**For those checking back, thank you for praying…
We posted an update at the bottom of this post… **
We have Prayer Request.. (especially for you fellow- animal lovers who know how special God’s creatures are)** Friends….Will you all please pray with us for a miracle?!
**Well, this was going to be a HUGE surprise that we were hoping to unveil this past week as the opening surprise JOY for our newest Farm Friends ministry (under Live Gia Grow Forever Foundation ) but, instead of making a special announcement, we need to come to you to ask for prayers because we believe in the power of prayer and We know GOD can do the impossible! But first….There’s a story here, so bear with me….
So, when the Lord was stirring in my heart to start our “Therapy Farm” back up under GIASHOPE.org (see part one of story below on my page) I had resisted the Lord for many years… as many of you know that we had initially started this ministry (originally called “Morning Glory Farm Friends”) a few weeks before Gianna unexpectedly went into cardiac failure in 2018. We had just launched this exciting new program when life. fell. apart and our skies came crashing down.
So, stepping back into this calling with this hole in our lives felt painful as I had so many memories of the way it “was”…or was “Supposed to be” and it was hard to imagine how God was going to make something “New” of it and how we would do it without our original tiny cofounder: Gianna Lilyfaith… It was hard to imagine how I was going to “allow” God to make something beautiful and new from these ashes… I just didn’t allow myself to SEE a fresh vision. All I could feel was reminders of death. It felt dark.BUT God. He is the GOD of Redemption and LIGHT.He was wanting to resurrect this ministry to new LIFE.
And after many years of resisting… I threw my hands up in the air and said, “Lord, if you want me to walk back into this calling, please PLEASE send a special seed… something that helps grow the passion and purpose and vision for our ministry in my heart and soul in a new way…I need to SEE new LIFE here, Lord!…Please send LIFE to this calling so that I can be excited and not weighed down by sorrow and death! I want to SEE beauty where all I feel is ashes!”
I needed a vision of redemption…
And then GOD moved.
I then randomly came across a precious tiny miniature horse mare that needed a new home…. In the same way I needed a new vision.I felt so drawn to her in a supernatural way. She literally felt sent from heaven.Her owner explained that she was such a special horse-soul and so kind and amazing with children! She detailed all the ways that sweet Izzy was a treasure to her.But she was being bullied in her paddock by all the bigger horses, and really needed to be rehomed so she could live more peacefully and with greater purpose. Basically, Izzy’s current mama knew God had something special planned for her.And when I explained my vision of our little therapy ministry petting farm and how our Eviemira would benefit greatly from therapy riding, she know our home was the perfect place for her beloved mini to ride out her future days.
*Side note: it has always been my dream to own a mini horse!
So, when I saw little “Izzy” I knew she was SO special and set apart by God for us.
Everything about her felt like she was already ours and born for us…. and…her current horse owner agreed! I knew this unique tiny horse was going to bring so much HUGE joy and healing to so many hearts who would visit our little farm.
but….. wait for it…. (God is the God of surprises)
THE MOST exciting part of it all: She was “in foal!!!” 
Ya’ll, she was due to have a tiny baby!And the foal was due right around Gianna’s Heaven anniversary, in the early days of Spring! Can you believe it?This was our gift of NEW LIFE. 
