to be umavailable to to silent witnesses
to pain, but also uh witnessesto joy and interaction um
throughout the time.
We uh cook, I mean, we'recooking the meals for them.
(29:07):
Um right now our daughters arecleanup crew, so she does a
fantastic job of coming in afterand cleaning up.
But we are, you know, we'recooking and and taking care of
that.
Titus does uh familyinitiatives and group uh group
games and things that promote umprocess incredibly.
Yeah.
Kim McIntire (29:25):
Do you guys find it to be rewarding?
Titus Neuenschwander (29:27):
That's where we once we thrive.
We love the work and and almostevery part of it, uh even
preparing a meal or just uheating around the table, you
know how important that is forany family.
And um we really feel like weget to be an extended part of
(29:48):
their families.
Yeah.
What a, as you said, what asacred space.
Yeah.
Kim McIntire (29:53):
For sure.
Titus Neuenschwander (29:53):
What a beautiful place to be a part of.
Kim McIntire (29:56):
I said I want to backpedal because I said you
feel like royalty.
I felt a little bit likeroyalty when I walked into your
house.
I'm like, I feel special inthis place, but I'm gonna change
the word to VIP.
You know, because I feel likeroyalty may have been
exaggeration a little bit, but Ifelt like a VIP, you know what
I mean?
And so I can just imagine howpeople who are hurting would
(30:20):
feel.
Lesli Neuenschwander (30:20):
And remember, even as we say this,
this has this is so this is isso big, so much bigger than us.
Like it is be is beyondanything that we could have
asked or imagined.
But it is, if you can imagine,especially our families that
come in from California, if youcan imagine these kids getting
on a plane with their parents,wondering, what in the world are
we doing?
And remember too that the onesthat are coming from California
(30:43):
are are, I mean, are they havesome significant trauma.
So getting them on a plane, theparents getting them in a car,
them fighting all the way up, Idon't know why we're here, I
don't want to be here.
And it has been such arewarding thing and a humbling
thing for us for to hear thoseparents say the moment they
drove up, because they usuallycome in at night, and so all the
(31:03):
lights are on, you know, toshare the house.
And there's they justimmediately are like, wow, you
know, like wow, we get to staythere and then we can't get them
out the door to leave.
Right.
And so that is a um that saysGod written all over the house.
Like he just knew that was thehouse that was needed.
Kim McIntire (31:21):
I know not everyone can see it, but when
when you said that about thelights on at night, I know it's
not a brick house, but Iimagined home alone and what it
looks like at night, you know,on the scenes where the lights
are on.
And to me, that's the closestthing I can compare it to, is
you know, it's just a beautifulhistoric home.
Yeah.
And God's blessed you with it.
(31:42):
And so if you want to take afew minutes just to talk about
how did you end up with thisbeautiful historic home in a
beautiful town like Carthage,Missouri.
That's even yeah.
Titus Neuenschwander (31:54):
Yeah, I mean, it was just it was just
part of the journey.
Um, our realtor, who was also afriend, when we started looking
at houses, he had us a notefrom a banker or some lender
that said, yes, they can affordto look at homes this size.
Lesli Neuenschwander (32:13):
Because he said families with our income
don't look at houses like this.
Yeah, yeah.
Titus Neuenschwander (32:18):
And uh so we didn't know how it was gonna
work.
We just felt like that's that'sthe direction that we want to
try to work and move.
Right.
And um we uh had done DaveRamsay many years ago, so we
like, okay, we're gonna pay offthis home, our other home in 15
(32:40):
years.
And uh so we did.
There were many times duringthat journey I thought, wow, I
don't know if we should havedone this.
Everything is still so tight.
But to be able to sell thathome uh debt-free, and that's
really what allowed us theopportunity to even get close to
uh purchasing a larger home,especially in a uh seller's
(33:03):
market.
Kim McIntire (33:04):
Right.
Titus Neuenschwander (33:05):
But all that be said and done, there
were lots of things that werehappening on the side.