This was God’s gracious answer to my prayer. This was His kiss on my forehead as we walked forward in faith.God sent us this gift of “new life” to remind us that LIFE wins over death and light wins over darkness and we can walk in resurrection hope in the places of our lives that feel Most like death and despair and emptiness. Because Jesus lives and He has come to give us LIFE… Life in abundance! (John 10:10)
This was His reminder that He is using our deepest sorrows to grow something new in our hearts. He does not dismiss our pain, or the ache but he uses our tears to water the seeds of new life and purpose and JOY as we walk forward in faith and let Him bring beauty from ashes.Our whole family and Izzy’s family agreed that these horses needed to be here with us, as God had brought us all together in a unique way.Her mama then made the trip all the way up here from the south, right around Palm Sunday to bring our beloved Mini home….However, sweet Izzy got sick en-route and had to be hospitalized for salmonella infection (they think she got it from grazing at a random pit stop along the way) and our poor horse had to get IV antibiotics and spend many days recovering in the vet hospital. This broke our hearts but we were so thankful that her incredible owners who were immediately on top of it to help Izzy!Thankfully our new horse friends (Izzy’s family) had extended family in PA and was able to stay there while Izzy recovered. I am telling you, this family is absolutely amazing and such a GOD-send. You can tell that Izzy is so special to their hearts. So after a couple weeks, Izzy was completely recovered thank GOD, but it was agreed upon by all of us that she should have her foal where she was currently staying, instead of trying to trailer her in her last weeks of pregnancy. As much as our family wanted to witness this miracle, what was most important was Izzy and the foal’s health. We all wanted to keep sweet Izzy safe and with the least amount of stress for the delivery. So, we all waited anxiously as her current owner stayed up many long nights to get to witness and help with the arrival of our newest little colt or filly….Oh the excitement!!!
And… THERE WAS A MIRACLE in the early morning Spring day of May 5, 2022 when our tiny Spring fairy colt, “Spritey Joy” came into the world! 
We all cheered and praised God for the miracle and glories of new life!Here was our promise and gift from God… our seed of NEW Joy in our ministry of hope… we knew right away that this special foal would bring so much joy and hope to so many!
BUT HERE IS WHERE WE NEED PRAYER!
Sweet “Spritey- Joy” was doing great the first couple of days, but slowly started to go downhill and started to lose her light, and our incredible friends took him and Izzy immediately to the emergency vet to get tested and checked and it was determined that Spritey- Joy had a neurological condition that is a result of perhaps being deprived of oxygen while being birthed. No one knows for sure what the outcome would be (the doctors said it could go either way as he was at risk for seizures and infection) but he was put on an aggressive treatment of supplements, nutrients and antibiotics via IV and watched closely!He is a brave fighter! He has made a miraculous turn around and was described as being stronger and brighter! We have all been so excited to finally get to wrap our arms around our tiny horse family and welcome them to their new home….They were due to come home yesterday, but last minute labs showed his white blood cell count elevated again and so he is back on an aggressive antibiotic treatment for possible infection!Our hearts are weary but hopeful! WILL YOU PLEASE pray with us for his complete healing!! These sweet brave horses have been through so so much and we believe that the reason this has been such a battle is because they are meant for great GOD-given, beautiful purposes of healing and joy and we all know the enemy does not want LIFE, and light and love to win! *story behind his name:”Spritey” is a name that our Gianna chose when she was writing down future baby names with her big sister just weeks before she got sick. Sprite was her favorite drink and we all know her obsession with LEMONS! Haha
Well, We took this name off the list for our new foal because it means a “Lively and BRIGHT fairy” and this is the prayer we are praying over our new tiny Spring foal
WE are asking you all of you to please pray with us for LIFE and light and JOY over our tiny horses and for miracles of complete restoration, as we know God has a huge story and plan for Izzy and her foal, “Spritey-Joy” here at GIAS HOPE Farm Friends
Thank you friends, we are believing for a beautiful story that will continue on in JOY and LOVE and we wanted all of you to be a part of it so we can SEE God move and heal! God is able!Here is the background story of our newest farm program and a donate link if you feel led to donate to our newest ministry under GIASHOPE: https://giashope.org/farm-friends*please pm me if you have any questions! THANK YOU!!!
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Blessings,Johanna and family
UPDATE:
Thank you so much for all who have been praying and reaching out. We are so sorry that we have not been able to give updates until now, but we wanted to make sure we had all the right information and facts and, since the update was hard to learn ourselves, we (as a family) had to take time to fully process what had happened before we shared….