Matter of fact, uh a friend ofours who uh said, Hey Titus,
here's the bank that you need totalk to.
Uh we did not even understandthis, but he had co-signed.
We didn't find that out until ayear after we until we were
(33:28):
looking at the paperwork and wesaw a signature uh down at the
bottom.
And uh just like who would takea risk uh of that uh we weren't
experienced, we wereunprepared, we felt like uh this
could work.
And um so it's just been partof a journey.
(33:51):
But that particular house we itis the only house that we
looked at that's actually intown.
We thought what we were lookingfor would have to be somewhere
out in the country or we neededspace.
Lesli Neuenschwander (34:02):
We uh knew that we would want an area for
people to be in the the yard andthe surrounding areas, not just
confined to a neighborhood.
Plus, we also knew that weneeded movement in our at our
house, especially if we weregonna have kids there.
Kim McIntire (34:15):
And the yard is like a garden.
There's yeah.
I mean, it's just like agarden.
Meaning beautiful.
I'm not speaking aboutvegetables, but you know.
Okay, you do finally, I finallygot my vegetable garden.
But I mean, it's just be it'sbeautifully landscaped.
There's space, the spaces areinviting.
I love the swing set on theside of the house.
(34:36):
It's just it's lovely.
You guys have the Lord hasgiven you the grace and favor to
just make it a lovely space foreveryone.
And I'm just I'm just believingthat there may be someone
listening who knows someone whoneeds your help.
And if someone's listening andthey think, I need this help, my
(34:58):
family needs this help, orsomeone I know needs this help,
what qualifies them?
Can you guys talk about that alittle bit?
Like, can they just call yournumber and you're gonna share
info in a little bit about howto connect with you guys?
But what is that process likeif it's not too complicated?
Lesli Neuenschwander (35:15):
Oh no, it's not, and it's for anyone.
So we're even though wespecialize in some of the crisis
um areas, it it we want ourhome to be available to anyone,
even if they're just needingrest, and they don't necessarily
want the therapeutic, I mean,it's therapeutic, just the
hospitality piece of it, buteven if they're not necessarily
wanting therapy or uh they justwant rest, like anything from
(35:37):
just basic rest all the way towe are in absolute crisis,
divorce is imminent, child mightbe leaving our home.
I mean, all for all everythingfrom the the the it is all
welcome in the house.
That's what the house is forpeople, that's why we have it.
Yeah if they um are interestedor know someone, then our we
encourage them to go to ourwebsite at
(35:59):
restorationhousefc.org.
Is that right?
Yeah.
Um and just put in a formsubmit and we will make contact
and begin the process of that uhworking out what that looks
like for their family.
Kim McIntire (36:13):
Okay.
And if you didn't catch that,it will be in our show notes
listeners.
Yeah.
Yep.
Okay.
So that's a pretty easyprocess.
Lesli Neuenschwander (36:20):
It is a very easy process.
Yes.
It starts it starts with that,and then we make contact, we
find out what their actual needsare.
Um we also do things outside ofour home.
So I mean, we we do a lot ofpart of what we do is providing
therapeutic support andeducation for the unique
challenges families face.
So there's an education piecethat's also available
specifically for parents.
(36:41):
Oh, that's excellent.
And so that's part of that aswell.
So there's multiple resources.
There's lots of resources,yeah.
Our house, the education, wehave an online course that um
that I do uh right now is freethrough the nonprofit.
And then um we go our our heartis for the church, and so we
would love to like Titus doesseminars and we do workshops and
(37:02):
retreats even outside of ourhome.
Like we go to California to doparent intensives with multiple
parents, not with the children,but the parents come and they
come to an Airbnb, and we dopretty much the exact same thing
we do in our home, but we do itjust for parents in in those
settings.
And so if there's a church outthere or a a group, a small
group or something out therethat wants um to be cared for
(37:25):
and to have some support andhave the support that we offer,
we travel to places that's goodto know and make arrangements
for that.