Unfortunately, it looks as though we will not be able to be the forever home for Izzy or Spritey. We, and the family who owns sweet Mama Izzy and her foal, are both very grieved by this outcome as we had all fought so hard together for these horses to be a forever part of our family and farm ministry. I am still so sad……. and will forever be grateful to this family for all they’ve done for us and their precious horses. I don’t think I have ever seen a family love their horses more. This has been hard on all our hearts… We all had the same vision and hope, but God has another story.
Basically, we were all SOOOO excited for her to come at last! It was going to be such a beautiful horse welcome party the next day! The foal was just getting one final round of blood tests before coming to our family. But, unexpectedly, the test showed she had a high Liver reading. After more tests, it was discovered that precious Spritey had Hepatitis. She evidently got it as a result of her mama getting salmonella while the foal was in utero. And, we were told that Hep is highly contagious to other animals( ie: dogs, cats, goats..etc)… and the horses needed to be fully quarantined for quite some time and the foal would need supportive care and meds. Our friends were able to eventually bring them back to their family’s barn in PA… but had to return to Georgia until the horses are cleared to travel back with her. This was a very hard turn of events that none of us expected and felt like we were all punched in the gut.
It was a hard surrender as we all came to the conclusion that for the protection of our existing barn animals, that the horses could not come to our farm and that they would be best cared for where they were at (staying temporarily with their family in PA). We all shed some big tears….. even though we all knew this was the best decision for the horses, we were very sad as these horses were so prayed for and loved already.
sniff.
So, it has been a couple weeks and their owners have told us they are doing well….and I am thankful that they keep us updated as we think about these furry equines every day and care deeply for them.
Thank you to all who prayed and asked for updates, it means so much to us. We don’t understand why God took us on this specific journey to this outcome, but we do trust His heart. Afterall, out of this journey we were able to meet a beautiful and kind family as we all bonded over a shared love for their mini horses!
Honestly, I cried a LOT when this all went down. I struggled because it was Sweet Mama Izzy and her baby, (who we affectionately named Spritey) that was the seed I prayed for which launched me forward in motivation and obedience to what God was calling our family to do, which was re-launch our Therapy Farm Ministry (see story above). I just could not understand this sad ending when God had clearly led us to these horses for a new “beginning”. We even had made all the preparations… we built a special minibarn/run in shed for our minis that would be coming and had the tack box all ready to go, complete with brushes and apple flavored horse treats! To say that We were all OVER THE MOON so excited was quite the understatement.
But… after much prayer and wrestling with the Lord, He whispered to my heart: I did answer your prayer. Izzy and Spritey WERE the seeds that pushed you forward on the path that I called you onto. They were your sparks!
See, God calls us to obey His invitations… but He does not promise the outcomes. Bottom-line, these sweet Minis were what God used to fan back into flame the spark in my heart back to life that had been snuffed out by pain and loss and deep sadness. God used these beautiful creatures to breathe life back into this calling of my soul that was so alive when Gianna ran around on this earth….. They were a literal miracle and gift to resurrect that part of my spirit which was dead…. even if they were not able to come home with us. They brought me fresh vision and excitement!
God used Izzy and her precious foal to launch us forward into the vision He had given us for GIASHOPE FARM FRIENDS and I am forever grateful for this newness of vision. It’s not how I would have written the story, but My God holds the pen, and I can trust His character is good and trustworthy as I answer His invitations with a surrendered “Yes” and believe for Goodness in the Land of the Living as I step out and obey one step at a time.
Again, thank you for your love and support. We will continue to update about Izzy and her foal as we get updates about their recovery. Please continue to pray for them and their kind family.
It is still our deep desire and prayer to still fill our run-in shed, that we built, with a mini (or two) to help bring love, therapy and healing to our visitors who come to GIASHOPE FARM…. and to our own family. I know God is not done and I am waiting for His hand to redeem the painful sad parts and turn them into Praise. I know another miracle is coming.
In the meantime, He brought us two sweet, precious and fuzzy hugs from heaven that have helped our hearts! You can read about these new farm treasures right HERE … I will give you a hint: BAAAAAAAAA (hurry and go read about all the joy)
GOD IS SO GRACIOUS!