Kim McIntire (37:32):
Yeah, so you don't necessarily have to come to
Carthage, Missouri.
They will come to you if theirschedule allows it and
everything.
So you guys, what is the visionfor the future?
Have you have you been given avision from the Lord about
what's what's next?
Lesli Neuenschwander (37:48):
A lot of what we're doing right now, like
we live we are living ourvision.
You're living the vision, butwe do have some thoughts for
what we'd like to do.
Titus Neuenschwander (37:56):
And I think um right now we're we're
also doing two other jobs, andso what with the house that is
really the direction that we'dlove to land and do that more
often.
Kim McIntire (38:10):
Yeah.
Titus Neuenschwander (38:11):
I think part of the other vision is
again part of your story is whenwe were needing help.
Um we completely drained oursavings account uh to zero, just
trying to get help for ourkids, specifically our oldest
son.
Part of the vision is to beable to say, we want to do this
(38:34):
to families where they don'thave to do that.
And that's really the wholereason for the nonprofit.
We don't need the nonprofit todo what we're doing, right?
We're set up the nonprofitbecause we understand that when
you're on the other side, to beable to look back and say, Well,
this is what we needed, this iswhat would have been helpful,
(38:56):
right?
Um we want to provide that tofamilies as well.
Kim McIntire (39:01):
Mm-hmm.
But how can people get involvedif if they're, you know, some
people just they're very um theyhave hearts to serve, they have
hearts to support.
How can people support thisnonprofit?
Are there ways for thecommunity to get involved?
(39:21):
Or even people who don't livein this area?
How can people get involved tosupport this ministry?
Lesli Neuenschwander (39:28):
The top priority right now is prayer
partners.
Like we we are committed to 100prayer team partners before we
ever launch.
We did a soft launch for thenonprofit to do the playground
that you saw, and it was familyrecreation.
Right.
And there was an overflow of ofpeople willing to support those
recreational areas.
But we haven't done the um fullfunding launch for the
(39:51):
nonprofit because we're verycommitted to wanting the hundred
uh prayer partners before we dothat.
Kim McIntire (39:56):
Okay.
Lesli Neuenschwander (39:56):
However, there are families in need right
now that are wantingintensives, and um, so there's
cost and investment to that.
Sure.
That um so one of the ways,other than being a prayer team,
and if they want to be a prayerteam, you just go to our
website, there's a prayer teamlink.
You just click on there.
We're still developing thenewsletter.
We're it's it's we hit the doorrunning, literally, and we're
(40:17):
still trying to keep up.
We have a wonderful board thatis helping us, you know, fill in
the gaps of the things that wecan't get done.
Kim McIntire (40:22):
So work in progress.
Lesli Neuenschwander (40:23):
Yes, work in progress.
So uh prayer team is the firstpiece, and then we'll be doing a
launch this fall, but there'salways a financial need for
families.
And so, I mean, that's just thereality of living in the home
and taking care of the home andproviding that space for for in
the care.
And so if anyone's interestedin supporting a specific family
(40:43):
or supporting a family ingeneral, um, there's also a link
on our website that they can dothat as well.
It's all yes, and it's allnonprofit, so it's all tax uh
deductible.
That's wonderful.
Um, there are there's alwayssmall uh household needs all the
time, like taking managing andtaking care of the the
(41:05):
landscaping and the yard workand the um service projects.
We the the school actuallycomes and does service project
uh projects once a year, the newheights.
And so that's been exciting.
So in the spring, wheneverything's coming up and we
have to kind of clean up fromthe winter, they've come in and
spent a day helping us just getthe yard prepped for the spring.
Um deep cleaning of the home iskind of always a thing that
(41:28):
we're doing.
So anyone who wants to do that,we've always got small, you
know, home projects that need tobe done in a house that size.
So if somebody has service, umthe like service projects
service projects or the git thegift of service in that area,
those are always places thatwe're needing.
Kim McIntire (41:46):
I know that there it seems that more and more
churches are doing serviceproject days.
And so is that something that achurch would could do?
Absolutely.
Just call you and or or get onthe website and say we're
interested in coming to servefor a day or something?
Yes.
Okay, that's excellent.
Very needed, thank you.
That's exciting.
(42:06):
So what is the greatest needyou have now at this time?
Is it prayer?
Lesli Neuenschwander (42:11):
Yeah, it's definitely prayer.
Um, I mean, we finances arealways there, but prayer is the
um sustaining and wisdom and umthe spiritual warfare out there
um for the families and themarriages that we work with are,
I mean, it's it's real and wesee it all the time.
(42:31):
And then we feel it in ourfamily and just praying for
protection and um yeah.
Kim McIntire (42:39):
Okay.
Thank you both so much for yourtime.
It's truly been an honor tohear the whole story, probably
not the whole story, but a bulkof the story.
And I would love to pray overRestoration House before we
close.
All right.
Thanks, give.
So you're welcome.
Listeners, join in with me.
Let's let's pray for thisamazing nonprofit ministry in
(43:04):
Carthage, Missouri.
Father God, we come to you inthe name of Jesus Christ.
And we bring to you RestorationHouse.
We bring Titus and Lesli toyou, Lord.
We thank you for the work thatis being done to help families
heal with hope.
(43:24):
And God, we are asking that youbring prayer partnership, God,
to lift up their arms and tolift up this ministry, God, that
you have planted in Carthage,Missouri.
Father, we're asking for you tostir hearts to financially
(43:45):
support this work.
God, we are praying that youwould stir hearts to come and
serve and help in the yard or inthe home.
God, it takes many hands.
And we thank you for whatyou've already done.
God, you've done so much.
Thank you for the 30 familiesthat have gone to Restoration
(44:07):
House and received help, hope,and healing.
And Lord, for all of thefamilies that have yet to come,
we just pray a blessing overthem.
We thank you again, God, thatyou allow your people to partner
with you in the work ofrestoring lives.
(44:27):
All for your glory, God.
All for your glory.
May your blessing rest heavilyupon Titus and Lesli, Lord.
We bless them in your name.
Grace and peace over them inJesus' name.
Thank you, Lord.
Thank you, Lord.
In Christ we pray.
(44:50):
Before we close, I just want toask, is there anything else you
guys would like to add to thisconversation before we close?
Titus Neuenschwander (45:00):
Kim, I think at some level, uh Lesli
and I are jumping in this alittle later in life.
And um, even this is a secondoccupation for both of us and
going back to school and allthose things.
But I we're really hoping thatthis is just the beginning of
something, and we're not tryingto build restoration house
(45:22):
around us.
We hope it's just a startingplace that we get it past the
baton.
Yeah, and that the house willbe something more.
And so at some level, we'restill looking for others who uh
love walking beside families,uh, who love checking in with
families.
We hope that there's othermarriage and family therapists
(45:45):
who uh we can do the hospitalitypiece and and they get to do
some of the work.
So we're not sure what all thatlooks like, but um as even this
is at the start for us, we'rehoping that that baton gets
passed to the next generation.
Lesli Neuenschwander (46:03):
We recognize that uh we it's also
not sustainable for just the twoof us, and it was never meant
to just be the two of us.
And so building a team ofpeople that once the families
have been in our home, umeventually rather than us doing
the follow-up, there's follow-upin place outside of ourselves.
And and again, creating thatteam of people to provide that
(46:23):
support and wrap around thesefamilies.
Kim McIntire (46:25):
Oh, that's so good.
Legacy, yes, legacy.
Thank you for being here.
Thank you.
I appreciate you both.
Thank you for taking your timeto listen to our podcast.
We'd love to hear yourfeedback.
Please rate us or leave a fivestar review on Apple Podcast.
May God's grace and peace bewith you all in Jesus' name.
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